Pro Wrestling Chronicle

The mighty Chikara returned to Philadelphia for their second-to-last show of the year. Among other things, they held their second-ever Falls Count Anywhere Match and uncharacteristically dialed up 1-8-7.

The former ECW Arena finally has a proper name: The Asylum Arena. Wink Vavasseur, an auditor character hired by Chikara’s Board of Directors who first popped up in August (no BDK affiliation as far as I know now) wandered around the place. Gavin Loudspeaker opted to explain Chikara’s crowd guidelines through a song. When he brought up the name of the show, fans booed. Poor Jakob Hammermeier was in attendance too, slowly transitioning into Mr. Glass: he’s still in his neckbrace from July, his right arm in a sling as seen on the September shows, and now his left foot in a cast.

1. Soldier Ant defeated Pinkie “Pink Ant” Sanchez with the Chikara Special. Soldier Ant made a reserved hustle to Pinkie and the match got off to a hot start. Plenty of back-and-forth stuff, with Soldier Ant getting the better of chop battles and Sanchez taking short cuts. Soldier Ant managed to kick out of Pinkie’s burning hammer to much surprise and used a forearm to escape a second attempt. He hit the TKO before transitioning into the Chikara Special. Fire Ant and Green Ant ran out to celebrate with their victorious partner. Fun opener.

- Gavin’s introduction for the next match was interrupted by Brodie Lee and Grizzly Redwood, who reunited as the Roughnecks the previous night in Easton following a sneak attack on Dasher Hatfield. Before Grizzly could explain how they got back together, Dasher and Sugar Dunkerton ran in to fight with them. Refs, students, and other people (including former Chikara regular Jolly Roger and Bobby Shields) ran in to separate them to little success. Sugar did a dive off the top onto Brodie and other bodies on the floor. Dasher was about to do the same, but Grizzly powerbombed him off the cornbuckle. Then Brodie laid out Sugar with a boot. After the Roughnecks left, Sugar put out a challenge to them on the next show, December 12th in Reading.

2. Lince Dorado defeated Arik Cannon with the Shooting Star Press. More fun back-and-forth action, with Cannon getting the better of strikes and hitting some of his scary signature moves (exploder, brainbuster, Total Anarchy neckbreaker). Dorado slipped up on an attempted Lionsault, but that can play into his character, and he powered on. Cannon caught Dorado in the Chikara Special, but Dorado managed to escape. Toward the end, Dorado wrapped his legs around Cannon’s head out of a cornbuckle headstand, looking like he’d hit a headscissors, but instead hit a flipping piledriver from the position, then leading to the SSP and 1-2-3.

3. The Olsen Twins (Colin & Jimmy) defeated The UnStable (Vin Gerard & STIGMA) when Colin reversed a tights-assisted O’Connor Roll by Gerard into one of his own (and exposed too much of Gerard’s crack). A rematch from last month following the Olsens reuniting in September against The UnStable. Colin & JImmy looked in better shape in the past, and Colin has cut his hair. Also – and I find this really egregious – they have new entrance music. The Olsen Twins used to come out to the “Full House” theme lead-in followed by Britney Spears’ “Toxic.” Now they have the same lead-in, but it’s followed by “Tick Tock” by Ke$ha. Decent-to-good action all around here. Colin and Gerard exchanged hair-based offense early. Gerard and Jimmy brawled a quite a bit on the outside while Colin and STIGMA stayed in the ring. The Olsens hit stereo dives on opposite sides of the ring. Jimmy took out STIGMA toward the end with his trademark punch.

4. Tim Donst defeated Hallowicked with a bootlace-assisted rear naked choke. Solid character work throughout this one. Donst got the better of Hallowicked early turning his mask sideways to blind him. More back and forth thanks to Hallowicked’s yakuza kicks. Donst’s victory here was practically the same as his victory over Frightmare in June, making his opponent pass out through nefarious means without letting the ref see everything.

- Intermission. Met Bryce Remburg and commended him for THIS, which you absolutely should pick up if you’re really interested in Chikara’s early days. I was meaning to write something about one of the matches whenever I thought to do so.

5. Falls Count Anywhere Match: Ares defeated UltraMantis Black with a Praying Mantis Bomb onto a chair. Derek Sabato (in glasses) was the ref, counting slow for Mantis and fast for Ares. Mantis probably received the biggest crowd reaction out of anyone on the show, and it was awesome. They brawled early in the ring, took it backstage and up into the balcony where the hard camera and commentary table is set up (fans chanted “Push Sabato!” when they were up there), then back down into the crowd, outside (I didn’t bother following them) and into the crowd again. Tursas came out to help Ares, but Mantis avoided his wrath. By the mens’ room was a mechanical lift. Mantis got onto it, elevated it to well above the level of the mens’ room door, then dove off of it onto Ares and Tursas. Tursas got a hold of Mantis as they got back to ringside, but Mantis avoided a charge by the big man into the ring post. He attempted to dive onto him but got caught and was crotched on the guard rail. Ares hit Mantis with a tiger driver for only a two count, overcoming Sabato’s fast count again. Then, as Tursas got into the ring, Mantis called out these two druid bodyguards that have accompanied him in recent months. They unveiled themselves to indeed be recent debuts and all-around creepy guys Obariyon & Kodama. Ares looked pretty scared. Before they could help Mantis, the lights dimmed a bit and a third hooded mystery man came out, beckoning Obariyon & Kodama to return to the back. Then Ares, despite nearly coming into contact with the unknown, finished off Mantis with chairshots to the back and the finish. Very fun stuff action-wise and story-wise, though I’m sure it’ll play out much better on DVD.

6. Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw defeated F.I.S.T. (Icarus & Chuck Taylor), The Osirian Portal (Amasis & Ophidian), and Sara Del Rey & Daizee Haze in a 4-way elimination tag match. Jigsaw has gone from the pleather pants to long tights. Icarus was wearing a jacket for the first minute or so before removing it to unveil his unsavory back tattoo, to which he’s still having detail added. The bulk of the first portion of the match had the three Chikara teams going at it – including Taylor with his bum shoulder suffered the previous night in EVOLVE – while the ladies of BDK (who already had three points coming into this) stayed on the outside. Jigsaw was worked over quite a bit. After lots of fast action and dives, Jigsaw connected with a brainbuster on Icarus to eliminate F.I.S.T. Following time the women spent with the Portal and QuackSaw, Amasis took a big spill off the top to the floor right in front of me (selling it big time), while Quack hit Ophidian with a double underhook superplex, eliminating the Portal. The women began working over QuackSaw a lot, hitting a lot of their big moves (including the Royal Butterfly on Quack) which they then kicked out of or saved each other from. Very hot moments all. Del Rey was subdued by Quack, and ultimately Jigsaw pinned Daizee with QuackenDriver 1 (standing iconoclasm). So with getting all three pins in the match, QuackSaw finally scored the three points necessary to challenge for the titles. My favorite match on the show and perhaps the longest at over 19 minutes.

- Da Soul Touchaz (Acid Jazz, Marshe Rockett, Willie Richardson, manager C-Red, and their valet Dymond) were in attendance and came out to assist with the show-long prize raffle, which included the raffle ticket being picked by a baby girl. Then C-Red cut a promo about how they have the BDK’s number, defeating them in matches in Michigan, Brooklyn, and the previous night in Easton. Then Ares walked out cutting a promo in German, closing in English by saying the BDK have their number as the rest of the BDK jumped the Touchaz from behind. Only absent members were Daizee and the currently-in-NOAH Claudio Castagnoli and Delirious. Del Rey took out Dymond with a pile driver, and C-Red was laid out by a second rope splash from Tursas. Not sure if this was a way to write off Da Soul Touchaz, or if they’re going to be making more appearances in 2011.

7. Frightmare defeated Johnny Gargano with a top-rope Kneecolepsy to retain the Young Lions Cup. Frightmare came out wearing a personalized Eagles jersey, then Gargano got a hold of it and wiped his nether regions with it. The action was taken to the outside, where Gargano hit Frightmare with his “You’re Dead!” lawn dart into the ring steps. In retaliation shortly afterward, Frightmare gave Gargano Kneecolepsy while he was draped over the edge of the ring (as anyone will tell you, the hardest part of the ring). Lots of fun action prior to a regular Kneecolepsy and the top-rope version to finish it.

8. Eddie Kingston defeated Homicide with the Backfist to the Future. Both guys came out to great ovations. Homicide wrestled in a Chikara shirt. It started with both guys measuring each other up and working over each other on the mat. Homicide connected with a flipping senton off the apron to the floor, and Kingston followed that up shortly with a suicide dive. Action was largely methodical but well worked, though the crowd was fairly tired by this point and not nearly as hot as they were two matches earlier. Homicide worked over Kingston more on the outside, nearly stabbing him a pencil. Homicide hit the Three Amigos but caught knees when he attempted the frog splash. Kingston scored a nearfall after a backdrop driver and Sliding D, and also made a comeback following a backfist to an in-flight Homicide. Solid match overall, but not the strongest match to main event unfortunately.

Overall: A fun show as we’ve come to expect for quite a while now. However, this was the first Chikara show I’ve attended this year that was pretty standard, whereas the others I’ve attended were the first show of the year with BDK’s first matches, King of Trios weekend, and the big supercard with Dragon Gate talent. Still, a lot of good action with some pieces set into motion for the last show of the year (December 12th in Reading) and beyond. That beyond would be their first 2011 show, January 23rd back in Philadelphia, for which I bought a ticket to while at this show.