411’s Buy or Sell 4.22.11: CHIKARA’s King of Trios Fallout, iPPV, Japan and More!

Steve Cook: BUY – I don’t think there are more appropriate examples of the style of wrestling that CHIKARA presents than Fire Ant, Soldier Ant & Green Ant. They’re ants and they wrestle. What’s not to love? Yeah, there were some fun teams involved like the SAT, Team Michinoku Pro, Team Minnesota & Mike Quackenbush’s team with Jigsaw & Manami Toyota, but the Colony wrestles a fun style and has a ridiculous gimmick the likes of which you’d only find in CHIKARA. They didn’t need the win to get over with the fans, but it’s certainly well-deserved.

Ryan Byers: BUY – For some time now, the Colony has been put over as one of the strongest units in CHIKARA, and it has been a while since they’ve had any major accolades to back up that reputation. In fact, last year, they were almost seemingly demoted as they spent a lot of time putting over the BDK. They need something big to keep them from having their reputations slip, and the King of Trios win fit the bill perfectly.

1 for 1.

Ryan Byers: SELL – I see this as being similar to Kota Ibushi’s Rey de Voladores win from 2009, in which the purpose seemed to be not necessarily to establish a new regular for the CHIKARA roster but rather to put a VERY talented outsider in as many good/unique matches as possible to sell some DVDs. Generico may seem to be a good fit in CHIKARA from a character standpoint, but he’s one of those guys who, in my mind, would’ve been a regular in the promotion by this point if he was ever going to be a regular. (Especially during that period during which he was seemingly being kept out of ROH for no good reason.)

Steve Cook: BUY – Generico has already appeared on multiple shows for the promotion in 2011, seemingly making this promotion a priority when he doesn’t have Ring of Honor business to attend to. He’s a good fit for CHIKARA with his kid-friendly gimmick, humorous antics & skillful wrestling. He won’t be on every show, but I’d be surprised if he didn’t make more appearances in the next few months, perhaps teaming with younger wrestlers to help them get over.

1 for 2.

Steve Cook: SELL – Nostalgia is always great in small doses, and perhaps appearances from the Kid on select shows would do pretty good business, especially if he’s in good condition to do his thing. I think if he did it too much it’d get watered down and wouldn’t be as special as it was during KOT weekend.

Ryan Byers: SELL – I think that Waltman becoming the 1-2-3 Kid again was one of those gimmicks that was AWESOME once but would have rapidly diminishing returns if it were trotted out again. It’s sort of like the nostalgia pops that Hulk Hogan gets when he shows back up on WWE television. They’re awesome for the first couple of weeks and then people get tired of the routine and start to sit on their hands. Plus, the more that you use an old WWE gimmick, the more likely you are to draw the ire of the WWE legal department, and that’s probably something that neither CHIKARA nor Waltman want to put up with.

2 for 3.

Ryan Byers: SELL – It doesn’t necessarily confirm Osaka Pro representation at another CHIKARA show this year. There are actually a lot of different directions that they could take this one. First of all, it’s not unprecedented for a CHIKARA team to hold on to their three points for quite some time before cashing them in . . . so it’s entirely possible that Harada and Kotoge won’t go for the gold until they’re back for King of Trios or some similar large event next year. Also, CHIKARA sent several wrestlers to Japan to wrestle for Osaka Pro last year, so it’s also entirely possible that the championship match will take place on the other side of the Pacific under O-Pro’s banner. Yes, Kotoge and Harada could be back this year, but it’s not a given.

Steve Cook: BUY – I don’t think CHIKARA would have had Kotoge & Harada win the match and earn the points unless they were fairly certain that they could book them again in the not-so-distant future. My guess is that they come back at one of the promotion’s bigger shows this year, perhaps during a trip to the NYC market.

2 for 4.

Steve Cook: BUY – Mike Quackenbush has said in the past that they haven’t done iPPV yet because they’ve seen the problems that the format has, and don’t want their shows to be full of technical glitches and difficulties. I’ve watched a couple of ROH iPPV shows with horrible audio quality that makes the commentary impossible to keep up with. The only guy I could hear most of the time was Jim Cornette, and that was just because he’s so damn loud. Assuming that the format becomes more reliable in the next year or so, I see CHIKARA adopting it on a limited basis. Perhaps they’ll broadcast Night 1 or Night 2 but keep Night 3 exclusive to DVD sales so they continue to make good money for Smart Mark Video.

Ryan Byers: SELL – iPPV has been around for a little while now, and CHIKARA is usually an early adopter of new technology in wrestling. For example, take a look at their video podcast (which is something that still really has yet to be replicated elsewhere) and their attempt to do downloadable “pod per views” before internet pay per view had been given much consideration by the wrestling community. As a result, I think that, if they were of the opinion that iPPV had anything to offer them, they would have done it already. Besides, with Smart Mark Video releasing this year’s shows on DVD almost literally the day after they wrapped up, watching the show live doesn’t have that much special appeal.

2 for 5.

Ryan Byers: SELL – Maybe I’m crazy, but I just don’t see Dragon Gate doing the same gimmick twice with the same guy. They’ve proven to be a bit more creative than that. Plus Mochizuki has such a history in the company that anybody taking the title off of him will do a lot to elevate them, lengthy reign or not.

Steve Cook: SELL – 323 days seems like a long time for anybody to hold any wrestling title in 2011, even in Dragon Gate where their title reigns can last for quite some time. With all of the competition in that promotion, I can’t see Mochizuki being dominant enough to hold on to the title that long.

3 for 6.

Steve Cook: SELL – I have a hard time believing that a New Japan regular will be the man to take the Triple Crown off of Suwama. Things work differently in Japan, but I think AJPW would be well-served to keep their title on the guy that regularly works for them unless they’re doing an extended storyline with New Japan. I certainly wouldn’t be offended if Nagata won, as he’s a damn good wrestler and has accomplished almost everything there is to accomplish in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Ryan Byers: SELL – Nagata is still a full time New Japan guy, and he was recently in the top mix there, so I don’t see him being loaned out to AJPW in a manner that would allow him to do a run as champion. Plus Nagata is an older wrestler with a lot of cache, whereas Suwama has been around for a while but is still in many ways a younger champion who needs to have his position solidified. A win against Nagata would be a great way to do that, and a loss to Nagata really wouldn’t help anybody.

4 for 7.

Old rivals Ryan Byers and Steve Cook paired off to go 4 for 7 this week! Stay tuned for next week as two new people step up to the plate for Buy or Sell!, and be sure to share your thoughts to this week’s questions in the comments section.