History Characters / DragonGate

* EvenEvilHasStandards: He tried to stop Kondo and YASSHI when they attacked Venezia, the mascot of the stable, after losing a match.
* EvilVersusEvil: During the feud between Toryumon Japan and Toryumon 2000 Project, both his Italian Connection stable and Crazy MAX used heelish tactics against each other.

* WrestlingFamily: Was Kotaka's younger brother.

* TheAce: Not literally, but "ace" is a puroresu term for the top wrestler in the promotion - and Shingo has been declared DG's ace at least once.* BadassLongcoat: He usually wears one to the ring.

* TheUnfavorite: Of Aagan Iisou. He was the least known member, always relegated to a low-standard team with Toru Owashi.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: After his return he disappeared for a while in mid 2010 with an injury. After his return, instead of being on all the shows he only participated in Dragon Gate sporadically. And with the new super-heel stable forming out of the remnants of his Deep Drunkers stable, he just quietly vanished from the cards.

* TheUnfavorite: Among many fans, mainly because his somewhat dull performance and the fact that is moveset is almost completely devoid of the exciting lucharesu moves commonly found in Dragon Gate. Part of the problem is that in his very early days Sugawara trained as a power wrestler, but he was too small to use the style outside the Toryumon system.

* PutOnABus: In October 2018, chose to move on to another promotion. Lost his final match against [=BxB Hulk=]

!!!SUWA (Judo Suwa)
* ArtisticLicenseMartialArts: His famous "Creator/JohnWoo dropkick" is just a regular running dropkick which in turn knocks his opponents several feet away. The move was created during his feud against Dragon Kid, who used to sell his attacks like hit by a car, and was swiftly made canon.
* AxCrazy: Was defined as a psycho brawler, prone to snap at any time.
* BaldOfEvil: Generally went bald, although at various times he wore a topknot.
* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: During the war against the llave based Toryumon 2000 Project, SUWA showed his own submission expertise adopting a catch wrestling-like crooked headscissors as a finisher.
* EarlyBirdCameo: He wrestled a few matches for Wrestling/{{WCW}} in the late 90s - he even got some props from WCW's website for showing raw talent.
* {{Heel}}: One of the few wrestlers in Japan who played a western style antagonistic heel, even after he left Dragon Gate for NOAH. It was also said during [=CrazyMAX's=] face days that SUWA always came across more as a tweener tolerating the face nonsense because his friends wanted to.
* {{Jerkass}}: In character and, depending on who you ask, out of character too.
* RedBaron: "Akuto" ("Scoundrel"), "Toryumon no Tsuyosa no Shocho" ("The Symbol of Toryumon's Strength).
* SeriousBusiness: SUWA has made many, many derogatory remarks about the comparatively light hearted nature of Dragon Gate as compared to other federations like Wrestling/ProWrestlingNOAH.

* AbhorrentAdmirer: To... everyone she admires, really.
** Except Gamma... sometimes.

* EvenTheGuysWantHim: This was how he gained membership to Blood Generation. [=BloodGen=] was a heel stable with a theme of no masks and good physiques. CIMA didn't believe that Yoshino (who'd been a face for several years) had what it took to be a heel and wasn't going to let him into [=BloodGen=]. Yoshino flexed his abs. CIMA ''swooned'' and immediately let him in.

* AntiHero: His initial persona since his beginnings in Crazy MAX was essentially a young talent with an attitude problem who led a gang of miscellaneous rebels. Even after their HeelFaceTurn, his character changed very little, and it had to wait years to became a more clean cut hero (he retains part of his old bratty self).

* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Don Fuji. He, Fuji, Judo Suwa and Yoshikazu Taru formed the stable [=CrazyMAX=] in the early days of Toryumon, and although Suwa and Taru went their separate ways CIMA and Fuji have both worked in Toryumon/Dragon Gate since the start of their careers.

* LightningBruiser: When he got his start in Wrestling/{{WCW}} he was a high-flyer, but he diversified his moveset after it began messing his body up. He still uses some top rope moves though.
* ManInAKilt: His entrance attire, although he wears normal wrestling trunks under it.

* RedBaron: "The Dragon Gate Icon", "Ring no Saita Aku no Hana" ("The Flower of Evil that Blossoms in the Ring", used when heel and especially at his old days).
* UnnecessaryCombatRoll: Occasionally his rolls are evasive in nature or used to recover. More often they are a telegraph that leads him more likely to miss even if his opponent doesn't see the upper cut coming. CIMA usually does hit anyway though, just cause he's that good.
* TheUnpronounceable: While he was in WCW and going by Shiima Nobunaga, everyone had trouble with his name, particularly his last name. In one episode of WCW Saturday Night, he wrestled Chris Jericho, who messed up his name in five different ways before the match. Then commentator Larry Zybysko messed it up even worse, calling him "Shiima Ramalamadingdong."

* AbortedArc: After he left OPW, he seemed to be concocting an interpromotional stable storyline, as he founded the faction STONED and made it active at Wrestling/MichinokuProWrestling, Wrestling/ProWrestlingZERO1 and Dragondoor at the same time. However, he signed up with Dragon Gate immediately after, so he left the stable in his underlings's hands and forgot about it.

* TheCorrupter: Before he came to Dragon Gate, he was quite a Mephistophelic figure. He corrupted the Sato brothers into becoming villains to form the STONED group, convinced Kagetora to join them, and influenced Takuya Sugawara into turning away from his gang Aagan Iisou and ally with them. This trait of him was forgotten in Dragon Gate, though.
* TheIdiotFromOsaka: Mostly averted, as Gamma is too abrasive and unfriendly to fit the stereotype, but he retains some traits as loudness and love for quarreling.

* SuperpoweredEvilSide: His "Gamma Daio" persona, which he created to fight Killer Hulk. Unlike Hulk, however, the character is not supposed to be the same person as Gamma; when speaking about him, Gamma claimed Daio was a descendant of an empire of "gammas" from 10.000 BC he had managed to summon.
* TooMuchAlike: Back in Osaka Pro, he was basically the resident version of CIMA. When he was brought by Magnitude Kishiwada to their stable, CIMA wasn't amused. Ironically, after years of rabid clashing, they became friends due to this very similarity.

* HeterosexualLifePartners: With CIMA, even when they're not in the same stable they acknowledge their friendship and no matter how far down the card Fuji slides CIMA treats him with the utmost respect.
* IHaveManyNames: Used to change his name once a year. Started as Sumo Fuji, then went through Big Fuji, Sumo Dandy Fuji, Sumo Dandy Fuji 2000, and Don Fuji. He stopped the annual renaming thing after he became Don Fuji.
* IKnowKungFu: In the early days of his career used sumo movements moreso than now, but he still uses sumo throws and palm thrusts.

* MightyGlacier: Not really that big or that slow, but compared to the rest of the roster...
* PintSizedPowerhouse: Again, he is a very small wrestler in comparison with most Japanese heavyweights, but he is surprisingly strong and can comfortably chokeslam almost any wrestler in DG.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The "Don" in his name kept the puroresu fans wondering for a long time. It has never been revealed whether it should be taken as the Japanese word for "boss", as a regular first name (some sites first identified it as a reference to wrestler and mixed martial artist Don Frye, who was very popular in Japan when Fujii adopted the name) or even as the Spanish equivalent to "Mr." (which was how Mexican announcers used to spell it).

* ButtMonkey: His gimmick is that of a wrestler cursed with 400 years of losing who is constantly and pathetically defeated. In fact, he is usually pinned after a slap mere seconds into the match and it has to being restarted before losing in a slightly more proper way. Not a bad perspective for him, as he never gives up and always seeks bigger challenges, which normally takes the form of Japanese wrestling legends beating him up.

* CaptainErsatz: His entire gimmick is a giant reference to a character named Blackdevil from the Japanese TV show Ore Tachi Hyoukin Zoku. His entrance theme, the William Tell overture, was even the opening theme of said show.

* BadassGrandpa: One of the oldest in the roster, and a member of the veteran stable Zetsurins.

* [[IKnowKungFu I Know Sumo]]: In the early days of his career moreso than now, but he still uses sumo throws and palm thrusts.

!!!Akira Tozawa
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: As part of the "Big Six" of Dragon Gate, alongside Hulk, Yoshino, Doi, Yamato and Shingo. Despite being generally regarded as awesome and being a fan favorite in Japan and abroad, he's arguably the one whose career took the longest to take off, and he's also the only one to not have won the Open the Dream Gate title.
* ButtMonkey: He filled this role in the promotion for years.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Uhaa Nation.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: On the receiving end of one courtesy of YAMATO, who threw him out of Mad Blankey.
* MundaneMadeAwesome: His German suplexes. Many wrestlers use it, but he claims to have the best German suplex in the world, and he has the normal, release, deadlift, high speed, and arm-trap versions of it as well.
* NoInsideVoice: He's almost always yelling. At times, he's so loud he begins screaming.
* PointyHairedBoss: As the leader of Tozawa-Juku. Nobody paid him any attention, and on those occasions Tozawa-Juku needed a leader, they turned to Keni'chiro Arai rather than Tozawa.
* PutOnABus: Finally spent nearly a year and a half away from Dragon Gate, touring in the USA.
* RedBaron: "Mr. High Tension", "Tozawa-juku Ichigo Sei Hitto" ("Tozawa-juku's Number One").
* RedOniBlueOni: The red to, well, pretty much everyone else's blue.
* SmallNameBigEgo: During his rookie years and as the self-proclaimed leader of Tozawa-Juku.
* StockShonenHero: Probably one of the purest examples in professional wrestling. He's hot-blooded, always ready for a fight, fiercely protective of his friends, often throws caution to the wind and has a tendency to make a fool out of himself.... but he's also one of the best at what he does, and his allies are well aware of that.
* SuplexFinisher: His finisher is a slow but solid German suplex. He has an upgraded version of it where he bearhugs the opponent's arms to his sides while delivering the suplex.
* TookALevelInBadass:
** After he finally returned to DG, he went from being TheMillstone for whatever stable he was in, to being able to pin Shingo Takagi cleanly.
** Since he decided to sign with Wrestling/{{WWE}}'s new Cruiserweight division, they've been referring to him as "graduating" from Dragon Gate.

!!! Wrestling/BrodieLee

!!!Kotoka

!!!Problem Dragon (APE Kimata/Super Shenlong II)

* IHaveManyNames: Aside from having worked as APE Kimata and Super Shenlong II, when he started his current gimmick it took him a long time to settle on a name. He went by Problem Eilong, Problem Ailong and Mondailong before settling on Mondai Ryu. After his return from injury he went by Mondairyu, and now goes by Problem Dragon. This was partly because his Japanese name doesn't translate into English well.

* SquashMatch: Defeated "Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa in 32 seconds at ''Dragon Gate Race Event'' in 2010. Ichikawa did a little better after a second try on the same show but still ended up losing.

!!!Eita
* BadassDecay: Another example of Dragon Gate moving a wrestler down the card and working it into the storylines (making it in-universe) - Eita was a midcarder moving upwards when he got injured, and slid back down to opener when he returned. Shingo Takagi ripped on him for it. He recovered after the formation of Over Generation, though.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Sometimes the way he dresses when not wrestling is a bit...[[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BvLMeJcCcAAJrN1.jpg:large strange, to say the least.]]
* BrattyHalfPint: His size doesn't stop him from running his mouth, even against the most experienced and respected of veterans. Then again, most of the Millenials were this when the stable was around, and they haven't lost it.
* DelinquentHair: Before joining the Millennials, he had a mohawk. Now he no longer spikes the mohawk and just wears it down, occasionally tying it.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: He was kicked out of [=VerserK=] the same day it became an official stable, but in 2017 they let him back in.
* PintSizedPowerhouse: Not a very big wrestler, but becoming infamous for his vicious chops.

!!![[Wrestling/AdrianNeville PAC]]
* TheBusCameBack: Came straight back to Dragon Gate after spending a few years in WWE.
* FaceHeelTurn: Was introduced as a member of R.E.D immediately on his DG return, having never played anything besides a face in the promotion.

* [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff Americans Love Genki Horiguchi]]: A lower midcarder in Japan, he's not one of the most recognized and most popular DG wrestlers in the USA, but has actually been [[{{invoked}} billed]] in America for his popularity... in America. This is at least partly because American promoters had to vigorously promote him and his BaldOfAwesome gimmick so that his "H-A-G-E!" chant would not be LostInTranslation.

* ThoseTwoGuys: With brother YASSHI.

* IdiotHero: Probably one of the purest examples in professional wrestling. He's hot-blooded, always ready for a fight, fiercely protective of his friends, often throws caution to the wind and has a tendency to make a fool out of himself.... but he's also one of the best at what he does, and his allies are well aware of that.

* SmallNameBigEgo: During his rookie years and as the self-proclaimed leader of Tozawa-Juku

* TookALevelInBadass: After he finally returned to DG, he went from being TheMillstone for whatever stable he was in, to being able to pin Shingo Takagi cleanly.

* DelinquentHair: A mohawk to rival Yasushi Kanda's classic one from his M2K days.

* TheArtifact: After having been part of the Kitao Dojo match that was crashed by Crazy MAX to recruit TARU, the bookers seemed completely lost about what to do with KOBE. They decided to get him in C-MAX anyways, farfetched as it could be, but he never teamed up with them or was anything more than a random crony. They then made him turn on them and look to become a face, but then he joined M2K and became K-ICHI. But even that ended prematurely, and he was left jobbing and doing nothing until his departure.
* BoisteroisWeakling: Sported a porn-themed ring name and wore leather attire (vaguely inspired on his master's) as if he was the baddest man in the world, but he was actually an undignified, hopeless jobber.

* TheQuisling: He was right there when Crazy MAX recruited TARU, but he wasn't chosen (in fact, he was beaten up). He only gained access to the stable through intensive buttkissing and never was considered a worthy partner or a true member.

* SixthRangerTraitor: Was somewhat of TARU's assistant in Crazy MAX for some months until he betrayed them. Not very surprising, as KOBE was part of the Kitao Dojo team which was squashed by Crazy MAX when they recruited TARU.

* TheDogBitesBack: Spent enough time being slapped around and mistreated that he eventually snapped, changed his name to Chocoflake K-ICHI and joined [=M2K=].

* SixthRangerTraitor: Was TARU's assistant in Crazy MAX for a months until he betrayed them and turned face. Not very surprising, as KOBE was part of the Kitao Dojo team which was squashed by Crazy MAX when they recruited TARU.

* BattleCouple: He and real life wife and former wrestler Akira Hokuto. Akira often accompanied to his matches, and she even came out of retirement for a 10 man tag match.
* TheBigGuy: Of the Florida Bros. Really, he dwarfed just about everyone on the roster.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: After repeatedly losing to the Florida Bros via their trickery, Sasaki gave up on pulping them and joined them.
* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Akira Hokuto was originally adamantly opposed to the whole angle and gimmick, thinking that it would ruin Sasaki's legacy. Instead it revitalized his career, and she decided the Florida Bros routine was ActuallyPrettyFunny - she could often be seen at ringside first {{corpsing}} and then looking irritated at herself.
* FanNickname: "Kenskee." It became in-universe when the Floridas started calling him that too.
* NoSell: A big part of Florida Bros comedy was the weakness of Michael and Daniel contrasted to the badassery of Sasaki.
** The Floridas did several variations on the spot where Sasaki would ''forget'' to sell, so they'd do the spot over again and Sasaki would oversell horribly.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Tended to cause this in other wrestlers. One time five guys at him, and he no-sold four of the kicks and caught the fifth (Magnum Tokyo's). The other four bailed leaving Tokyo to get killed.
** Another time K-Ness hit him with a series of vicious chops. Sasake looked at K-Ness with a mildly bemused expression. K-Ness calmly returned to the ring apron as though nothing happened.
* WearingAFlagOnYourHead: After joining the Floridas, wore American Flag pattern shorts.

* ItAmusedMe: Tokyo Gurentai hasn't a concrete alineation in any promotion, they just come to wreak havoc. in Dragon Gate they initially allied with Real Hazard, but then switched to WARRIORS-5 when RH turned on them.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: He was overshadowed by Shuji Kondo in Toryumon 2000, although he ended catching him up.

* BreakTheCutie: He started as a popular and promising face, then was approached by Crazy MAX and went through heel to became a member, and when he started to be an important part of Toryumon, was injuried in a match against YASSHI and had to retire.

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Had a severe case of it late 2009 early 2010, seems to have gotten over it for now.

!!!Problem Dragon

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The "Don" in his name kept the puroresu fans wondering for a long time. It as never been revealed whether it should be taken as the Japanese word for "boss", as a regular first name (some sites first identified it as a reference to wrestler and mixed martial artist Don Frye, who was very popular in Japan when Fujii adopted the name) or even as the Spanish equivalent to "Mr." (which was how Mexican announcers used to spell it).

* TheArtifact: Johnson debuted when Taku "Michael" Iwasa and Raimu "Daniel" Mishima were doing the Florida Brothers gimmick. The Florida Brothers proper ended in April 2006. Johnson stuck around and occasionally worked with Jackson, but Jackson was phased out of the cards by 2011. Johnson still shows up every once in a while.

!!!Keni'chiro Arai
* TheAlcoholic: It's been part of his character for most of his career. As a heel he'd spit beer in people's faces and use empty bottles as weapons. Naturally, he was one of the Deep Drunkers, a GangOfHats of drunken troublemakers.
* TheArtifact: Temporarily averted. After getting the same treatment as a few other Toryumon guys, he reinvented himself by joining Tozawa-juku, and was a solidly midcard to upper midcard performer for quite some time. However since Tozawa-juku and the start of his heel run in Real Hazard, he was re-DemotedToExtra.
* BaldOfAwesome: Shaved his head around 2003ish and never looked back.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Hasn't wrestled a match in Dragon Gate since the end of 2016 despite still being on the roster.
* DemotedToExtra: From roughly the midpoint of the Deep Drunkers run until the end of 2015, he appeared mostly on the Koruaken Hall shows and in the dark match or in openers.
* HardHead: Hit him in the head with a chair or blue box and he won't just NoSell it, he'll be re-energized.
* ItWillNeverCatchOn: He started in the promotion [[Wrestling/{{FMW}} Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling]], but he was dropped out of the dojo as he failed the training tests and the trainers thought he would never make it as a wrestler. Time proved they were wrong.
* LightningBruiser: Able to perform both 450º splashes and tombstone piledrivers.
* RedBaron: "Araken", "Tosho" ("The Brave Leader"), "Sono Hi Kurashi" ("Hand to Mouth").
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: His response to Team Veteran Returns being forcibly disbanded was to refuse to participate in the stable's farewell speech and leave the arena alone.
* ShoutOut: He's a fan of the Hanshin Tigers baseball team, and he calls his Tiger SuplexFinisher the Hanshin Tiger Suplex.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Spelling of his name vary between "Kenichiro", "Ken'ichiro" and "Keni'chiro".

* AbortedArc: After he left OPW, he seemed to be concocting an interpromotional stable storyline, as he founded the faction STONED and made it active at Wrestling/MichinokuProWrestling, Wrestling/ProWrestling/ZERO1 and Dragondoor at the same time. However, he signed up with Dragon Gate immediately after, so he left the stable in his underlings's hands and forgot about it.

* TheAce: Not literally, but "ace" is a puroresu term for the top wrestler in the promotion - and Shingo has been declared DG's ace at least once.
** In July 2013, he defeated CIMA, ending CIMA's 19 month 18 defense long Dream Gate reign.
* BadassLongcoat: He usually wears one to the ring.

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Just look at [[http://www.iheartdg.com/hollywood-stalker-ichikawa/ his attire]]. It is... difficult to describe.

!!!Super Shisa

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: He's been entirely absent from the cards since the start of 2016, minus three matches in May 2016. He finally appeared in September 2017 to explain that he'd opened a restaurant. He declared he was not retired, but not close to in wrestling shape, and he promised he'd work on that and try to wrestle more often - but before that he had to make tacos. He finally wrestled again in October 2018.

* TheUnreveal: For years it was believed that Shisa was actually Toryumon alumni SAITO (real name Yoshiyuki Saito, not to be confused with Ryo Saito and many other Saito-named wrestlers). Shisa denied it for years. Turned out that yeah he was SAITO all along.
* UrExample: He was the first Toryumon wrestler in using intensively the Mexican ''llave'' style, years before Toryumon 2000 Project came.

* TheMillstone: During his time as an official member of [=CrazyMAX=].

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Tended to cause this in other wrestlers. One time five guys at him, and he no-sold four of the kicks and caught the fifth (Magnum Tokyo's). The other four bailed leaving Tokyo to get killed. Another time K-Ness hit him with a series of chops that he utterly ignored - so K-Ness turned around and went back to the ring apron.

!!! [[Wrestling/SamiZayn El Generico]]

!!!Kensuke Sasaki
* BattleCouple: He and real life wife and former wrestler Akira Hokuto. Akira often accompanied to his matches, and she even came out of retirement for a 10 man tag match.
* TheBigGuy: Of the Florida Bros. Really, he dwarfed just about everyone on the roster.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: After repeatedly losing to the Florida Bros via their trickery, Sasaki gave up on pulping them and joined them.
* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Akira Hokuto was originally adamantly opposed to the whole angle and gimmick, thinking that it would ruin Sasaki's legacy. Instead it revitalized his career, and she decided the Florida Bros routine was ActuallyPrettyFunny - she could often be seen at ringside first {{corpsing}} and then looking irritated at herself.
* FanNickname: "Kenskee." It became in-universe when the Floridas started calling him that too.
* NoSell: A big part of Florida Bros comedy was the weakness of Michael and Daniel contrasted to the badassery of Sasaki.
** The Floridas did several variations on the spot where Sasaki would ''forget'' to sell, so they'd do the spot over again and Sasaki would oversell horribly.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Tended to cause this in other wrestlers. One time five guys at him, and he no-sold four of the kicks and caught the fifth (Magnum Tokyo's). The other four bailed leaving Tokyo to get killed. Another time K-Ness hit him with a series of chops that he utterly ignored - so K-Ness turned around and went back to the ring apron.
* WearingAFlagOnYourHead: After joining the Floridas, wore American Flag pattern shorts.

* TheBrute: He had two 2-month stints in Dragon Gate in 2011 - in both, he served as auxiliary muscle for the then-top heel stable Blood Warriors.

!!!Ricochet
* ActionDad: He has a son.
* AscendedExtra: Sort of. He went from being an American indy guy associated with Dragon Gate USA (Dragon Gate's American spinoff) to slowly working his way up the card and eventually becoming the first gaijin to hold the Open the Dream Gate Championship, the company's top belt.
* FragileSpeedster: One of the best high-flyers in the planet.

* GratuitousEnglish: His stable in Michinoku Pro was called STONED.

** Except Gamma...sometimes.

* CanonImmigrant: He came in from Osaka Pro.

* LegacyCharacter: The newest character of the Dragon Lineage, following Ultimo Dragon, Dragon Kid, Darkness Dragon and Little Dragon[[note]]One of Takuya Sugi's characters[[/note]].