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Shingo Takagi (2018)

122 PTS.



hingo Takagi is no newcomer to professional wrestling in Japan, having dominated Dragon Gate with his unique mix of power and speed since his debut in October 2004. He was the very first “DG trueborn”, or first wrestler who debuted in the promotion after the infamous split with Ultimo Dragon and ensuing name change from Toryumon. Considered the protégé of longtime ace CIMA, Shingo was giving a prominent role from virtually the moment he stepped into the company. Over the course of his nearly 14 years there he held nearly every title multiple times: four reigns as Open the Dream Gate champion (DG’s equivalent of a World title), five as Twin Gate (tag) champion and seven as Triangle Gate (six-man) champion. He even held tag titles in other promotions as well, briefly winning the ROH World Tag Team & NOAH’s GHC Jr. Tag Team titles. And amazingly he technically still has the Open the Owari Gate comedy title, a belt he won from Ryo Saito on March 7th of 2018 and has yet to either lose or be stripped of.

On September 6th, 2018, Shingo Takagi made the announcement that he would graduate from Dragon Gate and begin competing as a freelancer after his contract expired on October 7th. Back in New Japan around the same time, Los Ingobernables de Japon leader Tetsuya Naito began dropping hints that his unit would soon welcome its first new member in more than 18 months. This did not turn out be a coincidence. Shingo wrestled his final match for Dragon Gate on 10/7 in Fukuoka, losing to longtime generational rival BxB Hulk in a singles match. The very next day on October 8th, he emerged as the promised X in an eight-man tag team match, joining both the New Japan roster and LIJ.

In searching for a new LIJ member Naito had looked to his past connections yet again, as Shingo originally trained in the same Animal Hamaguchi dojo as EVIL, BUSHI, and Naito himself. Indeed from the moment Naito first announced that there would be a new LIJ member much of the speculation had centered around Shingo, with fans retweeting old photos of the two of them hanging out dating back as far as 2014. Despite being most people’s prediction, Shingo, announced as “The Dragon” in a not remotely subtle reference to his DG past, was not a disappointment to the live crowd at Sumo Hall. His reveal received one of the big gest pops of the night from a very pro-LIJ crowd (some who were in the building have even speculated that the reveal of this “X” was a major draw for the show, and stats like abnormally high views of the Youtube video where Naito officially confirmed the new “pareja” would seem to back this up).

Despite appearing to be physically larger and more imposing than many NJPW heavyweights, including even Naito himself, Shingo was quickly revealed to be a new addition to the junior heavyweight division. This is perhaps not super surprising, since he had always been described in the past as a “power junior” and is a little on the shorter side for a Japanese heavyweight, but some followers of his were a little disappointed by this development since Shingo had been competing in the heavyweight divisions of other promotions during guest appearances (most notably in BJW’s 2017 tag league and AJPW’s 2018 Champion Carnival, their version of the G1). Either way, he settled into a role as LIJ mainstay BUSHI’s new partner for the junior tag division, with the two entering the inaugural Super Jr. Tag League. They immediately made a major splash by defeating former junior tag champions Roppongi 3K in their first match as a team, ultimately finishing with a 5-2 record (their only losses coming to the current champions Desperado & Kanemaru and veterans Tiger Mask & Jushin Liger).

That strong record was enough to get them a birth in the final, which was actually a 3-way match involving the aforementioned R3K and Despy/Kanemaru. Unfortunately they were not able to pick up the victory, as SHO of R3K pinned Desperado to win the league for his team. But the expected Roppongi 3K vs. Desperado & Kanemaru junior tag title match at Wrestle Kingdom 13 would quickly be revealed as a 3-way rematch instead, as BUSHI & Shingo would (perhaps nonsensically) get another shot at redemption Shingo’s year ultimately wrapped up with a unique stat for him: of anyone in NJPW who you could even remotely call a regular this year, he was the only person to never lose a fall (while winning 9). Even granting that he was only there for three months that was still rather impressive, and that level of protection in the booking probably says they have big plans for him in the future.