October 29, 2010 – Fall River, Massachusetts
CIMA and Ricochet kick off the show with a promo. He thanks the fans for coming out and promises to show everyone what DGUSA is all about. Tonight they will introduce a new member to WARRIORS International. He introduces the first match, saying that the new WARRIOR might be in it. Over the end of CIMA’s promo Lenny Leonard can be heard complaining about audio problems over the commentary microphone.
Ricochet {W5} vs. Arik Cannon vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Chuck Taylor
Gargano and Taylor start. Leonard says on commentary that Homicide had joined World-1 before the show start. Taylor hits Gargano with a dropkick. Ricochet hits Taylor with a head scissor takedown. He hits the Déjà Vu. Cannon hits a clothesline. He hits an armdrag. Gargano this a back heel kick. Ricochet avoids the spear but gets kicked to the floor. Taylor hits a moonsault. Cannon hits a thrust kick. Gargano hits the spear and a suicide dive. He hits a superkick on the floor. Taylor hits Ricochet with an exploder. He hits a topé con hilo onto the other opponents. Ricochet hits a corkscrew moonsault onto everyone. Back in the ring he hits Taylor with another head scissor takedown. He hits a tiger feint kick. Gargano throws Ricochet into Taylor. Cannon hits a lariat for 2. Ricochet blocks the Alabamaslam and hits the Canadian Destroyer. Taylor hits a thrust kick. He hits a powerbomb for 2. He hits Gargano with the Sole Food. Ricochet hits a Regalplex. Cannon slugs him. Gargano hits a superkick. Cannon hits Taylor with a brainbuster. Ricochet hits an enziguiri. He hits Taylor with a standing SSP for 2. Gargano dropkicks Ricochet. He hits Cannon with the Hurts Donut for 2. A crazy sequence ends with Cannon hitting Taylor with the Glimmering Warlock for 2. Ricochet hits a standing Meteora for 2. Cannon hits Gargano with Total Anarchy on the floor. He hits Ricochet with a German superplex, dropping him on his head. Taylor hits Cannon with the Awful Waffle for the win at 8:47. This was a lot less contrived than the first four-way from Enter the Dragon 2010. Definitely more enjoyable and though there was no selling going on at all it was a decent way to introduce DGUSA to possible new fans.
Rating: ***¼
After the match CIMA asks Taylor if he wants to join the WARRIORS. Taylor says he’s withdrawn himself from the draft, so the answer is no. So after one segment the draft concept is already WCW levels of disorganized.
Homicide {W1} vs. Rich Swann
Homicide is dressed in silver and white and wears a World-1 bandana. He takes Swann down to start. They fight over a wristlock. Homicide ties Swann up on the mat. He works the arm. Swann comes back with a dropkick for 2. He blocks the face wash with another dropkick. He hits a back kick for 2. He throws the World-1 bandana out of the ring. He hits a crossbody for 2. Homicide hits a back elbow. He goes to the eyes. Yo, Homcide, World-1 is the babyface stable. He hits an exploder for 2. He hits an overhead suplex for 2. He puts on a hammerlock. He hits a neckbreaker for 2. Swann goes to the ear to regain control. Homicide hits a low blow. I hate the way the commentators apologize for his heel behavior because he’s in the babyface group. Homicide should wrestle like a babyface. Swann hits a dropkick. He hits a head scissor takedown that Homicide sells like crap. Swann hits a back kick to the face. He hits an enziguiri. He hits a poorly executed back flip senton for 2. Homicide hits the Ace Crusher for 2. He exposes his chest and goes for the Cop Killer but Swann blocks it. He blocks an Ace Crusher as well. He hits a spin kick. Homicide blocks a split legged moonsault and hits a lariat for the win at 11:25. Swann’s stuff was hit-and-miss and Homicide’s plodding and confused performance didn’t add anything to the match. Also during the match Lenny Leonard announced that Kamikaze USA has decided not to take part in the draft. I can’t figure out why Gabe Sapolsky announced the draft to begin with since they totally ditched it right out of the gate.
Rating: **½
Austin Aries comes out to the ring after the match. He finds himself a free agent at the moment, and as such he’s been doing some soul searching. He actually talks about the elephant in the ring by admitting that MMA is cool and wrestling isn’t. But he says the competition, skill, athleticism, bumps, bruises, drama and excitement in the ring are all real. So why can’t wrestling get the respect it deserves? It’s because wrestling doesn’t respect itself. He knows that wrestling has always been a little bit scummy, and that the wrestlers and fans have all just accepted that as a reality. Aries doesn’t think it has to be the reality. He knows that speaking out against the seedy nature of wrestling will get a wrestler painted as a cancer in the locker room, but he isn’t afraid to do that. And he knows that there are other wrestlers who feel the same way as him. He helps Swann get to his feet (points to Swann for continuing to sell the lariat) and call him honorable. Aries doesn’t want to start his own stable, but he does want a protégé. He tells Swann he’s a good candidate and tells him to watch his match from ringside to decide if that’s something he’d be interested in. This was kind of preachy, but it was actually one of my favorite Aries promos ever. It just felt a lot more genuine and reserved than his forced and aggressive promos from ROH.
Masato Yoshino {W1} vs. Austin Aries
They fight over a wristlock to start. They criss cross until Aries bails. Yoshino goes out after him but comes up short. Back in the ring we’re back to square one. Yoshino dropkicks the arm. He puts on an armbar. Aries gets to the ropes. I just noticed Yoshino’s World-1 singlet is black and red. That’s kind of odd. Aries goes after the leg. He sends Yoshino to the floor and hits him with a double axe handle. He works the neck. He hits an elbowdrop for 2. He puts on a chinlock. He hits an elbow for 2. He dropkicks the knee and puts on the Figure 8. Yoshino gets to the ropes but his leg is in trouble. Aries blocks the Coumori but Yoshino connects with the Sling Blade. Yoshino avoids a dropkick and connects with one of his own. He puts on From Jungle. Aries hits a dropkick. He hits two shinbreakers. Yoshino gets a crossbody for 2. Aries hits a spinning press slam and puts on the Horns of Aries. Yoshino blocks a sunset bomb and hits the floating dropkick for 2. Aries hits a super hurricanrana. Yoshino blocks a dropkick. He hits the Ude Yoshino. Aries counters the Sol Naciente to a roll up for 2. Aries gets a backslide for 2. He puts on the Horns of Aries. Yoshino hits the Lightning Spiral for 2. Aries avoids the shotgun dropkick and hits a shinbreaker and a back suplex. He hits the IED. He hits a brainbuster for 2. Yoshino avoids the 450 splash. He hits the Torbellino and puts on the Sol Naciente for the win at 17:59. Good back-and-forth stuff that made Aries an immediate presence in DGUSA while not overwhelming the Dream Gate Champion. After the match Rich Swann embarrasses Aries and leaves him alone in the ring.
Rating: ***½
In the back Johnny Gargano talks about how much he wants to be in WARRIORS International. Chuck Taylor may be off the market, but he’s not and he wants CIMA to choose him to join the WARRIORS.
Jimmy Jacobs vs. Jon Moxley {K} [I Quit Match]
Jacobs comes in from the balcony and hits a crossbody on Moxley from there! That’s one of the crazier ways I’ve seen a match begin. Jacobs whips and chokes Moxley with a belt. Moxley goes for a crossface chicken wing but Jacobs sends him to the floor. Moxley blocks a suicide dive and hits a lariat. He pulls Jacobs’ spike out of his boot but Jacobs avoids the shot. Moxley hits a dropkick. He puts on a cloverleaf. Jacobs gets to the apron and hits a spear there. He hits mounted punches but Moxley picks him up and powerbombs him onto the barricade. Back in the ring Moxley hits Jacobs with the spike. Jacobs bleeds as Moxley goes to town with the spike. Moxley chokes Jacobs in the ropes. They slug it out until Moxley gets a backslide into an armbar. That was pretty great given the stipulation. Jacobs gets hold of the spike and nails Moxley. He hits the Ace Crusher. Moxley blocks the spear. Jacobs ducks a lariat and hits the spear. He puts on the End Time. Moxley hits the Alabamaslam to escape. He hits the Hook and Ladder and puts on a crossface chicken wing. He ties Jacobs’ arms behind his back with the strap. Jacobs avoids a chair shot and gets a drop toehold. He puts on the End Time with his hands still tied behind his back! This is so cool! Moxley slams his way out of the hold. He slugs Jacobs and stabs his face with the spike. The referee pulls him off, which should really be the end of the match. Jacobs says he won’t quit, so the referee just sucks. Jacobs hits a low blow. He maneuvers out of his bindings and smacks Moxley with a chair. He hits another chair shot. He stabs the crap out of Moxley’s face with the spike. He puts the spike into Moxley’s crotch and that’s enough to get Moxley to quit at 12:28. Referee Harding pulling Moxley off Jacobs aside this was a perfect feud-ender for this match. It was violent, creative and never boring. Moxley is proven to be a fraud and an incredibly bloody Jacobs gets his redemption.
Rating: ****
After the match Jacobs says he’s come a long way since his dark days at the end of his ROH career. However, his road to recovery won’t be over until he wins a major singles championship. Tonight is the last night we’ll see him diving off of high places and bleeding like crazy because he’s going to his wrestle way to the Open the Freedom Gate Championship.
In the back Sami Callihan cuts a weird Mankind-inspired promo. He’s upset that he’ll likely not get drafted tonight. If does not get drafted and respected in DGUSA he’s going to start hurting people.
Brodie Lee & Akebono vs. Ophidian {CH} & Amasis {CH}
It’s so weird to me that Lee is just about as tall as Akebono after watching Akebono’s Triangle Gate reign. Just goes to show how tiny the Dragon Gate wrestlers are. Ophidian and Amasis argue over who will wrestle Lee first. Ophidian loses a chop battle with Lee. Lee has trouble catching up to Ophidian but eventually connects with an avalanche. Ophidian hits a head scissor takedown. He goes for a plancha but Lee catches him and throws him over the top rope INTO the ring. He hits a big boot. Akebono tags himself in. Amasis tries to jab Akebono while avoiding the big man’s shots. Akebono shoves him. He hits both opponents with a shoulder tackle. The Osirian Portal hypnotizes Akebono and send him into the corner. They dropkick Lee. They force Akebono to clothesline Lee. They celebrate with a dance and force Akebono to dance as well. They kick and elbow him in the corner. That snaps him out of the spell. Lee accidentally kicks Akebono. They smack each other for a while. The Osirian Portal go for crossbodies but the big guys catch them and hit a bodyslam and the Truck Stop, respectively, for the win at 2:49. After the match the big guys brawl until Yoshino and a bunch of nobodies pull them apart. This was a lot of fun actually, as really the only proper way to use Akebono is comedy.
Rating: **
In the back Homicide cuts one of his marble mouthed promos putting over Dragon Gate USA. He says he’s down with a new gang known as World-1. The promo gets confusing when Homicide mixes his metaphors and seemingly says the independent wrestling circuit is going down. Moxley attacks him from behind and says Kamikaze USA isn’t afraid of World-1’s new acquisition.
YAMATO {K} & Akira Tozawa {K} vs. CIMA {W5} & Genki Horiguchi {W5}
YAMATO and Horiguchi start. They trade holds to a stalemate. CIMA hits Tozawa with a chest kick. Tozawa dropkicks the knee and the face. Horiguchi splashes Tozawa’s leg. CIMA hits a senton and a chest kick. He kicks Tozawa’s face. YAMATO puts on a chinlock. CIMA chokes him with this skirt. YAMATO grabs Horiguchi’s hair and throws him across the ring. Tozawa hits a double axe handle to the hair. He hits a senton for 1. He puts on a chinlock. YAMATO pulls out Horiguchi’s hair. Tozawa puts on an abdominal stretch. Horiguchi hits a head scissor takedown on YAMATO. CIMA hits a bulldog. He suplexes Tozawa while holding YAMATO in a leglock. He ties Tozawa in a knot. He and Horiguchi hit a double dropkick. Horiguchi hits a back elbow and a tiger driver. CIMA hits the hanging double stomp on the floor. Horiguchi hits a back bodydrop back in the ring. CIMA hits a couple of bodyslams. Tozawa hits a dropkick. He hits a head scissor takedown and a knee kick. YAMATO dropkicks CIMA to the floor. He hits Horiguchi with a spear. He hits CIMA with an enziguiri. CIMA hits a dropkick. YAMATO dropkicks the knee. CIMA gets a roll up for 2. YAMATO puts on an anklelock. CIMA gets to the ropes. He misses a double stomp but hits a pair of kicks and a senton. He hits a double stomp. He hits Tozawa with the Venus and Iconoclasm. Horiguchi hits a basement dropkick. Tozawa misses the Apron Kara Tozawa but hits a senton. He and YAMATO unload with elbows. YAMATO hits an exploder for 2. He and Tozawa hit a Doomsday Crossbody for 2. CIMA hits YAMATO with the Superdrol. Horiguchi hits a swinging reverse DDT. CIMA hits a big boot and the Perfect Driver for 2. Horiguchi hits a mule kick. YAMATO puts on the sleeper. He hits a superplex, hurting his neck on the way down as he’s prone to doing. It still gets 2. He gets a schoolboy for 2. He punts Horiguchi. CIMA hits a superkick and adds a jackknife to Horiguchi’s Backslide from Heaven for 2. Tozawa stops him from hitting the Meteora. Horiguchi hits a hurricanrana. YAMATO hits the uranage. CIMA hits a missile dropkick. He superkicks Tozawa. Tozawa avoids the Schwein and hits the Ganki for 2. YAMATO hits a sick German suplex on Horiguchi. Tozawa hits his German suplex for 2. He hits CIMA with a suicide dive. Horiguchi catches YAMATO with the Backslide from Heaven for 2. YAMATO hits a big boot and a brainbuster for 2. He hits the Galleria for the win at 24:02. This took a good long while to get going but once it did there was some good stuff in there. Nothing you wouldn’t see on any episode of Infinity involving these guys in a main event slot, but good stuff nonetheless.
Rating: ***¾
Johnny Gargano comes out after the match and gets on the microphone. He asks CIMA one more time to let him in the WARRIORS. Before CIMA can say anything Gargano hits him with a superkick. Chuck Taylor and Rich Swann run out and attack Horiguchi at ringside. Gargano gets on the microphone and says it’s “too late.” He never wanted to join WARRIORS International. That seems unlikely. More likely is that he’s butt-hurt that CIMA never wanted him. Taylor takes the microphone and essentially says that the draft is condescending to the American talent. He calls this new trio Ronin and then lays CIMA out. CIMA, still horizontal, takes the microphone and says there’s a new WARRIORS member. Brodie Lee runs out and chases Ronin out of the ring. He, CIMA and Ricochet follow Ronin through the crowd.
In the back Austin Aries gets on the microphone and scorns Ronin for their cowardly tactics. Aries knows that Lee and CIMA are busy tomorrow night with Akebono and Takagi, respectively, so he’s going to help the WARRIORS take on Ronin by teaming with Horiguchi and Ricochet.
BxB Hulk © {W1} vs. Shingo Takagi {K} [Open the Freedom Gate Championship Match]
Takagi hits a shoulder tackle to start. They avoid each other’s strikes until Hulk connects with a dropkick. Takagi stalls. Hulk gives chase so Takagi drops him on the barricade. He hits an Olé Kick. Hulk baits him into clotheslining the post and then attacks that arm. Back in the ring Hulk hits a Yakuza kick. He goes back to the arm. Takagi gets to the ropes. Hulk dropkicks the arm for 2. He puts on a kimura. Takagi gets to the ropes. He hits an insane backbreaker. He hits a double stomp. He hits a gutbuster, a DDT and a senton. He hits a piledriver. He hits a kneedrop for 2. He hits a backbreaker. He hits another double stomp. He hits a hanging DDT. He hits another kneedrop. Hulk hits a high kick. He hits the apron EVO. He hits a baseball slide. He hangs Takagi on the barricade and hits a quebrada. Back in the ring Hulk hits a springboard dropkick. He sweeps the leg and hits a senton for 1. He hits the Mouse and the uranage. He hits the BxB Star Press for 2. He hits a series of kicks for 2. Takagi comes back with a spear that Hulk sells better than anyone has ever sold a spear. He works the back and hits a kneelift. He hits a side suplex. He hits a turnbuckle powerbomb and the Yo Throw. He hits the Pumping Bomber for 2. He hits a lariat in the corner. He hits a superplex and holds on to hit Hulk with the EVO for 2. And that’s why Takagi is the biggest bastard in wrestling without having to resort to cheap heat. Hulk blocks the Pumping Bomber and hits a roundhouse kick. Takagi slugs him. Hulk hits an ax kick. Takagi hits a lariat. Hulk hits the First Flash. Takagi hits a headbutt. He hits MADE IN JAPAN for 2. Hulk blocks the STAY DREAM and hits a leg lariat. He hits the avalanche EVO for 2. Takagi gets up quickly and goes for the Blood Fall but Hulk blocks it and hits an ax kick. He hits the First Flash. He hits the Phoenix Splash for 2. He hit the H Thunder for the win at 26:09. This wasn’t as good as their match from July, and I actually have quite a big problem with Hulk winning here (it would have been a much bigger moment in front of more than 200 people, in Japan and with Hulk winning something instead of just defending a relatively unimportant belt), but I didn’t expect a masterpiece since this was in front of about 7,500 less people than their World match. Truthfully it was more on par with their 60-minute draw than it even was with their World 2008 main event.
Rating: ***¾
After the match YAMATO runs out and clocks Hulk with his title belt. Yoshino makes the save with a supercharged dropkick. He gets on the microphone and reminds YAMATO that he’s the Dream Gate Champion. Tomorrow night he’s going to put YAMATO down. Then he gets the fans behind BxB Hulk before thanking them for coming to the show.
Well the production quality of this show was trash, with the volume fluctuating and the picture quality far from ideal. That and the debacle that was the draft were definite drawbacks. However, the matches were all quite good, especially the I Quit Match.
