Break It Down: DGUSA Open The Freedom Gate

Opening Match: Matt Jackson vs. Nick Jackson vs. Gran Akuma vs. Hallowicked vs. Lince Dorado vs. Johnny Gargano
The winner will advance to the main event title match. Hallowicked snaps off a hurricanrana on Akuma and catches Gargano with a kick to the face. He follows with a dive to the floor. Matt superkicks Dorado but gets caught with a spinning headscissors. Nick connects with a spin kick on Dorado but falls victim to a spear and an ace crusher from Gargano. The Young Bucks utilize some double team moves and tease a showdown. Hallowicked and Dorado catch them with stereo missile dropkicks. Hallowicked hits Go 2 Sleepy Hollow on Dorado along with a rydeen bomb. Dorado answers with a shooting star press. Akuma lays him out with a lungblower. Nick catches Akuma with a slingshot facebuster and follows with a moonsault onto Dorado. Gargano superkicks Akuma but falls victim to the Young Bucks’ moonsault-frog splash combination. They hit More Bang for Your Buck on Hallowicked and finally have their confrontation. Matt wins the exchange with a wheelbarrow facebuster. Dorado tries a lionsault but Gargano just dropkicks him on the way down. Dorado hurricanranas Hallowicked to the floor and follows out with a dive. Nick adds a dive of his own. Akuma hits a half nelson suplex on Gargano, who responds with shotgun knees. Gargano lawn darts Akuma into the turnbuckles. Akuma suplexes him off the top and lands a moonsault for the win at 9:30. Quite the spotfest to open up the show. Even though the match was only nine minutes, everyone received a chance to showcase their offense and the breakneck pace never let up. I especially liked the build up to the eventual confrontation between Matt and Nick Jackson. They definitely made the most of their nine minutes and you can’t ask for much more out of an opener. ***

Match #2: BxB Hulk vs. Brian Kendrick
The winner will advance to the main event title match. They trade control on the mat. Hulk snaps off an armdrag and connects with a dropkick. Kendrick sends him to the floor and into the ringpost. Back in, Kendrick controls until Hulk comes back with a missile dropkick. Hulk adds a standing corkscrew and an overhead suplex. Kendrick blocks a charge but can’t hit sliced bread. He goes into the crowd to escape a dive so Hulk brings him back into the ring. Kendrick connects with an enzuigiri but gets caught with a hurricanrana. Hulk hits the EVO for a two count. Hulk follows with a superkick and rolls up Kendrick for the victory at 12:32. This is another case of Kendrick lacking excitement in his current independent run. He put in technically fine work but it was far from spectacular. Hulk, on the other hand, had the crowd with him and wrestled energetically. Fine match with the right man advancing to the main event. **½

Kendrick gets on the microphone after the match. He talks about his current neck damage and says that he only wrestles for himself. He runs down the crowd and Bryce Remsburg comes out to stop him. Jon Moxley enters the ring and takes the microphone. He agrees with Kendrick and joins him in attacking everyone at ringside. Kendrick actually attacks someone in the crowd as Moxley hurls a chair into the ring. The situation finally settles as Moxley heads to the back.

Match #3: Super Crazy vs. CIMA vs. Mike Quackenbush vs. Jorge Rivera
The winner will advance to the main event title match. Crazy refuses to bow to Rivera before the match. CIMA and Quackenbush trade control to start. Crazy catches Rivera with a clothesline but falls victim to a headscissors. Everyone tries a pin attempt to no avail. Rivera monkey flips Crazy to the floor and headscissors CIMA, who comes back with a double stomp. Quackenbush lands a flying crossbody onto Crazy and follows with a springboard back elbow to CIMA. Crazy dropkicks the left knee of Rivera. He seems hurt and Crazy stops his pupils from checking on him. Crazy continues to target the left knee until Rivera finds life with a hurricanrana. Rivera tries to submit CIMA and Quackenbush but the holds are broken in time. Quackenbush lands a dive to the outside onto Crazy. CIMA blocks a dive from Rivera with a superkick and rolls him up for the win at 9:17. They played up the rivalry between Crazy and Rivera in an interesting way. However, I don’t see that issue being addressed on any future shows. Although he looked sloppy at times, Rivera is pretty remarkable for his age. They strung together some unique sequences and this was a fun match overall. **¾

CIMA and Quackenbush start a shoving battle after the match. Quackenbush tells CIMA to win the title tonight so he can take it from him.

Match #4: Davey Richards vs. YAMATO
Neither man can gain an advantage on the mat. Richards starts attacking the left arm after a quick cross armbreaker. The action goes to the floor where YAMATO is whipped into the guardrail. Richards follows with a boot and the guardrail falls onto the fans in the first row. In the ring, Richards spin kicks YAMATO back out to the floor. YAMATO goes under the ring and attacks Richards in the ring from behind. He targets Richards’ left leg and connects with a thunderous boot in the corner. Richards comes back with the Alarm Clock and an overhead suplex. He clotheslines YAMATO to the floor and follows out with his insane dive. Back in, Richards connects with a missile dropkick and his handspring kick. He hits a northern lights suplex and locks in the Kimura. YAMATO makes the ropes. Richards finds himself in an ankle lock but is able to break the hold. They trade strikes. YAMATO hits a saito suplex…Richards is up! Lariat to YAMATO! Both men are down. They exchange yakuza kicks. Richards hits a superplex but YAMATO quickly gets to his feet. Richards hits another Alarm Clock followed by a nasty german suplex for a nearfall. He finds knees on a shooting star press attempt and YAMATO synchs in a sleeper hold. Richards fights out but falls victim to a sleeper suplex. YAMATO hits a brainbuster for a two count. YAMATO follows with the Galleria for the victory at 21:22. YAMATO has been on fire recently and we all know what Richard is capable of. This was a terrific match that truly established YAMATO in DGUSA. Despite some spotty selling from Richards, the beginning portions of the match were executed extremely well. Once the action picked up, things were taken to another level. The fighting spirit spots worked and there were some genuinely suspenseful nearfalls as well. The result was a little surprising at the time as many people had Richards winning the tournament. In hindsight, YAMATO going over was the right move by far. Fantastic match between two of the most electric wrestlers going today. ****

Match #5: Jigsaw vs. Eddie Kingston
Kingston doesn’t seem to be taking the match too seriously early on. That changes after he falls victim to a double stomp. Jigsaw comes off the middle rope but gets caught with an overhead suplex. Kingston lays in some chops. Jigsaw lures him to the floor and follows out with a dive. Back in, Jigsaw lands a flying crossbody and connects with an enzuigiri. Kingston answers with a german suplex but falls victim to some kicks. Jigsaw tries a hurricanrana but gets powerbombed into the turnbuckles. Kingston connects with a yakuza kick and a lariat for a nearfall. He follows with the Backfist to the Future for a two count. Jigsaw responds with a superkick and a flying double stomp for the win at 7:48. Fine bonus match for the live crowd. They wrestled a pretty good back and forth contest and generated some suspense in only eight minutes. It would be interesting to see how Kingston would mesh with the DGUSA roster. Jigsaw came out of this match looking resilient and that seemed to be the goal. **½

Match #6: Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino vs. Shingo and Dragon Kid
Kid and Yoshino start with some chain wrestling. They wrestle to a stalemate and tag out. Shingo wins a shoulder block battle against Doi and Kid connects with a corner dropkick. Yoshino double stomps Kid’s left arm and WORLD-1 isolate him. Kid headscissors Doi and makes the tag. Shingo catches Doi with an overhead suplex. Kid lands the Bermuda Triangle onto Doi as Shingo DDTs Yoshino. Shingo hits a brainbuster on Yoshino. Kid and Yoshino both synch in octopus holds. They start slapping each other in an attempt to save their partner. Doi lays out Kid with a dropkick but falls victim to a springboard stunner. Kid double stomps Doi and adds a stunner. Shingo hits the Blood Fall on Doi but gets caught with a rydeen bomb. Yoshino continues the attack with Another Space followed by a dropkick-senton combination. Kid hurricanranas Yoshino off the shoulders of Shingo. Shingo just pops Yoshino up into a death valley driver and Kid spikes him with a hurricanrana for a nearfall. Yoshino reverses another hurricanrana attempt into a powerbomb. Doi runs into a clothesline from Shingo. Doi blocks the Ultra Hurricanrana with Doi 555. All four men are down. Yoshino holds Kid in position for a senton from Doi. Kid comes back with the Bible on Yoshino, who answers with the Lightning Spiral. Doi connects with the Bakatare Sliding Kick on Kid. Doi hits his corner cannonball on Shingo while Yoshino takes Kid down with the Torbellino. Yoshino locks in the Sol Naciente on Kid for the victory at 19:55. These two teams have absolutely amazing chemistry. When announcers say “this is the type of action you’ll only see in ____”, I tend not to believe them. However, I truly believe that I could only see this style of match in Dragon Gate or DGUSA. The usually chaotic and perfectly fluid finishing stretch accompanied the solid opening exchanges. With such a fast-paced and hectic contest, there’s a restraint on the kind of height it can reach as far as quality is concerned. For what this match set out to do, it accomplished its goal in spades. The rivalry between Kid and Yoshino doesn’t exactly need promos to become interesting when quality matches are being presented. ****

Yoshino offers Kid a handshake after the match. Shingo becomes suspicious and pushes Yoshino away. Kamikaze leave as the Young Bucks enter the ring. They claim dominance over WORLD-1 and challenge them to a match at the next show.

Jon Moxley is in front of a caged fence outside. Nobody pulls his strings. He makes his own decisions and because of that, some consider him trash. He doesn’t want to hurt anybody, he just wants what is his.

Match #7: Open the Freedom Gate Title: Elimination: Gran Akuma vs. BxB Hulk vs. CIMA vs. YAMATO
Akuma and YAMATO immediately make an alliance. CIMA tries to join them but gets beat down for his troubles. Hulk fights off Akuma and YAMATO but falls victim to a backcracker from CIMA. Akuma suplexes CIMA off the top and lands a moonsault. CIMA answers with a corner dropkick and a double stomp. YAMATO pushes him to the floor and hits an overhead suplex on Hulk. He gets his knees up on a standing moonsault attempt and murders Hulk with a spear. Akuma low blows CIMA while YAMTO distracts the referee. YAMATO rolls up CIMA to eliminate him. The heels work over Hulk until he connects with a springboard spin kick on Akuma. He follows with a dropsault, reverse hurricanrana, and phoenix splash. Hulk finally hits the FTX on Akuma to eliminate him. Only two men remain. YAMATO and Hulk trade strikes and YAMATO finds success with a powerslam. Hulk comes back by powerslamming YAMTO off the top. Another strike exchange follows. Hulk hits the EVO for a nearfall. He adds a superkick but YAMATO won’t stay down. Hulk hits another EVO to become the first Open The Freedom Gate Champion at 15:54. First of all, this was a very good match. When trying to establish a new title, the first champion needs to be crowned in a quality match. Secondly, this contest went a long way in legitimizing Hulk and making him look resilient. This match was extremely effective at not only establishing a championship, but also making the first champion look strong. It could have been a little longer and provided more suspense, but everyone put in a great performance for having wrestled once already. ***½

Davey Richards comes out after the match. He kicks Hulk and YAMATO joins him in the assault. Dragon Kid comes out to make the save and presents the title to Hulk. Kid will be Hulk’s first challenger at the next show.

BONUS Match: Kyle O’Reilly vs. Adam Cole
They trade control to start. Cole connects with a lariat but O’Reilly responds with an enzuigiri. Cole comes off the middle rope with a leg lariat. O’Reilly answers with some nicely-placed kicks. They exchange strikes and O’Reilly hits a saito suplex…but Cole is up and hits one of his own. O’Reilly recovers and connects with a lariat. Both men are down. Cole finds success with a northern lights suplex but O’Reilly catches him with rolling suplexes. Cole hits a nice wheelbarrow suplex but misses a corner kick. O’Reilly recovers with a tornado DDT and adds a brainbuster for the win at 6:20. This was a fun showcase, although I think we all could have done without the random fighting spirit spot. I could definitely see O’Reilly making waves on the main show and even Cole looked extremely solid here. **½

BONUS Match: B-Boy vs. Jon Moxley
They trade shots and there is no love lost here. Moxley finds an opening to start working over the left arm. B-Boy fires back with some nasty chops but gets caught with a lariat. He comes back with an ace crusher and connects with a shining wizard. Moxley slips coming off the top rope and then hits a DDT. They battle on the apron where B-Boy hits an ace crusher. He follows with two saito suplexes and his corner face stomp. Moxley avoids a charge and locks in a fujiwara armbar for the victory at 8:42. B-Boy can be solid when he wants to be and the crowd seemed avidly behind him. Besides one rough spot, Moxley put in a good performance and was effective at working over B-Boy’s left arm. Once again, I could see either of these two transition to the main show. **½

BONUS Match: BxB Hulk and YAMATO vs. Roderick Strong and Jay Briscoe
This is from FIP Third Anniversary Show on September 28th, 2007. Hulk catches Strong with an armdrag and dropkicks him to the floor. YAMATO hits an exploder on Jay and Hulk adds a spin kick. Both teams trade control. Jay flatlines YAMATO into the turnbuckles and hits a blockbuster. Team FIP isolate YAMATO until he spears Strong and makes the tag. Hulk lands a dropsault onto Jay and adds a springboard spin kick. He follows with a moonsault to the floor. In the ring, YAMATO german suplexes Strong but falls victim to an exploder from Jay. Hulk falls victim to a superkick and a clothesline. Strong catches him with a gutbuster and Jay hits a death valley driver. YAMATO fallaway slams Jay and Hulk follows with a standing shooting star press. Jay gourdbusters Hulk, who responds with a coast-to-coast dropkick. Hulk hits the FTX along with the EVO on Jay for the win at 15:56. Sixteen minutes of solid work but I thought these two teams would mesh better. The action before the match broke down was just okay and even the continuous offense down the stretch was less fluid than I expected. Nevertheless, this is still a good match and I’m glad it was included on the bonus disc. It’s scary to think about what these four could do in 2010, especially with how far Hulk and YAMATO have come. ***

BONUS Match: Open The Triangle Gate Titles: BxB Hulk, PAC, and Masato Yoshino © vs. Akebono, Don Fujii, and Masaaki Mochizuki
This is from Dragon Gate’s Summer Adventure Tag League III on August 16th, 2009. Yoshino tries to take down Akebono to no avail. Akebono catches WORLD-1 with slaps and lands a corner charge onto them. The action goes to the floor where Yoshino finds success dodging some offense. Hulk lands a dive onto Mochizuki and connects with kicks back in the ring. WORLD-1 work over Mochizuki’s left leg until he takes down Hulk with a kick and makes the tag. Akebono press slams Hulk and just stands on top of him. There’s a point where Akebono slaps Yoshino across the back and he needs to run into the crowd to recover. Hulk connects with a missile dropkick on Mochizuki and tags out. PAC lands a beautiful moonsault to the floor onto Fujii and Mochizuki. WORLD-1 connect with stereo dropkicks on Akebono but he barely flinches. Mochizuki wins a kick exchange against Hulk. WORLD-1 are finally able to take Akebono down after three missile dropkicks and a double team back suplex. PAC lands a shooting star press onto Akebono. Hulk connects with a springboard spin kick on Mochizuki. Fujii chokeslams PAC and Akebono follows with one of his own. Fujii hits a big lariat on PAC and adds a german suplex for a nearfall. Yoshino finds success with the Torbellino on Fujii and locks in the Sol Naciente. Akebono breaks it up. Hulk hits the FTX on Fujii and Yoshino goes back to the Sol Naciente. Yoshino transitions into the Sol Naciente Kai to retain the titles at 16:55. This match will surprise you. I didn’t know what to expect going in, as I was unsure how Akebono would fit into the equation. They did an excellent job of building the match around Akebono’s unusual stature and none of the offense was farfetched. The finishing stretch was still able to feature the usual Dragon Gate awesomeness as well. I’m glad that this match was included on the bonus disc. It’s a solid introduction to some of the wrestlers who haven’t appeared on a DGUSA show yet such as PAC, Fujii, and Mochizuki. ***½

BONUS Match: Fray: Drake Younger vs. Scotty Vortekz vs. Brad Allen vs. Arik Cannon vs. Flip Kendrick vs. Dave Cole vs. Chris Jones vs. Marion Fontaine
This is from the 2009 Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup on November 21st, 2009. Cannon and Allen start. Cannon attacks before the bell but gets caught with a shoulder block and a few armdrags. Allen lands a flying crossbody. Cole enters the match and immediately sends Cannon into the guardrail. Cannon responds with a neckbreaker as Fontaine comes out next. Fontaine connects with a missile dropkick on Cannon but falls victim to a german suplex. Allen catches Cannon with a slingshot senton. Kendrick is the next participant. He lands a corkscrew dive onto Cannon to eliminate him. Kendrick takes down Cole with a headscissors and plants Allen with a tornado DDT. Cole comes back with chaos theory on Kendrick and Fontaine adds a lionsault. Younger enters next and cleans house. He hits a falcon arrow on Kendrick followed by a half nelson suplex on Cole to eliminate him. Younger lures Fontaine to the floor and lands a dive off the apron. Jones joins the match and quickly lands a dive to the floor. Allen follows out with a moonsault and Kendrick adds a dive of his own. In the ring, Allen eliminates Fontaine with a spinning flatliner. Kendrick is caught coming off the middle rope and Allen hits a spinning flatliner to send him packing as well. Jones catches Allen with a springboard dropkick. Vortekz reveals himself as the last participant. He hits a doomsday dropkick on Jones to eliminate him. They seriously botched the landing there. Younger eliminates Allen with a death valley driver and we’re down to the CZW regulars. Vortekz armdrags Younger into a chair at ringside and hits a half nelson suplex back in the ring. Vortekz pops up and hits his version of Ghanarhea. Younger answers with a death valley driver off the top for a nearfall. Vortekz lays him out with a spanish fly. They trade strikes and pin attempts. Younger hits Drake’s Landing for the victory at 19:03. Pretty much what we’ve come to expect from Fray. The somewhat shorter duration (for Fray matches) was a benefit and I didn’t mind the more constant eliminations. I guess my problem here is that no one really stood out. Even the Younger/Vortekz confrontation to finish the match wasn’t anything special. Still, the action was solid throughout the nineteen minutes. I’m really waiting for one of these Frays to blow me away. **½

The 411: Open The Freedom Gate represents another success for DGUSA. While it didn’t reach the jaw-dropping quality of the first two shows, there’s an abundance of worthwhile viewing on this release. Richards/YAMATO was as awesome as you would expect while WORLD-1 and Kamikaze deliver the quintessential Dragon Gate match filled with excellent action. The main event is a fitting match to crown the first Open The Freedom Gate Champion and the undercard features some solid matches as well. The bonus disc contains two tag team matches worth watching, especially the one from Dragon Gate. I can pretty easily give this show a high recommendation. There’s a lot to love about DGUSA and this show continues to prove that.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]