CHIKARA Review: Best of 2008, Disc 3

Posted by Kevin Ford on 06.06.2009

All of CHIKARA's best matches, put together in an affordable four-disc set!



No Disqualification – To be overseen by two officials
Brodie Lee vs. Claudio Castagnoli
From “Tragedy & Triumph”: July 13th, 2008

Brodie grabs a chair to start. When Claudio comes out, he takes a chair from the crowd to even the odds. Both men swing their chairs, clashing against one another. Both men go outside, and Claudio blasts Brodie with a few European uppercuts. Brodie tries to come back only to be cut off with more Europeans. Brodie blocks with a few throat thrusts then gets back in the ring. Claudio drags him right back out to the floor. Claudio continues his series of uppercuts until Brodie slams him face first against the mat. Both men get back in the ring. One of the chairs is set up in the ring. Both men tease throwing their opponent into it multiple times but nothing happens. Claudio clotheslines Brodie over the top rope to the floor. Claudio comes off the ropes and propels himself off the chair onto Brodie on the floor! Claudio works over Brodie on the outside. Claudio misses a splash into the guardrail, and Brodie immediately takes control. Brodie hooks Claudio and nails a Pump Handle suplex right on the entrance ramp! Brodie abuses him some more before tossing Claudio back in the ring. Brodie blasts Claudio with many closed fists and Sabato tries to stop him. Brodie pushes Sabato out of the way and stares him down. Brodie takes off the top pad of the turnbuckle. Brodie tries slamming Claudio’s face into the corner, but Claudio resists. Brodie ends up suplexing him down to the mat instead. Broide continues to just abuse Claudio in the ring choking him on the ropes, and then taking him to the floor to continue the abuse. Claudio fires up and begins to make a comeback, but Brodie cuts him off and tosses him into the steel guardrails. Brodie grabs the skirt off the ringside table and chokes Claudio with it. Both men go back in the ring. Brodie wears down Claudio in the ring with a bear hug till Claudio fires up. Both men exchange fists with Claudio knocking Brodie down. Brodie goes for a big clothesline, but Claudio ducks and hits the Sweet Schwinn Music! Claudio follows up with the Alpamare Waterslide for the two count. Claudio and Brodie tease the exposed turnbuckle once more. Claudio evades the buckle, runs at Brodie, and is caught with the Black Hole Slam. Brodie nails a Power Bomb for the two. Brodie slingshots Claudio into the corner with the exposed top turnbuckle. Claudio lands on the second ropes and jumps off. He goes for a European uppercut on Brodie, but Brodie moves and Derek Sabato takes the hit! Brodie runs at Claudio. Claudio trips Broide and nails him with the Giant Swing! Claudio follows up by slingshotting Brodie into the exposed turnbuckle! Claudio sets up for the Ricola Bomb when Shayne Hawke runs into the ring. Claudio releases the hold and goes after Shayne. Shayne runs through the ropes to the outside. Mitch Ryder comes in from behind. When Claudio turns around, Mitch throws a fireball into Claudio’s face! Brodie Lee instantly cracks Claudio with the Big Boot for the victory! Nick Papagiorgio and Steve “The Turtle” Weiner tend to Claudio as Brodie and the Fabulous To. Hell of a contest here, but this is most certainly not the end. ***3/4

The Order of the Neo-Solar Temple (Ultramantis Black & Crossbones) and The Best Around (TJ Cannon & Bruce Maxwell) vs. Incoherence (Delirious & Hallowicked), Hydra, and Helios
From “Style & Substance”: September 7th, 2008

Delirious and Hydra pose down in the middle of the ring after the bell rings. Delirious is frightened by Hydra’s physique. Hydra ducks a double clothesline by the Temple, and knocks both of them down with a double clothesline! Hydra tags in Helios who comes in with Bruce Maxwell. Helios goes for many pinfall attempts, but fails each time. Helios stretches Bruce out. All four tecnicos trap Bruce in their corner, and do the usual spot where all of them come in and out of the ring hitting a chop or move on Bruce in the corner. Bruce however nails a moving suplex on Helios and tags in TJ Cannon. TJ hits a double stomp then gets a two count. Crossbones tags in and beats down Helios. He rocks him with a clothesline in the corner and follows up with a kick to the spine and a body splash. Mantis comes in and attempts a pin. Mantis begins to pound away at Helios after the kick out. He tags in TJ who hits an elbow off the top. Helios ducks a clothesline and hits an arm drag on TJ off the ropes, sending him to the floor. Helios nails both members of The Best Around with a springboard plancha to the floor. Hallowicked comes in and Big Boot’s down both Ultramantis and Crossbones. He finds Hydra in the ring and almost Big Boot’s him too, but stops and realizes that he is no longer with the Temple. While they shake hands, Maxwell comes back in and hits Hallowicked with a Urinagi. TJ Cannon follows up with a Senton, and Delirious hits the Shadows Over Hell on Bruce! Tj dumps Delirious out of the ring, only to be hit with The Sky Is Falling from Helios. Mantis comes in and lands a piledriver. Hydra comes in and locks on the Hydralock! Crossbones however breaks it up with a big time suplex onto Hydra’s head. Hallowicked comes in and chokeslams Crossbones. TJ Cannon comes in and misses a dropkick. Hallowicked and Bruce play tug of war with TJ trying to get him. Delirious comes in and trips TJ, and rolls up Bruce for the win! Quite the fun, fast paced Atomicos match-up. ***

Steel Cage Match
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brodie Lee
From “Style & Substance”: September 7th, 2008

Before the match they aired a video package recapping the entire feud, including promos. It’s really awesome. And you can watch it right here!



Brodie attacks Claudio before he can enter the cage. The two brawl on the outside with Brodie tossing Claudio into the steps. Claudio retaliates with a series of European uppercuts. Brodie gets the upper hand and throws Claudio into the ring. Claudio knocks Brodie to the floor. Claudio hits a big tope through the cage door to the floor! Both men get in the cage and exchange blows. Brodie blocks an attack from Claudio with a big belly to belly suplex into the cage! Brodie beats on Claudio and chokes him with his t-shirt. Brodie shoulder tackles Claudio back first into the cage. Brodie continues his beat down whipping Claudio into the cage, and booting him in the chest. Claudio blocks an attempt by Brodie to be thrown in the cage by booting his boot up. Brodie thrusts Claudio in the throat knocking him down to his knees. Brodie chokes away at Claudio. Claudio is tossed in the corner and blocks Brodie with a boot. Brodie slaps him and hits a suplex off the second rope. Claudio kicks away at Broide as Brodie tries to pick him up off the mat. Claudio uses the ropes to get to his feet only to be slapped back down by Brodie Lee. Brodie and Claudio go around the ring with Brodie delivering a barrage of chops, then a European uppercut of his own. All this fires up Claudio who comes back with European uppercuts of his own. Brodie blocks from being thrown into the cage with his hands. Brodie tries to toss Claudio into the cage, but Claudio blocks sending Brodie head first into the cage wall. Claudio delivers the Gaint Swing onto Brodie, releasing him so he hits the cage head first! Brodie is busted open from the attack. Claudio assaults Brodie in the corner with a series of punches. Brodie combats this by dropping Claudio face first on the top turnbuckle. He picks up Claudio in a torture rack dropping him with a neck breaker. Claudio stops Brodie from climbing over the cage. Brodie goes for the Liger bomb, but Claudio blocks with a huge press slam into the steel cage! After regaining his composure, Brodie retaliates with a big boot to Claudio in the corner. He follows up with a running Power Bomb but only gets the two count! Brodie attempts once again to climb out over the cage. He gets one leg over before Claudio meets him on the top rope. Both men exchange punches on the top rope, eventually crotching themselves and falling to the floor. They get to their knees and exchange blows which fires up Claudio. They both get to their knees. Brodie goes for a lariat. Claudio ducks and hits the Pop-Up European uppercut on Brodie! He goes for the Ricola Bomb, but Brodie Lee pushes Claudio into the corner where Bryce Remsburg is! Bryce gets knocked down. Claudio hits the Sweet Schwinn Music and goes for the pin, but no referee can make the count! Claudio revives Bryce while Brodie sets up for the boot. Claudio ducks and hits the Ricola Bomb! Brodie kicks out! Brodie knocks Claudio down with the Lariat. Brodie then power bombs Claudio into the cage, then down to the mat! Brodie lands his Big Boot and again only gets the two! Brodie motions to the back as Buck Hawke runs to the ring. He hands Brodie a chain, but Larry Sweeney runs out and pulls Buck off the cage and knocks him out. Larry cheers on Claudio to get up as Brodie attempts to crawl out of the ring. Again, both men exchange blows on the top rope. Claudio knocks Brodie down with a big European uppercut. Claudio climbs to the top of the cage, but instead of climbing down for the win, Claudio hits a HUGE European Uppercut off the top of the cage! Claudio hits an overhead Ricola Bomb for the three! Awesome cage match here with a very memorable ending! ****

The Iron Saints (Brandon Thomaselli & Vito Thomaselli) vs. Lince Dorado & Helios
From “The Artistic Pursuit Of Being Yourself: September 20th, 2008

Helios and Lince catch the Saints off guard with stereo flying cross bodies. They only get a two count. Both Helios and Lince hit a series of tandem maneuvers which send the Iron Saints to the outside. Helios and Lince look to go for stereo dives but fake out the Saints. They head back to the corner where Vito catches Lince from behind. The Iron Saints attempt a double team but Lince catches Brandon in a front face lock. Helios leaps off of Brandon into a dropkick on Vito. Helios and Lince hit stereo tope con heilos on the Saints on the outside, who decide to head to the back. The luchadores sotp them and throws them back to the ring. The Saints get the advantage as they head back in. They hit a flapjack/knee strike combination on Lince and isolate him in their corner. The Iron Saints bully Lince with frequent tags and keeping him grounded. Lince is cut off with a boot in the corner as he attempts to make a comeback. The Saints even knock Helios off the mat to prevent a tag. Vito almost had the tag on Lince until Helios broke it up. After a long series of being bullied, Lince knocks down both Thomaselli’s and tags in Helios. Helios comes in with a series of forearms to both the Saints. The Saints attempt a double clothesline, but Helios counters. Lince evens the odds with a hurricanrana which sends Brandon to the outside. Lince follows up with a dive through the middle rope. Helios hits a leaping hurricanrana on Vito, but only gets the two. Brandon trips Helios allowing Vito to hit a dropkick to the face. The Iron Saints hit a vertical suplex/cross body combo, but only get the two count. Helios and Lince chop both the Iron Saints and take them down with double fireman carry drops. Helios and Lince go up top on separate corners but get cut off. The Saints try for a couple of suplexes off the top rope, but get pushed off. Lince and Helios hit stereo Shooting Star Presses to get the win! The Iron Saints really didn’t impress, but Helios and Lince’s high flying was good fun. This was fine for the true show opener with the fast paced baby faces getting the win. *3/4

Campeonatos de Parejas
Incoherence (Delirious & Hallowicked; Campeones) vs. The Super Smash Bros. (Player Uno & Player Dos)
From “Laying in the Gutter, Looking at the Stars”: September 21st, 2008

The Super Smash Bros. come out in sweet looking Gii’s and headbands. The fans chant “BOTH TEAMS ROCK!” as the bell rings. Delirious goes crazy. Uno references that the first time they fought, Delirious said the worst thing ever. Therefore, Uno is taking his belt tonight. They continue to verbally fight, until Delirious says he is sorry and he and Uno shake hands. Uno hits a shoulder tackle on Delirious who doesn’t budge. Delirious hits a shoulder tackle and knocks down Uno. Delirious pauses Uno, pins him, and just like that, the first fall is over! Incoherence is up one fall to none. Dos can not believe what happened as he comes in and un-pauses Uno. Delirious tells Uno it was the Game Genie that did it.

Dos and Delirious start the second fall. Dos ducks many clothesline attempts from Delirious and sends him to the outside with a spinning headscissors to the floor. Hallowicked comes in the ring and Dos tags in Uno. Uno delivers a series of chops to Hallowicked. Hallowicked chops Uno, runs up the ropes, and arm drags Uno to the mat. Uno comes back with a rope assisted arm drag into a pinning combination for the two. Uno takes Hallowicked down and tags in Dos. Dos double stomps Wicked and takes him to the corner. Dos chops Hallowicked and sends him across the ring. Dos runs at Wicked and eats a boot to the face. Hallowicked comes out of the corner with a step up hurricanrana to Dos. Hallowicked drags Dos to his corner and tags in Delirious. Delirious headbutts Dos in the ribs. Incoherence isolates Dos in the corner tagging in and out and striking him repeatedly. Dos works his way out of a chin lock from Delirious and sunset flips him for the two count. Delirious cuts Dos off with an elbow to the face and drags him to his corner. Hallowicked tags in. He picks up Dos for a scoop slam, but hit an inverted face buster to escape. Dos tags in Uno as Wicked tags in Delirious. Uno hits a series of clotheslines then a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on Delirious. Hallowicked comes in. Uno catches him in the corner with a punch and the arm capture stunner. Uno nails Hallowicked with the M. Bison Stomp, and Dos leaps off the top with the Frog Splash! That’s enough to get the SSB the three count, tying it up one fall a piece.

Delirious attacks both Super Smash Bros., but then gets double teamed. Delirious tosses Dos to the outside and evades an attack by Uno. Incoherence then hits a series of running strikes in the corner to Uno. A sidewalk slam/leg drop combination is utilized, but Dos breaks up the pinfall. Uno tosses Delirious to the outside and ducks a clothesline from Hallowicked. Dos flies in and dropkicks Delirious over the guardrail into the crowd. Uno hits Hallowicked with the Hadouken. Dos flies over the top with a tope con heilo over the top rope into the crowd onto Delirious. Uno hits Hallowicked with a death valley driver onto his knee but only gets the two. Uno slams Hallowicked, but Hallowicked kicks Uno in the face. Dos comes off the top with the Cancun Tornado, but Hallowicked moves out of the way. Hallowicked drills Dos with a DDT. Uno hits a reverse DDT on Hallowicked. Delirious flies in the ring with a diving clothesline taking out Uno. Dos and Delirious get to their feet and exchange forearm strikes. Delirious throws some backhands and slaps in for good measure. Delirious comes off the ropes only to be caught by Uno. Dos jumps off the second ropes and he and Uno hit a sidewalk slam/inverted DDT combo for the two! Delirious evades an attack from both Dos and Uno. Hallowicked hits the Rydeen Bomb and Delirious hits the Chemical Imbalance #2 on Player Uno! Luckily for Uno, Dos comes in to break up the pin. Incoherence hits Uno with a double flapjack and only get two. Delirious grunts in frustration and tries to lock on the Cobra Stretch. Dos pushes Delirious into the corner, but it is Delirious’ corner that he is pushed into. Wicked comes in and nails Dos with a spinebuster. He rolls him up with La Magistral, but only gets the two. Delirious comes in and lifts up Dos. Dos fights out but is lifted up by Hallowicked. Wicked drops Dos who is kicked in the mid-section by Delirious. Delirious pins Dos, but Uno breaks up the pin attempt. Hallowicked tosses Uno back outside of the ring. Dos ducks under a double team clothesline and hits a backflip kick to both members of Incoherence. Uno hits Incoherence with a double Shiranui and only gets the two count on Delirious! Dos holds Delirious as Uno goes up tope. Delirious pushes Dos into the ropes causing Uno to fall off the top. Delirious hits the Panic Attack onto both members of the SSB in the corner. Delirious hits the Shadows Over Hell on Uno, but Dos breaks up the pin. Hallowicked catches Dos with a huge Big Boot which sends Dos to the outside. Uno is caught with a double chokeslam. Delirious locks on the Cobra Stretch as Hallowicked makes sure Dos can’t come back in. Uno reaches the ropes as Dos throws Hallowicked to the outside. The SSB hit the Alabama Slam/Back-cracker double team for the two count! Hallowicked comes in. Dos ducks the Big Boot, and hits the superkick on Hallowicked. Dos hits Hallowicked with the B13 off the top rope and only gets two! Delirious fights as hard as he can but the Super Smash Bros. are able to spike him with Pac-Man Fever. That is enough to get the Super Smash Bros. the win, and the titles! We have NEW Campeones de Parejas! The fans chanted “This Match Rules”, “This Is Awesome”, and other positive chants, and I could not agree more. This was a fine tag team title match and both teams worked their asses off. ****

La Lotería Letal; Final Round
Jimmy Olsen & Lince Dorado vs. The UnStable (Vin Gerard & Colin Delaney)
From “The Global Gauntlet: Night One”: October 18th, 2008

For those who forget, Jimmy and Lince defeated the teams of Shane Storm & Eddie Kingston and Icarus & Ultimo Breakfast while Colin and Vin defeated Halcon Guerrero & Mitch Ryder and Mike Quackenbush & Pinkie Sanchez to make it to the final round.

Vin and Jimmy start off. Jimmy tries to attack Vin, but Vin slides to the outside. Colin joins him for some words of wisdom. Vin comes back in and evades an attack from Jimmy. Vin takes a powder in the corner. Vin evades another attack, but Jimmy slaps Vin right in the face. Jimmy takes it to Vin in the corner with some hard chops. He suplexes Vin and floats over into the pin for two. Vin hits Jimmy in the gut and hits the ropes. Jimmy back body drops Vin as he comes off the ropes. Jimmy tags in Lince, and both men pummel Vin with chops before sending him to the mat with a double hip toss. Lince slaps Vin and headbutts him in the chest. Lince grabs Vin’s hand, runs up the rope, and drops down on Vin with a whoopee cushion! Vin goes to the floor as Colin steps in. Colin looks for a test of strength, but applies a headlock instead. Colin sends Lince to the mat with a shoulder block. Colin applies another headlock and wrenches it on. Lince pushes Colin the ropes. He waist locks Colin into a pin. Colin kicks out and is taken down with an arm drag into an arm lock. Lince continues to work over Colin ,dragging him over to his corner where he tags in Jimmy. Jimmy leaps at Colin, who does his best to chase Jimmy around the ring without being touched. Colin keeps trying to leave but Jimmy keeps pulling him back. Jimmy follows Colin to the outside, tagging in Vin and Lince. Vin beats on Lince and brings him to the UnStable’s corner. The UnStable cut off Lince, make frequent tags, and beat on the golden lynx. Colin even knocked Jimmy off the apron as Lince almost made it to this corner. Vin mocks the crowd by chanting “LINCE!” at them. Lince escapes as Vin sunset flips Lince and Lince double stomps Vin in the chest. As he crawls to his corner, Colin runs to the corner and pulls Jimmy off the apron! An angry Jimmy comes in the ring, but the referee stops him before he can do anything. The UnStable continues to isolate Lince and beat him down. Lince catches Colin with a swinging neck breaker as he comes off the ropes. Colin prevents Lince from making the rag. Lince ducks a clothesline and hits a pump handle slam on Colin! Vin runs to trip Jimmy, but Jimmy evades the attack and kicks Vin in the face. Lince tags in Jimmy who comes in a house of fire on Jimmy. Jimmy pounds away on Colin until Vin breaks it up. Jimmy then pounds away on Vin on the mat. Colin hits a double back chop on Jimmy to stop his attack. Lince jumps in from the apron and ranas Colin Delaney down. Jimmy superkicks Vin Gerard but only gets the two count. Jimmy assists Lince with a moonsault press onto Colin. They hit a tandem face plant on Vin then a double dropkick to his head. Jimmy catches Colin with a jumping Enzugiri and a German suplex. Vin takes Jimmy down with an STO, and Lince hits a moonsault of the second rope! Lince only gets the two count. Jimmy jumps in looking a sunset flip, but Colin catches Jimmy with a huge DDT! Vin locks the STF on Jimmy Olsen and Colin holds Lince back. Jimmy grabs the ropes to break it up. Lince hits a hurricanrana on both members of the UnStable, and hits the flipping Urinagi on Colin! Lince goes up top but Vin cuts him off. Colin lifts up Jimmy for the FU, but Jimmy rolls into a sunset flip. Meanwhile, Lince pushes Vin off the top rope to the floor. Jimmy hits the Overbomb on Colin, and Lince hits him with the Shooting Star Press to the back! Jimmy rolls him up with La Magistral for the win! Jimmy and Lince have earned three points and a shot at the Campeonatos de Parejas! Excellent main event; it did a great job telling the story of these teams rivalries in addition to being a great wrestling contest. ***1/2

Brodie Lee (CHIKARA) vs. Daisuke Sekimoto (BJW)
From “The Global Gauntlet: Night One”: October 18th, 2008

An intense lock up starts this match. Brodie pushes Sekimoto to the ropes for the clean break. Brodie asks for a test of strength. Brodie takes Sekimoto down in a bridge, but Sekimoto gets up. Brodie kicks Sekimoto then slams him to the mat. Brodie locks on a side headlock. Daisuke pushes him to the ropes and is taken down with a shoulder block. Daisuke leap frogs over Brodie as he comes off the ropes and hip tosses Brodie to the floor. Sekimoto follows up with a tope through the middle ropes to the outside! Daisuke lights up Brodie with some chops, but Brodie chops him right back. Brodie pushes Sekimoto into the ring post and tosses him back in the ring. Brodie and Sekimoto exchange a series of chops and throat thrusts, till Brodie rakes Sekimoto’s face. Brodie hits a butterfly suplex for a two count. The camera shows Claudio Castagnoli sitting ringside, scouting for the Global Gauntlet tomorrow night, where he and Daisuke will be the final participants for their respective teams. Brodie hits a series of European uppercuts, takes Sekimoto down, and applies a chin lock. Sekimoto tries to work back to a vertical base, but Brodie stops him. Brodie hits some chops and hard right hands to Sekimoto in the corner. Sekimoto fights back with some massive forearms. Brodie hits the ropes, but is caught with a lariat. Sekimoto hits a second and Brodie still stands. Brodie hit the ropes, Sekimoto ducks, and Sekimoto takes him down with a third big lariat! This only gets him a two count on Brodie. Brodie and Sekimoto get in a suplex battle, with each man stopping the other. Daisuke ends up the winner, suplexing Brodie for the two count. Daisuke tries for the dead lift German Suplex, but Brodie works out of it. Daisuke gets Brodie in the Torture Rack but Brodie pushes him to the corner. Brodie hits a Big Boot in the corner, then a superkick in the corner! Brodie catches Daisuke with the Black Hole Slam but only gets the two count. Brodie hits the powerbomb and again only gets two. Brodie misses the Big Boot. Daisuke whips Brodie in the corner and hits two big lariats. Sekimoto reverses a whip and hits a third lariat. Daisuke picks up Brodie for a gigantic dead lift German suplex for the pin! Wow, that was great stuff. Two huge dudes beating the piss out of one another. This proved that Daisuke was a forced to be reckoned with, and answered the question as to why BJW is positioning him last in the Global Gauntlet tomorrow night. This also gives BJW the early win, with a 3 to 1 advantage over CHIKARA. ***1/4

Equinox (Jimmy Olsen) vs. Vin Gerard
From “The Global Gauntlet: Night Two”: October 19th, 2008

Vin immediately rolls out of the ring. Equinox hits a baseball slide and chops the hell out of Vin. Equinox chases Vin near the ramp and pounds him down. He slams Vin on the entrance ramp and chops him once again. Back in the ring, Equinox takes down Vin with a series of arm dags. Vin holds onto the ropes blocking an arm drag and nails Equinox in the face with an elbow. Vin kicks Equinox away, not even wanting to touch him. Vin pounds on Jimmy and sends him to the mat with a Butterfly suplex. Vin chokes Equinox in the corner, yelling at him, asking what he is doing. Vin however looks extremely distressed in the ring. Equinox hits a flurry of offense but Vin takes him right back down. Vin hits the ropes to pop up off the second, but trips up, as if he is off his game. Vin still runs at Jimmy and nails the knee in the corner however. Equinox ducks and clotheslines and hits a flying forearm. Jimmy palm strikes Vin in the corner. Vin grabs Equinox’s leg and tries to send him to the mat for the STF, but Equinox lands on his feet and sends Vin to the floor with a hurricanrana! Equinox follows up with a dive through the middle rope. Vin goes back inside the ring. Equinox hits a top rope dropkick for the two count. Equinox hops off the second rope, but is caught and taken down by Vin. Vin hits a 2k1 Bomb for the two count. The fans chant “EQUINOX!” which eats Vin alive. Equinox escapes another 2k1 bomb. He takes Vin down to the mat and locks on the CHIKARA Special! This causes Vin to tap out! Equinox gets the win in an awesome match-up. The story telling here was incredible, and the action was always great. The fans were into it, and both men performed very well. ***1/2

The 411: A pretty good disc. Most of the matches are three stars or higher. I have NO idea what the Thomaselli’s match is doing on here, but whatever. Both Brodie/Claudio matches and the Incoherence/SSB tag match are truly best of, but the rest are odd choices.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]