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DGUSA Mercury Rising- March 31, 2012

by SamoaRowe

-I’m on vacation so here’s one of the more buzzed about DGUSA shows of 2012.

-From Miami Beach, FL. Our hosts are Lenny Leonard and later on Colt Cabana, Chuck Taylor, and Arik Cannon.

Bobby Fish vs. Jon Davis

We get a stalemate in the early going. Davis scores a front headlock takedown but Fish counters the chancery. The match restarts and Davis scores a pair of shoulder tackles. Fish leap frogs and nails a drop-kick. Fish runs into a spinebuster for 2. Davis is in the driver’s seat and nails a power slam. The crowd boos as Davis targets the back. Fish powers out of a reverse bear hug and connects with some kicks. Fish’s moonsault misses but he scores a dragon screw takedown. Davis counters the shining wizard with a POUNCE! Davis counters an armbar with a power slam for 2. Fish looks for an arm breaker but settles for the Fish Hook! Davis taps at 9:31! I wasn’t expecting that finish. Solid, intelligently wrestled match, just not that exciting as an opener, **½.
Winner: Bobby Fish

-Fish asks for the mic. He puts Davis over and addresses Low Ki’s demand for a title in EVOLVE. Fish says if an EVOLVE title is created, he wants in.

-Open the Freedom Gate Champion Johnny Gargano cuts a promo backstage. Gargano has a lot on his plate, as Chuck Taylor has betrayed him and his next challenger, Masato Yoshino, claims he’s been insulting him. Gargano feels that he should have seen Taylor’s betrayal coming. He states that he has tons of respect for Yoshino and doesn’t understand where he gets off claiming insult. He promises to beat Yoshino in their title match.

-Pac comes to the ring for an interview. Like Fish, Pac also has Low Ki on his mind. They had a hard fought match at the previous DGUSA event and Pac considered it an honor and wants a rematch. Since CIMA isn’t 100%, why not put Pac in tonight’s six man tag in his place. Chuck Taylor interrupts and Pac is so disgusted that he immediately storms out. Taylor has to wait for the fans to stop jeering him before talking. Taylor announces a “Chuck Taylor Kentucky Gentlemen Invitational” for later tonight. Yay?

Arik Cannon (with Pinkie Sanchez) vs. AR Fox

Colt Cabana joins Leonard on commentary. Cannon and Fox exchange some hard shots. Fox gets knocked out of the ring for a ringside brawl. Basement drop-kick by Fox and a Kick Flip off the apron! Back to the ring, Cannon rebounds with a swinging neck breaker. Sanchez hands Cannon a beer while applying a leg submission. Fox is countered off the turnbuckles for a hard bump. Fox nails a desperate enziguri and follows with a springboard missile drop-kick. Springboard 450 splash to the floor by Fox! Fox hits a guillotine leg drop off the turnbuckles onto the apron! Cannon counters a hurricanrana with a buckle bomb. Lariat by Cannon but his suplex is blocked. A combination of stiff shots and Total Anarchy only gets 2.5 for Cannon. Springboard splash by Fox and a guillotine choke. Cannon counters into a Brainbuster for yet another near fall. Fox rolls through a 450 attempt and nails a springboard ace crusher. Sami Callihan throws a chair at Fox to prevent a turnbuckle move and we get a DQ at 11:00. This was a nice hard-hitting outing up until the non-finish, **¾.
Winner via DQ: AR Fox

-Callihan and his D.U.F. goons circle around a fallen AF Fox. Sami takes a moment to insult the “pathetic waste of life” known as Sabu. He vows to make sure tonight is Sabu’s last match and wants the match to start right now.

Street Fight:
Sami Callihan (with Arik Cannon and Pinkie Sanchez) vs. Sabu

The lights go out and Sabu appears. Sabu gets triple teamed by D.U.F. but Jon Davis runs in to even the odds. Sabu is left alone with Callihan, who picks away at him with a chair. Sabu rebounds with a tornado DDT for 2. Sabu goes for the timekeeper’s table but Callihan cuts him off. Sami fetches the table himself, blatantly holding it up so Sabu can drop-kick it into him. Sabu leaps off a chair and crotches himself on the ropes in a rather embarrassing spot. I enjoyed that more than I should have. Sami dumps Sabu over the guard rail for a crowd brawl. Both men take a time out to toss chairs into the ring. They arm themselves with chairs for a stand-off. Sabu wins the exchange and blasts Callihan in the head. Sabu tosses Sami back over the rail but soon eats a DDT onto a chair. Back to the ring, Sami puts Sabu’s arm into the timekeeper’s bell and rings it. Sabu’s hand is busted open! Callihan continues to attack numerous body parts with chairs. Sabu takes a table away and sets it up himself. They have a bit of a miscue as they both wipe out on springboard attempts. Sabu rebounds with a DDT onto a chair. Cue the camel clutch! Jon Davis chases Sanchez and Cannon back into the ring. Davis tosses Sanchez onto Cannon and follows up with a plancha to the floor. Meanwhile, Sabu tosses a chair at Callihan to knock him to the floor. Sabu successfully leaps off the chair and ropes to wipe out Sami. Sabu’s comeback continues until Sami kicks his chair into the shins. Callihan goes ballistic swinging a chair into Sabu’s chair-wrapped ankle. Sabu counters the Stretch Muffler with a series of chair shots to the head. Sami is in a winning position when AR Fox runs in and slams him off the turnbuckles. Sabu hits the Arabian face buster through the table for the win at 17:54. This was brutally long and sloppy for what it was, mainly being a way to build heat between Callihan and Fox, **.
Winner: Sabu

-Sami Callihan has a royal temper tantrum over losing. Sami boots a referee and security member, Johnny Vandal, through a piece of table. Sami puts Vandal in the Stretch Muffler for good measure and storms out.

-Masato Yoshino vows to win the Open the Freedom Gate title tonight.

The Chuck Taylor Kentucky Gentlemen Invitational:
Lince Dorado vs. Samuray Del Sol vs. Chuck Taylor vs. CIMA vs. Rich Swann vs. El Generico

Dorado and Del Sol are about to square off when Chuck Taylor rushes in and attacks both men… barefoot! Rich Swann and CIMA run in for the save. Taylor takes a microphone and proclaims hatred of all the men in the ring. El Generico rushes in and throws Taylor into the ring! The match restarts as a six-way. Swann and CIMA are the first two legal men and square off. Dorado and Del Sol enter the match and mix it up the way they wanted to earlier. They sprint through a spectacular exchange and have a stalemate. Taylor ruins it, and Generico takes an opportunity to square off against Del Sol. Generico gets the better of their awesome sequence and gets jumped by Taylor. Generico finds himself on the defense against Dorado and CIMA. Generico mounts a comeback against Swann. Taylor tags himself in and wants a piece of former friend, Swann. Del Sol gets a quick tag and continues the beating on Swann. Springboard elbow by Swann, but Taylor tags himself in. Taylor nails Del Sol with Sole Food after tricking him into knocking Swann off the apron. CIMA prevents a cover and pretends to pass out due to Taylor’s smelly feet. Generico gets a hot tag and cleans house on Taylor. Chuck rakes the eyes of Generico but runs into a leg senton from Dorado. Everyone gangs up on Taylor with a combination of moves. The match breaks down with everyone attempting finishers and dives. The resulting spot-fest gets the obligatory “This is awesome” chant. It comes down to Generico hitting Dorado with a Brainbuster onto the turnbuckles for the victory at 16:44. This was a good old-fashioned family spot-fest, ***.
Winner: El Generico

-Lenny Leonard, DJ Hyde, and CIMA officially announce that Wrestlereunion will happen in the New York market at next year’s Wrestlemania weekend. It will be a super weekend, featuring CZW, CHIKARA, and DGUSA. Hey, wrestling nerds, open your wallets NOW.

-Rich Swann cuts a backstage promo. He’s not finished with Chuck Taylor.

Los Ben Dejos vs. Scott Reed and Caleb Konley (with Larry Dallas, Amber, and Shelley)

Chuck Taylor has replaced Colt Cabana on commentary. The Scene has a sexually explicit entrance that is shocking to Lenny Leonard. Konley starts things against a wrestler named Ben Dejos, which Chuck Taylor finds amusing considering the team’s name. Dejos scores an arm drag and makes a tag. Reed enters and is overwhelmed by the second luchador, Marty Con. Dejos tags but finds himself cornered in Scene territory. Taylor and Leonard speculate how many STD’s the Scene has amongst themselves while Dejos gets isolated. Con gets the hot tag and shines momentarily with standard indie lucha offense. Los Ben Dejos deliver a soccer kick combination. The Scene bounces back with double hip tosses. Konley tosses Con into a Reed power slam. A wheelbarrow suplex combo finishes it at 6:27. The Scene sleazes it up in victory. The match was just an extended squash, *½.
Winners: Scott Reed and Caleb Konley

-El Generico feels grateful to be back in Dragon Gate. He promises to take on all challengers.

Open the Freedom Gate Championship:
Johnny Gargano © (with Rich Swann) vs. Masato Yoshino

They start off with some sportsmanlike arm work. Gargano goes for the head. Yoshino delivers a running boot but Gargano bounces back with a suicide dive. Somersault senton off the apron by Gargano! Johnny begins targeting the arm. Gargano switches to a leg submission. Yoshino wins a slapping exchange and takes control. Gargano takes a beating and counters into a slingshot spear. Gargano ties Yoshino up in the ropes, risking a DQ. Gargano follows up with a power bomb for 2. Yoshino nails a sling blade and heads to the top rope. This leads to a rapid fire exchange of reversals. Alabama Slam by Gargano and a hard kick gets a near fall. Gargano absorbs some kicks but suffers a tornado DDT. High missile drop-kick by Yoshino is good for another 2 count. Yoshino steals the GargaNO Escape submission! Yoshino delivers some quick arm attacks to set up his submission finisher, a head scissors into a crucifix armbar. Gargano counters into GargaNO Escape! Both men sell exhaustion as they trade shots until they go down. Gargano lawn darts Yoshino into the turnbuckles and they reverse each other’s finishers. The Hurts Donut gets 2 for Gargano. A second Hurts Donut and the GargaNO Escape finish it at 20:16. This was a lot of fun to watch. The work was crisp and it told a nice story in Gargano overcoming a veteran. ***¾.
Winner and still Open the Freedom Gate Champion: Johnny Gargano

-Gargano and Yoshino shake hands. I guess there’s no hard feelings. Gargano lingers to celebrate some more, giving Chuck Taylor a chance to ambush him. Rich Swann is a bit late making the save.

Low Ki, BxB Hulk, and Akira Tozawa (with Christina Von Eerie) vs. Pac, Ricochet, and Masaaki Mochizuki

The Dragon Gate six-man tradition that started at Ring of Honor’s Supercard of Honor at Wrestlemania weekend in 2006 continues here. We don’t even get ring introductions as Tozawa leads his team in attacking before the opening bell. Mochizuki gets double teamed by BxB Hulk and Tozawa, but quickly outsmarts them. Ricochet, who is a heel in other lingering DSUSA storylines, is playing a face here. Pac and Low Ki square off, continuing their weekend-long feud. Mochizuki and Low Ki trade kicks until Ki gets knocked into the guard rail. Ricochet tags in and takes control of a weakened Low Ki, until a suicide dive is countered. Tozawa and Hulk assist in isolating Ricochet. Christina hands a chair to Tozawa for a senton spot. Hulk continues the beat down on Ricochet with his patented nasty kicks to the head. Tozawa goes ballistic slapping the chest of Ricochet. The heel beat down continues until Hulk unwittingly whips Ricochet into his own corner and Masaaki gets a hot tag. Ricochet immediately assists with a corkscrew senton to the floor onto a pile of bad guys. Low Ki rolls through a Pac sunset flip and nails a brutal double stomp. The match breaks down with everyone picking their spots in the ring. I could list all the MOVES but it’s just a lot of action that doesn’t really mean anything. Tozawa finds himself taking running moves from all three opponents. Tozawa eats a nasty power bomb and has to be saved. Mochizuki absorbs Hulk’s overhead kick and delivers a nice leg sweep. Pac gets lifted up for a springboard kick to the head. The match has broken down again and there’s finishers coming from all directions. Shooting star press leg drop by Pac puts Ki down! Okay, that spot was awesome. Tozawa and Mochizuki trade more hard shots. Mochizuki gets overwhelmed by finishers but still kicks out of Tozawa’s dead lift suplex. Another straight-jacket German suplex by Tozawa finishes Mochizuki at 21:20. This match set out to be nothing over than an over-the-top spot-fest, and I guess it succeeded. Nothing else about this match really matters, ***¾.
Winners: Akira Tozawa, BxB Hulk, and Low Ki

-Low Ki takes the microphone and says some nice things about the three men he just helped defeat.

Final Thoughts: The main event was a spot-fest for the sake of having a spot-fest and if you’re into that sort of thing, this is the show for you. Otherwise, Johnny Gargano’s story continued to be told with a big title defense and Sami Callihan did an ill-advised job to Sabu. If this is your first DGUSA show, you’ll probably love it. If you’ve been following the promotion for a while, there’s nothing here you haven’t seen before and nothing you’d probably miss all that much. Let’s go Thumbs in the Middle.

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