Contemplating CHIKARA 4.11.09: Slow Down? No Way!

Posted by Kevin Ford on 04.11.2009

This weeks column is bursting with CHIKARA news! Loads of match updates for the April shows, which include many CHIKARA debuts, and...Glacier?! Also, news on King of Trios DVDs, CHIKARA in Japan, and Kota Ibushi in Kaiju Big Battel?! Come on in and find out what the fuss is about!

Welcome back everyone to the newest installment of Contemplating CHIKARA. You would think after such a hyuuuge weekend, like King of Trios, CHIKARA would've cooled their engines a bit. To that CHIKARA says "Au contraire, mon frère." Lots of information has been put out by CHIKARA in the past couple weeks, mostly about their next shows "Behind The 8 Ball" and "The Bobliographon", which take place at the very end of this month. We'll also discuss some other tidbits and then give you a nice dose of videos for your viewing pleasure.

But first, let us talk about matches that have been announced for this months shows!




CHIKARA Presents "Behind The 8 Ball", live Saturday, April 25th, from the Palmer Community Center in Easton, PA! So far, half the card has been announced for this show. Let's take a look!



Since 2008 kicked off, CHIKARA has made a conscious effort to add more female wrestling to its shows. "Behind The 8 Ball" is no exception, as two femme fatales will make their debuts. This match pits Shark Girl against one half of the SHIMMER Tag Team Champions, Neveah, against one another in a singles match. With a blossoming women's division in CHIKARA, both these women will be looking to make a name for themselves in their CHIKARA debut.



An interesting match will occur as one-third of the 2009 King of Trios, Gran Akuma, will square off with another man making his CHIKARA debut, Shadow Phoenix. Shadow is a well rounded individual, trained under the tutelage of Ultimo Dragon and Jorge "Skayde" Rivera. A master of martial arts, Shadow Phoenix has wrestled for Japanese promotions such as Osaka Pro, Toryumon X and Michinoku Pro. Akuma is also very skilled in speed and striking, as he has shown in his CHIKARA tenure. In addition, Akuma is no stranger to Japanese competitors, as he was hand picked by Mike Quackenbush to compete in The Global Gauntlet against Big Japan Wrestling in October, as well as facing other Japanese combatants in CHIKARA over the years. Needless to say, this one will be very hard-hitting. This show is the only show of the weekend Shadow Phoenix will be around, so if you want to see him, be sure you head out to "Behind The 8 Ball".



A CHIKARA fan-favorite returns in Easton, as an Atomocios Increibles has been signed! Essentially, this is a match where four tag teams are split up into two opposing teams. As you can see, The Super Smash Bros. (Player Uno & Player Dos), The Fabulous Two (Mitch Ryder & Buck Hawke), The UnStable (Vin Gerard & STIGMA), and The Sea Donsters (Tim Donst & Hydra) have been put on opposing sides. You can bet after traveling together, eating together, and essentially being around each other all the time, some frustrations can be built up within teams. This will give these teams to chance to get revenge on their partners guilt-free, as well as take out some potential tag team competition. It should be noted that in 2008, the Super Smash Bros. competed opposite one another twice, and ended up a better team for it as they won the Campeonatos de Parejas later that year. Player Dos, Mitch Ryder, STIGMA, & Tim Donst oppose Player Uno, Buck Hawke, Vin Gerard, & Hydra in this one. How on Earth will the wrestlers get out of this bucket of syrup?!



One feud has been brewing in CHIKARA for over a year now between two of the companies top factions: The Colony and F.I.S.T. January 2008 can pinpoint the moment in which these groups really began to go at one another, as Fire Ant and Soldier Ant defeated Icarus and Gran Akuma. Things escalated when the factions exchanged wins in trios action, with The Colony defeating F.I.S.T in the 2008 King of Trios tournament and F.I.S.T. defeating The Colony at Aniversarioct. The rubber match came in February at "If The Airplane Is Snowed In, Put Your Bloody Skis On And Get Going!", in which the winning group was entered in the 2009 King of Trios tournament, and the other group was ousted. In this match however, things were a bit different. F.I.S.T had become a far more violent, serious, trio, dubbing themselves "The most dangerous trio in CHIKARA." Not only did they win the match against the Colony, but F.I.S.T. also ended Worker Ant's career in the process. The next night, looking for revenge, Fire Ant and Soldier Ant took on Chuck Taylor and Icarus. Taylor and Icarus ended up cheating for the win, but the decision was reversed in the Colony's favor a couple weeks later. Two months removed, we get a rematch of that very tag contest in the same building it originally took place. Chuck Taylor's Awful Waffle to Worker Ant on the wooden floor in Reading, PA can be pinpointed as what truly ended Worker's career. Needless to say, The Colony would love to show their love for their fallen comrade by destroying the men who took him out. Can The Colony defeat two-thirds of this year's King of Trios, or will F.I.S.T. continue their reign of dominance in 2009?



The story of the Olsen Twins in CHIKARA is an interesting one. As most everyone knows, Colin Olsen left CHIKARA for good in February 2008 to go to World Wrestling Entertainment. Colin did a great job keeping this a secret from his brother Jimmy. Jimmy kept hoping one day Colin would return, until the evil Vin Gerard lied to Jimmy and told him Colin was hidden under a mask in CHIKARA. For three months Jimmy searched for his brother, unmasking Lince Dorado, The Colony, and Ultimo Breakfast in hopes of finding Colin. Colin's was fired from the WWE, and his future endeavors led him back to CHIKARA. Colin aligned himself with Vin Gerard, telling that Jimmy had become weak-willed and feeble since Colin left CHIKARA. Jimmy looked for revenge on his brother and Vin, and lost to Colin in a singles match back in September. Jimmy donned the persona of Equinox, Vin Gerard's prior character before being forced to unmask in November of 2007. After months of mind games and grudge matches, Jimmy was able to capture the Young Lions Cup. In his second defense of the Cup (the first being a successful defense against Amasis), Jimmy meets his brother again one on one. Colin recently wrote about this match in a blog on CHIKARA's home page:

4/8/2009: The Young Lions Cup...the biggest singles prize CHIKARA has to offer. Held by greats from STIGMA to Vin Gerard. And now, being tainted by the grubby hands of my little brother, Jimmy, the coward hiding under the mask of Equinox. It makes me sick to see, so I called up the offices, I dialed up Leonard F. Chikarason, and I made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

The former Olsen Twins are gonna collide at The Palmer Center in Easton! One night only, it might look like Equinox vs. Delaney, but underneath it's Olsen vs. Olsen, brother vs. brother, man vs. better man.



The fans in PA were screwed out of this match when we locked up in Chicago last September - they didn't get to see me pin baby brother's shoulders to the mat, so lets do it one more time! Only this time...you have something I want. You see, beating Jimmy isn't enough, because I've been beating Jimmy all our lives, and I don't need to beat him again to prove who the better man is. I just want that shiny Cup he carries around. I want that Young Lions Cup back in The UnStable, back with the group that should be the King of Trios, and back with the group that (after April 26th) will have 3 points, and be on our way to having all the gold in CHIKARA. No one will be ignoring us then!

Little brother, come April 25th, I'm gonna beat you again. And trust me, it's going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me.

The next YLC champ,
CD

As if this sibling rivalry needed any more fuel to its fire, the prize of the Young Lions Cup has added a whole new stake to the match. Will Colin be able to upset his brother once more, or will Equinox prove that really has changed since putting on the mask?



In our maaaaaaaain event, the current Campeones de Parejas, The Osirian Portal (Amasis & Ophidian) will defend their titles for the third time against their most experienced opponents yet: Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw. Quackenbush and Jigsaw reunited in December of 2008, and wasted no time racking up their three needed points in order to earn a shot at the Campeonatos. They defeated The Order of the Neo-Solar Temple (Ultramantis Black & Crossbones), Cheech Hernandez & KC "Cloudy" Day, and The Roughnecks (Brodie Lee & Grizzly Redwood) in three impressive outings to gain their title shot. These two seem like they haven't lost a step, and are focused on winning those titles. The Osirian Portal are no slouches themselves, successfully defending the belts against The Future Is Now (Equinox & Lince Dorado) and The Colony (Fire Ant & Soldier Ant). The Portal no doubt faces their toughest challenge yet, and it will be quite interesting to see who takes the belts home. Needless to say, this match will be exceptional.

In fact, here's a blog Jigsaw posted on the CHIKARA website about this match:

4/1/2009: The Campeonatos de Parejas. That's what this is all about. First it's the hard work. The long nights in the gym, in the ring. Finally, you get the points. All the pain, the punishment, they'll all be worth it, once we get our hands on those gold belts. It's been a long road to get where I'm at right now. There was a point where I thought I had the perfect partner to get my hands on those belts. I was wrong. Then there was a point where I'd imagined never stepping foot in a CHIKARA ring again - never holding one of the few accolades in CHIKARA that had eluded me. I was wrong about that as well. Because on April 25th, 2009 in Easton, PA I'll get my chance and this time I know for sure that I have the perfect partner. This time I have Mike Quackenbush.

It wasn't easy to put the team back together. I knew I had to prove to Mike that I was in this for the long haul. That I knew mistakes were made and could be fixed. And that if I had his back I needed to know he would have mine in return. Well that all came together on December 14th, 2008 in Philadelphia. Tim Donst went down and the opportunity I had been waiting for came - a chance to prove to Quack, to prove to the locker room, to prove to the CHIKARA fans that I bleed CHIKARA and I wanted, needed to come back home...back to CHIKARA, where I belong. It was on that day that I showed Quack my loyalty to him and this company. Now the boys are back, and back with a purpose: to take hold of those Campeonatos de Parejas!



The current holders of the Campeonatos de Parejas, The Osirian Portal, are no strangers to me. Ya see the day that they started to catch momentum, their first match together as a team - was against none other than Shane Storm and I. The Portal got the best of us that day, but I don't make the same mistakes twice. 'Cause this time it's not the Stormer in my corner, it's Mike Quackenbush. I know how bad Quack wants this. To hold these belts and be on top of CHIKARA - it's only fitting. In fact, it needs to happen; we need to hold those belts up high, even if it's for just one night.

This is Quack's first shot at the belts, and I know that just like me, he feels he has the perfect partner for the job. Not to take anything away from Ophidian or Amasis...as there's a reason they hold the Campeonatos de Parejas. They're young, full of fire, and I know the team I faced back in 2007 is a lot better today. I'm sure the Portal will bring everything they have to the table on April 25th in Easton. But boys, if you're reading this, I'll let you know something right now. You show up in Easton with anything less than your absolute best, you won't have a chance.

It's just that simple.
JIG




In addition to their Saturday show, CHIKARA returns to The Arena in Philadelphia, PA on April 26th, for "The Bobliographon". Half of that card has also been announced, so let's run that down while we're at it!



As I said before, CHIKARA has made a conscious effort since the start of the year to bring more women's wrestling to CHIKARA. Female mainstay, Sara Del Ray, locks up with Shark Girl on the second night of her first run in CHIKARA. Sara Del Ray can be seen as the dominant female in CHIKARA, and in no way is she willing to give up her spot to a newcomer. Will Shark Girl shock the Chikarmy and defeat Sara, or will Sara show why she is one of the best women in the business?



In a match filled with point implications, CHIKARA brings us it's second ever Four-Corner Tag Team contest. The teams involved are Cheech Hernandez & KC "Cloudy" Day, 2.0 (Jagged & Shane Matthews), The Super Smash Bros. (Player Uno & Player Dos), and The UnStable (STIGMA & Colin Delaney). The Super Smash Bros. and The UnStable had very impressive showings during the King of Trios weekend, and look to ride their wave of momentum to a title shot. Cheech & Cloudy had a short stint of dominance, defeating PWG Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks on Night 3 of the tournament, only to lose to Brodie Lee & Grizzly Redwood shortly after. 2.0 was conspicuously absent from King of Trios, and re-debuts in 2009 this weekend. With the exception of the UnStable (who have one point to their name after beating Cheech & Cloudy, actually) these teams come into this match with zero points. However, if one team can eliminate all the others, they will leave with the three points needed for a shot at the Campeones de Parejas. Which team will come out on top, and most importantly, will one team be able to earn a title shot?



Poor Claudio Castagnoli. Since "Cibernetico & Robin", where Claudio disbanded the eight-man super group The Kings of Wrestling, the former members have had it out for Mr. Castagnoli. One man in particular, Mitch Ryder, has had issue with Claudio disbanding the group. Larry Sweeney pretended to be Claudio's ally near the end of 2008, only to turn on him and rejoin Mitch Ryder and Buck Hawke in the Kings of Wrestling. Perhaps by design, since turning on Claudio, Claudio and The Fabulous Three (Sweeney, Ryder, and Buck) have yet to cross paths. At "The Bobliographon", that all changes, as Claudio gets his hands on Mitch in a one on one contest. Claudio had some words to say about his match, and you can see what he had to say in the following video



As you can see, Claudio is one angry Swiss Stalwart, and he will no doubt be looking to take out his aggression on Mitch come April 26th!



Here we have a match filled with lots of history: Incoherence (Delirious, Hallowicked, & Frightmare) vs. The Roughnecks (Brodie Lee, Eddie Kingston, & Grizzly Redwood). In 2007, Hallowicked and Eddie Kingston had a brutal feud over who was the best student to come out of the CHIKARA Wrestle Factory that lasted almost the entire calendar year. Near the end of 2008, Hallowicked had issues with Brodie Lee, who ripped off Hallowicked's mask and has been carrying it around as a trophy of sorts ever since. Brodie has also decimated Frightmare, the newest member of Incoherence, on a couple different occasions. Grizzly Redwood lost to Hallowicked in December, Kingston beat Delirious in a singles match in January, and the list of matches these men have been in with one another goes on. These trios have built up a mutual hatred that will explode in Philadelphia. I for one am looking forward to what should be a fun, hard hitting contest.



Glacier made his chilling CHIKARA debut back at the 2008 King of Trios as a surprise partner for Los Ice Creams. After losing in the first round, Glacier re-emerged in a four corner elimination match the next night. Glacier was one of the final two participants, as was Vin Gerard. Vin eventually got the win when he forced Glacier to tap to the STF. A year later, Glacier returned to CHIKARA at the 2009 King of Trios. As fate would have it, Glacier and Vin found themselves across the ring once again when Vin and his UnStable took on Glacier, Al Snow, and D'Lo Brown in the first round. Throughout the match, Glacier kept demanding Vin get in the ring with him so he could gain a measure of redemption. Vin refused, and did his best to make sure he only got in the ring with Glacier when Glacier was on defense. After The UnStable won, Glacier was able to hit a Cryonic Kick on Vin. The score between these two when they cross paths in singles competition at The Bobliographon. Vin originally issued the challenge on a podcast update, and Glacier accepted in a podcast update. Both videos can be seen right here:





Will Vin Gerard be able to quiet the naysayers, or will his blood run cold in defeat?

The rest of the cards will be covered as CHIKARA announces more matches.


DVD news!




Oh yes my friends, the time has almost arrived! This coming Tuesday, April 14th, all three nights of the enormous 2009 King of Trios DVD will be available for purchase at Smart Mark Video! From someone who was their front row for all three nights, believe me when I say that you'll want to be picking up the entire tournament. See all your favorite CHIKARA stars, along with special guests like Johnny Saint, Jorge "Skayde" Rivera, Dave Taylor, Bryan Danielson, Austin Aries, El Generico, Kota Ibushi, Arik Cannon, The Necro Butcher, The Young Bucks, and so many others.

Below is spoiler-free cards for all three nights. I'd post the others, but that would spoil the entire tournament for those who want to wait.

King of Trios 2009, Night One
Round One: The First Family (Arik Cannon and The North Star Express (Darin Corbin & Ryan Cruz)) vs. Team EPIC WAR (Austin Aries, Tony Kozina, & Ryan Drago)
Round One: Team PWG (El Generico and The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson)) vs. The Osirian Portal (Amasis, Ophidian, & Escorpion Egipcio)
Round One:: Team Uppercut (Claudio Castagnoli, Dave Taylor, & Bryan Danielson) vs. The Roughnecks (Brodie Lee, Eddie Kingston, & Grizzly Redwood)
Round One:: The Soul Touchaz (Marshe Rockett, Willie "da Bomb" Richardson, & Trauma) vs. Team CZW (Pinkie Sanchez and 2 Girls, 1 Cup (Beef Wellington & Greg Excellent))
Round One: The Death Match Kings (The Necro Butcher, Toby Klein, & Brain Damage) vs. Team F.I.S.T. (Icarus, Gran Akuma, & Chuck Taylor)
Round One: The Future Is Now (Equinox, Lince Dorado, & Helios) vs. Team DDT (Kota Ibushi, KUDO, & Michael Nakazawa)
Round One: The Masters of 1000 Hold (Mike Quackenbush, Jorge "Skayde" Rivera, & Johnny Saint) vs. Incoherence (Delirious, Hallowicked, & Frightmare)
Round One: Al Snow, ???, & Glacier vs. The UnStable (Vin Gerard, STIGMA, & Colin Delaney)

King of Trios 2009, Night Two
Four Quarter-Finals Matches for the 2009 King of Trios Tournament!
Rey de Voladores Qualifier #1: Fire Ant vs. Player Dos vs. ??? vs. ???
Rey de Voladores Qualifier #2: Jigsaw vs. ??? vs. ??? vs. ???
Inter-Species Wrestling Championship: Player Uno vs. Twiggy
LWA Showcase Match: Davey Vega & Gary the Barn Owl vs. The Submission Squad (Pierre Abernathy & Evan Gelistico)

King of Trios 2009, Night Three
Two Semi-Finals Matches for the 2009 King of Trios Tournament!
Rey de Voladores 2009 Tournament Finals
12-Team Tag Team Gauntlet Match
Three non-tournament bouts featuring stars from Nights One and Two
And of course, the 2009 King of Trios Finals!

In addition to all this, CHIKARA and Smart Mark Video have come to a small agreement. Here's the words straight from the horses...err, CHIKARA's mouth:

To help those of you CHIKARA completists finish your collections, we've come to an agreement with our SMV buddies to lower the price of all CHIKARA DVD's from 2004 - 2007 from the standard price of $20 to $15.00, for a limited time. This includes the "Best Of" compilations from 2002 and 2003, and a slew of vintage CHIKARA shows from our formative years! We're curious to see if this discounted price causes a surge of interest in our back catalog, so if you've been waiting to scoop up essentials like the "Tag World Grand Prix 2005" or the 1st ever Torneo Cibernetico, here's your chance to do it and save some bucks!

If this little experiment proves a success, we might try more of these little stunts down the line!

CHIKARA seems to really be helping out their fans as they always do with this little discount, and I for one will be spending some major buckage once King of Trios is released because of it. When I have no money. And my girlfriend's birthday is around the corner. Jeez.


CHIKARA coming to Japan?

That seems to be the rumor coming from the CHIKARA Twitter page and Big Japan Wrestling's website. According to CHIKARA Fans, here's what has been discovered about this Japanese trip:

- Seven CHIKARA wrestlers will be headed over to Japan on June 9th, heading back home on the 14th
- Big Japan will be financially supporting two events featuring the CHIKARA talent
- June 12th will feature a CHIKARA-hosted event at Warabi City Isami Wrestle Hall in Warabi, Saitama, Japan
- June 13th will feature a CHIKARA vs Big Japan Wrestling competition of sorts at Shin-kiba 1st Ring in Tokyo
- Atsushi Ohashi, who appeared in CHIKARA over Global Gauntlet ‘08 weekend as a member of the BJW team, will be the official ambassador as selected by Big Japan management

CHIKARA is heavily influenced by puroresu, so this should be a very interesting trip to say the least. The Global Gauntlet shows that featured stars of CHIKARA and Big Japan Wrestling in October of 2008 were excellent, and hopefully these upcoming Japan shows will be no different. Of course, if any more news about these shows comes up, you'll hear about it here!


More YouTube fun!



First up, we have the latest episode of the CHIKARA Podcast-A-Go-Go, Episode #156. In it, we take a look back at two matches from the first night of the Global Gauntlet. Sadly, a tidbit of news is dropped, as it appears this years King of Trios tournament was the last. It seems like such an odd way of announcing it, so take it for what it's worth. Watch for yourself!



We finish off our videos with kind of an odd one. This video involves CHIKARA ring announcer Louden Noxious, talking with Japanese pro wrestling star Kota Ibushi about showing up in Louden's home promotion of Kaiju Big Battel. Oh, and Michael Nakazawa'a awesome coat makes a special guest appearance. Make of this what you will, but it most certainly seems interesting.

That's all from me for this week! I hope you all got a healthy of dose of CHIKARA goodness. Keep on the look out for my CHIKARA DVD reviews as well; many have been posted so far, and there's so much more on the way. And please, serious comments only. There's been a lot of arguing and general rudeness occurring, which is not appreciated. For those of you leaving legitimate feedback, I very much thank you, and want you to know I read all the feedback given.

Thanks again for reading! I'll see you again next week, but in the mean time, check out my DVD reviews and some of the neat links below.

Links!
The CHIKARA Home Page: www.chikarapro.com
CHIKARA Fans!: www.chikarafans.com
Buy CHIKARA DVD's at Smart Mark Video: www.smartmarkvideo.com
Follow CHIKARA on Twitter!: www.twitter.com/chikarapro
Follow CHIKARA Fans on Twitter: www.http://twitter.com/chikarafans
CHIKARA on Myspace: www.myspace.com/chikarapro