Tuesday, September 14, 2010

9/10/10 Enter the Dragon 2010

CIMA vs. Johnny Gargano: Nice opening match. These two have quite the chemistry. CIMA hit a flurry of signature moves at the end. ***

Chuck Taylor vs. Adam Cole vs. Arik Cannon vs. Ricochet: Holy crap. This was an amazing surprise. I've never heard of these four in my life, but I do now. Incredible spotfest. Taylor basically won via not dying. And I have no clue how Ricochet was not paralyzed on the final move. He had to at least have a concussion after that. That match was awesome. ****

Naruki Doi vs. Drake Younger: Apparently Younger was a fill-in for Dragon Kid, who suffered an injury in Japan prior to this taping. It was a good match, but Doi basically carried most of the big spots. Not a bad showing for Younger. **1/4

Rich Swann vs. Scott Reed: Entertaining, but really just a semi-squash that went real fast, so it's not fair to rate. After the match, Brodie Lee basically nuked everyone anyway. N/A

Masato Yoshino, Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw, & Hallowicked vs. Yamato, Gran Akuma, Tozawa, & Jon Moxley (Elimination): A lot of fast-paced action. So hard to keep up with, but very entertaining stuff. Think of it as a toned-down spotfest (at least compared to the mega-spotfest from the second match) with a good storyline. The double submission eliminations at the end was pretty cool. ***1/2

BxB Hulk vs. Masaaki Mochizuki (Open the Freedom Gate Title): As a note, BxB Hulk had lost a hair vs. hair match against Shingo in Japan a week and a half earlier, hence the near-shaved head. Nice job working on Hulk's knee -- although that was pretty much forgotten for the second half of the match. It was basically a lot of kicks and signature moves the rest of the way. The finish seemed a bit weak, but overall a very solid match. ***1/2
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MVPs: Taylor, Cole, Cannon, and Ricochet, those four guys I had never seen before. To me, they stole the show.

Overall Rating: This was a big step down from the previous DGUSA PPVs, and certainly nowhere near their grand debut one year ago. However, the matches were still fairly good and held my interest. This PPV appeared more geared toward introducing the U.S. to some future DGUSA stars, although we obviously saw a bunch of the usual roster. The ratings may have taken a slight hit depending on crowd reaction, false finishes (or lack thereof), and/or lack of continuity in selling injuries. ***

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