“I fucking hate Shingo Takagi” – the story of the eternal rivalry of Dragon Gate’s first trueborns (part 3)

The two rivals ended 2013 back in their old slots on the pecking order – featured, but not at the top. Popular, but less so than their more charismatic contemporaries and seemingly aeons away from possibly replacing CIMA as overall ace. However, for Hulk at least, 2014 would see an upswing in fortune. Throughout the early part of the year, tension had been growing between Hulk and full shit-stirring mode Naruki Doi, which culminated on May 5th in the annual Dead or Alive six-way Hair vs. Mask steel cage escape match. While Hulk managed to escape the cage, therefore saving his own hair and condemning Doi to a head-shaving, he was attacked by his own unit afterwards to solidify his babyface turn. He gave a rousing speech afterwards, surprising for the notoriously bad talker, and the crowd responded with a huge ovation. Hulk was now the hottest babyface in the company. Hulk’s feud with his former unit took him to the main event of Kobe World, where he defeated YAMATO for the Dream Gate. Hulk had finally won the big one on the biggest stage, and unlike his rival one year ago, was poised for a long term reign. What’s more, the fans were still reacting to him like a god. While less-kind observers may have credited fans’ BxB love to his antagonists’ brilliance at being shitheads, it seemed for a brief moment Hulk may have finally surpassed his contemporaries on the road to becoming the permanent ace. 

After initially insisting he wanted to stand on his own, Hulk was persuaded by Masaaki Mochizuki to form his own unit and Dia.HEARTS was born. Hulk was the unquestionable leader of this unit with the name being a take-off of his previous units WORLD-1 (who had a diamond emblem, hence the “dia”) and PosHEARTS, and with Hulk once again designing the logo and colour scheme. Hulk of course had ditched any trace of his Darkside character, although sadly the pre-match dance routine did not make a comeback. Takagi on the other hand seemed resigned to being Just A Guy in Monster Express. He had formed a regular team with Tozawa who won the Twin Gate at the very same show that Hulk attained the Dream. However, even though Takagi was pushed as the strong link of the team, his partner lapped him in popularity, crowd connection and charisma. 

That Dangerous Gate would end up being very memorable, with the semifinal being the breakup of Mad Blankey after a Unit Disbands match that included a babyface turn that had this writer in floods of tears. However, it was Shingo who was the star of the show, capturing the Dream Gate in surprisingly brutal fashion against Yoshino. Both the style of the match and the ending were surprising – Dream Gate matches tended to be slow and methodical even when contested amongst heated rivals, this battle of ostensible allies was a balls-to-the-wall, bad-tempered bombfest. As for the ending, Dangerous Gate was one of DG’s big five shows which invariably ended with a victorious babyface giving a rousing speech to send the crowd home happy. So surely Shingo’s victory would be followed by reconciliation with Yoshino and a promise to be a valiant champion? Nope – he instead blasted Yoshino for being too easy to defeat, patronisingly “allowed” T-Hawk the privilege of tagging with him for the Summer Adventure Tag League (this would be rescinded), formally leaving Monster Express, promising to run roughshod over the entire promotion, and of course savagely laying into Shachihoko Boy.

Shortly after Dangerous Gate, Takagi solidified his heel turn by joining up with the Mad Blankey remnants to form VerserK. Despite the unit having heavy-hitters like Doi and YAMATO, Takagi was quickly recognized as leader. The unit was in Takagi’s image – stripped of any “fun” aspects even heel units in DG had, VerzerK was strictly business. The concept was simply that they were the strongest wrestlers in DG and they were going to prove it. 

Shingo’s reign initially saw him successfully defend against members of DG’s veteran contingent- Don Fujii, Masaaki Mochizuki, Gamma, and CIMA. Takagi vs. old guys was an excellent feud (with Takagi vs. Mochizuki to this day remaining one of the best Dream Gate matches ever) that allowed Takagi to revel in his new asshole persona. Takagi’s mic performances, always so awkward as a babyface, were now sensational – and in contrast to former DG top heels nobody was cheering him. The reign continued (bar a brief back-and-forth exchange with Susumu) until 2016’s World, where he lost the title to YAMATO, who had left VerserK at that year’s Dead or Alive in a babyface turn that had really been on the cards since the unit was formed. Doi would also leave VerserK by the end of 2016, and with him the last remnants of the concept of a “fun” heel group (as much of a shithead Doi was as a heel, his rants on the microphone were incredibly entertaining). VerserK had fully become Shingo’s group – serious, completely unlikable and with no time for any of the fun flourishes Dragon Gate was renowned for. BxB, throughout this time, wasn’t doing much – Dia.HEARTS was forced to disband, after which Hulk was sidelined by injuries for several months before returning triumphantly at the aforementioned DoA to help YAMATO, backed up by Kzy and Yosuke♡SantaMaria. These four would soon form Tribe Vanguard, and while Hulk was obviously number two, it was a distant number two to YAMATO (who fans had been begging to cheer for months, if not years) and was even threatened by a rising Kzy, the loveliness of Maria, and Tribe’s foreign assistant Flamita, who was becoming a perineal Brave Gate champion. Hulk’s slump even became a storyline in early 2016, when YAMATO started gently berating Hulk for his poor form, before gifting him a Dream shot to motivate him back to winning ways. 

Despite Hulk and Takagi being firmly on opposite sides of the heel/babyface divide, they only had limited interactions throughout 2016/17. Other than various trios matches, being participants in the 2017 DoA cage match, and of course Hulk constantly reminding us how much he fucking hates Shingo Takagi any time he got the opportunity, their rivalry had only two notable flashpoints in this period – a King of Gate block match, which Shingo won, and Akira Tozawa’s final Dragon Gate match.

When Tozawa announced in autumn 2016 that he would be leaving Dragon Gate after the November Gate of Destiny show in Osaka, the company allowed him to choose his own final match. He felt it only fitting for that to be a trios match with the other five members of DG’s New Generation – Doi, Yoshino, YAMATO, Hulk, and Takagi. But how to decide the sides? The only solution was Doi Darts. Shingo naturally protested such frivolity, but of course nothing overrides the power of Doi Darts and it was decided that Shingo would team up with Hulk and YAMATO to take on Doi, Yoshino, and Tozawa. Shingo and his teammates did manage to co-operate enough to score the victory, although he retained his heel status by leading an attempted VerserK beatdown as a closing gift to Tozawa. After a touching send-off by the non-VerserK roster, Akira Tozawa officially retired and has not been seen in anything resembling a wrestling match since.

2018 was a year of great upheaval in Dragon Gate. Shingo began the year by handing the reigns of VerserK to T-Hawk, who promptly renamed the unit ANTIAS. At the time the unit had six members – youngsters T-Hawk, Eita and El Lindaman and elders Shingo, Yasushi Kanda and Takashi Yoshida (the former Cyber Kong, unmasked at DoA 2017). Shingo graciously stepped aside to let the youngsters be the focus, with the elder three acting as “advisors”.

In truth, Shingo seemed to be becoming more distant from DG. As well as increasing his activities outside the company competing in tournaments for BJW and AJPW, he had been increasingly using various media channels to voice his dissatisfaction with the company, including very frank criticism of certain wrestlers. Shingo had been a lifelong fan of traditional heavyweight style puro, and really relished any chance to team up with the likes of Yuko Miyamoto, Yuji Okabayashi or Masato Tanaka – men’s men, in contrast to the typical DG wrestler like ooh, for example, BxB Hulk. He had also been a fan of FMW in his youth, and while appearances on Onita Produce shows went someway to satiating his thirst for blood, he continued to be vocal about his desires to have a deathmatch under the DG banner – to mostly indifference or outright hostility from management and fans. He eventually got his wish at 2017’s Dangerous Gate. While not officially a deathmatch, the VerserK vs. Jimmyz Unit Disbands elimination match saw the VerserK come armed to the teeth with barbed wire, boards, baseball bats and the like. The match was certainly dramatic (the beloved Jimmyz, the longest-running unit in DG history finally came to an end) but was divisive. Some enjoyed the novelty of blood and guts on a DG show, whereas others felt it was jarring and didn’t fit the tone of the promotion – if Shingo dislikes the DG style so much, why doesn’t he take his barbed wire bat to BJW or FREEDOMS? Shingo in general had started to feel more out-of-place in the company. While his natural role was as a stern heel, this character type was not necessarily appreciated by DG fans who since the Toryumon days had enjoyed heels like CIMA, Magnum TOKYO, Naruki Doi and YAMATO, heels that could banter back-and-forth with the good guys and who could make audiences laugh as well as boo. They expected their heel units to have cool images and concepts like M2K with their jackets and scooters, DoFIXER with their elaborate dance routine or Mad Blankey with their Hulk-designed distinctive yellow merch. VerserK, once they had shed YAMATO and Doi, as well as entertaining jobbers Kotoka and Mondai Ryu, had just been a boring group led by an angry man shouting at the audience. It was unenjoyable. ANTIAS hardly seemed like an upgrade – with a colour scheme and design more boring than VerserK, and with T-Hawk as leader after a notoriously disastrous attempted main event babyface push and with mic skills even worse than BxB Hulk. 

T-Hawk’s tenure as leader didn’t last long regardless- after shaving Ryo Saito’s head in the aftermath of DoA, Shingo announced he was taking back leadership. The reason became clear the following day, when in a throwback to the 2004 upheaval it was announced that CIMA, T-Hawk, El Lindaman, and Takehiro Yamamura would be “focusing on competing in China and growing OWE, and as such their appearances in Dragon Gate will become less frequent” – in reality, they had left the company to become #StrongHearts. Takagi would challenge for the Dream Gate at World – and in attempt to mix storylines with reality vowed to install himself as company president upon victory and remodel the company to his vision. However, after failing at his quest at World he started to distance himself from ANTIAS, and appeared to be heading towards a babyface turn. In September, Dragon Gate fans were shocked by an announcement by Shingo that his Hakata Star Lanes appearance on October 7th would be his last as a contracted Dragon Gate wrestler, and would be “going freelance”. Of course, there would be only one man suitable to be Shingo’s opponent in that match. In the meantime, Takagi was dismissed from ANTIAS by Eita, who renamed the group R・E・D. Takagi and Hulk would team up one more time to take on Eita and a mystery new member of R・E・D. While it would have been fitting for Takagi to turn on Hulk once more for old time’s sake Shingo managed to co-exist with Hulk, albeit in defeat to Eita’s mystery partner PAC, on his return to wrestling having finally been released from his previous company. 

October 7th at Hakata was billed as “Shingo Takagi Final” and was fittingly the same venue he had made his debut. Hulk and Shingo battled for 18 minutes in a greatest hits version of their previous matches. In the time-honoured tradition of pro-wrestling the departing Takagi stared at the lights, Hulk getting one final win over the man who had overshadowed large parts of his career. After some warm parting words from Hulk as well as other DG wrestlers, Takagi no longer belonged to the dragon system. 

Since announcing his move to freelance, wrestling fans were abuzz with speculating on possible Takagi stops  – extended tours of Europe? US indies? Freelancing among promotions like BJW and AJPW- hey, he’d be great in NOAH! Maybe some sketchy indies where he can bleed to his heart’s content, and there’s rumours of those Elite guys following up their All In show with something more permanent…

Fans didn’t have to wait long to find out Shingo’s next move, as the very next day he appeared at NJPW’s King of Pro-wrestling at Ryogoku Kokugikan as the heavily-hyped new member of Los Ingobernables de Japon. It turned out “freelance” meant “NJPW full-time”. While Shingo’s departure, coming so soon after CIMA and pals, seemed a near death-blow for DG in terms of perception, roster depth, and popularity (DG’s attendances were dipping severely around this time, and while that could mostly be laid at CIMA’s feet, this certainly didn’t help) in hindsight it was a win-win. Shingo went to a promotion he was a better fit for, and where he was more successful than anyone’s wildest projections – all the way to winning the IWGP title and headlining Wrestle Kingdom. Takagi leaving DG, while a blow for the company, removed an element that was increasingly difficult to fit into the promotion, gave Eita the chance to be fully pushed as the undisputed top heel, and along with the other departures as well as the creaking bones of DG’s established top guys, forced the company to fully get behind the younger wrestlers in a way it had never done since its Toryumon days – a philosophy that is continuing to this day and is ensuring a bright future for the company. 

As for Hulk? Well, he’s continued to be Hulk – plagued with injuries, respected as one of the pillars of post-split era DG yet on a level below his contemporaries, just kind of there as an upper midcarder. He made a surprising heel turn in 2019, which has probably helped keep him somewhat relevant. He’ll likely turn back to the babyface side sooner rather than later, but rather than another Dream Gate run, I think it’s more likely he’ll be in crowd-pleasing undercard trios with the likes of Don Fujii and Genki Horiguchi. And that’s fine.

So will the Hulk and Takagi rivalry ever be rekindled? Well, I doubt Hulk will be appearing under the lion mark any time soon, but could Takagi ever step into a DG ring again? I highly doubt he’ll ever be a roster member again, but he appears on good terms with the company judging from the outpouring of well wishes on social media from his former colleagues when he won the IWGP title and he did send video messages on the occasions of DG/Toryumon’s 20th anniversary and Masato Yoshino’s retirement. There doesn’t appear to be any bad blood between NJPW and DG so it’s not unthinkable he could return for a one-off at say, a Kobe World. Which would be a perfect time for BxB Hulk to remind the world that he does indeed, fucking hate Shingo Takagi.