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| The new rudo menace of Chikara? |
Okay folks, time to get started on the year-end reviews/forecasts. I'm gonna switch up the format a bit, but the song generally remains the same. Here goes:
Fed: Chikara
What Happened in 2010: As expected, the BDK/Chikara feud dominated the landscape of the fed. It started with utter dominance at the season premiere, A Touch of Class, and continued unabated for the most part in the first three months of action. The group of disgruntled wrestlers and invaders captured the Young Lions Cup and the Campeonatos de Parejas in short order, and they looked to dominate at King of Trios. However, this is where Chikara started getting some victories. The Colony knocked off the BDK B-team of Pinkie Sanchez, Tim Donst and Lince Dorado in the main event of Night 2, a quarterfinal match in the annual six-man tag tournament. The next day, Hallowicked and Frightmare dispatched Sara del Rey and Daizee Haze in the last fall of the annual tag gauntlet. In the tournament finals, the Colony looked to beat the main BDK team of Claudio Castagnoli, Tursas and Ares, but they installed a crooked referee after BRYCE~! got bumped out of the match. With Derek Sabato in tow, the BDK won arguably the most prestigious prize in all of indie wrestling.
It was here that the luck of Chikara started to change. Frightmare won the annual Young Lions Cup tournament, fending off Lince in the finals and then again later on in the year. The Chikara/BDK feud was the centerpiece of Cibernetico, and that match ended with Eddie Kingston gaining the first ever pinfall victory on the mammoth Tursas. Finally, at the season finale, Mike Quackenbush and Jigsaw ended the reign of Castagnoli and Ares as Campeonatos with a resounding victory. While the BDK angle isn't over, it seems like the main meat of it has been completed, and order has been restored to Chikara.
Of course, there were other happenings. The biggest one to me was what UltraMantis Black did to try and fight the BDK that ended up blowing up in his face. He imported the help of two demons, Obariyon and Kodama, in his fight against the BDK from a mysterious figure, later revealed to be Sinn Bodhi, in exchange for the Eye of Tyr. The only problem was he didn't have said artifact. Now, he's in deep doo-doo, having to fight another war to cover for the war he was fighting this year.
Also, Brodie Lee and Grizzly Redwood feuded sporadically throughout the year until Redwood did what Brodie couldn't, defeat Dasher Hatfield in a singles match. The two reunited and turned their sights on the Throwbacks in a feud that's just starting to heat up. In other tag team reunion news, Colin Delaney Olsen dissociated himself from the UnStable and reunited with the former Equinox, an unmasked Jimmy Olsen.
Finally, Chikara hauled in a pretty nice year in terms of special guest stars. From the regular guys like Arik Cannon and Da Soul Touchaz to some huge names coming off the big circuits like Christopher Daniels, Homicide and Bryan Danielson, Chikara was the place to be if you wanted a one-off, dream match scenario to take place. Maybe the biggest guest star of them all was the much-heralded Manami Toyota, who was making her first Stateside appearance ever not for ROH, PWG, DGUSA, TNA or the WWE, but for Chikara. She is perhaps the most legendary female performer ever, and she chose Chikara.
From a quality standpoint, I thought that Chikara was one of the best feds in American wrestling history in 2010. I've been to seven events live and watched another one on DVD, with at least three other shows in my backlog (with more to come!). Not once did I say to myself, "Man, that show I just watched was underwhelming." There were low-point moments. Not everything was stellar, but it was damn close. You had a great mix of wrestling, comedy, storytelling and shtick on a stage where the guest stars weren't the ones who made the fed, but who supplemented a cast of regulars that could stand toe-to-toe with any roster in the country in terms of raw talent.
If Chikara is a quarter as good in 2011 as it was in 2010, then it'll be another banner year for them.
Chikara's 2010 MVP: While Chikara is a team effort, I think one guy stood out as being the lynchpin for the fed on the whole, and that's Eddie Kingston. He was both instrumental in the fight against the BDK as well as a go-to wrestler to play off as foil to several guest stars, including Homicide, Danielson and Tommy Dreamer.
What's Gonna Happen in 2011: For one, I don't think we've seen the last of the BDK. Their power and influence is going to be diminished, but I don't see their CdP loss as closure to the storyline. Tim Donst is still pretty dominant in singles competition, and the BDK women of Sara del Rey and Daizee Haze may have something to say about which team will be tasked with bringing the titles back home to the fold. I expect some tension and rivalries to develop within the group as they try to regroup. Some fat will most likely be trimmed from it, and by year's end, I expect there maybe to be a regular rudo trio featuring Castagnoli, Ares and Tursas as a lasting remnant from the stable. Along the way though, I expect a massive final battle to take place between old rivals Castagnoli and Kingston. That would be the fitting capstone on the feud, don't you think?
So who else steps forward to fill the void at the top of the card? Well, there's the whole Bodhi/Obariyon/Kodama troika for Mantis to battle. It'll be interesting to see whom he recruits. Will it be Hallowicked and Frightmare? Crossbones and a heretofore unknown third party? MISTER ZERO? I'd put the smart money on Wicked and Frightmare, but with Chikara, you never know. Another candidate to go at the top is the feud between the Roughnecks and the Throwbacks. Brodie Lee's stock within the indies is rising pretty quickly, and Sugar Dunkerton's finally arrived, both in Chikara and in the indies on the whole. This could be a good showcase for the two teams to have some nice battles over the first part of the year and perhaps segue into CdP contention.
Another feud that might come to the forefront could be Team FIST against Gran Akuma. Remember, the group booted the mysterious bald warrior out of their ranks at Chikarasaurus Rex in favor of Johnny Gargano. I think he'll be back with some students in toe to take on the new incarnation of Friends in Similar Tights at some point, maybe in time for King of Trios?
Five to Watch in 2011:
Sugar Dunkerton - After a year-plus in Chikara, the afro-sporting Throwback baller has found a home and a fan-following at the ECW Arena. While the first part of his year will be consumed trying to help his partner Dasher Hatfield regain his baseball bat, when August rolls around, he's got to be a favorite to win the Young Lions Cup tournament, right?
Obariyon and Kodama - These two nightmare-inducing wrestlers are part of Sinn Bodhi's legion of demons, and they've already accumulated two points in the chase for the CdP. Will UltraMantis Black be their only target in the coming year, or before long, will they be targeting the Campeones, Quack and Jigsaw? I think it's a safe bet that they're going to have productive years, no matter what they do.
Tim Donst - Donst has been on the warpath recently, making it his solemn duty to take out all the former Young Lions Champions that he can. He's the only member of the BDK with any momentum, and his stock within the company seems to be rising. He was one of two guys who got a chance to wrestle Bryan Danielson on his whirlwind indie tour, and I don't know about you, but if I were an indie wrestler, I'd be honored to wrestle a guy like BD. While he's ineligible to hold the YLC again, there are other things he can do, like take over some influence in the BDK, feud with a resurfacing Hydra (I JUST BLEW YOUR MIND) or maybe even harass other future guest stars in 2011 as a headline talent.
Da Soul Touchaz - They've been regular guest stars in Chikara, but these Chicagoland stalwarts may be coming in for more than a few cards after the brutal beating the BDK laid on them at The Germans. They're always a welcome sight, and having them around for a prolonged feud with the interlopers might be a nice addition to the main event.
Green Ant - The resilient rookie lost part of his 2010 due to a broken arm. It's a shame, because he was looking pretty solid in the ring, making leaps and bounds from his 2009 debut year. When he returns, I expect big things from him.
Three Things I Want to See in 2011:
1 – Sara del Rey and Daizee Haze winning the CdP. Chikara is progressive, but are they that imaginative? Putting the main titles on women in a fed dominated by men is ballsy even by their standards, but if there are two women who can carry the titles with pride, it's Sara and Daizee. Make it happen.
2 – Austin Aries as a guest star. Having him for King of Trios is a given, but there are a few dream matches available. Aries/Donst could be off the charts, as would tilts against Kingston, Castagnoli and even Quackenbush. Aries was great at King of Trios weekend 2009, but he'd be even better in 2011.
3 – Exchange talent with more feds. Chikara has a history of taking talents from other feds and giving them a chance to shine. I think now that Bodhi is aboard – he has connections in Florida – I'd love to see more guys from the South, Southwest and even the West Coast come up to Chikara and give it a more cross-country flavor. It would be pretty sweet for them to dip into feds like, say, NWA Anarchy, and expose its awesomeness to places that may not know how great a fed it is. Conversely, there are a ton of great feds in places like Georgia, Texas and the like that have talent that could use the exposure of wrestling in Philly.
Next up… SHIMMER!
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!
