Dragon Gate USA: Enter the Dragon
September 4, 2009
Philadelphia, PA
The Arena
(Taped on 7/25/09)

So I may be about five months behind on this one, but let’s see what all the hubbub is about since it won various ‘Show of the Year’ awards.

ECW alumni Dawn Marie welcomes everybody to the program. She will be *YOUR* special guest ring announcer for the whole evening. Just so you know, she looks nothing like this (NSFW) anymore. I enjoyed looking up that little picture.

Your hosts are Lenny Leonard and CHIKARA-san.

• YAMATO vs. BxB Hulk
  

BxB Hulk parties like Disco Inferno on ecstasy and he actually has chicks with him. By the way, one of the chicks is Daizee Haze. YAMATO’s character seems pretty cocky. Some feeling out wristlock stuff to start. Leonard tells us that YAMATO has some MMA training. It’s never slow, but things pick up even faster as Hulk flips out of a hiptoss into an armdrag of his own. Dropkick gets two. Hulk hits a Booker T hook kick and steps on YAMATO for a pin attempt, but YAMATO pulls him down into a kneebar. Hulk escapes and after avoiding a charge in the corner, he tries a spin kick from the apron. YAMATO blocks that and hooks Hulk’s leg around the turnbuckle and dropkicks him down to the floor. YAMATO works the knee for a while and Hulk will have those bursting moments where he’ll mount a comeback, but YAMATO cuts him off every time. YAMATO locks on this awesome Indian deathlock variation, but Hulk makes the ropes. YAMATO unloads with some smug chops in the corner. Hulk’s leg gives out, but he cartwheels away and hits a missile dropkick out of nowhere. Hulk moonsault kicks off YAMATO and drops him with a clothesline. Legsweep by Hulk sets up a standing corkscrew moonsault for 1-2-NO! Looks like Hulk will win a slugfest, but YAMATO comes back with a pair of elbow smashes for 1-2-NO! YAMATO hits a spear and hooks the legs in position for a Texas Cloverleaf when Hulk kicks out! Awesome. He maneuvers over into the Crippler Crossface, but Hulk makes the ropes. They trade weak finisher attempts, but nobody gets anything. They head up top where Hulk gets the Super Powerslam! Hulk sells the knee and can’t cover. Crazy kick combo by Hulk gets YAMATO ready for EVO! Cover, 1-2-NO! Phoenix Splash by Hulk, but there’s no water in the pool! YAMATO hits a running elbow smash in the corner and a Brainbuster gets 1-2-NO! Hulk flips out of GALLARIA and hits a jumping enziguri, but YAMATO is still able to grab a sleeper. YAMATO doesn’t stop there as he flips Hulk over into a choke suplex for 1-2-NO! Enough of this, YAMATO hits GALLARIA for the 1-2-3. (15:22) This suffered from some selling issues from BxB Hulk as he would only sell the knee just when it was convenient. He did sell the knee more as the match progressed, but you can’t act like YAMATO didn’t do anything right after all the work he did either. Nevertheless, a great back and forth opener with signature Dragon Gate action. YAMATO is one awesomely smug dude too. I dig him. ***¾

We check out Naruki Doi and Shingo getting ready in their opposing locker rooms.

• Fire Ant, Soldier Ant, Jigsaw, and Mike Quackenbush vs. Icarus, Gran Akuma, Amasis, and Hallowicked
  

Good to see CHIKARA getting some airtime. Not really a fan of the comic book fed, but possibly this match will change my mind. Even so, this crowd is HOT for the CHIKARA stars. Apparently Ophidian is injured and Hallowicked won a drawing to sub for him, which makes him the odd man of the team in more ways than one. This match will be contested under LUCHA rules, which means if one guy hits the floor, another guy from your team may enter the ring. Amasis and Fire Ant start us off. After some juking and jiving, Fire Ant takes a lucha armdrag to the floor. Quackenbush enters the ring. Amasis tries the same on him, but Quackenbush slam dunks him to the mat. Out goes Amasis, in comes Icarus – who is the most hated man in the building. He attempts to escape an armbar by jumping off the ropes with an armdrag, but then runs into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Hallowicked replaces Icarus, who does some neat lucha stuff with Quackenbush. Hallowicked snaps off a hurracanrana, but gets drawn into a flying bodypress from Jigsaw. Double-team headscissors takedown by Jigsaw sends out Hallowicked. Gran Akuma – who has a Davey Richards/Baron Von Raschke feel to him – kicks Jigsaw out of the ring. Soldier Ant comes in and gets several rotations off a headscissors. Haha, the guy salutes all the time. Hallowicked enters the match and hits a sitout spinebuster on Soldier Ant for two. That little bit of offense makes Soldier Ant *your* ant-in-peril. The Rojos work the back of Soldier Ant. Hallowicked flips Icarus on top for a nearfall. Amasis looks for the People’s Elbow and misses. Looks like F.I.S.T. try for a double-team, but Icarus monkey flips Soldier Ant into a rana on Akuma! After a slap exchange, Soldier Ant leapfrogs Icarus and makes the HOT TAG TO QUACKENBUSH! He gets a few nearfalls on Icarus with some help from Jigsaw. Hallowicked comes in and takes a lucha armdrag to the floor. Jigsaw wants to fly, but Akuma cuts him off with a kick. Speak by Icarus gets 1-2-NO! Now Jigsaw gets in some trouble. Akuma powerbombs Icarus onto Jigsaw for 1-2-NO! They do the old bit where Jigsaw tries to leap over Akuma, but he’s caught and driven back into the heel corner. Jigsaw gets launched by Akuma and dropkicks Icarus to the floor. Now Akuma gets dumped out as well. Fosbury Flop to F.I.S.T! Fire Ant and Hallowicked head into the ring. Fire Ant headscissors Hallowicked around and hits a lucha stunner! Akuma makes the save, but he takes a swinging DDT to the floor. The Colony just starts owning everybody. ANTS GO MARCHING to Amasis! That gets two. Hallowicked hits GO 2 SLEEPY HOLLOW on Soldier Ant. Quackenbush saves his partner and ranas Hallowicked into a Saluting Flying Headbutt for 1-2-NO! Amasis hits That Move I Beat Moses With to take out Soldier Ant. Such a great name. Quacken Driver to Amasis as Jigsaw goes up top, but Akuma crotches him. Super Exploder sets Jigsaw up for a HUGE moonsault for 1-2-NO! Jigsaw refuses to take the Rubik’s Cube and hits Akuma with a Rack Bomb for two. Hallowicked backs Jigsaw into the corner as Icarus tries to unmask Jigsaw! The Colony runs in for the save and hiptosses Icarus off the top rope! Quackenbush and the Colony wipe out everybody – leaving Jigsaw to give Icarus the JIG N TONIC for the win. (17:57) Spotty? Yes. Did it still manage to tell a story? You bet it did. Everyone’s roles here were defined to perfection. Just an unbelievably awesome eight-man tag regardless of how you feel about the nature of the CHIKARA characters. ****¼

Afterwards, Mike Quackenbush thanks Jorge Rivera for training the CHIKARA guys on how to wrestle the lucha style. Quackenbush goes on to make a challenge to Dragon Gate saying that anybody from CHIKARA could stand up to anybody they have to offer. Out comes YAMATO, he spouts off some Japanese and then kicks Quackenbush in the balls. Jigsaw makes the save and Gran Akuma enters the ring. Jigsaw expects Akuma to help him, but Akuma turns on CHIKARA and kicks low on Jigsaw! SWERVE~! Cheech and Cloudy attempt to help out Quackenbush and Jigsaw, but they get thrown away. The Colony manage to clear the ring as Akuma walks out with YAMATO!

• Dragon Kid (w/Shingo) vs. Masato Yoshino (w/Naruki Doi)
  

If you don’t watch Dragon Gate but you have watched some of the more talked about matches from ROH, you may remember these two from the classic Dragon Gate six man tags in ROH. These two are HUGE rivals in Dragon Gate. After some quick mat exchanges, Yoshino ducks out as Dragon Kid delivers the fake dive through the ropes. Back in, Yoshino catches a sunset flip attempt and drops Dragon Kid on his face. Yoshino is known as one of the fastest wrestlers in the world, but he slows down the pace here as he works on Dragon Kid’s arm. Yoshino blocks a springboard attempt, but Dragon Kid comes back with Déjà Vu which is a satellite headscissors. To the floor, Dragon Kid hits a Springboard Moonsault off the turnbuckle connector. Back in, a springboard dropkick gets two. Dragon Kid sells the arm when its convenient, which seems to be the standard rule in this fed. They head to the top where Dragon Kid blocks a sunset flip powerbomb and ranas Yoshino into the ropes for 6-1-9! Oh, but Yoshino blocks a rana with a powerbomb. Christo gets Yoshino all wrapped up, but he throws Dragon Kid off. Jesus Walks hits knees! Just an awesome missile dropkick from Yoshino gets two. Lightning Spiral is countered into a tilt-a-whirl DDT by Dragon Kid. They fight to the top where Dragon Kid hits a SUPER FRANKENSTEINER for 1-2-NO! Another Space from Yoshino sets up Torbellino. Dragon Kid counters Sol Naciente into a pinning situation and then hits a tilt-a-whirl stunner! Yes, its possible! ULTRA HURRACANRANA gets Dragon Kid the 1-2-3. (13:27) They went a little slow for what you expect from Yoshino, but still we got a solid outing instead of a balls to the wall spotfest. Seriously, how is Dragon Kid still able to do what he does?! ***¼

• The Young Bucks vs. CIMA & Susumu Yokosuka
  

Generation Me in da houuuse. I hate that name. Mike Quackenbush joins Lenny and CHIKARA-son in the announce booth. Yokosuka and Matt start the match. They screw with one another to start with lucha tricks. Matt hits a backflip headscissors and both men switch out. The Young Bucks hit CIMA with N’Sync followed by a swinging neckbreaker on Nick’s knee to Yokosuka. CIMA delivers a Hilo to Nick for two. The Young Bucks corner Yokosuka – including a flying double stomp to the arm. Slingshot corkscrew splash from Nick gets two. Blind tag to Matt, he launches Nick into a dropkick onto CIMA. He doesn’t seem to like that very much as CIMA kicks Matt down. Double suplex to Matt gets two. While Yokosuka keeps Matt grounded, CIMA draws Nick in every now and then to claw away on Matt. Pretty sweet nod to the way tag wrestling simply should be done to draw effective heat. Double-team wheelbarrow-codebreaker to Matt gets 1-2-NO! Nick makes the save and pays for it dearly as the DG guys toss him out and give him a springboard double stomp off the guardrail! Awesome! Back in, the kick combo from CIMA gets a nearfall on Matt. He catches Yokosuka charging at him in the corner with a boot and hits Sliced Bread #2 off CIMA’s chest! Neckbreaker across the knee sets up the RNR Express rolling HOT TAG TO NICK! Crazy Dive to Warriors-5! Back inside, the Young Bucks deliver the standing moonsault-springboard splash combo to CIMA for 1-2-NO! Yokosuka makes the save. CIMA rolls through a sunset flip on Nick and delivers a double stomp to the face! The Warriors-5 DO-SEE-DO away from a double whip reversal out of the corner. With both Young Bucks stuck in the corner, CIMA delivers a DOUBLE SUPERDROL! Incredible. After a series of elbows into the corner, CIMA flying double stomps Matt while he’s up in a powerbomb position! CIMA doesn’t stop with that however, as he suicide dives out onto Nick! Super Exploder in the ring to Matt gets 1-2-NO! Yokosuka eats a boot in the corner and takes a springboard somersault stunner by Matt for 1-2-NO! Matt heads up top, but CIMA brings him down with a palm strike and an Iconoclasm. MAD SPLASH hits knees! In comes Nick with a lucha stunner! Worse Case Scenario from the Young Bucks to Yokosuka. Cover, 1-2-NO! Nick tries to keep CIMA on the floor, but winds up eating the ringpost. CIMA heads back in after Matt eats a lariat from Yokosuka and gives him the Perfect Driver for 1-2-NO! CIMA delivers Coast to Coast to Matt! SPIKE DOUBLE-ARM DDT! Cover, 1-2-NO! Nick barely makes the save. CIMA Superkicks Yokosuka by mistake and gets dumped to the floor. That leaves Yokosuka all alone for MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK! That gets the win. (17:30) Fast paced and state of the art tag wrestling with bits of old school stuff mixed in. I love it. ****

• Open the Dream Gate Champion Naruki Doi vs. Shingo
  

And now the main event that all the kids were talking about. The title isn’t on the line, but Doi shows up with the belt anyways because he’s a CHAMPION. I like the Dream Gate belt. It looks like Doi keeps his keys on it. I mean how else are you going to open a gate if it happens to be locked? You have to have your keys! Feeling out process to start. Shingo is obviously the more powerful of the two as he wins a shoulderblock battle. He catches Doi leaping on his back and gives him a TKO for his efforts. Shingo makes his first mistake by missing a flying knee drop. Doi hits a dragon screw and twists on the knee. Shinbreaker sets up a figure-four. WOOO! Doi tries a CANNONBALLLL in the corner, but Shingo catches him and STANDS UP to give Doi a powerbomb! Shingo controls with an hourglass suplex that lasts THIRTY SECONDS. That gets two. Take that, Davey Boy! They fight over a suplex over by the apron. Shingo gets tied up in the ropes and takes a running dropkick to the chest. With Shingo doubled over, Doi hits a flying senton splash to the back to flip Shingo back into the ring. Shingo tries to come back with Flip Flop and Fly, but Doi dropkicks him in the bad knee. Doi charges in the corner with a jumping elbow, but Shingo catches him in mid-air and takes him over with a suplex. This time Shingo hits the Flying Knee Drop for 1-2-NO! Shingo goes for Blood Fall, but Doi lands on his feet. He hits it on the second try for 1-2-NO! Doi delivers a press into a sitout spinebuster for 1-2-NO! They fight up top where Doi breaks free and slaps the CRAP out of Shingo. Doi sets Shingo up in the tree of woe and hits him with the CANNONBALLLL. Back Superplex by Doi gets 1-2-NO! Shingo counters the MUSCULAR BOMB and hits a DVD followed by a Lariat that gets 1-2-NO! Doi fights off Made In Japan, but eats a bunch of forearms. There we go. MADE IN JAPAN connects for the 1-2-NO! Then out of nowhere, we see DOI 555! BAKATARE SLIDING KICK gets 1-2-NO! MUSCULAR BOMB fails again as Shingo hits MADE IN JAPAN again. Strike exchange ends with another BAKATARE SLIDING KICK! Tiger Suplex by Doi gets 1-2-NO! Shingo NO-SELLS another BAKATARE SLIDING KICK, but a second one gets two! FINALLY, Doi can hit the MUSCULAR BOMB for 1-2-3! (20:49) What a fantastic main event. Naruki Doi’s heroic attempt to beat Shingo and then coming out on the winning end was quite amazing. ****¼

Final Thoughts: If you are someone who is looking for something fresh and new in your wrestling, this is the company for you. There are five matches here that were all given enough time to develop into something great and even the shortest match is over ***. Huge thumbs up for ‘Open the Historic Gate’ or ‘Enter the Dragon – whatever you want to call it.