Dragon Gate USA – The Sin City Gate: Match Of The Week
The Gate Of Sin City
Date: April 15, 2026
Location: Horseshoe Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Larry Dallas, Joe Dombrowski
It’s Dragon Gate USA time, meaning some great athleticism and very impressive in-ring work, albeit from a promotion that I only know from Wrestlemania Weekend. That’s one of the best signs about a promotion where I don’t know what’s going on, as it shows how much of a universal language wrestling can be. Let’s get to it.
Dombrowski welcomes us to the show
Kai vs. El Cucuy vs. Willie Mack
Cucuy (pronounced “coo-coo-e”) has a belt but this is non-title. Kai bails to the floor to start and shakes hands with a fan holding a Japanese flag. Back in and Kai drops to his knees to shake hands with Cucuy, who then rolls him up for two. They go to a three way standoff before Kai gets double teamed into a suplex.
With Kai down, Cucuy gets armdragged out to the floor but Kai trips Mack to the floor. Mack is sent into the barricade and then misses a clothesline, which hits the post by mistake. They all get back inside, where Cucuy and Kai have a tentative alliance to take over on Mack. That lasts all of eighteen seconds until Kai drops him with a DDT.
Mack’s frog splash gets two on Kai but Cucuy gives Mack a Shining Wizard for two of his own. Kai is back in and doesn’t seem worried about his competition so he takes Cucuy up top. Mack turns that into a Tower Of Doom and everyone is down again. Mack’s big dive to the floor take Cucuy out and a spinning Michinoku Driver plants Kai for two. Mack kicks Cucuy and Stunners Kai for the pin at 10:56.
Rating: B-. It’s not a great match but the fans like Mack and he’s able to move around out there despite not having the usual cruiserweight style look (to put it mildly). They had a really nice mixture of different styles and looks here and it made for a good start. If nothing else, having people who look so different makes me want to watch and that’s a big start.
Hoho Lun/Estrella vs. Channing Decker/Rhys Maddox
Decker and Lun start things off with Lun blocking a takedown attempt and grabbing an armbar. A slam puts Lun down though and drops a spinning legdrop before coming in to work on Lun’s arm for a change. Estrella comes in to tie Maddox up without much trouble before Maddox pops to his feet for the slugout. Maddox takes him into the corner so Decker can come in for some shots of his own.
The…I guess we’ll say villains get to start taking turns beating on Estrella, with Maddox grabbing a chinlock. That doesn’t last long (chinlocks so rarely do) and Estrella fights up for the tag off to Lun. A double dropkick sends Maddox and Decker out to the floor and Estrella adds a 619 in the corner. Decker hits a double clothesline though and a double high crossbody gets two. Maddox spears Lun and a cutter gets two more. Estrella is back up with a flipping suicide to Decker and Lun rolls Maddox up for the pin at 9:49.
Rating: C+. This was a more standard tag match with the villains getting the heat on Estrella before the comeback. That’s a formula that has worked for the better part of ever in wrestling and it worked again here. Lun is someone who has impressed me in the limited times I’ve seen him and he did well in this one too. Maddox has been around a lot this week, though I’ve only gotten so much out of him so far.
Post match Maddox shows respect but Decker isn’t pleased.
Susumu Yokosuka vs. Marcus Mathers
We get the handshake to start before Mathers takes him down by the arm. A crucifix gives Mathers two and it’s an armdrag into a dropkick to send Yokosuka to the floor. This lets commentary explain the title structure in Dragon Gate, which is a good idea when there are probably a lot of new viewers watching.
Back in and Yokosuka dropkicks the knee out to take over and starts cranking on the leg. Said leg gets kicked in the corner but the limping Mathers fights up to trade chops. Yokosuka slams him down onto the knee and the Figure Four goes on. That sends Mathers over to the rope, as you might expect, and he backdrops out of a piledriver attempt.
Yokosuka is sent outside for a PK, but Mathers hurts his own leg again. Back in and a dragon screw legwhip takes Mathers down again but Mathers uses the good leg for a question mark kick. One heck of a clothesline gives Yokosuka two and they trade rollups for two each. Mathers’ brainbuster drops Yokosuka and the 450 finishes him off at 12:43.
Rating: B. Gah they were getting close to a great match and then Mathers’ leg is fine enough to use a 450 after Yokosuka worked on it for so long. That’s a case where a rollup is a perfect finish as it lets Mathers escape rather than hit his big move. The rest of the match was rather good, but that last big pulled it down a bit.
Love And Peace vs. Bustah And The Brain vs. Jungle Brothers
That would be Ben-K/Hyo vs. Alex Price/Jordan Oliver vs. Aero Panther/Fight Panther Jr. Price somehow hurts his leg during his entrance, which can’t be a good sign. Hyo, Price and Aero start things of with Price’s leg being good enough to run the ropes. Hyo’s leg lariat puts Aero down and we get a three way staredown.
The other three come in and Oliver German suplexes Ben-K into a roll on Fight for two each (I think). Everything breaks down and the Brothers double faceplant Hyo. That’s broken up and a double stomp sends Fight crashing out to the floor. Ben-K comes back in and muscles Price out of the air for a suplex. Everything breaks down and it’s Love And Peace slugging it out with Bustah And The Brain.
Price hits a big dive over the top to the floor, with the Brothers coming in for the save. The Brothers hit stereo kicks to put Price out on the floor, followed by a dive each (one inside, one outside). Back in and Ben-K is put in a torture rack, with Aero diving in for a spinning gutbuster (that was sweet) and a near fall. Fight’s big flip dive to the floor connects but Ben-K gives Aero a spear. Hyo’s diving cutter gets the pin at 11:02.
Rating: B. Take six guys, let them go nuts at the same time with the tags being completely dropped a few minutes in. Yes it goes against the rules, but that’s kind of the point in something like this. It was certainly an entertaining match and it’s nice to not have Bustah And The Brain lose for a change. Fun stuff here, with the fast paced style this place seems to be known for featuring.
Yamato vs. Jonathan Gresham
They shake hands to start, with Gresham seemingly respectful of Yamato, who is apparently quite the legend around here. Yamato takes him down by the arm to start but Gresham is right back up to fight over a wristlock. A hammerlock is broken up as Gresham sends him outside…but Yamato gets smart by crawling underneath the ring and sneaking around to jump Gresham from behind.
Gresham tries a chop, which doesn’t do much good whatsoever. For some reason Gresham tries it again and stops to look at his hand, which is never a good sign. With that not working, Gresham chops him low, which has some more success. Gresham goes to the leg with a Figure Four and holds onto it for a good while. Yamato makes the rope and knocks him away, but the leg is slowing the comeback down.
An overhead suplex gives Yamato two and he grabs the ankle lock. That’s broken up as well so they fight over hurting the other’s leg. Gresham gets the better of things and Figure Fours him again, with Yamato getting to the ropes a second time. They get back up and slug it out, with the pace picking up to the fans’ delight. Yamato’s hurricanrana gets two but Gresham is right back on the leg. A shooting star press gets two but Yamato turns over a third Figure Four…and Gresham actually taps at 17:06.
Rating: B+. This was a heck of a match as you had some rather good technical stuff, as Gresham is known to do so well. At the same time you had Yamato, who came off like a legend with Gresham trying to figure him out. I got way into this and liked it as much as anything I’ve seen so far this week so nicely done indeed.
Post match respect is shown, with Yamato bowing like Gresham did before the match.
Dragon Kid/Kzy/Yuki Yoshioka vs. Ishin/Madoka Kikuta/Yoshiki Kato
Kikuta seems to be the top singles champion and his team jumps the others to start before the bell. We officially start with Ishin shouldering Kid down, which doesn’t get him very far as it’s off to Yoshioka to dropkick Kikuta. Kzy comes in to lock up with Kato, who powers him up against the ropes for a mostly clean break.
Kzy takes over and it’s back to Kid for a top rope ax handle. Kid and company start taking turns on Kato’s arm before Yoshioka grabs a chinlock. Kzy gets to work on the leg before Kid goes with a Jamie Noble Trailer Hitch (thankfully commentary knows the name too). Everything breaks down (you knew it was coming) and thankfully go split screen, showing us Kzy getting kicked low on the floor.
Back in and Kid gets double teamed by Kikuta and Kato, the latter of whom sends him into the corner. Ishin starts going for Kid’s mask, with the fans freaking out at the prospect. It works so well that Ishin takes him up top to try it again but Kid fights back. Ishin misses a splash and another hits raised knees. Kid manages a Stundog Millionaire to Kato and Yoshioka gets the tag to clean house.
Everything breaks down and Kzy goes after Kikuta’s leg, followed by a triple submission (as you do). With that broken up, Ishin superplexes Kzy for two and a double big boot drops him again. A death Valley Driver gives Ishin two and it’s off to Kid and Kato to slug it out on top. Kid gets the better of things and Kikuno piledrives Yoshioka for two.
Yoshioka is back with a quick frog splash for two and it’s time for Yoshioka and Kikuta to chop it out. A chair is brought in and forearmed into Kato’s face. That means a running forearm knocks him into Kid’s crucifix for two, with Ishin making the save. Kzy grabs a double underhook piledriver to finish Kato at 21:50.
Rating: B+. These six man tags are Dragon Gate’s signature match and there was pretty much nothing else that could headline the show. It was another crazy athletic match as you can see that they know exactly how to do this kind of thing. The fans were way into it too and it’s easy to see why. They had heat segments and then portions of total insanity, which is exactly what you want here. Heck of a match.
Post match the winner thank the fans and hope they had a good time. They hope they can come back again and the locker room comes out to celebrate.
Overall Rating: B+. It started off a bit slowly (though far from bad) but after the first two matches, it was all gravy with one awesome match after another. I have no idea how they do storylines or anything close to it, but Dragon Gate has some of the most exciting in-ring stuff you’ll find anywhere. This was one of the best shows of Wrestlemania Week last year and that was certainly the case again here. Great stuff.
Results
Willie Mack b. El Cucuy and Kai – Stunner to Kai
Hoho Lun/La Estrella b. Channing Decker/Rhys Maddox – Rollup to Maddox
Marcus Mathers b. Susumu Yokosuka – 450
Love And Peace b. Bustah And The Brain and the Jungle Brothers – Diving cutter to Aero
Yamato b. Jonathan Gresham – Reversed Figure Four
Dragon Kid/Kzy/Yuki Yoshioka b. Ishin/Yoshiki Kato/Madoka Kikuta – Double underhook piledriver to Kato
Remember to follow me on Twitter and Bluesky @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at: