Dragon Gate USA & EVOLVE Discussion/News/Review Thread

[gadge]

Massive bump...

 

STYLE BATTLE 2012 - 28/6/12, 29/6/12 & 30/6/12

 

At the back end of June 2012, EVOLVE staged their second annual Style Battle tournament. In 2011, EVOLVE 8 had seen a one night, single elimination tournament with eight competitors, but here the 2012 affair was held over three shows in Florida, with four men facing each other Round Robin style.

 

Defending champion AR Fox is joined by fellow EVOLVE regulars Bobby Fish and Jon Davis who also competed in the 2011 tournament, with the final spot taken by Tommy Taylor. Taylor gets the nod after returning from a break from wrestling due to injuries and his wife giving birth, and is known to the Florida indie scene, including a spell in the Gabe-booked FIP where he was once one half of the tag team champions (in The British Lions).

 

The weekend begins with EVOLVE 14 in Ybor City, FL, in a venue that could be a sports bar. On camera, it looks a bit like a smaller scale version of Progress Wrestling at the Garage in Islington, albeit with a much less rabid crowd than you'd find at Progress. That said, those present are at least more lively than the previous couple of North Carolina crowds EVOLVE played to.

 

The opening match of E14 sees a battle of 1-1 records as John Silver takes on the Gentlemen'a Club representative Jake Manning. Manning's Man Scout gimmick is just stupid to me, and the commentary referring to him as the big man in the match is only indicative of the fact John Silver is practically a midget. Silver and his acting like a retard should take the obvious detour into a pirate gimmick, as I may have said before. In another moment of stupidity, Silver manages to achieve the upset, but then when Chuck Taylor steals his post-match interview time, he just leaves without a hint of protest.

 

That then flows straight into Taylor's scheduled match with the debuting-in-EVOLVE Colt Cabana. These two messing around in the beginning comes as no surprise, but fun and games with Colt isn't exactly doing a good job of building up Chuck Taylor for his Grudge match (which also happens to be for the Open The Freedom Gate title) against Johnny Gargano the next night, even when Taylor gets a clean submission win with the half crab to move his EVOLVE record to 9-3. The match never did get up to par here.

 

Unfortunately, The Scene are up next, and move their EVOLVE tag team record to 3-0 with a victory over the random combination of Mike Cruz and Cheech Hernandez. Cheech should be nowhere near tag competition after turning on Cloudy, but it seems like we're not supposed to remember that and cheer him here. Mike Cruz again shows that he has some impressive high flying in his arsenal, but to develop from here needs to find a natural confidence and show some sign of personality. He's certainly no Ricochet at this point. That said, I was still impressed by how the thrown together team dragged something watchable out of this.

 

Thankfully, we then move on to the night's Style Battle matches. I was very impressed by how well Jon Davis and his Power style meshed with the European style of Tommy Taylor, with the backstory of both men and the in-ring mat action complementing each other nicely. It was even good enough that I got past the fact that, due to how far behind these damn DVDs are, I knew this tournament was the proper beginning of The Jon Davis Push.

 

AR Fox vs Bobby Fish in the night's other Style Battle match is even better, as you'd expect given the guys involved. Both men managed to avoid each other in last year's tournament, with Fish losing to Sami Callihan in the opposite semi-final to Fox. In a surprise given future knowledge, the defending champion is defeated here, with Fish completing his "Road to .500" as he improves his EVOLVE record to 4-4. Stupid American sports.

 

Sara Del Rey vs Santana in a SHINE preview is only notable for the commentary mentioning that SHINE is a sister promotion to SHIMMER, rather than a competitor. This venue in Ybor City has since become the SHINE home base. This match didn't do much for me though.

 

A Four-Way Freestyle featuring OTFG Champion Johnny Gargano, the undefeated but unremarkable Alex Reynolds , the underrated (by this promotion) Lince Dorado and recently-released-by-TNA Tony Nese takes the semi-final spot. Ten minutes of decent action here, but for me all it did was damage, as Gargano didn't exude any kind of aura, certainly not that befitting a champion, and was nowhere as it was Nese who got the pin (albeit not on Gargano).

 

El Generico (1-2) and Samuray Del Sol (0-2) get the main event honours, which is noted as being the first time two men with negative records have faced off in the final bout of an EVOLVE card. Still, it was definitely the right call, as the two WWE-bound stars have a really excellent match, the type of encounter a promotion like EVOLVE desperately needs to feed its hype machine. In a rare case of striking while the iron is hot, a rematch is then immediately made for the next night. Generico picked up the win here with the turnbuckle brainbuster, AND got a confrontation with Christina Von Eerie of Mad Blankey for his troubles. The crowd go nuts when Generico eventually snaps at repeatedly being slapped, and blasts her with a Helluva Kick. She took that FULL. ON.

 

The DVD of EVOLVE 14 is rounded off with two bonus matches from the quarter finals of the 2010 Jeff Peterson Cup, a Florida tourney held that year in the FIP regular stopping point of Crystal River. You can see why the show never got a DVD release of its own, as the hard camera is out of focus, but both Jon "Dean Ambrose" Moxley vs Sugar Dunkerton and Sami Callihan vs Frightmare were alright to watch once. This tournament continues on the bonus sections of E15 and E16 as well...

 

EVOLVE 15 sees the action move to St Petersburg, Florida. Unfortunately, this one is in a leisure centre-like sports hall, which doesn't look great, and the three sporadic rows of fans struggle to provide an atmosphere.

 

Certainly, Tony Nese vs Mike Cruz isn't a super heated opener, though Cruz has a modicum of home state support, and Nese is good enough to get the rest of the crowd behind Cruz as the match goes on with his smug cockiness. Nese should cut out the 450 splash as a finish if he wants to be a bad guy, getting the win with it here in just under eight minutes.

 

We hit the Style Battle tournament matches earlier here than the night before, with Bobby Fish vs Tommy Taylor up first. Sadly, this failed to grab my attention like Davis vs Taylor, with ten minutes of mat wresting in near-silence before Fish gets a submission win with the Fish Hook. Taylor could literally have been wrestling in an empty room here, without the slightest thought for the fact a crowd was watching. If you want to see Bobby Fish wrestling European style, his throwaway match with James Mason when NOAH were in Wolverhampton a couple of years ago is a a hundred times better than this.

 

There's then a random backstage skit where John Silver and Alex Reynolds are talking ahead of their six way match. This was like something out of ROH back in the Murphy Rec Center days, which did made me strangely nostalgic despite both guys being nonentitites in the grand scheme of all things EVOLVE.

 

AR Fox vs Jon Davis in the other Style Battle match ends up being a decent encounter. The first five minutes or so were terrible, though, with Davis plodding through some clubbering, and Lenny Leonard mentioning that Davis is from Jacksonville about five times, because E16 the next night just happens to be in Jacksonville. It was as if Gabe was sat next to him going "Push Jacksonville! Push Jacksonville! Push Jacksonville!". When the pace picks up the improvement is marked, and both guys do a much better job at working the crowd than the prior match. Fox still has some stupid offense, which looked a bit silly in front of this patchy crowd, but it did do a fair job of making you forget the obvious Davis victory. Three Seconds Around The World sees the big man advance to the finals, and Fish re-emerges afterwards for an effective in-ring verbal confrontation.

 

Six Way Freestyle action is usually the type of thing that really differentiates indie shows like this from WWE, but the one here isn't a good example. Caleb Konley and Scott Reed of The Scene being forced to wrestle each other because none of the other men involved let them tag out completely dies on its arse because no-one gives a shit about them. Alex Reynolds and John Silver do a fair job of representing the NYWC, but we've not been given a reason to care about them either. Thankfully the best talent in the match gets the win, as Lince Dorado pins Jake Manning.

 

Colt Cabana does a great job of looking like a dick in the next match, coming out to his own music while Cheech Hernandez comes out to the generic EVOLVE noise, making Lenny Leonard announce him twice because he forgot to say "Boom Boom" the first time, and then reducing Cheech to jobber status by only going 5:35. Ugh.

 

El Generico and Samuray Del Sol both get proper music for their rematch from the previous night, though they're reduced to the semi-final spot here due to the OTFG title match going on last. We once again get our money's worth here, that's for sure, though despite the action possibly being even slicker, I'm not sure I'd choose this one over the first match, due mainly to the flat crowd not generating the same atmosphere. Del Sol gets his win back with a top rope reverse 'rana at 16:30, so now we need a rubber match. I see no reason to complain about that.

 

In the main event, Johnny Gargano finally gets his revenge on his former Ronin-mate Chuck Taylor in a good Open The Freedom Gate title match. For me, the biggest problem with this isn't what they do here, but more the way everything leading up to this has done a piss poor job of building Taylor up as a threat. Sure, Taylor has been a bit mean, and he's started using a half crab submission to target Gargano's bad back. However, he's broken up a major faction to lead a comedy group, continues to come across as if he's half arsing everything (which to be fair, has always been part of the Taylor character), and has been ultimately booked as a coward when it comes to the crunch.

 

I really like the way Gargano comes at Taylor full on in the early going here, and when they stop brawling and move on to in-ring action, there's some excellent counter exchanges. It seems a bit silly, then, when the final few minutes are full of sports entertainment cliches. In three separate spots, Gargano manages to wipe out the timekeeper and two referees. The referee is down when Taylor tries to use the belt and is wiped out by the Hurts Donut, then Gargano is hit with an Awful Waffle and kicks out at two as the referee revives for a dramatic slow count. Etc. Etc. Ultimately, Chuck Taylor taps out to the Gargano Escape at 21:00. It seemed inevitable really, you'd never back him in an I Quit match.

 

The show concludes with the usual "Did you enjoy the show?" type deal, with the addition of Gargano accepting the challenge of Tony Nese for the next night. As for me, while I enjoyed Generico/Del Sol II, most of the main event and the second half of Fox vs Davis, I would struggle to recommend EVOLVE 15 to anyone overall. There simply isn't anything of real consequence here.

 

The other 2010 Jeff Peterson Cup quarter-finals round out the E15 disc. The first sees Arik Cannon face Craig Classic, who looks like the model you begin with in the Create-A-Wrestler mode on any videogame ever, while Jigsaw vs Rich Swann, a nice looking match on paper, delivers a fun ten minutes. I wasn't expecting 2010 Rich Swann to be wrestling heel, but it added to the novelty.

 

EVOLVE 16, from -yes!- Jacksonville, Florida is another sports hall show, though the setup is decidedly more camera-friendly than E15, with bleachers opposite the hard camera in a style reminiscent of the Rec Center in Rahway, NJ, site of the early EVOLVE shows. There's only one decent row of ringside fans, but there's enough people on the bleachers to create some atmosphere.

 

We start with an angle, as Johnny Gargano comes out in street clothes to announce he can't wrestle due to his bad back. Some fighting talk from Tony Nese soon changes all that though, which gets the crowd going. Gargano vs Nese looks solid enough in theory...

 

Lenny Leonard ridiculously claims in the opener that you can't argue about how The Scene have developed into one of the best tag teams in the world. While Caleb Konley and Scott Reed do advance their record as a unit to 4-0 here, a five minute squash of Kennedy Kendrick (which has to be one of the worst names in wrestling) and Damian Angel isn't exactly anything to shout about. This tag division is the pits.

 

A measly third place in Style Battle 2012 is on the line in the second match, as AR Fox battles Tommy Taylor. Taylor thankfully remembers there's a crowd in this time, and seems to be better off wrestling someone with the all-action style of AR Fox. Two years away from wrestling will have that effect on you, I guess. It's not really a surprise when Fox rebounds from his losses against Fish and Davis in this one, and doesn't use many of his trademarks en route to a nine-minute victory with a nice bridge out of a sunset bomb.

The reason for Fox's sparing use of his offense then becomes clear as Lince Dorado emerges during Fox's victory interview, and they immediately set up a battle of the high flyers for RIGHT NOW. The crowd eat this up, though if anything they do go overboard with the "This is Awesome" during what is admittedly a fun spotfest. Fox picks up another win, this time with Lo Mein Pain, to move his record up to 6-3.

 

John Silver and Alex Reynolds vs Mike Cruz and Cheech Hernandez immediately has the advantage of being an EVOLVE tag match not featuring The Scene. Surprisingly, they get thirteen minutes here, and what do you know, it gives them the chance to show off some athleticism and innovation. I was once again reminded of undercard ROH, this time circa 2003, and while I couldn't help but think there's easily half a dozen UK tag teams that I've seen have much better matches in recent months, by the standards of this promotion, right now I'll take this. Cruz and Cheech become de facto fan favourites as Cruz really shows off his stuff in his home state, which of course means that the NYWC duo of Silver and Reynolds get the win. D'oh! I jest, everyone here looked better than they have before in EVOLVE, so everybody wins really.

 

Johnny Gargano's non-title match with Tony Nese surprisingly goes on third from the top here. While his character is a work in progress, athletically Nese is comfortably one of the better guys getting a push at the moment, and he gels very well with Gargano. Some of the counters are very smart indeed, and the crowd as a result soon buy Nese potentially upsetting the champion. I am beginning to get a bit fed up of Gargano's back injury playing into every match, as body part work almost invariably quietens these crowds right down, but it isn't excessive here. In the end, Gargano gets the knees up on the Nese 450 splash, and picks up the much needed clean win with the Hurts Donut into the Gargano Escape. Nese still looked good even in defeat though, with Gargano saying as much in his post-match promo before focusing on Akira Tozawa, who challenges for the OTFG title at the next DGUSA event.

 

The semi-main event slot goes to Chuck Taylor vs Samuray Del Sol. Taylor has his working boots on for the opening and closing parts of this one, though in the middle there's a comedy section with Jake Manning and in particular the Swamp Monster, who somehow get involved with a mad lady and her son in the front row. Del Sol picks up a second big win in a row, condemning Taylor to a rare defeat on his EVOLVE record with the Rising Sun reverse 'rana. Enjoyable, if not essential viewing.

 

The finals of Style Battle 2012 understandably close the show. The early going is pretty slow, which gives Lenny Leonard a chance to recap how it all came to this. You have to give Leonard credit for trying to inject interest in these so-so angles, and doing as much as is humanly possible to make matches feel as important as possible in front of these fairly sparse crowds. He's not helped by Bobby Fish and Jon Davis taking an age to really get going, though Fish eventually makes it look like he might get a submission with the Fish Hook, and even gets to kick out of Three Seconds Around The World. Davis, in the middle of his big push and in front of his home town crowd, gets a comparatively big reaction for his entrance, and a nice pop for his big triumph via a second Three Seconds Around The World, but should really have done better with the bulk of this. An anticlimax of a tournament final, though a solid main event.

 

EVOLVE 16 of course also features the concluding matches of the 2010 Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup in the extras. Arik Cannon vs Jon Moxley is the better semi-final, with a strangely out of place Moxley juice job, while Rich Swann is injured for his match with Sami Callihan, which as a result is several minutes of Swann comedy stalling followed by a less than two minute match. Moxley vs Callihan in the finals is watchable as a curio, but never attempts to be an explosive end to the tournament. Callihan wins with a rollup reversal, and that's that.

 

So, then: Style Battle 2012. The occasional moment of promise here and there doesn't make this a trio of shows to recommend. E14 was the best effort, and if I had to recommend one of the shows, I'd probably go for that, with the first Generico vs Del Sol bout providing genuine excitement on a level you rarely get in EVOLVE, and the Style Battle tourney starting well. E15 is completely missable, despite an OTFG title match main event, and while E16 has a sense of stuff happening, with no El Generico on that event it really needed the Style Battle tournament to finish well, and that match not delivering an exciting climax to the weekend hurts the overall package.

 

At times, I wonder why I'm even watching this promotion, with small crowds in strange venue choices in parts of the US Gabe never ran when at ROH, and some of the dregs of the independent talent pool that fill these shows out are really awful. There's just enough here, I guess - I particularly like Johnny Gargano, who has character and wrestles a style I really like, and has received good rewards for his hard work, though his place at the top of DGUSA shows how far this is from the ROH at its creative peak. Surely the Gargano of 2012-13 would only be in the middle of an ROH card if you inserted him at any point from 2004 to 2009. Chuck Taylor with his working boots on is a lot of fun as well, though that seems to directly correlate to putting him in front of a decent crowd, which isn't happening much here.

 

I never thought these shows would miss Sami Callihan as much as they do, though as with much of the storytelling here, his "suspension" (read: he's booked for CZW in Japan) is a joke. At this point, the final pre-WWE appearances of Callihan, Generico and Del Sol will keep me watching to the end of 2012, despite the fact it'll shortly be 2014, and I want to relive the DGUSA events from WrestleCon 2013 which I attended live. I'm just glad I picked up the rest of these 2012 shows on the cheap at $10 each in their recent Black Friday sale. As someone who doesn't have interest in the ROH of today, and only a handful of shows a year from PWG to watch, I have time for this, despite what you have to put up with to get the best out of it.

 

I guess the final word I have on all this - the US independent scene is in the shit. If you're watching PWG (which you should be) and still want more, be selective and maybe get this on the cheap. Maybe you'd prefer CZW. If you really want DGUSA or EVOLVE, I'll be here reviewing this crap for awhile longer. Back soon with some DGUSA shows, one of which I already saw on iPPV last year...

[gadge]

Let's try and bring this a bit more up to date. Here's the hype for the first EVOLVE show of the year, a week on Friday..

 

January 2nd: We like to make a big impression to kick off a new year and have the very first match make a statement. Two years ago it was the shocking debut of Low Ki at EVOLVE 10. Last year it was having two of the sport's top young talents, Samuray Del Sol and EITA, in the opener at DGUSA Open The Golden Gate 2013 (since that time look how far each have gone). This year we have decided to start things by presenting a diverse card of esteemed veterans, today's new stars and the brightest prospects. From top-to-bottom, we are going to set the tone for a pure wrestling renaissance in 2014 on the very first card of the year. Here is the complete lineup:

 

EVOLVE 25

January 10th, 2013

The Orpheum

1915 E. 7th Avenue

Ybor City, FL 33605

9pm EST. Belltime

 

Tickets available in the www.DGUSA.tv Store.

 

Watch it at www.WWNLive.com on live iPPV.

 

Main Event #1 - EVOLVE Title Match

EVOLVE Champion AR Fox Has An Open Contract!!!

 

Main Event #2 - Epic Six Man Tag Team Match

Johnny Gargano & The Bravado Brothers vs. Rich Swann & The Young Bucks

 

Main Event #3 - Hero Runs The Gauntlet

Chris Hero vs. Ricochet

 

Main Event #4 - FIP World Heavyweight Title Match

Trent Baretta defends vs. Anthony Nese

 

Winner Gets A Future Title Shot Of Their Choice - First Time Ever Match

Uhaa Nation vs. Roderick Strong

 

JUST SIGNED: Special Attraction Match

Caleb Konley vs. Jon Davis

 

JUST SIGNED: Special Challenge Match

Chuck Taylor vs. Lince Dorado

 

That seems like a better line-up than the recent DVDs I have been watching, for sure. E26 and E27 are also that weekend...

 

EVOLVE 26 - January 11th - Orlando FL - Live iPPV At WWNLive.com

 

FIP Tag Team Title Match

Roderick Strong & Rich Swann defend vs. The Young Bucks

 

Hero Runs The Gauntlet Match #2

Chris Hero vs. Anthony Nese

 

Champions Tag Team Challenge

DGUSA Champion Johnny Gargano & Jon Davis vs. EVOLVE Champion AR Fox & Uhaa Nation

 

No Hype Needed

Ricochet vs. Trent Baretta

 

JUST Signed: Open The United Gate Title Match

The Bravado Brothers defends vs. Dos Ben Dejos

 

Special Attraction Match

Chuck Taylor vs. Maxwell Chicago

 

Plus: Lince Dorado, Caleb Konley and others!!!

 

EVOLVE 27 - January 12th - Jacksonville, FL - iPPV Status To Be Determined

 

The Main Event - Non-Title

Johnny Gargano vs. Roderick Strong

 

Hero Runs The Gauntlet Match #3

Chris Hero vs. Chuck Taylor

 

Grudge Match

Rich Swann vs. Jon Davis

 

Tag Team Challenge Match

AR Fox & Ricochet vs. Anthony Nese & TBD with Su Yung

 

Special Challenge Match

Uhaa Nation vs. Lince Dorado

 

FIP Showcase Match To Be Announced!!!

 

Plus: Open The United Gate Champions The Bravado Brothers, The Young Bucks, Trent Baretta, Caleb Konley plus more to be signed!!!

[gadge]

DGUSA Untouchable 2012 - 28/7/12

 

Dragon Gate USA debuts in Chikara territory, the Gibraltar Trade Center in Taylor, MI for a Detroit area show to begin a weekend of festivities for their Third Anniversary. While far from huge, there's more of a crowd in here than the EVOLVE 14-16 triple shot in Florida, and they're up for what DGUSA has to offer.

 

Jon Davis cuts an outdoor promo, the gist of which is while he won Style Battle, it's still win or go home. This kind of angle can't last. He has Jake Manning here, then the sterner test of YAMATO the next night in Chicago.

 

Inside the venue, the show begins proper with Chuck Taylor & Manning, who plan to build an in-ring campfire. With Taylor soundly beaten in the program with Johnny Gargano, it's Rich Swann who comes out all guns blazing to run Taylor off. Jon Davis vs Jake Manning then starts immediately, with Davis no-selling Manning like a jobber, but instead of finishing him off in a couple of minutes, he takes 4:45 before putting Manning away with Three Seconds Around The World. Less would definitely have been more here.

 

The brawl between Chuck Taylor and Rich Swann then re-emerges from backstage, as if it had been going on all along, and becomes match #2. Swann's aggression is excellent here, and Taylor has his working boots on too, but unfortunately a terrible finish curtails things at 7:45 as Taylor is DQed for holding on to the half crab when Swann reaches the ropes. That's an abysmal way to artificially extend a feud that's only just beginning.

 

The Super Smash Bros vs The Scene does a good job of trying to prove that you can polish a turd in the third match. The Scene are only accompanied Larry Dallas, which allows them to focus a bit more on keeping up with the SSB, and a proper finishing sequence of good guys overcoming the odds, as Dallas interferes, but the Ob-Scene doesn't get it done, and the SSB win in 12:45. That's a long time for a Scene match, but this didn't outstay its welcome.

 

Two angles collide in the next bout, as Ricochet is "wrestling the weekend under protest" at having to try and win the Open The United Gate titles for a third time despite never losing the belts, while YAMATO is making his first DGUSA appearance since losing the Freedom Gate title to Johnny Gargano in the final show of 2011. A seriously loud blast of the awesome YAMATO SPIRIT theme tune goes down well with me to start. With the experience of Ricochet at this point, it's not a surprise that they follow the standard Dragon Gate singles formula here to pretty decent success, though they lost me a bit in the middle. Ricochet's big spots get him the crowd support, so it comes out of nowhere when YAMATO wins this one with a Spear. I'm not sure what else to say about that one. At least Lenny Leonard pushes the story of Ricochet being distracted by his upcoming tag bout well.

 

In a hilarious angle to finish what I guess was the first half of the live event, Jon Davis comes back to the ring to congratulate YAMATO on his victory, only to get a low blow and choked out for his troubles. What a chump. I feel sorry for YAMATO for what is surely to come the next night.

 

The D.U.F. vs Derek Ryze & N8 Mattson is the standard post-interval filler. So many Gabe shows over the years have seen this type of match, it's not even funny. The D.U.F. B-team of Arik Cannon & Pinkie Sanchez are alright, but much like EVOLVE's last set of shows, you miss Sami Callihan. Oh, and since when is blasting your opponent full in the face with a beer can in FULL VIEW OF THE REF not a DQ? Argh. Total Anarchy sees Cannon get the pin in 8:22, and he then introduces MASADA as the newest member of the D.U.F. MASADA isn't interested in joining any groups, though, so Cannon then metaphorically throws Pinkie Sanchez to the wolves...

 

Pinkie Sanchez vs MASADA - a bit like the Jon Davis opener, this could probably have achieved more by being three minutes less than the 5:56 we got here. I like Pinkie, but if you're going to bring in a guy like MASADA, he should be destroying things to make more of an impression. This was just there, with MASADA getting a submission victory via a rather incongruous Regal Stretch.

 

Johnny Gargano gets the outdoor promo treatment next. When he starts talking about his contract status, all that does is make you realise how far behind these DVDs are, as the Gargano to WWE talk was absolutely ages ago.

 

AR Fox & CIMA vs El Generico & Samuray Del Sol - An epic indy wrestling tag match to semi-main event the show, the likes of which I haven't seen in ages. The crowd have a lot of love for everyone, although unfortunately this induces the pre-match of "Ev-ry-bo-dy" *clap clap clapclapclap*. They start out with everyone getting some feeling out process, including a hot Del Sol-Fox segment, then cool things off with Del Sol and Generico working Fox over for a bit. Fox's comeback includes his stupid back first springboard to the floor missing everyone and hitting the concrete with a splat. Generico manages to hurt himself trying and failing to get in the way, but once he returns from a quick trip backstage to get taped up, the match recovers quickly, and then builds and builds into highspot insanity. Del Sol eventually takes the fall at 26:30 after Fox hits Lo Mein Pain then CIMA immediately follows up with Meteora for the pin. Great stuff.

 

Open The Freedom Gate Title: Johnny Gargano vs Akira Tozawa - I really, really enjoyed this main event, though I kinda feel watching DGUSA/EVOLVE regularly makes this a personal reward for me. The first five minutes are full of top speed counter wrestling based on both guys being very familiar with each others trademark stuff, but that could easily be lost on those who aren't familiar. Things then settle into a more familiar title match pattern, with Tozawa somewhat being the heel with Christina Von Eerie at ringside doing the Mad Blankey thing. Of course, this being Tozawa, he still has plenty of crowd support regardless. It's a credit to Gargano, actually, that he looked every bit Tozawa's equal here and maintained more than his fair share of crowd support. I really liked how repeated efforts to get a submission with the Gargano Escape also weakened Tozawa'a left arm just enough to reduce the effectiveness of his German suplexes. In the end, that's pretty much the difference between the two, and two Hurts Donuts into the Gargano Escape finally force Tozawa to tap out at 25:40. A definite high point on Gargano's reign to date.

 

The show concludes with an extended in-ring aftermath to the main event. Gargano cuts an extended pro-indy wrestling speech and confirms he's "re-signed with Dragon Gate". Chuck Taylor and Jake Manning attack, including Taylor dressing as the Swamp Monster and hitting Gargano with the Awful Waffle ahead of their I Quit match the next night. CIMA makes a slightly late save, and cuts the "Did? You? Enjoy? The? Show?" speech, putting over Gargano on the way out.

 

Overall - As difficult as it is to recommend a show from 18 months ago, the return to full DGUSA shows after loads of EVOLVE events was more than welcome, even if there were only three Japanese Dragon Gate guys brought in. The top two matches are tremendous, and I enjoyed the first half of the show in general. I could have done without the D.U.F. matches, but they weren't too bad. DVD run time is 2 hours, 47 minutes.

 

------

 

Next up, I'm watching the DVD version of the Third Anniversary show. My review of the iPPV version is only two pages back in the thread believe it or not, which just goes to show how little people care for Gabe's product.

[Evolution4life]

For what its worth I really enjoyed Evolve 25 the other weekend & the roster always looks great, there is just always something missing.

 

In contrast watching Evolve 26 & 27 these were completely skippable which after digging 25 so much was rather disapointing. I think I will give DG:USA a go in a few weeks, just because, but it really is shocking how far down the pecking order these promotions are in terms of how much I give a shit. Thank god for the likes of PWG, AAW & AIW, to a lesser extent CZW & ROH, if the the next set of shows does nothing for me I will cut my ties again for a few years.

 

Oh & out of interest what keeps you watching & buying the product?

[diamond_dust]

For what its worth I really enjoyed Evolve 25 the other weekend

 

In contrast watching Evolve 26 & 27 these were completely skippable which after digging 25 so much was rather disapointing.

 

 

Exactly my thought. The opener especially from that suplex spot onwards to the the final bell of the main event were all consistantly high standard. The next two nights just couldn't live up.

[gadge]

For what its worth I really enjoyed Evolve 25 the other weekend & the roster always looks great, there is just always something missing.

 

In contrast watching Evolve 26 & 27 these were completely skippable which after digging 25 so much was rather disapointing. I think I will give DG:USA a go in a few weeks, just because, but it really is shocking how far down the pecking order these promotions are in terms of how much I give a shit. Thank god for the likes of PWG, AAW & AIW, to a lesser extent CZW & ROH, if the the next set of shows does nothing for me I will cut my ties again for a few years.

 

Oh & out of interest what keeps you watching & buying the product?

 

I'm a big fan of the Dragon Gate guys, and even in its substandard state, I still find Gabe's booking more watchable than current ROH. I watch PWG too, which is great, but less than a dozen shows a year isn't quite enough to fill the US indy gap in my wrestling viewing. AAW and AIW are vaguely on my radar, but in storyline terms would mean starting afresh. If I'd made the leap to watching more wrestling via the internet, I could have jumped ship to one of those by now.

 

DGUSA/EVOLVE is also something I've been able to tie into my yearly WrestleMania trips. The live experience is something I particularly enjoy, which is why EVOLVE 19 sucking big time last year was really depressing. The DGUSA show I saw the next day made up for it, though.

 

One thing I will say, is that having bought up to the end of 2012 on DVD now, and with a live show (EVOLVE 28 at least) within the next three months - I could possibly stop at the end of 2012 if I don't like what I see in New Orleans. I almost completely cut ROH out of nowhere when Sinclair bought them in 2011. There's always other options.

[seanz25]

The big issue I have with Gabe's products are that he try' to maintain a story line throughout it. Great idea dont get me wrong, but when he carrys the storylines out via 3-4 promtions, its just crazy trying to follow it. Sometimes you have a DGUSA show then an evolv show then the same again the next night, trying to keep track on all of them is just a pain for me.

 

I've slowly but surely got back into CZW recently. Fortunately the way its run is ideal, one or two shows every month, they carry the storylines. Thats it. I just feel Gabe oversaturates the gimmick of being a indy with continous storylines.

[gadge]

Gabe definitely has a problem that they're not good enough shows to do 10-12 a year and get a lot of hype like PWG, but they don't have the reach to do lots of shows and attempt to cover a wide base of fans like ROH. Book It Cam promos filmed backstage at CZW and the like don't interest me at all, especially when they're 18 months out of sequence with the DVDs I'm watching. And saying that...

 

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

Version 2, this time with short thoughts on the DVD version of a show I first watched on iPPV just days after it aired. Having continuity in my DGUSA watching this time, will it make a difference? One thing that definitely helps: the volume has been turned way up over my original viewing, which helps the production for things like the I Quit match and makes things feel a bit more atmospheric overall.

 

Jake Manning vs MASADA - I really hated this as an opener when I first watched it, but this time I was actually grateful it was short at less than three minutes. It was certainly more effective than either Jon Davis squashing Manning or MASADA's victory over Pinkie Sanchez the night before. That said, next...

 

The Scene vs Zero Gravity - The interminable Larry Dallas and his mediocre duo of Caleb Konley and Scott Reed go back to facing no-names after the Super Smash Bros beat them but at least made them watchable at Untouchable. I still can't get over the catchy ring names of Zero Gravity: CJ Esparza and Brett Gakiya. That makes the WWE name generator seem like a good thing. Some flips from the skinny guys don't save them from the inevitable defeat, though the double Ob-Scene almost made me take notice.

 

Samuray Del Sol vs Shane Hollister - I have much more experience of Del Sol now than when I first watched this, and after Untouchable where he was in the semi-main event, a five minute win over Hollister seems like a waste. My original reflection that this seemed like a bonus card main event still stands.

 

Super Smash Bros vs Arik Cannon and Pinkie Sanchez - Something positive here, as I enjoyed this much more the second time around. Certainly, I like how Super Smash Bros following their victory over the Scene with another over the D.U.F. immediately lines them up into United Gate title contention. The set up segment which follows, where SSB challenge the winners of the main event for a shot at the titles in November, was worth it for Chuck Taylor bringing out the Swamp Monster, and the late arrival of the Scene, who don't even get a word in before Arik Cannon tells them to fuck off. Ha!

 

Oh yeah - and the Swamp Monster was actually Johnny Gargano...

 

I Quit Match: Chuck Taylor vs Johnny Gargano - The problem with this whole piece of matchmaking is that the entire feud has seen Chuck Taylor act the coward and Gargano be the never-give-up hero. Gargano also won pretty conclusively - by submission, no less - at EVOLVE 15 for the Freedom Gate title. In other words: Gargano saying I Quit is about as likely here as John Cena saying I Quit against The Miz. That's right. Gargano tries his best to seem in jeopardy by taking a couple of really crazy bumps, destroying a table with a fall off the top rope, and taking a back drop over the top rope onto a guard rail propped between the apron and the ring, but those were the highlights of an otherwise overly long (24 minutes) encounter. Taylor says I Quit when Gargano uses barbed wire for an evil version of the Gargano Escape. Ouch.

 

YAMATO vs Jon Davis - I usually really love watching YAMATO - the cool way he moves, his entrance music, and usually his performance - but he didn't seem too bothered here. I can't blame him really, as the Davis Push continues unabated and in this match Davis doesn't step up to the former Open The Freedom Gate champion's level. There's just not enough action overall, despite a hot final two minutes or so. Three Seconds Around The World, yadda yadda yadda...

 

El Generico vs Akira Tozawa - Somewhere in here is a really good fifteen minute match screaming, waiting to be let out. What we get instead is a match fleshed out to a 21:20 bout by interference from Christina Von Eerie in the name of Tozawa's Mad Blankey. Fair enough trying to keep up the Dragon Gate stables, but here's an idea: BRING OVER SOME GUYS FROM THE DRAGON GATE STABLES. A major disappointment, though the final five minutes did deliver some hot nearfalls. A sequence of German suplexes finishing with the Straightjacket German sees Tozawa get a win after his unsuccessful Freedom Gate shot the night before.

 

Open The United Gate Decision Match: CIMA & AR Fox vs Ricochet & Rich Swann - My original review pretty much still stands, so I have kept most of it here. There are some good things I can say about this. First, we finally get some of the trademark Dragon Gate action, in places at least, though the crowd are pretty much beyond resurrection 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, in particular with AR Fox. More on that in a minute. 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, as AR Fox pins Rich Swann with Lo Mein Pain. And that, as they say, is that...

 

The show concludes with CIMA putting over AR Fox as the new "World's Greatest High Flyer", which just pisses off Ricochet. The latter has a point when he says Fox does "stupid moves". I understand the theory of putting Fox over big as a statement to conclude the third year of DGUSA, but in practice, I'd prefer to watch either Ricochet or even Rich Swann, as they just bring a little extra (read: charisma) to the table. Oh well, at least we appear to have a logical main event set up for EVOLVE 17.

 

Overall - Enter The Dragon 2012 was definitely better watched a second time, and in sequence, but that's more a statement on the many, many EVOLVE shows between the Miami shows on WrestleMania weekend and this weekend. Untouchable 2012 was by far the better of the two shows of the weekend, with two better matches at the end of that show than anything here. The DVD is fleshed out with clips of some of the memorable moments from DGUSA's third year - CIMA & Ricochet winning the United Gate, Gargano winning the Freedom Gate, Sami Callihan closing the ECW Arena (meh on that one from me), Chuck Taylor breaking up Ronin and a couple of others - but it just seems like such a long time ago. Probably because it is. Heck, we're now only six months from the fifth anniversary. FIFTH. To conclude - if you're thinking of some retrospective DGUSA action, this is one to avoid.

[Dearly Devoted Dexter]

It was a bit of a stretch calling them DG:USA shows with only three of the Japanese guys flown in!

[gadge]

EVOLVE 17 - Voorhees, NJ - 8/9/12

 

Single-shot EVOLVE action here for a change, as the WWNLive crew hold an afternoon show directly preceding an evening CZW show in the same venue. The problem with afternoon shows is that the live crowd tend to treat them as the warm-up for the main event. Not ideal when you want your own event to come across as a big deal...

 

It's all about titles to start, as Jon Davis interrupts Lenny Leonard's show opening and calls out everyone who wants an EVOLVE title. Jigsaw, Lince Dorado and a couple of others come out, then Open The Freedom Gate champion Johnny Gargano arrives and we somehow end up with an impromptu OTFG title match...

 

Open The Freedom Gate Championship: Johnny Gargano vs Jon Davis - Lenny Leonard just about manages to ask Davis if it's still "win or go home" here, to which the answer is a resounding yes. Happily, Leonard is joined on the commentary side of things by Bryce Remsburg, though they forget Davis just beat former OTFG champion YAMATO in DGUSA. Davis dominates the smaller champion for the most part, with exciting offense like multiple bodyslams and clubbering of the champion's perennially weakened back. It gets more exciting as they brawl on the floor for a bit, but then Davis misses a running boot, Gargano hits him with Hurts Donut on the floor, and Davis is counted out at 11:20.

 

After all the time invested in the Jon Davis must win scenario, it's no surprise when Gargano's countout victory then turns into an angle, as Gargano puts Davis over and says no-one wants to see him retire. Davis responds with a huge clothesline, then sends Gargano sailing over the top rope through a table on the floor with a massive powerbomb. Yikes. To sell that, Gargano is carried out in a really awkward way by about six guys. The angle was much better than the match.

 

Jigsaw (1-1) vs Lince Dorado (1-2) - A more regular, but as solid as you'd expect, proper opening bout between two guys with stacks of Chikara experience. They refer to Jigsaw's appearances in TNA under the name Rubix, which perhaps also explains why it's Dorado who gets the win at 9:21. Annoyingly, it felt like the bout was just about to get really good when it ended.

 

Christina Von Eerie vs Marti Belle - This is supposed to be a SHINE showcase match ahead of SHINE 3, but it beats me how they are supposed to be able to showcase anything in less than two minutes. While what is on show comes across as quite aggressive, half of Von Eerie's stuff misses by miles. CVE wins with a lungblower.

 

Depressingly, Larry Dallas is out next for what seemed like a dreadful angle with Marti Belle, except most of the mic work was a garbled mess on DVD. The D.U.F. make the save to lead into our next match..

 

Sami Callihan & Pinkie Sanchez vs Caleb Konley & Scott Reed - Not for the first time on this show, the commentators completely ignore the natural build for this bout from the DGUSA Anniversary Show, where both teams wanted to put themselves in the running for the Open The United Gate belts. Well, it was Arik Cannon & Sanchez for the D.U.F. there, but it was still relevant. It's nice to have Sami back, though he spends a chunk of this selling to set up a Pinkie Sanchez hot tag, which is weird. Also, it only takes 5:28 for the Scene to blow their undefeated 4-0 record in EVOLVE, as Reed taps to the Callihan Death Clutch, Sami's new rear naked choke finisher. The whole thing then gets forgotten as Sami moves into singles..

 

Sami Callihan (3-6) vs MASADA (0-0) - It would perhaps have helped the stories in both promotions if some DGUSA undercard bouts counted towards people's EVOLVE records or something, as MASADA's two victories back in Michigan and Chicago are rendered irrelevent by starting his EVOLVE record at 0-0 here. It turns out to be a bad night for Sami, as he gets knocked stupid after just a couple of minutes. MASADA gives him time, but Callihan only narrowly avoids being counted down for a KO, then counted out on the floor, and they have to resort to MASADA tapping him quickly with an STF at just 5:16. Obviously that was majorly underwhelming.

 

We then get a backstage Johnny Gargano taped promo on Jon Davis, which seems horribly out of place. This should have been at the end of the DVD, and billed as several days later. Gargano barely looks hurt at all.

 

Rich Swann & The Super Smash Brothers vs Chuck Taylor, Drew Gulak & Orange Cassidy - It's only taken six months, but the Gentlemen's Club are finally in full, crazy force here, with a total of six people between those in the ring and those at ringside. This is probably the match with the most consistent heat of the night, and though it's a bit messy in places, it does provide consistent entertainment. Swann is one of my favourites at the moment, and does most of the selling in the first half of the match. The second half has everyone all over the place, and for the first time since the opener everything has time to play out. Swann pins Gulak with Trouble in Paradise in 18:17 for the big win for the technicos, and Gulak appears to be the next guy knocked silly afterwards. Oh dear. Good match though.

 

AR Fox (6-3) vs Ricochet (4-2) - I really liked the video package leading into this, which recapped the angle with CIMA from after he & Fox won the United Gate titles back on the last DGUSA event. In truth though, the battle of the high flyers is hampered a bit by Ricochet's disgruntled gimmick, as the crowd don't care, and he's a much more natural face. Plus, his point about Fox having stupid offense is right on the money. The commentary should have been making a bigger deal about the very positive win-loss records of both guys going into this as well. As a result of all this, I found myself rooting for Ricochet against the flow of the match, as his big spots are much nicer and more appealing than Fox killing himself with blind back-first dives, like Lo Mein Rain which he does actually hit cleanly here. I liked most of the match in theory, though the slower pacing leading to each big spot meant the crowd heat was pretty muted. The finish made the match for me though, as Ricochet got the clean pin with a shooting star press in 14:30. Ricochet berates Fox after the match and he has to sit there and take it, which I liked too.

 

El Generico (2-3) vs Samuray Del Sol (2-3) - A worthy main event and decider to the Generico-Del Sol series, with both men scoring a victory at EVOLVE 14 and 15 respectively leading to this tie breaker. They don't go at a roaring pace right away, but tell a good story of both men having trained hard following their previous bouts and learning each other's patterns. This does make the match less of an instant impact than the E14 match in particular, but it builds very nicely indeed to the experience of Generico being the deciding factor. Generico slips out of the top rope reverse 'rana and dumps Del Sol in the 'buckles, then hits the Yakuza/Turnbuckle brainbuster for the victory at 14:09. Very good match.

 

Overall - a very solid effort by EVOLVE's recent standards, with the three matches at the top providing entertainment value and the angle following the opener is clearly going to play a part in Johnny Gargano's immediate (well, 2012) future. That said, the afternoon show syndrome and the fact this is still seventeen months ago means I can't say this is a must see show now, in 2014. DVD run time is 2 hours, 19 minutes.

[gadge]

Just when you thought it was safe, here's some more about the promotion nobody watches on this timeframe...

 

Dragon Gate USA Fearless 2012 - 2/11/12

 

Remember Hurricane Sandy? Well, this weekend of DGUSA shows happened just days later, so we start with an on-screen graphic thanking the fans, wrestlers and staff that made the shows happen. It's difficult to be too critical of DGUSA, therefore, for drawing just a couple of rows of fans for a show in Everett, Massachusetts, that hotbed for wrestling near Boston that Wikipedia tells me had a population of 41,667 in the 2010 Census.

 

One unexpected side-effect of the storm is that Lenny Leonard is absent here, with solo commentary and ring announcing duties instead performed by Arda Ocal. He doesn't have the encyclopedic knowledge of move names like Lenny, but is good at getting the stories across, which is always a challenge when Gabe is booking...

 

Anyway: the wrestling.

 

Johnny Gargano vs EITA in a non-title match is an interesting way to start the weekend on paper, and ticks most of the hot opening match boxes. It didn't keep my attention all the way to the end, though, and I found myself shaking my head when EITA blasted Gargano with a Vertebreaker for a nearfall just after the ten minute mark. Not only was it just a two count, but Gargano recovered quickly, hit a bunch of his trademarks and got a submission win with the Gargano Escape some 90 seconds later at 11:43. Chalk one up for indie wrestling there.

 

Things only get worse in the aftermath, as in his post-match promo Gargano puts all his focus on his 4-way match on the Sunday, completely overlooking his match with Jon Davis, which brings Davis out for a snooze-inducing beatdown consisting of a bunch of spinebusters. Nobody cares for Gargano during all this.

 

The Scene vs The D.U.F. actually follows that with a heated match/brawl for the most part, believe it or not, with D.U.F. B-team Arik Cannon and Pinkie Sanchez getting more out of the Scene than Sami Callihan and Sanchez did at EVOLVE 17. Unfortunately, Larry Dallas and Trina Michaels at ringside interfere enough to telegraph a screwy finish, and that's what we get, with Dallas causing Sanchez to get low blowed on the ropes, and Reed pins him at 10:28. At least the D.U.F. team leave to cheers despite the defeat.

 

Sami Callihan vs Samuray Del Sol follows that, albeit in a completely separate segment. Sami, of course, now has his return from suspension storyline to focus on, as we get to discover if he can focus on taking care of business rather than being obsessed with old grudges. This battle of the current NXT alumni feels a bit weird, as despite some good sequences, at times the whole thing seems awkward. I did like the end to this one, as Callihan, who faces El Generico the next night, gets the pin on Del Sol at 14:13 after hitting the turnbuckle brainbuster! Oooh!

 

Chuck Taylor, Drew Gulak & Orange Cassidy vs Rich Swann, CIMA & ACH has a Captain's Match stipulation tied to it, which complicates the usual free-flowing six man dynamic you would expect. It's weird having CIMA involved here too, when Rich Swann is the captain of his team. I didn't realise ACH appeared for DGUSA before settling into an undercard ROH spot either. That said, I still enjoyed this a whole bunch. There's a funny spot at the start when Chucky T orders Gulak and Cassidy to attack Swann to kick things off, and they mistakenly go for ACH instead. The shenanigans of the Gentlemen's Club keep a heat segment on Swann entertaining, and when things break down, everyone gets a chance to shine, particularly including the newcomer ACH. The finish doesn't do Swann many favours though, despite him getting the win, as only CIMA making the save stops Taylor from beating him with the Awful Waffle; CIMA then blasts Chuck with the Schwein and Meteora, despite Taylor finding the time to sort his hair out between the two moves, and dumps Swann on top for the pin at 13:23. That earns Swann a one-on-one match with Taylor on the Sunday at Freedom Fight, but you wouldn't back him to win that based on this.

 

Akira Tozawa vs Jon Davis - Blimey, if you want to see a crowd not buying a push condensed into one match, this would be a good one to choose. Because he's evil now, Davis' entrance sees him picking random members of the crowd and staring at them, only for them all to either openly laugh, or pull faces. Davis keeps standing there staring and looks like an idiot. Tozawa then comes out to as good a reaction as anyone, considering the small crowd. To both men's credit, they then work a surprisingly fast paced match to good heat, though an excellent hurty spot where Davis catches a Tozawa tope and turns it into a spinebuster across the ring apron is for naught when Tozawa selling Davis working the back, a key part of the Davis-Gargano story, doesn't last at all. Things build nicely towards a conclusion, with most of the usual spots from the end of Tozawa's matches, including Tozawa hitting impressive suplexes on the larger man. Davis fires back with two massive clotheslines... but then the referee counts three at 13:33, and the crowd, rather than react negatively to the heel getting a clean pin, are like "Huh? That guy went over? Like that? Ha!" to almost no reaction. What had become a competitive match is killed stone dead by a finish bought by absolutely no-one. Don't worry though, we still have the drama of whether Gargano is even fit to compete with Davis tomorrow in New Jersey! I'm sure that'll get over, right?

 

Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito vs The Super Smash Brothers to determine the number one contenders to the Open The United Gate titles takes the semi-main event spot. I've liked the quick rise of the SSB so far in DGUSA, and was quite anticipating their title match, but some proper Dragon Gate competition for the belts is also quite welcome. Sadly, this number one contenders match, while a solid example of tag team wrestling, never quite captures the imagination and stays firmly in third gear. Saito pins Player Dos with the Double Cross at 16:15 to earn the Jimmys team the title shot the next night.

 

Ricochet vs AR Fox - This is a Respect match, based on the aftermath of the United Gate decision match at the Third Anniversary Show, and their singles bout at EVOLVE 17. Fox starts out hot with a series of high risk moves, but then Ricochet moves and Fox "injures his knee" on a springboard 450. Interestingly, Arda Ocal actually namechecks Gabe when he appears on camera as part of the knee injury angle here. After Fox finally just beats the 20-count, the match starts properly with Ricochet destroying the knee, and impressively finding a series of interesting ways to do it. To his credit, Fox then sells superbly, and they actually draw you right in with the story of Ricochet being cocky and super confident because of the injury, and Fox having to battle the pain of his knee to get himself back into the match. This marked the first time in the feud I was prepared to get invested in Fox beating Ricochet, which is job done, as far as I'm concerned. I won't go into the move-by-move from there: all I need to mention is that a second Lo Mein Pain finally sees Fox get the victory ay 18:45. A very impressive main event.

 

Ricochet tries to walk out on Fox in the post-match, but CIMA comes out and makes him shake his hand and admit to being the better man, as per the stipulation, though Ricochet doesn't exactly do it with any sincerity before getting the hell out of there. Horiguchi and Saito then come out to talk about their tag title match, before CIMA and Fox do the usual show end spiel. Did I Enjoy The Show? Well..

 

Overall - There was quite a lot of potential good to this show, and while I really enjoyed the main event, and there was a fair amount of decent wrestling elsewhere on the card, the slightly disappointing nature of the opener and tag title contendership bouts, combined with the outside factors that led to the low turnout, mean the whole thing never felt like a must-see event and I can't say it's a must purchase DVD. DVD run time is 2 hours, 37 minutes.

[cobystag]

I was at the next nights show in New Jersey and I really enjoyed it. Hope the matches I enjoyed (opening tag match, Tozawa/Del Sol and Callihan/Generico) translate to DVD.

[gadge]

I hope to get DGUSA/EVOLVE 2012 finished by the end of the month. So you won't have to wait long to find out...

[Big Benny HG]

You know, if DG:USA and/or EVOLVE put out a "Best of" annual compilation, I would probably pick that up. I'd be interested in something like that just to see the select few highlights worth checking out. I would never be interested in following them full time since, as Gadge correctly pointed out earlier, they don't seem to be strong enough to put out as many shows as they do without padding the shows with bland nobodies to fill around the genuine star names. I was watching the 'proper' PPVs in the early days (I even started this thread!) but I think I'd lose the will to live if I'd committed to an undertaking like Gadge has.

 

I can't see it damaging sales of individual events to such a detriment it wouldn't be worth doing. This is just a guess, but I would assume their DVD sales for individual events aren't anything special, especially with iPPV being their focus and the DVD release schedule being about a year behind (by which time the interest and urge to check out a show will have died anyway). There must only be a select few nutters that go ahead and pick up every single show...

[gadge]

The first show of 2013 featuring John Morrison vs Akira Tozawa has just been released on DVD, so they're now a year and about three weeks behind.

 

Morrison vs Tozawa sounds interesting. But it's THIRTEEN MONTHS OLD. Argh.

 

Anyway, I've just started Uprising 2012. I see you there, cobystag...