The 2005 King of Gate was a 26-man tournament held from December 23 to December 27 over 5 daily shows. Due to the uneven number of participants, six were given byes to the second round.
The 2006 King of Gate was a 15-man tournament held from December 10 to December 22 over four shows. The 2005 winner, Ryo Saito, received a bye to the second round.
The 2008 King of Gate tournament, a sixteen-man tournament, was held from December 2 to December 19, covering six shows. Before the tournament started, current Open the Dream Gate Champion Shingo Takagi pulled out, and was replaced by Madoka, who won a Battle Royal on November 29 for the 16th and final spot.
After being postponed in 2009, the King of Gate returned in April 2010. Sixteen wrestlers occupied two blocks of eight each. The first round of Block A was on April 3, and the first round of Block B on April 4. Quarterfinal action was on April 9 and 10. The semifinals and finals of the tournament occurred on April 14.
The 2018 King of Gate tournament, a round robin tournament, featuring 4 blocks and will take place from May 8 to June 10.[6] The winner of each respective block will advance to a single elimination tournament that will take place on June 1 & June 9. The winner of this tournament receives a Dream Gate title match on June 10. The fighter with the lowest point total in each block will also compete in a single elimination tournament, to be held on June 2 & 3 to decide overall last place. Eita took part in the last place tournament due to Dragon Kid's injuries. [7]
The 2019 King of Gate tournament, a round robin tournament, featuring 4 blocks took place from May 9 to June 8.[8] The semi-finals and finals took place on June 6 and 8, respectively. U-T forfeited the rest of his matches due to injury. Ben-K is the first wrestler to go undefeated in the King of Gate tournament since the format change from single-elimination to round-robin. [9]
The 2020 King of Gate tournament took place from May 15 to June 7, covering ten shows. Unlike the previous year, the tournament featured a singles elimination tournament contested by 24 wrestlers. Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Japan, the tournament was held in empty arenas, with the tournament also being aired on tape delay.[10]
The 2021 King of Gate tournament took place from May 14 to June 3, covering fifteen shows. The tournament will see the return of the round-robin format, featuring 3 blocks. Repeating part of the previous year format, the final semifinal spot will be decided in a battle royal by a wrestler eliminated from the tournament. On May 7, it was announced that HipHop Kikuta would be forced to withdraw from the tournament, after suffering a shoulder injury, being replaced by his R.E.D stablemate H.Y.O. Ben-K forfeited all of his matches after testing positive for COVID-19. Naruki Doi, who wrestled Ben-K on the first day of the tournament, also withdrew from the tournament as a precaution.[11]
The 2022 King of Gate took place between May 11th to June 3rd. The tournament reverted back to a single elimination format, this time featuring 32 participants.[12]
The 2024 King of Gate tournament will take place from November 7 to December 3, covering sixteen shows. The tournament will see the return of the round-robin format, featuring 3 blocks. On November 8, it was announced that Dragon Kid suffered a neck injury and would forfeit the rest of his block matches. On November 30, Shun Skywalker forfeited his match that night due to illness.
