Dragon Gate USA (DGUSA) is an American

professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event. Within ...

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

Gabe Sapolsky Gabe Sapolsky (born September 26, 1972) is an American professional wrestling promoter and booker. He is signed to WWE, where he oversees WWE ID and WWE NIL, WWE ID (Independent Development), a talent identification and development initiative. S ...

, 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; the promotion was subs ...

, 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 ...

broadcast. In August 2009, it was announced that Dragon Gate USA had signed an agreement with The Fight Network to air DGUSA content on television. The first Open the Freedom Gate Champion was crowned following a tournament held at DGUSA Freedom Fight 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 in 2012. On September 18, 2013, Vito LoGrasso 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, all under the WWNLive banner, held a tour of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. 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 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. On January 31, 2025, Dragon Gate announced that the DGUSA brand would return on April 16, 2025 at the Palms Casino Resort in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

as part of Game Changer Wrestling's (GCW) Collective under the title '' Dragon Gate USA The Rebirth'' during WrestleMania weekend. Another show was also announced with Pro Wrestling Revolution during the West Coast Pro/DPW/Prestige Vegas event at MEET Las Vegas titled ''The Gate Of Revolution''

Uprising

Uprising was a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

(PPV) event produced by Dragon Gate USA that was taped May 8, 2010 at the Mississauga International Centre in Mississauga, Ontario 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: Professional Wrestling Redefined or simply AAW Wrestling (AAW), an initialism of its original name, All American Wrestling, is an American independent professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro w ...

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

(established September 28, 2009) * Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup (established October 13, 2009) * Women Superstars Uncensored (established October 14, 2009) * Maximum Pro Wrestling (established March 3, 2010) *Rampage Pro Wrestling * Combat Zone Wrestling *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 Professional wrestling in Philadelphia 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 mergers and acquisitions Defunct professional wrestling promotions Evolve (professional wrestling)