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Welcome to PWInsider.com's live coverage of the Dragon Gate USA: Mercury Rising 2014 iPPV! You can order the show by clicking on the poster above.
Six Man Tournament First Round: Ricochet, Rich Swann & AR Fox vs Chris Hero, Roderick Strong & Masato Tanaka
Hero and Ricochet start us off as it's a battle between the Open The Freedom Gate Champion and the EVOLVE Champion. They do some basic chain wrestling to start, which Hero comes out on top of. Ricochet backs off to the corner to break the momentum, then Strong and Fox tag in and do a fast paced back and forth until Swann catches Strong with a flying headscissors. Lenny Leonard points out that Strong and Swann are the FIP Tag Team Champions as Fox tags in and asks for Hero. He gets Tanaka instead, and Swann and Ricochet get off the apron so Fox doesn't try to tag them. For some reason "Darmok and Jalad at Tanaka" goes through my mind as Fox catches Tanaka in the corner and puts the boots to him, then tags Ricochet in to lose his mind and try exchanging chops with Tanaka. That doesn't go well, so Swann tags in, gets himself ready, and tags out to Fox without making contact. Tanaka quickly takes Fox back to his corner and tags Hero in, but they only go at it for a brief moment before all six men try to triple suplex each other. Strong, Hero, and Tanaka come out on top of that one, then Hero hits Fox with a senton for 2. Swann tags in and he double teams Hero with Ricochet, but Hero catches Ricochet's boot on a kick attempt and boots Ricochet in the face for 2. Strong tags in and drills Ricochet with a chop, then puts the boots to him before tagging Hero back in to dish out more punishment, but Ricochet catches Hero with an enziguiri and tags Swann in. Swann tries to suplex Hero, but Hero easily blocks and puts Swann on the top rope. Swann fights Hero off and tries a move off the top rope, but Hero drills him on the way down and tags Strong in to dish out some heavy shots. As if that wasn't bad enough, Strong tags Tanaka in and he tries to break Swann in half with a half crab. Swann is in trouble and taking a hell of a beating from all three opponents, and it gets worse when Hero tosses Swann outside and holds him so Strong and Tanaka can take free shots.
Swann finally gets an inverted Frankensteiner and tags Fox in to go at it with Hero, backdropping him to the apron and dropkicking him to the floor. Fox springboard dropkicks Strong and then takes both Hero and Tanaka out with a dive before coming back in with a springboard splash to Strong for 2. Strong quickly flattens Fox with a backbreaker for 2, then tags Tanaka in to work on Fox's arm and then drill him with a back elbow for 2. Hero is back in as Fox is now at the mercy of his opponents, and Hero ties Fox in a way that he see saws back first onto the apron when Hero boots him in the face. Fox tries to brawl with Strong, but comes up on the short end of that exchange and takes another boot to the face that sends him out to the apron. Fox finally hits Strong with an Ace Crusher, then springboards into a double Ace Crusher on Hero and Tanaka, and he finally tags in Ricochet.
Ricochet goes after Hero, but winds up taking all three opponents on by himself with some fancy moves. Ricochet catches Hero with an Ace Crusher and goes for a standing shooting star press, but Hero catches his head in a cravate and suplexes him over. Tanaka charges Ricochet in the corner with a lariat and then DDTs Ricochet at light speed, but only gets 2 off a cover. Fox tries to get in on Tanaka, but he doesn't fare very well until countering a uranage backbreaker attempt to a crucifix for 2. My stream is acting up a bit as Strong goes for a suplex, but Fox reverses to a twisting brainbuster for 2. Swann goes for a springboard Ace Crusher, but Strong catches him and counters to a backbreaker. Hero is in and goes for an Awesome Bomb on Swann, but Swann gets out and fires some shots at Tanaka before getting caught by Hero. Everyone is in and all heck is breaking loose, as everyone hits one big move after another until all six are down.
The fans are going nuts as Hero pops up and drills Swann with the roaring Yakuza kick, but Swann kicks out at 2. Swann catches Hero with a leaping enziguiri, but Hero hits a roaring elbow. Hero goes for an electric chair, but Swann escapes and catches Hero with a jackknife rollup for the win.
Winners: Ricochet, AR Fox & Rich Swann
EXCELLENT opener! Great pacing and they got plenty of time to tell their story, it came off really well. Hero is obviously mad that he lost, and he gets right up in Swann's face and holds the EVOLVE Title belt up to show him that he's still the champion.
Lenny Leonard introduces Chuck Taylor, and I can't hear what he's saying because the sound on his mic is low and the fans are actually chanting louder than him, but it seems like it's about the split of the Gentleman's Club last night. Plus, the stream is getting choppy again. Maxwell Chicago comes out and I can't really hear what he's saying either, and the stream jumps again as he goes to the back and comes back out with a hot dog. It seems like he challenges Taylor to a match, so here we go...
Maxwell Chicago vs Chuck Taylor
Chicago does a forward roll, then makes angry faces at the crowd as Taylor just leans on the ropes and doesn't interact. The stream locks up as Chicago whips him to the ropes and Taylor just walks back...and hugs him. Okay. Chicago kneelifts him in the gut and then snap suplexes Taylor. He takes forever to go for a figure four, but Taylor immediately reverses it and Maxwell has to go to the ropes to force a break. Now Taylor is warmed up and goes after Chicago, feigns an injury after "missing" a moonsault, then catches him in a small package for 2. Chicago drives Taylor to the corner and tries to pick him up to set him on the top rope for a Frankensteiner, but Taylor isn't cooperating. Taylor feels bad and gives him a boost up for the Frankensteiner and lets Chicago hit it, but the Premier Athlete Brand suddenly runs in and kicks the crap out of Chicago to end this non-match.
Winner: Maxwell Chicago by DQ
The PAB lays waste to Chicago before Mr. A hits a pair of splashes. Su Yung gets a mic and tells Taylor that he obviously has no friends, but he has a choice: he can either forfeit or fight the entire group on his own. Taylor briefly thinks it over, then jumps in the ring to take on a fight he probably won't win...
Six Man Tournament First Round: Chuck Taylor vs Anthony Nese, Caleb Konley & Trent Baretta
Taylor nearly taps Nese right off the bat to the half crab, but the others come in and Taylor is forced to turn his attention to them. He does an admirable job of taking all three men on and throwing them into each other, but he finally comes face to face with his good friend Baretta. The fans chant to hug it out, and Taylor holds his arms out, and Baretta doesn't seem to know what to do. He seems to finally go for it, but Nese and Konley come in and nail Taylor to save Baretta from having to make that decision. Taylor again tries to fight his way through Nese and Konley, but Konley catches him with a leg lariat and Nese covers him for 2. Suddenly, Biff Busick comes out and jumps on the apron and reaches his hand out as Taylor takes Nese and Konley out with superkicks. Taylor tags him in and he goes right after Trent Baretta, popping him over with an inverted suplex before taking Nese and Konley out. The PAB take over on Busick and prepare to take him out when Larry Dallas comes out with a surprise third partner for Taylor and Busick: Teddy Hart! Teddy comes in and takes Baretta out with a clothesline, then clotheslines Konley and gives him a torture rack backbreaker. Teddy piledrives Baretta through the ropes, then one of Teddy's entourage hands him his cat, which he puts on the top rope. Teddy lets Taylor hold his cat, and then he abruptly lays both Busick and Taylor out with his version of Project Ciampa. He yells stuff at the crowd as the fans give him a "this is stupid" chant that I'm inclined to agree with. Nese quickly scurries in and covers Taylor for the win.
Winners: Anthony Nese, Biff Busick & Caleb Konley
Yeah, this was a mess. The wrestling was fine while it lasted, but this was WAAAAAAAY overbooked. Everything Teddy Hart touches seems to turn into a mess.
By the way, I want to clarify that the stream issues I experienced before turned out to be my connection and not a problem with the WWNLive side.
The six man tournament continues on page 2!
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