wrestling / Columns
Contemplating CHIKARA 9.05.09: Some Badd News
What’s up friends? I’ll tell you what’s up, this weeks edition of Contemplating CHIKARA! We have lots going on with a plethora of matches added to the CHIKARA New England shows, some words from Leonard F. Chikarason, new DVD’s, and news about Dragon Gate this weekend. In fact, let’s start with that…
“Enter the Dragon” PPV now airing/Open The Untouchable Gate this weekend!
Yes my friends, now airing on all PPV providers (except Direct TV, jerks) is the debut Dragon Gate USA PPV “Enter the Dragon”. The show has been getting absolutely stellar reviews from all over, and I implore each and every one of you readers to purchase this show. If you want a refresher, here is the card.
Shingo vs. Naruki Doi (Open the Dream Gate and Open the Brave Gate Champion)
Warriors 5 (CIMA & Susumu Yokosuka) vs. The Young Bucks (Nick & Matt Jackson)
Dragon Kid vs. Masato Yoshino
Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw, and The Colony (Fire Ant & Soldier Ant) vs. F.I.S.T. (Icarus & Gran Akuma), Amasis, & Hallowicked
BxB Hulk vs. YAMATO
And if that card isn’t enough to get you to order, check out Dragon Gate USA’s Youtube page to watch plenty of free preview videos to hype you up for the show. So go! Order! Now!
In addition, the second DGUSA show entitled “Open The Untouchable Gate” will take place this Sunday, September 6th and the Congress Theatre in Chicago, IL. If you can make the show, I highly recommend doing so. Here’s another look at the entire card
Main Event #1 – Japan Ace vs. United States Ace
Open The Dream Gate Champion Naruki Doi vs. Bryan Danielson
Main Event #2 – Battle Of The Hard-Hitters
Shingo vs. Davey Richards
Main Event #3 – Did You Ever Think This Would Happen?
CIMA vs. Brian Kendrick
Rematch from Open The Historic Gate
Dragon Kid vs. Masato Yoshino
Open The Twin Gate Champions Ryo Saito & Genki Horiguchi vs. The Young Bucks of Nick & Matt Jackson
Tag Team Grudge Match
Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw vs. YAMATO & Gran Akuma
FRAY! featuring Hallowicked, Mustafa Ali, Johnny Gargano, The Great Malaki, Louis Lyndon, Shiima Xion, Flip Kendrick, and Arik Cannon
WWE Hall Of Famers Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler, as well as Bryan Danielson, will be signing autographs before the live event.
This card looks absolutely stacked and looks to be a show you don’t want to miss. Also, the tickets for this show will be commemorative Bryan Danielson collector’s items.
I’d also like to mention that TONIGHT!!! in Berwyn, IL, AAW (All American Wrestling) will be holding a special show apply titled “Us vs. Them”. Bryan Danielson will make his AAW debut to take on Chicagoland independent wrestling star Silas Young. In addition, DGUSA and CHIKARA talents Jigsaw, Hallowicked, and Gran Akuma will team up to face Arik Cannon and The Northstar Express (who should be familiar to any true CHIKARA fan). Also, The Young Bucks will make their AAW debut and their opponents have yet to be named.
This should be another fabulous show where you can see the DGUSA stars for a fraction of the price you could see them for at the DGUSA show the night after (though if you’re in the area, you should go to both). Make sure to check AAW’s homepage for more details.
And now, a word from Leonard F. Chikarason
9/1/2009: Hi CHIKARA fans! The Director of Fun here with some important news stemming from recent events. As you know, here at CHIKARA, we generally stand by our referee’s decisions. However, earlier this year, a ruling made by our official, Nicklaus Papagiorgio was called into question by members of both the roster and the administration. Upon reviewing the match from Easton that pitted The Colony against F.I.S.T., we found his ruling did not follow the established guidelines, and for the first time in our history, amended the decision after-the-fact.
On August 16th, a match contested between Eddie Kingston and Claudio Castagnoli was overseen by Referee Papagiorgio that was ruled a count-out victory for Castagnoli. Once again, a number of protests regarding this result were sent to me, and thanks to Smart Mark Video, I was able to obtain an advance copy of “Young Lions Cup VII: Night 3” to review personally. Again, it would seem that our official did not adhere to the guidelines put forth regarding the CHIKARA rule system.
While I am not amending the match result, I will sanction a rematch between Kingston and Castagnoli for an upcoming card for this reason: the referee’s count on the floor began while Castagnoli was on the floor, and a new count should have began once Kingston left the ring. Instead, the official transferred the count outside the ring from Castagnoli to Kingston, which is not a valid call. To give him more time to familiarize himself with the CHIKARA rulebook, we will also give Referee Papagiorgio 30 days off to study up before returning to active duty.
I hope everyone enjoyed YLC weekend. Upon making matches between partners like Player Uno and Player Dos, and Ryan Cruz and Darin Corbin, I was uncertain how things would play out. However, in light of these stand-out matches (among many others,) I have decided to continue this theme at our 6th annual Torneo Cibernetico, coming in October. I trust you will enjoy this special match as well.
We’ll see you in New England!
LFC
Papagiorgio off? Kingston vs. Claudio V? Cibernetico Increible? LFC, I like the way you think. Though I must wonder if the Cibernetico Increible will be a bit much. I dunno, CHIKARA seems to bust out the storyline stuff in a great, creative way so I’m not too worried. I’m sure we’ll get a better understanding of what’s up after the New England shows. Speaking of…
More matches for “Man Makes Plans, and God Laughs”
First up we have The Super Smash Bros. taking on the Order of the Neo-Solar Temple. Both these teams are on somewhat divergent paths. Player Dos scored the biggest win of his career, winning the Young Lions Cup tournament a few weeks ago. The same night, The Order racked up two points and were on their way to a third before a man cloaked in all white distracted them. Both teams however would love to get the necessary points to get a shot for the Campeonatos de Parejas. A few months ago at “Aniversario Yang”, The Order defeated the Super Smash Bros. and Create-A-Wrestler in a six man tag to re-establish the groups dominance. Will the Order of the Neo-Solar Temple re-begin their journey to the three points, or will Player Dos use his momentum to secure the first point for he and Player Uno?
In an interesting six man tag, Mike Quackenbush will team up with The Future Is Now (Lince Dorado & Equinox) to face The UnStable (Vin Gerard & STIGMA) and Chuck Taylor. The reason I say this is interesting is because The UnStable and Chuck also teamed up during Young Lions Cup weekend, which was seemingly a one time deal. Now that they’re teaming again I do not know what’s up. Chuck I guess needs friends while his buddies Icarus & Gran Akuma go for the tag straps. Anyways, The UnStable have a sordid past with Quack and TFIN, and Quack’s protégé Jigsaw has been coaching TFIN lately, so that pairing makes complete sense. Most important of the grudges has to be Mike Quackenbush and STIGMA, former allies turned sour (who also have a shot at the Campeones de Parejas in their back pocket!). And of course, lest we forget Equinox defeated Vin Gerard in the first ever CHIKARA ladder match for the Young Lions Cup. Needless to say, things will explode when these teams meet in MA.
YES! YES! YES! Bless you CHIKARA for making my dream come true. The team of Brad and Chad Badd, the Badd Boyz, make their CHIKARA debut in MA! Brad and Chad, as you can clearly see from their photo, are identical twins and can not be told apart. Therefore, no one knows which one is Brad and which one is Chad. People have claimed them to look familiar to others on the CHIKARA roster, but I have no idea who. The Badd Boyz actually were apart of CHIKARA’s Big Japan Wrestling tour, as they faced the Order of the Neo-Solar Temple in a deathmatch style bout on Sunday June, 14th. They’ll debut against The Colony of Fire Ant and Green Ant. Last time those two teamed was in a trios match at “Never Kneel” in which the Colony scored the victory. The Badd Boyz love drinking, smoking, and biker sluts, and are simply built tough. Will the Badd Boyz make a successful debut to secure them future bookings, or will the Colony fend them off?
More matches for “Hiding in Plain Sight”
And speaking of the Colony, they’ll be in this tremendous 10 man tag. However, in this instance it will be Carpenter Ant replacing Fire Ant (Fire Ant and Soldier Ant will be main eventing the show in a match for the Campeones de Parejas). The Colony will team with Lince Dorado, Equinox, and Dasher Hatfield to take on 2.0 (Jagged & Shane Matthews) and The UnStable The UnStable (Vin Gerard, Colin Delaney, & STIGMA). Again, many issues come to ahead in this match with Dasher seeking revenge on Colin, The UnStable’s disdain for The Colony, and as we discussed earlier, The Future Is Now’s hatred for the UnStable. Just like the six man from MA, when these ten men collide in CHIKARA’s New Hampshire debut, it will be craziness abound.
The Campeonatos de Parejas will not be the only title defend in MA, as Player Dos will put his Young Lions Cup on the line for the first time against his partner Player Uno. Uno and Dos faced each other one on one in the first round of the Young Lions Cup tournament, and have faced off on opposite sides in no less than three Increibles matches in CHIKARA. While they both are still seemingly on good terms, one must consider if Uno is still a bit peeved at Dos. Just watch this video CHIKARA posted:
Although is all smiles and happiness here, who knows what it will be like when he and Dos are in the heat of combat. Will Dos and Uno be able to have cooler heads prevail regardless of the outcome? One most wonder if this match will cause a distraction for both men when they team together in Massachussetts the night before.
This is potentially the most interesting match on the entire card (well, okay, Danielson’s final CHIKARA match is on this show, but work with me here!) Vökoder, a man we know very little about, made his debut at Young Lions Cup, Night 2 and dominated until his elimination in the semi-finals. Whether or not this man/robot/whatever was going to be a full-time member of the roster was questioned, especially since as the time of this writing, he is not on the roster page. He will face a man who has switched to the Rudo side of the roster, Tim Donst. Vökoder most certainly did not act like a Tecnico at the Young Lions Cup, so seeing him paired up against evil Donst certainly raises an eyebrow. What will happen in this match is anyone’s guess.
In a “Rudos contra Rudos” tag match, The Order of the Neo-Solar Temple will face The Roughnecks in tag action in New Hampshire. This will be The Order’s second match of the weekend, and they will either come in looking for their second point or getting their second attempt at their first point. Grizzly Redwood and Brodie Lee have accumulated the three points needed for a tag title shot, and refuse to team up together until they receive their title shot. Because of it, Grizzly will team with his other Roughneck teammate Eddie Kingston. While Brodie has taken Grizzly under his wing, Kingston has a history of showing hostility towards “The Grizz” as he likes to call him. Will Kingston be able to put aside his obvious disdain for the littlest lumberjack to get a different Roughneck combo a point, or will the Order’s kinship prevail? Don’t forget, it was The Roughnecks that kept Ultramantis and the Order out of this years King of Trios tournament.
New DVD’s!
That’s right, all three nights of the seventh annual Young Lions Cup are now out on DVD at Smart Mark Video. Here are spoiler free cards for all three nights:
Night One
First Round Match: Frightmare vs. Brendan Michael Thomas
First Round Match: Hydra vs. Tim Donst
First Round Match: Dasher Hatfield vs. Jason Hades
First Round Match: KC “Cloudy” Day vs. Chimaera
First Round Match: Colin Delaney vs. Stinky The Homeless Guy
First Round Match: Lince Dorado vs. Prince Mustafa Ali
YLC VII Six Man Semi-Finals Match
The Colony (Fire Ant & Soldier Ant) vs. 2.0 (Jagged & Shane Matthews)
Cheech Hernandez vs. Brodie Lee
Night Two
First Round Match: Yellow Dog vs. Bret “Ressle” Race
First Round Match: Soldier Ant vs. Carpenter Ant
First Round Match: Darin Corbin vs. Ryan Cruz
First Round Match: Trik Davis vs. Shane Hollister
First Round Match: El Leonino vs. Grizzly Redwood
First Round Match: Player Uno vs. Player Dos
YLC VII Six Man Semi-Finals Match
Pierrothito vs. Mascarita Dorada
Jigsaw vs. Arik Cannon
Night Three
Young Lions Cup VII Finals
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Eddie Kingston
Golden Treams Trios Match: Jigsaw and The Future Is Now (Equinox & Helios) vs. Chuck Taylor and The UnStable (Vin Gerard & STIGMA) vs. Fire Ant, Arik Cannon, and Hallowicked
The Masters of a Thousand Holds (Mike Quackenbush & Jorge “Skayde” Rivera) vs. Turbo & ???
Pierrothito vs. Mascarita Dorada
Elimination Match: The Order of the Neo-Solar Temple (Ultramantis Black & Delirious) vs. F.I.S.T. (Icarus & Gran Akuma) vs. Chiva V & Halcon Guerrero vs. ???
Plus, a tag team match and a six-man tag match featuring eliminated competitors from the Young Lions Cup tournament!
So buy buy buy! All three shows look like fun times. And, of course, at some point you’ll be able to read my DVD reviews.
Absolutely shameless shills!
Everyone, go to Pro Wrestling Ponderings. As most of you know, I actually came here to 411 because of my work over at the now defunct Cool Kids Table website. Most of the staff there is now here. We’ve added three new people from the Cool Kids Table to our writing staff (all three are former 411 writers as well): Jason Sterlacci, former Cool Kids founder Jake Ziegler, and former Cool Kids founder Brad Garoon! This week on the podcast, Jerome and I discuss the PWG results from “Speed of Sound”, Christopher Daniels’ DUI, and preview PWG’s “Guerre Sans Frontieres”, AAW’s “Us vs. Them”, and DG USA’s “Open The Untouchable Gate” So please check it out, as well as all the other great stuff at Pro Wrestling Ponderings. PWP is becoming the new home for independent pro wrestling on the web.
If you have not begun listening, Mike Quackenbush and Clayton Morris (of FOX News & Friends) host a pop-culture podcast known as The Grizzly Bear Egg Cafe. Clayton and Mike talk about all things geek such as movies, music, television, comic books, tech stuff, and wrestling here and there. I find it wildly entertaining, as Clayton and Mike play off each other very well. It’s also really cool to hear Mike talk about non-wrestling stuff as well. So please, check out The Grizzly Bear Egg Cafe and subscribe to their podcast on iTunes.
YouTube Fun!
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Here we have the 177th episode of CHIKARA’s Podcast-A-Go-Go, where clips from the show “King of Trios 2009: Night One”are shown. Matches covered are Incoherence (Delirious, Hallowicked & Frightmare) vs. Masters Of A Thousand Holds (Mike Quackenbush, Johnny Saint & Jorge Rivera) and The UnStable (Vin Gerard, STIGMA & Colin Delaney) vs. The Cold Front (Al Snow, Glacier & D-Lo Brown). Be sure to check out my review of the show, by clicking the show name in a sentence or two above!
Dan of CHIKARAFans fame created this music video in response to Les Thatcher, who said CHIKARA was essentially nothing more than a joke. After watching that video, who’s calling them a joke?
Thanks so much again everyone for checking out this weeks Contemplating CHIKARA! Make sure to check out my DVD reviews and all the other fine articles here on the website, and please leave feedback! I love reading feedback and e-mails so keep em’ coming. Thanks so much again for reading, and I will see you in seven!
Links!
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Dragon Gate USA Home Page
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