Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Brian Streleckis gives the skinny on more Chikara craziness and general awesomeness from their latest Philadelphia show in the New Alhambra, featuring Chikara regulars matched up against some special guest stars. Somebody should have “manned up.”

Two matches scheduled for this show interested me the most out of the nine announced. The first was Chikara’s Campeones de Parejas (Tag Team Champions) of Icarus & Gran Akuma taking on Ring of Honor’s World Tag Team Champions, Jay & Mark Briscoe. This match was set up on a brief internet clip (amidst Chikara’s regular Podcast-A-Go-Go) by Commissioner Leonard F. Chikarason; no team has garnered three consecutive wins to challenge for the Campeonatos de Parejas, so this interpromotional match was signed. Very cool to see Chikara and ROH working together in recent months, with a lot of Chikara regulars coming to ROH following the arrivals and establishing of Claudio Castagnoli, Chris Hero, and Larry Sweeney. The other match was Mike Quackenbush defending th NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title against Black Tiger. This current incarnation of the Black Tiger gimmick is Rocky Romero, who has wrestled as Tiger in ROH and TNA in addition to New Japan. I had mentioned in an article months ago of how Quackenbush won his title from Tiger Mask IV at a Fight Sports Midwest show in Indiana. I’ve since seen the match, where Quack went after Tiger Mask’s mask to win the title (even taking it off completely after he won), and saying afterwards that he was willing to do anything to get noticed by Japan. Would Quack try something similar on his home turf against another Japanese staple?

Before the show officially began, we had what I assume was a pre-show match: no official welcome to the show, and the lights weren’t fully on. It was a slightly truncated version of a scheduled 10-man tag, and I’m not sure if this match will even make the DVD.

1a.Jigsaw & Shane Storm & Tim Donst & Moscow defeated UltraMantis Black & The Southern Saints (Justin Reed & Shawn Reed & Chris Styles). My first time seeing the Southern Saints, and they looked okay. The biggest of the three (I’m guessing Justin) did this cool move where he got his opponent up in a Razor’s Edge position, then fell back while driving the opponent hard on his back to the mat. Donst looked better than the last time I saw him, really playing up the amateur wrestling (especially since he’s competing in the regulation head gear) and humbling Mantis with it. Moscow is the fan-created new persona for the former Create-A-Wrestler: he’s now a cow in a Communist singlet. He was greeted to moos from the crowd, and had some fun Strong Style-esque offense, but a wrestler can only wrestle to a certain point while wearing a mascot-style costume before something happens to cause him to lose his head, which almost happened here. The match was just fair before they finished really strong with a lot of good back-and-forth offense. Jigsaw got the win for his team following a superkick to Justin Reed.

- The show officially began, with proper introductions and music and the lights on bright.

1.Los Ice Creams (Ice Cream Jr. & El Hijo del Ice Cream) defeated 2.0 (Jagged & Shane Matthews). 2.0 (I have no idea what that name means) are two cocky young men from Canada who’ve been semi-regulars since last year. I’ve talked about them briefly when previewing IWA Mid-South’s Candido Cup tournament: they’ve been known to scream a lot. Pretty entertaining (official) opener with 2.0 getting frustrated by the antics of the Ice Cream clowns before being able to work over Ice Cream Jr. for a lengthy time. In the end, El Hijo scored a top rope splash from corner to corner… sort of - he came off the top rope, landed on his feet, and then executed the splash - and both Ice Creams rolled up one of the Canadians for the pin. This was Los Ice Cream’s third consecutive win, so they now get to challenge for the Chikara Tag Titles.

2.Richochet defeated Eddie Kingston. Before you fall out of your chair, it was via DQ. Kingston mostly laughed off and brushed off the smaller Ricochet’s offense, and really laid into him with chops to the chest and smacks to the face, periodically asking where his current rival Hallowicked was. Ricochet caught him off guard with his high flying at times and also dished out some chops of his own. This ended up being a more hard-hitting match (on both ends) than I expected, and Ricochet was looking very good before Kingston blatantly kicked him in the crotch for an immediate DQ. Kingston continued the punishment with a spinning back fist and choking. He then left the ring, grabbed a Hallowicked mask from the merchandise table, put it on Ricochet, and gave him a short arm lariat to sent a message to Hallowicked. He then shouted up to Chikarason - sitting in the crow’s nest apparently doing commentary - about how he should get what he wants because he works the hardest out of anybody. A good match and a good post-match segment.

3.Shayne Hawke defeated Billy Roc. Meh. Okay match between these two young cruiserweights, but nothing great. The crowd was kind of dead during this; based on reactions (or lack thereof) to Roc at the IWA Mid-South show in the same building in June, I think the East Coast crowd is still trying to warm up to him. The heel Hawke was cheesing it up while Roc played the straight man. Finish came when Roc was going for a Sliced Bread #2, but Hawke countered it into a Flatliner for the pin. Hawke looked really out of it afterwards, as if something wrong happened, but he got up to his feet. For some reason, Icarus & Gran Akuma were out by the entrance to congratulate him as he left.

4.Sara Del Rey defeated Daizee Haze in a 2/3 Falls Match. Very good match put on by these two women, but boy did some of the punishment they dished out on one another make me cringe. These two have wrestled each other a few times before in Chikara (as well as ROH and SHIMMER, of course) with Haze as the heel, and she cemented that by attacking Del Rey outside the ring before the match officially started. Haze scored the first fall after countering a powerbomb into a pin, and then got the jump on Del Rey by attacking her knee. Del Rey fought back by flinging Haze really hard into the guard rails outside, resulting in those cringe-worthy moments. Del Rey eventually scored the second fall when she dodged a top rope splash from Haze and rolled her up. The third fall had the best action of the match, with Haze taking a lot of punishment but surprising Del Rey with a top rope frankensteiner. It ended with Del Rey locking in the Royal Butterfly lock and converting it into a powerslam for the deciding pinfall. Hard-fought stuff that was better than what I’ve seen these two do together before.

5.Delirious & Cheech & Cloudy defeated The Colony (Soldier Ant & Fire Ant & Worker Ant). This was great. Cheech & Cloudy accompanied Delirious (now sporting a beard that’s reaching Bryan Danielson ‘05 proportions) dressed as Delirious themselves and doing his act. The were announced as something like “Los Deliriousos.” They even did the freaking out at the sound of the opening bell together, and pulled all kinds of shenanigans and double/triple-team maneuvers. Not to be outdone, the Colony fought back with some of their teamwork and tomfoolery, be it Soldier Ant incessantly saluting his opponents and incorporating that into moves. Fire Ant continues to be the highlight of the team, getting the hot tag (get it?) and giving fireman’s carries to everyone in sight, including his teammates and ref Bryce Remsburg. The end came when Delirious, after almost getting the pin following the Shadows Over Hell, scored the pin on one of the ants using the Chemical Inbalance. Just lots of fun stuff throughout that would be enjoyed by anyone who’s a fan of Delirious or classic Chikara craziness. This is match worth seeking out.

Intermission time. Now would be a good time to mention that there was this cameraman with a higher-grade camera, with a light and a microphone built in. I saw him record some of the wrestlers during intermission (while they’re at their tables to sell merchandise and meet fans) cut promos. I also saw this guy get shots of fans reacting to the action during matches. Not sure if this was on behalf of Chikara or some other entity. Anyway, back to the show…

6.La Parkita defeated Payaso del Futuro. This was a Minis match, and according to chikarapro.com’s lineup, this was the original La Parkita. Honestly, I prefer the full-size version. Futuro, in a slightly freaky half-robot, half-clown thing costume, was significantly taller and larger, but he barely did anything throughout. He spent most of the match simply standing there and waiting for La Parkita to hit him. Parkita also spent a lot of time getting fans to chant his name (even getting on the mic to say how much he loves the fans) and dance around, but I think he overstayed his welcome. He scored the win here with a roll up. I’d be remiss not to bring up the fact that La Parkita danced before and after the match with some woman in the ring. Not exactly family-friendly in this family-friendly promotion, and not a good match either.

- Chuck Taylor comes out for an Open Challenge to his newly won Young Lions Cup. I heard from some guys near me that he had lost the IWA-MS Women’s Title back to Mickie Knuckles the previous night (aww), but at least he still has the Heavyweight Title. This was the first defense of the fifth Young Lions Cup, which - as I should have expected - Taylor used to threaten little kids at ringside as he made his entrance. His mystery opponent ended up being someone new to Chikara: IWA-MS and CZW regular Drake Younger, who was over like Grover with the crowd.

7.Chuck Taylor defeated Drake Younger to retain the Young Lions Cup. Good match between these two. Younger looked good wrestling-wise, if not looks-wise (he now has this huge gash next to his right nipple following June’s Tournament of Death). Taylor seemed a little scared at first, but really dished it out to him. Good back and forth action throughout, including Taylor giving Younger a belly-to-back suplex on the floor. Younger almost nailed the Kudo Driver (he calls it Drake’s Landing) towards the end, but Taylor got the upperhand by seating Younger on the top rope and nailing him from there with the Omega Driver to win the match. After Taylor left, Younger got on the mic and vowed to come back and win the Cup.

8.Lince Dorado & El Pantera defeated The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli). Another good back and forth match. Claudio and Hero showed a little bit of tension in spots stemming back a few months ago, but they still showed some of their top-notch teamwork. The two luchadores have impressed me in their appearances. El Pantera scored the victory for his team when he locked a submission (I believe this is the CHIKARA Special I’ve heard about) on Hero and forced the tap (quick note: Dorado used this move to beat Hero in a singles match two weeks ago in Chikara’s Connecticut debut). Claudio looked quite annoyed at Hero’s loss.

9.Mike Quackenbush defeats Black Tiger to retain the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title. Lengthy introductions for this one. Pretty even support for both guys, but Quack still seemed to be the face here. Good action as one would expect, and probably the longest match of the night. Romero as Black Tiger is pretty interesting in how he tries not to wrestle like Romero; he did the Octopus Stretch he’s been known to do, but there was no cross arm breaker or high kicks. Quack came very close to losing a few times - be it from a backslide or a tombstone piledriver - and the crowd knew it. Huge pops for the kickouts on these. Quack eventually caught Tiger in this funky-looking submission move that looks like a half-crab crossed with an over-the-shoulder ankle lock, with one of Tiger’s arm’s locked by one of Quack’s legs (I believe it’s called the Lightening Lock, and it’s the same move displayed at the top of Chikara’s Web site). Quack scores the submission victory to retain the title, and Tiger gets a very nice ovation himself.

10.F.I.S.T. (Icarus & Gran Akuma) defeated Jay & Mark Briscoe in a Non-Title, Champions vs. Campeones Match. Akuma & Icarus get so much heat that the visiting team got significantly more cheers. Of course, F.I.S.T. were told time and time again to “man up.” Crazy stuff here. I’m sure there were lots of Briscoe fans here, but there’s a chance that some in the crowd haven’t seen them before, as some people near me were astounded by the punishment they dished out. These were like reactions to an insane kung-fu movie. The Briscoes spent plenty of time brutalizing Icarus with their double-team moves and chops, coming across very dominant throughout when it looked like they were at a disadvantage (not quite LOD-level no-selling, but some people might have a problem with it). F.I.S.T. held their own, giving the beat down on Jay mid-match, but they looked in over their head at times (and I mean that in terms of their characters, not for real). The end came as a pretty big surprise, as Akuma and Mark were exchanging pin attempts before Akuma scored the roll up with a handful of Mark’s shorts. Fans at ringside told Bryce the ref what they saw, and he acted like he’d almost continue the match, but still awarded the heels the victory.

- As the hated home team celebrated on the ringposts, Jay & Mark showed their displeasure by giving Icarus the springboard Doomsday Device. Akuma turned around to get a Jay Driller and a cutthroat driver. Briscoes leave first standing, giving me the impression that they may come back. After F.I.S.T. came to, Icarus was upset at Akuma for not looking out for the attack. The two showed some tension, ending with Akuma bailing on him and Icarus leaving with both of their campeonatos.

Overall: A really good show in my book, possibly the best Chikara show of the four I attended this year (all in Philadelphia). Definitely better than the last Chikara show I attended back in May. I’m very high on the main event, the Deliri-centric six-man tag, and Quackenbush vs. Black Tiger. Plenty of other good stuff, with just the Minis match being a miss. Thumb’s firmly up. Chikara returns to the New Alhambra on Saturday, September 22nd. Thanks for reading.