“I fucking hate Shingo Takagi”: the story of the eternal rivalry of Dragon Gate’s first trueborns

Much change was afoot in DG come their Ota-ku show in April 2006. Blood Generation was imploding, while the main event scene was getting an overhaul with long-time midcarders Ryo Saito and Susumu Yokosuka headlining the big show in an Open the Dream Gate match. Just below that on the card was the first truly anticipated singles match between Hulk and Takagi, with the winner to receive the next Dream Gate Challenger’s key. As supposed future aces, albeit not totally convincing in the role, this match gave a glimpse of DG’s future, with Hulk in particular giving a spirited, fiery performance in a really exciting, heated match. Hulk gained the victory to the delight of the crowd. For arguably the first time since his debut, Hulk showed signs of living up to his hype. 

Unfortunately, his improvement in form did not extend to the following month, where he failed to dethrone Susumu in a slightly disappointing match that included Hulk botching the debut of his phoenix splash. After the match, Shingo had an announcement to make. He was going on indefinite excursion to the US. However, showing sudden concern for his rival, he requested CIMA “look after” Hulk while he was gone. This displayed the complicated relationship Takagi and Hulk have. While they were fierce generation rivals, they had a kinship, a bond formed by the strict regime and high physical and behavioural standards imposed by the Dragon Gate dojo. Moreover, Shingo had found a new level of respect for Hulk now he had proven to be on his level.

CIMA was dealing with his own problems – new Blood Generation member Gamma had near-destroyed the unit, stealing most of the unit’s members to form the breakaway Muscle Outlaw’z. With Shingo crossing the Pacific, BG was left as CIMA, Don Fujii, and visiting gaikokujin (primarily Matt Sydal and Jack Evans). A mutually-beneficial solution was found – Hulk as a semi-official member of Blood Generation, while still officially being in PosHEARTS (The unit alignments in DG were a massively confusing mess at the time). Hulk would add manpower, while CIMA would give Hulk further mentorship. The two formed a semi-regular team called Blood Hearts and even recorded a single “1000000 Dreams” (do not recommend). Magnum TOKYO would suffer an injury later in 2006, and for reasons that were never explicitly revealed, would never set foot in DG again. Hulk’s original mentor was permanently gone.

SHINGO (when he worked in the US, he went the all-caps single name route) had a successful run in the US, wowing audiences in ROH and its sister promotion FIP, blown away by his hard-hitting but fast-moving style. Other than one-off performances at Kobe World (a loss against Yutaka Yoshie) and Osaka Prefectural Gym (where he debuted a pineapple-smashing pal he’d found in FIP called Cyber Kong) he would remain stateside until spring 2007, where he’d be drawn towards his old friend once again.

As 2007 dawned, DG’s unit situation was finally starting to become clearer. Blood Generation, DoFIXER and Final M2K had already been put to pasture by their respective leaders, and February’s Korakuen show would spell the end of either PosHEARTS or Muscle Outlaw’z (MO’z) as Dragon Gate would unveil the stipulation match that would become a hallmark of the promotion: Unit Disbands. Korakuen was on the edge of its’ seats as BxB Hulk, Anthony W. Mori, and Super Shisa battled Gamma, Naruki Doi, and Masato Yoshino. The match was tense, gripping, and exciting, setting the template for future matches of this type as each participant battled like their life depended on it.  The dastardly heels prevailed, consigning PosHEARTS to history. Hulk was not to be unit-less for long, however, as in the post-match aftermath CIMA invited both he and Anthony to join his new super-unit Typhoon, made up of the remnants of the recently defunct units.

Typhoon naturally set their sights on MO’z and a full confrontation Naniwa-shiki 7 vs.7 was set for the April Korakuen. It was already curious such a big unit confrontation would occur so shortly after Typhoon’s formation, and more intrigue was added as the match approached, with both units claiming there would be a betrayal from the other side. Fans were abuzz with speculation of who the betrayer(s) would be. The match – typically for Naniwa-shiki, a wild chaotic affair – ended with a victory for Typhoon and seemingly no betrayal. However in the huge post-match brawl BxB Hulk attacked CIMA in a reveal nobody saw coming – Hulk turning heel? Surely not. Barely before Korakuen had a chance to gather its’ thoughts, a second betrayal happened – Cyber Kong (who had stayed in DG after Shingo’s autumn pop-in and joined MO’z) turned on the heel unit. Cyber Kong, this slightly-odd specimen joining the super-babyface unit of ultra popular fan favourites? Even more weird. Wait a second, Hulk and Kong are allies? What’s going on?? Things became clear when the familiar strains of Legend Falconry played and out strolled Shingo Takagi, permanently back from excursion. A new unit was formed of Takagi, Hulk, Kong, and the dojo’s most recent graduate, the promising but bland YAMATO; New Hazard (NH), the Dragon Gate trueborn unit. Shingo and Hulk were officially on the same side. 

Although not truly at the same level as Typhoon and MO’z and its progress slowed by injuries to Hulk and YAMATO, the unit was popular with fans, and had success with the Open the Triangle Gate championship. Shingo and Hulk seemed to have established a firm friendship and in-ring harmony, culminating in winning NOAH’s GHC Junior Tag Team titles in January 2008.  At March’s Ota-ku show, KENTA and Taiji Ishimori attempted to take the belts back to the ark. A hugely exciting match ended with an extended KENTA vs. Takagi sequence while Hulk and Ishimori brawled on the outside. KENTA and Takagi laid into each other with ferocity until a series of KENTA kicks enabled KENTaiji to take the titles back home. Despite Takagi taking the pin, he was furious at Hulk. Not only had he failed to save Takagi from being pinned, he had shown weakness throughout the match. Was Hulk simply a weak wrestler? Eventually cooler heads prevailed with Takagi turning his focus on NH’s real problem – YAMATO. The previously bland and unassuming Yamato Onodera had undergone a complete transformation, loudly complaining that his unit-mates saw him as the lesser member, getting ideas above his station by challenging CIMA, and generally making a right nuisance of himself. 

In the midst of all of this, Hulk was also involved in a heated rivalry with heel veteran Yasushi Kanda, with Kanda constantly getting in Hulk’s business and pushing his buttons. This culminated in Kanda seemingly getting ready to whack Hulk’s dancers with his trademark blue box before a mysterious black-clad figure attacked him. The figure was BxB Hulk dressed all in black, with jet-black hair and heavy black eye-shadow and lipstick. This was Hulk’s new character, Darkside Hulk. Displaying an aggressive style at odds with the BxB Hulk character, Darkside Hulk squashed Kanda in rapid fashion. That was the end of the Hulk-Kanda rivalry, although Darkside Hulk would be seen again in the future.

In May 2008, YAMATO finally turned heel and joined what was left of Muscle Outlaw’z. This seemed to galvanize the remaining NH members, who vowed revenge for his betrayal. To this end, Shingo and Cyber promised Hulk they would join in his entrance dance before their Korakuen main event trios match. They were true to their word, and it was quite the sight. However, immediately as the dance finished, the crowd’s delight turned to shock as Shingo and Kong attacked Hulk and joined up with YAMATO and the MO’z remnants to form Real Hazard. The scheduled match (Gamma, Genki Horiguchi, YAMATO vs. Shingo, Hulk, Kong) was changed to Gamma, YAMATO, Shingo vs. Hulk, Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino with DoiYoshi forging an alliance with Hulk to create the ultra-popular WORLD-1.