DGUSA Enter the Dragon 2010

July 24, 2010 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
CIMA tries to get the crowd excited about DGUSA’s anniversary, but Johnny Gargano interrupts him. He says he knows that CIMA is looking for an American to make the WARRIORS an international stable, and he wants to be that guy. CIMA’s response has the token “Are you serious?” that I really hope becomes a staple of these Engrish promos. Gargano slaps him. CIMA demands they have a match!
CIMA {W5} vs. Johnny Gargano
They slug it out to start. Gargano hits an enziguiri. He hits a suicide dive. Back in the ring he hits a dropkick to the back for 2. He hits a neckbreaker for 2. CIMA hits a double stomp. He hits a senton. He works Gargano’s leg. He spanks Gargano before putting on the Romero Special. Gargano bites CIMA’s hand to escape. He hits a kneedrop on the arm. CIMA hits the sodomy dropkick. He hits the Venus. The crowd loves them some CIMA. Gargano comes through the ropes with a spear. He hits a back heel kick. He tries the WARRIORS pose but the crowd boos him. He puts on a surfboard stretch. He gets a roll up for 2. He hits a side Russian legsweep for 2. CIMA hits the Superdrol. He assesses the situation and hits a double stomp for 2. He gets a sunset flip for 2. They trade double knee kicks. Gargano launches CIMA into the turnbuckle. He hits a superkick for 2. CIMA hits the superkick. They avoid each other’s finishers until CIMA hits the Perfect Driver for 2. He hits a basement dropkick and the Tokarev. He hits the Schwein and the Meteora for the win at 11:54. I loved Gargano using CIMA’s offense against him down the stretch. That combined with CIMA’s nuanced ring general strategy really took this from what would have been a totally average match to something memorable and beneficial for Gargano. After the match CIMA shakes everyone’s hand except Gargano’s. I guess he doesn’t get to be a WARRIOR.
Rating: ***¼
In the back Drake Youngers shows off his scars. He talks about the battles he’s faced in his life. He’s excited about the opportunity to fight Naruki Doi on PPV. He knows that everyone will respect him after his match tonight.
Next up is a flashback to the beginning of the Kamikaze vs. CHIKARA feud. At the very first show YAMATO hit Quackenbush with a low blow and took Quackenbush’s student Gran Akuma under his wing.
Chuck Taylor vs. Ricochet vs. Arik Cannon vs. Adam Cole
He and Cannon start by fighting over an armbar. Taylor comes in and hits Ricochet with a dropkick. Cole hits a shoulder tackle. He hits a dropkick and a suicide dive. Ricochet hits Cannon with a head scissor takedown. Cole kicks his face. Taylor comes out of nowhere with a topé con hilo. Ricochet hits the craziest Space Flying Tiger Drop I’ve ever seen. Taylor hits him with a reverse superplex, aided by Cannon hitting a sunset bomb. Cannon hits Cole with a turnbuckle exploder. Cole hits a northern lights suplex for 2. He hits a thrust kick. Cannon hits a lariat for 2. Taylor hits Sole Food. He hits a big boot for 2. Ricochet hits a hurricanrana and a standing SSP for 2. Cole hits a neckbreaker for 2. Ricochet hits the Backslide Driver. He tiger flips off Cole to hit Taylor with a DDT. Cannon hits Cole with the Total Anarchy for 2. Cole hits Ricochet with a wheelbarrow suplex onto the apron. He hits Cannon with a crossbody for 2. He hits the Collateral for 2. Cannon hits a sick brainbuster for 2. He hits Ricochet with a spinebuster. He misses a moonsault. Cole hits the Panama Sunrise. Taylor hits a missile dropkick. Ricochet hits the Chocolate Rain (which is the same as the Meteora, so I’m shocked he’d use it in DGUSA) but misses corkscrew 450 splash. Taylor hits the Awful Waffle for the win at 9:42. If you like the more polished 2002 ROH midcard spotfests then this is for you. It felt totally over-choreographed but everyone brought their A game and they put on a good dance. It’s matches like this however that make you appreciate just how good the Dragon Gate wrestlers are at hiding the cooperative nature of these matches.
Rating: ***¼
Backstage Kamikaze USA has something to say. Jon Moxley is going to reward Gran Akuma for helping YAMATO take the first shot against CHIKARA Sekigun a year ago. YAMATO tells the CHIKARA “bean sprouts” that he will break them.
Naruki Doi {W1} vs. Drake Younger
Before the match they show clips from Doi’s awesome match against Bryan Danielson from DGUSA’s second show. So I guess they’re just highlights of the previous year and not strictly of the Kamikaze vs. CHIKARA feud. Younger is replacing the injured Dragon Kid in this match. Doi is wearing his “I’m injured” t-shirt, so between that and the fact that he’s wrestling Younger I’m not expecting much.. He powers Younger to the ropes to start. Younger sends Doi to the floor but misses a dive off the apron. Younger tweaks his knee so Doi zeroes in on it. He hits it with a running dropkick. He puts on a leglock. Younger gets to the ropes. Doi hits a dragon screw. He hits a trio of shinbreakers and a back suplex for 2. He hits another dropkick to the knee. Younger comes back with a crazy suplex. He hits a pair of elbows and a shoulder tackle. Doi hits an elbow. Younger avoids the Doi 555 and hits a lariat for 2. Doi hits an elbow and a dropkick. He hits the hanging senton. Younger hits a Death Valley Bomb for 2. Doi blocks Drake’s Landing and hits the Kill Switch. He hits the Dai Bosou. He hits the Doi 555 and the Bakatare Sliding Kick for the win at 8:44. Doi and Kid had an amazing series of matches a few years back and would likely have brought the goods here. Injuries suck.
Rating: **½
After the match Younger gets on the microphone and tries to put himself over as a guy who can take a beating. He tells the Dragon Gate stables to look no further than Drake Younger for an American representative. That’s enough to get Gargano out to the ring to attack Younger. He slams Younger’s face to the floor, busting him open.
Backstage CHIKARA Sekigun and Masato Yoshino have a message for Kamikaze USA. Mike Quackenbush says he recruited Yoshino because of their shared hate for YAMATO. I never bought that part of this angle, because in Japan Yoshino did beat YAMATO for the Dream Gate title, but there was never any hatred between them, just competitive trash talk. Yoshino’s promo ignores YAMATO completely, as all he talks about is how strong he is as Dream Gate Champion.
The next flashback comes from DGUSA’s third show. It’s the end of the Open the Freedom Gate Championship Decision Match. In it BxB Hulk defeated YAMATO to become the first champion.
Scott Reed vs. Rich Swann
The match never really gets going because after about two minutes of work Brodie Lee comes out to the ring and beats up both guys. He also takes out the referee and Reed’s valet. He gets on the microphone and says he’ll beat up women and children if they get in his way. The next time he comes to DGUSA he wants to fight a Japanese man.
Backstage Jimmy Jacobs has a message for Jon Moxley. He lets the PPV fans know that though he’s not wrestling on the PPV that he’s not actually taking a night off, and if Moxley lets his guard down he’ll regret it.
Our next flashback sees the original incarnation of Kamikaze USA, featuring Davey Richards instead of Jon Moxley, beating on BxB Hulk at DGUSA’s fourth show. CHIKARA Sekigun made the save. The brawl didn’t look like it was going to end so CIMA ran out to clean house with a broom.
YAMATO {K}, Akira Tozawa {K}, John Moxley {K} & Gran Akuma {K} vs. Masato Yoshino {W1}, Mike Quackenbush {CH}, Jigsaw {CH} & Hallowicked {CH} [Elimination Match]
Everyone brawls to start. Quackenbush starts to get the better of YAMATO but Moxley attacks him from behind. Quackenbush fights back and sends all of Kamikaze to the floor. He dives out onto them (and his masked partners) with a quebrada. Yoshino hits Tozawa with a supercharged dropkick. Hallowicked armdrags Akuma around the ring. He hits an Iconoclasm for 2. Jigsaw hits a double stomp. He hits the Michinoku Driver for 2. Tozawa hits a butt butt. Moxley hits a Hero Suplex for 2. YAMATO hits Jigsaw with an elbow. Akuma puts on an octopus stretch. He gets a clutch for 2. He misses a moonsault, almost taking out YAMATO in the process. What the hell was that?! A terribly contrived set-up sequence leads to Jigsaw hitting a super hurricanrana. Hallowicked cleans house. He hits Tozawa with the Rydeen Bomb for 2. Tozawa hits a butt butt. Hallowicked hits a big boot for 2. Tozawa hits a backdrop driver. Kamikaze gangs up on Hallowicked in the corner. YAMATO hits the Galleria to eliminate Hallowicked at 8:00. Jigsaw hits Tozawa with a double stomp and Akuma with a DDT for 2. Akuma is just way off here, getting himself into position and standing around like a moron so that we all know wrestling is fake. Quackenbush and Jigsaw double-team Akuma. The heroes gang up on Moxley in the corner. Yoshino hits the shotgun senton. He hits a suicide dive. Jigsaw hits Moxley with a brainbuster for 2. Moxley comes back with a crossface chicken wing suplex for 1. Not the time to no-sell, Jigsaw. Jigsaw hits a superkick. Moxley hits a lariat for 1. The crowd doesn’t care about you enough for this crap dude. Moxley hits Jigsaw with a chair. The referee disqualifies him at 10:40. Jimmy Jacobs runs out and spears Moxley. He brawls with Moxley through the crowd. YAMATO hits Jigsaw with the Galleria to eliminate him at 11:08. Quackenbush tries to catch YAMATO with a flash pin but can’t get more than 2. Yoshino hits Tozawa with the Sling Blade for 2. Tozawa misses the Apron Kara Tozawa but hits a senton. He hits a gutwrench suplex for 2. Akuma hits Quackenbush with an inverted Superdrol for 2. He hits the Falcon Arrow. He hits a frog splash for 2. He hits a gutbuster. Quackenbush counters the Yoshi Tonic to a powerbomb to eliminate Akuma at 14:20. YAMATO hits Yoshino with a big boot. Yoshino avoids the punt and hits the Ude Yoshino for 2. He hits the Lightning Spiral for 2. Tozawa hits Quackenbush with the Ganki for 2. Quackenbush hits YAMATO with the BTS for 2. YAMATO hits the brainbuster for 2. He puts on the sleeper hold and hits a suplex. Tozawa hits the German suplex for 2 when Yoshino makes the save. YAMATO counters the Ude Yoshino to the Galleria for 2. He puts on the sleeper hold. He hits a low blow. Quackenbush hits YAMATO with a low blow. Yoshino hits the Torbellino and puts on the Sol Naciente. Quackenbush catches Tozawa with the CHIKARA Special. Both YAMATO and Tozawa quit at 18:34. I normally really like Akuma but he really dropped the ball in this one, looking like he couldn’t care less about what was going on and generally just crapping up the joint. He wasn’t the only one at fault, as most of the match was messy and difficult to follow. The finish was disappointing too, as the formerly strong Kamikaze USA now looks like a bunch of quitters and idiots.
Rating: **¾
The next flashback is from the WARRIORS vs. World-1 six-man tag match on the sixth show. It was a hell of a match, the second best in DGUSA history.
BxB Hulk © {W1} vs. Masaaki Mochizuki {Z} [Open the Freedom Gate Championship Match]
This match actually went on third from the top, but because the Shingo Takagi vs. Bryan Danielson match couldn’t air on PPV they rearranged the match order so that a big singles match could headline. Hulk dances in the ring while wearing a wig, two things that would have never happened in Japan at the time because Hulk had put a self-imposed ban on the dance and had honorably lost his hair to Takagi. He removes the wig after the dance. Mochizuki powers Hulk to the ropes and hits a cheap shot. Hulk hits a dropkick. He sends Mochizuki to the floor. He throws Mochizuki’s leg into the post. He dropkicks the leg. He puts on a leglock but Mochizuki gets to the ropes. Hulk puts on a modified cloverleaf but Mochizuki gets to the ropes. Mochizuki hits a chest kick. He blocks a leg lariat with the Sankakugeri. He hits the apron kick. Hulk misses a kick and hits the post. Mochizuki hits a shinbreaker on the apron. He kicks at Hulk’s leg. He puts on a leglock. Hulk gets to the ropes. Mochizuki hits a shinbreaker and kicks the leg. He puts on a figure 4 leglock. He has it on for a long time, even getting Hulk’s shoulders on the mat for 2 a couple of times. Hulk eventually gets to the ropes. Mochizuki hits a chest kick. He puts on the anklelock. He grapevines the leg but Hulk gets to the ropes.
They trade knees and high kicks. Hulk hits a missile dropkick. He hits an ax kick. He follows Mochizuki to the floor with a quebrada. In the ring he hits a legsweep and a senton for 2. He hits another ax kick. He hits the uranage. He misses a dropkick. Mochizuki hits an ax kick. He hit a Yakuza kick. He fakes a dropkick and hits a back kick. Hulk hits the First Flash for 2. He hits the Mouse and a lariat. Mochizuki blocks the First Flash with a legsweep. He hits a buzzsaw kick for 2. He hits the Twister for 2. Hulk blocks the Sankakugeri. He hits a leg lariat. Mochizuki hits a superplex. He hits the Twisting Ikkakugeri for 2. Hulk hits the EVO. Mochizuki hits the Illusion. Hulk hits a high kick. He hits a big boot. He hits an avalanche EVO for 2. He hits a phoenix splash for 2. He hits the First Flash for the win at 21:32. The anticlimactic nature of the First Flash makes me think the phoenix splash was supposed to finish Mochizuki. They spent a lot of time doing leg work that went absolutely nowhere. That said this was essentially two matches: a set up for a match that never existed and then an exciting back-and-forth contest between two kickers who never should have worked each other’s legs in the first place.
Rating: ***½
After the match a really horrifying looking woman confronts Hulk. Lenny Leonard (who was actually on his game tonight) says she was one of Hulk’s dancers in Phoenix. Hulk is shaken by her presence. Kamikaze USA uses the distraction to run out and attack the champion. Moxley gets on the microphone and tells Hulk that he’s running out of things to lose. Kamikaze wants his title. Takagi hits Hulk with the DVD.
This was a show in dire need of the unaired main event. While nothing was offensively bad, the 8-man tag was very disappointing and Doi’s match was ruined by injuries. Over the last year DGUSA had put on some of the best matches in the world, and this was simply wasn’t indicative of that without the Takagi vs. Danielson match on top. Here’s hoping that it saves the show on the DVD release.