Then we head to the ring where Arda Ocal announces that the show is about to begin. He and Colt Cabana are on commentary for the evening.
1) AR Fox vs. Tony Nese - Winner Advances to Four Way Freestyle
What a way to start the show! This one started off with a bang and never slowed down. Arm drags, nip ups, all kinds of fast paced stuff to start off. Nese gets the upperhand of the exchange so Fox rolls to the outside only for Nese to dive out onto him and in the process he breaks the railing! Fox and Nese basically land in the people on the front row's lap haha. Crazy moment. The two get back in the ring and the action keeps going at a high pace for the rest of the match. I really enjoyed this bout. Nese and Fox are two of my favorites to watch on the Indies right now and they put in a spectacular performance here. Awesome start to the show.
Match rating - ***3/4
2) Masada vs. Papadon - Winner Advances to Four Way Freestyle
Interesting match up here as Masada is widely known for his deathmatch wrestling while Papadon is more of a pure wrestler. The two styles clashed well and provided a solid match. It's not anything that will blow your mind, but it's a good contest that will keep you entertained. The show continues at a good pace with this match.
Match rating - ***
3) Rich Swann vs. Jigsaw - Winner Advances to Four Way Freestyle
After a slower paced match, we're back to some high octane action here. Although they started out with some technical wrestling, they soon took to the air with various maneuvers. Cabana's commentary was great once again here as he gave some nice insight on both guys. Another really entertaining match here that garnered a "This is Awesome" chant just like the opening bout.
Match rating - ***1/4
Colt Cabana left the commentary booth after this match and Johnny Gargano joined Arda Ocal to call the next match.
4) Chuck Taylor vs. Jon Davis - Winner Advances to Four Way Freestyle
I've seen this Jon Davis guy compete several times in DGUSA and he just gets on my nerves. Not because a heel, but he's just boring. His entrance is five minutes or longer and he just walks around ringside looking at random people. Then when the match starts he sits in the corner for several minutes before even locking up. That's enough to put me to sleep. I'm giving this one a 3 solely for Chuck doing the best he could to make this entertaining. He was funny as always. Other than that this was a dud.
Match rating - **
Johnny Gargano confronted Jon Davis after the match and gave a nice little promo. Then Davis got on the mic and I could hardly hear him. He wasn't talking loud and the crowd was yelling random stuff. So there's that.
Arda Ocal comes to the ring next to announce that The Young Bucks and John Morrison would be on the next DGUSA shows in January. That's interesting, I need to check those shows out. Afterwards, some woman comes to the ring and asks to be Morrison's manager, but Christina Von Eerie comes out and powerbombs her and says that Morrison and The Bucks think they'll take over Evolve and DGUSA, but they won't.
5) El Generico & Samuray Del Sol vs. Super Smash Brothers
I'm familar with these four mainly from their work in PWG and based on that, I was really excited for this match. With that being said, they definitely delivered a match that lived up to the expectations I had for it. Just fantastic tag team wrestling throughout from both teams. Alot of good exchanges as well. This isn't a classic, but it's an awesome tag team match worth a viewing, thats for sure.
Match rating - ***3/4
6) AR Fox vs. Rich Swann vs. MASADA vs. Jon Davis - Four Way Freestyle
I love multi-man matches like this because they are always fun and full of non stop action. That was the case here. It may have only lasted around 10 minutes, but it was a great ten minutes full of great exchanges and some cool multi-man moves such as the tower of doom. All four men delivered here, even Jon Davis, who as I stated before really bored me. If Davis competed like he did here on a regular basis, I probably wouldn't dislike him as much. His showdown with Masada here was epic. Fox & Swann were the normal amazing selves delivering alot of breathtaking manuevers and even having a nice exchange near the end. I wish this would have went longer, but it was alot of fun for what it was.
Match rating - ***
7) Johnny Gargano vs. Sami Callihan
The whole show was built around this match and the promos from both guys earlier in the show got me really pumped for it. I knew Callihan was a heavy hitter and trash talker, but Gargano really showed a new rough side of himself here as well. Callihan had him backed in the corner and they traded strikes followed by Gargano saying "Come on, Sami! Hit me!" Callihan then nails Gargano with a vicious headbutt that sends him to the ground! Sami then hits two running knees on Gargano in the corner, but on the third try Gargano blocks it and gets up to his feet. That was an amazing opening exchange that I just had to mention. Gargano got control and goes to work on Sami with repeated strikes then he sent him to the outside. Gargano hits a huge dive to the outside and the two men crash through the railing. That's the second time the railing broke tonight, but it was much more effective this time as both guys paid it no attention and hit the floor. It really added to the intensity of the match. In fact, that's the perfect word to describe this match - Intense. From opening bell to closing bell these guys tore the house down. There was a short dull period right before the closing sequence, but I think it just came off that way because of how dead the crowd was for some reason. I'm used to seeing these guys in PWG where the crowd is on fire all the time so it's always odd for me hearing nothing during a match haha. But after that short stalling period, they went back to stealing the show with some innovative manuevers on the ring apron. Gargano hit an impressive manuever sending Sami off the apron into the railing hard, but Callihan would recover and deliver a vicious back drop driver on the ring apron to Gargano. The two got back in the ring and traded submissions. The ref ends up stopping the match while Gargano has Callihan locked in the Gargano Escape and is delivering repeated knee strikes to his head. Callihan wakes up afterwards and yells at the ref "I DIDN'T SUBMIT!" Man, Callihan is gold. Awesome main event.
Match rating - ****1/4
Overall thoughts: I think Cabana described it best early in the evening on commentary when he said something along the lines of "Everybody came out to steal the show tonight". That's really what it seemed like. The opening matches were all great with everybody hitting on all cylinders despite knowing they would have to compete twice if they won. The only dud on the card is the Jon Davis/Chuck Taylor match which is still watchable thanks to Taylor's usual hilarious antics. Fox/Nese, the Tag Match, and the main event were the matches of the night for me. Overall great show. I'd definitely recommend checking it out.
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