1. Eric Ryan vs. Bobby Beverly is a No Contest when Kevin Steen comes in and takes them both out. These two guys (both out of the Ohio area, Ryan did YLC last year, Beverly did ROH TV squashes last year) had a decent match prior to getting killed. Steen even package piledrove one guy onto the other. The commentary team – Lenny Leonard and Rob Naylor – were freaking out.

- Steen (wearing a PWG shirt) took the mic. Building sound was pretty low at first, but I could still hear him somewhat. He told Leonard and Naylor he would mouth-rape them if they talked during his mic time. He ragged on a few of the fans too (lots of “comedians” in the building). He sat in the middle of the ring Indian style before opting to stand back up. He mentioned how the last time he was in New York, he came to “Ring of Horseshit” and told them to go fuck themselves. Then he gave kudos to “that other guy” for following his lead the next night. He ran down Jim Cornette, mentioned how he helped sign away talent from EVOLVE, and how he wanted to shove that tennis racket up his ass… if not for Davey Richards already being shoved up there. He slammed Davey some more for leaving EVOLVE. Then he brought up his split with El Generico and how the real problem started when he was teamed up with him by the same guy now running EVOLVE, so he was looking to destroy EVOLVE now. He then went on his brief Anti-Christ of Wrestling tirade before Bobby Fish came out and calmly stood up for EVOLVE. He brought up how they defined their own rules, and that Steen should stay within them if he expects to stay. Fish left, and then Steen calmly left as well.

2. The Super Smash Bros. def. Facade & Jason Gory after a Gory Special/Blockbuster combo on Facade. A little spotty at first, but it came together nicely. SSB are in new green gear. In the post-match interview, Uno said they were going to get a million wins.

3. Silas Young def. Sugar Dunkerton with his headstand moonsault finisher with a name I can’t spell. Silas treated him like a joke throughout, including some playing with a basketball to start, but Sugar wanted to stay serious.

- Silas said afterward that this win puts him one step closer to Gargano, who then came out himself. He mentioned how after the first show, Gargano gave Silas a drink that sent him downhill, but Gargano didn’t know Silas’ history at the time and didn’t know one drink could do that. He played face here and apologized for it, offering a handshake, but Silas walked away didn’t accept it.

4. Pinkie Sanchez def. Lince Dorado with a Figure Four Leglock. Fun match to which Dorado brought his working shoes. Steen joined commentary at this match, from which point he talked about everything from Naylor being a midget to Leonard splitting up with Dave Prazak.

- Larry Dallas came out for his paid interview time, and now has that big black dude Ahtu as his own version of Diesel or Big Bubba Rogers. He again insisted that Gargano vs. Taylor wouldn’t happen, and then he introduced his new team The Scene, which consisted of Scott Reed & Caleb Konley.

5. The Scene def. Up in Smoke with a DDT into a wheelbarrow German on Cloudy, ending Up in Smoke’s undefeated streak. Larry and Ahtu watched from the entrance stage, not at ringside where they weren’t allowed. This match got more time and was more competitive than I thought it would be, and pretty good overall.

- Dallas uncharacteristically turned down interview time, so Leonard asked for a statement from Cheech on their first loss. Cheech responded by kicking Cloudy in the gut and giving him Go To Cheech, so their team is now done.

6. Bobby Fish vs. Jon Davis is thrown out after just a couple minutes when Steen ran in and gives a forearm to Fish while he had Davis in a headlock (considerably weaker than his beatdown of the opening match guys). Fish was pissed and asked that Steen face him in an unsanctioned street fight. Davis wanted to kick some ass as well and asked to make it a three way, so the ref (Brett Lauderdale) rang the bell… and was promptly laid out by a Davis lariat. Mike Kehner came out to ref a little later. The three guys fought in and around the ring, and it was a solid brawl overall. Fish had Steen in the Fish Hook at the end, but Davis broke it up, gave Steen the Pounce, then pinned Fish with 3 Seconds Around the World. Steen grabbed a chair after this and started getting into it with Davis some more before security grabbed Steen and dragged him out of the building.

Intermission: They showed an FIP match from April 2010, Roderick Strong vs. Jon Moxley for the FIP World Title that Davey Richards vacated. This was from a weird time where FIP no longer had company ties to ROH, but still booked a few ROH wrestlers like Strong and Erick Stevens. A good match with Moxley working over Strong on the body and Strong fighting back with his usual offense. Erick Stevens (who turned heel on Strong at this time) came out to distract Strong, leading to Moxley hitting him with the Hook & Ladder and making him tap to the chicken wing. So Moxley won the title here, which he would go on to vacate a year later when he signed with WWE.

7. John Silver def. Tony Nese with an arm-capture lungblower. Silver is smaller than Nese and a bit more off-kilter; shades of Chris Dickinson or Mike Mondo. These two were allowed to go all out (they know each other from NYWC), and went from having a little support from local fans that knew them to winning almost the whole crowd over. Good match with a surprising result.

8. Finlay def. Sami Callihan with a tombstone piledriver after Sami kicked out of the Celtic Cross (Air Raid Crash) twice. This was the match I was most excited to see, and I thought it was amazing. Finlay was great, either kicking ass or performing the illusion of kicking ass when actually working light (based on stories I heard). Sami sold for for him like a mofo and got some comeback moments, including a Saito Suplex out of nowhere. Crowd was at its hottest for this match, as was I. Finlay put over Sami afterward as one of his toughest opponents, and had a little trouble speaking due to chops to his throat. Finlay hugged the ravaged Sami at ringside. Definitely something must-see among all of the indie stuff out there.

9. Chuck Taylor def. Johnny Gargano with the Awful Waffle, so now both guys are 6-3 in EVOLVE. Dallas came out again and wanted the match to be cancelled, but Gargano called for the bell to ring and the match to stop. A few minutes in, Gargano had Taylor in a headlock and Dallas threw in the towel again in an attempt to end it, but Gargano wiped his ass with it, threw it back in Dallas’ face, and fired him. Total babyface now. They went on to have a very fun match that the crowd was still into after the last match, but unfortunately the feed died (not just for myself, but for other viewers). So I missed a good few minutes from the middle, but it came back on as they were closing in on the finish. They used each others’ finishers on each other (Taylor doing the Hurts Donut during the downtime, Gargano giving Taylor the Awful Waffle by the time they came back on). After the finish, they hugged and raised each others’ hand.

Very fun show overall, and the replay will be available imminently.

Watch it here. I was smiling ear to ear just like Regal.

As detailed on this site a few times already, it’ll be Full PWChronicle McGillicutty in New York City, as myself, Steve, Bossman Johnny P., the UNR crew, and other colleagues plan to meet up and attend ROH’s “Best in the World 2011″ event in the Hammerstein Ballroom. I likely would have just ordered this show from home as usual (and it should be a really good show with the top three matches alone), but the domino effect of a bunch of us meeting up for this took off like a rocket. I’m pumped to meet up with these guys for the first time in a long time (or first time period) alone, and see my first Hammerstein show after seeing ROH the Grand Ballroom twice. Hoping we can at least get decent seats.

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To help build up their big show on Sunday, not to mention their new TV show, ROH and Sinclair Broadcasting held a press conference in Baltimore this afternoon, which can now be viewed HERE. We learned that the new broadcast television show will premiere on Saturday, September 24th, and we were introduced to the new company logo (more akin to their original logo from 2002, but also more bush-league than what they should have). The main eventers had words for each other, the Briscoes and Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team had a pull-apart brawl, several undercard talents were paraded out to golf claps, Delirious was a shadow in the background, and Mike Johnson (…Michael) was in attendance. All in all, you win some and you lose some.

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I just learned today that Amasis of the Osirian Portal has retired from wrestling, due to severe injuries he suffered in an accident back in May. I’m very sad to hear this, as he was very talented and fun to watch very early in his career. I remember seeing his debut in Chikara back in September of 2007; he and Ophidian won over the fans pretty damn well back then, and they grew into one of the funnest, most popular teams on the scene. The Funky Pharaoh’s career may be over, but the Funk will never die.

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Announced today, everyone’s favorite madman-that-relocated-to-South Jersey Sami Callihan adds another big match to his young career when he takes on Dave “Fit” Finlay at EVOLVE 9 on July 26th. My mind was blown that Gabe Sapolsky and company secured Finlay (currently out of WWE, at least for the time being), let alone that they matched him up against the New Horror. Wonder if fellow Callihan booster and World of Sport fan Johnny P. has heard this yet.

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Last weekend, at the Wizard World Comic Con in the Pennsylvania Convention Center, this really happened:

Yes, that’s me. My mission to make some friends jealous is succeeding. She was quite lovely in person, but I did not expect her to wear something like that. This was also the only overpriced celebrity photo I took at the Con, though I was also in the presence of the great Bruce Campbell a few hours later.

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Earlier this week, over Twitter, this really happened:

pwchronicle PW Chronicle
Thanks for Shattering my illusions about wrestling!! RT @TNA_GUNNER Wrestling is a whole new world than it used to be!!

TNA_GUNNER Gunner
I call it Gunnering ur illusions..ur welcome WOOOOO.RT @pwchronicle: Thanks for Shattering my illusions about (cont) http://tl.gd/b9mpsb

Granted, from looking at his page, Gunner appears to be very tweet-friendly with all those that mention him, which is awesome. Still, to think that this may very well be the first wrestler to retweet one of Steve’s musings is hilarious.

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No wonder he gave up the Cattle Mutilation.

The weekend started on a somber note as Chikara paid their respects to Larry Sweeney. Fans were allowed to write their messages on a poster board as they came in each night. Many of the wrestlers wore pink and purple cloth straps on their person. To open the first night, a pair of sunglasses was placed in the center of the ring as nearly the entire roster, plus invited guests like Cary Silken and Hydra, surrounded the ring for a 10-bell salute and a moment of silence. Many of them, including Mike Quackenbush, Eddie Kingston, and Jigsaw, were visibly upset. A tribute video was played, followed by the crowd and talent erupting applause and chants for the Sweet & Sour one. A truly touching moment, and the love didn’t stop. In their First Round victory alongside Manami Toyota, Quack used Sweeney’s ’68 Comeback Special (a neckbreaker/DDT combo) on one of the Maximos, and Jigsaw finished him off with a 12-Large Elbow Drop. Kingston, in his first match of the weekend on Night 2 against Arik Cannon, wore a Sweeney shirt to the ring. Following his victory (a nearly 8-minute war of strikes and suplexes), he embraced Cannon and the two of them held up the shirt to the camera. Jigsaw also pulled out Sweeney’s DiBiase-esque fist drop in a singles match on Night 3.

The Colony advanced over Sinn Bodhi & The Batiri in the First Round, overcoming interference from Kobald (the goblin guy Sinn introduced in December) and the heel tendencies and incompetence of ref Derek Sabato. In the Quarter-Finals, they scored a big victory of the BDK team. In the First Round, the BDK overcame Da Soul Touchaz when Tursas interfered with a cross body and allowed Jakob Hammermeier (portrayed as a weakling and punching bag in his matches) to get the pin. They went for the same plan here on Green Ant, but he managed to duck and Jakob ate the crossbody. Then, continuing into his ode to Lex Luger (which began when returned from injury with a metal plate in his arm), he slammed Tursas to a massive pop and put Jakob in the Torture Rack for the quick submission. The slam spot was something carried over from the Tursas Body Slam Challenge. This wouldn’t be the only tribute to mid-90s WWF over the weekend.

In the Semi-Finals on Night 3, they met The Osirian Portal, another team thought to be favorites to win it all. They had advanced successfully over ¡3.Ole! and Team Dragon Gate. This opener for Night 3 saw a good, competitive match between two babyface teams that have met before, ending with a top rope neckbreaker by Soldier Ant. In the Finals, they met up old rivals F.I.S.T., who vanquished Team Australia in the First Round (they kept things basic, weren’t all that impressive, but still received a nice reception for making the trip) and avenged their loss last year to Team Osaka Pro in the Quarter Finals when Taylor rolled up Ultimate Spider Jr. with a handful of tights. In the Semi-Finals, F.I.S.T. were matched up with Team Michinoku Pro, who had been on fire all weekend. Limitations or no, Sasuke, Togo, and Shinzaki are still great friggin’ wrestlers and had excellent matches with Team Minnesota and Team Toyota. Togo is the one about to retire, yet he was probably moving the best out of all of them. Shinzaki looked really good and walked the ropes, and Sasuke was game for everything, including wrestling Darin Corbin in slow motion… twice! People were really rooting for them, but F.I.S.T. derailed them with a handful of powder to Sasuke’s eyes and a small package. It gave monster heat to F.I.S.T. and built some good tension going into the Finals, providing more drama than a face team vs. face team match would have provided. F.I.S.T., and especially Icarus, earned great scorn all weekend; fans rooted for Team Australia against them with chants of “Let’s Go Not F.I.S.T.” and Icarus was to every chant from “Worst in the World,” to “Please Retire,” to a chant to tap to a headlock.

So with the Finals set between F.I.S.T. and the Colony, they pulled out all of the stops. Green Ant fought back from weakened arm and a ripped antenna. A Chikara Special submission by Soldier Ant on Chuck Taylor was thwarted when Icarus pulled the ref out of the ring. They teased an Awful Waffle through the ringside table, a la the Hair vs. Masks Match from 2009. Fire Ant survived the Awful Waffle, Green Ant survived the Pedigree, and a reintroduction of the powder backfired on the heels. The Colony finally won when they pulled out the Super Ant Hill from last year’s tournament and finished off Icarus with it. A great ending to the weekend that made sense after last year’s screw job.

In addition to Team Michinoku Pro kicking ass, Sean Waltman made a believer out of people again. In addition to donning the role of the 1-2-3 Kid once more (old-fashioned gear, clean-shaven face, but no mullet), he also basically took on the role of Randy the Ram (except at the end, his heart didn’t explode). I was very worried in the beginning when he took forever to make his entrance on Night 1, but things were pretty much smooth sailing from there. He was overtaken with emotion by the crowd’s chants for them and didn’t let them down. Just as he stared down Shinzaki, fans broke out a chant of “1995,” which made Waltman laugh. That tournament match, which main evented Night 1, was indeed very good, and included Waltman hitting a crazy suicide flip to the floor. On Night 2, he had another good match as part of Rey de Voladores, outlasting Amazing Red, Obariyon, and Frightmare in a four-way elimination match, ending when he beat Frightmare with a Super X-Factor. In the Rey de Voladores Finals on Night 3, he pulled out all of the stops against El Generico (who got chants of “Uno, Dos, Tres” to counter the “1-2-3″ chants). This one had some rough patches (a turnbuckle brainbuster into a cradle attempt that had a clunky execution, and a Yakuza Kick in the Corner for which Waltman didn’t get all the way up), but otherwise it was quite awesome. Lots of nearfalls, including from another Super X-Factor and a regular brainbuster. In my favorite moment of the match, Generico even broke out the Razor’s Edge on Waltman. When he went for the pin, Waltman countered with a crucifix for another nearfall. Generico finally won with the successful turnbuckle brainbuster, earning him the Rey de Voladores plaque and his biggest win in Chikara. Waltman took the time to cut promos after all of his matches, putting over the fans for their support and his opponents. After this match, he said how much he was touched by the crowd response and how Philadelphia is a hotbed for the best wrestling. He also said this might retire this year, and that if this was his last match, he couldn’t think of a better opponent to have it with than Generico.

Generico, by the way, won his four-way elimination match over Pinkie Sanchez, Marshe Rockett (who dished out some Roderick Strong-level chops) and the impressive Englishman Zack Sabre Jr. (my first time seeing him live and second time overall). Sabato was the ref and was helping Pinkie throughout the match, eliminating Rockett and Sabre, but it was after Sabato helped Pinkie thwart an attempted turnbuckle brainbuster that Director of Fun Wink Vavasseur came out. He’s proven to be pretty aloof about what’s going on in Chikara, but the heavy influence over Sabato, against Sabato’s will, is very interesting. At this point, he made him exchange his white BDK ref shirt for a regular blue ref shirt. Pinkie’s confusion and frustration over this led to his demise, and Generico made some great faces toward Sabato as he counted the fall and raised his hand.

The teams from Dragon Gate and Osaka Pro really impressed all weekend. Akira Tozawa continues to his crusade of awesomeness, and his partners Super Shisa and Kagetora looked good too in their matches with the Spectral Envoy and the Portal. Fans around me thought that them defeating the Envoy was an upset, to which I say, “Really? It’s Dragon Gate.” UltraMantis Black, by the way, probably received the biggest ovation out of all of the Chikara regulars in his lone in-ring appearance. Tozawa also had an awesome match on Night 3 (the first in a trifecta that night) against Eddie Kingston. Kingston won it with a backfist and backdrop driver to win it, then showed respect to Tozawa. On the Osaka Pro side, Ultimate Spider Jr. had a good debut weekend with his spider antics (including some invisible webs used for offense), closing on Night 3 with a singles loss to Jigsaw. Atsushi Kotoge and Daisuke Harada also continued to win over fans. After their victory in the First Round over the Throwbacks (which had even better comedy than ¡3.Ole! vs. Portal, from an in-ring race between Kotoge and Sugar Dunkerton, to a penalty shot, to Dunkerton getting bullied by Matt Classic), fans chanted for them to please come back, then chanted for them to simply stay. Similar response after their loss to F.I.S.T. Then Kotoge and Harada entered the 10-Team Tag Gauntlet, earning three points with victories over the Rougnecks, 3.0, and Kagetora & Shisa. So it’s a matter of time before they come back to challenge for the Campeones de Parejas (or QuackSaw could head to Osaka Pro).

Also involved in the Gauntlet were Acid Jaz and Willie Richardson of Da Soul Touchaz, Cannon & Corbin, the Batiri, the Throwbacks (who advanced over the Batiri via DQ), Sara Del Rey & Daizee Haze, and a team that must return: Matt Classic & Darkness Crabtree. Their bickering was hilarious, and the crowd stayed quiet for it. Classic didn’t think Death Haze were his opponents at first, giving them his jacket and towel as he prepared for his “real” opponents. Classic (a powerhouse on Nights 1 and 3 who left each of his matches in a huff when he lost) chastised the “dames,” and Crabtree came at them in lecherous fashion.

Classic’s apparent young boy and NWA World Champion, Colt Cabana, was selling merchandise all weekend (I bought The Wrestling Road Diaries from him), and he made a surprise in-ring appearance to open Night 2, answering the open challenge of Chikara newcomer Archibald Peck. Peck, who doubles as RD Evans, barrister for the Embassy in ROH, is an over-the-top marching band cadet with a wiry frame and a big hat. He is accompanied by a majorette named Veronica, played by a woman who went from being a long-time fan to a Chikara crew member/presumed student for the past few years. Together they are known as The Band, which I thought was asking for some Waltman crossover. I wasn’t sure about this act in their first appearance last month, where Peck lost his debut match to Kingston, but here I thought they were gold. Peck issued his challenge for a duel with Cabana with a glove slap, and Cabana answered it with a boot slap. A very funny opener for the second night, ending with a distraction by Veronica, a shot to the head with a baton, and a diving headbutt to give Peck the victory.

Amazing Red, who only competed on the first two nights before heading to Lockdown, looked good as usual, while the Maximos, despite huffing wind, pulled out some cool stuff and received a surprisingly strong ovation from the crowd following their First Round loss to Team Toyota. Their match was the shortest of Night 1 at around 10 minutes, but was some good fun. Toyota herself worked sparingly in the First Round, but still brought the goods. She got more involved on Night 2 against Team Michinoku Pro, from giving Sasuke the rolling cradle to getting beat to hell by Togo. On Night 3, she defeated Madison Eagles in a singles match, hitting the Ocean Cyclone Suplex for a nearfall before finishing her off with a brutal driver move.

Overall, this was an amazing weekend and my favorite King of Trios since 2009. It truly felt like an indy WrestleMania, and it felt like nearly everyone brought their A-game for the sake of weekend, and I’m sure many of them in honor of Sweeney. I had an awesome time and won’t forget seeing such legends and such great talent in person. The DVDs at Smart Mark Video have got to be must-buys, with Night 2 perhaps being one of the best shows of the year when all is said and done. If you’ve seen these shows in person or at home, please share your thoughts in the comments below.

I also took a lot of photos throughout the weekend (as did many other people), which can be found HERE!

Chikara returns to action with their debut in Burlington, NC on May 14th, followed by Easton, PA on May 21st and Union City, NJ on May 22nd (two of many indy shows in the span of that week). Those will be their Aniversario shows, closing their eighth year and beginning their ninth, as well as the beginning (and perhaps ending) of a 12-man tournament to crown Chikara’s first singles champion.

Following last year’s King of Trios, then-Director of Fun Dieter VonSteigerwalt retired the tournament, claiming the BDK trio of Claudio Castagnoli, Ares, and Tursas would be the final – and greatest – King of Trios champions. Fast-forward a year, Dieter is out, Wink Vavasseur is in, and King of Trios is back in action! This year’s tournament will follow the same format as the past two years, with the First Round on the night of Friday the 15th (16 trios, 48 wrestlers total!), the Quarter-Finals on the night of Saturday the 16th, and the Semi-Finals and Finals on Sunday the 17th in the afternoon. The Rey de Voladores tournament (two four-way elimination matches leading into one singles match) is confirmed to return, taking place over Saturday and Sunday along with other non-tournament matches. The eight opening round matches all offer some form of intrigue due to the varied participants. Hyperbole or not, this could very well be the most star-studded field yet.

Team Michinoku Pro (Great Sasuke & Dick Togo & Jinsei Shinzaki) vs. Team Minnesota (Arik Cannon & Darin Corbin & 1-2-3 Kid). Clearly the biggest attention grabber of the First Round. The Michinoku Pro contingent, in addition to all of their Japanese accolades, have roots in some of the brighter spots of the mid-90s U.S. scene, appearing in both ECW (with Sasuke and Togo on opposite ends of that trios match from Barely Legal) and WWF (Sasuke clashing with Taka Michinoku, Togo briefly working as a member of Kaientai, and of course Shinzaki’s run as Hakushi). All three are credited by Chikara as heavy influences of what they do, and they’ll certainly be the sentimental favorites of the weekend given the earthquakes that affected northern Japan (where the Michinoku Pro offices are located, and where Shinzaki lost his home and restaurant). Also, Togo’s participation is apparently part of a retirement tour. To my knowledge, he’s the most recent visitor to the U.S., having last been here in 2002 to team with Ikuto Hidaka at ROH Unscripted. On the opposite end, Sean Waltman (provided he shows up) is expected to flash back to mid-90s WWF himself, perhaps tangling with Shinzaki in something akin to Summerslam ’95 (which a lot of people are expecting and remember better than me). His teammates Cannon and Corbin have been crowd favorites the past three years alongside Ryan Cruz as The F1rst Family (word is Cruz has retired), but have never gotten past the Quarter-Finals. Should be a very good match, with big butterflies for all involved.

Team Dragon Gate (Akira Tozawa & Super Shisa & Kagetora) vs. The Spectral Envoy (Hallowicked & Frightmare & UltraMantis Black). Another exciting Japanese team, with Tozawa (The New Fucking Man) coming back to Chikara after previous competing in last year’s Young Lions Cup tournament. His partners both have at least one U.S. appearance under their belt, with Kagetora (a member of Kamikaze in Japan) competing in PWG’s DDT in 2008. Hallowicked and Frightmare (Incoherence) were shot down the First Round in the past two King of Trios tournaments, with Delirious and Mike Quackenbush as their partners. Now that they’ve aligned with Mantis in his war with Sinn Bodhi’s dark army, they have a new tournament partner and a new handle. Mantis’ past experience in the tournament has been in 2007 and 2008, with Crossbones and Hydra as his partners as part of the Order of the Neo Solar Temple, but their success rate was also low. They’re heavy fan favorites going in.

Amazing Red & The Maximos (Wil & Joel) vs. Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw & Manami Toyota. My choice for the oddest First Round match, as the Campeones de Parejas and one of the best women wrestlers ever lock horns with a team that parties like it’s 2002. This is the first time Quack and Jigsaw have been on the same KoT team since the first one in 2007, which they won alongside Shane Storm (STIGMA). Toyota returns to Chikara following her successful and beloved visit back at the September shows (one of which saw her team with Quack. Amazing Red and the Maximos should be familiar to longtime fans of the northeast indy scene and TNA past and present. With Jose Maximo apparently retired though, a new Maximo takes his place, so we’re getting something a little more fresh. Red on his own should do well based on his recent work; it’d be even better if Don West tags along.

Team Australia (Tama Williams & Percy & Kabel) vs. F.I.S.T. (Icarus & Chuck Taylor & Johnny Gargano). The first trio announced for the tournament, this will be the first time F.I.S.T. goes in Garganofied. Alongside Gran Akuma, Icarus and Taylor conquered the mountain in 2009 but fell in the Quarter-Finals last year to Team Osaka Pro. Still, they should be a big force in the tournament. The three Aussies represent New Horizon Pro Wrestling, and I don’t know a thing about them outside of what they look to me: a generic indy guy, a poindexter, and a C-Grade Lord Humongous. Hopefully, they’ll do more than just walk away, and F.I.S.T. seems like a good barometer for their skills.

Team Osaka Pro (Atsushi Kotoge & Daisuke Harada & Ultimate Spider, Jr.) vs. The Throwbacks (Dasher Hatfield & Sugar Dunkerton & Matt Classic) Two returning teams from last year, albeit slightly modified. Kotoge and Harada (Blood & Guts) stole the weekend alongside Tadasuke, making it all the way to the Semi-Finals. They’re expecting to do better with the debuting Spider, a fellow babyface that might get along with them better. The Throwbacks lost in the First Round to F.I.S.T. last year. Dasher and Sugar have been on more of a roll lately, plus I’m sure they’ll have more confidence considering Dasher actually toured with Osaka Pro, Sugar has been gathering up more international experience, and Matt Classic is… Fucking Matt Classic (he has a low tolerance for those that don’t speak the language too).

Sinn “Kizarny” Bodhi & The Batiri (Obariyon & Kodama) vs. The Colony (Fire Ant & Soldier Ant & Green Ant). After coming so close to winning last year’s tournament before getting screwed by the Bruderschaft, The Colony are my sentimental favorites to take it all the way (finally). The rest of 2010 felt like kind of a down year for them due to Fire Ant and Soldier Ant’s injuries (broken face and broken arm respectively), but 2011 has been going pretty well so far. There is the possibility that first-timers Dark Army could unseat them and clash with Mantis and company in a later round, but that issue can be settled outside of the tournament brackets and shouldn’t come at the expense of The Colony’s comeback.

The Osirian Portal (Amasis & Ophidian & Hieracon) vs. ¡3.Ole! (El Generico & Scott “Jagged” Parker & Shane Matthews). Parker and Matthews haven’t taken part in King of Trios since the first one in 2007, where they formed a new Team Canada with Max Boyer and lost in the First Round to eventual winners QuackenShaneSaw. Four years later, following a stint in denim and a reboot in Zubas tights, they’re now teaming with ever-so-awesome Generico, last seen in January in a hell of a match with Eddie Kingston. Generico’s past KoT experience includes getting to the Quarter-Finals with the Super Smash Bros. in 2008, and not getting past the First Round with the Young Bucks (pre-GenMe) in 2009. Amasis and Ophidian, alongside the long-gone Escorpion Egipcio were responsible for beating Generico’s team that year before falling to The Future Is Now in the following round. Last year, they lucked into getting an entry, but unlucked into having the deck stacked against them by the BDK, with Sara Del Rey as their selected partner against Claudio and company. Now, they’ve been on a big role with the addition of Hieracon to their team, going undefeated in all of their other trios matches and placing them as pretty big favorites as well.

Da Soul Touchaz (Acid Jaz & Marshe Rockett & Willie “Da Bomb” Richardson) vs. The Bruderschaft des Kreuzes (Tim Donst & Delirious & Jakob Hammermeier). Feeling that he shouldn’t have to win it again (and because he’ll be on another NOAH tour), Claudio is sitting out this year, as are Ares and Tursas. He has put Donst in charge of captaining a BDK trio, and has decided to select Delirious (with KoT experience from ’08 and ’09) for his ruthlessness and Jakob as a partner he can mold. After being continuously injured for the second half of last year, Jakob has healed up, trained under Claudio, and made his debut match last month in Brooklyn a victorious one… thanks to everyone else helping him. So Donst, his apparent young boy, and the BDK’s ruthless puppet march into action against a team that wants their heads. Da Soul Touchaz first made their names in Chikara in 2008 and came back for more in 2009 (with an injured Jaz replaced by Trauma), making it to the Quarter-Finals each times. Now they’re returning after missing out last year, for the first time as roster regulars and for the first time with a grudge, still trying to avenge C. Red and Dymond being taken out by the BDK.

I’m still set to attend all three nights provided nothing more pressing comes up. Also of note is the annual Fan Conclave on the afternoon of the 16th. Among the activities planned are a dancing contest judged by the Osirian Portal, a Tursas Body Slam Challenge (so awesome), and a live concert by Stan Bush. I’ve always had a fun time at these, whether it be from seeing these activities or interacting with the wrestlers themselves. If you haven’t been exhausted by this past weekend, it should be a great time in just under two weeks.

Tonight’s card:

Main Event #1 – Open The Freedom Gate Title Match
YAMATO defends vs. Austin Aries

- Two of the most charismatic mofos battle it out for the top prize. As detailed in YouTube videos and news alerts, Aries has said he will leave DGUSA if he doesn’t win the title, as he doesn’t want to be around if he doesn’t have a serious purpose and leading the way.

Main Event #2 – Grudge Match – The Six Man Tradition Returns
Blood Warriors of CIMA, Naruki Doi & Ricochet
vs.
Ronin of Chuck Taylor, Johnny Gargano & Rich Swann

- Hell yeah. They say it’s the first time the traditional Mania weekend six-man tag has been used for grudge match purposes, though I’m sure the first big one, Blood Generation vs. Do Fixer, had some manner of grudge behind it. Ronin look to rebound big time from being shut out in their Stable Shootout with the Blood Warriors at yesterday’s “Open The Southern Gate” show in Burlington, NC.

Main Event #3 – Open The Brave Gate Title Match
PAC defends vs. Akira Tozawa

- Hell yeah x 2. Not the first time the Brave Gate Title is defended in the United States (Matt Sydal did so in 2007), but it is PAC’s first domestic defense of it, with the recent free agent/hot commodity offering a challenge.

Special Attraction Match – Non-Title
Open The Dream Gate Champion Masato Yoshino vs. Sami Callihan

- Huge showcase spot for Callihan, and I’m happy he’s got it.

Elimination Match
Jimmy Jacobs vs. Brodie Lee vs. Stalker Ichikawa vs. Silas Young vs. AR Fox vs. Jon Davis

- Jacobs and Lee are the obvious focal points here. Jon Davis of the Dark City Fight Club is trying his hand as a singles star beginning this weekend. This will be Stalker Icikawa’s debut for DGUSA. A former Open The Qwarai (Comedy) Gate Champion, Stalker first popped up in the US for PWG in 2007 (the first DDT4 shows). Unless much has changed, his deal is he gets beat up for everyone’s amusement. Essentially the Santino Marella of Dragon Gate, if you will.

Special Challenge Match
Jon Moxley with Trina Michaels vs. Arik Cannon

- Cannon won yesterday’s Breakout Challenge yesterday in Burlington, capped off with a victory over Jimmy Rave and an ass-kicking to Johnny Fairplay. Good thing he did since this match against one of DGUSA’s top Americans was already booked. Moxley has invited adult film star Michaels with him to counter the actions of Reby Sky, who should also pop up again tonight.

A full report to follow tonight’s show.

====================================

The stream started about six minutes late, so boo-urns to that. Fortunately, the stream of the live show was clear for the rest of the night, but the default video window they use (an Adobe Flash player) is really small, about half the size of GoFightLive’s default. Fortunately again, it can be expanded to full screen with far less stress than what GFL has. The crowd looked quite healthy, and they were hot for everything. This Atlanta venue, the Presidential Ballroom, reminded me of the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Dayton, OH that ROH goes to.

1. Jon Moxley (w/ Trina Michaels & Valerie Malone) defeated Arik Cannon with a small package. So this match was perhaps two-thirds done by the time the stream came on, but what I saw was alright. Both guys bring the goods, so I’ll have to see the full match later on a replay or the eventual DVD. Moxley had Cannon in a sleeper, but he fought out of it before his hand dropped a third time. One of the women handed Moxley a chair, but Cannon ducked the chair shot, and the chair rebounded off the ropes into Moxley’s head for a nearfall. The finish saw Malone (who’s from the midwest scene and popped up before as a BxB Hulk dancer that turned to Moxley) get in the ring and throw a fit at the ref, causing a distraction. This allowed Moxley to kick Cannon low and roll him up. Boo-urns goes the crowd.

- Reby Sky came out, complaining to the ref about the shenanigans, then to Moxley and his harem. Malone was shoved into Sky (a la that “Teen Mom” fight video), so Sky got into a cat fight with her and gave her an impaler DDT. Then Michaels clocked her from behind with something, and she and Moxley celebrated mid-ring as Sky was helped to the back.

- Austin Aries cut a backstage promo, telling YAMATO he’s putting it all on the line. Larry Legend handled the ring announcing, with all of his information coming by way of iPad, while the regular commentary team was in place.

2. Brodie Lee won the elimination match. “Hollywood” Stalker Ichikawa was hilarious in the early goings. He first tore off his velcro ears to use as fake ninja weapons, then gave AR Fox, Silas Young, and Jon Davis the run-around before coming up short on a crossbody. Then Fox, Young, and Davis dropped elbows on him, Jimmy Jacobs followed up immediately with a senton, but Brodie missed with his elbow. Stalker remarked how this was dangerous (Lenny Leonard: “I heard that from somebody before.”), and then lined up the five other wrestlers like they were his young boys and slapped them across the face. Brodie blocked his slap, but then Stalker pretended a mosquito landed on Brodie’s face and slapped it anyway. Stalker was taken down, but got back up a little later, only to come up very short on a cartwheel in the corner. Davis eliminated him with a lariat, and the crowd chanted, “You’re no fun.” Fox hit a few great dives that the crowd popped big for, then hit a flying Codebreaker on somebody. Jacobs invited Stalker back into the ring to a dive of his own, but he crashed and burned. Jacobs hit both Fox and Young with a tandem Contra Code, then he pinned Fox. Young got in some offense, as did Davis with a Pounce to Jacobs. Jacobs eliminated Young with the guillotine, then he pinned Davis with a crucifix following a boot to Davis by Brodie. Brodie only scored a nearfall after a boot. Jacobs gave him a Contra Code on the floor, then another one in the ring for a nearfall. Brodie finally put him down with a boot in the corner and the Truck Stop to win it, derailing Jacobs’ momentum after he already scored three eliminations. Plenty of fun to be had here. Match times care of Larry Legend’s detailed announcements (as Lenny said, he likely gets paid by the syllable). (13:54)

- Arik Cannon promo. He says sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes you get fucked! So he’s going to go about things his own way now.

3. Masato Yoshino defeated Sami Callihan with the Sol Naciente. Callihan has new music that includes his maniacal laughter. Fast and furious early, but Callihan got the upper hand and pulled out some pretty cool stuff and ground work. Yoshino fought back with his trademark moves and Callihan certainly held his own with him. Good stuff. Now’s a good time to plug Callihan’s SMV compilation, which has a really good shoot interview with him. (9:28)

- Callihan took the mic after Yoshino left and laughed, but then said this isn’t a laughing matter and he’s done fuckin’ around. Second F-Bomb of the night after Cannon, and outside of those times Bryan Danielson came in and people did his soccer chant, things are at least kept PG-13 in DGUSA.

- Jon Moxley promo. He said he’ll be taken out like Reby Sky. He blatantly cribbed from Terry Funk (fitting given the setting) when he said after tonight, Aries would be gone FOREVER! I’ll blatantly crib from Bryan Alvarez and say Moxley is a great man, and is BUYS.

4. PAC (w/ Masato Yoshino) defeated Akira Tozawa with a German suplex to retain the Open The Brave Gate Title. Plenty of fans for Tozawa. They started out with some good stuff, with Tozawa trying to keep PAC grounded, but by the end they were going balls to the wall. A cut on the head PAC suffered last night re-opened during the match, but it never got Jay Briscoe bad. Lots of fast paced action. Tozawa survived a springboard 450. He hit PAC with two consecutive suicide dives and a somersault dive to the floor. The crowd shat apes for the breathless exchanges and nearfalls. Tozawa nearly won with the deadlift German. Plenty of people wanted Tozawa to win here, but they still reacted huge for the match itself. This was tremendous and my favorite match of the night, and even the entire day between this and ROH. (19:39)

- PAC and Tozawa showed mutual respect. All of the Blood Warriors came out afterward and beat down PAC and Yoshino. CIMA said they’ll take their United Gate Titles tomorrow.

- Ronin cut a promo, saying they’re going to give the Blood Warriors a fight.

- Intermission. Just before it, Legend mentioned that the New Jack and Terri Runnels were there signing autographs. The feed cut to a series of previously shown online promos.

- The second half began with what was supposed to be a tag team match with four guys from the afternoon seminar. Sami Callihan came back out however and suplexed two of the guys. He said he was in a bad mood, a shitty mood, and a fuckin’ pissed off mood. He began talking about the Callihan Death Machine (possible ties to the United States Death Machine, and perhaps his own personal Nation of Violence) when Arik Cannon came back out. He essentially told Sami to fuck off, and that he lost in the middle of the ring, not screwed over by two women (though he used more unsavory language). I was beginning to think this was a riff on the majority of CZW promos. Then Cannon remarked they were both fucked over and the fans don’t care, and he took out the other two guys. Then both Cannon and Callihan, who I assume would unite over their frustration and cursing, started fighting and took it to the back. Ref Bryce Remsburg declared this tag match a No Contest, and Lenny got a little lippy over the obvious announcement.

- Quick promo by PAC, who said the Blood Warriors have his attention.

5. YAMATO defeated Austin Aries with the Galleria to retain the Open The Freedom Gate Title. Big support for Aries from the crowd, and they were definitely pulling for him toward the end. Moxley came out with YAMATO, but YAMATO told him to go to the back because he’s a fighting champion. The announcers marveled at YAMATO playing it fair. A couple minutes in, after YAMATO honored a rope break in a corner, Aries gave him a brainbuster for a nearfall, then the 450 for another nearfall. Wild stuff, presumably to show how serious Aries means it, and they fought on the floor. A little YAMATO took a powder under the ring, came up behind Aries for a sneak attack to send him to the floor, and worked him over with a broom. Lots of mat wrestling back inside, followed by some big moves exchanged, including dueling brainbusters. Aries kicked out of a YAMATO brainbuster at a 1-count. The first Galleria couldn’t put him away, but the second one did. This ended up being really good and heated. (25:23)

- The crowd thanked Aries, then YAMATO, who gave Aries some props with a bow. “Please Don’t Go!” chant and a standing ovation for Aries, who simply walked to the back.

- Jimmy Jacobs promo. He’s going to pick himself back up after his loss. His match tomorrow will be against Aries, who requested it (be it a title defense or his farewell match). He commended Aries for his match, but tomorrow he’s going to burn out, not allowed to just fade away. It may be his farewell, but Jacobs will make the most of the opportunity to work his way into title contention and make it his End Time.

6. Blood Warriors (w/ Brodie Lee) defeated Ronin when Naruki Doi hit Rich Swann with the Muscular Bomb. Ronin has matching gear, baby! The Blood Warriors started with an attack while streamers were still flying. Pretty traditional at first, with young Swann getting worked over. Very good stuff overall, full of slick maneuvers by all involved. Gargano sat Ricochet on a kneeling CIMA’s shoulder and hit the Hurts Donut. Ricochet and CIMA flew from opposite corners with a corner dropkick. Swann showed off some cool stuff. Only hiccups were Swann slipping up in a minor way, and Ricochet slipping up in a major way when attempting a Sasuke Special onto Taylor and Gargano toward the end of the match. He just seemed to crash into the ropes and seemed to hurt his knee, but Taylor and Gargano still acted like they were taken out. Still, a good main event, but I enjoyed the previous two matches more. (29:51)

- PAC & Yoshino ran in afterward to get some shots in on the Blood Warriors, but Brodie broke them away. CIMA cut a another promo on them saying they’ll take their belts, then Yoshino cutting a promo saying World-1 will not die. Both were partially in Japanese. Then both PAC & Yoshino thanked the fans for supporting the show.

Overall: Outside of the late start, this was really fun stuff. Don’t press me in to picking my favorite of the three iPPVs this weekend. I will say this show offered very different content from what ROH offered, and though ROH had the better deal, I still felt I got my money’s worth here. I very much enjoyed the five matches I saw in full (with PAC vs. Tozawa on top for me), and there’s some interesting booking leading up to their Sunday afternoon show or the next set of shows in June (in New York and Massachusetts). Most of DGUSA’s shows, and perhaps all of EVOLVE’s shows, will now be available for live streaming, though I seriously doubt I’ll be able to catch them all as they happen.

watch?v=DU4TDGlbTz8

I saw it yesterday, but then I heard today that it’s blowing up. Not quite to the level of the homeless man with the golden voice, but huge. Break.com, CollegeHumor.com, tweeted by Bill Simmons and “Lost” co-creator Damon Lindelof, and today’s #1 Around The Net video on tonight’s “Attack of the Show.”

Hopefully this can be spun into gold by the parties involved: CZW (like’em or hate’em, it was their show), Gacy & Slater (Holy Face Slide!), and especially the Portal and Chikara, for showing that wrestling can be just plain fun.

I can go through things pretty quickly from Philadelphia’s main card since it’s readily available through GoFightLive.tv, but I had a fantastic time live. My only issue from the night were a couple guys behind me (may have been inebriated, who knows) incessantly trying to get Brodie Lee’s attention during the last two matches. Not sure how the crowd came off from home obviously.

Parking at the Asylum Arena was fucking horrible this time around because of the snow and nobody caring enough to call Mr. Plow. I ended up chatting well with a few people before the show, including the same guy I sat next to in Rahway in October (big Jimmy Jacobs fan who incidentally ended up going to the New York show on Friday) and a couple guys who may have also been inebriated, but we bonded over our boredom with WWE’s main event players and our love of PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2007 (seriously, Night Three from that year was top-to-bottom excellence). If you caught the live stream (which aired on the Asylum’s stream), the dude who gave the double thumbs up during the opener was one of those guys. If he visits this site… hey dude, thanks for checking it out! You’ll love Up North Radio, and yeah I’m on Facebook too.

Mike Quackenbush sighting early. In dress clothes, just helping out with the show.

Two things occurred for the live crowd that the rest of the world didn’t see (a little bit for good reason). The first was a FRAY! match, the first time I saw one of these matches live (I was oddly excited for it). Royal Rumble format with a small group of guys (in this case, nine), with eliminations coming from pin or submission. EVOLVE and JAPW regular Chris Dickinson (his trunks this time reading SEX MURDER ART) came out on top when he eliminated the last guy in his path, Pinkie Sanchez (who scored a few eliminations and was the most over with the crowd). Both of these guys looked good. Other competitors included Chikara’s own Obariyon, Ryan Eagles (husband of Madison), an impressive dude from Ohio named Dave Cole, another impressive dude from South Jersey (further south than me) named RV1, and a guy I never heard of before, sporting furry boots and a passing resemblance to David Otunga, but he had some skills. This was more good than not.

This was followed by a mini-show put on by Kaiju Big Battel, with Gavin Loudspeaker reverting back to Louden Noxious to announce and narrate everything and a fake city set up within the ring. This all its charm, but kind of wore out its welcome for this type of crowd. This was likely taped for one of Kaiju’s own DVDs. The highlights were Dr. Cube coming back from the dead (Burnside will be happy to learn that), Sami Callihan making a cameo to help a Kaiju babyface win a match, and the most over character here: Steam-Powered Turbo Boulder.

Onto the main show, which had a more traditional layout than New York. Each match had plenty of time, with lots of big moves and nearfalls, reverting back to that “each match is a main event feel” that was kind of the format of the early shows. Everyone got plenty of cheers, including Kamikaze USA, so there was no real heel heat during matches, but I didn’t mind that too much because the action was so damn good, and this is just a different kind of promotion in general where the draw is clearly the matches. Of course, the promos of Jon Moxley and others certainly don’t hurt. Moxley was still a dick throughout, badmouthing Homicide more while Homicide’s friends jumped out of the crowd after him on two occasions. He also again encountered Reby Sky (very attractive in person and clearly being groomed to be the next Tammy Sytch), who sent him to the back to care for his nether region when he tried to cost Austin Aries his match against Akira Tozawa. The Velvet Revolver-esque Blood Warriors super-stable, after heeling it up in Japan earlier in the month, fully turned heel here in America when they denied respect to – and beat up – the increasingly popular Ronin, who kept saying they belong in Japan and backed it up with fair victories.

PAC & Masato Yoshino defeated Naruki Doi & Ricochet in the main event, and Ronin’s Chuck Taylor & Johnny Gargano defeated CIMA & Dragon Kid in the semi-main, so that gave Union City its match to decide the first Open The United Gate Champions. Both matches were really good (outside of the annoying Brodie fans I previously mentioned), with the main event perhaps being the best of the night. PAC was flat-out awesome, as was the interplay between the former Speed Muscle partners. I can’t discount Aries vs. Tozawa though. Great back-and-forth action combined with great character work, and after plenty of close calls, including a seduction/kiss by Reby Sky that would have been the finish in other places, Tozawa finally scored the fall with a straitjacket suplex to a huge ovation. If he wasn’t already made a star through PWG, he should be after this weekend.

YAMATO, being the new Open The Freedom Gate Champion, was the first guy to come out, with Moxley introducing him to the world. By hook or crook, he managed to defeat Brodie Lee in the chaotic opener by making him pass out to the choke sleeper. The one other Japanese star, former champ BxB Hulk, took it to Moxley in their match, made No DQ the night before, and ultimately won with his flash superkick. Rich Swann continued to impress with a competitive victory over Jimmy Jacobs, continuing to derail Jacobs’ quest for the title. Swann had yet to sing the Ronin theme song at this point in the show (he did for Taylor & Gargano’s time to wrestle), but that song was still over and he even got some chants of “Sing the Song!” Sami Callihan gained more momentum with a victory in a Six-Man Freestyle. Other guys in that match, full of total action in a nonstop fashion, were Jigsaw, fellow Chikara regular Frightmare in his DGUSA debut, Cheech Hernandez, CZW regular AR Fox (also debuting, and pinned by Callihan after a sliding forearm), and that big lug Rexx Reed. Reed first popped up back in July after taking part in the Dragon Gate seminar. Other guys from that seminar, Scott Reed and Tomasso Ciampa, were supposed to be on this show, but Scott was MIA for some reason and Ciampa joined ROH the previous weekend.

So there was much fun and excitement to be had Saturday in Philadelphia. The show ended earlier than I thought at around 10:25 PM, but that was good for my sake. I was way too busy (and too far away, even at home) to attend Union City’s taping, but it sounded aces based off the report at PWInsider (read if your computer can handle it). The most I’ll spoil here is that the Open The United Gate titles went the way of World-1. Also of note: the two Blood Warriors teams that would have fought each other joined forces instead to fight the odd quartet of differing circumstances that was Jacobs, Aries, YAMATO, and Callihan (it was explained fairly well). Homicide and Moxley had their No Rules match that aped what they did at EVOLVE 6 in November. Tozawa battled Hulk in what sounds like another standout match. Swann ran into Brodie’s convoy, and Cheech, Fox, Reed, and Pinkie got more attention in their own matches.

They announced a return to Philadelphia for June 6th, coinciding with the return to Manhattan.

Things worked out to where I was able to view this show live at its 7PM start time. The stream went very well, despite a few pauses and the volume of the crowd being low at times. I thought the picture quality was strong. The venue – B.B. King’s Blues Club and Grill in Time Square – looked small and intimate. Interesting atmosphere for a show, but I probably would have preferred a bigger one. The fans were pretty much into the action all night, so that’s a plus. The show itself lasted about two hours and seventeen minutes, as there was no intermission, and each match flowed right into the other. The only matches to receive proper introductions were the two tag tournament matches and the opener.

I’ll keep this report pretty brief.

- Larry Legend from CZW was the ring announcer; prior to the picture coming on, he could be heard reading the guidelines and announcing a return date of June 5th. Lenny Leonard and Leonard F. Chikarason handled commentary again. Reby Sky came out to show off the Open The United Gate title belts.

1. Akira Tozawa (w/ Jon Moxley) defeated Sami Callihan with a deadlift German suplex. Fun opener with good intensity shown throughout by both guys. Late in the match they hit each other with multiple Saito suplexes.

- Moxley told the crowd this (Tozawa) is what a winner looks like. Not the Giants or the Mets or any of these other New York teams, and not Homicide either, who he claimed was home in Brooklyn whining about Vince Russo. Reby Sky came back out, wearing a Giants jersey (because she’s the New York Giants girl) and defended New York. Moxley brushed her off in an amusingly heelish fashion, Reby slapped him a few times, and Moxley grabbed her by her hair. He demanded Tozawa hit her, but he refused. Jigsaw made the save.

2. Jon Moxley defeated Jigsaw with the crossface chicken wing. Pretty brief. YAMATO came out toward the end, attacking Jigsaw on the outside while the ref was busy with Moxley, leading to the win.

- Moxley talked more trash about Homicide and YAMATO said his opponent BxB Hulk, would be “no problem.” Hulk came out and told Moxley to shut up, but then was jumped by YAMATO to kick off their match.

3. YAMATO defeated BxB Hulk with the Galleria to win the Open The Freedom Gate Title! Lengthy match up to this point and quite good as well with lots of close calls. YAMATO worked over Hulk’s leg a lot, using a high angle heel hook at one point, but Hulk (as usual) recovered quickly and put his agility to good use. The Galleria had a weak landing, so the finish maybe caught fans by surprise. Nevertheless, YAMATO’s title win makes this newsworthy.

[1/29 Edit: It slipped my mind when I was writing this, but Julius Smokes made a cameo during this match early. He jumped out of the crowd to fight with Moxley all over ringside and to the back, and then he made a cameo on commentary (as only he could) promising Homicide will kick Moxley's ass in Union City.]

- Jimmy Jacobs came out, said he’ll be coming for YAMATO now that he has the title, but still congratulated him.

4. Brodie Lee (w/ the Blood Warriors) defeated Jimmy Jacobs with a sit-out powerbomb. Jacobs fought back pretty damn well, even breaking out the guillotine choke out of nowhere and hitting a top rope senton, but Brodie had the match in hand against his former AOTF leader. It’s fun seeing Brodie all buddy-buddy with these smaller Japanese dudes.

5. Open The United Gate Tournament: Ronin (Chuck Taylor & Johnny Gargano w/ Rich Swann) defeated Blood Warriors (Naruki Doi & Ricochet) when Taylor hit Ricochet with the Awful Waffle. Format of the tournament is four teams wrestling one another all weekend in a round robin style, with two points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss. Damn good match here, and Ricochet looked especially awesome. One spot saw him hitting a Sasuke Special in effortless fashion, but then Ronin took him down with a Doomsday Device on the floor (Gargano flying off the three-foot high stage to hit it). Great Dragon Gate tag action, with Ronin picking up two points in what was announced as a pretty surprising victory. Before and after the match, Taylor and Gargano said how they can handle the best that Dragon Gate has to offer and deserve to go to Japan.

6. Austin Aries defeated Rich Swann (w/ Taylor & Gargano) with a top rope brainbuster followed by the Last Chancery. Fun stuff overall, but things slowed down considerably when Aries injured his right shoulder on a bad bump. He still soldiered on, and even performed a 450 that he rolled through on when Swann moved. Swann showed a lot of good agility and hung in there with Aries. By the end, the cocky young man was wiped out, but still tried to talk on the mic with Taylor’s assistance.

- CIMA told Ronin this proved why they did NOT belong in Japan. The two sides built up their match for tomorrow, but for tonight, Masato Yoshino & PAC came out to take on the Blood Warriors.

7. Open The United Gate Tournament: World-1 (Masato Yoshino & PAC) defeated Blood Warriors (CIMA & Dragon Kid) when PAC hit Dragon Kid with a springboard 450 and a German suplex in succession. Really good main event. Lots of good stuff between PAC and Kid, as well as Kid and Yoshino of course. There were teases of a budding rivalry between PAC and Ricochet (who was at ringside) through both the commentary and some brief interactions before and during the match. CIMA did a few heelish tactics, including catapulting PAC neck-first into a chair, and the commentators acted surprised by these actions. So World-1 picked up two points, Blood Warriors are in a deep hole, and Ronin (with Taylor and Gargano in dress shirts) looked on from the entrance to taunt Blood Warriors and close the show.

Overall: Mighty fun night with lots of good action. The two tag matches were the best. I don’t think the format of no intermission and one match flowing into another hurt anything, as the matches had their own pace. I think this is by far the shortest Gabe Sapolsky-booked show I’ve ever seen though. This should be available for replay on GoFightLive.tv pretty soon. Tomorrow night’s show from Philadelphia will also be streamed live for all with a good internet connection to see, while Sunday afternoon’s show in Union City, NJ will be taped for regular PPV. I plan to attend tomorrow’s show (which will have a FRAY! match and a Kaiju Big Battel show (!) prior to the main show), but because I’ll be busy most of Sunday, I’ll likely check in on Monday or so with a catch-all article on the remainder of the weekend.

For those that missed it, Chikara’s live Pre-Show-A-Go-Go prior to this show can be viewed HERE. This ended just as the live show began.

1. The Osirian Portal (Amasis & Ophidian & Jonathan Gresham/Hieracon) defeated F.I.S.T. (Icarus & Chuck Taylor & Johnny Gargano) when Gresham pinned Icarus with a driving cradle. After becoming an impromptu partner to the Portal last month and scoring a win as a trio against the BDK, CZW regular Gresham is now a full-fledged member of the Portal, with a new Egyptian name and a bird-like mask. He’s a quick guy who strings a lot of moves together; I suspect in a couple years he could get the momentum Ricochet is getting now. Icarus continued to draw even more boos by removing his jacket and unveiling his back tattoo. It actually opened with a dance-off between Icarus and Amasis, to the sound of “Pokerface,” but both wrestlers were left served by a surprise entrant, ref Bryce Remsburg. Very competitive match, with both teams hitting tandem offense for close nearfalls. At a little over 18 minutes, this went almost as long as the main event. Still, it was fun stuff. The crowd was a little quiet following the opening comedy bit, but got into it more as it went on. F.I.S.T. is one of only two trios entered into the 2011 King of Trios tournament so far (the other being the Colony), so it’s pretty obvious that the Portal will gain entry after this victory.

2. Daizee Haze defeated Madison Eagles with a German suplex. Jakob Hammermeier, who was a riot before the show hawking BDK merchandise, no longer has the neck brace, but still has the leg cast and arm sling. Eagles, for those unfamilar, is a tall woman from Australia and is the current SHIMMER Champion, beating MsChif for it last year (though she didn’t wear the belt tonight). From watching some recent SHIMMER, I learned she’s done some MMA training under Georges St.-Pierre, and she got to show a little of the ground game here. The height difference between the two was also played up. Haze took a header into a turnbuckle and claimed that she broke her nose again (she did so at Chikara’s season finale last month, a week before Final Battle), but it was all a ruse, and she clipped Eagles’ leg when she wasn’t looking. She worked her over some more, but Eagles fought back with some big kicks. Eagles attempted her finisher – a death valley driver onto the knee – but Haze escaped from it twice and managed to catch her with the German. Fans gave Eagles a nice applause for her efforts.

- A video aired in between the second and third match, possibly teasing the introduction of a Trios Championship for Chikara.

3. The Roughnecks (Brodie Lee & Grizzly Redwood) defeated The Throwbacks (Dasher Hatfield & Sugar Dunkerton) when Brodie gave Dasher the big boot off of Grizzly’s shoulders, almost Doomsday style. Grizzly had what was left of Dasher’s bat after he chopped it up into toothpicks. Gavin Loudspeaker unfortunately announced Brodie and Grizzly as the Throwbacks, but Brodie played off it very well. The actual Throwbacks charged the ring and the action stayed pretty strong from the start. Brodie booted Dasher on the outside, leaving Sugar on his own for the majority of the match before Dasher could come back. Towards the end, Dasher was isolated when Brodie gave Sugar a gutwrench powerbomb onto the ringside steps. Fine action, and this feud must continue.

4. Tursas & Lince Dorado & Sara Del Rey defeated Da Soul Touchaz (Acid Jaz & Marshe Rockett & Willie Richardson) by disqualification. Derek Sabato officiated. Da Soul Touchaz skipped the dancing and rushed to the ring, out for revenge on the BDK for taking out C-Red and Dymond. Traditional back-and-forth tag action. Sabato seemed to count fair pins, but still made sure the BDK was getting preferential treatment. Both Tursas and Richardson left their feet for dropkicks. The two smaller Soul Touchaz subdued Tursas with dives to the outside, leaving Willie alone with Dorado. Sabato had his back turned to check on Del Rey at ringside. Willie was about to give Dorado the Pounce, but Dorado took off his own mask and tossed it to him, quickly falling to the mat and covering his face. Sabato turned around as Willie picked up, thus calling for the DQ. Willie cornered Sabato in the corner while Dorado gloated with his back turned, but Willie turned around and gave Dorado the Pounce anyway. No surprise this feud must continue either.

- Intermission. Allow me to take the time to explain some other recent events. The hooded figure at “The Germans” in November who lured away Obariyon and Kodama from UltraMantis Black’s side revealed himself in December to be Sinn Bodhi, the wrestler formerly known as Kizarny and currently known for shacking up with Stacy “The Kat” Carter. He trained the two of them and loaned them to Mantis, but took them back under his control because he wanted payment for his services: the Eye of Tyr. Since the BDK has it and Mantis doesn’t, Bodhi and his minions are waging war on Mantis. Fortunately, Incoherence, despite the history between Mantis and Hallowicked, decided to help Mantis and even the odds. Hence the next two matches.

5. The Batiri (Obariyon & Kodama) defeated Incoherence (Hallowicked & Frightmare) when Obariyon hit Hallowicked with his flying DDT. I’ve felt these two freaky rookies have looked pretty good in their matches so far on previous shows. Unfortunately, things kind of derailed early following a botched huricanrana where Kodama seemed to injure his shoulder. Hallowicked landed on his head from this too, having delivered the move, but he was fine. They still went on and put on some decent stuff, Obariyon doing most of the work. As Incoherence seemed to have the match in hand, carnival music played, and out came Sinn Bodhi in a goofy carny getup (including stuffed animals attached to his pants) and accompanied by a little masked goblin dude (shades of Hydra). They distracted Incoherence a little bit, and Frightmare got into it with the goblin on the outside and got speared for his efforts. Remsburg wasn’t paying attention to this stuff outside because he was busy with the Batiri fighting Hallowicked 2-on-1. Also, UltraMantis Black ran out – in Incoherence’s orange and black scheme – to start fighting with Bodhi early. The match ultimately ended and the Batiri picked up their third point to challenge for the Campeonatos de Parejas. This whole thing became a bit of a mess but served its purpose.

6. UltraMantis Black defeated Sinn Bodhi by disqualification. Derek Sabato ran out to to immediately start this match while the two kept fighting on the outside. Prior to the bell ringing, Bodhi retrieved a metal rod from under the ring, bent it with his mouth into a hook, and used it choke Mantis. Then he tossed it to some kid at ringside as a souvenir. They made it back into the ring while all of the other principles from the previous match stayed at ringside. Sabato tried doing fast counts on Mantis. The other refs came out to check on the fallen technicos. Also walking out was Wink Vavasseur, who in the time between shows went from being an independent auditor hired by Chikara’s Board of Directors to being named the new Director of Fun, replacing the BDK-aligned Dieter VonSteigerwalt. At one of the November shows, he walked out to ringside while Sabato was reffing, scaring Sabato into calling the match straight. Here, Bodhi’s minions began beating up Mantis in the middle of the ring, and Sabato did nothing. Wink caught wind of it and simply walked up onto the apron and did nothing else but stare at Sabato. Sabato then called for the bell and declared Mantis the winner by DQ. Also, Incoherence came back into the ring to chase off the heels. Though he certainly has the authority now, they seem to be hinting at some other kind of power/influence Wink has over Sabato. The match itself was more of an angle and only lasted three minutes. Not sure how well the Bodhi Bunch got over with the crowd. Mantis laid down the challenge for a trios match next month, and Bodhi, in his own odd way, accepted.

7. Eddie Kingston defeated El Generico with two backfists. First time match, and they made good on it. El Generico offered his hand and tried to show Kingston that he was “street.” Kingston slapped him, Generico slapped back, and Kingston applauded him standing up to him. The match had a slow start but considerably picked up half-way through or so. Both guys dealt each other chops and yakuza kicks, and Kingston broke out a little bit of lucha to match Generico’s. Close to the end, Generico gave Kingston a brainbuster onto the edge of the apron, and both guys crashed to the floor. Kingston was dead weight, Generico attempted to take the count-out win after trying and failing to lift him, but Kingston managed to get back in at 19. Kingston was like a stiff log and was favoring his shoulder, so Generico couldn’t quite pull him closer to the center of the ring. Kingston eventually got up, avoided the yakuza kick in the corner, and gave Generico two consecutive backdrop drivers – one into the corner and one on the ring – prior to the finish. Kingston gave major props to Generico following the match and he reciprocated. A hell of a match that’s worth checking out, better than Kingston vs. Homicide in November. Good amount of time at around 17 minutes.

They showed a new teaser for the 2011 King of Trios, coming in April. Gavin made note of Stan Bush contributing a new version of “The Touch” to be the official theme song for the tournament, and made mention of Mr. Bush performing live at the Fan Conclave this weekend.

8. Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw & Fire Ant & Soldier Ant defeated Claudio Castagnoli & Ares & Tim Donst & Delirious when Jigsaw hit Donst with a top rope doublestomp. Very fun capper to the night. It started off as your traditional tag match with clearly defined heels and babyfaces, and it ended with the wondrous action you’d expect from a Chikara Atomico. Donst tried to prove he could do pushups just as well as Soldier Ant, but ran out of gas at the end. Delirious used his head as a battering ram on more than one occasion. One of the ants and Jigsaw were recipients of heel beatdowns. The Chikara Specials, both original and inverted, made brief appearances before being broken up. The technicos fought back with dives to get the upperhand. I debated with another fan next to me as to whether Delirious lost a tooth from a Jigsaw superkick; it came toward the end of the match and essentially took him out of it, and he was still holding his mouth at the end. The finish was pretty fitting, as Donst, who’s been trying to prove he’s the greatest Young Lions Cup Champion ever by defeating past champions, takes the fall to one of them. Also, Claudio and Ares save some face.

Overall: A stronger show than “The Germans” in November, buoyed by two mighty fun matches to end the night, a fun opener, and a few things in between that planted seeds for upcoming events. I was very satisfied with things. As of now, I’m okay with Kizarny being around (he’s certainly good on promos and a unique presence, especially since he’s bigger than most guys), but I’m more optimistic about Jonathan Gresham as new Portal member Hieracon and the other younger talent still tearing up Chikara. The BDK is still a threat, but it’s less doom and gloom than it was a year ago. I already bought my King of Trios tickets in the beginning of the year. Before that, Chikara is running four more shows, including a return to Brooklyn. Their 2011 schedule is already mighty packed, so kudos to them.