What’s up, David Wells back again with another edition of the Independent Run Down and this week I’ve got a special edition in store for you loyal readers. This week I will be highlighting Chikara’s upcoming show “Tragedy and Triumph”.
The show will take place this Sunday (July 13) and will take place at the old ECW arena in South Philly. The show is stacked with 9 matches but there are a few matches which deserve extra attention to them.
Firstly, we have the major grudge match of Mike Quackenbush vs. Shane Storm. Quackenbush and Storm were once close friends and even tag team partners. Hell, they’re 2/3 of the 2007 King of Trios but that all was washed away when Quack discovered Storm was the one who taught the rudos (heels) the Chikara Special. In case you’re unaware of what the Chikara Special is, it’s a move which Quack invented to defeat Chris Hero (Hero’s kryptonite if you will). After Quack defeated Hero with the move, he began to teach it to all the technicos (faces) so if they ever encountered Hero, they’d be able to defeat him. Needless to say, the Chikara Special was highly effective and Hero fell pray to it many times after Quack taught it to the technicos.
Now, in November of last year, Hero battled Equinox in a Hair vs. Mask match which Hero came out the victor. However, the big story coming out of the match was Hero used the Chikara Special to gain the victory. Quack was enraged and became obsessed with figuring out how the rudos learned the Chikara Special. Quack then enlisted the help of his student, Tim Donst to infiltrate the rudos to find out who was the mole within the technicos and that he did. At the Young Lions Cup VI weekend, it was revealed that it was Quack’s close friend Shane Storm who taught the Chikara Special to the rudos. Quack felt betrayed and vowed revenge on Storm for not only betraying him but all the other technicos in Chikara.
This match will likely be the first of many between the two and the feud has tons of potential (including a possible Hair vs. Mask match). I’m really looking forward to this feud because while Quack will be a face he’ll still be enraged and will show some heel tendencies. My only worry is Shane Storm, I worry if he’ll be able to carry himself in this high profile feud with Quack because if Quack has to carry him through this feud every step of the way, the feud will fall flat. I expect Storm to win the first match in the feud. I suspect he might cheat and knock Quack out then apply the Chikara Special for the win. This will further enrage Quack and continue on the feud.
Another big match lined up for this event is Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brodie Lee in a No DQ match which will be overseen by two referees. The last time these two met there was a bit of controversy in the way the match ended. Lee accidentally delivered a big boot to the referee and was DQed when the ref came to (in Chikara striking a referee is an automatic DQ). Well, this time there will be no DQ and it will be overseen two two referees just in case one of them goes down.
The last time they met it was a brutal match up. It was brute strength against brute strength something which is rarely seen in Chikara. I suspect this match to be much more of the same perhaps a bit more brutal. It’ll be interesting to see if these two will take the brawl to the outside or into the crowd since that’s a rarity in Chikara but they should take the opportunity and do so because this could turn into one hell of a brawl. I think the match will turn into an awesome brawl but it’s far too hard to pick a winner. I was thinking maybe something along the lines of each man knocking out a referee ending the match in a no contest setting up some sort of big feud ending match later this year.
The final big match which is scheduled for this event is Fire Ant vs. Vin Gerard for the Young Lions Cup which Fire Ant currently holds. Vin Gerard has had it out for the Ants all year and these two men went to war in the finals of the Young Lions Cup in June. In the finals, it seemed as if Gerard would walk away the victor. He was beating on Fire Ant relentlessly but Fire Ant refused to give up and kept coming back. However, Gerard continuously thwarted his comeback attempts. But, Fire Ant was given that extra boost by his fellow masked wrestler who came to ringside to encourage him on. With the support of his fellow masked wrestlers, Fire Ant was able to pull off the unthinkable victory winning the Young Lions Cup and leaving Gerard in misery.
Now, Gerard is back for revenge as he feels that Fire Ant’s fellow masked wrestler shouldn’t have been at ringside during their first match. Gerard has had a vendetta against masked wrestlers dating back to late last year and I think he’ll be able to gain a measure of retribution against them in this match. I think it’s highly possible that Bull Pain (who aligned himself with Gerard earlier this year) will make his Chikara return after being suspended and aid Gerard in winning the Young Lions Cup. This would be a good way to continue to feud between Gerard & Pain against the masked wrestlers of Chikara and more the feud with Gerard and the Ants. It will be interesting to see how this match plays out because the winner could be either man, there isn’t a clear cut and dry pick.
Along with those three big matches, there will be six other matches on the card including Eddie Kingston taking on Lince Dorado, the 2007 Rey De Voladores winner Chuck Taylor battling the 2008 Rey De Voladores winner Incognito, and Incoherence will defend the Campeonatos de Parejas against Mitch Ryder & Shayne Hawke. For more information on the event head over to Chikarapro.com
Also, don’t forget to check out SmartMarkVideo.com for all the latest Chikara DVD releases including the newly released Young Lions Cup VI which features the Fire Ant vs. Vin Gerard match which I talked about above and the beginning of the Shane Strom against Mike Quackenbush feud. Not to mention all the great Young Lions Cup tournament action.
