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32-554: On July 4, 2004, Último Dragón departed from the Toryumon Gym and seized ownership of the "Toryumon" trademarks. The Toryumon Japan promotion subsequently restructured and changed its name to Dragon Gate. Dragon Gate declared Cima (the last one to hold the Último Dragón Gym Championship ) to be the inaugural Open the Dream Gate Champion , thus making him the first champion in the promotion's history. Dragon Gate would make

64-550: A TV deal to air on Gaora TV, who was also a shareholder of All Japan Pro Wrestling after Motoko Baba sold the rights to the company and gave her power to Keiji Muto . Dragon Gate TV's first episode aired live on July 16, 2004. AJPW TV episodes would also air commercials advertising Dragon Gate's TV debut and would frequently promote future Dragon Gate shows during AJPW commercials, despite there being little interpromotional crossover of AJPW and Dragon Gate in their events. Dragon Gate TV would use an anime intro depicting their wrestlers,

96-477: A combination of wrestlers from the Mexican Independent circuit , IWRG and Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). Seiji Sakaguchi Seiji Sakaguchi ( 坂口征二 , Sakaguchi Seiji , born February 17, 1942) is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and judoka , Sakaguchi holds a 7th dan red and white belt in judo. Sakaguchi was a mainstay of New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and also competed for

128-673: A joint effort to further develop professional wrestling in Japan through promotion and organization, with Seiji Sakaguchi being named as the chairman of the project. Dragongate Network is a subscription-based video streaming service owned by Japanese professional wrestling promotion Dragongate. Development of the on-demand service was announced on March 21, 2018. Dragongate Network was officially launched on April 1, 2018. It operates similarly to WWE Network , New Japan Pro-Wrestling 's NJPW World and most notably Ring of Honor 's Honor Club , in that pay-per-view events are available to stream through

160-699: A major cult following and grew into becoming one of the hottest independent promotions in the country. The promotion would run for five years. On July 4, 2004, Último Dragón left the promotion and took the name and trademarks with him. Toryumon Japan's wrestlers and officials decided to form a new promotion, adopting the name Dragon Gate (later Dragongate) and continuing in the traditions of Toryumon. Since then Último Dragón would continue to promote Toryumon events mainly in Mexico but also has occasionally held shows in Japan until 2020 when he signed with Dragongate. During his time working for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in

192-466: A mistake during an elbow surgery that caused nerve damage . In 2001 Dragón had another round of surgery on his elbow, restoring mobility and feeling. Following his rehabilitation Último Dragón made his return to active wrestling on a Toryumon / T2P co-promoted pay-per-view on September 8, 2002. In the following months Dragón wrestled regularly for Toryumon and various companies around the world. Because of his active scheduled Último Dragón stepped down as

224-496: A series of PPVs under the names Vamonos Amigos ("Let's go friends" in Spanish) and "Revolucion" ("Revolution") as well as an annual anniversary show. They also held an annual Numero Uno League that became one of the highlights of the promotional year. Since the split in 2004 Toryumon has not promoted any major shows or PPVs, focusing their promotional efforts on Toryumon Mexico. In Mexico Dragón promoted an annual DragonMania show, with

256-770: Is a list of Japanese wrestlers who have graduated from the Dragongate Dojo in Kobe, along with the USA Dojo in Houston, Texas. Graduates are regarded as Trueborn , having been trained in the Dragon System exclusively through Dragongate as opposed to the Último Dragón Gym. They are listed in alphabetical order. (I-J Heavyweight Tag Team Championship unified with Open the Twin Gate Championship on October 12, 2007) Dragon Gate Nex

288-501: Is best known under the ring name Último Dragón . Toryumon is a coined word that means Fighting Dragon Gate . The word was derived from the homonym Tōryūmon ( 登龍門 ) that literally means climbing up the dragon gate (or less literally climbing up the gateway to success ). The Toryumon Mexico promotion was originally created to give graduates of the Último Dragón Gym a promotion to gain their initial in-ring experience in. Its Japan-based sister promotion Toryumon Japan developed

320-516: Is one of only a handful of North American matches that wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer has given a five-star rating . Both Ring of Honor's All Star Extravaganza III on March 30 and Supercard of Honor II on March 31, 2007, in Detroit, Michigan featured Dragon Gate in the main events. October 12, 2007 Baseball Magazine Sha, the publisher of Puroresu Shukan released Dragon Gate trading cards . In 2008, Dragon Gate promoted their first set of shows in

352-566: The World Wide Wrestling Federation and the National Wrestling Alliance . His sons are professional wrestler and mixed martial arts fighter Yukio Sakaguchi and television actor Kenji Sakaguchi . Sakaguchi currently works for New Japan as an advisor. Before becoming a professional wrestler, Sakaguchi was a judoka with a fifth degree black belt and won the 1965 All Japan Judo Championship . Coach Koji Sone

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384-528: The Dragon Gate Arena, the main training ring at the Dragon Gate offices in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan. In addition to the recent graduates, comedy characters, gaijin talent, and any freelance wrestler currently on tour in Japan would also compete on these shows. The occasional main card member of the roster would compete as well. This was done to further enhance the experience to be gained for the trainees and teach

416-550: The President of Dragon Gate Inc., the international department with the headquarter in Shanghai, China. In 2019, the promotion celebrated its 20th anniversary. As part of the celebration Último Dragón returned to the promotion in July as a senior advisor. Afterwards, the promotion changed its logo and its parent company Dragon Entertainment would be known as Dragongate Inc. Within the time of all

448-749: The United States Japanese wrestler Último Dragón decided to open up a wrestling school in Naucalpan , Mexico to give Japanese hopefuls the chance to learn the Mexican lucha libre style like Dragón had. 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 Ultimo Dragon Gym's first graduating term consisted of Cima , Don Fujii , Dragon Kid , Magnum Tokyo and Suwa who collectively became known as Toryumon Japan (a name that would be used for

480-703: The United States. The first show took place in Los Angeles on September 5 and featured El Generico, Necro Butcher, and Kendo. Their second show was in Hawaii on September 8. Japan's Dragon Gate promotion announced its expansion into the United States with Dragon Gate USA on April 14, 2009, at the Korakuen Hall event in Tokyo. Also in 2009 it was announced that they created another branch promotion Dragon Gate UK. Their first show

512-497: The changes of the promotion, they started to use the combined Dragongate moniker as its official romaji name. On February 1, 2020, Dragongate announced a working relationship with American promotion Major League Wrestling (MLW), which would include a talent-exchange between the two promotions. On December 15, 2023, Dragongate was announced as one of the founding members of the United Japan Pro-Wrestling alliance,

544-415: The director of Toryumon leaving the job to Takashi Okamura . Okamura handled the job while Dragón began working full-time for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in the United States. After his run with WWE ended Dragón returned to Japan and announced that he was leaving Toryumon and taking all the trademarks he owned with him. Toryumon Japan changed its name to Dragon Gate as a result of this, continuing

576-1081: The first four terms). Toryumon promoted their first show on May 11, 1997, in Naucalpan, Mexico on a show that was co-promoted with International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG). Toryumon and IWRG would co-promote shows in Japan from 1997 until 2001, allowing the Ultimo Dragon Gym graduates to work on IWRG shows and even saw several graduates wrestlers win IWRG Championship. Through his contacts with WCW Último Dragón also arranged for some of his first term graduates to wrestle on World Championship Wrestling shows. On January 1, 1999, Toryumon held its first show in Japan and from that point forward began promoting regular shows in Japan. Toryumon's combination of traditional Japanese Puroresu , Mexican Lucha Libre and elements of Sports Entertainment that Último Dragón had observed while working for WCW such as outside interference and referee's being knocked out, something that at

608-851: The intro's art style being a blend of mainstream anime with Fujiko Fujio -esque animation. Since its founding, Dragon Gate wrestlers have also made appearances on the United States independent wrestling circuit , including Ring of Honor which held a Dragon Gate Invasion show on August 27, 2005, in Buffalo, New York , Dragon Gate Challenge on March 30, 2006, in Detroit, Michigan and Supercard of Honor and Better Than Our Best in Chicago, Illinois on March 31 and April 1, 2006, respectively. A six-man match pitting Cima, Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino against Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito and Genki Horiguchi at Supercard of Honor

640-453: The last being DragonMania XI held on May 28, 2016. In August 2017 Toryumon Mexico started working with All Japan Pro Wrestling in with a collaborated event tour called Lucha Fiesta . Before the Dragon Gate split in 2004 Toryumon Japan promoted a series of championships, only one of which originated in the promotion, Último Dragón Gym Championship , the rest were either bought from its previous owner or acquired after promotions closed. When

672-399: The lucha libre term for submission locks). T2P ran until January 27, 2003, when the roster was absorbed into Toryumon. The third graduating class was known as "Toryumon X" and like T2P also started their own promotion under their class name. Toryumon X made its debut on August 22, 2003, and lasted until early 2004. Último Dragón had been forced to retire from active competition in 1998 after

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704-408: The outsiders how to compete in the Dragon System of wrestling. The vast majority of Nex shows were called "Sanctuary" and were held twice a month. They generally drew an attendance of around 90 fans due to the limited size and space of the venue. There were also special event shows called "Premium," which were the equivalent in atmosphere to a pay-per-view. These shows involved the main card members of

736-438: The promotion dragondoor, a promotion that only ran six shows. The group launched another wrestling venture in 2006 called El Dorado: Next Door Project. In 2020, Toryumon Mexico would quietly close its doors with Dragón later founding Toryumon Casa in 2022, as base to serve as the home promotion for Japanese wrestlers from Dragongate and Pro Wrestling Noah who had been sent on learning excursions in Mexico. Toryumon Japan ran

768-523: The promotion turned to Dragon Gate all its championships were vacated, leaving only the Toryumon Mexico promoted titles. Suzuki Cup is a Team Tournament that began in 2007 Every year Toryumon Mexico holds the Young Dragons Cup, an annual tournament that began in 1997. The tournament is used to showcase Dragon Gym students. Originally it was a traditional single-elimination tournament, in 2006 it

800-496: The roster and would draw up to 100 in attendance. Early in NEX, they ran two anniversary shows at Shin-Kiba 1st RING in Tokyo, Japan, although this has since been discontinued. Domestic: Worldwide : Toryumon (%C3%9Altimo Drag%C3%B3n) Toryumon ( 闘龍門 , Tōryūmon ) is the name of several professional wrestling promotions that have operated in Japan and Mexico. The promotions were owned and operated by Yoshihiro Asai, who

832-633: The service, but unlike its aforementioned competitors, some membership tiers must pay extra for these events. The service currently includes a Dragongate PPV archive and past pay-per-view events and access to all future pay-per-view events and the Dragongate Studio which includes the Prime Zone events with no additional costs for monthly subscription price of ¥ 1,500, as well as access to the Dragongate and Toryumon Japan video tape archive. The following

864-547: The time was not traditionally used in Japanese wrestling. The second class of Último Dragón Gym graduates began their own promotion, called the Toryumon 2000 Project, or T2P for short. The T2P promotion debuted on November 13, 2001, and became known for their use of the six-sided wrestling ring, the first promotion to regularly use such a ring shape. T2P wrestlers primarily used a submission based style called Llave ( Spanish for "Key"

896-414: The traditions of Toryumon Japan including references to Último Dragón. Since the break Toryumon has primarily promoted shows in Mexico, featuring students trained by Dragón and Jorge "Skayde" Rivera and a number of wrestlers from various Mexican and American promotions. In Japan a group of remaining Toryumon students, including ousted members of Dragon Gate, joined with the internet-firm Livedoor to create

928-510: Was a project of Dragongate, which gave young wrestlers of the promotion more experience. In mid-2006, the Nex project was announced. It would be a series of shows and events that would focus primarily on the recent graduates of the Dragon Gate Dojo, allowing for them to further gain experience in ability while also being seen as the main attraction of a show. Virtually all of the shows take place in

960-577: Was accused by Anton Geesink's teammates in the 1965 World Judo Championships of having Sakaguchi throw the match against the more rested Matsunaga in order to allow Matsunaga take on the weary Geesink in the final round. Sakaguchi debuted in August 1967 for the Japan Wrestling Association . When JWA closed down in 1973, he joined New Japan Pro-Wrestling . He retired from the ring in March 1990. He

992-475: Was changed into a torneo cibernetico and has had that format ever since. Rocky Romero , Kota Ibushi , Ryuji Yamaguchi and Trauma II are the only tournament winners who were not actually trained by Último Dragón. Toryumon Mexico holds the Yamaha Cup about once a year, although there have been years without a Cup. The Yamaha Cup is a tag team tournament that features a mixture of Último Dragón trainees and

Dragongate - Misplaced Pages Continue

1024-456: Was held on November 1, 2009, in Oxford, England . On March 21, 2018, Dragon Gate announced the creation of Dragon Gate Network , an on-demand service similar to WWE Network and New Japan Pro-Wrestling World . The service officially launched on April 1, 2018. On May 7, 2018, Okamura left his job as president. Toru Kido became the new president and Nobuhiko Oshima (professional wrestler Cima) became

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