Happy New Year all, I hope you all had a good time over the festive period. I drank and smoked way too much and ended up with a shaven head :\

But enough of pleasantries, it’s time to be nasty to TNA! Ooh TNA, with all your flag waving, self belief and pomp and circumstance. TNA with your awesome roster and no ideas for them. TNA with your blatant disregard for WRESTLING FANS…. Yadda yadda yadda – Boring!

So many times I have read and heard and seen on Youtube TNA getting disowned by disgruntled IWC kids who bleed WWE. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a WWF fan but am open minded enough to watch other promotions because above any promotion, I love this business, no matter what guise it comes in. The problem is when I watch TNA, I don’t really care about it. I end up skipping a load of it because its just rehashed NwO stuff with new paint on it.

So, what’s the alternative? You’ve just watched Raw and Smackdown and are now itching for an alternative. But do you want to watch the Orlando (Non)Travelling Circus? No, do you fuck! That’s like watching Man Utd vs Arsenal then watching Barnet vs Yeovil!

Do you want to watch ROH? Maybe, but its filmed by apes with balance problems and the production values make it very hard to keep your concentration. ROH believe that they are above where ECW was back in its day, but ECW knew how to have a steady cam on the ring that isn’t at a ridiculous angle. The in-ring product is solid enough but it’s got that cheap feel to it.

So we want some decent production, some international superstars, some great in-ring showmanship, some hardcore and some new moves that no-one has seen before……

Enter Dragon Gate USA.

I was really dubious when I got their DVD of Mercury Rising, the show done in Phoenix over WM26 weekend. I thought it was going to be ROH but Japanese. How wrong I was…

Dragon Gate is hands down, the most exciting, entertaining and unpredictable promotion out there at the moment. Stars like Naroki Doi, Shingo, Dragon Kid and BxB Hulk bring something new to the table. Mixing that up with people like Teddy Hart, PAC (Who is fucking awesome by the way. Saw him nearly kill himself twice in Doncaster. 1PW!), Jack Evans, Ricochet and his DOUBLE MOONSAULT and Homicide creates a brand new hybrid of Pacific/Atlantic wrestling that is loooong over due. 2 styles that have threatened to mix together forever but the purists have always shunned it as its not ‘Rasslin.

I challenge any member of the IWC to watch a DGUSA show and not be impressed by the range of finishers, the reversals, the swerves, the hard hitting bumps and the unpredictability of their matches. The “Made In Japan” and “Lightening Spiral” are the 2 best finishers I have seen in years.

If DGUSA can land a TV deal, not only will I personally be amazed that a network has taken the risk, but the rest of the States will finally be alerted to the immense arsenal of talent that DGUSA have under the hood. Given the right push they could be the new #2 to WWE.

Stranger things have happened, Russo keeps finding work!