By Sean Radican, Torch columnist

RADICAN'S DGUSA MERCURY RISING PPV REPORT
PREMIERES MAY 14, 2010 ON PPV
PHOENIX, AZ

Mercury Rising debuts on May 14 on most cable systems.

The show began Lenny Leonard narrating some backstage footage of the Warriors and World-1 warming up backstage for the Six Man Tag main event.

1 - - GENKI HORIGUCHI (w/ Warriors) vs. SHINGO

Horiguchi used his quickness during the early stages of the match to get the upper hand. He went after Shingo's leg, but Shingo cut him off and worked him over for a long period of time with some impressive power maneuvers and painful looking submissions on the mat. Horiguchi fired back and nailed Shingo with a nice suplex. Shingo ended up getting the win after a flurry of power moves capped with made in Japan for the win.

WINNER: SHINGO

STAR RATING: (***) - This was a nice showcase of Shingo's power in the ring. He simply wore out Horiguchi throughout the match with power moves while showcasing some nice submissions. This is a fun match worth checking out if you haven’t seen Shingo before. He’s really good.

-A video package aired highlighting how Jacobs-Kendrick feud.

2 - - JIMMY JACOBS & JACK EVANS vs. PAUL LONDON & BRIAN KENDRICK – Loser of the fall leaves DGUSA

Evans ran wild on Kendrick and London at ringside before the action came back into the ring. Order was finally restored after Kendrick tossed Evans to the outside and they went to work on Jacobs inside the ring. Evans finally got the hot tag and hit some nice high-flying maneuvers. It eventually came down to Jacobs and Kendrick alone in the ring. Jacobs went for a spear, but missed. Kendrick countered the contra code moments later and hit sliced bread #2, but Jacobs kicked out and the crowd applauded. Jacobs ended up locking in the end time on Kendrick. London went to break it up, but Evans nailed him with a springboard dropkick. Kendrick then tapped out, so he’s out of DGUSA.

WINNERS: JACOBS & EVANS

STAR RATING: (***) - It was nice to see Jack Evans back on my television after a long period of time. I thought this was a fun match to watch from start to finish. They didn't do a lot of ridiculous nearfalls and the match built to a nice one-on-one finale between Jacobs and Kendrick, who began a feud at the last PPV.

-Highlights aired of Jon Moxley calling out Tommy Dreamer at the "Fearless" PPV taping. Kendrick told Moxley he didn’t need to prove anything to the fans by beating Dreamer. Kendrick said Dreamer retired when he became office.

Tommy Dreamer was then shown in the ring. He announced he would fight Moxley in a No Rules match.

3 – TOMMY DREAMER vs. JON MOXLEY – No DQ match

Dreamer tossed Moxley to the outside and put the ring bell on his lower region and "rang the bell." They brawled through the crowd and it was difficult to see because the footage was so dark. Dreamer bladed after a trash can shot and the crowd chanted for him as Moxley continued to beat him down. Dreamer shoved Moxley down with the back of his head hitting the seat of the chair that was introduced into the ring, which appeared to be a very dangerous spot. After all sorts of outside interference, Shingo laid out Dreamer and Moxley covered him, but Dreamer kicked out. Moxley got the win moments later with a DDT on the chair set up in the ring.

WINNER: Jon Moxley

STAR RATING: (*) – DGUSA usually presents athletic wrestling, but this was more of a throwback to ECW with loads of weapons and interference. The fans seemed to dig it, so if you’re still into this sort of thing, it’s worth checking out. It wasn't for me.

-Leonard narrated a highlight package and announced that we were about to see the first ever Enter the Dream Gate title match in America. Yamato just won the title, so this is his first title defense.

4 - - YAMATO vs. SUSUMO YOKOSUKA – Open the Dream Gate title match

Yokosuka controlled the action during the early stages of the match, but Yamato played possum and caught him in an arm submission. Yamato worked over Yokosuka's arm throughout the match.. They exchanged exploder suplexes at one point, which was a really cool sequence that popped the crowd. They did a nice spot with Yamato no selling a top rope DVD that lead to another big exchange during the latter stages of the match. Yamato wouldn't stay down as Yokosuka fought through the pain to nail him with two big clotheslines. Yokosuka wouldn't stay down and kicked out of several big moves until Yamato finally finished him off with galleria.

WINNER: YAMATO to retain the Open the Dream Gate title

STAR RATING: (****) – This was a fantastic match. If you like hard-hitting action mixed with submission wrestling, look no further than this match. Yamato's personality shined here and he’s one of my favorite wrestlers to watch perform in 2010.

5 - - WORLD-1 (BxB HULK & NARUKI DOI & MASATO YOSHINO) vs. WARRIORS (CIMA & GAMMA & DRAGON KID w/ Genki Horiguchi) – Six Man Tag match

After some rapid-fire exchanges from both teams, World-1 isolated Dragon Kid during the early stages of the match and took turns tagging in and out of the ring to work him over. The Warriors did a fantastic triple dropkick spot on Hulk where all three men nailed him with a dropkick at the same time with CIMA & Gamma lifting Kid and spinning him around into the dropkick along with them. Hulk hit E.V.O.P at one point on CIMA, but he kicked out at the last second. Kid hit super reverse hurricanrana off the shoulders of CIMA that drew a huge pop from the crowd and followed up with a springboard dragoncanrana, but Hulk kicked out and the crowd went nuts again. The finish saw Yoshino apply his twisting arm submission on Gamma. Kid tried to break it up, but Doi fought him away. CIMA tried to break it up, but Hulk caught him with a springboard dropkick. The ref finally called for the bell when Gamma passed out.

Yoshino told Hulk after the match that he wanted a shot at the Open The Freedom Gate title. Hulk agreed to the match and then celebrated alongside Doi and Yoshino as the fans went nuts.

WINNERS: BxB Hulk & Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino

STAR RATING: (****1/2) – Dragon Kid is one of my favorite performers to watch and he shined in this match from start to finish. The match built and built and they really took things into overdrive down the stretch. Believe it or not, most of the action was held within in the ring here. The crowd was red hot as well. These six wrestlers have to be seen to be believed. They’re fantastic performers. This match is worth the price of admission on its own.

Moxley was backstage with Yamato and Shingo. He announced the formation of Kamikaze USA with Shingo and Yamato as his partners.

Overall thoughts: (8.0) If you've never seen DGUSA, you owe it to yourself to give this show a chance. The last two matches were excellent and you won’t see athletic in-ring action like this anywhere else. There were two good matches on the undercard and two excellent matches to close the show. Yamato and Dragon Kid are two performers that really stood out on this show. They are worth watching when they perform in the ring, as Yamato tore it up in his singles match against Yokosuka and once again Dragon Kid was the focal point of another fantastic Dragon Gate Six Man Tag. If you like innovative, athletic, and exciting in-ring action, order this PPV.

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