April 7, 2013 – Secaucus, New Jersey
CIMA {Z}, Eita & Tomahawk TT vs. Ricochet {W1}, Rich Swann {W1} & Johnny Gargano
Gargano is kinda sorta in World-1, so Ricochet recruited him for this team. Winner of the fall gets a shot at any WWN Universe belt that he wants. CIMA and Swann start. Swann gets a roll up for 2. He hits a dropkick. Eita chops him. Ricochet hits a dropkick. He hits a shoulder tackle. Eita hits a dropkick to the face. TT tags in and the crowd FINALLY chants, “Mr. Pii Pii.†TT hits Gargano with a shoulder tackle. Ricochet stops him from chopping his partner. He and Swann chop TT, which gets Swann a gnarly chop in the corner. CIMA and Eita hit a double dropkick for 2. Swann and Ricochet double-team Eita. CIMA hits an elevated double stomp and a senton on Ricochet. Swann hits mounted punches and an eye poke. He hits an elbowdrop for 2. TT hits a delayed vertical suplex for 2. He and Eita hit a double chop. They hit a double basement dropkick for 2. CIMA puts on the Romero Special and holds it for chops from Eita and TT. CIMA stretches Swann upside down. Eita and TT hit a Doomsday Superdrol. Swann hits TT with a Frankensteiner. He hits Ace Crushers on Eita and CIMA. Gargano spears Eita. Ricochet superkicks CIMA in midair. He hits the Ace Crusher and a standing SSP for 2. CIMA hits the Venus and Iconoclasm. TT hits a chop and Eita hits a moonsault for 2. Eita hits a basement dropkick on Gargano. He hits a facebuster for 2. Gargano kicks his face. He hits a slingshot DDT for 2. TT chops Swann. Gargano hits an enziguiri. Ricochet hits the Superdrol and Gargano hits the Lawn Dart for 2. Ricochet hits the Shooting Star Press for 2. Eita saves TT from the Hurts Donut with a dropkick. Gargano hits a lariat. CIMA hits the Superdrol. TT hits Swann with the reverse Michinoku Driver. Ricochet hits a diving lariat. Eita crotches him and hits a Frankensteiner. CIMA hits the Meteora to the back and the Schwein for 2. TT hits the Night Ride as Eita moonsaults to the floor and hits his face on the guardrail. CIMA hits Ricochet with the Meteora for 2 when Gargano makes the save. CIMA and Gargano trade chops. CIMA hits a superkick. Gargano returns the favor. He hits the Hurts Donut and puts on the GargaNo Escape. TT makes the save. Swann kicks the crap out of TT. Eita appears to be alive. Eita dropkicks Swann and hits the R-TEACH. Gargano hits the Hurts Donut. Swann hits Swann on Fire and Ricochet hits the 630 Senton for the win at 22:34. They brought the fun you expect from these matches. It was cool to see Eita and TT in this kind of environment. Even though the shine of the annual six-man tag has worn off a bit, and the added stipulation never really played into the story of the match, they managed to have a good match by sheer force of willpower. Sure, TT blew up a little, and the exchange between him and Swann was ill advised so close to the finish after the hot CIMA vs. Gargano exchange, but I’ll forgive it because the rest of the match came together nicely.
After the match, Ricochet tells Gargano that he wants a shot at the Open the Freedom Gate Championship. Gargano then turns his attention to CIMA, who he demands admit that the Dream Gate and Freedom Gate are on the same level. Even after all this time, CIMA is still not convinced. But he challenges Gargano to a title vs. title match, which we can assume will settle everything once and for all. Jon Davis comes out and shoves CIMA into Gargano. Gargano stops Davis from attacking CIMA more, but then hits CIMA with a low blow and then beats the crap out of Swann. He ends the segment by mocking the Engrish go-home promos and choking CIMA with a strap.
Rating: ****
Shingo Takagi {A} vs. Akira Tozawa {MB}
It’s getting ridiculous how much these two fight each other in singles matches. Tozawa spits in Takagi’s face. Takagi hits a shoulder tackle. He works the neck. Tozawa gets to the ropes. Takagi hits a gutbuster and a DDT. Tozawa hits a senton. He hits the Machine Gun Chops and a jab. Takagi hits a double chop. He drops Tozawa on the apron. He marches on Tozawa’s gut. He hits a pair of sentons for 2. He hits a delayed vertical suplex. He hits short-arm clotheslines and a falling elbowdrop for 2. Tozawa hits the running knee. He hits the double suicide dive. He dives off of the apron. He hits a brainbuster for 2. Takagi hits a lariat to the back. He beats the crap out of Tozawa in the corner. He hits a neckbreaker. He hits the Sliding Bomber for 2. Tozawa hits an enziguiri and a back suplex. Tozawa blocks the STAY DREAM and hits a superplex for 2. He hits a hurricanrana. He hits a big boot and goes for a suicide dive, but Takagi catches him and hits a powerbomb on the apron. He hits the Gallon Throw for 2. Tozawa hits a side suplex. Takagi returns the favor. They each hit one more. Takagi hits the DVD. Tozawa hits a Germans suplex. Takagi hits the Pumping Bomber. Tozawa hits the Ganki and running knee for 2. He hits a German suplex for 2. He hits another for 2. They slug it out until Takagi hits MADE IN JAPAN for 2. He hits it again for 2. He hits the Pumping Bomber for the win at 23:14. This was only the main event for political reasons; Dragon Gate wanted the only all-Japanese wrestler match to go on last. It wasn’t as good as the match that preceded it nor did it have any storyline purpose. Politics are lame. The match wasn’t bad though, in fact it was something of a strong-style delight. This was the right crowd for that kind of match too, even if a lot of the fans were concerned with getting out of the building and making it to WrestleMania. Tozawa shakes Takagi’s hand after the match, because he’s a babyface in the States.
Rating: ***½
