DRAGON GATE USA IN CHICAGO LIVE REPORT
by Matt Carter @ 8:49 AM on 9/7/2009

The first thing I noticed is that it was a huge internet wrestling crowd. Very VERY smart fans. Its amazing how Gabe can book for this kind of crowd and put a huge one over on all of us (that's coming up)

I did watch the DGUSA PPV on Friday night, so I had a bit of an idea what to expect with the action. I had never been to the Congress Theatre. Interesting venue for wrestling. Its a large concert hall. At one time, it was probably awesome. Now all the seats are tore out and its a concert pit.

The ring was right up next to the stage. There was one row of seats in front of the stage. The wrestlers all made their entrance from a "tunnel" on the stage under a video screen.

I had a Golden Ticket so I got in early (around 4:20 pm). To my surprise Gabe was the one giving directions on where to go (in my case anyway). I walked right past good ol' JR and the King at the Highspots table.

Our Bonus Match was FRAY! It started around 4:35 pm.

It started with Hallowicked and Arik Cannon, followed by Louis Lyndon, Prince Mustafa Ali, Shiima Xion, Johnny Gargono, The Great Malaki, and Flip Kendrick. I may have a couple mixed up. Hallowicked took a beating from everyone. Prince Mustafa Ali looked good and Flip Kendrick didn't (just my opinion). The last two in the match were Hallowicked and Johnny Gargano with Gargano getting the win (to most everyone's surprise).

We counted down the start of the PPV and got going around 6 pm.

Match 1 Dragon Kid over Masato Yoshino

This match seemed even more fun than the PPV match. Crazy speed from these two guys. Great way to get the night started!

Match 2 Mike Quackenbush and Jigsaw over YAMATO and Gran Akuma

Yamato and Akuma had great heat before they even walked out to the ring. Everyone else watched the PPV too! A really fun match with a bit of comedy and some good wrestling.

Match 3 Nauki Doi over Bryan Danielson

Danielson was given no intro. He came out first after our live host said, "and this man needs no introduction". The lights went out and out came The Dragon. Lots of "Best In The World" chants. No Europe...so some fans sang it during the intro. During the match Danielson was wicked nasty with Doi's arm. In the end, Doi was just too much

After the match, Danielson cut a promo. He said goodbye to the Indies without really saying goodbye...but the entire crowd knew what was up. He wanted everyone to support independent wrestling. He also put over Davey Richards in a BIG WAY! Saying he is the next to be called "Best In The World".

Now we go to intermission. Danielson was doing autographs for cash. I saw Dragon Kid, Yamamoto, Doi, and Yoshino all doing autographs as well.

Match 4 CIMA over Brian Kendrick

Lots of love for Kendrick from the fans. Plenty of Spanky chants. Fun match with both guys working hard. Great way to get the crowd back into the show.

Match 5 Davey Richards over Shingo

This match was simply amazing. These two beat the tar out of each other in and out of the ring. There were so many near falls at the end. Multiple "This Is Awesome" chants. Even a couple "Please don't stop" and a faint "Match of The Year". This could be the best match I have ever seen live. I can't say much more.

After the match, Davey gets the mic. Since Danielson's promo and the way the match went, Davey was the fan favorite. Everyone was loving him. He wanted Danielson to come out and confirm that he is the "next Best In The World". Davey made some small talk thanking Bryan and then out of the blue decks him and gives him a beat down. Davey screams "I
don't need anyone's endorsement". Says he is coming back after the title.

During the entire night, I didn't notice Gabe Sapolsky watching any matches. During this promo time, Gabe was in the entrance tunnel. I saw him pump his fists in the air as Davey's beatdown started. He fooled everyone in there....and that isn't easy.

After this match and the promo...its going to be hard to follow this up

Match 6 Main Event (Non Title) Genki Horiguchi and Ryo Saito over The Young Bucks

This was a great tag team match. It might not have been as good as the Bucks did in the PPV, but I could habe been a bit burnt from the Richards match. Lots of fun spots and even some blue mist that gives us the finish.

I am sure others can go into better detail.

The Young Bucks got some interview time about being "not the best tag team of the future but the present" during which Jimmy Jacobs showed up with Prince Mustafa Ali at his side looking to "recruit" wrestlers. The guys told Jimmy no and got a beat down. As for the crowd, very hot crowd through the night. I saw some familiar faces from IWA-MS and ROH shows in Chicago. The venue was no where near sold out. The entire balcony was closed off. That in mind, the seats were all full that were set up. This venue can easily handle double (possibly triple) tonight's crowd...which is pretty handy because they announced a return to Chicago and the Congress on January 23rd! I'll be there.

Next time, I may not spring for the ring side seats...here is why...if you are not on a camera side your view is RUINED ALL NIGHT. They had 7...that is right 7 STILL photographers PLUS 2 video cameras ring side. 9 people in your way all night was not fun...so way pay the extra?

Matt Carter
Chesterton, Indiana

NOTES AND NEWS FROM LAST NIGHT'S DRAGON GATE USA CHICAGO EVENT
by Mike Johnson @ 12:18 PM on 9/7/2009

For those of you who want to order the Dragon Gate USA PPV, In Demand is replaying the PPV tomorrow at 6 PM and Thursday at 7 PM. We've received only two types of feedback from the PPV - that it was excellent or that it was very good but overhyped, which I could also understand. It seemed that fans who were already deeply familiar with the DG style from Japanese tapes loved the CHIKARA tag the most, while newer fans were blown away by the entire product.

Some Notes from last night's Dragon Gate USA event in Chicago:

Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler watched the first bout last night before leaving after their pre-show autograph signing. Ross was telling those in DGUSA that he loved what he saw. There was no word on whether Jerry Lawler enjoyed the style, which was a universe away from what drew money in Memphis.

Jimmy Jacobs was brought in as a one shot surprise in a segment designed to get the Young Bucks over for their main event slot, since they had never worked before in Chicago. I wouldn't be shocked to see him brought back here, however, as Gabe Sapolsky always loved his work.

Jigsaw suffered a knee injury last night, but it wasn't expected to be anything serious. The tweak absolutely hampered his match though.

Davey Richards will be working here regularly and was put into the mix big-time, laying out Bryan Danielson (after Danielson put over Richards on the mic earlier in the night) and defeating Shingo. A few readers sent word that you could see Gabe Sapolsky jumping ecstatically over the Richards-Danielson angle.

Danny Daniels' AAW provided the ring and set for DGUSA last night. Nick Knowledge sent in a live report from the AAW event on Saturday and I've heard good things about the promotion of late. They'll be working with DGUSA for their return to the market in January.

Dawn Marie was replaced as ring announcer by Kevin Harvey last night. He works for AAW as well. I believe the consensus was that Dawn didn't fit into the role in Philadelphia but hopefully they'll find something else for her. I think she'd be make a good backstage interviewer if they needed one.

DGUSA will return to Chicago on 1/23/10 with tickets going on sale in a few days on the www.dgusa.tv website.

A few people put over Dave Puente for his work backstage at the show. Puente worked on a lot of the ROH and FIP DVDs with Sapolsky and has the official title of "production manager" here. Last night, he was handling a lot of the production, including filming backstage footage.

There were actually a few fans from the New York and Philadelphia area that drove to the show last night. God bless them, because they are insane.

I ejoyed the show, I missed Friday Night's ppv, but this was an exciting show. Daneilson is truely a class act. I am hoping to go back in Jan.

I need more than that, you post 10 pages for one efed show, you can do more than two lines for this

I totlally agree Flux!

JR, what did you think of the Kendrick-CIMA match?