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Dragon Gate USA & EVOLVE Discussion/News/Review Thread


Big Benny HG

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That's actually my next DGUSA show to watch! Currently making my way through some 2011 PWG, and waiting for the DGUSA shows after Revolt! to arrive...

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Last night's DGUSA iPPV sounds pretty good, I'm severely considering ordering tonight's as I have a couple of weeks off work.

 

Here's the Torch review from last night...

 

<-- click on 'spoiler' to show/hide the spoiler

Dragon Gate USA "Untouchable 2012" Internet PPV Report

July 28, 2012

Taylor, Mich.

Report by Sean Radican, PWTorch columnist

 

 

They appear to have a hot crowd tonight. Jake Manning came out with Chuck Taylor. They

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Dragon Gate USA: Enter The Dragon 2012 - Chicago, IL - 29/7/12

 

Third Anniversary Celebration time for DGUSA, with their event last Sunday in Chicago. That's right, I've gone and entered the iPPV era. More on this as the show goes on...

 

Jake Manning vs MASADA - While I was at DGUSA's first show in Miami on WrestleMania weekend, and saw Chuck Taylor turn heel there, my DVD viewing for this promotion is in late last year. Therefore, I have no idea what Chuck Taylor was doing messing around with "The Man Scout" Jake Manning at the start of the show here. MASADA then comes out, and, well... this is terrible opener. The Congress Theater in Chicago, which is a nice looking building and has had a hot crowd when I've seen DGUSA events from there on DVD before, is almost immediately plunged into darkness bar the ring, and the crowd are about as lively as a morgue. There's more than one botch in the mercifully short 2:24 this match got, and MASADA doesn't look right in this promotion whatsoever. Awful.

 

The Scene vs Zero Gravity - The interminable Larry Dallas and his mediocre duo of Caleb 'Fake Spanky' Konley and Scott Reed coming out next is almost enough to make me stop watching already, but I've paid my $15 so force myself to carry on. Zero Gravity are a local skinny gymnastic duo, but at least some of the crowd know them and react for some of their athletic moves. Still, 10:10 is too long for this, which should have just been a squash for the Scene, seeing as how they're sort of being pushed.

 

At this point I feel like I'm watching one of the pre-show "bonus cards" that, back in my DVD watching days, were only on the disc as extras. Colt Cabana on commentary with Lenny Leonard has been about the only good thing.

 

Samuray Del Sol vs Shane Hollister - I think I saw Del Sol back in Miami, and know he's getting a push, whereas Hollister is an Iowa native, which gives the commentary duo a chance to talk about him coming up in the business with Tyler Black/Seth Rollins. Obviously that's not a favourable comparison for Hollister, who isn't much cop here. This would be worthy of bonus card main event, as Del Sol gets some spotlight in a semi-squash 5:04 victory. Del Sol is the only guy on the entire card so far who'd even get a half a chance on a Dragon Gate UK show.

 

Depressingly for the iPPV viewer, Cabana leaves commentary at this point and is replaced by Dr. Keith Lipinski. Fuck sake.

 

Super Smash Bros vs Arik Cannon and Pinkie Sanchez - This actually sent me to sleep the first time I tried to watch it, as while the stream was coming through on my PS3 pretty well, I couldn't cope with the lack of atmosphere coming through. The D.U.F. B-team, in the abscence of the "suspended" (read: unavailable) Sami Callihan, are pretty poor here, with Cannon being his usual bland self and Sanchez showing none of the character that was highlighting his 2011 performances. The SSB seem pretty motivated, but it takes two teams to tango. Like the earlier tag, this is also too long, this time going 15:29, though at least the right team go over.

 

Listening through headphones, I then clearly heard "They're going to cut a promo, don't talk over it". Oh dear. The SSB then challenge the winners of the main event for the Open the United Gate titles in November. This brings out Chuck Taylor, Larry Dallas and a bunch of other people, as there's EVOLVE shows to fill with tag team contendership matches before the November return of DGUSA, it seems. It would help if any of these guys looked like they were worthy of challenging for anything.

 

I Quit Match: Chuck Taylor vs Johnny Gargano - I was quite up for the idea of these two battling in an I Quit match, but for the most part I was massively disappointed. There's a laundry list of problems, firstly starting with the production. It's as if there was no planning as to what was going to happen, so first they brawl into the crowd and you can't see what's happening, then they get some lights turned on and you get to see the big empty floor spaces in the crowd. The mic quality isn't very good, so when the referee asks the question, you can't hear the wrestlers responses to whether they will quit. Then there's the match itself, which is just spots with big gaps in between. There's no intensity between the two men, and precious little to make the hurty spots mean anything. That said, they do get to some really violent stuff in the final five minutes, and the crowd responds accordingly, but they could have easily condensed the 24:09 of match here into two thirds of the time. Overall, it looks like the Ronin split is going to be as bad as the Generation Next split in ROH, only the whole thing is more minor league. A shame. The best thing I can say is Johnny Gargano's music is cool, and distinctive.

 

We then go to intermission, and even with the on demand version there's a flurry of promo videos. At least you can skip forward I guess.

 

Some twenty minutes later, we come back for the second half and the real stars. Lenny Leonard is now commentating solo, which makes everything seem even more small time, however.

 

YAMATO vs Jon Davis - I love YAMATO, the way he moves, his entrance music, and usually his performance, but he didn't seem too bothered here. The first five minutes are intricate, which is good, but the crowd were naturally quiet. The next five minutes are just outright slow, before they pick up the drama for some close nearfalls in the final few minutes. It wasn't nearly as explosive or impactful as you might expect, though. I did like the finish, and at 13:46 I'd say the length of the match was about right.

 

El Generico vs Akira Tozawa - Man, everybody loves them some El Generico, don't they? He gets a good reaction coming out here, one of the few times the crowd have really made noise so far. This looks like a tasty encounter on paper, but sadly, nothing on this card seems to be getting out of third gear, and I was underwhelmed again. I've been watching quite a few 2011 PWG shows recently, and Tozawa in Mad Blankey mode is nowhere near as entertaining. It's like his charisma has deliberately been dialled down, which combined with Christina Von Eerie being an unwanted distraction from the match on the outside just makes everything worse than expected. The crowd start clapping some encouragement as the match pushes towards the fifteen minute mark, and things do pick up a bit in the final five and a bit minutes, but there was nowhere near the dramatic finale you'd expect for a 21:20 bout between these two. A major disappointment.

 

Open The United Gate Decision Match: CIMA & AR Fox vs Ricochet & Rich Swann - There's some good things I can say about this. We finally get some of the trademark Dragon Gate action, in places at least, though the crowd are pretty much beyond resuscitation at this point. There's some worthy attempts at psychology here too, but the chances of anyone getting heat are almost non-existant. In fact, mid-match you can clearly hear people in the crowd chatting and amusing themselves. The lack of genuine DG stars means the build in the second half towards the finish doesn't feel quite right, it's just indy guys killing each other to no heat until they really turn up the athletics near the end. There's a totally out of nowhere "This is Awesome" chant just past the 20 minute mark, and they respond by going straight to the finish at 21:02. To cap it all off, the wrong team probably won. And that, as they say, is that...

 

Overall - a piss poor first half, to be frank, without a genuine Dragon Gate star in sight. The second half is an improvement, but none of the matches are particularly remarkable. This is absolutely terrible as an anniversary show, and with only CIMA, Tozawa and YAMATO coming over from Japan it doesn't feel like a Dragon Gate event at all. As an iPPV, I didn't have any problems with the stream when I tried it on the PS3 and the computer, and the picture quality was acceptable in the box presented, less so when done full screen. I don't feel it was worth the

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You see how way back up there in July I was about ready to watch Revolt! - just after Richie had done? Well, about 2-3 weeks ago I actually got some more DGUSA in, courtesy of the much delayed Open The Golden Gate DVD finally coming out, meaning I could watch the end of DGUSA 2011 together in a shortish time span. So, erm, here we go then...

 

Dragon Gate USA: Revolt! - 11/11/11

 

DGUSA returns to the Boston area in the same venue they used for Fearless back in June, with an improved (but not huge) crowd that is pretty lively for the most part. The production has added some pretty severe strobe lighting in places this time around, which certainly wakes you up to the beginning of the live show...

 

Arik Cannon and Pinkie Sanchez vs The Scene - The Scene continue their run of DGUSA opening matches, with this one falling into the category of competitive loss rather than squash win. That's for the best, as their squashes on the September shots were terrible before a decent match with Ronin in Milwaukee. This almost feels like a warmup bout, though, with most of the heat at the beginning when the D.U.F. run in to start the match (and take out Larry Dallas, thankfully), followed by a few minutes of decent enough but not blowaway action. Cannon pins Caleb Konley with a brainbuster at 8:10.

 

Sami Callihan vs Jon Davis - This follows straight on from the previous bout as Callihan calls Davis out, and the show starts proper here. I really enjoyed this, which probably means I'm going to waffle on a bit. It reminded me a bit of the Style Battle concept behind EVOLVE 8, with Callihan using his hard hitting "style" and Davis with his size being able to take anything Sami dishes out and fire back with his power "style". The end result is two guys beating the tar out of each other, and it all comes off rather well and the crowd get more and more into it. Callihan switches to working the leg of Davis in the final third, with the goal of setting him up for the Stretch Muffler, and the added bonus of reducing Davis' ability to use his power - except it doesn't work, as the moment Callihan calls for the Stretch Muffler, Davis picks him up and plants him with Three Seconds Around The World for the pin at 14:59. A really cool, clean finish like that put the match over the top for me. Good stuff, though they almost ruin it with a weak looking D.U.F. beatdown of Davis afterwards.

 

Masato Yoshino vs Akira Tozawa - This is pretty tasty looking on paper as well, isn't it? I was a little wary going in, as pure DG one-on-one matches are rarely blowaway affairs when put as early as third on the card, especially in DGUSA, and that's how it turned out here. If you turn it around though, as third match on the card you can't really complain too much with this. Tozawa does some stalling for a couple of minutes to try and sell himself as a heel in this Blood Warriors vs Junction Three bout, but the crowd are having none of it, and they soon give up trying. Instead, there's enough rapid fire action to wow the crowd without going anywhere near overkill, and much like the last bout the finish is quick and decisive. Said finish sees Tozawa counter the Lightning Spiral into a German suplex for the pin at 14:31. Five minutes more on the end would have got this one rave reviews I reckon. As it is, it's great if you've already bought the show, but it's not a DVD seller.

 

Johnny Gargano & Chuck Taylor vs CIMA & Brodie Lee - Another of the many, many entries into the Ronin vs Blood Warriors feud here. I'd say it hasn't been particularly successful as a feud, though there have been a couple of big moments for Gargano. I think one of the reasons they've struggled to get heat for the feud is that Ronin aren't great at the being in peril spots in tags like this one. They've looked good on offense usually, and certainly their best moments here are when the pace is up and they're at least trading moves. Of course, maybe it'd help if Blood Warriors hadn't won almost every single match between the factions. At least there's some forward planning in this result: CIMA pins Gargano at 19 minutes even after Gargano takes a load of big moves, culminating in a powerbomb from Brodie where he then adjusts Gargano to make him easy prey for the Meteora. An unspectacular affair for 19 minutes.

 

BJ Whitmer vs Vinny Marseglia - Watch the YAMATO and BxB Hulk promos about the main event, then skip this two minute Whitmer squash. You're welcome. On we go...

 

FRAY! - This is billed as the most high-flying FRAY! ever, and delivers on that score. Junction Three associates Rich Swann and Pac start, and have good exchanges with each other, then with Blood Warriors' Ricochet. The action continues as AR Fox comes out, then Pac accidentally hits Swann with a springboard 450 and Fox jumps on him to force the elimination of Swann at 5:35. Fox and entry #5 Uhaa Nation have a slightly mental period between the seven- and nine-minute marks, before the Scene attack Nation for an unofficial elimination around eleven minutes and final entrant Sabu comes to make crazy. Pac eliminates Fox with a shooting star press at 12:54, only to immediately be cradled by Ricochet, which builds to the finale of the Pac/Ricochet feud in New York two nights later and leaves us with a few minutes of Ricochet vs Sabu to finish off here. It all gets a bit messy then because, well, it's Sabu so you've got to have the Sabu trademark spots involving precarious chair stunts. Ricochet gets the win though with the 630, and no-one seems to mind Sabu doing the job because they got to see him do his thing. Overall thumbs up, the first ten minutes are the hottest thing on the show so far, but the spotty nature of it won't be for everyone.

 

One of the best minor moments in DGUSA history then comes completely at random before the main event, as while they're taking down the ropes, Akira Tozawa comes out to lay down a challenge for the Open The Freedom Gate Championship. For some reason Rich Swann interrupts and challenges Tozawa to a battle rap, but Tozawa laughs at Swann and his challenge and busts out an amazing, proper singing voice instead. It just has to be seen, well, erm, heard to be believed. Swann does a rap anyway, but only gets a boot to the face for his troubles when he calls Tozawa a bitch at the end. Tozawa is so awesome.

 

No Rope, No DQ Match: YAMATO vs BxB Hulk -

of every incident in the 27 month feud between the two leading into this, the climactic battle between them. Unlike say a Fight Without Honor, the stip doesn't lead to a stupid level of ultraviolence here. Instead, in the early going the lack of ropes really focuses you in on the intensity of the wrestling between them, the actual hate between the characters, plus the potential danger of having nothing between them and the ringside area. There is some ringside brawling, and a limited selection of weaponry as the match develops, plus Tozawa is still at ringside, occasionally interjecting to assist Hulk, but it all builds in nicely to the story being told. YAMATO without his hair is a curious one: he looks strangely more badass and more vulnerable at the same time, which is pretty fascinating. Hulk in the meantime has undergone his emo transformation in joining Blood Warriors, and while he's out for revenge for YAMATO taking his OTFG title, he's now the one with the numbers advantage and nefarious attitude for the first time. At the same time though it's also his last chance at revenge, as this is the feud ender. As I appear to be waffling again, this can only mean one thing: I was really, really into this. YAMATO wins with the Gallaria on a chair at 19:48. A really tremendous story based no-DQ match.

 

Tozawa makes title belt motions from ringside, and YAMATO gets to cut the traditional Dragon Gate end of show speech, and we're done...

 

Overall - A worthy DVD purchase from DGUSA, with a cracking main event, and three very decent undercard matches in different styles so at least one should appeal to every taste. Not just a good all round in-ring effort though, but also a show that had some really good storytelling going on. Good work, and bonus points for the few matches that have a colour commentator alongside Lenny Leonard, as Arik Cannon is excellent during Tozawa vs Yoshino, and Chuck Taylor is decent during the final two matches. DGUSA needs to get these guys on the mic, ala PWG, more of the time. DVD run time is 2 hours, 26 minutes.

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As loathe as I am to give up the idea that sensory experience is fixed and neutral in the absence of an alternative hypothesis, these two very different reviews of the saw show seem to indicate otherwise :p

 

 

DG:USA: Revolt!

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Less than two weeks between reviews this time! Must.. catch... up...

 

Dragon Gate USA: Bushido Code of the Warrior 2011 - 12/11/11

 

DGUSA returns to the Arena in Philadelphia for what would turn out to be the last time, though of course Gabe later got to close the book on the Arena at EVOLVE 10. I've seen bigger crowds in the building, but there's a decent number in, and the production in the building makes for a solid DVD experience.

 

The Scene vs BJ Whitmer & Uhaa Nation - Opening match boys Celeb Konley and Scott Reed don't even get the iPPV exposure this time around, as this is the pre-show dark match for Golden ticket holders only. Lucky fans getting their value for money there. I've seen much worse eight minute matches, but there's not really much to write home about. Uhaa Nation is the only guy who looks like he could be a star anywhere, but it's Whitmer who gets a submission win with his new Peruvian Necktie finisher at 8:10. Leave this one buried in the extras.

 

Moving onto the main show, the first half is all about four "DGUSA Homegrown Roster" vs "Dragon Gate Veterans" singles matches. Being in Philly, Gabe uses the old ECW trick of having one match flow into the other, with interference or brawling segments to transition between the bouts. The crowd accept that willingly enough, and it comes across fine on DVD too.

 

We do get quick backstage promos from BJ Whitmer and Jon Davis on Brodie Lee and the D.U.F. respectively, before kicking off the show in the ring with AR Fox vs Masato Yoshino. Lenny Leonard is joined on commentary by BJ Whitmer (yes, him again) for this opener, who has an acceptable commentary voice, but isn't particularly, you know, interesting. I want to give credit to Fox for looking on Yoshino's level here - his offense was crisp, including him not looking like landing on his own head when doing the kickflip off the ring post spot he does, but as the match went on you didn't buy him having a chance of winning, especially when Yoshino shrugged off an attempt at Lo Mein Pain just seven minutes in. Yoshino then got the submission win with Sol Naciente at 8:17. This was decent for what it was - Yoshino looked to be hurting a bit at times, and it was the opener.

 

From there, Yoshino shakes hands with Fox and puts him over, only to be interrupted by CIMA and Ricochet. CIMA jumps Yoshino ahead of their match the next night, which brings out Pac for the save, which then brings out more Blood Warriors in Brodie Lee and Akira Tozawa and we move into our second match, Brodie Lee vs Pac. The early stages of this are hindered by blatant intereference by Tozawa that the referee just stands and ignores. That's actually worse than the referee being blind to interference due to a distraction. However, once Tozawa gets a Pac boot to the back of the head he stays out of the way and things get good, with some high impact spots before Pac becomes only the second person to pin Brodie Lee in DGUSA, courtesy of the British Airways at 10:46. This was fun, and I'm trying to imagine what it might look like in WWE NXT in the upcoming months...

 

With Tozawa out there, it's an easy leap to the third match, with a reprise of the rap vs baritone angle from the night before leading into Rich Swann vs Akira Tozawa. In some ways this is similar in structure to Fox/Yoshino, only this is better, with more outward charisma from the guys involved, and a better build into a decent finishing sequence. Swann gets to kick out of the deadlift German, then scores an upset with a flash crucifix pin out of a rollup sequence at 8:11. That's one back for the DGUSA homegrown, for those keeping score. And finally...

 

Johnny Gargano vs BxB Hulk - The only real criticism I have of this is that the crowd were pretty quiet for the most part. I liked the work almost all the way through, though I think BxB Hulk's new persona didn't come across in a way that got any heat. Blatant low blows that the referee AGAIN stands and ignores definitely don't help. Then there were times when Hulk's flashier moves had the crowd wanting to cheer him still, but he's not Tozawa and doesn't make it work regardless. Gargano plays the underdog babyface pretty well, so I wouldn't really place any blame on him. Things do warm up in the final third, but the pop for Gargano's victory with the GargaNo Escape at 15:52 is nice, rather than spectacular. Solid match. Brodie Lee on commentary is much more interesting than Whitmer was earlier.

 

We get our first DVD break here, as we get ads for WWNLive.com and the Uprising DVD - plus ANOTHER BJ Whitmer promo, before we come back with Sabu vs Pinkie Sanchez in a South Philly Streetfight. I thought this was pretty lame. There was no heat until the very end, and the stunts and weapon spots were laboured and old hat. Sabu wins eventually with a chair assisted Camel Clutch at 8:42 that felt much longer than it was. Pinkie refusing to submit and giving Sabu the finger until Sabu added the chair to the mix was the only real highlight. The D.U.F. attack Sabu after the match, leading to Jon Davis DESTROYING all three of the D.U.F. That was good.

 

Open The Freedom Gate Title Match: YAMATO vs Chuck Taylor - I'm going to start with the positives in this one. There was about five minutes of real good action before the storyline took over at the finish of this one. However, there's a lot wrong with the rest of the match. Considering the storyline going in, which was that Taylor deliberately jumped ahead of his stablemate Johnny Gargano in the queue for OTFG title shots, the opening ten minutes make no sense. Taylor doesn't appear to even be taking the match seriously, and nothing of particular note really happens. As a result, the crowd are dead quiet and there's no big match atmosphere. It takes YAMATO upping the pace and intensity to wake Taylor up and get things going, and the crowd mostly responds as the action, as I said, gets good for a few minutes.

 

The finish is out there, though: Taylor pins YAMATO with the Awful Waffle at 16:57, as the referee doesn't see YAMATO's foot on the bottom rope. Johnny Gargano has been at ringside all match, however, and the pinfall happens right in front of him. As YAMATO lays on the mat with his foot on the rope, the referee finally spots the situation, and asks Gargano is YAMATO's foot was on the rope. Gargano is conflicted, but decides he has to do the honest thing, and when he says yes, the referee restarts the match. The crowd shits on that, and while they pop as Taylor gets to kick out of Galleria, Taylor then submits to a stranglehold version of the CBV just 1:02 after the restart to let YAMATO keep the title. A horrible finish on a show that has made the referees look like shit.

 

Open The United Gate Title Match: CIMA & Ricochet vs Sami Callihan & Arik Cannon - Brodie Lee accompanies the champion team to ringside for this one, but after blatantly interfering in the first minute, is run off by - yes! - BJ Whitmer. Sadly, a large chunk of the middle of this falls pretty flat. The D.U.F. struggle for crowd support, partly because they keep spitting beer everywhere, rather than trying to make a compelling challenge for the titles. On the other hand, while CIMA and Ricochet (and Blood Warriors in general) are supposed to be the bad guys, CIMA is the guy with the most star power, and Ricochet is the one with the dazzling moves. Cheering for Callihan and in particular Cannon against them just isn't something the crowd are interested in. Things do pick up in the final third as the action moves to something resembling a decent Dragon Gate tag, but they never get near the upper echelon of this type of thing. Inevitable job boy Cannon is defeated by CIMA's Schwein into Ricochet's 630 splash at 17:57, and that's our show.

 

Overall - I was quite enjoying this show during the four match series that was basically the first half of the DVD, but the momentum drained away in the second half of the show leaving this as a thumbs in the middle effort at best in the end. DVD run time is a few seconds shy of 2 hours, 10 minutes.

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Going to tonights show in Voorhees, NJ with a card of:

 

Open The United Gate Title Match

CIMA & AR Fox defend vs. Ryo "Jimmy" Saito & Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!!

 

Bonus Tag Team Main Event

Ricochet & Rich Swann vs. Super Smash Brothers

 

2/3 Falls Match

El Generico vs. Sami Callihan

 

Anything Goes Match - Non-Title

Johnny Gargano vs. Jon Davis

 

Special Challenge Match

Akira Tozawa vs. Samuray Del Sol

 

Tag Team Challenge Match

Arik Cannon & Pinkie Sanchez vs. Jigsaw & Fire Ant

 

Tag Team Attraction

Chuck Taylor, Drew Gulak & Orange Cassidy vs. Scott Reed, Caleb Konley & ???

 

Bonus Match For Live Crowd Only - Belltime 7:30pm

ACH vs. EITA

 

 

First time I'll be seeing Fox, Del Sol, ACH & EITA so I'm happy about that. Del Sol and Fox especially although EITA quickly won me over so his addition to this weekend is a fantastic bonus.

 

This'll only be my second DG USA show after their first anniversary show in July 2010 which featured the glorious main event of Bryan Danielson vs Shingo Takagi, and tonights card does look great with a few potential MOTN's.

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Really, really good show last night. All the matches were either great, good, entertaining or served their purpose. I think this show was consistently better than the July 2010 show I was at in that it had a stronger undercard, but it didn't have a blow away amazing main event. In fact I thought the first half of the show may have been the strongest half, but that was mainly because the atmosphere really tailed off in the final two matches which was a huge shame as Generico/Callihan and CIMAFox/Maraha Isappa were both really good matches.

 

The Skate Zone is a really nice venue. Cold, but nice. The area where the ring was at was on an ice rink with a cover over it. We were sat dead centre in front of the hard cam, and there were three rows there that were partially filled on the second and third row. The other three remaining sides only had two rows. So if you paid for GA, you got bumped up to second row. And I wouldn't be surprised if some second row got bumped to first as front row tickets were still available on the door. Sadly I'd estimate the crowd at definitely under a hundred.

 

DG USA don't really have Sandy to blame I feel. They only officially announced the locations of this triple shot five weeks ago and a lot of their attention has been on WrestleMania weekend.

 

Pre-Show:

 

Latin Dragon beat Gary Jay

Merely passable. 4 minute match if that, I'm sure Gary Jay is the former Gary The Barn Owl. Finish was meant to be a phoenix splash, but ended up more as a phoenix splash knee drop right ontop of Gary's head. Oh how I howled with laughter.

 

ACH beat EITA

Really good match. EITA's chops are thunderous in person and one at the end was just a massive thud sound. ACH is incredibly charismatic and a real crowd pleaser with his character and fast paced, high flying style. ACH came out and had the crowd with him right away, presumably because he was at this arena a few weeks ago with CZW, but EITA did do enough to impress to have the crowd chant for him by the end. I was surprised to see ACH go over so I guess that means DG USA have plans for him in the future.

 

Main show:

 

First the official results from IHeartDG:

 

1/3/2012 New Jersey, Vorhees Flyers Skate Zone ~Uprising 2012~ - 593 Attendance

1. Jigsaw{W}, Fire Ant (13:10 Jig & Tonic) Arik Cannon, Pinkie Sanchez{L}

2. Akira Tozawa (10:36 Package German Suplex Hold) Samuray Del Sol

3. Jon Davis (1:59 Lariat) Johnny Gargano

4. Player Uno{W}, Player Dos (20:10 Fatality) Ricochet{L}, Rich Swann

5. Chuck Taylor{W}, Drew Gulak, Orange Cassidy (21:10 Awful Waffle) Scott Reed, Caleb Konley, Cheech{L}

6. Sami Callihan (2-1) El Generico

-Callihan (Small Package Hold) Generico

-Generico (Vertical Drop Brainbuster) Callihan

-Callihan (20:30 Stretch Muffler Hold) Generico

7. Open the United Gate Championship Match: CIMA{W}, AR Fox (24:47 Meteora) Ryo "Jimmy" Saito, Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!!{L}

*3rd Defense

 

The opener was really good. Everything you'd expect and hope for in a fast paced opener to kick off the show in the right way. Due to all four in the match being very familiar with CHIKARA, this did almost feel like a CHIKARA match in some aspects but with more swearing and middle fingers (and the ring announcer did state before the show that this was a family friendly show). Sanchez has such a great thing going with his character, that weirdness being used to throw off his opponents, get a few laughs and also piss off his partner. The finish was a double stomp Jig N Tonic as well for the extra emphasis. Great start to the show and post-match The Scene attacked Sanchez until Marti Belle ran them off.

 

Tozawa/Del Sol was fantastic. Absolutely incredible. First time seeing Del Sol live and he did not disappoint. Tozawa is a guy you're supposed to hate, but with his charisma and wrestling style, it is practically impossible to do anything but cheer for the guy. Suz even said this was her MOTN and I'm inclined to agree with her. Del Sol and Tozawa had an on-going battle of elbows, boots and bicycle kicks where each man was almost daring the other to get back up and return the strike. I got to see all of Del Sol's most dazzling moves like the hand walk hurricanrana, the split legged twisting corkscrew press and the Rising Sun (spring board assisted reverse rana) which got me popping like a mo'fo and I was shocked Tozawa kicked out. Tozawa also managed to pull out a few big guns of his own with the consecutive suicide dives, a german suplex on the apron and as soon as he hit that straight jacket german suplex, you knew the match was over. Fantastic match that deserved it's standing ovation and post-match Tozawa flipped Del Sol off, so you got the sense that a rematch could be in the making. I for one would love to see that.

 

Next Jon Davis came out to cut a promo to explain why he was dressed in street clothes stating that he took out DG USA Freedom Gate Champion, Johnny Gargano the previous night so he should be handed the title as Gargano would be un-able to compete. This did prompt out Gargano in jeans with a heavily tapped mid-section but Davis cut him off at the entrance and repeatedly slammed his back into the ring apron. In the ring the match was short and consisted of lariats and Gargano got no comeback before being pinned which at the time was a disappointment but made sense from a storyline point of view. Davis then set up a table outside the ring, fully intending to repeat his actions from the previous show, but Gargano was dragged to the back by ref's. As Davis made his slow exit afterwards when he got to the ring entrance there was a ladder positioned just behind the curtain which Gargano came flying off of onto Davis. The two then brawled around ringside before getting back into the ring where Davis had taken the advantage and was preparing to Razor's Edge Gargano through the outside table again, Gargano slipped up and then the two exchanged strikes with Davis on the ring apron before he was superkicked to fall backwards through the table. Good, intense segment but went on a little too long.

 

SSB vs RicoSwann was fantastic and modern tag wrestling at it's very best. Some light hearted comedy with RicoSwann's increasing confidence in the match as they really put their swagger on the match. Uno and Ricochet started and Uno was surprised when Ricochet attempted a Sonic Boom punch, wanting to know where he learned that from. I loved this match. SSB have been a incredible tag team over the past 12 months and really are being the Steen/Generico of 2007 in 2012 in that they are having fantastic tag matches against a vast variety of opponents. RicoSwann are a great tag team, but don't yet have that seamless cohesiveness you see in some more established tag teams. Just plain loved everything about this match, how SSB were the underdog's and oh my God, you should have seen my reaction when they pulled out the Scorpion MK "Get Over Here!" exploder into the turnbuckle as Ricochet got some serious height I was worried that he wouldn't come down in time to land on Swann. Probably my second favourite match of the night and definitely the best tag match.

 

I was wondering how a six man tag with two heel teams would work, but The Gentleman's Club ended up playing quasi-faces. Me and Suz just laughed our asses off during this match with the ringside antics of the guy in the wheelchair, the swamp monster, Larry Dallas and the pornstar more so than the action going on inside the ring. Not a match that probably translated well to tape, but to be there live and picking up on everything said and done, me and Suz loved this match eventhough the dust emitted from the swamp monster ended up playing hell with her allergies. Chuck Taylor is such a fantastic character and easily played the less-bad than the other bad guys on this night.

 

Considering how loved Callihan was pre-match, there were times when the arena was practically silent during Generico/Callihan. Callihan quickly took the first fall by provoking Generico into going for the Brainbuster, and then rolling him up with both attempting to pin the other, but Callihan came out on top. From that point it was all Callihan as he set about destroying Generico's knee for the Stretch Muffler, attempting to win via count out, which Generico did come close to evening the falls when Sami barely made it back into the ring after a massive exploder onto the ringside table. Generico is the absolute best seller at putting over an injury, even having to pull off a Brainbuster on the one leg to even the falls. From there with the damage already done, it was a battle of survival for Generico, with Sami even teasing a top rope brainbuster of his own, before Generico managed to put Sami into the stretch muffler. In the end the damage to the knee was too much as Generico was forced to tap out to a leglock viced stretch muffler. Post-match Sami stated that wherever he ends up, he's going to be a champion be it DG USA, EVOLVE or anywhere else playing up to the WWE rumours.

 

Loved the main event, but that weird no-atmosphere continued. A few scattering H.A.G.E chants, of which I was the one who went to continue long after the chant died to my chagrin, but I got props from Horiguchi & Saito. Early in the match CIMA/Fox dominated and I got to see Fox's kick-off the turnbuckle moonsault. I also much to my amazement got to see the ticker tape spot live which I absolutely marked out for huge as Suz was wondering what the hell was going on. Fox also did that inside backwards springboard senton which almost went into the crowd, that man is insane. The two teams had a great back and forth match, but probably something that would have only headlined a non-TV show rather than a Korakuen Hall showing let alone a PPV. Really strong match and a good match to finish the show, but that dead non-atmosphere really hurt the last two matches.

 

Still, I really, really enjoyed myself. I wasn't expecting a DG UK level type of show, but I would say this show exceeded my expectations. Unfortunately Jersey crowds suck so they really hurt the last two matches, otherwise this show could have been something special. But still ended up as a very strong show.

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