Travicity
03-22-2011, 03:44 PM
Dragon Gate USA returned to action in September of 2010 with two of Bryan Danielson's final independent appearances before going back to WWE, and Dragon Gate USA handpicked a pair of special opponents for him to face on his way out, both of whom were members of Kamikaze USA. The first would be YAMATO, and they locked up in the main event of...
DGUSA Untouchable 2010: 9/25/2010 in Chicago, Illinois
The show opened with a three way match between Open The Freedom Gate Champion BxB Hulk, Akira Tozawa, and Mike Quackenbush, and it was a mostly solid opener when it was Hulk and Tozawa, though I still just can't get into Quackenbush. He's got lots of pretty chain wrestling moves, but he has yet to prove to me that he can work. He just goes out there and does moves for the sake of doing moves, and a lot of the time it's really clever stuff and I give him credit for coming up with it, but the guy has never shown me anything beyond the spotfests. Mostly just a showcase for Hulk, and Tozawa looked good here but was still a few months away from the super push he got in January. Hulk put Tozawa away with the EVO and then laid out a challenge to Kamikaze USA, saying he'll kill them one by one. Jason Voorhees has nothing on BxB Hulk.
The second bout saw Brodie Lee take on Da Soul Touchaz in a 3-on-1 handicap match that was really just a glorified squash for Brodie. The Touchaz got about 15 seconds of heat in the middle before putting Acid Jazz away with the Truckstop, then after the match he beats up their manager and says that he's not done yet because tonight, he's coming for a Japanese man. Match lasted all of three minutes and was fine for what it was as they continue to build Brodie into the giant monster of DGUSA.
Moving right along, SHINGO faces Dragon Kid in a long-awaited grudge match stemming from SHINGO turning on Dragon Kid to join Kamikaze USA and then putting Dragon Kid out with an injury. Dragon Kid outmaneuvered SHINGO until he went for a 619 on the outside, but SHINGO caught him in midair and powerslammed him on the ring apron. SHINGO busted out the heavy offense after that and grounded Dragon Kid with weardown holds, Dragon Kid ducked and dodged to try and get an advantage, but SHINGO kept shutting him down with more power moves. Dragon Kid just could not do anything with SHINGO, who killed him with a powerbomb into the corner and an overhead powerbomb. Finally Dragon Kid hit a top rope cutter and started the comeback, SHINGO blocked a top rope Frankensteiner and hit the rope rope DVD that injured Dragon Kid in the first place, but Dragon Kid kicked out at 2. SHINGO killed him with a lariat and Made In Japan, but still only got 2. SHINGO powered him back up and hit the Last Falconry, and that was finally enough to put Dragon Kid away. Great match, and I loved the closing sequence. It's also nice to see SHINGO go over because, for as good as his matches are, he loses more than he wins in DGUSA. That's fine as long as he's booked well, but you still need a win every now and then to keep your heat.
Next up is the Chicago Street Fight between Jon Moxley and Jimmy Jacobs, and we get a nice video package before the match with Jimmy Jacobs talking about how Moxley reminds him of himself when he was young, and how it hurt him when he clotheslined Lacey some months back. Jacobs came out in the bloody jacket from the night he hung Jay Briscoe above the ring at the ROH Man Up PPV, but then tore the outfit off and revealed that he was wearing his old HUSS tights and furry boots from way back when. Moxley attacks Jacobs on the entrance ramp and we're off. They brawl all the way through the crowd, hitting a ton of nasty spots the whole way, then wound up back in the ring where Moxley's random chick he brought to ringside tried to interfere, but Jacobs got Moxley in the End Time anyway. Moxley got out and started beating Jacobs down and wrapped a chain around his face. Jacobs got away and pulled out a pair of railroad spikes, ramming them into Moxley's head and then going after him with the chain, wrapping it around his neck and then hanging him over the top rope. Moxley toughed it out through the abuse and kept going, even after Jacobs gave him another shot from the spike and the Contra Code. Jacobs got the End Time with the chain wrapped around Moxley's throat, but YAMATO came in and nailed Jacobs to make the save. Brodie Lee ran in and chased YAMATO to the back, leaving Jacobs and Moxley alone in the ring, Jacobs went for the spear but Moxley hit a knee to the face and hit the Hook and Ladder for 2, snap DDT for 2, then grabbed a chair and repeatedly nailed Jacobs with it, then wrapped the bloody coat around Jacobs' head and tied it on with the chain, then laid in several more chairshots, Wrestlemania X-7 style, and covered Jacobs for the pin. Moxley tears the furry boots off of Jacobs after the match and throws them into the crowd. Total war, and I was glad the run-in didn't lead to the finish. Another strong outing from these two in what was probably my favorite feud in DGUSA in 2010.
We go from that bloody brawl to a signature DGUSA match in the Four Way Freestyle, which saw Rich Swann, Chuck Taylor, Johnny Gargano, and Drake Younger battle it out in a one fall match where no tags are required. Just constant motion in this one, with Younger beating everyone up until Gargano got him on the outside and hit a really nasty looking lawn dart into the guardrail. At that point the future members of Ronin fought it out amongst one another, with Gargano and Taylor double teaming Swann until they got to the inevitable point where they both wanted to pin Swann and ended up fighting each other, allowing Swann to mount a comeback. Younger finally recovered and cleaned house on all three guys and hit Drake's Landing on Swann, but Gargano broke up the pin and tried to put Younger away, but Taylor tossed Gargano to the outside and hit the Awful Waffle on Younger for the win. I liked this match, it told a good story and had a solid finish, and did a good job of setting the stage for the eventual formation of Ronin.
We're second from the top now as Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino took on CIMA and Ricochet. Ricochet's inclusion in this match stemmed from a running angle where Johnny Gargano wanted CIMA to bring him into Warriors and was repeatedly shot down, with CIMA instead choosing Ricochet to join the group and team with him in this match. Yoshino is the Open The Dream Gate Champion, the top singles title in Dragon Gate in Japan, a title I believe he still holds as of this writing. Extended feeling out process to start until Warriors took the advantage on Doi, but they soon turned the tables and caught Ricochet in the ring as he played Warrior in peril. Ricochet finally made the hot tag and CIMA cleaned house on Doi & Yoshino, and then it broke loose with all four guys fighting it out in the ring. Finally it thinned out to just Ricochet and Doi, and Ricochet almost put him away with a standing shooting star press and then again with a backslide driver, but couldn't put Doi away. More back and forth, and Ricochet again got a near fall with a modified version of Made in Japan for a 2 on Yoshino, but Yoshino came back with the Thumbelina and Lightning Spiral, but only got 2 so Yoshino hit a missile dropkick and Doi hit Doi Fives and the sliding kick and went for the cover, but Ricochet was too close to the ropes. CIMA ran in and hit the Schwein for 2, then Ricochet hit a Regalplex and hit the double rotation moonsault on Doi for the win. HUGE upset, and Ricochet finally showed me something in this match: he carried himself well, slowed himself down and showed better timing, and performed well in a high profile position. Ricochet got a huge pop from the crowd and CIMA put him over on the mic, but Johnny Gargano crashed the party and said that maybe he needs to grow up before being ready for a spot in a group like Warriors, and part of that is giving people the props they deserve, and says that Ricochet deserves props tonight. He shakes Ricochet's hand, and then CIMA sends Gargano backstage and officially announces Ricochet as the newest member of Warriors.
This brings us to our main event as YAMATO faces WWE United States Champion Bryan Danielson, who came out with a big smile on his face to a loud crowd reaction. Danielson totally outwrestled YAMATO to start, regulating him with ease and trapping him in the surfboard and then dropkicking him to the floor, but YAMATO crawled under the ring and snuck up behind Danielson and nailed him, then tossed him to the floor and dropped him face first onto the guardrail. They head back in where YAMATO viciously worked Danielson over with hard strikes and then caught him in a unique stranglehold. Danielson came back and laid YAMATO out with a clothesline and sent him to the floor, and YAMATO tried sneaking under the ring again but Danielson saw it coming and nailed him, then hit the big dive into the crowd. Danielson seemed to ding his knee on that one, but kept going and started waylaying YAMATO with hard kicks, but then YAMATO kicked Danielson's injured leg out from under him and got a modified figure four. Danielson got out of that and they exchanged anklelocks and Danielson hit a leg trapped German suplex for 2, then a running kneestrike for 2 and then went right into Cattle Mutilation. YAMATO struggled and made his way to the ropes (prompting Danielson to inform the referee that he has until five), then caught Danielson with a knockout kick and brainbuster for 2, then immediately trapped Danielson in a rear crossface, but Danielson made the ropes. Danielson countered a top rope move into a belly to back superplex for 2, then tried for the LeBell Lock but YAMATO got out so Danielson went to a triangle choke. YAMATO countered that to an anklelock but Danielson escaped so YAMATO went to the choke sleeper instead and then picked Danielson up and hit the Galleria for 2. They exchanged forearms and YAMATO went for a choke suplex, but Danielson got out and hit a knockout kick and they exchanged small packages, then Danielson hit three knockout kicks in a row and still only got 2, so Danielson hit YAMATO with the knockout elbows and finally hooked in the LeBell Lock and YAMATO tapped.
Awesome match to close the show, and a great chance to see Danielson get to be the real Bryan Danielson for one of the last times before he went back to WWE. Jon Moxley ran in and attacked Danielson after the match and went after him with the railroad spike from earlier, but Hulk headed him off at the pass and ran Moxley and YAMATO off. Danielson took the mic after the match and cut a good promo talking about how he's not big and he's not a superstar, he's a wrestler, but sometimes wrestling isn't enough and you have to fight, and tomorrow night he wants people to come to Milwaukee and watch him kick Jon Moxley's F'n head in.
* * *
Great show, the last two matches were excellent and everything underneath was solid to good. There was nothing bad on this show, and it did a good job of setting up some of the things we'd see in DGUSA over the next few months like the draft at the October iPPV, the formation of Ronin, and the evolution of Brodie Lee as a killer monster. This was the first DGUSA show to not include a bonus disc, but they did throw in a few extras, including the standard highlight video, an Arik Cannon vs Kyle O'Reilly match from the preshow, and the Jimmy Jacobs Revealed videos where he talks about the substance issues he dealt with in 2007-09 and how they affected him personally and professionally. The Jimmy Jacobs videos were really good, and similar to the famous Mick Foley sitdown interviews from Raw in 1997 in that we got into the head of the wrestler beyond just what the character portrays on the show, and gave us an insight into the kinds of struggles they face outside the business as well as inside.
Good stuff, and a recommended purchase. You can't go wrong with the Danielson-YAMATO match, and there was something for everyone on this DVD with a good blend of styles in nearly every match. I'll be back soon with the show from the following evening, as Bryan Danielson made his final DGUSA appearance at Way Of The Ronin!
PWI
DGUSA Untouchable 2010: 9/25/2010 in Chicago, Illinois
The show opened with a three way match between Open The Freedom Gate Champion BxB Hulk, Akira Tozawa, and Mike Quackenbush, and it was a mostly solid opener when it was Hulk and Tozawa, though I still just can't get into Quackenbush. He's got lots of pretty chain wrestling moves, but he has yet to prove to me that he can work. He just goes out there and does moves for the sake of doing moves, and a lot of the time it's really clever stuff and I give him credit for coming up with it, but the guy has never shown me anything beyond the spotfests. Mostly just a showcase for Hulk, and Tozawa looked good here but was still a few months away from the super push he got in January. Hulk put Tozawa away with the EVO and then laid out a challenge to Kamikaze USA, saying he'll kill them one by one. Jason Voorhees has nothing on BxB Hulk.
The second bout saw Brodie Lee take on Da Soul Touchaz in a 3-on-1 handicap match that was really just a glorified squash for Brodie. The Touchaz got about 15 seconds of heat in the middle before putting Acid Jazz away with the Truckstop, then after the match he beats up their manager and says that he's not done yet because tonight, he's coming for a Japanese man. Match lasted all of three minutes and was fine for what it was as they continue to build Brodie into the giant monster of DGUSA.
Moving right along, SHINGO faces Dragon Kid in a long-awaited grudge match stemming from SHINGO turning on Dragon Kid to join Kamikaze USA and then putting Dragon Kid out with an injury. Dragon Kid outmaneuvered SHINGO until he went for a 619 on the outside, but SHINGO caught him in midair and powerslammed him on the ring apron. SHINGO busted out the heavy offense after that and grounded Dragon Kid with weardown holds, Dragon Kid ducked and dodged to try and get an advantage, but SHINGO kept shutting him down with more power moves. Dragon Kid just could not do anything with SHINGO, who killed him with a powerbomb into the corner and an overhead powerbomb. Finally Dragon Kid hit a top rope cutter and started the comeback, SHINGO blocked a top rope Frankensteiner and hit the rope rope DVD that injured Dragon Kid in the first place, but Dragon Kid kicked out at 2. SHINGO killed him with a lariat and Made In Japan, but still only got 2. SHINGO powered him back up and hit the Last Falconry, and that was finally enough to put Dragon Kid away. Great match, and I loved the closing sequence. It's also nice to see SHINGO go over because, for as good as his matches are, he loses more than he wins in DGUSA. That's fine as long as he's booked well, but you still need a win every now and then to keep your heat.
Next up is the Chicago Street Fight between Jon Moxley and Jimmy Jacobs, and we get a nice video package before the match with Jimmy Jacobs talking about how Moxley reminds him of himself when he was young, and how it hurt him when he clotheslined Lacey some months back. Jacobs came out in the bloody jacket from the night he hung Jay Briscoe above the ring at the ROH Man Up PPV, but then tore the outfit off and revealed that he was wearing his old HUSS tights and furry boots from way back when. Moxley attacks Jacobs on the entrance ramp and we're off. They brawl all the way through the crowd, hitting a ton of nasty spots the whole way, then wound up back in the ring where Moxley's random chick he brought to ringside tried to interfere, but Jacobs got Moxley in the End Time anyway. Moxley got out and started beating Jacobs down and wrapped a chain around his face. Jacobs got away and pulled out a pair of railroad spikes, ramming them into Moxley's head and then going after him with the chain, wrapping it around his neck and then hanging him over the top rope. Moxley toughed it out through the abuse and kept going, even after Jacobs gave him another shot from the spike and the Contra Code. Jacobs got the End Time with the chain wrapped around Moxley's throat, but YAMATO came in and nailed Jacobs to make the save. Brodie Lee ran in and chased YAMATO to the back, leaving Jacobs and Moxley alone in the ring, Jacobs went for the spear but Moxley hit a knee to the face and hit the Hook and Ladder for 2, snap DDT for 2, then grabbed a chair and repeatedly nailed Jacobs with it, then wrapped the bloody coat around Jacobs' head and tied it on with the chain, then laid in several more chairshots, Wrestlemania X-7 style, and covered Jacobs for the pin. Moxley tears the furry boots off of Jacobs after the match and throws them into the crowd. Total war, and I was glad the run-in didn't lead to the finish. Another strong outing from these two in what was probably my favorite feud in DGUSA in 2010.
We go from that bloody brawl to a signature DGUSA match in the Four Way Freestyle, which saw Rich Swann, Chuck Taylor, Johnny Gargano, and Drake Younger battle it out in a one fall match where no tags are required. Just constant motion in this one, with Younger beating everyone up until Gargano got him on the outside and hit a really nasty looking lawn dart into the guardrail. At that point the future members of Ronin fought it out amongst one another, with Gargano and Taylor double teaming Swann until they got to the inevitable point where they both wanted to pin Swann and ended up fighting each other, allowing Swann to mount a comeback. Younger finally recovered and cleaned house on all three guys and hit Drake's Landing on Swann, but Gargano broke up the pin and tried to put Younger away, but Taylor tossed Gargano to the outside and hit the Awful Waffle on Younger for the win. I liked this match, it told a good story and had a solid finish, and did a good job of setting the stage for the eventual formation of Ronin.
We're second from the top now as Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino took on CIMA and Ricochet. Ricochet's inclusion in this match stemmed from a running angle where Johnny Gargano wanted CIMA to bring him into Warriors and was repeatedly shot down, with CIMA instead choosing Ricochet to join the group and team with him in this match. Yoshino is the Open The Dream Gate Champion, the top singles title in Dragon Gate in Japan, a title I believe he still holds as of this writing. Extended feeling out process to start until Warriors took the advantage on Doi, but they soon turned the tables and caught Ricochet in the ring as he played Warrior in peril. Ricochet finally made the hot tag and CIMA cleaned house on Doi & Yoshino, and then it broke loose with all four guys fighting it out in the ring. Finally it thinned out to just Ricochet and Doi, and Ricochet almost put him away with a standing shooting star press and then again with a backslide driver, but couldn't put Doi away. More back and forth, and Ricochet again got a near fall with a modified version of Made in Japan for a 2 on Yoshino, but Yoshino came back with the Thumbelina and Lightning Spiral, but only got 2 so Yoshino hit a missile dropkick and Doi hit Doi Fives and the sliding kick and went for the cover, but Ricochet was too close to the ropes. CIMA ran in and hit the Schwein for 2, then Ricochet hit a Regalplex and hit the double rotation moonsault on Doi for the win. HUGE upset, and Ricochet finally showed me something in this match: he carried himself well, slowed himself down and showed better timing, and performed well in a high profile position. Ricochet got a huge pop from the crowd and CIMA put him over on the mic, but Johnny Gargano crashed the party and said that maybe he needs to grow up before being ready for a spot in a group like Warriors, and part of that is giving people the props they deserve, and says that Ricochet deserves props tonight. He shakes Ricochet's hand, and then CIMA sends Gargano backstage and officially announces Ricochet as the newest member of Warriors.
This brings us to our main event as YAMATO faces WWE United States Champion Bryan Danielson, who came out with a big smile on his face to a loud crowd reaction. Danielson totally outwrestled YAMATO to start, regulating him with ease and trapping him in the surfboard and then dropkicking him to the floor, but YAMATO crawled under the ring and snuck up behind Danielson and nailed him, then tossed him to the floor and dropped him face first onto the guardrail. They head back in where YAMATO viciously worked Danielson over with hard strikes and then caught him in a unique stranglehold. Danielson came back and laid YAMATO out with a clothesline and sent him to the floor, and YAMATO tried sneaking under the ring again but Danielson saw it coming and nailed him, then hit the big dive into the crowd. Danielson seemed to ding his knee on that one, but kept going and started waylaying YAMATO with hard kicks, but then YAMATO kicked Danielson's injured leg out from under him and got a modified figure four. Danielson got out of that and they exchanged anklelocks and Danielson hit a leg trapped German suplex for 2, then a running kneestrike for 2 and then went right into Cattle Mutilation. YAMATO struggled and made his way to the ropes (prompting Danielson to inform the referee that he has until five), then caught Danielson with a knockout kick and brainbuster for 2, then immediately trapped Danielson in a rear crossface, but Danielson made the ropes. Danielson countered a top rope move into a belly to back superplex for 2, then tried for the LeBell Lock but YAMATO got out so Danielson went to a triangle choke. YAMATO countered that to an anklelock but Danielson escaped so YAMATO went to the choke sleeper instead and then picked Danielson up and hit the Galleria for 2. They exchanged forearms and YAMATO went for a choke suplex, but Danielson got out and hit a knockout kick and they exchanged small packages, then Danielson hit three knockout kicks in a row and still only got 2, so Danielson hit YAMATO with the knockout elbows and finally hooked in the LeBell Lock and YAMATO tapped.
Awesome match to close the show, and a great chance to see Danielson get to be the real Bryan Danielson for one of the last times before he went back to WWE. Jon Moxley ran in and attacked Danielson after the match and went after him with the railroad spike from earlier, but Hulk headed him off at the pass and ran Moxley and YAMATO off. Danielson took the mic after the match and cut a good promo talking about how he's not big and he's not a superstar, he's a wrestler, but sometimes wrestling isn't enough and you have to fight, and tomorrow night he wants people to come to Milwaukee and watch him kick Jon Moxley's F'n head in.
* * *
Great show, the last two matches were excellent and everything underneath was solid to good. There was nothing bad on this show, and it did a good job of setting up some of the things we'd see in DGUSA over the next few months like the draft at the October iPPV, the formation of Ronin, and the evolution of Brodie Lee as a killer monster. This was the first DGUSA show to not include a bonus disc, but they did throw in a few extras, including the standard highlight video, an Arik Cannon vs Kyle O'Reilly match from the preshow, and the Jimmy Jacobs Revealed videos where he talks about the substance issues he dealt with in 2007-09 and how they affected him personally and professionally. The Jimmy Jacobs videos were really good, and similar to the famous Mick Foley sitdown interviews from Raw in 1997 in that we got into the head of the wrestler beyond just what the character portrays on the show, and gave us an insight into the kinds of struggles they face outside the business as well as inside.
Good stuff, and a recommended purchase. You can't go wrong with the Danielson-YAMATO match, and there was something for everyone on this DVD with a good blend of styles in nearly every match. I'll be back soon with the show from the following evening, as Bryan Danielson made his final DGUSA appearance at Way Of The Ronin!
PWI