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| Coronado got what was coming to him Saturday Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein |
The match never happened. Before the bell rang, Caprice got on the mic and started complaining about the lack of cash coming the Closers' way in the last few weeks. He claimed that they weren't sticking around to be Coronado's friend and demanded their payment. When Coronado couldn't cough it up, he caught the biggest beatdown on a card that also featured a no-rules unsanctioned chain match. The match was ruled a no-contest, and Coronado had to be helped to the back.
The storyline conceit here was to further a redemption angle for the former Grand Champion. At National Pro Wrestling Day, the Ecuadorian government told him he was fired from his position of ambassadorship and thus he was cut off. Coronado has been stripped of money and companionship. It has all the trappings of a classic babyface turn. Yet, the only people at the Wrestle Factory who cheered for him were the ones who always cheered for him, even at his most obnoxious. Was it because Coronado still has a lot to earn before he can be cheered? Maybe it is. Wrestling dynamics are weird and sometimes unpredictable.
That being said, I would argue, especially in the current economic climate, that the Closers destroying Coronado for welching on their pay turned them babyface. Capitalism does not reward labor. People who do gruntwork end up getting shafted through a spectrum of monetary withholding from pay raise freezing all the way up to out and out wage theft. Most workers are generally powerless to act on this, even if they are unionized nowadays. So the act of physically taking out frustrations of fiduciary delinquency on those higher up on the food chain is not only a revolutionary one, but a highly cathartic one. It's the same principle that made Steve Austin the most celebrated wrestling star of the late '90s.
So while Coronado might eventually earn his sympathy and become a tecnico, any face turn that happened Saturday really didn't play out like one. Bosses deserve to get hit with double-team finishers. Coronado promising money and not delivering it is still a rudo move 100 percent.
A couple more notes on Saturday's news, first off, congrats to A Still Life of Apricots and Pears for winning the Young Lions Cup. They were a bold choice to have win, but it was both unpredictable and satisfying. Additionally, I have become a fan of the Still Life after watching them work in their first match of the day, because they wrestle exactly how I feel David from Schitt's Creek would if he were a wrestling character.
Second, King of Trios is happening in October this year in Reading. Both changes were shocking at first, but hey, getting away from Labor Day weekend might get them more high-profile names for the tournament this year, which is always a good thing. I feel like All Elite Wrestling is going to park its ass on Labor Day weekend after the success of All In last year. Additionally, the venue, the Goodwill Beneficial Hall, has done well by Chikara in the past. They even looked past when Mima Shimoda hocked a loogie on the floor back in 2011 at Chikarasaurus Rex night 1! Plus, that was the venue that held the last Mike Quackenbush/Claudio Castagnoli match before the latter went off and became Cesaro in WWE; it has a special place in my heart.
