UDG Championship Special Edition

One cannot recite the history of the Open the Dream Gate Championship without first looking at the Ultimo Dragon Gym Championship. This is because the first Open the Dream Gate Champion did not win the title, but rather was awarded it for being the final Ultimo Dragon Gym Champion.

The Ultimo Dragon Gym Champion would reign over Toryumon. Toryumon was the precursor to Dragon Gate. The company was born from Ultimo Dragon’s wrestling school. This independent wrestling promotion focused on junior wrestlers, graduated from the first four Ultimo Dragon Gym classes. Four years after the company’s debut they crowned their first champion. This happened at the third annual El Numero Uno tournament in 2003. In one night CIMA defeated Susumu Yokosuka of Do Fixer & YOSSINO of the Italian Connection to get to the finals. That came as no surprise to anyone. What did surprise people was the run made by Genki Horiguchi, who defeated his Do Fixer stablemate Magnum TOKYO & Masaaki Mochizuki of Shin M2K. By the end of the evening Horiguchi had completely captured the imagination of the Toryumon fans, but was still a hopeless underdog.

CIMA VS. Genki Horiguchi [Tournament Final/Ultimo Dragon Gym Championship Match – El Numero Uno 4/22/03]
Horiguchi is insanely over. He hits a dropkick to start. CIMA comes back with a back of back suplexes and a superkick. Horiguchi gets a roll up for 2. He gets a backslide for 2. CIMA puts on a chinlock. He slams Horiguchi’s leg to the mat. He does it again, this time driving his elbow into the back of the knee as well. He puts on a leglock. He hits a facebuster for 2. He works over the knee against the ropes. He puts on a modified cloverleaf but the crowd rallies behind Horiguchi. Horiguchi gets to the ropes. CIMA dropkicks his knee. He puts on a figure 4 leglock. Horiguchi rolls over but CIMA gets his leverage back. Horiguchi gets to the ropes. CIMA goes for a knee kick in the corner but Horiguchi dodges it and CIMA falls to the floor. Do Fixer attack CIMA but Crazy MAX fight them off. CIMA kicks Horiguchi’s head. He goes for a head scissors takedown but Susumu Yokosuka hits him with some kind of container to keep that from happening. Horiguchi dropkicks the back of CIMA’s head for 2. He puts on a guillotine choke but CIMA gets to the ropes. Horiguchi puts on the GH Lock but CIMA counters the hold. He releases to get a jackknife pin for 2. They trade pin attempts. Horiguchi hits a low blow. He hits a bodyslam and climbs the ropes. A moonsault misses its mark. CIMA hits the Perfect Driver for 2. He hits it again for 2. He hits the double knee kick, the Venus and the Iconoclasm. He climbs the ropes but the Mad Splash hits knees. CIMA hits a superkick but Ryo Saito throws powder in his eyes. Horiguchi hits him with the Beach Break for 2. He goes for another but has to settle simply for dropping CIMA on his face for 2. He hits a huge DDT. CIMA blocks the Beach Break and hits the Schwein. He rips the protective tape off of his back and sets Horiguchi up top. He hits the Venus three times. He hits the Iconoclasm and the Mad Splash for the win at 19:07. The heat for this match was incredible. Any time Horiguchi was in trouble the crowd got super hot for him. I’ve never been a huge fan of Horiguchi’s singles work but the energy here drove him to put on a hell of a show. After the match both men are tended to by their stables. Magnum TOKYO drags an unconscious Horiguchi to the back while the crowd loudly chants H-A-G-E the entire time. In the ring CIMA gets teary as he is awarded the Ultimo Dragon Gym Championship belt.
Rating: ***¾

CIMA wasted no time in lining up challengers, as only two weeks later he met the challenge of his trainer and the owner of Toryumon. Ultimo Dragon was getting ready to leave for a stint with WWE. Before going he was driven to win his gym’s top prize from his top student.

CIMA VS. Ultimo Dragon [Ultimo Dragon Gym Championship Match – El Numero Uno 5/6/03]
This match aired on Toryumon’s TV show Vamanos Amigos. The theme song for the show is some ska music that sounds great over Toryumon footage. Is that some Millencolin I hear during a Naruki Doi promo? They lock up and Dragon grabs a wristlock. He hits an armdrag. He puts on a headlock and hits a shoulder tackle. He misses an elbowdrop. CIMA gets a roll up for 2. He misses a senton. Dragon puts on a dragon sleeper but CIMA gets to the ropes. CIMA gets a takedown and works over Dragon’s side. They lock legs and slap each other upside down. Dragon puts on a headlock and hits right hands to the face. CIMA dropkicks his back. Dragon dodges a knee kick and CIMA falls to the floor. Dragon follows him out with the Asai moonsault. Back in the ring CIMA dodges a kick and hits an armbreaker. He puts on a top wristlock and then a cross armbreaker. Dragon gets to the ropes. He hits a crossbody. CIMA catches him with the Venus. He hits an armbreaker over the top turnbuckle. He hits Venus twice but a third attempt is countered to the dragon sleeper. The referee calls for the break being that Dragon is perched in the top turnbuckle. CIMA hits a superkick and the Schwein for 2. He puts on the Turkey but Dragon gets to the ropes. CIMA hits a double knee kick and the Iconoclasm. Dragon pops up and catches CIMA with a second rope hurricanrana for 2. CIMA gets a roll up for 2. They trade roll ups for a bit. CIMA hits a spinebuster. Dragon blocks the Schwein and hits a back heel kick to the face. He hits the Schwein on CIMA for 2. He hits a tombstone piledriver. He climbs the ropes but CIMA cuts him off and hits the Iconoclasm. He hits the Mad Splash for 1. Dragon unleashes a flurry of kicks. He hits a clothesline. CIMA hits a superkick. He hits an armbreaker. He goes for another but Dragon counters to a sleeper. Dragon hits a German suplex. He puts on the dragon sleeper but CIMA powers out. Dragon goes for the hold again but CIMA counters to the Perfect Driver. He hits the Schwein and the Mad Splash for the win at 12:12 shown of 20:04. Fun match but nothing groundbreaking, perhaps it was more powerful unclipped. I know it’s his company but Dragon’s no-selling was annoying.
Rating: ***

After the match Dragon wraps the title around CIMA’s waist and raises his arm in victory. Under the leadership of Magnum TOKYO Do Fixer comes out and celebrates Dragon’s farewell with him. It all culminates in everyone doing the Magnum TOKYO dance. Speaking of TOKYO and Do Fixer, on the following tour Do Fixer (who partied with Ultimo Dragon before he set out for America) sent Magnum TOKYO after the belt, in what would prove to be a challenge that CIMA could not overcome.

CIMA VS. Magnum TOKYO [Ultimo Dragon Gym Championship – El Camino Pera Aniversario]
The crowd falls silent as the match begins. They fight on the mat. They trade headlock takedowns. TOKYO hits a shoulder tackle. They trade armdrags and go for dropkicks. TOKYO hits a low blow. He bites CIMA’s face and crotches him on the middle rope. He hits a bodyslam and a standing corkscrew back flip legdrop. He hits a dropkick for 2. He puts on a seated abdominal stretch. CIMA dropkicks his knee. He slams the knee to the mat, dropping an elbow on it at the same time. He puts on his modified cloverleaf but TOKYO gets to the ropes. CIMA stays on the leg. He hits a double knee kick in the corner. He sets TOKYO up top and knocks him to the floor with the Venus. CIMA follows him out with a tope, taking out most of Do Fixer in the process. Back in the ring CIMA hits a facebuster for 2. TOKYO comes back with the Pelé kick. CIMA blocks the Gyrating Frankensteiner but not a dropkick to the face. TOKYO hits a clothesline and a bulldog. They fight over a suplex until TOKKO puts on a dragon sleeper. TOKYO hits a facebuster and the Zetsuen Kick. CIMA rolls to the floor so TOKYO follows him out with a springboard moonsault press. He drags CIMA up the ramp but gets hit with the Perfect Driver. Both men run back into the ring to beat the count at 19. CIMA gets a sunset flip for 2. TOKYO gets a victory roll for 2. He hits a lariat and the Erect Smasher for 2. He hits a bulldog and climbs the ropes. CIMA cuts him off with the Venus. He hits the Iconoclasm. He climbs the ropes but TOKYO hits the Venus and the Iconoclasm. He hits an enziguiri. He hits the Egoist Driver for 2. CIMA gets a roll up for 2. He hits an enziguiri and the Egoist Driver for 2. He hits the Perfect Driver for 2. He puts on the Turkey but TOKYO gets to the ropes. CIMA hits a back suplex. He climbs the ropes but TOKYO cuts him off and hits a superplex for 2. He hits the Egoist Driver for 2. CIMA returns the favor with the Egoist Driver. He hits the Schwein for 2. He sets TOKYO up top and hits the Venus three times. He hits the Iconoclasm but the Mad Splash hits knees. TOKYO hits a superkick and the Schwein for 2. He hits an implant DDT. He climbs the ropes and hits the AV Star Press for the win and the title at 27:25. This turned into an all finishers all the time match. Matches of that nature are fun to watch when they’re happening live but in hindsight they lack depth. They played up the finish to the CIMA/Horiguchi match, but I don’t think anyone thought that TOKYO wasn’t a superior challenge than Horiguchi was going into this.
Rating: ***½

It didn’t take long for Crazy MAX to respond to TOKYO’s title win by sending another member of their team to take the belt.

Magnum TOKYO VS. Don Fujii [Ultimo Dragon Gym Championship – Verano Peligroso]
TOKYO’s dancing entrance is simply amazing, and I’m shocked that the big ensemble dance hasn’t been lifted by one of the ROH factions. Sweet N’ Sour Inc I’m looking at you. Fujii hits a clothesline to start. TOKYO comes back with a knee kick but Fujii quickly puts him on the floor with a powerslam. He dives out after TOKYO and beats him with a chair. Back in the ring Fujii hits a bodyslam. He hits an elbowdrop for 2. TOKYO comes back with a clothesline and a bulldog. He hits a missile dropkick. He shoves Fujii to the floor and whips him into the crowd. He hits a chair shot to the back. Back in the ring he works over Fujii’s leg. He puts on a butterfly hold but Fujii gets to the ropes. They trade strikes and fall to their knees. Fujii hits a dropkick to the face. TOKYO dropkicks the knee. He hits a springboard dropkick to the knee. He puts on a figure 4 leglock until they roll to the floor. Fujii tries to get back into the ring so TOKYO pulls him to the floor, dropping his face on the edge of a table in the process. They fight to the stage where TOKYO piles chairs. He hits a dragon screw onto the pile. He hits Fujii’s knee with a chair. Fujii beats the count at 19. He hits a dropkick and TOKYO bails. Fujii follows him by falling onto him from the top rope. Back in the ring TOKYO gets a roll up for 2. He hits a back flip kick. He sets Fujii up top but Fujii fights him off and hits a kneedrop. He hits a clothesline to the back and a lariat to the chest for 2. He hits a powerbomb for 2. He hits a chokeslam for 2. He can’t hit a German suplex because of his bad knee. TOKYO kicks the knee and puts on a dragon sleeper. He hits the Erect Smasher for 2. He puts on the Rings of Saturn but Fujii gets to the ropes. TOKYO hits a clothesline and a forearm. Fujii hits a clothesline. He hits a DDT. He hits a German suplex for 2. He hits a clothesline for 2. He goes for another chokeslam but TOKYO blocks it and hits a knee kick and a right hand. He hits the Egiost Driver for 2. He strikes Fujii down for 2. They trade headbutts and lariats. TOKYO climbs the ropes and hits the AV Star Press for the win at 20:20. I was not expecting the full match to be shown on TV but hey, I’m not complaining. The finish felt tacked on but the rest of the match was full of good back-and-forth action.
Rating: ***¼

Next up on TOKYO’s plate was M2K’s Kenichiro Arai. Arai had gotten involved in a tag match that TOKYO was participating in on the previous tour, for those of you who are interested in some kind of back story.

Magnum TOKYO VS. Kenichiro Arai [Ultimo Dragon Gym Championship – Battalla de Otono II]
Arai grabs a headlock to start. They trade shoulder tackles until TOKYO hits the mat. Arai hits a hiptoss and a headbutt to the gut. TOKYO bails so Arai hits a suicide dive. Back in the ring he twists TOKYO’s leg over the top rope. He ties TOKYO in the ropes and sledges the knee. He puts on a figure 4 leglock. TOKYO gets to the ropes. He hits a hurricanrana. Arai misses a charge and hits the post. He falls to the floor so TOKYO dives out onto him. Back in the ring he hits a bulldog for 2. He sets Arai up top and hits the Gyrating Frankensteiner. He hits a lariat for 2. He hits a knee kick and the Erect Smasher for 2. He goes for the Egoist Driver but his knee gives out. Arai hits a top rope chinbreaker for 2. He hits a double jump moonsault and a springboard headbutt for 2. Milano looks on as Arai misses a diving headbutt. He puts on the anklelock with the other leg locked up. TOKYO gets to the ropes. Arai slaps him across the face. TOKYO hits a kick to the face. He hits the Egoist Driver for 2. He climbs the ropes but Arai brings him down with a nasty chinbreaker. He hits a tiger suplex for 2. TOKYO comes back with la magistral for the win at 10:40 of 21:39. That’s just shy (10 seconds actually) of my standard for giving a rating to a clipped match, but I will say that what was there enjoyable. TOKYO’s selling was top notch.

Milano Collection AT, the leader of the Italian Collection, was up next and had the honor of being TOKYO’s first challenger on Pay Per View. The two had been teaming until Milano challenged for the title and turned on TOKYO.

Magnum TOKYO VS. Milano Collection AT [Ultimo Dragon Gym Championship – La Ultima Caida 2003]
I have to reiterate that the choreography in TOKYO’s entrance is astonishing. They fight to a stalemate to start. Things speed up until TOKYO hits a head scissors takedown. He puts on the octopus stretch but Milano gets to the ropes. TOKYO puts on a chinlock. Milano gets to the ropes. TOKYO rakes his eyes on the top rope. He hits a bodyslam but misses the corkscrew legdrop. Milano slaps him across the face and hits a dropkick. TOKYO bails. Milano suplexes him back into the ring. He hits a senton and a standing moonsault for 2. He puts on a top wristlock but TOKYO gets to the ropes. Milano stays on the arm. He puts on a wristlock and slams the arm to the mat. He yanks the arm until TOKYO gets to the ropes. They chain wrestle until TOKYO puts on the Sharpshooter. Milano gets to the ropes. TOKYO stays on the leg. He kicks Milano around the ring. He kicks Milano’s leg until he can’t stand. He puts on a leglock but Milano gets to the ropes. He sets Milano up top but the Gyrating Frankensteiner is blocked. He catches Milano with a dropkick on his way down. Milano puts on an octopus stretch in the ropes. He dives onto TOKYO on the floor. Back in the ring he hits a handspring elbow. He hits a stunner for 2. TOKYO hits a clothesline and a bulldog. He climbs the ropes and hits a missile dropkick for 2. Milano puts on a sleeper hold in the ropes. He hits a back suplex. He hits the Emporio Armani Shoe. TOKYO kicks him around but Milano repeatedly blocks the Egoist Driver and hits an enziguiri. He hits the Victoria Milanese. He puts on the Italian Stretch. Do Fixer comes out to support TOKYO. TOKYO gets to the ropes. He hits the Erect Smasher for 2. He hits a pumphandle suplex but his arm is too messed up to capitalize. He climbs the ropes but Milano cuts him off and hits a super Ace Crusher for 2. He climbs the ropes and catches TOKYO with an armbreaker. He hits the Emporio Armani Shoe for 2. He puts on the AT Lock but TOKYO escapes. Milano hits another armbreaker. He hits the Armani Shoe Exchange for 2. TOKYO gets a roll up for 2. He kicks Milano’s chest for 2. He hits a lariat for 2. He hits it again for 2. He hits the Zetsuen Kick and climbs the ropes. He hits the AV Star Press for the win at 25:20. They had me believing Milano could win at the end there, but TOKYO was superman. It took a while to get going but they created an epic atmosphere by the end. After the match all of Do Fixer dances, but nobody quite as well as Genki. TOKYO sells his injuries from the match too.
Rating: ***¾

TOKYO was looking rather unstoppable when things took a bad turn. CIMA’s Crazy MAX sent one more challenger to the man who took the title from them. The always evil SUWA would finally get his shot at the top UDG prize.

Magnum TOKYO VS. SUWA [Ultimo Dragon Gym Championship – El Mes el Amor y la Amistad]
They lock up and SUWA forces TOKYO to the ropes. He slaps TOKYO across the face. TOKYO comes back with a kick to the face. He hits a bodyslam and kicks the back. SUWA blows snot at him. TOKYO goes to the eyes and kicks SUWA around. SUWA slugs him but runs into a big boot. He hits a clothesline and TOKYO bails. SUWA goes for a suicide dive so TOKYO catches him with a chair. TOKYO throws SUWA into the crowd through rows and rows of chairs. He goes to the eyes again. He hits a Manhattan drop and kicks SUWA in a chair. They both beat the count at 16. TOKYO stomps SUWA. He hits a bulldog and climbs the ropes. He hits a missile dropkick. He kicks SUWA’s chest. SUWA blocks a basement dropkick and hits one of his own. TOKYO hits the Zetsuen Kick. SUWA looks to be out but he responds by the time the referee gets to 6. TOKYO hits a flying kick. He goes after the leg. SUWA gets to the ropes. SUWA hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. He climbs the ropes and hits a flying clothesline. He hits a flapjack for 2. He hits the John Woo Special. They block each other’s finishers and SUWA goes to the eyes. TOKYO blocks the FFF with a backdrop. He climbs the ropes but TOKYO crotches him by sending the referee into the ropes. He brings SUWA down with a springboard hurricanrana. He hits a lariat for 2. They trade strikes until SUWA falls to the enziguiri. TOKYO hits the Egoist Driver for 2. He hits buzzsaw kicks and an axe kick to the face for 2. He climbs the ropes but SUWA brings him down with a big facebuster for 2. He hits the John Woo Special and the FFF. TOKYO staggers so SUWA hits the FFF again for the win and the title at 21:45. This was very punchy-kicky, but it’s what I expected from SUWA around this time period. Solid stuff, but not quite what TOKYO had been doing in other big match situations.
Rating: ***

Shortly after winning the title SUWA was injured and the title was vacated. A four-man one-night tournament was organized to crown a new champion. CIMA defeated YOSSINO and Shuji Kondo defeated Dragon Kid to make their way to the championship match. This would be the final match Toryumon match, as Ultimo Dragon had pulled out of the company and was taking his trademarks with him.

CIMA VS. Shuji Kondo [Tournament Finals/Ultimo Dragon Gym Championship – Vo Aniversario]
They lock up and Kondo powers CIMA to the ropes. They circle each other for a while before knuckling up. CIMA hits a northern lights suplex. Kondo gets a takedown. He hits a clothesline in the corner. CIMA dropkicks him to the floor. He follows Kondo out with a crazy plancha. Aagan Iisou brawls with CrazyMAX. Back in the ring CIMA hits an armbreaker. He hits a slingshot senton. He stands on Kondo’s hand. He punches the hand. Kondo goes to the eyes. He shoots CIMA to the floor where Aagan Iisou attacks. Back in the ring Kondo puts the boots to CIMA. He puts on a chinlock. With the referee distracted Kondo’s team tries to attack again but Touru Owashi keeps that from happening. Kondo hits a bodyslam for 2. He chokes CIMA with a chain. CIMA puts pressure on Kondo’s ankle to escape. Kondo blocks the Iconoclasm and puts on a knuckle lock. He puts on a Boston crab. CIMA powers out. Kondo puts on a head and arm lock. He hits a German suplex for 2. He tries to hit CIMA with a red box but CIMA blocks and hits a low blow. He somersaults intoa red box shot to Kondo’s head. Brother YASSHI goes for a chair shot but Don Fujii makes the save. CIMA dives off the chair onto Kondo and hits the Perfect Driver for 2. He hits it again for 2. Kondo picks up a chair. Owashi takes it from him but ends up hitting CIMA with it. He and Kondo both attack CIMA. That official who’s name I don’t know makes the save. Kondo hits the Original. He hits a big boot. CIMA comes back with a double knee kick. Kondo and YASSHI hit a powerbomb/Blockbuster combo for 2. Kondo puts on the Gorilla Clutch but CIMA escapes. Kondo blocks the coast to coast dropkick with a spear. He hits a brainbuster for 2. CIMA ducks the lariat and gets a roll up for 2. Kondo hits the Lanzarse. He hits the King Kong Lariat for 2. CIMA counters the lariat to the Nakayubi. He hits a superkick and the Schwein for 2. Kondo hits a lariat. CIMA blocks a lariat but takes damage to his arm. Kondo hits the King Kong Lariat. CIMA counters the Lanzarse to another Nakayubi. He hits the Tokarev for 2. He hits the Schwein and the Mad Splash for the win and the title at 22:04. I’m not going to pretend I know the storyline that lead to all the interference in the middle of the match. That part of the match was lost on me. However they were able to generate plenty of drama in the second half of the match, and the counter wrestling was fantastic.
Rating: ***½

After the match the entire roster, with the exception of Aagan Iisou come to the ring. CIMA addresses them one by one, thanking them for their work in Toyumon. He starts getting misty when addressing Susumu Yokosuka, loses it when talking to Kenichiro Arai, and then struggles through his messages to Masaaki Mochizuki and a weeping Ryo Saito. Saito tries to cover up by starting an H-A-G-E chant. TOKYO gives a little speech, confetti shoots across the ring and everyone hugs it out. I think they really missed an opportunity by not finishing up with everyone doing the Go Go TOKYO dance.

It was interesting to watch this as a precursor to Dragon Gate. The UDG title is hardly a proper microcosm of Toryumon as a whole, but even still the ride through it’s lineage was entertaining.