Welcome to our coverage of Dragon Gate USA’s second iPPV of the Wrestlecon weekend! Be sure to follow @PWPonderings on twitter for more updates.
Soldier Ant vs. Tony Nese
Solid opener with decent heat. A good showcase for Nese who definitely came off like a star. Most of his stuff was crisp, and he has a bit of charisma about him. 450 splash got the clean win. Not a whole load to it, just a solid opener.
Winner: Tony Nese
Nese did a promo post-match talking about the stable he referenced at EVOLVE. He introduced his ‘director of brand imaging’, a fat dude wearing a shirt, tie and suspenders. The man laid out Fire Ant and hit him with a… splash, kinda, from the top rope. It’s early days, so I’ll reserve any comments on this guy for the time being.
Scott Reed vs. Caleb Konley – Grudge Match
Turned in to a good match in the closing few minutes after an okay first half. Somewhat surprisingly, given they just did the break up angle, the crowd were fairly into Konley’s comeback after seemingly taking a nap when Reed was on offence. Some fun exchanges towards the end before a deflating finish. Trina held the ref, Dallas ran in with a chair, Reed hit Konley with the Smash-Mouth on the chair for the pin. You could hear the crowd deflate on that one. Oh well. There was definitely some flashes of potential from Konley here, so hopefully this is followed up on.
Winner: Scott Reed
Arik Cannon and Sami Callihan vs. The Super Smash Bros.
Really fun match, all action. Player Dos and Sami had a great exchange of trying to one-up each other with topes and big boots. The finish saw Player Uno fall over when setting up Callihan for the Fatality, so Dos improvised and hit a splash for the win. Unfortunate conclusion to a fun match. It appeared Uno was hurt after the match. We’ll keep you updated on twitter.
Chuck Taylor vs. Brian Kendrick
Fun match, not a whole load to it. It was pretty amusing when Kendrick, positioned as the babyface, would get booed every time he’d attack the Swamp Monster or one of Taylor’s other wacky cohorts. Taylor tried the Sliced Bread No. 2 but Kendrick blocked and hit his own for the win. Again, not a blow away match, but solid. This show is flying by.
Winner: Brian Kendrick
Some folks having issues with the stream it seems, but mine has been flawless.
The high-fliers fray match is next. Elimination rules, pinfall or submission at any time, gauntlet/Royal Rumble style entry system, ladders are legal. This should be crazy.
High Fliers Fray, Ladders are Legal: Matt Jackson vs. Nick Jackson vs. AR Fox vs. Samuray Del Sol vs. Uhaa Nation vs. Christina Von Eerie vs. Facade
Order of entry; Fox and Del Sol start, Matt Jackson joins them, then Von Eerie, then Nick Jackson. Double team superkicks on Von Eerie sees her eliminated by the Bucks. Fun stuff thus far.
Uhaa Nation and Facade join the action. Tonnes of excitement … and now ladders are legal.
Facade with some really impressive stuff as the ladders come into play. Fox pins Del Sol after Low Mein Pain.
Fox climbed a ladder in the ring for reasons unknown – Facade did a springboard into the ring, landing on the ladder, which buckled and Facade immediately took a bump off it. Fox looked amused, but also kinda terrified as he tried to move into position on this mangled ladder, which needed the referee to hold it in place to prevent Fox from falling. He hit a meteora on Facade to eliminate him.
More insanity ensued, too much to mention, but it was a super entertaining match at this point, with AR Fox taking every risk possible. He teased a dive onto Nick Jackson, who was prone on a ladder, but Ricochet ran in, shoved him onto the ladder and hit the 630, allowing the Young Buck to eliminate Fox. Bit silly, as I could have sworn it was specified beforehand that this was NOT a no DQ match. But I’m nitpicking.
Young Bucks then double-teamed Uhaa. Super kicks upon super kicks. Crowd was behind Uhaa but it’s not like the atmosphere was red hot. Uhaa was able to roll up Matt Jackson and pin Nick almost immediately after with the moonsault/SSP combo. Super fun match, exactly what you’d expect.
Winner: Uhaa Nation.
Intermission is now.
Jon Davis vs. Orange Cassidy
There was some fun, self-aware comedy early. Cassidy in one corner, half asleep, Davis in the other looking “stoic” as Lenny put it. Fans chanted “this is awesome” and “match of the year” for this non-action. Once they got going, Davis threw Cassidy around for a bit, and it was fun, before he knocked out the referee for no reason. I have no clue what this gimmick is but it’s going to get old fast if we keep getting these DQs.
Winner: Orange Cassidy via DQ
Davis laid out the Gentleman’s Club.
Ricochet, Rich Swann and Johnny Gargano vs. Tomohawk TT, Eita and CIMA
Ricochet was a smiling, dancing babyface here, go figure. Gargano came out smiling and high fiving, to quite a few boos. They seem to be doing a gimmick where he’s going to be a lying or delusional face, who doesn’t act explicitly like a heel.
Excellent match, as you’d expect. EITA was the star of the show, with some awesome exchanges with Ricochet early, and an insane moonsault to the floor late in the match. Gargano and CIMA also had some great back and forth encounters. Gargano didn’t play up the heel character at all during the match. It started out slow, but of course they used lucha-rules so towards the end, dudes were in and out of the ring endlessly, so it was just a never ending stream of awesome spots. Ricochet scored the win so he earns a title shot of his choosing in the near future.
Winners: Ricochet, Swann and Gargano
Gargano asked CIMA into the ring post match and put him over. Gargano put himself over and said his title was on par with CIMA’s. “Holy shit” says the Open The Dream Gate champion. They tease a champion vs champion match at a future date, but Jon Davis runs in and shoves them into each other. He then lays out Swann which gets a “you still suck” chant. Davis bails and then Gargano low blows CIMA. When Swann asks what’s going on, he eats a Gargano super kick. He closed by saying he did this for the people and he loved them all. This was totally over booked and fell flat with me. Crowd was so-so.
Shingo vs. Akira Tozawa
For what it’s worth, I saw a few people tweeting that they were leaving at this stage, trying to beat traffic to ‘Mania. This show was listed as just 90 minutes long on Wrestlecon.com and it totally overshot that.
Very good main event. Pacing was great. Lots of counters, teases and hard strikes early, and it kicked into gear with some huge spots later. There was a mild hiccup with the stream but only for a matter of seconds. Crowd were on their feet with some of the bigger spots and near falls. Shingo got the win after two ‘Made In Japans’ and a lariat. Super stuff.
Overall, a very entertaining show, but given the competition I’m not sure if it’s a recommendation for a replay. Thanks for reading.