Philadelphia, PA – 11.12.2011

Commentary is provided by Lenny Leonard, BJ Whitmer, Brodie Lee, and Rich Swann.

Bonus Pre-Show Match
BJ Whitmer & Uhaa Nation vs. The Scene (Scott Reed & Caleb Konley)

We’re shown backstage footage from “REVOLT!” where Larry Dallas rewarded The Scene for their attack on Uhaa Nation with shot glass necklaces. Larry Dallas is in the front row to cheer on The Scene.

Reed is very hesitant to lock up with Nation. He brings Reed to the corner. Konley slaps Nation to distract him. Nation however recovers quickly, dropkicks Reed and sends him to the floor. He powerslams Konley. He and Whitmer slingshot Reed back into the ring. Reed hits a knee lift and tags out. Nation press slams Konley. Whitmer delivers a leg lariat for one. A suplex gets him two. Konley rolls out after taking a back elbow. Dallas throws his water at Whitmer. This allows Reed and Konley to attack him from behind and throw him into the ring post. The Scene take control back in the ring. Whitmer catches Konley with an exploder suplex and tags in Nation. He over powers Reed and Konley with ease. He gets two with a standing shooting star press on Reed, thanks to Konley breaking the cover. Nation gives Konley the Roll of the Dice. Whitmer and Nation give Reed some boots. Konley again has to break the pin. Whitmer drops Reed with the Complete Shot while Nation takes Konley to the floor. Whitmer taps out Reed with the Peruvian Necktie at 7:10. Fun squash for the big guys. Seeing them team again would be excellent. **

After the match, Brodie Lee runs in and gives Whitmer a big boot. Nation stares Lee down. Lee backs away and heads to the back. Sucks we will never see a singles match between those two.

We get a few backstage promos to start the show proper. BJ Whitmer reminds us that he and Brodie Lee got into a fight last night. They are now scheduled for a match tomorrow night in New York. However, Whitmer says he has no problem starting things early if he sees Brodie do something tonight that he should not be doing. Jon Davis reminds us that he defeated Sami Callihan, making him 3-0 in singles match against the D.U.F. (he defeated Pinkie Sanchez at “Fearless 2011” and Arik Cannon at “Chasing the Dragon.”) The D.U.F. then attacked him after his match. Because of that attack, Davis can’t compete tonight, which does not put him in a good mood at all. He will get proper revenge tomorrow night in a Street Fight.

Dragon Gate Veteran vs. DGUSA Homegrown Match #1
Masato Yoshino vs. AR Fox

They exchange holds on the mat. Yoshino snaps off an armdrag. He hits a dropkick. Fox kicks out his legs and sends him out with an enzuigiri. Fox goes for a dive and lands on his feet. Fox then kickflips off the ring post into a moonsault on Yoshino. Fox lands a crossbody for two. Yoshino gets the ropes to break chinlock. Fox gets two with a legdrop. Fox stretches Yoshino’s back across his knee. Fox spin kicks Yoshino, then skins the cat into a dropkick. Yoshino comes back with the Sling Blade. Yoshino grabs the ropes to block a dropkick and hits one of his own. Fox evades a double stomp. He hits Thugbait for two. Yoshino gets his knees up to block a split-legged moonsault. He puts Fox in From Jungle. Fox grabs the ropes to break it. Fox enzuigiri’s Yoshino. A rolling Death Valley Driver leads to a 450 splash. Yoshino kicks out. Yoshino blocks the Lo Mein Pain. He hits a shotgun dropkick from the top rope. A slap exchange leads to Yoshino hitting the Torbellino. He puts Fox in Sol Naciente. Fox submits at 8:16. Even in losing Fox looked like a force to reckoned with. The fact that he got to look so strong over Yoshino means good things for his future. We’re off to a good start. **3/4

The Spiked Mohicans (CIMA and Ricochet) make their way to the ring while Yoshino is celebrating. Ricochet tells Yoshino that he’s facing CIMA tomorrow. He says there is no way Yoshino will win. CIMA and Ricochet put the boots to Yoshino until PAC, Ricochet’s opponent for tomorrow, runs out. Ricochet says that he and CIMA not going to fight now since they have a match later tonight. But, since PAC is ready, Ricochet brings out Brodie Lee for their match. Akira Tozawa accompanies him. Whitmer leaves commentary so he can get a “closer look” at Brodie.

Dragon Gate Veteran vs. DGUSA Homegrown Match #2
PAC vs. Brodie Lee

PAC dropkicks Lee before he gets in the ring. He follows with a dive. Tozawa gets in a few shots and throws him to Lee who is now in the ring. Lee dropkicks PAC to the corner. Lee chops and smacks him. PAC gives Lee a huracanrana. Lee gives PAC one of his own! With PAC on the floor, Lee suicide dives after him. Lee pops PAC to the apron. PAC kicks him in the side of the head. PAC misses a moonsault and Lee smacks him in the face. Tozawa gives PAC some more boots while Lee distracts the referee. Lee forearms PAC in the back of the head. Lee throws PAC out to the floor again so Tozawa can get in more shots. Lee only gets a two count when Tozawa throws PAC back in. Lee puts on a chinlock. PAC escapes but Tozawa trips him. PAC baseball slides Tozawa. He dropkicks Lee to the floor and hits an Asai moonsault onto him. In the ring PAC hits a Phoenix Splash off the second rope for two. PAC springboards in, only to be caught by Lee’s big boot. PAC slips out of his Liger Bomb. Lee hits a big boot. PAC gets Lee mad. Lee charges, PAC evades and catches him coming off the ropes with a German suplex. Lee overhead suplexes PAC. He then hits the Truck Stop and PAC kicks out! Lee pops PAC to the top rope. He gives PAC a dangling DDT for two. PAC blocks a Liger Bomb with a bridging suplex. He enzuigiri’s Lee in the corner. A shooting star press and a 360 shooting star press score PAC the victory at 10:46. This could have been a styles clash but it turned out to be incredibly fun. Lee knows exactly what matches he needs to be busting out rana’s and dives and this was one of those occasions. PAC wrestled smartly and didn’t go for a pin until he knew for sure Lee was down. Really great stuff. ***1/2

PAC catches Tozawa trying to attack him from behind. Rich Swann and Johnny Gargano of Ronin (Swann is also in Junction 3) make their way out. Just like last night, Swann challenges Tozawa to a rap battle. Once again, Tozawa turns down the idea of rapping and wows the crowd with his amazing singing voice. Swann feigns surprise so he can catch Tozawa off guard with a superkick.

Dragon Gate Veteran vs. DGUSA Homegrown Match #3
Akira Tozawa vs. Rich Swann

Swann dropkicks Tozawa to the floor and feigns a dive. Swann stomps on Tozawa as he comes back in the ring. Swann gives Tozawa punches and a chop in the corner. Tozawa sends Swann out. He bicycle kicks Swan against the guardrail. Swann throws him into the ring steps. Tozawa flapjacks Swann onto them and throws a chair at him. In the ring Tozawa kicks Swann in the back. He gets two with a senton. Tozawa chops Swann in the corner, then punches him in the face. Tozawa chokes him with his boot. Swann catches Tozawa with a gamengiri. He sends Tozawa to the floor with the Leap of Faith. Swann tope con hilo’s after him. Swann misses a splash in the corner. Tozawa gets his knees up to block a crossbody. He bicycle kicks Swann into a Saito suplex. Swann back handsprings into an Ace Crusher for two. Swann calls for FIREBIRD. He misses it. Swanna slips out of Tozawa’s German suplex and Magistral cradles him for two. Swann hits a tornado kick. He cartwheels into a standing 450 splash. Tozawa German suplexes him for two. Tozawa goes for the High Tension suplex. Swann and Tozawa trade cradles instead. Swann ends up catching Tozawa in a crucifix for the pin at 8:11. Really fun stuff from both guys. I am totally shocked Swann got the victory here. I expected Tozawa to clean sweep, but this I think is good for Swann in the grand scheme of things. ***

BxB Hulk comes out right away. He stands off with Johnny Gargano who came to support Swann. Gargano suggests they do their match right now and Hulk agrees.

Dragon Gate Veteran vs. DGUSA Homegrown Match #4
BxB Hulk vs. Johnny Gargano

Hulk throws some kicks to start things off. Gargano shoulder blocks Hulk. Hulk strings an elbow, kick to the head and dropkick together. Gargano sole butts Hulk out of the corner. Gargano gives him a Complete Shot on the second turnbuckle. A knee strike and neckbreaker take Hulk down. Gargano turns Hulk into an arm capture key lock. Hulk grabs the bottom rope to escape. Gargano punches Hulk in the corner. When the referee gets Gargano out of the corner, Hulk kicks him low. Hulk crotches him on the top rope and dropkicks him to the floor. He crotches Gargano on the guardrail and kicks him in the chest. Hulk takes a swig of wine. He spits it in Gargano’s face. Gargano’s chops cannot match Hulk’s kicks. Back in the ring he gets two with a basement dropkick. He puts on a half crab, digging his leg into Gargano’s neck. Gargano grabs the ropes. Hulk kicks Gargano in a tree of woe. Hulk hits a BxB Starr Press for two. Gargano blocks a suplex. He rolls Hulk into an enzuigiri that sends Hulk to the floor. Hulk evades a pescado but takes the slingshot spear. Gargano boots Hulk in the back. Gargano blocks a huracanrana with a powerbomb. Hulk again goes to the floor. Gargano suicide dives onto him, then comes off the apron with a somersault senton. Hulk throws some kicks back in the ring. He hits the Burnout for two. He sweeps the legs for a twisting senton and a two count. Gargano fires up as Hulk throws some kicks. He gives Hulk an enzuigiri. Hulk hits Mouse. Gargano gets up and German suplexes him. Hulk delivers an axe kick. Gargano superkicks and lariats Hulk, taking both men down. Gargano superkicks Hulk in the ropes. Hulk catches Gargano on the top rope with a spin kick. He gives Gargano the AEVO and somehow Gargano kicks out. Gargano slips out of the regular EVO. He gets two with the Magistral cradle. Hulk boots him in the corner. Gargano hits the IED. He lawn darts Hulk and superkicks him. The Hurts Donut only gets him a two count. Gargano immediately puts on the Garga-No Escpae, giving him the submission victory at 15:51. Gargano looked fantastic here, and Hulk worked really hard to make that happen. I love that Gargano has beaten a bunch of top guys with his submission. Better yet, he just defeated the first Open the Freedom Gate Champion the night before he gets his shot at YAMATO (if he retains). I love that kind of storytelling. This show is on a roll. ***1/2

Backstage, Whitmer says Brodie should feel no shame in losing to PAC. He’s still going to keep his eye on him for the rest of the night. Tomorrow, he plans to have the fight of his life against Brodie.

A trailer airs for the “Uprising 2011” DVD. Check out my review of that show here.

South Philly Street Fight
Sabu vs. Pinkie Sanchez

Sanchez attacks Sabu from behind. He tosses Sabu to the floor. Sabu throws him into the guardrail. Sabu brings a chair back in the ring. Sanchez gives him a legdrop. Sabu whips Sanchez into a chair in the corner. He clotheslines Sanchez out of the opposite corner. A slingshot legdrop gets him two. Sabu puts on the Camel Clutch. He stomps on Sanchez and sets a table up ringside. Sanchez dives after him. Sabu drops Sanchez on the table and brings him back in the ring. Sanchez hits a missile dropkick for two. Sanchez throws Sabu out. Sanchez sets up for a dive but Sabu throws a chair at him to cut him off. Sabu dives off the top rope onto him. He brings the table and a chair back into the ring. Sanchez DDT’s Sabu when he comes back in. Sanchez begins to set the table up but eats another chair to the face. Sabu puts Sanchez on the table. He goes up top. Sanchez throws a chair at him. He sets up Sabu on the table now. Sabu catches Sanchez and throws him over the table. Sabu gives him the Arabian Facebuster. He then gives him the Arabian Skull Crusher through the table. He puts on the Camel Clutch. Sanchez refuses to quit. Sabu uses a chair in the Clutch and Sanchez taps out at 8:42. This was just random weapon nonsense for awhile. Nothing was terrible but not memorable either. *1/2

Arik Cannon and Sami Callihan attack Sabu. Shouldn’t they be resting up for their United Gate title match later? AR Fox comes out and gets jumped pretty quickly. Jon Davis comes out to even the odds. He disposes of the D.U.F. on his own. These two trios meet in a Street Fight tomorrow.

Open the Freedom Gate Championship
YAMATO (Champion) vs. Chuck Taylor

God bless the fans who are chanting H-A-G-E. Johnny Gargano is in Taylor’s corner while Rich Swann is on commentary. They both get on wristlocks. YAMATO pulls out some of Taylor’s hair for funsies. They reach a stalemate on the mat. Taylor rolls under a clothesline. He puts on a single leg submission. Taylor bites YAMATO’s ankle when he begins to slip. He puts on a figure four. YAMATO reverses it and Taylor grabs the ropes. Taylor works over YAMATO’s leg some more. They trade forearms. Taylor grapevines his legs. YAMATO grabs the ropes. YAMATO body slams Taylor and drops an elbow. He only gets one with a neckbreaker. YAMATO and Taylor trade chops in the corner. YAMATO hits a running corner dropkick for two. Taylor reverses and Irish whip with the Sole Food. He dropkicks YAMATO to the floor and nails a tope con hilo. Taylor throws YAMATO intot he guardrails and chokes him with some cable. Back in the ring Taylor missile dropkicks him. He twists up YAMATO’s leg that he has been working on. YAMATO desperately gets the ropes. YAMATO boots Taylor as Taylor hits the ropes. YAMATO rolls up Taylor for two. He gives him the brainbuster for two again. He floats over into a crossface. Taylor gets the ropes. Taylor knees YAMATO from the corner and gets two with a powerbomb. Taylor lands on his feet when YAMATO evades a powerbomb. Taylor suckers YAMATO into a small package for two. Taylor gets two with a Magistral cradle also. YAMATO nails an enzuigiri and puts on a sleepr. Taylor escapes Galleria. He gives YAMATO the Awful Waffle for the pin and the title at 16:52…except YAMATO’s foot was on the bottom rope and the referee didn’t see it! The referee sees it after and defers to Gargano who was right there. He reluctantly admits that YAMATO did have his foot on the ropes. The referee restarts the match. Taylor is so annoyed that he tries clocking YAMATO with the belt. YAMATO ducks. He rolls up Taylor for two. YAMATO catches Taylor with the Galleria for two. YAMATO puts him in the CBV for the pin at 1:02 (17:54 total). The finish was great build-up for both tomorrow’s nights match and to build the tension between Taylor and Gargano. However, the match itself was pretty slow and plodding. While this match did a good job building future occurrences, it didn’t do much for itself. ***

YAMATO and Gargano stare off. While that happens, Taylor snatches the Freedom Gate title from YAMATO and bails. Here’s a clip of Taylor leaving the Arena with the belt. Taylor actually took the belt with him to a CHIKARA show that same evening. You can see that here.

Open the United Gate Championship
Spiked Mohicans (CIMA & Ricochet) (Champions) vs. D.U.F. (Sami Callihan & Arik Cannon)

Brodie Lee is in the Mohicans corner. CIMA and Callihan have battling promos before the bell. CIMA and Cannon fight to the floor. Ricochet and Callihan kick each other. Ricochet hits an armdrag and a dropkick. Callihan chops Ricochet to the floor. Lee big boots Callihan to stop his dive attempt (the referee is on the floor). Ricochet hits the Sasuke Special onto the D.U.F. BJ Whitmer comes out to chase Brodie to the back. Callihan clotheslines Ricochet off the apron. He suicide dives onto the Mohicans and Cannon. Cannon drinks a PBR while putting Ricochet in a standing figure four. Both he and Callihan spit beer in CIMA’s face. Callihan puts CIMA in a standing figure four too. Cannon and Callihan double team Ricochet. Ricochet huracanrana’s Cannon to the floor and enzuigir’s Callihan. CIMA steps on Callihan’s shoulders. CIMA and Ricochet lay in some kicks to him. They continue to wear down Callihan in their corner until he slaps and enzuigiri’s CIMA. Cannon tags in and immediately throws forearms and chops. He drops CIMA with a neckbreaker. Ricochet hits a springboard dropkick. He Tiger walks Cannon but then gets suplexed into the corner. He misses a moonsault. Ricochet hits the Rick Rack and a standing Shooting Star Press. Ricochet dropkicks Callihan as he springboards in. The D.U.F. double team Ricochet in the corner. Callihan accidentally enzuigiri’s Cannon. CIMA hits the Tokarev as Callihan dangles on the second rope. CIMA rolls through a sunset flip and stomps Callihan’s chest. He gets two with the Perfect Driver. Callihan kicks out CIMA’s leg and puts on the Stretch Muffler. Ricochet saves him. Cannon gives CIMA the Total Anarchy off of Callihan’s back. Ricochet saves CIMA once again. Ricochet gives Cannon a reverse huracanrana. Same goes for Callihan. Ricochet goes for a huracanrana on Cannon. Cannon counters with a buckle bomb and an inside out lariat. CIMA stops Cannon from hitting the brainbuster with a Superdrol. Callihan bicycle kicks CIMA and drops him with a Death Valley Driver. He misses the Boing Splash. Ricochet hits a quebrada for two. Callihan powerbombs Ricochet for two. Callihan puts on a modified figure four. CIMA gives Cannon the Iconoclasm onto Callihan to break it. He sentons onto Callihan for two. CIMA gives Cannon the Ikkakugeri. Everybody takes down everyone else. Ricochet kicks out of Total Anarchy. CIMA saves Ricochet from a double team predicament. CIMA gives Cannon the Schwein after sending Callihan to the floor. Ricochet’s 630 splash earns him the win at 17:57. That was much better than I expected. Both teams busted their humps and had the crowd going wild by the end. They had some clever exchanges and transitions that made this stick out from your usual tag team affair. ***3/4

Ricochet talks about how he and CIMA have no competition. He reiterates that CIMA will beat Yoshino tomorrow night and that he will put PAC in his place.