Pro Wrestling Ponderings

The independent puroresu company, Dragon Gate, made their debut in the United States on September 5th, 2008 in Los Angeles, California on a Friday night. Along with many Dragon Gate wrestlers being included on the card, several prestigious championships were also defended on this particular event. After the fantastic fan reactions at this event, Dragon Gate went forth with creating a new promotion — Dragon Gate USA. I guess that just shows you how well this show went.

To date, DGUSA has only released two DVDs, including “The Best of Dragon Gate Vol. 1″ and the one I am reviewing right now, “Live in L.A.”. I can’t say that I was exactly satisfied with the “best of”, so I was a little hesitant about picking this event up at first. I’m sure all of the matches were fantastic live, but there is a lot that needs to be taken consideration on a home video, including commentary and sound quality. With all that being taken into consideration, is this DVD worth twenty bucks? Keep on reading to find out.

Retired Pro Wrestling Guerrilla wrestlers and California natives, Excalibur and Disco Machine, are on commentary. Yes, the rumors are true. These guys are known for their comedy on the microphone, so if you’re into serious stuff, then I can immediately tell you that you won’t be getting it on this DVD. I’m not a huge fan of either guy, personally, so I can’t say I’ll be the happiest man in the world if they continue providing commentary for DGUSA shows in the future. That remains to be seen, however.

El Generico defeated Genki Horiguchi via pinfall (brainbuster) - A solid match, but I can’t say I cared for it much. Generico entered the ring in some sort of soldier uniform. Excuse me for not knowing where he was going with the attire. Anyways, both guys wrestled crisply and they provided a nice introduction to the Dragon Gate style of wrestling to fans who are new to the product. Towards the end of the match, Generico botched his split-legged moonsault, so he had to go for it again. This came off a little awkward on camera, I’d say. After avoiding some inteference from YAMATO, Generico nailed Horiguchi with a brainbuster for the win. **½.

Horiguchi, Gamma, Yasushi Kanda, and YAMATO began beating down Generico after the match was over. Doi, Yoshino, and BxB Hulk of WORLD-1 quickly came out to make the save. Despite the fact that Generico is not a member of the WORLD-1 stable, Excalibur made it clear that all six men have a Open the Triangle Gate Championship match scheduled for later tonight. Doi and Gamma exchanged some words, including Naruki Doi surprisingly talking some smack in English.

Necro Butcher defeated Stalker Ichikawa via pinfall (stiff punch) - For those of you who are not familiar with Stalker Ichikawa, he is basically the fortified “funny guy” or “loser” of the Dragon Gate promotion. Excalibur let us know that this match was apart of Ichikawa’s ten match trial series of moving to the heavyweight division. Ichikawa rolled into the ring and told the Los Angeles crowd that he is more “dangerous” than his opponent. Necro gets hears him, gets pissed, and runs out like a mad man. The bell rang and Ichikawa slapped Necro across the face. Necro clocked Ichikawa with a stiff punch and he’s done for the three in literally seven or eight seconds. DUD.

Not even having to break a sweat, Necro quickly celebrated and began heading towards the backstage area. Ichikawa stopped him, though. He wants a rematch right here and right now. Necro does not have to hesitate and accepts his challenge. The bell rings and these two are at it again.

Necro Butcher defeated Stalker Ichikawa via pinfall (chair-assisted Tiger Driver) - Early in the match, Necro goes for the big punch again, but Ichikawa wisely ducks out of the way. Ichikawa successfully lands the Kanchou, but it has no affect on Necro. Ichikawa goes for it again, but he comes up with the same result as before. Necro swings at Ichikawa, but he gets out of the way, and delivers a diving Kanchou to Necro’s rectum. Necro became angry and began throwing Ichikawa all around the arena. Ichikawa got in some inside cradles here and there, but it was pretty much all Necro from this point on. Necro put Ichikawa out of his misery with a Tiger Driver onto a pile of chairs for the win. Fun times. *½.

SHINGO defeated PAC via pinfall (MADE IN JAPAN) - SHINGO was the Open the Dream Gate Champion at this point in time, but it should be noted that this match was non-title. The story was that SHINGO tried hitting PAC with every move in his arsenal to try and ground the “Man That Gravity Forgot”. However, PAC was able to counter with high-flying moves of his own. The crowd seemed rowdy for this match, but because of the crappy sound quality on the DVD, I could barely hear squat. PAC kicked out of a Last Falconry, Blood Fall, and even the Pumping Bomber. SHINGO was able to block the British Airways with his knees. A crazy number of near-falls happened at the end, but MADE IN JAPAN proved to be enough for the inevitable three. Great match, but I think the show’s live reports significantly overrated it. ***½.

Dragon Kid and Kendo beat Keni’chiro Arai and Taku Iwasa via pinfall (Ultra Hurricanrana) - Apparently, Vampiro was supposed to be Dragon Kid’s original partner, but he no-showed. Kendo, a masked Japanese junior heavyweight, is his replacement. Excalibur and Disco Machine are nowhere to be heard. Where the hell did they go? Can’t they keep the commentary consistent? Kendo was terrible and slowed the match down tremendously. He was gassed about three minutes into the match and botched almost every move imaginable. At the end, though, he managed to pull off a decent-looking plancha through the middle rope, so props to him on that. Dragon Kid pins Iwasa with the Ultra Hurricanrana for the win to end a brutal bout. No wonder why there was no commentary. **.

Following the match, Genki Horiguchi ran out and attacked Dragon Kid and Kendo. I was so happy when Genki started stomping on Kendo’s face. A wrestler in a green lucha mask ran down to make the save. The unknown luchador then proceeded to nail Horiguchi with the Schwein. The mystery man teared off his mask and was revealed to be CIMA, much to the crowd’s approval. CIMA grabbed a microphone and thanked the fans for showing up. CIMA refused to shake hands with Dragon Kid before leaving.

Ryo Saito and Susumu Yokosuka beat Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson via pinfall (Premium Bridge) to retain the Open the Twin Gate Championships - Excalibur wisely pointed out that this was the first time a Dragon Gate championship has been defended in the United States. They played it up as if the Young Bucks had home-field advantage, which I found cool. Match was mostly split until the very end, which saw RyoSuka take control of the bout. Matt and Nick nailed their finisher, More Bang For Your Buck, but it was broken up before a three count could be made. Ryo Saito picked up the victory for his team after pinning Matt Jackson with the Premium Bridge. Excellent tag team contest that may have been slightly better than SHINGO/PAC from earlier in the show. It’s crazy to think about how good the Young Bucks are at this stage in their early and young careers. ***½.

Gamma, YAMATO, and Yasushi Kanda beat Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, and BxB Hulk via pinfall (avalanche Flashback) to retain the Open the Triangle Gate Championships - Fairly back and forth match except for a long heat sequence on BxB Hulk, as he was getting beaten down by Real Hazard. As usual, Gamma spit an insane amount. At one point, he even spit some contents of a protein shake into BxB’s mouth. Out of all the guys in the match, I’d have to say that Doi, Yoshino, and Gamma looked the best. Dragon Gate always excels in trios matches and this one was no different. Gamma scored the win for his team after pinning BxB Hulk with an avalanche Flashback. Hands down, the best match on the show. I wouldn’t even say anything else came close to beating it. ****.

Honestly, I don’t recommend purchasing this show at all. Every match was forgettable, including the main event. If you’ve seen a bout for the Open the Triangle Gate Championships before, then that’s what you’re going to be getting here. The Open the Twin Gate Championships match and SHINGO versus PAC were both great, but they weren’t anything special.

The graphics and sound quality are both pitiful. Before each match took place, a picture would usually pop up, displaying the competitors’ pictures and names. Now, these looked terrible and appeared like they were done on Paint. Either fix these things up soon or get rid of them completely. The sound, on the other hand, was just as bad. When I watch a wrestling match, I like to hear crowd reactions and different sounds from the ring (for example when a wrestler crashes into the mat). You virtually could not hear anything on this DVD. As one could imagine, it got really annoying after a while.

Excalibur and Disco Machine did a solid job on commentary and clearly researched the promotion’s history and stoylines beforehand. This was something that wasn’t too apparent on Dragon Gate’s “best of” DVD when Prazak and Leonard were in control of commentating. Nevertheless, I can’t say that I would like to continue hearing them on future DGUSA DVDs. There’s just something about their style that begins getting old after a while. Then again, I guess they’re better than Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard.

If this review still hasn’t convinced you to pass this DVD aside, then you are more than welcome to look into buying it by clicking here. I will continue buying DGUSA DVDs because I am interested in seeing how the company progresses through their United States tour. After all, this could turn out to be the one mediocre show that Dragon Gate puts on. Who knows for sure, though?

- Anthony Perillo

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During Memorial Day weekend, CHIKARA held one of their two anniversary events at the Arena in Philadelphia. “Anniversario Yang” was headlined by a “lucha de apuestas”, which translates to “mask versus hair” in Spanish. The last time CHIKARA fans saw a match of this sort was in 2007 between “Marvelous” Mitch Ryder and Lince Dorado. After Worker Ant was shockingly forced into retirement after Chuck Taylor and the rest of F.I.S.T. brutally assaulted him, it made sense for Leonard F. Chikarason to book a match of this high caliber between the Colony and F.I.S.T.

Upon hearing all of the feedback on how well this show went live, I knew that I would have to fork over twenty bucks to check it out for myself. With the main event being described as “one of the best CHIKARA matches ever”, I knew that I would be stupid to miss out on something that sounded this fun and spectacular. In addition, many of the undercard matches also intrigued me. How can you pass up on Glacier and D’Lo Brown versus the UnStable, an “atomico”, and Claudio Castagnoli versus Eddie Kingston? I know for sure that I can’t.

Brodie Lee and Grizzly Redwood beat El Hijo del Ice Cream and Ice Cream, Jr. via pinfall (logger pin) -  A fun opener that the Philadelphia crowd really got into. Sometimes I wonder how Brodie Lee and Grizzly Redwood manage to draw in so much heat. Eddie Kingston putting over his fellow Roughneck stablemates on commentary also added to the many comedy aspects of this match. In approximately nine minutes of back and forth action, Brodie threw Grizzly onto both Ice Creams and held him down on top of them with his foot for the pinfall. Lee and Redwood regain one point. Kudos to Mr. Kingston for a great version of “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” by Johnny Cash post-match. **.

Ophidian defeated Arik Cannon via pinfall (prawn hold) - Who would have expected a bout this great so early into the show? There were just way too many false finishes to name here. Cannon managed to survive the Death Grip on a couple of occassions. As Ophidian had it locked onto him one time, Cannon managed to use his strength to transition the submission into a sick brainbuster for a near-fall. Cannon then proceeded to rock Ophidian with Total Anarchy, but that only got him a two count, as well. Running out of options, Arik Cannon signaled for the Glimmering Warlock. When the referee’s back was turned, Amasis popped up out of nowhere and yanked on Cannon’s leg. This distracted Arik long enough for Ophidian to capitalize with a prawn hold for the three count in nearly eleven minutes. Good, good times. ***½.

UltraMantis Black, Crossbones, and Delirious beat Player Uno, Player Dos, and Create-A-Wrestler via pinfall (Praying Mantis Bomb) - Following being kidnapped last month, Delirious is now a member of the Order. He’s sporting silver and black gear now, so he fits in with the appearance of UltraMantis Black and Crossbones. This was upgraded from a regular tag team contest between the Order and the Super Smash Brothers to include Delirious and Create-A-Wrestler, as well. It should be noted that Louden Noxious mentioned how UMB was controlling Delirious with the Eye of Tyr on commentary. I don’t know if it was just me, but Delirious seemed to be a little off in this match. He and Dos had some really sloppy sequences in the early going. Other than that, though, this was a solid match. Dos and Crossbones had some real exciting encounters when they were in the ring with one another. After Delirious blocked a Dig Dug Driver attempt by Uno, Delirious hit the Praying Mantis Bomb on him. UMB then took credit for the win by covering Uno for a three count in about ten minutes. Post-match saw UltraMantis lift the Eye of Tyr into the air for everyone in the crowd to see, as he and the rest of the Order praised its power. ***.

Vin Gerard, STIGMA, and Colin Delaney are in the backstage area, ready to shoot on their upcoming match against Glacier and D’Lo Brown. Normally, I post promo videos for everyone to check out for themselves. However, at the time I am posting this review, ChurchOfMilMongoose has not uploaded these specific snippets onto his YouTube account yet. Anyways, Vin wants to know why Glacier and his pals keep coming back for more punishment. Colin pinned D’Lo Brown at “King of Trios 2009″ and Vin beat him in a singles match last month. Before the UnStable get the oppurtunity to say much more, Leonard F. Chikarason interrupts them in mid-sentence. LFC demands for the cameraman to back off. Although we do not see a visual, Chikarason can be heard asking Delaney why he has been communicating him so awkardly lately. Colin promptly tells LFC that he hasn’t been calling him at all and that if Chikarason doesn’t stay out of the UnStable’s business from now on, then he will have to have a little chat with Dave Coulier. Really strange promo, but I’m sure that we’ll be hearing more about this situation later.

Glacier and D’Lo Brown beat Vin Gerard and Colin Delaney via pinfall (Cryonic Kick) - This turned out to be way better than anyone would have thought it was going to be. About two minutes into the match, Brown knocked Vin out cold with a stiff lariat, complete with blood gushing out of his mouth. D’Lo wrestled the whole match in a pretty stiff fashion, but I don’t think it was completely intentional. Brown has been wrestling in Japan a lot lately and obviously, the style they use there is much different than the stuff going on in a CHIKARA ring. Glacier also got in on the fun by bloodying up Colin about six minutes into the bout. D’Lo looked to attack Gerard on the outside, but STIGMA got involved when Bryce Remsburg wasn’t looking. D’Lo finally managed to make the hot tag to Glacier.  Much to everyone’s surprise, D’Lo locked the CHIKARA Special in on Colin Delaney. Gerard trying breaking up the hold, but Glacier rocked him with a Cryonic Kick out of nowhere to score the pinfall at the twelve minute mark. Afterwards, STIGMA tried attacking the veterans, but he wound up getting a Cryonic Kick for his efforts. For good measure, Brown also nailed him with a Lo Down. Just a real great match that also had an awesome story to it. ***¼.

Jagged and Shane Matthews are backstage, standing in front of the CHIKARA logo. Why the heck aren’t they talking? Is my DVD screwed up? After a while of complete silence, a scrolling message appears that explains that 2.0 have refused to speak until they gain one point. The facial expressions on Matthews and Jagged during this promo were absolutely priceless. Definitely go out of your way to check this one out when it becomes available for viewing on YouTube.

Jagged and Shane Matthews beat Tim Donst and Hydra via pinfall (kneeling frog press) - In the beginning of the match, Shane Matthews taunted the Sea Donsters by saying that Hydra is “on the gas” and will be fired soon because of CHIKARA’s Wellness Policy. Before the situation got heated, though, Matthews offered to play a song on Tim Donst’s guitar. Shane strummed a few chords at first, but then attempted to smash it over Donst’s head. Donst ducked out of the way and quickly followed things up with a Stroke. Shades of Jeff Jarrett right there. Minutes later, Matthews began giving everyone in the ring a Boston Crab, including Jagged who apparently tapped to his own partner’s move. Hydra rolled up Jagged, but it was reversed into a kneeling frog press that surprisingly was enough for 2.0 to pick up the victory and one point in approximately four minutes of action. Hydra apologized to Donst afterwards, but Tim walked out on him, hinting at a possible heel turn in the future. This was unusually short, but it was fun for what it was worth. *½.

Jigsaw, Lince Dorado, and Helios are on camera in the backstage area. Lince is anxious because his team is down one man in the “atomico” match. Equinox pulled out of the show due to injury, so it’s now four against three. Before the three guys can discuss the matter, Jigsaw wants to apologize for taking the fall against F.I.S.T. last night at “Aniversario Yin”, but he explains that he tried his best. In fact, all three of them tried their best and that’s all that matters. Lince seems antsy about what Jigsaw has to say, but before he can come up with a long response, Mike Quackenbush comes out of nowhere. Quack asks Jigsaw if he told Helios and Lince about “plan B”. Jigsaw says he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Quack pulls all three guys over to the side and tells them that he will explain to them off-screen.

Hallowicked, Frightmare, Cheech Hernandez, and KC Day beat Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw, Lince Dorado, and Helios via pinfall (powerbomb-Shining Wizard combination) - A simply insane match that featured a bunch of wild moves throughout that the fans seemed to greatly appreciate. Cheech and Cloudy took the green gear of Incoherence, while the real Hallowicked and Frightmare entered with new orange attires. For those of you who were wondering, it should be noted that Mike Quackenbush took the place of Equinox. Anyways, Lince Dorado has improved so much over the past couple of months. He’s more than worthy of becoming Young Lions Cup Champion at this point. Frightmare also looked superb out there, nailing every move to near perfection. Quack didn’t get too much offense in because I’m sure he can’t risk further injuring his back. Cheech and Cloudy pin Lince with a cool powerbomb combination move for the three in nearly fifteen minutes. The crowd chanted “that was awesome” after the match had ended, as all eight men posed in the ring with each other. CHIKARA really excels in these “atomico” matches, so there was really no better time than their anniversary weekend to have one. ****.

Eddie Kingston is talking about insanity and how his particular case is different from everybody else’s. He mentions rooming with Claudio Castagnoli when he moved from New York to Pennsylvania. At one point, both guys were good friends with one another. After their match at “AnniversarioCT”, however, Kingston didn’t receive a handshake or any sign of respect from Claudio. This angered him. Tonight, Claudio Castagnoli versus Eddie Kingston will be personal. As usual, a great promo by King.

Eddie Kingston defeated Claudio Castagnoli via pinfall (Oklahoma roll) - The Philly fans were split on both sides, as Kingston dished out backhands and Claudio answered with uppercuts. Both of these guys just threw everything they could at one another. Hell, Kingston even broke out a tope suicida to the floor at one point. Claudio also showed a high-flying side to himself here, doing a couple of springboard manueveurs on a few occassions. Claudio nailed a bicycle kick on Kingston and tried finishing him with the Ricola Bomb. However, as Castagnoli was setting up for the move, Kingston reversed it into an Oklahoma roll to pick up the huge win in eighteen minutes. As one would have expected, this was a very good match. ***¾.

Fire Ant and Soldier Ant beat Icarus and Chuck Taylor to win the hair of F.I.S.T. via pinfall (Beach Break) - Gran Akuma and Green Ant are in the corners of their respective teams. F.I.S.T. and the Colony began brawling around the arena right away. As things settled down, Soldier Ant began getting a beating, in turn getting a hole in his mask around his mouth and getting his top torn.  A few minutes later, Taylor set the time keeper’s table up by the apron. Bryce Remsburg got knocked down unintentionally by Fire Ant, which allowed Chuck to give Soldier Ant an Awful Waffle off the apron and through the table. Soldier Ant was knocked out cold and Green Ant had to bring him to the backstage area. At this time, Fire Ant was forced to fight on his own. Taylor and Icarus seemed to have him down for the three on more than one occassion, but kept pulling his shoulder up to continue the punishment. Big mistake on their part. Icarus nailed the Pedigree on Fire, but he miraculously kicked out. Chuck had enough of toying around with Fire Ant, so he applied the one-legged Boston crab that he tapped Danielson out with at “King of Trios 2009″ in the finals. Just when it looked like Fire was about to tap out, Soldier Ant came limping from the back and tried breaking up the submission. Gran Akuma held him back, though, so he was unable to do anything. That is, until a new brown ant came in and made the save. This allowed Soldier to finally break up the Boston crab. This is when we started getting a crazy sprint of moves, including an insane running Awful Waffle on Fire Ant and a TKO by Soldier Ant on Chuck. Fire Ant hit the Beach Break, but Chuck somehow managed to kick out of it. Fire went for it again, nailed it, and put him away for the win. Standing ovation from the crowd, as Fire and Soldier shaved the heads of Icarus and Taylor. Hands down, the best CHIKARA match I have ever seen to date. The drama that these four guys managed to pull off was breath-taking, to say the least. If this isn’t nominated for a MOTYC, then there’s something seriously wrong with the IWC. ****½.

What are you waiting for? Get this show on DVD from SMV as soon as possible. Pick it up for the main event and the “atomico” tag. Along with Claudio/Kingston and Cannon/Ophidian both being very good, the Glacier and D’Lo tag completely surpassed my expectations, as well. Not to mention, the Order of the Neo-Solar Temple taking a big turn with the addition of Delirious is also worth giving a look at. I can’t put it any simpler by saying that this was an outstanding show.

Also, just to give everyone a heads up — there will not be a new “CHIKARMY Insider” article until next weekend. I’m busy with working, the ACT exam, and studying for final exams over the weekend. It’s probably better for me to wait, anyways, because a whole lot of news hasn’t surfaced since the last article I posted. Thanks for understanding and being patient.

- Anthony Perillo

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CHIKARA held their second to last show of 2008 in Easton, Pennsylvania at the Easton Funplex on the twelfth of December. The show was highlighted with several matches, including the Super Fun Times Over-The-Top, Elimination Style, No-Holds-Barred, Masked-Dudes-Welcome, Battle Royal of Doom and Honor, Mike Quackenbush defending his NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship against Buck Hawke, and a main event trios bout between Jimmy “Equinox” Olsen, Helios, Lince Dorado and Vin Gerard, STIGMA, and Colin Delaney of the UnStable.

Quite honestly, I was not planning on purchasing this event on DVD any time soon. In fact, I was planning for my next CHIKARA show purchase to be “Duel & Duality”. While the battle royal and NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship sounded like fantastic on paper, there were portions of the show that simply did not appeal to me. After receiving a great deal for the event from a member on one of the forums I visit, I decided to give my first Easton show a shot. You can’t pass up a CHIKARA DVD for eight bucks, can you?

In his first appearance in CHIKARA, Grizzly Redwood cut a promo before the battle royal began. Redwood used some cliché lumberjack terms when talking about his debut. After Grizzly had seemingly finished talking, Amasis came hopping on screen with crutches. Amasis told Redwood that if he wanted to make an “impact”, then he should follow him. Weird stuff.

Grizzly Redwood won the Super Fun Times Over-The-Top, Elimination Style, No-Holds-Barred, Masked-Dudes-Welcome, Battle Royal of Doom and Honor - Rorschach and USApe start off in the ring first. Unfortunately, the crowd doesn’t seem to care much about either guys, but they pop for USApe’s theatrics before jumping into the ring. Darkness Crabtree lights up the Easton Funplex to a great reaction. Poor Crabtree has trouble getting into the ring these days, it seems. Rorschach quickly throws USApe out of the ring, making the gorilla the first to be eliminated. Shun the Kabuki Kid, Jervis Cottonbelly, Pinkie Sanchez, Dragon Dragon, and Dragonfly join the ring next (in that exact order). Bryce reveals that Dragonfly has not wrestled in over six years. Wow, that’s pretty crazy. With Retail Dragon coming in at number nine, we now have three guys with the word, “dragon”, in their in-ring name. Dragon Dragon and Retail Dragon hug, as “Triple Dragon” is momentarily reunited. Worker Ant comes in next at number ten. Some big fat guy, Love Bug, enters at eleven. He apparently wrestled for CHIKARA throughout 2002. Dragonfly, Retail Dragon, and Dragon Dragon are all eliminated within a matter of seconds. Cottonbelly is taken out shortly after, as well. At number twelve is Dr. Cheung, who comes out to John Cena’s entrance theme. Cheung is the real “Doctor of Thuganomics”. A bunch more simultaneous eliminations go down, including Shun the Kabuki Kid and Dr. Cheung. Larry Sweeney and Grizzly Redwood are in at thirteen and fourteen. Sara Del Rey is the final entrant of this insane match, coming out to the “Final Countdown” by Europe. Grizzly shockingly eliminates Larry Sweeney after some trickery. Sanchez and Del Rey agree to go after Redwood, but Grizzly winds up eliminating Pinkie when he tried skinning the cat and failed. Del Rey tosses Worker Ant out of the ring. With her back turned from the last elimination, Redwood knocks Sara out to win the match. Grizzly proves to be a rudo in CHIKARA, as he brutally attacks Worker Ant after the match ends. Clearly, the point of this match was to get Grizzly Redwood over in an exciting fashion. In that case, I think it worked out very well. Aside from that, there were just way too many funny spots in this match to note on paper, so I suggest every CHIKARA fan to check this battle royal out some time or another. **.

The reigning Campeones de Parejas, the Osirian Portal, are backstage for a promo. With a recent ankle injury occuring at “Cibernetico Begins”, Amasis wants to know why Osiris has given the Portal so much bad fortune lately. He then remembers that that isn’t entirely true, however, as Escorpion Egipico is with them now. The group vows to extinguish Fire Ant and Soldier Ant of the Colony tonight. It turns out that Egipico will get his chance now, as he goes up against Fire Ant in singles action.

Escorpion Egipico defeated Fire Ant via pinfall (Plancha de Cairo) - Egipico tossed Fire Ant around early, showing exactly why he is the bodyguard of the Campeonatos de Parejas. After having his face pummeled in for most of the match, Fire Ant finally caught Egipico with a stunner out of nowhere. This allowed Fire to pick up on the offense, eventually taking the big man out with a plancha to the outside. Egipico faked a shoulder injury and the referee bought it. With Fire Ant’s back turned, Amasis knocked him hard in the gut with a crutch shot. Egipico then ran back into the ring and slammed him down. Egipico hops up to the top and connects with the Plancha de Cairo to pick up the victory around six minutes. As short as it was, this was a real entertaining match. Great stuff from both men. **¾.

Jagged and Shane Matthews of 2.0 are backstage, shooting a promo on their opponents for tonight, Cheech Hernandez and KC “Cloudy” Day. How do you cover a 2.0 promo? Just watch this one for yourself. It’s too funny. The random Goldilocks references had me dying laughing. These two guys are quickly becoming my favorite tag team in CHIKARA. Booyah!

Cheech Hernandez and KC Day beat Jagged and Shane Matthews via pinfall (Go 2 Cheech) - Fast-paced match from start to finish with lots of great tag team moves. Shane Matthews screaming for a total of five minutes also adds to match quality. Jagged and Shane Matthews go for the Hart Attack on Cheech, but it can’t put him away. Cloudy tries taking out 2.0 on his own and does great for a while until he botches a hurricarana. Jagged nearly catches Cheech with a pinning combination, but Hernandez gets out of it and follows things up with the Go 2 Cheech around ten minutes. One, two, three. Cheech and Cloudy gain their first point. Excellent tag team contest between these four CHIKARA regulars. There were some comedy spots before the match began, including Jagged dropping an elbow on a 2.0 shirt (don’t ask), but when the bell rang, it was all serious business. ***¼.

Soldier Ant defeated Ophidian via pinfall (TKO) - I have never been a big fan of Ophidian. Obviously, I respect him as a worker, but I have never been able to get into his style of wrestling. After seeing this match, though, you can now refer to me as one of the “Militant Mat Mite”’s biggest fans. Ophidian did not disappoint, either. The submission moves that Ophidian can pull off are simply amazing. Superb technical wrestling displayed by both guys. Ophidian faked a knee injury on the outside, so Amasis attempted to use crutches to his advantage once again. Soldier ducks out of the way, as the crutches bounce off the ropes and nail Amasis in the face. Soldier fakes being injured, so he catches Ophidian off-guard and nails him with the TKO for the win in approximately nine minutes. What a spectacular bout. ***.

Tim Donst and Hydra of the Sea Donsters have the cameras on them, as they prepare for a promo. Donst lets Hydra know that they will both be facing UltraMantis Black and Crossbones tonight. As Donst rambles on, he questions why UMB would have ever wanted to know the reversal to the CHIKARA Special. Hydra says he does and tries explaining, but Donst doesn’t understand him. Hydra scribbles down a few words on paper and Donst still fails to comprehend what his buddy is talking about. After the Sea Donsters are done talking, the camera focuses in on the piece of paper that Hydra wrote for Donst on the ground. It reads, “EYE OF TYR”. I absolutely can’t wait to see where they’re going with this angle.

Tim Donst and Hydra beat UltraMantis Black and Crossbones via pinfall (Donstitution) - UltraMantis Black and Crossbones slap Donst and Hydra in the face before the match begins, angering the Sea Donsters even more than they had before. Hydra gets a little offense going, but the Order is able to take him down and limit his attacks to a minimum. Donst gets in there and attempts to lift Crossbones, but his back goes out on him. Hydra catches UMB with the HydraLock and the two roll outside of the ring. Hydra holds onto the HydraLock, as UltraMantis Black yelps in pain. Finally, UltraMantis escapes the hold and he and Hydra brawl to the back. Inside the ring, Crossbones powerbombs Donst for a two count. Donst catches Crossbones with the Donstitution out of nowhere, which gets him the three count in seven minutes. Short match, but it was good for what it was worth. **½.

Brodie Lee grabs a microphone and tells the Easton crowd that his match against Hallowicked will not be happening tonight. Lee proceeds to grab Hallowicked’s mask out of his back pocket. Before Brodie can do anything with it, Frightmare comes running into the ring and knocks him out of the ring with a hurricarana. The bell rings and it looks like we’ve got ourselves a match.

Brodie Lee defeated Frightmare via pinfall (big boot) - This was the most exciting squash match you will ever see. Frightmare got in about four moves, but it was enough to get him over with the crowd. Did I mention that all of Frightmare’s moves were picture-perfect? It’s hard to believe that this kid just came out of the WrestleFactory. He’s awesome. Frightmare reverses Lee’s big boot attempt and catches him with a backslide. This pumps Frightmare up and he tries milking the crowd. However, when Frightmare turns around, he is met with a thunderous boot from Mr. Brodie Lee. Obviously, this is enough to give him the win in about three minutes. I don’t think it’s too crazy to say that Frightmare is a future Young Lions Cup Champion. Whether he’s in a squash match or not, he’s still one of the funnest guys to watch in a CHIKARA ring. *½.

Gran Akuma, Icarus, and Chuck Taylor beat Player Uno, Player Dos, and Ultimo Breakfast via pinfall (Awful Waffle) - There has never been a time when I doubted Ultimo Breakfast. Man, did he look great in this match. The Super Smash Brothers did not get a lot of tag team offense in on F.I.S.T. On the contrary, F.I.S.T. were able to hit a lot of trios moves. Akuma and Icarus took out Uno and Breakfast on the outside. After Dos managed to block an Awful Waffle from the top, Taylor pulled him by the tights and successfully hit the move on the mat to pick up the victory around the ten minute mark. Very good trios match with some super cool spots. Other than that, I don’t have much to say. ***.

Mike Quackenbush defeated Buck Hawke to retain the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship via submission (twisting ankle lock) - Quackenbush controlled Hawke early with a variety of submissions. After a while, Buck demanded for an end to the mat work. Quack goes to a series of chops next, even allowing the Easton crowd to get in on the action. Hawke gets knocked down hard after being on the end of multiple Kawada kicks. After more bitching from Hawke, Quack begins mocking him by making chicken noises. This is obviously a shot at Buck’s name, which sounds like “cock” when you say it quickly. Hilarious. Buck nails the TomaHawke on Quackenbush, but refuses to go for the cover. Instead, he attempts a superkick, complete with a parody of “I’m sorry; I love you” from WrestleMania XXIV. Quackenbush catches the kick and quickly applies a twisting ankle lock on Hawke, forcing him to immediately tap out. Great wrestling, great comedy, and an overall, great match. ***½.

Jimmy Olsen, Lince Dorado, and Helios beat Vin Gerard, STIGMA, and Colin Delaney via pinfall (shooting star press) - The UnStable take it to Equinox early, ripping and tearing at his mask. Vin Gerard does every trick in the book to stay on top of Equinox and is successful in doing so for the first five minutes of the match. When Equinox finally began fighting back, he looked to tag in Lince Dorado. However, Lince walked away… only to knock STIGMA and Delaney off of the apron. Lince nailed Vin on the outside with a moonsault off the top, while Equinox pulled off a similar maneuver to wipe out Colin Delaney. In the ring, Helios was able to nail the shooting star press on STIGMA to get the three. This was in my opinion, easily the best match on this show. All six guys were giving it their all and it completely showed. ***¾.

This was definitely a solid event, but I never came across a match and felt like it had to be seen by everyone. The main event and the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship matches were good, but I feel like there are better options out there if you’re looking to buy a DVD for one or two great bouts (for example, Fire Ant versus Vin Gerard from “2008 Young Lions Cup: Night Three” and Mike Quackenbush and Jigsaw versus Cheech Hernandez and KC Day from “Motive, Means, Opportunity”). If you’re a new CHIKARA fan, looking to buy your first show on DVD, I wouldn’t recommend picking this up. Instead, give “AnniversarioCT” a shot.

If you feel like this is absolutely a show that you want to add to your collection, click here to be redirected to the DVD page on Smart Mark Video. After you’re done watching it, let me know what you thought of “Face With a View”.

- Anthony Perillo

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For those of you who are not familiar with Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, the promotion lifted off in the summer of 2003 by fellow wrestlers,  Disco Machine, Excalibur, Joey Ryan, Scott Lost, Super Dragon, and Top Gun Talwar. Today, PWG is regarded as being the most popular company in all of Southern California.

As soon as I found out that Paul London would be making his first wrestling appearance after being released from his WWE contract at a PWG event, I knew that I would be all over this DVD.  As soon as it was available for pre-order on the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla website, I put down twenty bucks to get it.

When “Express Written Consent” had ended, people began raving about how this was one of PWG’s greatest events of all-time, which made me want to see this on tape even more than I previously had. In addition to Paul London making his Pro Wrestling Guerrilla debut, Colt Cabana also unexpectedly returned to the company. Cabana was recently from his WWE contract on a Friday and he came back to PWG that Saturday, just one day after being fired.

Zokre defeated Scorpio Sky via pinfall (la magistral) - This was Scorpio Sky’s first match in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla in over six months. According to Excalibur on commentary, Sky had been suffering a nasty lower-back injury. Decent match with lots of cool lucha libre stuff. Zokre got the win in a super sloppy finish with la magistral. Sky was clearly by the ropes, so the pin should have been broken up, but Anthony Rosas gave Zokre the controversial victory, regardless. The crowd absolutely crapped on Rosas for this, chanting “you fucked up” and various other derogatory slurs that I’d prefer to keep off this website. *¾.

B-Boy defeated TJ Perkins via submission (rear naked choke) - B-Boy was making his return to Pro Wrestling Guerrilla here, while Perkins was making his departure. For those who aren’t aware, Perkins relocated from California to Florida at the beginning of the year. Human Tornado was at the commentary booth, making some hilarious remarks. There was a ridiculous amount of near falls towards the end with TJ resorting to the cross arm breaker on several different occassions. B-Boy forced Perkins to tap to the rear naked choke to pick up the win. TJ Perkins received a well-deserved “thank you” chant when the match was over. TJ’s one of my favorite wrestlers in the world today, so I really hope that he returns to PWG some time in the future. **½.

At this time, Paul London came out to a mixed reaction. A lot of people who attended the show live claimed that London was high. Judging from what I saw and heard, he definitely wasn’t. It’s easy to tell when a person’s being goofy and when they’re high. Joey Ryan interrupted Paul in the middle of his rant, claiming that he was a “psycopath” for bringing out a trident to the ring. Ryan got into London’s skin even more by claiming that Matt Hardy could kick his ass. London chased Joey out of the ring to end one awkward segment. This wasn’t even very entertaining; it was just strange.

El Generico defeated Kenny Omega via pinfall (super brainbuster) - I don’t know why, but I’m not sure if I enjoyed this match as much as a lot of other people did. Calling this one a MOTYC may be going a little too far, PWG fans. There was a lot of intense action, but only a couple of spots stood out to me in the end. The Hadouken by Omega was nicely done and it really looked like he had Generico down for the three count. The finish, though, is what definitely made this match. After referee, Rick Knox, nailed Omega with a leaping clothesline, Generico quickly followed it up with a corner yakuza kick. BRAINBUSSSTTTTAAAAAHHH~! Game, set, and match. Rick Knox had taken a lot of physical abuse from Omega throughout the bout, so this seemed like the ultimate revenge. ***¾.

Austin Aries defeated Necro Butcher via pinfall (chair-assisted brainbuster) - Before the bell rang, Aries challenged Necro to a pure wrestling match. Necro displayed his excellent technical ability by putting a random fan in a hammerlock for about thirty seconds. To take a shot at Necro for being in The Wrestler, Aries went up for the Ram Jam, but missed. A guillotine crusher by Necro onto two chairs was not enough to put away the “Greatest Man That Ever Lived”. Austin wrapped his boot with a steel chain and knocked Necro out cold with his signature corner dropkick. Aries then followed things up with a spine-chilling brainbuster onto a steel chair for the win. This was a fun match, but it definitely dragged at times. ***.

Chris Hero defeated Human Tornado and Colt Cabana to retain the PWG World Championship via pinfall (rolling yakuza kick) - About five minutes into the match, Colt Cabana came out to a thunderous reaction. He explains to Hero and Tornado that Dino Winwood has put him into the title match, now making it a three-way. Hero and Cabana worked as a unit early on, absolutely decimating Tornado. Human Tornado fought back, though, eventually knocking a tooth out of the mouth of Chris Hero. After sending Cabana out of the ring with a rolling elbow, Hero rocked Tornado inside with a sick-looking rolling yakuza kick for the three. I honestly think that this bout could have surpassed four stars, but it was just way too short. ***¾.

Following the match, Chris Hero offered Colt Cabana a singles match for the PWG World Championship in the future. Cabana gladly accepted, shaking Hero’s hand. A dazed Human Tornado then grabbed a microphone, requesting to make a peace truce with Chris Hero. Tornado extended his hand out to Chris, but he refused to shake it.

Paul London, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson beat Joey Ryan, Scott Lost, and Karl Anderson via pinfall (shooting star press) - London is sporting a sweet, new attire. The dangling pieces on the sides of his boots remind me of Sora’s character model from the Kingdom Hearts series. Horrible comparison, I know. Paul botched a frankensteiner on Lost right at the beginning of the match, leaving the crowd believing that he was definitely going to start showing some ring rust. Aside from his back giving out on him while picking up Joey Ryan, London was absolutely spotless from that point on. The Young Bucks nailed a 450 splash and moonsault combination, only for Paul London to score the eventual pinfall with the shooting star press. When it was all over, London received one hell of a “please come back” from the fans. Paul briefly got on the microphone afterwards, saying that this particular moment was one of the greatest times of his entire life. Best match of the show. ****.

This DVD should absolutely be picked up by all independent wrestling fans. For just twenty smackers, it’s a great steal. Nearly three of the matches on this show hit the four star plateau. Believe me, I’m not such an easy grader, either. For the most part, the Reseda crowd was terrific. The fans definitely added a special atmosphere to all of the matches on the show.

I may have overrated the main event a little bit, but only because Paul London is one of my favorite wrestlers of all-time. Seeing him return to the independent scene after basically suffering for five years in the WWE was a spectacular and overall, relieving, thing to witness.

Once again, absolutely go out of your way to get this event on DVD. I can assure you that it’s worth every single penny. If you’re interested in purchasing a copy of this event for yourself, click here for ordering information.

- Anthony Perillo

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