wrestling / Columns
Into the Indies 06.07.11: CHIKARA Invades Osaka
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Into the Indies, the column of columns.
This week, I2I is doing something a little bit different and focusing on a crew of American wrestlers. Specifically, we’re going to take a look at some of our friends from CHIKARA and their efforts to make it big in Japan. This isn’t the first time that we’ve profiled members of the Pennsylvania-based independent group as they’ve travelled overseas. The first such review came when they promoted their own small show in Japan. The second came when a crew of their wrestlers made guest appearances on a Big Japan Wrestling card. Finally, when Egyptian-themed tag team the Osirian Portal got booked by ZERO1, we were there with a review.
One of the big reasons that CHIKARA has been able to send so many of its stars to other promotions is that they have been more than willing to reciprocate in terms of giving Japanese performers spots on their cards. This is especially true during their annual King of Trios mega-tournament, which in the past has featured talent from DDT, Kaientai Dojo, Big Japan, and even Dragon Gate.
However, if there is one Japanese promotion that has stood out for the past two years at King of Trios, it’s none other than Osaka Pro. In 2010, the company sent over its top tag team of Atsushi Kotoge and Daisuke Harada, collectively known as BLOOD AND GUTS, along with Tadasuke, one of the promotion’s top heels. This year, Kotoge and Harada returned, this time bringing along with them masked wrestler Ultimate Spider Jr., who long-time I2I readers might also know as Captain “Churaumi Pirate” Zack from Okinawa Pro Wrestling.
Providing a bit of tit for CHIKARA’s proverbial tat, O-Pro invited a group of Chikky’s best wrestlers over for a tour with the company during Fall 2010. Six American wrestlers made the trip to compete on six different Osaka shows. Representatives from two of CHIKARA’s most intimidating rudo groups were on hand, with Lince Dorado and Tim Donst teaming up to represent the Bruderschaft des Kreuzes (BDK) while Vin Gerard and STIGMA brought their faction, the UnStable, to the Land of the Rising Sun. The technico side of the CHIKARA locker room was also represented, as old time baseball themed wrestler Dasher Hatfield made the trip alongside the diminutive demon Frightmare.
The six show tour, during which the various members of the CHIKARA roster met with mixed success against some of Osaka’s finest, culminated in back-to-back shows on October 30 and October 31, 2010 with the fitting names BATTLE AUTUMN 2010. The Halloween show has been edited down into the following excellent music video by YouTube user billzeroism, which we will take a look at before transitioning into the reviews of the two Osaka Pro matches on October 31 which featured members of the CHIKARA roster.
Match Numero Uno: Tigers Mask, Black Buffalo, & Tadasuke vs. Vin Gerard, STIGMA, & Dasher Hatfield
This is an interesting match in that we’ve got two teams with each featuring a baseball-themed wrestler. O-Pro’s Tigers Mask takes his name and persona from the local Hanshin Tigers baseball team, while CHIKARA’s Dasher Hatfield is based on America’s favorite pastime from the 1920’s. Rounding out Tigers’ team is his regular tag partner Black Buffalo and the aforementioned Tadasuke, while Dasher is in the unenviable position of having two of his American rivals as his partners here, as he’s a babyface paired up with the usually heelish UnStable of Gerard and STIGMA.
When we join the match in progress, the wrestlers are pantomiming a baseball game, a comedy spot that has appeared in some of Dasher’s CHIKARA matches. In this particular instance, Tigers Mask is pitching, Hatfield is at bat, and the ringposts are being used as the bases. After a ball and a strike, Dasher gets a deep “hit” out into the crowd and Hatfield rounds the bases. Black Buffalo, who is the catcher, attempts to keep Hatfield away from home plate, but the Old Timey King of Swing shoulderlbocks his opponent down and tags the base – though the official still tells him he’s out. In the ensuing dispute between the American wrestler and the official, Tigers Mask reenters the ring and schoolboys Dasher for a nearfall.
After that, we’re back to straight professional wrestling, with Hatfield coming back and hitting a baseball slide on Tigers when he leaves the ring and Gerard wiping out Team Osaka with a tope con hilo. Vin gives Buffalo a hiptoss back on the inside and STIGMA follows it up with a backdrop suplex. The third move in the sequence is STIGMA back body dropping his Unstablemate Gerard down on to the bison. Things are looking pretty bleak for team O-Pro, at which point Tadasuke runs interference for his team. He is immediately met with a DDT by STIGMA. Tigers Mask tries his luck, but the Unstable dominates him as well, putting the man in stereo arm ringers and biting his hands. When STIGMA is finally forced out of the ring, Gerard chokes Tigers on the ropes for a bit before tagging out to Dasher.
The American gives Tigers a basement dropkick to the side of his head for a two count, but the feline fighter is able to respond with a jumping kick before going up to the top rope. Dasher cuts him off and tosses him down with the Flair beal, only to fall victim to the same jumping kick. He goes up again and is bealed off again, after which STIGMA comes into the match. He chokes Tigers with a t-shirt behind the referee’s back to a surprisingly large amount of heat and tags out to Gerard. Vin throws Tigers into a BIG German suplex by STIGMA, but it only gets a count of two.
Vin stays on Tigers and looks for a brainbuster, but that gets reversed and the masked man hits one of his own. That sets up a hot tag to Black Buffalo, who makes a very American style comeback on all of the CHIKARA guys until STIGMA cuts him off with a lariat. Buffalo manages to respond with a corner attack, though, eventually taking the former Shane Storm down with a lariat of his own. Gerard sees his man go down and tries to save, but he’s slapped silly by a shotei from Tadasuke, who then plants Dasher Hatfield with an FU. This leads to Tigers Mask getting involved and hitting a sliding headbutt on the CHIKARA contingent while his partners hold them in place. Seconds later, he gives Dasher Hatfield a bridging Tiger Suplex that gets the victory for Team Osaka.
Match Thoughts: This was the opening match on the Battle Autumn show, and, as far as openers go, it did exactly what it needed to do. There wasn’t a lot of structure to the match and it seemed to primarily consist of a bunch of unrelated moves strung together, but all of the moves were well-executed and nobody was out of place for anything, so there’s very little to complain about. Plus the wrestlers gave us a fine little bit of comedy with the baseball game in the early going, which, though not 100% original, was most likely new to the Japanese crowd and fit in almost perfectly with Osaka Pro’s typical sense of humor. Fun stuff here, though I would have liked to have seen the whole thing. From what we got, I would peg it as being around ***.
Match Numero Dos: Tsubasa & Frightmare vs. Lince Dorado & Tim Donst
Now we’ve got match three on the card, featuring undercard babyfaces from across the Pacific teaming up as Osaka’s Tsubasa forms a unit with CHIKARA’s Frightmare. They’re up against an all-CHIKARA team, namely Tim Donst and the now-departed Lince Dorado.
We are again joined in progress, this time with Dorado getting some heat on Frightmare by attempting to unlace his mask. Tsubasa prevents that from happening but doesn’t stop Donst and Dorado from beating on Frightmare, specifically Donst busting out an interesting looking series of rolling gutwrench suplexes and a HIGH arm drag for two. The Golden Lynx checks back in and assists Donst with a double team brainbuster before unloading with some kicks to Frightmare’s back. A double team vertical suplex is the BDK’s next trick, but it can’t quite put Frightmare away. Neither can Lince’s next attempts at offense, as they’re reversed into a tornado DDT by Frighty, giving us the tag to Tsubasa. He delivers dropkicks and ranas to everything that moves, with the last rana in the set leading to a two count on Donst. He follows that up with a snap suplex which also gets two before going into a variation on the Dragon Sleeper. Lince runs in for the save on that one, but Tsubasa roughs him up and ultimately brings him off the top rope with a rana.
However, that was just the distraction that Tim Donst needed, as it gives him an opportunity to run in and take Tsubasa out with a Roll of the Dice. Frightmare is back in, and he avoids a charge by Donst by using a backflip (seriously) and lands in perfect position to hit his opponent with a Rude Awakening-style neckbreaker. At that point, Lince Dorado appears again, and he hits a NICE leaping rana on Frightmare as ‘Mare is sitting on the top rope and Lince is standing below him. Dorado follows that up with a picture-perfect shooting star press, but it only gets two as everybody involved in the match runs in.
All four men do battle with one another, and the BDK members are whipped into one another, followed by Tsubasa elevating Frightmare into a rana on Donst. Lince has gone to the outside at this point, so Tsubasa wipes him out with a tope suicida, while, on the inside, Frightmare gives Tim a kneelift in the corner. He attempts the move for a second time, but, this time around, Donst avoids it and Frightmare winds up crotching himself on the second turnbuckle. Donst pulls him out of that position and hits a German suplex for two, though he holds onto the waistlock and tries the move again. Frightmare slips out and sweeps his opponent’s leg, putting him into perfect position for the Kneecolepsy (a standing moonsault into a double kneedrop to the gut). Frightmare is able to pin Donst with that move.
Match Thoughts: Assuming that everything in the portion of the match that was edited out went as smoothly as everything that made air, this was a damn fine little undercard tag team match. I was particularly impressed by how well Tsubasa and Frightmare meshed as a team despite the fact that they had never really worked together and probably only would have met earlier this week. That’s of particular testament to the abilities of Frightmare, given that he is very early in his professional wrestling career all things considered, as he not just teamed well with Tsubasa right out of the gate but also didn’t look out of place at all when mixing it up with an Osaka Pro roster that has significantly more polish on it. Tim Donst looked fine and Lince Dorado had some really eye popping spots (including the outright beautiful SSP), but this was really Frightmare’s time to shine. Again, this easily could’ve been in the *** neighborhood if the unaired portions were up to par with what we saw.
Overall
The CHIKARA wrestlers weren’t exactly placed in high-level positions on this particular card, so we didn’t get to see everything that they can do. However, they demonstrated that they knew exactly what they needed to do in terms of putting on second and third match performances, hitting all of their big moves and generally putting on solid performances without doing anything to overshadow what was coming later on the card. It is performances like these that will help all six of these wrestlers develop solid reputations overseas and will hopefully turn into more bookings for them.
In fact, their performances did lead to even more CHIKARA wrestlers showing up in Osaka, as Team FIST’s Icarus, BDK’s Tursas, and the Osirian Portal’s Ophidian all popped up on several O-Pro shows throughout May of this year. We’ll almost definitely be taking a look at those matches when they surface.
In reality, there is probably no bigger compliment to the six CHIKARA wrestlers who showed ventured overseas in October that some of their fellow roster members got the same treatment just six short months later. Kudos, gentlemen. It was a job well done.
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