The King of Trios Field Is Complete

Bate and Seven are back and they're teaming with rowdy-ass Pete Dunne
Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein

When last I updated about King of Trios, Chikara had announced three-quarters of the field for this year's King of Trios tournament and the first Rey de Voladores participant. Since then, the former field has been completed, and the company named a second entrant in the latter, and all entrants are, as Chikara alumnus and current WWE RAW Tag Team Champion Cesaro would say, very European. I had projected that three of the last four trios would be "native" without really realizing that the depths of Chikara's current state of alliances has been thoroughly plumbed. However, the four teams announced aren't without promise. In fact, I'd say three of them come with high marks.

The first team is the relative unknown squad of Michael Fynne, Vasyl, and Emeritus from Bodyslam Pro Wrestling in Denmark. The indie scene in the southernmost nation considered to be in Scandinavia isn't exactly renowned worldwide, so this team will probably be most people's intro into that country. Fynne has a sort of Jim Morrison-meets-DJ Z look to him, and the other two guys, well, they look like Penta El Zero M cosplayers, which isn't exactly surprising given that I can't imagine Denmark's scene is all that developed yet. Still, they will be an adventure, whether for good or bad.

The second team is an unsurprising entry given Chikara's roots and aura. The House of Sport will draw from deep veterans of the World of Sport program and bring Mal Sanders, Danny Boy Collins, and James Mason into the tournament. Both Johnny Saint and Johnny Kidd are Chikara veterans, with Saint having competed in Trios in 2009 and Kidd having a tournament named after him from this year. Mason actually competed in the Johnny Kidd Invitational. I'm not all that familiar with this team, but I dig the style, so I'm all in.

House Revival is another team that draws from British wrestling lore, but instead of World of Sport, it has brought lads back from the indie scene of the early Aughts. Jody Fleisch, Johnny Moss, and Jonny Storm will enter the fray as a blast from England's past. Again, my ignorance of the British scene, especially from back then, comes back to haunt me, but I do remember seeing Fleisch on several YouTube highlight videos. The dude has major hops.

Finally, the hammer trio is one that the whole world is pretty much familiar with, thanks to WWE's United Kingdom ventures. British Strong Style closes out the tournament field, featuring WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne and former Chikara Campeonatos de Parejas Tyler Bate and Trent Seven. Each wrestler has deep roots with Chikara. Dunne debuted for Wrestling Is Cool way back during the dark ages of the company's "closure," and since has participated in the 2014 and 2015 tournaments. This will be the first time the bane of William Regal's existence has competed in the tournament without Mark Andrews on his team. Bate and Seven will be partaking in their third tournament. They teamed with Daniel Moloney in 2015 and Dasher Hatfield in 2016.

These four teams will join the following in this year's tournament:

• Sendai Girls (Defending Champions; Meiko Satomura, Cassandra Miagi, DASH Chisako)
• House Rot (Hallowicked, Frightmare, Kobald)
• Casa Dorada (Grand Champion Juan Francisco de Coronado, Cornelius Crummels, Sonny DeFarge)
• The Throwbacks (Dasher Hatfield, Mark Angelosetti, Simon Grimm)
• CCK (Chris Brookes, Kid Lykos, ELIJAH)
• Xyberhawx (Sylverhawk, Young Lions Cup Champion Razerhawk, Nytehawk)
• House Seven Seas (Merlok, Hermit Crab, Cajun Crawdad)
• The Furies (Fire Ant, Travis Huckabee, Solo Darling)
• House Bike Cops (Officer Warren Barksdale, Donald Kluger, Jasper Tippins)
• House Fight Club (Kyle Fletcher, Millie McKenzie, Omari)
• House ATTACK! (Chief Deputy Dunne, Jim and Lee Obstruction)
• House White Wolf (A-Kid, Adam Chase, Zayas)

Finally, joining The Whisper in this year's Rey de Voladores tournament is another unknown quantity from Europe, specifically the country of Portugal. Red Eagle will look to swoop north into England to jumpstart his and his country's visibility with the rest of the world with a strong showing. While this year's tournament seems to have a lot of unknown quantities in it, it will at least shed some light on other countries in Europe to show that the continent is way more than the British Isles and Germany, for better or worse. The tournament happens September 1-3 in Wolverhampton. I expect first round pairings for Trios to be announced soon now that the event is a month out.