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Young Lions Cup VIII (Night 3)

August 29, 2010 ~ Reading, PA

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1. Dragon Gate vs. Chikara: Akira Tozawa vs. Hallowicked**3/4
Tozawa & Wicked both do a bit of yelling and trade holds. Tozawa bites on Hallowicked’s stem to gain control of the contest. They continue on the mat until Wicked kips up to break. Tozawa hits two dropkicks, sending Hallowicked outside. Tozawa drills him with a suicide dive to the outside and rolls Wicked back in, again working on the stem. Stomps from Tozawa in the corner followed by a big bodyslam for two. More kicks from Tozawa and he locks on a half crab, biting on Hallowicked’s foot for…leverage maybe? Taste? Boredom? Hallowicked blocks a flying hip attack and nails Go 2 Sleepy Hollow! Rydeen Bomb! 1…2…Tozawa kicks out. Tozawa is tossed to the apron where he blocks an attack and sets up for Kara Tozawa. Misses the first time! Misses the next! Hallowicked blocks with knees but Tozawa hits a back senton and covers. 1…2…Hallowicked kicks out. Tozawa hits a sick corner bicycle kick, Hallowicked comes back with a corner Yakuza Kick but Tozawa comes back with a running elbow! Delayed German Suplex! 1…2…Wicked kicks out! Tozawa goes for Kara Tozawa again but Hallowicked blocks and hits a top rope snapmare, rolling it into a cradle for two. Tozawa hits a snap rana, Wicked rolls him through but Akira drills him with a running knee. Tozawa runs the ropes…Yakuza Kick to Akira! GRAVEYARD SMASH! 1…2…3! Hallowicked gets the win against his Dragon Gate USA roster mate. Funny enough, this was the first time Wicked’s pinned someone with the Graveyard Smash in almost a year. This was really good for the time given and highlighted both men well. A perfect opener.
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2. Young Lions Collide #1: Obariyon vs. Mike Sydal**
I really hope Obariyon kills Sydal here. I mean, not really kill him. Just…maim him I guess. Bryce continues to playfully mock everything Sydal does, including dropping a reference to “Philip”, the lone SNL character Mike Myers hasn’t tried to turn into a movie. Obariyon overpowers Sydal but gets caught with a few tosses and a dropkick, so Obariyon bails and the crowd chants for Obariyon to get back in. He does, but not before awesomely scaring some folks at ringside. Sydal does a Matrix evasion and hits another dropkick. He continues using arm drags to ground the green machine. Mike blocks a charge in the corner but he gets caught the second time. He’s tossed down hard and Obariyon locks on a Triangle hold. Sydal escapes but misses an enzuigiri, allowing Obariyon to hit an elbow drop and lock on a painful-looking submission. Obariyon continues to assault Mike with strikes, hitting a running knee and covering. 1…2…Mike gets the shoulder up. Sydal fires back with a running knee, a dropkick, a headscissors and a really awful corner cannonball. 1…2…Obariyon kicks out. Sydal yells that he wants to rock but he gets caught with Made in Japan! 1…2…Sydal kicks out. See, that’s funny for two reasons: Frightmare has also used that move and Mike’s brother Matt popularized the damn thing on the indy circuit. Obariyon goes to the top but Sydal meets him with a knee strike. Obariyon pushes him off and drills him with Deep Impact! 1…2…3! Obariyon keeps on winning, this time at the expense of one annoying dude. I think Obariyon was supposed to be the heel, but I was totally rooting for him. I hope I don’t have to see Sydal for a really long time.
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~ Green Ant, flanked by Fire & Soldier Ant, says that he respects Keita Yano but that this is his house and that he will get his first submission victory tonight via the Cloverleaf. This was better than almost every promo from Nights One & Two.
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3. Young Lions Collide #2: Keita Yano vs. Green Ant**1/2
Greenie & Yano shake hands to start things off as Yano gets an early advantage with a leg lock, but it’s reversed into a kimura attempt. Both men lock on ankle locks and Green Ant wins the battle. Yano works his way out and tries to lock on an STF but Greenie gets to the ropes. Green Ant gets into a mount position and locks on a triangle choke but Yano wisely escapes to the floor. Back inside, Keita escapes a choke with a leg hold and both escape. Yano circles, Green Ant locks on an arm hold but both men roll away and stand together. They again go back to the mat and trade pinfalls but Yano reverses  and teases a punch but locks on a cross armbreaker instead! Green Ant escapes and goes for a leg lock, but Yano denies it, laying into the ribs of Green Ant. Yano locks on an arm-trapped headlock, turning it into a kimura attempt but Greenie escapes. Yano resorts to stomps and laughs at young Green Ant. Yano blocks a charge, Greenie tries to lock on the Cloverleaf but Yano turns it into a double chickenwing neck crank but Green Ant counters! Yano counters! EVERYBODY COUNTERS EVERYTHING! Yano does a standing neck twist and goes to the top. Calf branding! 1…2……3. Weird count there, but Yano is victorious. A doctor is called to check on Green Ant, who is clearly injured. As he stands, you can see something really wrong around his bicep area. It’s a shame, as this was going really, really well before that. Both guys showed some cool submission stuff while really emphasizing the ground struggle. The injury was unfortunate, but it shouldn’t sully what could only be described as a very successful trip for Keita.
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4. Tursas vs. Greg Iron*1/4
Iron gets a good response, but not a great one. I think it’s because everyone knows he’s getting his ass handed to him here. Tursas taunts Iron about being so much smaller than him, but Iron peppers him with shots, dodging lariats from the much bigger man. Tursas finally catches him with one though, following it up with a delayed bodyslam and a huge elbow drop. 1…2…Iron kicks out. Greg fights back but eats a shoulder tackle. Tursas tosses Greg into the corner and lays into him with chops and a hip toss. Tursas misses an elbow drop, Greg gets some speed but Tursas drops him yet again. Front facelock suplex, and Tursas once again misses an elbow. Iron tries to fight back but eats a lariat and Tursas covers with one foot. 1…2…Iron kicks out. Tursas hits a back body drop and misses yet another damn elbow. Iron hits a back senton and a second rope axe handle. He goes to the top and drops an elbow on Tursas, hitting a running chop as well. He goes for another but eats a flying press! 1…2…3. Tursas wins, of course. Like all Tursas matches, this ends with a body splash, this time to the bad arm of Iron. I’ve heard people complain about how Iron was used, but I thought it was great. Not only did he take Dorado to the limit, forcing Lince to cheat in order to win, but he lasted longer with Tursas than any person before him, including Eddie Kingston. I thought he looked pretty damn good, and the crowd was hugely behind him every time.
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~ For the second night in a row, The House of Truth comes out to lay a challenge to any team in the Chikara locker room. The previous night, it was Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw who answered, looking for their first point. This time, it was a team look for the third point and a future title shot.
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5. Josh Raymond & Christian Able vs. 3.0***1/4
Scott “Jagged” Parker & Shane “Big Magic” Matthews come running out sans music and the match is underway. The crowd is WAY behind Jagged and Shane. Raymond keeps breaking hold and celebrating, but Matthews is able to catch him with a cradle and shove him down. Matthews drops Raymond with a shoulder tackle and barks in his face, startling him. Raymond tries the same, but Big Magic just plants him and drops him with an atomic drop. He tags Jagged, and they hit a Manhattan drop / Yakuza Kick combo for an early two. Jagged is pushed into the HOT corner where Able tags in. He eats some big moves from Parker though and 3.0 double teams in the corner. 1…2…Able kicks out. Matthews calls out for his majestic headscissors, but Able turns him around and plants him with a backbreaker! The House of Truth double team Matthews in their corner but he fights back and tags Scott in again. He fights Raymond on the apron but Able catches him with a reverse snapmare into the ring! Yikes. Raymond & Able go to work on Parker in their corner. They hit a neckbreaker / senton combo and Josh covers. 1….2…Scott kicks out. Able hits a corner lariat and goes for another, but Scott counters, drops Raymond and makes the tag! Big Magic is a house of fire, almost drilling Bryce! HEADSCISSORS! AND ANOTHER! ONE FOR BRYCE! Remsburg is furious at Shane Matthews, who grabs Bryce’s hand and they hit a double lariat on Raymond, turning him inside out! Able plants Matthews with a lawn dart toss in the corner and The House of Truth hits an elevated lionsault! 1…2…Matthews gets the shoulder up! Assisted powerbomb is blocked by Big Magic! Missile dropkick from Jagged to Able! Sweet Taste of Professionalism to Raymond! 1…2…3! Three points for 3.0! As with their Night 2 match against the Super Smash Brothers, this was outstanding for the time it was given. Jagged and Big Magic are always fun, and the House of Truth really came through this weekend, delivering two very good tag matches.
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~ Sara Del Rey & Daizee Haze start talking, only to have Pinkie Sanchez interrupt, DVD in hand, claiming that Vökoder is, like, so totally real. Death Haze is not amused and they leave. Pinkie, dejected, storms out as well.
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~ Brodie Lee says he’s gonna be the winner, no doubts. I have doubts though…about his promo ability. Ha! Seriously though, he’s like Kevin Steen: 1000x better on a live microphone then some weak sauce, backstage stuff.
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6. The Countdown Showdown: 30-Person Battle Royal***3/4
This is gonna be super crazy. To keep this from being really long, I’m gonna just do entrances and eliminations for the most part. Colin Delaney drew lucky number one and Player Dos is out at number two. Heh. Ophidian is out next, and he takes both men down quite quickly. Cheech Hernandez is next out, and Colin is getting beaten up early. STIGMA enters and drops Cheech with a German Suplex. Ophidian skins the snake and headscissors Dos outside, eliminating him first! Vin Gerard is out and The UnStable double teams Ophidian & Hernandez…until Amasis enters! Everybody dances for some reason until Grizzly enters and stops them…and then joins them. Amazing. The UnStable eliminates Cheech and The Osirian Portal at the same time! Dunkerton enters but is caught by STIGMA and thrown at Grizzly. Pinkie Sanchez is out next and everybody beats up on him! He tries to leave but UltraMantis Black enters and tosses him back inside! Vökoder is out at number twelve! He eliminates himself & Sanchez with a clothesline to the floor! Vökoder chases Pinkie around the arena and Brodie enters, killing EVERYONE in the process…except Grizzly! They go at it and Fire Ant spares him a beating, dropping Lee with Heat of the Moment. Jigsaw enters and eats a Truck Stop from Brodie Lee…who gets dumped by Grizzly Redwood! Brodie Lee is gone! Sara Del Rey & Icarus enter to huge boos. Dunkerton eliminates Grizzly and Delirious enters. He eliminates UltraMantis just as Vin Gerard takes out Fire Ant…even though the Chikara site says Icarus did it. Okay then. Jimmy “Equinox” Olsen & Soldier Ant enter. Soldier takes out Gerard with a Saluting Rana just as Steve “The Turtle” Weiner enters! He is unfortunately eliminated quickly by Sara Del Rey and the entering Daizee Haze. They do the same to Sugar Dunkerton. Jervis Cottonbelly enters, as does Claudio Castagnoli. Strangely, Colin is fighting with Icarus & STIGMA because they keep attacking his brother Jimmy. Delaney eliminates Icarus and then STIGMA! Shane Matthews is out pulling double duty! Headscissors! EDDIE KINGSTON IS IN! He attacks Delirious immediately but the BDK members inside take him down. Eddie belly-to-belly suplexes Delirious out, backfists Del Rey to the floor, dumps Cottonbelly and just shoves Daizee off the apron! CLAUDIO JUMPS HIM FROM BEHIND! KINGSTON IS OUT! Dasher Hatfield is in next, taking a big fight to Claudio. Mike Quackenbush is in and he goes after Claudio, too. 3.0 drills Equinox with their tag finisher as everyone in the ring tries to take out Claudio to no avail.  Johnny Gargano enters as the thirtieth and final entrant, eliminating Equinox! Colin Delaney eliminates Jigsaw, Shane Matthews takes out Soldier Ant and Quackenbush eliminates Delaney, tossing him overhead to the floor! Hatfield and 3.0 play an impromptu game of baseball, but Gargano eliminates Dasher to end the fun. Castagnoli eliminates Quack but gets jumped by 3.0, his next challengers for the tag titles! Claudio is furious and he eliminates Matthews! Gargano jumps Jagged! HE’S OUT! Johnny Gargano wins The Golden Opportunity as the last entrant! Well that was awesome. Lots of great character stuff, some nice eliminations and it was a great length, too. My only complaint would be how uninvolved Gargano was with everything and how there wasn’t much punch to the actual finish. It set up a ton of great storylines and matches later on and at times flirted with the upper echelon of Chikara matches this year.
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~ Lince Dorado cuts a promo running down Frightmare, stating that he’ll be YLC champion when the smoke clears. What smoke? When is there ever smoke to clear when guys say that?
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7. Young Lions Cup VIII Finals: Frightmare vs. Lince Dorado***1/2
This match gets intense before the two guys even come out: Gavin & Jakob nearly come to blows over the damn microphone. Unfortunately, Bruderschaft referee Derek Sabato is officiating this match. The crowd is insanely behind Frightmare. Sabato doesn’t even bother to frisk Lince: he just asks. He goes to thoroughly investigate Frightmare when Dorado sneaks in a sunset flip! 1..2..Frightmare kicks out of a fast count. He gets rolled up for another fast count two. Frightmare reverses a Boston crab, hits a step-up huracanrana that sends Dorado to the floor and a huge no-hands twisting tope to the outside! Frightmare chops Lince around the floor. Dorado tries but hits the ring post instead.  Back inside, Frightmare hits a nice armdrag and a huge corner Yakuza! Popped-up clothesline! He goes for the Kneecolepsy, but Lince blocks so early that Frightmare lands right on his head! Dorado chokes Frights in the corner uninterrupted and hits his double stomp into another stomp for two. Lince punches out of a sunset flip and continues to cheat, basically with Sabato’s permission. Dorado hits a basement dropkick but misses a second. The two men trade elbows and Frightmare goes for crucifix pin but Sabato blocks, allowing Dorado to hit a sick double knee gutbuster! 1..2..Frightmare kicks out of the fast count again. Lince hits a dropsault and does a few push-ups. Frightmare catches Lince with a spike snap huracanrana! 1……2……Dorado kicks out of a very slow count. Powerslam from Lince but he misses a lionsault! Crucifix pin! 1……2……Dorado kicks out. Frightmare goes to the top but Dorado blocks. Lince goes for a top rope stunner but Frights pushes him off! They trade back flip evasions and Frightmare drops him with a neckbreaker! Frightmare goes to cover but Sabato rolls Dorado to the floor so he can’t be pinned! Bryce is on commentary, furious that Sabato isn’t counting Lince out. Dorado hits a guillotine and tries to suplex Frightmare out but they end up both on the apron. FLIPPING DDT ON THE APRON TO FRIGHTMARE! Both men eventually stagger to their feet but Dorado gets in first. Sabato is fast-counting a count-out but Frightmare just makes it in at nineteen! Dorado dropkicks him back out, the fast-counting continues but Dorado gets impatient and dives out onto him!  Lince keeps going down to try and keep him down and Frightmare gets back in at nineteen again. Spike Michinoku Driver! Lince looks for the SSP…and he hits it! 1-FRIGHTMARE KICKS OUT! Dorado goes for the Inverted Chikara Special, but Frights reverses into a roll-up for another slow two. Huge kick from Frightmare followed by a Handspring Back-Rolling Satellite DDT! 1………2………Lince kicks out yet again. Kneecolepsy…but Lince moves. Both men are down. They trade elbows to their feet and Lince goes for an enzuigiri. HE HITS SABATO! SABATO IS OUT! School boy on Dorado! BRYCE SLIDES IN TO COUNT! 1…2…NO! Dorado kicks out! They trade reversals and Lince goes for a brainbuster…but Frightmare turns it into a huracanrana! 1…2…~3! HE’S DONE IT! Frightmare wins the Young Lions Cup VII tournament and is your NEW YLC champion! The locker room empties to congratulate Frightmare as the BDK comes out to rip into Dorado for losing. That was definitely an emotional match. The crowd really elevated what was a good but not great early contest. That stuff at the end was damn near magic. It’s unfortunate that they botched the finish, but both guys put on a great effort. It wasn’t long enough to get a much higher rating, but what was there was damn good. The right guy won and, once again, I predicted every damn match in this tourney correctly. That may irritate some, but that just means, in my estimation, Chikara made a lot of smart moves. Giving the Cup to Frightmare definitely qualifies.
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Overall 7 / 10

While this was a very fun show, it was also astoundingly short. This may end up Chikara’s shortest DVD this year, a comment made even more bizarre by the fact that the previous night’s show will probably end up the longest. What you get is another top-to-bottom enjoyable show, the highlights of which being a super fun tag match in 3.0/HOT, a frantic battle royal in The Countdown Showdown and an emotional rollercoaster in the YLCVIII Finals. Obariyon/Sydal was the only really disappointment, but I’m sure others will take to Matt’s brother better than I have. Everything else is completely watchable, which is more than I can say about some other indy promotions. Seriously, with a two hour Chikara DVD, you’re still getting more enjoyable stuff than a three hour current ROH disc. The show is recommended for just about anyone that enjoys wrestling, but Chikara fans especially will find the nuances of the Countdown Showdown reason enough for a purchase.
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The All-Important M’s

Match: The Countdown Showdown, also one of Chikara’s longest matches this year. There were so many great little moments throughout that this will end up not only one of Chikara top twenty matches this year, but perhaps top three in terms of immediate and long-term ramifications.
Move: Hmmm…that Apron Flipping DDT was pretty sick. Okay, I’ll go with that.
Moment: Insanely easy: Frightmare winning the tournament. While 3.0’s three points really moved me, it didn’t get as big a reaction from the crowd, nor was it as storyline significant as Frightmare’s win.
MVP: If you’re thinking Frightmare, you didn’t read this damn thing. THREE. POINT. OH. They pulled double duty and were fantastic in both cases. Shane Matthews is a loud, pale, bundle of entertainment and Scott Parker has become a very polished and creative worker. This was definitely Frightmare’s night, but Jagged & Big Magic stole the frickin’ show!
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– Please leave any comments or questions you might have and I’ll do my best to respond with as much ravenous Portuguese dirty talk as I can conjure. I’d like to do a contest or something cool like that, but I’m not sure how much interest there’d be. Let you voice be heard! Also, let me know if there’s anything you’d like to see in the column, like fantasy booking, treasure hunts, wish-lists, secret handshakes, etc.
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By Justin Houston

I play football for the Chiefs. Fuck you.

One thought on “Chikara DVD Review: Young Lions Cup VIII (Night 3)”
  1. Hope Obariyon and Kodama turn up again soon. Guys had a cool look. And again, I must say that it’s too bad about Josh Raymond retiring. Seemed to come out of nowhere. Also, Akira Tozawa seems virtually incapable of being bad now. Quite a turnaround from his fat guy days.

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