The Magnus Analysis- Chikara Tag World Grand Prix 2005 Night 1

Hi there. I am a new reviewer here for 411. My name is Magnus, and I plan to take a look at pro wrestling from around the world, be it on the United States independent scene, Mexico, Japan, the UK, Canada or anywhere else around the world, I’ll be watching to give my thoughts on the action.

To start with, I’m going to take a look at one of my favourite independent wrestling promotions, Chikara. Running in Philadelphia, this promotion’s been gaining in popularity among indy fans over the past couple of years, and the Tag World Grand prix was really the show that started that rise for Chikara.

Chikara uses primarily wrestlers from it’s wrestling school, who are now gaining fame across the country. Top students include Eddie Kingston, Gran Akuma, Jigsaw, Icarus, Hallowicked and Larry Sweeney, all of whom are becoming major stars on the indy scene. Teachers at the Chikara school include Mike Quackenbush (who is also the owner), Chris Hero and Skayde.

But now onto the action at hand, starting with Night 1 of the Tag World Grand Prix 2005. The first night see’s teams from around the world compete for spots in the quarter finals on Night 3. Teams involved tonight include Team Osaka Pro (Ebbesan and Billy Ken Kid), Arik Cannon and Claudio Castagnoli, B-Boy and Super Dragon and Team IWA Mid South (Jimmy Jacobs and Danny Daniels). Your commentator for tonight is Dave Prazak, alongside rotating colour commentators Eddie Kingston, Larry Sweeney, Mike Quackenbush.

The show starts with an opening ceremony, featuring introductions for all the teams involved as well as announcer Carolina Jim going over the rules, and a big group photo is taken.

We get a pre-taped promo with Icarus and Gran Akuma backstage.

Eddie Kingston is with Dave Prazak on commentary to begin with

Team WXW (John Cabbie and Mana) vs Team FIST (Icarus and Gran Akuma)
I’ve never seen Cabbie before, but I have seen Mana wrestle before and he’s solid. Icarus and Akuma are still faces at this point, Akuma has his mask still and Icarus still has his hair. A solid opener, which told a good story of Team FIST trying to work on Cabbie to avoid the larger Mana. When Mana was in the ring, he brutalised his two opponents, including a Samoan Drop on both opponents at the same time. As Mana goes for the kill, Cabbie tagged himself in, leading to some miscommunication between the two that cost them the match. Icarus would pin Cabbie with a Fireman Carry into a Facebuster. A good choice for an opener- **1/2

Another pre-taped promo, this time with the ROH Students, where they talk about playing dodgeball (seriously) with Dunn and Marcos.

ROH Students (Davey Andrew and Shane Hagadorn) vs The Ring Crew Express (Dunn and Marcos)
A very funny opening to this match, as the ROH Students put up an ROH turnbuckle pad in their corner, only upside down (Eddie Kingston says Gabe isn’t going to be happy about that). They then whip out dodgeballs for a quick game, leading Hagadorn to take two right in the face. The match itself really wasn’t all that good, as the ROH Students looked very green at some points (for example Davey holding onto the ropes continually on an Abdominal Stretch). Not bad though, but a bit too long, although the last few minutes were pretty good. The RCE won when Marcos pinned Hagadorn after the double team Senton from the Electric Chair positioning, right after Dunn had dropped Hagadorn right on his head- **

Knight Eye For The Pirate Guy are next with a pre-taped promo, talking about their plans for tonight.

Referee Bryce Remsburg is introduced for the next match as ‘The Bryce Is Right’ Bryce Remsburg. Now that’s a great nickname.

Crossbones and Mano Metallico vs Knight Eye For The Pirate Guy (Jolly Rodger and Lance Steel)
Mano Metallico is DJ Hyde under a mask, and his partner Crossbones is also under a mask, and they are both in Larry Sweeney’s Sweet and Sour International stable. Lance Steel is a knight while Jolly Rodger is a pirate, so they sort of go together. A good mix of wrestling and comedy here, with a great comedy spot being everyone, including Crossbones and Bryce Remsburg, kicking Metallico in the back. The tension was built up between Crossbones and Metallico, as their teamwork dissolved, and this cost them the match when Rodger pinned Metallico with a inside cradle- **3/4 (* added for comedy and entertainment value)

Larry Sweeney now replaces Eddie Kingston on commentary

Big Daddy (Darkness Crabtree and Shirley Doe) vs Team Osaka Pro (Ebbesan and Billy Ken Kid)
Crabtree’s gimmick is that he’s very old, and here he teams with IWC veteran Shirley Doe. Ebbesan now wrestles as Kikutaro after leaving Osaka Pro a few month after this match. As good a comedy match as you’ll see. The slow motion wrestling sequence between Ebbesan and Darkness Crabtree may be the funniest one ever done, and it actually made sense this time around because Crabtree is too ‘old’ to move around the ring that fast. And then Crabtree avoids the Shining Wizard by moving his legs back and forth. That’s genius, why doesn’t anyone else do that, it would stop the move every time. Crabtree then takes some pills to allow him to keep up with Billy Ken Kid, but when he decide to take some more, they give him a heart attack, leading to Ebbesan reviving him with an Elbow Drop.
Besides the comedy, the wrestling is also very solid and entertaining, with Billy Ken Kid looking very good. The finish saw Ebbesan point to something to distract Doe when he was again moving his legs back and forth to avoid the Shining Wizard, which leads to Crabtree being distracted long enough for Ebbesan to hit the move at long last to get the pinfall. Comedy at it’s best- **** (** added for comedy and entertainment value)

Allison Danger and Alere Little Feather are the next team with a pre-taped promo, as they warn Cannon and Castagnoli not to underestimate them in their match.

Arik Cannon and Claudio Castagnoli vs Team You Can Call Me Al (Allison Danger and Alere Little Feather)
A good mixed tag team match which proved that the women could keep up with the men, and looked like they could legitimately win this match on several occasions. Castagnoli and Cannon of course made fun of the women, taking them very lightly, but were shocked when the women took it to them in parts of this match. Anyway, a very well wrestled match, and it’s a shame we can’t see more matches like this on the pro wrestling scene, but then again that’s what Chikara is here for. Cannon and Castagnoli got the win when Castagnoli pinned Danger after a Glimmering Warlock/Recola Bomb combo- **3/4

Ravage and Rorschach vs Sabian and Young Lions Cup Champions Jigsaw
A solid enough match, with a little bit of comedy at the beginning and good use of high flying, high impact moves as well as a few submissions. It wasn’t the most exciting of bouts, since it didn’t have much to make it stand out, but it was very well wrestled and all of the moves were hit crisply which is enough for me. The only complaint I’d have is that when Rorschach and Ravage isolated Sabian, they chose to work over the arm when working over the legs to cut out high flying moves would be a better strategy. Jigsaw and Sabian advance when they locked a double submission on both Ravage and Rorschach- **1/2

Team IWA Mid South have a pre-taped promo, with Danny Daniels taking things lightly as he heads to the bathroom, with Jimmy Jacobs making sure he stays focused for the match ahead.

Team IWA Reading (Din Mak and Matt Bonboy) vs Team IWA Mid South (Jimmy Jacobs and IWA Mid South Champion Danny Daniels)
Jimmy Jacobs is in full Huss mode here despite no longer using the gimmick in the IWA at this point. Din Mak and Matt Bonboy I have never seen before, but they have been feuding and have only teamed because they are from the same promotion. Their team would disintegrate before this match was over, which meant that although there was some decent wrestling in this bout, it was in the end about furthening the feud between the IWA Reading duo. The finish saw Daniels push Dim Mak into Matt Bonboy, so Bonboy superkicked him, and this allowed Jacobs to pin him with a Back Senton- **

A pre-taped promo with Team PWG is shown, with Super Dragon again staying in the character with B-Boy doing all the talking.

Team PWG come out to face a mystery team, drawn from a hat. Bob Sagat is drawn first of all, but he isn’t here. Next Danny Rose and Adam Flash (a fan calls it) are drawn out, but won’t wrestle for free so they don’t wrestle. Starman is next, but he isn’t here. The team eventually drawn out to face then consists of Wonderman (Glenn Spectre from IWC) and Ken The Box (yes, the wrestling tree from indy Japan wrestling).

Team PWG (Super Dragon and B-Boy) vs Wonderman and Ken The Box.
One of those matches that you’ll only see in Chikara, with some moments of comic gold. First of all, Ken The Box can’t get into the ring since he’s too big and doesn’t have legs, so Wonderman must face both Team PWG members alone. Then when B-Boy and Super Dragon get knocked outside of the ring, Ken The Box attacks, hitting B-Boy with punches, before turning Super Dragon inside out with one punch (which is a sight to see to say the least, an amazing moment).
Eventually Wonderman gets pinned with a Quadruple Stomp (both dived off the top turnbuckle at the same time with Double Stomps)- ***3/4 (** added for comedy and entertainment value)

And to solidify themselves as heels, Super Dragon and B-Boy break some of Ken The Box’s branches after the match (yes, that really happened), and Dragon then beats up Wonderman some more.

Mike Quackenbush now replaces Larry Sweeney on commentary.

Arik Cannon and Claudio Castagnoli vs Team FIST (Icarus and Gran Akuma)
A good tag team match, and in terms of hold for hold wrestling action this was about the second best match of the evening. I particularly enjoyed the double team moves that both teams were able to put to use, particularly Cannon and Castagnoli who were especially impressive in this bout. I liked the moment where Castagnoli swings Icarus around in a Full Nelson, then tag to Cannon who swings him around in a Giant Swing, a good strategy to make it difficult for Icarus to find his corner. Castagnoli showed off his range of European Uppercuts here, and with one of them he accidentally knocked Icarus into his corner so he could make the tag.
Icarus and Akuma got a few very good new falls after the hot tag, although it seemed the fans didn’t really believe Icarus and Akuma were winning. Castagnoli and Cannon hit an impressive double team to take out Akuma, as Cannon block the Yoshi-Tonic (Code Red), flips Akuma up and Castagnoli catches him with a Top Rope European Uppercut. This lead to Icarus being hat with the Double Team Recola Bomb/Glimmering Warlock for the pinfall by Castagnoli- ***

Dunn and Marcos cut a promo, basically saying they won’t lose to Jigsaw and Sabian tonight.

The Ring Crew Express (Dunn and Marcos) vs Jigsaw and Sabian
A very solid bout, although the crowd get in the way their dueling chants that went on for far too long (it must have lasted at least 2 minutes). Anyway, I felt the bout had some good chain wrestling and high flying moves, as well as some occasional comedic moments that added a little to the action, and a couple of nice double team moves. While this bout doesn’t stand out among the rest of the matches in the tournament, it exceeded my expectations and holds up as an underrated match on this night. Jigsaw gets the pin to win the match with the Jig ’N Tonic- **3/4

Team IWA Mid South (Jimmy Jacobs and Danny Daniels) vs Knight Eye For The Pirate Guy (Jolly Rodger and Lance Steel)
Before the match Jacobs and Daniels establish themselves as the heels by attacking Jolly Rodger’s parrot (it’s not real though), very smart. Anyway, the match itself was pretty good, very well wrestled for the most part outside of one or two botches. It actually looked like this would be a comedy style of match to begin with but it got serious whenever it looked like it would break down into comedy. Knight Eye For The Pirate Guy scored the upset win despite not getting a huge amount of offense in during this match when Steel made Jacobs tap to the Boston Crab after being in the hold for almost a minute. The fact that we saw the upset win helps to establish that anything can happen in the tournament- **1/2

We get a quick pre-taped promo with Team Osaka Pro before we head to the main event..

Super Dragon and B-Boy come out for their match with the head of Ken The Box. That is seriously awesome, and they put it in their corner.

Team PWG (Super Dragon and B-Boy) vs Team Osaka Pro (Ebbesan and Billy Ken Kid)
What a fantastic match, just amazingly well built and this helps to prove that Ebbesan isn’t just a comedy wrestler. It had that old school face vs heel dynamic with Team PWG heeling things up big time while Team Osaka Pro were underdogs who did everything in their power to get the win. But at the same time this match had new school high flying moves that gave the match that modern feel with the old school dynamic. The crowd also helped so much here, getting more into this match than any of the others on the night, and were extremely hot in the final few minutes. Those last few minutes after the hot tag to Billy Ken Kid are as well wrestled as I’ve seen. Overall this is extremely underrated by wrestling fans as a top tag match in 2005, and really is a hidden gem of a match. Billy Ken Kid would get the win for his team when he pinned B-Boy with the move I believe he calls La Espelda, a variation on the Backslide – ****1/4

The crowd give all four men a well deserved standing ovation after the match, and the two teams show respect for each other with a handshake.

Ebbesan then cuts a quick promo to thank the fans for coming, and to make sure to attend future Chikara events.

The 411: Chikara cards aren’t especially known for having top to bottom excellent wrestling like ROH or other indy promotions have, but is more about the entertainment side of pro wrestling. This event personifies that with fantastic comedy action, as well as a classic main event and solid action throughout the card. For that reason I can easily give this event a good recommendation
Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]