JP Nichols on Teddy Hart, Bob Saget, and the Dragon Gate Trainwreck

Hey guys, Superfriend JP Nichols typed this up about his experience at the Friday Night DGUSA show. Dragon Gate USA ran in Glendale, AZ in Celebrity Theatre as night one of their Wrestlemania double-shot weekend.

Firstly, the results:

– In a dark match: Brad Allen won The Dragon Gate Fray.
– Yamato defeats Luke Hawx with a brainbuster. Bob Saget (Yes from Full House) was the Special Ring Announcer. The match was taped for Saget’s A&E series.
– Susumu Yokosuka and Grenki Horiguchi defeat Mike Quackenbush and Jigsaw when Yokosuka pinned Quackenbush with a Tiger Driver 98 set up into a DDT
– Yamato defeats TJP with a sleeper.
– Brian Kendrick and Jon Moxley defeat Paul London and Jimmy Jacobs when they get a rollup on Jacobs. Moxley attacks Jacobs after the match. London took a really nasty spill right before the finish and it shows on his back. Moxley and Jacobs brawl and Jacobs sets Moxley up on the table outside for London to put Jon through. London and Kendrick are now in the ring talking. Kendrick is on the mic telling him that it’s not worth the cheers to do this. He tells Paul that it isn’t worth it. Teddy Hart comes out and says that London has lost his balls. Hart does a moonsault and puts Moxley through the table. London tells Teddy to do another moonsault and Teddy backflips into the ring. London and Kendrick attack Hart. Teddy is now attempting to get back in the ring and is asking where is Jack. London and Kendrick come out and are attacking him but Teddy makes a comeback and eventually dives from the ring onto them. Teddy left and London and Kendrick also leave. Hart appeared to have hit his head hard on the ground when he made the dive to the floor. Before the main event, Jack Evans returned and said that Teddy Hart is supposedly on his way to the hospital with a broken clavicle. Evans wants London and Kendrick in some form tomorrow night.
– Masato Yoshino defeats Shingo with the Sol Naciente in what was described as a great match. After the match, Jon Moxley comes out to help Shingo.
– LA PARK and Hijo De Rey Mysterio defeat Derrick Niekirk and G.Q. Gallo by disqualification after Gallo hit LA PARK with a low blow.
– BxB Hulk defeated Naruki Doi with the E.V.O.P. to retain the Open the Freedom Gate Title.
– CIMA, Gamma, and Dragon Kid defeat Jack Evans and the Young Bucks when Cima pinned Matt Jackson with Meteora.

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And now… the story

On Friday night, 3/26/2010, I got to attend my second DG USA show. This was the first time in two years that Dragon Gate attended mania weekend (a practice since 2006 until the split in the partnership with Ring of Honor). This was my second DG USA show, having attended the September Chicago show.

First off, here is a rundown of the matches. I thought for the most part, the in ring action was very solid. The Yoshino/Shingo match was probably my MOTN. Everything else, bar the LA Park tag, was at least decent. The main event, and Doi/BxB stick out besides Yoshino and Shingo.

Now onto the venue and crowd. I will say that I was surprised by the amount of people (or lack thereof) at the show. There could not have been more than 200 people at this show. I don’t know what ROH’s crowd seemed like, but I can’t help but feel that both companies screwed over their respective shows by forcing fans to have to choose like this. Most of the crowd did not seem too enthused by what they saw. In fact, LA Park’s match had a bigger crowd reception than ANY of the other matches. For the rest of the matches, the crowd seemed to sit on their hands.

Keep in mind, I am a huge fan of Gabe and Sal and really appreciate their work, but I could not help to feel anything but cheated by the seating arrangement. I bought my seats to these two shows the moment they went on sale in November last year for $80 a piece. These front row seats were so low due to the platform that the ring was on that I could hardly see anything on the other side of the ring due to my position. This was a very poor scouting attempt on their part. On top of the fact, due to the low crowd, people from GA were moved down into the more expensive seats, which makes myself (and other people who bought the more expensive seats) feel even more cheated

Gabe also did say on Facebook that there would be dives, despite the platform. Yes, there were dives (particularly a very nasty one from Teddy Hart during the post-match after London & Jacobs/Kendrick & Moxley), but the wrestlers were obviously limited by it.

I don’t mean to come across as nitpicky, but merchandise was also more expensive. Stuff in the bargain bins at the highspots table were an additional $5 a piece due to the venue, and some of the DVDs on the actual table were more expensive.

I know I have come across as negative in the past few paragraphs, but don’t get me wrong. It was a good show and totally worth seeing (particularly for Yoshino/Shingo, the 6-man, and BxB/Doi) but I can’t help but feel disappointed. I expected more out of the matches, I expected more out of the crowd (especially after the great Chicago crowd that I got to be in in September) and I especially expected more out of the seating arrangement considering the price.

The show would have been a much more enjoyable experience for me personally had I actually been able to see most of the show. That really took a lot of feeling away from the show for me. I should not have to pay $80 to have to rely on a video screen to see an independent wrestling show. Plus, had the fans not been seemingly hooked on ritalin for the majority of the show, (excluding LA Park’s match), their energy also could have contributed to the experience. I can only hope that tomorrow’s show is better in at least half of my queries (since the in-ring action is some of the best you will see in the world).

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I asked JP about Teddy Hart’s injury. His response:

I thought he would have been concussed, not had a broken bone. He landed right in front of my friend and you could hear his head hit the ground and (Brian) Kendrick immediately crawled over and asked if he was ok.

We are unsure as to whether or not Teddy is going to compete at tomorrow night’s DGUSA show. In addition, was Teddy one of the planned Harts to appear at the Stu Hart Hall of Fame Ceremony or perhaps even at Wrestlemania during the Hart/McMahon match?

Keep coming to FightGameBlog for exclusive coverage of this huge weekend!

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