Chikara Best of 2010
In an attempt to catch up on Chikara and know what's going on before High Noon I ordered this DVD and a few other Chikara DVDs that looked like significant or good shows.
Pinkie Sanchez vs. Green Ant
So this is the season premiere and Pinkie had just turned heel and joined the BDK so Green Ant and the rest of the colony were really pissed about this and it was up to Green Ant to get some revenge. I've only seen Pinkie a few times but the guy always comes across as a great heel. This was the match that would set the stage for entire year with Chikara battling the BDK and I thought it did it's job perfectly as this was really intense.
***1/4
The BDK (Claudio Castagnoli, Ares, Tursas, and Lince Durado) vs. Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw, Equinox, and Eddie Kingston
To start things off Lince betrays Chikara and joins the BDK as their 8th guy when he throws Equinox onto the steps before the bell. So this basically leaves Quackenbush and Jigsaw alone in the ring with the BDK. When Claudio starts to mock Kingston we see Eddie run into the ring as the 4th man for the Chikara team. The match itself was incredible. The Chikara guys got there asses kicked the entire time and you could tell how angry it made the crowd. When they finally got their offense going the crowd went crazy and the atmosphere and actions of everyone really reminded me of what we would see during the The NWO storyline back in WCW. Everything about this match clicked and the story that they want to tell was done perfectly. Great match and the perfect main event for the season premiere.
****
Mike Quackenbush and The Future is Now vs. Brodie Lee and The UnStable
I love the UnStable, so many guys that that you just want to punch in the face. Colin Deleaney can be so damn annoying and obnoxious when he works as a heel. Between the size of Lee and Stigma and Gerad and Colin just being good heels you had an entertaining heel team in the match. I liked all the back stories in the match as well as Quack and Stigma have a ton of history and you had the former Olsens in the match as well. It feels kind of odd saying this but the match reminded me a lot a Southern Style tag with cool, indy moves. I mean the structure and the characters everyone plays is essentially the same thing. You had some comedic stuff with the over the top heels getting their asses handed to them, a drawn out control segment, and things picking up where you didn't know who would come out with the win. Very refreshing to see an 8-man indy tag match with that kind of structure, also it was really entertaining.
***3/4
Eddie Kingston vs. Gran Akuma
Hard hitting match with great selling from Kingston, not so much from Akuma. Always fun to watch a really stiff match like this.
**3/4
Lince Dorado vs. Equinox
They brought the intensity and they wrestled the whole match like it was the last 5 minutes. Solid match, but nothing too amazing.
**3/4
Stigma and Vin Gerard vs. The Osirian Portal
Very fun match. They kept it fairly short but the match had good pacing and was easy to sit through.
**3/4
Pinkie Sanchez vs. Equinox
Pinkie is such a great heel to watch. He makes the transition from cowardly heel to pure evil flawlessly and both are fun to watch. In this one Pinkie got his ass kicked for the first few minutes and was literally begging Equinox to stop chopping him, it was pretty hilarious. As soon as he got in any offense he was talking shit and just being a total asshole. I really liked what they did in the ring as Equinox played a great, pissed off face against the evil BDK member Pinkie. The intensity they had fit and I loved the reactions that all the chops from Equinox got. Good stuff.
**3/4
Team Frightning vs. Team Big Japan
This was amazing, it was only 11 minutes but I loved every second of it. Big Japan sent over 3 monsters to make up their team and Quack, Hallowicked and Frightmare aren't exactly the biggest team ever assembled. So you had a fantastic David vs. Goliath match where it looked like the Chikara guys didn't have a chance but they ended up giving Big Japan a run for their money. Frightmare was the star of this one as some of moves Big Japan hit on him were just incredible. I'm struggling to think of any negatives that I could possibly say about this. Such an awesome match to watch.
****
F.I.S.T. vs. Team Osaka Pro
Another great match from the King of Trios. The ending was probably by favorite part because we got to see F.I.S.T. get out cheated by another team. Everything leading into that ending was fantastic as well. It was more of them going crazy with spots and false finishes but it was still entertaining and they really had the crowd at a fever pitch. I think I liked the previous match a little bit more but that doesn't mean this wasn't awesome.
***3/4
Campeon de Parejas:
The BDK(c) vs. Incoherence
So Delirious jumps Hallowicked and Frightmare to start the match and Claudio gets a pinfall as soon as the match starts, which puts the challengers at a huge disadvantage. Hallowicked is down at ringside to start the match leaving the tiny Frightmare on his own against the champions. To make the odds even more stacked against the challengers the ref was the BDK ref (Savato I think), at one point Frightmare made a tag and the ref just didn't allow it, which really got the fans annoyed. As the match wore on you had a good portion of the Chikara locker room coming to ringside in support of the Chikara guys. It's such an awesome moment when Hallowicked gets the hot tag and starts to kick ass but the constant low counts were really frustrating. The way that Incoherence didn't have a chance but the way they got the entire locker room and crowd behind them was something special. Everything about the way this was booked was perfect, you had the cheap ending, the crooked ref, the dominating champions, and you even had Bryce going insane about the ref on commentary. Considering this was a really short and very one sided match I think this rating speaks volumes to how awesome this was.
***3/4
Green Ant vs. Mike Quackenbush
Fun technical match. It was 6 minutes long and they spent every second of it on the mat. I like when you can put something like this on a card as it's always a great change of pace and in small doses a match like this can be really enjoyable. I liked it but I don't know why this seemingly random match made the DVD.
**1/2
Young Lion's Cup:
Tim Donst(c) vs. Frightmare
I guess they wanted to show a match where Donst defended the Young Lion's Cup. I don't see any other reason why this was on here but it was a pretty solid match. Donst really worked the leg of Frightmare who did a good job with the selling. Donst also did a great job of making me want to see him get his ass kicked by Danielson. They were wrestling the next night and he won the match by choking out Frightmare with a tie. Good stuff but this was really lacking a good comeback sequence by Frightmare.
**1/4
Tim Donst vs. Bryan Danielson
Always good to have another match from Bryan Danielson's Summer Vacation on DVD. Everyone wanted to see Danielson take Donst to school and Donst played up the cocky heel to make everyone want that even more. Everyone in the building except Donst seemed to know that everything Donst did was just going to piss Dragon off which made the beginning that much more fun. To Danielson's credit he made Donst look really good early on. Donst was on offense a lot and got himself a lot of heat by constantly trash talking Danielson, stealing his catchphrases, his moves, and at one point just slapping him in the face. I have to say that this was done perfectly and everyone came out on top. Donst looked like someone that was able to take Danielson to his limit and the fans got to see Donst get his ass kicked. Great match with Donst playing a heel really well and Danielson making him look like a star.
****
The Colony and Frightmare vs. The BDK
This was really really fun. You had a nice control segment from the BDK where Fire Ant desperatley tried to make a tag and when he did things went crazy. The ending was pretty cool as well because just when it looked like The Colony was going to make the big comeback BDK was able to score a pinfall out of nowhere against Frightmare. Pretty awesome, not as fun as when I saw it live but that's to be expected.
***1/2
Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw, and Hallowicked vs. World-1
This falls victim to the usually smart booking strategy that Chikara has. World-1 was wrestling like a heel team early on. Considering BxB Hulk and Yoshino had just wrestled as babyfaces the night before in the same building it was very odd to see. The fact that they also just abandoned being heels after a while was also kind of annoying. The final stretch was fun but the ending came out of nowhere and seemed to be kind of random. I loved this match live and saw it get awesome reviews but I have to say it lost a lot of its appeal. It was still good but nothing too amazing.
***1/4
Kyle O'Reilly vs. Adam Cole
Well now I don't have to worry about the match quality if Future Shock ever breaks up and starts to feud. Really hard hitting and wrestled at an incredible pace. Cole came across as really cocky and played the heel in this. They did a lot to make it look like theYoung Lion's Cup was a really valuable prize as this felt like something was on the line. Really entertaining with a great effort from both guys.
***1/2
Young Lion's Cup Final:
Frightmare vs. Lince Dorado
So you have Sabato as the ref in this which really stacked the odds against Frightmare. So you had these awesome 15 minutes of Frightmare doing whatever he could to survive as he had fast counts against him every time and when he was outside the ring he had maybe 10 seconds total to make it make inside because the ref was counting so fast. Throw in the fact that the ref slow counted every time Dorado was being pinned and this was just a battle of survival for Frightmare. When Dorado messed up and hit Savato with a kick to the head Bryce left commentary and ran to the ring. When Frightmare hit a big hurracanrana Bryce counted at a normal speed and Frightmare took home the cup. Great match and it was good to see Chikara finally beat the BDK as the BDK had been seemed unstoppable up to this point. Really exciting match to watch.
***3/4
Campeon de Parejas:
The BDK(c) vs. 3.0
So we have Bryce as the ref which have 3.0 a chance, that is until we see them get jumped from behind by Delirious at the very start of the match and lets the BDK get a fall as soon as the match starts. From there we have Claudio and Ares dominating the match and isolating Parker. Matthews was done on the floor for a while thanks to Delirious and Parker had to survive until he got up to make a tag. And he did more than just survive as he scored a pinfall on a roll up out of nowhere. The crowd went crazy after that pinfall and it got all the faces out of the locker room to see the match. Everything seemed set up for the picture perfect underdog team to score a big win and take the titles off the BDK. It didn't happen though, Claudio and Ares score the second fall cleanly and crush everyone's hearts. This was pretty great just for the fact that they made Claudio and Ares look mortal but strong at the same time. The comeback was from 3.0 was awesome and everything in the last 5 minutes or so was crazy.
***1/2
Delirious and Daizee Haze vs. The Osirian Portal
10 minutes of fast paced action that was just great to watch. The Portal had 2 points going into this match and The BDK members they were against were trying to block them from getting 3 points. So there was a lot on the line and Portal clearly had a huge desire to win. Throw in a big crowd that was into the match and everything looking good for the most part and you can't ask for much more in such a short match.
***1/4
Manami Toyota and Mike Quackenbush vs. Claudio Castagnoli and Sara Del Rey
This was awesome for so many reasons. The first being that Chikara completely ignored any difference between the men and women in this one. The second reason being how well they built up the heat between Claudio and Manami. The third is just that this was a fucking awesome match. Great pace, everything was crisp, great crowd, and anything that I haven't said was great was also great.
****1/4
The Dark Cibernetico:
The BDK (all of them) vs. Chikara Generation One (Quackenbush, Jigsaw, UltraMantis Black, Icarus, Hallowicked, Stigma, Eddie Kingston, and Larry Sweaney)
Favorite line on commentary, "Tim Donst is not the young boy he once was when Eddie Kingston would have has his way with him whenever he wanted."
This match was amazing. The rules took a little bit to get used to (it was Elimination Tag but the teams could only tag in and out in a certain order) but once you got into the flow of the match it was a joy to see. They blended so many storylines into this that I don't even know where to start or end. From Stigma wearing his old mask, Icarus getting cheered, yeah ICARUS WAS GETTING CHEERED, partners reuniting, enemies working together, a red hot crowd, Kingston being the man, Sweaney returning, oh and just an incredible match between Chikara and the BDK. Literally they took everything that's good about Chikara and put it into this match. One of the most unique matches I've ever seen in indy wrestling. In all honesty the only other thing I can compare this to is DBD IV Cage of Death, and that's the highest compliment possible. Looking back this is one of the best matches I've seen in 2010.
****1/2
Icarus, Rorschach, Lance Steel & Darkness Crabtree vs. Mister ZERO, UltraMantis Black, Dragonfly & Jolly Roger
So I was listening to commentary and it sounds like Icarus was the reason for like half of these guys leaving Chikara. The match had a few funny moments but for the most part I thought this was kind of lame. I'm not a long time Chikara fan so maybe I couldn't appreciate seeing any of the returning guys in the ring. When the highlight of the match is Mantis screaming, "My Fingers!" when he chopped Steel's chest you know there is a problem.
*1/2
Falls Count Anywhere:
Ultramantis Black vs. Ares
The intensity was there but as far as brawls go this really wasn't anything all that special. Everything that I liked about the match was due to the atmosphere and hatred that they got in here. Also the ending was kind of a let down and really really weird.
**3/4
The Osirian Portal and Jonathan Gresham vs. The BDK (Delirious, Pinkie Sanchez, and Lince Dorado)
Chikara is really good at putting these fun matches on the card that last for around 10 minutes. Nothing that I haven't seen before but good pacing with a great comeback segment from the faces.
***
Campeon de Parejas:
The BDK(c) vs. Mike Quackenbush and Jigsaw
Total change of pace from the other tag defense that were on the set. Eddie Kingston took out Delirious to prevent the prematch beat down that had been their signature. Quack and Jigsaw also scored the first fall early on which was another big shocker. The tides turned quickly as Claudio hit a cheap shot on Quack and attacked his bad back. Then he laid out Bryce and got Sabato as the ref. Sabato literally forced Quackenbush to tap by grabbing his hand and tapping it against the mat. Quackenbush was injured leaving Jigsaw essentially on his own against the BDK with their pet ref. Jigsaw fought valiantly but was eventually thrown out of the ring and Quackenbush was dragged into the ring. It looked like they had him as Quack was out but he playing possum and got a roll up that would have won the match if it weren't for a slow count. The ending was perfect, The BDK had the match won and as Sabato went to count the 3 Bryce pulled him out of the ring and laid him out, for the first time of the season I believe. Jigsaw got back into the ring and scored the final fall to take the belts off the BDK. The crowd went insane.
This match is why I'm starting to fall in love with Chikara. It was the turning point in a year long story line. For virtually an entire year the BDK had been running through everyone in Chikara and it wasn't until the very end of the season that they were finally able to deal a crippling blow to them. Bryce finally taking out Savato was awesome because we all knew that he had wanted to do that all year. The match itself was great as well. Really dramatic with the control segments leading into these incredible comebacks from Quackenbush and Jigsaw. I believe the crowd was totally fooled as well into think at numerous times that the BDK was going to take this match. This is how you work a match, they had spots but they were all building into that one incredible moment when the BDK finally fell. I only watched one full show and this best of set from 2010 and I still found this match to be extremely rewarding. I can only imagine how great this must have been for the fans that had followed Chikara all year. There could not have been a better way to end the season.
****1/2
So I thought I knew what Chikara was all about when I got this DVD and I have to say I was wrong and I'm so happy that I was wrong. They have a lot of fun in their matches, which can be great sometimes but so many of their big matches on this set told incredible stories. It's really what really is supposed to be. I can't wait to start following this company on a more regular basis. I have two shows of theirs in the next month or so that I plan on going to and some shows on DVD that I would like to see as well. I love most of the big indy wrestling companies but I think I might have found the company for me in Chikara. If you haven't seen them before I really would recommend getting this set. It's almost 7 hours long and has 25 matches, and it just so happens that Chikara had some of the best matches from 2010. Do yourself a favor and give them a shot.