Cheap Wrestling for Cheap People 04.20.06: Chikara Tag World Grand Prix (Part 3)
Posted by Ryan Byers on 04.20.2006
It's the final night of the biggest tag team tournament in America, plus new information on how you can preview Chikara free of charge!
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Cheap Wrestling for Cheap People. As always, I am Ryan Byers, and I'm here to guide you through all things low priced in the world of grappling for pay. This week we're going to continue our look at Chikara Pro Wrestling's Tag World Grand Prix tournament, which recently became available on DVD thanks to the fine folks at Smart Mark Video. If you want background on the tournament participants or my reviews of Nights One and Two of the tournament, check the archives for my last two columns. This week, we're looking at Night 3, which contains the quarter-finals, the semi-finals, the finals, and bonus matches featuring individuals already eliminated from the tournament.
Before that, though, I wanted to share some exciting news. Just this week, I discovered that there is a way for all of you fine internet wrestling fans to watch a bit of Chikara online FOR FREE prior to deciding to purchase this excellent, reasonably priced DVD set. Apparently, for the last five weeks, Chikara head Mike Quackenbush has been putting out a video podcast chock full of great Chikara highlights. You won't see any full matches, but you will be able to get a great taste of the company's style and an introduction to it its home grown talent. All five episodes are available at ChikaraPodcast.com, and they've also got instructions on how you can subscribe to the podcast, which will result in new episodes being downloaded by our iTunes client as soon as they become available.
That's it for the shilling up front. Let's head to the final night of TWGP 2006!
Title: Chikara Tag World Grand Prix Released By: Smart Mark Video Release Year: 2006 Run Time: Fucking long. Found At: SmartMarkVideo.com Price: $60
Match Numero Uno: Sumie Sakai, Daizee Haze, & Mickie Knuckles vs. Allison Danger, Ranmaru, & Rain
Knuckles and Danger start, and Mickie takes her down with a drop toe hold before applying the front facelock. Danger goes to the arm, but that's reversed. The girls trade forearms at this point, and then they even go to headbutts. Mickie comes out the clear winner, and she tags out to Daizee Haze. Haze smacks Rain on the apron, and she also tags in, only to be taken down and punched mercilessly. Daizee then applies the camel clutch, as the announcers note that there was some ill will between the two after they lost their first round match. Rain starts firing back with a second rope cross body and some chops, but Daizee responds in kind. Haze slides out to the floor after that, which is a lucha tag to Sumie. Ranmaru is in as well, and she gets a quick victory roll for two. Sumie hits a dropkick and goes to the full nelson, but Ramaru slips out of it and hits a jumping back kick to her former partner's face. There's a great quick sequence with Sakai dodging some Ranmaru kicks, and they do some fast pinning combinations as well. Ranmaru then tries to land some forearms, but Sumie turns that in to a cross arm breaker. Rain saves as Mickie tags in, and they do a bit of kick/forearm exchanging. Knuckles catches her opponent off of the ropes for a spinning uranagi, and Ranmaru rolls to the floor, bringing in Danger. Sakai tags in too, and Allison hits a kneelift, only to run in to a Mickie Knuckles spear seconds later. Sakai leaves the ring, allowing Mickie to hit a northern lights suplex with a sweet, sweet bridge. Haze and Rain run in after that, with Daizee hitting a HARD kick to the head and knocking her SHIMMER compatriot out of the ring. It's Haze and Ranmaru now, with Daizee quickly throwing her woman out to the floor.
Mickie's in to the ring, and then she's quickly out of it with a TOPE ON RAIN AND RANMARU! That's a whole lotta woman flying through the air. Haze follows it up with a HIGH cross body on the pile of her opponents. It looks like Sakai is setting up a dive as well, but Danger comes in out of nowhere and takes her down with an STO. Sumie comes back with a belly to belly, but, seconds later, Allison manages to reverse a roll-up for the pin at 7:20.
Post-match, we get Ranmaru turning on Sumie Sakai.
Match Thoughts: For a shorter opening match, this was done very well. The pace was quick, the highspots were exciting, and every woman (except perhaps for Rain) got in a segment that would help get her over with the audience. It was clear that the Japanese ladies were leagues ahead of the Americans (and the Canadian) in terms of the sequences that they were pulling off in the ring. Hopefully their work was providing some indication of where American joshi is headed. I'd love to see this same pairing (or at least a similar one) get twenty minutes on another card, but, as things stood, it was incredibly well executed and got the crowd on their feet early. **
Match Numero Dos: The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli) vs. The Northstar Express (Darin Corbin & Ryan Cruz) w/ J.J. Dillon
It's Castagnoli opening things up with Cruz, and armbars are the order of the day. Headlocks! Shoulderblocks! Armdrags! All of your match-opening standards are here, baby! Cruz opens things up with a second rope cross body block, and the Kings take a break to regroup on the floor. Hero and Corbin are in when the match starts back up, and they strike each other repeatedly. Corbin gets in some armdrags and a rana, followed up by Hero missing a senton and getting caught in an armbar. Hero forearms out of it and brings Claudio in, but he is also armdragged many times. The Swissman suckers Corbin in to a kick, though, and that sets up a tag to Hero, allowing the Kings to drop some elbows. Castagnoli comes back for his European uppercuts, one of which knocks him in to a Hero schoolboy for two. Chris stays on his man, dropping a knee and then bringing Claudio in for a slingshot elbowdrop. Choking from the heels follows, and JJ Dillon is not helping his men out in the least here. Hero slaps on an STF variant when we get back to legal wrestling maneuvers, and Claudio follows that up with a missile dropkick to the face. Corbin eventually rolls under a Hero clothesline for the hot tag, though, and Cruz takes Chris down with the Side Effect. A JJ Dillon trip sets up a double Japanese armdrag from the Express, and they roll through for a double STO. It gets two, and then Claudio is back in the ring. Corbin looks for a Stinger splash on him, but Corbin is caught and put in the tree of woe. Castagnoli misses a baseball slide and falls out to the floor, with Corbin following him out with a cannonball body block.
That leaves Cruz and Hero in the ring, and the Minnesotan hits a spinning heel kick. The Express then set up Hero for a double team move in the corner, but Claudio cuts it off. In an odd looking and somewhat contrived spot, Hero hangs the two Express members off of Claudio's shoulders, which Hero follows up by simultaneously dropkicking both of his opponents. Hero then monkey flips Cluadio in to a corner shoulder on one of the Express members. The Kings try to follow up with a similar move, but this time the Express smarten up, as Corbin catches Claudio in midair and hits him with an Ace Crusher. Hero responds with a DOUBLE CRAVAT, though that's turned in to a wacky double team move by the younger wrestlers. Claudio breaks up their dominance with a European uppercut, though, and that leads in to a two-man powerbomb from the Kings. It ends the match at 12:36. After the bell, the crowd shows a good deal of respect for the Express.
Match Thoughts: As far as a good tag team bout goes, this had just about everything. There was a solid feeling out process between the two teams in the beginning, and the action was hot and heavy at the end with tons of unique double teaming and a great false finish for the plucky underdog babyfaces. I did have a couple of problems with the contest, though. First of all, though the moves were unique, a lot of the double teaming towards the end came off as really unnatural, barely resembling something that men would do to each other if they were involved in an actual fight. I understand that you can say the same thing about most professional wrestling moves, but this was on the very extreme end of being unrealistic. It looked more like they were dancing at certain points than they were wrestling. The other problem was the heat sequence on Corbin, which was actually a problem presented in few of the other matches throughout the tournament. There was heat built up, and then the big tag just came up out of nowhere. In order for a tag team match to be most effective, you need to work in a few spots in which the tag almost makes it but doesn't. They didn't have the time to do that here, and the drama suffered a bit because of it. However, for all the talking about negatives that I've done, this was still a fine professional wrestling match, and the Express in particular looked better than their level of experience would indicate. They just need to hit the gym and the tanning bed a bit more. **1/4
Match Numero Tres: Team FIST (Icarus & Gran Akuma) vs. BLK Out (Eddie Kingston & Sabian)
It's Kingston and Akuma up first, and we've got armbars. Eddie hits a nice snap suplex off of a hammerlock reversal, and that leads to Sabian and Icarus tagging in. Icarus gets a snap mare and applies the side headlock, which Sabian turns in to one of his own. They ROYALLY fuck up a leapfrog after that, with Sabian running face first in to Icarus' leg and Icarus falling head first on the mat. Kingston comes in, perhaps trying to hold things together, and he gets a trio of rolling vertical suplexes for two. Sabian is back in once those moves connect, and King powerbombs him down on to the winged warrior. A backdrop suplex follows from Sabian, and he uses that to set up a slingshot senton for a nearfall. Sabian charges at Icarus after that, but Akuma runs in and lifts up the little man, dropping him chest first on to his knee. Icarus rolls out of the ring while this is going on, so we've got a lucha tag. There's a big kick for Akuma, after which Icarus comes right back in to the ring for a high legdrop and a chinlock. Sabian makes the ropes as opposed to doing the typical power out, and he ducks under a lariat, scoring a surprise pinning combination for two. A moonsault also connects for the BLK Out member, but he makes the mistake of jumping in to a fireman's carry, allowing Icarus to hit the DVD. Here comes Akuma, and he dishes out a brutal dropkick in the corner. More kicking on the ropes follows, but he (unintentionally) misses a spinning kick coming off of the ropes. A brainbuster doesn't miss, though an Akuma frog splash does. (That one was intentional.) The crowd's really in to things as we get the hot tag to Kingston, who gets high belly to bellies on both FIST members. A head and shoulders suplex is also dished out to both men, and they roll to the outside. Sabian follows them out with a tope con hilo that barely makes contact, and Icarus is thrown back in to the ring for a dropkick/tiger suplex combo from BLK Out. It looked nasty, but it only gets two. Akuma gets in to the ring and low blows Kingston, which allows FIST to hit an inverted powerbomb/x-factor combo on Sabian. Sabian is then set up on the top rope by Akuma as Kingston does the same thing to Icarus on the other side. Icarus eats an exploder superplex, and then Sabian reverses Akuma's superplex attempt, coming off of the top rope with a double stomp on to Icarus. Akuma comes back with a Falcon Arrow on Sabian, but King saves and hits a sloppy powerbomb variation. Akuma is now placed up top, but Kingston's superplexing efforts are blocked. Akuma reverses that in to a second rope Code Red, and we're done at 13:25.
Match Thoughts: I thought that the middle part of this one was dragged down by Sabian, who seemed to either be a bit off this evening or just not on the level of the other three men in the ring. He pretty badly mistimed two different spots in about five minutes of each other, which is surprisingly the most unprofessional looking bit of wrestling that I've seen thusfar from this tiny little indy. As far as the rest of the match is concerned, it came off pretty well, with Akuma and Icarus working over Sabian in a manner that fit their characters and Kingston being so precise with his suplexes that you could buy his comeback and forget that he's the least athletic looking wrestler this side of Mick Foley. Aside from the botched moves, my only problem with the match was that, much like the majority of the other tournament bouts, it didn't seem like the face in peril was actively fighting his way over to the corner to make the hot tag. He just laid their for a while and got beat on and then all of a sudden decided that he could make it. All of the athleticism in the world was present for this match, but that flaw really killed the potential for drama. *3/4
Match Numero Cuatro: Hallowicked & Delirious vs. Team DDT (KUDO & MIKAMI)
MIKAMI starts the action before the bell, throwing a ladder to Delirious and Hallowicked and then coming off of the top rope with a missile dropkick on to it! That knocks Hallowicked out of the ring, and he's the victim of a HUGE FREAKIN' PLANCHA from MIKAMI. He literally flew all the way from the ring to the guardrail about seven feet away. When I recover from that one, Hallowicked is in the ring with KUDO, and they're trading holds down on the mat. Delirious tags in by slapping the stem on top of Hallowicked's mask, but he's kicked in to oblivion. MIKAMI comes in after that, and a slingshot elbowdrop gets two for him. A high elevation senton is next, and it sets up a tag to KUDO. More kicking ensues. MIKAMI's back in for his version of the 619, and he trades off to KUDO for a slingshot kneedrop that probably would have killed a lesser man. It gets a good reaction, so KUDO uses the knees again before getting caught in a Delirious drop toe hold that sends him face first in to the turnbuckles. The Panic Attack in the corner is next from the Missourian, and he brings Hallowicked in to the ring. He levels everybody that's wrestled for DDT and then gets a rana on KUDO after taking MIKAMI out of the ring. A Rydeen bomb takes KUDO to the floor, and then MIKAMI hits Hallowicked with a missle dropkick. Delirious comes back in and responds with a jumping lariat, which also takes KUDO down. Everybody's down for a four-way KO spot, and MIKAMI grabs his ladder again, using it for a swanton on Hallowicked. It gets two as Delirious saves. He pays the price for doing so, getting kicked in the head by KUDO. KUDO tries to follow with his top rope kneedrop, but it misses. That leaves MIKAMI to get a dropkick from Delirious, which he follows up with a Michinoku Driver. It ends the match for the makeshift Chikara team at 8:53.
Match Thoughts: This was the very definition of a spot fest, but at least it was a darn entertaining little spot fest. Men were jumping across the ring left and right and back and forth for nine solid minutes, and I've got to get them all of the credit in the world for being able to take such abuse. Hell, you could make a pretty awesome two minute highlight package of MIKAMI's performance alone in here. Of course, all of the spots in such a short period of time meant that we were sacrificing any storyline that the match could have had, but doing so actually felt refreshing after seeing so many tag encounters with the standard "slow build to the hot tag" structure. **
Match Numero Cinco: Osamu Nishimura & Katsushi Takemura vs. Milano Collection AT & Skayde
Milano's in with Nishimura to kick things off, and Nish works perhaps the most painful looking headlock I've ever seen. He also does a handstand out of a Milano headscissor, using it to escape much to the surprise of Mr. AT. Here come the European uppercuts from Osamu, and he brings Takemura in to face off with Skayde. Takemura gets in a big powerslam and tries for a hiptoss, but Skayde turns it in to an armdrag off of the top rope. Nishimura's back in after that, and the Muga team gets a double back elbow, followed up by more of Nish's uppercuts. He goes to the sleeper afer that, dropping quickly thereafter in to a figure four headscissors. He tags Takemura while still working the hold, and Katsushi comes in with a high dropkick. Skayde is placed in the tree of woe for a baseball slide kick, and there's the exchange to Nishimura. He begins to dismantle Skayde's arm and brings Takemura back in for more of the same. A slam and a slingshot senton are next from the younger member of Team Muga, but they only get a two count. He runs in to a boot, though, and Skayde takes him down with a couple of laraits. There's the tag to Milano, who runs wild and blasts Nishimura with a handspring back elbow. A series of kicks are next from AT, but one is caught . . . DRAGON SCREW! Osamu follows up by draping Milano's leg over the top rope and DRIVING elbows in to it, which sets up a top rope knee drop on to the joint! There's the figure four, and Milano looks like he's screwed for all intents and purposes. Skayde saves as Takemura tags in. Unfortunately for the luchadore, he runs immediately in to a clothesline and a powerbomb/DVD one-two. Milano saves there but gets tossed by Nish. Takemura and Skayde stay in the ring, with Katsushi looking for a bulldog. Skayde blocks it and goes for a rollup, but he winds up entangled in the ropes. He eventually manages to roll Takemura back in to the middle of the ring, and the rollup gets a pin at 11:08.
Match Thoughts: The finish was screwed up and screwed up badly, which is going to result in some lowering of the final rating. However, if you look to the rest of the bout, the wrestling was high quality. Nishimura and Takemura did an excellent job of subtly playing the heel role, which they almost had to do after being portrayed as good guys in the previous rounds. There was also a great false finish in the middle of the match involving Nishimura and Milano. When Osamu started taking apart the younger man's leg, I got this sense that the match was over then and there, particularly given that he used a very similar sequence of moves to put away Jigsaw on Night Two. Even though the hot tag to Skayde had not happened yet and deep down inside of me I knew that it probably would before we got a conclusion to the match, I was still left with the impression that the figure four could seal the deal if it was left on for just one second more. When you can toy with the emotions of somebody as cynical as I am, you're a damn good professional wrestler. All hail Nishimura. ***
Match Numero Seis: Shinjitsu Nohashi, Amigo Suzuki, and Miyawkai vs. Equinox, Jigsaw, & Shane Storm
Interesting sort of "let's get everybody on the card" matchup here, as you're mixing wrestlers from Kaientai Dojo and Toryumon to go against a unit of Chikara regulars. Nohashi starts off with Jigsaw, and the crowd is quite hot coming off of the Tag League semifinals. They trade armbars and then headlocks, as Suzki runs in to assist Nohashi with a double drop toe hold and the double falling headbutt. Suzuki comes in legally at this point, but Jigsaw quickly takes him down and brings Storm in to the match. He gets a couple of armdrags, followed by a third from the top rope. A spinning heel kick connects as well, and it sets up a vertical suplex for two. There's an exchange to Equinox, and his armdrags work too. A satellite version is not as successful, but it does take Suzuki out of the ring for a tope that gets turned in to an armdrag in midair! Shane Storm follows with a tope suicida of his own, and then Equinox and Jigsaw hit stereo topes on Suzuki and Miyawkai. Nohashi's the only man left standing in the ring, so he knocks all five men down with a tope con hilo. Everybody's brawling on the outside at this point, and Nohashi WALKS THE GUARDRAIL! He tries to perform a rana from that position, but Equinox falls forward and powerbombs him on the floor! That was sick, and based on the reactions of the wrestlers, it may or may not have been intentional. Miyawkai and Equinox wind up in the ring together, and fortunately Nohashi has managed to get himself back up on to the apron. Miyawkai takes Equinox off his feet with a big open hand palm thrust, and there's a tag to Suzuki. He and Nohashi team up for the Natural Disaster . . . but they hold Equinox in the hold after connecting, setting up a dropkick to the head by Miyawkai! They follow that up with a KAIENTAI-ESQUE HUMILIATION POSE! Dear god, it's been far too long since I've seen one of those. Jigsaw tries to run in to break it up, but Nohashi jumps off of Equinox's back with a cross body on to him. The rudos now take turns hitting avalanche attacks on Equinox in the corner, and they set up a top rope powerbomb from Miyawkai! The referee is distracted by all of the extra men in the ring, so it can only get two.
Equinox finally scores some offense, getting an inverted DDT out of nowhere and tagging in Jigsaw. He takes down all of the Japanese team, including a nice superkick on Miyawkai for two. A double dropkick gets rid of the Toryumon representatives, and here comes Shane Storm. He walks in to Miyawkai's flatliner, and Suzuki tags in for a headbutt and an inverted jawbreaker. The tiger suplex is next, but it only gets two as Jigsaw saves. After some brawling, Storm is left alone in the ring with the Japanese. Miyawkai gives him an inverted DDT, and the stereo swandive headbutts from Suzuki and Nohashi hit! Jigsaw saves again, and Storm manages to dropkick Amigo's knee. That sets up a Shining Wizard, and Jigsaw takes out Miyawkai with a German suplex! A standing shooting star press from Equinox on Nohashi looks to finish, but it can't. Seconds later, a leaping top rope rana from Jigsaw sets up a second Shining Wizard from Storm, and Team Chikara puts the opposition away at 12:36. The crowd loves it, as they damn well should.
Match Thoughts: WOW. I've always been a huge fan of Michinoku Pro Wrestling from the mid-1990's, and I must say that I don't think I've ever seen a promotion come close to capturing the level of excitement that those matches left me with. However, the closest approximation just happened in this little ole' Chikara match. There was action from the opening bell to the closing bell, and all of the wrestlers had an uncanny knack for being in the right place at the right time for the next big spot. However, unlike a lot of action packed wrestling matches, the competitors didn't just start throwing out their biggest moves at the get-go. There was a definite increase in the pace of the match as it progressed, which isn't quite the same as a psychology-heavy five star classic but works as an acceptable match structure when you've got so many different bodies in the ring. The last five minutes of this one must be seen to be believed, as there were plenty of moves that I missed while doing my play-by-play, all of which looked like they could of been potential match enders. The only problem that I had with the bout was that there were a few spots that missed in the middle of the contest, though those are understandable since they mainly came from Equinox, who I believe is the least experienced competitor. It also could have used about five more minutes in the beginning so that there could have been even more of a slow build, but the focus of this evening obviously should have been the tag tournament. ***3/4
Match Numero Siete: Arik Cannon, Joker, & Ian Rotten vs. Kevin Steen & The Iron Saints
And here's a post-intermission six man before we head back in to the tournament. Sal Thomaselli is in with Joker at the opening bell, and they head to the mat for a while. Forearms are traded after that. Sal appears to have won, but then he runs in to a lariat. We get exchanges to Cannon and Steen at this point, and, I can't think of a combination of professional wrestlers that could possibly annoy me more. They also forearm each other a lot, and then Steen gets a suplex on the "much heavier" Cannon. The quote is Mike Quackenbush's, and it's wildly inaccurate. Vito and Rotten are in now, and Ian gets his opponent in the corner for some open palm thrusts and a dropkick. He goes to the Fujiwara armbar after that, and there's a tag to Cannon, who works the arm for mere seconds before bringing in Joker. The CZW Tag Champ works in some knees and a dropkick, but he's tossed in to the heel corner and triple teamed. The Saints team up after that, hitting a lariat/knee clip version of Total Elimination, which gets a two count. Sal stays in the match, getting in a clothesline before handing things off to Steen. His backdrop suplex and somersault legdrop both connect, and here we go with the chinlock. That turns in to a six-man chinlock spot and a chian reaction jawbreaker on everybody. That always looks so hokey. Ian Rotten was apparently the least affected by the jawbreaker, so he stays in the ring and flips, flops, and flies on Vito Thomaselli. The other four men brawl on the floor, and Ian heads up to the top rope. Vito cuts him off and hits a top rope rana, which sends Rotten crashing down to every other wrestler in the match. Sal must have not been hit that hard, because he's immediately back in the ring and rolls up Joker for a nearfall. The Saints then team up for a flapjack and a wacky move in which Sal holds Joker in a pendulum submission and Vito comes off the top with a double stomp. Ian DDTs Vito. Arik eznuguris Steen. Arik backdrops Sal. Arik enzuguris Sal. That's it at 9:41.
Match Thoughts: I'll be honest and just say up front that I generally don't like Joker, Cannon, or Steen, so I came in to this one more than a little bit biased. It wound up being decent despite the individuals involved, featuring a very fast based closing segment and a few unique spots. On any other wrestling show, this would be decent midcard fodder. However, there was no way that this could have followed the match immediately preceding it, and it came off a bit flat as a result. *3/4
Match Numero Ocho: The Kings of Wrestling vs. Delirious & Hallowicked
There's a huge contrast in styles during the entrances, as Claudio is rocking a fabulous pimped out ring jacket, while Hero looks like the poor man's CM Punk. (As if CM Punk didn't look poor enough on his own.) Delirious does his bit where he's catatonic until the bell rings, at which point the heels get chased all the way back to the locker room. They reemerge quickly, and it's Hero and Hallowicked when everybody gets back to the ring. Eddie Kingston makes a very obscure reference to WWF Superstars: The Album, noting that Hero is very apprehensive "like Jim Duggan." One thousand points to anybody who gets that one.
Once the wrestling begins, we've got some quick exchanges on the mat, after which Hero goes to the Greco-Roman knuckle lock. Hallowicked does a nice bit where he leaps up on to Hero's shoulders out of that, taking him down with an armdrag. A second version of the same move sets up a cradle, and we've got our first nearfall. A dropkick sends Hero out of the ring to regroup, and now we'll see what the Delirious/Castagnoli pairing can do. Claudio starts speaking to his man in Swiss, while Delirious speaks whatever bizarre language he speaks. Once the verbal debate is over, we go to the armbars, and then a few headlocks get thrown in for good measure. Hallowicked comes in after a fairly innocuous exchange, and Claudio screws up by legsweeping his man in to a dropkick on Hero. There's more heel miscommunication, as a full nelson by Claudio winds up in Hallowicked hitting a stereo headscissor/headlock takedown. The good guys then monkey flip the bad guys out of the ring, and they tease dives. Eventually the Kings ambush their opponents, with a double vertical suplex connecting on Hallowicked. Hero stays on his man, setting him up from Claudio's slingshot elbowdrop. Hero slingshots in with a senton not long after, and he applies a bizarre submission before rolling in to the crucifix for a pinfall attempt. Claudio's back in after that, and he dropkicks Hallowicked as Hero holds him in the Gory Special. Castagnoli goes to a front facelock after that one, and Hallowicked inches his way to the corner as the Kings distract the referee. Naturally, that results in him missing the tag that happens. Now it's time for a half crab by Hero, but Hallowicked slips out of it and hits an enzuguri. Claudio makes it in to prevent the tag, though, and he hits his man with a vertical suplex before applying the sleeper. Hallowicked elbows out of it and hits the heels with stunners, and he slips under Claudio's legs to get the hot tag.
It's clotheslines galore from Delirious, and then Castagnoli gets about thirty corner clotheslines and a bulldog for two. Hero runs in after that, but he's knocked down by a Hallowicked Yakuza kick. Delirious then ranas Hero on to Claudio, and Hallowicked tries to follow it up with a German. Castagnoli runs Hallowicked in to Hero's forearm, though, and Chris follows it up with a senton. Claudio is then monkey flipped in to a splash, but Delirious saves at two. The Kings then get in a unique two-man roll of the dice before dispatching Delirious from the ring. Hallowicked decides to make his own comeback this time, hitting a SWEET rana out of nowhere for two. That gives Delirious enough time to make it back to the ring, and he knees Hero in the head. That leads in to the good guys dropping Hero gut first over the top rope and Hallowicked following it up with a somersault kick. Numerous corner attacks from the good guys follow, and then Hallowicked does an insane move in which he moonsaults in to a double kneedrop on Hero's FACE. Claudio barely makes the save, but he's hit with the Sidewinder by Delirious and Wicked. He's out of the ensuing pinfall at two. Delirious tries to come off of the top again, but Claudio blocks it with a European uppercut. That sets up a Michinoku Driver from Hero, and we have our first finalist decided at 18:41.
Match Thougths: After having already watched twenty-eight tag team matches in this tournament, I was starting to worry about just how many more I could take. Fortunately, all four men in this match kept things at a respectable level and prevented me from being as bored as I could have been. I think that the big difference was something that I've been harping on in several of my match reviews thusfar – the heat sequence. When Hallowicked was being beaten down by the heels, he had a few instances in which he had to fight towards his corner and failed, followed up by the big dramatic hot tag. It made the match quite a bit more effective than the previous bouts in the tournament, with the possible exception fo Sumie Sakai's exceptional selling on Night One. The finish after the tag was also fun to watch, as all of the highspots hit and the Kings of Wrestling team busted out all manner of double team moves that you're not going to see anywhere else. (And none of them were screwed up as they were on Night One.) Plus, even when Delirious isn't working a full on comedy match, his character is still so bizarre that every match he has will stand out as innovative in some way. ***1/2
Match Numero Nueve: FIST vs. Milano Collect AT & Skayde
Skayde does a flip in to the ring pre-match, and he comes dangerously close to landing on Milano's dog. Fortunately he missed, otherwise PETA probably would have shut the show down. We get a pre-bell ambush from FIST, but Skayde quickly responds with a sunset flip on Icarus. He also tricks the bad guys in to hitting each other, and then there's a double rana and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker/stunner combo. Milano then runs in and simultaneously puts both of his opponents in to the same half crab. The take back over after making the ropes, and Icarus slows things down by working a front facelock. Akuma's in after that and kicks his man in the back of the head before heading to the chinlock. AT elbows out, only to be kicked again and choked by a now-legal Icarus. A fisherman suplex is next from the winged warrior, and he rolls through in to a side Russian leg sweep. That sets up an elbowdrop from Akuma, who applies a varation on the abdominal stretch. Milano powers out and exchanges strikes with his opponent. It looks like he's come out on the losing end, but Mr. AT then kicks Akuma in th eback of the ring as the mythical warrior was trying to slingshot in to the ring. That sets up a big tag to Skayde, and he dispatches Akuma before hitting a stunner on Icarus and putting Icarus in toa submission hold. Icarus blocks a second submission attempt and then applies a half crab, but Skayde makes the ropes quickly. He gets back on the offense with a facebuster and a rolling back elbow, but he gets dropkicked thanks to a blind tag by Akuma. Milano comes in as well, and he muscles Akuma up in to a back body drop before hitting the senton. Akuma pops up and fires back with more kicks and a swinging DDT, but the frog splash fails to put Milano away. FIST then hits a double team move, as Icarus leaps on to Milano's midsection as Akuma holds him. Akuma tries to do the same thing, but he's intercepted by Skayde, who then gives the winged warrior a plancha. Milano and Akuma are left in the ring, with AT getting in his twisting senton and applying the AT Lock. We've got a tap out at 8:11.
Match Thoughts: This was a shockingly quick match, though it wasn't surprising given that the teams started at a breakneck pace and then immediately went in to Milano playing Ricardo Morton. I'm a bit torn on the decision to do this one in eight minutes. On one hand, it makes the babyface team in the finals look particularly strong, which will help get the crowd behind them for that last match. On the other hand, FIST was portrayed as being particularly dangerous throughout the tournament, which could in turn improve fans' image of them on subsequent shows. The quick semi-final match might destroy that image a little bit. No matter what effects the booking will have, though, the two teams wrestled the best match that they probably could have, hitting quick and hitting hard right up until the closing bell. **
Match Numer Diez: Yoshiaki Yago w/ Miyawkai & KUDO vs. Necro Butcher
These two men may well kill each other. It's chops to start, and Necro even rips his shirt off in the middle of the sequence. Necro then unleashes his headbutts, and Yago whiffs a spinning heel kick. That turns in to a bunch of body blows being thrown on the floor, and Yago takes Necro down with a kick to the back of the head. Yago grabs a chair after that, and he hits a heart punch followed up by his version of the Ole Kick. Sadly, the Gene and Arn kicks do not follow. Now it's back to the ring, and Yago hits a big running knee in the corner, followed up by another kick sequence. There's a brutal kneedrop, but it only gets two. The STF follows, but the Butcher pulls himself towards the ropes. Yago responds by grabbing his free arm and turning the hold in to the Rings of Saturn. Necro gets his foot on the rope to break that, but he's hit with the Three Handled Moss Covered Family Credenza. Yago tries for the dragon suplex after that, but Necro blocks it with a headbutt and takes the Japanese man down with a series of three lariats. There's a tiger driver from the West Virginian, but it can't finish. Now it's time for more strike trading, and Yago seems to be coming out on top because he's got a better defense. His last flurry sets up the dragon suplex, and there's the pin at 6:22.
Match Thoughts: This was a great spectacle. You have few opportunities in life to see one man allowing another to hit him as hard as he can. You have even fewer opportunities to see two men engaging in this activity mutually. In this regard, you probably won't be able to take your eyes off of this one if you watch it. However, just because something is a spectacle doesn't mean that it's a good wrestling match from a technical standpoint. In fact, some people would argue that it's the antithesis of a good wrestling match, given that the two individuals involved were going out of their way to do things that they knew would hurt one another as opposed to making things as safe as possible. Even if you don't buy that line of reasoning, you have to take in to account the fact that two of the bigger spots in the relatively short match (Yago's spin kick and his dragon suplex) looked bad. So, I had a good time watching the bout, but I can't rate it highly on its technical merits. 1/2*
Match Numero Once: The Heartbreak Express, 2.0, & Larry Sweeney vs. Triple Dragon, Player Uno, Maxime Boyer, & Sexxxy Eddy
It's a ten man tag the likes of which we haven't seen since the one that was originally scheduled for Wrestlemania X, then cancelled, and finally rescheduled for Monday Night Raw. Eddy and Superstar Sean have the world's most disturbing pose down to start, and Eddy takes him down with a series of dropkicks. Fabulous Phil runs in to save his, um, partner, but he's tripped. Then they do an odd bit where Eddy pulls a cookie from his pants and uses it to lure the portly Sean across the ring and in to a clothesline on his own partner. Boyer joins us briefly for a cross body, and everybody gets knocked out of the ring. That sets up Sweeney and Retail hitting the ring, and the Dragon flips off the ropes an in to an armdrag. Sweeney responds with a scoop slam and a strut, but 2.0 tag themselves in before he can do anything else. Michael Jackson's "Beat It" starts playing out of nowhere, and they strut for a while. Retail hits a plancha on Sweeney when that's done, and Boyer runs in to tag out the 2.0 guys. Boyer eats a spinebuster from one of them, after which Uno runs in. He gets a Gory Special from the other 2.0 member, and Fabulous Phil tags in. He and his regular partner team up for an avalanche/ass splash combo in the ring, and Player Uno is dead. Here comes Sweeney again, and he drops a double sledge from the second rope. It only gets two, so the sweet man with the sour attitude lowers his straps and goes in to the GARVIN STOMP~! There's a tag to Shane Matthews, who hits a dropkick before trading off to Sean, who teams with Phil for a drop toe hold/splash combo for two. Uno starts making his comeback, though, hitting a Mushroom Stomp on Jagged and crawling over to the face corner for a tag to . . . nobody. The heels cut him off and quintuple-team him, but he gets a tag while they're busy posing. Dragon Dragon is in and takes down all of the bad guys with his tail whip. Everybody's in now, and all five heels get whipped in to each other. Retail Dragon takes Jagged down with a variation on the Canadian Destroyer and pins him while everybody else in the match does the multi-man rowboat spot in the center of the ring. Total time: 8:06.
Loud Fan: "DOES ANYBODY KNOW WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!"
Match Thoughts: I wish I could answer that young man's question, but I'm not quite sure of the answer myself. Obviously we had ourselves a comedy match here, but I feel like they just tried to cram in far too much for it to make sense. The biggest problem seemed to be the inclusion of guys like Retail, Uno, and Boyer, who weren't going along with the comedic style and were instead just working in whatever indy-tastic spots that they could in order to get over with the crowd. It resulted in the match feeling far too cramped for its own good. Had they just gone with the comedy spots and slower, more basic wrestling holds in between, the whole thing would have come off a lot better. 3/4*
Match Numero Doce: The Kings of Wrestling vs. Milano Collection AT & Skayde
Here we are, ladies and gentlemen. It all comes down to this. The winners will have emerged victorious in the 2006 Tag World Grand Prix and will be crowned the first ever Chikara Tag Team Champions. We've got a whole squad of referees out with the new belts, and they're among the best looking indy titles that I've ever seen . . . no WWE replicas here, baby.
Milano and Hero are in at the beginning, and it's arm work up front. Hero moves in to the cravat after that, but Milano reverses in to a headlock. Hero eventually winds up in a hammerlock and tries to throw Milano from the ring while in that move. AT lands on his feet, though, and he comes off of the top rope with an armdrag on to Chris. Milano ties Hero to the bottom rope and knocks him off of the apron with a big flying dropkick. Now it's time for Skayde and Castagnoli to hit the ring, and the Dragon Gym trainer gets a drop toe hold before going to the arm. Claudio has enough after a few headbutts to his wrist, and he heads to the floor with Hero to talk strategy. Claudio goes to the European uppercuts when he returns to the ring, but Skayde suprises him with a trio of armdrags, the third of which is rolled in to an impressive pinning combination. Mike Quackenbush notes that Skayde is forty-two years old, and you'd never believe it after watching that segment. Castagnoli eventually manages to isolate Skayde in the heel corner, and we get a tag to Hero. He doesn't do much, just setting up Skayde for Claudio's slingshot elbowdrop, which is followed up by a low dropkick from Hero. Claudio then comes in for the monkey flip shoulder tackle that we saw earlier, but it only gets a two count. Castagnoli applies a version of the cobra clutch for a little while, and Hero comes in for an Indian Deathlock, which he turns in to an inverted STF. Claudio's in after that, but Skayde blocks a double Yakuza kick from the Kings and escapes more double teaming, setting up the tag to Milano.
Mr. AT takes both of his opponents down thanks to an enzuguri and a handspring lariat. A top rope cross body gets two on Claudio, but the Italian's big senton misses. Castagnoli looks to retake the advantage with an inverted vertical suplex, after which Hero is in for the Hero's Welcome. It gets two. Hero then attempts a roaring elbow, but Milano matrixes under it and avoids a double stomp. The twisting senton and the AT Lock are next, but Claudio runs in. He kicks Milano, but he won't break the Lock! Skayde's in, and he dispatches Claudio with a big tope! It looked like that could have been it, but Hero eventually manages to pull himself over to the ropes. Skayde and Claudio hit the ring, with Skayde getting in a Mexican roll for a nearfall. A series of headscissors from the babyfaces are next, and then we go in to stereo submissions. The ropes are made, and Milano tries to stay on his man with a lariat. That's blocked, and Claudio gets a TWO-MAN GIANT SWING, with Skayde hanging off the front of his body and Milano hanging off of the back. The Kings then hit their two-man powerbomb, and they take home our championships at 17:34.
Match Thoughts: This was actually a bit of a letdown. In any other setting, I'd call it a fun professional wrestling match, but, when you've got the finals a major tournament taking place, you expect something major to happen in the match. That was not present here. It is true that the last several minutes of the contest were quite exciting with Milano's comeback and a strong tease that the faces were going to take the championships home. However, the match was missing something . . . namely its entire middle section. It felt like the four men were still in their initial feeling out process when, for no rhyme or reason, that transformed in to the heat sequence without any major events happening or Skayde being put in to any big danger. Everything after Milano tagged in would have been a great climax to any other match, but it was odd here because there had been next to no build for such an awesome finish. I'll still call it **1/2.
Post-match, we get a very quick presentation of the belts to the Kings of Wrestling, and we fade out.
Final Thoughts
Number of Matches: 12 Highest Star Rating: ***3/4 Lowest Star Rating: 1/2* Average Star Rating: **
Despite the conclusion to the tournament being a bit off, this was still a great professional wrestling show, which is a label that I would also apply to Nights One and Two. Night Three was clearly the best of the lot, though, as you had something for just about everybody on this show. Obviously you have a lot of lucharesu inspired professional wrestling, as that's Chikara's whole deal. However, there were also many other styles featured in good matches. Skayde brought more of a pure lucha moveset in to his bouts. Nishimura provided us all with a throwback to the 1970's. Ranmaru and Sumie were pure joshi goodness. Claudio and Hero, though predominantly US indy style wrestlers, also integrated bit and pieces of European mat wrestling in to their work. The pre-intermission six man was a great spotfest no matter what style you want to try to shoehorn it in to. There was a comedy match. There was a stiff, stiff match with two insane men beating the hell out of each other. Quite frankly, if you are a fan of professional wrestling, I would be shocked if you couldn't find at least one match to enjoy on this DVD, and chances are good that you'd like a lot more than that.
I rank the Chikara Tag World Grand Prix up there with the best pro wrestling DVD purchases that I have ever made . . . up there with all of the Ring of Honor, the FMW, and the best WWF shows. It's the perfect blend of a refreshing new style and more familiar, traditional ways of wrestling. Even if you don't want to pick up the whole set, you owe it to yourself as a fan to at least get Night Three from Smart Mark Video. At the very very least, look in to the podcast. The more we as fans support these guys, the better they will get . . . and they're damn good already.
