-Welcome to my first ever CHIKARA review everyone! December is a catch-up month as I’ll be reviewing one or two shows every week. It’s literally not possible for me to go all the way back to King of Trios 2011 and review every show from there, so I decided to simply pick a random point and start reviewing. I held off watching the September and October shows in case Justin Houston was unable to fulfill his duties. Unfortunately, he is not going to be able to do these written DVD reviews for the forseeable future. Hopefully, he’ll be able to provide some video reviews or give his thoughts on these shows in another way. For now, it’s all on me to review the shows. Let’s get to it with the September 17 New England show.
-I’m going to tinker with my format once again to make my reviews an easier reading experience. Also, I’m adding a star rating that will separate the technical aspects of a match and how entertaining I actually find it. This means that even if I’m watching a squash match, I can still get my enjoyment of it in a concise, quantitative manner. As much as I hate snowflakes, I know people like simplicity and will succumb to the whims of the general wrestling readership.
-Taped from Brockton, MA
-Your hosts are of course various members of the CHIKARA roster and staff.
– Dasher Hatfield and Sugar Dunkerton appear to cut a promo in the dark with a flashlight pointing at them. Dasher is hitting the mute button until they get three points but it doesn’t last. Sugar says they’re the better team and won those belts. THEY’RE PUMPED!
Match in Five Words or less: Throwbacks Take A Second
Match Highlights: Big old brawl to start. Babyfaces control until the Batiri make a wish with Hatfield’s legs. Hot tag attempt fails since Bryce doesn’t see it. Batiri cheat like it’s their jobs…which I guess it is. Nice roll-up by Hatfield gets a nice roll-up, but they cut him off. Hatfield takes both Obaryion and Kodama in an northern lights suplex. Sugar and with jabs. Big running kick followed by a kiss of the Converse. Thumb to the eye by Kodama. Right hand exchange. Sinn Bodhi tries to become involved, but Dunkerton causes some miscommunication. Hatfield hits the Suicide Squeeze. Sugar with a big elbow and the Throwbacks come away with their second point.
Match Analysis: A perfectly fine way to start the show as this was a decent match which didn’t wear out its welcome. Obaryion and Kodama play the heel role quite well, and although Kodama still has a long way to go as a wrestler, he’s gotten better the last six months. Really glad to see the Throwbacks getting a push too.
Winner (s)/Time/Match Rating/Entertainment Rating: The Throwbacks/7:41/**1/2/***
Match in Five Words or less: Gargano Is A Cheater
Match Highlights: Gargano steps on Jon Barber’s back like a foot stool in order to match strength with Rockett. He quickly backs down. Chop sends Gargano outside. Quick dropkick sends Gargano down. Bulldog followed by a leaping crossbody. Gargano works Rockett’s leg. He tries a vertical suplex. Up and out. Roll over and kick to the face. Dive attempt but Rockett powerslams him down and hard. Whip reversal and a series of lariats on Gargano. Face crusher. Gargano spears Rockett from the outside of the ring. After eating a series of forearms, Rockett spikes Gargano with a DDT. 1-2-NO! Series of counters. More chops from Rockett. Superkick by Gargano. Acecrusher by Rockett as Gargano leaps from the top rope. Gargano gets his foot on the bottom rope. Gargano puts the referee in front of him. He sends Rockett flying. Superkick. Herts Doughnut. Winner.
Match Analysis: I feel like I need to go back and watch Rockett and Gargano’s first match back at YLC 2008 because I can only imagine how much better these two have gotten in the ensuing three years. The finish made sense within context, especially since Gargano is a heel and CHIKARA regular while Rockett isn’t unfortunately. Very good little match between these two where both guys got to look good at different times.
Winner (s)/Time/Match Rating/Entertainment Rating: Johnny Gargano/9:30/***/***1/4
Match in Five Words or less: Trainwreck…How Appropriate
Match Highlights: Ten men who are allegedly the best New England has to offer did a bunch of moves for OVER TWENTY FREAKING MINUTES! There were some very awkward moments and numerous botches as it was blatantly evident who is and isn’t ready for prime time. It was also left to Steve Weiner to try to explain this madness. Bryce Remsburg is also there, but he of no help since he knows very little about these people. Heat segment on the girl, which is the one aspect of the match that makes sense. I think every indy finisher of the last ten years was broken out in this contest. We of course get a dive sequence… cause that’s what this match needed. JT Dunn finally hits a spinning backcracker on Blaze to get the win.
Match Analysis: There are a number of questionable aspects to this match. It all starts before the match as both teams milk their entrances and try to get various reactions from the crowd. There was literally no flow or psychology or even context for any of this. It felt like ten guys playing wrestling instead of actually working a match. And while I appreciate the crowd for getting behind these ten individuals, that doesn’t mean this is the type of match CHIKARA fans on DVD want to see. When I paid my fifteen dollars, it was not to see these ten empty the tank on movez in the third match of the show. I know this is only the third ever CHIKARA match I’ve ever reviewed, but I can’t imagine seeing a worse match than this one for a loooong time. Let us never speak of this trainwreck again.
Winner (s)/Time/Match Rating/Entertainment Rating: Doug Summers, Amber, JT Dunn, and Da Hoodz (Davey Cash and Kris Pyro)/20:06/*/DUD
-Jigsaw calls Gerard garbage and says he’s going to earn his points in the 12 Large Summit. Garbage he said! Thems fightin words!
Match in Five Words or less: Back To Normal
Match Highlights: Coming into this match, Jigsaw has no points while Gerard has two in the 12 Large Summit to crown the first ever Grand Champion of CHIKARA. Gerard asks to be referred to as the last of a dying breed with Kingston sitting on commentary. Thems also fighting words. Gerard says Jigsaw has one move, the superkick. Gerard really needs to stop watching 2008 Ring of Honor Jigsaw. Jigsaw then asks the crowd to pick a move to beat Gerard with. Someone says sit-up. Jigsaw obliges. Now to grappling. Quickly to the figure four and some additional sit-ups by Jigsaw. Crowd wants more, particularly from Gerard. Series of roll-ups almost get a win for Jigsaw. Gerard smartens up after being taken through the same sequence of roll-ups twice. Gerard misses an elbow. Back to the roll-up sequence and then around they go. After tossing Gerard outside, Jigsaw dives on him. STO gets Gerard the advantage. And much like what he’s been doing to Kingston in recent months, Gerard focuses on Jigsaw’s left knee, including application of the STF on the outside of the ring. Comeback and Jigsaw actually sells his injured limb. Dropkick to the knee and a sitting eniguri gets Gerard two. Back fist by Gerard. Kingston is incensed. Slaps by Gerard. Jigsaw plants him. Pair of kicks and a brainbuster. Superkick turned into a cover. STF! Jigsaw grabs the rope. Gerard misses but eats a superkick and gets pinned.
Match Analysis: After the previous match, this one felt like a breath of fresh air. Gerard worked over a body part for the entire match, and Jigsaw had to overcome the odds for the victory. Not sure why Gerard wouldn’t go over since he’s the one involved in a tournament feud, but neither guy is in prime contention for the finals anyway. A solid match that told a good story and got its message across.
Winner (s)/Time/Match Rating/Entertainment Rating: Jigsaw/12:48/***/***
-Ophidian talks about his losing streak and how difficult it has been without his partners in the Osirian Portal. He vows victory against Chucky T and dedicates the match to his fallen partner Amasis.
Match in Five Words or less: Ophidian On A Lossssssssssing Ssssssstreak
Match Highlights: We have a battle of Rey de Volodores winners here. Quick start. Fitting. Taylor powders to get some water. Taylor almost starts a violence party in the corner. Head stand by Ophidian. Taylor gets absolutely schooled through a series of nearfalls and then into a neck submission. Taylor dropkicks Ophidian to the outside after a skin the cat attempt. Brawling on the outside. Taylor superkicks Ophidian in the midsection. Taylor has his way with Ophidian. Best part of this match is whenever Ophidian slaps Taylor’s chest, and Taylor screams like a girl. He even tells Ophidian to stop. Spin kick starts the comeback. Running kick and a headcracker out of a head stand. Spinning dive. Up top for a leg drop. Ring around the world but Taylor nails a pair of backbreakers before power slamming him. Gorgeous moonsault… misses. Swinging DDT gets two. Ophidian hits his shoulder on the post. Leaping kick by Taylor. Reverse DDT on the apron! Uranagi and a short kick for 2.9999999. Snake man gets roll-up for a nearfall. Face plant by Ophidian. He calls for the 450 splash but misses. Double knees and another two count. Death Grip. Taylor counters into a reverse Awful Waffle. This nasty maneuver gets three. F.I.S.T is 2-0 on the night.
Match Analysis: Another match that wasn’t a home run but a solid single as Taylor and Gargano both walked out of Brockton with mo
mentum. I liked Taylor winning clean, especially with Ophidian on a pretty bad losing streak. This told a good story and made sense. That’s all I ask for in matches like these.
Winner (s)/Time/Match Rating/Entertainment Rating: Chuck Taylor/12:48/***/***
-Sara Del Rey beat Claudio Castagnoli but won’t be able to get retribution on him for what happened to Daizee Haze and herself, so she has to settle for the leader of the BDK, Ares.
Match in Five Words or less: How The Mighty Have Fallen
Match Highlights: Crowd wants Del Rey to mess Ares up. Ares tries bullying her but takes a series of kicks. Underhanded tactics are the only reason Ares is able to get in control of the contest. Del Rey places him between the ropes and hits some vicious kicks. Arm drag sends the leader of the BDK outside. Ares stalls. Del Rey has to drag him back to the ring. He puts Ares in a wheelie chair, spins him, and then kicks him down. That was different. Del Rey sent hard into the post. Jakob Hammermeier distracts the incompetent Barber as Ares rams Del Rey’s back into the side of the ring. He continues bending the rules. He teases a flying uppercut but sits down for a chinlock. Out of a samoan drop and a roll up sends Ares head first into the middle buckle. That was unique. Forearms by Del Rey. Series of running kicks. Combo kick sends Ares down. Knee strikes out of a vertical suplex attempt followed by more kicks, which send Ares back outside. Rolling senton. DDT into a guillotine choke. Kingston brings up a great point about Ares hitting the back of his head multiple times. To the ropes. Chinbreaker by Ares. Swinging northern lights bomb. Sloppy blue thunder powerbomb. Swanton misses. Giant kick to the back of Ares’ head. 1-2-NO! Kicks to the chest. Ares lifts her. Dragon sleeper of all things. Rams her into the corner. Triangle choke in the corner. Powerbomb by Ares. Del Rey hooks him again. ARES TAPS!
Match Analysis: Amazing to think how far the BDK have fallen in 2011. Their numbers have dwindled to the point where only two matches on the card will feature the BDK. Crowd was big time into Sara, which significantly helped the heat behind this match. I don’t think highly of Ares as an in-ring worker, but he does know how to play his role well and embraces being a complete jerk as opposed to trying to do moves to get a great reaction. Del Rey winning against the men has now become a regular thing. It’s helping to get her more over with the crowd, and people are beginning to not see it as some sort of novelty. I expect big things from Del Rey in CHIKARA in the next few months.
Winner (s)/Time/Match Rating/Entertainment Rating: Sara Del Rey/16:49/***/***1/2
Match in Five Words or less: Icarus Taken To School
Match Highlights: Each man has four points, and the winner takes a significant step up the block A rankings. Icarus gets into it with the crowd more than usual and seems quite feisty. Icarus attacks even before the bell rings. Quack dispatches him quickly. Huge tope suicida. Icarus hasn’t even taken his jacket off yet. He crawls to the fans for relief. None can be found. Quack continues working the hated Icarus over. Guillotine on the top rope. Dropkick off the top rope AND OFF COMES THE JACKET! AHHHHH! Small package by Quack gets two. Back and forth for a bit. Leg drop by Icarus on the apron. Dropkick but Quack turns over into a sharpshooter. Bryce doesn’t immediately call for the bell, and Icarus grabs the ropes. Into the ropes. Double chops to Quack’s throat. Choke with the tape. Roll-up gets two for Quack. Into a reverse sharpshooter. Icarus crawls to the corner. Sent into the middle buckle. Icarus goes for the pedigree. Quack backslides for two. BTS countered. Quack locks the CHIKARA special. Icarus taps almost immediately, and Quack has himself six points.
Match Analysis: This wasn’t epic, but it served its purpose. There have been a couple surprisingly long matches on the card, and the 12 large matches have tended to be longer anyway, so it was okay for this one to not be as long. It also helps that Icarus and Quack have clear and established characters. Therefore, they don’t need to have long matches to tell their story.
Winner (s)/Time/Match Rating/Entertainment Rating: Mike Quackenbush/6:59/**/***
Match in Five Words or less: This Feud Will Never End
Match Highlights: The Colony are in two feuds that will seemingly never end, the BDK and F.I.S.T. Jakob announces his team with a pretend microphone. It was only 75% as funny as Punk cutting a promo without one. Jakob sneaks behind Green Ant to take control. Green Ant takes control with some basic mat work. Cheap shot by Donst. Fire Ant comes in as Green Ant is tossed outside. Lucha sequence. Tursas hits a dropkick!!!!! Fire Ant departs and it’s Soldier Ant’s turn. Up top for a chinlock. Well, that’s not going to work. Tursas twists him off. Headscissors takes Tursas outside. Jakob rakes Soldier’s back. Bodyslam. Ants go triple teaming. Much the same for Donst. Overhead suplex sends Fire outside. Tursas clotheslines Solider and Green. Hard he goes into the mat. BDK go to work on Soldier. Green Ant with a comeback for his team on Jakob. STDonst across the knees of Jakob. Running senton by Tursas. Cheating from the hated BDK. Back elbows and a tope headbutt into Donst. Crossbody and flying forearm on Jakob. Heat of the Moment on Tursas. Swinging DDT using Tursas. Jakob sent into Tursas. Stunner as two members of the BDK are sent in the corner. Antapault followed by double dives. Northern lights suplex by Soldier nearly finishes Jakob. Donst catches a diving Green Ant and covers for two. Tursas goes for his finisher, but Green Ant rolls out. Chops to the head. Spin around. Tursas sits down and misses a splash. Running headbutt by Green Ant. Cloverleaf attempt but Jakob hits a European uppercut. Neckbreaker. Fire hits a brainbuster for two. Donst tosses Fire. Soldier hits a headbutt for two. CHIKARA special on Donst, the move Donst submitted to at King of Trios 2010. Tursas takes Soldier over. Double shots. Green Ant strikes at Tursas. Jumping neckbreaker. Jakob goes for a hammer blow but gets clotheslined for his trouble. Ant Hill hit and Jakob is done.
Match Analysis: This certainly had some rough patches, but I enjoyed this match for the most part. I’m not sure it worked as a main event, but it did send the fans home happy and had a good flurry for a finish. The New England crowd really brought it tonight, and a number of matches were helped significantly.
Winner (s)/Time/Match Rating/Entertainment Rating: The Colony/17:11/***/***1/2
-I’m also changing a bit in my awards section for the CHIKARA shows. I’m dumping best line and finish altogether and just focusing on the top five performers for the night. In honor of Booker T, these are my fave five.
Fave Five-
5. I thought the New England crowd was among the best CHIKARA has had this year, right up there with Chicago back in June. The show was absolutely better because of their presence and constantly being into the matches.
4. Icarus and Mike Quackenbush may not have had a long match, but they got their message across in short fashion. These two exemplified the difference between working a match and not just simply doing moves as what happened in the New England showcase.
3. Eddie Kingston didn’t wrestle on the show, but he’s an excellent commentator who can be both funny but also bring up excellent points. If he ever decides to step out of the ring, I’d love to see him be a regular commentator for CHIKARA.
2. Sara Del Rey came off looking dominant and is really rising to the challenge. The thing about her being in the ring with men is she can’t necessarily perform a lot of power moves or things that involve her lifting people up and tossing them about. She is focusing more and more on strikes and submissions. I hope she continues her progress and is able to really nail down a style that works for these intergender matches.
1. A lot of guys have showed improvement in the world of wrestling, but Jigsaw has really begun to smooth out the rougher edges of his game. He’s got better looking tights and is getting into really good shape. He’s also begun to control his matches and become a ring general. Really impressed with his work these days.
The Verdict: I’m sad my first CHIKARA show wasn’t a complete thumbs up, but I certainly didn’t feel completely insulted watching it. There are a number of solid to good matches, but nothing really here to say “Run out and buy this DVD.” CHIKARA puts on a lot of very good shows, and this one merely falls under the auspices of being okay, Still, there were some solid contests and a great crowd to elevate it to even this level.
For more information in CHIKARA Pro, including tickets and event information, please check their website. While you can purchase DVDs there as well, you can also purchase their DVDs on Smart Mark Video. To get a great sense of history and participate in discussion of the company, check out their official messageboard. One thing the promotion does really well? Videos. They have frequent (almost daily) updates on their YouTube channel.
As someone relatively new to reviewing these shows and not nearly the CHIKARA fan as certain others, even I need to look up information and have a good CHIKARA resource. I can can think of no better place to do this and also read exclusive reviews of every CHIKARA show in history than at The CHIKARA Special. Kevin Ford maintains this little blog and also updates a CHIKARA Special Tumblr with news and videos nearly every day.
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