Chikara: A Team Effort

Seven members of the team

There are a lot of fans who watch wrestling or go to cards because of singular wrestlers. I'm like that sometimes; the big reason why I started going to ROH HDNet tapings last year was because I wanted to go see Bryan Danielson, and yeah, Danielson was the same reason why I considered buying Bragging Rights. Usually though, I go on rep of the fed, although a lot of people do buy tickets, DVDs or PPVs because of certain guys.

By and large though, that's not how it is with Chikara. From my experience of talking to people at events or online, people dig Chikara regardless of who's appearing at the show. That could be an unfair analysis, as any fan of any fed is going to be like that. Okay, I get it, but looking at the roster top to bottom, there really isn't that one person who stands out as a guy or gal who brings in the crowds. Yeah, there's Mike Quackenbush, Eddie Kingston and Claudio Castagnoli, guys who are proven names around the indies, but I still feel like the name on the marquee is bigger than any one guy in the fed.

This is not a slight against them in the least though. Looking at the appeal of the fed, it's the cast of characters, the patchwork that the entire cast weaves together, it's a great synergy. With Chikara, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

For example, you get the main angle with the BDK with your serious stuff. You have super-high-flying with Helios. Dasher Hatfield, Los Ice Creams and the like with comic relief. The guest stars for the most part don't come in to big time the roster, but to meld with the roster for that one night. It's very rare that you go to a Chikara show and you don't feel enriched by the entire show, unless it happens to be Chikarasaurus Rex and have Shingo just take a figurative dump all over Equinox. No, I'm still not bitter.

There are going to be singular, iconic and iconoclastic stars in wrestling. Chikara, even when it does attract those kinds of stars, integrates them into the show to the point where the fed, the TEAM, is the attraction. That's the best part, Chikara is a team, and it shows in the production of each card. When you have that, you have something special.

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

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