On February 17, Wrestling is Art ran its second ever show with a little bit of a twist. A number of wrestlers who have made their name in Beyond Wrestling and some of the other New England promotions were showcased this time around. Although this was not a better show than the first, there were still some clear highlights on a night that again featured some excellent technical wrestling and minimal amount of BS.
The technical wrestling started right away as Drew Gulak again got to work in the right atmosphere to show what he is all about. Mike Quackenbush is the perfect wrestler to match mat skills with since he’s been doing this for near 20 years now. What separates a match like the one Gulak and Quack had from so many others on the indies is they never once had to rely on typical indy tropes to get themselves over. They stayed on the mat, and the crowd stayed with them. I didn’t love Quack winning the exact same way as he did the previous night, but I enjoyed this exhibition and hope we can see another match down the road. Part of what seperates some indy wrestling audiences from almost all WWE audiences is patience. WWE fans would have zero tolerance for Quack and Gulak’s match without a retraining of the senses and what’s important. I’m not sure a match like this should even happen on Monday or Friday nights, but I find it refreshing.
Frank O’Rourke was finally successful in a Wrestling is match after his victory over assailANT. There were some antics to start relating to O’Rourke’s name of course. Things settled into a perfectly acceptable back and forth wrestling match. Two notable things were a lock-up that started on the outside of the ring and went inside and assailANT’s great selling of a stunner off the ropes. O’Rourke won with the half nelson suplex, and assailANT took it like a champ. Decent but not extraordinary match.
I mentioned the New England wrestlers earlier, and after a notable appearance in the Young Lion’s Cup, Anthony Stone made his return to the Chikara Universe against Jaka. Very similar quality as the previous match. Stone at times reminds me of PAC with better striking ability. Obviously not the quality of high flyer, but he definitely got his speediness across. Jaka went over in another solid match. Wish I had more to say but nothing jumped out at me.
Thunderfrog continued his mini-feud with the Batiri by losing to them once again in a six man tag as Obaryion, Kodama, and Kobald got the victory. Thunderfrog’s partners were again two wrestlers familiar with the Beyond Wrestling scene in Aaron Epic and J.T. Dunn. The Batiri broke out the Demon’s Device for the first time in a good match where the winner was never really in doubt. Thunderfrog did pull off an impressive looking German suplex.
In a straight forward showcase match, Brian Fury defeated Darius Carter. This was a plain good match with solid wrestling and nothing too crazy. Given Fury is a trainer at the New England Wrestling Academy, this makes sense. Fairly basic structure as Fury was the face and Carter the heel.
A potential indy dream match took place next as Tim Donst wrestled AR Fox. Fox did not let a low ceiling completely negate his offense as he hit a 450 even as his head was touching the ceiling. Fox again wowed the crowd and showed why he deserves consideration for future Wrestling Is or even Chikara appearances. Donst won the exact same way he did against Colt Cabana in a real eye-roller. At least with Quack, it was a wrestler winning with a simple counter. Donst using a foreign object two nights in a row is repetitive, especially given how contrived using the top of the ring post actually is relative to a shoe string or bag of tools. I was mildly disappointed, mostly because of the ending. I’d love to see a more full throttle match happen in someplace like AIW.
One of my least favorite Chikara angles made its way to Wrestling is Art as Chuck Taylor wrestled Sugar Dunkerton. I find the idea of them teaming in one company borderline laughable. Here, it was just absurd. Taylor barely did any work and left Dunkerton to get killed (figuratively) by the Death Blow. There were some amusing moments in the match with Dunkerton having a dance-off against Sidney Bakabella. Bakebella ended up with his pants off, and unlike Truth Martini, it fell under the umbrella of being amusing rather than disturbing. Taylor starting the match and being unable to do anything against Smashmaster was also amusing.
In the main event, Green Ant showed how good off a mat wrestler he is by stepping up against Colt Cabana. This was another technical showcase not all that different from the opener. A bit more intense as Green Ant focused on Cabana’s knee. I liked Cabana’s selling throughout the bunch, like for example, when he ran it for the Flying Apple and couldn’t run. It’s simple selling like that which gets over for me (mostly because I’m a nerd), but I happen to like good storytelling. We got that in droves. Amazingly, Green Ant has now wrestled Eddie Kingston, Colt Cabana, and Mike Quackenbush on shows this year. This has to be a sign of what a huge year this is going to be for him. He’s obviously capable of putting on and delivering anywhere on the card. He’s not afraid to incorporate psychology or mat wrestling. Cabana split the weekend and put everyone under the sun over after the match. Good way to end the show.
I can’t say this was as strong as night one, but there were a number of good matches and nothing insulting. Plus, for five dollars and a barebones MP4, it’s tough to complain.
Grade: B-
Announcers: Denver Colorado, Green Ant, Sugar Dunkerton, Sidney Bakabella
-Mike Quackenbush defeats Drew Gulak via the Alligator Clutch/14:25/***
-Francis O’Rourke defeats assailANT via pinfall with a half nelson suplex/6:47/**1/2
-Jaka defeats Anthony Stone via submission/9:47/**1/2
-The Batiri (Obaryion, Kodama, and Kobald) defeat Estonian Thunderfrog, JT Dunn, and Aaron Epic after the Demon’s Device on Thunderfrog/10:45/**3/4
-Brian Fury defeats Darius Carter by submission with the Boston crab/11:27/***
-Tim Donst defeats AR Fox after hitting Fox with top of the ring post and hitting a uranagi/12:35/***
-The Devastation Corporation (Blaster McMassive and Max Smashmaster) defeat F.I.S.T (Chuck Taylor and Sugar Dunkerton) after the Death Blow on Dunkerton /12:56/**1/4
-Colt Cabana defeats Green Ant with the Chicago Skyline/16:30/***1/4
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