An Interview with Dragongate’s Ho Ho Lun about the Dragongate USA 2026 Tour

By Taylor McClernan

Available on YouTube

I had the pleasure of speaking to Dragongate wrestler/commentator/international tour manager Ho Ho Lun about everything to expect from Dragongate when they travel to the U.S. for Wrestlemania Weekend this April. Dragongate will have 2 US shows in Portland and Las Vegas, as well as many guest appearances throughout Wrestlemania Weekend. I hope you all enjoy, and if you are in the Portland area please come say hi to myself and Ho Ho at the show this April.

Taylor McClernan: Ho Ho, how are you doing?

Ho Ho Lun: Oh, I’m fantastic. Excited to talk about what’s happening in April. It’s been a year since the last time I came to America, so I’m happy to share everything.

Taylor: What all is in store for you this year, and how was the experience last year?

Ho Ho: This year we start off in Portland.We’re gonna work with Defy, for the show Crossover. The match card is still waiting for confirmation, but there’s gonna be a lot of matches that you will only see there.

Then after that show, we’re gonna move on to San Jose. We’re doing a try out there. So far there have already been like thirty people who signed up; talent from the US, talent from Mexico will be here to chase for one spot. If everyone is so good, there might be two spots who can come to Japan and tour with us.

And then the main event of this trip is gonna be April 15th, Las Vegas, The Gate of Sin City. Last year we did two shows in Vegas. I believe a lot of fans were happy to see DGUSA back. So this year we’re gonna be a bigger team. Twelve of us from Japan’s gonna fly in to give you the more authentic experience of Dragon Gate. At the same time, we’re gonna have a few local challengers with some very good wrestlers: Jonathan Gresham, Alec Price, Jordan Oliver and a few more. There will be a lot of interesting matches that are gonna make a mark in the history of DGUSA.

Then the rest of the weekend, we’re gonna have talent here and there in Vegas. We end the trip with the team at WrestleCon. We’re actually having a table at WrestleCon this year, so most of us are going to be able to meet our US supporters. If possible, we wanted to have conversations with everyone, rather than just take a photo and go. We want to have a deeper conversation, if you already sign up for that meet & greet, make sure that we talk to you. If we don’t, come back again and disturb us.

Taylor: Ho Ho & Dragongate came out last year. They did the Defy show last year too. Everyone’s very friendly. That’s how I met Ho Ho. We had a fifteen minute conversation that was really nice.

Ho Ho: Last year with the defy show it was just the four of us. This time there will be nine of us. There will be a lot of interesting match-ups, and I’m sure the tickets are already selling very well. Last year was in Seattle, this year is gonna be Portland, but that’s only like a two hour drive, so a lot of fans will be able to come in again.

Taylor: I’m excited to get to see YAMATO and yourself and whoever else is on there. Are you able to confirm the names of who will be in Portland?

Ho Ho: Myself, YAMATO, Dragon Kid & Susumu Yokosuka will be there. Younger talent who will actually be making his US debut there is Open the Dream Gate Champion, Madoka Kikuta. ISHIN & Kzy were there last year, and will be there this year as well.

Taylor: Last year you had special tour shirts made for your merch. Are you gonna do the same thing this year? Are you gonna bring any of the standard Dragongate merch, like the towels or the faction t-shirts?

Ho Ho: This time there’s new t-shirts that will be released, but I don’t think we have a tour t-shirt for Las Vegas. But then, because of this year, we have twelve talents coming down, there will be more of the personal t-shirts. Kzy will have a new t-shirt available. Yoshioka will have a t- shirt. I have my t-shirt done. Then Ben-K & Hyo, Love & Peace tag team t-shirts. I think they might have personal ones as well. I gotta check with the merch guy, but there will be a lot more of the personal wrestler merch this year. Last year, the Dragongate magazine, the fans were so happy for us to bring it over, that was the first thing that sold out. It actually surprised me because the magazine is in Japanese, but then a lot of collectors in the US actually want Japanese stuff to collect. So that’s something that surprised me. This year I’m gonna bring a bit more, hopefully it doesn’t overweight my luggage, but I’ll try to bring as many as possible.

Taylor: You have more guys too, so you can put it in everyone else’s luggage. You answered a lot of my questions about the tryout. There will be US & Mexican talent, and they’re trying out to make the Japanese tour. You had a couple guys come over last year. Marcus Mathers was just there. You had El Cucuy, Fight Panther & Aero Panther; were any of those guys in the tryout last year? Was that how they made the Japanese tour?

Ho Ho: Marcus Mathers, we actually worked together for the first time two years ago, 2024, that was in Philly. We did a crossover show with ETU, where he was the main event against Dragon Kid. And then last year, that’s why we had him again. He & Kzy had a fantastic match. These two matches impressed the booking team, and they loved it. At the same time, Marcus was reaching out to us, although he is in the WWEID thing; but if it’s a month or little bit longer, he could do that for Japan. We always thought if he got a WWE contract, there would be a lot of restrictions, but right, he actually got a month off, actually five weeks off from WWEID to come in. Once we had him here we had him team with the D’Courage. He actually challenged for the tag team championship the other day. Really impressive; the booking team was really, really impressed by what he did. He’s been back in the US for a few days now. I know he has a lot of other goals that he wants to achieve, but the door is always open. If he can get time off again & come over, the door is open for him.

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Taylor: That’s great, it sounds like it was a successful trip for Dragongate & for Marcus. Maybe that opens the door for future WWEID guys. Seems like it was a positive relationship.

Ho Ho: For the Panther brothers, they came over last year. Two years ago, they actually were booked in Hong Kong. They did a Mexican festival in Hong Kong, that was a few shows, and then they contacted us. They didn’t ask for anything.They said they’re gonna come to Japan. I think they have some connection with the Mexico side of Dragongate. They came in just for training. They actually are really, really good; we wanted to put them in matches; but it was just so last minute, and then they came in just for training, so they don’t have the proper paperwork. So, they came for training, they stayed in the dojo for like three or four weeks, & did really well. Finally, last year, they had a chance to wrestle for Dragongate, but that was pretty short. I’m sure they are really popular in Mexico & the west coast in the U.S. They did two weeks and were pretty impressive as well.

Taylor: I was hoping to see a little bit more of them. I had not heard of them or seen them before the DGUSA show last year. But they were amazing, along with the Lucha Solos. They ended up being one of my top matches of the year. I had them as the 5th best match of the year.

Ho Ho: That match was sick!

Taylor: When they got the Dragongate tour, I was really excited, but it was just for a blink of the eye, so I’m very excited they’re announced for the DGUSA show this year. Hopefully they can have as good of a match.

Ho Ho: I can tell you this is gonna be a sick match. Fight Panther & Aero Panther will be in a 3 way tag match against Busta & The Brain (Alec Price & Jordan Oliver) and the Love & Peace duo of Ben-K & Hyo.

Taylor: You’re in Portland on the 10th, San Jose on the 12th, and then the DGUSA show on the 15th. So you have a couple days off, what are you planning to do on those days? Do you have a mini vacation planned?

Ho Ho: So for San Jose, 30 people already signed up for the tryout, but in case there’re more people trying out, we wanna give more opportunities to people. If we reach something like 40, we might actually split the try out into two days. So it might be 12th and the 13th, but the 13th is a Monday, so I don’t know how that’s gonna work. Otherwise, there’s gonna be a day off there in San Jose. Maybe we will just go down to San Francisco.

Taylor: It seems like you have the whole DGUSA card announced as far as participants. You have 2 matches announced in that 3 way tag match and YAMATO vs Jonathan Gresham. That match is something I never imagined but is a very exciting pairing. Another interesting thing about this show is you have Marcus Mathers under WWEID contract, but Jordan Oliver & Alec Price recently signed with AEW; so you have representation from the two biggest US companies on the show. Has that caused any issues?

Ho Ho: So far I haven’t heard of anything, so I think that’s good to go. I think that’s happening on other shows as well. I actually asked them that on my side if it’s an issue and it doesn’t seem like any. Let’s wait for the announcement.

Taylor: So we just have the one DGUSA show this year, but you guys are there the whole weekend. Like you said, you’re doing the WrestleCon, and then you have a couple other matches and appearances announced.The match I’m most excited for is the Team Gringo Loco versus the Team Dragongate trios match. Can you tell us about how that match came together, and what to expect from that match?

Ho Ho: Yes, that’s on the Gringo Loco show on Friday, the 17th. It’s one of the early ones, the 11 am show. Gringo Loco, I met him a lot of times when he came to Japan. I remember we went to get hamburgers in Shinjuku. We were always talking about how possible it is to do this & do that, and I’m really, really excited for this match to happen. There’s gonna be a lot of high flying action in that match, and hopefully, it leads to something else later in the year or something next year.

Taylor: I think the Team Dragongate team is really exciting. You have a team you wouldn’t normally get in Japan because all the guys are in different factions, but you have Yoshioka, Kzy, & Hyo.

Ho Ho: Yes, and that’s the good thing about being outside Japan. So we can market ourselves as Team Dragongate or Dragongate All-Stars, etc. Plus, there’s matchups that you won’t be able to see in Japan, just like this match. We just announced YAMATO versus Jonathan Gresham. And the multi tag team match with Love & Peace; but then we also wanted to bring in some authentic Dragongate experience. I am pretty sure there will be a Dragongate style six man tag that’s happening on this Vegas show as well. So something authentic and then something that you don’t see often in Japan. It’s a mix.

Taylor: I’m gonna ask you about the matches that are announced, but i was kind of surprised how few matches are announced right now, especially with how many guys you’re bringing over. So it’s, it’s good to hear that there’s some stuff still working on in the background.

Ho Ho: We are actually looking for a six match match card, but there’s some matches that we still have to figure out. We’re gonna have a meeting to figure it out; and then there’s a lot of shows happening in Vegas, especially at the same venue. They’re gonna kick us out of the venue because at midnight there’s another show, and then before us there’s another show. So we gotta make sure we don’t overrun.

Taylor: The other match that got announced outside of the DGUSA show that I think is very exciting is Love & Peace in a four way tag on the Mark Hitchcock show.

Ho Ho: Yes, that’s the WrestleCon show.

Taylor: This looks like a bit of a 4 corners & 4 countries tag, as Ben-K & Hyo represent Japan, MxFx (Latigo & Toxin) represent Mexico, Starboy Charlie & StarMan from NES game are Team USA, and representing the U.K. is CPF (Joe Lando & Danny Black). Ben-K & Hyo have developed a great chemistry since Hyo joined Love & Peace, and I think they will really stand out this weekend. Those are the only Dragongate talents announced on that show, but that night we also have El Desparado’s Death Vegas Invitacional where they just announced Dragon Kid yesterday. Dragon Kid has teamed with el desperado a couple times. Despe was in Dragongate this summer,and then every time Despy does one of his produce shows, Dragon Kid seems like he’s on the card. Do you think he’ll be teaming with Desperado again? Do we think Dragon Kid’s gonna do a deathmatch?

Ho Ho: [Laughs] That will be interesting to see.

Taylor: I had a question specifically about Madoka Kikuta, the Dream Gate Champion; because he has a very busy April schedule. He’s not only coming over for this tour, but he’s the Dream Gate champion, and he’s also in All Japan’s Champion Carnival. Can we expect him to defend the Dream Gate title while he’s in Vegas? Maybe on the DGUSA show or elsewhere?

Ho Ho: That’s in the plans right now. It might change, but I don’t know what the current plan is with the title. If he’s coming in as the Dream Gate champion, of course he will bring in the bell at least, so, yeah, the US fans will actually see this bell for the first time, cause we renewed the bell I think in 2020.

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Taylor: Did YAMATO not bring it last year? I know he didn’t defend it, cause i thought he might defend it against rich swann.

Ho Ho: Yeah, you’re right. He didn’t defend it, but he was the champion. I actually can’t remember, it might not be the first time. I might be wrong, [laughs] But if i’m not, Kikuta is the champion, he would definitely be the 1st. I actually just found the photos from last year. YAMATO did have the Dream Gate. So I corrected myself [laughs]. It’s not the first time, it’s gonna be the second time.

Taylor: If he’s the champion and he wants to defend the belt in Portland too, I’ll selfishly be happy. Is he gonna be there the whole time from the 10th to the 19th, or is he gonna have to go to Japan early?

Ho Ho: He’s got Champion Carnival, so he might not even be at any WrestleCon. He might have to go back to do Champion Carnival right after for All Japan. I don’t think he has to, but my information may be delayed. I don’t think he can do any WrestleCon, but if you wanna see Kikuta, the DGUSA show will probably be the only chance.

Taylor: That’s good to know, he’s the top guy right now. He’s the Dream Gate champion. So make sure if you wanna see that belt, you wanna see the champ, that might be your only chance.He’s a busy man as the champion, he’s representing dragon gate in a few different countries and companies. I had a WrestleCon question. Are you gonna have the whole crew there? If they’re available in between matches, or is it just gonna be the four guys a day?

Ho Ho: It’s four guys a day. WrestleCon is the 16th through the 19th. It’s four hours each day, so we will have four people each day. If you miss one day, you’re not gonna see them there again. YAMATO, KAI, Yoshiki Kato, & Susumu Yokosuka will be there on the 16th. Some other guys might have other bookings, so the three other days we still are figuring that out. Once we figure that out, we’re gonna start putting out the reservations for the meet and greet. We don’t wanna do meet and greet just for photos, shake your hand, & sign your stuff. We want to have a conversation with the US fans. You know, DGUSA, we only come once a year. We want to give you the most authentic experience possible. Last year there’s always a few people here and there, so we could have conversations there. We want to spend time with you, if possible, if it’s not a long line.

Taylor: You brought up, you guys only come once a year; So I think that brings up the question of next year, because next year Wrestlemania is in Saudi Arabia. I know you guys work with GCW a lot when you guys come over here. Have you had any conversations with GCW about the plans for next year? Are you gonna move it towards a different weekend?

Ho Ho: Actually this is the conversation that we are looking to talk about with them while we are in Vegas. As well as in San Jose with Pro Wrestling Revolution. They are also a very, very good partner. We might actually do something on the west coast next year. We actually want to do more than once a year. I’ll schedule some time. It’s quite tough because in Japan alone, for example, we just announced the May schedule and it’s like nineteen shows in May.

Taylor: The month’s only 31 days. Dragongate still works like that old school schedule. You guys work 200 to 300 shows a year. I think next year might be a good opportunity to come more than once, because I don’t think there’s gonna be quite as big of a weekend as Wrestlemania weekend next year. But because Wrestlemania’s overseas, I think we might have a couple smaller big weekends.So that would be a great opportunity, hopefully that develops.

Ho Ho: I don’t think we will know for sure, but we will be more clear once this Wrestlemania is over, and more information about next Wrestlemania comes out.

Taylor: Like you were just saying, the Dragongate schedule never really takes a break. Right after you guys finish the American tour, you have one of the big four shows of the year in Golden Colosseum in Nagoya. Do you think any big storylines will be set up and maybe play out in Vegas? Do you think Vegas will be in storyline? Or you think it will be outside of storyline, like we were saying with the Team Dragongate stuff earlier?

Ho Ho: So far we have only announced two matches. One is the cage match, and one is the brave gate match, which none of the members are going to be in Vegas. For these two matches, I don’t think it’s possible to do anything in Vegas; but let’s see. We still have Kobe Sambo Hall TV taping coming up, and then a Korakuen coming up before we do the US trip. So, these two shows, I’m sure we’re gonna build some matches for the Nagoya show. Once those are announced, depending if the right talent aligns. I really don’t know, I’m not trying to kayfabe you.

Taylor: [Laughs] No, that’s fine, there’s a lot of shows in between here. When you’re not wrestling or running international tours for Dragongate, you’re also one half of the english commentary team with Jae Church. Will you still be in Japan for the April 6th Korakuen Hall show, and will you be calling that one?

Ho Ho: I will, and then I actually leave on the 7th. So I’ll do the Korakuen, and then leave the next day.

Taylor: You’ll already be in Tokyo, so that works out. Are you planning or are you hoping to do any commentary while you’re in the US?

Ho Ho: I would love to, but for this trip, we already set the commentators for the show. Joe [Dombrowski] from last year, and this guy Larry Dallas. We used to fly him over to Japan before the lockdown, but then since the lockdown, we can’t fly him over, and he wasn’t available last year, but he is available this year. The show will be him and Joe. They actually did things together with the AAA, so it’s not the first time they worked with each other.

Taylor: Last year, after the fact, on the Dragongate streaming service, some of the US shows popped up on there; or at least the matches did. Can we expect the same thing this year?

Ho Ho: Yes, it will be streaming live with Fite TV for the Vegas show. And then later on we’ll add in Japanese commentary and put it back on Dragongate Network. I think they might put two versions, the English commentary and Japanese commentary. Dragongate Network mostly has Japanese viewers, so we’ll at least put Japanese commentary on it. Then for the Portland show, that will also be on the network. I am not sure how that show will work with the streaming. I got to chat with Defy, but that will be an announcement on social media. Not exactly that day, but probably like a couple of weeks later, it will be on the network.

Taylor: I love the Dragongate Network. I think it’s a good deal, it’s pretty cheap, especially here in America with the conversion rate. You get all their shows, you guys broadcast probably about four times a month on average, sometimes more.

Ho Ho: [Laughs] Yeah a discount with the conversion rate. Sometimes we got six shows, sometimes seven, sometimes four, but on average four. Also, like, last year, I think we have some, behind the scene stuff that we’re putting on the network. Last year, we had five or six different episodes, for the biggest tours. This year we’ll do the same too, and will be more content because we will have one in Portland. We have the try out. You might actually see what talent will be there to try out, and then the Vegas shows.

Taylor: You’re flying out on the seventh, so you’ll be here a good while. It should be a fun work vacation for you.

Ho Ho: I actually stay over for a few days after the weekend because we’re gonna have a lot of talks and things happening, following up on stuff, and then to plan things for the next year.So i will actually be here for almost three weeks. Vacation, Business all at the same time.

Taylor: I hope everyone checks these shows out, and attends them if possible. I think they’re very fun looking. They delivered last year, so I would expect the same this year. If you aren’t watching live; the Dragongate network is a great deal. You get all the content, you get the big shows. They just had the big show in, in February, Uno Dos Tres. We had all the belts defended. We will likely get something similar to that for the Golden Colosseum at the end of April. You’ll get all the US content at some point in April. I think now is a good time to jump in on the streaming service if you’re not already on there. Thank you so much for speaking with me Ho Ho.

Ho Ho: Thank you so much. See you in Portland.