[Groovemachine]

Thanks to Seabs' Media Week, I got to see the Sara Del Rey/Eddie Kingston match from Chikara: The Great Escape. What a fantastic underdog encounter. This was just plain great; although Sara was the clear underdog, they never seemed mismatched and she legit had a chance at winning. Eddie being Eddie was terrific, with all the 'sweetheart' comments and being cocky but then showing slightly more concern as the match progressed and Sara got in more offense. In the past I've often found Del Rey a bit devoid of emotion, but her selling was tremendous in this and really made you feel empathy for her.

Also, I definitely don't have enough Kingston in my life right now. So underrated, I need to work my way through his Grand Championship defenses.

I've got this ever so slightly higher than Del Rey/Generico making this my Chikara MOTY.

[Obfuscation]

You check out the Kingston vs Brodie Lee match from last year? Stellar.

All of Kingston's defenses are worth a watch. Kingston needs to be around in other places. No doubt.

[Seabs]

Kingston being limited to just CHIKARA for the most part makes me very sad. Still got the Tadasuke match to watch but I've seen the majority of the need to see Kingston matches from 2012 now and I REALLY wish he'd got to work better workers more often. Thought Del Ray was by far the star in that match but Kingston more than pulled his own weight. Was awesome in the Steen match from ROH. Looked really great in the Generico match from 2011 too. Then he gets talentless hacks like Jigsaw and there's so much he can do with someone like Jigsaw in a singles bout.

Watched some stuff this week. Nothing I felt like talking about. Worth mentioning that Callihan/Generico 2/3 Falls from DGUSA is very good though. Not on the level of the EVOLVE match but so far ahead of anything else DGUSA put on last year bar Callihan/Fox which it's still better than. Officially done with DGUSA now unless something pops up which REALLY interests me which is unlikely with the current roster and environment. Didn't even finish most of the pimped matches from last year. 10 minutes into a 25 minute match and I aint watching another 15 minutes that I know I'm not enjoying. Crowds are horrible and the cards are full of guys who should only be working sub 10 minute singles matches going 25 minutes. No thanks. That venue for Untouchable 2012. Yikes. Looked like the ground floor of a shopping mall car park. Who the fuck did commentary for the Uprising/Fearless shows btw? Legit wanted to kill them. Only match other than the 2 I mentioned that I'd say was good was Tozawa/Davis. Say what you like about Davis but what he does is generally good when he's got a clear structure. There's a couple of Davis/Walker matches on youtube from last year than non Davis fans should watch. He's much better than guys like AR Fox and Chuck Taylor.

[Chismo]

Kingston/Tadasuke deserves LOVE.

[Obfuscation]

I like Jigsaw and his trying to be a tough guy STRIKES.

A Jon Davis vs Vordell Walker match? I'd rather be dead.

[Seabs]

I knew you'd say that.

Jigsaw's strikes in that Kingston match are the most pathetic thing I've ever seen.

[Obfuscation]

I hate to be predictable, but I have limits.

[Seabs]

Team ROH vs The Extreme Trio - CHIKARA King Of Trios 2012 Night 2
Actually really liked this bar THAT spot and yes THAT spot was the worst thing ever. Other than that though I dug this. Bucks are superb in everything they did in 2012 and this is no different. Scorpio is equally fantastic too and still outworks the majority of guys half his age, even at doing spots. Dreamer and Lynn don't really offer anything but the bulk of the match is Team ROH being douches and working Scorpio over so it didn't hurt the match.

***3/4

Eddie Kingston vs Tadasuke - CHIKARA Grand Championship - CHIKARA King Of Trios 2012 Night 2
Really great title match. Had a big fight feel to it and most of that came from the way they worked the match. I really love title matches that are worked in a measured fashion like this where every little thing matters in defining the outcome. Tadasuke really impressed me for a guy I'd never even heard of before and Kingston was great in his accustomed role yet again. Great selling and they both hit each other hard enough to make me care about the strikes. Top notch match. Baffles me how CHIKARA fans can call this good and then rate Kingston/Jigsaw like ***3/4 higher.

****+

Team ROH vs Team Sendai Girls - CHIKARA King Of Trios 2012 Night 3
Straight and to the point. Fantastic. Bucks are the greatest. This should be common knowledge by now. Everything they touch turns to gold and this didn't even need much of a touch to turn it that way. Bucks dynamic in a tag with LADEHS is a setting that naturally guarantees greatness on both ends. Sendai team rocked their part too. Satomura going strike crazy on all 3 guys was awesome, as was the triple superkick finish. Great match. Rack another one up for the Jacksons!

****

The Special Envoy vs Team ROH - CHIKARA King Of Trios 2012 Night 3
Team ROH killed it. Team CHIKARA did their best to literally kill it. Bucks. Awesome. Duh. Pairing them with Bennett and Maria is just such a natural fit. They all do their thing to perfection. The CHIKARA team literally had a negative effect on the match for me though. The DDT spot where Frightmare ran across the backs into the spot took so long for him to pull off that it killed the uniqueness of the spot and he made the other 2 look really shitty by just leaving them standing in that contrived position while he takes his time. Another example when they work a really great teased hot tag spot with Frightmare working a great battle to get out of ROH's half of the ring but then either the other 2 don't fall from the ring in time or he gets their too soon and there's a terrible wait while he just sorta stands ready to tag waiting for his partners to fall off the apron. Wasn't a fan of UM completely disregarding the tombstone on the ramp and the following sequence. That fucking sucked. Batiri guys coming out really killed the momentum of the match for me. I guess there's a longer term booking reason but it felt like it served zero purpose in the scheme of the match other than to allow UM to do his suplex spot. Finish felt totally disjointed from the rest of a well structured match because they wanted to do that spot. Superkick to Maria was bossy as hell though. Why did Bryce have a spaz out reaction to counting 3. Why does Bryce still exist? Such a fucking mark for himself. That probably sounded like I hated the match which I didn't because it was Bucks/Bennett/Maria doing their heel shtick which is naturally awesome. Sadly the match got brought down to just really good status by factors outside of them 4.

***3/4

[Chismo]

THAT spot ruined ROH/ECW for me, and THAT suplex onto 68 people ruined the Finals for me.

Kingston/Tadasuke is

Have you checked out the Joshi tag and Tadasuke murdering Jigsaw from Night 3?

[Seabs]

Watched the Joshi Tag. Wasn't a fan but it was decent. Can't put myself through another Jigsaw singles match.