100 Percent Fordified: Dragon Gate USA Fearless 2011

Revere, MA – 6.3.2011

Commentary is provided by Lenny Leonard and Rob Naylor.

Backstage, Tony Nese says this weekend is his platform to prove himself. He promises to make his mark in Dragon Gate USA.

Rich Swann vs. CIMA

Austin Aries is in CIMA’s corner while Johnny Gargano is in Swann’s. This was supposed to be a tag team match between CIMA/Brodie Lee and Swann/Chuck Taylor, but a groin injury has kept Taylor off this weekend of shows. CIMA attacks Swann from behind. He snapmares Swann into a boot scrape. He overhand chops Swann in the corner and kicks him in the back. Swann evades CIMA’s leapfrogs and dropkicks him to the floor. Aries trips Swann as he hits the ropes. CIMA chokes Swann with his boot. CIMA stretches out Swann’s neck and back. He crucifix pins Swann for a two count. CIMA pitches Swann to the floor. He follows out and suplexes Swann on the floor. CIMA slams Swann back first against the ring apron before bringing him back in the ring. CIMA puts Swann in an awkward leg submission, trying to keep Swann’s shoulders pinned to the mat. Swann grabs the ropes to break the hold. Swann does a flip to counter an Irish whip but CIMA immediately dropkicks him in the back. Swann however enzuigiri’s CIMA in the corner and follows with a Leap of Faith. He sends CIMA to the floor and comes off the second turnbuckle with a twisting senton. Swann gets a two count back in the ring. Swann wheelbarrows into a stunner, then hits a Pele kick for two. CIMA rolls through a sunset flip. He kicks Swann in the chest and follows with a somersault senton for two. Swann fires up with Kawada kicks. CIMA blocks but Swann superkicks him. Swann hits a Finlay Roll to set up for FIREBIRD. Aries distracts him, allowing CIMA to deliver double knees in the corner. He slams Swann off his shoulders and hits the Perfect Driver for two. CIMA hits Schwein. He goes up top and delivers the Meteora for the pin at 8:49. Swann busted out a few cool things I had not seen from him before and held his own a couple times against the Dragon Gate icon. CIMA toned himself down and the crowd really sat on their hands, not lending for a great atmosphere. Still, this was a solid way to open the show. **3/4

Jon Davis is backstage for a promo, but then says he will do his talking in the ring instead.

AR Fox vs. Arik Cannon vs. Alex Colon vs. Brodie Lee vs. Scott Reed vs. Tony Nese

Fox and Reed trade holds at the start. Fox catches him with a moonsault press for two. Reed brings Fox to the floor, bringing in Lee and Colon. Lee chops Colon after shoulder blocking him to the mat. Colon kicks his leg out to avoid a corner attack. Colon comes in from the apron with a knee to the back of Lee’s neck. Lee dropkicks Colon to the floor. Nese and Cannon try to team up on Nese. When Lee shrugs off their attacks, Cannon bails. Lee hits Nese with a rolling clothesline. Cannon clotheslines Lee to the floor. Nese gives Cannon a spinwheel kick. Cannon drops him with a twisting neckbreaker. Cannon misses a splash and Nese back elbows him in the face. He follows with a running knee strike which sends Cannon to the floor. Nese suicide dives onto him. Reed attacks Nese from behind. Colon dives onto both men. Lee big boots Cannon (who is drinking a beer) off the ring apron. Lee launches the charging Fox onto everyone on the floor. Cannon sweeps Fox’s legs and comes back in the ring. He and Lee argue as the other men regroup. Colon and Nese dropkick them to the floor. Nese German suplexes Colon for two. Fox kicks Nese as Nese goes up top. He brings Nese off with Lo Mein Pain. Reed breaks his pin. Reed delivers a modified crucifix bomb. Lee catches Reed with the Truck Stop. Cannon breaks Lee’s pin and trades strikes with him. Cannon assists Colon with a DDT to Lee. Cannon then nails a hard right hand and a superkick to Colon. Cannon hits a brainbuster for the pin at 8:06. This was the Arik Cannon show and he certainly got plenty of moments to shine. I liked everyone in the contest but just didn’t feel any of them got a true opportunity to shine. I hope for guys like Colon and Reed we will truly get to see what they’re capable of at some point in DGUSA or EVOLVE. Here’s hoping the crowd wakes up too. **3/4

Susumu Yokosuka vs. Ricochet

Yokosuka easily wins attest of strength, making Ricochet get the ropes before he will break his grasp. Ricochet kicks Yokosuka in the chest from the mat to break wristlock. Ricochet’s shoulder block has no effect. Ricochet kicks Yokosuka in the mid-section. He rolls Yokosuka up for two and then sends him to the floor with a dropkick. Ricochet fakes a dive. Ricochet kicks Yokosuka while he’s coming back in the ring. Ricochet hits a beautiful dropkick for two. Ricochet hits a rolling elbow in the corner. He rolls into a low enzuigiri for another two count. Yokosuka catches Ricochet running into the corner and drops him knees first onto the mat (a move he calls Ashi Yokosuka). He picks up Ricochet and does it two more times. Yokosuka dropkicks Ricochet’s leg after trapping it in the ropes. Ricochet fights up from the apron. Yokosuka hits the Ashi Yokosuka once again to stop the attack. He puts on a figure four leg lock. Ricochet grabs the ropes to break it. Yokosuka evades a dropkick. Ricochet however pops off the mat and dropkicks Yokosuka to the floor. Ricochet follows out with the Sasuke Special. In the ring Yokosuka avoids a springboard attack. Ricochet Tiger walks up Yokosuka in the corner. Yokosuka blocks a springboard Ace Crusher but eats a jumping DDT for two. Ricochet superkicks Yokosuka to the corner. Yokosuka throws him into the corner with an exploder suplex. Yokosuka lariats Ricochet in the corner. Ricochet lands on his feet to avoid a suplex. He drops Yokosuka with a Zig Zag and then hits a running shooting star press for two. Ricochet follows up with a 450 splash. Yokosuka gets his feet on the ropes to break the pin. Yokosuka crotches him on the top rope to avoid the double rotation moonsault. Yokosuka comes up with him to deliver a super Aikata for two. Ricochet recovers and hits an enzuigiri. Yokosuka hits a lariat and Jumbo no Kachi! for two. Yokosuka follows up with Mugen for the pin at 12:32. Yokosuka’s work was top notch stuff, though Ricochet’s spotty selling didn’t allow most of his offense to make as big an impact as it could have. It was strange seeing Ricochet lose, but since it was to Yokosuka I won’t complain. With that being said, Yokosuka needs to be in DGUSA much more often. ***

Johnny Gargano makes Swann feel better as Swann thinks he let the team town. Gargano reminds Swann of what Austin Aries did to them and says he’s going to take care of him. Gargano says by the end of this weekend they will show that they can hang with the Blood Warriors. Swann is concerned since Chuck Taylor is injured that they won’t have a partner for their six man tag in New York, but Gargano tells him not to worry about it.

Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Sami Callihan

Rich Swann is in Mochizuki’s corner. Mochizuki cleanly breaks a lock-up against the ropes. Callihan flips Mochizuki the bird. Callihan breaks a lock-up against the ropes, chopping Mochizuki in the chest. Mochizuki teases a test of strength only for Mochizuki to kick him in the chest. Callihan fires up from Mochizuki’s dragon kick. Callihan chops Mochizuki to the ropes. Mochizuki sweeps Callihan’s leg and dragon kicks him off the ring apron. Mochizuki kicks Callihan some more on the floor. He accidentally kicks the ring post when trying to kick Callihan. Callihan attacks Mochizuki’s leg, stomping it against the floor. Back in the ring Callihan throws some unusual headbutts at Mochizuki’s side. He decides to put on a leg lock. Mochizuki gets to the ropes. Mochizuki catches Callihan with a kick to the arm in the corner. Mochizuki wisely focuses his attack on Callihan’s arm. Callihan grabs the ropes to break an armbar. Mochizuki puts on another one and again Callihan makes it to the ropes. Callihan blocks a kick with a dragonscrew leg whip. Callihan clotheslines Mochizuki to the floor and follows with a suicide dive. Callihan gets two back in the ring. Mochizuki kicks him in the chest back in the ring. Callihan delivers a Death Valley Driver for two. He turns Mochizuki into the Stretch Muffler. Mochizuki crawls to the ropes to break it. Mochizuki rolls Callihan into a cross armbreaker. Callihan fights to the ropes before it can be applied. Callihan whips Mochizuki to the corner. He follows in with a kick. Mochizuki yakuza kicks Callihan and delivers a running chest kick for two. Mochizuki knee strikes Callihan twice in the face and twice in the head. He drops Callihan with Twister for two. Mochizuki picks up Callihan, only for Callihan to dump him with a Saito suplex. Callihan hits the Forearm to Remember for one and transitions into the Stretch Muffler. Mochizuki counters with a cross armbreaker. Callihan rolls out of it. Mochizuki hits the Illusion and the Shin Saikyou High Kick for the pin at 12:53. As someone who hasn’t been the biggest Callihan fan, he really did impress me here. Granted he was in the ring with one of the best wrestlers today but he held his own and contributed to a great story. I look forward to seeing Callihan grow in DGUSA. ***1/4

Arik Cannon comes out to check on Callihan. He goes to shake hands with Mochizuki but punches him in the face instead. Callihan joins in, bringing out Susumu Yokosuka. All four men brawl officials and other wrestlers come out to pull them apart. This takes a long time and the brawl lasts quite a long time. Cannon and Mochizuki meet in singles action tomorrow night in Long Island, and then these four men meet in tag team action the following night in New York City.

Jon Davis comes out for an interview with Lenny Leonard. He says he’s been unsuccessful in all of his matches thus far in Dragon Gate USA, so he decides to start from the bottom to work his way back up. He asks the D.U.F. (Cannon and Callihan) to come out to the ring. Callihan is about to say something when Pinkie Sanchez makes his way out. He tries to buddy up to the D.U.F. but they don’t take kindly to him right away. Sanchez earned his spot this weekend by winning a FRAY! At EVOLVE 8. He wants to join the D.U.F. Callihan blows snot on him and Cannon spits on him. They then take seats ringside to watch the next match up close.

Jon Davis vs. Pinkie Sanchez

Davis overpowers Sanchez at the start. Sanchez delivers a sole butt. Davis fights out of a headlock. He slams Sanchez across his knee a couple times before launching Sanchez into the air. Sanchez rolls to the floor and again tries to get Cannon and Callihan’s admiration. Callihan spits beer in his face, so Sanchez re-enters the ring. Davis slaps him with great force. Sanchez’s chops have no effect at all. Davis dragon kicks Sanchez and forearms him in the back. Davis slams Sanchez and drops a knee for two. Davis chops Sanchez in his shoulder blades. He rams his shoulder into Sanchez’s back. Davis suplexes him for two. Sanchez manages to match strikes with Davis for a bit. Davis back elbows him to the mat for two. Sanchez chops at Davis’ leg and takes him down with a modified dragonscrew leg whip. He delivers the Shining to Davis’ elbow. Davis crotches Sanchez on the top rope and follows him up. Sanchez fights to the ring apron, putting Davis in a tree of woe. He hits bootiez4breakfast to Davis while he hangs in the ropes for two. Davis blocks another hiney maneuver with a low powerbomb. Davis gives Sanchez a spinebuster for what the referee says is the three count. Davis’ music plays while Davis, the D.U.F. and fans all lambast the referee. The match keeps going for now. Sanchez gets in some chops which Davis responds to with one of his own. Davis clobbers Sanchez with a lariat. He picks him up for Three Seconds Around the World for the pin at 10:26. The messed up three count took all the wind out of my sails. Much like the first match, I hope these two get better opportunities later on. They both need help breaking out and putting them against each other was not the wisest decision. **

Callihan blasts Sanchez with a beer can and Cannon superkicks him. Backstage, AR Fox says he came up short after doing everything he could think of. Tomorrow night is the biggest match of his career (against Akira Tozawa) and Fox will do anything to come out of the match with his hand raised.

Johnny Gargano vs. Austin Aries

Gargano is running solo while Brodie Lee is in Austin Aries’ corner. Aries runs down Ronin again, calling them ignorant. He sends Lee to the backstage area saying it won’t take long for him to dispose of Gargano.

Aries plays around with Gargano, not taking him seriously whatsoever. Gargano dishes one of Aries’ own tactics back in his face. Gargano locks Aries’ legs until Aries gets the ropes. Aries’ arrogance in a test of strength allows Gargano to trip him and go for another leg lock. Aries lands on the ropes and is able to escape. Aries armdrags Gargano until Gargano puts him in a headscissors. Aries pops out but Gargano swaps his dropkick away. Aries recovers on the floor. Aries gets Gargano in a headscissors only for Gargano to pop out and dropkick him in the face. Gargano kicks Aries to the corner to escape an O’Conner roll. Aries rolls out of Gargano’s attack trajectory. Aries hops off the ropes and gets caught in Gargano’s grasp. Aries roll to the floor. Gargano suicide dives onto him. Gargano whips Aries into an elevated stage. Gargano chokes Aries in between two open guardrails and kicks him in the head. Aries baits Gargano back to the elevated stage. Aries suplexes Gargano into a few rows behind them. That was really close to hurting some fans. Aries dives off the top rope, forearming Gargano in the back while he dangles off a guardrail. In the ring Aries delivers a jumping elbow and a slingshot senton for two. Aries digs his hand into Gargano’s taped up shoulder. He then hits the Power Drive elbow for two. Aries kicks away at Gargano’s hamstring. He sits down on a reverse stump puller which Gargano breaks with the ropes. Gargano begins to make a comeback. Aries knees him in the back and sends him to the apron. Gargano comes back in with a sunset flip. Aries rolls through and dropkicks Gargano for two. Aries works over his shoulder and chops him in the chest. Aries chokes him in a tree of woe. Gargano kicks Aries in the head and springboards out of the corner with an Ace Crusher. Gargano throws Aries into the turnbuckles while he’s on the apron. Gargano slingshots Aries back into the ring. Aries blocks the slingshot spear, but Gargano takes him down with a rolling lariat and a few kicks to the face and chest area. Gargano double stomps Aries in the back. A knee strike and jump-up neckbreaker get him two. Aries throws Gargano to the floor. Gargano cuts off his dive with a slingshot spear for two. Gargano catches Aries’ IED attempt and lawn darts him into the corner. He superkicks Aries to the ring apron. Aries musters the energy to dump Gargano on the apron with a Death Valley Driver. Aries goes for the Heat-Seeking Missile, only to eat a kick from Gargano instead. Gargano goes for the Gargano Escape. Aries turns it into the Last Chancery. Gargano kicks out Aries’ legs to break the hold. Gargano ducks the rolling elbow. He drops Aries with the Hurts Donut for two. Aries suplexes Gargano, then hits the IED and a brainbuster for two. Gargano escapes a 450 splash and Japanese armdrags Aries into the corner. He rolls up Aries for two. He goes for the Gargano Escape. Aries punts Gargano in the head instead. Aries rolls up Gargano for two. He punts Gargano in the head again, then hits the brainbuster for the pin at 25:58. Gargano’s break out party continues, as he managed to outclass Austin Aries at many turns and looked almost better than him even in defeat. I thought this was going to be Gargano’s big win, but I think that’s coming later. This proves how poor the crowd was, as Aries and Gargano told a fantastic story and kept things exciting for the entire bout in spite of the fans sitting on their hands. ***3/4

Aries, while very worn out, says he didn’t break a sweat against Gargano. The fans boo as that clearly isn’t the case. I guess Aries just wanted to make sure he wasn’t wrestling in front of corpses.

Open the United Gate Championship
Masato Yoshino & PAC (Champions) vs. Akira Tozawa & YAMATO

Mochizuki is in the challengers corner while Yokosuka and Swann are in the corner of the champions. PAC breaks a lock-up with YAMATO cleanly in the corner. PAC puts on a bodyscissors, which YAMATO leans back into a pin to break. After fighting over a headlock, YAMATO catches PAC with a springboard dropkick. Yoshino and Tozawa tag in. They evade each others’ moves. Tozawa armdrags Yoshino into a senton splash for two. Tozawa brings Yoshino to his corner so YAMATO can help attack him. Yoshino twists YAMATO’s arm and tags in PAC. Both of them come off the top rope with a stomp to YAMATO’s extended arm. PAC elbows YAMATO in the corner and tags in Yoshino. He back elbows YAMATO for two. YAMATO carries Yoshino to the corner and brings Tozawa in. He clobbers Yoshino with forearms and kicks him down in the corner. Yoshino trips Tozawa and tags in PAC. PAC trips Tozawa into a low dropkick from Yoshino for one. PAC hits a standing shooting star press for two. PAC goes for one off the second rope but Tozawa gets his knees up. Tozawa and YAMATO take that opportunity to isolate PAC in their corner. PAC rolls through one of YAMATO’s clotheslines and hits an enzuigiri, giving him the opening to tag in Yoshino. Yoshino drops Tozawa with the Sling Blade. Yoshino puts YAMATO in the Coumori. He releases and drives YAMATO into the mat with a hammerlock driver. YAMATO comes back with a suplex for two. Yoshino comes back and puts YAMATO in From Jungle. Tozawa breaks it for his partner. PAC dropkicks Tozawa to the floor and follows with a corkscrew tope suicida. In the ring he gets two with a springboard crossbody. Tozawa bicycle kicks PAC and Saito suplexes him for two. YAMATO and Tozawa double team PAC in the corner. YAMATO gives PAC a brainbuster for two while Tozawa kicks Yoshino off the apron. PAC avoids a sleeper with a chinbreaker. Yoshino elbows YAMATO in the corner. Yoshino missile dropkicks Tozawa, falling onto YAMATO with a senton. PAC hits a twisting moonsault off of Yoshino’s back for two. Yoshino elbows YAMATO to break a German suplex attempt. YAMATO elbows Yoshino into a bicycle kick from Tozawa. YAMATO and Tozawa hit a Doomsday Shining Wizard for two. Tozawa punts Yoshino into Tozawa’s German suplex for two. Yoshino slips out of the Galleria. YAMATO hits him with an enzuigiri anyway. After trading strikes, Yoshino delivers the Ude Yoshino. Tozawa huracanrana’s Yoshino into a Shining Wizard. PAC enzuigiri’s Tozawa in the corner. YAMATO spears PAC, leading to all four men laying on the mat. Tozawa spin kicks PAC. PAC side steps his attack and catches him with a German suplex. Yoshino elbows Tozawa and PAC follows up with a springboard 450 splash for two. Yoshino drops Tozawa with the Torbellino and the Lightning Spiral. YAMATO saves his partner from being pinned. Yoshino sends YAMATO to the floor and delivers a suicide dive. PAC hits Tozawa with a 360 Shooting Star Press for the pin at 24:26. You can’t go wrong with these four men. All the athleticism, excitement and action you expect is here with a lot of great teamwork. Finally, the damn crowd got off their hands and added something to the show. Even Lenny and Naylor did a great job making this match seem important. PAC and Yoshino’s United Gate reign has been great thus far. ****

PAC tells YAMATO he’s coming for his Open the Freedom Gate title in NYC. PAC thanks the crowd and says that he and everyone else had a good time in Boston. Yoshino promises the fans they will be back because Boston in a good place.