Welcome to The New Alhambra Arena, known to most as the “ECW Arena”. But on July 13th, it was known to Chikara Fans as the “Chikara Thunder Mega Dome”. Join us as Glazer gives reviews and thoughts on each match, and I top it off with 10 Thoughts on the event.
Match 1: Eddie Kingston vs. Lince Dorado
Lince started off using dropkicks to keep Eddie out of the ring, then tried to use his speed to keep Kingston off balance. That didn’t work and Lince took quite a beating before making a comeback. That was cut off with a backfist to the future and Kingston got the win.
Eddie Kingston defeats Lince Dorado (Pin, Backfist to the Future, ***)
This told a nice speed vs. power story. I love Kingston as a heel. He spits everywhere and writes on himself and comes off as just amazingly disgusting. This was too short to be worth much, but what was here was good.
Lince calls Kingston back to the ring post match, but Kingston just walks away to great heel heat.
Match 2: Jimmy Olsen vs. Ultimo Breakfast
I like the Ultimo Breakfast gimmick better in theory than in action. Olsen basically beat on Breakfast until breakfast made a comeback. That angered Jimmy enough to rip off the mask and be disqualified.
Ultimo Breakfast defeats Jimmy Olsen (Disqualification, Olsen rips off the mask, *)
There wasn’t much here and Breakfast uses too many headbuts. It drew heat.
Bryce Remsburg is in charge tonight and to show us he means business, he has a tie AND a badge.
Match 3: Gran Akuma, Icarus, Amasis and Ophidian vs. Worker Ant, Soldier Ant, Player Uno and Stupefied
The faces shone for most of the early part of this until Player Uno had his controller pants stripped and got worked over. Amasis wore the pants, showing awesome personality throughout. The workover ended when Amasis got paused on the top rope and left there while the teams had a melee. The Super Smash Brothers (Uno and Stupefied) had face-miscommunication which allowed Icarus to hit a second rope Pedigree for the finish.
Team FIST and The Osirian Portal defeat the Colony and Super Smash Brothers (Pin, Second Rope Pedigree, **)
This was fun and action filled, with Amasis bringing awesome comedy throughout, first with Icarus, then with Player Uno’s pants. The match wasn’t great, but, in true Chikara fashion, this was still worth seeing.
Post-match Stupefied is mad at Player Uno for his continued mistakes during matches.
Larry Sweeney comes out for a promo where he calls Mitch Ryder a loser. Ryder and Shane Hawke then come out to accept the challenge but say it has to be a tag match. Sweeney as a face? Surprisingly, it worked out great as the crowd was in his hands by the end of his promo.
Match 5: Chuck Taylor vs. Incognito
Chuck is the whiny heel, who won the first Rey de Volvadores (King of the Flippy people), while Incognito is the luchador who won the second. This was basically an extended incognito squash, with some Taylor hope spots. That didn’t make sense since Chuck is the heel and the match died because of it. A one man Spanish Fly beat Chucky T.
Incognito defeats Chuck Taylor (Pin, Spanish Fly, dud)
The worst match on the card leads to…
Match 5: Mike Quackenbush vs. Shane Storm
Quack invented a killer move, the Chikara Special and taught it to the faces on the Chikara roster. Shane Storm, a face, taught it and the counter to the heels. Quack feels betrayed and wants revenge.
Quack destroys Storm who desperately fights back. Storm gets a desperation DDT (quite the heel move given Quack’s concussion problems) on the apron and controls for a few, even locking in the Chikara Special on Quack. This infuriates Quackenbush who counters and hits a Tiger Driver ’91 and then locks in the Chikara Special until Shane taps. Then he refuses to let go as the crowd cheers him on, the decision is reversed.
Shane Storm defeats Mike Quackenbush (Reversed Decision, Quack refuses to release the Chikara Special, *** ¾)
Short, but intense. Quack really brought the hate here.
Match 6: Young Lions Cup Trophy Match: Fire Ant © vs. Vin Gerard
These two had an instant classic for the YLC earlier this year and this is Gerard’s chance to get the trophy. He beats on Fire Ant for much of this match, wrestling as a mix between Jimmy Rave and Jimmy Jacobs, while Fire Ant shows his fire on comebacks. Just as it seemed Gerard would lose, he pretended Fire hit him with the trophy. Remsberg nearly bought it, but was convinced otherwise by Worker and Soldier Ant. Gerard then smashed Fire with the trophy while everything was sorted out to win the YLC.
Vin Gerard defeats Fire Ant for the Young Lions Cup (Pin, Trophy Smash, *** ½)
This was very good face-heel stuff and Gerard’s plan actually worked out, making him seem like a total scumbag mastermind. Works for me!
Match 7: Ultramantis Black with Hydra and Crossbones vs. Tim Donst
Donst was a spy in Ultramantis’s camp and now he wants to fight Ultramantis for trying to take advantage of him when he had “amnesia.â€
Donst dominates a bit until the numbers game gets to him. Donst is beat up for a bit, but Hydra accidentally hits Ultramantis instead of Donst with the staff of doom and Donst hits the constitution for the finish.
Donst defeats Ultramantis (Pin, Donstitution, ** ½)
Fine face vs. heel stuff here, but mostly angle advancement.
Black berates Hydra post match and even slaps him. Hydra hits Black back, but is beat down momentarily until Donst makes the save. Donst and Hydra celebrate in an awesome moment and note that they can challenge for the tag titles, having the requisite 3 poitns already!
Match 8: No Disqualification: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brody Lee
What we have here is a huge brawl, the best spot of which is Claudio doing a Sabu-style chair assisted dive to the floor. While they brawled everywhere, eventually CC got the advantage and looked to hit the Ricolla Bomb. This drew out Ryder who threw a fireball at Claudio who was booted and lost.
Brody Lee defeats Claudio Castagnoli (Pin, Boot to the Face, ***)
Again, not great, but really fun and stiff. The finish means that Claudio will be back for revenge!
Match 9: Campeonatos de Parejas Match: Incoherence vs. The Fabulous Two
It should be noted that Hawke’s first name is no longer “Shayneâ€. He will now go by “Buck Hawkeâ€.
First Fall: Delirious and Hallowicked were in control for a majority of this fall. Buck Hawke is taking a huge beating early on, bouncing between Delirious and Hallowicked. Buck makes the tag and as Mitch was wrestling, “Big Rig†Brodie Lee came to the ring and sat at Fabulous Two’s corner. As Brodie distracted Bryce, Ryder kicked Delirious in the groin and rolled him up for the three count.
Bryce demanded Brodie Lee to leave the ringside area, and refused to start the second fall until his request was granted.
Second Fall: Delirious, despite being given time to rest, was still feeling the effects from the low-blow and was getting beat down by Buck and Ryder. Delirious made the hot tag and Hallowicked put Buck away immediately after,
Third Fall: The fall kicked off with Mitch Ryder and Delirious going at it. The two beat on each other for a bit, and Delirious made the tag to Hallowicked and proceeded to beat on Buck Hawke at ringside. In the ring, Ryder tried to put ‘Wicked away with a Piledriver, but Delirious rushed into the ring and broke the pin. Buck dragged Delirious to the outside of the ring, and Hallowicked quickly rolled Ryder up for the three.
Incoherence (Delirious and Hallowicked) defeated The Fabulous Two (Buck Hawke and Mitch Ryder) to retain the Campeonatos de Parejas. (*** ½)
Just like the rest of the matches on the card, this didn’t match to the greatest of the other title defenses, but it had good action that pulled our interest the whole way through. Incoherence retaining makes little sense because there are no heels with three points (Donst/Hydra and Quack/Storm both have 3 Points). But if anyone can make a face vs. face match work, it’s Chikara.
Kirschner’s 10 Thoughts on Tragedy and Triumph
1. Chikara’s shows in The New Alhambra are always stacked beyond belief, but they never live up to the hype. Don’t get me wrong, this was still an awesome event. I just think it’s bizarre that their shows that are in small venues like The Reading Coliseum are the ones that standout, despite not being hyped that much.
2. Speaking of the New Alhambra, it was pretty jam-packed on Sunday. I’d say there were a good 500 to 600 people in attendance, and not one of them started an obscene chant. Just goes to show how respectful the Chikara Fans are to the rules.
3. The Eddie Kingston/Lince Dorado match could have gone a bit longer. This four minute squash was an acceptable beginning to their feud, but I would’ve like a couple more minutes of Lince on the offense.
4. Although a majority of the crowd said that this match was a bit slow and sloppy, the Incognito/Taylor match wasn’t that bad at all. I think the real problem here was Incognito dominating Taylor. Taylor is one of the regular single guys on the roster. Why would you have him worked over by someone who shows up every now and then?
5. O_O!!! Quack/Storm was super intense. There was a point in the match where Quack gave Storm at least ten palm strikes to the face, relentlessly. I was surprised a) Storm wasn’t bleeding from his fragile nose and b) he was still on his feet.
6. Vin Gerard is really pulling off this scumbag gimmick. Like Glazer mentioned above, Gerard looked like an evil-mastermind scumbag. Awesome stuff, I can’t wait to see how far they take this angle.
7. Claudio Castagnoli blew me away when he did a Sabu spot to the outside of the ring. From that point on, I was convinced that these two would do anything to win. The fireball finish was something different. Not very Chikara-Like, but it worked very well.
8. Shayne Hawke changed his name to “Buck Hawkeâ€. Fantastic. Very old-school.
9. Man that was a quick third fall. Like someone on the ChikaraFans.com board said, “if you blinked, you would’ve missed it.â€
10. You’ll read mixed reviews of this event on various message boards and forums. The fact of the matter is that this is a must-own DVD for any Chikara fan. There was so much angle development on this DVD that if you pass it up, you’ll have no idea what’s going on in future events. The action was great and it was an entertaining show. Definitely not a stand-out show, but in no means was it a bad show.
