Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Brian Streleckis has had plenty of BBQ already, so he celebrates Memorial Day weekend with the second half of Chikara’s anniversary weekend in Philadelphia, capped off with one of the best Chikara matches of the year.

1. The Roughnecks (Brodie Lee & Grizzly Redwood) defeated Los Ice Creams (Ice Cream, Jr. y El Hijo del Ice Cream) after Brodie through Grizzly onto both Ice Creams and held him down on top of them with his foot for the pin. A fun little opener that the crowd got into, thanks to the juxtaposing attitudes of Brodie and Los Ice Creams (the latter doing a bunch of hijinks and Brodie bringing them to an end). El Hijo had some fun snapping back Grizzly’s suspenders. (8:55)

2. Ophidian defeated Arik Cannon after pinning him with a rolling prawn hold. A very good match this early into the show. It kept building as it went along and had a few false finishes toward the end that the crowd was very hot for. Cannon survived the death grip and transitioned it into a brainbuster for a nearfall, plus he got another nearfall from a fast and furious version of his hanging neckbreaker. Amasis popped up toward the end, distracting Cannon long enough for Ophidian to capitalize. (10:56)

3. The Order of the Neo-Solar Temple (UltraMantis Black & Crossbones & Delirious) defeated The Saturday Night Slam Masters (Player Uno & Player Dos & Create-A-Wrestler) after Delirious hit the Praying Mantis Bomb on Uno and Mantis picked up the pin. Following his surprising kidnapping last month, Delirious is now being mind-controlled by Mantis using the Eye of Tyr (brought up in storyline in December and January), making him the third member the Order has been looking for. He’s sporting new black and silver attire, plus Mantis & Crossbones have spiffy new gear themselves (including a Skeletor-style mask for Crossbones). This was upgraded from a regular tag between Mantis & Crossbones and The Super Smash Bros. to include Delirious and Create-A-Wrestler (who won over a lot of fans the previous night in Easton after a match with Eddie Kingston). Delirious was very solemn coming out and didn’t go crazy at the bell, but then Mantis recited some spell of sorts to him to make him go on the attack. This is a far more simpler heel turn than what he did in ROH, but it works perfectly for the Order and Chikara in general (and there’s no clear person like Daizee Haze to save him from the dark side). The match itself was pretty fun, with Dos getting the heel beatdown and some hope spots from CAW. There was a minor storyline going on through the match of Dos trying to get Crossbones off his feet with little success, but he finally succeeded by hitting a death valley driver on him. (10:24)

4. Glacier & D’Lo Brown defeated The UnStable (Vin Gerard & Colin Delaney) after Glacier hit Gerard with the Cryonic Kick. A far better match than the Glacier-Gerard singles affair last month. The veteran faces pummeled the heels early on. D’Lo body-slammed Gerard on the floor by the entrance way, but then STIGMA came out to jump D’Lo from behind and ram him into a support beam. D’Lo was worked over good before making the hot tag to Glacier (as ironic as that is). Toward the end, D’Lo got Colin in the Chikara Special to everyone’s surprise, but Gerard attacked D’Lo to alleviate the pressure of the hold (though it was still locked on). STIGMA threw a foreign object – what looked like a small lead pipe – into the ring, but no one was there to catch it, leading to Glacier to score the victory. Glacier then gave a Cryonic Kick to STIGMA after the match, leaving him susceptible to the Lo Down. The fans were quite into this by the end. (11:58)

- Intermission, which included a mini-concert by the Sea Donsters. Tim Donst was on acoustic guitar while Hydra was singing in his usual sea monster voice (with a little assistance by Louden Noxious, also plugging the Philadelphia return of Kaiju Big Battel on June 20th). This concert segued right into the end of intermission and the next match.

5. 2.0 (Jagged & Shane Matthews) defeated The Sea Donsters when Jagged reversed a sunset flip attempt by Hydra for the pin. In the beginning of the match, Matthews tells Donst that he hates his guts and tells Hydra that he’s on the gas and will be fired soon because of the Wellness Policy, but then offers to play a song on Donst’s guitar. Donst gives it to him, but Matthews attempts to use it as a weapon instead. Donst dodges it and gives Matthews the Stroke, then both he Hydra do the Fargo strut. A little later, Matthews went crazy giving everyone the Boston Crab, including his partner. Following the finish, fans of 2.0 cheered for them once again having one point, while Donst was visibly frustrated with Hydra’s loss and refused his forgiveness. Very short, but pretty fun for the time. (3:53)

6. Incoherence (Hallowicked & Frightmare) & Cheech Hernandez & KC “Cloudy” Day defeated Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw & The Future Is Now (Lince Dorado & Helios) when Dorado took the Go To Sleepy Hollow from Hallowicked and the shining wizard/powerbomb combo from Cheech & Cloudy. An insanely fun match with a bunch of crazy moves throughout and the fans going crazy, remarking how awesome it is midway through. Jimmy Olsen was supposed to be a part of this match, but he’s been sidelined by an ankle injury, so surprisingly taking his place was Quack in what is likely his last match before his back surgery. His involvement was minimal, while Jigsaw – at Quack’s request – has taken the role of a mentor to The Future Is Now, telling Dorado and Helios to make quick tags during the course of the match. As for the opposing team, what was thought to be Incoherence came out first, but this was actually Cheech & Cloudy in Hallowicked & Frightmare’s gear, while the actual Hallowicked & Frightmare came out afterward – to the White Zombie song off the Beavis & Butt-Head Do America soundtrack – in new orange and black attire (they’ll have some explaining to do to Taz later). I was convinced it was the other way around, but sure enough, the actual Frightmare was acting crazier than Cloudy as Frightmare, plus the wrestlers did their respective moves at the end. Cheech & Cloudy have donned Hallowicked & Delirious’ garb before, but with Cloudy and Frightmare approximately the same height and Cheech closer to Hallowicked’s height, it’s pretty uncanny now. I just realized that Hallowicked sporting a new orange and black mask here coincides with a fan contest to create a new mask (the winner chose Hallowicked’s to redesign). So yeah, this match was quite fantastic, and all eight congratulated one another afterward, as the crowd gave them a standing ovation. Chikara really excels in these all-technico six- and eight-man tags, so no better time than their anniversary weekend to have one. (14:04)

7. Eddie Kingston defeated Claudio Castagnoli after countering an attempted Ricola Bomb into an Oklahoma Roll. Stemming from a singles match in November won by Claudio and the first round of King of Trios, this was a very heated back-and-forth match. Fans were split as Kingston dished out slaps and Claudio answered with uppercuts. Nearly everything you can think of these two doing to one another happened. Kingston broke out a tope suicide to the floor at one point, while Claudio scored with a gut-wrench suplex, a bicycle kick from the floor to the apron, and a dead lift German suplex among other things. Kingston may have attempted to get his foot on the ropes for leverage at the finish, but he was too far away, but the match didn’t need it anyway. Very good stuff here. (17:54)

8. The Colony (Fire Ant & Soldier Ant) defeated F.I.S.T. (Icarus & Chuck Taylor) in a Double Mask vs. Double Hair Match after Fire Ant gave Taylor a second Beach Break. Gran Akuma and the rookie Green Ant were in the corner of their teammates at the start of the match, which began as a brawl as The Colony rushed the ring. As things settled down, Soldier Ant began getting the heel beatdown, in turn getting a hole in his mask around his mouth and getting his top torn. He got the hot tag to Fire Ant following a lariat, a shout-out to the fallen Worker Ant. A few minutes later, Taylor set the timekeeper’s table up by the apron, and with the help of a chair, caused Fire Ant to send ref Bryce Remsburg flying out the ring. Green Ant got the ringside doctor to check on Remsburg while Taylor gave Soldier Ant an Awful Waffle off the apron through the table. Green Ant and another ref took Soldier Ant to the back, while Icarus gave Fire Ant a pedigree in the ring. Remsburg slowly got back in the ring, resulting in a nearfall. Fire Ant continued fighting the odds until Soldier Ant managed to come back out, alongside Green Ant. Akuma went to attack him, missing him and hitting Green Ant with a clothesline, but then a new brown ant debuted to take down Akuma. Both new ants took Akuma to the back as the other ants continued the match. A crazy sprint of moves – including an insane running Awful Waffle on Fire Ant and a TKO by Soldier Ant on one of the heels – led to the finish, and the crowd was going apeshit for everything. Another standing ovation. An excellent match any fan of Chikara should check out, and every bit as dramatic as the Young Lions Cup VI Finals last year between Fire Ant and Vin Gerard. (23:17)

Post-match, Icarus & Taylor squirmed in the ring for what was to come as Leonard F. Chikarason came out and two chairs were brought in to the ring. Icarus & Taylor reluctantly sat in the chairs, looking like they wanted to be anywhere else in the world but in the ring. The ants then took to their hair with scissors and electric razors, eventually leaving them with sloppy skullets as the heels remained emotionless. As all four men gradually went to the back, the rest of the locker room can be heard applauding them.

Overall: Get this show on DVD. Get it for the main event, and get it for eight-man tag as well. Along with Claudio-Kingston and Cannon-Ophidian both being very good, the Glacier/D’Lo tag surpassing my expectations, and the Order of the Neo-Solar Temple taking a big turn with the addition of Delirious, this was an outstanding show. Chikara doesn’t have a regular show until July 31st in Reading, in what will be a Fan Appreciation Night. Between now and then, Chikara will be represented June 12th and 13th in Saitama and Tokyo for Big Japan Wrestling and July 25th as part of the inaugural Dragon Gate USA show in Philadelphia.