CHIKARA Review: King of Trios 2009, Night One

Philadelphia, PA – 3.27.2009

Oh yeah baby. It’s finally time for the largest pro-wrestling tournament to be reviewed here at 411!

In late March, 48 men converged into 16 teams in South Philadelphia for CHIKARA’s 2009 King of Trios tournament. These 16 teams will compete over the next three nights with on goal in mind: to be crowned the 2009 King of Trios. While some participants will go home when eliminated, some will stick around to compete in another facet. But on Night One, it’s all about the King of Trios tournament. Tonight, all eight first round matches will occur. What teams will advance to night two? What matches will we end up seeing later on? The excitement is at an all time high, so let’s get goin’!

Commentary is provided by Bryce Remsburg, Ultramantis Black, Mike Quackenbush, Leonard F. Chikarason, Louden Noxious, Mitch Ryder, and Eddie Kingston.

King of Trios First Round Match
The F1RST Family (The North Star Express (Darin Corbin & Ryan Cruz) and Arik Cannon) vs. Team EPIC WAR (Austin Aries, Tony Kozina, & Ryan Drago)

Aries and Arik start out for their teams. Drago tags in before Aries can do anything, however. A feeling out process occurs between these two, with Drago gaining the control with a slap to the face. Drago throws Arik down to the mat by his Mohawk. Kozina tags in and continues to work on Arik’s arm (Drago was working on it earlier). Arik takes Kozina down with a swift arm drag and then works on his arm. Corbin tags in and takes over the arm from Arik. Kozina drags Corbin outside to the floor, and follows tagging in Ryan Cruz and Austin Aries. Aries is playing the happy-go-lucky babyface on an otherwise heel team. Aries takes out Cruz with some armdrags. Cruz breaks the cardinal rule of Aries’ matches putting him in a headscissors. Of course Aries breaks, dropkicking Cruz in the face. As Cruz hits the ropes, Corbin blind tags himself in. The NSE take Aries down with a double dropkick to the side of his head, and Aries’ kicks out at two. Arik tags in and delivers some hard shots to Aries. Aries begins to fire up, stealing the schtick of Tatanka! Aries delivers a tomahawke chop to all three members of F1RST, then a chop across all three of their chests. This ruled. Tony Kozina jumps in with a hurricanrana on Arik to the floor, but flubs so Aries has to help. Aries looks to dive, but Drago blind tags himself in, ruining everyone’s fun. Drago keeps Ryan Cruz in his team’s corner as he and the other men on EPIC WAR tag in and out to work Cruz over. Ryan seems to be making it all about himself, instead of working for the benefit of the team. Cruz finally tags in Arik Cannon, who comes in with hard strikes to Drago. Cannon hits an impressive leaping back elbow on Drago. Drago sends Arik’s to the floor with an Enzugiri, and The NSE come in with some tandem offense. They knock Aries and Tony to the floor. Corbin dives onto Drago and Cannon, and Cruz hits the ropes. Aries runs in with a big time clothesline and the dropkick in the corner. Aries sizes him up, and in comes Kozina with a springboard bulldog! Cruz goes up top, and Tony and Aries set up for something. Corbin saves him. Drago comes in and goes up. Arik comes from behind with a big Back Drop Driver and Drago kicks out. The NSE come in with the Cruz Control, and The F1RST Family scores the win! This was a great opening contest, and a fine way to start the evening off. ***

King of Trios First Round Match
Team Pro Wrestling Guerilla (The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) and El Generico) vs. The Osirian Portal (Amasis, Ophidian, & Escorpion Egipcio)

Amasis and Generico start this off. Amasis is not happy with Generico’s “Ole!” chants. Amasis and Generico have a bit off a dance-off in between their back and forth wrestling. According to the fans, Amasis got served. Generico hits a leg lariat on an angry Amasis. Egipcio and Matt Jackson come in with some back and forth Lucha. Matt catches Egipcio with a headscissors to the floor, then takes him over with a hurricanrana on the floor. Nick Jackson and Ophidian come in as the legal men. These two feel each other out, trading some arm locks behind the back. Ophidian takes over Nick with a double wrist clutch. Ophidian slips between the ropes and skins the cat into a headscissors takedown. Nick comes off the ropes with an Alita, a Sole Butt kick, and a twisting springboard arm drag. Nick gets tossed over with another headscissors, and Amasis comes in. Amasis gets pushed over to PWG’s corner, and Matt tags in. Matt takes down Amasis and knocks both Egipcio and Ophidian off the apron. All three members of PWG take their licks in on Amasis keeping him in their corner. The Young Bucks hit their usual cool tandem offense including the double backflip dropkicks, and the twisting neckbreaker onto the knee of the other brother. PWG keeps getting their pin attempts broken up by The Portal. In a move of desperation, Amasis pushes Nick to his corner allowing Egipcio to tag in. The Portal hit some triple team work onto The Young Bucks with Egipcio powering them both over. Generico gets drilled by a clothesline from Egipcio. Now it’s Matt Jackson’s turn to be picked on, with The Osirian Portal trapping him in their corner by cutting the ring in half. Matt Jackson takes out Amasis and Ophidian and tags in Generico. Generico comes in, mauling down Ophidian. Generico takes out Amasis with a springboard spinning DDT. Egipcio goes for the attack, but gets taken out with a springboard headscissors off the top rope. The Young Bucks fight the original Osirian Portal, taking them over the top rope. Nick monkey flips up top and lands a moonsault on both Amasis and Ophidian! Egipcio takes out Matt and Generico hits the ropes. Egipcio catches Generico with a big TKO, and Generico kicks out! The fans cheer to fire up Generico. Egipcio hits Matt and Generico with his elbow. Matt launches Nick up in the air, and Nick lands a dropkick on Egipcio. Matt tries to fend off both Ophidian and Amasis at the same time and does a fairly good job for a bit. Matt ducks a clothesline and spears them both. Nick follows up with a springboard splash for a two count. The Bucks push Egipcio outside the ring. The Young Bucks continue to fend for themselves with double superkicks to Ophidian in the corner. Generico follows up with a big Yakuza Kick, and then takes himself and Ophidian to the floor. The Young Bucks hit a tandem X-Factor on Amasis. Egipcio hits a double chokeslam on The Young Bucks, and Amasis and Ophidian head up top. Both of them hit a 450 splash on The Bucks. One of them kicks out, and Generico breaks up the other. The Portal accidentally dropkicks Egipcio to the floor as Generico moved out of the way. Generico hits a Yakuza on Amasis and goes for the brainbuster. Ophidian rolls up the shoulders of Generico into a Prawn Hold for the pin! The Osirian Portal advance to the next round. Whew, that was some fine action by these two trios. The Young Bucks really showed a hell of a lot, making the absolute most of their CHIKARA debut. The fans really dug this match and were impressed by both teams. A big PWG chant is given, and I hope all three men from that team come back to CHIKARA after this weekend. ***1/4

King of Trios First Round Match
Team Uppercut (Claudio Castagnoli, Dave Taylor, & Bryan Danielson) vs. The Roughnecks (Brodie Lee, Eddie Kingston, & Grizzly Redwood)

Eddie says he wants Danielson at the beginning. This is the first-time ever that these two will be in a match together. Eddie mocks the fans “Best in the World” chants. As soon as the bell rings, Eddie tags in Grizzly, a student of Bryan Danielson. Bryan extends his hand for a shake. Brodie and Eddie demand Grizzly doesn’t do it, but Grizzly doesn’t want to show his teacher disrespect, so he shakes his hand any how. Brodie and Eddie look pissed; awesome.

Bryan and Grizzly lock up. Grizzly gets knocked down with a shoulder tackle twice. Eddie and Brodie get more upset at Grizzly. Bryan mocks Grizzly, pretending he is affected when Grizzly attempts a third shoulder tackle. The two lock hands in a test of strength. Bryan pretends to be hurt, then easily wrings Grizzly arm. Claudio tags in and continues to work the arm, and then tags in Dave. Dave locks Grizzly’s arms around his throat and pulls back. Bryan tags in a looks for an uppercut. Grizzly runs away to his corner. Eddie tags in for the first time meeting between him and Bryan. Bryan suggests Eddie hit the ropes towards his own corner for a shoulder tackle. Eddie hits the ropes, then gets taken down by Claudio and Dave who run in a shoulder tackle him down. All three members of Team Uppercut take turns hitting…well…uppercuts! Brodie tags in and locks on a test of strength. Bryan drops to his knees and breaks free. They then lock up, and Brodie throws Bryan down to the mat then does so once more. Brodie takes Bryan down with a shoulder block, but Bryan hops up and knees Brodie in the gut. Again, Team Uppercut throws uppercuts, but this time it’s at Brodie. Dave Taylor brings Brodie to his teams corner where Brodie is mauled by Team Uppercut. Brodie goes to the eyes of Danielson and power slams him down. Grizzly goes out and tags Dave Taylor. Instinctually, Dave runs in and gets hip tossed by Bryan. Claudio gets in and is hip tossed by both his partners. Team Uppercut looks confused as The Roughnecks come in. They all get an uppercut for their troubles. Claudio and Bryan slam Eddie as Dave goes up top. Dave stands on the top rope, and Claudio and Bryan encourage him to NOT jump off the top. Dave eventually listens and is helped off the top rope. Claudio and Grizzly come in. Eddie comes back in yelling but gets trapped in a series of uppercuts for his trouble. Eddie rolls outside holding his throat. Brodie and Grizzly trap Danielson and work over his right leg. The Roughnecks hold onto Bryan, concentrating on that very leg. Bryan tries to fight back with some uppercuts, only to get hit with some thrusts in the throat. Bryan even laid in a triangle choke on Brodie, but gets stopped by Grizzly. Brodie sets up Bryan in the corner with for his big lariat. Bryan runs out with a leaping kick to Brodie after he puts up his boot to stop Brodie. Bryan makes the hot tag to Dave who comes in uppercutting down all three Roughnecks. Eddie traps Dave’s arms. Claudio comes in and delivers a forearm to Eddie. Claudio takes Grizzly out with the Sweet Schwinn Music. Claudio puts Grizzly in the Big Swing as Bryan and Dave take out Eddie and Brodie. Claudio swings Grizzly for…well, the fans counted to 100, but it was roughly 80 revolutions total. Bryan comes in and locks on the Cattle Mutilation which is enough for Grizzly to tap out! Team Uppercut advances to the next round! Well, this was a really fun match. The wrestling wasn’t as crucial, but everything they did still looked good. Everyone enjoyed it, loved seeing Bryan Danielson and Dave Taylor, and was very happy to see them advance. **3/4

King of Trios First Round Match
The Soul Touchaz (Marshe Rockett, Trauma, & Willie “da Bomb” Richardson) vs. Team Combat Zone Wrestling (2 Girls, 1 Cup (Beef Wellington & Greg Excellent) and Pinkie Sanchez)

Team CZW came out to Rick Astley. Best entrance ever. Pinkie and Marshe start the match. These two feel each other out, with Pinkie and Marshe using dance moves to reverse each others offense. Marshe locks Pinkie’s arm. Pinkie flips out of it, and then slams his hiney into Marshe’s face. Beef and Willie tag in. Beef says “STOP!”, grabs the microphone…and then raps the first verse of “Ice, Ice Baby”. Willie can’t believe what happened and punches Beef in the face. Beef says “I deserved that” as he rolls to the floor. Willies goes for a dive, but Pinkie grabs Willie’s legs and pulls him outside. Pinkie bites on his calf then runs away. Greg and Trauma come in as the legal men for their teams. They circle the ring as the fans clap. Greg points to the sound guy, and “Apache” by The Sugarhill Gang hits. Greg and Trauma bust out some dance moves as the fans clap and cheer! Trauma snaps out of the fun and hits Greg with a clothesline for a two count. Trauma and Willie knock down Greg with a splash and a forearm. Pinkie breaks up a pin after Willie hits a second rope elbow drop. Beef breaks up a pin after Marshe gets wheelbarrowed up by Willie into a splash. Greg and Beef catch Marshe with the Hart Attack. Greg applies a Boston Crab. Pinkie hops over Greg into a legdrop onto Marshe’s neck. Pinkie rams his hiney again into Marshe’s face. Pinkie leapfrogs over Marshe, and gets caught with a sunset flip. Pinkie escapes and sits down on Marshe’s chest ala John Tenta. Pinkie leapfrogs up into a dropkick for the two count. Marshe escapes a chokeslam attempt form the now legal Beef Wellington. Beef hits a nice leaping DDT onto Marshe. CZW continues their dismantling of Marshe by making sure he stays in as the legal man. Marshe turns a double suplex attempt by 2 Girls, 1 Cup with a double neckbreaker. Greg and Beef go to the floor, and Marshe clears the top rope with a big dive. Trauma comes in and gets hit with a butt butt from Pinkie. Pinkie then hits a dive onto Trauma and the others to the outside. Willie comes in the ring and shockingly hits a cannonball dive onto everybody! Willie takes Beef back into the ring and lands a big elbow. CZW hits Willie with some nice offense in their corner. Trauma breaks up a pin attempt from Greg Excellent. Beef lands a springboard dropkick on Trauma, then knees to the chest. Greg goes up and lands his infamous Ass Punch! Beef hooks the arms put cant get Trauma up. Trauma hoists Greg up and hits a Death Valley Driver. Pinkie breaks up the pin then takes down Trauma. Marshe breaks up the pinfall attempt and eats the boot of Pinkie. Pinkie comes off with a springboard but is caught with the M-80 Ace Crusher. Greg then lands the Dangling Pedigree for the two count! Willie runs in and Pounces Greg Excellent. Willie goes up top and “Drops the Bomb” (top rope leg drop) to get the win. The Soul Touchaz move on to the next round after winning this really fun, awesome match. From the sequence of dives to the end, this match was really hot. The singing and dancing also added some great humor to the match with the fans dug. ***

King of Trios First Round Match
The Death Match Kings (The Necro Butcher, Toby Klein, & Brain Damage) vs. F.I.S.T. (Icarus, Gran Akuma, & Chuck Taylor)

F.I.S.T. is not anxious to get in the ring to start this one, stalling on the outside for as long as possible. Toby and Chuck start off the match. They exchange go behinds and wristlocks. Toby gnaws on Chuck’s hand. Toby calls Necro and Brain Damage in. They bring in Akuma and Icarus. A violence party, as Bryce calls it, breaks out in the ring. F.I.S.T retreats to the floor, but the DMK’s follow and unleash their hard strikes on Team F.I.S.T. Necro beats Icarus down, Toby beats Taylor all around ringside, and Brain Damage takes it to Akuma. Brain Damage and Akuma end up back in the ring with Brain Damage poking at Akuma’s eyes in a Camel Clutch. Akuma kicks at Damage as only he knows how. Toby and Chuck continue to fight outside and Necro brings Icarus back. Necro brings an onslaught of punches and chops. Necro stops a tornado DDT attempt and punches Icarus again. Toby and Chuck are now the only two men in the ring, till Toby sneds him outside. Necro crotches Icarus on a chair as Toby comes off the apron with a chop to Chucky T. Necro hits Akuma with the ring bell, then rings the bell as he walks around. Akuma grabs two chairs and goes back into the ring. Akuma sets them up across from each other, and challenges Necro Butcher to a classic sitting strike off! As usual, Necro and Akuma sit down and exchange the hardest blows each man can possibly throw. Brain Damage picks up Akuma while still sitting in the chair, and backdrops him to the mat. Icarus attacks Necro as the referee attempts to grab the chair out of his hand. Icarus stretches Necro while Chuck kicks away at him. While F.I.S.T. has Necro isolated, Icarus stupidly runs over and slaps Brain Damage in the face on the apron; TWICE. Toby takes Icarus to the floor, then comes in and locks a toe hold on Chuck. All the guys from either team come in and lock on a chain of submissions. Brain Damage breaks it up by coming in and punching Icarus right in the face as payback! Brain Damage pummels Icarus on the mat. Akuma saves him with his kicks. Toby comes back with a spinning heel kick to Akuma. Toby comes off the second rope for a cannonball at Chuck, but Chuck moves and Toby hits the mat. Necro beats Chuck in the corner then bulldogs him for a two. Akuma and Necro again have a strike battle, while Icarus and Brain Damage fight outside the ring. Toby airplane spins Chuck into a DDT for the two count. Toby heads up top looking for a moonsault only to be crotched by Akuma. Chuck lands a SICK Awful Waffle on Toby from the top rope to get F.I.S.T. the win! Wow, that was a crazy match-up. These guys beat the rat out of each other for a damn fine contest. This was just as fun and stiff as you would expect. ***

King of Trios First Round Match
The Future Is Now (Lince Dorado, Equinox, & Helios) vs. Team DDT (Kota Ibushi, KUDO, & Michael Nakazawa)

Michael, now covered in body oil (he sprayed it all over himself during his entrance) starts off with Lince Dorado. They try for a lock up, and Lince slips right off. Lince gets a waist lock, and Michael slips right out of that too. Lince rubs off some of the oil with a towel then applies a wrist lock. He escapes, and KUDO and Equinox tag in. They switch waist locks and KUDO applies a front chancery. Rolling up, the men exchange arm locks. Equinox chops KUDO and gets a big kick right in the chest. Equinox responds with one of his own, but KUDO cracks a kick again. Equinox bails to the floor, tagging in Helios. Kota Ibushi comes in as well. They each knock one another down with a shoulder tackle. Some fast-paced action between the two gets the fans applause. The Future Is Now hit a triple back suplex on KUDO and Michael (who ran in to try and save Ibushi, but ended up knocking him off the apron), and then triple dropkicks. Kota jumps in and takes out Helios and Equinox. Kota and Lince trade forearms. Ibushi lands some hard kicks and Lince comes back with a kick as well. Kota dropkicks Lince down as Michael knocks TFIN off the apron. Team DDT take their turns beating down on Lince, and Helios breaks up a pin. TFIN try to make a comeback, only to be taken out by Ibushi and KUDO. Michael sprays baby oil on Helios and Equinox, then slips into a double back senton onto both of them! Michael takes Helios to the corner and rubs his oily body all over him. Helios is captured by DDT, and is now at their mercy trapped in their corner. Helios hits a German and a Pele kick on Michael to tag in Helios. Kota Ibushi comes in and hits some fast martial arts kicks and a perfect standing moonsault. Lince gets stomped in the corner. Lince kicks out Ibushi’s leg and hits a leg lariat. Equinox gets tagged in, as does KUDO. KUDO snapmares Equinox and delivers a couple of very stiff kicks to the back. KUDO lands a headstand into double knees onto Equinox. Equinox gets bullied by Nakazawa, getting dragged on his buttocks across the top rope. Equinox takes down KUDO with a legmare and a low hurricanrana. Lince is tagged in and lands a flying elbow and a kick to KUDO’s back. Helios dropkicks KUDO down and gets the two count. TFIN make frequent tags, to capitalize on KUDO. KUDO counters the attack with a springboard dropkick and tags in Ibushi. Helios hits his Tiger Walk/Cannonball Senton series for the two count. Ibushi then kicks out of Helios’ standing moonsault. Ibushi fights back with his kicks, landing a big Enzugiri. Michael and Equinox come in as the legal men. Equinox suplexes Michael, then applies a chancery to drag him to his corner. More frequent tags from TFIN, witth Helios and Lince hitting a tandem Hero’s Welcome on Michael. KUDO breaks up the pin. Michael continues to be assaulted until Lince has trouble applying a Camel Clutch due to Michael’s oily face. Michael sprays Lince with oil, and tags in Ibushi. Ibushi runs in and assaults Equinox and Lince with kicks. Ibushi takes out Equinox with a Pele kick for the two count. Equinox hits the ropes only to be hit with a jumping kick to the chest. Helios tries for The Sky Is Falling (double knees off the top rope). Ibushi moves, and Helios rolls through back to his feet. He turns around and KUDO lands the double knees off the top rope onto Helios! Lince breaks up the pin, so Michael comes in to even the score. KUDO and Michael climb up opposite corners. KUDO lands the double knees, then Michael hits a splash. Equinox and Lince break up the pin. TFIN all hit stereo German suplexes on the three members of DDT, all getting two counts. All of TFIN then hit stereo Shooting Star Presses! A slugfest of forearms occurs between all six participants. Ibushi kicks Equinox in the face, and Helios and Lince hit KUDO and Michael with Enzugiri’s. Ibushi makes a one man comeback, wiping out Lince with a springboard moonsault on the floor! Helios gets cut off by KUDO, but Helios banderas KUDO to the floor. Helios lands the cartwheel twisting moonsault to the floor. Michael hits an amazing spear on Equinox for the two! Michael hits the Angle Slam for another two count. Michael pulls out the oil and puts it in his mouth! Equinox catches him in the throat and Michael chokes. Equinox stomps him and he spits out the oil. Michael boots him and Equinox rolls through and locks on the CHIKARA Special! Michael taps out, allowing The Future Is Now to advance. This was a pretty good match between these teams, but not amazing. The last two minutes were really awesome, but at times the match was pretty slow. The ending was awkward because the bell was rang early. Awkward finish aside, this was a good match. **3/4

King of Trios First Round Match
The Masters Of A Thousand Holds (Mike Quackenbush, Jorge “Skayde” Rivera, & Johnny Saint) vs. Incoherence (Delirious, Hallowicked, & Frightmare)

Delirious and Frightmare freak out at the bell, of course. Frightmare and Skayde kick things off. Skayde works over the arm, and Frightmare armdrags to safety. Some more work of the arms with Frightmare taking down Skayde again. Skayde takes down Frightmare and stretches out the arm. Skayde rolls into a single leg crab. These two go back and forth some more till reaching a standing stalemate. A bit of Lucha is exchanged, with Skayde holding onto the arm of Frightmare. Frightmare takes over Skayde with a mare. Some more great looking Luchas from these two sends Skayde to the floor. Frightmare follows with an awesome senton. Hallowicked and Quackenbush come in. Quack ties up Hallowicked’s leg and stretches back his arms. At a vertical base, Hallowicked gets the advantage, but is taken back down by Quack. Quack stretches the hamstrings and pulls Wicked’s head forward with a front chancery. On the mat they look for the advantage which Quackenbush gets. Hallowicked runs up the ropes into an armdrag. Hallowicked pops Quack to the ropes then springboiards into an armdrag. A sweet exchange leads Quack to monkey flip Hallowicked. Quack bounces off the top rope into a hurricanran, and these two reach a stand off. The two shake hands, and Delirious and Johnny Saint are tagged. This is going to be interesting. Delirious locks on the arm, and of course Johnny gets out of it in his unique way. Delirious and Saint switch off full nelsons. Saint gets stuck, but uses his legs to escape into his own full nelson. These two then play hold/counterhold with wrist locks. Again, Johnny brings his unique Lancashire style offense to the match. Saint even gets out of Delirious’ legscissors the way Austin Aries would, only without the finishing dropkick. Delirious mares Johnny into a chinlock, and Johnny works up tagging in Quack. A scared Delirious tags in Frightmare. Mike brings Frightmare down into a straight jacket choke, turning it into a Lightning Lock. Some back and forth ends with Frightmare hitting a step up hurricanrana. Quack hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for the two count. Frightmare flips over Quack’s back and hits the ropes. Frightmare tilt-a-whirl armdrags Quack to the floor. Saint and Hallowicked come in as the legal men. A knuckle lock leads into Saint rolling back into Saint wrenching Wicked’s wrist. Delirious informs Hallowicked that Saint has tricks. Saint takes Wicked down with a nerve pinch, then stretches Wicked over his knees. Saint stretches Wicked’s lower back across his knee. Saint escapes a wrist clutch into an armlock, then sits down on a spinning toe hold. Hallowicked focuses on Saint’s wrist, which Saint escapes from into an arm lock. Saint focuses on Hallowicked’s shoulder and elbow. These two tag in Skayde and Delirious, who come in wasting no time taking it to one another. Delirious mows down Skayde with a clothesline. Skayde claps Delirious’ ears with his feet, then turns over Delirious into a pendulum-like stretch. The Masters make frequent tags, stretching out Delirious’ chest and mid-section. Delirious hits a leg lariat on Quackenbush then sets him up. Him and Wicked hit the Go To Sleepy Hollow for the two count. Quack reverses a whip to the ropes into a pinning combination. Wicked misses a dive, and Skayde comes in with a flyind headscissors. Delirious accidentally elbows Delirious. Skayde and Quack hit a tandem London Bridge take down. A double pin attempt leads to two separate two counts. Skayde and Quack send Hallowicked and Delirious to the floor, and the Masters all pin Frightmare only for Hallowicked to break it up. Quack superkicks Wicked to the floor. Skayde hits a pescado on Wicked and Quack hits a Senton onto Frightmare. The Johnny Saint Special tricks Delirious. The Russ Abbot Special does the same, and Johnny Saint schoolboys Delirious for the three count! This was a really great match-up. These two trios were great opposition for the first round, as Wicked and Quack work so well together, and Delirious and Frightmare are awesome. Of course, Skayde and Saint are just so good at what they do. These two teams gelled really well and stole the first round. ***1/2

As mentioned in the above video, Iceberg is indeed missing from the show and will not compete. As in traditional CHIKARA fashion, a new partner will be selected at random.

The UnStable all have AWESOME heelish mustaches for this weekend. That is so awesome. Once all the participants are out, Leonard F. Chikarason brings out a hat with names in it. First name, Avatar. Al Snow looks unhappy. Second name, Shinobi. Al Snow says “Shi-no.” Third name, Leif Cassidy. Al now looks annoyed, and lobbies for Head to be the third person. The fourth name chosen was The Amazing Red. Bryce runs to the back and he is not here. The fifth name chosen was Green Ant, presumably making his debut. Bryce runs to the back and Green Ant is not here. The sixth name chosen is D’Lo Brown. The fans get excited. Bryce runs to the back and says he’s not here, and the fans aren’t pleased. All of a sudden “Let’s Go” by Trick Daddy hits and out comes D’Lo Brown to a major ovation. He joins Glacier and Al Snow, and we now have our final first round match set-up.

King of Trios First Round Match
Al Snow, Glacier, & D’Lo Brown vs. The UnStable (Vin Gerard, STIGMA, & Colin Delaney)

Vin and Glacier stand off. These two have a long standing issue, as Vin pinned Glacier at last years King of Trios. Vin rolls out before they even touch however. Colin comes in to take his spot. The fans chant “YOU GOT FIRED!” which Colin gets offended by, but so does the entire Tecnico team. That’s hilarious. Glacier powers down Colin in a lock up. Glacier thrusts his hand onto Colin’s arm and tags in Snow. Snow goes up top and comes off the top with an axe handle to the arm. Snow takes down Colin with a clothesline for the two count. D’Lo comes in and continues the beat down. Glacier comes in and kicks out the legs of Colin. Colin rolls to his corner and Vin hesitantly tags in. Vin mocks Glacier with a few karate stances. Vin hits Glacier in the neck. Vin tags out to his two partners, but Glacier only wants Vin. Glacier hits a knife edge chop then throws Vin to the floor. STIGMA comes in and attacks Glacier from behind. Glacier fights back with a hip toss and chops. Glacier grabs STIGMA by his belt and tags D’Lo in. STIGMA catches D’Lo with a shot in the stomach and kicks his legs out. D’Lo blocks the Shining Wizard, then D’Lo hits STIGMA with That Japanese Move! That was STIGMA’s finisher when he was Shane Storm! Colin illegally comes in and attacks D’Lo from behind, allowing STIGMA to get the upper hand. D’Lo is able to come back with a boot and a second rope moonsault. Colin breaks up the pin and gets sent to the floor for his troubles. Snow tags in and is quickly taken down by STIGMA. Colin tags in and gets some offense in. Snow stops and hits his patented double underhook headbutts. Snow hits a moonsault of his own and Vin breaks up the pin attempt. Glacier tags in and focuses on Colin’s right leg. D’Lo tags in and hits his vintage leg drop. D’Lo mows Colin down with a couple of lariats Colin tries to fight back and D’Lo yells “Don’t touch me, bitch!”, clearly showing he didn’t get the memo about CHIKARA being family friendly. D’Lo hits a lariat on a seated Colin and Vin once again breaks up the pin. The Tecnicos continue their assault on Colin Delaney, and Vin breaks up another pin. A fed up Glacier runs in. Colin rakes the eyes of Al Snow, and Vin comes in to attack. Snow is right back up and grabs him by the throat. Vin escapes the Snow Plow and attempts to knock down his opponents. This fails, and Snow beats Vin down. Snow calls for the Snow Plow and Vin wiggles out of it. The UnStable hatch a plan in their corner, psyching up Vin. Vin baits Snow into his own corner, allowing STIGMA and Colin to run in from behind and attack Snow. Snow fights back against STIGMA and tags in Glacier. Glacier thrusts STIGMA in the throat and palm strikes him in the head. Glacier works STIGMA’s shoulder and tags in D’Lo. He methodically works on STIGMA before tagging in Snow. Snow lands some elbows then hits the ropes. Colin drapes the top rope, sending Snow to the floor. Colin and Vin beat on Snow, ramming him into the guardrail, then toss him back in. Now the UnStable concentrates on keeping Snow in the ring to work him over. During their offense, The UnStable mocked their oppoenents, with all of them hitting the frog splash. STIGMA even used D’Lo’s signature head bobble before landing the frog splash. Fed up, D’Lo and Glacier come in to break up a pin from all three UnStable members. Snow is able to evade an attack from all of the UnStable and tags in D’Lo. D’Lo comes in taking on all of the UnStable single handedly. D’Lo hits a spin out Urinage on Colin for the two, as STIGMA breaks up the pin. Glacier takes STIGMA out, and D’Lo hits the Rydeen Bomb on Vin! Colin backslides D’Lo for the three count. OK, a few things. One, this match went over 26 minutes for no good reason. It felt long, and by the end there was absolutely no reason the match had to be that long. Two, the match was a bit slow and felt long. I was there in person, and remember being for it to end. Three, the match was only alright. This wasn’t bad, but really had no business being the main event whatsoever. Thank God D’Lo was there, because had Iceberg been there instead, I can’t even tell you how much he would’ve made it suck. Again, this was fine, but WAY too long and placed incorrectly on the card. **1/4

Afterwards, Glacier nails STIGMA with a Cryonic Kick, Al Snow blasts Vin with Head, and D’Lo hits a pop-up Ace Crusher on Colin Delaney. D’Lo heads up top and hits the frog splash on Colin. D’Lo picks Vin up as Snow gets ready. Vin again gets nailed with Head in the side of his…head. The Tecnicos leave to applause. Why couldn’t the stuff that happened occurred DURING the match? It would have made it much more exciting. I guess it was a way to send the fans home happy, since the Rudos won. But had a different match been placed here instead, they could have had a Tecnico team go over to send the fans home happy.

The 411: King of Trios 2008, Night One was a big time success. The show had some really great action, lots of actual funny moments (unlike WWE’s lame attempts at comedy), and wrestlers and moments that actually made this show feel like a very big deal. This was a very solid night of professional wrestling, with the large majority of the matches being three stars or higher. An easy recommendation right here.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]