- Just before the show started, a bunch of the wrestlers (Da Soul Touchaz and Delirious among them) handed out balloons to the crowd, while Helios and a couple others tried to get fans pumped by making the crowd do a wave. The best way to get the crowd excited though? Starting the show. I imagine the balloons would be a pain for the camera crew, but Chuck Taylor certainly didn’t disappoint a little later by snatching some from kids and popping them (including using the ring bell hammer on one).

1. King of Trios Semi-Finals: Team Uppercut defeated The UnStable when Dave Taylor gave Colin Delaney a butterfly suplex and rolled back for the pin. Team Uppercut did some uppercut practice on a balloon before the match. They got the upper hand early using, of course, the European Uppercut, and Vin Gerard found himself in a Bryan Danielson surfboard. Colin tried for a cross-arm breaker on Danielson, who mocked selling pain before pulling a Rampage Jackson. The UnStable get control a little later, ganging up on Danielson and working over his knee. After Claudio Castagnoli got in to run wild, we had several close calls of The UnStable nearly winning, including Gerard getting Danielson in an STF. The victory by Team Uppercut was both exciting and relieving, as The UnStable in the Finals would have lead to their opponents naturally being The Future Is Now, which would have blown up in their faces. Post-match, Colin tries to man up after getting pinned, but was met with a barrage of uppercuts by the entrance. Three for three in good openers this weekend. (15:17)

2. King of Trios Semi-Finals: F.I.S.T. defeated The Future Is Now after Chuck Taylor gave Helios the Awful Waffle. The outcome didn’t surprise me given the results of the first Semi-Final match, but they did a good job getting there. Wisely, Jimmy “Equinox” Olsen, the one Future Is Now member who still has good will with the fans, received the heel beatdown. Lince Dorado was booed early, but the offense he and Helios pulled out late in the match won over some people. Olsen nearly made Taylor tap to the Chikara Special, but Gran Akuma breaks it up after three hard kicks (the first two Olsen sold but manned up after). A tope suicida from Dorado sent him crashing into the guardrail again, though not as bad as last night. Helios hit Icarus with a spectacular 630, but while the ref checked on the screaming-in-pain Icarus, Taylor gave Helios a low blow and hit the Awful Waffle for the victory. “Thank You F.I.S.T.!” goes the crowd. Solid stuff with some great closing minutes. (13:31)

3. Arik Cannon defeated El Generico with the Glimmering Warlock. Generico did a springboard off the ropes to grab the wayward balloon above the ring that Team Uppercut used before, then gave it to a ringside fan sporting his mask. Crowd was split for both guys, with a brief duel between “Ole!” for Generico and “Oh Yeah!” for Cannon (going back to when fans likened him to the Kool-Aid Man in 2006). Cannon would use his strikes, while Generico would fight back with some quickness and strikes of his own. Both exchanged suplexes as well, with Cannon hitting a backdrop driver to set up the finish. Good match, followed by a big ovation for both guys. (9:52)

4. Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw won a 12-team Elimination Gauntlet. The yearly tradition continued. The match began with Hallowicked & Frightmare facing Tony Kozina & Ryan Drago, which ended after several minutes with EPIC WAR team advancing after a release German suplex and a German suplex pin on Frightmare. Team #3 was Tim Donst & Hydra, who advanced after Donst made Drago submit after what looked like a Tazmission. Team #4, running right out, was UltraMantis Black & Crossbones, taking it to the Sea Donsters hard. Mantis was able to avoid being placed in the Hydra-Lock and turned it into a sit-out tombstone to advance. Team #5 was Beef Wellington & Steve “The Turtle” Weiner, coming out to a big ovation and calling themselves “Animal House.” They were put away shortly after a brief hot streak when Crossbones gave Beef the Flippin’ Sweet Driver, allowing the Order of the Neo-Solar Temple to advance and achieve two points in the process. Then came Team #6 of Player Uno & Create-A-Wrestler, calling themselves “The Saturday Night Slam Masters” and quickly eliminating the Order after a small package on Crossbones. Both points lost. Team #7 was another oddball unit in Pinkie Sanchez & Mitch Ryder. This lasted a while, with fans cheering for both Uno and Pinkie, ending with Pinkie rolling up Uno with some help from Ryder (who was sporting some lackluster new gear). The Gauntlet picked up steam seriously and stayed that way after Team #8, Marshe Rockett & Willie Richardson of Da Soul Touchaz, came in like a house of fire. Da Soul Touchaz advanced after Willie dropped Da Bomb on Pinkie. Then came The Young Bucks, getting work done quickly in spectacular fashion and advancing after a 450 immediately followed by a moonsault. The tenth team of Cheech Hernandez & “Cloudy” Day had a very good stretch with the Jacksons. Lots of big moves culminating with Cloudy scoring with a rollup. Brodie Lee & Grizzly Redwood were the penultimate team and started brawling with Cheech & Cloudy. Cloudy received some big hits, making some fans think that he might puke in the ring again as he did against Gran Akuma two years ago. Cheech foolishly tries to get Brodie up in the powerbomb position for a doubleteam, but can’t keep him up there and gets a lariat and a big boot for both his troubles and his team’s elimination. Quackenbush & Jigsaw entered in the final spot, though I’m thinking everyone has lost count of teams by this point. They have a good stretch against the two Roughnecks. The heels set up their own end after Brodie accidentally booted Grizzly when aiming for Quack (who was holding Grizzly above him and simply dropped down to his knees) and was taken to the outside by Jigsaw. Quack got the pin on Grizzly with the QuackenDriver II (sit-out tombstone with the legs locked in a cross position), giving his team the match and a third point to earn themselves a title shot. Lot of fun, with the second half of teams delivering the goods as noted. Brodie shoved Louden Noxious to the ground after the loss. (40:15)

-Intermission

5. Amasis & Ophidian & Michael Nakazawa & KUDO defeated Fire Ant & Soldier Ant & Darin Corbin & Ryan Cruz after KUDO pinned Corbin after the double knees from the top. The last great piece of comedy of the weekend. A lot of slick exchanges throughout, with and without Nakazawa’s baby oil. Nakazawa applied it liberally to himself, shared some with Amasis towards the end, and squirted some all over Fire Ant in humiliating fashion (shades of Dragon Gate’s Gamma, who I’ve only recently seen for the first time, by drooling the oil onto Fire Ant from the top rope. The oil backfired on Nakazawa and company when he got too oily to do a German suplex, allowing Fire Ant to grab it and grease up his leg when his opponents tried to grab it and drag him back. Lots of dives commenced, including a massive Ant Hill to the floor using the North Star Express’ assistance. KUDO and Ophidian hit their flying double knee attacks in unison at one point, and KUDO connected with the double knees in the tree of woe position to set up the finish. Coup de Grace was Nakazawa squirting a circle of baby oil around Corbin’s body, preventing his partners from pulling him to safety. This was great. (17:57)

6. Eddie Kingston defeated Austin Aries with the Sliding D lariat. Aries was still his heel character. The fans seemed split again, but the chants for Kingston were louder, and Aries situated into the heel role of the match. One early spot had Aries constantly ducking Kingston as he ran the ropes, resulting in Kingston slowing down and Aries running the ropes himself to mock his cardio. Kingston admitted that it was because he smokes. The two dished out some strikes, Aries hit the heat-seeking missile dive and again took too long to do the power-drive elbow, and Kingston gave him some monstrous suplexes (one of which spiked Aries on his head). The finish was set up by an F-5 of all things by Kingston off the top rope. Another damn fine match. (9:21)

7. Rey de Voladores Finals: Kota Ibushi defeated Player Dos with the Golden Star Press to win the tournament. Big chants for Ibushi, but Dos was shown some love as well. Nakazawa and KUDO were at ringside cornering Ibushi and also providing a bit of safety net for the dives to the outside, of which there were a few. Plenty of close nearfalls, moreso from Ibushi, putting his kicks to good use and pulling out the nip-up-to-German sequence he’s used on El Generico. One funny spot involved Ibushi turning the missed top rope moonsault into the standing moonsault; Dos moved well ahead of time and put his arms out to celebrate the dodge that ultimately failed him. A terrific encounter, again ending with both men getting a big ovation afterward, plus much love shown for DDT. Leonard F. Chikarason presented the tournament plaque to Ibushi, who seemed like he was on Cloud Nine. In general, a smart move to have Rey de Voladores occur during King of Trios this year, as it resulted in the mini-tournament’s strongest field of talent yet by taking advantage of some of the visitors. (11:26)

8. King of Trios Finals: F.I.S.T. defeated Team Uppercut to win the tournament when Chuck Taylor made Danielson submit to a half-crab. No official in-ring introduction by the finalists, as F.I.S.T. jumped Team Uppercut from behind as they entered. Even worse, they did this as Team Uppercut, previously coming out to Claudio’s music, were coming out to “The Final Countdown.” Rudos to the bone. Danielson had a limp from his earlier match, and Taylor went straight to work on it by ramming it on the floor. Danielson got worked over by all three early, including a surfboard by Akuma and a few of Taylor’s own elbows. Dave Taylor and Claudio eventually both got in to run wild, with Squire Dave connecting with the butterfly suplex that got his team into the Finals, but that only got a two-count. Claudio took Sole Food into an Akuma Yoshi Tonic at one point, but later hit the Ricola Bomb on Akuma for a visible pinfall, only for ref Bryce Remsburg to get pulled out of the ring before he counted to three. Claudio wiped out Akuma and Icarus on the outside with a big twisting dive, leaving Danielson and Chuck in the ring alone together. Danielson gave Chuck the back body drop off the top and hits a good number of his elbows, but Chuck kicks out at two after looking the worse for wear. Danielson then locked in the Cattle Mutilation while keeping his injured knee elevated, but Icarus slid in and broke it up with a Knee-DT. Danielson was put in the tree of woe after attempting another super back body drop on Icarus, and received an Awful Waffle from the position. That got a two-and-three-quarters count (massive pop, a kick-out from this move has happened extremely rarely if ever, at least in Chikara), but Chuck quickly followed up by locking in the half-crab, his knee pressed against the top of Danielson’s back. His partners preoccupied/restrained at ringside and himself pulled back into the middle of the ring, Danielson was forced to tap out. F.I.S.T. get made as they won the 2009 tournament and received the tournament medals from Chikarason. A fantastic close to the tournament that told a great story. I could have gone for either team winning, but this result is far more beneficial: heels of the home promotion once again reach prominence. Chuck Taylor in particular gets elevated quite a bit from his victory, though nothing gets taken away by Danielson. (11:09)

Overall: Should have known this night would be high point of the weekend, as the final night encapsulated everything that went one during the tournament. The level of talent, the layout of the whole weekend, and the booking of the tournament (even with people bitching about The Future Is Now beating teams they probably shouldn’t have), made this the best King of Trios yet. Tremendous Finals for both King of Trios and Rey de Voladores, a more-than-pleasant surprise to get Danielson AND Aries AND Generico AND Ibushi on all three nights, Young Bucks and Soul Touchaz shine, Nakazawa made a new friend in Amasis, etc. If you have the money, get the entire weekend on DVD, or at least the last two nights, but Night 3 is a must.

Anyway, after all of this, the next Chikara shows are April 25th in Easton, PA and April 26th back in Philadelphia. Among the talent advertised on the poster for the 4/26 show were Glacier and Shark Girl. Make of that what you will. Thanks for reading if you did so.

1. Rey de Voladores 4-way Elimination Match: Player Dos defeated Matt Jackson and Fire Ant and Austin Aries to advance. Aries did a complete 180 from the previous night, reverting back to his heel ROH character (complete with the Weezer entrance music) and standing out from the three faces. Dos had had swanky new gear, resembling a Mega Man character. Lots of fun stuff involving all four guys, including a couple of dives and Aries taking extra long to do his power drive elbow and missing to great comedic effect. Dos got crotched on the top rope after a collision in the corner, leading to Jackson and Fire Ant to do an exchange that ended with Fire Ant eliminating Jackson with the Beach Break. Dos got his act together just after Aries took down Fire Ant, allowing Dos to hit a frog splash on Fire Ant to eliminate him. Aries nearly submitted Dos with the Last Chancery, and his attempt at a 450 was stopped up top, leading Dos to connect with what looked like a Marufuji Mind Flip off the top for the victory. A really fun opener. (14:31)

2. King of Trios Quarter-Finals: F.I.S.T. defeated The F1rst Family after Chuck Taylor caught Darin Corbin with Sole Food and Icarus followed up with the Pedigree. Another fun match featuring Arik Cannon slapping the piss out of his opponents and, early on, a funny leg sweep pinning sequence where ref Bryce Remsburg got caught up in the action (getting a nearfall himself and nipping up with the other wrestlers in the ring). Later on came a dive sequence ending with Taylor going for a dive on everyone else, only for them to move and letting Taylor eat floor. The F1rst Family also had a visible pinfall after a doubleteam from Corbin and Ryan Cruz and a Glimmering Warlock from Cannon before F.I.S.T. broke it up and pulled Bryce away from it. Another really fun match, and Cannon and company got a standing ovation afterward. (15:03)

3. Lethal Wrestling Alliance Showcase: The Submission Squad (Pierre Abernathy & Evan Gelistico) defeated Davey Vega and Gary the Barn Owl after Gelistico hit Vega with a pumphandle driver. Gary had black makeup around his eyes and ran around the ring flapping his wings and hooing like an owl. What they did here was just okay/not-horrible, with the Submission Squad playing the heels and the babyfaces doing simultaneous dives on them at one point, but nothing made them stand out from everyone else on the card. Combine that with the fact nobody was familiar with these guys, and the result is pretty deadly. The most reaction this match got was chants of “Ba-Ba-Booie” towards Abernathy and his big teeth. And yes, it should be noted that the Submission Squad didn’t use a single submission, much less win with one. I can’t shit on it, I just have to say, “Whatever.” (6:02)

4. King of Trios Quarter-Finals: The Future Is Now defeated The Osirian Portal after Helios countered Ophidian’s Death Grip into a death valley driver. The Portal got a lot more cheers than The Future Is Now, who came out to a mixed/negative reaction. This match was pretty fun aside from a crazy twisting splash by Helios in the middle of the match missing by a good few inches. Granted, Amasis was doing some entertaining stuff, but the fact that the heels were getting more cheers than the team that’s meant to get cheers leads to a match failing in its story and failing in its goal. Amasis teased unmasking Helios, but then when Escorpion Egipcio tried to a little bit later, his partners told him to stop. Later, one of the ears on Lince Dorado’s mask got ripped off, and the heels went after his mask. Prior to the finish, Dorado and Jimmy Olsen went for dives on opposite sides, with Dorado’s tope suicida rocking Egipcio hard and sending himself into the second row. Fans were just as unhappy with this finish as they were with The Future Is Now defeating Team DDT. Jumping ahead a bit, it would be pretty lopsided to have three heel trios and one babyface trios advance if the Portal were to win here, but it’s a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” mentality with nobody buying into The Future Is Now’s push. (17:53)

- Intermission

5. Rey de Voladores 4-way Elimination Match: Kota Ibushi defeated El Generico and Nick Jackson and Jigsaw to advance. The match started with some expected fun stuff, then Jackson and Generico forming a brief alliance before they began breaking up pinfalls (yes, in an elimination match) and butting heads. After some really crazy moves (including Ibushi’s backflip kick into one of the guys perched on the top), Generico and Ibushi were left alone in the ring and put on a spectacular sequence of exchanges. This was essentially a redo of what these two did in ROH together last year, but it was amazing to see live and the fans were going absolute apeshit. This all ended with a reverse super frankensteiner by Ibushi that eliminated Generico. Jigsaw and Jackson, who stayed completely out of the ring and out of sight during all of this, came back in for a far briefer exchange that ended with Jigsaw eliminating Jackson with the Jig n’ Tonic. Then Jigsaw and Ibushi duked it out a for a while before Ibushi won with the Golden Star Press, which was all knees on Jigsaw. The other two guys were still at ringside, so all four wrestlers came in together and soaked up the massive amount of admiration. “This Was Awesome” during the match twice, “Five Star Match” a little bit afterward. A pretty stellar match, with Ibushi coming off like a god to the fans. (13:36)

6. King of Trios Quarter-Finals: The UnStable defeated Da Soul Touchaz when Vin Gerard pinned Trauma after STIGMA clipped his knee and held onto his feet from outside. This was a very easy match to watch, slowing things down a bit but still keeping the fans’ interest after what they just saw. Lots of fun stuff here, with Colin Delaney failing to get Willie Richardson off his feet, Willie putting Vin and Colin in a double Boston Crab, and Willie nailing giving Vin a spinebuster off the middle rope. The heel victory took the wind out of people’s sales, but Da Soul Touchaz still got a great ovation. (8:40)

7. Inter Species Wrestling Showcase/ISW Championship Match: Player Uno defeated Twiggy with Game Over (tombstone variation) to retain the title. A lot of fans of ISW in the building, so this match was already more successful than the LWA showcase. Twiggy first popped up in Chikara in October 2006 (at a show I was also at) and made a couple other appearances the following month, but this is his first time back since then. He was far more over here, presumably based on so many Chikara fans becoming ISW fans. He’s a really small guy (looking a bit like Topher Grace) who came out to Bon Jovi while sporting a Michael Jackson red leather jacket, tassle-laden pants, and a headband. Defending champion Uno has new gear himself that matches Dos’ gear, but I still have a soft spot for his old gear and mask (a lot more friendlier). So these two had a good, competitive match that had the crowd split. Twiggy looked better than remembered and connected with a solid senton during the match. The two beloved babyfaces celebrated together afterward to chants of “I-S-Dub!” (8:44)

8. King of Trios Quarter-Finals: Team Uppercut defeated The Masters of a Thousand Holds after Claudio Castagnoli countered a super frankensteiner attempt from Mike Quackenbush into a Super Ricola Bomb. Everything you may have hoped to see in this match happened. Johnny Saint had some top-notch exchanges with Claudio, Bryan Danielson, and Dave Taylor. Claudio and Quackenbush added more good stuff to their lengthy highlight reel. Claudio and Jorege Rivera clashed again, leading to a big nearfall from Rivera. Danielson and Quackenbush clashed again a week after wrestling in ROH, and things got pretty heated with some strike exchanges. Danielson was looking pretty angry and determined, but Quack paid him back for throwing strikes to his back by giving Danielson a small taste of his own Cattle Mutilation and the elbows of doom. Danielson got caught in the Chikara special after this, but it was broken up by his teammates. A wonderful match all around, and my favorite of the weekend so far. All six paid each other their respects, and then Quack let Saint soak up the admiration by himself. (33:35)

Overall: The first half of the night started out very fun with the first two matches before taking a dip with the next two, but the second half was aces all around between Ibushi’s 4-way and the main event. As much as I enjoyed Night 1, it didn’t have anything better than the top two matches on Night 2, so this may be the one DVD in this set to seek out unless Night 3 has some super stuff, especially provided if the last two rounds of the tournament are booked well. Night 3 also will have Kota Ibushi vs. Player Dos to determine the 2009 Rey De Voladores, plus two big singles matches of Arik Cannon vs. El Generico and (for the first time) Austin Aries vs. Eddie Kingston.

- There was a swanky new entrance with projections screens on the top and sides of an entrance tunnel. The Arena was packed, with more chairs getting brought out for fans (number I read was around 550), but the show started late. When it began, Louden Noxious introduced Hydra as the “Poet Laureate of Chikara,” who comes out, doesn’t recite poetry, but does throw frisbees out to the crowd. Then we’re alerted that Brain Damage is running late and that Iceberg’s connecting flight was canceled, so he won’t be at the show. Many fans cheer this news.

- All matches tonight took place in the first round of the King of Trios tournament.

1. The F1rst Family defeated Team EPIC WAR after Ryan Cruz and Darin Corbin hit Ryan Drago with Cruz Control. Austin Aries was the star of this match: he wasn’t just showing babyface fire, but was a babyface inferno. Clapping with the fans and to his opponents’ music, looking really happy, and even making a comeback during the match that was shades of Tatanka that must be seen to be believed. He was also sporting corresponding tights with Tony Kozina, who played the straight man of the trio. Drago was the jerk of the squad, acting meaner than his partners and blind-tagging Aries when he had control. Everyone worked well here too, resulting in a fantastic opener. (11:43)

2. The Osirian Portal defeated Team PWG when Ophidian caught El Generico with a crazy rollup. Aside from a two instances of mistiming involving the Young Bucks and whoever they were in the ring with, all six guys were a lot of fun together. Beginning had Amasis counter El Generico’s wrestling with some dancing, only to get “served” by Generico a short time later. The Young Bucks were fun overall. Escorpion Egipcio looked good to me here, taking some lucha offense early and delivering some good power offense later. The Young Bucks get the “Please Come Back” chant afterward. (16:29)

3. Team Uppercut defeated The Roughnecks after Claudio Castagnoli gave Grizzly Redwood maybe the longest giant swing ever and Bryan Danielson finished him off with Cattle Mutilation. This match surprisingly had a lot more comedy than I expected, but it was good, light-hearted comedy. Team Uppercut came off like stars. Eddie Kingston motioned toward Danielson in the beginning wanting a piece of him, but immediately tagged out to Grizzly. Grizzly had a failed pose-off with Danielson and nervously shook Danielson’s hand to the dismay of Kingston and Brodie Lee (a lot of comedy in the facial expressions), then went on to be overpowered for a while as Danielson had that big smile on his face. Fans chanted, “You’re Gonna Get Your Freakin’ Head Kicked In!” when Kingston tried his luck. Kingston was the victim of a parade of uppercuts by his opponents. The middle of the match got more serious as Danielson got his knee worked over, while Kingston took a page from the Nigel playbook by stealing his shtick. Dave Taylor, sticking mostly to uppercuts throughout his time in the match, attempted a move off the top rope, but Claudio and Danielson talked him down. The giant swing finish was astonishing, especially since Grizzly is such a small guy and Claudio got him higher off the ground than I’ve seen him do with other guys with the move. Not the intense match people were hoping for, but just plain fun to watch with the everybody playing there roles excellently. (20:38)

4. Da Soul Touchaz defeated Team CZW when Willie Richardson caught Greg Excellent with a shoulder tackle and hit him with Da Bomb (top rope leg drop). The comedy was broader, but it was still a good time. Team CZW brought a lot of music to the game, coming out to “Never Gonna Give You Up,” Beef Wellington breaking out the first verse of “Ice Ice Baby” on Richardson (and getting rocked for it), and Excellent making Trauma dance to “Apache” (before Trauma snapped out of it and clotheslined him). Pinkie Sanchez brought out some fun stuff with his ass-based offense, and Beef broke out his infamous Ass Punch again late in the match. Pinkie hit a dive to guys on the outside, but Richardson followed it up with a bigger one. I didn’t get a big impression from Excellent, but Pinkie was good, Beef was funny, and Da Soul Touchaz won over people all over again. (14:56)

- Intermission time. Whole lot of merchandise from everybody again. Also, after seeing him put over Chikara in his past couple blogs, I may have spotted Gabe Sapolsky sitting in the back.

5. F.I.S.T. defeated The Death Match Kings when Chuck Taylor hit Toby Klein with a turnbuckle-assisted Awful Waffle. Brain Damage showed up, but boy did he gain some weight since I’ve seen him in a match on DVD from a year ago. Quite disheartening. Necro Butcher was very over as usual, punching out the heels, while Klein broke out some genuine wrestling. A lot of the match early was fought on the outside, with two of the guys finding their way inside the ring before exchanging places with another pair. Probably the biggest highlight was Gran Akuma bringing two chairs into the ring, challenging Necro to sitdown barroom-style fight (as seen in The Wrestler between Necro and The Ram). It didn’t go well for Akuma, who was also given a back suplex by Brain Damage while still seated in the chair (so he and the chair were suplexed together). My least favorite match of the night, but it was different from everything else on the card. (12:01)

6. The Future Is Now defeated Team DDT when Equinox/Jimmy Olsen made Michael Nakazawa tap to the Chikara Special. Very cool to see Kota Ibushi wrestle in person, as he was awesome. All of Team DDT was pretty much awesome in fact. Nakazawa used his baby oil tactics on Lince Dorado early, slipping out of Dorado’s grip and generally grossing him out before getting assaulted with a towel. Olsen exchanged strikes with Kudo, then Helios and Ibushi went for the really fast exchanges. Lots of simultaneously performed moves. Before the finish, Nakazawa downed some baby oil to mist out, but Olsen chopped him in the throat, causing him to choke on it. He went down, the bell was rung for some reason (oops), but Olsen saved him by stomping on his chest. Maybe the match that relied on the most multi-man choreography, but most people kept up with it, and it was pretty fun overall. A lot of boos for Team DDT losing to The Future Is Now. (17:50)

7. The Masters of a Thousand Holds defeated Incoherence when Johnny Saint caught Delirious with one of his many rollups. Great ovation as expected for Saint. My favorite match of the night, with Mike Quackenbush and Saint each having great exchanges with Hallowicked and Delirious, while Jorge Rivera and Frightmare looked good as well. Delirious was the first to fall victim to Saint’s classic counters, and later on Delirious warned Hallowicked that “he’s got tricks!” My enjoyment for everything here was marred by a scary moment towards the end, when Quackenbush (who is expecting to get another back surgery some time this year) did a dive to the outside and hit his back on the floor hard, looking to be in a lot of pain afterward but still getting up as Saint finished the job. (16:43)

- Last match of the night. After the UnStable enter, Glacier and Al Snow (w/ Head) get their own entrances, with Snow getting a huge ovation coming out to his old WWE music. Leonard F. Chikarason comes out to draw the third man in the team. He denied Al Snow’s request to make Head a part of the team. The first three unsuccessful random selections were Avatar, Shinobi, and Leif Cassidy, all vehemently shot down by Mr. Snow, selling his disdain strongly and remarking that he never loved being a Rocker. The next two selections of Amazing Red and Green Ant (newest member of the Colony that first popped up last month), were not there. The final selection that ended up being available… D’Lo Brown! Big surprise seeing the recent ROH competitor, and the fans went crazy for him.

8. The UnStable defeated The Modified Cold Front when D’Lo Brown hit the Sky High on Vin Gerard, but Colin Delaney caught him from behind with a backslide. Colin and Gerard have grown mustaches to go along with STIGMA’s mustache (on his mask). Colin said early how the other team is the past and that his team was the future, but was met with chants of “You Got Fired,” though D’Lo was afraid they were for him and Snow and jokingly told fans to quiet down. Glacier came in occasionally to break out his usual offense, but was mostly on the outside, enjoying himself. It was mostly Snow and D’Lo running through the heels. They also both did moonsaults. D’Lo was definitely bringing the hurt to the UnStable, especially Colin, with chops and lariats (he even quietly remarked in the ring how he learned one strike from Misawa). Snow was the recipient of the heel beatdown. Another sequence saw each of the UnStable members do the Lo Down on Snow (with STIGMA doing the trademark bobble head gesture), mocking D’Lo. This came off as the most traditional match of the night, but given how late it had gotten, I was getting tired and hoping it would end sooner. Not to say it was bad, because it wasn’t, but it would have been better with a few minutes trimmed off. It will play off better on DVD. After the UnStable scored the unpopular victory, the Not-Quite Cold Front beat them down, with Snow using Head as a weapon and D’Lo doing the Lo Down himself. Fans gave the veteran faces a big ovation. (26:22)

Overall: A long night, but lot of fun throughout and a terrific start in general to the weekend. I’m glad my hands don’t have any sores from all of the clapping done. Aside from going very long and seeing Team DDT eliminated (the only hiccup in my predictions), I have no complaints. Tonight will have the second round with: The F1rst Family vs. F.I.S.T., The Osirian Portal vs. The Future Is Now, Team Uppercut vs. The Masters of a Thousand Holds, Da Soul Touchaz vs. The UnStable. In addition, there will be two showcase matches from Canada’s Inter Species Wrestling (with ISW Champion Player Uno no less) and St. Louis’ Lethal Wrestling Alliance (a tag team match). Also, the mini-tournament of Rey de Voladores will coincide with King of Trios this year, with two 4-way elimination matches (featuring regular Chikara talent and guys eliminated from the first round of King of Trios) taking place on Night 2 and the Finals between those two winners taking place on Night 3. I’m also hoping to make it to the Fan Conclave in a few hours, and I’ll remember to catch ROH’s second HDNet episode during a down period and share some thoughts on that as well. This weekend’s already kicking ass.

The tournament, to be held Friday the 27th, Saturday the 28th, and Sunday the 29th at The Arena in Philadelphia (with another edition of the fan conclave taking place Saturday afternoon, where fans can meet many of the wrestlers, cut promos with them, play Rock Band with them, and potentially get in the ring with them… no comment), is back down to sixteen trios like it was in 2007 (so forty-eight wrestlers in all). With the tournament field getting downsized from last year’s massive field of twenty-eight trios, Chikara looks to be going for quality over quantity. And what fine quality they have achieved, as several luminaries from ROH, PWG, DDT, and elsewhere will be in action alongside many of the Chikara regulars. With that here’s the skinny on all of this year’s trios and the eight First Round matches they’ll be involved in on Friday (Quarter-Finals take place Saturday, and the Semi-Finals and Finals occur on Sunday).

Team F1rst Wrestling (Arik Cannon & Darin Corbin & Ryan Cruz) vs. Team EPIC WAR (Austin Aries & Tony Kozina & Ryan Drago). Cannon and his two students, also referred to as The F1rst Family, make their return to King of Trios action after falling in the first round to El Generico & The Super Smash Bros., but impressing nonetheless in their high-octane match. These three have plenty of Chikara experience beyond King of Trios. Cannon has won both the Tag World Grand Prix (with Claudio Castagnoli) in 2005 and the Young Lions Cup in 2006, while Cruz & Corbin, The North Star Express, made it to the semi-finals of the 2006 TWGP. The members of Team EPIC WAR, representing the California indy promotion of the same name, are all making their Chikara debut. ROH vet Austin Aries is the obvious standout. Though largely included for his recognition elsewhere and his location in the northeast, he does lay claim to being the first man to hold the WAR title (’04-’05), so they have that going for him. Haven’t seen any of Drago outside of a rapid-fire squash on TNA Impact several years back, but I know Aries and northwest veteran Kozina should match up well with their opponents. Also of note is that Aries and Cannon have some history dating back to match the two had in IWA Mid-South in 2004 in which Aries broke Cannon’s collarbone. I’m thinking Cannon and company will advance based on how well they’ve worked together.

Team Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (El Generico & Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) vs. The Osirian Portal (Amasis & Ophidian & Escorpion Egipcio). Amasis and Ophidian teamed with Mecha Mummy in last year’s King of Trios, but were eliminated in the first round by Mike Quackenbush, Shane Storm, and Jorge Rivera. Now that they have traded in a Japanese visitor for their own muscle straight from Osirus himself and have become the Campeones de Parejas, they’re looking to go much further this year. They’ll have their hands full with the PWG squad. El Generico teamed with the Super Smash Bros. last year, representing the Montreal-based International Wrestling Syndicate, but fell in the second round to Team Mexico. This year, he’s representing his original home in the states, where he once held both the World Title and World Tag Team Titles. Matt and Nick Jackson, The Young Bucks, are the current PWG World Tag Team Champions (so we’ve got a Champions vs. Campeones situation with this match), and have spent some time in Dragon Gate, and they’ll be making their debuts here for not just Chikara, but possibly the east coast in general. Match should be quite fun, especially with El Generico interacting with the Portal again after the fun match he and Kevin Steen had with them back in October for ROH. No clue on who will take it, but I’m leaning towards the established heel trio.

Team Uppercut (Claudio Castagnoli & Dave Taylor & Bryan Danielson) vs. The Roughnecks (Eddie Kingston & Brodie Lee & Grizzly Redwood). Claudio Castagnoli missed last year’s tournament due to Japan commitments, but took part in first King of Trios as a secret third member of Los Ice Creams, attempting to get revenge on F.I.S.T. but ultimately losing to them in the Quarter-Finals. Now, he’s assembled a dream team with two debuting wrestlers – one a veteran of WCW, WWE, and European rings and the other the “best wrestler in the world” that myself, Steve Kriske, and John Philapavage gush over on a regular basis – that utilize the European Uppercut as well as he does. Claudio and Danielson’s feud from ROH has not been hidden by Chikara, as it’s been acknowledged that they’ll bury the hatchet out of respect to Taylor. The Roughnecks faction, which qualified for entry with a victory over Sami Callihan and the Order of the Neo Solar Temple (their were two qualifying matches due to so many teams wanting inclusion), came together late last year as they developed an issue with Incoherence (who they very well could meet up with again if they were to advance). Brodie Lee had a mess of a squad last year – a guidance-lacking Jimmy Olsen and a randomly-chosen Retail Dragon – and subsequently lost in the first round to Cheech & Cloudy & m.c. KZ. Eddie Kingston had better much better luck, making it all the way to the finals last year with his BLK OUT partners of Ruckus and Joker before losing to Team Mexico. He and Brodie make a very enticing (and intimidating) team, while Grizzly is stuck in the background while still trying to be all mean. Between the two teams, Kingston and Claudio have tangled quite a bit over the years, as recently as this past December, and the Claudio-Brodie feud, culminating in their big steel cage match in September, has been well-documented via live reports on this very site. Danielson potentially locking horns with Kingston is something we probably haven’t seen before (I sure haven’t) but should be quite awesome, while Danielson will also be faced by his lil’ buddy Grizzly on the opposite side of the ring. Taylor’s inclusion amongst this lot is the real wild card. I’d like to see Team Uppercut pull out the victory.

Da Soul Touchaz (Willie “Da Bomb” Richardson & Trauma & Marshe Rockett) vs. Team Combat Zone Wrestling (Pinkie Sanchez & Beef Wellington & Greg Excellent). YOOOOU! Of all of the teams that debuted at last year’s King of Trios, nobody left a bigger impression on the Philadelphia fans than Da Soul Touchaz out of the Chicago-area Elite Pro Wrestling. They took everyone by surprise with how well they worked and received a standing ovation and a “Please Come Back” chant following their second round lost to F.I.S.T. After coming back to Chikara for Young Lions Cup VI and the midwest weekend in September, they return to Philadelphia for another shot at becoming the King of Trios. The only difference is that Acid Jaz, part of the original trio last year, is currently sidelined with a leg injury, so fourth Toucha Trauma, who popped up on one of the midwest shows, is stepping in alongside Mr. M-80 and The Urban American Dream, C-Red once again accompanying them to ringside. On the CZW side, Sanchez has popped up a few times since debuting for Chikara at Young Lions Cup VI, while Wellington has only made a handful of appearances in ’05, including as part of the TWGP teaming up with a bear. I have seen none of Excellent, making his Chikara debut, though he and Wellington, under the team name of 2 Girls, 1 Cup, are former two-time CZW Tag Team Champions. Both teams look to be fan favorites in The Arena, but my money’s on the Touchaz, even if Team CZW puts up a good fight, good dance (from Pinkie) or good whatever it may be that may not be so family-friendly (by the other two).

The Death Match Kings (Necro Butcher & Toby Klein & Brain Damage) vs. F.I.S.T. (Icarus & Gran Akuma & Chuck Taylor). The trio of Icarus, Akuma, and Taylor (three of the more decorated men in Chikara with the Campeones de Parejas, the Young Lions Cup, two Torneo Ciberneticos and one Rey de Volidores to their credit) got their start teaming together at the first King of Trios, doing quite well the past two years before losing in the Semi-Finals to Team Japan in 2007 and in the Quarter-Finals to The Colony in 2008. This year, they won the other qualifying match by defeating The Colony, which also resulted in the retirement of poor Worker Ant at the hands of Taylor’s Awful Waffle on the floor. Because of this and other actions in the past (Icarus has forced a few men into retirement himself), F.I.S.T. has been labeled as the most dangerous trio in Chikara. However, the Death Match Kings, led by the Oscar-snubbed Necro Butcher, might take exception to such a moniker. “Mr. Insanity” Toby Klein and the cyborg-looking Brain Damage, established bruisers out of IWA-MS and CZW, are making their Chikara debuts. Necro, a regular in ROH and PWG rings in addition to those other promotions, has some history in Chikara as part of the TWGP in ’05 and ’06 (teaming with Mad Man Pondo and Joker, respectively), infamously putting former ROH students Anthony Franco and Matt Turner through his school of pain. This should be one of the more heated matches in the first round, and Necro and Klein are versatile enough to make it entertaining against the heels, but this is F.I.S.T.’s match to take; they’re out to make a statement.

The Future Is Now (Lince Dorado & Jimmy “Equinox” Olsen & Helios) vs. Team DDT (Kota Ibushi & KUDO & Michael Nakazawa). The newly-formed TFIN trio had varying degrees of success. I already mentioned how Olsen fared, though he’s certainly picked up his game since then in capturing the Young Lions Cup in January. Dorado, who made his Chikara debut in King of Trios ’07 – forming Team Mexico with El Pantera and Sicodelico, Jr., but losing in the semi-finals to Quakenbush, Storm, and Jigsaw – won the whole shebang last year as part of a new Team Mexico with Pantera and Incognito. Helios, the Young Lions Cup Champion this time last year, teamed with then-Campeones de Parejas Incoherence to form The Golden Trio (AKA IncoHelios to fans), making it to the Semi-Finals before losing to BLK OUT by way of a bullshit DQ. The three babyfaces just joined forces in the fall to some success, but appear to be pretty cohesive. They’ll need to be so when up against the Japanese contingent. KUDO has had a lot of experience the past three years in Chikara’s mega-tournaments, making it to the Quarter-Finals of the ’06 TWGP with MIKAMI (losing to the newly formed Incoherence), to the Finals of the ’07 King of Trios with MIYAWAKI and Yoshiaki Yago (losing to Quackenbush, Storm, and Jigsaw), and to the Quarter-Finals of last year’s King of Trios with MIYAWAKI and SUSUMU (losing to BLK OUT). Nakazawa, losing to The Colony in the first round last year as part of Team El Dorado, won over the fans with his baby oil-based antics, and he is a welcome return. Ibushi, amazing many fans with his matches in DDT, its sub-promotion BOYS, NOAH, and ROH, is finally making his Chikara debut after the original plans for his debut (teaming with Pac in Germany for the 2008 TWGP) fell through due to an injury. Myself and many other fans were happy to see this team announced and wish to see more of them by advancing, despite The Future Is Now having the home field advantage.

The Masters of a Thousand Holds (Mike Quakenbush & Jorge Rivera & Johnny Saint) vs. Incoherence (Hallowicked & Frightmare & Delirious). Oh yes. Earlier in the year, as teams for King of Trios were being unveiled, one of the earliest hooks for me to go and pray for nothing to conflict with the shows was the announced participation of Johnny Saint, the legendary British wrestler making his debut in the United States. John Philapavage might be able to say more, having seen more of Saint than I have (I got a small comp disc of his World of Sport days from John though), but what I can say of Saint is that he’s a veteran dating back a couple decades and has been very influential on a lot of current wrestlers (if you’ve seen any of Nigel McGuinness in 2004 or any of Colt Cabana in 2005 and on, a lot of their stuff was inspired by Mr. Saint. Saint hooked up with Quackenbush in the past year or so by having a pair of matches with him under World of Sport rules in Germany, for both wXw and Chikara’s TWGP last year. Now Quack has invited him over for their biggest weekend of the year. Quackenbush has the distinction, alongside of Jigsaw and Shane Storm, of winning the very first King of Trios in ’07. In last year’s tournament, when Rivera returned to team with Quack and Storm, they were upset by Team Mexico. It may only be a pipe dream, but I would really like to see the Finals be set between the Masters and Team Uppercut, two Chikara aces leading four other top- notch wrestlers. The Incoherence faction is nothing to sneeze at, based on how well Hallowicked and Delirious have worked as a unit in the 2006 TWGP (making it to the Semi-Finals before losing to Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli), during their run with the Campeones de Parejas, and their showing in last year’s King of Trios (Delirious was too busy in ROH to compete in the ’07 King of Trios, so Hallowicked teamed with Cheech & Cloudy, only to lose in the Quarter-Finals to Team Mexico). This will be the first time the two will be in trios action with the rookie Frightmare, and they should be pretty damn fun, even though I sadly don’t see them winning against the vastly more experienced opposing trio. Likely to be the match to top on first night.

The Cold Front (Al Snow & Iceberg & Glacier) vs. The UnStable (Vin Gerard & STIGMA & Colin Delaney). HUZZAH for a pun-based team; only Chikara could get away with such a thing. Glacier was the big surprise of last year’s tournament, being the mystery partner of Los Ice Creams and even utilizing their trademark sprinkles in the process, but they lost in the first round to Team Mexico. Al Snow’s story should be well known, from his stints in WWE and ECW to his training wrestlers in Tough Enough and OVW to that one weird, random TNA cameo. Iceberg, a super-heavyweight dude with death match tendencies, was more prominent earlier in the decade. He’s competed in the various NWA and IWA territories and even made brief appearances in the early days of TNA and ROH. Not sure what to expect from this team (anyone know if the Foreman Mills next to The Arena has a surplus of styrofoam heads?), though they’re looking to be the easy first round victims for the top heel faction. The only guy in The UnStable with King of Trios experience is STIGMA, back when he was Shane Storm, including the aforemention tournament victory in ’07. Colin was supposed to team with Jimmy Olsen and Brodie Lee last year, but he was signed by WWE at around the same time and couldn’t make it. Vin Gerard spent last year’s King of Trios stalking The Colony and costing them the tournament, and winning a four-way elimination match over, of all people, Glacier, so we get a little bit of back-story in this match as well.

To finish up, I have my tickets to King of Trios and am really looking forward to it. Certainly helps to talk about everyone who’s in it ahead of time so I don’t have to run down all of their names again when I provide some quick live reports. I’m hoping to make it the Fan Conclave as well after missing out on last year’s addition, which we only got a taste of in a Podcast-A-Go-Go. Should be another awesome weekend.

The Indy-rific Podcast # 3 (39 min., right click to save)

Discussed on the show: Chikara’s upcoming weekend, their DVDs and live shows, PWG’s DDT weekend and Low Ki vs Dragon, IWA-MS storylines and wrestlers, and more.

PWChronicle Indy Wrestling Show # 1 (52 min., right click to Save)