The Magnus Analysis- Chikara Son of the International Invasion of International Invaders – 2nd Stage

Chikara presented this event on September 17th 2005 in Pittston, PA, which was an event mixing some strong international and independent wrestling talent with the usual Chikara crew. With international names such as Milano Collection AT, KUDO and Skayde and independent wrestling stars such as Shiima Xion, The Kings Of Wrestling and Tom Carter in action against and alongside the Chikara wrestlers, this is sure to be a good night of wrestling.

Your commentators are a variety of Chikara wrestlers and staff, including Bryce Rembsburg, Ultramantis Black (who is very entertaining on commentary), Blind Rage, Chris Hero, Crossbones

Match 1
Lancelot (Lance Steel and Lance Steel) vs Rorschach and Crossbones
That’s not a typo, there’s two Lance Steel’s, hence the team name. Rorschach and Crossbones are a first time team, their only real thing in common is the color orange. This was solid, nothing special or memorable, but a fairly fun and entertaining opener that served it’s purpose. It was kind of strange that part of the crowd were supporting the rudos and booing the technicos for this match, although the majority were cheering and booing the technicos and rudos respectively. It didn’t take away from the match at all though. One of the Lance Steel’s won the match by making Rorschach tap to the Boston Crab- **

Retail Dragon cuts a promo, explaining his character and saying that he’s going to beat Cheech tonight.

Match 2
Retail Dragon vs Cheech
Dragon is a fairly inexperienced student at this time, but has potential and wrestles a similair style to Ultimo Dragon (only a lot sloppier) and to fellow Chikara wrestler Jigsaw. Another solid, enjoyable bout, with Cheech playing a strong heel while hitting everything he did perfectly, and Dragon using some good high flying moves for his level of experience, although at times he was incredibly sloppy (botching a Standing Moonsault on the back of Cheech no less than three times at one point). Retail Dragon scored a major upset with a rollup out of nowhere for the three count- **1/2

Match 3
Jervis Cottonbelly and Shiima Xion vs Dr Cheung and Adam Knight
Adam Knight’s from Canada, he’s like what would happen if you combined The Undertaker and JBL together, and Dr Cheung is a Mexican wrestler beginning an extended stay in Chikara. Jervis Cottonbelly is a short lived Chikara student who’s supposedly British and has cotton on his belly (hence the name), while Shiima Xion wrestles in IWC. Not an especially memorable bout I’m afraid, but they tried and it was decent a good deal of the time. It was just a bit too sloppy at times, that’s all, and maybe a bit longer than it needed to be. Dr Cheung won the match by pinning Cottonbelly with the Doctor Bomb – *1/2

Reckless Youth, along with some kid, cuts a promo on Larry Sweeney’s ‘fake’ Tex Arkana Television title, where he says that he doesn’t care about Sweeney’s title and that he’s out to prove he’s the King of the Independents.

Match 4
‘Sweet and Sour’ Larry Sweeney vs ‘Reckless Youth’ Tom Carter
This match was originally scheduled to be non-title, but Reckless Youth wants a title match so it’s set in stone by ring announcer Carolina Jim (who isn’t supposed to have the authority to do that). This ended up being a very entertaining match as most Larry Sweeney matches are, and mixed comedy with good mat wrestling and high flying. Watch out for a strut off with Sweeney doing his Ric Flair esque strut, while Reckless Youth ends up doing a Jeff Jarrett style one for some reason. Sweeney also shows some smarts by distracting the referee when he cheated. Sweeney would end up retaining his title despite some near falls by Reckless Youth with a rollup using the trunks for leverage. That was a lot of fun and as good and solid a match as you’ll find involving these two men- ***

Matt Turner and Anthony Franco cut a promo, saying that they were to wrestle Davey Andrews and Shane Hagadorn, but they weren’t here so they’re wrestling Team FIST instead. They say that they have nothing to fear and will be winning tonight.

Chris Hero has replaced Ultramantis Black and Blind Rage on commentary.

Match 5
Team Fist (Gran Akuma and Icarus) vs Matt Turner and Anthony Franco
Another good bout, very solid and it showed the improvement of the ROH Students as a team as well as the aggressive attitude of the now rudo Team FIST who are really strong in their roles. Icarus and Akuma displayed solid high flying moves with Akuma adding some hard strikes, and they dissected the ROH Students while not having to resort to cheating. Turner and Franco looked great in their fightbacks and looked impressive, going close to winning with a Spike Brainbuster that got a two count. In the end despite a good effort the Students came up short when Akuma pinned Turner after an Oklahoma Stampede and Kick combination- **3/4

Larry Sweeney now replaces Chris Hero on commentary, and Crossbones joins him about halfway through the next match.

Match 6
Shane Storm and ‘Lightning’ Mike Quackenbush vs KUDO and Chuichiro Arai
Great and exciting high flying style of match here. In particular the wrestling exchanges between KUDO and Mike Quackenbush who were both on their game in this match, providing some fast paced and hard hitting wrestling action, as well as unique submissions and mat wrestling. Shane Storm and Chuichiro Arai both were pretty good as well, if a little sloppier than the other two, but they both had their part to play in this tag. One thing I loved was that Shane Storm brought out the Stop sign, but KUDO didn’t understand it since it was in English, so they got out a Japanese version of the Stop sign that did stop him. You’ll really enjoy this if you appreciate the Chikara style of action or if your generally a fan of high flying junior heavyweight wrestling. Shane Storm won this match for his team by pinning Arai with a German Suplex- ***1/2

The Dark Breed cut a promo which I found hard to understand due to Ultramantis Black’s screaming, although the general gist of it was that Jigsaw is going to lose at Hallowicked’s hands tonight. Note that Blind Rage looks totally disinterested.

Match 7
Jigsaw vs Hallowicked w/Ultramantis Black
A first time ever match in Chikara or anywhere in wrestling apparently, and quite a good match too. I love how both men were portrayed as equals, going hold for hold early on, and having their own periods of back and forth dominance. While the moves weren’t as crisp as I’ve seen in other matches, they hat everything that they went for, and both men had the charisma to keep the fans interested so the match balances out very well in the end. And they weren’t afraid to hit each other very hard and take some nasty bumps as well. Watch out in particular for Jigsaw hitting a Top Rope Double Stomp to Hallowicked when he was on the stage outside of the ring. The finish saw Ultramantis Black provide a distraction for Jigsaw, allowing Hallowicked to build momentum for a Running Reverse Hurracarana, and that got three- ***1/4

The Kings Of Wrestling cut a promo, minus Arik Cannon, saying how dominant that they are, and that they will be more than able to beat Skayde and Milano Collection AT tonight.

Match 8
Team Toryumon (Milano Collection AT and Skayde) vs Kings Of Wrestling (Chris Hero and ‘Double C’ Claudio Castagnoli)
An excellent main event tag match, as you would expect considering the participants, but a step or two below their even better match at the Tag World Grand Prix 2006 only a few months later (which I will probably review at some point). Just great pure wrestling action, exactly the sort of wrestling that I enjoy watching the most. It has the old school booing of heels and cheering of faces, but with the modern day fast paced, technical style of wrestling that is exciting to watch. The crowd were really hot for this as well, since they’d clearly come to see Milano and they enjoyed seeing him use all of his signature submissions and big moves. And seeing the Kings Of Wrestling’s strong teamwork is always good to watch. Milano’s team looked like they were to win it as Milano locked in the AT Lock on Hero, looking like he’d make him tap. But then Icarus and Gran Akuma ran out to save Hero and cause the DQ – ***3/4

After the match, the Kings of Wrestling try to beatdown their opponents four on two, but Mike Quackenbush, Shane Storm, Jigsaw and Reckless Youth run out to make it six on four. Then the Dark Breed run out to make it seven on six, and soon they have beaten down the six men. They then try to isolate Reckless Youth and take him out, hitting him with a Top Rope Neckbreaker-Powerbomb Combo, then Icarus locks on the Burning Wings submission hold, before Mike Quackenbush is finally able to pull him out of the ring.
Hero cuts a promo saying that while he may have lost by DQ tonight, his team will win the war at the Torneo Cibernetico next month, and also challenges Milano Collection AT to a rematch. They also tease some dissention between the Kings Of Wrestling.

The 411: Overall this is a great wrestling event, a Chikara show that will not only entertain you for the fun and relaxed style of wrestling, but the fact that there also a fair amount of great, serious wrestling action on the card as well. The last three matches alone more than earn this a high recommendation, although the undercard was a bit weak. Still, a fairly solid recommendation for this Chikara event, and a little something for everyone.

Final Score:  7.8   [ Good ]