DG USA Open the Ultimate Gate Review

-Taped from Atlanta, Georgia

-Your hosts are Lenny Leonard and Leonard F. Chikarason

-Open the United Gate champions, PAC and Masato Yoshino cut a promo about their title defense later tonight. Neither guy is particularly strong. They looked tough in the end though.

-CIMA cuts a much better promo. His charisma really carries him. Naruki Doi just sort of shouts things in the background.

-Johnny Gargano vs. Jimmy Rave

Match in Five Words or Less: Jimmy Rave Huh?

Match Summary/Analysis: This might be the closest thing to a traditional wrestling match that will be on the show. A bit slow to start. There are a lot of guys who are better as heels. Rave is one of them. Gargano is not. Wish Rave could have been more heelish in this contest considering how DG USA is trying to position Gargano. Gargano begins working Rave’s left arm. Rave counters into a headlock. Nice series of moves ending with a jumping neckbreaker. Slingshot press for two. Rave hits a nice clothesline to take control. Japanese stranglehold as Rave slows it down significantly. In and out of the hold multiple times with multiple counters and reversals. Gotta appreciate this match for working over one hold so persistently. Swinging neckbreaker. Spear back in the ring by Gargano. Flurry of offense again by Gargano. Huge left hand. Gargano locks Rave up in the corner and hits him with elbows. Clothesline misses. Roll-up and an elbow. Diving acecrusher for two. Senton to the floor. Rave hits an STO on the apron. Rave follows Gargano off the ropes and hits a clothesline. Gargano placed on the top rope. Rave hits a snap superplex. Knee to the gut but shining wizard ducked. Gargano Escape. Rave with an almost torbelleno into a crossface. Double clothesline. Forearm exchange. Enziguri by Gargano. Lawn dart into a superkick. Swinging neckbreaker for 1-2-NO! Series of counters. Knee to the head, DDT, and shining wizard. 1-2-NO! Release German suplex. Superkick. Hertz Doughnut. Gargano Escape. Rave finally has no choice but to tap. I’m usually not a fan of long openers, but this was a strong contest that showcased both guys. I absolutely wanted to see Rave back in DG USA after watching this, and Gargano continued to show why he’s the most improved wrestler in 2011.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Johnny Gargano/16:32/***1/2

-Jon Moxley talks about taking people out and says Kamikaze USA is the most dominant force in the company. There you go. Trina Michaels looks like a coked out whore. Yamato looks bemused at her presence.

-Sami Callihan vs. Arik Cannon vs. AR Fox vs. Rich Swann vs. Lince Dorado vs. Silas Young

Match in Five Words or Less: Pure Insanity

Match Summary/Analysis: Some people actually cheer for Silas when he comes out. That makes me happy. Swann sells his injuries from the beating he took in the six man main event the night before. Cannon and Calihan get into right away. They sure are dirty and ugly. Cannon and Dorado start and have a very luchaesque sequence. Things break down quickly. Guys are in and out very fast. Various combinations take turns putting on a fun freestyle. Fox in particular has the kind of offense that will make him something special in Japan. Even Silas Young breaks out a space tiger driver. Fox with a 450 on the other four guys. Dorado with a corkscrew moonsault. His leg lands rather awkwardly on the rail. Ouch. Calihan and Cannon end up in the ring. Strike exchange. Dorado and Swann rudely interrupt and get suplexed for their troubles. Headbutts by Cannon and Calihan. Double team on Fox. Fox eats a punch right in the face. Young fails as well. Cannon and Calihan just take everyone out and then leave the ring. Dorado and Swann with a chop and kick exchange. Dorado misses a shooting star press. Standing 450  by Swann gets Ronin a second consecutive victory. An okay entry into the freestyle match. Definitely lost some importance when Calihan and Cannon simply walked out.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Rich Swann/10:01/***

-Brodie Lee vs. Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa

Match in Five Words or Less: Squasheroo

Match Summary/Analysis: I wouldn’t mind Ichikawa coming to the states if there weren’t at least half a dozen other guys from Dragon Gate Japan that deserve to be seen by American fans. Cima calls Stalker a cockroach and a joke. Ichikawa gets some token offense in because Brodie was likely feeling generous. Ichikawa goes for a German suplex. Whoops. Boot to the face and a truck stop. Not really worth rating since it barely went two minutes.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Brodie Lee/2:01/N/R

-Blood Warriors take Stalker’s antennas off and have some fun at his expense. Ronin makes their way to ringside. Brodie tells Swann to shut up and challenges Chucky T to a match.  Taylor starts right away!

– Chuck Taylor vs. Brodie Lee

Match in Five Words or Less: Too Short

Match Summary/Analysis: Quick series of kicks by Taylor. Huge dive as we’re underway. Ricochet grabs Taylor’s leg, and Brodie asserts his dominance. Brawl on the floor. Taylor comes back with a chop but Lee drops him on the rail. Lee sets up for the big boot. He misses and end up on the floor. Dropkick by Taylor. Moonsault from the apron. Springboard dropkick and a running boot of his own. Lee looks angry. DDT by Taylor gets two. Truck Stop for two by Lee. Running boots. Half nelson suplex. Short clothesline for two. Taylor goes for the Awful Waffle but no dice. Combination of offense ending with a springboard moonsault for two. Lee with a butterfly superplex. Lee sitdown powerbomb gets him the win. This was a bit disappointing. I know these two can do better. Really should have had Ronin go undefeated on this night to make up for what happened in the six man tag the previous night.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Brodie Lee/6:49/**

-Cima calls out the United Gate champions as they want their championship match to being right now. Yoshino and PAC oblige.

– Open The United Gate Title Match: PAC & Masato Yoshino (champions) vs. CIMA & Naruki Doi

Match in Five Words or Less: Spectacular As Usual

Match Summary/Analysis: This is the first title defense for Yoshino and PAC. Token mat work by Cima and PAC to start. PAC gets the better of it. Yoshino and Doi in next. Doi tries slowing the pace dow, but the champions get the advantage briefly. Now it’s Blood Warriors’ turn. They focus on PAC’s legs. Champs work on Cima’s arm next. They break out the old Speed Muscle double axehandles. Chop exchange develops between Doi and PAC. Double back elbows. Cima uses Yoshino to get momentum on a leaping dropkick. Champs go back to work on PAC. Blood Warriors from a human centipede as Cima lays a spanking down on the champs. Dropkick into Yoshino’s ass. Well then. Heat segment on PAC continues. Doi angers PAC and lets him back in the match. Step-up enziguri and a hot tag to Yoshino. Cima misses Venus and ends up tied in the rope. Running dropkick on the apron. Still an incredible move no matter how many times I see it. Doi meets Yoshino with a dropkick. Attempted double team by Blood Warriors fails. Yoshino hits a dive. PAC with a crossbody for two. PAC and Doi go back and forth. Northern lights suplex by PAC gets a long two. Dropkick to the back of PAC. Enziguri by Cima sends PAC down. Yoshino from behind into an octopus. Roll-up for two. Cima gets lost but recovers for a dropkick. Springboard double stomp immediately into a leg drop.Dropkick/senton combo from Yoshino. Slingblade on Doi. Corkscrew press off Yoshino by PAC for two. Cima hit a venus and goes for the Perfect Driver. Yoshino down.  Slingblade again. PAC hits a springboard 450 for two. PAC rolls through but is hit with a Rydian bomb.  Superkick and Schwein hit. 1-2-NO! Doi 5 countered. Kick to the head. Standing shooting star met with knees. Yoshino side-stepped into his partner. Cannonball/dropkick off the top rope combo. Doi 5 and Bakatare sliding kick for two. All four men are down. Muscular bomb countered into a cradle by Yoshino. Lightning spiral on Doi for two. That looked nasty. PAC holds off Cima on the outside. Pair of Torbellenos into Sal Naciante. Cima desperately tries to break free and break the hold. Doi has no choice but to tap. Champs retain in an awesome match. About what you’d expect but that doesn’t mean it’s any less spectacular.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: STILL United Gate Champions- Masato Yoshino and PAC/23:04/****

-Ronin comes out to talk trash at Blood Warriors. Gargano makes a transgender joke at Cima. Well, I guess that continues their feud.

-Lenny Leonard comes out to suck up to the crowd and bring out Dark City Fight Club for an interview. Jon Davis says that DCFC feel like they’re one of the best teams in the world and want to compete on this show or a future show. Here comes Calihan and Cannon after obliterating the competition in their multi-man match. They talk briefly and say they want to fight. So they do.

-Sami Callihan & Arik Cannon vs. The Dark City Fight Club (Jon Davis and Kory Chavis)

Match in Five Words or Less: Dirty and Ugly

Match Summary/Analysis: Brawl goes all over the outside of the ring. Bryce Remsburg can’t get control of the match. Chavis sends Calihan into the apron hard back first. Davis and Cannon clubber away in the ring. Powerslam as DCFC maintains control. Assisted leg drop and back drop. Calihan comes off the top and gets hit with Total Elimination. Another double team attempt but Cannon breaks it up. Headscissors by Calihan. Davis and Cannon resume their brawling ways. Neckbreaker. Back drop driver attempt. Flying clothesline and Total Anarchy gets two. Double team by Calihan and Cannon on Chavis. Davis POUNCES Calihan. Chavis covers but only gets two. Cannon superkick on Davis on the outside. Right hand by Cannon. Back drop driver by Calihan. Glimmering warlock by Cannon. Double cover and a win. This was specifically designed for Cannon and Calihan to get over. Not sure how successful they’ll be as a team but they accomplished what they needed to in this match. I’d like to see DCFC come in as a regular team because I think they add something completely different to DG USA that isn’t being seen. I also understand why they would want to push Davis as a single star.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Sami Calihan and Arik Cannon/5:12/*1/2

-Calihan doesn’t feel he gets the respect he deserves and decides to team up with another messed up dude, the guy standing in the ring with him. The fake laughing HAS to go. Of course, their oh so wonderful nickname is brought up. Thankfully, they’re referred to as D.U.F more often.

-AR Fox is disappointed and upset with his weekend but is ready for more.

-Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Jacobs

Match in Five Words or Less: Last Match…HA!

Match Summary/Analysis: This is allegedly going to be Austin Aries’ final match in DG USA or Evolve and how fitting it’s against one of his most bitter rivals over the years in indy wrestling. Aries is actually crying before the bell rings. These two men had a lot of brawls and vicious contests over the years, so the fact that this was so basic and pretty much just a regular match might be surprising. Aries mocks Jacobs for putting him in a headscissors. Dropkick of course. Aries voluntarily takes a headscissors. Things start heating up. Aries is angry Jacobs slapped his butt. He could do worse. Aries tells the referee to step aside. To the outside for a brawl. Aries gets an assist from a fan’s boot. Aries tosses Jacobs back on the outside and elbows him. Crowd is definitely behind Austin Aries in this one. Aries goes through his trademark offense for what would seem to be the last time. Contra code gets two for Jacobs. Aries sends Jacobs into the corner. Knee to the gut followed by the STO followed by the pendulum elbow. Jacobs fights Aries off the top rope. Senton meets with knees. Dropkick in the corner. 450 misses. Spear countered into Last Chancery. Brainbuster countered into an O’Connor roll. Jacobs springboards off with an acecrusher. End Time. Aries up and drops Jacobs down. Roll-up by Aries for two. Kick to the head. Jacobs small packages Aries and gets three out of nowhere. That’s what I can an out of nowhere. The crowd doesn’t like it, but I thought it was pretty bloody brilliant. Solid back and forth wrestling match. This was something completely different from the rest of this card, even more basic than the opener.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Jimmy Jacobs/14:26/***1/4

–Crowd chants for Austin Aries after the match since his career is over. Done. Finished. Finito. He shakes Jacobs’ hand and hugs him. Jimmy Rave comes out and gets the same treatment. Fitting since Aries and Rave were part of such an important feud in Ring of Honor. Aries talks about his career and how wrestlers don’t earn the money they deserve for the work they put in. Amen. He gets a few shots in on his critics but also talks about the positive message he got. Aries announces he’s passing the torch to a group that reminds him of Generation Next, that being Ronin. Swann, Gargano, and Taylor nervously head in the ring in a bit of foreshadowing. He says something nice about each man. Blood Warriors comes out next, and they don’t look happy. Aries says BW are being disrespectful. He calls Doi, Cima, and Ricochet into the ring to earn some respect. BW passes. Aries then nails all three members of Ronin with a microphone because he found his purpose in Dragon Gate. BEATDOWN! So that long technical match with Jacobs and speech? Means nothing. And I wouldn’t have been so bothered by this angle is Aries didn’t just simply walk out of DG USA after the next set of shows in June. This angle is why no one takes retirement angles in wrestling seriously and why people fold their arms and remain cynical in wrestling. Aries says he found his purpose in DG USA but doesn’t exactly make his purpose clear. Beat up Ronin? Join Blood Warriors?

-Akira Tozawa comes out for his non-title match. Yamato comes out with Jon Moxley and Trina Michaels in tow. Moxley says Tozawa never belonged in Kamikaze USA but he’ll give Tozawa an opportunity. If Tozawa can beat Moxley in a no rules match, Tozawa can have a championship match with Yamato immediately afterward.

-No Disqualification Match: Akira Tozawa vs. Jon Moxley (w/Trina Michaels)

Match in Five Words or Less: Short

Match Summary/Analysis: Michaels nails Tozawa from behind, and the fight is on. Moxley takes out Bryce Remsburg almost immediately. They go all over the building. Moxley throws some chairs into the ring, and they’re not the folding ones either. Series of blows by Moxley. Tozawa puts Moxley in one of the chairs and hits a bicycle kicks. Michaels heads back in the ring. Moxley low blow. Michaels on top with some blows in the mounting position. Moxley with a vertical suplex. Tozawa release German suplex into the corner. Another with a bridge and Tozawa gets the three count. Not much here but the purpose was served. Tozawa can now get his title shot. We can get quickly get Trina Michaels the hell off this show.

Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Akira Tozawa/3:58/*

-Trina Michaels slaps Tozawa around. Reby Sky comes out. Michaels accidentally nails Moxley with her purse. Sky DDTs Michaels. There is an incredible lack of reaction to this. Crowd doesn’t want Michaels back. I completely agree. Neither one of these girls has any place on a DG USA show. To the main event.

Open The Freedom Gate Title Match: YAMATO (champion) vs. Akira Tozawa

Match in Five Words or Less: Match Of The Year Candidate

Match Summary/Analysis: All the gaga is gone from ringside. Feeling out process to start. Pace quickens. Tozawa armdrag into an armbar. Yamato counters and sends him down. Boots in the corner. Chop exchange. Cravat into a flying kick. Scoop slam and a standing senton. Forearm exchange. Yamato wins that easily. Series of kicks. Handful of face. Skirt comes off as we’re serious now. Another chop exchange. Yamato with a tile-a-whirl backbreaker. Camel clutch. Hard chops and forearms in the corner. Yamato continues working on Tozawa’s back. Tozawa tries a chop, but his back is not doing very well. Yamato re-asserts himself. Bicycle kick misses, but a basement dropkick and flying kick sends Yamato out. Pair of missile dives. Tozawa sentons Yamato on the floor. Tozawa goes for a back drop driver. Yamato goes for one of his own. Tozawa finally hits it. Drop down and a pair of kicks. Kick by Yamato. Off the ropes into a sunset flip. Yamato locks a Boston crab before transitioning into a single leg. Into the ropes and Yamato breaks the hold. Tozawa slowly gets up and in the face of Yamato. Strike exchange. Incredible exchange of strikes and kicks. Enziguri by Yamato. Back drop driver by Tozawa. Both men recover. Running boot in the corner by Tozawa. Running forearm after Yamato misses a charge. Yamato sends Tozawa down. Tozawa climbs back up. Superplex. 1-2-NO! O’Connor roll executed. Yamato with a kick to the head and brainbuster. Tozawa up quickly. Shining wizard. Good God. Crowd gets behind the challenger. Forearm exchange as they get to their feet. Tozawa comes out on top. Into the corner. Whip reversed. Bicycle kick by Tozawa. German suplex. Yamato out of an arm capture German. Tozawa gets a regular German again. 1-2-NO! Yamato rolls Tozawa up for two. A second for two. Yamato tosses Tozawa on the mat knees first. Sleeper into a suplex. Kick to the head. Brainbuster. 1-2-NO! Gallaria BUT TOZAWA KICKS OUT AT ONE! Forearms by Yamato and another Gallaria gets three. An absolutely amazing performance by both men. These two went at it 100 miles per hour for 22 minutes and worked their butts off. Tozawa out forth quite the performance by himself this weekend, and you could really see just how good he’s become. Yamato says he respects Tozawa after the match. You would sure hope so after that battle.

 Winner (s)/Time/Rating: STILL Open the Freedom Gate Champion-Yamato/22:26/****1/2

Line of the Night: Lenny Leonard, “Trina Michaels from behind…” I’m not connecting the dots on this one folks. You are all smart enough to get the irony.

Finish of the Night: The post-match angle wasn’t a home run, but I loved the finish with Jacobs just sort of winning out of nowhere with a small package. More DG USA matches should end like this.

MVP: Akira Tozawa. Duh. Wrestling twice on the same show and having one of the matches be a match of the year candidate? This is a rather easy decision.

The Verdict: Of all the Dragon Gate USA shows, this one may have featured the most variety of matches. Rave/Gargano and Aries/Jacobs are unlike any matches you’ll see from this company, and I certainly hope we can get Jimmy Rave back in this promotion before too long. The two title matches really sent whole show into the thumbs up level. A couple portions of the second half didn’t set my world on fire, but ever match seemed to have a point to it and accomplished something. Another strong performance from DG USA in a series of them.