Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Where as John attended his first Chikara show last month, I had the pleasure of attending my seventh. Mike Quackenbush’s crazy lucha-based promotion has been running shows in the ECW Arena in South Philadelphia since August ‘05 and I’ve attended all of them. This latest one was entitled “Rey De Voladores,” or “King of the Flyers” in English, and included, among other things, a mini-tournament featuring some exceptional high flyers.

1.Create-A-Wrestler defeats Darkness Crabtree (w/ Dr. Cheung). This was a special bonus match to start the show. Create-A-Wrestler is a non-descript rookie based off the popular video game option. Crabtree’s gimmick is of a crusty old man, with his mask sporting a white beard. Dr. Cheung is his masked Mexican pharmacist, and oh, he’s a John Cena fan. Just as the match begins, the ring announcer mentions that it’s a dark match. Immediately, the lights go out, and Create-A-Wrestler backslides Crabtree for the quickie win. Funny gag.

2.Chuck Taylor defeats Pac, Ricochet, and Retail Dragon in an elimination match to advance in the Rey De Voladores tournament. Some fun high-flying action throughout. Retail Dragon is a bland-looking masked guy, probably to go along with the “Retail” name, and usually sports a Wal-Mart vest (but not tonight). Pac is the spectacular high flyer from the UK who’s appeared previously in PWG and ROH. Taylor was the heel, as he teams with Icarus and Gran Akuma as the new Kings of Wrestling, and he played it up a lot by yelling out random things, overreacting, and slowing the action down with headlocks to draw heat. Dragon, who spent some time on the outside after getting knocked dizzy, was eliminated first. Pac eliminated Ricochet with a great Shooting Star Press that went over a standing Taylor. Taylor finally managed to put away with Pac, who also hit two corkscrew SSPs during the match, with the Omega Driver (a pumphandle piledriver). Pac got a great reception afterwards. Very cool to see him live; he’s very crisp.

3.Lince Dorado defeats Jigsaw, Ruckus, and Equinox in an elimination match to advance in the Rey De Voladores tournament. Pretty good stuff. Equinox, a Chikara wrestler, took the place of Zac Vincent, another wrestler I’ve never seen before who was scheduled to wrestle this night. Ruckus and Equinox got eliminated fairly early with simultaneous school boys by Jigsaw, the Chikara regular with the puzzle piece mask, and Dorado, a young Mexican wrestler who debuted with Chikara in February. Jigsaw and Dorado put on a good match the rest of the way before Dorado pinned Jigsaw following what was essentially a rotating splash.

4.The Order of the Neo Solar Temple (UltraMantis Black, Hydra & Crossbones) defeat Andy Sumner, Drew Gulak & Tim Donst. The Order is the heel group. Mantis is the diabolical leader who has done commentary for Chikara, Crossbones is a big dude, and Hydra is a small dude with a sea monster gimmick who thinks he’s much stronger than he actually is. He recently started going shirtless with drawed-on muscles on his tiny frame, and I think he’s pretty funny. Sumner and Gulak are undercard regulars in CZW as Team AnDrew. Never seen Donst before, but like Gulak, he wears a blue singlet and amateur wrestling headgear. The action here was okay but not much to speak of for the most part, and there weren’t a lot of Hydra’s antics. The babyface team, while okay wrestlers, is pretty bland. The Order picked up the win when Mantis hit a Tiger Drvier ‘98/Jay Driller on Donst.

5.”Sweet & Sour” Larry Sweeney defeats Shane Storm. Sweeney is the feather boa-clad God among men quickly making his name in other places, as well as the 19-time (and reigning) ICW/ICWA Texarkana Television Champion (a fictional title, but we won’t hold that against him). Storm is the “unionized traffic regulator,” wears a mullet-sporting mask, and always seems to be on his way to improvement in the ring. Solid match throughout. Towards the end, Chris Hero runs out and nails a big boot to Storm on the outside while the ref is pre-occupied with Sweeney. Sweeney rolls Storm back in the ring to get the pin and celebrates with Hero afterwards.

6.Fire Ant defeats Lance Steel. Steel’s gimmick is that he’s a knight from Medieval Times transplanted to our time via a time machine. Over the past year and a half, Lance teamed up with a younger version of himself, but they had a severe parting of ways. They had a match where the loser leaves the present, but I’m not sure who won that one. This sounded like it was the younger Lance Steel, and he’s now a heel in a black and white getup. Fire Ant is part of the Colony, and came out to that song from the old Bret Hart video, “You Start the Fire.” Amazing. Steel dominated most of the match, thanks to his protective chest plate, but Fire Ant came out with the victory. Better than expected.

7.Eddie Kingston and Hallowicked went to a No Contest. Hallowicked is the former heel turned face with a Jack-O-Lantern mask (complete with stem), and has been a recent partner of Delirious (both like the black the green and speak in gibberish, wrestling as Team Incoherance). Kingston, apparently upset over a loss the BLK OUT suffered to Hallowicked and the Colony last month, hid behind part of the entrance and jumped Hallowicked as he came out. Both fought on the outside for several minutes. Chikara’s Director of Fun, Leonard F. Chikarason, came out and declared the match a No Contest after both guys refused to get into the ring. Kingston then threw Hallowicked into the ring and gave him a bunch of Mafia kicks in the corner, against the the warnings of the referees. As Hallowicked was being helped out, Kingston suplexed him to the floor from the apron. Kingston can be heard shouting, “Who’s the best student now?” afterwards. A nice new feud to look forward to.

Intermission, then…

8.The Colony (Soldier Ant and Worker Ant) defeat BLK OUT (Sabian & Joker). This match started off pretty rough, as Worker Ant is the the greenest of all of these guys, but it eventually found its way, though goes a little too long. Sabian and Joker look solid here. In the end, Soldier Ant surprises Sabian with a rollup, and Sabian looks angry. BLK OUT attack the ants afterward, including Sabian nailing a top rope double stomp onto Soldier Ant.

9.Chuck Taylor defeats Lince Dorado to win the Rey De Voladores tournament. Solid, lengthy match that could have been better, with Taylor continuing to keep the match grounded. Some good action towards the end, including Dorado nailing a springboard dive onto Taylor on the floor over the guard rail. Taylor managed to score the clean win with an Omega Driver as Dorado came off the top. Pretty good overall.

10.Chris Hero (w/ Larry Sweeney) defeats Claudio Castagnoli. Mike Quackenbush is the special ref for this match. Hero and Claudio had a falling out in Chikara when Claudio was thought to be leaving in the fall. According to some promos posted on YouTube, the loser of this match would be the winner’s slave. I’m guessing they’re continuing the Hero/Sweeney tandem coming off of what they’re doing in ROH. A very good match that went about 25 minutes, with some exciting moments towards the end. I think people forget that both of these guys are pretty agile for their size. Quackenbush called it down the middle, but implicated fast counts outside the ring to get Hero back inside. In the end, as Claudio was about to score the win following a springboard European uppercut, Sweeney pulls Quackenbush out of the ring to break up the count. Quackenbush decks Sweeney, but Hero kicks Claudio in the crotch when he’s not looking. Quackenbush reluctantly counts the pin and rewards the match to Hero. Claudio leaves angrily as Sweeney goes after him.

After this, Hero invites Quackenbush back into the ring. He says he has proved that he’s the best wrestler out there, as he just beat the guy that Quackenbush couldn’t beat the previous month. Hero says he’s now willing to give Quackenbush a singles match he’s been wanting for two years (since the time Hero turned heel on Quackenbush) next month during their Aniversario shows… but only if Quackenbush shakes Hero’s hand. Hero gets on his knees to show he won’t try anything dirty, but Quackenbush, when he shakes it, twists Hero’s arm behind his back before he could. Quackenbush accepts, and Hero is left to look like a fool.

11.F.I.S.T. (Icarus & Gran Akuma) defeat Cheech & Cloudy to retain the Chikara Campeonatos de Parejas. Cheech & Cloudy are the former members of Special K and Lacey’s Angels in ROH who have been wrestling in Chikara (and other places) for the past two years or so and have stepped up their game quite a bit. They’re pretty popular in Chikara. Challengers for Chikara’s tag titles need to win three consecutive matches, and title matches are contested under best two out of three falls. This was a good match that got better as it went along, getting more dramatic and action-packed. Cheech & Cloudy picked up the first fall with a surprise rollup on Akuma after Icarus (who gets mercilessly booed every time) was knocked silly in the corner. During the second fall, Cloudy, who was the smallest guy in the match, got worked over a lot, especially by Akuma’s kicks. Cloudy even vomited during the continued beatdown! After seeing Jimmy Rave vomit on a recent ROH DVD I watched, I’ve had my fill of wrestlers up-chucking this week. Cloudy eventually tapped to a submission from Icarus to award the second fall to F.I.S.T. The third fall, which began with Cheech getting beat down before it officially began and included more doubleteaming on Cloudy, got very exciting with plenty of big moves and nearfalls. Cheech & Cloudy came mighty close to winning the titles, but came up short a couple times. The crowd was going nuts. Akuma nailed a top rope powerbomb on Cloudy to secure the third fall and the titles once again.

Overall: A pretty fun show. I’ve attended some bigger and better Chikara shows, but this one was nothing to sneeze at. The early foru-way matches had some good stuff in them, and the last two matches were the best of the night. Also, some nice new storylines with the BLK OUT’s issues with Hallowicked and the Colony, Hero and Quackenbush preparing to finally hook up, and Hero and Sweeney looking to make Claudio’s life hell. Chikara’s next shows are going to be their Aniversario weekend, with Night One on May 26th in Hellertown, PA and Night Two on May 27th back in Philadelphia.