Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Brian Streleckis is back with another live Chikara report from their New Alhambra Arena event on 4/20, right here on the Chronic-what-cle of Wrestling.

The night before, Chikara held another show in Hellertown, PA entitled “Deuces Wild.” Some of those results are fairly noteworthy and relate to “Passion and Persistence,” so here’s a quick rundown:

1. The Osirian Portal def. Fire Ant & Soldier Ant, gaining their third point and allowing them to challenge for the Campeonatos de Parejas
2. Robbie Ellis def. Ice Cream, Jr.
3. Vin Gerard and Worker Ant go to a No Contest due to the arrival of Gerard’s new companion, Bull Pain
4. Chuck Taylor & Icarus def. Player Uno & Create-A-Wrestler
5. Helios def. Lince Dorado to retain the CHIKARA Young Lions Cup
6. Gran Akuma def. Jimmy Olsen
7. UltraMantis Black def. Tim Donst
8. Brodie Lee def. Shane Storm
9. Mitch Ryder & Shayne Hawke def. Cheech & Cloudy
10. Mike Quackenbush (c) def. El Pantera to retain the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title.

As for this show:

1. Fire Ant & Soldier Ant def. Vin Gerard & Bull Pain. This unnannounced match started the show out of nowhere. The ring announcer was about to go through his opening announcements (naming who’s in charge and who’s here representing the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission, etc.) when Gerard jumped in the ring and ran down the Colony for what they did to him at King of Trios. Bull Pain - a scary-looking death match practitioner who made his name in IWA Mid-South - came through the crowd shortly thereafter. Gerard talked briefly about what they did to Worker Ant (i.e. they beat him up) and knew Fire Ant and Soldier Ant would want revenge. Sure enough, the two ants ran out a second after Gerard mentioned them, and the match was on. The majority of this was Pain beating down one of the ants outside the ring, slamming him and such onto a steel chair, while Gerard had the other under control in the ring. In fact, the two ants alternated places during this match. Soldier Ant gained some control over Gerard and had him in a fireman’s carry position when Pain intervened with his trademark baseball bat, causing him and Gerard to be disqualified. Pain and Gerard continued to beat down the ants when half a dozen babyfaces, including Delirious and Hallowicked, ran out to make the save. Pain and Gerard stepped out the ring when Director of Fun Leonard F. Chikarason came down to ringside and announced that Pain is suspended from Chikara for 30 days. A portion of the crowd (I’m assuming the CZW faithful) were really hot for Bull Pain, while the whole angle itself was mildly hot, and the actual match was nothing special.

2. Chuck Taylor defeated Hydra. Very basic match but pretty fun overall, with Hydra surprisingly getting control early on before Taylor took over. Hydra, continuing to take great pride in his “physique,” imitated Batista’s mannerisms, but did not shake them ropes. Taylor kept up with his mouthing off to the crowd. Funny spot late in the match had Taylor pull out his invisible grenade (a goofy bit Taylor does all of the time, hard to explain the appeal), plant it on Hydra’s chest, but fail to deliver the elbow drop that accompanies it when Hydra moved. Hydra then “ate” the invisible grenade and acted like he was choking on it, causing the ref to apply the Heimlich Maneuver, which in turn caused the grenade to come out and blow up in Chuck’s face. Shortly thereafter, Hydra looked to have the match won (but not really) with the Hydra-Lock, but then Taylor slipped out and hit the Omega Driver/Awful Waffle for the win. This had the potential to be more outrageous, but I was okay with it.

3. Jimmy Olsen defeated Player Uno. This match had a lot of good energy and some high-impact exchanges between the two guys. Once again, Player Uno’s pause button came into play, first causing Uno to run straight into Olsen’s extended fist, then later causing Olsen to do the same. Uno gained some close nearfalls following a rubix cube-style neckbreaker over the knee and a few other big strikes, but Olsen ultimately won following an ally-oop type deal (it was something Big Show did for a while, where he flips the other guy over his head from a powerbomb position) and a piledriver. Good showing from both guys. Olsen seems to be doing okay with his now-semi-famous brother absent from Chikara.

4. Tim Donst (w/ UltraMantis Black & Crossbones) defeated Ophidian. A disappointing match, not to mention a little confusing considering Donst’s new company: The Order of the Neo Solar Temple. I’m assuming that Donst was forced to join them based on his lost to UltraMantis Black the previous night in Hellertown (haven’t heard anything regarding this angle yet), so both Mantis and Crossbones accompanied Donst to ringside and may have tried encouraging him to cheat. Ophidian ultimately became the default babyface amidst the confusion. Lots of matwork, mostly consisting of Donst having Ophidian in a legscissors and a straightjacket hold, leading to the match being pretty slow. Donst at one point gave Ophidian an eye-poke, apologizing for it beforehand. Crossbones got up on the apron once, causing a possible pinfall for Ophidian to be missed. Ophidian then nearly won with his cobra clutch, but Donst got his foot on the bottom rope just as his arm fell a third time. Ophidian then attempted a top rope move, but he was crotched on the turnbuckle by Mantis while Crossbones had the ref’s attention again. Donst then scored the win with his Gator Roll neckbreaker. Boy was I expecting more from this, but the angle with Donst in the Order might be something worth keeping an eye on.

5. Helios defeated Amasis. This match wasn’t for Helios’ Young Lions Cup. Helios (still Ricochet) looked in good shape and brought lots of energy, while Amasis kept up with him and made for a pretty good heel. A lot of fast-paced action that saw Helios pick up the victory following the flying knees off one corner and a Shooting Star Press off the other. I liked it.

Intermission came up, which actually saw a number of events occur:

- Leonard F. Chikarason announced that Eddie Kingston has yet to reach the building. Ian Rotten announced this past week on the IWA Mid-South message board that Kingston was going through some personal issues, causing him to miss a few shows for both IWA and PWG. Add this show to the list, and I haven’t heard word one about his impending angle with ROH since their last PPV taping. Personally, I hope he overcomes whatever issues he’s having, as I feel he’s a talented performer.

- Vin Gerard was selling t-shirts, not at the gimmick table but just outside the New Alhambra where fans first come in to get tickets.

- The Osirian Portal came out again, with Ophidian scaring the little kids in the crowd and Amasis nearly starting something with a fan who may or may not called him Human Tornado.

- Amasis started doing a dance-off with a fan. Sadly, this was cut very short as the second half had to begin.

6. Mike Quackenbush & Shane Storm & Cheech & Cloudy defeated Mitch Ryder & Shayne Hawke & Larry Sweeney & Robbie Ellis. The heel team looked and acted awesome together, with Robbie Ellis - a sixty-something lothario who’s pulled off a Sliced Bread #2 in his matches - beloved by many. In fact, there was a camera crew filming what I believe was a Robbie Ellis documentary before the show and during this match. The crowd, especially the little kids, were mighty hot for this. Quackenbush looked sharp outclassing Sweeney and Hawke, but the heels got the upperhand following Ellis hitting a spinning headscissors on Cheech and a few doubleteams behind the ref’s back. Towards the end, Storm had Ellis in an abdominal stretch while Quackenbush and co. hit dives on the other heels at ringside. Ellis managed to break free from Storm’s hold, climbed to the second rope, and dove onto everyone else at ringside for a big pop. Shortly after this, the babyface team isolated Sweeney in the middle of the ring, with Quack, Cheech, and Cloudy giving him a palm strike and two kicks to the head all at once, followed by Storm hitting him with That Japanese Move for the victory. Afterwards, Ryder chewed out Sweeney in the ring, with Hawke backing up Ryder like Scott Farkus’ toadie, so they could be building towards Sweeney getting ousted from this gang of charismatic cads. Otherwise, this was a fun time had by all.

7. Sabian defeated El Pantera (w/ Lince Dorado). This was originally scheduled to be a tag match between Pantera & Dorado and Sabian & Eddie Kingston. With Kingston MIA, Chikarason did a coin-flip to decide who would face Sabian in singles action. Pantera won and wrestled Sabian in a very average match, featuring a few okay exchanges and Pantera nearly unmasked. Not much I can remember aside from the finish, in which Pantera had Sabian from behind, Sabian gave the ref the ol’ “Look over there!” act, kicked Pantera in the groin and a scored the win on a small package. Meh.

8. Brodie Lee defeated Claudio Castagnoli. Good match between the resident big men, but it had a pretty strange finish. Both guys met eye-to-eye and were charging at one another early on. They fought to the outside, where Claudio they exchanged chops, slaps, and forearms. They did the same inside the ring, along with a few of Claudio’s signature moves, before Brodie gained control and attempted to wear down Claudio with a headlock. Claudio came back with a vengeance after this, but accidentally hit the ref, Derek Sabato, with his big bicycle kick. Brodie tried to capitalize, but was met with a springboard uppercut. A minute or so later, Claudio hit the Ricola Bomb. The other ref, Bryce Remsburg, ran down to count the fall, but Sabato came to and sounded the bell just as Bryce hit three. Bryce had named Claudio the winner, but Sabato didn’t allow it, saying Claudio was disqualified for hitting him with the bicycle kick. Claudio and Bryce argued the call, but then Brodie came from behind and nailed Claudio with his big boot to the face. So Brodie gets the last laugh with the DQ win and the laying out of the Swiss Powerhouse. Claudio came too shorly thereafter, and Bryce openly expressed that he knew Claudio kicking Sabato was an accident. A good match overall that I’m sure will be better than what Big Show and The Great Khali will likely be doing on PPV next Sunday, and I hope the outcome leads to more matches between the two and not a dueling refs angle.

9. Incoherence (Delirious & Hallowicked) defeated F.I.S.T. (Icarus & Gran Akuma) 2 falls to 1 to retain the Campeonatos de Parejas. Kaiju Big Battel announcer Louden Noxious came out, first to alert fans of the Young Lions Cup tournament taking place June 13th-15th in Hellertown, and then to announce the participants in the main event. The first fall started out with some crazy comedy, including Delirious booing in Icarus’ face to accompany the fans’ boos and claiming he’ll make Icarus poop his pants. I’m not kidding, and he may have even actually tried as he worked over Icarus’ midsection, issuing a couple ramming headbutts and such. He also gave a mighty slap to the back of Akuma’s head. The heels eventually got the upper hand, with Akuma hitting Hallowicked with a huricanrana off the top rope and Icarus scoring the first fall with a frog splash, assisted with a potentially loaded fanny pack (think D-Lo Brown’s old chest protector). Shortly into the second fall, Delirious delivered another headbutt to Icarus, but this time connected with Icarus’ fanny pack and was knocked out for a few minutes. Icarus then hit a second frog splash on Hallowicked, but Wicked managed to kick out. A lot more back-and-forth action quickly accured before Hallowicked hit Icarus with the Rydeen Bomb (aka Sky High, sorry for the double D-Lo references) for the pin, tying the match up at 1-1. Third fall had lots of hot action, including Icarus no-selling a pedigree from Wicked, amping himself up, and then eating a yakuza kick from Wicked for a close nearfall (Incoherence first won the titles with virtually the same sequence). Both Delirious and Hallowicked ate some kicks and from Akuma. There was a sequence of guys moving out of the way of others’ top rope moves, ending with Delirious connecting with Shadows Over Hell on Akuma. Delirious then got caught with a release German suplex by Akuma, who then went up top to possibly finish him off, but Wicked stopped him. Delirious recovered and joined his partner up top, nailing Akuma with a double superplex for the third and deciding fall. Incoherence remain your Campeones, closing out the night with the best match on this show.

Overall: Pretty solid, especially for the top two matches and a fun eight-man tag oozing with charisma, but nothing great. I certainly wasn’t expecting them to top King of Trios, but this could have been better. Some pretty interesting storyline developments, especially Vin Gerard bringing in backup and Sweeney perhaps on the outs with his friends. Could the talent that has more ties to ROH be on their way out this year? Chris Hero, now a very busy man in ROH and around the world, hasn’t wrestled in Chikara since December, when he lost to Claudio to culminate a year-long feud there. So who knows regarding Sweeney? I don’t expect to see Claudio leave though, as he’s taken over for Hero as a co-trainer in the Chikara Wrestle Factory. Next shows are May 17th in Hellertown (”Café Culture”) and May 18th back in Philadelphia (”Grit and Glory”), followed by their Aniversario shows the following weekend in Framingham, MA and Wallingford, CT. More info can be found at ChikaraPro.com.