Open the Dream Gate Championship

Open the Dream Gate Championship
Current Champion(s)	YAMATO
Date Won	July 24th, 2016
Promotion(s)	Dragon Gate
Date Established	July 4, 2004

The Open The Dream Gate Championship is the top singles championship in Dragon Gate. It is the successor to the Ultimo Dragon Gym Championship from Toryumon Japan, which had been discontinued as a result of the split from Toryumon. Being the last UDG Champion, CIMA was named the first Dream Gate Champion.

Overview

The belt itself is rather unique. The name of the champion is engraved onto a plate, which is then placed on the face of the belt and protected by a locked gate. For a competitor to be a challenger for the title, he must secure a Challenger's Key. If the champion successfully defends the title, the loser's key is added to the belt as a trophy. If the challenger wins the title, they key will unlock the gate, allowing him to replace the old nameplate with his own.

Each champion can devise their own method for how one can secure a Challenger's Key. Most of the time, these are done through the creation of matches, like in CIMA's third reign by holding battle royal matches dubbed CIMA Royale. Other times, there are different methods, such as when Masato Yoshino used a lottery system to determine his next challenger. Sometimes, the winner of the King of Gate tournament will be granted a Challenger's Key as proof of their being the strongest competitor over the previous one year period.

Since its inception, Dream Gate has not only been defended in every Kobe World Hall pay-per-view event, but it has also been placed indefinitely as the show's main event. A slight exception was made in 2006 when a No Rope Bonus Match took place after the Dream Gate match, and while it appeared to have aired on pay-per-view it was officially considered a post-show dark match.

In 2013, then-champion CIMA vowed to defend the belt once every month so long as he remained champion. Though his reign ended in July, the concept remained with the addition of the belt being defended on every show at Korakuen Hall. This is even if it had already been defend on another show during the month, such as Masato Yoshino defending on November 3 as part of the GATE OF DESTINY pay-per-view and then the belt being defended four days later at Korakuen Hall.

Title History

#	Wrestler	Reign	Date	Location	Length	Defenses	Notes
1	CIMA	1	July 4, 2004	Kobe, Hyogo	175 Days	1	Was awarded the title for being last Ultimo Dragon Gym Champion; made official in Tokyo on August 1, 2004.
2	Masaaki Mochizuki	1	December 16, 2004	Tokyo	323 Days	4
3	Magnitude Kishiwada	1	November 4, 2005	Tokyo	112 Days	2
4	Ryo Saito	1	February 24, 2006	Tokyo	58 Days	0
5	Susumu Yokosuka	1	April 23, 2006	Tokyo	214 Days	3
6	Don Fujii	1	November 23, 2006	Tokyo	122 Days	1
7	Jushin "Thunder" Liger	1	March 25, 2007	Tsu, Mie	98 Days	1
8	CIMA	2	July 1, 2007	Kobe, Hyogo	364 Days	6
—	Vacated	—	June 29, 2008	Osaka	—	—	CIMA vacated title due to injury.
9	Shingo Takagi	1	July 27, 2008	Kobe, Hyogo	154 Days	3	Defeated BxB Hulk in a decision match.
10	Naruki Doi	1	December 28, 2008	Fukuoka	449 Days	8
11	YAMATO	1	March 22, 2010	Tokyo	111 Days	3
12	Masato Yoshino	1	July 11, 2010	Kobe, Hyogo	277 Days	4
13	Masaaki Mochizuki	2	April 14, 2011	Tokyo	255 Days	6
14	CIMA	3	December 25, 2011	Fukuoka	574 Days	15
15	Shingo Takagi	2	July 21, 2013	Kobe, Hyogo	33 Days	0
16	YAMATO	2	August 23, 2013	Tokyo	48 Days	1
17	Masato Yoshino	2	October 10, 2013	Tokyo	143 Days	4
18	Ricochet	1	March 2, 2014	Osaka	64 Days	1
19	YAMATO	3	May 5, 2014	Nagoya	76 Days	2
20	BxB Hulk	1	July 20, 2014	Kobe	329 Days	7	On August 5, 2014, Naruki Doi defeated Hulk in a four-on-one handicap match, where Doi teamed with Cyber Kong, Kzy and Mondai Ryu. Afterwards Doi was recognized as a "provisional" champion, pending a rematch. On August 17, Hulk defeated Doi to resume his reign and make his first successful title defense
21	Masato Yoshino	3	June 14, 2015	Fukuoka	63 Days	1
21	Shingo Takagi	3	August 16, 2015	Tokyo	182 Days	4	Takagi's defense against Gamma was declared an unsuccessful attempt & Takagi didn't receive a Dream Key due to massive interference by VerserK/a no contest on 12/3/2015
22	Jimmy Susumu	2	Febuary 14, 2016	Fukuoka	21 Days	0	Previously known as Susumu Yokosuka.
23	Shingo Takagi	4	March 6, 2016	Tokyo	140	1
24	YAMATO	4	July 24th, 2016	Kobe	2826+	0	0

Gallery

• Gallery
• Champions

Original belt design with Challenger Key

Nameplate unlocked

Masato Yoshino vs. CIMA - March 20, 2008

CIMA vs. Naruki Doi - July 19, 2009

BxB Hulk

CIMA

Don Fujii

Masaaki Mochizuki

Magnitude Kishiwada

Ricochet

Ryo Saito

Jimmy Susumu

Jushin "Thunder" Liger

Shingo Takagi

Naruki Doi

YAMATO

Masato Yoshino.png

Masato Yoshino