Paid Members Big Benny HG Posted March 2, 2012 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 2, 2012 Dragon Gate USA Open the Ultimate Gate 2011 (3 April 2011)    DGUSA continues in the tradition of PWG, ROH and indeed itself the year prior by presenting a double-header of events on WrestleMania weekend, this time from Atlanta. We skip the 'Mercury Rising 2011' iPPV/DVD taping from Night One to go straight to the 'proper' PPV taping on the second day, which itself was also confusingly titled 'Mercury Rising 2011' for the TV market when it aired on 27 May. This DVD version of the show takes the PPV's subtitle of 'Open the Ultimate Gate'. Got that? Not sure I have.  The top contest on offer here is YAMATO defending his Open the Freedom Gate Championship against former Kamikaze stablemate and rising cult sensation Akira Tozawa. After some bullshit involving Jon Moxley, Playboy's Reby Sky and pornstar Trina Michaels, the main match gets underway and turns into an impressive affair. It's one of those typical 20+ minute Dragon Gate title singles matches that features a slow, uneventful first half, then a red hot, edge-of-seat second half as they are hitting all kinds of big moves in an effort to pick up the win. Definitely a really good showing from both men here. A saw a tweet from someone in the last few days who was contemplating whether Akira Tozawa is actually the best worker in the world at present. While I'm not sure I can go that far, there is certainly starting to be a compelling case that one could present in that direction.  Elsewhere on the DVD, making his supposedly last appearance in DGUSA is Austin Aries, who states he no longer has a purpose in the promotion. His farewell match against former ROH rival Jimmy Jacobs is played out like two mates larking about rather than a proper contest, however, which is pretty annoying. That is soon forgotten though, as the whole situation is actually just the set-up for a superbly executed surprise angle where Aries joins the heel Blood Warriors group, and ends up laying a beating on the members of the Ronin faction that he called into the ring to "pass the torch" to on his way out. It is rare that this kind of swerve really works, but this excellent segment is definitely an exception had had me convinced. It is also interesting that none of this match or resulting angle was actually screened on the PPV version of the event....  Masata Yoshino & Pac's defence of their Open the United Gate Championship against CIMA & Naruki Doi is a strong tag effort but, like their title winning bout on the last PPV, it has to settle for being merely 'rather good' instead of the spectacular jaw-dropping Dragon Gate tag attraction that WrestleMania weekend has been known for.  Unfortunately, the rest of the show isn't up to much at all. Brodie Lee's quick squash of Dragon Gate's comedy staple Stalker Ichikawa is fairly amusing, but his subsequent bout with Ronin's Chuck Taylor is disappointingly flat and uninteresting. The same can be said of the show's opening bout pitting Johnny Gargano against Jimmy Rave, of all people, which is as unremarkable and nondescript as it gets.  Further to this, a 6-way 'freestyle' between Sami Callihan, Arik Cannon, Rich Swann, AR Fox (who wrestles in what can only be described as jeggings), Lince Dorado and Silas Young is just out-and-out awful in every way. A group of guys that no-one has any reason to give a damn about going through a series of overly-planned and poorly executed flips and movez. Urgh. Callihan and Cannon then team together in another match later on to face the Dark City Fight Club, marking the formation of their 'Dirty Ugly Fucks' faction. This tag bout didn't make the PPV broadcast, probably because it is wank. I've been warming to Callihan in a big way through recent showings in EVOLVE, DGUSA and IPW:UK, but his performances on this event only serve to reaffirm my original opinion of him.  Overall, this is far from DGUSA's finest hour. The two title matches are really good, particularly the main event, and the Aries angle is fantastic, but the rest of the show is utter dross. Check it out for the highs, but don't expect anything from the lows.  Full show results: <-- click on 'spoiler' to show/hide the spoiler Johnny Gargano beat Jimmy Rave by submission to the Gargano Escape (Rings of Saturn)  6-way freestyle: Rich Swann beat Sami Callihan, Arik Cannon, AR Fox, Lince Dorado{L, standing 450 splash} and Silas Young  Brodie Lee beat Stalker Ichikawa with the Truck Stop  Brodie Lee beat Chuck Taylor with a sit-down powerbomb  Masata Yoshino{W, Sol Naciente} & Pac beat CIMA & Naruki Doi{L} to retain the Open the United Gate titles  Sami Callihan & Arik Cannon beat Dark City Fight Club (Jon Davis & Kory Chavis)  Jimmy Jacobs beat Austin Aries with an inside cradle  Bunkhouse Match: Akira Tozawa beat Jon Moxley  YAMATO beat Akira Tozawa with Gallaria to retain the Open the Freedom Gate Championship  [close spoiler] ");document.close(); Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gadge Posted March 4, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted March 4, 2012 Gabe must be a bit peeved: the continued faction moves in Japan have led to the Open the United Gate titles being vacated by CIMA and Ricochet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobystag Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 Gabe must be a bit peeved: the continued faction moves in Japan have led to the Open the United Gate titles being vacated by CIMA and Ricochet... Â From Gabe's FB: Â "Gabe Sapolsky There's a report going around that CIMA & Ricochet vacated the Open The United Gate Titles in Japan. It must be misinterpreted because CIMA & Ricochet are still DGUSA Tag Team Champions. They will just not team in Japan now. Their next defense will be in Miami. There was lots of stable movement in Japan. We will have more tomorrow at DGUSA.tv" Â I'm curious to look at what's going on but am doing my best to go spoiler free since middle of Feb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gadge Posted March 4, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted March 4, 2012 Right-o, I won't put any more then. Looks quite mental, and I still have no idea what to expect from DGUSA in Miami. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members neil's bitch Posted March 5, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted March 5, 2012 An update on the Faction situation......  <-- click on 'spoiler' to show/hide the spoiler  Here is the current situation:  MAD BLANKEY (Formally Bloof Warriors) Akira Tozawa BxB Hulk Cyber Kong Kzy Tomahawk T.T as Naoki Tanizaki  Reformed Veteran Army (aka Ichikawa Family) CIMA Masaaki Mochizuki Don Fujii Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa Dragon Kid Yasushi Kanda Gamma  Jimmyz Jimmy Susumu Jimmy Kagetora Ryo Saito (Now Ryo Jimmy Saito) Genki Horiguchi (now H-A-JI-MY)  Shisas Super Shisa Shisa BOY  NEX Chihiro Tominaga Eita Kobayashi Yosuke Watanabe Super Shenlong Kotoka  New Faction, un named so far: Naruki Doi Masato Yoshino Ricochet PAC Rich Swann  Others: Shingo Takagi - At odds with Mochizuki & Co. YAMATO - Same as Takagi K-ness - Reconciled friendship with Gamma Kenichiro Arai Taku Iwasa Naoki Tanizaki - Rehabbing shoulder injury   [close spoiler] ");document.close(); Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gadge Posted March 7, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted March 7, 2012 Dragon Gate USA: Fearless 2011 - 3/6/11 Â DGUSA debuts in the Boston area in front a paltry crowd of probably less than 200. This is an iPPV effort, I believe. Â CIMA vs Rich Swann - Austin Aries accompanies CIMA here after the events of Atlanta, while Swann has Johnny Gargano at ringside. It's no surprise that CIMA doesn't go all out here in front of such a small crowd, though Swann gets in some impressive stunts. Unfortunately for the Ronin member, he somehow manages to botch taking a Schwein, then despite kicking out of the Perfect Driver, predictably suffers defeat soon after at 8:54 following the Schwein/Meteora combo. This was standard DG undercard fodder. Â Six Way Freestyle: AR Fox vs Arik Cannon vs Alex Colon vs Brodie Lee vs Scott Reed vs Tony Nese - Aside from Brodie Lee of Blood Warriors being in there, this is your basic EVOLVE multi man, complete with one generic music for everyone's entrance. Nothing of note happens for about five minutes until Brodie teases a dive and the crowd wake up, then Brodie instead launches AR Fox miles over the top onto Colon, Reed and Nese on the floor. The crowd soon goes quiet despite a couple of other guys getting to string a few moves together, before Cannon pins Colon with a brainbuster at 8:06. This was not up to much overall, really. Â Ricochet vs Susumu Yokosuka - I've always wondered, considering how major a part he's been of Dragon Gate's events in the UK, why Yokosuka hasn't done much in DGUSA up to now. He certainly shows his worth here, getting an entertaining generational battle out of the high flying Blood Warrors member here. I did have one or two issues with it, such as the destruction of Ricochet's knees in dramatic fashion in the early going being forgotten as soon as it became time for Ricochet to do his big spots, and the middle rope Mugen not being the finish. The youngster also gets to kick out of Jumbo No Kachi! before a second Mugen gives Yokosuka the victory at 12:34. More Yokosuka please! Â Masaaki Mochizuki vs Sami Callihan - A similar generational battle to the last bout here, only obviously in the much more hard hitting style you'd expect from both men. This one benefits from not starting as slowly also. Mochizuki wins with the Shin Saikyou High Kick at 12:54, but that's just the beginning of the story, as he shows Callihan respect afterwards, only to be jumped by Callihan's D.U.F. partner Arik Cannon, leading to a Mochizuki/Yokosuka vs Cannon/Callihan brawl that takes the locker room ages to break up. A good match for Callihan, and the angle really helped establish the D.U.F. faction. Â Jon Davis vs Pinkie Sanchez - More D.U.F. chicanery here, as Davis calls them out, only for Pinkie Sanchez to take on Davis as he looks to join the group. Callihan and Cannon enjoy themselves at ringside as Davis beats on Sanchez mercilessly. He finally gets a three count, according to the ref anyway, with a Jackhammer at 9:00, but Davis isn't happy that Pinkie kicked out at what could have been 2.99 or 3.01, so beats on him some more and gets the win with Three Seconds Around The World instead. After the match, Callihan and Cannon wake Pinkie up by pouring beer on him then beat him up some more, in what may or may not have actually been them accepting him into the D.U.F. Â Austin Aries vs Johnny Gargano - I was in the process of watching this, and enjoying it without ever being in danger of being blown away by it, when I realised this feels like something from the early days of Gabe booking FIP. It's too long, really, at 26 minutes even, but does do a good job of telling the story of Gargano pushing Aries to his limits when Aries thought Gargano wasn't in his league. I particularly liked the brawling part of the match, which furthered the story without going to ridiculous levels of violence. Aries kicks out of Hurts Donut, and there's some good Gargano Escape and Last Chancery counters, before Aries picks up the win with a second brainbuster. Athletically unspectacular but solid match. Â Open The United Gate Title: Pac and Masato Yoshino vs YAMATO and Akira Tozawa - This is just what you'd expect from Dragon Gate tag team action here, which is just what this show needed as a main event. The only way you can usually judge one of these from another is the quality of the sprint finish, which is pretty decent, though i also liked the balance of the two teams. I certainly preferred this to Pac and Yoshino's defense against CIMA and Doi at Open The Ultimate Gate in Atlanta the show before. Pac pins Tozawa with the corkscrew shooting star press at 24:27, as part of the build to Pac challenging YAMATO for the Freedom Gate title in Manhattan on the concluding part of this triple shot of shows. Â Overall - While being the opening night of the weekend and the small size of the crowd definitely make this a DGUSA B show, if you decide to plump for this, the main event and Yokosuka and Mochizuki singles matches are certainly worthwhile, while Aries vs Gargano isn't bad either. The Blood Warriors, Ronin and D.U.F. factions have clear personalities, which is definitely making the shows watchable even on lesser events. Mildly recommended. DVD run time is 2 hours, 32 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gadge Posted March 12, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted March 12, 2012 Dragon Gate USA: Uprising - 4/6/11  DGUSA tapes for cable PPV for the last time in another new venue for them, this time in Deer Park, NY. This is a venue that regularly hosts the NYWC (where Zack Ryder came from) and I'm sure hosted ROH once or twice (I'm thinking the first night of the Race To The Top Tournament in 2007 in particular). It's not a very big venue by any standard, but the crowd seems bigger and are certainly more vocal than the iPPV the night before. The main selling point of the show is that it's the Night Of The Freestyle, and so we begin...  Eight Way Freestyle: Sami Callihan vs Jon Davis vs Caleb Konley vs Pinkie Sanchez vs Scott Reed vs Flip Kendrick vs Louis Lyndon vs Alex Colon - Yes, eight men in a spotfest. That said, it's the show opener, and there's a couple of interesting storylines involved with Pinkie Sanchez trying to earn his way into D.U.F. but getting treated like dirt by Sami Callihan, and Jon Davis being the power man in the match (again including exchanges with Callihan). In addition to that, there's no-one in there who's having an off night, with pretty much everything being hit nicely and high tempo action throughout. Callihan wins by referee stoppage at 11:25 when he has Caleb Konley in the Stretch Muffler/ kicks to the head combo and no-one is around to break it up. I enjoyed this, definitely.  Brodie Lee vs Tony Nese - A switch to more of a story based singles bout goes down quite nicely here, with Tony Nese having the home crowd support as a NYWC regular, but not only is he faced with the uphill battle against the size of Brodie Lee but also CIMA, Ricochet and Austin Aries in Brodie's corner. Nese is a solid hand, and with the crowd support he has, the match is more than just watchable. Predictably though, the numbers get him in the end, and Brodie pins him with a Liger Bomb at 9:52.  Austin Aries vs Susumu Yokosuka - Aries sends the rest of Blood Warriors backstage here, so we get a more straightforward one-on-one. Aries spends awhile early on stalling, which was alright as stalling goes, and would have been fine if the match had gone a little longer, but at 12:00 even it does leave the bout feeling slightly underdeveloped at the end. That said, the action is of a good standard when it comes. After the silliness of Yokosuka vs Ricochet's finish the night before, it seems a bit out of the blue when Yokosuka pins Aries clean with the Mugen. This was good for the most part  Four Way Freestyle: YAMATO vs CIMA vs Masato Yoshino vs Johnny Gargano - It's weird to see the likes of CIMA, Yoshino and YAMATO get the EVOLVE entrance here for this, the second of the night's Freestyle matches and the first of three non-title matches on the card also. The main storyline in this one is that CIMA has no friends as a member of the Blood Warriors, but is able to pick his spots and continues to show disdain for Gargano in particular. Once again the Freestyle action is good, with things always going on to keep your attention. Gargano has the Open The Freedom Gate champion YAMATO on the ropes with a combination of moves near the end, but then CIMA takes over, hitting YAMATO with the Schwein for two followed by Meteora for the pinfall at 12:16. CIMA then sets himself up as challenger for the winner of YAMATO vs Pac, which is on the following night's iPPV in real life and DVD chronology, but had alreay happened by the time of the cable PPV showing. Oh well, this won't be an issue after this show anyway.  Papadon vs Alex Reynolds - In a bit of a swerve, two guys from an afternoon tryout get a complete, run-in free match. Both guys are probably physically bigger than anyone on the show bar Brodie Lee, which may be why. There's not much to this though: Papadon nearly wins with a piledriver, but Reynolds grabs the ropes - then soon after Reynolds wins with a fishermans neckbreaker at 4:45. Pretty dull filler, to be honest.  Masaaki Mochizuki vs Arik Cannon - The second non-title match of the show here. This didn't appeal to me much either, as Cannon doesn't belong anywhere near the same ring as the Open The Dream Gate champion. Mochizuki's kick flurries are a highlight, and a kick off the ropes is enough to get him the win at 9:03. Sami Callihan runs in immediately after the decision, and is more dynamic in his attack than anything Cannon did in the match itself. Yokosuka makes the save, but is distracted by Pinkie Sanchez, and Cannon and Callihan leave Mochizuki and Yokosuka laying. The D.U.F. crew still dump Sanchez to the floor before leaving, however...  Akira Tozawa vs AR Fox - He may have won the Style Battle tournament at EVOLVE 8, but this is AR Fox's breakout match for me so far, as he looks much better here than anywhere else I've seen. A real good, competitive match along the usual Tozawa US match formula, and Fox hangs in there every step of the way, even nailing the kick-flip off the ring post to the floor perfectly for once. Tozawa's German suplexes get the better of Fox in the end, though, with the straightjacket German getting him the pin at 17:41. Mutual respect is shared, and Fox looks good even in defeat. Good stuff.  Three Way Freestyle: Pac vs Ricochet vs Rich Swann - Main event time, and as you'd expect the emphasis here is very much on insane high flying from all three guys. That means this won't be for everyone, but they do indeed bring the insanity. I liked that the crowd here were looking to boo Ricochet as a member of Blood Warriors. At the very beginning, I thought Rich Swann looked a bit daunted by the prospect of being in the main event with these two guys, but as soon as they kicked it into gear, he didn't look out of place at all. Pac, of course, is Pac, and a machine at this stuff. As a high-flying exhibition, then, this was pretty great. The only bummer was that the finish seemed a bit sudden, as Ricochet knocks Pac to the floor with a kick and pins Swann with the 630 splash at 12:14. The crowd hardly reacted to Ricochet winning at all, either. A shame, as it left the show to end on a flat note, with Pac more interested in his Open The Freedom Gate title shot against YAMATO than the fact he lost (albeit not being pinned) here.  Overall - DVD run time is only 2 hours and 9 minutes, and being the final cable PPV taping meant it felt a bit purposeless, but as a standalone example of what everyone in DGUSA is capable of, this is a good show with good performances from pretty much everyone. All DGUSA needs is to marry this quality of show with better storytelling, which will be easier now that every show is iPPV from here, and find a way to increase live attendance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Big Benny HG Posted March 12, 2012 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 12, 2012 Woah. Of all the ridiculous amount of shows we've been watching over a couple of years, here comes a weird coincidence......  Dragon Gate USA Uprising 2011 (4 June 2011)   Dragon Gate USA reaches the end of its 2-year cable PPV deal with its 12th and final nationally televised offering, coming from some pokey little shit hole in Long Island. The theme of this PPV is "The Night of the Freestyle" (a 'freestyle' being the DGUSA/EVOLVE name for a 1-fall multi-man multi-way bout). Indeed, this show features 3 separate such contests, with various numbers of combatants, up and down the card. The idea is for the event to be an exciting, all-action showcase for the in-ring style you would associate with this promotion.  As you might expect, they represent a bit of a mixed bag. The opening 8-way featuring Sami Callihan, Jon Davis, Caleb Konley, Pinkie Sanchez, Scott Reed, Flip Kendrick, Louis Lyndon and Alex Colon is mildly entertaining in places, but the chaotic nature of it (plus the fact it is basically a parade of Johnny No-Names as far as this promotion is concerned) means it struggles to leave an impression. Good, throwaway fun is probably the best way to describe it. Much better and far more star-studded is the 4-way offering, pitting CIMA, Masato Yoshino, YAMATO and Johnny Gargano against each other. These guys all still represented different factions at this point (Junction Three would be formed just days after this event), which plays out well over the course of the match. It's fast-paced but well-structured, coming in as a fine, engaging effort.  The actual main event is a 3-way Freestyle between the UK's own Pac, Ricochet from Blood Warriors and Rich Swann from Ronin (baby). They certainly deliver the daredevil aerials, showing off some dazzling, breath-taking flying, while at the same time as managing to put on a credible semblance of an actual structured match. This is the first DGUSA PPV main event that doesn't include at least one Japanese wrestler, but they've built up Pac and Ricochet especially to the point where you buy them as legitimate headliners here. A very good, if a little short, main event feature which sums up the theme of the night.  Non-Freestyle action on the DVD includes 3 separate singles bouts featuring Dragon Gate Japan stars taking on US indie dudes. First, Susumu Yokosuka vs. the newly heel Austin Aries is decent enough, but comes as a disappointment for such a mouth-watering collision in that it never really hits top stride to show what these two are truly capable of. Reigning Open the Dream Gate Champion Masaaki Mochizuki against DUF member Arik Cannon didn't do much for me either, mainly since I fail to connect with anything that tubby little midget Cannon can possibly do. Best of the bunch is a terrific encounter between cult sensation Akira Tozawa and rising indie star AR Fox. I've seen Fox a good few times now, some good, some bad, but this is easily the best I've ever seen from him. The bout builds well, keeps your attention and ends up with a genuinely exciting finish. Fox becomes more and more desperate as he gets closer and closer to his biggest ever win, and Tozawa brings increasing amounts of his crazy intensity. A sterling bout, and one of the promotion's finest of the year.  Elsewhere, Brodie Lee vs. Tony Nese is somewhat of a nothing match, but actually manages to be quite enjoyable. Nese is an interesting case in that if he were to spend an amount of time in somewhere like FCW, he could turn out to be a good little talent. A non-PPV bout of Papadon vs. Alex Reynolds, 2 guys who supposedly impressed in a pre-show try-out, however, is a complete waste of time and an utterly worthless inclusion.  Overall, this is typical of the majority of the recent DGUSA PPVs. Decent entertainment throughout the show, mostly maintaining a good standard of in-ring action, yet not providing any killer, blow-away matches. That said, Tozawa vs. Fox is very good indeed, and other matches could hardly be called a disappointment. Definitely a worthwhile way to spend a couple of hours as a showcase event, even if it doesn't really build to anything else. This is supposed to be the 'shop window' for people to get a taste then jump on board and follow DGUSA on DVD and iPPV, and they could have done a lot worse.  As the last 'proper' PPV show, it's also where I jump off the DGUSA train... for a while, anyway.  Full show results: <-- click on 'spoiler' to show/hide the spoiler  8-way Freestyle: Sami Callihan beat Jon Davis, Caleb Konley{L, Stretch Muffler with stomps), Pinkie Sanchez, Scott Reed, Flip Kendrick, Louis Lyndon and Alex Colon  Brodie Lee beat Tony Nese with a sit-down powerbomb  Susumu Yokosuka beat Austin Aries with a Mugen  4-way Freestyle: CIMA beat YAMATO{L, Meteora}, Masato Yoshino and Johnny Gargano  Alex Reynolds beat Papadon with a 'Tomorrow Driver'  Masaaki Mochizuki beat Arik Cannon with a kick off the ropes  Akira Tozawa beat AR Fox with a bridging arm-capture German suplex  3-way Freestyle: Ricochet beat Pac and Rich Swann{L, 630)  [close spoiler] ");document.close(); Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Only_The_Strong_Survive Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 A double main event has been signed for EVOLVE 11 on April 13th in Toronto at the Doubletree by Hilton - Toronto Airport on 655 Dixon Road. Tickets are now on sale in the www.DGUSA.tv Store or by calling 267-519-9744. The live iPPV at www.WWNLive.com can be pre-ordered now. The double main event is:Â The Rematch - Main Event #1 Dave "Fit" Finlay (1-0) vs. Sami Callihan (3-3) Â July 26th, 2011 saw Fit Finlay wrestle his first match on the independents as he competed at EVOLVE 9 against Sami Callihan. No one knew what to expect going in. The result was an epic war that was voted by the fans as the EVOLVE/DGUSA Match Of The Year. Finlay is one of the most respected veterans around. Callihan has exploded into a worldwide star. Toronto will get the rematch. Â Battle Of The Best - Main Event #2 Low Ki (1-0) vs. El Generico (0-0) Â El Generico can be called the most popular worldwide independent wrestler. Low Ki is world renowned as an elite athlete. These two forces will collide in Toronto. This will be Generico's EVOLVE debut and Ki's first high profile EVOLVE match. Â OH SHIT! Ki vs Generico! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobystag Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Ki/Generico was amazing in 08 so can't wait to see it again. Â Two stand out matches announced so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gadge Posted March 14, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted March 14, 2012 More DGUSA news...  Lots Of Miami Match Announcements, Toronto News, 25% Off DVDs Continues, New DVD Release, More!!!   This is part 2 of the special two part Email News Express series. We have several new matches for both Miami shows, a new DVD release, Toronto news, an update on CZW in DGUSA and more.    First off, the DGUSA.tv Weekly Special on 25% off DGUSA & EVOLVE DVDs has been extended until March 22nd. This is due to your support and the success of this rare sale. Save 25% on all the recent releases (except EVOLVE 10) and all our greatest DGUSA & EVOLVE DVDs. Check the main page of www.DGUSA.tv or email Help@DGUSA.tv for all the details.    Before we get to the news we want to remind you that the Dragon Gate USA events in Miami are both at the beautiful Deauville Beach Resort right on Miami Beach (6701 Collins Avenue, 33141). The shows are part of the WrestleReunion Convention featuring legends, hall of famers, today's stars, the hottest divas, incredible autograph opportunities and once-in-a-lifetime fan experiences. Go to a resort right on the beach close to Wrestlemania, witness great wrestling and meet legends. What more could you ask for? Ok, you want more match announcements. Here we go....      March 30th Miami Event Takes Shape  We have a change to a title match and a new bout for the March 30th Open The Ultimate Gate 2012 event in Miami. This is the special $1.99 Live iPPV at WWNLive.com. Tickets are now on sale in the DGUSA.tv Store or by calling 267-519-9744.  TIX ALERT: General admission tickets are $20 in advance, but will be $25 at the door. There are also only a handful of 1st & 3rd row tickets left.  It was announced last week that Chuck Taylor & Rich Swann would challenge DGUSA Tag Team Champions CIMA & Ricochet for the titles. However, a video leaked over the weekend of Chuck Taylor saying he wanted to team with Johnny Gargano. Swann, in the interest of keeping peace within Ronin, has stepped aside. It will now be CIMA & Ricochet vs. DGUSA Champion Johnny Gargano & Chuck Taylor for the Open The United Gate Titles on March 30th in Miami. This gives Gargano the opportunity to be a double champion.  Rich Swann will now get a major singles match on March 30th. It will be Swann vs. Masato Yoshino at Open The Ultimate Gate. This is interesting because Yoshino is set to challenge Swann's stablemate Gargano for the DGUSA Title the next night on March 31st. Here's how the March 30th event now shapes up:  Main Event #1 - Open The United Gate Title Match CIMA & Ricochet defend vs. Chuck Taylor & Johnny Gargano  Main Event #2 - First Time Ever Dream Match Low Ki vs. PAC  Main Event #3 Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Akira Tozawa  Special Challenge Match Masato Yoshino vs. Rich Swann  Stable Shootout Match #1 - Street Fight Sabu & Jon Davis vs. Arik Cannon & Pinkie Sanchez  Stable Shootout Match #2 - Fox Picks Callihan's Opponent Sami Callihan vs. BxB Hulk  Stable Shootout Match #3 - Callihan Picks Fox's Opponent AR Fox vs. Uhaa Nation  Plus more with Bobby Fish, The Scene of Scott Reed & Caleb Konley with Larry Dallas, plus others!!!   Aerial Elimination Coming To Miami   Dragon Gate USA will close out the huge Florida tripleshot with Mercury Rising 2012 on March 31st in Miami. Pre-order the Live iPPV at WWNLive.com or get tickets in the DGUSA.tv Store or by calling 267-519-9744.  TIX ALERT: There are only a few 1st and 3rd row tickets left. Also, general admission will be $20 in advance and $25 at the door.  Three more matches have been added to this event. The AR Fox vs. D.U.F. feud continues as Fox is set to battle Arik Cannon.  Bobby Fish vs. Jon Davis has been signed in a battle of hard-hitters who have made their marks in both DGUSA and EVOLVE. This also serves as a rematch of the scheduled singles bout they were supposed to have at EVOLVE 9, which was interrupted by Kevin Steen and turned into a three-way match.  This leads us to PAC. The high-flyer from England is known as the premiere aerial artist in the world. He is also the most accomplished foreigner to ever go to Dragon Gate with the longest title reign of any champion in Japan when he was Open The Brave Gate Champion. PAC is also one of the most respected members of the locker room by his peers. Last year, PAC entered a rivalry against Ricochet, which helped Ricochet become one of today's new stars. Now PAC is looking for a new rival.  March 31st will see The PAC Invitational Aerial Elimination Match. PAC will be able to hand select the participants of this multi-person elimination match. The first two selections have been made. PAC himself will be in the bout to test the other entrants. PAC has already added Rich Swann to what promises to be a revolutionary match. We'll have more next week.  EVOLVE 10 DVD In Stock & Shipping   The controversial, action-packed and historic EVOLVE 10: A Tribute To The Arena DVD is now in stock and shipping from the DGUSA.tv Store or by calling 267-519-9744.  It's a night no one will forget as we say goodbye to the former ECW Arena with the final wrestling event ever in those legendary walls. The card saw extreme favorites, great matches and an ending that people either loved or hated.  See extreme legends New Jack, Balls Mahoney, Sabu and Justin Credible and others get hardcore in that building one more time. Witness the gutsy effort by Johnny Gargano as he fights through a back injury to defend the Open The Freedom Gate Title against Ricochet. See the Chuck Taylor & Rich Swann vs. Super Smash Brothers match steal the show. Plus, much, much more. Just look at this lineup:  -Arena Closing Ceremony with Sabu vs. Justin Credible and extreme surprises -Open The Freedom Gate Title Match: Johnny Gargano defends vs. Ricochet -Sami Callihan vs. Bobby Fish -Jon Davis vs. Kyle Matthews -Chuck Taylor & Rich Swann vs. Super Smash Brothers -Uhaa Nation vs. Pinkie Sanchez -Jigsaw vs. AR Fox -John Silver & Alex Reynolds vs. Scott Reed & Caleb Konley -Cheech vs. Cloudy -Low Ki vs. Ahtu  EVOLVE and DGUSA DVDs ship and play anywhere in the world. We pride ourselves on high-quality DVDs that give you the most value for your money. Order this DVD now and own history!!! EVOLVE In Toronto Update    The huge double main event for EVOLVE 11 on April 13th in Toronto was announced yesterday. We have more talent updates. Here's how the card now shapes up:   EVOLVE 11: Finlay vs. Callihan April 13th, 2012 Belltime: 8pm Doubletree by Hilton - Toronto Airport 655 Dixon Road Toronto, Ontario Canada M9W1J3  Tickets on sale in the DGUSA.tv Store or by calling 267-519-9744. Pre-order the live iPPV at WWNLive.com. This is part of the first ever WrestleReunion convention in Canada.  The Rematch - Main Event #1 Dave "Fit" Finlay (1-0) vs. Sami Callihan (3-3)  Battle Of The Best - Main Event #2 Low Ki (1-0) vs. El Generico (0-0)  Also Signed: -Open The Freedom Gate Champion Johnny Gargano (6-3) -Chuck Taylor (6-3) -AR Fox (2-1) -Bobby Fish (2-4) -Cheech (1-0) -The Scene (2-0) -The Super Smash Brothers (1-2) -Plus many others to be announced!!!   We are excited to announce a partnership with Canada's red hot, rising Alpha-1 promotion. Alpha-1 will present the Bonus Card at 7pm. This will not be on the live iPPV, but will be open to all ticket holders. Already signed for the Alpha-1 card is "Hacker" Scotty O'Shea, Michael Elgin, "All Ego" Ethan Page, Ashley Sixx, "King Of K.O.'s" Joey Kings and "Psycho" Mike Rollins. We'll have more on this soon. DGUSA/CZW March 29th Update    Dragon Gate USA will team up with Combat Zone Wrestling for a supershow on March 29th in Hollywood, Florida, which is just a short drive from Miami. Tickets are now on sale in the DGUSA.tv Store or by calling 267-519-9744.  Dragon Gate USA will present a full six match show in the first half of the card. We will then take an intermission and return with two CZW death matches.  CZW is bringing ultraviolence to Florida and promise to present two of their most violent death matches on March 29th. The match ups are:  -TOD Winner & former CZW New Horror Champion CZW owner D.J. HYDE vs. TOD Winner and former (longest reigning) CZW Heavyweight Champion DRAKE YOUNGER  -Two Nation of Intoxication members collide: TOD winner, Former CZW Ultraviolent Underground & World Junior Heavyweight Champion DANNY HAVOC vs. LUCKY tHURTeen  Dragon Gate USA will be headlined by the first ever three-way trios match pitting Ronin of Johnny Gargano, Chuck Taylor & Rich Swann vs. Mad Blankey of Akira Tozawa, BxB Hulk & Uhaa Nation vs. D.U.F. of Sami Callihan, Arik Cannon & Pinkie Sanchez.  We'll have many more matches for this unique event next week in The Email News Express. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gadge Posted March 18, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted March 18, 2012 Dragon Gate USA: Enter The Dragon - 5/6/11 Â Â It's milestone time, as we reach DGUSA's Second Anniversary Celebration, held live on iPPV from B.B. King's in New York City. In addition to the card, there's also some clips of Second Year Matches/Moments scattered throughout, reminiscent of the early ROH Anniversary shows. That's cool. Â Masato Yoshino vs Ricochet - A truly excellent opening match here, and a fine way to start an Anniversary show for sure. It's worth mentioning that Blood Warriors, even in the form they come in here of CIMA, Aries, Brodie Lee and Ricochet, feel much more like a proper faction than the USA version of KAMIKAZE ever was. The dynamic of the match is spot on, as the cocksure Ricochet has the full strength BW faction backing him up and sometimes interfering, making up for and in places giving him the advantage over the established main event level Yoshino. Yoshino is a master of facing the uphill battle, and gets a ton of crowd support, while also working on the arm which builds towards the finish. There's also, of course, some high flying and super high paced action, which works beautifully alongside the storytelling going on. Yoshino wins by submission with Sol Naciente at 16:53, though you certainly couldn't say Ricochet was harmed by the loss. Great stuff. Â Blood Warriors jump Yoshino en masse after his victory, until his United Gate championship partner Pac, and then Pac's opponent for the Freedom Gate title later, YAMATO, make the save. I'm looking forward to that one... Â AR Fox vs Pinkie Sanchez - Another decent Fox match on the heels of a losing effort against Akira Tozawa the previous night, and Pinkie Sanchez is certainly standing out with his antics and Muta-isms. This is a decent follow-up to that excellent opener, and keeps the crowd involved throughout. Fox wins with the Arabian Press C4 (which is called something I can never make out when Rob Naylor says it) at 13:04, but then gets a beatdown from Sami Callihan and Arik Cannon. That reminded me of Xavier and Daniels attacking Low Ki in the match where Xavier won the ROH title. The D.U.F. boys still don't accept Pinkie into their gang, however. I could nitpick and say doing group beatdowns after successive matches wasn't a good idea, but it worked well enough. Â FRAY! - Let me get this out of the way first: The opening three minutes of this are brilliant. Cedric Alexander is in the ring awaiting his first opponent, and out comes Larry Dallas with the musclebound lug Ahtu. He makes a deal that when Ahtu wins he'll be in DGUSA permanently, but if Ahtu loses, he'll leave DGUSA for good. Ahtu then crushes Alexander just in time for the third entrant of the match to be Jon Davis. This may be an indie show, but it's a typical NYC crowd and they like their big man face-offs, and when Ahtu poses, Davis slapping him goes down well. Even better, Davis then hits Ahtu with the Pounce and eliminates him. YES!! Now bugger off, Larry Dallas. Â Tony Nese is entrant #4, but sadly he's then followed by the brigade of progressively bland flippers. Sugar Dunkerton, Flip Kendrick, Loius Lyndon, Caleb Konley and finally Facade come out, do some random moves that leave no impression whatsoever, and progressively get eliminated. Davis gets a couple of highlight spots during all this, and then has a fairly good final three minutes with Tony Nese before getting the win with Three Seconds Around The World at 19:06. I'd have happily cut the middle of this out and had a decent ten minute Davis vs Nese match instead, though I did like that beginning loads. So, by FRAY! standards, I guess this gets the thumbs up... Â Sami Callihan & Arik Cannon vs Masaaki Mochizuki & Susumu Yokosuka - This one has been building nicely across the triple shot weekend, but sadly I didn't enjoy the first ten minutes or so that much. They didn't carry the intensity of the brawls they'd been having into the tag match setting, though as you'd expect the hard hitting does come eventually. Cannon being a bit shit doesn't help, though he holds his end up when it comes to the tag team combination moves and all the usual. In what could be called a mild upset, but really the only likely result if you looked at it long enough, Callihan makes Yokosuka tap out to the Stretch Muffler/kicks to the head at 16:50, and the D.U.F. are established in the tag ranks. That's fair enough. Â Johnny Gargano, Rich Swann & Masato Yoshino vs CIMA, Brodie Lee & Austin Aries - This one is elimination style, with Yoshino replacing the injured Chuck Taylor after the events following the opening match. There's two major problems here, the first being that the match subscribes to the current more-is-more theory that everyone's rightly complaining about with ROH. The second is that, with the exception of Gargano making CIMA tap out to the Gargano Escape once during the United Gate title tourney, Blood Warriors have absolutely dominated Ronin during the feud, and the way they have continually been making a mockery of the Ronin lads means they don't have any momentum at all behind their chase for respect. Â The opening fall is dragged out to almost 20 minutes, with BW dominating for the most part, which is entertaining in places, but you end up just wanting to see some competitive action. CIMA and Yoshino then have a good exchange, but that quickly comes to an end when CIMA eliminates Yoshino with a roll-up. Things then almost fall apart when Brodie Lee hurts his knee delivering a big boot to Swann in the corner, and Swann has to get an unlikely looking pin while Brodie lays there in agony. They do eventually get things going again, but then Swann is eliminated to leave an uphill battle for Gargano against both CIMA and Aries. Now, I like Gargano, but as good as he is, he's not on the level of Aries, circa Generation Next, and I just couldn't buy into him in that position here. Of course, wrestling logic dictates that the heroic underdog can overcome the odds here and there, and Gargano takes advantage of miscommunication to again make CIMA tap to the Gargano Escape, then has a good final five minutes or so with Aries, before making him submit to the Gargano Escape also for the final fall at 35:18. That was a struggle to sit through overall, which was a shame as it looked good on paper. Â Open The Freedom Gate Title: YAMATO vs Pac - Thankfully, the main event delivers in some style here as YAMATO's title reign continues to be all kinds of awesome after quality encounters against Aries and Tozawa in Atlanta. The usual slow-ish start to DG singles title matches features YAMATO working over Pac's leg, and while it doesn't particularly restrict Pac's big moves, he doesn't forget to sell the pain of the leg work as the match develops. I like that there's no obvious mid-match switch from slow to fast - the pace builds gradually, with Pac working in his flashy dives logically and getting increasingly good near falls, while YAMATO has his suplexes, and there's a great sequence out of YAMATO's sleeper. I also really liked the finish, as YAMATO hits a pair of brainbusters for a nearfall, but remains confident as he still has the Gallaria in his arsenal, and uses that for the three count at 22:29. Â The show concludes with YAMATO showing Pac respect, CIMA coming out to reiterate his challenge to YAMATO from the previous show, and Ronin saving YAMATO and Pac from a beatdown by CIMA and Ricochet. Gargano gets to do the show closing speech and talk about DGUSA's Second Anniversary, and YAMATO, Pac and Ronin pose to send everyone home happy. Tremendous. Â Overall - It's a shame that the two tag team matches disappointed against the expectations I had for them, as this is a really good show that would have been absolutely essential if they had delivered as well. It's still a show worth seeking out though, a worthy celebration of two years of Dragon Gate USA, and the characters and storylines are set up in positions so that I'm pretty eager to sit down with the next triple shot of shows before heading to Miami and seeing DGUSA live. DVD run time is 2 hours, 51 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Big Benny HG Posted March 19, 2012 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 19, 2012 Not seen it reported elsewhere but, going back to the theme of WWE being interested in some DGUSA guys, Sami Callihan had a try-out at the Smackdown tapings a couple of weeks ago. Not sure what he could bring to WWE, to be honest... Â This is in addition to Brodie Lee, who it was mentioned in another thread as actually signing a developmental deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Big Benny HG Posted March 22, 2012 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 22, 2012 Mystery Luchador Signs With DGUSA Â Dragon Gate USA and EVOLVE prides itself on discovering the best new talent from all over the world. We've seen them come from Japan, Canada, Europe and all over the United States. Now DGUSA has finally traveled south of the border to sign one of today's most promising new stars. Â We will keep you in suspense, though. We have decided not to release the name of this mystery luchador. Instead, we will just let him debut on March 29th in Hollywood, FL against Masato Yoshino. Â This mystery luchador will then wrestle on the March 30th & 31st DGUSA events in Miami. We have asked PAC if he can join the PAC Invitational Aerial Elimination Match on March 31st and PAC has agreed. This match now pits PAC vs. Rich Swann vs. Lince Dorado vs. the mystery luchador. The mystery luchador will then make his way to EVOLVE 11 in Toronto. Â The only clues we will reveal is that this is an upcoming talent who many fans might not know. He has a growing reputation in Mexico. DGUSA officials were so impressed when they saw him recently that he was immediately signed to a contract. Who is this man and will he live up to the hype? We'll find out next week when DGUSA comes to Florida. Â Â ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey Joe Joe Jr Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Nash under a hood, going back to his origins? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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