Travicity
09-01-2010, 09:11 PM
Dragon Gate originally made their name in the United States back in 2006, as several of their stars appeared on the events ROH ran leading into Wrestlemania 22. In many ways, Dragon Gate became the stars of the shows, most notably with the Do Fixer-Blood Generation match that stole the show at Better Than Our Best. Dragon Gate and the big six man tag became a fixture of the ROH Wrestlemania weekend events for several years, but Dragon Gate missed last year after their relationship with Ring Of Honor fell apart. They made their return to Wrestlemania weekend this year as Dragon Gate USA ran their first standalone shows, going head to head with ROH and giving them a run for their money with a pair of loaded cards that featured not one, but two six man main events. Let's kick off Dragon Gate USA's side of Wrestlemania weekend with...
Open The Ultimate Gate: 3/26/2010 - Phoenix, Arizona
The show opened with a Jimmy Jacobs/Paul London promo that was WAY better than anything I thought Paul London had in him, as Jacobs talked about how Kendrick brought Lacey out of his past at Fearless, so he brought somebody out of Kendrick's past when he got London to be his partner, and tonight they're out for blood. London, for his part, expressed that Kendrick hasn't been the same since being fired by WWE and he wanted to bring out the old Brian Kendrick. This was really good, I seriously didn't know London could cut a promo like this, and it just goes to show how if WWE just let people be themselves and stopped scripting everything, a lot more people could probably get a lot more over than they have.
The opening match saw Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw take on the team of Genki Horiguchi and Susumu Yokosuka, and this was a fast paced opener that was pretty much what you'd expect out of guys who come from two companies with pretty heavy lucha influences. Solid, exciting opener to get the crowd going, and Yokosuka pinned Quack with a modified version of the Angel's Wings, and it made sense for Yokosuka to get the win since he would be challenging for the Open The Dream Gate Title the following evening.
Speaking of the Open The Dream Gate Title, the new champion YAMATO, who had beaten Naruki Doi for the title and ended Doi's 15 month reign, took on TJP in the second match. Both guys are really solid workers, though with YAMATO being a lot higher in the pecking order, I didn't have any doubt as to who was giong over here. That's not to say TJ was portrayed as a jobber in DGUSA, he did beat Gran Akuma on his first DGUSA appearance, and it wasn't totally one sided, this was a competitive match and was fine for what it was, and they actually had a pretty good wrestling exhibition until YAMATO tapped TJ out to a choke sleeper.
Match #3 was the most interesting to me from a storyline perspective, as Jimmy Jacobs and Paul London took on Brian Kendrick and Jon Moxley, with the story being that Kendrick used Lacey to get a cheap win over Jacobs at Fearless, and then Kendrick and Moxley left Lacey laying afterwards. Jimmy, out to avenge the girl he fell in love with before he started pimping her out to Austin Aries, is out for revenge and wants to destroy Brian Kendrick. Kendrick was hesitant to wrestle London, and at one point bailed out of the ring, at which point London just shrugged and started chain wrestling nobody. I mean literally, he started exchanging wristlocks and hammerlocks with thin air. Then he went outside the ring and got a mic, and started running Kendrick down for losing to a king, a leprechaun, and a mannequin, with the idea being that he was trying to fire Kendrick up and bring some of that old fire out of him. London and Kendrick had a nice segment against each other, but then Jimmy tagged in and Kendrick ended up pinning him clean with a small package. This led to a postmatch brawl where Jimmy held Moxley on a table on the floor so London could come off the top rope onto him, but Kendrick grabbed a mic and told London not to do it and not to worry about pleasing the fans, which then led to Teddy Hart of all people coming out and running London and Kendrick down for having lost their...ahem, drive, and then he ended up going up top and moonsaulting to the outside onto Moxley and Jacobs. This didn't endear him to London and Kendrick, who then attacked him 2-on-1 until Teddy recovered and hit another insane dive to the floor onto them. I liked the story of London trying to bring Kendrick out of his shell and help him get back on track, and the appearance of Teddy Hart made things more interesting, even if it made no sense in the context of the story.
We move on to SHINGO taking on Masato Yoshino, and while Yoshino was on a roll, having scored three big victories over the last two DGUSA shows, SHINGO had lost several matches and was in need of a win here. This was a great match with the big, strong SHINGO taking on the much lighter, but much faster Yoshino, and both guys did really well in their respective roles. SHINGO spent a lot of the match absolutely murdering Yoshino with power moves, but Yoshino toughed it out and kept coming and eventually made SHINGO submit to his weird double leg choke thingy. Yoshino racks up another win but SHINGO's slump continues, but not to fear, because Jon Moxley came out after the match and whispered something in SHINGO's ear, and the two of them left together.
Next up, BxB Hulk defended the Open The Freedom Gate Title against former OTDG Champion Naruki Doi. I don't know a lot about what happens in Dragon Gate in Japan, but from my perspective and what I've seen, this was Hulk's biggest title defense to date, because Hulk has always been a kind of upper midcard at best guy, while Doi was beating SHINGO and Bryan Danielson. Winning the OTFG Title was the beginning of him starting to inch up to that upper echelon, and to me this was the next step. The match itself was a bit disappointing to me, and I considered it kind of pedestrian compared to some of the matches I've seen these two in. It was also a little on the short side at only about 15 minutes, which isn't ridiculously short, but I feel like a major title defense like this ought to get a little more time. Hulk hit two EVOs to beat Doi which, again from my American perspective, was a major step for Hulk and one that really established him as a main eventer in DGUSA.
We finish up with the first of two six man main events, as CIMA, GAMMA, and Dragon Kid took on Jack Evans and the Young Bucks. We were lucky to even have the Bucks on this show, as they were originally pulled from the event after TNA signed them, but they ended up letting them work the show after all. I give the Bucks credit because they had their contracts with TNA and could have come in and half assed it, but instead they went out their and busted their asses as hard as anyone else in this match, and I have a lot of respect for them doing that. I'll also give Evans credit, I normally can't stand watching him because he's so sloppy, but he was dead on with everything he did tonight and didn't waste a lot of time playing to the crowd or anything like that, he tried doing the breakdance early on and got kicked in the face, and it was all business from there. This was exactly what you'd expect out of this match: nonstop action, all six guys threw caution to the wind and just went out there and had an awesome match. The Japanese team picked up the win, and would now go on the following evening to the second six man main event against BxB Hulk, Naruki Doi, and Masato Yoshino.
Lots of great stuff here, the main event and SHINGO-Yoshino were both awesome, and everything else was solid, with Hulk-Doi being the only disappointment. But that's not all, because we still have to get to...
Bonus Disc
As always, the bonus disc is packed with extra content, and I really have to give DGUSA credit, because where ROH's DVDs have taken a serious hit in terms of quality in recent years, DGUSA has gone out of their way to add as much value as they can to their DVDs to make them must-buy deals. Granted, DGUSA puts out far less DVDs than ROH does, but while you get some really good matches at the top of most ROH shows, the undercards are often pretty disappointing by comparison, whereas the DGUSA shows are awesome in their own right, but then you get a ton of extra content featuring up and coming American indy talent and terrific matches from Japan. You really can't go wrong when you buy a DGUSA DVD just because of the insane level of quality you get for your money.
And with that PSA out of the way, let's look at the bonus disc itself, which opens with an eight man Fray match that includes The Prophet, Chimera, Brad Allen, Malachi Jackson, the Cutler Brothers, and Irish Airborne. The thing that I like about these Fray matches that they have on every DGUSA show are that they expose fans to a lot of good up and coming indy talent, and out of each Fray match, you see at least one or two guys who you can see the potential in. Take Brad Allen, for instance. He's a guy who I've said in all my EVOLVE DVD reviews has a phenomenal level of ability, in that he's a guy who has size and a great look, but can also fly around like a much smaller wrestler. I see big things in him, and matches like this give him the chance to stand out and show what he brings to the table. Malachi Jackson is the Young Bucks/Generation Me's younger brother, and he shows flashes of potential and ability, but also seems a bit green right now and isn't at his older brothers' level just yet. Irish Airborne, on the other hand, have always been a solid team, but for some reason just never clicked and got over. This match was held under Royal Rumble-style rules where two men started and another would join every two minutes thereafter, and eliminations happened by pinfall or submission. The Cutler Brothers, who are well known in the California scene, dominated most of the early part of the match, but as things wore on and people began getting eliminated, it came down to Irish Airborne 2-on-1 against Brad Allen, with Allen coming back to eliminate both Crist brothers and pick up the win.
The second bonus match saw LA Park and El Hijo De Rey Mysterio take on Team Elite of Derrick Niekirk and GQ Gallo. You may know LA Park from his days as La Parka in WCW in the 90s, except that he appears to have put on 100 pounds or so since those days, and like most washed up Mexican wrestlers, relies more on comedy than doing anything athletic. Mysterio is the son of the original Rey Mysterio and is not to be confused with Rey Mysterio Jr in WWE, who is actually the original Rey's nephew. That doesn't stop Hijo from blatantly ripping Rey Jr off by wearing the exact same costume, even if he only has 50% of the ability. I'm not going to mince words: this match sucked. This was a lot of the stupid lucha crap where they do everything but wrestle, and when they do wrestle they do it badly. This match also went on FOREVER, and several times teased double countouts, which just would have been the icing on the cake of a crappy match. Dueling chants of "lucha libre" and "lucha sucks" rang out throughout this match, which even had a lame finish where Gallo pinned LA Park after a low blow, but then the referee changed his mind for some unknown reason and gave Mysterio and Park a DQ win. Whatever.
By contrast, the next match was absolutely awesome, as Masaaki Mochizuki took on Roderick Strong in Japan. Even if every match on every bonus disc from now on was filled with matches like the last one, I'd be happy as long as they included one Masaaki Mochizuki match, because every time I see him wrestle, it's a brutal fight where he and his opponent just stiff the crap out of each other. Last time it was Davey Richards, and this time it was Roderick Strong, who was at the height of his chopping, backbreaking best. All I have to say was that these two beat the crap out of each other and it was awesome, and that's all you need to know. Mochizuko picked up the win, and if you're a fan of hard hitting, realistic action, this is the match for you. More, please!
The final bonus match saw Naruki Doi put the Open The Dream Gate Title on the line against Masato Yoshino in Japan. THIS MATCH KICKED ASS. They went probably about 40 minutes, making it the longest Dragon Gate match I ever remember seeing, and both guys worked their asses off to tell a great story that had a great build to a furious finish. They started off slow with Doi working over Yoshino's knee and locking him in a figure four several times, while Yoshino attacked Doi's elbow. From there the pace picked up when Yoshino started doing more of his speed based stuff, and it never ceases to amaze me how fast Yoshino is, and Doi's no slouch when it comes to speed himself. In fact, Doi really is a complete package in that he's got all the physical gifts, he can wrestle, he can fly, he really can do it all and he's a hell of a guy for Dragon Gate to have had their top title on. Finally they moved toward the finish, and Yoshino took all of Doi's big moves and kept coming, and at times completely no sold stuff, and he would continually hit Doi with big moves of his own and it seemed in several spots like Yoshino almost got the win. In the final minutes it was near fall after near fall with several "this has to be it" moments until Doi finally put Yoshino away with three sliding knees. All action, and easily the best match on the bonus disc. Doi and Yoshino, who are friends and members of the same stable, share a handshake and a hug after the match, and then we got some post match, backstage interviews with both men that I couldn't understand because I don't speak Japanese.
The bonus disc wraps up with a highlight video of the main show, recapping all of the best action from the event. Nothing new to add, except that multiple replays did a great job of accentuating just how insane Teddy Hart's dives to the floor were.
* * *
Once again, Dragon Gate USA puts together a DVD presentation that you just can't go wrong with. You had two awesome matches on the main show in SHINGO-Yoshino and the six man main event, and the bonus disc had enough great stuff on it that it could have worked as its own standalone compilation. Strong start to Dragon Gate USA's inaugural Wrestlemania weekend effort, and we'll pick back up soon with night two, entitled Mercury Rising.
PWI
Open The Ultimate Gate: 3/26/2010 - Phoenix, Arizona
The show opened with a Jimmy Jacobs/Paul London promo that was WAY better than anything I thought Paul London had in him, as Jacobs talked about how Kendrick brought Lacey out of his past at Fearless, so he brought somebody out of Kendrick's past when he got London to be his partner, and tonight they're out for blood. London, for his part, expressed that Kendrick hasn't been the same since being fired by WWE and he wanted to bring out the old Brian Kendrick. This was really good, I seriously didn't know London could cut a promo like this, and it just goes to show how if WWE just let people be themselves and stopped scripting everything, a lot more people could probably get a lot more over than they have.
The opening match saw Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw take on the team of Genki Horiguchi and Susumu Yokosuka, and this was a fast paced opener that was pretty much what you'd expect out of guys who come from two companies with pretty heavy lucha influences. Solid, exciting opener to get the crowd going, and Yokosuka pinned Quack with a modified version of the Angel's Wings, and it made sense for Yokosuka to get the win since he would be challenging for the Open The Dream Gate Title the following evening.
Speaking of the Open The Dream Gate Title, the new champion YAMATO, who had beaten Naruki Doi for the title and ended Doi's 15 month reign, took on TJP in the second match. Both guys are really solid workers, though with YAMATO being a lot higher in the pecking order, I didn't have any doubt as to who was giong over here. That's not to say TJ was portrayed as a jobber in DGUSA, he did beat Gran Akuma on his first DGUSA appearance, and it wasn't totally one sided, this was a competitive match and was fine for what it was, and they actually had a pretty good wrestling exhibition until YAMATO tapped TJ out to a choke sleeper.
Match #3 was the most interesting to me from a storyline perspective, as Jimmy Jacobs and Paul London took on Brian Kendrick and Jon Moxley, with the story being that Kendrick used Lacey to get a cheap win over Jacobs at Fearless, and then Kendrick and Moxley left Lacey laying afterwards. Jimmy, out to avenge the girl he fell in love with before he started pimping her out to Austin Aries, is out for revenge and wants to destroy Brian Kendrick. Kendrick was hesitant to wrestle London, and at one point bailed out of the ring, at which point London just shrugged and started chain wrestling nobody. I mean literally, he started exchanging wristlocks and hammerlocks with thin air. Then he went outside the ring and got a mic, and started running Kendrick down for losing to a king, a leprechaun, and a mannequin, with the idea being that he was trying to fire Kendrick up and bring some of that old fire out of him. London and Kendrick had a nice segment against each other, but then Jimmy tagged in and Kendrick ended up pinning him clean with a small package. This led to a postmatch brawl where Jimmy held Moxley on a table on the floor so London could come off the top rope onto him, but Kendrick grabbed a mic and told London not to do it and not to worry about pleasing the fans, which then led to Teddy Hart of all people coming out and running London and Kendrick down for having lost their...ahem, drive, and then he ended up going up top and moonsaulting to the outside onto Moxley and Jacobs. This didn't endear him to London and Kendrick, who then attacked him 2-on-1 until Teddy recovered and hit another insane dive to the floor onto them. I liked the story of London trying to bring Kendrick out of his shell and help him get back on track, and the appearance of Teddy Hart made things more interesting, even if it made no sense in the context of the story.
We move on to SHINGO taking on Masato Yoshino, and while Yoshino was on a roll, having scored three big victories over the last two DGUSA shows, SHINGO had lost several matches and was in need of a win here. This was a great match with the big, strong SHINGO taking on the much lighter, but much faster Yoshino, and both guys did really well in their respective roles. SHINGO spent a lot of the match absolutely murdering Yoshino with power moves, but Yoshino toughed it out and kept coming and eventually made SHINGO submit to his weird double leg choke thingy. Yoshino racks up another win but SHINGO's slump continues, but not to fear, because Jon Moxley came out after the match and whispered something in SHINGO's ear, and the two of them left together.
Next up, BxB Hulk defended the Open The Freedom Gate Title against former OTDG Champion Naruki Doi. I don't know a lot about what happens in Dragon Gate in Japan, but from my perspective and what I've seen, this was Hulk's biggest title defense to date, because Hulk has always been a kind of upper midcard at best guy, while Doi was beating SHINGO and Bryan Danielson. Winning the OTFG Title was the beginning of him starting to inch up to that upper echelon, and to me this was the next step. The match itself was a bit disappointing to me, and I considered it kind of pedestrian compared to some of the matches I've seen these two in. It was also a little on the short side at only about 15 minutes, which isn't ridiculously short, but I feel like a major title defense like this ought to get a little more time. Hulk hit two EVOs to beat Doi which, again from my American perspective, was a major step for Hulk and one that really established him as a main eventer in DGUSA.
We finish up with the first of two six man main events, as CIMA, GAMMA, and Dragon Kid took on Jack Evans and the Young Bucks. We were lucky to even have the Bucks on this show, as they were originally pulled from the event after TNA signed them, but they ended up letting them work the show after all. I give the Bucks credit because they had their contracts with TNA and could have come in and half assed it, but instead they went out their and busted their asses as hard as anyone else in this match, and I have a lot of respect for them doing that. I'll also give Evans credit, I normally can't stand watching him because he's so sloppy, but he was dead on with everything he did tonight and didn't waste a lot of time playing to the crowd or anything like that, he tried doing the breakdance early on and got kicked in the face, and it was all business from there. This was exactly what you'd expect out of this match: nonstop action, all six guys threw caution to the wind and just went out there and had an awesome match. The Japanese team picked up the win, and would now go on the following evening to the second six man main event against BxB Hulk, Naruki Doi, and Masato Yoshino.
Lots of great stuff here, the main event and SHINGO-Yoshino were both awesome, and everything else was solid, with Hulk-Doi being the only disappointment. But that's not all, because we still have to get to...
Bonus Disc
As always, the bonus disc is packed with extra content, and I really have to give DGUSA credit, because where ROH's DVDs have taken a serious hit in terms of quality in recent years, DGUSA has gone out of their way to add as much value as they can to their DVDs to make them must-buy deals. Granted, DGUSA puts out far less DVDs than ROH does, but while you get some really good matches at the top of most ROH shows, the undercards are often pretty disappointing by comparison, whereas the DGUSA shows are awesome in their own right, but then you get a ton of extra content featuring up and coming American indy talent and terrific matches from Japan. You really can't go wrong when you buy a DGUSA DVD just because of the insane level of quality you get for your money.
And with that PSA out of the way, let's look at the bonus disc itself, which opens with an eight man Fray match that includes The Prophet, Chimera, Brad Allen, Malachi Jackson, the Cutler Brothers, and Irish Airborne. The thing that I like about these Fray matches that they have on every DGUSA show are that they expose fans to a lot of good up and coming indy talent, and out of each Fray match, you see at least one or two guys who you can see the potential in. Take Brad Allen, for instance. He's a guy who I've said in all my EVOLVE DVD reviews has a phenomenal level of ability, in that he's a guy who has size and a great look, but can also fly around like a much smaller wrestler. I see big things in him, and matches like this give him the chance to stand out and show what he brings to the table. Malachi Jackson is the Young Bucks/Generation Me's younger brother, and he shows flashes of potential and ability, but also seems a bit green right now and isn't at his older brothers' level just yet. Irish Airborne, on the other hand, have always been a solid team, but for some reason just never clicked and got over. This match was held under Royal Rumble-style rules where two men started and another would join every two minutes thereafter, and eliminations happened by pinfall or submission. The Cutler Brothers, who are well known in the California scene, dominated most of the early part of the match, but as things wore on and people began getting eliminated, it came down to Irish Airborne 2-on-1 against Brad Allen, with Allen coming back to eliminate both Crist brothers and pick up the win.
The second bonus match saw LA Park and El Hijo De Rey Mysterio take on Team Elite of Derrick Niekirk and GQ Gallo. You may know LA Park from his days as La Parka in WCW in the 90s, except that he appears to have put on 100 pounds or so since those days, and like most washed up Mexican wrestlers, relies more on comedy than doing anything athletic. Mysterio is the son of the original Rey Mysterio and is not to be confused with Rey Mysterio Jr in WWE, who is actually the original Rey's nephew. That doesn't stop Hijo from blatantly ripping Rey Jr off by wearing the exact same costume, even if he only has 50% of the ability. I'm not going to mince words: this match sucked. This was a lot of the stupid lucha crap where they do everything but wrestle, and when they do wrestle they do it badly. This match also went on FOREVER, and several times teased double countouts, which just would have been the icing on the cake of a crappy match. Dueling chants of "lucha libre" and "lucha sucks" rang out throughout this match, which even had a lame finish where Gallo pinned LA Park after a low blow, but then the referee changed his mind for some unknown reason and gave Mysterio and Park a DQ win. Whatever.
By contrast, the next match was absolutely awesome, as Masaaki Mochizuki took on Roderick Strong in Japan. Even if every match on every bonus disc from now on was filled with matches like the last one, I'd be happy as long as they included one Masaaki Mochizuki match, because every time I see him wrestle, it's a brutal fight where he and his opponent just stiff the crap out of each other. Last time it was Davey Richards, and this time it was Roderick Strong, who was at the height of his chopping, backbreaking best. All I have to say was that these two beat the crap out of each other and it was awesome, and that's all you need to know. Mochizuko picked up the win, and if you're a fan of hard hitting, realistic action, this is the match for you. More, please!
The final bonus match saw Naruki Doi put the Open The Dream Gate Title on the line against Masato Yoshino in Japan. THIS MATCH KICKED ASS. They went probably about 40 minutes, making it the longest Dragon Gate match I ever remember seeing, and both guys worked their asses off to tell a great story that had a great build to a furious finish. They started off slow with Doi working over Yoshino's knee and locking him in a figure four several times, while Yoshino attacked Doi's elbow. From there the pace picked up when Yoshino started doing more of his speed based stuff, and it never ceases to amaze me how fast Yoshino is, and Doi's no slouch when it comes to speed himself. In fact, Doi really is a complete package in that he's got all the physical gifts, he can wrestle, he can fly, he really can do it all and he's a hell of a guy for Dragon Gate to have had their top title on. Finally they moved toward the finish, and Yoshino took all of Doi's big moves and kept coming, and at times completely no sold stuff, and he would continually hit Doi with big moves of his own and it seemed in several spots like Yoshino almost got the win. In the final minutes it was near fall after near fall with several "this has to be it" moments until Doi finally put Yoshino away with three sliding knees. All action, and easily the best match on the bonus disc. Doi and Yoshino, who are friends and members of the same stable, share a handshake and a hug after the match, and then we got some post match, backstage interviews with both men that I couldn't understand because I don't speak Japanese.
The bonus disc wraps up with a highlight video of the main show, recapping all of the best action from the event. Nothing new to add, except that multiple replays did a great job of accentuating just how insane Teddy Hart's dives to the floor were.
* * *
Once again, Dragon Gate USA puts together a DVD presentation that you just can't go wrong with. You had two awesome matches on the main show in SHINGO-Yoshino and the six man main event, and the bonus disc had enough great stuff on it that it could have worked as its own standalone compilation. Strong start to Dragon Gate USA's inaugural Wrestlemania weekend effort, and we'll pick back up soon with night two, entitled Mercury Rising.
PWI