Spotlight: Dragon Gate USA - Open the Untouchable Gate 2009
Here we are back trying to watch some of my DVD backlog. This is/was a pretty well known show for the Danielson and Davey matches. I didn't give two shits back at the time but I have mellowed out about DGUSA (it took 10 years) :D. I was able to get a few of the more praised shows for cheap on eBay a few years ago. Like FIP a couple years ago, I might skip a match and I will definitely watch these out of order for the best viewing experience. Also I watched this with commentary off (nice to have the option) but ended up turning the volume down because the ring was way too loud. Perhaps the acoustics of the hall? Also the lighting wasn't great as it really brought the red of the mat into focus too much. You can see how the mat tints the images far beyond what's pleasing to the eye. You get used to it.
Dragon Kid vs. Masato Yoshino - Pretty good match based on the crazy moves. It's definitely a match to let Dragon Kid do a bunch of zany shit. And it works 
It's probably a little longer than it needed to be and I'm not sure if they told a story but it was enjoyable.
-----
Gran Akuma & YAMATO vs. Jigsaw & Mike Quackenbush - I've liked these guys in various matches over the years. YAMATO is someone I would be glad to see his work but man I thought this stunk of indie goofiness. I gave up on it...I'm guessing/hoping it had only a minute left but it felt like I was wasting time here.
Bryan Danielson vs. Naruki Doi - Contrary to the fans, that wasn't awesome. It was pretty good though. The good stuff was the stiffness, the athleticism, the grinding joint holds Dragon did. The "not good" was that the arm and leg work went nowhere - sorry if that's a spoiler. They didn't go too far making it THE story and they did a little selling but I'd rather they make this more about getting a pin vs joint locks. The section where they exchanged pin moves was very good and seemed more to Doi's strength. In that vein, I didn't feel they had good chemistry. It was Dragon doing his thing and Doi trying to keep up...so Doi didn't really bring anything special to the match. He could have easily been someone else beyond his signature moves. It was still pretty good stuff as they kept the action up, it was stiff etc. But per Cagematch the WON rated this ****3/4 and the Match Guide has it at 9.26 (so like ****1/2)...and those people are on acid. ***3/4 (three and three-quarters) is more like it.
----
Brian Kendrick vs. CIMA - This was a really good solid match between vets at this point. You could say this was too simple for a DG match but fuck, it's a good match with solid fundamentals, good action, and exciting highspots. It's over a little sooner than I would have thought... I can't remember Kendrick doing anything beyond mid level offense but he was probably in Smackdown! mode and this would be a pretty good match there
Davey Richards vs. SHINGO - Well damn! That lived up to the hype. This was an intense stiff fight. I liked that they even incorporated a leg and arm work story here. I can now understand why they didn't do this in the Danielson match but also why not he with one at all (again would have liked some just "plain old" chain wrestling). Anyhow I'm probably not going to convince anyone to change their opinion on this match or Davey. If you like Davey and appreciate him for what he does (good & bad) AND you haven't seen this one then you really should. It's classic stuff. Shingo is one of my faves but also has bad habits from time to time but I think he was nearly perfect here. I'm really happy with those lariats and elbows towards the end... they really helped cement this as a top tier match.
-----
The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) vs. Real Hazard (Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito): Well that was fucking sweet! Great heel stuff by Real Hazard which was a welcome thing here. The Bucks are able to pull these kinds of matches out of a hat at this time period and this is no different. Genki & Ryo add a great twist to the Bucks' formula. Yeah this was a blast. Great match...maybe near classic... I just really liked the heel work which made the comeback all that sweeter. It's the way you do it because it works... I think later Bucks (along with a lot of wrestling) sorta forgot as time went on.
I had heard Genki changed his look after those ROH matches...holy cow!
-----
This was a great show...especially in the order I watched it in. This was:
Chikara tag, Dragon Kid vs Yoshino, Cima vs Kendrick, Bucks vs Real Hazard, Danielson vs Doi, Davey vs Shingo. This order made sense and I have no idea why Gabe S. booked this differently. It was booked like FIP trying to push the Bucks really hard...Shit at least have Danielson last...he's your big draw on PPV and not the middle of the show.
That aside the DVD comes with a bonus DVD featuring Shingo vs Davey in FIP and other stuff. Ah what the heck, it's been 3 years since I watched Full Impact Pro let's go back to Florida:
Shingo vs Davey (FIP Impact of Honor): Ah I've seen this one because I remember the high school/college gym they do the show in. I really liked this crowd, they are just psyched for the action. Had I been there, I would be too! It's perfect for the crowd. They do great looking moves, the push the pace and have a low end very good match. But that might not sound like a positive but, it is...they did the match that was asked of them and the crowd dug the heck out of it.
Shingo vs Davey (FIP All or Nothing 11/10/06): Oh man, they did a variation of the previous match, cleaned up the rough edges and this was nearly a great match. Just so well paced plus good action that kept you guessing. They are excellent opponents for one another. Having both of these on here is pretty sweet as an FIP fan...
Oh I should mention there's another match on the show. It was the curtain jerker and a dark match for the PPV and put on the bonus DVD.
Eight Way Fray Elimination Match
Arik Cannon vs. Hallowicked vs. Shiima Xion vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Flip Kendrick vs. Louis Lyndon vs. Prince Mustafa Ali vs. The Great Malaki - Yeah I was liking this as total indie spots galore but damn it went on forever since the participants come out Royal Rumble/War Games style. What the fuck was Gabe thinking? It was like the Tag Scramble matches in ROH but there only 3 pins needed to take place... now you've got 7. And with the absolute bananas stuff these guys were doing (Cannon & 'wicked were actually pretty good & reasonable) it's a wonder the crowd didn't get burnt out a couple matches in.
Anyway, I've seen this for around $10 on eBay so if you're interested go for it! Lots good stuff for the price.
This got me thinking about Davey in Dragon Gate USA. I wanted to see what other matches Davey had in DGUSA since there weren't many despite kinda being the big American star of the future for this & EVOLVE. Looks like he did 2 more shows and the most interesting match is him vs YAMATO. I am not planning on getting that DVD but a person has it up on the 'tube (for a limited time). Here we go!
YAMATO vs. Davey Richards - (DGUSA OPEN THE FREEDOM GATE 11/28/2009): Wow! This was a great match! Although a respected source says this is superior to the Shingo bout, I disagree. I think this one is a bit more guilty of the "blow off the selling" than the Shingo/Davey bout gets criticized for. Here I don't think they had the intensity and stiffness dialed up to 10...and that intensity helps sell the adrenaline rush/block out the pain psychology that the Untouchable match had going for it. That said this is still really entertaining and full of great action. Definitely could have been a Full Impact Pro semi main event 
It's online for the time being so check it out!
Fun little project...I have 3 more DGUSA shows so I'll be back with another one soon.
I am going to keep going with early NOAH for next with stuff from 2002.
Thanks for reading!
1 Comment
Recommended Comments