DGUSA Freedom Fight 2012 iPPV
Deer Park, N.Y. at the NYWC Sportatorium
Report by Dot Net Member Zim

Probably 200-250 in attendance, but seemed to be a much hotter crowd than previous nights. Show was held at the NYWC training school where wrestlers like Zack Ryder, Curt Hawkins, Trent Baretta were trained by Mikey Whipwreck. Like most wrestling schools, it was a warehouse, however it was a pretty nice setup. Crowd on 3 sides of the ring, hard cam and entrance area on the other side.

1. Jon Davis over EITA. Davis won with a lariat. Almost a squash, some good looking offense from EITA, but the story of the weekend was continued: Jon Davis' total domination of DGUSA.

2. Tony Neese and Papadon defeated The Scene (w/Larry Dallas, Trina) after Neese hit a 450 splash. Neese and Papadon were huge over with the crowd, as they are the top two talents in NYWC. Papadon has a really solid indy look, but I don't think he's television material. Neese was impressive as usual.

Post-match, the Scene attacked Marty Belle, a female talent who has issues with Larry Dallas. In a SUPER uncomfortable moment, Caleb Konley picked her up for a powerbomb, Reed delivered a chop to the back, and Konley hit a sit-out powerbomb. Very much not a fan of explicit man on woman violence. D.U.F. ran to the ring and cleared out the Scene (10 seconds too late, IMO). Sami Callihan and Pinkie Sanchez followed them to the back and Cannon stayed in the ring for his match.

3. Arik Cannon defeated ACH with a Whiplash. ACH is an impressive high flyer but if seen by the masses, he would be labeled a spot artist. I think he has great potential though.

4. Super Smash Bros. (Player Uno and Player Dos) defeated Jigsaw and Fire Ant with the Fatality. While the main event was above 4 stars and is getting rave reviews, this was my favorite match of the night. This was the most fun match of the weekend, featuring both hard hitting action as well as some sprinkled in hilarious Chikara style comedy. I cannot say enough good things about this match, perhaps my favorite live match I've seen.

5. Rich Swann beat Chuck Taylor in an anything goes match with a Trouble in Paradise followed by a standing 450 splash. Not quite the usual funny Chucky T tonight. This match features one of the most heated feuds in DGUSA and saw both men use weapons. This was a well done hardcore match, no blood, no excessive/dangerous weapons use. But the crowd seemed to fade in and out until the finish. I just don't think hardcore/weapons matches have the entertainment value they once did, sometimes despite being well portrayed.

INTERMISSION

6. CIMA beat Sami Callihan after landing Meteora. This was a fantastic, hard-hitting, believable match between two of the top talents in the world. Back and forth match with the crowd essentially split. Hopefully this will set up a return match as Sami has defeated just about everyone in DGUSA and this weekend, stated his intentions for the Freedom Gate Title. Unless his recent WWE tryout was successful, in which case he may just be doing the honors. Time will tell.

7. Samuray Del Sol and El Generico beat The Jimmy's (Ryo Saito and Genki Horiguchi) when Del Sol hit the Rising Sun (springboard inverted frankensteiner). Crowd solidly behind Generico, not so much Del Sol for large parts of the match. I haven't been super-impressed with him, but I know Radican and many others are very high on him.

8. Johnny Gargano defeated Akira Tozawa, Ricochet, and AR Fox in a four-way elimination match to retain the Freedom Gate Championship.
-First elimination was AR Fox, who tapped to a Ricochet cloverleaf. This followed up on Fridays main event where Fox injured his leg but defeated Ricochet, after which Ricochet refused to shake his hand. And the feud continues...
-Second elimination was Ricochet, who was pinned by Akira Tozawa with the straightjacket Germain. Tozawa continues to be the most over man in DGUSA. Despite being a heel, rabid "Tozawa" chants began as soon as it was down to he and Gargano.
-The third and final elimination was Akira Tozawa, who tapped out to the Garga-No Escape. Once it came down to these two, it became a great back an forth match, with believable near-falls that had the crowd reacting for everything. That is exactly what was missing the rest of the weekend.

An absolutely spectacular match. Match of the weekend, perhaps the year for DGUSA. Featured so many insane moves and near-falls, and finally for the first time this weekend, the crowd was 100% invested and came unglued. Great culmination to the weekend, way for DGUSA to end on a fantastic note.

Notes: Overall, another great DGUSA Tripleshot weekend from an in-ring and story perspective. One complaint would be the crowds, but hopefully that'll come with product consistency. On the positive side, I can't say enough about how improved DGUSA is in terms of entertainment value is. In addition to spectacular matches, they are finally beginning to tell strong, thorough stories around their characters that will allow fans to invest in those characters and those stories. Hopefully more good things to come from these guys in the future.

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