5/14/10 Mercury Rising

(taped March 27, 2010; aired May 14, 2010)

Shingo vs. Genki Horiguchi: Very nice opening match. Lots of great counters and action. A couple of false finishes amped up the rating. I guess I just felt like I wanted to see more action. Physicality was very good and the crowd was into it, but they were not going bonkers over it. ***1/4

Jimmy Jacobs & Jack Evans vs. Paul London & Brian Kendrick: The person who lost the fall would have to leave Dragon Gate forever. Good action here. Evans brought his acrobatic, high-risk style as usual. The real story, however, seemed to be closing the story between Jacobs and Kendrick, and I really had no clue as to why London and Evans were even in the match in the first place. Too bad London and Kendrick were only seemingly together for this one match. Looks like Kendrick is headed to TNA more now as he appears to be written out of Dragon Gate USA. **

Jon Moxley vs. Tommy Dreamer (Street Fight): Started a little slow for me, but I liked the action on the outside. Crowd was into it. We had your typical no-DQ spots with a few weapons and outside interference. Other than that, I didn't think there was much to write home about. **1/4

YAMATO vs. Susumu Yokosuka (Open the Dream Gate Title): Tremendous match. It was hard-hitting and produced several false finishes. The one thing I love about DG USA is that the wrestlers have so many finishers or signature moves -- such that you really don't know when it may end. This was no exception. ****

BxB Hulk, Naruki Doi, & Masato Yoshino vs. CIMA, Dragon Kid, & Gamma: Hell yeah. The match of the night for sure, and even the match of the year (sorry, Taker/HBK). While I have seen their in-ring work before, these six never fail to impress me. Outstanding double-team and triple-team moves. The pace slowed a couple of times, but otherwise was very fast. There were numerous false finishes and the crowd was going crazy. The kendo stick shot from the top rope to the nuts of BxB Hulk...just sick. That hurt ME. The kendo stick shots even provided some comedic relief, which was also awesome. The last 10 minutes were just incredible. Fitting that the fans were chanting "Arigatoo!" ("Thank you!" in Japanese) at the end. Still in awe at the match. ****3/4
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MVPs: The six guys working the main event. This was better than Taker/HBK II for MOTY honors.

Overall Rating: A nice opener, a couple of good matches after that, and then two excellent matches at the end. The six-man tag is unlikely to be beaten for MOTY, but who knows, they could outdo themselves. WWE, TNA, and even ROH will not top that match. This was a very successful PPV. ****