Pro Wrestling Ponderings

Quite a bit of news has surfaced since the last edition of the “CHIKARMY Insider”, including results from the Big Japan Pro Wrestling shows, announcements for “Never Kneel at the Altar of Conformity” in Reading and “Young Lions Cup VII” in Easton and Philadelphia, and more.

Bits and bits of CHIKARA/BJW stories have been coming from Japan, as UltraMantis Black has been kindly letting us all know through his Twitter account. Only one show has been confirmed by the official CHIKARA website, though, so it’s getting somewhat tricky to follow all of the events going down.

When UMB simply says that, “Dino molests Crossbones; Crossbones has unresolved feelings regarding this”, for example, it’s hard to understand exactly how all this went down. Then again, maybe it’s better that we don’t know any further details.

“CHIKARA JAPAN SHOWCASE”
6.12.2009 @ ICE RIBBON ARENA
(SAITAMA, JPN)

Results:

Instead of having to wait another two weeks for another edition of the “CHIKARMY Insider” to find out the official results of CHIKARA’s tour of Japan, check back on this page daily. If you’re not a fan of scouting a website, you can always wait for the DVDs to be released this summer on Big Japan Pro Wrestling’s website. For the record, I do not plan on covering any more of the CHIKARA/BJW events this year.

Before we move away from the Japan tour coverage, it should be noted, however, that according to CHIKARA Fans, points were in play over the past few shows in the “Land of the Rising Sun”. Fire Ant and Soldier Ant of the Colony have reportedly reached two points, while Jagged and Shane Matthews of 2.0 are now back at zero. The Inter Species Wrestling tag team, Chad and Brad Badd of the Badd Boys, beat UMB and Crossbones at the Shin-Yokohama, but it is unknown if points were in play for this match. Could the Badd Boys be making their CHIKARA debut in the United States soon? At this point, it’s hard to make predictions.

On July 31st, 2009, CHIKARA will be returning to Reading for a “fan appreciation night”. The show has been titled “Never Kneel at the Altar of Conformity”. In addition to every seat being at the price of fifteen bucks, every fan will receive a free gift with their paid admission. So far, three bouts have been announced for the show.

Throughout the course of 2009, CHIKARA has attempted to widen the amount of womens matches by adding a variety of female wrestlers to their cards (see Nevaeh and Shark Girl, for example). In Reading, Daizee Haze will face a girl that she is more than familiar with — Rayna Von Tash, one of her very students. For those of you who are not familiar with Von Tash, she is the first graduate of the SHIMMER Wrestling Academy. Will Von Tash be able to pull off an upset victory or will “The Haze” manage to put this youngster in her place?

The team of Cheech Hernandez and KC “Cloudy” Day have had quite a successful run in 2009 already. In fact, if they can manage to win their next tag team contest, then the duo will have accumulated enough points for a guaranteed shot at the Campeonatos de Parejas. Another team that has also been hot this year, however, is Brodie Lee and Grizzly Redwood of the Roughnecks. After finding out that they will be taking on the Roughnecks in Reading, Cheech and Cloudy made sure their words were heard on a special update. At this moment, Brodie and Grizzly stand at one point. Will Cheech and Cloudy gain the ont point they need or will the Roughnecks continue to chop down whatever competition tries getting in their way?

Following a special update posted earlier this month, it became clear that Hydra wanted nothing more to get his hands on the UnStable. The team of Hallowicked and Frightmare will team up with Hydra to form a trio, in order to even up the sides. After an official announcement was made, Colin Delaney voiced his opinions via a blog. Will Vin Gerard lead the UnStable with the momentum he gainedfrom beating Claudio Castagnoli at “Aniversario Yin” or will green reign supreme in Reading?

One can assume that CHIKARA will continue announcing matches for “Never Kneel at the Altar of Conformity” next week. I will be sure to share my predictions on all of these bouts as soon as a complete card is set in stone.

Fortunately for those living in the Pennsylvania area, there will not be a large gap in time when CHIKARA will stop running events throughout the summer. Just a few weeks after “Never Kneel at the Altar of Conformity”, the seventh annual “Young Lions Cup” tournament will take place from the fourteenth of August until the sixteenth. Nine competitors for YLC7 have already been announced.

1.  Create-A-Wrestler
2.  Soldier Ant
3.  Trik Davis
4.  Frightmare
5.  Player Dos
6.  Yellow Dog
7.  KC Day
8.  Player Uno
9.  Leonino

At this point, it’s hard to tell exactly how many participants will be included in this year’s tournament. I am guessing that they will at least double the amount of guys they have now, though. Who is my personal pick to win the thing? From the guys I’m looking at now, I think it’s pretty safe to go with Player Dos. My opinion could change over time, but he seems like a smart choice right now.

Just to remind you all — Dragon Gate USA will be having their debut show at the Arena in Philadelphia on July 25th, 2009. Since the last edition of the “CHIKARMY Insider”, two new participants have been announced to the CHIKARA “relevos atomicos” bout. See below to get an idea of where I’m going at.

As I predicted the last time, Amasis and Ophidian of the Osirian Portal will represent CHIKARA as the Campeones de Parejas at DGUSA in the rudo corner. For those of you guys who are wondering, I’m still going with Hallowicked and Frightmare to be added to the match next. By the next time a “CHIKARMY Insider” article is posted,  I assume that all eight wrestlers in the match will have been announced.

In other news, the CHIKARA Fans website is reporting that two CMLL lucha libre minis, Mascarita Dorada and Pierrothito, will be debuting for the company at “Young Lions Cup VII: Night Two”. It should be noted that they will both be competing in non-tournament match(es). A Mascarita Dorado music video can be found by clicking here. Dorado is one hell of an athlete, that’s for sure.

You can now purchase a limited edition BJW versus CHIKARA shirt off of Big Japan Shop. There is only one hundred of these available, so be apart of BJW and CHIKARA history and get yours today.

Tim Donst posted a blog and set rumors aside, announcing that the Sea Donsters weren’t done just yet. He also had some personal words for STIGMA of the UnStable, reminding him never to forget about his tecnico roots.

More than a couple of Podcast-A-Go-Go episodes have been posted since the last “CHIKARMY Insider”. Instead of linking each individual one, browse through Wiggly’s YouTube account and watch everything you haven’t seen already.

My last day of school was on Friday, so I will definitely have some time to spare in upcoming months. The only thing is that I have a week-long Florida trip planned out at the end of this month. As soon as I return, though, a new edition of the “CHIKARMY Insider” will be up and ready for reading. With all that being said, farewell, my fellow CHIKARMY mates.

- 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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