Dragon Gate USA "United: Philly" DVD review
January 29, 2011
Philadelphia, Pa.
Report by Sean Radican, PWTorch columnist

DVD vs. iPPV experience

The biggest difference between the DVD and iPPV in terms of the viewing experience is that the sound and picture are much better than they were when “United: Philly” aired on Go Fight Live on iPPV on Jan. 29. The company did a fantastic job of editing the show for a much better viewing experience with in terms of picture and sound quality. The backstage and in-ring promos could be heard just fine.

”United: Philly” review

Jon Moxley was attacked by a "fan" to open the show. The locker room empties and order is restored. Apparently the fan told Moxley that Homicide would get him.

1 -- DGUSA champion YAMATO vs. BRODIE LEE -- non-title match

Lee hits the truck stop, but Yamato kicked out! Fans are behind Yamato now. Yamato fired back with a brainbuster and locked in a sleeper. The ref checked on Lee and called for the bell.

WINNER: YAMATO. This was pretty darn good. (***)

Moxley called Homicide a bitch after the match and several "fans" ran into the ring. Several wrestlers helped Moxley clear the ring and took the fans to the back.

Jigsaw cut a promo backstage about his Freestyle match. He said he would win. It's nice to see some backstage interview segments. I’d like to see more of these on DGUSA iPPV/DVD tapings.

2 -- JIMMY JACOBS vs. RICH SWANN

Swann hit Jacobs with an impressive standing SSP, but Jacobs caught him with an ace crusher. A lot of back and forth action so far. Jacobs fired back on Swann and hit the contra code, but Swann kicked out. Swann caught Jacobs with a superkick and a standing 450 for the win.

WINNER: Swann. This was really good. The match showcased Swann as someone to watch. (***1/2)

Swann teased doing his rap, but ended up leaving the ring after Gargano said they should be brought to Japan.

PAC and Yoshino were shown backstage. On the iPPV airing, the audio went out for this, but it was fixed here. PAC asked Yoshino if he was ready to face Doi & Yoshino later in the night. Yoshino said, “ok” and they walked off together.

3 -- JIGSAW vs. FRIGHTMARE vs. SAMI CALLIHAN vs. SCOTT REED vs. AR FOX vs. REXX REED -- Freestyle match

This is really fun so far. Dive sequence! Jigsaw wipes out everyone with a 450 to the outside. Callihan wins after nailing Fox with a huge running forearm to the head.

WINNER: Callihan. This was a lot of fun. Callihan stood out here with his performance and the action delivered with a lot of crowd support. (***1/4)

Ricochet is backstage with Doi. He told PAC he's the best high-flyer in the world. Ricochet said they were going to win tonight. They began to plant the seeds here for the PAC-Ricochet rivalry that has spanned most of 2011.

Moxley came out with Tozawa. Moxley said he would beat Hulk tonight and then beat Homicide tomorrow.

4 -- AUSTIN ARIES vs. AKIRA TOZAWA

Aries came out and said Moxley was ugly. Aries brought out Reby Sky. Reby Sky should be in WWE. Tozawa wanted a kiss from her, but got denied. Good match so far with some fun spots with Tozawa. Tozawa fired up and nailed Aries with two heat seeking missiles to pop the crowd.

Tozawa continued to work over Aries in the ring. Aries hit a DDT and both men were down. Aries hit the HSM and tossed Tozawa into the ring. Tozawa fired back, but Aries hit the IED and a brainbuster for a nearfall. Moxley interfered, but Sky hit him with a low blow. Sky then kissed Tozawa and Aries rolled him up for a nearfall. Tozawa ended up countering Aries. He trapped Aries's arms and nailed him with a huge German for the pin.

WINNER: Tozawa. This was a really big win for Tozawa. The crowd really responded to his win as well. Tozawa has a lot of charisma and played off Aries well here. (***1/2)

Jacobs cut a promo. He said life isn't always a fairytale. Jacobs talked about being upset that he was now 0-2 for the weekend. He said he was looking forward to tomorrow. Jacobs stopped and looked upset.


5 -- BXB HULK vs. JON MOXLEY -- No DQ match

Hulk chargef the ring and went after Moxley, but he cut him off and whipped him into the barrier. Moxley is going after Hulk's arm and locked in an arm bar, but Hulk got the ropes. Hulk made a comeback, but Moxley grabbed a crossface. Hulk went up top, but Tozawa knocked him to the mat. Moxley followed up with superplex. Moxley caught Hulk in the crossface chicken wing, but he got the ropes. Hulk fired back with a pump handle side slam for a two count. Tozawa tried to interfere, but Hulk tossed him out of the ring. He then nailed Moxley with the first flash for the pin.

WINNER: BxB Hulk. I expected more out of that match and the finish came out of nowhere. (**1/2)

Callihan cut a promo backstage. He said he's got everyone's attention now. Callihan said he was going to set the bar higher for himself next time.

Swann came out rapping the entrance theme and the crowd was into it.

6 -- CHUCK TAYLOR & JOHNNY GARGANO vs. CIMA & DRAGON KID -- Tag Title tournament match

Taylor grounded CIMA and tagged in Gargano. CIMA got a chair and went after Swann after tagging in Kid. Kid momentarily fought off Ronin, but ended up eating Gargano's boot. Kid fired back and nailed Gargano with an assisted lung blower with CIMA, who mocked Ronin's dancing. Kid and CIMA locked in a very nasty double stack on Ronin. CIMA smacked Taylor's butt while he had his head under Gargano's rear end. Kid rode on top of them during all of this.

Kid worked over Gargano's legs with a submission an then applied the Muta lock. Gargano took out both of his opponents and the crowd roared. Taylor got the tag and ran wild. Kid fired back, but Taylor nailed him with a back breaker. CIMA ran into the ring and hit a double stomp on Gargano for a nearfall. Gargano caught CIMA with a superkick for a nearfall. CIMA fired back with a sit out slam on Gargano for a nearfall. The action broke down and crowd is going nuts. Gargano applied a submission on CIMA while Taylor held off Kid. CIMA tapped out! Wow!

WINNERS: Taylor & Gargano. (***3/4)

Taylor got on the mic and asked the crowd if they thought Ronin should go to Japan to wrestle. CIMA asked if he should say yes to Ronin. Lee told the crowd to give Blood Warriors respect. CIMA said Ronin could come to Japan as young boys. They then jumped Ronin and beat them down. This was a nice heel turn for the Blood Warriors here.

With Ronin out of the ring, it was time for the main event.

7 – NARUKI DOI & RICOCHET vs. PAC & YOSHINO -- Tag Title tournament match

PAC and Ricochet in the ring! Insane start to this one - Ricochet hit an insane dive on PAC during the early stages of the match. The action settled down with Doi working over PAC. Yoshino entered the ring, but got cut off. Yoshino fired back and tagged in PAC who hit an insane dive to the outside on Ricochet. PAC hit an insane standing corkscrew on Doi a short time later for a nearfall.

The crowd went nuts for PAC after he hit a reverse 450 on Doi. Ricochet hit a 630 on PAC but Yoshino broke it up. The crowd really got hot for towards the end of the match. This is everything and more than I expected. Yoshino eventually forced Ricochet to tap out with the sol naciente while PAC held Doi back from making the save.

WINNERS: PAC & Yoshino. This is a must-see match. (****1/2)

The Blood Warriors attacked PAC and Yoshino after the match, but they fought them off. PAC got on the mic and told Yoshino it's a shame they can't take the titles tonight. PAC said they would beat Ronin tomorrow for the titles. The fans celebrated with Yoshino to end the show.

Bonus features

The bonus features starts with a nice highlight package showing the big spots from most of the matches from different camera angles. I like that these are included on the DVD releases, as they provide a fun look back on all the action on the card.

The Ronin promo video where Swann debuts Ronin’s entrance theme is included here. Taylor, Gargano, and Swann play off each other well and I love Swann’s rapping entrance, so this is a fun thing to have.

The last bonus feature is a Fray! match that features Pinkie Sanchez vs. Dave Cole vs. Oberyian vs. Johnny Mangue vs. Rv1 vs. Chase Burnette vs. Ryan Eagles vs. Alex Colon. The match is contested under elimination rules with new participants into the ring every minute after two men start. This wasn’t one of the better Fray! matches, as there were a lot of blown spots and many of the wrestlers didn’t appear ready for this stage. Some of the action was good, but overall this isn’t worth a look.

Overall thoughts: (8.0) -This was a marked improvement from the previous show. It felt like a traditional PPV in many ways with a lot of strong wrestling up and down the card that climaxed with a strong main event. I have some concerns about the talent in DGUSA. They need to be given more mic time to get over their personalities. Moxley did a great job of coming across like a heel, but the fans want to cheer his stable mates YAMATO and Akira Tozawa.

I like how the Moxley-Homicide feud is being built with Moxley running down Homicide and NYC. The downside here is that Moxley has now had two short in-ring matches that haven't done much to showcase his charisma and brawling ability.

Ronin was coming along really well at this stage. As good as Swann has been in singles competition on the last two shows, Sapolsky has put together a compelling storyline with Gargano & Taylor picking up some huge wins over established Dragon Gate talent in the tournament to crown the first ever tag team champions.

Aries vs. Tozawa was a really fun middle of the card singles match. Tozawa has tons of charisma and I loved his interaction with Reby Sky during the match. Sky came off like a polished performer here, especially given the low bar set for female valets on the independents. It’s too bad she has been missing from DGUSA since WrestleMania weekend. Aries really delivered some strong performances for DGUSA early this year before heading to TNA erasing a forgettable 2010 in ROH. He was good against Swann on the previous show and he was good again tonight against Tozawa.

The main event was a show stealer and it stood above all of the other matches on the show. I personally couldn't wait to see PAC and Ricochet in the same ring and they delivered an incredible display of athleticism. The heat segments in the match built up to a frenetic finish with Yoshino submitting Ricochet with the sol naciente.

DGUSA took a big step forward tonight in terms of doing things that will bring in more fans. DGUSA booker Gabe Sapolsky did a good job of trying to build up anticipation for Moxley vs. Homicide, although it didn’t turn out great in the ring. The other hook on this show going forward is to see the Ronin vs. PAC & Yoshino match to crown the first Open the United Gate Champions.

This show felt much different from “United: NYC,” which took place the previous night. I’d like to see more backstage segments either shown on iPPV or edited in for DVD releases going forward. DGUSA has many personalities that just need more of an opportunity to cut promos to get fans to invest in the product beyond the match quality. This was a thumbs up effort overall with good action and a hot crowd in Philadelphia.

You can purchase this DVD at DGUSA.tv.

Contact Sean at PWTorchSean@gmail.com

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