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Welcome all to a new CHIKARMY Insider! This week, I’ve got the results of the live shows this weekend featuring the American debut of Manami Toyota! Special thanks to go Kevin Ford for texting me live results from Baltimore (check out “The Chikara Special” on 411Mania next week for a more in-depth look at that show) and the Twitter of MushroomJones for Tweeting results for the New York show. After that, I’ve compiled links to some the Toyota’s greatest and most beloved matches in a new Classic Chikara! Yes, I realize the title’s misleading…but I already had the banner made! It’s a short entry this week, but it’s also one filled with hours of joshi goodness! Onward and upward!
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1. Chikara vs. BDK #1: Delirious d. Jimmy “Equinox” Olsen (10:31). Delirious picks up the victory for the Bruderschaft with the Bizarro Driver. The crowd was very hot for the opener.
2. Six-Man Tag Match: F.I.S.T. d. The Soul Touchaz (13:06). This is Johnny Gargano’s debut in the group and he’s got matching tights! This F.I.S.T. is back to their wacky heelish ways, departing from the ultra serious faction of recent years. Chants of “Gran Akuma” fill the place as the match gets going. Late in the match, Willie hit pounces on each member of F.I.S.T., but it wasn’t enough as Icarus hit Richardson with a crossbody and Taylor held Willie’s legs down for the three. Think Warrior/Rude from WrestleMania V.
3. Styles Clash: Brodie Lee d. Helios (6:23). Helios backflipped to the ring. Amazing. He also unfortunately springboarded directly into Brodie’s boot to give “Big Rig” the win in a fun but sloppy match.
4. Elimination Tag: The Osirian Portal d. Gerard/STIGMA, Obariyon/Kodama & Incoherence (15:55). UltraMantis leaves the Commentation Station for this. The mystery team appears to be UltraMantis & Obariyon…BUT ANOTHER OBARIYON-LOOKING GUY COMES OUT! They’re the fourth team! What the family?! STIGMA is pinned by Frightmare with the Kneecolepsy, so The UnStable are out first. Amasis pins the Obariyon doppelganger with a roaring elbow. The best guesses for the guy’s name have been Tostada & Kotama. My guess: Kodama, a Japanese tree spirit. EDIT: It’s officially Kodama. Go me. Anyway, it’s down to Incoherence & The Portal! Ophidian pins Hallowicked with a prawn hold for the win & 2 points! The Portal will go for three tomorrow against Haze & Delirious!
5. Chikara vs. BDK #2: Eddie Kingston d. Pinkie Sanchez (7:57). “The Last of a Dying Breed” obliterates “Pink Ant” with Sliding D followed by Backfist to the Future. Pinkie tried to the work over Eddie’s leg, but it wasn’t enough. No Vökoder sightings either…which must mean Kingston is Vökoder! Right? Anyone?
6. Chikara vs. BDK #3: Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw d. Tim Donst & Lince Dorado (10:52). Quackenbush & Jigsaw get the victory when Quack hit Dorado with Quackendriver IV in a really good match. Donst & Dorado seemed more like a true tag team than just stablemates. QuackenSaw now have two points!
7. Dream Match: Manami Toyota d. Daizee Haze (14:47). The legendary Toyota beats Haze in what was described as an excellent match. Lots of tying Haze in knots and suplexes from both parties. Toyota kicks out of the German Suplex that Haze pinned Kong with, which gets a few ooohs and ahhs from the crowd. Haze avoids the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex twice before Toyota finally hits it to put her away. Toyota clearly ain’t on vacation and Haze more than held her own.
8. Campeonatos de Parejas: Claudio Castagnoli & Ares© d. 3.0 (16:33). Delirious runs down & attacks Scott “Jagged” Parker & Shane Matthews before the match, allowing Ares to pin Jagged with the Toblerone Driver. The BDK are up a fall as usual. Seems like the same old stuff in this one…until Jagged gets a roll-up on Castagnoli for three! 3.0 HAS EVENED THE SCORE! The Tecnicos have once again surrounded the ring in support of Parker & “Big Magic”. Matthews got a roll-up for the most insane two count ever. The building gasped at 3.0’s “victory”. In the end, Castagnoli tapped Matthews with the Inverted Chikara Special to retain. Said to be one of the most emotional matches in the company’s history. Everyone was on 3.0’s side and the building was crazy hot.
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Overall Thoughts
One of the questions I had going into this weekend was whether Toyota would treat this weekend as a holiday or a chance to win over yet another audience. I slap-ah myself for doubting Toyota! Toyota/Haze, QuackenSaw/DoraDonst & F.I.S.T./Touchaz all apparently delivered and the Main Event was called one of the most emotional matches of the year. What else do you want? Kingston beating a little guy up? Brodie doing the same? The reintroduction of a mysterious character…who has an equally mysterious partner?! It has those things! IT HAS ALL OF THOSE THINGS! Clearly, I’m excited.
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1. Six-Man Grudge Match #1: F.I.S.T. d. Soldier Ant & 3.0 (14:51). Icarus, Taylor and Gargano make it two for two on the weekend beating the makeshift trio when Taylor pinned Soldier Ant with the Awful Waffle. It was described as a really fun match.
2. Old Rivalry Reignited: UltraMantis Black d. Hallowicked (5:40). This is their first singles match in a very, very long time. Mantis was escorted to the ring by his mysterious druids. After pinning Hallowicked with the Praying Mantis Bomb, Black asked ‘Wicked to put aside their differences and to join his Cibernetico team. Hallowicked…just left. Burn?
3. Chikara vs. BDK #1: The Osirian Portal d. Delirious & Daizee Haze (11:49). Looking for their third point and a future shot against the tag team champions, Amasis & Ophidian are successful and have a future date with Claudio Castagnoli & Ares! The Portal also gains a measure of revenge on Daizee, who pinned Ophidian at the beginning of the year, by beating her with The Osirian Sacrament.
4. Six-Man Grudge Match #2: The Soul Touchaz d. Tim Donst, Lince Dorado & Tursas (10:27). The BDK were looking to avenge their loss to C.Red’s crew back at We Must Eat Michigan’s Brain, but Willie’s huge Pounce on Dorado secured the dubya for himself, Acid Jaz & Marshe Rockett.
5. Chikara vs. BDK #2: Ares d. Eddie Kingston (6:58). The night after decimating an agent of the BDK, Kingston fails to finish off one of its leaders thanks to some well-timed distractions from Delirious & Claudio Castagnoli. Kingston loses his mind after the loss. The War King is officially on a warpath.
6. Six-Man Grudge Match #3: The Future Is Now d. The UnStable (10:52). TFIN continues their win streak over The UnStable. Colin Delaney helps his brother Jimmy “Equinox” Olsen hit an Overbomb, but Vin Gerard hits a low blow on Olsen for the disqualification. Colin lays out Gerard & STIGMA! He & Jimmy are left in the ring and the fans want them to make up, as a “Hug It Out!” chant gets louder and louder. Jimmy doesn’t give them what they want though, and he leaves. Colin is looking sad…TOXIC PLAYS! JIMMY IS BACK OUT! He tosses down the Equinox mask and hugs his brother! THE OLSEN TWINS ARE BACK!!! How many fan-favorite teams can this company contain?! This gives me happy chills just thinking about it.
7. Young Lions Cup: Frightmare© d. Pinkie Sanchez (11:36). Frightmare makes his first successful defense of the Young Lions Cup, pinning Pinkie Sanchez with the Kneecolepsy.
8. Main Event: Mike Quackenbush & Manami Toyota d. Claudio Castagnoli & Sara Del Rey (23:02). This was a back-and-forth war. Claudio with the Giant Swing on Toyota, but she gets a Rolling Cradle for a close two. Castagnoli does a second Giant Swing on Toyota followed by a dropkick from Del Rey but it cannot get the job done. Del Rey & Claudio hit a Spike Piledriver on Toyota! Quack breaks up the pin to keep hope alive! I don’t know what the blue hell this is, but Toyota & Quack hit a Doomsday Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex but the cover is broken up by Castagnoli! Manami Toyota slaps on The CHIKARA Special and Del Rey taps for the victory in an awesome main event. Manami Toyota received a standing ovation afterwards.
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Overall Thoughts
This card looked like the weaker of the two cards this weekend, so it says something that I’m actually MORE excited for this show than Baltimore’s show. The Main Event could conceivably be Chikara’s MOTY so far and sounds absolutely epic. Three awesome-looking six-man tags, Mantis/Wicked & Portal/BDK all sound like they delivered. I really wanna see Frightmare’s first defense of the Young Lions Cup, too. But the reason you buy this DVD after getting to see Toyota in NY is, of course, the triumphant return of The Olsen Twins! I honestly got chills when I read how it happened. On top of that, Chikara drew like mad, actually having to turn people away. You can bet Chikara will be back sooner rather than later if they’re getting a Super No Vacancy. Fun times, exciting matches and epic moments. BUYS.
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Okay, so technically this isn’t exactly Classic Chikara that I’m delivering to you today. But Manami Toyota has officially wrestled in Chikara now…and she’s wrestled in countless classic matches. Heck, her match in New York teaming with Quack to take on Castagnoli & Del Rey already sounds like it could be another one. I don’t know about you, but I’m jealous of guys like Kevin Ford & Ari Berenstein, who got to see her live. Not only that, they get to spoon each other whenever one of them is in the other’s town. They just…the just tenderly caress each other until the sun rises. The way lovers do. But I’m handling my crippling envy with class and dignity. Anyway, for those who cannot be as poised as I can, here’s a bunch of Toyota’s WON 5-Star Matches, including both of her WON Matches of the Year. Now you can share in the love and appreciation! Big ups to DoubleMiz for uploading these videos and a bunch of other great joshi stuff.
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AJW – 1992-08-15 – Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada (Hair vs. Hair) – [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3]
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AJW – 1993-04-11 – Toyota & Yamada vs. Kansai & Ozaki (2/3 Falls) – [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]
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AJW – 1993-12-06 – Toyota & Yamada vs. Kansai & Ozaki – [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3]
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AJW – 1994-11-20 – Manami Toyota vs. Aja Kong – [Part 1] [Part 2]
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AJW – 1995-05-07 – Manami Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue – [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6]
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– Please leave any comments or questions you might have and I’ll do my best to respond with as much ravenous Portuguese dirty talk as I can conjure. I’d like to do a contest or something cool like that, but I’m not sure how much interest there’d be. Let you voice be heard! Also, let me know if there’s anything you’d like to see in the column, like fantasy booking, treasure hunts, wish-lists, secret handshakes, etc.
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Sounds like a great two shows, both of which I’m eager to view. It would seem the loses are piling up for the BDK.