Dragon Gate USA

[Thatonegirlfromdahoodyo]

So I had the "Honor" of pulling the cable for the camera man for the Dragon Gate USA show in Santa Maria this past Friday.

With out spoiling any of the results I can tell you that IMHO the show (or at least the DGUSA side) was fucking awful.

The fact that people find that spot monkey garbage to be entertaining makes me very worried about the current state of wrestling.

The entire show felt like one match cause all the guys worked exactly the same (at least for the most part):
SPOT
SPOT
SPOT
SPOT
SPOT
SPOT
SPOT
PAUSE
...
...
...
SPOT
SPOT
SPOT
SPOT
SPOT
SPOT
SPOT
PAUSE
...
...
...
SPOT
SPOT
SPOT
SPOT
FINISH

Wash, rinse, and repeat for the next 5 matches.
I mean like there was several times that these guys hit big moves that should have ended the match but the other guy kicked out at one, it made it look even more fake than it is supposed to, and don't get me started on this one match (not going to say who was in it) 38 super kicks where thrown (counted them one by one) not a single one got more than a one count, and they even hit a Canadian destroyer off the top rope and, yup you guessed it a one.
count.

If this is what the modern day wrestling fan likes than I must be so out of touch it's not even funny, I like wrestling, where in a 6 minute opening match, they hit maybe 2 spots, and the finish is the first finisher in the match and the loser does not kick out. Not 80000 spots and they kick out of every big move at one and the finish is a fucking role up.

Sorry I just had to vent, this spot monkey bull shit really pisses me off and the fact that people call these guys wrestlers is a travesty.

[Thr33XWA]

And th e people who like the will be the same who say that WWE or Puro is too slow paced. Give me a match that looks legitimatly competitive (or downright brutal) over a spot fest anyday.

[Goldash]

I follow Gabe Sapolsky on Facebook and he always posts about "revolutionizing wrestling". I have not seen a DGUSA or EVOLVE show live (only highlights and such) but it seems he's headed in the wrong direction.

EVOLVE, for all I know, treats wrestling like a sport because it takes records, rankings and such into consideration. I don't know if it's stylistically similar to Dragon Gate USA but I remember the fan reaction over the closing show at the former ECW Arena being very controversial.

Gabe's been through ECW and put Ring of Honor into the national spotlight. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if he'll do the same with DGUSA/EVOLVE because of exactly what you mentioned. There's the modern, high-flying approach to the sport --- basically what lucha libre promotions embody and what TNA does with the X Division --- and then there's overbooked nonsense. It's kind of upsetting to see DGUSA fall into the latter category.

[Malaphesto]

I wasn't even aware DGUSA was still around.
Anyways everything you described has been like the defining trait of Dragongate (the original japanese company) since it opened, so no surprise really.

[thattcguy]

It saddens me that Gabe isn't putting more focus on EVOLVE. The idea of a Wrestling/MMA mix promotion with records and real-sport-esque shit happening is great, and could make for an extremely compelling product if handled correctly.