The Independent Mid-Card 01.29.08: Taylor vs. Dorado

Chuck Taylor vs. Lince Dorado
Tournament – Finals
CHIKARA – Rey de Voladores – Philadelphia, PA – April 22, 2007

The Wrestlers:
Chuck Taylor – One of the fastest rising stars in all of Independent wrestling, Chuck Taylor was already an established name in IWA Mid-South and CHIKARA entering the 2007 season. In fact, Taylor was at this point the current IWA Mid-South World Heavyweight Champion. Though he was clearly a main event player in the Midwest, in CHIKARA Taylor was a mid-card member of the Kings of Wrestling stable, mostly allied with Gran Akuma & Icarus, a duo collectively known as F.I.S.T. In recent CHIKARA action, Taylor, teaming with F.I.S.T., made it all the way to the semifinals of the King of Trios Tournament, eventually losing to the Japanese trio of KUDO, MIYAWAKI & Yoshiaki Yago. Also, Taylor had gone to a draw with CZW star Ruckus and defeated Billy Roc in singles action. Earlier in the Rey de Voladores Tournament, Taylor outlasted PAC, Retail Dragon and longtime rival Ricochet in a Four Way Match to advance to the finals.

Lince Dorado – Essentially a rookie, Lince Dorado was a newcomer to CHIKARA for the 2007 season, having debuted in the King of Trios Tournament while teaming with El Pantera & Sicodelico, Jr. The trio, much like Taylor’s Kings of Wrestling team, made it to the tournament semifinals, but were defeated in that round by eventual champions “Lightning” Mike Quackenbush, Shane Storm & Jigsaw. With a name that translates to “The Golden Lynx”, the masked Dorado would continue to find success in CHIKARA in March of 2007, when he and Sicodelico, Jr. would team to defeat Los Ice Creams in tag team action. Though the pair would lose a non-title match to then-Campeones de Parejas Gran Akuma & Icarus the next night, Dorado would get back on a winning track in his opening round match in the Rey de Voladores Tournament, where he would best Ruckus, Equinox and Jigsaw in his opening round match.

The Match:
Hey Sandy starts up and Chuck Taylor makes his way to the ring. He weighs in at 200 pounds, hails from Raccoon City, and represents the Kings of Wrestling. Taylor already has a foreign object tucked into his tights as he jaws with the fans. Lince Dorado makes his way through the curtain next, weighing 65 kilos and fighting out of Juarez, Mexico. Dorado’s music is the astoundingly appropriate Eye of the Tiger. Both men are checked by the referee, and Taylor calls for the bell to be rung, but as he’s jawing with a fan at ringside, the ref sees the object sticking out of the back of his tights. Taylor is appropriately admonished and his over-the-top reaction (“WHOA! How did that get there!?!”) is just fabulous. The referee removes the object from the ring and then rings the bell to officially start things off.

The two men circle as Dorado tries to get the crowd into things. Taylor gets a knee to the midsection on the lockup, but stops to talk trash and Dorado ducks under a right hand and then takes down a confused Taylor (“Where did he go??”) with an armdrag. An immediate Japanese armdrag takes Sexy Chuckie T out to the floor where he punches a chair in frustration. Taylor throws some garbage into the crowd as “Lightning” Mike Quackenbush joins us on commentary. Taylor climbs back into the ring and they lockup again after Taylor discusses things with the referee for a moment. Lince gets forced into the corner, but ducks another overly dramatic right hand and goes for an armdrag. This time, however, Taylor holds onto the top rope to block and segues right into a wristlock. Dorado reverses into one of his own, but Taylor gets over to the ropes to break things up. Taylor talks trash literally non-stop here including immediately following the break (“I hate cats!”).

The two men circle and lock up again and then Dorado takes Taylor over with a modified snapmare that sends him all the way to the floor. Dorado looks to follow up with a dive, but fakes Taylor out instead. Chuck is quick to slide back in the ring and gets a shoulderblock that sends Dorado back off the ropes. Another one leads to a neat backflip from Dorado and then he takes Taylor down with a flying headscissors that sends Chuck scurrying back to the corner. Dorado follows up with a series of forearms and then pulls Taylor to each of the other three turnbuckles for subsequent forearm shots. Even mid-sequence Taylor is pretty hilarious (“Oh, god, STOP!”). Dorado hits a running forearm to put Taylor down and makes the first cover of the match for two.

Dorado continues on offense with a pair of chops to Taylor’s chest and then an overhand slap, but Taylor pushes him off in response. Taylor comes running but gets tripped up and Dorado lands a jumping senton. Dorado goes for a quebrada, but Taylor gets the knees up to cut off Lince’s momentum. Taylor gets a couple of stomps in before hitting a diving forearm and literally standing on Dorado’s chest for a two count. Taylor argues with the crowd some more before hitting Dorado with a half-nelson gutbuster and then an over-the-shoulder gutbuster variation. Taylor suplexes Dorado chest-first on the top rope and then hits a series of kicks to the chest before landing a running yakuza kick that sends Lince crashing to the apron.

Chuckie T poses a bit before pulling Dorado back into the ring by his nose. Dorado just swings around wildly to get Taylor to back up, but a thrust to the midsection puts him back into the corner. Taylor hits a series of shoulderblocks to the ribs in the corner and then whips Dorado cross-corner for a running headbutt to the midsection. Taylor puts Dorado down with a karate chop to the forehead and then walks around preening for a bit. Another karate chop leads to a rope-assisted choke and then Taylor snapmares Dorado and applies an incredibly dramatic chinlock.

Dorado works back to his feet, but as he is elbowing his way out of the hold, Taylor sends him crashing to the canvas by tugging on his mask. Taylor hits a double axehandle to the midsection and then follows up with the Iron Claw to the gut. That wasn’t a typo, Taylor really applies the Iron Claw. Taylor whips Lince chest-first into the corner and then talks more trash to the crowd. Taylor pounds Dorado into the mat with a series of karate chops and then kicks at him while he’s down. Taylor hits a backdrop suplex into an over-the-shoulder backbreaker but a lax cover over gets a two count.

Taylor pushes Dorado into the corner and hits a shoulderblock to the gut. He whips Lince cross-corner, but Dorado gets an elbow up on the blind charge and then hops up to the second rope. Dorado calls for a Tornado DDT, but Taylor counters out of it and gets a cross-arm snapmare off the ropes right into a headscissors submission attempt. Lince leans back to put Taylor in a pinning predicament, but Chuck shifts his weight back after a two count. Dorado leans back again, and this time Taylor’s kickout at two ends up releasing the hold. Taylor goes right back to work, however, hitting Dorado with a kick to the back.

Taylor hits an overhand double slap to Dorado’s back and then mocks the fans some more. A backbreaker follows, as does more mockery of the crowd. Taylor hits a kneedrop to the midsection and then stays on top of Dorado for a two count. Taylor prompts the crowd to chant for “Lindsay Dorado” (“Is that his name?”), but then continues the assault with a series of clubbing forearms. Dorado begins to make a bit of a comeback and ducks a clothesline attempt before hitting a Cactus Clothesline (clothesline sending both men over the top rope to the floor). Both men land on their feet, so Dorado clotheslines Taylor again, this time over the barricade into the crowd. Dorado quickly hops back into the ring and waits for Taylor to recover before hitting a picture-perfect springboard somersault plancha into the crowd. Dorado is quick to get back to the ring as Taylor is absolutely out on the floor.

The referee begins to count, but Taylor breaks it by pulling Dorado through the ropes and hitting him with a clubbing forearm. Out on the floor, Taylor chops away at Dorado, but misses one and ends up hitting his hand on the ringpost. Taylor rolls back into the ring as Lince climbs straight to the top. Dorado comes down with an attempt at a flying hurricanrana, but Taylor catches him and goes for a powerbomb. Dorado is able to counter that back into a hurricanrana, but it takes him a moment to execute the cover and it only gets two. Dorado gets a forearm shot in on Taylor, but Chuck reverses an Irish whop right into Sole Food (boot to the face while falling to his back). Lince is out on his feet and Taylor pulls off his elbow pad before coming off the ropes with a stiff lariat for two.

Taylor whips Dorado off the ropes and goes for a dropkick, but Lince puts on the brakes and Chuck splats on the mat. Dorado follows up with another quebrada that again hits knees (well, sort of) and the cover only gets two. Quackenbush even notes on commentary that Dorado didn’t really hit the move cleanly. Taylor reverses a cross-corner whip but gets sent over the top on the blind charge. He lands on the apron, however, and hits a forearm to send Lince stumbling back. Taylor hits a springboard dropkick and then a moonsault off the top rope, but it only gets two. Taylor uses the ropes to slingshot over into a standing headscissors position on Lince, but Dorado ducks under him and runs towards the corner. Taylor follows him in but gets caught with a flying Tornado DDT (also not hit cleanly, as noted by Quackenbush). Dorado steps on Taylor’s chest before climbing to the top, but takes too long setting up and Taylor is able to roll out of the way of the Shooting Star Senton (over-rotated shooting star press). Both men are out and the referee begins to count, but Taylor is able to crawl over and make the cover for two. Taylor looks for the Omega Driver (leg capture backdrop suplex into Canadian backbreaker position and then dropped into a sitout piledriver) but Dorado goes deadweight on him. Chuck looks for it again, but this time Dorado is able to counter mid-move into a DDT. Dorado goes up to the top again, but Taylor is able to cut him off and pulls him off the top rope into a modified Omega Driver for the pinfall at 15:50. Taylor wins the first Rey De Voladores tournament as Hey Sandy begins to play again. Taylor dances around the ring and poses for the fans, before rolling to the floor to continue the celebration. Taylor takes some time to threaten some ringside fans before screaming at a small child (as is his tradition) and then heading to the back. Dorado gets a nice round of applause while being helped to the back.

The Analysis:
Chuck Taylor was his usual entertaining self here, jawing with the fans almost non-stop and carrying his end of the bargain by executing a smart strategy throughout the match. By focusing on Dorado’s ribs and back, Taylor realistically slowed down his notably faster opponent, and turned Dorado’s high flying offense against him when he was unable to successfully land the Shooting Star Senton and his quebrada attempts. And though the finish didn’t directly work off of Dorado’s injuries, a part of that is due to the absurd nature of the Omega Driver, a move that realistically should finish any opponent at any time. In some ways, though Taylor didn’t get the win with a submission hold or a backbreaker variation, Dorado’s diminished speed and crispness were payoff enough to leave Taylor an opening for the Omega Driver.

All that said, I will be the first to admit that Taylor’s style is something of an acquired taste, as he often will do only one or two moves before starting to argue with the fans or the referee. If you see it as stalling, you’ll most likely be irritated. If you see it as a part of Taylor’s character, you’re more likely to find it entertaining.

As for Lince Dorado, this was far from his best performance. At some points, Dorado seemed to be almost trying too hard, and he ended up looking sloppy. The most glaring examples were the Tornado DDT and the second quebrada, though there were other moments where Dorado looked slightly uncomfortable in the ring. However, when you take into account that Dorado was essentially in his first year of wrestling at the time of this match, it certainly paints him as more of a savant than a botch artist. There were clearly seeds of better performances here, but I actually think the best thing that happened to Dorado here was having Quackenbush on commentary, as he was able to explain things like the rib injury leading to the sloppy execution and note that Dorado had probably had very few singles matches before this one, as trios action is far more common in Mexico.

The Aftermath:
Chuck Taylor’s 2007 CHIKARA season would be one of mixed results. Taylor would win the prestigious Young Lions Cup, going through Dorado and Ricochet along the way. He would have a pair of successful defenses of the cup, he would eventually lose it to the mysterious Helios, a masked wrestler bearing a striking resemblance to Ricochet. Stranger still was how Helios had debuted shortly after Ricochet had lost a match that barred him from CHIKARA competition for life. Also, in subbing for an injured Gran Akuma, Taylor was a party to F.I.S.T. losing the Campeonatos de Parejas to Delirious & Hallowicked, collectively known as Incoherence. Taylor did finish the year on a winning note, however, winning a trio of matches during CHIKARA’s final 2007 shows. Taylor is currently planning to again take part in the King of Trios Tournament, where he will again team with Gran Akuma & Icarus.

Lince Dorado would see his star rise to truly astounding heights in his first year in CHIKARA. Though his win-loss record was not the best, Dorado consistently found himself involved in important storylines and angles, and having competitive showings against some of the company’s top stars. Most notably, Dorado was able to earn a singles victory over CHIKARA Wrestle Factory co-head trainer Chris Hero in July, marking Lince’s first shot at the main event slot in a one-on-one contest. Dorado’s team of technicos would lose the annual Torneo Cibernetico to the Kings of Wrestling as a part of Dorado’s long-running issue with Mitch Ryder, but Dorado would gain a measure of revenge when he defeated Ryder in a singles match in late-October. The feud would ultimately build to a Hair vs. Mask match between the two at CHIKARA’s final show of the year. During the course of that match, Dorado would seriously injure himself executing the Shooting Star Senton, though he would technically gain victory over Ryder. The show, titled Chapter 11 and originally scheduled to be main evented by the long-awaited matchup between Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli, was immediately stopped as a result of Dorado’s injuries. In fact, for weeks after the fact it was unclear if and when Dorado would return to action. Fortunately, Dorado would make a brief appearance at a free show put on by CHIKARA to make good to the fans after Chapter 11‘s abrupt finish, helping fellow rookie Tim Donst to defeat Ryder. This past weekend at CHIKARA’s preseason show, Dorado made his return to the ring, teaming with Claudio Castagnoli & Ophidian to defeat the trio of Mike Quackenbush, Donst & Amasis in the main event. Currently, Dorado is scheduled to take part in the 2008 King of Trios Tournament, and is planning to team with El Pantera & Incognito.

The Final Word:
As a fan who really enjoyed Lince Dorado’s 2007 CHIKARA season, I cannot express how relieved I am to know that Lince is back in the ring. 2008 promises nothing but bigger and better things for “The Golden Lynx”, whose team has got to be considered one of the early favorites to walk out the winners of King of Trios 2008.

To see this week’s match, Rey de Voladores is available at smartmarkvideo.com. Also on the card are Gran Akuma & Icarus defending the Campeonatos de Parejas against Cheech & Cloudy as well as the highly-anticipated singles match between Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli, which is refereed by both men’s longtime rival “Lightning” Mike Quackenbush. Also, this event contains an early chapter in the season-long feud between Hallowicked and “The Last of a Dying Breed” Eddie Kingston, which was in my opinion one of the top storylines in all of wrestling in 2007. Definitely a solid show to pick up, especially if you’re interested in getting into CHIKARA.

There are a bunch of other great things to check out this week at 411. Ari has Column of Honor and Bayani’s got Truth B Told, which are always must-reads. Short’s got a great Navigation Log for your puro fix, and you can take a look back at the ROH Roundtable to find my bold (and correct) prediction that the No Remorse Corps were walking out with the ROH World Tag Team Titles. Buy or Sell features Bauer & Magnus, and you should also be sure to read Dunn’s reviews of ROH Manhattan Mayhem II and Honor Nation. Campbell has a look at another 2CW show, while Brad (almost magically) has posted reviews of PWG’s Beyond the Thunderdome and All Star Weekend 3 – Crazymania Night 1. I think we’re down to like nine at this point…

This week’s Buy or Sell features Ari & Bayani, so you’re definitely going to want to check that out. No ROH shows means no ROH Roundtable. I’m sure you’ll live.

Weekly iTunes update looks like this:

1. “Dreaming of You” by The Coral – from The Coral
2. “Amsterdam” by Coldplay – from A Rush Of Blood To The Head
3. “Got Me Wrong” by Alice in Chains – from Sap
4. “Eligy for Amy” by Pat McGee Band – from Revel
5. “Light Up My Room” by Barenaked Ladies – from Stunt

This week, be absolutely sure to swing by The Cool Kids’ Table for some podcast goodness. Our newest edition is a look at last weekend’s ROH shows, but keep checking back because we’re doing new shows all the time. Again, that’s The Cool Kids’ Table. Make it a regular stop! Viva la rebel podcast!

An interesting weekend saw me move and then get a couple of phone calls I wasn’t expecting. One actually kept me from getting to watch the Royal Rumble, but in the end it was probably a good trade off. And to be honest, it wasn’t a very difficult decision, but that’s mostly because the main event wasn’t a ladder match. Kudos to you if that reference means anything. Oh, and my new apartment is completely awesome. Thanks for asking.

280 to 6. Get Started. The Cool Kids’ Table. Ole!