Z-Brats (ズィーブラッツ Zīburattsu) is the top villainous professional wrestling stable, in the Dragon Gate (DG) promotion.
The stable was formed on February 4, 2022, by the remaining members of R.E.D, BxB Hulk, Diamante, H.Y.O, KAI, and Shun Skywalker, after R.E.D's previous leader Eita was banished from the stable, with KAI taking over the leadership of the new stable. Since their formation, despite a stagnant start, Z-Brats became one of the fastest unit to held all titles that Dragon Gate had to offer with KAI the Open The Dream Gate, H.Y.O holding the Open The Brave Gate, Diamante and Skywalker the Open The Twin Gate and KAI, Skywalker and ISHIN the Open The Triangle Gate Championships, following the latter's addition to the stable.
As part of a working relationship between Dragon Gate and Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah), Z-Brats began appearing for Noah, taking part in a storyline, where they feuded with Noah's junior heavyweight division, which was concluded in April 2022. In the year of 2023, the stable managed to held all titles that Dragon Gate had to offer for a second time. However, Z-Brats suffered two major departures; BxB Hulk who deffected to Gold Class and Diamante who was kicked out of the stable, following a storyline with Último Dragón, which resulted in Diamante losing his mask. This led to a feud with Luís Mante, where H.Y.O joined him and also left the stable, which in turn, he was replaced by Yoshiki Kato. Two months later, Gianni Valletta joined the stable.
History[]
Background[]
Since August 2021, R.E.D leader Eita began appearing for Pro Wrestling NOAH where he became part of the Los Perros del Mal de Japón stable, which cuased a rift between him and fellow R.E.D member H.Y.O. Meanwhile, R.E.D had began a feud with the Masquerade stable. During their feud, Shun Skywalker's relationship began reaching the point of collapse, after the latter purposely pushed fellow Masquerade stablemate Dragon Dia into Diamante during their Lucha de Apuestas match on December 1, which resulted in being Dia forced to unmask.
In January 2022, Eita and Kaito Ishida began distacing themselves from H.Y.O. After, Skywalker to quit Masquerade, H.Y.O to invited him to R.E.D, 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. Following Eita's departure on February 5, H.Y.O and R.E.D member SB 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.
KAI's leadership and fast championship success (2022–Present)[]
Meanwhile, Z-Brats began feud with R.E.D's previous leader Eita. Upon Eita being banished by R.E.D, he was joined by Yosuke♥Santa Maria. On February 5, during a six-man tag team match, Eita hit H.Y.O with Z-Brats' personalized box, before putting Maria on top of H.Y.O to earn the win for his team. The following day, KAI was named the leader of the stable, despite H.Y.O and KENTo serving as the mouthpieces of the stable. On February 20, Hulk, H.Y.O and Skywalker represented Z-Brats in a tournament to crown the new Open The Triangle Gate Champions. At the tournament, Hulk, H.Y.O and Skywalker defeated Riki Iihashi, Ishin Iihashi and Takuma Fujiwara in the semifinals, before losing to Natural Vibes' Kzy, Jacky "Funky" Kamei and U-T in the finals.
On March 23, H.Y.O, KENTo and Skywalker under the disguise of Metal Warrior, made their debut in Pro Wrestling NOAH (NOAH), attacking Alejandro, Daisuke Harada and Junta Miyawaki, before challenging them to a match at Majestic on April 29. During this month, Skywalker began persuading Jason Lee to join him at Z-Brats, stating that Lee could not be without him, stating that he was betrayed by everybody around him. Fellow Hongkonger, Ho Ho Lun persuaded Lee to not join them, before being attacked by Z-Brats. Afterwards, High-End and Natural Vibes also approached him, leading Dragon Gate General Manager Ryo Saito to schedule a three-way match between the three stables, with the winner having Lee joining them. Afterwards, Skywalker began trying to persduade Lee to join Z-Brats, due to their previous relationship as part of Masquerade. On April 25, Lee faced fellow Hong Kong wrestler Ho Ho Lun, with Lee defeating Lun after Z-Brats interfered and distracted Lun, allowing Lee to hit a low blow followed by an Inside Cradle to win the match, with Lee apparently turning heel and siding Skywalker. Later that night, the three-way match ended in a double pinfall, with Natural Vibes and Z-Brats winning the match. After the match, General Manager Ryo Saito stated that both should negotiate to see which stable Lee would join. Afterwards, instead of joining Z-Brats, Lee turned on Skywalker and joined Natural Vibes, proclaiming that the three-way match was part of his plan to join them. Four days later, at Majestic, Z-Brats made their in-ring debut in Pro Wrestling NOAH, with H.Y.O, KENTo and Skywalker facing Alejandro, Daisuke Harada and Junta Miyawaki in a winning effort. On May 5, at Dead or Alive, Diamante and Skywalker defeated Dragon Dia and Yuki Yoshioka to win the Open The Twin Gate Championship. Later that month, all members of Z-Brats took part in the 2022 King of Gate. All of them failed to win the tournament with Skywalker being defeated in the semifinals by Yuki Yoshioka on June 2. On July 30 in the first night of Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, KENTo won a Dragon Scramble match to become the number one contender to the Open Brave Gate Championship. Later that night, H.Y.O defeated Dragon Dia to win the Open The Brave Gate Championship, setting up the title match between both stablemates at the second night. Also in the event, Diamante and Skywalker lost the Open The Twin Gate Championship to Jason Lee and Jacky "Funky" Kamei. In the main event, KAI lost the Open The Dream Gate Championship to Yuki Yoshioka. The following day, KENTo unsucessfully challenged H.Y.O for the Open The Brave Gate Championship. Afterwards, it was announced that KENTo would be sent to learning to Mexico and United States for an indefinite period of time, at his request.
In September, Z-Brats embarked on a short feud with Natural Vibes, after Skywalker challenged Kzy to full-scale battle, with the angle leading the various matches between the two stables. Their feud saw them face each other in a no disqualification match on September 19 at Dangerous Gate, which Z-Brats won. Shortly after, members of Z-Brats began facing members of Natural Vibes in various singles matches, with U-T facing H.Y.O in a winning effort. Aftewards, Gold Class was dragged into their feud, after Z-Brats attacked Ben-K, leading to a match on October 16, where Diamante and Hulk were defeated by Ben-K and Kota Minoura. During the event, Z-Brats unvield a new member to the stable with Masked Z, being announced as KAI and Skywalker patners to a title match for the Open The Triangle Gate Championship at Gate of Destiny on November 6. At the event, Masked Z was revealed to be Ishin Iihashi, who was part of M3K earlier that night, before renaming himself to "ISHIN" and subsequently defeating M3K (Masaaki Mochizuki, Mochizuki Junior and Susumu Mochizuki) to win the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. On December 2, KAI and Hulk defeated Dragon Dia and Madoka Kikuta to win the Open The Twin Gate Championship. They lost the titles to Big Boss Shimizu and Kzy on December 4.
During this time, tensions began to arrise, within Z-Brats, on December 16, Skywalker was defeated by Kzy in a match. Afterwards, Hulk and Skywalker got into an argument, which Skywalker to attack Hulk, only to be caught by him, leading Diamante and ISHIN to seperate them. On December 25 at Final Gate, H.Y.O lost the Open The Brave Gate Championship to Minorita. Two days later, Hulk and Skywalker resolved their issues and began feuding with High-End, which led to a Unit Disbands match on January 11. At the event, Z-Brats defeated High-End in Unit Disbands match, forcing them to disband. Afterwards, Hulk turned on H.Y.O and KAI and deffected to Gold Class. The following day, Skywalker defeated Yuki Yoshioka to win the Open The Dream Gate Championship. On January 22, KAI, ISHIN and Skywalker lost the Open The Triangle Gate Championship to Ben-K, BxB Hulk, and Kota Minoura. In February, Z-Brats was represented by two teams in separate blocks in the 2023 Rey De Parejas; H.Y.O and ISHIN in block A and Skywalker and KAI in block B. H.Y.O and ISHIN finished their block with a record of two wins, one draw, and two losses, failing to advance to the semifinals of the tournament. Meanwhile, Skywalker and KAI finished the tournament with a record of four wins and one loss, advancing to the semifinals of the tournament. On March 2, Skywalker and KAI were defeated by Yuki Yoshioka and Madoka Kikuta in the semifinals. On May 5, at Dead or Alive, Skywalker lost the Open The Dream Gate Championship to Madoka Kikuta. During this months, Diamante and Skywalker were involved in a storyline with Último Drágon, after Diamante return to Dragon Gate, attacked Dragón, ripping his mask, holding it in his hand. Diamante began campaigning to face Drágon in a match, however he refused, leading him to be suspended by Dragon Gate's General Manager Ryo Saito's. On June 1, Dragon Kid appeared and introduced a video message from Dragón, who accepted the match against Diamante. This storyline dragged out Shun Skywalker, Strong Machine J and Dragon Kid and led to a five-way mask vs. mask steel cage survival match at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival on July 2. At the event, ISHIN defeated Jason Lee to win the Open The Brave Gate Championship. Later that night, in the finals moment of the match, Diamante saved Skywalker from his losing his mask in the match, when he, Skywalker and Strong Machine J were the only ones left in the cage. After Machine escaped from the cage, Skywalker, alone with Diamante, seemingly offered an act of gratitude towards him. It looked as if Skywalker, who had been saved by Diamante, was going to sacrifice his mask so that Diamante could escape. However, Skywalker turned on Diamante, and later tied the back of his mask to the ring ropes, paving the way for an easy exit from the cage. Faced with the proposition of either removing his mask to halt Skwyalker's progress up the cage, or deal with the crushing defeat and subsequent unmasking, Diamante chose the latter and Skywalker left the cage, leading Diamante to lose the match being forced to reveal his real name and forced to unmask, which he asked Dragón to remove his mask, being kicked of out the stable in the process.
Three days later, after Diamante sided with Último Dragón, Z-Brats came out and laughed at Diamante for losing his mask. Diamante then delivered a dropkick to Shun Skywalker, before announcing that he would return to Mexico for a brief period of time. On October 6, he returned to Dragon Gate under the ring name Luís Mante, confronting Skywalker, and challenging him to a singles match. Despite his challenge, Skywalker accepted under the condition that Mante would face him on a 4-on-1 handicap match, between Mante and Z-Brats, which he accepted. On October 9 at Gate of Origin, ISHIN lost the Open The Brave Gate Championship to Kzy, before regaining it on October 14. On November 5 at Gate of Destiny, Yoshiki Kato, who was teaming with Mochizuki Junior, turned on him to join the stable. On November 9, H.Y.O turned on Z-Brats, during the stable's Four-on-One handicap match against Luís Mante, after he threw powder in the face of Shun Skywalker, which allowed Mante to secure the win. Afterwards, H.Y.O challenged ISHIN to a title match for the Open The Brave Gate Championship. Meanwhile, Mante challenged KAI to a match. On December 2, Mexican wrestler Demus was announced as the newest member of the stable. Three days later, after KAI was defeated by Mante, he challenged Skywalker to a match, but he refused stating that he was not afraid to lose to Mante, due to being the best wrestler in Dragon Gate. This led to Madoka Kikuta coming to ring, proclaming the he was the best wrestler since he was the Open The Dream Gate Champion. After Dragon Gate's General Manager Ryo Saito came out, Kikuta proposed a three-way match, with Saito setting the match between the three. Later that night, ISHIN lost the Open The Brave Gate Championship to H.Y.O. On December 19, KAI announced that Gianni Valletta would join the stable on January 10, 2024. On December 24 at Final Gate, KAI, ISHIN and Kato defeated YAMATO, Dragon Kid and Punch Tominaga to win the Open Triangle Gate Championship. Later that night, Skywalker failed to win the three-way match for the Open The Dream Gate Championship, which was won by Mante. Afterwards, Skywalker demanded to be Mante's first challenger for the title.
During this time, Z-Brats, Big Hug and D'Courage began trying to convince Jacky "Funky" Kamei to join their stable. On January 21, KAI promised a surprise at Gate of Bayside on January 27. At the event, a mysterious wrestler Mask de Z appeared wearing Kamei's attire, before assisting KAI, ISHIN and Kato to retain the Open The Triangle Gate Championship against Natural Vibes (Strong Machine J, Big Boss Shimizu and Kzy). Afterwards, both sides agree to a five-on-five match. Later that night, Skywalker unsucessfully challenged Luís Mante for the Open The Dream Gate Championship, to end their feud. Shortly after, Skywalker planted the idea that a traitor was among Natural Vibes. On February 7, Z-Brats faced Natural Vibes in a winning effort after a missed communication within Natural Vibes. On February 24, KAI, ISHIN and Kato vacated the Open The Triangle Gate Championship, after Kato was sidelined with a right knee injury. On March 3 at Champion Gate in Osaka, KAI, ISHIN and Skywalker defeated Dragon Dia, Madoka Kikuta and Ryoya Tanaka to win the vacant Open Triangle Gate Championship. On March 30, during a league match in the 2024 Rey de Parejas, Lee turn on Jacky "Funky" Kamei to join Z-Brats, revealing himself to be Mask de Z. Despite every Z-Brats team failing to reach the semifinals of the 2024 Rey de Parejas, their feud continued to extend throughout the following months, with Dragon Gate's General Manager Ryo Saito setting up a Steel Cage match between them and Natural Vibes and Hyo, who came to their aim, at Dead or Alive on May 5. At the event, despite Strong Machine J pretending to join Z-Brats and turn on Skywalker, he managed to be the second wrestler to escape the cage and save his mask. In the finals moments of the match, Lee was the last wrestler to escape the match, after Hyo, who had the chance to leave early in the match, chose to stay and assist Kamei from a Lee and Skywalker attack, forcing Hyo to shave his hair. On May 9, Skywalker, KAI and ISHIN lost the Open The Triangle Gate Championship to Big Boss Shimizu, Strong Machine J and U-T.
On August 1, Skywalker placed a mask on Minorita and he appeared to be brainwashed as "Mini Skywalker", leading Kota Minoura to save him and remove the mask. However, as Gold Class was leaving Z-Brats kidnapped Minorita. Later that night, Minoura demanded Skywalker to return him, but Skywalker insisted that Minorita was his property, leading Minoura to challenge him to a match at Dangerous Gate. At the event, on August 12, Z-Brats faced Gold Class in a match to decide who would get Minorita. Despite Minorita being placed the Mini Skywalker mask, he managed to take it off and attacked Z-Brats, leading Kota Minoura to secure the win for Gold Class. However, after the match, Minoura turned on Minorita claiming that he had become too independent and had abandoned his role as mascot, before joining Z-Brats and attacking Gold Class. On September 5, Big Hug and Gold Class offered rookie Homare Kato an invitation to join their groups. However in a surprise turn of events, Kato revealed that he chose to join Z-Brats, following an admiration he had by Shun Skywalker, since he was trainee. Later that night, Valetta attacked Riiita, this led to a escalation in their feud with Gold Class, leading Minoura to challenge his former stable to a loser leave unit expulsion match between Z-Brats and Gold Class. At the match, on October 4, Z-Brats defeated Gold Class in the loser leave unit expulsion match, with Minoura scoring the pinfall victory over BxB Hulk, forcing him out of Gold Class. Following the match, Z-Brats was confronted by Gold Class and Big Hug, who challenged them to a match.
Reception[]
Ever since its foundation, after an initial poor reception, given to the name of the unit, the stable began having a very positive reaction within the audience following the angles involving H.Y.O and SB KENTo's pursuit of the Open The Brave Gate Championship, its leader KAI being the Open The Dream Gate Champion, the development of Shun Skwalker's heel personality and the recent addition of Ishin Iihashi, led to the stable receive a very positive reaction with the audience.
Members[]
| * | Founding member |
|---|---|
| I | Leader |
Current[]
| Member | Duration | |
|---|---|---|
| Gianni Valletta | January 10, 2024 – Present | |
| Homare Kato | September 5, 2024 – Present | |
| ISHIN | November 6, 2022 – Present | |
| Jason Lee | March 30, 2024 – Present | |
| KAI | *I | February 4, 2022 – Present |
| Kota Minoura | August 12, 2024 – Present | |
| Shun Skywalker | * | February 4, 2022 – Present |
| Yoshiki Kato | November 5, 2023 – Present | |
Former[]
| Member | Duration | |
|---|---|---|
| BxB Hulk | * | February 4, 2022 – January 11, 2023 |
| Demus | December 2, 2023 – December 19, 2023 | |
| Diamante | * | February 4, 2022 – July 2, 2023 |
| H.Y.O | * | February 4, 2022 – November 9, 2023 |
| SB KENTo | * | February 4, 2022 – July 31, 2022 |
Sub-groups[]
| Affiliate | Members | Tenure | Type | Promotion(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Bamishiri Brothers | SB KENTo H.Y.O |
2022 | Tag team | DG NOAH |
| Shun Skywalker and Diamante | Shun Skywalker Diamante |
2022–2023 | DG |
Timeline[]
In wrestling[]
- Double-team finishing moves
- Diamante and KENTo
- MCC (Super Torre (Diamante) / Jumping cutter (KENTo) combination)
- Diamante and Skywalker
- Cielo Finale (Pumphandle suplex side slam)
- La Combinación DSD (Assisted pop-up wheelbarrow facebuster)
- Diamante and KENTo
- Entrance themes
- "Letting Zoom" by YO-HEI
Championships and Accomplishments[]
- Dragon Gate
- Open The Dream Gate Championship (2 times) – KAI (1), and Skywalker (1)
- Open The Brave Gate Championship (3 times) – H.Y.O (1) and ISHIN (2)
- Open The Triangle Gate Championship (3 times) – KAI, Skywalker and ISHIN (2) and KAI, ISHIN and Kato (1)
- Open The Twin Gate Championship (2 times) – Diamante and Skywalker (1) and KAI and Hulk (1)
- Major League Wrestling
- MLW Middleweight Championship (1 time) – Skywalker
Gallery[]
