Indy Wrestling Express

Lee here with live coverage of Dragon Gate USA: Open The Ultimate Gate 2012. You can still order the $2 IPPV over at WWNLive: 

http://www.wwnlive.com/signup.php?id=456

The show will start on the hour, and my results and thoughts will be edited into this post, so be sure to keep refreshing the page!

- It has begun! The quality is excellent, it looks great on my massive TV.  Yes, buying a cable to hook my laptop up to my TV was the best idea ever. 

Match 1: Rich Swann vs AR Fox

- I guess this means that Yoshino will replace CIMA as Ricochet’s partner. 

Winner: AR Fox (pinfall after Lo Mein Pain)

Thoughts: What an opener! Fox hit some crazy moves, most notably a springboard imploding 630 senton to the outside, while Swann put in an electrifying performance as well. The crowd ate it up, they added a lot to the opening contest of this big show. 

- Ricochet and CIMA are out with the tag belts. CIMA apologised about not being able to wrestle, then they vacated the titles. 

- Johnny Gargano and Chuck Taylor are out. After quite a bit of talking, Yoshino arrives and offers to be Ricochet’s partner. The match for the vacant belts is set. 

- The Scene now have ladies accompany them to the ring. They grind up against Larry Dallas. It’s slightly disturbing. Then they sort of dance in the ring. 

- Wow, Tommy Dreamer is here. That’s a surprise.

Match 2: The Scene (Scott Reed & Caleb Konley) vs Bobby Fish & Tommy Dreamer

Winners: Bobby Fish & Tommy Dreamer (Konley tapped to the Fish Hook)

Thoughts: Half good, half not. When Fish was in there, it was great. He’s not someone I’ve seen a great deal of, but I really want to see more of him, his strikes and submissions were so smooth. Dreamer brought little more than misogyny to the the table, even piledriving one of the Scene’s girls. 

- Dreamer spanked one of the Scene’s girls after the match. 

Thoughts: Go away Dreamer. 

-

Match 3: Sami Callihan vs BxB Hulk

Winner: BxB Hulk (pinfall after First Flash)

Recap: Sami jumped Hulk before the match and had the advantage, then Hulk took over, then they went back and forth, with Sami having the edge due to the damage he had done to Hulk’s leg, until Christina Von Eerie, who had appeared at ringside, lured him in for a kiss. She spat wine in his face, allowing Hulk to land some kind of suplex on him. Hulk ended it with the First Flash. 

Winner: BxB Hulk (pinfall after First Flash)

Thoughts: Solid match. I can never get enough of watching Hulk kick people. I’m so pleased to see him end his losing streak! 

- Von Eeerie celebrated with Hulk afterwards. She is now a member of Mad Blankey. 

- Callihan called out Sabu in a post match promo. Sabu came for a brawl. Then D.U.F and Jon Davis emerged, flowing straight into the next match.

Match 4: Street Fight - Sabu & Jon Davis vs Arik Cannon & Pinkie Sanchez

Recap: They brawled and hit each other with stuff. Sabu opened Cannon up with a spike. Eventually, Sabu put Cannon through a table with a diving leg drop, before Davis landed 5 Seconds Around The World on Sanchez, leading to the pinfall. 

Winners: Sabu and Jon Davis

Thoughts: The finish was good, and I like seeing Davis throw people around. Aside from that, I didn’t think much of it. I don’t think I’ll ever be a Pinkie Sanchez fan. 

- Callihan attacked Sabu again after the match. Then he said nasty things to him. 

- Sabu stumbled away. Nice of Davis to just ditch him. 

Match 5: Masaaki Mochizuki vs Akira Tozawa

Recap: Some cool opening exchanges led to Mochi working Tozawa’s leg, then his arm. A couple of Tozawa suicide dives led to him taking control, which led to them basically going to war. Ultimately, Tozawa survived the Saikyou high kick, before falling to the Sankakugeri. 

Winner: Masaaki Mochizuki

Thoughts: When this one got going, it really got going. The first half of the match was good, then the second half was excellent. Awesome stuff. Tozawa and Mochi are my two favourite wrestlers right now, so I always enjoy seeing them go at it. 

Despite being an icon in Japan, Mochi hasn’t actually had a great deal of high profile victories in the US, so this was a pretty big win for him. The crowd were mostly in favour of Tozawa in the beginning, but he really won them over by the end. 

- Von Eerie punched Mochi below the belt after the match. 

INTERMISSION

Thoughts so far…

The Good: A very exciting opener, Bobby Fish, a solid Hulk/Callihan bout, and a great match in Tozawa vs Mochizuki. 

The Bad: Tommy Dreamer, Pinkie Sanchez

The Questionable: The Scene…there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with them, they just aren’t bringing a whole lot to the table. 

Match 6: Samuray Del Sol vs Johnny Vandal

Recap: Del Sol showed off some flashy moves in the opening minutes, before Vandal got the upper hand. Del Sol survived his diving knee drop, then caught him with a reverse springboard hurricarana to end it. 

Thoughts: Short and sweet. I look forward to seeing more from Del Sol.

Match 7: Low Ki vs PAC

Winner: Low Ki (pinfall after Warrior’s Way)

Thoughts: A  very good match, that was intense with impressive wrestling all the way through. I would have liked to see it go longer, they didn’t kick it to the next level like Mochi and Tozawa did, but I guess it’s good that they didn’t just try to replicate that match. Still though, another five or ten minutes and this could have been a classic. 

Main event - Open The United Gate Championship: Johnny Gargano & Chuck Taylor vs Ricochet & Masato Yoshino

Recap: Way too much happened for me to detail, but it’s worth noting that Gargano had it won at one point, but Taylor pulled him off the cover because he wanted it himself. Then Taylor tussled with Swann and picked up the Freedom Gate. The finish saw Ricochet hit a running moonsault on Gargano from the ring to the outside, before Yoshino finished Taylor with Torbellino and Sol Naciente. 

Winners and new champions: Ricochet and Masato Yoshino

Thoughts: Great main event. Some crazy action here. Ricochet was the star of the show, but Gargano and Yoshino also put in top notch performances.

- Taylor turned heel after the match, superkicking CIMA and Gargano. 

- Yoshino gave the show closing speech. 

Thoughts: A really good show, with three great matches. My full review will be up tomorrow! 

Thanks very much for following along with me tonight! Feel free to discuss the show with me on Twitter @IWEnews.