World Wrestling Network presents
Mercury Rising 2015
Saturday, March 28th
7:00 p.m. EST/6:00 p.m. CST
Fiesta Hall – Santa Clara Fairgrounds
San Jose, CA
Watch: WWNLive.com

Lineup:

  • EVOLVE Champion Drew Galloway vs. DGUSA Champion Johnny Gargano
  • Generation Next vs. The New Generation – Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. Ricochet & Uhaa Nation
  • PJ Black vs. AR Fox
  • Chris Hero vs. Timothy Thatcher
  • SHINE Presents – SHINE Champion Mia Yim & SHINE Tag Team Champions Kimber Lee & Cherry Bomb vs. Nikki Storm & The Canadian Ninjas of SHIMMER Champion Nicole Matthews & Portia Perez
  • Biff Busick vs. Drew Gulak vs. TJ Perkins vs. Tommy End

With only King of Indies: Night 2 still left on the schedule, Mercury Rising 2015 (billed as a WWNLive supershow) will be the symbolic end to their weekend offerings.

Traditionally a Dragon Gate USA-branded event, Mercury Rising 2015 appears to be the final death blow to the DGUSA brand. Not only has one of their pillar events been rebranded under the WWNLive window, but more importantly, DGUSA champion Johnny Gargano and Evolve champion Drew Galloway will unify the two WWNLive titles in the main event.

This is an inevitability that we reported months ago and is finally coming to pass. It’s a sad end to a brand that had a lot of buzz some years ago, but has been all but dead and buried since last year’s WrestleMania weekend debacle.

Biff Busick vs. Drew Gulak vs. TJ Perkins vs. Tommy End

The opener sees two of the mat-working triad (Busick and Gulak) taking on TJ Perkins (quite the mat worker in his own right) and German import Tommy End. Perkins, Busick and End are great strikers so expect this to be a real ass-kicker (literally and figuratively).

SHINE Champion Mia Yim & SHINE Tag Team Champions Kimber Lee & Cherry Bomb vs. Nikki Storm & The Canadian Ninjas of SHIMMER Champion Nicole Matthews & Portia Perez

I can humor you with a huge preview of this match, what it means to SHIMMER & SHINE but trust me, you don’t want my insights on this match. I haven’t seen enough of these ladies to formulate any real opinion so I’ll recommend you check out Sean Flynn’s SHIMMER 71: ChickFight Tournament preview for a better look at these competitors and what their weekend could look like. Sorry!

Chris Hero vs. Timothy Thatcher

Thatcher isn’t my bag and Chris Hero had a disappointing independent run in 2014. That said, I’m going into this match with big expectations that the two can find a groove and put together a great match. Hero will rely on his striking, Thatcher on his grappling/mat-work. It will teeter on a styles clash at points, but I’m confident that on the big stage of WrestleMania weekend these two will make it work. If not, this could be a real trainwreck.

PJ Black vs. AR Fox

Black, the former Justin Gabriel, takes on high-flying WWNLive pillar AR Fox in a match that’s sure to feature A LOT of dives, flips and moves (perhaps movezzz). I’m a big fan of AR Fox and I think Black is going to thrive in the WWNLive environment, especially on this weekend. I expect nothing less than really, really good. It won’t be the Match of the Night at Mercury Rising but it could be a sleeper we aren’t giving enough attention to.

Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. Ricochet & Uhaa Nation

Austin Aries & Roderick Strong reprise their Generation Next team for the first time since 2011 while Ricochet & Uhaa Nation team together for perhaps the last time. This is going to be a lot of fun. I don’t know if we’re giving enough attention to the fact that Aries will be on this stage and that he’s a REALLY good worker. He’s one of the standouts in TNA where most guys slack off (justifiably or not). Take him out of the “tape a bunch of shows in the span of a few days” environment and put him back with his old running mate against two other spectacular workers? C’mon, this is going to be awesome. Aries will not want to be the worst of the four nor will he be. Strong is a reliable hand and if you know me, you know my love for both Uhaa and Ricochet. I’m expecting something spectacular here.

Title Unification – EVOLVE Champion Drew Galloway vs. DGUSA Champion Johnny Gargano

The symbolic end of the Dragon Gate USA brand will headline Mercury Rising 2015 as Gargano, one of the pillars of the WWNLive/DGUSA brand, battles a relative newcomer in Drew Galloway. I’ve liked Galloway’s work on the indies even if it’s a step or two behind where I think he can be. Regardless, this is going to be great. Gargano saves his best work for WrestleMania weekend and this is probably the biggest match in WWNLive’s history, a true match of importance, something that is rare in today’s independent wrestling world.

I honestly have no idea who comes away as the Unified champion here and that leaves a lot of intrigue. Gargano has been atop DGUSA for so long while Galloway has been the stalwart in EVOLVE. The winner of this match sets the stage for the next year or so for the WWNLive brand. This is important and is an easy contender for not only Match of the Night but maybe Match of the Weekend. We’ll see.