I’ve seen a lot in my time as a wrestling fan. I’ve seen some match of the year candidates. I’ve seen matches that I’d prefer to forget. I’ve been to shows where the fact that the card even happened seemed to be some sort of miracle. It’s never occu
rred to me that a show couldn’t take place between the ring wasn’t there. It’s something I’ve taken for granted. After September 26, 2010, I guess I have to stop that. When my friends and I got to the venue, I noticed how small the venue was and the fact that the Mirmar theater seemingly got dropped in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Shortly after getting in line, Gabe the birthday boy came out and announced there was no ring. No ring? HOW? Still amazing to me. Apparently, the individual who was supposed to supply the ring was arrested at a nightclub for starting a fight. Good to see professional wrestling keeping up its morally upstanding relationship. Gabe said the ring would be there soon, and we could enjoy the wonders of Brady Avenue in the lovely city of Milwaukee. DG USA lucked out because the weather was nice, and there were places to go and eat. I enjoyed a delicious burger from Five Guys. On a sidenote, I’d recommend both the burger and the fries. Just make sure you go for a vigorous workout afterward.
The ring arrived at 2:30. One of the most amazing sights I’ve ever seen associated with professional wrestling took place as everyone came out and helped with the ring. A lot of the undercard guys of course did their work, but it was great to see Jimmy Jacobs schlepping word, ring posts, and support like everyone else. Even the Dragon Gate guys like Masato Yoshino, Naruki Doi, and Yamato were helping. It was the ultimate example of team work as the only guy who I didn’t see was Bryan Danielson. Seems fair to me because there’s no point to having a WWE contracted wrestler get hurt putting a ring together. I posted a bunch of pictures on Facebook if you’re interested in seeing what was going on. I can only imagine what the reaction of the passing drivers was as they saw a bunch of random dudes (including one in a mask) taking various large objects into a small building.
I walked in the door at 3:00, and the “bonus match” started at 3:15. The whole deal about Golden Circle versus General Admission was tossed out the window because of the circumstances. The theater should come across as small and intimate. I’d say the place could seat no more than 250 people, and there were between 200-225 fans relieved to be seeing a great afternoon of action. Overall, the wrestlers came across as relaxed and having a good time, moreso than any other Dragon Gate show I’ve ever been to. The guys were more interactive with the crowd and seemed genuinely appreciative of us fans hanging around for an hour. Amazingly, the show was off and running 15 minutes after the doors open. The fans were seated. The meet and greet was postponed until after the show, and the show only began about an hour later. Without even reviewing the show, major props to the entire Dragon Gate staff for finding a ring, putting it together, and getting the show started.
Zero Gravity came out to wrestle Aeroform. A fairly solid match ensued between the two rising young teams. Both teams looked fairly crisp, and neither screwed up anything major. Probably one of the better performances I’ve seen out of Louis Lyndon and Flip Kendrick. Kendrick hit a corkscrew splash for the win. Not sure what this means for either one of these team’s futures, but I’d like to see them come back on a consistent basis. With DG being about tag teams and multi-man matches, it makes sense to have some American tag teams coming in.
A whopping ten minutes later, the main card. It was a show that began at 3:35 and ended at 5:49. No intermission and the matches came one right after the other with little to no breaks. This made me happy because of how long some of these Dragon Gate shows end up going. I’m fairly tired of wrestling shows going three or four hours and sitting through long intermissions for no reasons. I hope Dragon Gate USA learns something from this show and decides to minimize both the time between matches and the intermissions.
Cima came out to cut a promo. All was forgiven immediately. He thanked the fans for waiting and mentioned Ricochet joining Warriors International. Chuck Taylor came out and a really fun match ensued. I’d recommend shutting the commentary off for this match in particular because both guys were talking to each other and to the crowd during the whole match. Taylor got an awful lot of offense and came off like a credible superstar. Cima ultimate came away with the victory after using the Meteora double knees to the face. Great showcase and the crowd popped for everything. This was a pattern that kept for the whole night.
Johnny Gargano came out to talk with Cima. This time, Drake Younger interrupted a
nd their grudge match began right away. I had the lowest possible expectations for this match, but both guys showed a decent amount. Younger didn’t blade, which might be the biggest upset of the weekend. After good back and forth, Gargano came away with the victory. I’m not sure where they’re headed with Gargano, but I’m intrigued by the idea of him trying to prove he’s grown up to Cima while also wondering if this is going to end up with Gargano forming some sort of group of his own… maybe with Chuck Taylor? Decent enough match and this exceeded my expectations.
As Gargano was pulling the curtain to head to the backstage area, Bryce Remsburg was out for the next match. The six way freestyle featured a wide range of styles and experience. Mike Quackenbush, who apparently banged himself up in Chicago the previous night, was placed in this match instead. Jimmy Jacobs was the other veteran. Brodie Lee was easily the biggest man in the match and would be given multiple times to dominate throughout. Silas Young was the hometown boy who got a big pop coming out. Kyle O’Reilly and Rich Swann rounded out the match. Well I might add. This was another fun match. Each individual got to do their stuff and look good. I think one of DG USA’s best success to this point has been the freestyle. I’ve seen three of them; they’ve all been good and have allowed the American guys chance to show what they can do, FAR better than the the Frays have. Brodie Lee ended a dominating weekend by booting Rich Swann in the face and pinning him clean. Seems like Gabe is putting a rocket under Lee’s ass. I approve.
After Mike Quackenbush appeared in the freestyle, the only question was who would replace him in the singles match against Dragon Kid. Seeing Arik Cannon made me giddy with excitement. Not that Quack against Kid couldn’t be a good match, but I feel like I know what kind of match Cannon can have with Dragon Kid. This was a solid match that won’t win any match of the night honors but allowed Cannon to look credible. Kid needed a win after losing clean to Shingo, not appearing at Enter the Dragon, and not having a successful double shot in Canada. Not sure what it was but Kid played to the audience exceedingly well and seemed to work well in both of his matches. Cannon got a nice hand after this match. Hopefully, he gets to join a faction and become a regular.
Gran Akuma came out for the next match. Intermission? Who needs it? The big star of the weekend, Ricochet, came out with his two Warriors International compatriots. Honestly, Ricochet deserved better. Akuma appears to not care about wrestling anymore, and his presence was a detriment to what should have happened. The positive is Ricochet got a win by using another spectacular finish, a 630 that made Cima go crazy on the outside again. The negative is the match wasn’t very good, and the guys screwed up multiple spots. Not going to accuse either guy because I’m not a smart enough wrestling fan to know who’s responsible for moves being messed up. All I knew is this was the worst match of the afternoon. Still passable.
Basically, the card boiled down to the two main events because they were the only two matches people were buzzing about going into Milwaukee on this day. Danielson and Moxley had a hard-hitting match which showed Moxley in the best light he’s ever been shone since joinng DG USA. Tons of great stuff from both guys. Danielson seemed to show more energy in this match than he did against Yamato. I’m wondering if the long wait or this being his last time in DG USA had anything to do with it (or maybe even this being a birthday present for Gabe Sapolsky). I’d say this was close to a four star match with all the great back and forth. Danielson locked in the labelle lock for the submission victory as he also did against Yamato the previous night.
The Dragon six man tag has a tradition of being an incredible exhibition which showcases the DG superstars at their best. Kamikaze USA wrestled World-1 for just about 30 minutes, and it was everything we’ve come to expect. At least there was an angle this time instead of this just being a mere exhibition. Kamikaze focused its attack on Open the Freedom Gate champion BxB Hulk for most of the match before Shingo finished the contest with his DVD off the second rope. This was easily the best match of the weekend, and I’m really interested to see where this thing goes. Naruki Doi cut a broken English promo and thanked everyone. Show over.
I really enjoyed the show a lot. The venue was small but intimate. Crowd was also small but very enthusiastic. Every match on this show was easy to watch and a lot of fun. Props to the DG USA crew for putting a show together when it was very conceivable there wouldn’t even be a show. Props to both DG USA and AAW for a great weekend of wrestling.
That being said, I never want to do attend a wrestling tripleshot ever again.
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