Toryumon Reunion (闘龍門、再会。 Toryumon, Saikai.) was a professional wrestling event promoted by Dragon Gate (DG). The show took place on January 31, 2020 at the Koruaken Hall in Tokyo, Japan. This event featured the reunion of various wrestlers that graduated from the Ultimo Dragon Gym classes and were trained by the founder of Toryumon system Último Drágon, which later led to the creation of the Toryumon stable in Dragon Gate by various students of Último Drágon. The event was also available in their streaming service Dragon Gate Network in both English and Japanese commentaries.
Production[]
Background[]
The Toryumon Reunion was officially announced on October 8, 2019. The would air live through Dragon Gate's internet streaming site, Dragon Gate Network, and Nico Nico Douga, with Japanese language and English language commentaries. The Japanese commentary was provided by Katsuya Ichikawa while the English commentary was provided by Larry Dallas and Jae Chruch. The event also aired on tape delay on the Japanese TV Gaora Sports to be launched in the Dragon Gate's ~ Infinity ~ Series.
Tickets went for sale on October 20, costing from 3,300¥ until 16,500¥. On January 20, 2020, Dragon Gate announced that most of the tickets for the event were sold out, with limited tickets being available.
During this time, on December 18, Dragon Gate announced the wrestlers for the show, which would include Ultimo Dragon Gym graduates from various classes of the Toryumon 2000 Project, Toryumon Japan and Toryumon X, with even some graduates reverting to their old gimmick for one night only. The event would also include the reunion of two Toryumon's legendary stables M2K and Italian Connection.
Último Dragón, who returned to the promotion at the event
During Dragón's time working for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in the United States, Dragón decided to open up a wrestling school to give Japanese hopefuls the chance to learn the Mexican Lucha Libre style. The wrestling school operated after the same principles of a university, divided into classes with several terms where wrestlers would "graduate" (debut) at the same time. The first class of Último Dragón Gym graduates began their own promotion, Toryumon Japan, while the second class of graduates called their promotion Toryumon 2000 Project, which primarily used a submission based style called Llave (Spanish for "Key" the Lucha libre term for submission locks). T2P ran until January 27, 2003, when the roster was absorbed into Toryumon Japan. That same year, Ultimo Dragon stepped down as President and Director of the Toryumon promotion, handing the reigns over to business partner Takashi Okamura, leaving Japan to sign with World Wrestling Entertainment. After his one-year stint in the WWE, Último Dragón returned to Japan in mid-2004, pulling out of the promotion altogether and take the Toryumon name and trademarks with him since he owned the rights. The last show to be promoted under the Toryumon Japan would be at the fifth-anniversary show "Vo Aniversario" at Kobe World Hall in Hyogo on July 4, 2004. Subsequently, Toryumon Japan changed its name to Dragon Gate, continuing the traditions of Toryumon Japan including references to Último Dragón.
In July 2019, Último Drágon returned to Dragon Gate as part of the celebration of its 20th anniversary, when the promotion was founded as Toryumon Japan. Afterwards, one of his former students Masato Yoshino began asking Drágon to join the promotion full-time, leading him to accept. Soon after, Dragón became a senior advisor for the promotion.
Storylines[]
The Toryumon Reunion featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.
Aftermath[]
On May 6, 2022, Dragon Gate announced there would be another Toryumon Reunion event taking place on June 3, 2022.
Results[]
| # | Results | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1D | Kento Kobune vs. Masahiro Inoue ended in a time limit draw | Singles match | 5:00 |
| 2 | Crazy Max (TARU, Sumo Fujii and SUWAcito) defeated Takeshi Minamino, Masahiro Takanashi and CHANGO | Six-man tag team match | 10:23 |
| 3 | Toru Owashi defeated Konomama Ichikawa | Singles match | 0:30 |
| 4 | Toru Owashi defeated Konomama Ichikawa by submission | Singles match | 8:50 |
| 5 | Kanjyuro Matsuyama won by last eliminating Shachihoko Machine #2[Note 1] | Dragon Scramble Battle Royal | 14:27 |
| 6 | Italian Connection (YOSSINO, Condotti Shuji, "brother" YASSINI and Milanito Collection a.t.) (with Pescatore Yagi) defeated SAITO, Kenichiro Arai, Koichiro Arai and Henry III Sugawara (with Anthony W. Mori) | Eight-man tag team match | 15:11 |
| 7 | Genki Horiguchi defeated Ryo Saito | Singles match | 11:46 |
| 8 | Último Dragón, Dragon Kid and Second Doi defeated M2K, (Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Mochizuki and Yasushi Kanda) | Six-man tag team match | 10:43 |
| 9 | Último Dragón, Masaaki Mochizuki, TARU and YOSSINO defeated R.E.D (Eita, Big R Shimizu, H.Y.O and Diamante) | Eight-man tag team match | 15:11 |
| |||
- ↑ Order of eliminations: Karaoke Machine, Darkness Dragon, Amigo Suzuki, Tsubo Genjin, Shachihoko Machine #1, Hisamaru Tajima and Shachihoko Machine #2.