Csonka Looks at The 2015 CHIKARA King of Trios

Welcome!: Hello and welcome back to my corner of 411! My goal for 2015 was to review even more wrestling than I did in 2014; in that year I did just over 100 (101 I believe) major shows and I have already surpassed it this year. Two events I wanted to cover this year were the CHIKARA King of Trios (I missed it last year) and PWG BOLA (which I did get to last year). Since I do not have a lot of time to add full reviews to my schedule, I have opted to watch these shows during the days while I work, rate the matches and then do a short write up on the show. I plan to do the same thing with PWG BOLA as well, hopefully in the next few weeks. As far as CHIKARA goes, I stopped following when they ran “the grand angle” and shut down. Things got annoying and I didn’t want to put the time into keeping up, because the product stopped being entertaining to me. But I tend to really enjoy the King of Trios weekend, so I decided to jump back on board and check out the shows. If you’d like to read full reviews of the CHIKARA King of Trios Tournament, you can read Kevin Ford’s great reviews here, here and here.

KOT Night One

– King of Trios Tournament Match: Mark Andrews, Pete Dunne & Morgan Webster vs. Juan Francisco de Coronado, The Proletariat Boar of Moldova & Mr. Azerbaijan [***]
– King of Trios Tournament Match: Trent Seven, Tyler Bate & Daniel Moloney vs. Jakob Hammermeier, Soldier Ant & Nøkken [**½]
– King of Trios Tournament Match: Obariyon, Kodama & Oleg the Usurper vs. Princess Kimberlee, El Hijo del Ice Cream & Ice Cream Jr. [*½]
– King of Trios Tournament Match: Stevie Richards, Hollywood Nova & The Blue Meanie vs. Max Smashmaster, Blaster McMassive & Flex Rumblecrunch [**]
– King of Trios Tournament Match: Icarus, Dasher Hatfield & Mark Angelosetti vs. Kevin Condron, Lucas Calhoun & Missile Assault Man [**]
– King of Trios Tournament Match: Amasis, Fire Ant & Worker Ant vs. AJ Styles, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson [***½]
– King of Trios Tournament Match: Ophidian, Eddie Kingston & Shynron vs. Hallowicked, Frightmare & Silver Ant [*½]
– King of Trios Tournament Match: Fénix, Drago & Aero Star vs. Chuck Taylor, Drew Gulak & The Swamp Monster [****]

Show Thoughts: Night one of the tournament feature the traditional fun of CHIKARA, along with the worst of independent wrestling (matches going too long) and the worst of mainstream wrestling (too much interference). The wrestling ranges from rough to very good, with the outside teams either bringing the fun or nostalgia (bWo) or simply bringing the good wrestling (Mark Andrews, Pete Dunne & Morgan Webster). Obariyon, Kodama & Oleg the Usurper vs. Princess Kimberlee, El Hijo del Ice Cream & Ice Cream Jr. was a match that just didn’t work, they tried to tell a story that just didn’t work or make any sense; also it felt very, very flat. The other real disappointment was Ophidian, Eddie Kingston & Shynron vs. Hallowicked, Frightmare & Silver Ant; they went almost 18-minutes, they tried but it just did not click. There was no real story or structure to the match, and it wasn’t like they were ramping up the action and delivering a tremendous action filled effort. It was a match that went too long, that felt too long, and ultimately failed as an overall match. The main event was absolutely fantastic, with Team AAA being a very welcomed addition as outsiders, and The Gentleman’s Club worked effortlessly with them to deliver the best match of the night with ease. Team AAA was expected to come in and be great, but I think that a lot of people forget that Chuck Taylor and Drew Gulak work very well together as a team, and deliver when they need to do so. This was an overall solid night to kick off the tournament, with a great main event to really make the whole show not feel like a waste. Overall night one had some misses, and came off as an above average event. 6.75

KOT NIGHT Two

– Ashley Remington vs. Jaka [***]
– King of Trios Quarterfinal Match: Daniel Moloney, Trent Seven & Tyler Bate vs. Juan Francisco de Coronado, Mr. Azerbaijan & The Proletariat Boar Of Moldova [***]
– Rey de Voladores Qualifier: Amasis vs. Matt Cross vs. Shynron vs. Too Cold Scorpio [***¾]
– King of Trios Quarterfinal Match: Fénix, Drago & Aero Star vs. Hallowicked, Frightmare & Silver Ant [***]
– 3.0 (Scott Parker & Shane Matthews) & N_R_G (Hype Rockwell & Race Jaxon) vs. Flying Francis (Branden O’Connor & Matt Novak) & The Colony Xtreme Force (Arctic Rescue Ant & Orbit Adventure Ant) [*½]
– King of Trios Quarterfinal Match: Kevin Condron, Lucas Calhoun & Missile Assault Man vs. AJ Styles, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson [***½]
– Rey de Voladores Qualifier: Mark Andrews vs. Mascara Purpura vs. Ophidian vs. Pinkie Sanchez [*¾]
– King of Trios Quarterfinal Match: Max Smashmaster, Blaster McMassive & Flex Rumblecrunch vs. Obariyon, Kodama & Oleg the Usurper [***¾]

Show Thoughts: Night two was a good improvement over night one. Night one was an overall fine event, but it felt like a long show for all the wrong reasons and for the fact that it’s a night full of six-man tags. Night two had the advantage of running the Rey de Voladores Qualifiers and the next round of the tournament. Overall night two was a way more consistent show than night one, and while there wasn’t a match as good as the night one main event here, the overall match quality was better. The one thing that stuck out for me was how different the two Rey de Voladores Qualifying matches were. The first match, featuring Amasis vs. Matt Cross vs. Shynron vs. Too Cold Scorpio, was a great match filled with smooth work, a cohesive plan, great energy, innovation and simply exciting high flying action, it was exactly what the Rey de Voladores should be. The second match, featuring Mark Andrews vs. Mascara Purpura vs. Ophidian vs. Pinkie Sanchez, had the right winner but felt the exact opposite of the first match. It didn’t; have the flow or the energy, it was one of those matches where they did shit, it was fine, they did more shit, it was ok, and then it got long and completely overstayed it’s welcome. Team AAA, Bullet Club and the Devastation Corporation have been the highlights of the trios tournament, all delivering in their own way; they have basically been exactly what I hoped they would be. On top of the night delivering better wrestling and more consistent show, the closing angle came off very well. The Devastation Corporation destroying UltraMantis Black and Oleg the Usurper breaking from them (Sidney Bakabella owned his contract) and taking out Bakabella felt like a big moment, and came off well. Night two was very enjoyable and felt like a complete show with a big moment and some very good wrestling. I was a bit worried after night one about continuing on, but night two made it clear that I made the right choice to continue on. Overall night two has far more hits than misses, and felt like a significant over night one. 8.0

KOT NIGHT Three

– King of Trios Semifinals: Fénix, Drago & Aero Star vs. Max Smashmaster, Blaster McMassive & Flex Rumblecrunch [***]
– King of Trios Semifinals: Trent Seven, Tyler Bate & Daniel Moloney vs. AJ Styles, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson [***½]
– Princess Kimberlee, Jervis Cottonbelly, El Hijo del Ice Cream & Ice Cream Jr. vs. Chuck Taylor, Orange Cassidy, Drew Gulak & The Swamp Monster [***]
– 10-Team Gauntlet Match [DUD]
– Young Lions Cup Match: Champion Heidi Lovelace vs. The Proletariat Boar of Moldova [**¾]
– Rey de Voladores Finals: Shynron vs. Mark Andrews [***¼]
– King of Trios Finals: Fénix, Drago & Aero Star vs. AJ Styles, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson [****½]

Show Thoughts: Night three was a very good follow up to night two, and helped to close out the tournament in a high note. The King of Trios Semifinals were done first, and that not only gave the competitors time to rest, but also set the stage and gave the fan a great sense of anticipation due to team AAA and Bullet Club scoring the wins. The eight-person tag was a good match, with the Gentlemen’s Club closing out a strong weekend of matches. I really like those guys, and it was really fun watching them through out the weekend. The Young Lions Cup match and Rey de Voladores finals didn’t deliver anything close to great or MOTY worthy, but I felt that they were both good and enjoyable matches. I will specifically discuss Andrews below. The undercard was extremely strong, minus the horrible 10-team gauntlet match, which will also be discussed more below. If you skip that tag match this show would be so much better, but for as bad as that match was, the main event King of Trios finals more than made up for it. Team AAA vs. Bullet Club was the perfect ending to the tournament and weekend as a whole, and capped off another very good night.

8.1

Some Extra Thoughts
Learn to Appreciate Max Smashmaster, Blaster McMassive & Flex Rumblecrunch: With all of the fun of the gimmicks and highfliers, I feel that the Devastation Corporation gets overlooked by a lot of people. Besides their gloriously awesome names, these guys have really developed into a great team and delivered a lot of enjoyment during the tournament. They have become a favorite of mine, and it was a lot of fun to watch them over the weekend to see how good they have become.

The Outsiders: One thing I tend to really enjoy about tournaments like this is the addition of the outsiders. This year we had guests from the UK, Team AAA (Fénix, Drago & Aero Star), Bullet Club, The bWo (Stevie, Nova and Meanie), and even Too Cold Scorpio, and they were all great in their own special ways. Too Cold Scorpio was part of the best Rey de Voladores match of the weekend, showing flashes of greatness and why I became a fan of the man. The bWo was just fun, and the fun team to bring in and also a smart one due to the area they ran in. Mark Andrews I will address below, but the other UK guests were fun and added well to the tournament. Finally, scoring Team AAA (hot off of their Lucha Underground run) and Bullet Club (with AJ Styles making his CHIKARA debut, which I thought was huge) was an awesome score as far as guys that had buzz and would add to the good wrestling side of things. Overall the outsiders were a big hit with me.

Mark Andrews: Mark Andrews, known as “Mandrews” in TNA, won the British Boot Camp show in October of 2014, and made his official TNA debut in January of 2015. Since then he has been sporadically used, and overall has been a complete after thought. Over the King of Trios weekend, CHIKARA used him very well and actually made me care about him way more than TNA has in 10-months. It’s a shame that TNA’s booking of the X-Division has been shit for so long, this guy could have been a great asset for them to use.

Best Match of the Weekend: Fénix, Drago & Aero Star vs. AJ Styles, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson (Night Three) – When the full lineup of teams was announced for the King of Trios tournament, the one match I REALLY wanted to see was Team AAA vs. Bullet Club. When I saw that they were the finals, that was dream match booking for me. And then they had their match, and not only was it just about everything I had hoped for, the weekend peaked perfectly as the finals put on the best match of the weekend. The best thing they did was not try to make this some sort of 30-minute epic match. They worked a great time of just under 16-minutes, they worked a basic and straightforward match with no real bullshit, had a great pace, everyone got to hit signature stuff and thy worked in some great call backs to their previous matches for pop spots and near falls. And all of that combined led to an excellent match and the perfect way to end the 2015 KOT tournament. As far as I am concerned, this was not only the best match of the weekend, but the best KOT finals I can recall. So many tournaments deliver good action through out, and then the finals can end up being lack luster, even the G1 Climax Finals had its clunkers over the years (94, 99, 00, 02, 06). But this was everything I had hoped for, and it couldn’t have needed better for CHIKARA. This was a huge get for CHIKARA to get both teams for the tournament, and they certainly made the right call making this the final match.

Worst Match of the Weekend: 10-Team Gauntlet Match (Night Three) – To me this was the worst example of Independent wrestling. A match that went way too long with way too many participants and that did nothing at all to really excite me. In the past the gauntlet match has been a fun match, with cameos from stars of the past, outside talent and also a nice amount of comedy. It’s usually a nice part of night three, but came off as the weakest thing from the entire weekend. There was a lot of talent involved, and it certainly has potential, but it bored me overall. It’s a long match, where nothing all that exciting happens, and it keeps going and going and going. When the match was over, I actually had to step away for a bit and then go back to watching. The good news is that it didn’t kill the crowd, but it was the one thing from the weekend that I can say I actually hated.

Final Grade: Overall the CHIKARA 2015 King of Weekend is a good weekend, trending up to very good. Nice one was the appetizer night, it was fine, but nothing you need to see. Your real enjoyment will come from nights two and three, where things clicked more and flowed much better. Over the weekend the Devastation Corporation, Gentlemen’s Club, Team AAA and Bullet Club were the foundation of the tournament to me, as they consistently delivered and everything they did was important. I took the 2014 tournament off, and I am not sure how much time I will have for CHIKARA in the future, but am glad that I checked out the 2015 version. 7.6 overall score.