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Welcome to a Monday night edition of CHIKARMY Insider chalked full of news and jokes and probably some confetti or potpourri or something. This week, we fully turn our attention to Engulfed in a Fever of Spite, Chikara’s huge debut in The Dirty South. Seriously, we’re filthy heathens. You’ll see match write-ups for the final four announced matches and a look at the card overall. We also have updates on the 12 Large Summit, several matches announced for Aniversario weekend and the surprise news that a big upcoming Chikara show got even bigger! Next week, I’ll have full Fever of Spite results along with complete rundowns of Aniversario: Legendary and Aniversario: Amazing! The week after that, full results for those shows, too! Just because Trios is finished, that doesn’t mean Chikara’s gonna take their foot off your grandfather’s catheter if you don’t buy their DVDs the gas!
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It’s Official! The 12 Large: Summit Is Almost Here!
Director Wink tallied the votes and the brackets are in for the 12-Large: Summit, the tournament to crown a brand-new Chikara champion. Block A will consist of three Tag World Grand Prix winners, three King of Trios winners, two Cibernetico winners, four former Campeones de Parejas, one half of the current tag champions and a former Young Lions Cup holder: Amasis, Claudio Castagnoli, Hallowicked, Icarus, Mike Quackenbush and Sara Del Rey. Block B features three former YLC champions, two King of Trios winners, two Cibernetico winners, two former tag champions the other half of the current Campeones and two men who have never won a single thing in Chikara: Fire Ant, Vin Gerard, Jigsaw, Eddie Kingston, Brodie Lee and UltraMantis Black! Wrestlers in each block will try to win the most points possible throughout the round robin style tourney, until the top placing wrestler from Block A meets the top placing wrestler from Block B in the championship bout to be held Sunday afternoon, November 13th! 12 Large: Summit begins on May 21st in Easton. The first four tourney matches have already been announced…
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Aniversario Weekend Updates Galore!
…for Aniversario weekend! Aniversario & His Amazing Friends takes place Saturday, May 21st in Easton, PA. Already announced for the show: Mike Quackenbush versus Hallowicked in an A Block 12 Large Summit Match, Madison Eagles & The Colony versus Ares, Pinkie Sanchez, Daizee Haze & Jakob Hammermeier in a grudge eight-man tag, UltraMantis Black against Chuck Taylor in a clash of fan favorites and Eddie Kingston versus Sinn Bodhi in a first time ever match! In fact, all three matches announced are first-time affairs! After that, Aniversario: The Legendary Super Powers Show comes Sunday, May 22nd in Union City, NJ. It features two 12 Large: Summit matches, Amasis vs. Claudio Castagnoli in the A Block and Brodie Lee vs. Vin Gerard in the B Block, Eddie Kingston against Chuck Taylor for the first time in years and a first time ever match between Sugar Dunkerton & Archibald Peck! You can expect full rundowns of Aniversario: Legendary and Aniversario: Amazing next week!
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Chikarasaurus Rex 2 Just Got Twice As Awesome!
Last year, Chikarasaurus Rex: King of Show was a dream come true. For the very first time, a large group of Dragon Gate stars graced a Chikara Pro ring and did battle with some of their most dynamic and notable wrestlers. Shingo Takagi fought Jimmy “Equinox” Olsen, F.I.S.T. Classic i.e. Icarus, Chuck Taylor & Gran Akuma took on CIMA, Masaaki Mochizuki & Super Shenlong and WORLD-1, represented by Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino & BxB Hulk, faced Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw & Hallowicked in a must-see, crazy-exciting main event. Originally, a sequel to the event was announced as a single event at the end of July, but it has since been re-announced as a two-day extravaganza! Chikarasaurus Rex: King of Sequel (Night 1) takes place Saturday, July 30th in Reading, PA and Chikarasaurus Rex: King of Sequel (Night 2) is Sunday, July 31st in Philadelphia, PA. Already announced for the show: Makoto and Tsukasa Fujimoto, representing standout joshi promotion Ice Ribbon! You can expect tons more talent announced over the next couple of months.
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3 More Chikara Wrestlers Are Headed to Osaka Pro!
It all started in April of 2010 when Atsushi Kotoge, Daisuke Harada and Tadasuke stormed through King of Trios 2010, finally falling in the Semifinals to The Colony. They left their mark on the company, becoming overnight sensations to the fans. The relationship between two kindred companies grew from there, and in October of 2010, six of Chikara Pro’s wrestlers were sent over to Osaka Pro to represent their home company: current YLC champion Frightmare, fan favorite Dasher Hatfield, The UnStable of Vin Gerard & STIGMA and Bruderschaft representatives Lince Dorado and Tim Donst. Team Osaka once again returned to Trios this year. Though they were ousted once again, Ultimate Spider Jr., who replaced Tadasuke on the team, gained a ton of praise and Harada & Kotoge, together known as Momo no Seishun Tag, walked away with three points and a future shot at the Campeonatos de Parejas! Now, Chikara is once again sending over wrestling to represent the company from May 15th through the May 22nd: Icarus, the captain of F.I.S.T. and one of the most decorated stars in Chikara history, Ophidian, a former Chikara tag champion making a return to Japan after a successful venture to ZERO1, and Tursas, the brawn of the BDK who, when he was announced and his photo shown, drew a large response from intrigued fans.
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Injury Update: Jigsaw Out 6 – 8 Weeks!
There’s a lot of pressure when you’re one half of the Campeonatos de Parejas. As a Chikara tag champion, you are considered one of the faces of the company and are constantly pushed to the main event to defend said titles. Jigsaw, who is undeniably in great shape, has been one half of the tag champs for a while now. Now, he will be sidelined for six to eight weeks after finding a tear in his bicep due to over training. He Tweeted the entire affair, saying his shoulder was swollen from a night of training and having to go to the ER when the swelling didn’t go down. Because of this, The Aniversario: Legendary main event of QuackenSaw & Incoherence versus The Roughnecks & The Batiri was postponed. He is, however, still in the 12 Large tourney and still a Campeon. Hopefully, his recovery goes well.
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Eddie Kingston has a long and storied history in Chikara. He is known for his fierce, emotional promos. He has been in some of the company’s most important matches ever. His Chikara feuds with Larry Sweeney, Hallowicked, Lince Dorado and Claudio Castagnoli were some of the most intense on the independent scene. His wars with Chris Hero are the stuff of legends. However, he will probably end up best remembered for one thing he did better than anyone: beat the ever-loving snot out of young lions. Tim Donst became a name overnight after the brutal pounding he took from “The War King”. Dorado took even more punishment on his way to a victory in the King of Trios finals. STIGMA, as Shane Storm, was left bloodied after ever encounter with Kingston. In his long career, Eddie’s beaten down Ants Fire, Soldier and Worker, everyone in Incoherence family and BDK members of all shape and sex. His fury, before the Bruderschaft’s debut, was as uncompromising as it was impartial. It didn’t matter who you were: friend, foe, brother or mother. If you stood in his way, he would put you down. Now, the exceedingly cocky and inexperienced Jakob Hammermeier has come calling. Having successfully transitioned as a Chikara “hybrid star”, serving dual roles as wrestler and BDK announcer, Jakob finally got a dose of reality when Green Ant tapped him out King of Trios 2011: Night 2 on The Colony’s road to eventual victory. Rest assured, Jakob will enter this match with Tursas not far behind him. This is nothing new to Eddie Kingston, who has seen the Bruderschaft throw everything they had at him. For the first time, it’s Jakob standing in his way. Without a bucket of luck on his side, just like the rest of the BDK, Hammermeier will fall to “The Last of a Dying Breed”.
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It’s safe to say that Chikara would’ve been a very different place had Hallowicked not faced Delirious at Remain in Light, a 2005 show in which Wicked beat “The Bizarre One” in the opening contest. Back then, they noticed how similar they were appearance, language and even their approach to wrestling. Less than a year later, after an injury forced UltraMantis out of the 2006 Tag World Grand Prix, Delirious was randomly drawn as Hallowicked’s partner for the event. Fate, it seems, also saw the similarities. They bested three other tag teams, making it all the way to Night 3 before falling in the semifinals to eventual winners Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli. The Kings of Wresting were crowned the very first Campeones de Parejas that night, but Delirious & Hallowicked, known as Incoherence, took hold of the titles in late 2007, going on a championship run that has yet to be touched by another team. They defended the belts a record five times, held the belts for the second longest amount of time and even traveled to PWG as champions to take on The Dynasty for the PWG Tag Titles. They would eventually fall to another fast-risen tag team, The Super Smash Brothers. After that, they never won another tag team match together again. Delirious was stolen away by UltraMantis Black using the Eye of Tyr, but Ares soon did the same after recovering the Eye, making Delirious a drooling, vicious member of the Bruderschaft. The two close friends have only been in the ring together once since the Season 8 finale, at The Dark Cibernetico in the main event. Now, with Hallowicked wanting to free Delirious’s mind more than ever, they will meet one on one for the first time since that fateful day over six years ago.
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As a trio, Team Frightning has only won a single match together…and it was at EVOLVE 1: Ibushi vs. Richards. As a tag team, Mike Quackenbush & Frightmare have been even less successful, having lost the only match they’ve ever teamed against Lince Dorado & Pinkie Sanchez. Both had disappointing runs in King of Trios, too: The Spectral Envoy was out in the first round and Quack, teaming with Jigsaw & Manami Toyota, lost on Night 2 to Team Michinoku Pro. F.I.S.T., coming off a tremendous performance at Trios that took them all the way to the finals, will look to build towards a future tag title shot and gain their first point over one half of the current tag champions and the reigning Young Lions Cup champion. While Icarus has quite the storied past with Quackenbush, Johnny Gargano has never been in the same ring as him outside of The Countdown Showdown battle royal. However, Icarus & Gargano have loads in common in regarding Frightmare: neither has ever beaten him in a Chikara ring. Worse, neither has even been on the winning side of a match involving him. Like Frightenbush (Awesome, right?), Ick & G-Man have teamed only once as a duo, losing to, you guessed it, Frightmare & Hallowicked. The odds aren’t exactly on their side for this one.
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In searching out information on CWF Mid-Atlantic standout Kamikaze Kid, I noticed that their roster page is littering with some colorful names, such as Brass Munkey, Chiva Kid, Donnie Dollar$, Otto Schwanz, Willo-the-Wisp II, Xsiris, Mikael Yamaha and…Matt Smith. “Matt Smith”? What a weirdo. However, it would seem that a name like Kamikaze Kid would fit nicely on a roster that has names like Grizzly Redwood, Hallowicked, Jakob Hammermeier, Delirious and El Hijo del Ice Cream. Still, I couldn’t really find much information on him. I pretty sure he’s not the guy wrestling now as Paredyse and I’m even more certain that Sean Waltman hasn’t reverted to an even older gimmick. Whoever shows up in North Carolina, they have to deal with Tim Donst, the right hand man of Claudio Castagnoli in the BDK, the self-proclaimed great YLC champion ever and perhaps one of the biggest egos on the independents. While Kid looks to perhaps earn some future booking, Donst will look to prove that he belonged in the 12 Large tournament.
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Engulfed in a Fever of Spite
Saturday, May 14th – Burlington, NC
8. Main Event Six-Man: Fire Ant, Soldier Ant & Green Ant vs. Obariyon, Kodama & Kobald
7. An Unmitigated Massacre: Eddie Kingston vs. Jakob Hammermeier
6. Former Friends Collide: Hallowicked vs. Delirious
5. Tag Challenge #2: Dasher Hatfield & Sugar Dunkerton vs. Amasis & Ophidian
4. CHIKARA vs. BDK: UltraMantis Black vs. Tursas
3. Tag Challenge #1: Mike Quackenbush & Frightmare vs. Icarus & Johnny Gargano
2. Singles Match: Daizee Haze vs. Grizzly Redwood
1. One on One: Kamikaze Kid vs. Tim Donst
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There is no denying it anymore: King of Trios is the premier event in all of independent wrestling. After three incredible nights of action, Chikara Pro managed to release all three events in 24 hours! That’s right: they’re all available right now! If you missed the memo, this is your chance to catch up. HERE is the Chikara DVDs page at Smart Mark Video, where you can purchase all 3 amazing nights spoiler-free. It’s already the best-selling title in Smart Mark history and it only took FIVE DAYS! If you’ve been spoiled, then you know what you’re getting: the grandest weekend of wrestling in years. If you don’t have the cash right now but you still wanna know what all the hubbub is about, check out our coverage of Night 1, Night 2 and Night 3!
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Please leave any comments or questions you might have and I’ll do my best to respond with as many hypnotic Japanese lullabies 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 your 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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