Dragon Gate USA (DGUSA) was an American

professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling that has little relationship to the rules of the amateur olympic form. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails man ...

founded in 2009 as an international expansion of the Japanese promotion Dragon Gate.

Gabe Sapolsky Gabriel Sapolsky (born September 26, 1972) is an American professional wrestling promoter, creative writer, and booker who currently works for WWE. Sapolsky has also held various creative and marketing positions in the professional wrestling indu ...

, former head booker of

Ring of Honor Ring of Honor (ROH) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. The promotion was founded by Rob Feinstein on February 23, 2002, and was operated by Cary Silkin from 2004 until 2011, when the promotion was so ...

, served as the promotion's Vice President.

History

Dragon Gate USA featured regular members of the Dragon Gate roster, along with notable American talent. All Dragon Gate titles and champions were recognized by Dragon Gate USA. In June 2009, it was announced that Dragon Gate USA had signed an agreement to film its shows for

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...

broadcast. In August 2009, it was announced that Dragon Gate USA had signed an agreement with

The Fight Network Fight Network is a Canadian English language Category B specialty channel owned by Anthem Sports & Entertainment. The network broadcasts programming related to combat sports, including mixed martial arts, boxing, kickboxing, and professional wre ...

to air DGUSA content on television. The first Open the Freedom Gate Champion was crowned following a tournament held at

DGUSA Freedom Fight Freedom Fight / Open The Freedom Gate is a series of professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) events produced by Dragon Gate USA. Background Freedom Fight will feature an undetermined number of professional wrestling matches that will involve dif ...

on November 28, 2009. This was the main title of Dragon Gate USA. On September 7, 2010, Dragon Gate USA announced a partnership with Go Fight Live and that their first live internet pay-per-view, ''Bushido: Way of the Warrior'' (later renamed ''Bushido: Code of the Warrior''), would be taking place on October 29. In the fall of 2010, DGUSA announced that it would be holding a tournament to crown the first Open the United Gate Champions, which was their tag team champions. It was announced on December 13, 2010, that the tournament would be a four team round robin tournament that would take place over three shows from January 28 through January 30, 2011. On November 25, 2011, Dragon Gate USA and Evolve announced the unification of the two promotions. Dragon Gate USA and Evolve will still promote separate events, but the two share rosters, including stables, and Evolve recognized Dragon Gate USA's Open the Freedom Gate Championship and Open the United Gate Championship as its top two championships, until establishing its own championship, the

Evolve Championship The Evolve Championship was a professional wrestling Championship (professional wrestling), championship owned by the Evolve (professional wrestling), Evolve professional wrestling promotion, promotion. The inaugural champion was crowned on April ...

in 2012. On September 18, 2013,

Vito LoGrasso Vito Joseph LoGrasso (born June 18, 1964) is an American actor and professional wrestler, best known for his work in World Championship Wrestling as Big Vito and more recently World Wrestling Entertainment and working for their " developmental te ...

announced that his new Wrestling School signed an agreement to be the Development Center for DGUSA. In November 2014, Dragon Gate USA, along with Evolve,

Full Impact Pro Full Impact Pro (FIP) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is currently part of the World Wrestling Network (WWN) along with Shine Wrestling. Sal Hamaoui founded the company and serves as the President while Trevin Adams is the ...

(FIP) and

Shine Wrestling Shine Wrestling (stylized as SHINE Wrestling and often referred to simply as SHINE) is an American, New York based independent women's professional wrestling promotion. It is the sister promotion to Shimmer Women Athletes and airs events on Int ...

, all under the

WWNLive The World Wrestling Network is an American professional wrestling organization known for and branded after its video streaming service, WWNLive. WWNLive hosts content both from WWN's "brands", including Full Impact Pro (FIP) and Shine Wrestling ...

banner, held a tour of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. The following month, WWNLive announced a long-term deal with Great-Wall International Sports Management for regular tours of Asia, starting in the spring of 2015. On December 22, WWNLive announced it was putting Dragon Gate USA on an indefinite hiatus until the promotion could secure more Japanese wrestlers for their shows. In 2015, WWNLive opened a training facility in

Trinity, Florida Trinity is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pasco County, Florida, United States. The population was 10,907 in 2010, according to the most recent census. The Trinity Community is named after Trinity College of Florida, a Bible college founded i ...

named "World Wrestling Network Academy", which Dragon Gate USA shares with Evolve, FIP and Shine. On July 2, 2020, Dragon Gate USA's video library along with Evolve's assets were bought by

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

Uprising

Uprising was a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

(PPV) event produced by Dragon Gate USA that was taped May 8, 2010 at the Mississauga International Centre in

Mississauga, Ontario Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popul ...

and aired on July 9, 2010.

Partnerships

Working agreements between Dragon Gate USA and the following promotions have led to interchanges in talent. Also, matches from these promotions have appeared on Dragon Gate USA DVD releases. * Chikara (established April 26, 2009) *

All American Wrestling AAW Wrestling (AAW) or AAW: Professional Wrestling Redefined and formerly known as All American Wrestling, is an American independent professional wrestling promotion, based in the Chicago area - originally holding shows in Berwyn, Illinois, an ...

(established June 15, 2009) *Hybrid Wrestling (established June 15, 2009) *

(established September 28, 2009) *

Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup The Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup was an annual professional wrestling memorial show produced by Full Impact Pro (FIP) promotion, typically between October and December. The event was established to honor the memory of independent wrestler "All A ...

(established October 13, 2009) *

Women Superstars Uncensored Women Superstars United (WSU; formerly ''Women Superstars Uncensored'') is an American, New Jersey based women's professional wrestling promotion which held its first event in 2006. Shows combine wrestling interspersed with both serious and c ...

(established October 14, 2009) *

Maximum Pro Wrestling Maximum Pro Wrestling (MaxPro) was a Canadian independent professional wrestling organization, founded in 2010 with the merger of Scott D'Amore's Border City Wrestling out of Windsor, Ontario and BSE Pro Wrestling out of Toronto, Ontario. Histor ...

(established March 3, 2010) *Rampage Pro Wrestling *

Combat Zone Wrestling Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) is an American independent wrestling promotion. In 1998, John Zandig and five of his students, Ric Blade, T.C.K, Lobo, Nick Gage and Justice Pain, along with trainer Jon Dahmer, began to run professional wrestling sh ...

*New York Wrestling Connection *Insanity Pro Wrestling

Championships

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dragon Gate Usa 2009 in professional wrestling American independent professional wrestling promotions based in Pennsylvania American companies established in 2009 2009 establishments in Pennsylvania Dragon Gate (wrestling) American companies disestablished in 2015 2015 disestablishments in Pennsylvania Entertainment companies disestablished in 2015 WWE