Real Extreme Diffusion (リアル・エクストリーム・ディフュージョン Riaru Ekusutorimu Difyūjon), commonly abbreviated as R.E.D or R・E・D (アールイーディ Āruīdi) was the top villainous professional wrestling stable, in the Dragon Gate promotion. It was formed on September 24, 2018, by the remaining members of ANTIAS, Ben-K, Yasushi Kanda, Takashi Yoshida, Big R Shimizu, Eita, and their newest member Kazma Sakamoto, with Eita being positioned as the leader of the new stable. Since their formation, R.E.D has since added several new members, most notably gaijin members PAC, Daga and Diamante. The stable had previously started in 2015, with its first incarnation VerserK, but continued in its second incarnation ANTIAS in January 2018, with its final incarnation being named R.E.D in September, based on Eita's leadership, since the end of VerserK.
After four months of their inception, R.E.D members held all titles that Dragon Gate had to offer with Eita holding the Open The Brave Gate, PAC the Open The Dream Gate, Ben-K and Shimizu the Open The Twin Gate and Yoshida, Kanda and Sakamoto the Open The Triangle Gate Championships, becoming the most successful incarnation of VerserK and also meaning that R.E.D is the fastest stable in Dragon Gate history to win every championship available. In January 2019, Eita and Shimizu started feuding with each other over the leadership of R.E.D, which divided the stable between Eita's side and Shimizu's, leading in May, R.E.D turning on Ben-K, with Eita retaining the leadership and Shimizu revealing he had been working with Eita to expel Ben-K.
In August 2019, R.E.D took part in a storyline, where they feuded with Toryumon founder Último Dragón and some of Dragon Gate veterans. The storyline continued in October with R.E.D adding three new members; Dragon Gate original BxB Hulk, H.Y.O, and Kaito Ishida, who quickly brought the Open The Brave Gate and Open The Triangle Gate Championships back to the stable. The addition of Hulk, H.Y.O, and Ishida led to a "Generation War" against Dragon Gate and Toryumon. As part of the storyline, Hulk and Sakamoto quickly brought the Open The Twin Gate Championships back to the stable. Meanwhile, Diamante, H.Y.O and Yoshida quickly lost the Open The Triangle Gate Championship to Toryumon. After PAC left the stable in July, Eita quickly regained PAC's main event status after winning the 2020 King of Gate in June of the following year, meaning that the stable had now won everything Dragon Gate had to offer. During that year, founding member Big R Shimizu was kicked out of stable and replaced by Dragon Gate's KAI in September. At the end of 2020, R.E.D was joined by HipHop Kikuta and SB KENTo, who quickly brought the Open The Triangle Gate Championship back to the stable and also forced Toryumon to disband. Subsequently, Dragon Gate also decided to disband, leading R.E.D to stand victorious in the "Generation War". At the end of 2021, R.E.D repeated their feat in 2018 and held every title in Deagon Gate in a calendar year.
Since August, Eita began appearing for the other promotions, this cuased a rift between him and R.E.D member H.Y.O. In January 2022, upon the addition of Shun Skywalker by H.Y.O offer, Eita and Ishida, who were against the decision, were kicked out of R.E.D. Afterwards, the remaining members of R.E.D disbanding the stable to form Z-Brats.
History[]
Background (2015–2018)[]
The stable was initially known as VerserK in 2015, after Eita rejoined the stable in November 2017, Eita along with El Lindaman and T-Hawk who were part of VerserK, formed the second incarnation of the stable named ANTIAS, based under their leadership until Lindaman and T-Hawk left the promotion in May 2018, giving the lead back to Eita in August. During this time, the stable started feuding with MaxiMuM (after Big R Shimizu and Ben-K turn on them to join the stable) and Natural Vibes. The stable would also receive a generally poor reception, being compared to Deep Drunkers as being one of the worst heel units in Dragon Gate history. On September 6, 2018, ANTIAS leader Eita announced a complete rebranding of the stable, with the addition of a new member.
Eita's leadership (2018–2022)[]
Formation and championship dominance (2018–2019)[]
On September 24 at Dangerous Gate, Eita announced that the stable would be renamed to R.E.D meaning Real Extreme Diffusion and the new member was revealed to be Kazma Sakamoto. Afterwards, R.E.D defeated Natural Vibes in an All-Out War ten-man tag team elimination match, in which the two stables attacked each other following the match after Shimizu tried to shave Punch Tominaga's hair, continuing their feud. Later in the event, Eita lost the Open The Brave Gate Championship to Dragon Kid, which he had previously feuding during the year. In the main event, R.E.D attacked MaxiMuM, Eita and Shimizu nominated Ben-K to face Masato Yoshino for his Open The Dream Gate Championship at Gate of Destiny on November 4.
On October 2, Eita revealed PAC to be the newest of the stable, in the process, Eita and PAC defeated Shingo Takagi and BxB Hulk in one of Takagi's last matches in Dragon Gate. Following the match, after all, units came to the ring to challenge PAC, it was decided that Ben-K, Shimizu and PAC would represent R.E.D in four-way elimination on November 6. On October 14, Ben-K's friend, Keisuke Okuda ally to the stable but would leave the stable shortly. On October 21, Eita announced on his twitter page, that Daga would be the newest member of the stable. At the November 4 event, Ben-K unsuccessfully challenged Masato Yoshino for the Open The Dream Gate Championship. Following the match, PAC made his intentions of challenging Yoshino for the Open The Dream Gate Championship. On November 6, PAC challenged Yoshino to an Open The Dream Gate Championship match, which was officially announced to take place on December 4. On December 4, PAC defeated Yoshino to win the Open The Dream Gate Championship. With the win, PAC became the first British Open The Dream Gate Champion. On December 23 at Final Gate, captured two of Dragon Gate's titles with Yoshida, Kanda and Sakamoto defeating Natural Vibes (Kzy, Genki Horiguchi and Susumu Yokosuka) for the Open The Triangle Gate Championship and Ben-K and Shimizu defeating Tribe Vanguard (Kagetora and YAMATO), Speed Muscle (Masato Yoshino and Naruki Doi) and MexaBlood (Bandido and Flamita) in a four-way elimination tag team match for the Open The Twin Gate Championship. With this win, R.E.D became the fastest stable in Dragon Gate history to win every championship available. In the main event, Eita and Dragon Kid's feud culminated in a Lucha de Apuestas ("Bet Match"), Hair vs. Mask match, where Kid defeated Eita and then forced him to have his hair shaved off as per the stipulation.
Tensions over the leadership and conspiracy to expel Ben-K (2019)[]
Since January 16, 2019, during a match between R.E.D and MaxiMuM, Shimizu accidentally attacked Ben-K on two occasions which caused some tension between them. Shimizu had previously cost R.E.D a match, with the rest of R.E.D leaving the arena without him. Shimizu's mistakes would repeat during R.E.D's matches, leading Eita to accuse him of doing it on purpose, and blamed Ben-K and Shimizu for the loses and accused them of being incompetent. On February 5, tensions would come ahead between R.E.D and the rest of the other stables in Dragon Gate except MaxiMuM, Eita would criticize each stable's weak points and agreed to a match with each other on March 7. Eita would nominate himself, PAC, Kazma Sakamoto and Yasushi Kanda for the match, leaving Shimizu arguing that he and Ben-K should be in the match due to holding the Open The Twin Gate Championship. Mochizuki Dojo would try to enter the match, Eita protested, but Shimizu wanted them in the match, leading Eita to claim that he was the leader of R.E.D. Five days later, Eita would accidentally hit Ben-K with a chair, costing his match against U-T. Shimizu blamed Eita for Ben-K's loss and demanded an explanation, but he refused claiming they were the ones who lost the match. Ben-K and Shimizu's errors led Eita to threat them that he would kick them out of the stable. Despite Big Ben, retaining the Open The Twin Gate Championship on March 3 at Champion Gate in Osaka, Eita warned them that he had no problems kicking them out. On March 7, Tribe Vanguard won the four-way eight-man tag team elimination match, after Ben-K accidentally attacked Kanda. Shimizu would beg Eita to not kick them out of the stable, YAMATO would provoke Eita, leading him to berate the other units. General Manager Takayuki Yagi capitalized on the opportunity and announced the rules for the Steel Cage Survival match at Dead or Alive on May 6, as well as multiple tag team matches between members of the respective units to decide, which member would enter in the match. Eita would select Yoshida as his partner and their opponents would be Big Ben. On April 10, Big Ben defeated Eita and Yoshida, with Shimizu pinning Eita, to represent R.E.D in the match. Afterwards, Shimizu dared Eita to kick him out of the stable. Yoshida declared that he was not on Eita's side causing tensions in R.E.D, leading Sakamoto and Kanda to choose Eita's side, dividing the stable, leading to the match PAC would join Eita's side. On April 28, Big Ben lost the Open The Twin Gate Championship to KAI and YAMATO, after Eita cost them the match.
On May 6 at Dead or Alive, Ben-K and Eita lost to Kaito Ishida and Masato Yoshino. During the match, Ben-K refused to cooperate with Eita and later after some miscommunication, Ben-K attacked Eita, allowing Ishida and Yoshino to win the match. Later that night, after Shimizu lost the "Bonds" steel cage survival five-way match, Shimizu along with the rest of R.E.D turned on Ben-K, revealing that he was never planning on kicking Eita out, they were working together all this time, while also claiming that Eita was the leader. Later that month, five members of R.E.D took part in the King of Gate with Eita and Kanda wrestling in B Block. Kanda finished last in his block, Shimizu and Yoshida finished in third place of their blocks. Meanwhile, Eita and Sakamoto won their blocks, but Sakamoto's draw against Kzy forced him to face Kzy in a rematch to decide the winner of their block. On June 6, Sakamoto was defeated by Kzy in their rematch, while Eita defeated KAI in the semifinals to advance to the finals of the tournament. Two days later, Eita was defeated by Ben-K in the finals. After the match, Ben-K challenged PAC for his title. General Manager Takayuki Yagi made the title match official for the 2019 Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival. On June 9, R.E.D attacked Ben-K after his match, but Shun Skywalker made the save. Afterwards, Ben-K and Skywalker formed a team, in order to have backup against R.E.D, later that night, YAMATO and KAI defended the Open The Twin Gate Championship against Naruki Doi and Kaito Ishida. The match would end in a no contest after Eita and Shimizu interfered in the match, while also claiming to be the next challengers. Tribe Vanguard and MaxiMuM weren't satisfied with the conclusion of the match and all teams wanted to face each other in a rematch, leading General Manager Takayuki Yagi making the match official of the event. On June 23, Strong Machines attacked Kanda after his match, indicating they wanted a title match. Yoshida came out and accepted their challenge, leading General Manager Takayuki Yagi to announce the title match for the event. On July 21, at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, Yoshida, Kanda, and Sakamoto lost the Open The Triangle Gate Championship to the Strong Machines (Strong Machine J, Strong Machine F, and Strong Machine G). Later that night, Eita and Shimizu won the Open The Twin Gate Championship by defeating Tribe Vanguard (KAI and YAMATO) and MaxiMuM (Naruki Doi and Kaito Ishida) in a three-way match. In the main event, PAC lost the Open The Dream Gate Championship to Ben-K. On August 3, it was announced that Diamante would be joining the stable starting from August 7.
Feud with Último Dragón and Generation War (2019–2020)[]
On August 24 at Dangerous Gate, Eita announced that he would reveal R.E.D's next target on September 11. At the event on September 11, R.E.D interfered in a match between Último Dragón, Dragon Kid, Darkness Dragon against Masato Yoshino, Naruki Doi, and YAMATO causing it to be a no contest. Afterwards, Eita revealed that R.E.D's next target was Dragón and R.E.D continued to attack him until Ryo Saito, Super Shisa, and Darkness Dragon. On October 8, Hyou Watanabe turned on Mochizuki Dojo to join the stable. Later that night, R.E.D lost to Dragón, Saito, Shisa, and Darkness Dragon. Afterwards, Kanda turned on R.E.D after he refused to attack his mentor Último Dragón. Eita also announced that R.E.D would be joined by two new members, with their identity being kept in secret under the disguise of Dr. Muscle, known as the Green and Red Masked Demons, respectively. On November 7, Eita and Shimizu defeated Dragón and Kanda, after Eita ripped Dragón's mask. Afterwards, General Manager Takayuki Yagi announced that Eita and Dragón would face each other on December 4 and if Eita had won Dragón would be forced to leave the promotion. Leading to the match, Eita teased Masato Yoshino to be the Green Masked Demon, but Yoshino denied it. At the event on December 4, Eita lost to Dragón by disqualification, after removing Dragón’s mask. Afterwards, R.E.D attacked Dragón until his former students Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino made the save. The Green and Red Masked Demons were forced to a match, leading Eita, Red, and Green Mask Demons to face Dragón, Doi, and Yoshino in a winning effort, after Kaito Ishida revealed himself to be the Green Masked Demon, turning on MaxiMuM. Eita announced that the Red Demon Mask would be revealed on December 18. On December 15 at Final Gate, Diamante, H.Y.O, and Yoshida won the Open The Triangle Gate Championship defeating Strong Machines (Strong Machine J, Strong Machine F, and Strong Machine G) and Natural Vibes (Kzy, Genki Horiguchi and Susumu Yokosuka) in a three-way match. Later that night, Eita and Shimizu lost the Open The Twin Gate Championship to Tribe Vanguard (BxB Hulk and YAMATO). Three days later, BxB Hulk was revealed as the Red Masked Demon, after turning on YAMATO defecting from Tribe Vanguard, proceeding to steal the Open The Twin Gate Championship belts. Afterwards, R.E.D began a "Generation War" against Dragon Gate and Toryumon. On December 22, YAMATO forfeited his half of the Open The Twin Gate Championship, leading to Hulk protest against the decision. Afterwards, General Manager Takayuki Yagi declared the titles vacated, with the new champions being crown in a tournament in January.
On December 26, Dragon Gate announced the participating teams in a tournament to crown the new Open The Twin Gate Champions. Meanwhile it was announced that Yoshino would retire in 2020, due to the lingering effects of a neck injury he suffered in 2017. Over the following year, Yoshino began a year long feud with R.E.D, with Eita continuously mocking Yoshino's retirement, while also targetting his neck. In the tournament, R.E.D would be represented by two teams taking part in a tournament to crown the new Open The Twin Gate Champions, Eita and Shimizu; Hulk and Sakamoto. Eita and Shimizu were eliminated by Ben-K and YAMATO in the second round on January 12. Meanwhile, Hulk and Sakamoto defeated Ben-K and YAMATO in the finals on January 15 to win the Open The Twin Gate Championship. Afterwards, YAMATO attempted to get a rematch for the titles, but Hulk initially rejected, he only accepted when he announced that Eita would be his partner, leading Masato Yoshino and Toryumon's newest member Shuji Kondo to be involved in the match, due to R.E.D attacking Yoshino earlier that night. During the event, Diamante, H.Y.O, and Yoshida were challenged by the Dragon Gate trio of Keisuke Okuda, Strong Machine J and Yosuke♡Santa Maria, and the Toryumon trio of Dragon Kid, Kenichiro Arai, and Ryo Saito. Later that month, two teams of R.E.D took part in the 2020 Ashiyanikki Cup 6 Man Tag Team Tournament, Hulk, Sakamoto, and Yoshida; and Eita, Ishida, and Shimizu. In the first round, Hulk helped Eita, Ishida, and Shimizu to defeat the Dragon Gate trio of YAMATO, KAI, and Kzy, leading KAI to get his revenge and cost Hulk, Sakamoto and Yoshida's match against Ben-K, Machine, and Dragon Dia. On January 26, Eita, Ishida, and Shimizu were defeated in the finals by Ben-K, Machine, and Dia.
The second big event of the storyline was on February 7 with a card full of matches between members of Toryumon, Dragon Gate, and R.E.D. On that night, H.Y.O, Diamante, and Yoshida lost the Open The Triangle Gate Championship to Toryumon trio of Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, and Kenichiro Arai in a three-way match also involving Dragon Gate members Keisuke Okuda, Strong Machine J, and Yosuke♡Santa Maria. Later that night, Eita and Hulk were the second team to be eliminated from the match, after Eita was pinned by Masato Yoshino. Afterwards, General Manager Takayuki Yagi announced a six-way match between all wrestlers that took part in the match. However, the match ended up being canceled, because of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. From May 15 to June 7, seven members of R.E.D took part in the 2020 King of Gate. Only Eita and Ishida made into the semifinals of the tournament. In the semifinals on June 6, Ishida was defeated by Open The Dream Gate Champion Naruki Doi, despite having beaten him in the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Eita defeated YAMATO and then Naruki Doi in the finals on June 7, to win the 2020 King of Gate. Afterwards, Eita started to berate Doi, leading General Manager Takayuki Yagi to dare him to challenge Doi to a title match. This also led to Eita mocking Doi's partner Yoshino for his upcoming retirement, stating that he would consider giving Doi the privilege of defending the Open The Dream Gate Championship against him if Yoshino retired. On June 28, tensions began to arise in the stable, after Eita, Hulk, and Shimizu defeated the Dragon Gate trio of Kota Minoura, U-T and YAMATO, Eita told Hulk to join him in dressing down Shimizu for his recent mistakes, leading Hulk to refuse, stating that he wasn’t just a henchman for Eita. This was further complimented, after YAMATO mock Hulk for being Eita's servant, after Hulk helped Eita defeating YAMATO during the 2020 King of Gate semifinals. On August 2, at Memorial Gate in Wakayama, R.E.D was represented in a Three-way Six-man Tag team stable war Wakayama rules tornado match, which Shimizu, Diamante and Kaito Ishida by defeating Toryumon's (Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi and Shuji Kondo) to win the match. Later that night, Hulk and Sakamoto lost the Open Twin Gate Championship to Dragon Gate's Jason Lee and Kota Minoura. In the main event, Eita defeated Naruki Doi to win the Open The Dream Gate Championship and with the win becoming Dragon Gate's youngest and the seventh Grand Slam champion in Dragon Gate's history. On September 21, at Dangerous Gate, Diamante, Sakamoto and Yoshida defeated Dragon Gate's (Ben-K, Dragon Dia, and Strong Machine J to win the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. In the main event, Eita, Hulk and Shimizu took part in the six-way steel cage survival match. During the match, KAI turned on Dragon Gate, before retrieving the first flag of the match, leading him to join stable as part of the match's stipulation. Afterwards, Hulk was the second wrestler to escape the match, after retrieving the second flag, following the help from KAI. The match ended with Eita, Shimizu and Masato Yoshino still in the steel cage. After Eita retreived the fourth flag, Shimizu was defeated by Yoshino, despite R.E.D's interference, after he retrieved the last flag of the match. Afterwards, due to the match stipulation, Shimizu was kicked out of R.E.D and forced to revert to his previous ring name.
Over the past several events, Ishida tried to conciliate with Keisuke Okuda and get him to join R.E.D on multiple occasions, but was turned down each time. On August 12, R.E.D began teasing a new member, with his identity being kept in secret under the disguise of Dr. Muscle, known as the Yellow Masked Demon, respectively. On September 9, Ben-K accused Okuda of being the Yellow Masked Demon, with Okuda refuting the accusations, R.E.D revealed that they were going to reveal the identity of the Yellow Masked Demon on October 7. On October 4, Eita teased a "secret weapon", which was later revealed on October 4, with a mysterious wrestler under the name of "Dia Inferno", before ripping Dragon Dia's mask, interrupting a match between him and Takashi Yoshida, with Eita citing (on Inferno's behalf) his ambition to end Dia. Three days later, at the October 7 event, Hulk, Eita, KAI and Ishida faced Dragon Gate (Ben-K, Kota Minoura, Kzy and YAMATO). Keisuke Okuda interfered during the match, revealing himself to be Yellow Masked Demon. Afterwards, Kaito Ishida urged Okuda to attack Ben-K, leading Okuda to turn on Ishida instead, causing Dragon Gate to win the match. Following the match, Okuda revealed to be on Dragon Gate's side and challenged Ishida to a match for the Open The Brave Gate Championship. On November 1, Diamante, Yoshida, and Sakamoto were forced to vacate the Open The Triangle Gate Championship, due to Diamante being sidelined with an injury. Two days later, at Gate of Destiny, Kento Kobune was revealed to be R.E.D's newest member, and alongside Yoshida, and Sakamoto defeated Team Boku (Naruki Doi, Punch Tominaga and Ryotsu Shimizu) to win the vacant Open The Triangle Gate Championship. Later that night, Ishida lost the Open The Brave Gate Championship to Keisuke Okuda, while Eita returned the Open The Dream Gate Championship against Kzy, after the match Shun Skywalker made his return challenging Eita for the title. On November 15, at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, H.Y.O won a battle royal by last eliminating Mondai Ryu to earn the right to ask for the in-ring related wish of their his choosing. Later that night, Hulk and KAI defeated Dragon Gate (Kota Minoura and YAMATO) to win the vacant Open The Twin Gate Championship, while Inferno faced Dia in a losing effort, after removing his Dia's mask causing the referee to award Dia the win. This outcome of the match led Dragon Gate to announce that Inferno would face Dia in a Lucha de Apuestas ("Bet Match"), Mask vs. Mask match at Final Gate, however the match was changed before the event, continuing the feud. In the main event, Eita lost the Open The Dream Gate Championship to Shun Skywalker. On December 2, Eita, Ishida, KENTo and H.Y.O faced Toryumon's Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, Dragon Kid and Shuji Kondo. The match ended by disqualification, after KENTo removed Kid's mask, before putting back on. Afterwards, Madoka Kikuta and Taketo Kamei made the save, but instead Kikuta turned heel, removing Dragon Kid's mask, before turning on Kamei, revealing himself to be R.E.D's newest member. Eita, Kaito Ishida, KENTo, H.Y.O and Kikuta then faced Doi, Yoshino, Kid, Kondo and Kamei in a winning effort after Kikuta pinned Yoshino. After the match, H.Y.O revealed his in-ring wish, which he won at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, challenging Toryumon to a No Disqualification Losing Unit Disbands match at Final Gate. On December 20, at Final Gate, R.E.D forced Toryumon to disband, after defeating them in a No Disqualification Losing Unit Disbands match. Shortly after, Dragon Gate also decided to disband, leading R.E.D to stand victorious in the "Generation War".
Feud with Masquerade (2021–2022)[]
During this time, KENTo began feuding with stablemate Takashi Yoshida, after showing his deslike towards him, claiming that KENTo was a regular "green boy" (rookie). This led to on January 13, 2021, KENTo, Yoshida and Sakamoto losing the Open The Triangle Gate Championship against to the newly reunited Natural Vibes (Genki Horiguchi, Kzy, and Susumu Yokosuka), after KENTo accidentally Yoshida with a box attack. Afterwards, Yoshida who was furious with KENTo, tried to kick him out of R.E.D, before Yoshida was the one to be kicked out of R.E.D. Meanwhile, R.E.D entered a rivalry with the Masquerade stable. The two stables would work exclusively against each other in multi-man tag team matches for the last part of January. On January 31, Diamante and Eita took part in the Open the Twin Gate #1 Contender's One Night Tournament, losing in the finals to Masaaki Mochizuki and Takashi Yoshida. During that night, following a six-man tag team match between Masquerade and R.E.D, Ishida challenged Shun Skywalker to a title match for the Open The Dream Gate Championship. Afterwards, Dragon Gate's General Manager Takayuki Yagi announced that the title match would take place on March 7 at Champion Gate in Osaka. On February 23, Diamante, Inferno and Kikuta defeated Team Boku (Bokutimo Dragon, Punch Tominaga and Ryo Saito) in the finals to win the Open The Triangle Gate Championship Next Challenger Team Decision Tournament to become the #1 contenders to the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. On March 6, on the first night of the Champion Gate in Osaka, Kikuta, Diamante and Inferno unsucessfully challenged Natural Vibes (Kzy, Genki Horiguchi and Susumu Yokosuka) for the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. On March 7 at Champion Gate in Osaka, Hulk and KAI lost the Open The Twin Gate Championship to Masaaki Mochizuki and Takashi Yoshida.
During this time in January, KENTo and KAI were involved in a feud with Dragon Kid and YAMATO, after on January 13, KAI and KENTo attacked them after their match. Afterwards, KAI reminded that YAMATO was alone, after deciding to disband the Dragon Gate stable. However, Dragon Kid decided to form a team with YAMATO, in order to avenge Toryumon, which R.E.D had forced to disband. Their feud with Kid and YAMATO to a match on February 5, where KAI and KENTo faced YAMATO and Kid. The match ended by disqualification after KENTo removed Kid's mask. However, dissatisfied with the outcome of the match, Kid and YAMATO faced KAI and KENTo in a rematch, which Kid pinned KENTo. On March 4, as part of their feud with High-End, KENTo faced Kid in a winning effort. Afterwards, YAMATO attacked him, until KAI appeared, which led to YAMATO facing KAI in a losing effort. After the match, YAMATO kept attacking KAI, until Dragon Gate's General Manager Takayuki Yagi announced that KAI would be forced to team with YAMATO against Kid and KENTo in a Mask vs. Hair Steel cage survival tag team match on May 5, at Dead or Alive. At Dead or Alive, Ishida and Sakamoto defeated Masaaki Mochizuki and Takashi Yoshida to win the Open The Twin Gate Championship. In the main event, KAI was the first wrestler to escape the match. Later that night, after Dragon Kid escaped, KENTo allowed YAMATO to escape and win the match for his team, in order to face Kid in the Mask vs. Hair match, which he lost, leading KENTo to be forced to shave his hair. Later that month, six members of R.E.D took part in the 2021 King of Gate; Diamante and Hulk in block A, Eita and KENTo in block B and Ishida and H.Y.O in block C. KENTo won his block and advanced to the finals of the tournament with a record three wins and two losses. Meanwhile, Diamante and Hulk finished tied second in their block, Eita finished second in his block, Ishida finished in the middle of his block and H.Y.O finished last in their block.
As part of his feud with R.E.D, Yoshino requested Eita and Hulk to team with him and Naruki Doi in a match at Dead or Alive, as an experience of teaming with wrestlers, whose match wouldn't be possible, before his retirement. Eita and Hulk accepted under the condition that Doi and Yoshino would be wearing red ring gear, which they accepted. In the match, Eita and Hulk ended up turning on Doi and Yoshino causing them to lose their match. On July 15, it was announced that Yoshino and Doi would face Eita and Hulk at Yoshino's retirement match. Meanwhile on June 26, following a three-way tag team match, between High-End, Natural Vibes and R.E.D, Natural Vibes' King Shimizu and Susumu Yokosuka challenged Kaito Ishida and Kazma Sakamoto to a title match for the Open The Twin Gate Championship at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival. This was followed by High-End's Ben-K and Dragon Kid, who also challenged Ishida and Sakamoto to a title match. Afterwards, Dragon Gate's General Manager Takayuki Yagi announced that Ishida and Sakamoto would defend their titles against Shimizu and Yokosuka in the first night, with the winner of that match facing Ben-K and Kid at the second night for the Open The Twin Gate Championship.
On July 31, at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, Ishida and Sakamoto lost the Open The Twin Gate Championship to Natural Vibes (King Shimizu and Susumu Yokosuka) marking Sakamoto's last appearance for the promotion with his Dragon Gate profile being removed from the Dragon Gate roster page on September 10, 2021. The following day at Speed Star Final, SB KENTo submitted former Open The Brave Gate Champion Keisuke Okuda during a six-man tag team match. Later that night, KENTo appeared on Kagetora backstage interview, challenging him to a title match for the Open The Brave Gate Championship, while proceeding to provking him, while in the main event, Eita, who during the year was looking to retiring Masato Yoshino, teamed with Hulk to defeat Yoshino and his Speed Muscle partner Naruki Doi at Yoshino's retirement match. On August 8, KENTo defeated Kagetora to win the Open The Brave Gate Championship. Following the match, KENTo was challenged by former champion Keisuke Okuda to a title match. The following day, KENTo and Okuda's title match ended in a no contest. Afterwards, Dragon Gate's newest General Manager Ryo Saito stripped KENTo of the championship, before announcing a rematch between the two on September 11 to crown a new Open The Brave Gate Champion. On September 11, 2021, KENTo defeated Keisuke Okuda in a rematch to win the Open The Brave Gate Championship for the second time. On September 20 at Dangerous Gate, Eita, H.Y.O and Ishida defeated Masquerade's Dragon Dia, Jason Lee and La Estrella to win the Open The Triangle Gate Championship in a event that celebrated the stable's three-year anniversary.
In October, as part of the feud between R.E.D and Masquerade, Inferno reignited his feud with Dragon Dia. On November 5, Inferno faced Dia in a no contest, leading General Manager Ryo Saito to announce a Mask vs. Mask tag team match, with Inferno teaming Diamante and Dia with Masquerade stablemate Shun Skywalker on December 1, with the loser of the fall having to unmask. At the event, Inferno and Diamante won the Lucha de Apuestas match, with Dia being forced to unmask after Skywalker pushed Dia into Diamante. Following the match, after achieving his goal, Inferno revealed himself to be Yuki Yoshioka, who returned from his excursion in Mexico.
On December 15, Eita, H.Y.O and Ishida lost the Open The Triangle Gate Championship to Shun Skywalker, Jason Lee and Kota Minoura. Afterwards, H.Y.O began having a rift with Eita and Ishida, mostly due to Eita's appearances in other promotions. On December 26 at Final Gate, KENTo and H.Y.O interfered during a match between Shun Skywalker and Kota Minoura, offering Skywalker help to win his match, tossing him a chair, while the referee was down, but he refused. Later hat night, KENTo and H.Y.O defeated Naruki Doi and Takashi Yoshida to win the Open The Twin Gate Championship. In the main event, KAI defeated YAMATO to win the Open The Dream Gate Championship, repeating their feat in 2018 and held every title in Dragon Gate in a calendar year.
Disbanding (2022)[]
On Janaury 12, 2022, Eita and Ishida began distacing themselves from H.Y.O, before winning the Open Triangle Gate Championship after defeating Masquerade's Jason Lee, Kota Minoura and Shun Skywalker. Following the match, Skywalker quit Masquerade, which in turn, led to H.Y.O to invite him to stable, with Skywalker accepting. However, Eita and Ishida were against his addition and Eita attempted to expel H.Y.O, leading the rest of R.E.D to turn on them. The following day, Eita and Ishida began proclaiming themselves as the real members of R.E.D, with the rest of stable being a fake version of R.E.D, before being joined by Yosuke♡Santa Maria. Later that night, KENTo and H.Y.O lost the Open The Twin Gate Championship to Dragon Dia and Yuki Yoshioka. Following Eita's departure on February 5, H.Y.O and KENTo decided to rename the stable to Z-Brats, in order to distance themselves to concept of R.E.D that was created by Eita.
Reception[]
Ever since its creation, after the poor reception, given to the stable's previous incarnation ANTIAS, R.E.D's leader Eita has been credited for the success of blending together the perfect blend of "youth and veteran wrestlers", with the stable being credited as one of the best heel stables in Japanese professional wrestling history.
Members[]
| * | Founding member |
|---|---|
| I | Leader |
| Member | Duration | |
|---|---|---|
| Big R Shimizu | * | September 24, 2018 – September 21, 2020 |
| Ben-K | * | September 24, 2018 – May 6, 2019 |
| BxB Hulk | December 18, 2019 – February 4, 2022 | |
| Daga | October 21, 2018 – December 23, 2018 | |
| Dia Inferno | October 7, 2020 – December 1, 2021 | |
| Diamante | August 7, 2019 – February 4, 2022 | |
| Eita | *I | September 24, 2018 – January 12, 2022 |
| HipHop Kikuta | December 2, 2020 – May 5, 2021 | |
| H.Y.O | October 8, 2019 – February 4, 2022 | |
| KAI | September 21, 2020 – February 4, 2022 | |
| Kaito Ishida | December 4, 2019 – January 12, 2022 | |
| Kazma Sakamoto | * | September 24, 2018 – September 10, 2021 |
| PAC | October 2, 2018 – July 21, 2019 | |
| SB KENTo | November 3, 2020 – February 4, 2022 | |
| Shun Skywalker | January 12, 2022 – February 4, 2022 | |
| Takashi Yoshida | * | September 24, 2018 – January 13, 2021 |
| Yasushi Kanda | * | September 24, 2018 – October 8, 2019 |
Associates[]
| Member | Duration |
|---|---|
| Hiroki | February 17, 2021 – February 26, 2021 |
| Bridgebook Kagetora | |
| Keisuke Okuda | October 14, 2018 – October 28, 2018 |
| Masato Yoshino | |
| Naruki Doi |
Sub-groups[]
| Affiliate | Members | Tenure | Type | Promotion(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Ben | Big R Shimizu Ben-K |
2018–2019 | Tag team | Dragon Gate |
Timeline[]
Championships and Accomplishments[]
- Dragon Gate
- Open The Dream Gate Championship (3 times) – PAC (1), Eita (1) and KAI (1)
- Open The Brave Gate Championship (4 times) – Eita (1) and Ishida (1), KENTo (2)
- Open The Twin Gate Championship (6 times) – Ben-K and Shimizu (1), Eita and Shimizu (1), Hulk and Sakamoto (1), Hulk and KAI (1), Ishida and Sakamoto (1) and H.Y.O and KENTo (1)
- Open The Triangle Gate Championship (6 times) – Yoshida, Kanda, and Sakamoto (1), Yoshida, H.Y.O and Diamante (1), Yoshida, Sakamoto and Diamante (1) and KENTo, Yoshida, and Sakamoto (1), Eita, H.Y.O and Ishida (2)
- King of Gate (2020) – Eita
- Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival Battle Royal (2020) – H.Y.O
- Open The Triangle Gate Championship Next Challenger Team Decision Tournament (2021) – Diamante, Inferno and Kikuta
- MVP Award (2018, 2020) – Eita
- Best Unit Award (2020)
- Best Tag Team Award (2020) – Hulk and KAI
- Rookie of the Year Award (2020) – KENTo
- Best Bout Award (2018) Eita vs. Naruki Doi on May 8
- Best Bout Award (2020) R.E.D vs. Toryumon Generation on December 20
- Fifth Grand Slam Champion – PAC
- Seventh Grand Slam Champion – Eita
- Royal Sambo (2021) – KENTo
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter
- 4½ Star Match (2019) PAC vs. Ben-K on July 21
- 4½ Star Match (2020) R.E.D vs. Toryumon Generation on December 20
Luchas de Apuestas record[]
| Winner (wager) | Loser (wager) | Location | Event | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naruki Doi (member) | Big R Shimizu (member; Ben-K) | Aichi, Japan | Dead or Alive | May 6, 2019 | [1] |
| Masato Yoshino (hair and career) | Big R Shimizu (hair and name) | Tokyo, Japan | Dangerous Gate | September 21, 2020 | [2] |
1 ^ This was a five-way steel cage match, also involving Kzy, YAMATO and Shun Skywalker, where Shimizu lost and as per the stipulation Shimizu decided to kick Ben-K out of R.E.D.
2 ^ This was a six-way survival steel cage match, also involving KAI, BxB Hulk, YAMATO, Eita and Masato Yoshino, where Shimizu lost and as per the stipulation shaved his part of his hair and revert to his old name Ryotsu Shimizu and was kicked out of R.E.D as per the stipulation.
Gallery[]
