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The Open The Dream Gate Championship is the top singles championship in Dragon Gate. It is the successor to the Ultimo Dragon Gym Championship from Toryumon Japan, which had been discontinued as a result of the split from Toryumon. Being the last Ultimo Dragon Gym Champion, CIMA was named the first Dream Gate Champion.

Overview[]

The belt itself is rather unique. The name of the champion is engraved onto a plate, which is then placed on the face of the belt and protected by a locked gate. For a competitor to be a challenger for the title, he must secure a Challenger's Key. If the champion successfully defends the title, the loser's key is added to the belt as a trophy. If the challenger wins the title, the key will unlock the gate, allowing him to replace the old nameplate with his own.

Each champion can devise their own method for how one can secure a Challenger's Key. Most of the time, these are done through the creation of matches, like in CIMA's third reign by holding battle royal matches dubbed CIMA Royale. Other times, there are different methods, such as when Masato Yoshino used a lottery system to determine his next challenger. Sometimes, the winner of the King of Gate tournament will be granted a Challenger's Key as proof of their being the strongest competitor over the previous one year period.

Since its inception, Dream Gate has not only be defended in every Kobe World Hall pay-per-view event, but it has also been placed indefinitely as the show's main event. A slight exception was made in 2006 when a No Rope Bonus Match took place after the Dream Gate match, and while it appeared to have aired on pay-per-view it was officially considered a post-show dark match.

In 2013, then-champion CIMA vowed to defend the belt once every month so long as he remained champion. Though his reign ended in July, the concept remained with the addition of the belt being defended on every show at Korakuen Hall. This is even if it had already been defended on another show during the month, such as Masato Yoshino defending on November 3 as part of the Gate of Destiny pay-per-view and then the belt being defended four days later at Korakuen Hall and also in 2017 YAMATO defended the title in 5-Way Survival Steel Cage match at the Dead or Alive against Shingo Takagi, BxB Hulk, Cyber Kong and Naruki Doi. The original title belt was lost following 2015 Kobe Pro Wrestling Festival on July 20, forcing the promotion to create a new belt, which debuted on August 16, 2015. YAMATO, Shingo Takagi and Masato Yoshino share the most reigns as champions with 4 reigns. On December 4, 2018, PAC became the second gaijin, and the first British Open The Dream Gate Champion.

On February 24, Naruki Doi revealed on Twitter that a new version of the Open The Dream Gate Championship, with the new logo of the promotion would be unveiled on March 1 before his match against Susumu Yokosuka. On March 1, Doi defeated Yokosuka to retain the title, while also receiving the new belt.

Title History[]

# Wrestler Reign Date Location Event Length Defenses Notes
1 CIMA 1 July 4, 2004 Kobe, Hyogo Vo Aniversario 175 Days 1 Was awarded the title for being last Ultimo Dragon Gym Champion; made official in Tokyo on August 1, 2004.
2 Masaaki Mochizuki 1 December 16, 2004 Tokyo Gate of Legend 323 Days 4
3 Magnitude Kishiwada 1 November 4, 2005 Tokyo Crown Gate 2005 - Day 3 112 Days 2
4 Ryo Saito 1 February 24, 2006 Tokyo, Japan Truth Gate 2006 - Day 8 58

Days

0
5 Susumu Yokosuka 1 April 23, 2006 Tokyo Glorious Gate 2006 - Day 8 214 Days 3
6 Don Fujii 1 November 23, 2006 Tokyo Crown Gate 2006 - Day 6 122 Days 1
7 Jushin Thunder Liger 1 March 25, 2007 Tsu, Mie Memorial Gate 2007 98 Days 1
8 CIMA 2 July 1, 2007 Kobe, Hyogo Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival 2007 364 Days 6
Vacated June 29, 2008 Osaka CIMA vacated title due to injury.
9 Shingo Takagi 1 July 27, 2008 Kobe, Hyogo Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival 2008 154 Days 3 Defeated BxB Hulk in a decision match.
10 Naruki Doi 1 December 28, 2008 Fukuoka Final Gate 2008 - Day 3 449 Days 8
11 YAMATO 1 March 22, 2010 Tokyo Compilation Gate 2010 111 Days 3
12 Masato Yoshino 1 July 11, 2010 Kobe, Hyogo Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival 2010 277 Days 4
13 Masaaki Mochizuki 2 April 14, 2011 Tokyo Champion Gate 2011 - Day 3 255 Days 6
14 CIMA 3 December 25, 2011 Fukuoka Final Gate 2011 574 Days 15
15 Shingo Takagi 2 July 21, 2013 Kobe, Hyogo Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival 2013 33 Days 0
16 YAMATO 2 August 23, 2013 Tokyo The Gate Of Generation 2013 - Day 10 48 Days 1
17 Masato Yoshino 2 October 10, 2013 Tokyo The Gate of Victory - Day 5 143 Days 4
18 Ricochet 1 March 2, 2014 Osaka Champion Gate In Osaka 2014 - Day 2 64 Days 1
19 YAMATO 3 May 5, 2014 Nagoya Dead or Alive 2014 76 Days 2
20 BxB Hulk 1 July 20, 2014 Kobe Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival 2014 16 Days 0
Naruki Doi
Provisional
August 5, 2014 Tokyo Scandal Gate 2014 12 Days 0 Defeated Hulk in a four-on-one Handicap match where is partners were Kzy, Cyber Kong and Mondai Ryu. Afterwards Doi was recognized as a "provisional" champion, pending a rematch.
20 BxB Hulk 1(2) August 17, 2014 Tokyo Dangerous Gate 2014 301 Days 7 Defeated Naruki Doi in a rematch to resume his reign and make his first successful title defense.
21 Masato Yoshino 3 June 14, 2015 Fukuoka Champion Gate in Hakata 2015 - Day 2 63 Days 1
22 Shingo Takagi 3 August 16, 2015 Tokyo Dangerous Gate 2015 182 Days 4 Takagi's defense against Gamma was declared an unsuccessful attempt & Takagi didn't receive a Dream Key due to massive interference by VerserK/a no contest on 12/3/2015
23 Jimmy Susumu 2 Febuary 14, 2016 Fukuoka Truth Gate 2016 - Day 8 21 Days 0 Previously known as Susumu Yokosuka.
24 Shingo Takagi 4 March 6, 2016 Tokyo Champion Gate in Osaka 2016 - Day 2 140 Days 1
25 YAMATO 4 July 24, 2016 Kobe Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival 2016 421 Days 6
26 Masaaki Mochizuki 3 September 18, 2017 Oita Dangerous Gate 2017 265 Days 5
27 Masato Yoshino 4 June 10, 2018 Fukuoka King of Gate - Day 17 177 Days 4
28 PAC 1 December 4, 2018 Tokyo Fantastic Gate 2018 - Day 1 229 Days 3
29 Ben-K 1 July 21, 2019 Kobe Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival (2019) 147 Days 3
30 Naruki Doi 2 December 15, 2019 Fukuoka Final Gate (2019) 231 Days 2
31 Eita 1 August 2, 2020 Wakayama Memorial Gate in Wakayama (2020) 105 Days 1
32 Shun Skywalker 1 November 15, 2020 Kobe Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival (2020) 259 Days 5
33 YAMATO 5 August 1, 2021 Kobe Speed Star Final 147 Days 3
34 KAI 1 December 26, 2021 Fukuoka Final Gate 2021 216 Days 3
35 Yuki Yoshioka 1 July 30, 2022 Kobe Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival (2022) 166 Days 5
36 Shun Skywalker 2 January 12, 2023 Tokyo Open The New Year Gate 2023 - Day 2 113 Days 1
37 Madoka Kikuta 1 May 5, 2023 Nagoya Dead or Alive (2023) 233 Days 3
38 Luís Mante 1 December 24, 2023 Fukuoka Final Gate 2023 163 Days 3 This was a three-way elimination match also involving Shun Skywalker.
39 Ben-K 2 June 4, 2024 Tokyo Rainbow Gate 2024 - Day 3 47 Days 0
40 YAMATO 6 July 21, 2024 Kobe Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival 2024 357+ 8 During YAMATO's reign, on December 15, at Final Gate, Open The Brave Gate Champion Dragon Dia in a "Winner Takes All" match, both titles remained independently active; However, YAMATO relinquished the Open The Brave Gate Championship on April 7, due to also holding the Dream Gate Championship, giving continuity of his reign.

Combined Reigns[]

Indicates the current champion
Rank Wrestler No. of
reigns
Combined
defenses
Combined
days
1 YAMATO 6 20 1160+
2 CIMA 3 22 1113
3 Masaaki Mochizuki 3 15 840
4 Naruki Doi 2 10 680
5 Masato Yoshino 4 13 660
6 Shingo Takagi 8 509
7 Shun Skywalker 2 6 372
8 BxB Hulk 1 7 329
9 Susumu Yokosuka / Jimmy Susumu 2 3 235
10 Madoka Kikuta 1 233
11 PAC 229
12 KAI 216
13 Ben-K 2 194
14 Yuki Yoshioka 1 5 166
15 Luís Mante 3 163
16 Don Fujii 1 122
17 Magnitude Kishiwada 2 112
18 Eita 1 105
19 Jushin Thunder Liger 98
20 Ricochet 64
21 Ryo Saito 0 58

Gallery[]