Three days of tournament action. Three days of wrestling near-perfection. That's right, King of Trios just finished up, and I'm in utter awe. Just when you think that the bar is at a set level, Chikara comes, smashes the bar and places another one astronomically higher than where it was before. Wow. Let's get to the recaps, shall we?
Warning: Be prepared to be here for awhile, because this is a pretty wordy review!
Night 1There was such an anticipation in the air to start the event. I personally felt antsy for the whole thing to begin, to the point where once the lights went down and
The event kicked off with FIST taking on The Throwbacks plus Matt Classic. The match began with a tip off, much to the bewilderment of both Icarus and refree Nick Papageorgio. Sugar Dunkerton tipped the ball to Dasher Hatfield, who threw the ball right back at Icarus' dome. As you would expect from a match featuring Dunkerton, Dasher and Classic, it was time for one of Chikara's patented comic relief matches, and as you would expect from Chikara, it was pretty effective. The match saw all three Throwbacks locking the Iron Claw in on Icarus, Chuck Taylor challenging Classic to a mat wrestling affair, only for Classic to reply with a backrake, Icarus and Gran Akuma unwittingly interlocking their arms together only for Dunkerton to throw down a dunk with the basketball through them to "I Believe I Can Fly", Classic doing about 10 minutes of step aerobics while he wasn't in the ring and finally, Classic downgrading a top rope dive to the outside to a second rope dive to a first rope dive to a dive off the apron. However, it would be FIST advancing after a sandwich combo enzugiri from Akuma and dropkick from Taylor into a lungblower from Icarus on Classic for the pinfall.
The second match of the evening saw Team Big Japan taking on Team Frightning. This was the first of several special apperances from BJW referee Nippon Ni, an anomalous female ref. This was my personal favorite match of the first night, as not only did we have the contrast in body types between the bulky BJW team of Daisuke Sekimoto, Okobayashi and Kankuro Hoshino (who had enough scarring on his back to last three lifetimes) and the lanky, American cruiser-indie built team of Mike Quackenbush, Hallowicked and Frightmare. Frightmare did in this match what he does best all the time - take big moves and sell like a Champ. There was a point in the beginning of the match where I thought Okobayashi was going to accidentally break poor Frightmare in half. The real revelation in this match for me though was Sekimoto, who was a BEAST. The guy throws the meanest, most vicious looking vertical suplex I've ever seen in my life. He also German suplexed Quack and Frighmare at the same time. Sick. BJW got the surprise win as Frightmare tapped to a cutthroat torture rack from Okobayashi.
I have to say, the real star of this match was Sekimoto. I can see why he has a fan following and had people wanting him to face Eddie Kingston on Night 3. The guy was this year's Kota Ibushi, only if Kota Ibushi weren't a high-flying spot machine but a stiff, barrell-chested head-dropper. I guess I mean to say he was this year's standout puro import.
Third match was supposed to be the BDK team of Claudio Castagnoli, Ares and Tursas taking on Skayde, Turbo and Valiente, but because Skayde allegedly pulled a greedy douchebag move, they weren't there. I say allegedly because I've only heard one side of the story, but still.... let's not get into that. Anyway, they did what they usually do to fill in a replacement by bringing out the lucky Phillies hat and drawing from it. The first two choices of Well Dunn and Strikeforce weren't in the house when Bryce Remsburg went to fetch them. However, the place blew up when he did come back with the Osirian Portal. Gavin and Bryce were about to draw the third name when Dieter von Stiegerwalt, the Chikara Director of Fun, came out and demanded that BDK ring announcer Jakob Hammermeir pull a name from the BDK hat. And it was... Sara del Rey.
The First Lady of the BDK did everything in her power to help her teammates beat the Portal. Her first foray into the squared circle saw her attempt to lay down for Tursas. She kept sabotaging the Portal at every turn, keeping Amasis from making saves for Ophidian, distracting Bryce when it would have behooved the BDK for her to do so and generally being a little shit. The Portal got her neutralized for a bit with their Snake Charm taunt, but she still got her mitts on the Portal enough for them to get caught up and distracted. The BDK snagged Ophidian in their triple-team swing-around Iconoclasm they do called the Ragnarok. It's quite an impressive move to see live, actually. Ophidian ate the pin and then got beaten down further after the match.
The fourth match, the UnStable vs. Team Osaka Pro, was the weakest one on the Night 1 card. Maybe it's because I don't like Vin Gerard or STIGMA all that much, but I just couldn't get into it, but I didn't really notice much out of it aside from how athletic and insanely fast Atsushi Kotoge was. Man, he was quicker than a hiccup to borrow a phrase from Good Ol' JR. Delaney ate a German suplex hold from Daisuke Harada and Osaka Pro moved on.
Intermission was next, and I met Colt Cabana, who must have been there to give Matt Classic a lift to and from the Arena. I bought an autographed picture of him from his Scotty Goldman days and a Colt Cabana pin. Awesome! He's very down to earth and approachable. A veritable cool guy and friend of the blog (even if he doesn't realize it!).
First match after break was the tilt between the Jack of All Trios, Aeroform and Johnny Gargano, taking on the Colony. This was my first exposure to Aeroform, and let me say, I was very impressed. I particularly took a shine to Louis Lyndon, who had a Last Dragon/Bruce Leroy thing going on with his detachable afro and kung-fu style. Anyway, as has been the custom, Green Ant was the punching bag for the Colony for most of the beginning of the match. He was cornered and did the whole face-in-peril thing pretty well as well, par for the course. The Colony ended up making a comeback and winning when Fire Ant hit Flip Kendrick with the Beach Break.
Match six came up next as the Bruderschaft B-Team of Lince Dorado, Tim Donst and Pinkie Sanchez took on the F1rst Family of Arik Cannon and the North Star Express of Darin Corbin and Ryan Cruz. Pre-match, Ryan Cruz got up on the turnbuckles to appeal to the fans and got a good pop. Indignantly, Donst got up and tried to appeal and got booed. Corbin followed and got a cheer, then Lince for a boo, then Cannon with a cheer and then Pinkie with a boo. Then, referee Papageorgio got up on the turnbuckle and got cheered for the first time I can remember. Wow, the BDK must be doing a great job at creating heel heat if Papageorgio is going to get a pop in opposition to them.
The match itself was a fun sprint with a lot of cool spots. I was really impressed by the NSE for the first time, as they did some cool stuff. For example early on, after a standard Irish whip from Donst where he dropped to the canvas to duck out of the way of the running Cruz, Cruz quickly countered it into a pinning combo. It sounds like it was something trivial, but you know how many times you see that spot on a card and no one thinks to throw a counter like that? It's the little things that really make a match stand out, y'know? The other thing that really stood out to me during the match was how good Pinkie was at heeling it up. Not only is he really good at drawing heat, but the guy's facial expressions, especially when he's about to eat a move from his opponent, are absolutely golden. I wouldn't be sad at all if he ended up winning Young Lions Cup this year, even if he is a dirty BDK traitor.
Anyway, back to the match and let's talk about Darin Corbin for a second, who had a nice stretch in the match where he was the first white guy ever to pull off a Spinarooni successfully (or as I like to call it, a Gingerooni). He followed that up by hitting a springboard tornado DDT on Donst using Pinkie's knees as the launch pad. Amazing. I'm sorry for ever calling the NSE whitebread or generic, because they really brought it in this match. However, it would be the BDK who'd end up with the win after Lince took out everyone on the outside with a tornillo from the top and then Pinkie rolling Cruz back into the ring and locking in the Inverted Chikara Special for the tap out win. I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention that the guys sitting behind me remarked that Donst "looked like Jigglypuff". It wouldn't have been so funny if I didn't right there see the resemblence. Well played. Line of the weekend.
The next match was our second comic relief tilt of the night, Team Delicioso, consisting of Los Ice Creams and CURRY MAN~!~!~! taking on Team Perros del Mal. The first impression I got was from how small Cuije, PdM's mini, is in person. I mean, he was smaller than Mascarita Dorada, and that's pretty tiny. His diminutiveness was a huge source of comedy for the match, as at one point, Alebrije and one of the Ice Creams had a tug of war with him and even played catch with him. They teased throwing him out into the crowd, which is what happens to him on a regular basis in Mexico, but it didn't come to pass. Although the match was pretty humorous, it was on the sloppy side. The Ice Creams seemed to be a bit out of kilter, and really, their heel schtick didn't really fit with CURRY MAN~!~!~!'s antics as well as I would have liked. Also, El Orientale botched a rana, which looked a tad ugly. Still, it wasn't enough for me to not enjoy the match. PdM got the win after Alebrije dropped Cuije onto one of the Ice Creams from the military press position into a splash. Neat finish.
After the match, Loudspeaker came back out to draw the Chikara Raffle for the evening, and then a couple got into the ring. The guy went down on one knee and proposed to the girl. Despite the pleas from the males in the crowd, she said yes. Honestly, while I love my wife and wouldn't trade her for anything in the world, I'd kill for her to be even remotely interested in Chikara let alone want to go to the events with me enough that I could propose to her INSIDE THE RING AT THE F'N ECW ARENA! So. Jealous. All that aside though, it was a nice moment. Congrats to that couple whose names escape me right now. Not like they're among my dozens... AND DOZENS of readers, but hey, it's nice to dream, y'know?
The... *rumblerumblerumblerumblerumble* MAAAAAAAAINNNN EVENT~! of the evening was the Jackson 3 (the Young Bucks and their lil' bro Malachi) vs. Helios, Jigsaw and Equinox from The Future Is Now. I was coming into this match expecting a major spotfest, and after some feeling out (I had joked that we were going to see a mat classic here and if you judged it by the first five minutes, I was looking to be right!), the fireworks started to fly. The real star of the match here was Malachi, who was making his first ever East Coast appearance after cutting his teeth out in Reseda and Burbank for PWG. For a kid who was still supposedly green, he looked really crisp in the ring. He really brought it. TFIN won after Helios hit his 630 Senton on Malachi for the pin. After the match, Loudspeaker and TFIN put over Malachi, but the Bucks didn't have any of it and yelled at their little brother for costing them the match. The Bucks are really dedicated to their TNA heel characters. It was effective though.
Night 1 was in the books, and I thought it was a very solid but draining card. The only match that really didn't deliver was UnStable/Team Osaka Pro. Everything else had something going on that made me get invested in the match. By the time the card was over, I was drained. If I was drained, I couldn't imagine how the wrestlers felt, but to their credit, most of them were out there after the show, shaking hands, hawking and signing merch and mingling with the Chikara fan faithful.
Next up was the Fan Conclave. I ended up not going because I ended up sleeping in and then had some chores to do. If I could do it all over again, I'd have gotten up earlier and made my way down there, because judging from the Podcast-a-Go-Go, it was an awesome spectacle. I have regrets now. Take a look:
Night 2Later on that evening, the Arena was set up for Night 2, and again, the anticipation in the air was palpable. Said anticipation was made even more cutting any time Team Mexico was brought up during the pre-show broadcasting of the Podcast-a-Go-Go on the Arena's closed-circuit TV system. Anytime Skayde's erstwhile team was brought up it was BOOOOOOOOOOO!!! from most of the crowd.
First match of the evening was Brodie Lee's open challenge. He came out all pissed off like he usually does, getting heckled from the crowd for everything from his gravy-stained wifebeater to the fact that he has no friends. He got a mic and cut a promo about how he's tired of being overlooked and called to the back for someone to come out, and out from the back came none other than...
...GRIZZLY REDWOOD~!
The crowd exploded for the diminuative lumberjack as he charged to the ring to exact revenge on Brodie for unceremoniously booting him out of the Roughnecks. This was the shortest full match of the three-night event. Grizz was feisty, but Brodie put him away in short order with a big boot out of the Irish whip. I'm hoping that Grizz sticks around, because he's a tailor-made character for Chikara as well as a fun wrestler in his own right.
Match 2 was the first of four quarterfinal matches, Team BJW vs. TFIN. Given the showing Big Japan put on in Night 1, I expected a similar mismatch of sizes affair with the smaller TFIN guys, and I was right. Again, Sekimoto was the star of the match. The guy's vertical suplex looks like it's an effective move. I mean, when you can make a whitebread vertical suplex look like a WWE-quality finishing grade maneuver, you're doing something right. Okobayashi joined in the stiff-o parade nearly taking Jigsaw's head off with a lariat. The spot of the match though, and maybe the most awe-inspiring spot of the entire tournament, was the stacked German suplex in the corner towards the end of the match. Helios was sitting on the top turnbuckle facing the crowd. Okobayashi grabbed him as if to go for a German superplex, but then Jigsaw grabbed him. Then, just as it looked Jig was going to fire, Sekimoto came over, grabbed Jig, thrust back and took all three guys with him. My. Jaw. Dropped. While I was impressed with him the night previous, I became a full on Sekimoto fan at that moment.
From that point, it was just bedlam, a tumult of spots that was punctuated by Helios hitting the 630 on Sekimoto and Sekimoto kicking out WITH AUTHORITY on a 1 count. Even though the stacked German was more impressive, that got the biggest pop from the crowd out of sheer surprise, since the 630 is Helios' signature finisher. Hoshino, Okobayashi, Equinox and Jig then made it outside the ring and Helios was going for a Space Flying Tiger Drop when Sekimoto charged in from the side, caught Helios mid move and nailed him with a German suplex hold for the 1-2-3.
I know I've said before that I'm not the biggest TFIN fan, Jigsaw excluded (he's awesome), but they earned my respect those first two nights, Helios especially. The way he bumped for Sekimoto was sublime, and his aerial offense is breattaking. I wanna give props to Jig as well, because he was awesome, running around the ring and just making the match seem busy without making it seem clustery if you understand what I'm trying to say. I'm glad Gabe Sapolsky has taken notice, and I hope that ROH does too, because Jig could be a stalwart in the indies for years to come, and I couldn't think of anyone better to become the next Ki/Punk/Joe/Danielson/DR-type.
Next up was the first of two Rey de Voladores eliminators, featuring Malachi Jackson, Amasis, flip Kendrick and Matt "M-Dogg 20" Cross. This match was what you'd expect from a RdV qualifier, a lot of high spots, a lot of requisite dives to the outside. Cross was the big focus of the match, and he wasn't bad here. The first two eliminations came simultaneously, with Amasis eliminating Kendrick with a 450 splash and Cross taking out Malachi with a shooting star press. Shortly thereafter, Cross took out Amasis with a standing SSP.
Match saw the BDK A-Team taking on Team Perros del Mal. Again, Cuije was at the center of the match, especially with the comically contrasted-in-size Tursas teasing squishing him like a little bug. The first three or so encounters between the two saw Tursas booting Cuije clear across the ring. The match ended with Claudio, Ares, Alebrije and El Orientale brawling on the outside, leaving Cuije all alone with Tursas, and Tursas squished the poor little guy with a splash. Cuije was carried out with his boots blown clean off, and the Perros team basked in the cheers that Team Mexico would also have gotten had they actually showed up.
I thought this match could have had a lot more in the way of cool spots. I thought that if this was going to be Cuije's last appearance for the weekend (which it was), that he should have gotten thrown into the crowd. They also missed out on a chance to have Claudio his big spin record from Night 1 last year (100 spins on Grizz) on the smaller, lighter Cuije. Hell, he could have done it with one hand! That being said, it was still a decent match.
Intermission was next, and afterwards, we were treated to an unannounced match between Christopher Daniels and Hallowicked. This was a nice surprise for the crowd, and both men got some pretty healthy chants. It the first time that the Arena crowd was really divided between two competitors all weekend. Much like in the F1rst/BDK B-Team match last night, there was another routine rope-running spot that was countered into a pin that I thought was really cool. Daniels did the whole leapfrog over a running Wicked, but Wicked caught him midair and brought him down for a school-boy roll-up. Again, how many times does the leapfrog spot happen over the course of a card? I love when guys do stuff that spices up the most commonplace of spots. It just makes the match that much more special. Also during the match, some dude in the crowd started chanting "TNA!" at Daniels and got the shit booed out of him. Very lulz-worthy. Finish was Daniels, who was heeling it up the whole match, grabbing Papageorgio while Hallowicked was trying to land the Graveyard Smash. He knocked Wicked over and nailed the Best Moonsault Ever for the win.
Next up saw Team Osaka Pro doing battle with FIST. For as much as their match with the UnStable bored me last night, this one opened my eyes to the sheer awesomeness that the Osaka boys brought to the table. For one, for as quick as Kotoge looked the previous night, he was about 10 times faster Night 2. He also got tossed out of the ring, Royal Rumble-style, at one point and landed on his feet, sticking the landing. Even more amazing, Tadasuke just destroyed Gran Akuma with a DEADLIFT brainbuster. Not that FIST were slouching this match, because all three heeled it up pretty good and really put the Osaka Pro guys over huge as threats. The match ended with a flash pin, FIST in control, but Tadasuke rolling up Chuck Taylor with a tights-pulling school boy. Osaka Pro shockingly advanced, making it two Japanese squads in the final four.
Match 7 was the second RdV eliminator, with Ophidian, Frightmare, Cheech Hernandez nad CZW up-and-comer Rich Swann, who could purportedly do a standing 450 splash, participating. The star of this match was Frightmare, who was just running around all over the place, hitting high-energy moves and bouncing around the ring like a pinball every time he got hit with a move himself. I think over the last year or so following Chikara, Frightmare has become one of my favorites not because of his offense or because he's got a cool character (both of those are very likeable qualities that he has though). It's because he wrestles with such a youthful exuberance. He's one of the runts of the roster, so he's always getting tossed around and abused, be it by the Tursases and Crossbones of the world, or even by folks who wouldn't be able to intimidate anyone else BUT Frightmare on the roster with their size like the Ladies of the Bruderschaft. But he always sells to make his opponents look good, very reminiscent of Evan Bourne in that way, and he's always going at full speed when the match dictates a fast pace. When he hits a big move, he's celebrating with the crowd so much that Wicked has to rein him in sometimes. Keeping in mind that Frightmare's still somewhat of a rookie, it fits perfectly in his character.
Anyway, this was a pretty entertaining spotfest through the first two eliminations - the first being Rick Swann getting taken out by Frightmare's moonsault knee press and the second Cheech falling victim to an Ophidian rolling clutch pin. However, when it came down to Frightmare and Ophidian, that's where the action started to pick up BIG TIME. Both guys kept digging deep and hitting each other with everything they had. Up to this point, Frightmare had been just a punching bag in the fed, a guy who'd be there to absorb losses for Incoherence and learn. This was his coming out party, as he hung with Ophidian and dealt him everything he dished out back and then some. I can't praise the end portion of this match enough. Sadly though, it did have to end, and it culminated with Ophidian countering a top rope set up from Frightmare into an avalanche Egyptian (Canadian) Destroyer. Normally, I hate the Canadian Destroyer, but it actually does look credible when done off the top. Well done end to a well done match.
Time for the MAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIINNNNN EVENNNNNNT~! The Colony battled the BDK B-Team. Ladies and gentlemen, I don't like to throw around heavy praise this early in the year, but I think Night 2's main event is my leader in the clubhouse for Match of the Year thus far. It started with a flourish, as the Colony faked out the BDK guys with feint planchas, luring them into the ring for a jolly good stomping. The advantage was short-lived, as the BDK regained the advantage shortly thereafter, keeping Soldier Ant isolated for most of the match. All three were in full cocky heel mode and keeping the tags quick for maximum beatdownage. At one point, Donst was doing sit-ups while he had Soldier Ant in a leg lock. Pinkie was Pinkie and Lince turned the smarm up to 11. It was great.
The Ants finally rallied and we could all tell there was a finish coming with the way bedlam was erupting with the planchas and the top rope moves and the tornillos and the GLAY-VIN... sorry, Professor Frink moment. With each successive near fall, you could hear the crowd gasping, either for a monumental sigh for a BDK win or an epic cheer if the Colony won. At one point, it looked as if Donst had Soldier Ant right where he wanted him, and Pinkie was about to finish Fire Ant with a Burning Snicklefritz on the apron. Fire Ant shrugged him off and BAH GAWD BAH GAWD BAH GAWD damn near killed Pinkie with a Beach Break on said apron. Then, in the ring, Soldier Ant made some slick moves and locked in the Chikara Special on Donst. With Pinkie killified on the outside of the ring and Green Ant keeping Lince from getting in to break it up, Donst only had one option...
*taptaptaptaptaptaptaptap*
Bryce called for the bell, but you couldn't hear it over the EXPLOSIVE ROAR of the crowd. Once Donst starting pounding the mat, all the tension in the Arena crested into a tsunami of joy. The BDK lost! The BDK lost! Finally, a clean pinfall or submission loss, and it was the Colony to do it in the last match on what turned out to be another stellar card. The crowd chanted "You tapped out" to Donst as he, Lince and Pinkie slinked to the back. Jakob Hammermeir was beside himself, while Gavin Loudspeaker hugged everyone at ringside he possibly could. To say that this was one of two of the most satisfying main events I've ever been witness to would be an understatement (the other one was obviously Austin going KICKWHAMSTUNNER on Michaels at WrestleMania XIV).
The awesome, awesome main event topped off what was an epic second half of the card. That second half saved the somewhat lacking first half, delivering four solid-to-monstrously awesome matches in succession. And to think, there was still one more show to go before it was all said and done.
Night 3Ah, Night 3. The strain of Night 2's festivities wore out Gavin Loudspeaker's voice so that he talked with a slight frog in his throat. The final night's festivities opened with The Colony taking on Osaka Pro. Before the match, a fan sitting in front of me handed a bag of Domino's sugar to Soldier Ant, who handed it off to Green Ant, who looked at it like "Jackpot". They brought the bag into the ring which took the Osaka team aback a bit. Bryce took the bag and held it up as if it were at stake in the match. I've said it before, and I'll say it again... I love Chikara Pro Wrestling.
Onto the match, you know the Law of Diminishing Returns, right? Yeah, Team Osaka Pro is the exact opposite of that; their performances got better with every night of the tournament. After two matches of playing the faces, they adapted super-well into heeling things up. Tadasuke spent a good portion of the beginning of the match messing with the antennae on Fire Ant's mask, which Fire Ant sold, naturally. Again, do I need to say it? It wasn't long before they turned the match into a track meet/air show, and with Kotoge running around like a jackrabbit on crack and the propensity of all three Ants to take to the air, it's not a shock. There were a couple of really cool spots out of the Ant Hill set up. One was Fire Ant getting the heave-ho from his partners into a senton atomico (think Swanton) out of the ring onto all three of the Osaka Pro guys. For the finish, they topped even that, as they launched Green Ant from the Ant Hill... while standing on the top rope. Yep, Soldier Ant and Fire Ant were on the top rope and Green Ant splashed Tadasuke from their hands. CRAZY AMAZING. Colony wins and the Osaka Pro guys, the good sports they are, awarded them the bag of sugar after the match.
Next match was the other semifinal, Big Japan vs. the Bruderschaft A-Team. Finally, the BDK didn't face a team that was functionally handicapped in some way and finally, Big Japan faced a team that actually had comparable size. It was the inverse in terms of pacing and tenor of the semifinal that preceded it. But for everything in terms of flying, quickness and lucha libre spirit that OPW/Colony had, BJW/BDK matched in terms of stiffness, power and puroresu ethic. There was a nice spot where Hoshino went all sumo and tried to knock Tursas down, and Okobayashi therw a nice deadlift suplex on Ares, but the big drama of the match was the question of whether Sekimoto could give Tursas a German suplex? I have to wonder if the building's foundations, already shaken and weakened by the crowd reacting to the previous night's main event finish, would have disintegrated from the reaction to such a suplex. Thankfully for the Arena and disappointingly for the we the fans, the suplex was only teased. Ares foiled the attempt and shortly thereafter, nailed Hoshino with a Tiger Driver for the pin, setting up a second straight Colony main event against some form of the Bruderschaft.
Next up was an unannounced match between Chuck Taylor and El Orientale. While Orientale was probably the most "serious" of the Perros del Mal team, he still brought some humor to the match, mainly in the beginning with his UNO-chop-DOS-chop-TRES-surprise eye poke sequence. Things did end up getting serious, and both guys broke out some pretty sweet submissions. Taylor would get the last tap though, defeating Orientale via a single leg torture crab.
Match numbaaaah 4 was the annual tag gauntlet. Starting off were the Throwbacks tacking on the UnStable duo of Vin Gerard and STIGMA. Fun opening tilt which saw stereo corner punches by the Throwbacks on the UnStable. The only problem was that while Dasher got all the way to 10, Sugar only made it to 3 on Gerard before he countered with a backslide to win.
The next team out from the back was worth the entire price of admission for Night 3 by itself. Yes, we were treated to the team of Steve "The Turtle" Weiner and DRAGON DRAGON~!
If you're a fan of Chikara, you already are marking out just seeing the picture or remembering back to the match. If not, well... yes, someone actually wrestles in that get up. It's as awesome as it sounds. Blogfan Sean McLaughlin, who came to Night 3 with me, and I spent the entire time marking out, from the time when Dragon Dragon came out until the time he tapped out to a Vin Gerard STF. All good things must come to an end, but the memories of Dragon Dragon will stay with me forever, or at least until I become senile in my old age.
Team 4 was The Future Is Now, consisting of Helios and Equinox. They eliminated the UnStable in somewhat short order as Equinox spiked Gerard with a Memphis piledriver and pin. After the UnStable was dispatched, Aeroform came out. I was a bit disappointed here as they didn't really do much, although I learned later that Kendrick had been working hurt. Equinox landed a KTFO punch on Kendrick and thusly, Aeroform was gone.
Next team out was the North Star Express, and again, the mark out pants went on. First, there was Corbin running the ropes until he tired himself out, which lead directly into a slow-motion sequence which saw even the crowd chanting "This... is... awesome" in super slo-mo. Once action sped back up, Cruz got a nice pin combo on Helios.
Team numbaaaaaah 7 was the Order of the Neo-Solar Temple, who despite their rudo status, got a nice pop. It just goes to prove that rudos are cool and that UltraMantis Black is incapable of being booed in Philly anymore. At least I'd like to think so. Then again, I think he might have used the Eye of Tyr on me before the BDK swindled him out of it. Oh well. It was a nice, brisk jaunt which saw Mantis and Crossbones shout "RUDOS!" to a boisterous cheer from the crowd before Mantis spiked Corbin with the Praying Mantis Bomb.
Next out was Incoherence who actually took out the Order in very short order with a Hallowicked enzugiri on Crossbones and pinfall. That led into Team FIST coming out. They did the whole punching-bag thing on Frightmare for awhile, but then Incoherence started making a comeback, and Frightmare actually got the fall spiking Icarus with a crucifix driver.
That led up to the climactic final team coming out, the Ladies of the Bruderschaft, Sara del Rey and Daizee Haze. The women again took to picking on poor little Frightmare, and all looked lost when they hit their Sara piledriver into a Daizee German suplex on the frenetic ball of kinetic energy. Thankfully, Wicked came in last second and broke the pin up. The match ended with Incoherence getting the upper hand and Wicked finishing off Daizee with a Rydeen bomb (think D'Lo's Sky High). For the second time in two events, the BDK suffered a pinfall/submission defeat. The chinks in the armor started to show, and in the process, Incoherence earned themselves three points and a shot at the Campeonatos de Parejas.
Intermission was next, and right at the end, well, just take a look for yourself:
Yep, a story-based Chikara video game where the focus is UltraMantis Black reanimating former Chikara characters in the fight against the BDK. Want.
Man, did that promo give Christopher Daniels and Eddie Kingston a tough act to follow eh? Good thing both are top-flight wrestlers who answered the bell admirably. Kingston spent most of the beginning of the match flustering Daniels with strikes and brawling techinique. Daniels turned the match around and made it competitive, adding in some of his heel antics on top of it. Kingston had him on the ropes, but Daniels tried again the finish he did the night previous by pulling Bryce into his grasps to block a Backfist to the Future attempt. Before he could get off the BME, Kingston yanked him off the ropes and nailed him with the Backfist for the win. Oh, but that's not where things ended. Yep, someone came out from the back to talk to Kingston and that someone?
TOMMY. DREAMER.
Dreamer had a mic and started putting over the fans, the Arena and then the fed and the action itself, saying in reference to DRAGON DRAGON that he "loved that shit", to which Kingston chided him that he couldn't say that. Think about it. When Eddie Kingston is correcting you on your language, something's up. Think about it more. Tommy Dreamer marked for Dragon Dragon. Do you NEED any more validation? I think not. Anyway, Dreamer offered to do for Kingston what Terry Funk did for him all those years ago, and they announced a match for the May 23rd show in Union City, NJ. Now, some people crapped on this because "OH TEH NOES TOMMY DREAMER IZ SO OLD LOL". You know what I say to that? Fuck you. You know why? Tommy Dreamer isn't being brought in to dominate. He's being brought in to help put over the guy who's his natural heir in the business, and you know what? For a guy like me who grew up on ECW, for a guy who marked for Tommy Dreamer and knows all he meant to the business, it was fucking cool. And most of the people, if not all of them in attendance, agreed with me.
The next match of the evening saw the Young Bucks taking on Mike Quackenbush and Jigsaw in my favorite match of the night. This was exactly the kind of match you'd expect from the four guys in the ring, only amped up to 11. The Jackson Boys, Jig and Quack all brought their A-games. The Bucks were really on point with their tag team offense, hitting a bevy of double-team moves on both guys, although Quack had a really sweet counter off a sunset flip powerbomb to the outside with a double stomp to Matt's chest. Both teams teased finisher at various points of the match, but the fall went to QuackSaw after Jig countered the rolling forward slam portion of More Bang For Your Buck, causing Nick to miss the 450 splash part. It allowed Quack to scoop Nick up for a Jig 'n Tonic spiked with a flying double stomp from the top by Jigsaw. After the match, both Quack and Jig tried to show sportsmanship, but the Bucks heeled it up and high-tailed it out of there.
Next up was the Rey de Voladores final, and it was... disappointing. Cross and Ophidian really didn't mesh together, and furthermore, Cross, who actually looked serviceable Night 2 and got some chants, was clearly not over. I don't want to take a dump on this match because both guys tried and it was Ophidian's big breakout singles moment, but I was disappointed with the match.
Finally, we got to the.... MAAAAAAAAAAAAAINNNNN EEVVEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNT~! for the entire card. Bruderschaft des Kreuzes. Colony. King of Trios Championship. The Colony came out like gangbusters, showing the BDK team no quarter whatsoever. They came out with such fire and intensity that Tursas actually sold for Green Ant. It was unreal just how the Colony was taking it to a BDK squad that really wasn't challenged much until this point. I mean, even the BJW match never seemed in question. They hit an early triple team version of Ants Go Marching on Claudio and looked to put them away with the same Super Ant Hill Splash they used to put Osaka Pro away, but Tursas foiled it at the last second.
Then, in one of the most amazing sequences I have ever seen, Tursas ran the ropes at Fire Ant only for Fire Ant to low bridge the top rope and send Tursas toppling over the top with his momentum sending him hurtling into the guardrail and flipping over it. Yes, that's right, the only guy to go involuntarily over the guardrail all weekend (Icarus went over too, but he was running away from Matt Classic) was the largest competitor in the fed. To follow it up, what did Fire Ant do? He climbed a friggin' support beam after Tursas had made it back to the floor and splashed both Tursas and Ares from about 15 feet up in the air. By this point, I had actually written on my notepad "Too much awesome to write things down anymore". It had gotten to the point where I just wanted to mark out, to invest as a fan in the match, so I did. What I do recall was the match going back and forth, just chaos everywhere. Green Ant and Claudio traded submissions at one point, the Green Ant cloverleaf into the inverted Chikara Special into the Chikara Special. The way Frightmare was made the previous night, Green Ant was made into a bona fide main event-level threat on Night 3. He really came into his own.
Between this match and the first 8-man tag at A Touch of Class, one thing really has stood out to me in some of the more heated BDK/Chikara matches. It actually feels like watching a war unfold before my eyes. Not a wrestling match, but a war, like these guys really do hate each other. The chaos, the madness, it's all perfect.
Anyway, back to the match, after all that, things got really interesting. Bryce got accidentally bumped by an errant move, I forget exactly what, and to follow it up, Tursas sized the fallen senior referee up and hit him with a running splash. Bryce got squished. I was sad. To follow it up, Tursas got walloped and the Colony nailed an Ant Hill Splash on Ares. Out comes replacement referee and 2-year Chikara exile Derek Sabato who comes out just in time to call Ares kicking out at two. There was a big problem with that.
Ares never kicked out. Sabato's dirty. Sabato's dirty. Sabato is El Hijo del Nick Patrick. Holy shit.
The Colony was in disbelief. The crowd was in disbelief. The Claudio and Tursas moseyed over to the two arguing ants and low-blowed them to NO disciplinary action. Fire Ant was held up by Claudio and Tursas. Ares came running in. Ragnarok. Insanely and unnecessarily fast count from Sabato.
Your 2010 King of Trios, the Bruderschaft des Kreuzes. The fans were in riot mode almost, screaming at Jakob Hammermeir, the wrestlers, at the situation. Some were calling for Chikara Commissioner Dave Coulier to intervene. It was madness. But it was a fitting cap for the whole event. It was the perfect end to a chapter of a story that wasn't ready to be finished yet.
While some amongst the smarky unrest hated this finish, I loved it. It put the hammer down and re-established the BDK as a dominant faction by a new means when the old means, chicanery through Dieter and dominance in the ring, wasn't working. The cracks started to show in the foundation, and the patch wasn't going to be jobbing KoT clean. It wasn't going to be doing some weaksauce cheating to win and look like weasels. It wasn't going to be winning clean either, not after the momentum that Chikara and the Colony in specific had garnered. It was going to be through throwing down yet another monolithic obstacle... the crooked referee. If you're hopping off the bandwagon, that's fine, but I'm more intrigued than ever.
All that being said, I have never spent $63 better on anything wrestling related than what I did on those tickets. Chikara time and again proves that they are the market leaders when it comes to quality. They don't sell the most like the WWE, but their product is the best. I strongly, strongly, VERY strongly recommend that you buy the DVDs when they come out and experience the awesome for yourselves. These words can only do so much justice.
Photo Credits: Zia Hiltey - Please visit her Flickr site to view her excellent photography from Chikara to everything else.
Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!
