Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw vs. Claudio Castagnoli & Bryan Danielson (Chikara 9/13/09)

Last night, I watched a match from this past September (much fresher in the public’s minds than everything else I’ve been watching) that I enjoyed so much, I wanted to implore other people to check it out. I know John usually does these What I Watched columns, but I probably wouldn’t have gotten a chance anyway to bring up this match publicly. It doesn’t quite fit in any of the current audios. I guess I could have dug up an old column title called Steal This Match, but a lot of (if not all) indy wrestling should be paid for and supported by fans, not stolen. This match especially.

This match took place on Chikara’s debut show in New Hampshire, “Hiding In Plain Sight,” which is a fantastic show overall (only major downfall here might be ring, but I’ve seen worse in IWA-MS) and has a large and lively crowd for a new market on a Sunday afternoon. Perhaps because Bryan Danielson stopped by – making his first appearance for Chikara since the big King of Trios weekend in March – as part of his Final Countdown tour on the independents. He teamed with Claudio Castagnoli, one of his teammates in Team Uppercut as part of that tournament, to take on Chikara flag-bearers Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw. Regular ROH ref Todd Sinclair officiated, while regular Chikara ref Bryce Remsburg and ring announcer Louden Noxious call the action (all three do a good job).

Lots of back and forth wrestling to start. When Danielson tagged in, Jigsaw openly said that he thinks Quack wants to wrestle him. Danielson and Quack have been really good together in the few matches I’ve seen them have with each other, and we also see Quack and Claudio show off more of their great history. The real meat and potatoes of the match is Jigsaw getting his leg worked over. He suffered a knee injury at the Dragon Gate USA show in Chicago the previous weekend; Bryce brought this up on commentary, and also how Danielson would know it from being at the same show and Claudio would know just from how fast word spreads. One amazing moment during Jigsaw’s deconstruction was Danielson unleashing a brief flurry of forearms like a madman as Jigsaw tried to break a submission attempt. Never a dull moment here, as the potential pain for Jigsaw oozed through his masked face and his knee was exposed and victimized by deep half crabs and the like. Claudio broke out a one-legged giant swing on the bad knee, and the crowd sold it big. It came to an end as a fed-up Quack simply came in and slapped Danielson across the face, with Jigsaw rolling out of the ring making it a legal lucha tag. A lot more greatness and a few high spots brought it home at nearly 22 minutes, with Quack scoring the pinfall on Danielson after a reversal of a reversal off the top. Right up there with the best of the banner year Chikara’s been having, as well as anything Danielson has had in ROH.

Afterward, Danielson gave the speech he’s given throughout his farewell tour: he shouldn’t have the title of Best in the World as other people have been having better matches than him. The fans cried foul and someone asks for an example. Danielson gives one from the last set of ROH tapings, saying how The American Wolves vs. The Young Bucks was a better match than his with Roderick Strong (I’d have to see them again, but I might beg to differ). He also brought up some more vague examples in which Claudio, Quack, and Jigsaw had better matches on cards he was on. He thanks Quacksaw for the match they just had, as well as Chikara in general, and he throws out the challenge for every other wrestler to become the Best in the World. Humble to the core, yet his back and ass are still in tact.

The entire Chikara show featuring this match, an important tag title match between the Osirian Portal and the Colony, storyline rifts between tag team partners, and an epic comedy match with Colt Cabana, can be purchased HERE.