Open the Brave Gate Championship

Open the Brave Gate Championship
Current Champion(s)	Yosuke♥Santa Maria
Date Won	March 5, 2016
Promotion(s)	Dragon Gate
Date Established	March 13, 2005

The Open The Brave Gate Championship is a secondary singles championship in Dragon Gate. It is the equivalent of a middleweight or welterweight championship as competitors are required to weight no more than 83 kilograms (or 181 lbs.). An exception was made to the rule when Matt Sydal defended the title against Austin Aries on February 23, 2007 as this would be the first defense of any Dragon Gate championship in the United States.

Overview

Brave Gate was conceived by K-ness. and YOSSINO in early 2005. It was to be the spiritual successor to the NWA World Welterweight Championship from the Toryumon Japan days, for which came some of the more famous matches between the two wrestlers in their rivalry. A tournament was held beginning March 3, 2005 with the eight participants each receiving a piece that, when combined, made up the center plate on the belt. When defeated, the competitor must hand over all of their pieces to the winner. The eventual winner, Naruki Doi, would collect all of the pieces and complete the belt.

When Gamma won the championship on April 27, 2008, he discarded the eight center plate pieces and replaced it with his own plate, changing the name of the title to "Open The Gamma Gate." He was still recognized as the Brave Gate champion, but his defenses were not necessarily part of the official championship lineage until he was finally defeated by Dr. Muscle on July 29, 2008, when the title was properly restored.

Following a match on July 17, 2011, reigning champion PAC would be returning home to the United Kingdom for an extensive stay. Naoki Tanizaki stole the title and proclaimed himself as the champion in his place. All of his supposed defenses, however, were not officially recognized. PAC would reclaim the belt in a proper defense on September 16, 2011.

Title History

#	Wrestler	Reign	Date	Location	Length	Defenses	Notes
1	Naruki Doi	1	March 13, 2005	Nagoya, Aichi	245 Days	5	Defeated YOSSINO in tournament finals.
2	Dragon Kid	1	November 13, 2005	Nagoya, Aichi	84 Days	1
—	Vacated	—	February 5, 2006	Hakata, Fukuoka	—	—	Title was vacated due to second defense ending in controversial No Contest.
3	Masato Yoshino	1	March 19, 2006	Honkawagoe, Saitama	330 Days	4	Defeated Dragon Kid and Naoki Tanizaki in tournament finals decision match.
4	Matt Sydal	1	February 12, 2007	Kobe, Hyogo	41 Days	1
5	Genki Horiguchi	1	March 25, 2007	Tsu, Mie	98 Days	2
6	Yasushi Kanda	1	July 1, 2007	Kobe, Hyogo	83 Days	2
7	Masato Yoshino	2	September 22, 2007	Ota-ku, Tokyo	205 Days	6
8	Anthony W. Mori	1	April 13, 2008	Nagoya, Aichi	<1 Days	0
—	Vacated	—	April 13, 2008	Nagoya, Aichi	—	—	Mochi vacated title immediately after winning it due to interference involved in title switch.
9	Gamma	1	April 27, 2008	Hakata, Fukuoka	63 Days	6¹	Defeated Anthony W. Mori in tournament finals decision match.
10	Dr. Muscle	1	June 29, 2008	Osaka	<1 Days	0
—	Vacated	—	June 29, 2008	Osaka	—	—	Masato Yoshino, revealed to be Dr. Muscle, vacated title immediately after winning it.
11	Genki Horiguchi	2	July 27, 2008	Kobe, Hyogo	77 Days	2	Defeated m.c.KZ in a decision match.
12	Masato Yoshino	3	October 12, 2008	Nagoya, Aichi	161 Days	2
13	CIMA	1	March 22, 2009	Tokyo	119 Days	3
14	Naruki Doi	2	July 19, 2009	Kobe, Hyogo	9 Days	0	Title vs. Title Match also for Open The Dream Gate Championship.
—	Vacated	—	July 28, 2009	—	—	—	Doi vacated title due to being Open The Dream Gate Champion.
15	Naoki Tanizaki	1	August 30, 2009	Hakata, Fukuoka	134 Days	6	Defeated KAGETORA in tournament finals decision match.
16	K-ness.	1	January 11, 2010	Nagoya, Aichi	47 Days	1
17	Super Shisa	1	February 27, 2010	Kyoto	50 Days	1
18	Tigers Mask	1	April 18, 2010	Takaishi, Osaka	118 Days	3
19	Masato Yoshino	4	August 14, 2010	Kobe, Hyogo	<1 Days	0
—	Vacated	—	August 14, 2010	Kobe, Hyogo	—	—	Yoshino vacated title immediately after winning it due to being Open The Dream Gate Champion.
20	PAC	1	August 29, 2010	Hakata, Fukuoka	447 Days	11	Defeated Susumu Yokosuka in tournament finals decision match.
21	Ricochet	1	November 19, 2011	Osaka	169 Days	3
22	Dragon Kid	2	May 6, 2012	Aichi	364 Days	9
23	Masato Yoshino	6	May 5, 2013	Aichi	117 Days	4
—	Vacated	—	August 30, 2013	Kobe	—	—	Yoshino vacated the title, feeling it belonged to the younger generation.
24	Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!!	3	September 29, 2013	Kobe	168 Days	4
25	Flamita	1	March 16, 2014	Wakayama	290 Days	9
—	Vacated	—	December 31, 2014		—	—	Title declared vacant three days after Flamita left the belt in the ring in protest, following his ninth defense ending in a disqualification.
26	Kzy	1	January 12, 2015	Kobe	47 Days	1	Kzy, as the masked Dr. Muscle, defeated Eita in the finals of a tournament. Unmasked on January 16, 2015.
27	Akira Tozawa	1	Febuary 28, 2015	Osaka	246 Days	6
28	Kotoka	1	November 1, 2015	Osaka	125 Days	1
29	Yosuke♥Santa Maria	1	March 5, 2016	Osaka	Present	2

¹ Because Gamma changed Brave Gate into "Open The Gamma Gate," his defenses are not officially recognized as part of the championship lineage. Nevertheless, his proper reign as Brave Gate Champion is included.

¹ On May 20, 2014, Flamita successfully defended the title against Drastik Boy, Kaleth and Shane Strickland at a Desastre Total Ultraviolento (DTU) event in Pachuca, Mexico. Although Dragon Gate has not recognized the defense, it is included here.

Gallery

• Gallery
• Champions

CIMA vs. Naruki Doi - July 19, 2009

Ricochet vs. PAC - March 1, 2011

Naruki Doi

Dragon Kid

Masato Yoshino

Matt Sydal

Genkibrave2.jpg

Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!!

Yasushi Kanda

Gamma

CIMA

Naoki Tanizaki

Tigers Mask

PAC

Ricochet

Flamitabrave.jpg

Flamita

Kzy

Akira Tozawa

Kotoka

Santa Mariabrave.jpg

Yosuke Santa Maria