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Open the Freedom Gate Championship

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Open the Freedom Gate Championship
Details
PromotionDragon Gate USA
Dragon Gate
Evolve
Date establishedNovember 28, 2009
Date retiredAugust 15, 2015[1]
Statistics
First champion(s)BxB Hulk[2]
Final champion(s)Timothy Thatcher
Most reignsJohnny Gargano (2 reigns)
Longest reignJohnny Gargano (873 days)
Shortest reignTimothy Thatcher (36 days)
Oldest championTimothy Thatcher (32 years, 115 days)
Youngest championJohnny Gargano (24 years, 91 days days)
Heaviest championDrew Galloway (254 lb (115 kg))
Lightest championBxB Hulk (168 lb (76 kg))

The Open the Freedom Gate Championship was the major title in the promotion Dragon Gate USA. The first holder of the title was crowned following a 14-man tournament held at DGUSA Freedom Fight on November 28, 2009. The title was recognized by Dragon Gate USA's parent promotion, Dragon Gate, and it has been defended at a Dragon Gate show in Japan. The title was also recognized by the Evolve promotion.[3]

There were seven reigns by six wrestlers. BxB Hulk became the first champion by winning a 14-man tournament. Timothy Thatcher was the final champion, vacating the title on August 15, 2015.[1]

The championship was defended in the USA, Japan, China, England, Germany, Canada, Scotland and Northern Ireland [4][5][6][7][8] for promotions such as Revolution Pro Wrestling, British Championship Wrestling, Outback Championship Wrestling, Dragon Gate, Fight Club: PRO, Southside Wrestling Entertainment, Alpha-1 Wrestling, WWNLive, Kamikaze Pro, Premier British Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Ulster.[9]

Title history

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Key
No. Overall reign number
Reign Reign number for the specific champion
Days Number of days held
Defenses Number of successful defenses
No. Champion Championship change Reign statistics Notes Ref.
Date Event Location Reign Days Defenses
1 BxB Hulk November 28, 2009 Freedom Fight 2009 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1 426 7 Defeated CIMA, Gran Akuma and YAMATO in a four-way elimination tournament final match. [2]
2 Yamato January 28, 2011 United: NYC New York, New York 1 289 6 [10]
3 Johnny Gargano November 13, 2011 Freedom Fight 2011 New York, New York 1 873 22 [11]
4 Ricochet April 4, 2014 Open the Ultimate Gate 2014 New Orleans, Louisiana 1 226 5 [12]
5 Johnny Gargano November 16, 2014 WWNLive in China Peking, China 2 132 3 [13]
6 Drew Galloway March 28, 2015 Mercury Rising 2015 San Jose, California 1 104 5 This match was also contested for Galloway's Evolve Championship. [14][15]
7 Timothy Thatcher July 10, 2015 Evolve 45 Tampa, Florida 1 36 0 This match was also contested for the Evolve Championship. [16][17]
Deactivated August 15, 2015 Evolve 47 Queens, New York Thatcher handed the title to Johnny Gargano, rendering it vacant and inactive. [1]

Combined reigns

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Inaugural champion BxB Hulk
Johnny Gargano with the Open the Freedom Gate Championship belt, during his first title reign, the only two time champion
Final champion Timothy Thatcher
Rank Champion No. of
reigns
Combined
defenses
Combined days
1 Johnny Gargano 2 25 1,005
2 BxB Hulk 1 7 426
3 Yamato 6 289
4 Ricochet 5 226
5 Drew Galloway 5 104
6 Timothy Thatcher 0 36

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Show results - Evolve 47 iPPV in Queens, N.Y.: Thatcher vs. Zack Sabre, Jr. for Evolve Title, big turn, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. 2015-08-16. Retrieved 2015-08-22.
  2. ^ a b Caldwell, James (2009-11-29). "DGUSA News: Dragon Gate USA determines first-ever champion on Saturday night's PPV taping". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2009-11-29.
  3. ^ "EVOLVE evolves -- now unified with DGUSA". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. 2011-11-25. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
  4. ^ "Title Reigns « Open The Freedom Gate Championship « Titles Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". Archived from the original on 2015-07-12.
  5. ^ "Title Reigns « Open The Freedom Gate Championship « Titles Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". Archived from the original on 2015-05-31.
  6. ^ "Title Reigns « Open The Freedom Gate Championship « Titles Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". Archived from the original on 2015-07-12.
  7. ^ "Title Reigns « Open The Freedom Gate Championship « Titles Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". Archived from the original on 2014-02-26.
  8. ^ "Title Reigns « Open The Freedom Gate Championship « Titles Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". Archived from the original on 2015-07-12.
  9. ^ "Open The Freedom Gate Championship". CAGEMATCH. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  10. ^ Eaton, Jimmy (2011-01-28). "Eaton's DGUSA "United: New York" 1/28 - Hulk vs. YAMATO, round robin tag team tournament". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2011-01-29.
  11. ^ Radican, Sean (2011-11-13). "Radican's DGUSA "Freedom Fight" iPPV coverage 11/13 -YAMATO vs. Gargano, PAC vs. Ricochet". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2011-11-13.
  12. ^ Radican, Sean (2014-04-05). "iPPV results - 4/4 DGUSA in New Orleans, La.: Radican's Report on historic main event result, Hero vs. Tanaka, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2014-04-05.
  13. ^ Johnson, Mike (2014-11-16). "WWNLive draws huge crowd to close China tour, complete 11/16 results". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved 2014-11-16.
  14. ^ Carapola, Stuart (2015-03-28). "Complete WWNLive Mercury Rising supershow 2015 coverage: the Evolve and DGUSA titles are unified, Hero and Thatcher tear down the house, the women of Shine and Shimmer continue the WrestleMania weekend tradition, and much more". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved 2015-03-28.
  15. ^ "Open The Freedom Gate Championship". CAGEMATCH. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  16. ^ Radican, Sean (2015-07-10). "Radican's Evolve 45 iPPV report 7/10: WWNLive blows up the card & delivers huge main event title match - Galloway vs. Thatcher, Strong vs. Sabre, Jr., Chris Hero, So Cal Val's faction, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2015-07-11.
  17. ^ "Open The Freedom Gate Championship". CAGEMATCH. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
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