Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
We kick off the show with Ricochet (Accompanied to the ring by the rest of Blood Warriors) taking on Masato Yoshino in the opener. I was impressed with the athleticism I saw in this one, such as one point when Yoshino walked across the to rope and stood in place for a couple of seconds before coming off with a missile dropkick. Ricochet can bump like a madman, taking a lot of stuff that looks like it can cripple someone. There was one point where Yoshino gave Ricochet a move that started as a half nelson suplex before changing in mid-move to a DDT that spiked Ricochet right on top of his head, then later on Ricochet came down right on the back of his head when Yoshino hit him with a Slingblade off the top rope. Ricochet kept taking more and more big moves like that and kept fighting, but finally Yoshino caught him in Sol Naciente and Ricochet had no choice but to tap out. Great opener, and then Blood Warriors ran in and attacked Yoshino as soon as the bell rang, causing PAC and YAMATO to run out and make the save, then have a tense staredown with each other since they're going to face off for the Open The Freedom Gate Title in the main event.
The next match pits Pinkie Sanchez against AR Fox in the match that will forever be remembered in the annals of DGUSA history as the night Pinkie Sanchez finally went crazy. Fox went for a sunset flip and held onto the tights, leading us to believe that we were about to see the spot where the heel gets his tights pulled down and runs around with his ass hanging out, but Pinkie instead pulled his own tights down, nailed Fox, did the Rick Rude hip swivel at the audience, backhanded the referee, and gave Fox a stinkface in the corner. Given that he's been treated as the biggest loser on the roster, Pinkie was surprisingly competitive with Fox, who has been getting the push of a lifetime, but Fox pulled through and hit the springboard Spanish Fly for the win.
Following the match, Sami Callihan and Arik Cannon came out to get in Fox's face, saying that he's the next big thing and has had everything handed to him while guys like Pinkie Sanchez have been killing themselves to get the same kind of opportunities. They decide to show Fox what being a DUF is really like and attack him, and then Pinkie ups the ante by bringing a keg and a metal post into the ring. Callihan puts the keg over Fox's face and them smashes the post over it, badly injuring Fox, and then the new three man version of the DUFs walk out together. Terrific segment and I liked how Pinkie finally passed his initiation and was allowed into the group, it reminds me a lot of the stories you hear about what it was like even trying to get into the business years ago.
Next up is a great Fray match, which differs from the Freestyle because people enter at regular intervals and are eliminated by pinfall or submission. Larry Dallas brings out his man Ahtu to start the match off, and he quickly goes through Cedric Alexander, but then comes face to face with Jon Davis and the two big men go at it until Davis nearly Pounces Ahtu into next week and eliminates him. The ring fills up with Tony Nese, Flip Kendrick, Louis Lyndon, Suger Dunkerton, Caleb Konley, and Facade, a period during which it turns into a pretty generic spotfest. Everyone went nuts hitting big moves and eliminating each other until we come down to Davis and Nese. It gets really interesting at this point, as they've fought each other a few times already in DGUSA/EVOLVE and have always had great matches where they simply destroy each other with big power moves. Davis hits a big powerslam, Nese gets a top rope Frankensteiner, they trade kicks and right hands, and then Davis kills Nese with a hard backfist and Three Seconds Around The World for the win. Great finish, and I thought this match told a good story that established Davis as a super badass early on and then making him go through a tough test in Nese to get the win. Nese, who's from the New York area, got a good round of applause from the fans for how hard he fought.
Moving right along, we come to tag team action as Sami Callihan and Arik Cannon of the DUFs take on Susumu Yokosuka and Open The Dream Gate Champion Masaaki Mochizuki. They'd been building to this one all weekend as Mochizuki had defeated both Callihan and Cannon in singles matches, only for the two of them to attack him after the match until Yokosuka ran in to make the save. This time it's totally on the level as all four men are out there face to face, and this was a real slugfest as you might expect. Sami took a drawn out and sadistic beating early on, but he managed to tag out to Cannon and they caught Yokosuka in the wrong part of town for the next several minutes, but eventually Yokosuka made it back to his corner to tag out, and then all hell broke loose. The DUFs got in a lot of offense, but Mochizuki and Yokosuka managed to absorb everything and then started tearing into the DUFs with everything they had. Callihan and Cannon refused to stay down, even after one segment I thought was going to be the finish where Mochizuki nearly beat Callihan to death with a series of head kicks before Yokosuka ripped his head off with a hard lariat and went for a cover, but Cannon made the save. The DUFs dumped Mochizuki out to the floor and hit Yokosuka with a barrage of high impact moves before Callihan caught Yokosuka in the Stretch Muffler, and Mochizuki tried to get in and make the save, but Cannon drove him back out to the floor and Callihan went to the mat and added a bodyscissors to the Stretch Muffler, then kicked Yokosuka in the back of the head until he was forced to tap out. This was an amazing match and I really got into it by the end because the DUFs put up a great fight even though I never expected them to win. This was a huge win for the DUFs as they ended the weekend on a really strong note.
We move on to a six man elimination tag match with Johnny Gargano and Rich Swann of Ronin teaming with Masato Yoshino to take on CIMA, Austin Aries, and Brodie Lee of Blood Warriors. Brodie was the star of the early part of the match, at one point taking out all his opponents with dropkicks that you wouldn't think he'd be able to pop off like that, then picking Swann up for a delayed vertical suplex before dropping him and laying him out with a big right hand. Swann wound up in the wrong part of town for several minutes, but finally managed to tag out and then the entire Ronin/Yoshino team began triple teaming CIMA, but CIMA caught Yoshino in some kind of wacky rollup out of nowhere and got 3 to eliminate him. Brodie came in and started destroying both remaining members of Ronin by himself, but screwed up his knee hitting a running big boot on Swann in the corner and went down. Brodie laid there clutching his knee for several seconds and it was clear that he was hurt bad, to the point that Swann just rolled over and pinned him to get him out of there. The crowd sensed what was going on with Brodie and chanted his name as he made his way to the back, but the match continued.
CIMA started abusing the hell out of Swann at this point, destroying him with a series of hard kicks, hitting a top rope 2K1 Bomb, and then finishing him off with a double kneedrop off the top rope. Gargano's all alone now against both CIMA and Aries, but Gargano shows a superhuman effort by managing to take on both men by himself, dumping Aries to the floor, and tapping CIMA out to the Gargano Escape. Now it's down to Gargano and Aries, who just beat Gargano in a singles match earlier in the weekend. Gargano quickly hit Hertz Donut and went for the Gargano Escape, but Aries got out and caught Gargano in the Last Chancery. Gargano gets out of that, but winds up taking more punishment from Aries including the heat seeking missile to the outside, two roaring elbows, the IED, and a brainbuster, but Gargano wouldn't stay down. Aries hit the 450 splash, but Gargano made it to the ropes, so Aries went foranother IED and ran right into a superkick from Gargano, who quickly followed up with another Hertz Donut and the Gargano Escape for the submission win.
This was an excellent match and easily, easily the biggest win of Gargano's career at that point. If you had any doubts about where Gargano was headed in Dragon Gate USA, they were completely erased after watching him tap out both CIMA and Austin Aries in a 2-on-1 situation. The match told a great story and is far and away the best thing on the show up to this point.
This brings us to the main event, as Open The Brave Gate/Open The United Gate Champion PAC takes on Open The Freedom Gate Champion YAMATO, but only YAMATO's title is on the line here. YAMATO's strategy early on mostly centered around attacking PAC's legs so that he could try and take away his ability to fly around, but PAC managed to come out on top of a slugfest in the middle of the ring, driving YAMATO out to the floor and then wiping him out with a dive. PAC nearly put YAMATO away with a rebound German suplex, but YAMATO regained control and went for the choke sleeper. PAC responded by climbing the turnbuckles with YAMATO on his back and then dropping backward off the second rope right on top of YAMATO, then hit a second rope Phoenix splash for 2. YAMATO countered another top rope move with a pair of brainbusters followed by Galleria for the win. Terrific match, PAC gave it everything he had but YAMATO still had it in him to survive and put PAC down for 3 with a big combination of finishers to cut PAC short of his goal of walking out of New York with three titles.
CIMA came out after the match and challenged YAMATO to defend the title against him, and then the rest of Blood Warriors runs out and attacks YAMATO, with Ricochet making sure to get some shots in on PAC while he had the opening. Johnny Gargano and Rich Swann ran out and made the save, and then Gargano got a microphone and put over DGUSA for hitting the two year mark. He went on to talk about how he went from opening the first show in DGUSA history to becoming a serious contender the fans were applauding tonight, and he warned YAMATO that he's going to want the Open The Freedom Gate Title down the line, but for right now it's time to celebrate and he thanks all the fans for supporting DGUSA for the past two years.
* * *
This was a really strong show, the final three matches were off the charts, and I especially liked how the weekend-long storyline with the DUFs gunning for Mochizuki and Yokosuka while having to deal with Pinkie Sanchez trying to get into the group wrapped up. They've become the Ronin of 2011 in that they're three American indy guys who were just looking for a shot, banded together to take their fates into their own hands, and have become a main event force to be reckoned with. Good stuff and an easy thumbs up.
For more information on Dragon Gate USA and EVOLVE, head over to their website here.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
