This dragon roars.
Dragon Gate USA's second pay-per-view offering debuts this weekend on various satellite and cable outlets. "Untouchable" features high-flying action with some of grappling's top U.S. and Japanese junior heavyweights. The show also includes the last pay-per-view performance by Bryan Danielson - arguably the industry's best in-ring technician - before his imminent World Wrestling Entertainment debut.
DGUSA earned high critical praise in September for its Enter the Dragon pay-per-view debut. Untouchable, which was recently taped in Chicago, is generating the same kind of Internet buzz.
"If you're a WWE fan who likes the athletic style of John Morrison, Evan Bourne or Rey Mysterio, this takes everything to a more highly skilled level," DGUSA vice president Gabe Sapolsky said in a telephone interview. "If you want to see more innovative moves, this is for you."
Dragon Gate began in Japan as an outlet for smaller performers who combined flashy technical skills with lucha libre-style acrobatics. Sapolsky heads Dragon Gate's U.S. branch that opened earlier this year.
Regarded as one of wrestling's top young minds for his innovative matchmaking style while with Ring of Honor, Sapolsky helped shape the careers of current WWE and TNA Wrestling stars like C.M. Punk, Desmond Wolfe (a k a Nigel McGuinness) and Samoa Joe.
Sapolsky, 37, says the industry needs a different style of product than WWE or TNA is presenting. Otherwise, he believes pro wrestling's overall future is in jeopardy.
"It's the same stuff over and over again," said Sapolsky, citing the staleness of WWE headliners and TNA's recent hiring of two 50-somethings (Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff) to help run the company. "It's fascinating that wrestling is the only entertainment industry that doesn't make an effort to push new talent. You don't see that with TV, music or anything else. When a new star bursts on that scene, everyone gets behind them. A record label wouldn't try to keep down new talent and keep shoving an artist whose music was selling 20 years ago.
"Wrestling right now is not cool or hip. It's just a bunch of old acts and retreads. There's nothing new and fresh. I think if nothing is done to cultivate new fans, the industry is going to die."
Sapolsky hopes to keep DGUSA alive through pay-per-view purchases and DVD sales. Sapolsky said the company can register less than 10,000 orders on pay-per-view shows and still make a profit because of shoestring budgeting.
"The big challenge for us is that we're not a multimillion dollar corporation," Sapolsky said. "We know there is a niche audience that wants to see great athletic wrestling. If that's the only audience we get, we're perfectly happy. We're not going to alter our product or change that we are trying to get more casual fans. We depend on word-of-mouth and hope that people give an affordable product a chance."
Financing is also the main reason why Sapolsky isn't seeking to expand DGUSA into a weekly television product like Ring of Honor has become on HD-NET. Much like with DGUSA, ROH pushes fresh athletic talent without hackneyed soap-opera storylines.
A protégé of Extreme Championship Wrestling creator Paul Heyman, Sapolsky helped ROH grow from a Philadelphia-based independent promotion into a fledgling national and international touring group. Sapolsky, though, was fired by ROH in 2008 after owner Cary Silkin wanted to take the company in a different creative direction.
Asked his thoughts on ROH's current product, Sapolsky said, "I haven't watched the product this year. I just haven't wanted to. It's kind of like seeing where an ex-girlfriend is these days. But what Ring of Honor is doing is very important and hopefully they will continue to grow. We need something new on the wrestling scene and Ring of Honor can be an alternative. I hope only the best for them."
DGUSA has live shows scheduled for Nov. 28 in Philadelphia, January 23 in Chicago and March 26 and 27 in Phoenix, which is where WWE will be hosting Wrestlemania XXVI the same weekend. After Untouchable, DGUSA's next pay-per-view show will be in January for Freedom Fight taped off the Philadelphia card.
For more information on Dragon Gate and an Untouchable preview, visit www.dgusa.tv.
(Alex Marvez writes a syndicated pro wrestling column for Scripps-Howard News Service. He can be reached at alex1marv(at) aol.com or followed via Twitter at http://twitter.com/alexmarvez.)
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