Indy Wrestling Express

This show will be broadcast on live online pay per view this Friday (April 13th), at 8pm EST. You can pre-order now at WWNLive.com

The card: 

Low Ki vs El Generico

Finlay vs Sami Callihan 2

Johnny Gargano vs AR Fox

Chuck Taylor vs Samuray Del Sol

Super Smash Brothers vs The Scene

Bobby Fish vs Alex Reynolds

John Silver vs Cheech

Josh Alexander vs Chuck Taylor mystery man (Taylor is starting a new stable)

Here is a video hyping Low Ki vs El Generico, featuring a backstage confrontation between the two:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVMetVSOsLw

Thoughts: Three potentially excellent top bouts, any of which could headline, with a solid undercard. Taylor vs Del Sol is particularly intriguing. Unfortunately we won’t have any live coverage of the show here, but we will have the results, and I plan to catch the show on demand so I should have a review up within a few days. 

- Lee

I’m very pleased to announce that Indy Wrestling Express will be one of the websites hosting CZW: Best Of The Best XI, as it airs live on IPPV this Saturday! At 7:30 PM EST, the free half hour pre show will begin, then the main show will begin at 8. The main show will cost $15, which you can pay without even leaving this site!

Here’s the full line up: 

Best Of The Best Tournament:

Bracket #1: Sami Callihan vs Drake Younger vs MK McKinnan vs Trent 7

Bracket #2: Chuck Taylor vs Johnny Gargano vs Samuray Del Sol

Bracket #3: ACH vs Lince Dorado vs A.R Fox

Bracket #4: Alex Colon vs Willie Mack vs Greg Excellent

Non tournament matches:

CZW Wired TV Championship: Jake Crist (c) vs Dave Crist

Ultraviolent Encounter: “Bulldozer” Matt Tremont vs D.J. Hyde

There will also be a contract signing between Drew Gulak and Danny Havoc.

Thoughts: This is a great move by CZW, and I’d like to thank them very much for giving us this opportunity. This is set to be a great wrestling show, that should showcase how there is so much more to CZW than violence in 2012. 

Even if you don’t want to fork out the money for the pay per view, be sure to stop buy for the free pre show, that should give you a good taste of the current CZW product. If you have any questions, feel free to ask on on Twitter @IWEnews, or via email at indywrestling@hotmail.co.uk

- Lee

The following is taken from the latest CZW press release:

Read More

This show will be broadcast on live online pay per view on the 13th of April. You can pre-order now at WWNLive.com

The card: 

Low Ki vs El Generico

Finlay vs Sami Callihan 2

Just announced: Johnny Gargano vs AR Fox

Just announced: Chuck Taylor vs Samuray Del Sol

More matches will be announced soon, featuring Bobby Fish, the Super Smash Brothers and more. 

Thoughts: Two potentially awesome main events backed up by another two potentially great matches. This could turn out the best EVOLVE show to date. 

- Lee

Dragon Gate USA: Mercury Rising 2012 took place in Miami on Saturday night (March the 31st).

Warning: Spoilers ahead! 

THE GOOD

Match of the night: The main event (Low Ki, Akira Tozawa & BxB Hulk defeated PAC, Ricochet & Mochizuki)

This was awesome. Did you expect anything else? It was the match of the weekend for me, these guys put on a hell of a show. Tozawa and Hulk continued to show off their ever-increasing fluidity as a team, Low Ki and PAC continued to produce greatness, I got to see Mochi and Low Ki lock up (well, I say lock up, I mean kick each other very hard), Ricochet was impressive as always, everything about it simply ruled.

I liked how it wasn’t just random teams in an exhibition, PAC and Low Ki played off their friendly rivalry throughout, while Tozawa and Mochi played off their considerably less than friendly rivalry too, which led to Tozawa avenging his solo loss to him the previous night with the straight jacket german suplex and the pinfall. Of course, there’s also the bigger picture of Tozawa and Hulk being bitter enemies to all since they’re in Mad Blankey. 

These were two dream teams for me, and their match more than lived up to my high expectations.

Open The Freedom Gate title match (Johnny Gargano retained against Masato Yoshino)

A thrilling second title defence for Gargano. These two have great chemistry, which they showcased with dazzling exchanges throughout. This was the best solo performance I’ve seen from Yoshino in quite some time, while Gargano continues to excel. 

Chuck Taylor Invitational (Chuck Taylor vs El Generico vs CIMA vs Rich Swann vs Samuray Del Sol vs Lince Dorado - Generico won)

This was an unexpected gem.  El Generico’s shock arrival was executed perfectly (his music hit right after Taylor declared “I hate luchadores!”), it lit the already hot crowd on fire, I totally marked out, and the match was an absolute blast to watch. Swann and CIMA delivered as always, the returning Dorado showed off some very impressive moves, as did Del Sol, who also displayed a surprising amount of charisma (as soon as he pumped his fists the “Lu-cha! Lu-cha!” chants erupted). Generico was as great as ever, and the barefoot Taylor showed that he is a natural heel, with a ton of heat after turning the previous night. 

Super fast paced with crazy flips, dives and all the other action you’d expect from these guys, this was a lot of fun. 

Arik Cannon vs AR Fox (Fox won via DQ)

Fox has some spectacular offence, and Cannon worked well as a base for him to show it off, while also providing some good action himself. I loved the finish, with a flying chair coming out of nowhere and wiping out Fox as he attempted his Lo Mein Pain finisher from the top rope. 

Bobby Fish vs Jon Davis (Fish won)

A very enjoyable opener. Fish tried, and ultimately succeeded, to counter his opponent’s power with his grappling skills. The styles clash worked very well here. I look forward to seeing more of Fish in DGUSA. 

Sami Callihan vs Sabu (Sabu won)

This was more a hardcore match than an unpleasantly violent deathmatch, which works for me. It was good for what it was, with Sami losing nothing in defeat, since it took Fox’s Lo Mein Pain (he interfered to get vengeance on Sami for interrupting that very move with the flying chair in his match with Cannon) and Sabu’s Arabian Facebuster through a table to put him away. 

The Scene vs Los Ben Dejos (The Scene won)

The Scene showed a couple of cool double team moves, and the debuting Ben Dejos did well, so this was fine as the post-intermission match. 

The crowd

Again, this hot crowd added a lot to the show. 

Commentary

Lenny Leonard cut out the swearing and the other crudeness, which was a significant improvement over the previous night. Colt Cabana joining him on colour commentary was a nice surprise, but Arik Cannon again showed the most potential in that role. He (Cannon) toned down his swearing and joking too. Did they read my review of Ultimate Gate or something? 

Overall show

I ordered both DGUSA shows and WrestleMania this weekend, and this was my favourite of the three. Aside from the Chuck Taylor invitational, Ultimate Gate arguably had a stronger undercard, but this show just seemed to flow better to me. 

Three fantastic matches, backed up by some other pretty good bouts, this was very entertaining from start to finish. I’ve read some other reviews that mentioned how DGUSA feels so much fresher and exciting than its immediate competition ROH right now, and I have to agree. I’d certainly recommend ordering it on demand over at WWNLive.com.

THE BAD

I can’t think of anything that was bad. That may have been different if Dreamer was booked again, but fortunately he was nowhere to be seen. 

THE QUESTIONABLE

Low Ki closing promo

It sufficed as a show closing speech, but I was hoping we were going to get some more development with Low Ki. His reason for aligning with the heels was never really addressed, so I was hoping we’d see him either turn heel, or show he was still babyface by stopping a Mad Blankey post match attack or something. Saying that, it is nice to see a main event end with no post match shenanigans. 

Taylor attacks Gargano

Chuck Taylor attacked his new nemesis Gargano after the champion’s successful defence. It made sense, but it didn’t come off that well to me for some reason. I guess I would have rather seen Taylor attack him verbally, so Gargano could leave looking strong rather than being carried out. 

Agree? Disagree? Let me know at indywrestling@hotmail.co.uk, or on Twitter @IWEnews

- Lee

The show took place last night (March 30th) at the Deuville Resort Hotel in Miami. You can read my live coverage (including full results) here:

http://indywrestling.tumblr.com/post/20194641193/otuglive

THE GOOD

Match of the night: Akira Tozawa vs Masaaki Mochizuki

This was a great match. Mochizuki dominated Tozawa with kicks and submissions, before Tozawa took it to the next level with his dives, which led to them going to war in an absolutely electrifying stretch. The closing sequence was brilliant, with Mochi having to throw his two finishers in succession at Tozawa to put him away.

This was an important win for Mochizuki. In the past, he has been brought into DGUSA as a sort of special attraction, putting over their top guys like Davey Richards and BxB Hulk. Now he seems to be becoming a regular, so a win over their number two guy really puts him over in the eyes of the fans. At the start of the match, most of the crowd were cheering for heel Tozawa. By the end, these people loved Mochi. Another reason he had to win is that I think Tozawa’s eventual singles victory over him has to happen in Japan.

As I mentioned yesterday, Tozawa and Mochi are my two favourite wrestlers at the moment, so I loved seeing them get such a great reception. Both of them put in outstanding performances.

Ricochet & Masato Yoshino vs Johnny Gargano & Chuck Taylor

The absence of CIMA didn’t harm this match, as Yoshino was fantastic. He’s the kind of guy who is good in singles matches, but great in tag team bouts. Ricochet was the star of the show in my opinion though, everything he did was so crisp and awesome. Gargano put in a solid showing too, he has great chemistry with both of his opponents. This was a great main event, definitely a fine example of DGUSA tag team action for those who were watching for the first time.

Chuck Taylor’s heel turn was well timed and perfectly executed too. Someone else pointed out the brilliance of him snapping when CIMA offered Gargano respect, when the whole reason Ronin began was because CIMA didn’t respect them.

PAC vs Low Ki

This seemed like the final quarter was missing. It had the illusive “big match feel”, it built up perfectly, they did everything right, from the crisp mat wrestling to the well placed highspots, this seemed like the match of the year in the making. However, it ended before its time. It’s not that it wasn’t long enough, they went around twenty five minutes, but it just hadn’t built up to that breaking point yet, the crowd weren’t losing their minds and it didn’t seem like the dramatic climax this would-be-masterpiece needed.

Do you remember in Star Wars, when the X Wing fighters were cruising up to the Death Star for the final battle? Imagine if the Death Star just blew up right there, so they just turned round and went home. That’s what this was like. It was frustrating because it was so awesome, but it stopped just before going to the place everyone wanted it to go at the end. This was still one of the best matches I’ve seen this year, but I’m frustrated because it was so close to being one of the best matches I’ve seen in years.

Rich Swann vs AR Fox

This was a hell of an opener. High flying and fast paced action galore, as Swann and Fox tore it up. These are the kind of matches that Fox needs to be having, he’s a hell of an athlete, and doesn’t need to be breaking his back on guardrails to get over. This set the crowd alight, and gave first time viewers at home at first class impression of the action that this company delivers.

BxB Hulk vs Sami Callihan

I thoroughly enjoy any match where I get to see Hulk kick people and do Mouse (a move where he runs up his standing opponent leading to a backflip). The heel vs heel dynamic was a bit weird, the crowd weren’t sure who to get behind, but they still seemed to enjoy it. It was a solid match, and the development with Von Eerie aligning with Mad Blankey (at the end) was cool.

Samuray Del Sol vs Johnny Vandal

Del Sol looked good in his pay per view debut, and Vandal got to hit some good moves too.

Bobby Fish

Bobby Fish was very impressive in his tag match against the Scene. It’s a shame about everyone else (in the match).

The crowd

What a hot crowd! They really added a lot to the show. Their investment is a testament to the work of the wrestlers.

Video quality

I hooked my laptop up to my 59 inch TV, and I didn’t expect the quality to be very good. How wrong I was, the stream looked great! To anyone who watches shows on their computers, or doesn’t watch them because they don’t want to sit in front of their computer for hours on end, hooking it up to your TV is the way to go.

Overall show

A strong outing for DGUSA, in front of what is probably the biggest pay per view audience they’ve ever had. Mochizuki and Tozawa stole the show, while the other matches that I listed ranged from very good to great. I’d definitely recommend ordering it on demand over at WWNLive.com

THE BAD

Tommy Dreamer

The great opener led to a talking segment which set up the main event, then it was time for some more Dragon Gate action. Instead, we got Tommy Dreamer. His wrestling wasn’t offensively bad, but his misogyny spots (kissing the girls of the Scene’s entourage, piledriving one of them, spanking another) were beyond awful and outdated. This was the last thing DGUSA needed to showcase in front of such a big audience. I know you love ECW Gabe, so do I, but please don’t bring Dreamer back.

THE QUESTIONABLE

Sabu & Jon Davis vs Arik Cannon & Pinkie Sanchez

It was what it was. I liked the finish, with Sabu taking Cannon out with a leg drop through a table, while Davis finished Sanchez with 5 Seconds Around The World, but that was the only memorable part. I just don’t enjoy watching Pinkie Sanchez.

The Scene

The Scene are talented guys, but they don’t seem to fit in this promotion. I’m actually quite a fan of Scott Reed, but they’re DGUSA matches do very little for me. The addition of a female entourage has at least added something interesting to their act, I suppose. 

Commentary

Lenny Leonard is decent on play by play, and Arik Cannon showed flashes of greatness on colour commentary. However, there was just way too much crudeness. Leonard’s comments whenever women are with heels are just awful, they make the promotion seem anything but classy. They totally distract from the match as well, and are just generally unpleasant. Much like Dreamer’s antics, this was the kind of thing that DGUSA should not have had on such a big show.

Cannon joked around and swore too much, but he could be a good commentator if he cuts that out.

Agree? Disagree? Let me know at indywrestling@hotmail.co.uk, or on Twitter @IWEnews

- Lee

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.

This show took place in Hollywood, Florida, last night. 

Pre-show: 

1) The TECH Squad (Trevor Read & Mike Monroe) defeated Maxwell Chicago & Wayne Van Dyke 

2) Johnny Vandal defeated Maxx Stardom

3) Joey Saint defeated Shawn Prime 

Dragon Gate USA:

1) Low Ki defeated Bobby Fish 

2) Ricochet defeated Mike Cruz 

3) Samuray Del Sol defeated Masato Yoshino

- Del Sol was the “mystery luchador”

4) CIMA & Masaaki Mochizuki defeated The Scene (Caleb Konley & Scott Reed) 

5) PAC defeated AR Fox

6) Mad Blankey (Akira Tozawa, BxB Hulk & Uhaa Nation) defeated Ronin (Johnny Gargano, Chuck Taylor & Rich Swann) & D.U.F (Sami Callihan, Arik Cannon & Pinkie Sanchez)

- Uhaa Nation suffered an injury as a result of a dive to the outside. 

- BxB Hulk eliminated D.U.F with a pinfall to Sanchez following the First Flash.

- Akira Tozawa won the match for Mad Blankey by pinning the Open The Freedom Gate champion Gargano with a german suplex.

CZW:

1) Deathmatch: Danny Havoc defeated Lucky tHURTeen 

2) Deathmatch: DJ Hyde defeated Drake Younger

Sources: http://freeadmissionfr.com/?p=1755 and http://iheartdg.com

Thoughts: I’m sad to hear about Uhaa’s injury. He’s a great guy and joy to watch, hopefully he will recover swiftly!

The debuting Del Sol’s victory over Yoshino is quite the upset. I’m looking forward to seeing him in action. I’m also surprised that Gargano took the fall in trios match. Looks like a set up for Gargano vs Tozawa 2 to me. 

If you attended the show, feel free to send a review to indywrestling@hotmail.co.uk and I’ll post it here!

Dragon Gate USA will be back in action tonight with Open The Ultimate Gate, which will be broadcast on live IPPV for $1.99. We will have live coverage of the show here at Indy Wrestling Express. Full details here:

http://indywrestling.tumblr.com/post/20087968229/maniaweekend

- Lee

By Lee

This is the third part of my WrestleMania weekend 2011 retrospective. You can read part one (DGUSA: Open The Southern Gate) HERE, and part two (DGUSA: Mercury Rising) HERE. Today, I’ll be looking at Dragon Gate USA: Open The Ultimate Gate, which took place in Atlanta on April the 3rd, just hours before WrestleMania 27.

Warning: Spoilers ahead! 

This show was headlined by the third “match of the year” candidate of the weekend, as YAMATO and Akira Tozawa absolutely went to war. The match was originally supposed to be non-title, but Tozawa beat Jon Moxley in a no DQ brawl to earn the title shot. That impromptu match turned out to be Moxley’s last in DGUSA, as he was signed to WWE and rechristened “Dean Ambrose” soon after. After he lost to Tozawa, his pornstar valet Trina Michaels brawled with his rival Reby Sky. That was their last appearance in DGUSA too. 

Anyway, YAMATO vs Tozawa kicked off immediately after the aforementioned Michaels/Sky brawl, and it totally ruled. YAMATO just couldn’t put his foe away, and they beat the hell out of each other for over twenty minutes, with it really looking like the most over babyface in the company was going to emerge the new champion at times. A thrilling closing sequence saw Tozawa shockingly kick out of YAMATO’s deadly Galleria at one, before YAMATO immediately dropped him on his head again for the three count. 

This was awesome, and it helped solidify YAMATO as a top face, as he and his former Kamikaze buddy put their differences aside and hugged afterwards, before the champion gave his first show closing speech. This face turn turned out to be a very good move, as unfortunately for DGUSA, their top face Tozawa turned heel in Japan soon after (well, after the next set of DGUSA shows, but Akira was only on two of those three). Fortunately for DGUSA, Tozawa’s new badass heel persona was awesome too, and he continues to be the MVP of the promotion. 

Prior to the Tozawa vs Kamikaze bouts, Austin Aries took on Jimmy Jacobs in what was billed as the last match of his (Aries) career, as a result of his loss to YAMATO in their career vs title match the previous night. Aries again came up short, as Jacobs pinned him with a surprise roll up about fifteen minutes in. This was a very entertaining match, and would have been a fine way for Aries to close his time in DGUSA, but that wasn’t what went down; Aries turned heel as he, with Blood Warriors, attacked Ronin, during his apparent retirement speech. Aries announced that he had put his career on the line because he had lost his purpose but now he had a new one; the destruction of Ronin, alongside the Blood Warriors. 

Aries went on to have some great matches as a Blood Warrior at the Enter The Dragon weekend, before moving on to TNA (not before doing wonders for the career of Johnny Gargano though, but that’s a story for another day).

This may not have been Aries’s last DGUSA show as advertised, but it did turn out to be the last show for Moxley, Sky, Michaels, and most ironically of all, Aries’s opponent Jimmy Jacobs! Jacobs had been floundering in the mid card since his feud with Moxley in 2010, so his return to Ring Of Honor wasn’t much of a surprise. 

The other big match on the show was PAC and Masato Yoshino’s first defence of the Open The United Gate titles, against CIMA and Naruki Doi. Doi was filling in for Ricochet, who was injured the previous evening. This was a great match full of rapid action, that continued to showcase the quality of the DGUSA tag team division. The champions were successful in their first defence, as Yoshino choked out Doi with the Sol Naciente. 

Elsewhere on the card, Jimmy Rave (who was filling in for Naruki Doi) submitted to Johnny Gargano’s Gargano Escape in a solid opener, Brodie Lee destroyed Stalker Ichikawa in a comedy match, Brodie Lee then beat Chuck Taylor in a not-so-comedy but still not-that-serious bout, Rich Swann won a six way that I don’t remember too well, while Sami Callihan and Arik Cannon (who walked out of the six man and officially formed their tag team earlier in the night) defeated the Dark City Fight Club (Jon Davis & Kory Chavis), in a match that I don’t remember too clearly either. 

Overall, this was a solid show with an excellent main event, gripping story developments and twists, a great tag title match, and some other strong matches, most notably Aries vs Jacobs and Gargano vs Rave. The Aries heel turn went a long way to set up the next set of shows, as did the YAMATO face turn.

And so ends my DGUSA WrestleMania weekend retrospective. I hope you’ve enjoyed looking back at this great weekend of wrestling with me, and I urge you to check out one or two of these shows if you get the chance. Mercury Rising was the overall best of the three, but you could argue that the main event of Ultimate Gate was the best match of the weekend, or even the year. 

This series isn’t quite over though, as there was one other pay per view I ordered that weekend…the final article will be up in a couple of days, as I look back at WWE WrestleMania 27! 

Want to discuss Open The Ultimate Gate, or anything else about WrestleMania weekend, or wrestling in general? Feel to talk to me on Twitter @IWEnews. 

Thanks for reading!

Here are the full line ups for this weekends CHIKARA shows. All of the pictures are taken from http://www.chikarapro.com

March 24th 2012 at the Trio Sportplex 610 Cityview Blvd, Vaughan, Ontario

Doors at 7pm, belltime at 7:30pm. 

Campeonatos de Parejas tag title match, 2 out of 3 Falls:

Non Title Match:

4 Corner Elimination Tag Team Match: 

Thoughts: The main event and the four corner tag match will be wild. It will be interesting to see how heel Ophidian versus the champion the Kingston turns out.

March 25th 2012 at Knights of Columbus Hall, 260 McArthur Avenue in Ottawa, Ontario

Doors at 3pm, belltime at 4

CHIKARA Grand Championship: 

Thoughts: Kingston vs Lee could be very good, and it may be the last time we see Lee on the indys since he may be WWE bound. 

I haven’t heard of the Colony’s rival ants, 17 or The Shard, so I assume they’re ROH guys in masks, since the promotions are feuding in the build up to the “Synergy” show. I could be way off though, in which case feel free to let me know.

As always, if you attend, feel free to send a review to indywrestling@hotmail.co.uk and I’ll share it here. We’ve received some great reviews from readers recently.

- Lee