DG USA Untouchable 2011 (9/10/2011) Live Report

Before reading on, make sure to check out what Matt Waters had to say about Untouchable since he provided a lot more detail and stayed up until 5:00 a.m. watching the show. Me on the other hand? I got to spend some time in the dump known as The Congress Theater for the fourth Dragon Gate USA show in Chicago. It was a very good show with one major disappointment and a forgotten match that may have stolen the entire weekend.

The night began with FRAY! A lot of the undercard guys were a part of the match, including a young man named A-C-H. I can only assume he came out of the seminar/tryout. Although he was only in the match a couple minutes, he left a lasting impact and seems to be yet another discovery coming out of this weekend. It’s also worth pointing out that Sugar Dunkerton and Silas Young ended up in the finals. These are two guys who’ve worked their asses off in the last year to eighteen months, and the improvement is really showing up in these matches. Silas Young walked out of FRAY! with yet another victory. I believe he’s now 3-0 on DG USA bonus card matches. Here’s to hoping he can get more consistent bookings in DG USA and Evolve.

After almost an hour of waiting, it was time for Untouchable to start. I did not have to deal with a stream or any sort of audio issues which was a definite benefit to being live at the show. However, it is worth noting that there was no ring bell for the show. Last year Milwaukee was without a ring. This year, Chicago was without a ring bell. Poor Dr. Keith had to bang pipes together in order to simulate the sound of a bell. This of course led to some yahoos in the crowd (me and some other people in the section) chanting “Bang those pipes.” At least it gave us something to do before the matches.

Before delving into the matches, I just wanted to mention the Brodie Lee angle that was a thread throughout the show. He came out after a number of matches and made his presence felt. Since I don’t feel like typing, “And then Brodie Lee came out,” a half dozen times, I’ll talk about it now. In Indianapolis he looked like a monster. In Chicago, he was definitely taken down significantly. Uhaa Nation of all people successfully stood up to Brodie and pretty much laid him out before Brodie powdered. Chuck Taylor and Yoshino also took the big man down immediately following the semi-main event as well. I think this is a questionable decision to kill all of his momentum this quickly, but I’ll wait to see the Milwaukee show before making a full judgment on how they handled Brodie.

The card opened up the second tag team discovery. It became even more obvious this whole thing was designed for Scott Reed and Caleb Konley to go over. Not that it’s completely terrible, but I thought this discovery could have led to finding a completely new team or a combination of teams that could potentially become roster members. Instead, we had The Scene squashing THE KENTUCKY BUFFET. That name just screams jobber, so it’s fitting they lost in quick fashion. I’m worried they’re going over Taylor and Swann in Milwaukee, especially considering all the tension being teased within Ronin. Larry Dallas was there again since these are his guys. I’d again have to classify the tag team discovery as a disappointment, but the card picked up significantly from there.

Rich Swann and Jon Davis stole the show in the second match on the card. This was a very impressive effort from both guys as they went back and forth. Davis played the big powerful bully while Swann played the underdog scrappy speedster. It’s a relatively simple concept that was executed to perfection. Davis won his second match of the weekend, and considering Akira Tozawa won his match later, I think their one-on-one match in Milwaukee has the potential to be something really important. This match also shows what going to Japan means for certain guys. Swann wasn’t exactly a bad wrestler, but a lot of the rough edges are being smoothed out. He’s becoming more crisp in the ring and adding more moves to his repertoire. It’s also worth nothing Swann is heading back to Japan this week to continue touring with Dragon Gate Japan.

I was stunned to see PAC and Ricochet as the next match since the focus of the entire weekend was supposed to be on their rivalry. I saw this as a semi-main event, not the third match. Ultimately, I’m kind of glad this wasn’t directly before Cima and Yamato since this felt like a highlight reel exhibition instead of a fully realized match. There were certainly some fun moments and times when they played a game of “Can you top this?” but overall this was too short to really mean anything. I’m hopeful they saved something for the main event of the Milwaukee show because their singles match failed to meet a lot of people’s expectations based on my conversations with people. It was especially sad considering how hot of a start they got off to in the six man tag. Blood Warriors came down to beat PAC after the match. This eventually bled into the next match as Sabu and AR Fox took on Arik Cannon and Pinkie Sanchez. There were a number of dives from everyone involved. Sabu damn near killed himself coming off the top rope for his dive. To be fair, there were a number of guys (Sabu, Façade, Chuck Taylor) who slipped off. Based on that and my own observations, it seemed like the top rope was too loose, and that led to so many guys nearly killing themselves. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured.

In a weird way, the no disqualification match was more enjoyable than PAC and Ricochet. There was a lot of general insanity, but the D.U.F worked their butts off to make the babyfaces look good. Sanchez flopped like a fish and took an insane dive off the stage. Cannon bled pretty badly after Sabu used a screwdriver. The major issue I had (and to be fair DG USA is not the only company who’s done this sort of thing before) was the referee not allowing Sabu in the ring and actually enforcing tag team rules. IT’S A NO DQ MATCH! You cannot enforce rules that don’t exist. This would be like the NFL saying you can’t even touch a quarterback once he’s thrown the ball…okay, that’s a bad example. Anyway, AR Fox went over Pinkie Sanchez with two dangerous dives through a table that didn’t look very stable to begin with. This was one of the more violent matches DG USA has put on since Jon Moxley up, but I enjoyed it for what it was, and even Sabu fit in the match. Do I think he should be brought back for every show? Definitely not. But he served a role and sort of passed the torch to AR Fox, which DG USA will reap the benefits in the future.

After intermission, Johnny Gargano and Akira Tozawa engaged in an absolute war. Gargano was bleeding from the mouth and may have lost a tooth before the match ended. Tozawa was bleeding from his ear. This was just an incredible back and forth spectacle. Easily the match of the night. Gargano’s mannerisms and the way he does things in the ring resemble Alex Shelley more and more in a good way while Tozawa continues to be one of the most entertaining figures in pro wrestling. His heel interactions with the crowd gave a little extra something to the match. I’m surprised Gargano didn’t go over in the end since he’s supposed to be chasing the Freedom Gate title, but this was still an excellent match that makes this iPPV a big thumbs up. I may go watch the replay just to see this again. I could easily see this as a ****-****1/4 match.

The four way freestyle came next. This was definitely the point where the Chicago crowd got tired and wasn’t really into the last two matches as much as they should have been. I think the first half and the match after intermission really took their toll. There wasn’t anything wrong with the work Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, Chuck Taylor, and Sami Callihan put into the match, but something was missing. I’m not even sure what. This just wasn’t nearly as good as a lot of the other freestyles have been in the past. Doi and Yoshino broke out their old Speed Muscle double teams because they couldn’t help themselves. Finally, Taylor got the win by pinning Callihan with the omega driver. Then curiously, Taylor told Yoshino that Gargano and Swann would be the ones challenging for the tag team titles. I’d say this is a pretty significant storyline point. Is Taylor getting Gargano out of the way by putting him in a United Gate title match? Is Taylor trying to create tension between Swann and Junction Three? I think it will be fascinating to see how things turns out between Taylor and Swann in their Milwaukee tag match and whether Ronin flat-out breaks up or just teases more tension.

An interesting scenario for this angle came to me after the show ended. Let’s just say Ricochet and Cima win the United Gate titles and ultimately end up being the ones to defend against Gargano and Swann. What if Taylor turns on Ronin in the match and joins Blood Warriors? Considering Swann is integrating more with the Japanese roster so much and Gargano is taking himself more seriously, it almost makes more sense for Chucky T to be in Blood Warriors as a heel. The Ronin angle will be something to watch, both at the Milwaukee iPPV and in the northeast come November. But there was one more match in Chicago, and it was the one the entire weekend was built around.

Cima and Yamato had a very cerebral, subtle Freedom Gate title match. I’m not sure the crowd knew what to think of this main event because there weren’t a lot of big flips and amazing showcases of athleticism. There was a lot of limb work here. Yamato focused on Cima’s right leg for most of the match. Cima worked over Yamato’s neck and upperbody. The selling was solid for the most part, but this didn’t approach the universe of their 2010 match of the year candidate in Japan. I’d say this was close to four stars and would also point to this match as being proof the DG guys aren’t just a bunch of flippy dudes who only know how to dive. Yamato and Cima are legitimately two of the best workers in the entire world. They have a lot of charisma and personality. That definitely came across as Yamato managed to get the crowd into the match in the second half. He eventually won with Galleria to end the night on a solid note. Cima basically no sold the loss to set up the return of BxB Hulk. Cima laid down the challenge for a no rope no disqualification return match for the Open the Freedom Gate title. Yamato accepted. So you have to figure this match is taking place somewhere in the northeast. But where?

Your first inclination might be to say New York, since Yamato will have won the belt eleven months ago from Hulk in that same building. However, I think everyone needs to consider the size of the venue B.B. King’s is a pretty tight fit, and I don’t feel it meets the needs of this type of match. There is a danger quality to a match like this, and there needs to be room for Hulk and Yamato to work. My thought it to have the match in Philadelphia since The Arena is a lot larger, and these two at least have some history in the building. Hulk and Yamato competed in the first ever match in DG USA. Hulk became the Open the Freedom Gate champion over Yamato back in November 2009, or almost two years to the day when these two will have their rematch. At least we walked away from this weekend with something to look forward too for the northeast. I think it’s always a positive thing when matches are directly set up for future shows while there is a captive iPPV audience.

On a side note, Cima and Yamato each did an amazing job with their promos after the match. Not only do these guys bust ass in the ring, but their English gets better every time they come to the states. Yamato is definitely becoming more comfortable with the language. That confidence is adding to his presence, and that leads to his charisma shining through more.

This was a very interesting show. Two matches that weren’t expected to steal the show did so in grand fashion, while two matches disappointed. This is another easy recommendation on iPPV or DVD nonetheless. A very exciting second night of DG USA will naturally lead to Milwaukee. Please follow our Twitter and Matt Water’s live recap of the show.