Dragongate UK 2010

Gerard.C

Roar wrote: »

looking forward to this now. even if gimmick is going. ah well. can't have everything I suppose.

I know he's some state :pac: Were you at the last one?

Roar

nope. gimmick bullied me into going to this one.

Gerard.C

Roar wrote: »

nope. gimmick bullied me into going to this one.

You're in for a treat, some craic the last time!

Roar

Gerard.C wrote: »

You're in for a treat, some craic the last time!

it's the weekend away from the missus i'm most looking forward to!

Gerard.C

Anyone else from boards thinkin of going?

gimmick

Anyone at all going to this besides meself??

Gerard.C

I wont be now I'm afraid, I'm out in the big bad world now where theres no money, and as a result of that, no internet too. You're in for some craic tho!

gimmick

Anyone else at all from here heading to this next week?

Really looking forward to it now.

jaykhunter

arfanvilla on TWF is selling his 4 ringside tix since he can't go

I and a few of my friends are unable to attend the Dragon Gate UK shows on 10th September (Broxbourne) and 11th September (Cambridge).

I am looking to sell my tickets at face value of £50 each which are offically sold out. Front row seats are near the entrance way so plenty of action will come your way. There are 4x Front Row tickets for night 1 (Block A Row I Seat 7-4) and 3 Front Row tickets for night 2 (Block A Row A Seat 5-3).

Please PM me or email me on arfanvilla@hotmail.co.uk if you are interested or email Mark Sloan (event organiser) on mark@amerchandise.co.uk to deal direct with A-Merchandise to safeguard buying the tickets, thank you.

I'm putting up the front row tickets for both nights at BEST OFFER PRICE, so put please pm me your offers. A good opportunity for anyone who hasn't got front row to maybe get cheaper front row tickets.
For anyone interested, i will post tickets ASAP using first class mail or send them via Amerchandise.

Sorry to promote another forum but i figured someone might want to avail of this. And you can see the details without actually signing up.

Too rich for my blood Wish there was some cheaper way but I can't afford to go.

Roar

looking forward to this, even if I haven't watched any wrestling of any kind in I dunno how long. Pure road trip / spring break.

gimmick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRALCn9aNQs

Really looking fwd to seeing these 2 events on DVD. This is the latter half of one of the best macthes of the weekend. Insanity...

gimmick

Review from Alan4L in UKFF.

I disagree with his match of the weekend, but overall, I agree with what he is saying

here's my review that will be up shortly on www.wrestlingobserver.com. The radio show will have some coverage this week at some point as well.

NIGHT 1
The Broxbourne venue was really cool. The tiered seating was awesome and made for a great view.

Dark: The All Stars beat the LDRS for the IPW-UK Tag Titles

This was a match that’s been build up all year on the UK scene. The All Stars became #1 contenders for the belts in April in Sittingbourne. The match was very good and you could tell these four were trying to impress on the big stage. The All Stars are a heel team who while not the flashiest, are very solid wrestlers and are good in their roles. The LDRS are a very over babyface team on the UK indies and are both extremely talented wrestlers. Marty Scurll is a perfect fit for Dragon Gate and has the look and charisma to do well over there if he gets the chance. Zach Sabre is great also, but his style is probably a better fit for a New Japan, Zero1 or BattlARTS (his influences are guys like Shibata and Minoru Tanaka). Match went about 15 minutes and got over real good. Loads of cool moves down the stretch and great babyface fire from the LDRS. Sabre took one seriously NASTY bump on his head. Finish was cool with Scurll getting destroyed on the outside and Dynamite came off the top with a diving headbutt on Sabre (who had Whiplash in a Minoru Special), leading to a double team facebuster for the pin.

1. Cyber Kong beat Joey Hayes

Basically a squash match but Hayes got some opportunities to show his stuff and he was impressive. He had a lot of charisma which complimented the uber-charismatic Kong. Very fun stuff. Only thing missing was the glorious CYBER COMBINATION. Kong ended up winning with a powerbomb in less than ten minutes. Kong got over big with his charisma.

2. Mark Haskins beat Lion Kid

Haskins is a now a regular in Japan, having done three long tours this year alone. He has improved so much in the last year it’s ridiculous. Much of the improvement can be connected with the confidence he’s gained in himself from being over in Dragon Gate hanging with the best wrestlers in the world night in, night out. Lion Kid is a character created by A-Merchandise and personally I think it’s marketing genius. They have every kind of merchandise you can imagine from masks to wristbands to teddy bears. There’s even a Lion Girl. It’s great! Only problem is that in front of audiences full of male fans in their 20’s there is A LOT of heckling. Personally I think it’s really undeserved as the lad works really hard in the ring and is pretty darn good. It’s a character that does great on more family oriented shows but here at this show, not so much. If you could block out the annoying heckles, this was a good match – the chain wrestling was slick, there were some good spots and the finishing stretch was nice. Haskins hit his Tombstone variation for the win.

3. Susumu Yokosuka vs. Shingo Takagi

Last year this match stole the show and was one of my matches of the year. Everyone knows how good both these guys are. They’re both in the top ten in the world for my money. The match went as you’d think – hard hitting, intense, and really really heated. Susumu is probably the most clever wrestler in the world. He does so many little things that you’d probably only notice and appreciate if you’re paying close attention but if you do it’s glorious. Some of the highlights included a big Exploder exchange, Susumu going into his Zombie mode, Shingo hitting his crazy forearm combo and his out of nowhere punch and much more. Shingo evened the series at 1-1 with a Last Falconry after several big nearfalls for both guys. They hinted at a rubber match in the future. This was great stuff. ****1/2

4. YAMATO vs. Naruki Doi

A rematch from the Sumo Hall main event in March. I should have noted in the last match that Cyber Kong was out seconding Shingo and the crowd absolutely ate up everything he did on the outside. He was hilarious. Such an amazing character. Well he was back out here for this match and he was even better. I seriously want a bonus on the DVD of all the promos he cut into the ringside cameras. As for the match itself – it was very good. YAMATO was his usual charismatic self and Doi was as smooth as ever. Loads of cool exchanges and some great strikes and submissions. Doi won with a Bakatare Sliding Kick. Probably around the ***3/4 to **** range.

5. World-1 (PAC, BxB Hulk, Masato Yoshino) vs. Veteran Army (Masaaki Mochizuki, CIMA, Dragon Kid)

Huge reactions to everyone for their entrances. The match was insane – definitely my match of the night. Mochizuki was incredible with his kicks, CIMA was a great general, Kid was as impressive as I’ve seen him in months, Hulk was full of great spots, Yoshino was lightning fast in everything he did and Pac was amazing in the role of hometown hero. There were so many ridiculously crazy moments and spots – Mochi meshed sooooo well with PAC and Hulk as I knew he would producing some cool stuff, Dragon Kid hid an insane reverse rana on PAC after PAC landed on his feet from a shooting star and he also planted him with a sick Ultra Rana. I’m probably forgetting a thousand other great things. But what I won’t forget is the finish as PAC blew the roof off the place hitting an Inside Out 450 (one of the more insane top rope moves in his arsenal). PAC cut a great promo afterwards thanking the crowd and the wrestlers and all that jazz. A great end to a fantastic show. ****3/4

NIGHT 2
Got to the lovely St. Ives for the meet & greet on Saturday afternoon. First thing that happens upon arriving in the car park is having CIMA give our group a big Uuuuuuu! Pose while walking over to the fields for a jog. What a man.

The meet & greet was awesome, as they always are. Everyone was there having fun from the wrestlers to the fans to the staff. Cyber Kong and YAMATO were a riot. Fantastically well run and worth the small price.

Dark Match: Stixx vs. Extreme Dean

This was without question the match of the weekend that I was least looking forward to, but it turned out to be the match I was most pleasantly surprised by. Total heel vs. face match – Stixx looks like Big Show facially and is pretty funny interacting with the crowd. Dean was excellent – a fantastic babyface. He hit an awesome tope which brought the crowd to their feet. Really fun match, both guys were impressive.

1. Cyber Kong vs. Marty Scurll

Very similar to Kong vs. Hayes from Night 1. Scurll responded to the pre-match pineapple squishing by snapping a banana and flexing – GET MARTY TO JAPAN!! Again no Cyber Combination so I cried a little. The match was really fun with Scurll looking great when he got offense and selling for Cyber really well. Cyber was just epic. He won with a powerbomb again.

2. Masato Yoshino vs. Lion Kid

Exact same issues as Kid/Haskins. Really smooth, technical match that if watched with the crowd on mute would be very enjoyable. Yoshino is a beast on the mat with his training under Jorge Rivera in the class with Milano Collection AT, Shuji Kondo and the likes, and he really displayed it here. I loved some of his submissions. Kid did very good for himself again and gets the William Regal bonus point for the instant tapping once Yoshino locked in Sol Naciente, making the move look killer.

3. Susumu Yokosuka vs. Masaaki Mochizuki

THE BEST MATCH OF THE WEEKEND. Maybe my second or third favourite match of the year. I was telling everyone for weeks that this would be incredible and even my expectations were exceeded. This was a rematch of the Mochizuki Contra Mochizuki match from 2002 Toryumon where Susumu lost his surname and had to become Yokosuka. So to say it’s a storied rivalry is an understatement. From the offset this was amazing. One awesome moment after another, all weaved together into an incredible story with both guys working a limb on the other and building so much off of that. We got some INSANE kick vs. lariat exchanges that were just brutal to witness from 10 feet away and some great submission teases. Mochi got a huge nearfall off a Dragon Suplex, Susumu got one from a Jumbo No Katchigatame and there were loads more as well. The crowd were going mental during all this – one of the most heated matches I’ve ever seen live. Susumu won with a Mugen and both guys collapsed and stayed down for ages, selling the epic struggle that this match was. God this was incredible. ****3/4 and at times I was thinking higher.

4. YAMATO & Shingo Takagi vs. Naruki Doi & BxB Hulk

And we followed the best match of the weekend with perhaps the second best. Early going, this was not slow per se, but they weren’t doing anything crazy. It was a good solid tag with four charismatic, great wrestlers. Then about half way through things turned and it produced the best tag wrestling you’ll see anywhere this year. This match had the most ridiculously nutty exchanges of the weekend – stuff was stringed together that I’ve never seen from these guys and the crowd lost their minds again. All four were killing each other with strikes, hitting one big move after another, making one big pinfall save after another.... poor Cyber couldn’t take it at ringside – IT WAS ALL TOO MUCH FOR THE BIG MAN! Yoshino was in the other corner and he was going nuts, pretty much marking out for what his peers were doing. Just you all gotta see this match. BxB won with the sickest EVO ever, getting the fall on the man who took his hair – Shingo. ****3/4 again.

5. PAC & Mark Haskins vs. CIMA & Dragon Kid

Biggest match of Haskins career here and he stepped up bigtime. CIMA and Kid got the heat and were really good at mixing in some funny entertainment spots while maintaining the seriousness. This was like a really good TNA X-Division style tag with some really great spots involving all four men. PAC’s flying is by far the best in the world, CIMA is a great base and has some nice flying of his own, Kid is still an amazing flyer and Haskins hung with all three. We got big dives, big hurricanranas and everything else you’d expect. The UK duo hit a big series of moves ending with Haskins tombstone and a 360 Shooting Star from PAC for the win. ****1/2. This time it was Haskins turn to do the post show mic work and all the wrestlers came down, except Susumu who was a little tardy and CIMA chastised him while the crowd chanted YOKOSUKA. Dragon Storm hit the speakers as everyone said their goodbyes and it was the perfect end to a perfect wrestling weekend.

Post show, Yoshino, YAMATO, Shingo and Kong all went out to the merch tables and kindly sold A-Merchandise’s products for them. Yoshino was enthusiastically trying to get people to buy the TNA PPV that he was on where he and Alex Shelley tore the house down. These guys are such awesome people.

flahavaj

ALAN4L is some hero, sound sound man. That is all.

gimmick

This weekend made me feel somewaht good about myself as well given I really and truly do not fit the general "look" of an adult wrestling fan.

chordtype

gimmick wrote: »

This weekend made me feel somewaht good about myself as well given I really and truly do not fit the general "look" of an adult wrestling fan.

Describe this look please.


Sounds like two fun shows. Next time I'll be considering hitting these up.

gimmick

Erra, just not like me I guess?

I better not give a description for fear of insulting anyone.

Roar

a great weekend, some fantastic matches.. night one was the better i think, the venue was better, the atmosphere was better, and shingo v yokosuka was absolutely sensational.

i thought cyber kong was rubbish tbh, dunno what the hype is about him. especially considering his match on night two was the exact same as the night before.

Pac's inside out 450 the first night truly was a "holy f*cking sh!t" moment

other than the wrestling, the other highlights were picking up a rare marvin gaye LP in oxfam which is worth a couple of hundred quid ( i paid 4 quid for it!), two fantastic curries and Saint Ives itself, which is like a postcard. It was beautiful.

the biggest fail of the weekend was our sat nav, which brought us the most roundabout ways to places imaginable. ugh.

gimmick

DVDs are available on pre order now. See this trailer. Its class

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNjmfHBHzto