Dragon Gate USA PPV Taping Report

[Credit Matt Carter & PWInsider]

This is my 3rd DGUSA show at the Congress and just like the last 2 shows, I hit NASTY traffic on the way. I arrived during the last match of the “Bonus” portion

Bonus Card –

Tha Soul Touchaz with C Red beat 3 guys from the tryout.

Guy next to me said the Soul Touchaz were fun to watch. I’ve seen them at IWA shows and they are fun

Silas Young won the 3 way but I didn’t ask who he pinned.

Arik Cannon beat Kyle O’Reilly.

It was a good match, but no where near that 4 way from the last PPV..but that would be awfully hard to do.

Main Card for PPV:

The show started with a video package countdown to the PPV. It was hard for me to see on the stage. The countdown ended and BxB Hulk’s music hit

Hulk comes out to a nice pop and has a single dancer with him. Its one of the two girls from the last Chicago show, and I think it was Dempsey’s sister. She walked out with Hulk but was acting bored and didn’t do any dancing at all. Hulk shoved her out of the way to do his moonsault and when he landed the dancer hit him with a low blow from behind. Out comes Moxley and Tozawa. Tozawa started to work over Hulk as Mox and the dancer celebrated and walked to the back as out came Mike Quackenbush and the match started.

BxB Hulk beat Mike Quackenbush and Akira Tozawa with a clean pin on Tozawa.

After the match, Hulk celebrated and took the mic. It wasn’t real clear, but I think he said he’s coming after Kamikazee USA and taking them out one by one.

I heard some familiar music, and out came Tha Soul Touchaz with C Red. C Red grabbed the mic and said while there are a lot of great tag teams in Dragon Gate, the best tag team in the world is from right here in Chicago. He put out an open challenge to any tag team. I love C on the mic…he was great. Out came Brody Lee. Brody grabbed the mic as C Red ran off and said he didn’t need a partner because he is a team.

Brodie Lee beat Tha Soul Touchaz

The three guys got in some offense and looked good but Brody was just a beast and destroyed everyone including C Red. That guy is a monster. Not sure if this was 3 on 1 or 2 on 1…Brody said on the mic that he wasn’t done and was coming for a Japanese man later.

Shingo beat Dragon Kid wih CIMA

I wasn’t sure of this match because Shingo is a brawler and hard hitter and Kid is the flyer type, but this match was AWESOME. It might be my favorite Dragon Kid match of DGUSA and Shingo looked great too. I really liked this one a lot. Dragon Kid did everything he possibly could to counter but just couldn’t out match Shingo’s power. I’d say 80% of the crowd was behind Shingo. He’s been over in Chicago since his match with Danielson. It took tons of near falls and 2 of Shingo’s finishers to get the win. Amazing match…must see kinda stuff.

Intermission

Several of the DGUSA guys like BxB Hulk were signing and meeting fans in the lobby. Highspots were there. Lots of DVDs for sale everywhere. One interesting note, on the past 2 Chicago shows they announced a return date with tickets on sale. Not the case tonight. When I asked, I got a story about DG having 3 shows already planned this year….so they might not be coming back to Chicago and that would be a real shame.

Jon Moxley with dancer chick beat Jimmy Jacobs in a Chicago street fight

Mox is in the ring when Jacobs comes out. He is wearing the white suit coat stained in blood. His hair is nuts and he is wearing a chain. He gets on the mic and warns Mox that “one time in Chicago I even hung a man upside down and drank his blood in this jacket”. Took it off (the jacket) and threw it in the ring. He said “That was in the past, though. Also in the past, I used to be a little Berzerk” Then tore off his pants to reveal trunks with “HUSS” on the back and some fuzzy boots. People seemed to get the HUSS thing, but I was clueless. Match started on the stage and went through the crowd then into the ring. Jacobs took 2 huge spikes of his boots and Mox reached for something too….Jacobs hit him with the spike and Mox did a VERY obvious blade job. The brawl was pretty good and then in came Yamato to help out Moxley and Brody Lee came out to run him off to the back. Mox got control of Jacobs and covered his head with the blood stained white jacket and wrapped the chains around his neck…beat on him with a chair and got the pin. Good match…can’t wait to see where the Jacobs and Brody Lee thing goes…if it does.

Chuck Taylor beat Drake Younger, Johnny Gargano, and Rich Swann.

Fun match. Taylor and Gargano worked together for a while and then turned on each other. Rich Swann has something special and looked good. Drake got rammed head first into the steel guard rail early in the match. He got cut up bad. Think it was hard way cause it was a huge, nasty gash all around his head.

Richochet and CIMA with Dragon Kid beat Speed Muscle (Yoshino and Doi).

The OTDGC Belt is HUGE on Yoshino! This match was about one thing, making Richochet a star. It was different for me, as usually when I see Richochet he is the best in the match and in this case he was being carried to a great performance. These three guys really made him look great. Im not sure if it was a 450 or what that he did as a finisher but it was AMAZING. A clean pin, right in the middle of the ring on Naruki Doi. I was shocked. The place went NUTS! CIMA got on the mic after the match and said how incredible Richochet was and lead us all in a “Holy Sh@t” chant for Ricochet. He and Dragon Kid looked ultra impressed. CIMA got cut off as Johnny Gargano came out. Gargano even put over Richochet with out an incident…interesting. CIMA then got back on the mic and named Richochet the new member of Warriors International. Very Very cool.

Bryan Danielson beat Yamato

Bryan came out to that awful Star Wars theme from WWE. The crowd also did a good “You’re gonna get your fu$&king head kicked in” chant. This was a really good match and a whole lot more than I expected. I thought Danielson would be really safe, I was wrong…he even did a huge dive into the crowd. Bryan teased the “I’ve got til 5” bit several times…then finally did the line…that drew a “That was awesome” chant. Bryan won the match with his new WWE finisher. After the match, he thanked the crowd and said he’s not the biggest guy and never will be…he’s also not a superstar…he is a wrestler and is proud to make a living being a wrestler. Jon Moxley then came out to ruin the party but BxB Hulk came out to make the save. Bryan got back on the mic and said he’s not going to wrestle Moxley in Milwaukee…”I’m gonna kick his fu^%ing head in so come and watch me do it” Then we got the Final Countdown and went home happy.

Crowd didn’t seem as hot as the last two shows, but that might have been my seat. Crowd also didn’t seem as big as last couple shows at the start, but seemed to get bigger as it went along. I’d say around 500 people. Overall very fun show with 3 killer matches but nothing that doesn’t kick the sh$t out of EVERYTHING on TV now. Can’t wait to get up in the morning and make the 4 hour drive to Milwaukee.