FIP Owner Sal Hamaoui, FIP Champion/ROH Tag Team Champion Davey Richards, and former ROH/FIP booker and current Dragon Gate USA booker Gabe Sapolski, possibly believing that ROH’s days are numbered, have opened a new wrestling promotion for the Northeast entitled EVOLVE. Hamaoui recently has made a bid to be granted a New York State promoter’s license, which is the first step.
The project has been worked on in secrecy for months and I heard clues and hints about it at the last FIP show I attended, but as usual they worked me. Bastards. Seriously though, this partially explains the union between Dragon Gate and FIP as now Sal plans to expand into the Northeast market.
The company is beginning the tease with an online viral campaign, starting with this YouTube video, teasing the birth of the company.
The company’s homepage is already in effect over at www.EVOLVEwrestling.com. There is no word as to whether or not they will feature Dragon Gate talent, but I have a feeling that they will. Will they compete against Ring of Honor? Well considering DGUSA is running in Arizona the same day that ROH is for Wrestlemania weekend, that seems to be the case. I don’t know if competing for the same 2000 or so fans is that great of an idea, but whatever.
I’m excited to see what this trio can come up with!
A few highlights from Masato Yoshino vs. Dragon Kid from Dragon Gate USA’s upcoming PPV on September 4th, Enter the Dragon. This is a good preview of the exceptional in-ring work of these atheletes.
Open the Historic Gate Full Results (Thanks to wikipedia):
- Lince Dorado defeated Cheech, Cloudy, Johnny Gargano, Chris Jones, Louis Linden, Aaron Arbo, and Andy Harper in an 8-Way Fray Dark Match. This will not be on the PPV or DVD.
- Yamato defeated BxB Hulk
- 2 Cold Scorpio defeated Ken Doane
- The Colony (Fire Ant & Soldier Ant), Jigsaw and Mike Quackenbush defeated F.I.S.T. (Icarus & Gran Akuma), Amasis from the Osirian Portal and Hallowicked in the Chikara 8-Man Tag Match
- Dragon Kid defeated Masato Yoshino
- The Young Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson) defeated Warriors-5 (CIMA and Susumu Yokosuka) - Open The Dream Gate & Brave Gate Champion Naruki Doi defeated Shingo to retain the title
This is not the type of site that typically just has random results from cards without some kind of meaning. To me, the meaning of this is the show itself. I’ve been looking forward to “Open The Historic Gate” for months and months. This is a very historic show and a historic moment for independent wrestling. Possibly the first time that a Japanese wrestling company has legitimately tried to expand into North America and been wildly successful, and they had the ECW Arena rockin. While DGUSA did not sell out the building, tickets were moved quicker for this show than perhaps any debut show for an independent in the history of the US. “Open the Historic Gate” was indeed historic and I can not WAIT to see what else happens. Former ROH Booker Gabe Sapolski, who was fired from his position a little under a year ago (possibly due to jealous eyes), and now, with recharged batteries and along with the most talented roster of young wrestlers on Earth, plans to take Dragon Gate USA into the next stratosphere.
Open The Historic Gate will be broadcast on Pay-Per-View as “Enter the Dragon” on September 4th, 2009. From what I’ve read – you MUST buy this show!
Next up Chicago will host Open the Untouchable Gate, featuring the two MVPs of ROH, “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson and Davey Richards. Add some Chikara and DG talent and you’ve got the recipe for another unbelievable show.
Gabe Sapolsky just announced his return to wrestling, as vice president of the new Dragon Gate USA promotion.
The first show will be in Philly on July 25th.
The roster will see a combination of established Dragon Gate stars such as Shingo, Masato Yoshino, CIMA, YAMATO and more, along with top international indy names and a handful of under the radar indy names that are just waiting to explode and make their name.
The website is up at www.dgusa.tv with more details.
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