G. Badger

I'm not really sure why I watched these matches. This is a notoriously poorly rated year for AJPW. I don't think many people have thought highly of AJPW after the NOAH exodus. And as a result, I don't believe there's been a good consensus of if AJPW was ever any good post July of 2000. Sure there's been a handful of matches that have gotten some hype and even some wrestlers but I think Western fans have gone elsewhere. I've done some projects in the past looking at early 2010's AJPW (which when originally intended to be completed was actually timely). I found that not only was it good/watchable but it was pretty great. I'm never one to be completionist or do super deep dives...if you've read my blog you know that I watch the stuff that interests me. I favor matches that have wrestlers that I like. And ultimately all of that is what led me here. Post split AJPW has a bunch of Kawada, Tenryu, Masa Fuchi, Dr. Death Steve Williams and even Mike Rotunda. I'm willing to give these a shot. I know from others that there is some quality amongst the junk. The good thing about 2000 All Japan is that the junk is spray painted safety orange with big "do not watch" stickers tacked on the sides. They were booking anyone who would show up for the undercard. I am also favoring tag team matches as these feature the best looking matches. So per usual I am cherry picking and let's get started! Toshiaki Kawada & Genichiro Tenryu VS Stan Hansen & Maunakea Mossman (07/23/00): I am not sure if it's a great match but this is way better than it had any right to be. Mossman gets a big push out of necessity. Hansen can still do mean & stiff. Tenryu is doing his thing. I feel like Kawada is dejected (rightfully so)...like all of this is a step down for him and you can tell his heart isn't in it here...but he still gives a very good effort.. don't get me wrong. And the match is really good and I really dug the last few minutes. Genichiro Tenryu, Nobutaka Araya & Toshiaki Kawada v Johnny Smith, Mike Barton & Stan Hansen (08/20/00): Joined in progress with only the last third shown. It was good at times but also very random feeling with Barton/Bart Gunn especially since he pinned Kawada. Again, Kawada is almost getting punished for staying with AJPW... Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen vs Steve Williams & Toshiaki Kawada (09/02/00): This was actually pretty good especially when Tenryu was in. Hansen was done by this point... he was still pretty good a year earlier with Vader but at least here he no longer seems to have it. It's pretty crazy they wanted these guys to work a nearly 30 minute match. I only saw half so maybe he looks better earlier. Tenryu vs Kawada was great and definitely a prelude to their October classic. Toshiaki Kawada vs. Steve Williams (10/14/00): Half shown, good match but weird pacing as Williams' back or ribs were injured. For 2000 post split, it's worth a watch though. It's different but still good... Genichiro Tenryu vs. Stan Hansen (10/21): Stan is really done here...he's clearly in a ton of pain from the wrestling. It's a good match though because Tenryu works within Hansen's limits. Its mainly chops, punches and other things Stan can just stand or lay there for. Early on they are much more mobile but even at 11 minutes it's too much for the Lariat. He's fighting from underneath the whole match but Hansen is the best at that so this actually makes the match look competitive and real. Satoshi Kojima & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Steve Williams & Nobutaka Araya (10/21): This is cool...I didn't realize they started the AJ vs NJ stuff this soon. I know they tip toe into it at the end of the year. That's when we get the awesome Kawada vs Nagata tag match in December in NJ. The crowd is going crazy. It's only 11 minutes but man this is fun. Doc is much better than in the Kawada match and he vs Kojima is really good. They have a couple minutes where he looks like the Dr. Death of old. Goto and Araya do their part (Araya being more interesting) and we get a good little match. More Doc vs Kojima please! Masa Chono, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito vs. Toshiaki Kawada, Shiro Koshinaka & Masa Fuchi (10/21): Very good 6 man match. The NJ team (Team 2000) was actually pretty dynamic and did quite a few moves compared to what the AJ team did. Kawada was the most exciting man for his team which you you wouldn't think since we're used to the bigger stars taking a back seat in these types of matches. In actuality, there was quite a bit of Kawada vs Chono and that is what I wanted. Of course it's only 17 minutes and the middle portion is your punch & stomp variety but it works. This really is preamble for bigger things to come so I was never expecting anything mind blowing. It definitely delivered upon expectations (AJ vs NJ skirmish) and went a little above by giving us some good Chono vs Kawada moments... which I'm not sure we got many more of those. Jinsei Shinzaki & Masahito Kakihara vs. Taiyo Kea & Mohammad Yone (10/28): Only half aired but I really liked what was shown. What's weird is about 6 of the 8 minutes shown was the first 6 minutes... and it was really good. They started working over Kea's taped up ribs and back...then it skipped to the last couple minutes and was over. Kinda a bummer since it was starting to get good. Toshiaki Kawada/Masanobu Fuchi vs Taiyo Kea/Johnny Smith (11/18/00): This is on the Gaora site so I'll share it below. Even they have it joined in progress...very much a theme with the TV as you can tell. But they have most of the match and thank goodness as this is really really good stuff. Kea vs Kawada is fantastic...their kick exchanges especially. Johnny Smith is also excellent... I think Dangerous K is out of his funk by now. I like having Fuchi as his partner because it protects everyone in a business sense. Like a few months ago Kawada & Taue would have eaten this team for breakfast but there's parity with Fuchi as his regular partner. Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Nobutaka Araya (12/06/00): Great 20+ minute tag match. This is almost like an alternate universe match if Tenryu didn't leave AJPW in '90. Because of the exodus, we get to view this match (as well as the Tenryu vs Kawada singles title fight). They are wrestled almost as if the Misawa era did not take place. It feels like you could draw a straight line from 1988-90 heavyweight AJPW to this. Since I am a big fan of that period, I dug the heck outta this. If you liked their singles match then this is a must see. Fuchi clearly was wasted during the later 90's as he is a face punching, bone grinding SOB still. He and Kawada continue to be an excellent team...again calling back to the early 90's. Tenryu has the young but burly Araya under his wing. There's an interesting balance struck based on size, experience, rank etc. This makes for a really great tag match...everyone had to be beat up by the end of it...like a Wahoo vs Valentine match. Taiyo Kea & Johnny Smith vs. Steve Williams & Mike Rotunda (12/09/00): Oh man other than that one flub in the beginning, this was a very good match. Keeping it simple, keeping the intensity up, yeah this was on its way to maybe being great but they had to keep it short since they're wrestling again this night. Williams/Rotunda are good...surprisingly good in '00. Genichiro Tenryu & Mitsuya Nagai vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Mohammad Yone (12/09): This one almost was missed. It's a little bit shoot style, a little bit WAR...there's nothing to hate here. Maybe there's not the epic Tenryu vs Fujiwara elements you're looking for but Yone & Nagai truly make up for it. Yone doesn't get enough love past some BattlArts stuff and I seem to be the only person who actively is excited to see Mitsuya Nagai matches... which is a shame. Neat little stuff like this is why I comb through some of these long TV episode uploads Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs. Steve Williams & Mike Rotunda (12/09/00): RWTL final. A great tag match with Kawada trying to beat the Varsity Club all by himself. Eventually he's got to tag Fuchi in. But dammit Fuchi holds his own...again we missed out on Fuchi in the mid & late 90's. This is probably the top Doc performance of 2000 where he & Kawada seemed right at home together. Rotunda is someone who I wish we had in 90's AJPW. He's been an excellent addition to the 2000 AJ roster. He's not spectacular but is solid as a rock. This isn't going to make anyone's top RWTL list BUT it's a great improvement from where they were in July...not only that but AJ actually is pretty damn interesting & has a few quality tag teams. I think that's my big take away for this project. The tag team landscape is great... perhaps unspectacular compared with the NOAH guys but the matchups are fresh... nothing feels set in stone, no outcome seems predictable. It's definitely a company in flux. The tag scene (sans Steele & Barton who's absence you might have noticed) is really where AJPW is thriving post split. I would say the only singles match worth watching is that Kawada vs Tenryu classic from October. But there's plenty of tag stuff that has not gotten the love it deserves especially if you're into late 80's AJPW/SWS/WAR like I am. My favorites were: Satoshi Kojima & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Steve Williams & Nobutaka Araya (10/21) Masa Chono, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito vs. Toshiaki Kawada, Shiro Koshinaka & Masa Fuchi (10/21) Toshiaki Kawada & Masanobu Fuchi vs Taiyo Kea & Johnny Smith (11/18) Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Nobutaka Araya (12/06) Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs. Steve Williams & Mike Rotunda (12/09/00) I'm definitely going forward with this to look more at early Muto's AJPW in 2001. Thanks for reading!

I've been watching 2001 as well and that's been my experience too. There's a lot of matches where only half the match has aired. I feel like I've gone through what I wanted with '01 and it's definitely better than 2000. Just glancing at my notes for complete ones I found & enjoyed: Masanobu Fuchi & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Johnny Smith & Taiyo Kea (01/14) Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuya Nagai (03/03) Dr. Death & George Hines vs Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan (04/14) Nobutaka Araya & Shigeo Okumura vs. Masato Tanaka & Hideki Hosaka (05/20) Dr. Death & Mike Rotunda (The Varsity Club) vs. Kojima & Hiro Saito (06/08) Masahito Kakihara & Mitsuya Nagai vs. Yuji Nagata & Shinya Makabe (06/08) Gaora actually has this one Toshiaki Kawada vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan (06/08) Muto vs Dr. Death (07/14) Kawada vs Fuyuki (10/27) Gaora has this also and I think it's somewhat well known Muto vs Chono (10/27) Gaora also But there's a ton of stuff that's out there where half or less was shown. A fine example is Genichiro Tenryu, Yoji Anjo, Arashi & Koki Kitahara vs. George Hines, Johnny Smith, Nobutaka Araya & Toshiaki Kawada (10/08/01).

Kudos for going through all of these matches especially the ones that even looked bad on paper. I've watched the high end stuff (if you can call it that) for post split 2000 AJPW. The tag team landscape is great... perhaps unspectacular compared with the NOAH guys were doing but the match-ups in AJ are fresh... nothing feels set in stone, no outcome seems predictable. It's definitely a company in flux. The tag scene (sans Steele & Barton who I weren't interested in watching) is really where AJPW is thriving post split. I would say the only singles match worth watching is that Kawada vs Tenryu classic from October. But there's plenty of tag stuff that has not gotten the love it deserves especially if you're into late 80's AJPW/SWS/WAR like I am. My favorites were: Satoshi Kojima & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Steve Williams & Nobutaka Araya (10/21) Masa Chono, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito vs. Toshiaki Kawada, Shiro Koshinaka & Masa Fuchi (10/21) Toshiaki Kawada & Masanobu Fuchi vs Taiyo Kea & Johnny Smith (11/18) Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Nobutaka Araya (12/06) Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs. Steve Williams & Mike Rotunda (12/09) I'm hoping to get a blog post together with reviews shortly. For curious folks, it is definitely worth checking out the top shelf stuff. The under card definitely seems skippable- thank you again for doing the dirty work!

It's been awhile since anything was posted here so I thought I'd drag it off the shelf and post some reviews here. That way anyone looking for PWG reviews has a one stop shop. Here's some quality matches from Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin. Sabin vs Shelley (Hollywood Globetrotters 03/04/06) - Pre Machine Guns...Shelley with two tone hair and Sabin with the alien on his trunks, yes! This was probably more towards Sabin's style (and the MCMG style) as opposed to Shelley's. Poetry in motion opening. But, whew! this was a great match. Lots of good back and forth stuff. Their familiarity with one another is clear and they are able to work some pretty complex stuff. I don't think there was a story or drama but this was a great athletic contest type match. Sabin & Shelley vs Jimmy Jacobs vs Tyler Black (All Star Weekend IV 11/17/06 night 1) - Dream match fulfilled... this was a classic in my book. Having watched all that Dragon Gate, this totally is in the same league! I loved the Shelley vs Jimmy stuff...playing off their history together. Anyways, the last couple minutes sealed the deal. If you're hoping this is worth your time then you gotta see this! No Remorse Corps vs. Kings Of Wrestling vs. MCMG vs. Super Dragon & B-Boy (All Star Weekend IV 11/18/06 night 2) - This is bananas in the best way! The built this thing with care. The first section was all mat and chain wrestling. Then they went into more advanced stuff like suplexes, slams and some double team stuff. It was simple timeless stuff and every once in awhile they would throw something modern (for 2006) in there. Or a fan service spot.. it is PWG after all. Then the final portion was your bat shit fireworks finale. I think if I had to pick a favorite pairing, it was Kings of Wrestling vs Motor City but, everyone was killing it. Super Dragon vs Davey (with their history) was the especially stiff and where the story of the match was. I thought this was a classic. The Guns killed it this weekend in Reseda Motor City Machine Guns vs Young Bucks (Ninety Nine 04/11/09) - A very good to great match. The Bucks at this time kinda have a set program of spots so I wasn't really surprised by anything they did but the Guns were looking great. Of course there are a couple moves you'd expect from the but they mixed things up a bit. And they did things that look like they hurt...like all of those kicks...damn! I think it was over a little too quick... like the finish didn't feel earned considering what just came beforehand. In other words, the wrong team won. But it's all good, this was a bunch of fun. Just don't expect a lot of actual tags, I think I remember like one tag, so "Dragon Gate" rules...thankfully I'm pretty used to it recently. Motor City Machine Guns vs Bryan Danielson & Roderick Strong (DDT4 05/22/09) - A dream match fulfilled again! A great match. It was simply awesome at times. It's great to see the Guns get the time to go all out. Dragon & Roddy is one of those rare pairs that you can't believe didn't happen sooner. I remember this at the time. Hybrid Dolphins was their tag name I wasn't crazy about the finish however the crowd was (& you might be too) so I definitely recommend this one.

The YouTube account that had the DGUSA matches also has a bunch of PWG. Way too much if you know what I mean. But I was able to narrow it down to a few matches by the Motor City Machine Guns over the years. It's not complete or anything just some stuff I wanted to see. Sabin vs Shelley (Hollywood Globetrotters 2006) - Pre Machine Guns...Shelley with two tone hair and Sabin with the alien on his trunks, yes! This was probably more towards Sabin's style (and the MCMG style) as opposed to Shelley's. Poetry in motion opening. But, whew! this was a great match. Lots of good back and forth stuff. Their familiarity with one another is clear and they are able to work some pretty complex stuff. I don't think there was a story or drama but this was a great athletic contest type match. vs Jimmy Jacobs vs Tyler Black (All Star Weekend IV 2006 night 1) - Dream match fulfilled... this was a classic in my book. Having watched all that Dragon Gate, this totally is in the same league! I loved the Shelley vs Jimmy stuff...playing off their history together. Anyways, the last couple minutes sealed the deal. If you're hoping this is worth your time then you gotta see this! No Remorse Corps vs. Kings Of Wrestling vs. MCMG vs. Super Dragon & B-Boy (All Star Weekend IV 2006 night 2) - Hahaha! This is bananas in the best way! The built this thing with care. The first section was all mat and chain wrestling. Then they went into more advanced stuff like suplexes, slams and some double team stuff. It was simple timeless stuff and every once in awhile they would throw something modern (for 2006) in there. Or a fan service spot.. it is PWG after all. Then the final portion was your bat shit fireworks finale. I think if I had to pick a favorite pairing, it was Kings of Wrestling vs Motor City but, everyone was killing it. Super Dragon vs Davey (with their history) was the especially stiff and where the story of the match was. I thought this was a classic. The Guns killed it this weekend in Reseda vs Young Bucks (Ninety Nine 2009) - A very good to great match. The Bucks at this time kinda have a set program of spots so I wasn't really surprised by anything they did but the Guns were looking great. Of course there are a couple moves you'd expect from the but they mixed things up a bit. And they did things that look like they hurt...like all of those kicks...damn! I think it was over a little too quick... like the finish didn't feel earned considering what just came beforehand. In other words, the wrong team won. But it's all good, this was a bunch of fun. Just don't expect a lot of actual tags, I think I remember like one tag, so Dragon Gate rules...thankfully I'm pretty used to it recently. vs Danielson & Strong (DDT4 2009) - A dream match fulfilled again! A great match. It was simply awesome at times. It's great to see the Guns get the time to go all out. Dragon & Roddy is one of those rare pairs that you can't believe didn't happen sooner. I remember this at the time. Hybrid Dolphins was their tag name I wasn't crazy about the finish but the crowd was & you might be too so I definitely recommend this one. Pretty sweet batch of matches here. The bouts from the ASW IV events were the best. Thanks for reading!

Lenny Leonard on commentary helped this match, I won't lie. The crowd really needed to be ravenous for this to hit in the right way. And as I know, the longer DGUSA goes on the smaller the crowd gets. Nonetheless this was a very good match! And like their previous stuff, it's mainly due to Jimmy Jacobs. He kinda gets the idea behind hardcore spot matches and is willing to take a beating. He gets bombed against the guardrail for instance. Both guys bleeds. Chairs, a belt and the spikes are in play and this ends in a very sick finish... and ends just in time before it over stayed its welcome. Watch Aries vs Yoshino and BxB Hulk vs Shingo (which is is a classic) from the same show. Both are more worth your time than the Mox vs Jimmy match.

The Pac vs Quack opening is a thing of beauty. Things never really let up and while not as poetic as the first few minutes, this was awesome go-go bananas shit. Doi seemed to be the most tame of the bunch but he kicked things up and all four dudes were on fire by the end. I should note no one sold a thing beyond getting knocked down for a pin or rolling out of the ring for safety. That goes without saying for many of these tag matches. It's just the style so I can't use it as a criticism. I bring it up because that's really the only "flaw"... this was as bat shit of a Dragon Gate style tag as you can get...even more notably with one native Dragon Gate wrestler! At 15 minutes it ended on a perfect note. This was a classic in my book. Also check out Shingo/YAMATO vs CIMA/Dragon Kid and BxB Hulk vs Masato Yoshino from the same show. That match to me is probably the best singles DGUSA match without Shingo or Danielson so far in the promotion.

This was pretty good but it definitely felt like a level below their very best stuff. It felt slower and looser than the top notch DG 6 man matches or tags. I think we could have settled for Yoshino and Doi vs CIMA and Dragon Kid. Perhaps I have seen too much of this lately and you'll like it more than me. I mean if you're interested I would definitely recommend checking it out. It wasn't my cup of tea but it was many other people's.

I thought this was going to a very good but by the numbers tag match. I'm pretty familiar with the Speed Muscle tag spots just like I'm familiar with the Young Bucks'spots. They are still impressive and exciting but I know'em when I see 'em. What keeps this fresh is Shingo & Kid screwing with those spots...cutting them off, countering etc. One I really dug was seeing Shingo absorb Doi's rapid fire slaps and firing back with a stiff punch to the jaw. I haven't seen anyone do that... it's simple but surprising. In addition to that we get great escalated spots where moves normally done are now done off the turn buckle, off the ropes etc. They were a little slow going in the beginning and I think it was to make this longer (it's almost 20 minutes) but when they got cooking, there was no stopping them. I would say this was a near classic DG tag match.

Yeah, I'm not going to talk about this match but one that took place the day prior at Untouchable 2010: Bryan Danielson vs. YAMATO - If you're in 2010 or now and looking for super fast paced or absolute tank-emptying wrestling, this is not it. That said, this is still awesome stuff and I'm glad it wasn't those things. This match a brilliantly paced and built technical wrestling duel. YAMATO seems to have hit his stride in 2010. He had a great match or two in the 2010 Best of the Super Juniors in NJPW. And it's almost what I can compare this to...a imagined final to a BOSJ. It very much feels like a very high end NJ Jrs. match. It's clever, it's hard hitting, it's classic stuff. You were looking for Dragon vs Mox and you got a bonus review/recommendation

Tank emptying all time classic match for DGUSA. This is basically the match you wanted to see if you're a fan of these guys. This is basically a ROH match dream match in a Dragon Gate ring. I wasn't sure at first but they paced this really well... again bringing this to the absolute pinnacle of what they could do. Frankly if it wasn't so darn hot in the building it may have been even better.

This very easily could have been your typical overlong indie wrestling match. They do magic here as each matchup and spot is a little something different each time. Additionally they wrestle at a really good clip. Of course they aren't selling but as this is about the fireworks, this absolutely delivers. Honestly it over delivers... It's a spot fest but a great one!

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 earlier in the show (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.

Saw this entry had no replies in 10 yrs. so I'll add something since I just watched it. Absolute balls to the wall Bucks spot smorgasbord! Where this gets great is the awesome stuff that CIMA & Yokosuka bring to the match. They just gel flawlessly with each other. I've seen this called a classic but I won't go that far as we've seen the Bucks build off this framework since 2009. Still this is non-stop "tag rules be damned" wrestling. 17 minutes of exactly what you want. Also recommend Shingo vs Naruki Doi from this same show.

Sorry for the delay! I figure with Mania & the solar eclipse people would have some diversion for a few days. So I gave myself a couple more days to cover Dragon Gate USA for 2011. This is pretty much the end of the beginning for DGUSA. Although it rarely was simply Dragon Gate in the U.S. only, this early period really does focus on the Japanese talent being the centerpiece of the promotion. 2010 sees the formation of the Ronin stable which despite being a Japanese word/concept is comprised of Americans. The guys (Gargano, Taylor, Swann) are in essence the future of the company. Although my reviews don't show it Sami Callihan also is coming to prominence along with other indie talent of this era. The cards on a whole are more independent wrestling with some DG guys vs Dragon Gate USA. Personally I think this is at least one reason the company got absorbed by Gabe's other group Evolve. But I am just giving some background on this as we look at some of the best of DGUSA in 2011. Masato Yoshino/Pac vs CIMA/Dragon Kid (United NYC 2011) - Yeah that was a sick finish! And this was a great match overall. It wasn't trying to be a barn burner from start to finish and I can appreciate that as this was a 20 minute match. Eventually they kicked it into high gear and it was flawless. The PAC/Yoshino team is insane. And while I have seen a good bit of the Kid/CIMA team they are kinda the gold standard for teams in DGUSA. They have the moves, the character, the history etc. Austin Aries vs Akira Tozawa (United Philly 2011) - Wow! That was a fantastic match. The pacing was just excellent... there was action yet also included a bit of comedy & a touch of shenanigans. They seamlessly worked all of that in without losing momentum. Tozawa and Aries are a great pairing. They both have that jack-of-all-trades/all-arounder style - hard hits, explosive, unorthodox attacks etc. I'm going to be conservative and say this was a near classic. But part of me wants to say "classic"...it just hit everything perfectly at around 15 minutes. Akira Tozawa vs BxB Hulk (United Finale 2011) - Tozawa is getting booked into the big matches and he is delivering. This is another one I'd put in the near classic category. This was so very stiff and intense. I don't think that the pacing was a excellent as the Aries match but the ferocity exceeded the previous bout. Hulk just unloaded on Akira. However he got it right back...a couple of those bicycle kicks were nasty! As were his elbow strikes. Tozawa is on a roll in 2011. Let's hope he keeps it up! This looks to be the last BxB Hulk match that I have so big shout out to him. He can be spotty at times but when with the right opponent he can be absolutely fantastic in this style of wrestling. Mercury Rising 2011 PAC vs Akira Tozawa - Great match but not as great as the previous two bouts with Tozawa. Early on this was on track to be better by the fact that there were some organic moments that made this look damn real. I think what prevents this being a near classic is the pacing. This thing was in 3rd gear the whole time. And had it really gone to 4th gear then I think that would have helped. Or had it built up to a 4th gear... that too would have been good. It seemed to lack an urgency or a real intensity. I guess they wrestled the night before (oh this is when they started doing the Wrestlemania double shot weekends) so that comes across here a lil' bit. Still you might really dig this and I'm a fan of PAC & Tozawa so I'm liking it too. YAMATO vs Austin Aries - The only thing that would have made this better was a submission victory. And don't believe they weren't going for those way later in the match than you would have thought but, a submission win would have sealed the deal on this being an all time classic. It is damn close. As good as Tozawa vs Aries was Aries vs YAMATO is an even better pairing. This is more on the technical side of Aries' talents and I dug it. It's like Aries vs Danielson in that the technical wrestling sets the foundation of the match. And more so than "oh let's work a body part." Here and in the best matches, we're reminded that wrestling holds hurt and end matches & and win titles. When the wrestlers treat them seriously then we do too. And then we in turn treat everything else a little more seriously as well. One mistake, one wrong step can end it. That's the story you're telling whether the match ends like that or not. That's always in the back of your mind. This match does that... some of my favorite matches do that. You could say, "they didn't sell the leg work enough" and I would say you're over thinking things. You're watching with you head and not your heart here. They don't blow the work off, they are limping, staggering, staying on the mat longer. They are hurt but not incapacitated. It is a thin line to walk but they walk it. This is a classic match. It's more in that golden era ROH style despite it taking place in a Dragon Gate USA ring in 2011. Fearless 2011 Austin Aries vs Johnny Gargano - Very good match...there were moments that this was actually pretty great. I'm docking points for when Gargano is on offense. There's that "why do the same move simply when I can do it fancy" indie tendency. Like everything has to be a signature move type habit...and it comes across as you're not trying to hurt the opponent to win the match or exact revenge... it's like you're performing. He seems to be a fast learners so I'm hoping he grows out of this. I remember watching some later DGUSA where he was the ace and I think he'd greatly improved. All that said, this was a very good TNA style main event match (if you catch my drift). A review I read elsewhere comments on how Johnny sold the shoulder (which was taped up) and that contributed to the quality of the match. Hell if I could tell because that's news to me! I watched this with the sound off so I suspect there was a bit of announcers doing the storytelling. Be that as it may, this was still pretty good. Masato Yoshino/Pac vs YAMATO/Akira Tozawa - Holy crap! This was sweet! One of those matches where it builds from pretty good -> great -> classic match by the time the bell is rung. I thought Yoshino was taking the night off but, I guess he was just conserving energy. Pac did a phenomenal job here as he really did the lion's share of the work during the early & middle portions of the match. I would say Yamato & Tozawa shared their duties pretty equally. Things picked up in the final portion and it really elevated this to a classic. Glad I got to see another Pac/Yoshino match as well as more Yamato & Tozawa. CIMA vs YAMATO (Untouchable 2011) - Now we're talking! A match with a injured limb story. This reminds me of a '06 Danielson title defense match. Yamato is Danielson here...not flashy but patiently brutal. He's taking his lumps, waiting to punish his opponent for their mistake. CIMA is that flashy, confident challenger. He's got an attack for every situation and every angle. CIMA is the one you're looking at. He's doing the cool moves and eventually he's doing the heavy selling. And that is what makes this great. A lot of times Danielson is doing the selling where his opponent often doesn't do enough to get their pain across. Here CIMA, the senior, does a fantastic job selling his pain. He delays his follow ups, he's constantly trying to get his joint to pop into place or adjust his protective gear to optimize support. But he never over does it and it allows him to still wrestle an exciting Jr. style match. Which is fantastic as YAMATO makes him pay for that decision I additionally enjoyed how much like Danielson didn't focus all of his efforts on that one injury. He eventually transfers his aggression to another body part after his opponent's defenses have been compromised. Way of the Ronin 2011 Johnny Gargano vs Naruki Doi - I'm not gonna lie, this is a "let's run through a bunch of moves" match. This is a high level version of that indie tendancy. But it still is what it is. And this isn't what I'd call a fireworks match either. Just like a fireworks display, there's a build to a finish. And the dueling chants by the fans...ugh...it was interesting back in the late 90's & early 2000's because it really felt organic. Like you were actually rooting for a wrestler even if it still corny..this is the beginning of the end with chants...I fucking am so over fans being marks for themselves. It's the biggest turn off of modern wrestling and this is a great example. It's the equivalent of the beach ball at a concert. Like, are you not entertained? Ugh...I'm not anymore...Nearly gave up to on this one. I did not like this. It was OK but they had no transitions between control and Gargano would just do a fucking flurry of fancy moves right after taking a beating. You what know dude...do a fucking scoop slam, a snap mare, suplex or two...maybe try a Boston crab or a sleeper hold. This was junk food wrestling at its worst. Matches like this are why I stayed away from this at the time. This reminds me of that Teddy Hart vs Jack Evans match where all they do is crazy shit for 15 minutes. This is not encouraging for my DVD which features Johnny vs Shingo... Masato Yoshino/Pac vs CIMA/Ricochet - I was thinking this was pretty good... probably too many crazy moves in the middle...like having Pac & Ricochet in one match is a bit much...I'd gladly take Pac btw...no goofy selling & mannerisms like Ricochet...but when it got to the end it was great. They focused things so the action meant something and felt dramatic. There was even a bit of shenanigans but what easily could have sunk the match actually helped it. Not as great as the other Masato Yoshino/Pac tags but, still worth your time. That was a great way to end this little side project. 2011 was still looking very good for DGUSA...at least in the big match department. I very much stayed away from the US indie talent if you couldn't tell. That generation of wrestler is kinda when things started to sour in my opinion. I was probably a little harsh since I enjoyed them on the DVDs I own. To be fair, I really wanted to see the Japanese talent. That's the whole reason I was ever interested in DGUSA along with seeing them go up against the top US (former ROH) talent like Bryan, Davey & Aries. These matches have exceeded my expectations. I have really enjoyed the '09 - '11 period of the promotion. Gargano is still a work in progress. In a tag setting, I think his shortcomings are less noticeable but Gabe strapped a rocket to him. In fact, he defeats Yamato for the title at the very end of 2011...which is bullshit and am glad I didn't see this. Ricochet, while irritating, is a heel now and wisely is paired with the veteran CIMA. For 2011, if you're an old ROH fan and haven't checked any of this stuff out OR maybe only saw a match or two of these guys in ROH, I'd recommend digging a little deeper. The Dragon Gate natives are absolutely the reason to seek this stuff out. Everything from this post and last is online (for a limited time probably) but, many of the DVDs are available on eBay.