Contemplating CHIKARA 4.19.09

Hello everyone, and welcome to this weeks edition of Contemplating CHIKARA. Last week, we talked about all the matches that were signed thus far for CHIKARA’s upcoming events at the end of this month. This week, we look at the matches announced since then. But that’s not all; we have more DVD news and video fun for you, so c’mon in and take a look.

Six of the eight matches for “Behind The 8 Ball” were announced last week, but now the other two matches have been announced to fill out what looks to be a fabulous card! Let’s look as those two matches, shall we?

What’s sure to be a fun tag contest has been signed for Easton! Before they enter the big four team elimination tag match, the Canadian duo of 2.0 (Jagged & Shane Matthews) will have to face Incoherence (Hallowicked & Frightmare). Hallowicked and Jagged crossed paths in a tag bout at Aniversario Epsilon in 2006, with Delirious and Max Boyer being their respective partners at the time. 2.0 is still on the quest to get that illusive first point that’s escaped them in their CHIKARA tenure. Hallowicked & Frightmare may have been shaken up at their surprising loss to Team EPIC WAR in the Tag Team Gauntlet, so perhaps 2.0 can capitalize. Only one way to tell; see the show! Or read results. Y’know.

Just one day before the Future Is Now takes on The Osirian Portal in trios action, two men from those trios will square off in singles action. “The Burning Star of CHIKARA” Helios takes on the Egyptian heavyweight, Escorpion Egipcio. There’s no doubt that each of these men would love to take out a member of their opponents group the day before their King of Trios rematch, and now is the perfect opportunity. Egipcio has destroyed everyone smaller than himself since entering CHIKARA, including Helios’ buddy Lince Dorado in February. Will Egipcio go 2-0 in singles action against The Future Is Now (in Easton no less!), or will Helios be able to use his incredible high flying prowess to take out this monster?

Since we last spoke, CHIKARA had announced five of the eight matches for “The Bobliographon.” The final three matches have been announced for the card, and they are…

Here we have a rematch from “Best Imitation Of Myself”, as Create-A-Wrestler will square off against Ultramantis Black. Black is one of the few CHIKARA originals left in the company and is not particulary a fan of the “new talent” that’s come in the past couple of years. CAW certainly fits that category, and looks to prove his worth and redeem his win in Philadelphia. It should be noted that The Order has also bested CAW when he was known as Moscow in six-man tag action on a few occasions in 2007 as well.

Another 8 man tag has been signed for this weekend, but this time the battle lines are clear. The tecnico squad of Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw, and The Colony (Fire Ant & Soldier Ant) will square off against the 2009 King of Trios F.I.S.T. (Icarus, Gran Akuma, & Chuck Taylor) and Buck Hawke. The Colony and F.I.S.T rivalry is clearly established, and with the recent retirement of Worker Ant due to F.I.S.T’s attacks, the Colony will be gunning for F.I.S.T. in this match as well as their match in Easton. As a trainer of Worker Ant’s, Quackenbush is certainly none too pleased with F.I.S.T. himself. Jigsaw and Icarus have had quite the past, as it was Jigsaw who forced Icarus to shave his head back in 2006. Buck Hawke, member of the Fabulous Three, also had a small issue with The Colony back in 2008 and showed Quackenbush quite a bit of disrespect in their NWA Jr. Heavyweight Championship match back in December. Lots of sordid issues come to a head in this here match, and it will certainly be an interesting development.

A very interesting maaaaaaaaain event has been signed for CHIKARA’s return to Philadelphia on April 26th. The match in question is The Future Is Now (Equinox, Lince Dorado, & Helios) taking on the Osirian Portal (Amasis, Ophidian, & Escorpion Egipcio). The reason why this is match is interesting, is because The Future Is Now actually defeated the Osirian Portal on Night Two of this years King of Trios tournament. As of now (this could change in Easton), all of the CHIKARA champions are involved in this match as Amasis & Ophidian are the current Campeones de Parejas, and Equinox is the Young Lions Cup holder. No doubt The Osirian Portal is going into this match to prove that TFIN’s victory at King of Trios was nothing more than a fluke. Will The Portal be able to recover from their loss, or will The Future Is Now be able to prove that they’re a legitimate force to be reckoned with?

DVD News!

Oh yes my friends. King of Trios 2009 is officially out at Smart Mark Video (link at the end of the column)! Each night is 20 bucks a pop. This is the first CHIKARA shows (and maybe first DVD’s on Smart Mark Video) to be presented in better video quality, and in widescreen! I for one am very excited to get my hands on these DVD’s, and you should be as well. Head over to Smart Mark Video right now to pick up all three nights. You won’t be disappointed.

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!

And don’t you forget, CHIKARA’s entire back catalogue from 2002 – 2007 have been marked down to $15 each for a limited time only! This is a great time to pick up older shows and fill in the gaps of your collection, and I highly recommend taking advantage. If this is successful, they may do it more, so buy!

More news on CHIKARA in Japan!

As stated in last weeks column (See? I’m right some of the time!), CHIKARA is indeed heading to Japan this summer. No doubt that Leonard F. Chikarason’s above video has something to do with this.

Unfortunately for CHIKARA, the Wrestling Observer decided to ruin the fun (kidding Dave) and actually revealed the names of the seven wrestlers who will be heading over in June. The names listed are: The Colony (Fire Ant & Soldier Ant), The Order of the Neo-Solar Temple (Ultramantis Black & Crossbones), 2.0 (Jagged & Shane Matthews), and Chuck Taylor.

2009 Create-A-Wrestler Contest!

I’d be remiss not to mention that currently going on is the 2009 Create-A-Wrestler contest. You, the fans of CHIKARA, get the opportunity to see a wrestling character you dream up be made into a reality. The winner of the contest will see CHIKARA mainstay Create-A-Wrestler portray the winning persona for the latter half of 2009.

How do you enter? I’ll just copy and paste the instructions from CHIKARA themselves:

So, what do you do? Send us a .jpg image of the character you’ve created, along with his name, and a description of 200 words or less explaining as much about your creation as possible. (Please don’t send .gifs, .tifs or .bmps, and trust us when we tell you, we can’t read 20 pages of backstory – we’re just going to delete the ones that don’t adhere to these simple guidelines.) You can send in as many entries as you like – just be sure to include your name, age and address with it, so we can track you down if you’re the lucky winner! When Create-A-Wrestler debuts with his new persona, the winning creator will be mentioned by name at the event, and they’ll get a free copy of the official CHIKARA DVD release of the show! We want you to get involved! Send your entries to the Director of Fun at [email protected], and get cracking – you’ve only got until the end of May to send ’em in!

Don’t dilly-dally folks. Get those awesome submissions (and no, I don’t mean the STF or Fujiwara armbar) in right away and see if you’re the winner come June.

YouTube Fun!

Here we have CHIKARA Podcast-A-Go-Go #157. This weeks takes a look at “The Global Gauntlet: Night Two”. Specifically, you’ll see clips from Icarus vs. Lince Dorado and The Sea Donsters vs. The UnStable. Sooo check it out!

Here we have a really great music video by YouTube user “MX5PWS”. In it, they have made a music video recapping CHIKARA’s two February events “If The Airplane Is Snowed In, Put Your Bloody Skis On And Get Going!” and “Motive, Means, Opportunity”. It’s extremely well done, and a great recap of two really good shows. Heck, I own both these DVD’s already and wanted to buy them again after seeing this. Both shows are available at Smart Mark Video now!

Alright folks, that’s it from me. It’s been a long week for yours truly and I am looking forward to sleep, flapjacks, and other such chicanery. Make sure to order your copies of King of Trios and other CHIKARA DVD’s right now. Watch them, cherish them, let your friends know about it. Thanks so much for reading, and I’ll see you again in seven!

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