-Taped from Strathroy, Ontario
-Your hosts are of course various members of the Chikara roster and staff
Match in Five Words or Less: Better Than Last Time
Match Highlights: Von Dutch can literally do no worse than in their first match when she got roughly zero offense in. They take turns working each other’s arm. Del Rey with a leg kick. Dutch maintains a headlock. Del Rey even hits a back suplex, but the hold still isn’t broken. Finally, Del Rey goes to the corner and hits a series of shoulder tackles. Kick to the thighs and Von Dutch sent knee first into the mat. Stomps on the knee of Von Dutch. Into a modified leg bar. Von Dutch with a cross body for two. Running senton follow-up. Back to the headlock. Del Rey with a knee breaker. STF. Del Rey wants her to tap but no dice. Ridiculously hard leg kicks. Del Rey sends Von Dutch’s leg into the side of the ring. Low dropkick to the leg she’s been working on. She sits down in a winning combination for two. Another drive of the knee into the mat. Del Rey drops down on the leg and grinds it against the ropes. Forearms from Von Dutch. One footed dropkick. She hits a second and then charges with a clothesline. Bulldog for two. Springboard moonsault. Her knee gives way so she can’t cover right away. Into the leg bar once again. Small package by Von Dutch gets two. Roaring elbow gets two as well. Victory roll by Von Dutch but Del Rey counters into a reverse prawn hold to get the victory in a much more competitive bout.
Match Analysis: This was a slightly better match if for no reason than it had more time, and there was a story involved. Von Dutch has a lot of work to do before being ready for a regular Chikara run however. Her offense looks awkward at times, and I didn’t believe some of what she was doing in the ring. Del Rey looked more engaged and interested this time, thus making for a more better match.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Sara Del Rey/9:11/**1/4
–Jakob Hammermeier is searching for Tim Donst in the bowels of the building. He appears to find him in the boiler room. So Tim Donst = Mankind. Donst tells Hammermeier “You don’t want this.” Meanwhile, Sugar Dunkerton says so much has changed. He talks about getting things back on track. He talks about how different he and Donst are from two years ago. Dunkerton is too busy being delicious to worry about Donst being crazy and perhaps a little unstable.
Match in Five Words or Less: How Things Have Changed
Match Highlights: Donst appears to be channeling his inner Raven. Hopefully, Donst actually takes a bump in this match. Dunkerton goes to the headlock and talks Donst down. Shoulder tackle by Donst and the man looks completely whack. Trip by Dunkerton. He dribbles his body for fun. Big running senton. Donst with a clothesline from behind. Right hand sends him down. Dunkerton gets tossed out. Donst follows him out and rams him into the post. Arm first into the apron goes Dunkerton. Donst twists the arm up a bit. Into the cross armbreaker. Donst pulls at Dunkerton’s hair. Elbow drop. Backbreaker. Dunkerton reverses a whip and sends Donst into the post. Hard forearm. STDonst back in the ring. Right hands and a headbutt by Dunkerton. Series of right hands and jabs. Big double chop. Running dropkick. Cover for two. Rolling neckbreaker gets two. Big right hand. Donst hits an elbow. Donst sends Dunkerton off the ropes quite hard. Clothesline sends Dunkerton over the top rope. Big tope suicida elbow. Into the corner with some cross face elbows. Whip in the corner. Dunkerton gets his boot up. Facebuster off the top rope. 1-2-NO! Donst counters into an armbar. Forearm by Dunkerton. Divorce court from Donst. He tries taking the top turnbuckle pad off, but Dunkerton rolls him up from behind. Donst shoves him away. Bow Chicka Bow Wow by Dunkerton. This is good enough for the victory.
Match Analysis: Finish came out of nowhere and this was an okay return for Dunkerton back to the main roster. I’m very interested to see where both men go from here. With Dunkerton beating a regular, I can only assume he’s in line for a push, and Donst needs to be rebuilt after losing his hair at the iPPV.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Sugar Dunkerton/8:53/**1/2
Match in Five Words or Less: Of Course
Match Highlights: Bailey is a no-show, so of course we go to the hat. Teddy Hart’s cat is one of the names, but unfortunately he or she isn’t there. Why tease us like that Chikara? Buxx Belmar is in the house. Hammermeier is the only non-local in this match. Page has been pretty darn impressive in a pair of appearances for AIW and hasn’t made an appearance for Chikara in four years. Bailey and Suave were on the last run of Chikara shows. Hammermeier says he’s ready to fight. Belmar spits out of a waistlock. That is f’ing gross. Forearms, leg lariat, and a neckbreaker. Lots of snap to that one. Page with right hands. Belmar with a reverse whip and splash. Suave gets a triangle choke on both men in the corner. Series of strikes by Suave on Belmar. Running kick by Belmar. Spinebuster by Suave. Page hits a series of chops. Tilt a whirl backbreaker gets two. Suave hits a forearm. Page up and over. Big leaping enziguri. Page hits a tope suicida. Hammermeier attacks from behind. Choking. More choking along the bottom turnbuckle. Elbow strike to Page’s back. Page with more right hands. Leaping dropkick. Suave with a double sledge. Clubbering blow to the back. Page comes back with yet more right hands. Forearm blocked. Back suplex met with an elbow. Overhead throw by Page. Sliding dropkick on Hammermeier. Belmar dives on everyone. He tosses Suave in the ring. More double chops. Into the corner for a running clothesline. Hammermeier sent in. Belmar drives Hammermeier down but gets two. Shot to the throat by Hammermeier. Page with a double sledge to the back. He lifts Hammermeier up. Suave put into the DDT position. Cross body by Belmar and everyone is down. Belmar and Page cover but only get two counts. Exchange of right hands. Elbows by Page. Swinging uranagi gets three and Belmar is done. Running boot by Suave on page. Hammermeier chokes Suave in the corner. Series of chops. leaping acecrusher on Hammermeier as he also dropkicks Suave. Cover but Hammermeier gets his foot on the rope. Running forearm on Suave. Bicycle kick by Suave. Running dropkick in the corner by Page. Swinging reverse brainbuster gets two. Elbow by Suave. 2K1 bomb. 1-2-3! Crowd goes silent. Slaps by Hammermeier. Suave comes back with strikes. Russian legsweep. Into a vice like submission hold. Roll into a kneeling crossface. Neckbreaker attempt turned into a backslide by Suave. Rake of the eyes. Roll-up and Hammermeier holds the tights. This is good enough for the victory.
Match Analysis: Hammermeier winning was sadly something we could have expected, but at least the Canadians got to show a little bit of what they could do. Belmar’s actions were sort of a turn off with the spitting and just his overall look. Suave and Page looked quite good, and I hope they get future opportunities on the independent scene. Still not sure how I feel about Hammermeier potentially going all the way and winning the whole tournament.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Jakob Hammermeier/13:33/**
-Dasher Hatfield talks about being on fire as of late and earning a chance at the Grand Championship. He shifts his focus to El Generico, his opponent tonight. He says he’s en fuego. Thank you Dan Patrick.
Match in Five Words or Less: The Biggest Swing Of All
Match Highlights: Code of honor is followed. Basic to start. Armdrag by Hatfield. Headlock by Generico. Applied headscissors by Hatfield. Generico counters into the headlock once again. Clothesline by Hatfield misses. Generico says that’s strike one. Shoulder tackle by Hatfield. Generico leap frog. Hatfield misses another clothesline. That’s strike two. Shoulder tackle and fake dive by Generico. Hatfield misses a third clothesline. Hatfield is apparently out. Hatfield puts his head down and leaves the ring. Generico hits a tope con helo. OLE! Hard chop and Generico dumps water on Hatfield. Elbow to the back of the neck. Chop in the corner. Snapmare into the chinlock. Off the ropes and an armdrag by Hatfield. Generico powders. Baseball sliding dropkick. He says he’s safe. Chop along the side of the ring. Roll through and a dropkick by Hatfield. Hard elbow in the corner. A second one. Knee strike to the midsection. Boot by Generico. Another series of chops. Tilt a whirl backbreaker by Hatfield. Knee strikes by Hatfield to the midsection of Generico. Laying cloverleaf. Generico grabs the bottom rope and favors his knee. Another knee followed by the clubbering blow. Chop by Generico. Swinging DDT. 1-2-NO! Whip reversed. Generico hits a cross body for two. Hatfield blocks and counters the blue thunder powerbomb. Slingshot back suplex for two. Hatfield hits a running clothesline. He ducks the yakuza kick. Into the tree of woe goes Generico. Grand Slam but Generico hits a running yakuza kicks. Blue thunder powerbomb! 1-2-NO! Second yakuza blocked. Uppercut and jackhammer by Hatfield. 1-2-NO! Suicide Squeeze. Dasher wins!
Match Analysis: This is the biggest victory of Hatfield’s career as he defeats one of the best independent wrestlers in the world on this night. Great win going into the championship match. Not a fan of the match being booked after Hatfield got the title shot, but at least we got something good out of it. Hatfield has had a fantastic 2012 so far, and this continues it. Who would have thought an old timey baseball gimmick would be just what the former Create-a-Wrestler needed to really jump start his career and elevate him to the point where he could main event a Chikara show?
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Dasher Hatfield/14:12/***1/2
-Icarus comes in to make of Canadian women. He talks about being a professional and coming in dressed. This leads Icarus to call out the Grand Champion for not dressing up in his gear or wearing a belt. Eddie Kingston is at the announce table… but not for long. He slowly waltzes his way toward the ring. Icarus continues to berate him. Icarus charges at him and gets forearmed. Back drop misses because Icarus runs away like a scared little girl. Kingston wipes an area between his legs with Icarus’s sweater. Crowd chants for Mr. Kingston.
Match in Five Words or Less: It Continues
Match Highlights: Gekido comes down the aisle like normal, so I guess losing at the iPPV gave them this right. Incredibly, this match doesn’t start off with a ridiculous brawl that goes all over the arena. Shard with an immediate knee and clubbering blow. Chop along the ropes. European uppercut. Quack leapfrog. Shard rolls underneath. Armdrag into the armbar. Shard grabs the top rope and shoves Quack. Clothesline blocked. Quack rolls him up and pulls back the wrist in a submission. Whip to the corner. Elbow by Shard. Quack catches him with an armdrag. Again to the armbar. Shoulder tackle and double knees. Cross armbreaker quickly broken up by deviANT. Quack catches him and drops him in a flapjack. Dropkick to the side of the head. Somersault senton to the floor. Colony double team assailANT. Chop by Soldier Ant. Drop toehold of assailANT. Dropkick by the Colony. Headbutt by Fire Ant. deviANT joins the other three. Green Ant ends up in the ring with assailANT. Soldier Ant attacks deviANT on the outside. Tecinos work over deviANT’s left arm. Continued double team from the Colony as Green Ant dropkicks him in the face. Uppercut on assailANT. Series of chops. Snapmare and a kick to the back. Strikes from Soldier Ant next. assailANT with forearms and headbutt. Soldier Any leaps. Green Ant with a chop in the back. Soldier Ant ends up on top for a nearfall. He goes after the other two men on the apron. He leaps again but assailANT drops Soldier throat first on the apron. Heat segment on Soldier Ant. Soldier Ant stuns the arm but still can’t make the tag. deviANT grabs a camel clutch. Green Ant breaks the hold. Soldier Ant hits an electic chair and gets his knees up on Shard. assailANT kicked away. Green Ant tags and hits a running knee in the corner. Whip and shoulder tackle. Right hands and a tope as he turns around. He ducks and the Swarm hit each other. Drunk slam on deviANT. Michinoku driver on assailANT who ends up on top of his Swarm compatriots. Quack applies an STF on both men. Superkick by Shard. Kick to the midsection by Green Ant. Alabama slam by Shard. Double dropkick as assailANT holds Green Ant. deviANT puts Green Ant on his back. Double stomp by Shard. assailANT drops him down. Running kick by assailANT. Quack sent outside. He recovers and brings deviANT down hard. assailANT sent outside as well. Quackendriver 2 on Shard. Into the wrist submission. assailANT breaks the hold and sends Shard outside. Discus forearm by Soldier Ant. Rana turned into a sunset flip. assailANT gets a sunset flip for three.
Soldier Ant goes for assailANT’s mask, but Gekido escapes and howls with laughter.
Match Analysis: If nothing else, Quack and Soldier Ant have shown new facets to their personality in this feud. I guess it’s important for Gekido to win some matches to rebuild them after their critical loss in the ten man tag three weeks earlier. I’ve made my position on this feud very clear in a million of my reviews, so there’s no reason to rehash. This was a solid multi-man with good action and some interesting stuff from Quack as he broke out a number of submissions and focused on hurting Gekido instead of winning. Be interesting to see where the singles matches go on the next show.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Gekido/14:14/***
Match in Five Words or Less: A Deadly Puzzle
Match Highlights: Running boot immediately. Series of stomps in the corner and a chop. Bodyslam. He kicks Jigsaw away and chops him once again. Headbutt to the pec. Jigsaw hits a pair of chops. Kick to the chest. A second one and a snapare. Fist drop to the back of Ophidian. More strikes from Jigsaw. Kick blocked and a knee strike. Big forearm. Armdrag into the dropkick and Jigsaw gets two. Ophidian grabs some sort of object from under the ring. Baseball dropkick misses and Jigsaw holds the object. Dropkick by Ophidian. Running acecrusher across the middle rope on Jigsaw. Leg drop. Stomps and choking from Ophidian. Choking with the cloth that was on his buddy. Series of strikes to the chest. Clubbering blow and another hard strike. Series of forearms. Chop from Ophidian. He goes legs first into the chest. Strikes from Jigsaw. Superkick countered as Ophidian kicks his leg all the way down. Leg drop. Chop and a forearm. Another chop. Ophidian hits running knees. Running double knees and he holds onto the ropes. Chop again from Jigsaw. Ophidian responds with one of his own. Strike exchange in the corner. Running knees miss. Jigsaw powerbombs him out of the Canadian backbreaker position. Forearms from Jigsaw. Whip across. Running back elbow. Kick to the head. Dropkick off the middle rope. Jigsaw with a boot. Roll-up but he hits an immediate double stomp. Superkick gets two. Suplex blocked. Double chops by Ophidian. Leaping enziguri. Off the ropes. Ophidian plants him face first out of the wheelbarrow position. Into the death grip. Jigsaw’s arms only go down twice. Jigsaw rams Ophidian into the corner to break the hold. Back elbow and an enziguri. German suplex into a bridge for two. Jigsaw to the top but he gets met with a forearm. Strike exchange. Jigsaw brings Ophidian up. Jigsaw gets knocked down. Double knees across the chest. 1-2-NO! Second set of double knees but that’s not good enough either. Back to the death grip. Jigsaw cannonballs both he and Ophidian into the corner. Double stomp. Jigsaw can’t cover right away, and Ophidian slithers away. He crawls around the dirty floor and goes under the ring for an object again. He nails Jigsaw in the throat and tosses it to Jigsaw. This is a distraction for the referee. Low blow. Death grip. Jigsaw is out. Ophidian wins.
Match Analysis: I liked the finish here because it played into Ophidian’s snake like tactics. His character has been a mixed bag this year, but this was definitely one of his better matches here in 2012. His offense looked crisp, and there wasn ‘t nearly as much choking. Wrestling someone like Jigsaw also helps because if nothing else people are going to have that emotional investment. Good match.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Ophidian/13:37/***1/4
-Scott Parker and Shane Matthews are ready to take on Lance and Harlem. They talk about winning the campeonatos de parejas the last time Chikara was in Canada. Because of the Bravados, 3.0 lost the belts in Indiana. Matthews says something related to Jerry Sandusky. Well, that was somewhat inappropriate.
Match in Five Words or Less: Blame The Bravados
Match Highlights: Matthews and Parker go after Lance and Harlem right away. They take a tour of the building. Back in the ring and 3.0 is in control. They send the Bravados into each other and continue double teaming Harlem. Double team lungblower. Lance breaks the count. Matthews with a right hand. Harlem chop blocks Matthews. Stomps from Lance. Harlem applies a figure four leglock. Back elbow by Matthews and Parker comes back in. Flying forearm and a leg lariat. Harlem tosses Parker into the middle rope. Stungun into the cover for two. Camel clutch. Heat segment on Parker continues. Parker kicks Lance away. Matthews with a dropkick. Headscissors on both members of the Bravado Brothers. Rydeen bomb on Lance. Lance hits a chinbreaker. Atomic drop into a dropkick by Parker. Matthews holds Harlem as Parker hits a kick to the side of the face. Lance tries grabbing Parker. Matthews shoved and he ends up being crotched on the top rope. Harlem slaps Parker in the face. Matthews goes for a powerbomb. Harlem with right hands. Parker headbutts him off. Matthews lifts him up. Lance with an enzigiuri on Parker. Harlem hits double knees on Matthews but only gets two. Parker finally comes off the top rope with double cross bodies. Forearm on Lance. Enziguri by Lance. Harlem hits a German suplex into the corner. Matthews with an awkward exploder into the corner. Forearm exchange. Scissors kick by Harlem. Lance hits a gutbuster on Parker. Matthews with a clothesline. He then ducks a bicycle kick from Harlem, and the referee is taken out. Matthews hooks in the Boston crab. Chop block by Harlem. Bravados go for a chair and try to reinjure Parker’s ribs. Matthews makes the save. Parker with right hands. Harlem nails Parker in the head with a chair. 1-2-NO! Harlem comes off the rope with a clothesline. Matthews brings Lance out of the ring as Parker hits a flapjack. Spear by Matthews and he hooks in the Boston crab again. This time, Lance has no choice but to tap very quickly.
The Bravados take a shot at Parker’s ribs once again and powder before 3.0 can get revenge.
Match Analysis: With the babyfaces winning in somewhat decisive fashion, I’m not sure what to think about this feud, even after the Bravados did what they did after the match. These two teams have good chemistry together, and that was reflected in this match as they had a fine battle back and forth. Good double teams and story told throughout the match. Even the ref bump and use of the chair made sense within context.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: 3.0/13:49/***1/4
The Verdict: . There’s enough worthwhile to offer a solid recommendation here as Chikara resets in preparation for King of Trios. Lots of good action up and down the show. Fun show and it’ll be interesting to see the follow-up in Syracuse.
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. Something relatively new to Smart Mark Video is video downloads. This is a great way to save on shipping and not have a DVD clogging your shelf (if that’s what you’re concerned about). It’s super easy to purchase and then download on your computer. I could not recommend this service strongly enough whether you’re buying CHIKARA or many other promotions.
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