TJP vs. Gran Akuma **3/4
Quacksaw vs. CIMA & Super Crazy ***1/2
Brian Kendrick vs. Jimmy Jacobs ***
Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Davey Richards ****1/4
Young Bucks vs. Doi/Yoshino vs. Shingo/YAMATO ****
BXB Hulk vs. Dragon Kid ***3/4
Fearless is DGUSA's 4th PPV and is the turning point of the company presenting storylines and angles as well as just a collection of great matches. Show opened with Brian Kendrick and Jon Moxley doing a promo where Moxley keeps calling out Tommy Dreamer out and Kendrick saying that Dreamer isn't man enough to show up. Thankfully this was shorter and more coherent than Kendrick's previous PPV promo. First match was TJP (the former TJ Perkins) against Kamikaze USA member Gran Akuma, this is basically just a collection of moves with very little selling or psycholgy involved. Akuma's performances are definitely getting better but I was a bit disappointed with TJP in this. TJP wins by submission that comes out of nowhere. Next was the continuing build between CIMA and Mike Quackenbush, well it would have been had the fans not had Super Crazy as their clear favourite which didn't help as CIMA and Crazy were pushed as the heels. Crazy is doing a damn fine impression of CMLL's Super Porky, though he still does a lot in the ring and the fans of which of the majority seem to be old ECW fans rather than Dragon Gate fans loved seeing him. Very entertaining and quick paced as you would imagine ended with the Chikara team picking up another win.
Kendrick put forward his best performance in DGUSA so far in his battle with Jimmy Jacobs. He seemed to be putting in far more effort and the fans liked the fact he brought out Lacey as his valet. Lacey was not looking good by the way. Crowd took a while to take to Jacobs as the babyface which they did finally. Jacobs looked to have got the win with End Times until Lacey distracted him and he got caught with Sliced Bread #2 for the loss. Afterwards Kendrick said he was going to break Jimmy's heart which involved Moxley clotheslining Lacey. This brought out Tommy Dreamer to brawl with Moxley to set up a match down the road. Fans loved Dreamer.
Davey got to win the FIP title against Mochizuki in what turned out to be his last match in DGUSA. What's worse it took Gabe Sapolsky (DGUSA booker) a long time to convince Dragon Gate to agree for Davey to go over and only on the condition that Davey would then lose at a future event. Davey then signed a new deal with ROH and as a result didn't work for DGUSA, FIP or Evolve again and thus never got to defend the belt.The match itself was excellent like all of Davey's matches in DGUSA. As you may imagine it was all stiff kicks, big moves and smooth submission attempts. Davey also did his usual insane dive into the 3rd row where Mochizuki made the decision not to catch him. Unlike the opener this did have great psycholgy and the fans were very hot for the final five minutes or so. After Davey won with the Kimura,both guys showed their respects and Davey celebrated.
Next was the 3 way tag team battle, commentators explained that Shingo and YAMATO tag team regularly in Japan. What they didn't explain is that in DGUSA Shingo as always been a babyface and YAMATO the dastardly heel.and why they would be working together. This was elimination so was naturally a bit scrappy until we had the first elimination which was the Bucks. This makes sense as they had signed contracts with TNA so it defies logic to put them over 4 of the promtions biggest stars. Match settled down really well, with Yoshino coming across as the star as he got both eliminations. Again this is great booking as Doi is already established as the major star and is undefeated on the first four shows. Yoshino needed to get the win after losing on the first two shows to Dragon Kid, Poor Shingo is 0-4 so far but every match as been great and he might be the exception of a wrestler who can keep losing but it has no impact on his ability to carry a feud or be a draw.
Finally we had BXB Hulk's first title defence in DGUSA against Dragon Kid, for some reason the fans really didn't care. This was actually a very good match, but a fair number of fans didn't react to anything. It got to the point where Dragon Kid hit the awesome Ultra Huracanrana and the fans clapped politely. When he hit it in Oxford last year on the Dragon Gate UK show, every fan went mental. That's the point of this the fans really hindered this and with it being the main event it came across more than if it was a mid card match. Hulk retained by nailing Kid with the EVOP. After the match Kamikaze USA ran in to attack both men, Shingo teased making the save but turned on Dragon Kid (who since the 3rd PPV has joined Warriors 5). Chikara guys ran out and they were followed by CIMA and his trusty broom who eventually cleared house. What was strange in this is World-1 (Doi and Yoshino) didn't come out even though Hulk is a part of the faction.
CIMA announces that he's bringing his best tag team partner GAMMA to DGUSA next shows in Phoenix (WM 26 weekend), which is cool as GAMMA is very entertaining. He also asked if they should come back to Chicago, fans indicated that he could please himself.
The pacing of the show I thought was excellent, as a result no matches overstayed its welcome and the card was set up nicely so that all the matches had a chance to get over without impacting on what was to follow. My only complaint is with the fans, they were more interested in the old ECW guys and to a lesser extent over US workers and didn't seem to be bothered about the top DG stars which amazed me. Overall it was a fantastic PPV which I would urge you all to see.
If you get the 2 disc version, on the bonus disc you will get Mochizuki beating Davey for the FIP title in Japan and also Hulk's first defence against Yokosuka on the same show both matches have received **** ratings on a number of review sites.
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