wrestling / TV Reports

411’s Dragon Gate USA Fearless Report 3.05.10

March 5, 2010 | Posted by Larry Csonka

DRAGON GATE USA FEARLESS: 3.06.10

Mike Quackenbush and Jigsaw vs. CIMA and Super Crazy
The opening match of the night was Mike Quackenbush and Jigsaw vs. CIMA and Super Crazy. This plays off of the last PPV where CIMA battled Mike Quackenbush, Super Crazy and Jorge “Skayde” Rivera. The idea here, I believe, is to get Mike Quackenbush and Jigsaw over as a main team, as the company seems headed towards a DG vs. CHIKARA feud, judging by the shows thus far. They had plenty of time to work, and it fit what I like to call the opener formula. They are in a feud, the crowd knows them and they worked to kick the show off on a strong foot, but they didn’t try to overshadow the rest of the card. The heels got the heat on Jigsaw, which led to the hot tag to Quack. Quack and Jigsaw ran wild, including a sweet double dive spot, and after a hot sequence involving some cool doubles stomps by CIMA, Quack got the wacky lucha roll up on Crazy for the win. Energetic, fun, kept a good pace and plays into the building feud between companies. This was a nice start to the show.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Mike Quackenbush and Jigsaw via pin [19:50]
Rating: ***¼

Gran Akuma vs. TJP
TJP is TJ Perkins, using the initials as a reinvention of himself. TJP has some quick mat work, that is not only clean, but flat out impressive. For those that claim mat work to be boring, you need to check him out. Gran Akuma has been a tremendously great heel on the shows thus far, and his charisma and presence in the ring covered for TJP, as that is the weak part of his game. They worked really hard, and put on one of the better 9-minute matches that you’ll see. Not great or perfect, but for the time frame, impressive. The finish was sweet as TJP hit a top rope sunset flip and transitioned into a scorpion deathlock for the submission victory.

OFFICIAL RESULT: TJP via submission [9:00]
Rating: ***

Jimmy Jacobs vs. Brian Kendrick
Jimmy Jacobs vs. Brian Kendrick was a lot of angle, and a short, disappointing match in my opinion. They are allowing Kendrick to work the mic and establish his persona, which is great in theory. But I don’t think that he is al that good at it, and his ring work thus far has been uninspired. They pulled out the surprise of Lacey to play into Kendrick’s mind games, but even for fans of that product, I don’t know how important she is these days. That had a fine, but uninspired match, and it looked as if Jacobs was going to win as he locked in end times, but Lacey hit the ring and started to make out with Jacobs. This allowed Kendrick to hit sliced bread #2 for the win. The thing about the DGUSA shows is that they have great wrestling and the angles come from the matches. This came off too much “sports entertainment,” and if anything it took away from what could have been a good match. Stick with what works and what you’re good at.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Brian Kendrick via pin [7:00]
Rating: **

FIP TITLE MATCH: Masaaki Mochizuki © vs. Davey Richards
Thankfully things picked right back up and even got better than the opening of the show with the FIP Title match featuring champion Masaaki Mochizuki defending against Davey Richards. This was a completely different style than the previous matches. We got lucha, we got some mat work, we got some sports entertainment, and with this match, we got a wide variety of kicks and submission moves. Richards controlled early, and was locking in submissions, only for the champion to escape. The tide turned when Richards went for a kick, but only got ring post, which slowed him and allowed Mochizuki to control the bout. One transition that I really enjoyed was when Richards made a comeback and locked in the Kimura, only for Mochizuki to transition into an ankle lock, which the crowd was buying due to the kick to the ring post earlier. Things heated up near the end, as Richards hit a SSP into a Kimura, which Mochizuki escaped, but Richards was able to lock in another arm bar, which led to Mochizuki tapping and a title change. Not a blow away match as some of the previous matches from Richards, but a good rebound from the previous match.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Davey Richards via submission [19:00]
Rating: ***¾

ELIMINATION TAG TEAM MATCH: Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino vs. Young Bucks vs. Shingo and YAMATO
And now we came to the balls to the wall portion of the show. If you like a match filled with tons of moves and cool shit, then this match is for you. And while it was a lot of fun, there was so much going on, and so little in the way of crowd reaction, that it fell a bit flat. Not bad mind you, and in front of a different crowd it may have come off better, but not on this night. The Young Bucks looked great as usual, but took the first pin of the match when Yoshino pinned Matt. The one theme of the match was Shingo being the unstoppable powerhouse, which was designed that way as he would eventually take the fall. At one point, Doi lit him up with no less than 30 elbows, but Shingo would NOT go down. Yoshino would eventually lock in the solosente on Shingo for the submission victory. This was a ton of fun.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino via submission [19:00]
Rating: ***¾

OPEN THE FREEDOM GATE TITLE MATCH: BxB Hulk © vs. Dragon Kid
The main event of the show was a good match, which featured both guys working hard, but it just lacked something. The crowd didn’t buy for one second that there would be a title change, which hurt the reactions on near falls, but they liked the overall action. Kid is a great face challenger as he has that Rey Mysterio Jr. style, which makes the match fun and exciting. Hulk continues to look good in his DGUSA run, and his gimmick is fun, but he isn’t the guy to have on top to deliver “great” matches. If I had a criticism of the match, it was that once again the main event felt like a bit of a come down after some of the other matches. By no means was it a bad match, but I do wish that they would consider editing the shows a bit differently when it comes to the main event, so that they could end the show on a high note. Of course, they couldn’t do that here, because after the main event, Akuma, Yamato and Richards all hit the ring to attack BxB Hulk, Dragon Kid and CIMA, who was in Kid’s corner. One bad thing was that the heat was on Richards beating on Hulk, which with Richards leaving, blows those plans. Shingo came out, and the crowd bought him making the save, but instead, he joined in on the beat down. Eventually the CHIKARA crew made the real save, and CIMA cleaned house with a broom after taking Dragon kid to the back. Tremendous. The closing angle was good, and solidifies the Dragon Gate vs. CHIKARA programs I have been discussing since PPV #1.

OFFICIAL RESULT: BxB Hulk via pin [17:00]
Rating: ***½

MY TAKE ON THE SHOW

Overall the show was a good one, but a level below recent DGUSA PPV offerings. The main event was solid, the FIP title match was good, as was the opener, and the tag team elimination was also good, but nothing was blow away awesome. Still, for $19.95, you’re not going to get a better “pure” wrestling show these days. Recommendation to buy if you are a DGUSA fan, because you’ll enjoy the show. The show continues to build to the eventual DGUSA vs. CHIKARA clash, which I am looking forward too. Also, if you just want to see some fun wrestling, check out the replay.

SHOW RATING: 7.5

411 RATINGS SCALE:
0 – 0.9: Torture
1 – 1.9: Extremely Horrendous
2 – 2.9: Very Bad
3 – 3.9: Bad
4 – 4.9: Poor
5 – 5.9: Not So Good
6 – 6.9: Average
7 – 7.9: Good
8 – 8.9: Very Good
9 – 9.9: Amazing
10: Virtually Perfect