wrestling / TV Reports
Csonka’s CHIKARA – Tomorrow Never Dies iPPV Review 12.06.14
Loading...Introduction
As a reminder, this will not be another traditional recap, but instead it will be a mash up of the Rs, Instant Analysis and my usual Twitter ramblings I would do during the shows; completely uncensored and as the ideas flow unfiltered to the old keyboard. Remember, this is a review; and I am here to review the show. As always, I encourage discussion and even disagreement, just do so in a respectful manner. I will be doing the review for Raw and most PPVs and iPPVs going forward.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
~ German Suplex Match: Smooth Sailin Ashley Remington defeated Juan Francisco de Coronado via pin [**]
~ Eddie Kingston defeated Jimmy Jacobs via pin [**½]
~ Campeones de Parejas 2 of 3 Falls Match: Devastation Corporation defeated The Throwbacks © via pin to become the new champions [****¼]
~ Loser Leaves CHIKARA Match: Ultramantis Black defeated Delirious via pin [**½]
~ CIBERNETICO The Floor defeated Team CHIKARA when Soldier Ant finally eliminated Fire Ant via chokeslam [**½]
~ Steel Cage Match: Icarus defeated Deucalion via submission [***½]
German Suplex Match – Juan Francisco de Coronado vs. Smooth Sailin Ashley Remington: I was disappointed that the YLC finals was shifted to the pre-show, as I was looking forward to seeing the match as part of the live iPPV. Anyway, this was a solid but unspectacular way to open the show. Smooth Sailin Ashley Remington is an awesome character and I tend to always enjoy his performances. This was just an ok match to me, but if I am being honest the stipulation felt as if it held the match back instead of added to it. It had its fun moments.
Eddie Kingston vs. Jimmy Jacobs: This was the culmination to the feud between the two, and while not bad, this falls into the area that a lot of Kingston matches tend to fall into for me; the acceptable but predictable and paint by numbers brawl. It’s not that they weren’t working hard, it just lacked to me. Also to be clear, we wanted the brawl here because it fit the feud, I just felt that it never got into that really exciting match I had hoped for. Kingston won clean and earned his third point, which will allow him to challenge for the grand championship down the line. Kid Cyclone appeared post match and attacked then unmasked. He revealed that his name was Kevin Condron, freed the Snow Troll, and pissed on tradition and well, Kingston. We end one feud and looks to move right into another and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Campeones de Parejas 2 of 3 Falls Match: The Throwbacks © vs. Devastation Corporation: I love the Devastation Corporation, they are a pure old school big man, brawling, ass kicking, nothing is pretty tag team and they make it work on every level. They got the advantage early, forcing the valiant babyface champions to have to fight from down 1-0, which when you build the right drama, always works. These two teams work so damn well together, and have constantly improved, and this may have been their best effort (that I have seen) yet. The Throwbacks got an awesome near fall off of a 3D, only for Sidney Bakabella (the manager of the Corporation) to stop that. The crowd wanted the faces to win so badly off of that, but unfortunately the Devastation Corporation would then take the third fall, and become the new Campeones de Parejas. This had great work, great emotion and was simply a well booked 2 of 3 falls match. I do not think that you can ask for much more than what we got. This was great work from all involved and a joy to watch. It was also the best match on the show.
Loser Leaves CHIKARA Match: Delirious vs. Ultramantis Black: Delirious and Ultramantis Black have a deep history in CHIKARA, and I was expecting a long and really big time match to reflect that. I do not think that I got that. They had a fine match, I loved that they went big time early with the big moves to try and put the other one away, selling the importance of the stipulation. But then we got a ref bump, and I felt that it simply lacked from that point on. Ultramantis Black got what I would call the anticlimactic victory, in a match I really expected more from. The good news is that the post match angle made up for the match in some ways. A large part of the Delirious vs. Mantis feud has revolved around an artifact known as the Eye of Tyr (which had been used to control Delirious in the past). In a last ditch effort of super evil, Delirious pulled out the Eye and used it on his former friends and Ultramantis Black’s running mates, Hallowicked and Frightmare. Young Frightmare crumbled at the power of the Eye, but Hallowicked attacked and laid out Ultramantis. Hallowicked and Frightmare then left together. So again, while not great wrestling (not bad either), we’re ending some big time stories, and also giving them a new direction as we head to the new season in 2015.
Cibernetico: The match saw The Flood: Hammermeier, Nøkken, Flex Rumblecrunch, Jaka, Oleg The Usurper, Oliver Grimsly, Soldier Ant and Volgar vs. Team CHIKARA: Fire Ant, Silver Ant, Worker Ant, Amasis, Ophidian, Kodam, Obariyon and Jervis Cottonbelly. This is another continuation of angles, following the big shut down, return and more evil forces trying to take out the company and their valiant protectors. Cibernetico (this was the 10th one) and many fans were pleased to see it make its debut on iPPV. Overall this was a very entertaining match with a lot of moving parts. Some may be lost if you do not follow the promotion religiously, but I think that the action will keep you involved. The main story was with the Colony and Solider Ant, who they did not want to have to battle. This hesitance cost them in the end when Soldier Ant scored the final fall over Fire Ant to win the match. This was an overall fun outing.
Steel Cage Match: Icarus vs. Deucalion: Wrestling wise, I had no idea what to expect from this main event. The Deucalion is a mysterious man that doesn’t wrestle. He’s been the big bad for CHIKARA, taking out several characters during the season and bringing us to this match, a cage match. To CHIKARA’s credit I believe that this is only their second ever cage match; they want it to mean something and tried to build this feud up so that it did. The way they worked the match was interesting, but well done. Icarus played up the size of his foe very well, bumping around everywhere and eventually having to scale the cage and fight from the ropes to get an advantage. Icarus also worked over the arm of Deucalion exclusively; because Deucalion’s big finish is the chokeslam/knee breaker combo. They did a damn fine job building through out the match, and overall this felt like a huge deal. Considering that he was the big bad, and how much time they spent on the whole thing and the fact that this one of the company’s rare iPPV events, it had too feel that way. In the end, the hero made the monster tap out to the CHIKARA special. The in ring work was good, the story was excellent and the overall package worked. Overall I feel that the real story was about Icarus, the man that wanted to save CHIKARA and eventually turned into the face of CHIKARA. He wanted to be accepted, he wanted to be deemed worthy and that is what happened here. Following months of Deucalion destroying CHIKARA personalities, Icarus used the Frog’s thunderhammer and seemingly destroyed the enemy once and for all.
* End scene.
* Thanks for reading.
“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”
While not for everyone, I certainly feel that the CHIKARA delivered a quality event with their Tomorrow Never Dies iPPV.
