NOTES AND NEWS COMING OUT OF DRAGON GATE USA'S PHOENIX EVENTS: INJURIES, DEPARTURES, CANADIAN MAIN EVENTS, NEW STABLE AND MORE
By
Mike Johnson on 2010-03-29 20:47:51
Dragon Gate USA held two events over the course of Wrestlemania weekend at
the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix. That venue was one of the nicest I've seen in
a long time. It reminded me of the Westbury Music Fair in Long Island, NY,
which TNA has run a number of times.' DGUSA filmed a DVD on Friday and taped
their next PPV on Saturday evening. Once the PPV post-production is finished,
the DVD will be produced for an official release in about a month.
The promotion was disappointed with the attendance for the events. DGUSA's Sal
Hamoui told me they drew 600 on Friday and I estimated about 500 or so on
Saturday, but considering it was a 2,500 seat venue, obviously it's going to
look a lot worse than it was. I was told the gates were still strong since the
tickets were prices at $85 down to $29.
There were a lot of people at DGUSA and Ring of Honor events curious what was
going down at the other's events since there's heat between the companies. In
terms of attendance, ROH was obviously the winner, but they also had a venue
that was a lot closer to downtown Phoenix as well as years of tradition in
running Mania weekend. As the new kid on the block, so to speak, DGUSA were
definitely hurt by the sheer magnitude of everything going on during Mania
weekend and in hindsight, might have been better off running the Northeast or
somewhere else with lineups as strong as they booked.
The company did a lot of marketing to the Hispanic audience locally, which may
have been why the tag bout featuring LA Park and El Hijo del Rey Misterio may
have had the most heat of anything on Friday and possibly the Saturday event as
well.
Bob Saget's A&E series filmed footage on Thursday and Friday for their upcoming
episode dealing with pro wrestling. Kevin Kleinrock of Wrestling Society X fame
was involved as a consultant on the project and Gabe Sapolsky worked with A&E's
production company as well. The footage involving Saget will not be released on
DVD. Luke Hawx, Jon Moxley and BxB Hulk were showcased.
During the Friday show, Teddy Hart tore a bunch of ligaments in his shoulder
catching Paul London on a dive, but still did a spot on Saturday where he
piledrove London.
Tommy Dreamer was busted open hardway by Jon Moxley with a trash can shot. Due
to taking a red eye out immediately, he flew home bleeding.
There were some members of the Oakland A's at the Friday show in Phoenix.
Brian Kendrick and The Young Bucks are done here as they've signed with TNA.
Their appearances on Saturday finished them up and wrote them out of the company
storylines. Their departure allowed for DGUSA to fly PAC in from Great Britain
for the May Canadian events. The Kendrick "Loser Leaves Town" challenge with
Kendrick and Jimmy Jacobs was designed just a few hours before the Saturday show
as a way to explain Kendrick's exit and give something extra since Teddy Hart &
Jack Evans vs. Paul London & Brian Kendrick couldn't take place as originally
advertised. Had Hart not been injured, Kendrick would have done the job for
Evans on the way out and simply departed.
Going forward, the company announced their 5/7 Windsor main event will be
Freedom Gate Champion BxB Hulk & PAC vs. Open The Dream Gate Champion YAMATO &
Shingo. The 5/8 Toronto main event will be BxB Hulk defending the belt vs.
YAMATO.
Jon Moxley, Shingo and YAMATO are now a stable under the name Kamikaze USA. The
idea here is to have one American that can speak for the Japanese, which is a
good idea. Outside of the hardcore fans that follow the Japanese scene, it's
going to be harder over time for new fans to differentiate and connect with the
non-English speaking talents.
Christina Von Eerie was used since she's from the West Coast. She was really
good in her role on the show but isn't likely to be used in the future. She's
been working of late for AAA.
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