The CHIKARA Special 9.11.10: Dodging Orioles

Welcome back to another edition of The CHIKARA Special! As stated in the tease, we’ll be talking the cards for “Eye to Eye” and “Savage Progress Cuts The Jungle Line”, coming up in just seven days. We have many matches to discuss, so let’s get down to business.

It’s been awhile since Baltimorons have had something to be excited about. The Ravens and Orioles just aren’t cutting it, but at the very least the people of Charm City can look forward to CHIKARA’s impending debut in just one short week. CHIKARA must have received my various smoke signals and telegraphs demanding a show closer to where I reside; there’s no other explanation as to why they’d venture out here. The show, named “Eye to Eye”, has a stacked card so far, so let’s take a peak about what we have to look forward to:

This could be bad. Brodie is an angry, pissed off man of larger stature taking on the much smaller, flippier Helios. Who knows how this one will go? Helios faired pretty well against Daisuke Sekimoto earlier this year at King of Trios…well, aside from that whole “getting German suplexed and pinned” part. Point is, Helios has the means to hang with some of the bigger guys. Speed and taking Brodie off his feet could be the key. Brodie may be large, but the dude can carry his weight like no other. We’ve even seen him catch smaller guys mid-air (again, at King of Trios) when he caught Grizzly Redwood coming off the ropes and pinning him with the Truck Stop. Brodie has been at odds with Grizzly, and looks to take out some frustration on someone of similar size. While the high-flying aerial wonder be able to out maneuver and outlast the Big Rig, or will Lee keep his path of destruction clear?

To what my knowledge is a first time encounter, Jimmy “Equinox” Olsen will take on the BDK’s “pet”, Delirious. Come to think of it, I can’t think of a time these have met in CHIKARA at any point. However, his partner Lince Dorado turned on him and beat him in a singles match, he lost to Pink Ant in a singles match, and was beaten badly by BDK members Claudio Castagnoli and Ares back at “Faded Scars and Lines” in June, so any measure of revenge Equinox can dish up against the BDK should suffice. With his singles record for 2009 being 0-3, Equinox looks to change things up against the former Campeon de Parejas. Delirious’ record since joining the BDK has been pretty bad as well, going 0-2. Both participants are going into this match looking to swing things back into their favor, but it’s easily a much more personal issue for Equinox. Will the desire to score a victory of any kind over the BDK motivate Equinox into the winner’s circle, or will the crazed masked man be able to score a win and appease his handler Ares?

A chance for points arises in this match, as Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw take on the BDK duo of Tim Donst & Lince Dorado. The BDK have been a thorn in Quack and Jigsaw’s side for most of the year, dashing their hopes of getting a title match at the Young Lions Cup with Sara and Daizee pinning them and Derek Sabato making it a fast count. They’ve also had numerous multi-man matches with the BDK where they mostly come out on the losing end. Donst and Dorado not only turned on CHIKARA to join the BDK, but Quack and Jigsaw were the two guys most directly affected. Donst was one of Quack’s prized students, and the only person at the time that Quack taught the Inverted CHIKARA Special (which won Donst the Young Lions Cup and proved to help aid the BDK in many of their matches). For Donst to turn on Quack and then teach that move to the rest of the BDK is a slap in the face. Lince Dorado also turned on Jigsaw and the rest of the Future Is Now in a big eight-man tag match at “A Touch of Class”, leaving there team one man short. Now Quack and Jigsaw get these guys in a tag team match for the first time, and a chance to get their second point. It could be a glorious day for Jigsaw and Quack, or another moment of defeat if Donst and Dorado are able to upset them. Who will leave Baltimore with points in tact?

The Soul Touchaz this year did something no one in CHIKARA has done; defeat the BDK triuumvirate of Claudio, Ares, and Tursas (who won King of Trios 2010). Acid Jaz scored a roll-up on Claudio when BDK nemesis Eddie Kingston distracted him giving the Chicago mainstays a major W. Things continued favorably for the trio as the next night they defeated The Colony, another one of the most winningest trios in CHIKARA today. These two wins were huge for the Soul Touchaz, and they will be back in CHIKARA in Baltimore and Brooklyn because of it. This time, the Soul Touchaz will rekindle an old rivalry as they take on Team F.I.S.T. of Icarus, Chuck Taylor, & Johnny Gargano. These teams met back in February of 2008 at King of Trios, where F.I.S.T. defeated the Touchaz in the second round. CHIKARA has actually attempted a rematch twice in the past (once in September 2008 and again in June of this year), but it never came to frutition. Finally this match will come to pass in Baltimore, but with a little twist; Johnny Gargano, not Gran Akuma, will be on Team F.I.S.T. Funny enough, it was Soul Touchaz member Marshe Rockett who defeated Gargano two years ago in the opening round of the Young Lions Cup tournament. Both side has something to gain, and this rematch has been so highly anticipated by the participants and fans alike that it should be a really fun match to witness. Will Team F.I.S.T. go 2-0 in Trios competition against the Soul Touchaz, or will the Soul Touchaz keep their roll in CHIKARA going strong?

A CHIKARA staple of the past couple years has been a four team elimination match; a chance for a team to earn all three points towards a title shot in one match. The first team announced was Incoherence of Hallowicked & Frightmare. These two have not teamed since losing their Campeones de Parejas match against Ares and Claudio back at Aniversario Elf, so it looks as if they want to get some team momentum going again. Frightmare of course is coming off the heels of the biggest victory of his career, winning the Young Lions Cup tournament. Will this momentum carry over into Incoherence racking up another 3 points this calendar year? The second team announced is The Osirian Portal of Amasis and Ophidian. This team may be licking their wounds after losing the Young Lions Cup tournament, but they won a huge match over the UnStable back at Chikarasaurus Rex. The Portal made it clear that they wish to be a trio once again, so I guess in the meantime they’ll continue going going for the Campeonatos de Parejas until they find the right third person. Of course, they were Campeones once before so it’s always possible that they’ll pull off a major victory in matches of this type. But will they? We have two more teams to add, so we’ll see how this one plays out.

Eddie Kingston has been feuding with the BDK since the very beginning. His feud with Claudio in 2009 spilled over into 2010, and now Kingston has 8 other enemies to deal with as well. Kingston has had a bad track record with the BDK; he lost the 8 man tag in the season premiere, lost to Tursas thanks to interference, lost to Lince Dorado due to blatant cheating, and then finally beat Delirious in a singles match. Now Kingston’s path to take down the BDK continues, as he battles Pinkie “Pink Ant” Sanchez in Baltimore. Pinkie’s kind of a pest, and Kingston seems like the kind of dude to get sick of his schtick real quickly. As you may know though, the next night is a big opportunity for Sanchez (more on that later) so it’s in his best interest to care of the rough, Yonkster native to gain some momentum. Kingston on the other hands would love to prevent any success or joy to the BDK and beating Sanchez would do just that. Don’t forget that Sanchez has been stalked by Vökoder at the past few shows, so it’s possible that he could rear his robotic head around here as well to throw Pinkie off his game. Point it, this is a battle that could be a whole lot of fun.

It seemed almost impossible to imagine that Scott “Jagged” Parker and Shane Matthews would ever get a shot at the Campeones de Parejas. They seemed to be the fun loving, comedy mid-card act that did a good job with all their matches but never seemed to be consistent enough to earn enough points to get a title shot. This is something they realized around this time last year, and chose to go under the guise of “The Badd Boyz”, two rough bikers decked out denim. While they never did receive a title shot as The Badd Boyz, it was the most successful time Parker and Matthews had as a team. They revealed their true colors at “Wit, Verve, and a Bit O’ Nerve and decided to upgrade from 2.0 to 3.0. That upgrade brought them success, as they were able to rack up the three necessary points to warrant a title shot by defeating Team F.I.S.T., The Super Smash Bros., and The House of Truth. Finally, after being in CHIKARA for over four years (on and off), Parker and Matthews get their shot at the Campeones de Parejas. Unfortunately for them, their shot is agains the dominant BDK tandem of Claudio Castagnoli and Ares. This is only their third defense of the Campeones, but each defense has seen pre-match interference from the BDK and Claudio and Ares winning two straight falls (each CdP match is 2 out of 3 falls). Is it possible for 3.0 to pull out some Big Magic and finally unseat the BDK? It would be a huge victory and one of, if the not the biggest upset in all of CHIKARA’s history. It’s implausible, and some would say impossible, but stranger things have happened so don’t sell 3.0 completely short. Could the key to CHIKARA’s success come in a very unlikely package, or is Claudio and Ares retention a foregone conclusion?

In case you haven’t heard, Joshi legend Manami Toyota, known by many as the greatest female wrestler of all time, will be in town for both the Baltimore and Brooklyn shows. Toyota has the distinction of having 10 five-star matches (as granted by Dave Meltzer) and won the Match of the Year award in 1993 and 1995 for the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, and was put in the Observer Hall of Fame in 1992. All this for a woman who is one year shy of 40; that’s impressive. CHIKARA has the distinction of bringing her to the United States for the first time ever. Her first match will be against Daizee Haze, an accomplished women’s wrestler in her own right. Her accolades may not even come close to touching Toyota’s astonishing career, in CHIKARA she has been ferocious all year long. Daizee has been a tough customer, stacking up to wrestlers of any size or origin. Haze has used her faux charm to prevent the likes of the Colony or Sugar Dunkerton from unleashing too much a beating, but that won’t work against Toyota. This would be an enormous victory for Haze as she would be able to unseat the greatest female wrestler ever in her first trip to the United States. Toyota doesn’t want to prove to be a disappointment in her U.S debut so it’s important for her to put in a good showing as well. It seems on paper that Toyota has an easy night ahead of her, but don’t count out the eight teammates Haze has, especially Sara Del Rey who has Toyota in a tag match the next night. Will Toyota be able to pull one over on the BDK on CHIKARA’s behalf, or will Daizee score the biggest upset of her career?

For the first time ever, CHIKARA steps into New York City when it brings its show, “Through Savage Progress Cuts The Jungle Line”, to Brooklyn. CHIKARA came close to NYC earlier this year when they ran a show in Union City, NJ, so moving into NYC proper was the next logical step.

The Osirian Portal could come out of Baltimore with some points in tow if they outlast the other three teams in the four-team elimination match. Whether they do or do not, they’ll have a chance to at least add one other point to their name. Opposing them will be BDK members Delirious and Daizee Haze, who are more interested in “point blocking” than getting a title shot for themselves. The Portal have actually dealt with both Delirious and Haze in the past. In fact, it was when Delirious was one half the Campeones de Parejas when he and Hallowicked retained their titles over the Portal. The Portal lost to Haze and Sara Del Rey earlier this year at “A Touch Of Class”. All four competitors are much better then those two previous encounters and The Portal seem poised to get the tag belts back around their waists, especially after suffering defeat against BDK members Lince Dorado and Pinkie Sanchez back at We Must Eat Michigan’s Brain and being saddled with Sara Del Rey as a partner during this years King Of Trios tournament. Could the Portal possibly walk out of this weekend with three points?

As previously mentioned, The Soul Touchaz defeated the King of Trios winners back at We Must Eat Michigan’s Brain. Not willing to stand for this defeat, a new BDK triuumvirate will look to take down the Soul Touchaz. Tursas will team with two of the BDK Young Lions in Lince Dorado & Tim Donst. It was actually Dorado who dashed ST member Marshe Rockett’s Young Lions Cup hopes two years ago, so it will be interesting to see if their is any residual bitterness in this match. It would be huge for the Soul Touchaz to boast being victorious over 5 of the 9 BDK members after this match. Can the Soul Touchaz get the job done, or will the relative rookies of the BDK prove that the Soul Touchaz previous was nothing more than a fluke?

The story of Hallowicked and Ultramantis Black goes far back. When Mantis turned Rudo, he recruited Hallowicked to join his Dark Breed. Both men were set to team together at Tag World Grand Prix 2006, but an injury forced Mantis to be sidelined. Hallowicked instead teamed with random partner Delirious, and decided to forgo a relationship with Mantis and instead partnered with Delirious for the next three years. Mantis had been hostile about Hallowicked’s betrayal ever since, even going as far to steal Delirious and put him in the Order. Mantis got a measure of revenge back at Three-Fisted Tales when he and Delirious defeated Hallowicked & Frightmare. It’s been almost four years since these two have met in a singles match, but here we get it again. The timing of this bout is very interesting though, as it comes when Mantis is doing his best to galvanize the Rudos and Tecnicos into one unit to take of the BDK at the Cibernetico. Could this be Mantis’ way for him and Hallowicked to fight out their issues and reconcile so he can recruit Hallowicked for his team. Needless to say, this bout is one to keep your eyes on, as what occurs after the match could be very interesting. I think it’s pretty likely that after this Hallowicked will officially be on the CHIKARA Cibernetico team along with Ultramantis Black, Mike Quackenbush, Eddie Kingston, and Jigsaw who have already offered to be apart of.

Mantis actually posted a blog recently, and this small portion of the blog had something to say about this match:

Finally, as he has yet to respond to any of my personal communiques, I would like to take the opportunity to address Hallowicked directly in this public forum. You know as well as I do, Hallowicked, that our history together has been plagued by bitterness, bloodlust, and despair. But never forget – we were born into CHIKARA together. No one shall ever be able to sever that cord – not even the BDK. You know what you have to do. Ignore me for now, if you think you must, but we will meet face-to-face in New York soon enough…

Hallowicked’s buddy Frightmare will be busy as well, making his first Young Lions Cup defense. Funny enough, Director of Fun Dieter VonSteigerwalt posted this blog shortly after Frightmare’s victory:

I don’t know how many times Pinkie has defeated Frightmare off hand, but what I do know is that Pinkie pinned Frightmare at Chikarasaurus Rex: King of Show, which is why he’s the first guy to get the shot at the YLC. As previously stated in my write-up of Pinkie’s match with Kingston, who knows if Vökoder will show his face to distract Pinkie. Frightmare has the opportunity to thwart yet another BDK member which may be just as appealing as holding onto the Cup. I don’t want to say that Frightmare’s retention is certain…but I’d be befuddled if Pinkie won this one.

In what is somewhat of a rematch from December 2008’s “Face With A View” event, The Future Is Now will take on The UnStable in trios action. This time around, Jigsaw will be on the Future Is Now instead of Lince Dorado. Some interesting stuff has been going on in the UnStable lately, namely the fact that Colin Delaney eliminated STIGMA from The Countdown Showdown during the Young Lions Cup weekend. Vin Gerard even addressed this himself in a recent blog over at CHIKARA’s website:

As mentioned in a previous match, Ultramantis Black dropped off a blog at CHIKARA. There’s was more to it then just the bit about Hallowicked, as Mantis also mentioned his latest Cibernetico recruit:

Interesting move here. It’s not as if the UnStable are the poster children for CHIKARA, and I don’t know just how kindly Gerard and Delaney are going to take to STIGMA partnering up with Tecnicos and other CHIKARA Rudos. Perhaps the right between the UnStable is more real than we perceived earlier in the year. Let’s not forget that Jigsaw, who is also on STIGMA’s Cibernetico team will be on the opposite side of the ring from him. Will this have any effect on how STIGMA wrestles this match? This can’t bode well for them in their match with rival trio Future Is Now. This match could tell us about the cohesion of the UnStable. If they win, it could show that their solidarity is in tact. You’ll have to see the match live or wait for the DVD to see for yourself, but a loss could be due to some issues in the UnStable. Given recent events it will be interesting to see how this match will unfold.

Eddie Kingston’s quest to terminate the BDK continues with Kingston battling the BDK leader and one half of the Campeones de Parejas, Ares. Given his hatred for Claudio and the BDK, it must be a little discouraging that Mantis has denied him a spot in the Cibernetico (also in his blog):

In addition, I would just like to comment that I do not feel at all comfortable with Eddie Kingston and his “gracious” offer to volunteer his services for this Cibernetico team. It is my opinion that this man cannot be trusted and lacks the dedication, stability and loyalty that are needed to defeat the Bruderschaft. I for one would not want a loose cannon amok on this battleground, and I’m sure the others that have pledged their support feel much as I do.

Hopefully Kingston can convince Mantis othewerwise, but for now Kingston will have to continue his solo effort towards taking out the BDK one by one. Ares can be pin-pointed as the one responsible for bringing the BDK into CHIKARA are starting the war against the company. Ares is also Claudio’s partner and number one cohort, so you can see why Kingston would be anxious to get his hands on him. This could be quite the brawl, but you have to wonder what tricks Ares has up his sleeve (such as fellow BDK members waiting in the wings to pounce on Kingston). Ares is undefeated in CHIKARA up to this point; can Kingston channel his fellow NYC bretheren and score a huge victory for himself and CHIKARA?

In the maaaaaaaaaaain event of the weekend, in a major intergender tag team match, Japanese legend Manami Toyota teams up with CHIKARA’s top dog Mike Quackenbush to take on the BDK tandem of Claudio Castagnoli and Sara Del Rey. To go back into the history between Claudio and Quackenbush would take an entire column (hmm…) so let’s just keep it simple: they’re not fans of one another. The BDK’s Daizee Haze gets her chane to grapple with the Joshi sensation, and now Sara Del Rey, the much larger and vicious BDK female will get her chance as well. This match serves as a chance for Quack and Claudio to lock up in a match for the first time in six months. Since then, Quack has had to sit idly by to watch this group that has attempted to destroy what he has spent years creating and now gets his hands on the man who in the past was a friend, a co-trainer, a friendly rival, and even a foe, but is now an archrival. In addition to the deep seeded rivalry, it will be a fun dream match of sorts to see what each team will bust out in order to get one up on their opponents. This should be a treat for all in attendance.

Can’t make it out to Brooklyn or Baltimore? There’s no need to fret, as you can occupy your time with the brand spankin’ new Young Lions Cup VIII DVDs that are now available at Smart Mark Video. Usually I try to keep matchlistings spoiler free, but since I’ve already told you guys the winner, I’ll just give you the entire cards.

So yes, SPOILER ALERT. WATCH OUT

Young Lions Cup VIII, Night One
Round One: Sugar Dunkerton vs. Christian Abel
Round One: Frightmare vs. Sugar Dunkerton
Round One: Josh Pain vs. Kaio
Round One: Green Ant vs. Akira Tozawa
Round One: Amasis vs. Chrisjen Hayme
Round One: Andy Ridge vs. Johnny Gargano
Tursas vs. Grizzly Redwood
Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw vs. Sara Del Rey & Daizee Haze
Six Way Semi-Final Elimination Bout

Young Lions Cup VIII, Night Two
Round One: Ophidian vs. Skull
Round One: Cameron Skyy vs. Eric Ryan
Round One: Dustin Rayz vs. Obariyon
Round One: Mike Sydal vs. Keita Yano
Round One: Greg Iron vs. Sindarin
Round One: Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly
The Super Smash Bros. vs. 3.0
Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw vs. The House of Truth
Six Way Semi-Final Elimination Bout

Young Lions Cup VIII, Night Three
Young Lions Cup Finals
The Countdown Showdown ft. 30 Participants
3.0 vs. The House of Truth
Greg Iron vs. Tursas
Green Ant vs. Keita Yano
Mike Sydal vs. Obariyon
Hallowicked vs. Akira Tozawa

The 229th Podcast-A-Go-Go is live! This week, Wiggly and Gavin continue to cover King of Trios Weekend. First up is a match from Night Three with Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw taking on The Young Bucks. Then we have a clip from Night Two of Hallowicked taking on Christopher Daniels.

Bryce Remsburg brings us the latest on CHIKARA’s Brooklyn debut in this weeks “CHIKARA Event Center”.

Here’s a preview of the upcoming Dragon Gate USA “Enter the Dragon II” PPV this weekend covering the CHIKARA Sekigun vs. Kamikaze USA feud.

My CHIKARA blog, The CHIKARA Special, is still going strong. I have started reviewing 2005, and have all three nights of that years tag World Grand Prix up for your reading pleasure: Night I, Night II, and Night III
now. Also, CHIKARA matches from other companies are getting reviewed as well and I will have the Osirian Portal’s match from CZW’s “Tangled Web III” up soon. So make sure subscribe to the blog (on the right) and continue reading my sweet CHIKARA related reviews. Subscriptions are good because: A) They let me know you’re reading and B) All my reviews get delivered directly to your inbox. Its good times, so check it out and tell your friends about The CHIKARA Special.

Follow me on Twitter, I’m really interesting.

Another podcast with yours truly is in the can. Myself, Drew Cordeiro, and Jerome Cusson talked some NXT Season 3 and Dragon Gate USA’s move to iPPV. Myself and Jerome also preview Ring of Honor’s upcoming weekend. Get yer listen on now right here!

Speaking of Pro Wrestling Ponderings, I wrote a review of the new Project: Paul London DVD from Highspots over there. Check it!

Brad Garoon’s blog, Open The Garoon Gate is all about Dragon Gate and Dragon Gate USA. He reviews every Infinity, PPV, appearance of a Dragon Gate wrestler in the U.S. and other Japanse promotions , etc. Brad consistently has something new to add to his tremendously large archive. You owe it to yourself to check out that blog, as well as his Toryumon and dragondoor/El Dorado/Secret Base blogs which you can find links to on his Dragon Gate blog.

Jake Ziegler, another Cool Kids Table founder, writes some fantastic wrestling DVD reviews in his A 2 Z Analyziz.. This guy has been working so hard, reviewing every ROH Glory By Honor event, so be sure to give his stuff a look.

If you have not begun listening, Mike Quackenbush and Clayton Morris (of FOX News & Friends) host a pop-culture podcast known as The Grizzly Bear Egg Cafe. Clayton and Mike talk about all things geek such as movies, music, television, comic books, tech stuff, and wrestling here and there. I find it wildly entertaining, as Clayton and Mike play off each other very well. It’s also really cool to hear Mike talk about non-wrestling stuff as well. So please, check out The Grizzly Bear Egg Cafe and subscribe to their podcast on iTunes.

That will do it for this weeks edition of the CHIKARA Special. Next week there will be NO new CHIKARA Special as I will be busy in Baltimore. However, get ready, because not only will I be back with a hefty write-up on the CHIKARA show, but Column of Honor author Ari Berenstein will be joining me as well to do a write-up on Brooklyn’s CHIKARA debut. That’s write, September 25th, you will receive two gigantic live show reports. Get pumped. In the meantime, be sure to check out The CHIKARA Special blog! See you in fourteen!

Other Links!
The CHIKARA Home Page .
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