Chuck Taylor vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Ricochet vs. Arik Cannon - 4
Rich Swann vs. Homicide - 3
Austin Aries vs. Masato Yoshino - 5
Jimmy Jacobs vs. Jon Moxley (I Quit) - 5
Brodie Lee & Akebono vs. The Osirian Portal - 2
CIMA & Genki Horiguchi vs. YAMATO & Akira Tozawa - 4
BxB Hulk vs. Shingo - 6
This was your typical DGUSA opener featuring spot after spot after spot that required the viewer pay damn near no attention. Hopefully this type of match won't lay the groundwork for the rest of the night because I'll be exhausted by the third match in. Ricochet proved just how insane he is by hitting a couple of sick dives throughout the match. All four guys got an equal amount of offense in during the match, which made them all look good. They all also ate a shit-ton of strikes as well, some of which looked good. I really wished the match would've built up instead of going 100% the entire time-- would've made the high spots seem more meaningful.
Homicide just has not been impressing me since leaving Orlando. Swann looked to be too excited during the match because there was just no downtime between anything he did. He looked to have drank too many Monster energy drinks beforehand. Homicide seemed pretty gassed near the match end, which isn't good seeing as it was pretty short.
Aries and Yoshino really had a fun showing going on on the mat. Both guys had some nice submissions worked into the match and the slower style had me digging the match. There was a very slow build. It was interesting seeing Aries (a guy who's not known to be a fast aerialist in the ring) wrestle Yoshino (who is renown for being one of the fastest guys in wrestling). Yoshino busted out some of his speedy offense, but Aries kept cutting him off, leading to a great feed into the Horns of Aries. A lot of ADD viewers probably wouldn't like this match as much as I did, but I loooove mat work. Found myself wishing Yoshino would've kept on Aries arm throughout the match.
Two of my all time faves hooking it up~! Hell yeah! Jacobs started the match off with a balcony dive. If that's not a great way to start a match I don't know what is. Mox brought out that deranged lunatic-like aura that he has about him by stabbing Jacobs in the forehead with Jacobs' trademark spike, which made Jacobs bleed like Muta after taking a bottle of blood thinners. Lenny Leonard referring to blood as "life-giving fluid" made me laugh for a bit, so I had to rewind the disc to see what I missed. Jacobs did a great job at getting sympathy. Picture this, this lunatic has mounted you on the back, tied your hands behind your back, blood on your face, flopping around like a fish. How could you not feel bad for this guy? Great work. The entire match was reminiscent of Mankind vs. The Rock some years back. Match was great just for the emotional value alone.
I gotta say I was expecting a full-on squash during this match. Portal hypnotized Akebono during the match, which was really great as Akebono started dancing and beating up on Brodie. A throw-away match definitely but it was pretty funny.
Your typical DG match rears it's head again. A lot of action with little down time to be had. Yamato seemed to be the one trying to slow down the match by breaking out submissions. Concerning the rest of the match, I felt like I was watching the typical DG match in that all the spots occurred quickly and weren't very significant. CIMA hit a double stomp on Tozawa who had his feet being held by Horiguchi on the outside. The only thing different about this from the usual spot is that it occurred with assistance from the guardrail instead of the ropes. These DG tag matches really take a lot out of me. Between the hyper wrestling and Lenny Leonard's over-modulated voice, I didn't know what to make of this. On one hand, it was a fun sprint, but on the other hand it would've been nice to have seen a more slower-paced match.
Hulk is sporting his short hair now after losing it, and Shingo's mullet is back in force. This match was really good. It built up and built up until both guys started busting out huge maneuvers and hit some heavy strikes. Hulk's kicks made solid connection with Shingo's skull, and Shingo's lariats were fierce as ever. The match was worked perfectly in a main event style match that certainly didn't let down.
Match Average: 4
Recommendation Level: See Aries vs. Yoshino, Jacobs vs. Mox, and Shingo vs. Hulk. Skip the rest.
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