Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Like last year, our friend Carlos Lopez is attending some live shows over WrestleMania weekend in its host city and texting us results. This time, instead of Ring of Honor in Houston, it’s Dragon Gate USA in Phoenix.

Tonight’s show will be a supercard specifically for DVD (not a PPV taping). Right now, he’s at their meet & greet event.

Gabe Sapolsky over Facebook has confirmed that all of the wrestlers are in attendance, including Paul London, Jack Evans, and the unadvertised Teddy Hart.

Pre-Show Bonus Match: Brad Allen won the FRAY! 8-man elimination match with Royal Rumble-style entries every two minutes. It started with So-Cal wrestler Chimera and some other wrestler named The Prophet. Dustin Cutler and then his brother Brandon Cutler (of PWG) have entered, and they eliminated Chimera. The Cutlers then eliminated Prophet, and Brad Allen (FIP and EVOLVE) has entered. Irish Airborne’s Dave Crist entered next, followed by Malachi Jackson (younger brother of Nick and Matt Jackson). Allen eliminated Dustin Cutler. Jake Crist has entered and eliminated Brandon Cutler. One of the two tag teams entered are gone, and that’s all of the entrants for the match. Irish Airborne eliminated Malachi together. Finally, Allen eliminated both members of Irish Airborne to win what Carlos calls a “good indy match overall despite some blown spots.”

Dr. Keith Lipinski is the timekeeper again as he brought out the bell and the fans gear up for the main show.

The main show will open with a match being taped for an A&E reality series about young wrestlers trying to make it to the big time. No, not NXT, this is something different. Bob Saget (former Commissioner of Chikara!) is the host and is supposedly in the building. Right now the crew is shuffling people around to “get a better TV look.” Carlos – as well as presumably the rest of the crowd – had to sign a waiver to be filmed for television. Bob Saget makes his way to the ring.

1. YAMATO defeated Luke Hawx. Saget is the ring announcer for this match. YAMATO won the Open The Dream Gate Title last weekend in Japan from Naruki Doi. Hawx, formerly of Wrestling Society X, is one of the eight wrestlers taking part in the A&E show. YAMATO gets the win with a brainbuster.

2. Susumu Yokosuka & KAGETORA defeated Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw. Yokosuka pinned Quack after a modified Angel’s Wings (possibly Mugan, an overhead gutwrench into a double-arm DDT). It was supposed to be Genki Horiguchi teaming with Yokosuka in this match; no word on where he is now. This was the DGUSA (though not USA in general) debut of KAGETORA.

3. Non-Title Special Challenge Match: YAMATO defeated TJP. TJ Perkins, under his third or fourth name, loses via a choke sleeper. The new champ is two for three so far this weekend.

4. Brian Kendrick & Jon Moxley defeated Jimmy Jacobs & Paul London. Kendrick pinned Jacobs with a rollup. London took a nasty bump during the match.

- Teddy Hart comes out following the match, and something leads to Kendrick and London both jumping him to cheers of, “Fuck him up!”

5. Masato Yoshino defeated Shingo. Yoshino gets the submission victory. Amazingly, Shingo has yet to win a match in DGUSA.

- Intermission. I asked Carlos what he thought was the best match so far, and he says Shingo vs. Yoshino. “Started slow, but had a good story and nice action near the end. Solid wrestling all around.”

Chances are Carlos’ phone may have died (he warned me this might happen), as it’s been a long time since Intermission happened. It’s getting really late on this coast anyway, and Carlos said he might provide a full report.

3/27: The final matches of last night were LA PARK (the original La Parka we all knew and loved from WCW) & Hijo de Rey Misterio (the cousin of the more famous Rey Mysterio) defeating Derrick Neikerk (a former WWE developmental talent) & G.Q. Gallo by Dusty Finish DQ, BxB Hulk retaining the Open The Freedom Gate Title over Naruki Doi, and CIMA & Gamma & Dragon Kid defeating Jack Evans & The Young Bucks. Here’s Carlos’ writeup:

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Sorry about that. My phone plan runs out in a month, so of course my phone is useless right now.

Started out the day watching the Indians and Rockies play some spring ball before I went to the DGUSA show. After fighting a little bit of traffic, I made it to the theater. The meet and greet was supposed to start at 5:30, but it was out a half hour late, so that should have been a warning sign. There was also no reentry, so I was stuck indoors waiting around for the wrestlers to come.

I just hung around until the wrestlers came out and I mean all of them. All the Japanese stars, plus London, Kendrick and the Young Bucks were there signing autographs if you purchased an 8×10, but these were only 3 for $10, so it was a steal. A few observations:

*Kendrick is tiny.
*London was high as a fucking kite. We got into an awkward conversation about Snarf being Orko before there was an Orko. To be fair, I was wearing a Thundercats shirt that did not have Snarf or the twins, much to his dismay.
*Asian people do not shake hands very well, especially Shingo. It was like a dead fish.

Kinda wandered around after that, checking out the merch table and Highspots booth. I talked to Dr. Keith for a few minutes (really nice guy).

The DGUSA Fray match was ok for what it was. There were lots of missed spots and the Cutlers or whatever are pretty green, Jackson is super indyriffic right down to his terrible trunks.

The show was around 30 minutes late when the producers started letting everyone move closer to the front. I don’t know what it was, but there didn’t seem to be a lot of people in attendance. I was able to move right next to the entrance ramp, so that was cool. Had to sign a waiver, so I might be on TV.

45 minutes after announced time. we got the Saget segment. It was fine for what it was. Some people in the crowd gave him some shit and he gave it right back. Classic Saget. Moxley came out and started double teaming Hawx with YAMATO. BxB Hulk comes in and takes out Moxley. YAMATO wins anyway. Saget takes pics with fans and shakes hands. Nice time. On to the real show.

I don’t know for sure if it was KAGETORA or Horiguchi in the match, honestly. So, if anyone refutes me, take their word for it.

YAMATO/TJP was another good match. TJP got some good offense in, but it was a mostly one-sided contest. There’s something about YAMATO I like. He’s got charisma.

Next came London/Jacobs v Moxley/Kendrick. There’s something about Jon Moxley I don’t like. Not sure what it is, but he bugs me. London came out in an orange tear-away jumpsuit. He put 3D glasses on a fan before the match started. [BS Note: Ha! This would be the astronaut suit he's come out in at PWG. He's calling himself "The Intrepid Traveler" at various indies.] Fine match that saw Kendrick refuse to come in against London at one point, so London wrestled himself. Nasty bump by London on the outside that left a huge bruise on his back.

After the match, Jacobs and London put Moxley on the time keeper’s (plastic) table and London was going to the top rope. Kendrick told him to stop that it wasn’t worth it for the loser fans who “chant in the dark and on the internet.” Hart came out and did some flips and talked about how he puts it all on the line and so should London. London turns on him. Everyone wants Hart to get his ass kicked.

Shingo match was a great match. It started off slow, which was a good change of pace from the end of the last match. This was probably the most complete match of the night as both wrestlers told the story well, with Yoshino working over Shingo’s arm and knee and Shingo trying to use power moves despite the pain. Lots of great nearfalls at the end, but Shingo is submitted via a Sol Naciente. After the match Moxley comes out and talks to Shingo, and they go to the back together.

INTERMISSION

Parka/Mysterio vs. white guys was something else. The wrestling itself was a debacle. Fake Rey is terrible. He tries to wrestle high flying without the agility. White guys were not ready for a lucha style match. Parka was the redeeming part, but he’s lost a step. The atmosphere was great, though. Everyone knew they were watching a trainwreck and just played along with it. White guys pin Parka after a low blow, but ref reverses it, and Parka/Mysterio win by DQ.

BxB Hulk v. Doi was really good. Crowd was starting to lose it here and it really affected the match, and Hulk kinda won out of nowhere. I am really worn out by this point.

6-Man tag was amazing. The guys really worked their asses off. The crowd sucked, however. There was pretty much just one section cheering. I felt sorry for the wrestlers because they really put in a hell of a finale. Warriors win after a great match. GAMMA picks a fight with a little kid in the front row who’s wearing a Rey Mysterio Jr mask. Pretty hilarious. I like GAMMA.

It was a fun show, but I really hated that the atmosphere died in the end. It was really both the crowd and the promotion’s fault. You can’t start the taping an hour late (9 pm) and expect everyone to still be up and excited for the end of the show. A lot of people traveled, plus there were lots of families that left early because of how late it was.

On the other hand, there were a lot of fans just sitting on their hands during the last two matches. Wrestling’s a participant sport, fans have to get involved, especially when they’re putting on a great performance in the ring.

All in all it was a good night. I stayed a little later and got Parka’s autograph, so another thing off the bucket list. Now I am exhausted. Let’s do this again tomorrow.

Feel free to use this on the Chronicle. Cheers