Views from the Hawke’s Nest: Review of the Free Matches from Chikara Part 2

For all your Chikara needs, go to their
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Chikara Youtube (with a ton of free matches on the Chikara Podcast-A-Go-Go)

411’s Kevin Ford also has two great Chikara resources that you should check out: The Chikara Special and a Chikara Tumblr

Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw vs. Neo Solar Temple (UltraMantis Black & Crossbones) from Chikara Revelation X 2009

Quack started torturing UltraMantis with holds so that he could find out why UltraMantis wanted the reversal to the Chikara Special. I think anyway. Kevin Ford would know. So, I looked up Kevin’s review of the show and it turns out Quack was trying to find out from UltraMantis why Dr. Cube wanted the Chikara Special. UltraMantis mentioned something about Bob Saget (yes, that Bob Saget) wanting it. Jigsaw wiped out UltraMantis early with a sommersault plancha, but the Neo Solar Temple were able to get the advantage soon after. Jigsaw is YOUR babyface in peril. Eddie Kingston was on commentary and seemed to be serving the role as a common man, because he too was really confused about the Eye of Tyr and all of the other wackiness going on. Jigsaw came back with a double stomp on Bones and then a tornado DDT on UltraMantis. Quack made a hot tag and ran wild. Bones ate a double superkick, but UltraMantis tossed Quack out of the ring and hit a suplex piledriver on Jigsaw: 1…2…QUACK DIVES IN FOR THE SAVE! Quack sent UltraMantis to the outside, who ended up on Bones’s shoulders: SUICIDE DIVE ONTO THE TEMPLE FROM QUACK! Quack rolls UltraMantis back in the ring: JIG ‘N’ TONIC! 1…2…3!

This was a really strong tag match. I’ve never really watched Chikara while UltraMantis was a heel, but I can see why he was considered so effective. Jig and Quack have clearly had great chemistry as a tag team for a long time.
Match Rating: ***1/4

Player Uno vs. Twiggy from Chikara King of Trios Night 2 2009

Twiggy comes out to a Bon Jovi melody, which makes him a winner in my book no matter what happens in the match. The crowd seems to agree with my sentiment. Uno is a former tag team champion in Chikara, so he is mighty over with the crowd.

They went back and forth with neither man getting the advantage to start the match. Eventually, Uno hit an arm trap stunner and was able to work over Twiggy after that. Twiggy came back with a tornado DDT. Twiggy then got a nearfall with a flying crossbody. Uno cut him off with a Gory Special back/neckbreaker. Twiggy almost got the win with a couple of roll ups, but Uno cut him off with a Rock Bottom variation. Twiggy hit a back senton for another nearfall, but Uno survived and hit a back breaker and a tombstone piledriver: 1…2…3!

This was a really fun match and these two had some good chemistry. This was my first time seeing Twiggy, and he definitely impressed me. Uno was his usual great self, and I hope to see him and Stupefied back in Chikara.
Match Rating: ***

FIST (Chuck Taylor & Icarus) vs. Incoherence (Frightmare & Hallowicked) from Chikara Hiding in Plain Sight 2009

Interesting facts: This was the only Chikara trip to New Hampshire, and Bryan Danielson wrestled on this show as a part of his Final Countdown tour (and his Wrestling Road Diaries tour). Third fact: Icarus and Chuck recently lost their hair in a tag match with The Colony. Okay, another fact: Todd Sinclair appears to be the referee of this match. I believe he is exclusive to Ring of Honor now, but he has enough personality to be of value to Chikara if that ever changes.

Incoherence was in control early. Chuck Taylor is YOUR heel in peril. Frightmare sends Chucky to the outside with a headscissors and then wipes him out with a somersault plancha. Frightmare starts celebrating with the crowd so much that Wicked has to carry Frightmare back into the ring. Icarus then promptly wiped out Wicked with a tope suicida, and FIST started to work over Frightmare. Frightmare came back with run up the turnbuck dive to the outside on Chuck; that’s a tag in Chikara! GO-2-SLEEPY HALLOW ON ICARUS! KNEECOLEPSY ON ICARUS: 1…2…CHUCK MAKES THE SAVE! Sole food to Frightmare; backstabber to Frightmare: 1…2…WICKED MAKES THE SAVE! Wicked tosses Frightmare to the outside on Chucky T and then does some driver/slam like move on Icarus: 1…2…3!

An excellent opener. These two teams have excellent chemistry, and I bet they would have even better matches today. Great free match.
Match Rating: ***1/2

FIST (Johnny Gargano, Chuck Taylor, & Icarus) vs. The Batiri (Obariyon, Kodama, & Kobald) from Chikara’s Klunk in Love 2011

Chikara freely acknowledges how strange it is for two rudo groups to face off. Icarus takes off his ring jacket to reveal his back tattoo, much to the dismay of everyone else. Each team tries to out rudo the other team throughout the match. At one point, they all were pulling on each other’s hair, until Kobald ended that spot by biting Icarus’s tattoo. Taylor was the heel in peril for a while, until Gargano made the hot tag. The teams went back and forth for a little bit. Finally, FIST used some awesome combinations that put Kobald away.

This was as fun as you would expect. With both teams being heels, it was smart that they kept it short and sweet. I definitely recommend that you watch this.
Match Rating: **3/4

El Generico vs. Jigsaw from Chikara High Noon 2011

The whole match was a back and forth see-saw. Nothing of real note happened until Jigsaw hit a suicide dive on El Generico. Generico came back with a sommersault plancha. Blue Thunder Bomb from Generico: 1…2…NO! Generico’s Blue Thunder Bomb is like Matt Hardy’s Side Effect: it never finishes a match, but the fans always buy it as a nearfall. Jigsaw came back with a German Suplex, but Generico hit him with a Yakuza Kick. Generico went for the split-legged moonsault, but Jigsaw trapped him in the Tree of Joey Lawrence. COAST-TO-COAST DROPKICK FROM JIGSAW: 1…2…NO! EXPLODER SUPLEX INTO THE CORNER FROM GENERICO! SUPERKICK FROM JIGSAW! TOP ROPE DOUBLE KNEE STOMP FROM JIGSAW: 1…2…3!

Fun match; it was perfectly designed for the first iPPV’s pre-show as it would have made any hesitant fan excited to watch the rest of the show. They only had around 8 minutes, so they decided to just do as many big moves as possible to pump up the crowd. I would like to see these two again properly on a Chikara show. I’m probably overrating this, but the match was so much fun and the DVD version seems so much better than the live UStream version.
Match Rating: ***1/2

UltraMantis Black vs. Brodie Lee from Chikara’s Joshimania Night 3 2011

Brodie Lee suffered an injury at a June 2011 DGUSA show, and as a result, Lee missed almost all of the 12 Large Summit. When Lee came back from the injury (and a lengthy stay in Japan), he started to take on some of the 12 Large opponents that he missed out on competing against. This was one of those matches.

UltraMantis actually hits him with his staff before the bell rang. They don’t call him devious for nothing. UltraMantis followed that up with a Cactus Jack clothesline and then a rolling senton off the apron. Brodie cut him off and sent him hard into the metal guardrail. They brawled outside the ring some more. Brodie eventually backdropped UltraMantis back into the ring. Brodie worked over UltraMantis in the ring, which actually included a slingshot senton, a la Austin Aries and Eddie Guerrero. UltraMantis came back with some chops and tried to hit the Praying Mantis Bomb, but Brodie was too heavy. UltraMantis did hit an urinagi, but Brodie kicked out at 1 and promptly hit the Truck Stop: 1…2…NO! UltraMantis avoided a powerbomb and hit a brainbuster variation: 1…2…NO! UltraMantis went to the top rope but he flew into a big boot. SIT-DOWN POWERBOMB: 1…2…3

These two had much better chemistry than I expected. They both worked hard and made sure to pack in a ton of action in a small amount of time. I was pleasantly surprised that Brodie went over and I’m glad to see Chikara pulled the trigger on Lee vs. Kingston for the Grand Championship.
Match Rating: ***1/4

Thanks everybody for reading! You can send feedback to Twitter or at my email address: [email protected]. If you are a wrestling personality who would like to be interviewed by 411mania, you can also contact me in either of those ways.

The 411: These are a good group of matches that give you a nice taste of the Chikara product. I highly recommend that you watch all of those matches and support Chikara in any way that you can. If you want more free Chikara, check out the Chikara page at FreeProWrestling.com
Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]