Woo-hoo, first CHIKARA review for me here. CHIKARA is, basically, unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. It’s booked like a regular US-Indy, but the in-ring style mixes every style of wrestling, from Puro to Lucha to even good ol’ British World of Sport. The promotion is built around the CHIKARA Wrestle Factory, so most of the talent working for them are graduates/teachers from the school. CHIKARA concentrates on fun wrestling, with simple storylines, easy to define heel-face dynamics and lots of comedy.
CHIKARA in 2007 saw lots of rookies (new graduates from the school) up-rise into CHIKARA-stardom. This show, taken place in October 07, has a theme of rookies vs veterans. I’ll introduce the wrestlers as we go along, and considering CHIKARA’s fun work ethic, ratings will be judged more on how fun the match was rather than workrate and such.
And read Aaron, Jake and Ditch.
*Rookies vs Vets ceremony: All the ‘upper-classmen’ on this show come out to draw a number out of a hat, to see who gets first/second/etc choice in picking the rookie they want to face. So, in each ‘rookie vs upper-classmen’ match tonight the vet would have chosen the rookie to face him.
*We’re in Barnesville, PA tonight, for CHIKARA’s last show in the Barnesville THUNDERdome. Crowd is about 60 – 100.
1. UltraMantis Black & Shane Storm vs. Hydra & Jigsaw: Hydra, UltraMantis Black and Crossbones make one of CHIKARA’s longest running factions, The Order of the Neo Solar Temple. Hydra is an all-powerful sea monster, UMB is an evil insect overlord and Crossbones beats people up. Jigsaw and Shane Storm are 2 of CHIKARA Wrestle Factory’s most successful graduates.
On a normal occasion, this would be Hydra and Mantis vs Jigsaw and Storm. But, this is Parejas Incredibles, where Chikara mixes teams up for one match. After a loss at a show back in September, Shane Storm and Jigsaw kinda split up, so it’ll be interesting to see what they do against each other here.
Match: This was hysterical. We start with Hydra and Storm. Hydra tries to sweep the legs but can’t. He’s still trying, as Storm moves away. Shane taps him on the shoulder, and as Hydra gets up his legs are swept instantly. Goodness. Storm rings the arm and tags UMB, but UMB can’t bring himself to hit his mini-man monster. They have some funny exchanges where both try to hit each other and pull back when they see their opponent going for a shot. Jigsaw is tagged in, and we get some Lucha stuff. Things break down a bit and UMB gets a nearfall on Jiggy with a Michinoku driver. Strom stops Jig from a dive, but Jig NAILS him with a superkick! He’s hesitant to cover, but does and gets the 3.
Winners: Hydra and Jigsaw.
Good opener. The exchanges between Hydra and Mantis were great, and along with not being too slow and some cool stuff we have a nice start to the show.
***.
2. Crossbones vs. Soldier Ant: Soldier Ant, along with Fire Ant and Worker Ant comprise CHIKARA’s most beloved faction, The Colony. The ant is a Militant ant, who frequently salutes his opponents and comrades. Crossbones is part of TONST, and he is one large, angry dude.
Match: SOULJA ANT debuted his SOUJA BOY entrance music here. He tries a dive to start, but Crossbones doesn’t even budge. From then on, Crossbones works him down with lots of kicks and usual big man offence. SOUJA makes his comeback, hitting an awesome bullet-style tope. We get a few false-finishes before SOUJA takes it home with an Ace Crusher and Saluting, top rope Diving Headbutt.
Winner: Soldier Ant.
Very one sided and nothing great, but it wasn’t horrible and had its good moments.
**.
CHIKAR-lesson numero 1: Chikara is heavily influenced by Mexican Lucha Libre, thus lots of terms, themes and rules from it are brought into the Chikara rings. The first ones we’ll look at are terms – instead of calling the competitors heels or faces,
Chikara refers to the faces as ’Tecnico’s and the heels as ’Rudo’’s.
3. Icarus vs. Tim Donst : Donst in 2007 was amazing. He entered the year as a complete nobody, but soon got ridiculously over, through taking some of the most brutal beatings in CHIKARA history (sorta like Mikey Whipwreck). He is a young, collegiate style wrestling American Hero, looking to make his name in CHIKARA. Icarus is part of the longest running team in CHIKARA history (along with Gran Akuma, Team FIST), and is one of the best and most over heels in CHIKARA today. This match is super-tecnico vs mega-rudo, so should be awesome.
Icarus comes out and cuts a promo pre-match. He talks about how he got his face kicked and such last night, so he wants an easy night tonight, having a straight up wrestling match. And if you want a straight up, amateur wrestling match in Chikara, there’s no-one better to turn to than Tim Donst.
Match: We start how Icarus wants, with some amateur wrestling. After a few minutes, Icarus can’t gain control and Donst owns him on the mat, so Icarus does what we’d expect him to – gets pissed and beats the hell outta Donst. The beating is ridiculously stiff. I mean, so are all of the Donst ones, but this one is like, really, Icarus, you’re gonna kill the kid. After a couple billion strikes, an Irish whip into a wall and a few submissions, Donst comes back on the outside, hitting Icarus with a bale of hay! The HAY OF DOOM gets control for Donst, but not for long as Icarus is soon quick to lay the beating on him again.
Back in the ring Icarus takes off Donst’s amateur wrestling headgear and CHOPS him with it! Donst fights back though, grabs the headgear and whacks Icarus in the FACE with it! We get some heated nearfalls, with the fans super into it. Donst gets an arm drag, locks on the CHIKARA SPECIAL (wacky Mexican stretch variant) and Icarus taps!
Winner: Tim Donst.
Quality stuff; the Donst formula never gets old, and combined with Icarus bringing his A-game this was a super fun match.
***1/2.
4. Brodie Lee vs. Worker Ant: Brodie Lee is ONE pissed off dude. He used to be a normal guy, but after a road trip gone bad, he turned into a big, evil, angry man. At roughly 6 foot 6†in height, he’s the perfect monster heel. Worker Ant is the generic ‘worker’ (as in wrestler), while being the fun Lucha Ant he is.
Match: This is pretty much a squash, but it’s a BRODIE LEE squash, so it’s far from bad. We start off with Brodie teasing his opening Yakuza kick (at the start of each match, he boots his opponent’s face OFF with a boot), before he finally hits it when Worker makes some elaborate ring entrance thingy. Brodie puts the beating on him from there, with lots of chops and slams. Worker makes a comeback with a kick and gets some offence in, but is soon puts down by a running sitout powerbomb.
Winner: Brodie Lee.
A squash, but it was a Brodie one, so it was very fun while it lasted.
**.
CHIKAR-lesson numero 2: Like in Mexico, most of the wrestlers in Chikara wear masks while wrestling. You’ll definitely get some colourfully dressed wrestlers at a Chikara show.
5. Osirian Portal vs. Hallowicked & Delirious : Amasis and Ophidian, the Osirian Portal, only debuted in September 07, but have become pretty over and have shown wonderful potential. Both are of Egyptian decent, with Ophidian being the vile, venomous snake and Amasis being the Funky Pharaoh. Incoherence (Delirious and Wicked) are Chikara’s Campejonas de Parejas (tag team champs), with Delirious being Delirious and Hallowicked being, in my opinion, THE best graduate from the Wrestle factory, and definitely my fave.
Match: This is a first team meeting for these teams, so it’s fairly slow to start with the feeling out process. Amasis and Wicked have some awesome exchanges, including Wicked giving the man a Kabayaso (Lucha-push) to the CEILING. Delirious and Ophidian tag in, and Delirious schools the young rookie. Incoherence work over Ophidian, before he comes back and he and Amasis isolate Delirious. After some time, Delirious comes back with a headbutt on a diving Amasis and makes the hot tag to Wicked. We get an awesome finishing sequence, with lots of funky double teams. The vets start dominating, taking out Ophidian with a Hallowicked Yakuza and Amasis with the Shadows over Hell. The GRAVEYARD SMASH (Fisherman into powerbomb) from Wicked on Amasis moments later gets Incoherence the 3!
Winners: Incoherence.
That was marvellous. The rookie vs vets story was very cool to see unfold, the match wasn’t too one sided and we got loads of sweet exchanges throughout. Lots of goodness.
***1/2.
6. Chuck Taylor vs. Helios: Chuck Taylor is Chikara’s Young Lion’s Cup champion (an annual tournament Chikara hold for rookies from all promotions). He is a comedic, fun heel, who’s received quite a push in 2007. Helios is a masked version of one Ricochet (more on that later); a young flippy-mado man.
So, what happens here is Chuck gets on the mic talking about the bad weekend he’s having and such, saying he wants an easy night tonight. After Chuck beat Ricochet back at the Invaders Weekend 2007, Ricochet was never allowed to ‘show his face’ again in Chikara. Anyways, Chuck says for tonight, he wants something easy, so he chooses the new guy, Helios. Little does he know Helios is a masked version of Chuck’s arch-nemesis, who storms the ring immediately!
Match: Helios runs WILD to start. He hits a swank dive but as he tries to get back in the ring Chuck stops his momentum with a dropkick. The match sees Chuck go for his normal strategy, but because he’s in there with someone that knows him so well, and he’s unprepared it doesn’t all go to plan for him. Chuck works down Helios, but Helios is always countering Chuck’s main moves, and because he’s so tired out Chuck can’t change his strategy fast enough, so has no answer to Helios. After some cool nearfalls, Helios hits a Crucifix Bomb, Chocolate Rain (Press double knees) and a standing SSP for the win!
Winner and new YLC champion: Helios.
That match was really fast paced (neither dude was in control for too long), had a really fun story and Chuck’s screams to Bryce and Chikarason that he was facing Ricochet (and their confused responses) made it really great.
***1/4.
CHIKAR-lesson numero 3: Chikara has a unique system when it comes to their tag team titles. To get a title shot, a team has to win 3 tag matches in a row, without losing any of them. Therefore, there aren’t many tag title defences, but it’s always a big deal when they happen. And when they do happen, the match is contested under 2 out of 3 falls.
7. Dragon Yuki vs. Fire Ant: Fire Ant is the main man of the Colony, and is awesome. Dragon Yuki is a rather large Japanese man, who’s the vet here.
Match: There’s some back and forth stuff to start. We get lots of power vs speed. Yuki is rudo-ing it up a bit here. He works down Fire, until he comes back and we go to the finishing stretch. Some nearfalls before Fire seals the deal with a rolling prawn-hold pin.
Winner: Fire Ant.
Eh. Not horrible but not much to care about. At least it was short.
*1/2.
8. Larry Sweeney vs. Claudio Castagnoli: Claudio is Chikara’s most over babyface, and is one of the best wrestlers here. He was forced into the King of Wrestling stable by losing a match back in April, and was reluctant to be a member for many months, until at Cibernetico and Robin, he exploded on Mitch Ryder and Chris Hero, and the KOW collapsed. Now, Claudio is on a quest to destroy the KOW, and he’s continuing his quest by taking on the old-school Memphis style rudo that is Sweet and Sour, Larry Sweeney.
Sweeney is hilarious pre-match. He says “the divorce rate in Barnesville is about to go up†before he takes off his snazzy robe, and “No sweetheart, not for you†to some woman in the crowd presumably asking for his time. I was in stitches.
Match: This a very old school match. Claudio runs wild to start with some of his power stuff. Sweeney is a great cowardly heel. Sweeney soon uses the DIRTY tactics to get the advantage. He works over Claudio, hitting the ‘Sweeney stomp’ (Garvin stomp), which again had me in stitches. Claudio starts getting some momentum, and hits Sweeney with his running Bicycle kick. He does his Giant Swing, spinning Sweeney about 20 times. We get some false finishes and Sweeney hits the 68 COMEBACK SPECIAL (neckbreaker/DDT combo) for a 2 count. Big uppercut and RIIIICOLA Bomb from Double C gets the 3!
Winner: Claudio Castagnoli.
Fun stuff! Sweeney was the perfect old-school heel, while CC was the all powerful awesome babyface, and it worked out great.
***.
CHIKAR-lesson numero 4: In multi-man matches (tag or more), some Lucha rules are applied. The most common one is the tag/legal man system. Teams can make tags by the usual slapping-of-the-hand, but can also tag their partner by merely leaving the ring. So when you see a wrestler diving out of the ring onto nobody, don’t worry, because he’s just making a tag!
9. The Olsen Twins vs. Cheech & Cloudy: These 2 teams had a show stealing match back at Cibernetico and Robin, and by fan’s request we get to see it here. Up in Smoke (Cheech and Cloudy) are an awesome indyriffic babyface tag team, and the Olsens are an awesome indyriffic rudo squad. This should be great. UIS are entering with 2 points, by the way.
Match: We start really fast with both teams hitting swank double teams. UIS hit some of their awesome tag team sequences, including a flipping ace crusher from Cloudy/running dropkick from Cheech. The Olsens soon slow it down and isolate Cheech. Now, in their match at Cibernetico and Robin, Jimmy Olsen hit a BIG Tornado DDT to Cheech on the floor, which he was feeling the effects from the whole match. Here, the Olsens do the smart thing and go right after Cheech’s neck. After 5 or so minutes of neck destruction, Cheech comes back, and dives out of the ring to make the tag!
Cloudy comes in hitting some awesome ranas and things. We go into the finishing sequence, and everyone is busting out big moves. The Olsens hit one of the most CRAZY moves I’ve ever seen – basically an Alleyoop with a BACKFLIP from Jimmy, followed instantly by a surfboard/legdrop combo. The rewind button on my remote was sore after that. After lots of false finishes, Cloudy cradles Colin with some wacky pin, and gets the 3! Cheech and Cloudy now have 3 points, and can challenge for the Campejonas de Parejas.
Winners: Up in Smoke.
Awesome match. What was so good about this was both teams hit all their indyriffic moves, and they all had purpose. Every move the Olsens hit, no matter how flashy was targeting Cheech’s neck. Include not going too long and a real solid tag formula and we have another awesome match from these 4 guys.
***3/4.
10. Mitch Ryder vs. Lince Dorado: Lince Dorado debuted for Chikara at the beginning of 07, and slowly became very over. He’s a young flippy dude, whose style is influenced alot by Lucha. Mitch Ryder is an old, old-school Memphis rudo, who hates Lince. The story behind this feud is that Lince is Mexican, and Mitch hates Mexicans. Mitch hates them because they ‘steal’ American’s jobs, live off their tax-money, etc.
Match: Nice formula match here. Mitch is so hated it’s wonderful. We start with Lince running wild with a hiptoss and things. He hits a Thesz Press and lots of punches to the head; nice way to show the hate between the 2. Mitch gets his knees up off a Lionsault attempt and things slow down as Mitch controls. Lots of slow chinlocks and abdominal stretches. Lince makes his comeback, but misses a twisting senton off the top. Mitch goes for the piledriver, but Lince reverses, gets a rolling cradle and gets the 3!
Winner: Lince Dorado.
That was pretty good. Mitch is one of the best heels in Chikky today, and Lince’s really starting to improve now. Good preview to the Mask vs Hair match, too.
***.
Overall: What a fun show. This was your average Chikara show – nothing too standout but every match being good and fun. My favourite thing about Chikara is that you can sit down, watch a whole (3 hour) show without having to take a break or anything – it just flies by. And that sure was the case here.
I’ll be reviewing more Chikara shows in the coming months, but if you want a good place to start this is a good buy. Recommendation.
Overall Score: 7.5/10.
This DVD, along with all Chikara shows can be found at www.smartmarkvideo.com.
The Inside Pulse
Summary
1. UltraMantis Black & Shane Storm vs. Hydra & Jigsaw – *** (Good opener)
2. Crossbones vs. Soldier Ant – ** (A little one sided but nothing bad)
3. Icarus vs. Tim Donst – ***1/2 (super face vs super heel; awesome)
4. Brodie Lee vs. Worker Ant – ** (Brodie squash)
5. Osirian Portal vs. Hallowicked & Delirious – ***1/2 (Really good tag match)
6. Chuck Taylor vs. Helios – ***1/4 (Very fast paced and fun)
7. Dragon Yuki vs. Fire Ant – *1/2 (Eh)
8. Larry Sweeney vs. Claudio Castagnoli – *** (Awesome old-school match)
9. Olsen Twins vs. Cheech & Cloudy – ***3/4 (Another great match between thease guys)
10. Mitch Ryder vs. Lince Dorado – *** (Nice way to end the show)
Overall: What a fun show. This was your average Chikara show – nothing too standout but every match being good and fun. My favourite thing about Chikara is that you can sit down, watch a whole (3 hour) show without having to take a break or anything – it just flies by. And that sure was the case here.
I’ll be reviewing more Chikara shows in the coming months, but if you want a good place to start this is a good buy. Recommendation.
Overall Score: 7.5/10.
