Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Tensions mount, stables explode, and a major partnership was announced at Chikara’s latest Philadelphia outing post-King of Trios.

Should be noted that on the previous night’s show in Easton, following the events of February and another heated match, the gauntlet was thrown down for a later date: Fire Ant & Soldier Ant vs. Icarus & Chuck Taylor in a Double Mask vs. Double Hair Match. Also, The Osirian Portal retained the Campeonatos de Parejas against Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw, while Jimmy Olsen retained the Young Lions Cup against former partner Colin Delaney.

1. Claudio Castagnoli defeated Shadow Phoenix with a bicycle kick. Claudio was initially scheduled to face Mitch Ryder in a grudge match stemming from last year, but Ryder was conspicuously absent this weekend. Shadow Phoenix, taking his place, is a veteran of Toryumon X, Michinoku Pro, and Osaka Pro, and wrestled on both pre-shows during last month’s ROH TV tapings. Here, with a spot on the main show, more time to play with, and an opponent like Claudio, he showed a lot more flash this time around. There were some decent exchanges that got better as the match progressed, with Phoenix getting in a lot more offense than I expected, and the crowd was really into the nearfalls. A fun opener. (7:58)

2. Cheech Hernandez & KC “Cloudy” Day defeated 2.0 (Jagged & Shane Matthews), The UnStable (Colin Delaney & STIGMA), and The Super Smash Bros. (Players Uno & Dos) in a four-way elimination match. 2.0 were thrilled that they scored a victory the previous night and started a chant of “One Point!” Various guys came in and out to square off, including Jagged and Colin doing an intentionally bad parody of routine indy exchanges that was quite funny. Shit broke down soon, resulting in four simultaneous submission attempts and a bunch of dives. 2.0 were the first team eliminated when Cloudy countered a Boston Crab attempt by Matthews into a roll up, sending 2.0′s point tally back down to zero. A few minutes later, the SSB eliminated The UnStable with some doubleteam moves, ending with a frog splash on Colin by Dos. With the two babyface teams left to wrestle one another, both Cheech and Cloudy dove onto Uno at ringside, and Colin got back into the ring and left Dos laying with an FU (or Attitude Adjuster as they’re calling it now). Dos managed to recover enough, more nearfalls came and went, and Cheech & Cloudy put away Uno with a series of their signature doubleteam moves, ending with the Tidal Wave (a variation on the old Quebecers finisher). Another fun match that the crowd got into. (15:02)

3. UltraMantis Black (w/ Crossbones) defeated Create-A-Wrestler with a schoolboy and a handful of Create-A-Wrestler’s pants. The big flaw in Create-A-Wrestler remains. The gimmick doesn’t seem to have a lot of mass appeal, plus he changes his gimmick every summer now, but I give the guy credit for still trying to win over fans, plus he’s gotten better in the ring. One big spot had Mantis going for the Praying Mantis Bomb, but CAW standing up and countering it into a crazy move, similar to the Beach Break, that drove Mantis hard into the mat. Crossbones provided a lot of distraction throughout the match, leading to the finish. Very short and inconsequential, but it was okay. (4:53)

4. Incoherence (Delirious & Hallowicked & Frightmare) defeated The Roughnecks (Brodie Lee & Eddie Kingston & Grizzly Redwood) after Frightmare pinned Brodie with a step-up frankensteiner. This match was several kinds of awesome, beginning with Brodie acting like a man possessed as he came out and shoving Louden Noxious out of the ring. Brodie had beat down Hallowicked and stolen one of his masks back in December or so, and he had that mask in his back pocket the entire time. Grizzly was wrestling barefoot, as apparently there was an angle at this weekend’s ROH shows where Ernie Osirus stole Grizzly’s boots. A lot of furious action throughout, especially towards the end, and highlighted by Brodie pulling out a running huracanrana on Frightmare (so as to mock Hallowicked) that had myself and everyone going crazy. Frightmare was the recipient of the heel beat down, receiving a running boot (or foot) from Grizzly and double boots by Brodie and Kingston, so all of this carnage done to him and the fans getting behind him paid off big time at the finish. Brodie was irate with the ref, and Frightmare snatched back Hallowicked’s mask from his pocket. Post-match intrigue occurred as Delirious, sticking behind in the ring a little bit to celebrate and going to the back after his partners already have, was confronted at the entrance by Crossbones, and then caught in some sort of sleeper and drug to the back by Mantis. Kidnapping! This can’t end well for Delirious (another heel turn in another promotion), but it’s nice to see some advancement of the Order’s storyline about having some unknown power. (12:52)

- Intermission. Afterward, we were treated to a video announcement on the big screen, announcing a new relationship between Chikara and Dragon Gate USA. There were highlights of Dragon Gate action and Chikara action side-by-side, as well as mention of the two companies having a common bond in Jorge Rivera (who in fact helped train both Mike Quackenbush and CIMA). As detailed at the DGUSA site, Chikara talent will take part in an 8-man tag at the inaugural show on July 25th in the Arena. The video was met with chants of “We Will Be There!” afterward.

5. Sara Del Rey defeated Shark Girl with the Royal Butterfly. Sara came to the ring sporting a Golden Girls shirt and a black arm band in honor of the recently passing Bea Arthur (Alyssa would be happy to hear of this tribute). Shark Girl, sporting pink gear, a mask with pony tail holes, and doing virtually the same act Shark Boy does (sans the Steve Austin impression), is played by Daffney. The match was okay, but certainly much better than the match Daffney was involved in at Lockdown last weekend. The biggest spot of note saw Shark Girl occasionally biting Del Rey’s fingers, then bite her ass, followed by a train of Shark Girl biting ref Bryce Remsburg’s ass and Del Rey biting Shark Girl’s ass. The Shark Girl act was pretty over. Shark Girl got caught in the Royal Butterfly while giving Del Rey punches in the corner as some fans chanted “Shark!” rather than count. (6:01)

6. The Future Is Now (Jimmy Olsen/Equinox & Lince Dorado & Helios) defeated The Osirian Portal (Amasis & Ophidian & Escorpion Egipcio) after Helios hit Egipcio with a 630 senton. The Portal jumped TFIN as they were making their entrance and brawled with them at ringside. Once it got in the ring and became more of a regular match, it became a pretty fun match. TFIN weren’t nearly as hated as they were at King of Trios last month. A few nice exchanges and big dives to the floor. Olsen got back for Dorado’s mask getting torn the last time these teams met by tearing at Egipcio’s mask, yanking the little scorpion tale clean off it. Egipcio looked a little sloppy in spots, but that may have been playing into things a little later. Speaking of which, Egipcio accidentally speared Ophidian. Moments later, Amasis disowns him, and he and Ophidian walk out and leave him alone to be beaten by the three babyfaces. I guess with the torn mask and no more partners, the big man might get a gimmick makeover. (15:04)

7. Vin Gerard (w/ Colin Delaney & STIGMA) defeated Glacier with a knucks shot. This pretty much sucked. Gerard did a lot of stalling throughout, cavorting with one of his partners while the other tried to distract Glacier. Glacier himself looked pretty slow, so this combined with the stalling to a very dull match. A group of fans mockingly chanted that this was awesome, and their chants for Shark Girl to come out again picked up a little outside their group. Gerard went for a rear naked choke that Glacier eventually fought out of, while the two UnStable members at ringside kept trying to get involved. There was a ref bump too, so woopity doo. (12:13)

8. Buck Hawke & F.I.S.T. (Icarus & Gran Akuma & Chuck Taylor) defeated Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw & Fire Ant & Soldier Ant when Akuma pinned Jigsaw with a Rubick’s Cube. Hawke, who’s been gone since December, was sporting a new haircut that made him look like an 80s yuppie. A little bit of comedy early with Soldier Ant making Hawke inadvertently salute him and act like his private. Things got a little slow as Soldier Ant, and later Jigsaw, received the heel beat down, but things picked up considerably with a series of big strikes and top rope moves, including a doomsday palm strike by Quack and Jigsaw. Taylor has added the half crab he used to defeat Bryan Danielson with to his regular repertoire. Simultaneous dives by Quack and The Colony to the outside led to Jigsaw and Akuma having an extended exchange alone in the ring, leading to the finish. A very fun match considering fans were a little deflated after the previous match, but they picked up for the latter half. Ryder was M.I.A., and Larry Sweeney is likely gone from Chikara, but at least Hawke is still around to deliver the foolishness. Taylor and Icarus made notions towards taking The Colony’s masks on the outside after the match. (18:54)

Overall: A fun show thanks to all of the crazy tag action. That Incoherence-Roughnecks trios match was my favorite, and the 8-man main event and the four-way elimination tag delivered the goods as well. The opener with Claudio and Shadow Phoenix was solid stuff as well. In addition to the involvement with Dragon Gate USA, the next Chikara shows – May 23rd in Easton and May 24th in Philadelphia – will be Chikara’s Aniversario weekend. Thanks for reading.