Dragon Gate Expanding Into The United States

jeffk

http://www.wrestlingnewsworld.com/other-news/dragon-gate-expanding-into-the-united-states.php

Written by Gabe Sapolsky on Apr 15, 2009 - 5:42:41 AM

PHILADELPHIA- Japan's Dragon Gate promotion has announced its expansion into United States with Dragon Gate USA at last night's Korakuen Hall event in Tokyo. It has named Satoshi Oji as the President and Gabe Sapolsky as the Vice President of Dragon Gate USA. DGUSA will make its online home at www.DGUSA.tv as the site was launched late last night.

Dragon Gate's roots go back to Mexico in 1999. Now Dragon Gate promotes over 250 shows per year in Japan. It will increase its schedule by running live events under the Dragon Gate USA banner every other month in the United States. The first show is scheduled for Philadelphia at The Arena on July 25th. Already announced for this event are CIMA, Dragon Kid, Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino. Tickets will go on sale on April 29th. Information will be coming soon about DGUSA's Chicago debut on Labor Day weekend.

Oji has been a long time employee of the Dragon Gate promotion and will run an office out of Houston. Sapolsky, the former booker of ROH and office worker in the original ECW, will head the Philadelphia office.

"This is a natural progression in Dragon Gate's growth," Oji said. "The entire company in Japan is looking forward to bringing our style of wrestling to the United States. The wrestlers are all very excited to make a new home in the United States."

"This is a great opportunity to bring something new, fresh and unique to the American pro wrestling scene," Sapolsky said. "DGUSA is going to be about quality over quantity. This is the haven for pro wrestling fans. Our goal is to become known as the premium brand of pro wrestling."

We encourage you to visit www.DGUSA.tv for feature articles, a roster section, a mission statement, the chance to order Dragon Gate USA merchandise and more. All the latest information about this revolutionary promotion is now at DGUSA.tv.

Thank you for reading this press release

Fozzy

Cool. I think that they're trying to get one over on ROH :pac:

I'm looking forward to it. Dragon Gate is always entertaining

gimmick

Well at least Saplosky will be able to book a fed now which is all about pace and high spots. Can a promotion like Dragongate survive in the US? Would have my doubts. I think that US fans in general get tired out of DragonGate style matches too quickly. Thats not to say i do not enjoy the promotion myself, I have liked everything I have seen from them, but not sure how much I could take.

This would be more competition for PWG, who seem to be expanding, rather than ROH, who are a good way above the next top indy.

Fozzy

But with the slight change in direction that ROH are taking under Adam Pearce, it could lead to some fans putting more support behind Dragon Gate. There's a lot of Gabe loyalists who'll be doing that I'd say

I used to watch their weekly show most weeks. I stopped because I didn't have the time a few weeks after their no-ring show. That was such a good show. The ring broke before the show so the wrestlers had to improvise with very little time to prepare, and it turned out great

gimmick

Never actually thought of the Gabeists!

I wonder will this be a case of using American wrestlers, or will they be using the usual japanese talent?

Fozzy

gimmick wrote: »

I wonder will this be a case of using American wrestlers, or will they be using the usual japanese talent?

I'd say it'll be a mix. It's not really cost-effective to fly over the whole roster. There's the big names that people want to see, further down the card I'd say they'll use American guys

ScumdogV2

Sounds cool on paper, could be different in practice. Isn't Dragon Gate marketed to a mostly female audience in Japan? Can't see that happening in the States. That said, the Dragon Gate wrestlers always went down a treat in front of an ROH audience. On the other side of that though, they only appeared once in a while in ROH. A company in the States could be overkill.

Fozzy

They're only planning six shows per year at the moment, so I don't think they'll come close to overkill

They're not exclusively marketed to a female audience, but they do get more women and younger men watching than other promotions. And with guys like BxB Hulk on the roster, I completely understand :pac:

flahavaj

They're only gonna run maximum 4 shows a year I'd say, so not a massive deal really. Their roster is already hugely overworked as it is and with the style they work they'll all be f*cked before their 35 at this rate.

Edit:Ha, snap Fozzy!

Bullee

With the prices doe admission theyre charging in comparison to the other indys its a good thing theyre only running 4-6 shows a year
The prices are understandable with the expense of flying guys in from Japn tho
But with the Philly area having so much goin on its gonna be hard to get the fans to pay the extra cost

The Cannibal

They've already sold out the first 3 rows for the debut show, so the expensive tickets are moving.

flahavaj

They've also announced a working relationship with Chikara whereby their guys will be booked on the US shows. Great for the young guys in Chikara, an experienece that will help them no end. Nice to see them letting Quack help with booking his own guys on the shows. I've the height of respect for that man, great booker, great wrestler and a genuinely decent fella it seems too.

Also, 2 Cold Scorpio and Young Bucks have been added to the Philly card.

Bullee

flahavaj wrote: »

They've also announced a working relationship with Chikara whereby their guys will be booked on the US shows. Great for the young guys in Chikara, an experienece that will help them no end. Nice to see them letting Quack help with booking his own guys on the shows. I've the height of respect for that man, great booker, great wrestler and a genuinely decent fella it seems too.

Also, 2 Cold Scorpio and Young Bucks have been added to the Philly card.

2 Cold Scorpio is such an underrated performer
Looking forward to the DVD even more now