100 Percent Fordified: Dragon Gate USA Freedom Fight 2010

Rahway, NJ – 10.30.2010

Commentary is provided by Lenny Leonard and Leonard F. Chikarason.

Jimmy Jacobs vs. Arik Cannon

Cannon controls Jacobs’ arm. Jacobs suplexes Cannon to reverse. Cannon armdrags him into a hammerlock. Jacobs trips Cannon into a pin for two. Cannon hits a spinebuster and turns Jacobs into a Muta Lock. Jacobs crawls to the ropes to break. Cannon blocks a suplex. Jacobs blocks a brainbuster. Cannon gets a two with an O’Connor Roll. Jacobs hits a wheelbarrow bulldog which sends Cannon to the floor. Cannon cuts Jacobs’ dive off. Jacobs kicks him to the floor and follows out. Cannon superkicks Jacobs. They each hit a hard chop. Jacobs takes Cannon down with a headscissors. He then runs in the ring just to dive back out. Jacobs curb stomps Cannon’s face into the canvas. Cannon ducks a clothesline and hits a neckbreaker for two. Cannon snapmares Jacobs into a dropkick for two. Jacobs shoves Cannon off the middle rope. He hits a swinging suplex for two. Jacobs bulldogs Cannon for two. Jacobs hits a Superman spear for two. Cannon sends Jacobs into the corner with an exploder suplex. Jacobs grabs his knee in pain. Cannon lays in some headbutts, hoping to bust Jacobs’ open (he was busted open by Jon Moxley the night before). Jacobs fires up and knocks Cannon down with a clothesline. Cannon evades the Contra Code, but Jacobs jumps back into an ace crusher. A cannonball senton gets him two. Cannon superkicks Jacobs to block the End Time. Cannon drops him with Total Anarchy for two. Cannon hits a brainbuster and the Glimmering Warlock for two. Jacobs headscissors into the End Time. Cannon taps out at 11:46. Both guys gave it their all and had the crowd going nuts by the end. This was a great way to start the show and both men looked very strong coming out of it. ***

Ronin (Chuck Taylor, Johnny Gargano, & Rich Swann) are backstage. Gargano says they had CIMA right where they wanted him. It felt good for Gargano to kick CIMA in his goofy face. Gargano says they aren’t mindless sheep and that they’ll do whatever they want. Taylor says they made an example out of CIMA, Austin Aries, and Ricochet last night. Taylor promises they’ll do it again and make an example out of Horiguchi as well. Swann adds a “RONIN BABY!” for good measure.

Brodie Lee vs. Akebono

Akebono splashes Lee right at the bell. They fail to knock each other down with shoulder blocks. Akebono finally knocks Lee down and drops an elbow for two. Lee bails to the floor and Akebono follows. He throws Lee into the guardrail. Lee evades a splash and kicks Akebono a few times. In the ring, Akebono knocks Lee down with a couple strikes for two. Lee evades a splash. Akebono accidentally hits referee Bryce Remsburg, so Lee uses a chair while he can. He hits a series of attacks in the corner. Akebono gets booted on his knees and Lee pins him at 2:47. Akebono is just awful and the finish was awkward (Akebono kicked out, but his shoulders never left the mat, so he got counted down). At least this was short and Lee won, but the awkward finish makes that part of it worthless as well. DUD

Callihan cuts a promo about not getting chances in Dragon Gate that he deserves. He puts Dragon Gate on warning, begging them to give him a chance. Callihan’s craziness is literally unbelievable, as in it’s too goofy to be taken seriously.

World-1 (BxB Hulk & Homicide) vs. Kamikaze USA (Akira Tozawa & Jon Moxley)

Homicide lays in a flurry of punches to Moxley. Tozawa tags in, knocks Hulk off the apron, and attacks Homicide. Homicide ducks a clothesline and tags in Hulk who knocks Kamikaze down with a springboard dropkick. Hulk gets the best of Tozawa in a quick exchange. Hulk delivers a low dropkick for two. Homicide and Hulk double team Tozawa but only get a two count. Hulk nails him with a back heel kick for two. Tozawa low blows Homicide to switch the momentum. Kamikaze beat down Homicide in their corner, distracting the referee at times to get in some illegal blows. Tension picks up between Moxley and Homicide during the exchange, with headbutts being thrown and Moxley biting Homicide in the forehead. Moxley puts Homicide in a Fujiwara armbar, but Homicide rolls out and tags in Hulk. Hulk hits Moxley with a spinwheel kick and a standing corkscrew senton on Tozawa for two. Tozawa misses the Apron Kara Tozawa. Hulk blocks a senton with his knees. Hulk hits an axe kick and the BxB Star Press for two. He follows up with an EVO but Moxley breaks the pin. Homicide pitches Moxley to the floor and sentons off the apron. Tozawa gives Hulk a tornado enzugiri. Hulk hits a leaping enzuigiri as Homicide and Moxley fight on the floor. Tozawa lands Ganki for two. Tozawa hits a bicycle kick and Hulk hits Mouse. Tozawa rolls up Hulk for two. Hulk hits First Flash and the FTX for the pin at 13:29. It was kind of strange the way the story built, but it was fun for the entirety of the bout and the crowd ate it up. The story building between Homicide and Moxley was effective as well. ***

Moxley eggs Homicide on calling him weak. From behind, YAMATO nails Hulk with the Open The Freedom Gate championship belt. The referees break up the fight and take Hulk and YAMATO to the back (Tozawa left earlier). Homicide finally has enough and attacks Moxley in the ring. The two men brawl ringside…forever. Seriously, this felt like it lasted an entirety. Things finally conclude when Moxley begins targeting Homicide’s arm with a chair. Referees and other random folks break up the brawl.

Austin Aries is backstage with Genki Horiguchi and Ricochet of WARRIORS International. Aries says Ronin made the wrong choice to try and use him to make a stand last night. Aries says Ronin will pay the price because they’re coming for them.

CIMA vs. Shingo Takagi

CIMA and Shingo switch control of each others arms. They reach a stalemate on the mat. The pace picks up and both men trade armdrags. Shingo sends CIMA down with a shoulder block. CIMA blocks a suplex by kicking Shingo in his inner thigh. CIMA torques Shingo’s leg in the corner. CIMA takes Shingo to the mat. Shingo knees CIMA on the throat. Shingo delivers a uranage over his knee. CIMA rolls to the floor. Shingo follows out and whips CIMA into the barricades. Shingo hits him in the back with a chair. Back in the ring, Shingo continues to focus his attack on CIMA’s back. CIMA slams Shingo and doublestomps him out of the corner to reverse the tide. CIMA then slingshots in with a dropkick to the side of Shingo’s head. CIMA hits a running dropkick. He kicks Shingo multiple times in the chest and back before landing on him with a rolling senton for two. Shingo blocks the Perfect Driver. CIMA puts on a Guillotine choke on the mat. Shingo muscles CIMA up into a fisherman’s suplex. Shingo goes for the Blood Fall, but CIMA avoids it. He hits a low spinwheel kick. Shingo catches CIMA with a uranage across the knee. CIMA hits a Superdrol, and both men now lay on the mat. CIMA gives Shingo double knees in the corner and missile dropkick. He hits the Perfect Driver for two. CIMA hits a coast-to-coast dropkick. CIMA hits the Neji to Hashi. Shingo evades the Meteora and lariats CIMA in the corner. Shingo goes up top with CIMA on his shoulders. He hits the STAY DREAM for two. Shingo catches CIMA with the Blood Fall and a Pumping Bomber for two. Shingo drops him with MADE IN JAPAN for two. CIMA superkicks Shingo, and Shingo responds with a hard right hand. CIMA connects with Schwein for two. CIMA grazes Shingo with the Mona Lisa Overdrive. He sets up Shingo by the turnbuckle. He hits Meteora for the pin at 17:10. This was good, but not really as good as you might expect. The fact that CIMA kicked out of all of Shingo’s big moves annoyed me, but then again he is the top guy and Shingo kicked out of a lot of his moves too. Still, this was fun, and I think a rematch would be fun. ***1/2

CIMA announces that when Dragon Gate USA returns (in January 2011), they will hold a tournament to crown DGUSA tag team champions. CIMA says they will Open The United Gate (which is the name of the new tag belts).

Sami Callihan vs. Shane Smalls

Callihan charges at Smalls. Smalls ducks and hits a couple forearms. They do nothing. Callihan absolutely destroys Smalls with a hard lariat and forearms in the corner. He traps Smalls in the mat and lays forearms into his neck. He then stretches Smalls neck and face back. Smalls gets in a jawbreaker, but Callihan catches him coming off the second rope with a side Russian legsweep for two. Smalls avoids a top rope headbutt and gets two. Smalls hits a standing moonsault for two. Callihan hits a Saito suplex and an arm-capture belly to belly suplex. Callihan hits the Forearm to Remember. He locks in the Stretch Muffler and Smalls taps out at 2:40. Callihan’s intensity in the ring needs to be toned down slightly, and his character needs some tweaking so I actually believe his character. He has potential and I expect good things, but his act needs some working on. *

Jimmy Jacobs says he is now on the path to the Open The Freedom Gate Championship. He believes that people don’t believe in him to be the champion, but his singles victories over Jon Moxley and Arik Cannon this weekend say differently. He thinks this weekend was his start on the road to the title.

WARRIORS International (Genki Horiguchi & Ricochet) & Austin Aries vs. Ronin (Chuck Taylor, Johnny Gargano, & Rich Swann)

Taylor and Ricochet go through their usual rigamaroll to kick the match off. Ricochet wins the exchange by dropkicking Taylor out of a sunset flip. Horiguchi and Gargano tag in. Horiguchi dropkicks Gargano and does the WARRIOR pose. Swann tags in and does some dancing. Horiguchi retaliates with some moves of his own. Aries tags in, but Swann tags out to Gargano right away, afraid of what Aries will do after he dissed him last night. Aries forces Gargano into the corner and has him tag Swann in. Swann kicks Aries away in a short exchange on the mat. Aries aggressively works over his arm. Aries and Swann pick up the pace. Aries avoids a dropkick which incenses Swann. Aries escapes a headscissors with a dropkick (of course!) Aries throws Swann into Horiguchi’s boot and then tags him in. Swann backs Horiguchi into the corner where he and Taylor boot him down in the corner. Horiguchi escapes Ronin’s grap by hip tossing Taylor and tags in Aries. Aries slams and rakes his boots across all three members of Ronin. A leaping elbow on Swann gets him two. Aries sends Swann to the floor. Gargano cuts off the heat-seeking missile with a slingshot spear. Taylor hits a quebrada and Swann hits a frog spleash for two. Aries gets bullied by Ronin in their corner. Aries fights all three of them off by punching Taylor and Gargano on the apron and knocking Swann down with a clothesline. He tags in Ricochet who takes Taylor, Gargano, and Swann down with various headscissors and ranas. Ricochet gives Taylor Déjà vu. Ricochet hits Gargano with a standing moonsault but the pin gets broken. Ricochet rounds off onto Taylor’s shoulders. Taylor flapjacks him and Gargano gives him a low ace crusher. Everyone but Swann gets trapped in a chain of submissions. Swann of course breaks it. Horiguchi crotches Taylor on the bottom rope, allowing Aries to give Gargano and Swann the heat-seeking missile. In the ring, Ricochet gives Taylor the Chocolate Rain for two. Taylor fights off Horiguchi’s Beach Break. Ronin gives him double enzuigiri’s and a dropkick in the corner for two. Swann hops off Gargano’s back into a shooting star press on Aries. Taylor jackknife pins him for two. Ricochet gives Swann a backslide driver. Aries hits Swann with the IED. Horiguchi tries the Backslide From Heaven but Gargano breaks it. Horiguchi hits him with a tornado DDT. Taylor gives Horiguchi the Sole Food. Aries gives Taylor the powerdrive elbow. Swann hits Aries with an enzuigiri. Ricochet rolls into an overhead kick, sending Swann to the floor. Ricochet hits a corkscrew Sasuke Special on everyone. In the ring, Gargano blasts Ricochet with a superkick and lawn darts him in the corner. Swann double stomps Ricochet into a DDT from Taylor. He boots Ricochet into the Hurts Donut from Gargano, scoring the pin at 21:13. Ronin put in an awesome performance in their debut as a trio. This match was exciting, fun, and really got across all six competitors’ characters. Ronin is easily the most exciting trio at the moment and will be a tour de force in DGUSA. ****

Jon Moxley and YAMATO of Kamikaze USA are backstage. Moxley says he was disappointed that Homicide wasn’t the bad man he thought he was. He then tells YAMATO that he’s in the main event and he needs him to end the night on a good note for Kamikaze USA.

Masato Yoshino vs. YAMATO

An exchange on the mat leads to a stand off. Yoshino knocks him down with a dropkick. Yoshino wins an exchange off the ropes with a tilt-a-whirl headscissors. Yoshino reverses a knuckle lock. Yoshino violently drops down on YAMATO’s arm. Yoshino puts YAMATO in an Ocotopus stretch on the mat. Yoshino works on YAMATO’s arm, but YAMATO takes to Yoshino’s leg in response. The fans get behind Yoshino, which helps him hop over a corner attack and hit the Sling Blade. Yoshino applies Coumori. He then hits a running dropkick to the side of YAMATO’s head. YAMATO evades a missile dropkick and hits a diving forearm. YAMATO kicks Yoshino’s leg out. Yoshino comes back and applies From Jungle. YAMATO escapes and German suplexes Yoshino for two. They fight on the top rope until Yoshino takes YAMATO down with a Sling Blade for two. YAMATO drills him with a spear. Yoshino double stomps YAMATO’s arm. Yoshino gives the bad arm Ude Yoshino. YAMATO blocks Sol Naciente. He puts on an abdominal stretch. He pump handles him up, but Yoshino drops YAMATO on the back of his head. Yoshino connects with a missile dropkick. He hits the Lightning Spiral for two. YAMATO delivers a superplex for two. YAMATO kicks Yoshino in the head and drops him with a brainbuster for two. Yoshino drops him with a crucifix bomb for two. He tries a crucifix pin for two. YAMATO drops him with a Galleria for two. YAMATO looks distraught that Yoshino kicked out. Yoshino gives YAMATO two Torbellinos and calls for Sol Naciente. YAMATO counters by sitting down on the submission for two. Yoshino flips YAMATO over and applies Sol Naciente. YAMATO submits at 23:41. I loved the desperation YAMATO had in the end, leading him to trying to sneak in a quick pin when Yoshino tried for Sol Naciente in the end. This wasn’t the best match either guy has had, but still fun. ***1/2

Yoshino thanks the crowd for coming and asks the fans if they want DG to return. Yoshino confirms that they will be back (though they came back to Union City, NJ instead of Rahway). He thanks them one more time and then leaves with BxB Hulk.

Bonus Content

Six Way Freestyle
Amasis vs. Ophidian vs. Sami Callihan vs. Silas Young vs. Cheech vs. Caleb Konley

Ophidian takes control of Young on the mat. They each go for some quick pinfalls but only get two. Ophidian counters a Finlay Roll into a prawn hold for two. Callihan springboard dropkicks Ophidian into Young. Amasis chops Callihan and it has no effect. Callihan fires away with strikes of his own. Amasis hits a sole butt and then gets chopped. Callihan gets pissed at a slap from Asis and headbutts him. He baits Konley into being clotheslined off the mat and to the floor. Young and Callihan trade strikes, reminiscent of their encounter in the FRAY last night. Callihan sends Young to the floor. He baseball slides out but gets suplexed onto the apron. Konley misses a crossbody on Cheech. Konley connects with a huracanrana. Cheech hits a slingshot senton. Ophidian comes in and gets chopped by Cheech. Ophidian blocks a superkick and backslides Cheech for two. Amasis and Ophidian double team Cheech. Cheech throws Ophidian stomach first to the mat. He drops both members of the Portal with tandem flip neckbreakers. Young knocks Cheech to the floor. Konley hits him with shotgun knees. Young hits a backbreaker and a clothesline. Cheech cartwheels off the top into a superkick. He puts Amasis in a tree of woe over Young. Cheech crucifix bombs Ophidian into Young and Amasis. Callihan catches Cheech with the Zig Zag for two. Young catches Callihan with a forearm to block a dive. Konley moonsaults onto the Portal on the floor. Cheech and Young hit tandem dives to the floor. In the ring, Young gives Cheech the Peegee Waja Plunge. The Portal break the pin. The Portal drop Young with Mummification. The Portal then give Callihan the Slave Initiation. Amasis gives him a spinebuster, but then eats a tornado kick from Konley. Ophidian dives onto Callihan and Young. The Portal gives Konley a Pyramid superplex. They hit the Osirian Sacrament but argue over who will get the pin. When Callihan comes in they double team him. Callihan suplexes them both. Konley rolls Callihan up for two. Callihan drops him with a dragonscrew leg whip. He puts on the Stretch Muffler and Konley taps out at 11:56. This seemed just a little off all around, and was shy of being as good as the Fray last night. Callihan won two nights in a row, so you can expect big thigs from him in the future. **3/4

A five minute highlight video of the show is also included.

The 411: This show is a solid enough follow up to Bushido. The vast majority of the matches go above the three star mark and deliver on the build up from the previous night. Ronin were the shining stars of the show and have nothing but a world of promise ahead of themselves. The usual Dragon Gate guys put in good showings as well, but not their usual best. Still, Freedom Fight has plenty of good wrestling and story advancement to keep you entertained.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]