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| Whisper was the straw that stirred Chikara's drink in 2019 Photo Credit: Chikara Live Instagram |
What Happened in 2019: Chikara Pro Wrestling entered 2019 with the top of its card in a tizzy because Dasher Hatfield went from lovable stalwart to an Old Hoss Radbourn who could throw a suplex. Dasher Hatfield may have ended 2018 as Public Enemy No. 1, but the looming threat developed in 2019 would be far greater than a traitor to his friend and a bad father to his son. Ophidian was revealed to have been training young wrestlers on the sly along with The Whisper and Lance Steel to act as Chikara's autoimmune defense system. Called The Crucible, they resembled less a wrestling stable and more a paramilitary operation. Their methods were so harsh that Mike Quackenbush decided that Ophidian was no longer allowed to hold sessions in the Wrestle Factory. That's when the autoimmune defense system turned into an autoimmune disease. The Crucible was turned on the Chikara roster with great effect.
Of course, you couldn't really blame Ophidian for wanting a strong defense force to protect Chikara. From the Kings of Wrestling to the Bruderschaft des Kreuzes to The Flood to Beyond Wrestling, the company has been subject to more invading forces than Rome at the turn of history. Ophidian, a Chikara original, just doesn't want to see Chikara's own Visigoths to sack the company he's helped build. Where Quackenbush and others on the roster disagreed was not with his intent but with his tactics. Crucible exhibition matches were brutal in a sense, and their standards were high. Several members of the group, including Joshua Wells, Josue Ibanez, and Xavier Faraday, were all turned away at various points during the year. When they turned out against the roster, their attacks were not in the spirit of fun lucha libre like Quack and Reckless Youth wanted when the promotion started in 2002. The pinnacle of The Crucible's attack occurred in Chicago for Aniversario, when Ophidian annihilated Quack in the middle of the ring.
To further his goals, Ophidian won both the Infinity Gauntlet and the Johnny Kidd Invitational. The prize for both victories was a Golden Opportunity, or a shot at the Grand Championship without having to earn three points or fear losing said spot with a loss. He used his first Golden Opportunity not for Hatfield's Grand Championship, but for Quack's head trainer position. He failed at the attempt, but kept his second Golden Opportunity in his pocket through the rest of the year. He would attempt a rebound with King of Trios with his loyal soldiers, Whisper and Steel. His team would win Trios, but not with Whisper by his side.
In advance of Trios, Kimber Lee demanded a spot on The Crucible team, taking Whisper's spot. Of course, Lee and Whisper had history. In 2018, they were crammed together in a reluctant team in La Loteria Letal. They won the tournament, garnering three points in the process, and in February of 2019, they upended Sonny DeFarge and Cornelius Crummels for Los Campeonatos de Parejas. They'd hold the titles for three months before losing them to Travis Huckabee and Tony Deppen, Team FIST, but in the process, it would seem Lee garnered some dirt on Whisper. The Silent One didn't take too kindly to it. While his barbs were mostly contained to Twitter, you could tell he had a growing resentment inside of him. He took that growing resentment and won the Rey de Voladores, parlaying that into a Grand Championship opportunity at the finale, Tug of War.
The match between Whisper and Hatfield did not start when it was supposed to because Ophidian came out and demanded Whisper turn the points over to him, the fearless leader of The Crucible. Whisper refused, and Ophidian went scorched earth on him. Whisper tried to challenge later in the show, but his wounds were too great, and he couldn't recover from being thrown into the crowd and was counted out. The Crucible came out afterwards to pick the bones, but that's when Quack also emerged with backup in Jigsaw, Mister ZERO, and the three scorned former members of The Crucible. While Ophidian has a Golden Opportunity in hand and loyal forces in tow, it seems that the tecnico forces in Chikara aren't going to take this lying down.
Of course, Hatfield didn't get to Tug of War without fanfare, good or bad. After all, he entered the season an illegitimate Champion, one who didn't relinquish his interim status when the rightful Champion, Mark Angelosetti, returned from injury. It wouldn't take long for Hatfield to legitimize his title reign as he defeated Angelosetti in a ladder match at Once Upon a Beginning WrestleMania weekend. However, his dealings with his brother-in-law wouldn't be the worst family drama of the year. His spiraling descent into horor and cruelty disturbed his son, Boomer, so much that the son challenged the father to a lucha de apuesta at Aniversario in Chicago. Each Hatfield family member would put their mask on the line. With cousin/niece Molly McCoy in attendance, Boomer upended his father and kept his face in a stunning upset. Not only was Dasher upset, McCoy vowed that she'd never forgive Boomer for the so-called treachery.
Their enmity towards Boomer didn't stop them from bullying him into joining them for King of Trios. While Boomer had visions of competing in Rey de Voladores and claiming some hardware for himself, McCoy and Dasher engaged in a social media campaign pressuring the young baseball-headed son to join them in an attempt to give greater glory to the family. He abandoned his dreams of RdV glory and at the behest of his mother joined the family team. However, their campaign ended in the quarterfinals, losing to The Colony. No doubt, this development has put strain on the family and caused McCoy and Dasher to put more blame on Boomer's plate.
While the Hatfield family ended 2019 in tumult, a stalwart villain got a year of redemption en route to his exit from the company. Juan Francisco de Coronado started the year with the message that because he was delinquent on taxes, he would be stripped of his Ecuadorian goodwill ambassadorship. Unable to pay his backup, The Closers took out their lack of fiduciary satisfaction with a punishing beatdown of the now-former Ecuadorian elitist. Because he no longer held the backup of a sweet Ecuadorian pension, Coronado decided to make a last-ditch effort to gain some support. Rebranding as John Francis of Coronado, the former Grand Champion, in the words of Charlie Kelly, went America all over everyone's asses. The turnaround in reaction from the crowd was drastic, as he became one of the most loved heroes. Alas, his year ended in submission at the hands of Lance Steel's Boston Crab. This defeat marked the end of his tenure in Chikara, as he announced he'd be leaving for the greater wrestling world.
Of course, one would be remiss if Team FIST wasn't mentioned. While Huckabee and Deppen held court in the tag division for about half the year, they wouldn't end it as leaders in the division. Solo Darling still had a couple of receipts to hand her former Rumble Bees tag partner. Huckabee betrayed her to join up with Deppen and Icarus to form the new incarnation of Team FIST. Her new partner, Willow Nightingale, proved to be a powerful ally, but she injured her neck early in the year. Darling's path to revenge against Huckabee would have to wait until Nightingale's miraculous return in advance of King of Trios. The Bird and the Bee as they were called needed an in to take Los Campeonatos from the dastardly duo. They found that path in the King of Trios night three tag team gauntlet. They were primed to take on FIST at the finale, but things were looking bleak as they lost the first fall. Even though they won the second fall, it was because Huckabee had waylaid Nightingale with a chair to get a disqualification. The damage had been done. However, FIST's hubris in thinking they could sacrifice a fall bit them as Nightingale tapped Deppen with a self-choking submission.
2019 MVP: It might be an outside pick, but I think The Whisper is Chikara's MVP for 2019. I almost went with the Champion or The Crucible's leader, but Whisper brings an element of unpredictability. He's the veritable straw that stirs the drink, both as Ophidian's consigliere and as the scorned breakaway. The funny thing is that he might be even bigger next year. He could go many different directions: the one who destroys the group outright, a "I can do better than you" insult of winning the Grand Champion, a double agent, a double turn agitator even. Think of this year as Roger Maris' 1960 season, where he won the MVP in advance of breaking the single-season home run record in 1961.
What Will Happen in 2020: Stop me if you've heard this one before, but Chikara is in the midst of a big, set-piece angle featuring an autonomous entity bent on taking control in the company. Will this Crucible angle end with a whimper like the BDK story did, or will it end with a bang the way the Flood story did? Much like Deucalion, the de facto leader of the group after taking over for his harbinger Jimmy Jacobs, Ophidian really isn't going anywhere. Claudio Castagnoli left in the middle of 2011 to go to WWE, which might be why the BDK lost so much juice. That being said, I have a good feeling that there will be a definitive conclusion. But will it be satisfactory?
As amazing as Chikara is at beginning and executing through the rising action and climaxes of stories, the company's track record on conclusions is a mixed bag. The gimme resolution is teacher (Quack) taking out student (Ophidian) and putting down The Crucible. The more convoluted one would be Ophidian defeating Quack but a second person defeating Ophidian. Could it be someone like Lee or Whisper, or would it be someone way out of leftfield like Hallowicked or Icarus? The best resolution I can think of, one that's creative but also sensible, is having Ophidian ultimately succeed in defeating Quack but in the process losing his disciples. He's already chased four of them away at least. Telling a story about a demagogue whose veneer crumbles over time is great fodder for a wrestling tale.
Still, the initiation of the end of this story is definitely going to come from Kimber Lee. While she gave the group a begrudging modicum of respect at Trios after winning, I still think she's some kind of chaos agent. She has an agenda, and my guess it's one that will put her in a club with Hallowicked as a two-time Grand Champion. Whisper will definitely play in as well, whether as a clever (and masochistic) double agent, or as the one who plants the knife in Ophidian's heart (metaphorically, Chikara doesn't do deathmatches yet). While a cloudy picture is starting to emerge, my guess is the details won't be defined until sometime around Aniversario.
What about the Grand Championship and the man who holds it? Stripped of his longtime face, Dasher Hatfield's descent into madness has grown more and more malevolent. I don't think he's going to hold the title the whole year. However, will the successful challenger be involved in The Crucible's kerfuffle, or will it be part of the resolution with his son, Boomer? Hell, even though Mark Angelosetti left the company last year, you can't rule out a return of his to take back what he never really lost in the first place. I mean, Jigsaw has left and come back how many times? If I had to guess, Boomer is still too unseasoned to take a prize that big as part of the resolution to his family fracas. If Angelosetti isn't the one to take it back in a surprise, look for a Dasher title loss to Whisper, Lee, or Ophidian to spur him into an even greater lucha de apuesta with his son, Boomer's mask vs. Dasher's career in Chikara.
Five Wrestlers to Watch in 2020: Devantes - The beefiest member of The Crucible has emerged as Ophidian's new right hand hammer as shown by his descent on Whisper at Tug of War. With Matt Makowski seeming like he has one foot out the door, Devantes feels like the guy who can be the group's showcase minion. Even if The Crucible burns away this year, he can emerge as one who can stand on his own.
Still Life with Apricots and Pears - The first ever out-and-proud non-binary titleholder in Chikara, Still Life took his lumps in matches not featuring their Young Lions Cup. However, they've defended that cup nobly and strongly. They'll have to get past their former master and current nemesis BLANK, but I see 2020 as the year that happens. After that happens, Still Life should be in the driver's seat to do new and interesting things with their artistic oeuvre.
Molly McCoy - The gritty hockey wrestler may be caught up as her uncle's henchwoman right now, but she's got the determination and toughness that she can shine on her own either during the troubles with Boomer Hatfield or afterwards. She's one of the Wrestle Factory's most anticipated graduates, and I think she'll be able stand on her own sooner rather than later.
Der Wildebeest - Jakob Hammermeier's latest find is a gigantic piece of beef who has torn through Chikara's ranks in his early career. Hammermeier knows a thing or two about how to bend the company to his will as a veteran of both the BDK and The Flood. If you need a darkhorse candidate to end the year as Grand Champion who isn't currently either a Chikara veteran or someone entangled in the current two main event platforms, the big man is worth a bet if Chikara were such a place you could bet on.
The Proteus Wheel - I expected them to be big bads this past season, but for whatever reason, their utilization in Chikara was sporadic. I think all three mammoths of men can string together appearances and build enough momentum to be the beefiest King of Trios winners since the Devastation Corporation. With The Crucible potentially coming to a conclusion this year, Chikara is going to need another set of big bads, and what better team to do it than Professor Nicodemus' science experiments gone wrong (or right if you're he).
Three Things I Want To See in 2020: A Resolution to The Crucible that isn't just Player A triumphs over Player B - Wrestling has unlimited potential for storytelling, and Mike Quackenbush himself has often compared Chikara to comic books. However, Chikara's creativity has had limits. Doing something atypical with the end of this Crucible story feels like a must. The example I listed above, Ophidian beating Quack for the head trainer position but losing his followers in the process, is one way. There are unlimited other options they could go with this story. I hope that Quack decides to do something greater than just having one guy beat another. Obviously every wrestling angle has to come down to a match where someone prevails. I just hope that what happens with this has more layers, more implications.
Bring Trios Back to Philly - The biggest tournament in wrestling deserves to be in a big setting. Easton and Reading are nice venues, but they're not a wrestling city like Philadelphia. If you want to put on a big tournament, make sure the venue befits it. If the ECW Arena is unavailable, and given how many times things change there with promotional exclusivity, they should find another, bigger venue in Philadelphia or less than an hour outside of it that makes sense. Chikara has been tight with Game Changer Wrestling recently; maybe The Voltage Lounge is worth checking out? How about the US Guard Armory in the Far Northeast? I understand the Wrestle Factory is good enough for interstitial shows and can't host crowds that Trios attracts. That being said, the big thing on the calendar needs to be in a place that can hold it.
Officer Magnum for Grand Champion - DO IT, COWARDS.
