Live, the show opened up with WrestleReunion promoter Sal Corrente welcoming everyone and saying he had never seen Dragon's Gate but hears that it is good. Well, I would hope so since it's your show!
Rich Swann will not be appearing due to transportation issues with his flight. Scorpio Sky has been booked as a replacement.
Low Ki vs. BxB Hulk thoughts: There was some nice matwork mixed in with some stiff chops and kicks early. The crowd was REALLY into seeing Ki, who was added within the last week of the show due to Johnny Gargano's injury. Hulk controlled Ki with several kicks and then tied him up on his side, pulling Ki's arm and leg back while kicking his back. That looked painful. The crow was super into Ki's comeback. Ki looked to be in incredible shape. Ki going over clean pretty much sent the message that he's being booked to be a player here, not just a special attraction. You don't have someone beat your former champ for no reason. They worked this as a pro wrestling-MMA hybrid and the live crowd hear really got into the stiff shots. I liked the tease of Ki and Akira Tozawa for down the line. That could be AWESOME.
Chuck Taylor came out and announced Rich Swann would not appear tonight as he missed his flight. That was a shoot. Gabe Sapolsky was scrambling to find a replacement when I arrived this afternoon at the venue. Scorpio Sky got a nice reaction when he hit the ring to team with Taylor, as he's well known locally here. After a hot opening sequence, the Bucks slowed it down, working over Taylor and showing some good heel tendencies. You know you have a crowd that is here to have fun when they start chanting "TNA rejects" at the Bucks and when the Bucks respond that they quit, the place immediately chants, "Quitters! Quitters!" That was pretty damn funny. Sky looked really strong here in his debut. There were a lot of strong spots in this one but there were times where it was just a sequence of back and forth moves, so some of them didn't have a chance to resonate. Still, it's entertaining to watch and I'd be surprised if Sky didn't earn himself another look here.
AR Fox vs. Sami Callihan thoughts: Like Ricochet a few weeks back, Fox needs work on his promos. He's just not ready to be cutting these impassioned promos yet. The crowd loved the Tables match announcement and with the brawl around ringside, it was different than anything else on the show. Fox's dive to the floor over the cameramen to kick off the match was crazy. They really got the most out of the least here with Callihan slamming Fox again and again onto a table, which Fox sold like he was shot. Considering all the insane things we see in wrestling today, selling that and getting the crowd to respond was a credit to them. Unfortunately for them, it also broke the only table they had for the match, which meant they went into improv mode. Fox finally got some payback on Callihan for the last few weeks, moonsaulting him on a guard rail and spitting on him. With the table broken, they placed it in the corner and teased some big spots. Callihan then turned around and powerbombed Fox over the top onto the guard rail that was bridged. Callihan then threw the table onto Fox and set it up in the corner and powerbombed Fox through it against the rail on the floor. I don't know what the original plan was but I am sure this was a hell of a lot more brutal and my God, you have to respect them for going all out like that and racketing up the violence when their plans went to hell.
Jon Davis vs. Caleb Konley thoughts: Going in, I expected a quick squash since they are building Davis for Dave Finlay. However, while there were moments of Davis looking like a beast, Konley got some nice offense in and had a good pair of hotties with him, but in the end it was the Pounce and a sitdown powerbomb for the win for Davis. There was one running powerbomb in the corner where Konley was tossed early and I thought for sure he was doomed. For what it was designed to be, it was fine.
Pac vs. Akira Tozawa thoughts: Tozawa is more and more impressive by the month and Pac, who is more of a flyer, looked really improved here as well. They played to Tozawa's strengths and toned down the flying early so it would mean more later. Tozawa's charisma is just great. The Tozawa dropkick while Pac was springboarding into the ring was NASTY. Pac's crash and burn bump onto the ropes made me winch. At this point, they started going crazy with the dives and springboard moves, which was fine since they had spent time building to them as opposed to just throwing them out there. This was a war of attrition with a lot of great sequences and near falls. Tozawa's over the head throw belly to back superplex was plain nuts. I don't know how the hell that wasn't the finish. The ending sequence with Pac kicking out of nasty suplex after nasty suplex was a little too much but my God, it got Tozawa over as a beast. He's the franchise here in my mind and he's frighteningly good considering how young he is in the business. I don't know if Kurt Angle or Jun Akiyama are the right guys to compare him to, but I can't think of anyone else who has taken to the business and has been as much of a top flight worker like Tozawa has so quickly beyond them. Pac really shined here too but this was Tozawa's night. Great 30 minutes plus action.
CIMA & Ricochet vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & Jimmy Susumu thoughts: Some solid wrestling early but I had a hard time getting into it as I felt they sort of peaked with Tozawa's bout. Lots of really good athletic moves and some crazy bumps in this one. The sequences were just insanely out of this world as they went on and the match developed into a hell of an entertaining main event. It was to the point that when they were kicking up, my response was, "Geez, what more can they do?" and then they would do something more. Just a brutal, insanely back and forth futuristic wrestling match.
Tozawa and Hulk hit the scene and Low Ki breaks it up. Ki getting to cut the final promo was pretty symbolic as it's always been CIMA's role to send the crowd home happy with a speech. Ki continued on his quest to evolve the business, which started with the EVOLVE 10 show. He said he wanted to compete against the best in the world. The crowd immediately knew he meant Tozawa. Ki then turned it into a testimonial about the DGUSA talents, setting the stage for his eventual showdown with each of them. So, the theme of 2012 is Low Ki vs. the world. Works for me!
DGUSA put their best foot forward here with a strong, strong card.
