Break It Down: DGUSA Open The Historic Gate

Dawn Marie graciously welcomes us to the show.

Opening Match: BxB Hulk vs. YAMATO
Hulk almost wipes out one of his dancers (Daizee Haze) during his entrance when he moonsaults off the top. They trade control of a wristlock and end up at a stalemate. Hulk combats YAMATO’s power by utilizing his agility. He connects with a few kicks but YAMATO catches him with a leglock. YAMATO starts working over the right leg, to the point where Hulk can’t run on an irish whip. Hulk comes back with a missile dropkick and is very shaky with his selling. He lands a standing corkscrew. They exchange forearms and YAMATO hits a flying shoulder tackle. He follows with a huge spear and locks in a texas cloverleaf. Hulk makes the ropes but YAMATO transitions into a crossface. Hulk breaks the hold once again and slams YAMATO off the top. Hulk connects with a series of kicks and hits the EVO for a two count. YAMATO avoids a phoenix splash and lays Hulk out with a brainbuster for a nearfall. He locks in a sleeper and turns it into a sleeper suplex for a two count. YAMATO ends things with the Galleria for the win at 15:21. The crowd was already vocal seeing as this was the first match in DGUSA history. However, this match had the crowd in a frenzy by the end of it. YAMATO showed how versatile he can be in the ring with his seamless leg work. Hulk was incredibly spotty with his selling and that detracted from the match a bit. Nevertheless, these two went out there and showed that DGUSA means business. And really, that’s all you could have asked them to do. ***½

Match #2: Too Cold Scorpio vs. Kenn Doane
Doane refuses a handshake. The crowd chants “where’s your pompoms” at him. They start with a somewhat lengthy feeling out process. Scorpio connects with a dropkick and a superkick. Doane answers with a dropkick of his own but falls victim to some chops in the corner. Scorpio goes for a crossbody but Doane gets his knees up. Doane takes control, halting a few comeback attempts. They trade strikes. Scorpio lands a springboard moonsault but falls victim to a spinebuster. Doane misses a top rope leg drop. Scorpio finds knees on a moonsault but is able to follow with a successful Drop the Bomb (moonsault leg drop) for the victory at 16:33. I don’t necessarily mind this match happening. Scorpio is truly a different wrestler and he doesn’t wrestle for many other big independent promotions. Many believe that Doane was misused in the WWE and are curious to see what he can do in the ring. However, a sixteen minute match probably wasn’t the best option here. The work was fine but it was pretty obvious that the crowd wanted more of what Hulk and YAMTO brought to the table. **¼

Match #3: Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw, Solider Ant, and Fire Ant vs. Gran Akuma, Icarus, Amasis, and Hallowicked
Amasis shows off his dancing instead of locking up. Fire Ant and Amasis trade armdrags. Quackenbush sends Amasis to the floor and hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on Icarus. He monkey flips Hallowicked and Jigsaw adds a flying crossbody. Akuma catches Jigsaw with some kicks. Solider Ant headscissors Akuma to the floor but gets laid out with a rydeen bomb from Hallowicked. The rudos (and Hallowicked) isolate Soldier Ant. Icarus monkey flips him into a hurricanrana on Akuma and he tags out. Akuma blocks a dive from Jigsaw and Icarus follows with a spear. Jigsaw is worked over until he lands a dive to the floor onto Akuma and Icarus. That counts as a tag, so Fire Ant enters with a flying crossbody on Hallowicked. He follows with a wheelbarrow stunner on Hallowicked and a DDT on Akuma. The Colony hit Ants Go Marching on Amasis. Icarus death valley drivers Fire Ant into the turnbuckles. Hallowicked connects with a yakuza kick on Soldier Ant along with Go 2 Sleepy Hollow. Quackenbush hurricanranas Hallowicked from the top and Soldier Ant adds a diving headbutt. Amasis hits a sit-out facebuster on Soldier Ant but Quackenbush lays him out with a clothesline. Quackenbush hits the QD3 on Amasis but Akuma intervenes. He lands a moonsault on Jigsaw and Icarus tries to unmask him. The Colony biels Icarus off the top and Quackenbush adds a swantan. The technicos start going crazy, landing dives left and right. Jigsaw hits the Jig’N’Tonic on Icarus for the win at 17:25. This was the quintessential “showcase” match for Chikara. The promotion shares a lot of the same qualities as Dragon Gate and if this contest is an indication of future match quality, I totally support the partnership. Everyone was on top of their game and this is a spotfest done right. ***¾

Quackenbush grabs the microphone after the match. He says that Dragon Gate and Chikara are apart of the same family due to the training of Jorge Rivera. A video tribute to Rivera is shown. Quackenbush lays out an open challenge to the wrestlers of Dragon Gate. YAMATO comes out and runs down Rivera. He kicks Quackenbush low. Jigsaw and Akuma come out to make the save. Akuma low blows Jigsaw and leaves with YAMATO as the rest of the Chikara roster rush the ring.

Match #4: Dragon Kid vs. Masato Yoshino
They trade control of a wristlock and wrestle to a stalemate. Kid snaps off a headscissors and fakes a dive to the floor. Yoshino blocks a second headscissors and goes to work on the left arm. Kid blocks a charge and comes back with déjà vu. That sends Yoshino to the floor so Kid follows out with the Bermuda Triangle. Back in, Kid connects with a springboard dropkick along with a 619. Yoshino creates an opening with a powerbomb but finds himself in an octopus hold. Kid goes for Jesus Walks but Yoshino gets his knees up. Yoshino lands his shotgun dropkick but falls victim to a DDT. Kid hurricanranas him off the top for a nearfall. Yoshino responds with Another Space along with the Torbellino. He locks in Sol Naciente but Kid turns it into a pin attempt. Kid hits a stunner and spikes Yoshino with a hurricanrana for the victory at 13:24. Booking this match for the inaugural DGUSA show was a no-brainer. These two just mesh brilliantly together in the ring. Kid pulls in the crowd with his moveset and Yoshino does the same with his amazing quickness. The arm work was pretty pointless in the grand scheme of things but they didn’t spend too much time on it. I can watch these two trade moves all day and I’m glad that a rematch is coming. ***½

Kid offers Yoshino a handshake after the match. Yoshino shoves him down. Shingo and Naruki Doi have a stare down in the ring as their stablemates recover. Too Cold Scorpio makes his way into the ring and proposes a rematch between Kid and Yoshino. Both men accept.

Match #5: CIMA and Susumu Yokosuka vs. Matt and Nick Jackson
Matt snaps off a headscissors on Yokosuka and mocks the Warriors 5 celebration. Nick hurricanranas CIMA and the Young Bucks follow with stereo dropkicks. They hit a neckbreaker-backbreaker combination on Yokosuka. Both teams trade control, utilizing their double team moves. CIMA and Yokosuka settle down and isolate Matt. Nick tries to interject himself but he just gets taken to the outside where CIMA uses the guardrail to hit a double stomp. Matt runs up the chest of CIMA to lay out Yokosuka with a sliced bread. He follows with a neckbreaker on CIMA and makes the hot tag. Nick dropkicks Yokosuka off the apron and lands a dive to the floor. The Young Bucks land their moonsault-frog splash combination on CIMA. Nick falls victim to a double stomp from CIMA. He follows with a double backcracker in the corner and a dive through the ropes onto Nick. Yokosuka hits an exploder off the middle rope on Matt but falls victim to a stunner. CIMA catches Matt with an iconoclasm but finds knees on the Mad Splash. Nick lays out CIMA with an ace crusher and follows with a facebuster on Yokosuka. Yokosuka levels Matt with a lariat and CIMA adds the Perfect Driver for a nearfall. CIMA connects with a coast-to-coast dropkick on Matt and the Warriors 5 follow with a double team pedigree for a two count. CIMA accidentally superkicks Yokosuka and gets sent to the floor. The Young Bucks hit More Bang for Your Buck on Yokosuka for the win at 17:29. They delivered a great tag team match. It’s as simple as that. The Young Bucks brought their usual awesomeness but it was the teaming of CIMA and Yokosuka that impressed me more. They added some unique double team moves and worked an awesome heat segment on Matt. I haven’t seen much of Yokosuka and I was very impressed. The finishing stretch was what you’d expect and it capped off a match that was full of great in-ring work. ****

The Young Bucks show respect after the match. Matt gets on the microphone and challenges any tag team to step up and face them.

Match #6: Shingo vs. Naruki Doi
They start with some chain wrestling and come to a stalemate. Shingo shows his power with a shoulder tackle and an ace crusher. Doi avoids a flying knee drop and hits a dragon screw leg whip. He starts working over the left leg. Doi tries a cannonball in the corner but Shingo catches him and hits a powerbomb. That was impressive and unexpected. Shingo wins a chop exchange and connects with a lariat. He follows with a delayed vertical suplex and a powerslam. Doi tangles him up in the ropes and connects with a dropkick along with a senton. Shingo catches Doi with an overhead suplex and connects with a flying knee drop. Doi misses the Bakatare Sliding Kick and Shingo hits the Blood Fall. Doi comes back with a rydeen bomb. He sets Shingo up top, slaps the taste out of his mouth, hits his corner cannonball, and lands a superplex. They escape each other’s finishers. Shingo hits a death valley driver along with a lariat. He follows with the Last Falconry for a two count. Doi answers with Doi 555 and the Bakatare Sliding Kick but Shingo finds the ropes on a pin attempt. Shingo escapes the Muscular Bomb and hits another Last Falconry. They trade forearms and Doi connects with another Bakatare Sliding Kick. He adds a tiger suplex for a nearfall. Another Bakatare Sliding Kick…and another one…Shingo kicks out! Doi hits the Muscular Bomb for the victory at 20:47. A worthy follow-up to the previous match and a tremendous main event for the inaugural show. The match set itself apart from the rest of the contests on the show by having a slower pace until the frantic finishing stretch. They kept the action predominantly back and forth without losing the crowd. For a twenty-minute match, that’s pretty impressive. Considering that this match wasn’t for Doi’s title, there was a legitimate feeling that either man could win. That made the last five minutes much more rewarding and the action played into the unpredictability. Fantastic main event and an effective way for DGUSA to establish itself. ****

BONUS Match: Fray: Cheech vs. Cloudy vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Louis Lyndon vs. Lince Dorado vs. Andy Harner vs. Aaron Arbo vs. Chris Jones
Arbo and Harner start things off. Harner flips out of a hurricanrana and they trade armdrags. Harner lands a standing moonsault but Arbo responds with a hurricanrana. Arbo connects with a missile dropkick as Gargano enters the match. Arbo and Harner hit a double team flapjack on Gargano but their alliance doesn’t last long. Harner lays out Arbo with his Hickory Valley Driver. Gargano quickly rolls up Harner to eliminate him. He hits the Hurts Donut on Arbo to send him packing as well. Gargano stands around for a minute until Lyndon enters the match. Lyndon shows off his karate offense and the crowd is into him. Gargano finds an opening to take over. Jones reveals himself as the next participant and takes Gargano down with a dropkick. Lyndon and Jones have an exchange while Gargano rests on the floor. Gargano spears Jones in the corner and follows with a neckbreaker. Cheech enters the match and just cleans house until getting sent to the outside by Gargano. Lyndon takes out Jones with a mafia kick but falls victim to the Hurts Donut from Gargano. That eliminates Lyndon. Dorado comes out next and lands a springboard crossbody onto this opponents. Cheech locks in a sharpshooter on Jones. Dorado and Gargano add on submissions of their own. Jones hits a standing sliced bread on Dorado but he walks into a big boot from Cheech. Cheech hits Go 2 Cheech on Jones. Gargano tries to steal the pin attempt but Cheech won’t let him. Cloudy enters as the final participant. He immediately teams up with Cheech and they land stereo dives to the floor. They hit Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Cheech on Jones and follow with a knee-backbreaker combination to eliminate him. Dorado turns a hurricanrana into a pin attempt to send Cloudy packing. Gargano catches Cheech with the Hurts Donut to eliminate him. He tangles Dorado up in the ropes and hits a flatliner. Dorado comes back with an enzuigiri and botches a tiger suplex. Dorado lands a shooting star press for the win at 23:26. I can’t say that I’m a huge fan of this concept. Eight wrestlers were given twenty-three minutes and only one of them truly shined. That man was Lyndon, who was able to get his offense madly over with the crowd. Jones and Dorado actually came off for the worse here, as Jones just looked hard to work with and Dorado was sloppy at times. I’m willing to give the concept another shot but this match wasn’t the best first impression. **

BONUS Match: BxB Hulk, Jack Evans, and YAMATO vs. Delirious, Jigsaw, and Hallowicked
This match is from FIP Cage of Pain II on September 29th, 2007. Hulk and Delirious trade control to start. Hulk wins an exchange with a dropkick and they tag out. YAMATO and Jigsaw exchange armdrags. Hallowicked tries to match Evans’ dance skills to no avail. Hallowicked snaps off a hurricanrana but gets caught with a pele kick. They start a submission chain of headscissors, which Delirious turns over into a boston crab. Team Dragon Gate isolate Jigsaw until he catches Evans with an enzuigiri and makes the tag. Delirious cleans house with clotheslines and catches Evans coming off the top with a headbutt. He hits the Panic Attack on Hulk and follows with the Here It Is Driver on Evans. Hallowicked lands a dive to the floor on YAMATO. Hulk follows out with a moonsault and Jigsaw adds a dive of his own. Finally, Evans concludes the dive session with something ridiculous that I couldn‘t name. In the ring, everyone hits a move. Evans uses Delirious as a pad to land a moonsault on Jigsaw. Hulk adds a standing shooting star press for a nearfall. Evans wipes out to the floor and Hallowicked sends Hulk out as well. Hallowicked hits Go 2 Sleepy Hollow on YAMATO and Delirious adds Shadows Over Hell for a two count. Hulk connects with a missile dropkick on Jigsaw. He hits a backbreaker on Hallowicked and Evans lands a 630 leg drop for the victory at 18:19. This was a lot of fun and a pretty good spotfest. Watching a match like this reminds me how much guys like YAMATO and Jigsaw have improved in three years. It’s not that they were terrible here, but they sure have gotten more fluid in the ring. Of course, the action down the stretch is crazy and everyone was working hard. There were times of miscommunication noticeable but this is an energetic contest and a nice bonus match to include. ***½

BONUS Match: BxB Hulk, Jushin Liger, Jack Evans, and Matt Sydal vs. Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, Magnitude Kishiwada, and Kevin Steen
This is from Dragon Gate’s Crown Gate on November 23rd, 2006. Quite the mix of wrestlers here. The heels attack before the bell. Everyone brawls around ringside. Back in, Hulk wins an exchange against Doi. Steen catches Evans off a handspring attempt and sends him to the outside. Yoshino and Sydal trade control and tag in the elders. Kishiwada wins a shoulder block battle and the heels all connect with corner charges on Liger. Hulk catches Yoshino with an ace crusher but Yoshino responds with a low blow. The referee is clearly heel, disregarding the low blow. Doi hits a corner cannonball on Hulk and the heels isolate him. Hulk catches Doi with a missile dropkick and makes the tag. Liger cleans house, sending his opponents to the floor. Evans lands a corkscrew dive onto Steen. Sydal follows with a dive of his own. Liger tries to continue the divefest but the referee stops him. Doi exposes two turnbuckles in the corner but Liger sends him into them. Liger lands a frog splash on Doi but gets caught with a shotgun dropkick from Yoshino. Sydal hurricanranas Yoshino off the top. Steen hits his pumphandle neckbreaker on Sydal. Evans takes Steen down with kicks before walking into a clothesline from Kishiwada. Hulk comes off the top with a spin kick on Kishiwada and lands a dropsault on Doi. Hulk finds the strength to bodyslam Steen. Evans uses Yoshino to land a moonsault on Steen. He tries for the 630 but gets taken out with a chair. Kishiwada german suplexes Hulk and follows with a top rope splash. He adds a powerbomb and Doi hits the Bakatare Sliding Kick. Evans connects with his handspring elbow in the corner on Doi along with an assisted double stomp. Liger hits a powerbomb on Doi and Evans follows with the 630 for a nearfall. Steen lands a moonsault on Evans along with the Package Piledriver for a two count. Yoshino synchs in the Sol Naciente on Sydal and they trade pin attempts. Doi accidentally throws powder at Yoshino. Liger lays out Yoshino with a brainbuster and Sydal follows with a shooting star press for the win at 18:04. This is on par with the previous bonus match, but they were distinct from each other in how they used their eighteen minutes. This match was a continuous slew of action from start to finish. It was impressive to just watch them keep going and extending the finishing stretch to include almost half the match. The obvious problem is that I found it hard to get into the match at times because the wrestlers themselves didn’t take the time to make me care all that much. Still, this is a great display of clean, fast-paced wrestling and a lot of fun to watch. ***½

The 411: Open The Historic Gate is an excellent start to DGUSA. This show won pay per view of the year and for good reason. Every match was over three stars except for Scorpio/Doane, which was cut from the pay per view. The show ends on a high note with a tremendous tag team match and a great back and forth display from Shingo and Doi. Even if you ordered the pay per view, I can still recommend buying this show. Two out of the three bonus matches included are worth watching and this event is so awesome that you should want to own it. Nearly flawless start for DGUSA.

Final Score:  9.5   [  Amazing ]