March 5, 2010 – Chicago, Illinois (Taped January 23, 2010)
Mike Quackenbush {CH} & Jigsaw {CH}
vs. CIMA {W5} & Super Crazy
Quackenbush and Crazy start. They trade holds for a while. Crazy takes control. Jigsaw hits a crossbody. He hits a head scissors takedown. He hits CIMA with a legdrop for 2. CIMA avoids a dropkick and hits a double stomp. Crazy beats on Jigsaw with a pair of thunder sticks. CIMA works Jigsaw’s leg. He hits the double knee kick. Crazy hits mounted punches in the corner. He hits a weird elbowdrop. He gets a roll up for 2. Jigsaw gets a roll up for 2. CIMA hits the big double stomp. He tells the referee that Crazy doesn’t understand English and that he has to count in Spanish. That’s pretty funny. Jigsaw hits both opponents with DDTs. Quackenbush tags in and cleans house. He gets a small package for 2. He and Jigsaw hit stereo dropkicks and topé con hilos. CIMA shoves Jigsaw off the top to the floor, but he comes back immediately (no-selling the fall) with a legdrop off the top for 2. Screw you Jigsaw. CIMA and Crazy hit stereo powerbombs. Crazy puts on the Mexican surfboard and CIMA hits a double stomp. Crazy keeps the hold on and CIMA boots Quackenbush’s face for 2. That should have been the finish. CIMA hits Jigsaw with the Superdrol for 2. He hits a double stomp. Crazy hits a dropkick and CIMA hits the Tokarev. He hits the Schwein for 2. Crazy hits Quackenbush with a backbreaker. He hits a sick powerbomb for 2. CIMA hits Crazy with a superkick by mistake. Quackenbush gets a roll up for the win at 17:50. I like Super Crazy. Hell, he once bought me lemonade. But I just don’t care to see him in Dragon Gate. If he were on bonus DVD matches then fine, but I think PPV should showcase other guys. Jigsaw is also useless, but not quite as useless as he was in his tag match last time in Chicago.
Rating: ***¼
Davey Richards talks about the FIP title in a poorly lit room backstage. He tells Masaaki Mochizuki that he’s going to get his belt back.
TJP vs. Gran Akuma {TF}
They trade slaps to start. TJP gets a roll up for 2. He hits a dropkick. He sends Akuma’s head into the turnbuckle. He hits a suicide dive. Akuma comes back with kicks. TJP returns the favor. He puts on the Sasoriza-Gatame, which he calls the Figure Four Deathlock, but Akuma gets to the ropes. He baits Akuma to the floor, but Akuma drags him out and hits an enziguiri. Back in the ring Akuma puts on a leglock. TJP gets to the ropes. Akuma kicks his face for 2. He puts on a cravat. TJP crossbodies Akuma to the floor. TJP hits the 86’er. He hits a neckbreaker for 2. Akuma gets a roll up for 2. He hits a buzzsaw kick for 2. Akuma hits the tombstone gutbuster for 2. TJP hits a roundhouse kick. Things get awkward during a strike exchange. TJP hits a superkick. Akuma hits a lariat for 2. TJP gets a roll up for 2. He reapplies the Figure Four Deathlock for the win at 8:48. They struggled through a few awkward spots, but overall this was a fine little match.
Rating: **¾
They show Dragon Kid, in an awesome WARRIORS-5 fatigue mask, stretching out in preparation for the main event.
Brian Kendrick vs. Jimmy Jacobs
I wonder whether Darren Young or Jacobs had that haircut first. Kendrick cuts a pretentious “pro wrestling is art,” promo before the match. He says he made a few phone calls before the match and convinced Lacey to be his valet tonight. Of course if you don’t watch ROH you have no idea why that matters. Lenny Leonard simply says “if you’ve followed the US independent scene you know why Lacey is important to Jacobs,” but doesn’t go into any detail for new fans because then he’d be advertising ROH DVDs. Lame move here. Jacobs attacks Kendrick for the offense. Kendrick comes back during a brawl on the floor. He hits a dropkick in the ring. He puts on a camel clutch. Then Leonard says that Jon Moxley has brought out the worst in Kendrick, but Moxley isn’t out here and aside from about 10 seconds of interaction on the last show Moxley and Kendrick haven’t been together at all on DGUSA PPV (and at the time of the PPVs airing the Open the Freedom Gate DVD hadn’t shipped). Jacobs escapes the clutch so Kendrick puts on a rear naked choke. Jacobs swings Kendrick to the floor to escape. He misses a plancha. Back in the ring Kendrick hits a superplex for 2. Jacobs fires up and makes a great babyface comeback. He hits a couple of clotheslines. He hits a choke takedown for 2. Kendrick hits a superkick for 2. Jacobs hits a weird stunner. He puts on the End Times but Lacey gets in the ring and gets Jacobs to release the hold. Jacobs thinks about slugging her but she kisses him. Kendrick attacks from behind and hits Sliced Bread #2 for the win at 6:44. I’m going to be honest; I was distracted by the short-cut booking and terrible commentary. The finish was lame too. Why not let Moxley help Kendrick beat Jacobs to get that relationship over? How is Lacey needed at all?
Rating: **
After the match Jacobs says he’s going after Kendrick’s wife Taylor Matheny in retribution. Kendrick makes Jacobs watch as Moxley hits Lacey with a clothesline. This is all very strange, and again I say Moxley could have gotten over as a douche without Lacey’s weak character being involved. The whole point of DGUSA should be to expose American fans to stuff they haven’t seen before, not the same stuff that’s been going on in ROH for years. Sadly, Moxley’s involvement with played out characters wouldn’t end with Lacey.
Masaaki Mochizuki © {Z} vs. Davey Richards {K} [FIP World Championship Match]
This is more like it. Since this is Richards’ last Dragon Gate related match, I’ll send him out associated with his boys in Kamikaze. Mochizuki won the belt from Richards in a great match in Japan. The kick exchange that starts the match ends in a stalemate. Mochizuki hits a chest kick. Richards kicks his arm. He goes for an cross armbreaker but Mochizuki blocks it. Richards stomps on his shoulder. He puts on a cloverleaf with the arm trapped. Mochizuki hits the apron kick. He baits Richards into kicking the post. He slams the leg to the mat and puts on a figure 4 leglock. Richards gets to the ropes. Mochizuki hits a shinbreaker and puts on another leglock. Richards gets to the ropes. He goes for a kick but he has no leg power. He blocks the Sankakugeri with a kick to the face. He hits a dropkick off the top. He hits a handspring kick for 2. I guess he met his selling quota. He hits a northern lights suplex and puts on the kimura. Mochizuki gets to the ropes. He hits Richards’ leg with the Ikkakugeri. He puts on an anklelock. Richards thinks about tapping, but crawls to the ropes instead. Mochizuki hits an axe kick. He hits a pair of big boots. He hits a capture suplex and a chest kick for 2. He hits the Sankakugeri. Richards sends him to the floor and hits a suicide dive (sending himself deep into the crowd). Back in the ring Mochizuki hits a German suplex for 2. Richards throws on the kimura. The commentators call it a counter, but he wasn’t countering anything. Mochizuki gets to the ropes. Mochizuki hits the Saikyou High Kick for 2. He unloads with kicks for 2. Richards blocks the Sankakugeri and hits a German superplex. He hits a lariat. He hits a German suplex for 2. He hits the shooting star press for 2. He puts on the kimura. Mochizuki won’t tap so Richards puts on a cross armbreaker. Mochizuki counters to the anklelock. Richards gets a roll up for 2. He hits a buzzsaw kick and the D.R. Driver for 2. He puts on the kimura but Mochizuki gets a roll up for 2. Richards reapplies the cross armbreaker for the win and the title at 19:06. It will be interesting to see if FIP will be allowed to book Richards to defend the belt, or if in hindsight it might have been a better idea to keep the title on Mochizuki for a few months. As for the match, I was thinking it was a step below the match from Japan for the bulk of it. Then that final stretch kicked in and the exchanges on the mat just blew my mind. Davey Richards wraps up his DGUSA stint with a third great match.
Rating: ****
In the back Quackenbush and Jigsaw say now that CIMA and Super Crazy are behind them they can refocus on YAMATO and Akuma.
Naruki Doi {W1} & Masato Yoshino {W1} vs. Shingo {K} & YAMATO {K} vs. Nick Jackson {W5} & Matt Jackson {W5} [Elimination Match]
Shingo, Yoshino and Matt start. They do some silly three-way stuff that leads nowhere. Yoshino hits Shingo with a head scissors takedown. YAMATO, Doi and Nick tag in. YAMATO, genius that he is, waits a bit before getting involved in the hold exchange. Doi and Nick hit a double dropkick on him. Nick hits YAMATO with another dropkick. He hits one on Doi. Yoshino hits a back elbow for 2. A Mark Nulty Special chain breaks out. Shingo teases putting the hold on YAMATO, but instead he puts a sharpshooter on Nick and rolls the whole mess over. That hurts YAMATO the most, but he gets to the ropes. Cute stuff, and if you’ve never seen a multi-man match in Dragon Gate it could be new to you. Shingo hits a kneedrop on Nick for 2. Kamikaze and the Jacksons fight over a double suplex. YAMATO asks Yoshino for help, but Yoshino helps the Jacksons instead. The Bucks return the favor by double-teaming Yoshino. Shingo hits Nick with a bodyslam. He hits a Mongolian chop and does a goofy pose. He’s having a lot of fun in there. He and YAMATO hit a double atomic drop and a double chop for 2. YAMATO puts on the Cross Bone Vanguard but Nick gets to the ropes. Nick hits a spin kick. Matt hits Doi with a head scissors takedown. He hits Yoshino with the standing Sliced Bread for 2. Yoshino puts on the From Jungle. Nick makes the save. He hits the most contrived Worst Case Scenario on both YAMATO and Shingo. He hits Shingo with a DDT but Shingo holds on and hits the dead lift suplex. Nick hits the Ace Crusher for 2. The Bucks double-team Shingo for 2. Shingo takes them out with clotheslines. Yoshino hits the Sling Blade. Matt hits a spear. Doi hits a DDT. YAMATO hits a northern lights suplex. Nick hits a superkick. He and Matt hit More Bang For Your Buck for 2 when Shingo pulls Matt off with a German suplex. Yoshino hits the shotgun dropkick for 2. Doi hits the Doi 555. Yoshino hits the Lightning Spiral to eliminate the Young Bucks at 13:18. Yoshino hits YAMATO with an elevated facebuster. He and Doi hit the Sling Blade Bomb for 2. Shingo blocks the Torbellino and hits a powerbomb. Yoshino gets a sunset flip for 2. YAMATO punts Yoshino and Shingo hits the DVD for 2. Doi hits Shingo with 21 consecutive elbows. Shingo clotheslines YAMATO by mistake. Yoshino hits the Lightning Spiral and Doi hits the Bakatare Sliding Kick for 2. Yoshino hits Another Space for 2. He hits the Torbellino and puts on the Sol Naciente. Shingo can’t power out and he gives up at 18:59. When the Bucks were in there this was good, but after they left it got amazing. I wish the entire match was just Kamikaze vs. Speed Muscle, because those four have some amazing chemistry.
Rating: ****
BxB Hulk © {W1} vs. Dragon Kid {W5} [Open the Freedom Gate Championship Match]
Dragon had the only 2-0 record in the company going into the Open the Freedom Gate show, but sacrificed his spot in the title tournament to fight Masato Yoshino in a tag match. As such he gets this shot at the title. He has CIMA in his corner. Hulk’s dancers are nothing short of pathetic. You’ll never see the Laker girls looking at each other for the right moves. Hulk and Kid fight over a wristlock to start, but they throw in enough kicks to make it a fun exchange. Kid hits a pair of head scissor takedowns. He hits a dropkick in the corner. He hits another to the face and then does the WARRIORS pose. He fits so much better in the WARRIORS than he did in Kamikaze. He puts on a Mutalock. Hulk comes back with a basement dropkick. He chops Kid for 2. He puts on a chinlock. He hits a dropkick for 2. He puts on a seated abdominal stretch. He rolls Kid up for 2. Kid hits a back heel kick. Hulk hits a senton for 2. He puts on a cloverleaf. Kid hits a stunner. Hulk hits a roundhouse kick. He shoves Kid off the top rope to the apron. Kid comes back with a head scissors takedown. He hits the 619. He hits the Bermuda Triangle. He hits a dropkick for 2. He hits another stunner for 2. Hulk hits a springboard leg lariat for 2. He hits a legsweep, a chest kick, and the BxB Star Press for 2. Kid puts on the Christo. Hulk hits a side slam to escape. Kid hits the Messiah for 2. Hulk hits the BxB Smash for 2. Kid hits the Ace Crusher off the top. He hits the Ultra Hurricanrana for 2. Hulk hits the avalanche EVO for 2. He hits the EVO again for 2. Kid hits another stunner. Hulk hits the FTX for 2. He hits a sick thrust kick and the EVOP for the win at 17:06. These are two guys I typically think need an anchor to help them keep things from getting goofy, but here they managed to keep it from being too spotty and from getting boring at any point. Hulk seems to be taking the top spot very seriously. I dig it.
Rating: ***¾
After the match YAMATO, Richards and Akuma rush the ring and attack everyone. CIMA tries to help but gets beaten down as well. Shingo runs out, seemingly to stop the beating, but then smiles like an evil bastard and slugs Kid. CIMA drags Kid to the back. Arik Cannon and some other preshow guys try to save but fail. Quackenbush, Hallowicked and Jigsaw make the save successfully. The brawl rages on for too long so CIMA runs out and beats on everyone with a broom. He sweeps the ring, giving the smartass fans a reason to start some clever chants as the show goes off the air.