Sorry for the delay! The big draw for this show is the return of Shingo and his challenge for Gabe's golden boy Johnny Gargano's title.

Shingo vs Johnny Gargano - This is the big selling point of the DVD. Shingo is back in DGUSA after right around where I stopped in 2011. Gargano's in ring abilities have greatly improved. He seems to know what to do more than before and doesn't have to do a fancy move all of the time...but he still favors doing something fancy over something basic. And this is where I continue to have a problem. He's "play wrestling" like many people of that generation of pros (Young Bucks were some of the first I remember). He doesn't always seem like he's in a fight, in a competition etc. He looks like he's the main character in TV show or movie with exaggerated facial expressions and hand gestures & posing. He is hamming for the camera and crowd way too much. I don't watch WWE very often (maybe a Smackdown every few months) and this is all what "wrestling" is now. And for awhile I guess... anyway...despite all of that this is still a pretty good match. Don't want to say Shingo is 100% responsible but, fuck it...he's 99% responsible. When Shingo is beating the hell out of Gargano, it's fantastic. Gargano isn't even in the same league as Shingo so when Johnny is on offense, it's just not believable. But J.G. does give you the impression (at times) that he is desperate and knows he's in trouble. If you watch this, there's a shenanigans finish that is not clever or anything... it's right outta the Jeff Jarrett book of cheap wins. It jives with the desperation angle but it's not truly sold strong enough throughout the match to warrant this type of finish.

Re-watch: I wanted to give this another look and man, Gargano is just making faces and doing all of these little head shakes and stuff all match...and the crowd is pretty tired so he's doing this shit like he's about to transform into a werewolf or something I wish I could put a clip show together. Also he doesn't seem to know how to fill the time in between spots. This is why this is so good when Shingo is on the attack or when Johnny is counter attacking. Also Johnny didn't really sell anything in the "pop up right after taking a big move to run the ropes" way...but maybe this can be said of many of these types of matches so I'll stop now.

I watched this before the rest of the show because of the hype (it didn't live up to it as predicted) so I'm going to review the rest of the show in order now.

Brian Kendrick vs. Rich Swann - Oh yeah, this is really solid stuff. Nice pacing, good wrestling holds (especially from Kendrick) and a smattering of exciting moves. Swann looked excellent and I gotta think Kendrick laid this one out and Rich followed along. It was so much in that 2000's ROH /higher echelon Indie style...when doing a smart match was important. As a whole, I enjoyed this more than the Gargano match.

Arik Cannon vs. Jigsaw vs. Fire Ant vs. Chuck Taylor vs. Anthony Nese vs. Shane Strickland - A LOT of fun...very much a call back to the early shows with Chikara guys, Taylor, Cannon... Strickland was still green but he did well...Nese was more polished. And this was bananas. All said, this could have been Cannon, Jigsaw, Taylor & Fire Ant and that would have satisfied me.

Scott Reed (w/Larry Dallas) vs. Derek Ryze - skipped

Jon Davis vs. Trent - Started watching this but the crowd killed it... they just wanted to shit on Davis. So I gave up on it...

Eita & Tomahawk TT vs. The Super Smash Brothers (Player Dos & Player Uno) - This didn't really pull me in as there was too much comedy from the Smash Bros. The DG team were at half speed as were the Bros. But it was fun wrestling... lots of cool spots

Akira Tozawa (w/Christina Von Eerie) vs. Ricochet - Ricochet has shaken off probably 90% of his bad habits. He does a couple melodrama moments but they are at the very end and feel earned. This should have been for the belt and the singles main event as this actually felt like a Dragon Gate singles match. Tozawa and Ricochet came up in the company at the same time, they are equally in rank & experience. Gargano vs Tozawa or Ricochet would have made more sense but Shingo really out ranks him in ability and experience. If I can do tangent, it felt like he was lowering himself to face Bargain especially in a title fight...sure Shingo wasn't a regular and you didn't need to protect him but it also kinda didn't make sense. Anyway,  Tozawa is a beast and Von Eerie was a great second/manager. Ricochet felt like a heel here and it worked. I would have liked a different finish but dammit! it was earned. Near classic match.

Sami Callihan vs. Uhaa Nation - Very good to great match. Sami got to hit Uhaa really hard and he went after his opponent's knee (which Lenny Leonard let's us know was very injured & rehabbed recently). Psychology!? Wha!? Uhaa sold the hell out of it too. Tozawa vs Ricochet was a hard act to follow but this was really sound good wrestling. Everything was there except the fans' excitement.

AR Fox & CIMA vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) - This was not as fast or crisp as the top tier DGUSA tag title fights of '09-'11 but, this was still great action packed tag wrestling. AR & CIMA are a sweet team! They had some absolutely nasty tag moves. Fox actually is fundamentally better than Ricochet was as CIMA's partner. The Bucks were their usual selves. They do the same kind of thing everywhere & every time but, there's always neat teases, variations that make it fresh. 

This was a really good show...probably a great one. If you're a Gargano fan then, you're going to really like the main event more than me. And I'd recommend going on eBay and picking this up.

-----Bonus!

Akira Tozawa vs Shingo (Mercury Rising 2013) - So this took place the next night on the Wrestlemania Sunday afternoon. This is the superior version of powerhouse vet vs spunky rising star. Very much like the Gargano match Shingo is mopping the floor with his opponent for much of the early stages of the match. Eventually, the opponent mounts an offense. I prefer Tozawa's strike based attacks especially in this situation as he & Shingo get to beat the hell outta each other! But I admire that things didn't suddenly become even-steven. Tozawa was fighting with grit & heart. Near classic match maybe a little more.

And while I was contemplating watching more, the YouTube channel was axed...so I'm glad I got one last video in. Tozawa vs Shingo is a helluva final match. It's been a overall great experience watching Dragon Gate USA. It's not as hokey as I thought it would be back in '09-'10 when I'd see the PPV previews. The big time matches truly deliver especially in that time span. I was surprised to see Austin Aries here but his matches were also excellent. I can't vouch for everything but if you're interested, keep searching around on YouTube, or other video services or the DVDs are for sale on eBay... it's worth the time and money.