It's Not a Rumble!: Young Lions Cup VIII Preview

Chikara's annual rite of passage for its youngest wrestlers and its oldest tradition, the Young Lions Cup, runs this weekend, starting tonight in Reading, PA, actually. You didn't think I'd let a Chikara event pass without giving it a proper once-over, did you? Of course not!

I'm going to break it down to two different sections. The first will preview the 24 competitors in the actual YLC tournament. The second will run down the other matches announced thus far. Without further ado...

After the jump...Young Lions Cup Competitors

I will be splitting these guys into two groups, Guys I Know and Guys I Don't Know. Here goes:

Guys I Know

Sugar Dunkerton, Green Ant, Frightmare, Ophidian, Amasis, Christian Abel, Andy "Right Leg" Ridge, Johnny Gargano, Lince Dorado, Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, Mike Sydal

All the regular Chikara roster members I've had a lot of exposure to, those being Dunkerton, Green Ant, Frightmare, the Portal, Lince and I guess Johnny Gargano now that he's in FIST. You know what you're going to get from them, but in case you don't know, well, it'll be a lot of fun. My guess is the winner is going to come from that group of wrestlers, although I'm not exactly sure who it's going to be. More on that later, though.

Cole and O'Reilly are both nice up-and-coming prospects that I had the privilege of watching for the first time at DGUSA's Open the Freedom Gate card in a dark match. Cole has gone on to get some acclaim in CZW, which is a shame because I'm really skittish about checking CZW out due to its über-violence. I'm sure my boss at the CCB, Eric Gargiulo will confirm or deny that since he's big into them, but Cole has also found some acclaim wrestling for EVOLVE. O'Reilly has become an almost exclusive EVOLVE wrestler, which is funny given that his mentor, Davey Richards, not only burnt his bridge with Gabe Sapolsky, but found a way to burn the ashes of that bridge as well as burning the water the bridge was crossing. They had a very good match then, and they'll be rematching tomorrow night.

If Sydal's name seems familiar to you, that's because he is the former Matt Sydal's/current Evan Bourne's little brother. I've seen him a couple of times for ROH in jobber/squash situations, and he performed admirably. The same is said for Ridge, who's been part of the ROH prelim/Pro Wrestling RESPECT gang for as long as I've been following ROH. I'm expecting them to be unleashed here whereas in ROH prelim matches they're more constrained. Actually, I lied. Ridge was on Grizzly Redwood's team at A Touch of Class, but I don't recall him doing anything too special. Then again, their match was almost like a prelim match as they were offered up to the Order of the Neo-Solar Temple (PRAISE BE TO MANTIS!).

Christian Abel seems like a fish out of water, as he's more a bruiser than a high-flyer, but hey, if there's a maxim in pro wrestling, it's that any good multi-man spotfest type match is usually improved by the presence of a bully. Abel fits that role well, although I'm not entirely sure he'll make it to the 6-man match. He's wrestling Dunkerton tonight, and I think Sugar's gonna take that match if you ask me.

Guys I Don't Know

Akira Tozawa, Brandon Michael Thomas, Josh Pain, Kaio, Chrisjen Hayme, Sindarin, Keita Yano, Dustin Rayz, Obariyon, Skull, Eric Ryan, Cameron Skyy

Some of the names here are familiar, but I've never seen any of these guys in action. BMT was in YLC last year, beating Frightmare in an opening round match. They're rematched this year, which I believe that Frightmare will probably win.

The best thing about YLC is that Chikara reaches out to feds all over the country and world. You don't just get imports from the usual suspects (ROH, Sapolsky feds, PWG), but AIW, Clash, Insanity Pro, Lucha Lords and even Italian Championship Wrestling. One of the many reasons why I think it's the best thing going today. Anyway, rather than speaking on guys that I don't know, I'm going to be very curious checking them out, especially Sindarin, Obariyon and Kaio. This DVD set should be awesome.

PREDICTIONS~!

I think going into full pick 'em mode would just make me look like a dope since I rarely ever get these kinds of things right. I mean, I thought Davey Richards was a lead-pipe lock to win the OtFG Title last year and he lost his prelim match, and I thought it was going to be Team Frightning vs. the BDK in the finals of KOT, and Frightning jobbed out to Team Big Japan in the first round. I will give you whom I think has a great chance of winning though, with a prohibitive favorite:

Lince Dorado - Because the BDK wins everything, you see? No, seriously, he's a favorite because the BDK angle is so big, although I think with the chinks in the armor starting to show, he'll falter in the Final. He'd be a good choice. While the Arena fans hated him for whatever reason, he was always my favorite among the three The Future Is Now guys (before Jigsaw started mentoring the group), and a pretty good spotfest guy without seeming like a choreographer *cough*Helios*cough*.

Green Ant - Greenie's been hard on his luck in singles competition, and the fact that he's up against a DGUSA emissary in the first round, Akira Tozawa, means there's a good chance he's jobbing on Night 1. However, Greenie has been the most improved Chikara wrestler in the ring this year, and he's gotten a strong following. What better coming out party and what better redemption for the Colony after the BDK screwed them out of KOT this year?

Frightmare - Frightmare has been getting a lot of exposure this year. He got a YLC match against Donst, made it to the Rey de Voladores final at KOT and he had that awesome ceiling rana spot on Claudio Castagnoli at Aniversario Elf. Besides, the celebration he'd have with the trophy would be worth the price of admission alone on Sunday.

Ophidian - Nothing against Amasis, but Ophidian seems like the breakout singles star of the team. He's already won Rey de Voladores, which seems like a good indicator of what they think of him. Last year, Player Dos barely lost out on RdV in the finals against Kota Ibushi (who wasn't coming back for YLC) and he got the nod for the YLC tourney. Plus, he's one of the most over guys in the company. Far worse choices than the Venomous and Vile Serpent of the Nile.

However, this guy is my prohibitive favorite:

Johnny Gargano - Okay, Gargano just joined the full-time Chikara roster by booting Gran Akuma out of FIST and taking his spot. What better way to put him over, to put the new-look FIST over and to cement his standing in Chikara than by having him win the YLC tourney? Gargano is one of the indies' rising stars. He's already won the AIW Championship as well as become one of the biggest American names in DGUSA. If I were a betting man, I'd go all in on Gargano taking the trophy home.

Other Announced Matches

Night One
Tursas vs. Grizzly Redwood - FOR THE LULZ~! Man, I wish I could be there tonight just to see this comedy of epic proportions. Here's hoping that The Grizz doesn't get squashed into a flapjack by the end of this one.

Mike Quackenbush and Jigsaw vs. Sara del Rey and Daizee Haze - This could be the match of the night and the match of the weekend, pending how YLC unfolds. QuackSaw are 1 point away from being able to challenge for the Campeonatos de Parejas, held by Castagnoli and Ares. How fitting would it be for them to go through the Ladies of the Bruderschaft to get that third point? SDR has been one of the best wrestlers in the world of any gender all year, and Quack is one of the best of all-time. Jig and Haze can hold up their ends as well. This should be a barnburner, provided there are no shenanigans with the booking.

Night Two
3.0 vs. Super Smash Bros. - This is the only non-tourney match announced for Night Two, and it should be a good one. 3.0 is on the full-time Chikara roster, but they seem to make the least appearances out of anyone, and that's a shame. I'd love to see more of these guys, but hopefully, this is the start of them making an extended run. The SSB are always good, and in an aside, I'm glad that they're getting more and more ROH dates, although I'd like to see them be booked a little more strongly than they have been there.

Night Three
The Countdown Showdown! - IT'S NOT A ROYAL RUMBLE! Although it is seemingly modeled after the Rumble match... Thirty men and women will enter at intervals of 30 seconds, but only one will emerge victorious. What will that person win? Err, I don't know yet. However, it is the only other match announced other than the YLC tourney final, so it's a big deal. So far, 18 out of 30 competitors have been announced, which means that only 12 of the 22 competitors in the YLC tournament at most will have spots in there, which means there'll probably be some last-minute matches announced.

Be that as it may, here are the folks announced for the Countdown Showdown thus far:

Eddie Kingston, Jigsaw, Dasher Hatfield (YESYESYESYES), Cheech, Fire Ant, Soldier Ant, UltraMantis Black (PRAISE BE TO MANTIS!), Player Dos, Equinox, Icarus, Vin Gerard, STIGMA, Colin Delaney, Delirious, Sara del Rey, Claudio Castagnoli, Pinkie Sanchez, Brodie Lee

Good lineup so far. I expect to see some of the eliminated in this, as well as Quack, Hallowicked, Ares and maybe... Vökoder????

So, there you have it. Young Lions Cup. I regret I won't be there, but if you're in the tri-state area and want something really awesome to do this weekend, head up to the Goodwill Fire Association Hall on 100 Madison Avenue in Reading, PA and check out at least one of the three nights. I went to Night Three in Philly last year, and it was awesome. This year's card looks like it might blow last year's away, and last year's was pretty good.

Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography

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!