The CHIKARA Special 9.25.10: The Promised Land

This week is a first for this column. For the first time, on a non King of Trios weekend, the CHIKARA Special will bring you live reports from BOTH events taking place this weekend! Oh it’s true. Intro out, let’s get down to business!

The Northern Virginia area (where I am from), it’s the land of suck when it comes to independent professional wrestling. Most independent wrestling (on a very low level) happens in the more Central and Southern Virginia locations. Ring of Honor would run Manassas, VA every so often but that’s gone now. Obviously, CHIKARA is my favorite promotion and I would take a 5 hour hike (from where I went to school) to visit a few CHIKARA shows in Philadelphia a couple times a year. It seemed as if Philadelphia was the closest to my residence CHIKARA would ever come, as they would often travel North if they expanded past the comfort of their Pennsylvania boundary. Needless to say, it was a pleasant surprise when I discovered CHIKARA would be running a show in Baltimore, MD, a mere 75 minute drive from my house. 75 minutes sure as heck beats 5 hours, and there was no way I would miss this show. So this past Saturday, me and a few friends me of mine made the sojourn, braved the I-95 traffic and made it into scenic Baltimore, Maryland for “Eye to Eye”.

First off, I was very happy with the venue. The venue is a large indoor soccer field used for the Baltimore Blast soccer team. It’s two levels, with the top level serving as the entrance, concession stand, bathroom, and general walk-around space. It was nice to be able to walk around and get some air when intermission hit. One of the biggest concerns I have when going to a show (especially one in the city) is parking. This venue had plenty of parking in back which is a nice change of pace from some areas (I’m looking at you ROH venue in Manassas!) I was a bit worried about attendance coming in, as one of the four sides of the ring had zero chairs and instead had the commentary table set up. Keep in mind though that in addition to the chairs on the floor, the arena had built in bleachers (though 99% of the people sat in chairs). In fact, some of the staff brought out additional chairs for some fans. The overall attendance number I heard was 257, which is honestly better than I expected. Many of the fans both from Manassas and the Philadelphia CHIKARA shows also made the trip, and it was cool seeing a familiar set of faces (and chants/reactions, as we would find out). This answered another one of my questions; would the draw of CHIKARA in Baltimore be solely based on Manami Toyota or by the company as a whole? Judging by the crowd, I feel as if most every person in attendance would have come to the show whether or not Manami Toyota was there or not. Most everyone who traveled knew what CHIKARA was, and it seemed as if a lot of the crowd were Maryland wrestling fans or families spending their Saturday night at a wrestling show. Needless to say, I think if (fingers crossed) CHIKARA does make a return to Maryland, they’ll be able to get people in the door with or without Toyota.

We kicked things off with Delirious taking on Jimmy “Equinox” Olsen. This is the match when my friend Bryan and I had an epiphany: CHIKARA allows Rudos to be a little wackier once the crowd has fully responded to them as such. In this match, Delirious and Ares were having more fun with the crowd than usual. There’s not much to say about the match itself, though Equinox and Delirious definitely had a solid opener. Delirious got the win with the Bizarro Driver, and I was wondering whether or not we’d be bombarded with BDK wins all night or if this was a sign that the winds of change were a-blowin’.

One of the matches I was looking forward to most of all was The Soul Touchaz vs. F.I.S.T. I was pretty surprised this was the second match on the show, but it was fun. Remember what I said about Rudos being wacky? Well F.I.S.T. is back in full force on the goofy, wacky train of fun. I could not be more happy. I guess that’s what happens when the ultra serious ass kicker (Gran Akuma) leaves your group and Johnny Gargano replaces him. I know it’s such a little detail, but I was so happy that Gargano had matching tights with Icarus and Chuck Taylor. The Soul Touchaz got a great reaction as well and won over the Baltimore crowd with easy. We had wackiness off the bat when one of the Touchaz (Acid Jaz, I believe) grabbed Icarus’ buttocks and Taylor yelled “That is NOT his soul!” in response. This was a really fun, wacky match that had the crowd entertained throughout. The best spot by far was Willie pouncing all three members of F.I.S.T. individually. The best was Icarus, who he pounced last and the hardest. The finish was right out of the Ultimate Warrior/Rick Rude Wrestlemania V match. Willie had Icarus up in a vertical suplex, and from the floor Taylor tripped Willie. Icarus landed on top of Willie, and Taylor held Willie’s legs down so he could not kick out. Of course, referee Bryce Remsburg didn’t see it so he counted three and gave F.I.S.T. the win. F.I.S.T. insisted on Bryce raising all three of their hands at the same time on the floor.

In a mismatch of epic proportions, Brodie Lee took on Helios. Helios has been killing it this year (as both Helios and Ricochet) especially in matches where he faces guys larger than him. Helios’ interaction with Team Big Japan at King of Trios was awesome, and I’ve heard nothing but universal praise with his match against Claudio Castagnoli at PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles earlier this month. So when I see a match like this, I had an expectation as to what i was hoping to see. Sadly, my expectations weren’t met. For whatever reason this match felt a bit disjointed and at time, sloppy. Maybe it was my certain angle or something else, but it seems like these two didn’t click. I will say though that the finish to the match was awesome. Helios springboards off the top rope and as he comes down, Brodie Lee catches him with a big boot. It was spectacular. I should also note that the aisle for this show was unusually long for a CHIKARA show, so Helios decided to backflip all the way down the aisle. That was really cool.

It bothered me so much that CHIKARA only announced three out of the four teams in the four team elimination match, mostly because I was overthinking the last team. Would it be something awesome like Akira Tozawa and a partner? Would it be something like Tursas and Sara Del Rey? Or would it be Obariyon and Ultramantis Black? Well, I was right…sort of. It was Obariyon…and a second Obariyon!? Well, it turns out the dude’s name is Kodama (though I swear I heard Tostada from Gavin Loudspeakeer) who looks just like Obariyon; long black hair, green and black face paint, tattoos. It should be noted that it seems these two gentlemen are aligned with Ultramantis Black. While watching the Young Lions Cup VIII DVD’s, I noticed something. On Night One, Ultramantis Black was flanked by two “druids” in all black robes and hoods. On Nights Two and Three, Mantis only had one druid by his side. Funny, as Obariyon wrestled on Nights Two and Three. Then, Obariyon and Kodama wrestle in Baltimore and Mantis had NO druids with him that night. At Brooklyn the following night, Obariyon and Kodama did not wrestle and Mantis had both druids with him during the evening. At this point it’s pretty obvious that they’re the two dudes in the druid outfits. Anyways, the match itself was pretty good. The other three teams were Incoherence (Hallowicked & Frightmare), The Osirian Portal (Amasis & Ophidian), and The UnStable (Vin Gerard & STIGMA). Obariyon and Kodama were somewhat sloppy, and Obariyon definitely did not show off the level of competency or promise he showed during Young Lions Cup weekend. The first team taken out was the UnStable, as Frightmare hit STIGMA with the Kneecolepsy. This will further build to the disintegration between STIGMA and Gerard I am sure. In hindisight, I’m not entirely sure Colin Delaney was doing commentary doing this match although it is very likely he was (since he did commentary for much of the first half). Obariyon and Kodama were the next to go, as Amasis nailed the debuting Kodama with a rolling forearm to score the pin. This brought the match down to just The Osirian Portal and Incoherence, and the match picked up from here. We got some great back and forth action from both teams, and Ophidian was able to catch former Campeon de Parejas Hallowicked with his prawn hold to score the pin and the victory, allowing the Portal to leave this match with two points in two. The Portal were going into Brooklyn with the chance to pick up a third point and a shot at whomever would be Campeones de Parejas at the close of the evening.

During intermission, there was one individual I wanted to seek out: the Auditer of the Board of Directors for CHIKARA, Wink Vavasseur. I had first heard of Vavasseur’s presence reading Young Lions Cup reports. My friend and I noticed him almost immediately once we were seated, as he was walking around ringside in a full suit, glasses, and combed hair; not a normal look for a professional wrestling show. My friend went up to him first as when I was elsewhere and confirmed that the man was indeed Mr. Vavasseur. I walked up to him and he was not pleased that his identity had been revealed. However, he did admit that if he was trying to remain undercover that his outfit wasn’t doing him many favors. I explained to him that I wrote this here column and had emailed him about a month ago asking for information. He told me he deleted most of his emails since they were usually of no value, but assured me if I emailed him again that he would respond. So, per his request, I wrote to him Monday. As of this article, I have heard no word for him. Either Mr. Vavasseur is extremely busy, or I have been duped! Needless to say, if I do ever hear back from him, you’ll hear all about it.

We came back from intermission with a match that myself and many fans were anticipating: Eddie Kingston vs. Pinkie “Pink Ant” Sanchez. It is abundantly apparent that Kingston is the most over guy on the roster. Everyone stands up and applauds for him when he comes out (though who knows, that could be out of fear) as Kingston walks with purpose around the ring as the instrumental version of “Blueprint 2” by Jay-Z roars over the PA system. My impression was that Kingston would decimate poor Sanchez, and that’s essentially what happened. Sanchez chose his shots wisely, targeting Kingston’s legs in an attempt to keep things in his favor. All was for naught however, as Kingston’s power and hard shots would give him the duke in the end. Kingston’s trusty Sliding D wasn’t enough for Kingston, as he then picked up Sanchez and hit his patented “Backfist to the Future” to pick up a much needed win for CHIKARA.

The BDK action didn’t stop, as Tim Donst and Lince Dorado teamed up for the second time this year in tag team action to take on Mike Quackenbush and Jigsaw. Quack and Jigsaw ran to the ring and immediately took it to Donst and Dorado. Jigsaw and Dorado tussled while Quack and Donst fought on the floor. Quack and Jigsaw have grown immensely as a team. I’ve found that a lot of their double team sequences have gotten tighter and are now able to be executed more quickly than when the team first formed. Donst and Dorado have grown a lot to, and these teams put on a heck of a performance where you could tell each guy was filled with disdain for their opponents. Quack was able to score the victory over Lince with the Quackendriver IV. Dorado has begun dropping the ball for the BDK, as he first didn’t win the Young Lions Cup tournament; now he lost this match, giving Quack and Jigsaw their second point towards a shot at the Campeones de Parejas. This wouldn’t be the only time that Lince dropped the ball this weekend, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Whether or not the fans knew who she was became irrelevant when Manami Toyota walked through the curtain. She received a tremendous reaction, with all the fans standing and applauding with respect to the Joshi legend as she entered the ring. Opposing her was the female spitfire of the BDK, Daizee Haze. Toyota seemed to be about the same build as Del Rey, and essentially made Haze her human play toy. Toyota stretched, beat down, and threw Haze around much to the delight of the Baltimore faithful. Haze was not without her moments, as she would get her own shots and shining moments in as well. Things were serious when Haze hit Toyota with the bridging German suplex that helped her beat Amazing Kong a couple months back, but it was not enough to keep Toyota down. Neither was a dive from the top rope to the floor. Haze had also avoided Toyota’s Japanese Ocean Cyclone suplex twice in the match, beating on Toyota’s head until Toyota set her down. However, the third time did prove to be the charm, as Toyota his the Ocean Cyclone to score the pinfall victory on Haze. I was very happy that Toyota went over clean as a sheet in her U.S. debut and had quite a good match on top of it. I was anticipating some sort of BDK reaction at the end, like Sara Del Rey running out and beating Toyota down, but it was not to be. Toyota was met with “Toyota!” and “Please Come Back!” chants. Toyota seemed genuinely pleased and excited to see how warm a reaction she had received. She deserved it.

The main event match was the one that I was most excited for; Claudio Castagnoli & Ares defending their Campeones de Parejas against 3.0 (Scott “Jagged” Parker & Shane Matthews). I’ll admit this now; I LOVE 3.0. A lot. To me, they’re the most consistently entertaining in CHIKARA. They never fail to make me laugh or smile when they’re in the ring, and their in ring work ain’t shabby either! Out of seven CHIKARA events I’ve attended in the past, 3.0 (or then, 2.0) appeared at none of them. Finally, here in Baltimore, I would see them in action. Not only that, I would see them in their first attempt at winning Los Campeonatos de Parejas! Claudio and Ares entered first. As “Beat It” by Fall Out Boy hit the fans got a little rambunctious. Jagged and Matthews emerged, but it wasn’t long before BDK confidant Delirious attacked them from behind (even breaking one of the plastic barriers with Matthews). Ares and Claudio joined the fray, and Ares scored the first on Jagged with the Tiger Driver (or as my buddy Justin Houston calls it, the Toblerone Driver). As most BDK matches go, the second fall saw them beat down their foes in 3.0. Jagged got bullied the most, though Matthews was so rattled that after taking a swig of water on the floor he collapsed into a heap. The fans chanted “H20!” and Matthews cracked a smile and shook his head, since Matthews asked the fans to chant for Jagged. Jagged shocked the fans by cradling Claudio to win the second fall, giving the BDK their first ever pinfall in a Campeonatos de Parejas match. The fans came unglued for this fall, and the locker room emptied with Tecnicos surrounding one side of the ring as soon as that fall was attained. Things were hot for the rest of the match (and I had a personal mark out moment for Matthews’ awesome “HEADSCISSORS!” spot). I swear, the entire building gasped and time stood still when 3.0 rolled up one of the BDK members and thought they won the match. It was seriously the closest 2 count I’ve ever seen live. It was not to be though, as Claudio turned Matthews into the Inverted CHIKARA Special for the second fall and the victory. The fans applauded 3.0 as did the Tecnicos. Jagged said “I guess the promised land will just have to wait!” before leaving to more cheers.

I was thrilled with the Baltimore debut on a number of levels. The fans were fun and bountiful, the arena was comfortable and easily accessible, and the wrestling was a lot of fun. My friends commented on how fun the night was as we hopped on I-95 South, recounting our favorite moments and hoping that CHIKARA would make a return in 2011.

Also, Jakob Hammermeier is the greatest human being of all time.

Baltimore wasn’t the only city CHIKARA visited this weekend, as the following evening they took their caravan to Brooklyn, NY. As some of you may know, fellow 411 writer (and dear friend to yours truly) Ari Berenstein is a CHIKARA fan and a Brooklyn native! As some of you may also know, I wrote a write-up for Ari’s “Column of Honor” last month, discussing my live perspective of Ring of Honor’s Richmond, VA debut. Ari has more than paid me back with a very detailed recap of CHIKARA’s Brooklyn debut. So without further adue, take it away Ari!

Something strange caught the corner of my eye while driving with my friend Paul up through Driggs Avenue, looking for a place to park. It was the sight of a long line of people wrapped around the corner cheering and generating other loud noises of excitement. Peeking through the space between the throng were two men in ant masks. This was the place, alright. It seemed we had gotten to The Warsaw Polish National Hall just a shade too late to witness an epic turf war on these tough Brooklyn streets—a dance-off between The Osirian Portal of snake-man Ophidian and “The Funky Pharaoh” Amasis, dueling move-for-move and groove-for-groove against Fire Ant and Green Ant of The Colony. Yes, CHIKARA Pro Wrestling was here in Brooklyn and for the next four hours they made a lot of noise and had a lot of fun, producing a successful debut and a night of incredible and hard-worked efforts.

Actually, Greenpoint isn’t quite as tough as the neighboring Bushwick community to the West. It’s more of a hamlet of small interconnected blocks and residencies. The neighborhood is a mix of young hipsters, multi-generational Polish families and an influx of nationalities from the adjacent blocks. Additionally, The Warsaw has been home to many different concert performances and has even hosted shows from Kaiju Big Battel. Even still, the presence of professional wrestlers from that promotion and this one in this part of Brooklyn certainly created a strange and jarring juxtaposition. Wrestlers in masks and track jackets doing dance moves on sidewalks—would it all fit together in the five boroughs?

The crowd makeup was certainly interesting, which is to say a weird and almost frightening confluence of different social groups. It was a mix of CHIKARA diehards who travel to the shows, Williamsburg hipsters who had heard about the event, the old, the young, the handicapped and a surprising amount of special needs groups…and Paul and I stuck right in the middle of it all.

Paul is a long-time wrestling fan who liked WCW more than WWE back in the day, is still into TNA because he likes a lot of the personalities on the show and can’t really get into Ring of Honor because for him, it’s too serious and a bit too heavily-wrestling oriented. While this was my first live CHIKARA experience after five years of following the promotion through DVDs and the internet, this was his first major exposure ever to the promotion. I did my best to introduce him to the major personalities (some of whom like Claudio Castagnoli, Delirious, Daizee Haze and Sara Del Rey he already knew) and storylines—being a big fan of the nWo storyline, he was ready and excited to see this CHIKARA versus BDK war go down.

Luckily we found a parking spot right outside The Warsaw even though we showed up a mere half hour before the 3:30 PM scheduled time for doors open. As it turns out there was a short delay and we didn’t get in to the building until 4, but even then there were long lines and lots of people. The Warsaw was so jammed-packed that by the time Paul and I walked in, most if not all of the seats were already occupied or claimed. That meant standing room only for the rest of the ticket holders. Paul and I quickly found room against a wall, but moved upon request for some special needs customers. Luckily enough, Paul found a space near the back wall with an unoccupied table. We jumped up on the table and boom—instant seating room amid some unused posters, a water bottle and a half-eaten bag of Funyuns. Mmmmmm, Funyuns.

Along the way I also met Peter, a long-time fan of Manami Toyota who also had never attended a CHIKARA show (but had been to ROH several times). He felt that he had to come down from Pennsylvania to Brooklyn for the opportunity to see one of the most prominent Joshi wrestlers make her first-ever wrestling appearances in the United States. It did intrigue me to see how the crowd would react to Toyota. She was a well-known top woman’s wrestler in Japan, but how well could that translate to the combination of CHIKARA’s cult fan base and a non-hardcore Brooklyn crowd?

As it turned out, it translated quite amazingly well. While the Brooklyn crowd was mostly hot, energetic and enthusiastic throughout the night, Manami Toyota had the best reception, the loudest and the most number of ovations by far. For those who wouldn’t have known who she was and what she meant to women’s wrestling, by the end of the night, they would walk away impressed. For me, she wasn’t the main reason I was attending the show and I could count on one hand how many matches of hers I had seen. However, it was hard to ignore her effort and the specialness of the moment created that night in the ring, in CHIKARA, in The Warsaw, in Brooklyn.

Emcee Gavin Loudspeaker ran down to ringside to the tunes of the opening theme song from the CHIKARA DVDs and when the song cut off he finished it acapella. His efforts throughout the show as well as those of Bruderschaft dez Kruses announcer Jakob Hammermeier should be commended. Loudspeaker had a very pleasing rapport with the audience, keeping the show moving swiftly from one match to the other and sprinkling in just small tidbits of pitches for a raffle and such to where they didn’t get overly annoying or nagging. His interactions with Hammermeier throughout the evening were terrific as well. Hammermeier’s demands for respect (“REZSHPECT!”) grew more comical and desperate with every BDK loss, but he also was able to generate tremendous amounts of heat. The crowd hated him from moment one, but they abhorred his presence by the end of the night. For the most part, Gavin got one over on Jakob until the main event, where Jakob leveled Gavin from behind just as he was to introduce Quackenbush and Toyota so that he could introduce the BDK team. Gavin recovered enough to get the introductions done anyway.

The show opened up with Team F.I.S.T. of Chuck Taylor, Icarus and Johnny Gargano against the combination of Solider Ant and 3.0 (Shane Matthews and Scott Parker). Green Ant informed the crowd of his injury as well as Fire Ant’s inability to compete due to some sort of head trauma, but then invited us to “feel the flow of 3.0”. They received a great pop, but unfortunately they didn’t come out to their “Beat It” theme song due to technical issues (which were pretty much resolved after this for the rest of the show)-the one great disappointment of the night. This was a very fast paced affair which was used as an ice breaker for anyone who was new to the promotion to introduce the style and tone of the matches that were to come. 3.0 did lots of moves in threes (as is befitting their name), while everyone else flew around and used the trios combinations to take advantage.

As would become a theme throughout the night, there were many huge impact moves late in the match that were used as false finishes—sometimes the fans bit on them (for example here and during the Osirian Portal vs. Haze and Delirious match) and sometimes they proved to be somewhat of an overkill. Nonetheless everyone was busting their butt and it was clearly an important show, so it’s hard to knock the “Wrestlemania kick-out” style used throughout the night. 3.0 matched up in the latter stages against Team F.I.S.T. and actually outsmarted them for a long time. Eventually Team F.I.S.T. did win the match with a fantastically killer looking Awful Waffle piledriver from Taylor, pinning Solider Ant, who received a nice round of applause for his efforts. So it looks as if Team F.I.S.T. is resurgent while The Colony is on the ropes with injuries and losses piling up. This was a great first fifteen minutes and one heck of a first impression.

The second bout was Ultramantis Black (accompanied by two fully cloaked druids) against Hallowicked in what was a short and average match, which mostly was Ultramantis repeatedly stating he didn’t want to fight his rival but rather wanted him to join forces, mixed in-between weak chops and savage impact moves from both. It was likely that a lot of the crowd didn’t understand (or know about) the storyline of Ultramantis assembling his team for Cibernetico and needing Hallowicked to join his side. Hallowicked didn’t care to hear his pitch (or most likely just didn’t understand what UMB was saying) and so Ultramantis was forced to fight. He defeated Hallowicked with his Praying Mantis Bomb (which was more of a fall-away Angel’s Wings) and again made his appeal to Hallowicked, who simply walked out of the ring and to the back.

The Osirian Portal defeated the BDK combination of Delirious and Daizee Haze is a strong match with lots of great tag team action. Surprisingly there was a small pro-BDK support from the crowd at the beginning of this match, although the crowd uniformly booed them during the other remaining matches throughout the night. Haze wrestled the men as an equal, often times dominating them. There were some in the crowd who didn’t quite jive with the notion that Haze could hang, but by the end of the match the entire crowd was going crazy for the action. Haze impressed the most during a sequence where she German suplexed both Amasis and Ophidian consecutively for close two counts. The Portal came back from behind and had several very close moments where it seemed like it was a sure thing they would win but Delirious or Haze would save their partner. Finally The Portal was able to clear Delirious out of the ring and successfully execute The Osirian Sacrament (simultaneous splash and legdrop) onto Haze for the sure-fire, this-has-gotta-be-it pinfall. The Portal now has three points and can challenge the BDK team of Claudio Castagnoli and Ares for the Campeonatos de Parejas in the near future. An excellent match that ended up being one of my favorites of the night.

The first half concluded with another trios match, the BDK unit of Tim Donst, Lince Dorado and Tursas (who looks absolutely ginormous live and in living color) against Da Soul Touchaz of Marshe Rockett, Acid Jazz and Willie Richardson. Da Soul Touchaz were over with the crowd immediately as they entered to the ring with C-Red doing the Soulja Boy dance. This was another fun and action-packed match with the usual expected cohesion from DST and a few nice touches with the giants on each side (Richardson and Tursas) going at it. Lince Dorado, while playing the cocky son-of-a-you-know-what was still able to show off some amazing athleticism in his crisp and clean execution of a Lionsault and a Shooting Star Press. I think Donst was somewhat overshadowed in this one as he didn’t have much time to showcase his particular repertoire, but the heat he and Lince were able to get from the crowd made up for it. Also, at some point Rockett took a sick looking closeline and an ugly bump on his head and neck. There were a few of those throughout the night, which made me feel a bit uncomfortable at times. I know the guys went all-out to impress, but there’s a difference between wowing the crowd and being stupid in the bumps taken to wow the crowd.

Da Soul Touchaz surprised BDK when Acid Jazz used the Swiss Mist to blind Lince or Donst (I can’t recall which one) and then Richardson unleashed the massive POUNCE on Lince for the win. Da Soul Touchaz won another one against BDK. They really played it up after the match that they have the BDK’s number and it hit Tim Donst hard, pushing and shoving and talking down to Lince afterwards, blaming him for the loss. He, Tursas and Jakob Hammermeier all walked to the back without him. Thus, the cracks in the foundation are beginning to show for the BDK, as constant face wins are frustrating them and making them take it out on each other.

After a twenty-minute intermission the show continued with Eddie Kingston (obviously over in Brooklyn New York given his street-tough persona and demeanor) against Ares who had Delirious in tow with his collar-and-chain. This was a short match (like seven minutes) but it was physical and hard-fought throughout. These two wasted no time in brawling, starting the match out of the ring. Eddie handled both Ares and Delirious, but soon Eddie took a horrible looking bump on his neck and back which took the wind out of him. The Brooklyn crowd rallied him on but it was clear he was hurt legit. Claudio Castagnoli soon came out for the distraction to help his tag partner, who allowed Delirious to hit Kingston with the chain and Ares rolled Eddie up for the win. Kingston struck back with an attack after the match that included his backfist, but the BDK got out of danger, leaving Eddie to throw chairs down on the floor in visible anger at having missed another opportunity to gain retribution against his enemies.

The Future is Now (Jigsaw, Jimmy “Equinox” Olsen & Helios) defeated The UnStable via disqualification, but the bigger story was the culmination of a Collin Delaney Olsen face turn and a reunion of The Olsen Twins tag team. For the past year Jimmy and Collin had been feuding when Collin betrayed his brother and joined The UnStable unit of Vin Gerard and STIGMA. Then Jimmy Olsen took on the mantle of Vin Gerard’s former identity to throw it back at the rudos that he could succeed where they couldn’t. The two teams had been feuding off-and-on ever since and there was deep history here, even if this wasn’t one of the more heavily hyped or anticipated matches of the evening.

There seemed to be a rift in that unstable stable earlier in the year when Vin disagreed with Collin’s more malevolent interference against The Portal. However that was all revealed to be a ruse and The UnStable were reformed, supposedly stronger than ever. I hadn’t been keeping up on CHIKARA results leading into this match, so the face turn for Colin was a bit swift for me, especially because there really wasn’t much animosity between him and Vin Gerard during this match. In fact The UnStable controlled much of the battle, except for brief moments of flash and sizzling impact / high flying moves from the technicos. Apparently though the disagreements had been foreshadowed in the thirty-man Royal Rumble style match done during the YLC weekend.

I can’t remember in hindsight if Colin spent any time in the ring against his brother during this match as that would have been a nice foreshadowing of the turn, which happened when Vin demanded Collin help him to finish off Jimmy once and for all. Instead, Collin let Jimmy down off a suplex position and attacked both Gerard and STIGMA, to a very nice pop from the crowd. However, STIGMA and Gerard soon recovered and managed to low blow both Collin and Jimmy right in the front of the referee for the flagrant DQ call. Collin, Jimmy, Jigsaw and Helios chased off Gerard and STIGMA, leaving the two brothers in the ring. It was clear that Collin wanted reconciliation but Jimmy was hesitant. I screamed out “you’re brothers man!” and “hug it out”, which helped to lead to a full chant a few moments later. Jimmy turned down the offer and walked out to the stage.

As a last ditch effort, Collin asked the music man to hit it, and Britney Spears’ “Toxic” (the former team music) played over the PA. Apparently, the power of The Britney was too much to resist and Jimmy walked back down, got into the ring and did in fact hug it out, embracing his brother. It was a very nice moment although probably could have meant more and received an even better reaction had it took place at The Arena, where a lot of the The Future is Now vs. UnStable feud had played out over the last two years. Also, this seemingly ends TFIN, as Jigsaw will be spending time fighting the BDK during Cibernetico and The Olsen Twins are now reborn as a duo, leaving Helios to go it alone.

Fightmare successfully defended his newly won Young Lions Cup against the ineffable Pinkie “Pink Ant” Sanchez. By this point Paul was able to whistle the BDK theme music perfectly since he had heard it so much throughout the night. I reckoned it would soon be used to torture detainees in Guantanamo Bay.

The match was slower paced and surprisingly more technical at the start. There were a lot of show stealing moments by that point, so the crowd was also a bit tired and didn’t pop quite so loud for the highspots. However, the audience genuinely liked Frightmare and so his persona carried the day above anything else he did in the ring (and he did do a lot of his impressive dives and dodges). They also disliked Pinkie tremendously, so he played a lot to the fans and taunted them during the heat segments. Frightmare eventually ducked out of two attempts at the Burning Snicklefritz and then landed the Kneecolepsy for the pinfall in another BDK loss on the evening. I was very pleased with the amount of technicos wins against the BDK, because it’s definitely time for that to be happening and lo and behold, not only are the good guys winning but they’re winning big and winning important matches to great crowd response.

Speaking of, the Brooklyn crowd absolutely lit up for the main event from beginning to end, with “Toyota” chants before the opening entrance music and building up in volume and intensity throughout the next twenty-plus minutes. Mike Quackenbush also received a hero’s welcome, and while they were booed it was also clear that the fans knew and respected the talents of Claudio Castagnoli and Sara Del Rey. However, they were here for the Manami Toyota show and for the most part that’s what they got.

The beginning of the match definitely seemed to be fragmented and disjointed with Quack and Manami being a bit tentative and soft in the ring, Manami even stumbling on her first major move against Del Rey, an attempted springboard using the bottom rope for momentum. The crowd was very kind to her and they moved on quickly, with Manami hitting some signature moves and the fans loving it. More than any other match this evening it felt like the crowd was there as a cheerleader, egging everyone on and letting them know they would support the match.

As with the Haze and Delirious vs. Portal match, the women also mixed it up unhesitatingly against the men, which made for some really cool exchanges between Manami and Claudio (including her being able to land an awesome looking Manami Roll on Claudio, which is a sequence he actually does when wrestling against smaller men) as well as Del Rey outright dominating Quackenbush several times during the body of match, forcing him either to out-think Del Ray and avoid damage or to use teamwork with Manami to handle her.

For me, this match was about being able to see Claudio vs. Quack in the ring. I have been fortunate enough to see both men live several times in Ring of Honor, but never against each other. I believe these two have perfect chemistry in the ring and have enjoyed seeing their matches through DVD. Live, the experience of seeing these two bust out hurricanranas, headscissors and running Europeans into each other was on another level. They pulled out the carousel tilt-a-whirl into the armdrag, which is a personal favorite of mine. The highlight of their exchanges happened on an insane Dragonrana by Quackenbush that was picture-perfect beautiful.

Manami got the comeback and landed some amazing flying dropkicks on Claudio, Del Ray and on both of them at the same time. She just hurled herself downwards with such force and velocity. It was hard to believe that a woman with so much time in the business would continue to put herself on the line like this, but she did and it was thoroughly appreciated by the fans. The one move she couldn’t quite nail on Sara was the Ocean Cyclone, but instead she hit a vicious Queen Bee Bomb and then to the delight of the CHIKARA fans applied the ubiquitous CHIKARA Special on Del Rey for the submission victory. The fans exploded in cheers for Toyota, for Quackenbush, for CHIKARA and for the whole night of special experiences.

Quackenbush thanked just about everyone–Manami, the wrestlers, the fans, The Warsaw—for the evening. It was a great show, no doubt. While there was no return date announced, it seems like a given they will be back at some point in the future.

At times it was surreal to see wrestlers walking through the crowd in between matches—being that close to the Ants or Jigsaw or Helios almost served to create a bizarre living cartoon world inside that hall. It was the level of intimacy between fans and wrestlers that I haven’t seen or felt in quite some time, even in ROH. Leaving the building and having the wrestlers and staffers lined up to thank us for coming out and wishing a goodnight was almost as if we were leaving Oz or going back through the looking glass. Paul and I pulled out and headed back onto the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, all the while raving about the show and knowing there’s no place like CHIKARA.

If you’re like me, after reading Ari’s report, you can not wait to get your hands on the Brooklyn DVD. Who knows, you may feel the same way after reading my Baltimore report. Luckily for the lot of us, we don’t have to wait long! In a few short days, both “Eye to Eye” and “Through Savage Progress Cuts the Jungle Line” will be available on DVD through Smart Mark Video. In case you completely ignored everything above, here are the full line-ups for both shows.

“Eye To Eye”
1. Jimmy “Equinox” Olsen vs. Delirious
2. The Soul Touchaz (Marshe Rockett, Acid Jaz, & Willie “da Bomb” Richardson) vs. Team F.I.S.T. (Icarus, Chuck Taylor, & Johnny Gargano)
3. Helios vs. Brodie Lee
4. Incoherence vs. The Osirian Portal vs. The UnStable (Vin Gerard & STIGMA) vs. Obariyon & Kodama
5. Eddie Kingston vs. Pinkie “Pink Ant” Sanchez
6. Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw vs. Tim Donst & Lince Dorado
7. Manami Toyota vs. Daizee Haze
8. Campeonatos de Parejas: Claudio Castagnoli & Ares vs. 3.0

“Through Savage Progress Cuts The Jungle Line”
1. Soldier Ant & 3.0 vs. Team F.I.S.T. (Icarus, Chuck Taylor, & Johnny Gargano)
2. Hallowicked vs. Ultramantis Black
3. The Osirian Portal vs. Delirious & Daizee Haze
4. The Soul Touchaz (Marshe Rockett, Acid Jaz, & Willie “da Bomb” Richardson) vs. Tim Donst, Tursas, & Lince Dorado
5. Eddie Kingston vs. Ares
6. The Future Is Now (Jigsaw, Jimmy “Equinox” Olsen, & Helios) vs. The UnStable (Vin Gerard, STIGMA, & Colin Delaney)
7. Young Lions Cup: Frightmare vs. Pinkie “Pink Ant” Sanchez
8. Mike Quackenbush & Manami Toyota vs. Claudio Castagnoli & Sara Del Rey

The 231st Podcast-A-Go-Go is live! This week, Wiggly and Gavin continue to cover King of Trios Weekend. This week has a few clips of the Tag Team Gauntlet from Night Three.

Here’s a fantastic music video featuring Mike Quackenbush set to the fine tunes of Stan Bush and his song, “The Touch”.

Here’s a video of Sugar Dunkerton interviewing…Sugar Dunkerton…?

My CHIKARA blog, The CHIKARA Special, is still going strong. I have reviewed all three nights of The Young Lions Cup tournament from this year: Night One, Night Two, and Night Three. So make sure to subscribe to the blog (on the right) and continue reading my sweet CHIKARA related reviews as updates occur pretty consistently. 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.

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.. He recently reviewed WWE’s Night of Champions 2008 and 2009 and DGUSA’s “Open the Ultimate Gate” as well. Check it out!

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 I’ll be back to discuss the upcoming events in Easton, PA (Cibernetico!) and in Hamden, CT. In the meantime, be sure to check out The CHIKARA Special blog! See you in seven!

Other Links!
The CHIKARA Home Page .
The brand spankin’ new official CHIKARA message board.
Buy CHIKARA DVD’s at Smart Mark Video
Don’t like DVD’s? Stream CHIKARA shows for half the price at Hybrid Entertainment Television!
Follow CHIKARA on Facebook
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CHIKARA on MySpace
CHIKARA on YouTube
CHIKARA 101 on YouTube
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