Dragon Gate USA
Philadelphia, Pa. at The Arena
Report by Dot Net reader John Gmosh

1. Qualifier #1: Gran Akuma beat Johnny Gargano, Hallowicked, Lince Dorado, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson (9:34).

2. Qualifier #2: BxB Hulk beat Brian Kendrick via Superkick/Roll-Up (12:33).

3. Salute to Skyade Qualifier #3: CIMA beat Jorge Rivera, Mike Quackenbush and Super Crazy (9:19).

4. Qualifier #4: YAMATO beat Davey Richards with a Sitout Tombstone (21:26).

INTERMISSION

5. Jigsaw over Eddie Kingston (7:50).

6. Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino over SHINGO and Dragon Kid.

7. Open the Freedom Gate Title Decision Match: CIMA v. YAMATO v. BxB Hulk v. Gran Akuma

~elimination #1 - YAMATO o. CIMA with roll-up preceded by Akuma low blow

~elimination #2 - BxB Hulk o. Gran Akuma via pinfall (19:58)

~BxB Hulk pinned YAMATO to become the first Open the Freedom Gate Champion (15:56).

Notes

- Attendance was way down from the first show. You really have to wonder if this style can continue to draw a year from now.

- BxB Hulk was definitely the most over guy on the show.

- A lot of the Dragon Gate performers must have grew up idolizing Ultimate Warrior because it seemed many of them were trying to do their best impression of him throughout the show. The DG guys should just eliminate the first 10 minutes of their matches since none of the work done in the first half ever seems to matter. Once they get into their lets run as fast we can and hit as many moves as we can stretch, the first half of the match is rendered pointless.

- An RF Video employee was filming the show. Combine that with the recent picture of Rob and Gabe together and you have to wonder if Rob was working behind the scenes with ROH all along. Missy Hyatt said it best on her message board: "Just like anything in wrestling, time allows all scandals and boycots to disappear.

- Their was plenty of cat calling at Shingo for the monkey abuse scandal.

- While the show provided a ton of great highspots, I can't imagine myself coming back next time. Their was no variety between matches. Everyone had the same purpose of hitting as many moves as possible and kicking out of everything they could in the time they were alloted. I'd enjoy the style more if they didn't try to work body parts in the beginning of the match since it's never gone back to anyway.

- The Toy drive seemed to be a major bust as almost no fans donated unfortunately.

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