Views from the Hawke’s Nest: Tries His Hardest: The Chuck Taylor Story

 

The Interview

Chuck Taylor’s shoot interview (conducted in 2007/2008) is a lot like the subject’s work in the ring: lots of fun if unsubstantial. There are a lot of fun anecdotes (especially about his times in Europe), and you get some decent insight into his state of mind at this (early) stage of his career. Much like Chuck Taylor’s library of matches from the past DECADE, this is nothing anyone *needs* to see, but I doubt anyone would be bored while they watched it. He comes off like a pleasant young man who is aware of his limitations and, if anything, does not give himself enough credit for the work he has done in professional wrestling. This is an easy watch.

 

The Matches

IWA Mid-South March Massacre
March 18, 2006

Chuck Taylor & Ricochet vs. Brandon Thomaselli & Eddie Kingston

They did a Teddy Long angle after the heels beat Ricochet down. The story of this match was Eddie and Thomaselli beat up the IWA newcomers for a while, but Ricochet and Chucky T were fiery, young babyfaces that did flips. The flips won out, and Ricochet ended up pinning Kingston with the double rotation moonsault! This was a solid little match, and Taylor/Ricochet showed a lot of promise as a team. (**3/4)

 

IWA Mid-South There Goes The Neigborhood
June 16, 2006

Chuck Taylor vs. Marek Brave

This was no good. Marek really did a poor job of controlling the match both in terms of in-ring work and as being a heel meant to generate heat. Chuck’s comeback got off to an awful start with a botched standing contra code, and it never picked up after that. Brave put his feet on the ropes to pin Chuck and win the match. Just about everything in this match was poor. (*1/2)

 

Chikara Young Lions Cup
June 25, 2006

Ricochet & Player Uno vs. Chuck Taylor & Cloudy

Kudos to all four men for this one. It was fun and lively all the way through, and the match basically peaked at the right time. The only minor gripe I have with it is that there was no reason for this match to be a tag match. It just should have been a straight-up four-way considering the way the match was worked. That’s not a big deal though. Cloudy pinned Ricochet with a Yoshi Tonic to win the match. (***1/2)

 

IWA Mid-South Blue Summer’s Night Strut Comedy
July 15, 2006

Chuck Taylor vs. Josh Abercrombie(c) [IWA Mid-South Light Heavyweight Championship]

They worked this as a dead-serious juniors match which was both strange and interesting. I’ve seen so little of Chuck Taylor from this time period. I can see why he was considered to be someone with so much potential, but his limitations in working the traditional indie style are also quite clear. He times his comebacks well and has his fair share of great moves to do. However, he’s just clearly missing that connection with the crowd that shines a light on his lack of intensity and things of that nature. I can see why he later evolved (some would say devolved) into a performer that relied more on shtick. Abercrombie survived the Omega Driver and ended up winning clean with his submission finisher. A solid but wholly unmemorable match. (**1/2)

 

IWA Mid-South Simply The Best
August 11, 2006

Chuck Taylor vs. Delirious

While the previous match was sort of interesting to see it played without any sense of irony, this was just downright jarring to see Chuck take it entirely seriously. It is just hard to care about him when he’s not incorporating some personality into his matches. Chuck eventually won with the Omega Driver. (**1/4)

 

IWA Deep South The South Will Rise Again
August 26, 2006

Chuck Taylor vs. Mike Quackenbush

Here we go. Chucky T looked so much more comfortable here, as he got to be the comedic, chickenshit heel that Quack just messed with forever. The match definitely suffered though from later using a standard wrestling structure (heat segment, way-too-long finishing sequence, etc.) instead of just finishing the match they started. The finish was at least fantastic though. Chucky T threw Quack off the turnbuckle, but Quack was able to roll through. Quack then played possum, as Chuck tried to figure out if Quack was lying down the right way given how he threw Quack. That probably should have finished Chuck, but he managed to catch Quack with a bridging pinfall to pick up the clean win. (**3/4)

 

IWA East Coast Zero G Crown
September 16, 2006

Chuck Taylor vs. Jigsaw

The annoying thing about this match is that you know they were holding back so much because this a tournament match on a show that was not all that insignificant. That’s not necessarily a problem. However, when these two don’t do a ton of stuff in a short period of time, they don’t compensate with storytelling, intensity, or violence. Chuck eventually avoided the Jig ‘n’ Tonic and hit the Omega Driver for the victory. (**1/2)

 

IWA Mid-South Anniversary Show
October 14, 2006

Chuck Taylor(c) vs. Ian Rotten [IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Championship]

This is one of those matches where “DUD” does not really do it justice. Ian Rotten, the owner and booker of the company, just squashed the fuck out of his company’s heavyweight champion for the longest time. We’re talking thirty minutes. Chuck maybe took two percent of the match. Then they did a clusterfuck finish where Chuck won after accidentally sending Ian into a chair. An all-time bad match, and I put 100% of the blame on Ian for this one. (-*****)

 

CHIKARA Brick
November 17, 2006

Chuck Taylor vs. Eddie Kingston

This was actually a battle between the IWA MS champion (Chuck) and and CZW champion (Kingston).They did not get a lot of time, and the finish was all about Larry Sweeney distracting Kingtson (which allowed Chuck to catch Kingston with a fruit roll-up for the win). This was nothing anyone needed to see, but I guess it’s notable that the CZW champion took a somewhat clean loss in Chikara to the IWA-MS champion. (**)

 

IWA Mid-South The Revolution Strong Style Tournament
November 24, 2006

Chuck Taylor(c) vs. Jay Lethal [IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Championship]

Since this took place in IWA-MS, we got super serial junior heavyweight Chuck Taylor here. This set has proven that he does a little bit more action in these matches (unless Ian Rotten books himself to squash Chuck), but he struggles to integrate his personality at all into these matches. Luckily, he and Lethal had surprisingly strong chemistry, and they put together enough cool sequences to keep me entertained. Chuck won clean with the Omega Driver. (***)

 

IWA Mid-South Big Ass Christmas Bash
December 16, 2006

Chuck Taylor(c) vs. Steve Corino [IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Championship]

If you seen the Steve Corino comedy match where he spends a solid amount of time sticking his thumb up an opponent’s ass, you have seen this match. The only mildly interesting element of this was that it was the first time I had seen Chuck work a comedy match in IWA-MS, as this set has seen him be a super-serial junior wrestler so far. Corino actually managed to get Chuck down for the three count and seemingly win the championship. However, he did the OLD SCHOOL hide-the-weapon-in-his-armpit spot, and that led to the match being restarted. Chuck quickly pinned him after that to retain the title. This was not all that exciting nor did the finish do much for the IWA-MS champion. This was average wrestling with below-average booking. (**)

 

IWA Mid-South Hurt
January 5, 2007

Chuck Taylor & Ricochet vs. The Iron Saints (Sal Thomaselli & Vito Thomaselli)

This was a pretty standard indie tag match in terms of structure and action. The Iron Saints ended up pinning Ricochet with decent-looking double-team move to pick up the victory. This was not bad but not must-see. (**1/2)

 

IWA Mid-South Winter Wars
January 27, 2007

Chuck Taylor vs. Low Ki [IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Championship]

This match took me by surprise in a couple of ways. For starters, Ki gave Taylor the great majority of the offense in the match, and the match actually told a fairly strong story of Taylor progressively cheating more and more until he fully turned heel by the end of the match. Chuck could not compete with Ki on an athletic level, and he had to cheat to get the advantage. When he realize he was on the verge of losing his title, Taylor tried to use a chain to win. That failed, and Taylor finally decided to attack the referee to lose via disqualification. Taylor did not do a good enough job while he controlled the match, but the story of Chuck turning heel was done well and carried the match. (***1/4)

 

IWA Mid-South Payback, Pain, & Agony
February 9, 2007

Chuck Taylor(c) vs. Davey Richards [IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Championship]

With Taylor turning heel in the Low Ki match, we now have Taylor all out as the heel champ of IWA-MS. While the story of Chuck slowly turning heel was fun to watch, a match with a heel Chuck working fairly seriously still was nowhere near as interesting. The match went too long, and Chuck was only occasionally integrating shenanigans into the proceedings. As such, the match was just okay. Chuck cheated to win, but Low Ki left the commentary table and told the referee to restart the match. Chuck just ended up cheating again to successfully retain. (**1/2)

 

CHIKARA Time Will Prove Everything
March 24, 2007

Chuck Taylor vs. Billy Roc

Chuck does really well as the heel who cannot handle the superior mat wrestler. Roc is really engaging in that superior mat wrestler role. As a result, we have a fun little match here. It plays out exactly how you would think it would, and that is not a complaint at all. Chuck eventually won with the Omega Driver. (***)

 

IWA Mid-South It’s Gotta Be The Shoes
March 31, 2007

Chuck Taylor(c) vs. Low Ki [Street Fight/IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Championship]

My favorite thing in the world is watching 25 minute wrestling matches that end with an ether-soaked rag in 2007. It really endears me to everyone involved who played a part in making it happen. A solid if unspectacular match was completely wasted for that middle finger of a finish. (BECAUSE FUCK YOU)

 

CHIKARA Rey de Voladores
April 22, 2007

Chuck Taylor vs. Lince Dorado

This was the finals of the 2007 Rey de Voladores, and the matchup seemed like a really good idea…boy, was I ever wrong. It started out fine, but the match lost all momentum and cohesion after Lince made his comeback. You would have no idea that Lince would go on to be quite good years after this match based on his performance here. Green does not begin to cover it. Chuck is normally great at being a base for smaller flippy guys. It was not on display here. Chuck eventually won clean with an Omega Driver. (**)

 

IWA Deep South South Of The Border
May 5, 2007

Chuck Taylor vs. Chrisjen Hayme

This was a solid yet unspectacular match. Haymne has never impressed me much in the handful of matches I’ve seen him in. Chuck was working his usual heel act here and that made it watchable. He won the match with the Omega Driver. (**1/2)

 

IWA Mid-South A Phenomenal Invasion
May 12, 2007

Chuck Taylor(c) vs. Devon Moore [IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Championship]

This was shockingly fun, as I had never seen Devon Moore outside of the death match universe before. Moore was *awesome* here as the babyface that flies all around and does a bunch of movez. Sexy Chucky T has always been a good base for those kind of guys, and his performance here was not the exception. Taylor eventually won this hidden gem clean with a variation of the Omega Driver. (***1/2)

 

IWA Mid-South Summer Scorcher
June 16, 2007

Chuck Taylor(c) vs. CJ Otis [IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Championship]

This was odd because Taylor was suddenly working babyface in IWA as their champ again, which was obviously very confusing without any context. Also, Chuck was still doing a lot of his heel ticks/mannerisms but just incorporating them into the babyface role. As I stated, this was odd to watch as a result. Otis dominated the match, but Chuck eventually won with a fruit roll-up. Otis seemed talented, and I would be interested in seeing more of him. (***)

 

CHIKARA Young Lions Cup
June 24, 2007

Chuck Taylor vs. Ricochet

This was the finals of the 2007 Young Lions Cup. They worked this like an epic indie wrestling main event with lots of big movez and nearfalls. After surviving a number of flying attacks, Taylor hit a couple of powerbombs and the Omega Driver to win the match clean. While they probably went a bit long and were dealing with a weak crowd, the work felt appropriately over the top given the context. A fine match. (***1/4)

 

IWA Mid-South Bad Blood Rising
July 21, 2007

Chuck Taylor vs. Mickie Knuckles [IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Championship vs. IWA Mid-South Women’s Championship]

This was a case of the promotion’s presentation of intergender wrestling undermining the value of men competing against women in professional wrestling. First off, you have this obnoxious heel commentator talking about pro wrestling is great because it’s the only place you can beat up women. Knuckles’ Women’s Championship is on the line in a storyline worthy of TNA. Then you have Chuck Taylor winning the match AND the Women’s Championship just to put the cherry on top of this unpleasant experience. It is such a shame too as the crowd was hot and the action was fun. IWA-MS dropped the ball. (Blargh)

 

CHIKARA Maximum Overdraft
August 5, 2007

Chuck Taylor(c) vs. Drake Younger [Young Lions Cup]

I have never been a Drake Younger fan. I don’t like death matches generally, and I find his attempts to work non-death matches to be quite forced and awkward. He did a good job here though, and completely fit as a babyface foil to Taylor’s heel champ. Taylor eventually finished him with the Omega Driver though to retain the title. This was a bit of a hidden gem relative to my expectations and the talent level in the ring. (***)

 

CHIKARA New Star Navigation
October 27, 2007

Chuck Taylor(c) vs. Helios [Young Lions Cup]

The story here was that Ricochet lost a Loser Leaves Town match to Chuck Taylor, but he returned as the masked Helios. Taylor was irate! This was a very compact version of their other matches together. They went a million miles an hour. While that made it a very easy watch, the consequence was that Helios’ title win did not feel nearly important as it all happened just so fast. A fun match overall though. (***)

 

CHIKARA Battle Of Who Could Care Less
November 16, 2007

Chuck Taylor vs. Shane Storm

This was a solid match. The highlight was Taylor taking out an invisible grenade only for Storm to hit the grenade into Chuck’s face with That Japanese Move. Taylor survived the grenade explosion though and finished Storm off with an Omega Driver. (**3/4)

 

Watch some Sexy Chucky T for free!

Chucky T vs. Jon Davis [GREAT match. Possibly the best match of either man’s career.]

Chucky T, Akuma, & Icarus vs. Lince Dorado, Ricochet, & Jimmy Olsen [Really good.]

Chucky T vs. Ashley Remington

Chucky T vs. Ricochet vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Arik Cannon

Chucky T & Orange Cassidy vs. Kimber Lee & Jervis Cottonbelly

Chucky T vs. Fire Ant [2011]

Chucky T vs. Mike Quackenbush

Chucky T vs. Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Brandon Gatson

Chucky T & Icarus vs. Hallowicked & Frightmare

Chucky T vs. Mike Cruz

Chucky T & Icarus vs. The Colony vs. 3.0 vs. Los Ice Creams

Chucky T vs. MK McKinnan

Chucky T & Johnny Gargano vs. The Kentucky Buffet

Chucky T vs. Fire Ant [2008]

 

Click here for a meticulously organized list of all of my wrestling reviews.

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

Despite the lack of substantive interview and the lack of depth in the good matches department, this was an incredibly set to work my way through. I am going to be honest, I am a huge fan of Sexy Chucky T. There are very few wrestlers that rely on comedy in professional wrestling, and he is one of those lucky few.  In places like Chikara and PWG, he contributes to almost every single show he is on. His blend of comedy and high-flying action just flat out gets over. The fact that this set mostly explores a period of time when he did not work that way actually made this set even more interesting. IWA-MS booked him as a serious junior heavyweight that moved up to heavyweight to be the champion of the company. While it was clearly far from a full success, it was nonetheless great to see him trying something different than I am used to seeing from him. If you are a fan of Chuck, I highly recommend this set.