Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Dragon Gate USA returned to Philadelphia to celebrate its first anniversary, complete with Dragon Gate’s finest, some talented Americans from Chikara and elsewhere, and some guy named… Byron Dragonson or something.

John Philapavage and I scored VIP Balcony seats again as we did for “Open The Freedom Gate” in November. Though it didn’t help in fighting the building temperature, it did entitle us to the Bonus Card for people with our seats and the first four rows.

1A. Super Shenlong vs. Lince Dorado went to a 10-minute time limit draw. Kind of a nothing match, pretty basic with little heat. Things were drawn out presumably because they were going the distance, but the bigger moves toward the end didn’t get much of a reaction. Dorado, wrestled in his previous gear and coming out to “Eye of the Tiger,” thereby forgoing his BDK allegiance in DGUSA. He’s had better nights than this, and Shenlong, out of Dragon Gate, was about equal to him. The big spot toward the end was Shenlong missing a Shooting Star Press and Dorado connecting with his, but he was too wiped out by it to make the immediate cover. Fans were polite and some provided a tepid “five more minutes” chant. I didn’t think this draw was necessary.

2A. Cheech & Cloudy defeated Rex Reed & Tommaso Ciampa when they gave (if I recall correctly) Reed the Tidal Wave/Quebecers finisher. Ciampa is a well-built guy with a stupid haircut who was once in OVW with a developmental deal and worked some ROH dark matches late last year/early last year. Reed is shorter, heavier, bald, and more bearded than his partner. They got in some offense, but this was mostly a showcase for Cheech & Cloudy, who hit some of their signature moves prior to the finish. Pretty fun.

- Brodie Lee came out as Cheech & Cloudy celebrated. They fought back against the big man before getting decimated by the Big Rig.

3A. Jimmy Jacobs defeated Sami Callihan with the guillotine choke. Jacobs was sporting plain red trunks, the plainest gear he’s ever worn maybe. Callihan looked like he was in the best shape of his life. This match was worth the early admission. Great back and forth stuff beginning with strike exchanges. Callihan nearly got the submission with a horse collar before Jacobs made the ropes. They took it outside and Callihan set up a chair for something, but Jacobs countered whatever it was into a Contra Code off the ring post onto the chair. Jacobs set up the submission after giving Callihan a DDT off the top straight down on the mat (as opposed to the tornado style). I really enjoyed this one.

- Before the main show started, it was announced that EVOLVE 5 on September 11th in Rahway, NJ would include Bryan Danielson vs. Munenori Sawa and Mercedes Martinez vs. Amazing Kong. Also, Rahway would host the next Dragon Gate USA show in the Northeast (as opposed to Philadelphia) on October 30th.

- The main show opened with CIMA coming out welcoming us to the show. Everyone did the WARRIORS salute with him. Johnny Gargano interrupted to say that he should be the US representative for WARRIORS International that CIMA has been looking for, capping off his plea with his catchphrase. CIMA feigned ignorance of the English language, saying he didn’t know what Gargano was saying, so Gargano slapped him. CIMA got the message and requested a match between the two start right now.

1. CIMA defeated Johnny Gargano with the Schwein and a top rope doublestomp. Fun match to get things going, and Gargano held his own in this high-profile match. Each guy hit some of their signature moves, including CIMA with his Perfect Driver and Gargano with his javelin throw into the corner. No real complaints about this one. Afterward, CIMA shook the hands of Super Shenlong (working ringside detail and being their to catch guys) and referee Jason Harding, but psyched out Gargano on his handshake.

2. Chuck Taylor defeated Ricochet and Arik Cannon and Adam Cole after hitting Ricochet with the Awful Waffle. Comparable to the Chikara 8-man tag last year in that it featured a number of names the general public wouldn’t know (people that order the PPV as opposed to people who attended this show) going out to impress and stealing the show. I almost didn’t recognize Ricochet as I’m used to seeing him as Helios these days (he’s beefed up) and Taylor was beloved. No discernible heel-face dynamic outside of Taylor’s facial expressions. One-on-one most of the time with LOTS of crazy moves for nearfalls and a dive sequence early. Poor Adam Cole took a few folded-over back bumps. Purists may hate it – certainly calls back to early ROH in some respects – but the crowd loved it. All four looked really good, including Ricochet with his aerial moves and Cannon with his crisp wrestling and strikes. Taylor picked up the win with his finisher after he dodged Ricochet’s double moonsault. Really really fun.

3. Naruki Doi defeated Drake Younger with the Bakatare Sliding Kick. Younger was filling in for the injured Dragon Kid. Doi seemed to be hiding a bandaged midsection under his shirt. Early on, Younger went for a flipping senton off the apron, but Doi moved and Younger’s back ate floor. Then his leg got worked over a bit on the outside, and from there it was very basic and pretty one-sided. Not much to it all aside from Doi’s moves. Younger has had much better showings, and John felt he looked like shit. Younger ate the sliding kick after receiving a couple dozen rapid fire slaps by Doi. The worst match on the main card, but fans seemed polite and Younger is popular in the Arena.

- Afterward, Younger cut a promo saying that, if nothing else, he could take a violent onslaught by one of Japan’s finest. He nominated himself to be a US representative for one of the stables, but then Gargano sneaked up and tripped him from the outside. He pulled him out and rammed him headfirst into the ring post, to which Younger came up bleeding (really?).

4. BxB Hulk defeated Masaaki Mochizuki with a seated superkick to retain the Open The Freedom Gate Title. Hulk came out to dance (sans girls) while wearing a wig, then pulled it off when he finished his dance to reveal his recently shaved head (courtesy of Shingo in Japan). A long match where they largely traded kicks throughout, but both men throw really good kicks. One of Hulk’s kicks on the outside missed and he sold the leg for a while before coming back with a springboard attack. I was enjoying it, and someone in the crowd started a “This is Wrestling!” chant, but then came the unfortunate finish. Hulk hit Mochizuki with a Phoenix Splash that almost missed. It looked like Mochizuki kicked out, but ref Jason Harding still counted to three and the bell half-heartedly rang. Then Hulk got up to deliver a kick to the seated Mochizuki for the definitive finish and a very confused/negative reaction from the crowd. Lots of miscommunication here somewhere that I imagine will be edited down the line, but I dug the the other seven-eighths of the match.

- As Hulk was alone in the ring with his title afterward, some mystery woman in white face paint and a bridal gown came out and confronted him. I couldn’t tell who it was (maybe Lacey, maybe Becky Bayless, maybe someone else), but then YAMATO, Shingo, and Jon Moxley (Kamikaze USA) came out and jumped him, and the woman paying homage to mid-00s horror movies returned to the back. Moxley told Hulk that he didn’t have his hair nor his dancing girls, so the only thing left to take was his title. YAMATO was about to give Hulk the Galleria Special onto the title belt, but out came an angry Bryan Danielson to the expected huge pop. The heels stopped what they were doing as Danielson came in the ring and stared them down. Moxley made his comrades retreat as he said “We already know this guy’s a pussy.” Danielson picked up the title and handed it back to Hulk while seemingly indicating he’d like a shot.

- Intermission. The floor was swamped before the show, and with Danielson offering autographs it was swamped here too.

5. Rich Swann defeated Seth Reed (w/ his valet Nicole) with a standing 450 splash. Very short but perfectly acceptable popcorn match. Not familiar with Reed. I suspect Gabe Sapolsky is high on Swann, as he made his DGUSA debut the night after he made his EVOLVE debut.

- Brodie Lee came out again. He laid out the referee (Jon Barber from Chikara) before destroying the two wrestlers, and he capped things off with a big boot to the valet. Lee said he’s just proved he could plow down a man, woman, and child (referring to the ref), so now he’s looking for a Japanese man (his words). Lee’s being used awesomely here. He got into it with an overzealous fan on his way to the back.

6. Open The Dream Gate Champion Masato Yoshino & Chikara Sekigun (Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw & Hallowicked) defeated Kamikaze USA (YAMATO & Jon Moxley & Akira Tozawa & Gran Akuma) in an 8-man elimination match. Ask Johnny P. and he’ll tell you Moxley is the one guy he’s most intrigued by in wrestling these days. My first time seeing Tozawa (who’s doing the US excursion deal, working PWG in addition to DGUSA), and I thought he was pretty awesome, at one point shouting out “C’Mon Baby” in a high-pitched voice. The match started with a brawl and worked really well with Kamikaze USA as the super heels. Hallowicked was the first one eliminated after taking YAMATO’s Galleria Special. Jigsaw took a couple big moves, including a crossface chicken wing suplex by Moxley, but managed to kick out at one. This infuriated Moxley to the point that he used a chair and got himself disqualified. Jimmy Jacobs ran out right after this, spearing Moxley and brawling with him into the crowd. During this, Jigsaw was soundly eliminated by another Galleria Special, leaving Quack and Yoshino with the man disadvantage. Quack evened things up a little later by reversing a Yoshi Tonic attempt by Akuma into a powerbomb pin with great force, so Akuma was gone. Plenty of drama and very good back and forth action with the four remaining guys. YAMATO did a low blow mule kick behind ref Bryce Remsburg’s back, but the pin attempt was broken up. He attempted a second one on Quack, but Quack caught it and gave him an inner thigh kick. Quack and Yoshino clinched it for their side, simultaneously making Tozawa and YAMATO tap to the Chikara Special and Sol Naciente respectively. Second best match of the night and a satisfying end to the yearlong Chikara-YAMATO feud.

- Quack thanked Yoshino for his help afterward and confirmed he was the fastest man he’s ever seen in the ring, but then said he, Jigsaw, and Hallowicked were looking forward to facing Yoshino and World-1 the next day. The two shook hands.

7. Bryan Danielson defeated Shingo with the omoplata crossface. Danielson came out to no music and was greeted with streamers and a few neckties. The PG nature of DGUSA was thrown out the window from the start as fans chanted that Shingo would get his fuckin’ head kicked in. This truly built to an excellent match, going from good exchanges between the two met with various chants of approval (and some tongue-in-cheek referencing Danielson being too violent) to lots of hot nearfalls met with loud excitement. A classic Danielson match with all of his tropes (including the surfboard and the springboard dive into the crowd). Shingo came close with Made In Japan, the Original Falconry off the top (which he fought through Danielson’s elbow strikes to deliver), and a couple of monstrous lariats. Danielson broke out Cattle Mutilation and transitioned the fuckin’ head kicking into a triangle. Danielson scored with his most recently added submission after transitioning from the triangle. This match ruled.

- After this, as fans chanted “Thank You Both,” YAMATO came out and had a tense staredown with Danielson. Hulk came back out before Shingo could jump Danielson from behind, and the faces cleared house on the heels. Moxley came back out to hold back YAMATO and Shingo on the outside. Then Danielson requested to join World-1 and Hulk seemed to accept (not sure if he can speak for the rest of his stable though). Danielson thanked the crowd for helping make the show great, but then remarked something was missing. Cue “The Final Countdown” to send the fans home happy.

Overall: Though not quite the best DGUSA show I’ve attended, it was still really fun with a number of storylines continuing and beginning. The booking in that respect has certainly grown over the past year. This was reminiscent of the first show in that there was a very fun potential show-stealer in the first half, and two very good-to-great matches to close things out. The one drawback is that Danielson-Shingo, the best match on the show, won’t be on the PPV when it debuts in September, so people will have to wait for the DVD in October. A real treat seeing Danielson live again, as himself and doing what he does best.