-Taped from Everett, MA
-Your hosts are of course various members of the CHIKARA roster and staff… and Denver Colorado? Say what?
-Cherry and Shimono introduce themselves.
Match in Five Words or Less: Hell Of A Start
Match Highlights: I almost feel bad for Shimono and Cherry because Gami and Uematsu are quite violent. Gami immediately stomps Shimono in the head. Uematsu grabs Shimono. Shimono sends the partners into each other. Running splashes from the faces. They salute the crowd. Gami breaks up a double clothesline and hits a double bulldog. Uematsu kicks away at Shimono. Dropkick to the side of the head. Face wash in the corner. Forearm countered. Irish whip countered. Shimono cradles for two. Here comes Cherry. Northern lights suplex. Uematsu grabs Cherry’s nose and much like last night slaps it. Heat segment on Cherry. Shimono slams Uematsu. This is enough to crotch Gami. Cherry kicks away. Whip across. Gami hits a high side kick. Stalling vertical suplex. Uematsu applies a camel clutch. Dropkick from Gami. Uematsu misses a clothesline. Roll-up for two. Uematsu sits down on a roll-up and gets two. Gami knocks her student off the apron. Double team from the rudos. Cherry cartwheels, clotheslines them both, and ranas Gami for two. Hot tag to Shimono. Shoulder block. She sits down but no one is there. Kick to the back of the head. Whip. Judo throw by Shimono. Cross armbreaker. Uematsu dumps Cherry and their brawl is on. Bodyslam blocked. Suplex by Gami. Cherry pulls the leg. Splash by Shimono. Bodyslam and running splash for two. Firemen’s carry. Uematsu breaks the hold. Kick by Uematsu. Northern lights suplex by Gami gets two. Uematsu sunset flips both down. Lariat by Gami gets a long two count on Shimono. Dropkick off the top rope. Forearms by Shimono before she eats a knee. Bodyslam. Big splash off the middle rope for two. One off the top but no one hits. Shoulder tackles by Shimono. Cherry tries to help with a double team. Shimono splashes her own partner. Uematsu dropkicks her own partner. Shimono with a flurry ending with a sitdown splash. Samoan drop. 1-2-NO! German by Cherry on Uematsu. Shimono drops Uematsu. Gami breaks the count. Cherry sends her out. Splash misses. Bodyslam by Uematsu. Big splash. Shimono kicks out yet again. German suplex. Cherry sort of breaks the count. Uematsu hits a disgusting dragon suplex to finally pick up the victory.
Match Analysis: This was an excellent way to open the show. Both teams looked great, and this was stronger than nearly everything on night one, especially among the Joshis.
Winner (s)/Time/Match Rating/Entertainment Rating: Toshie Uematsu and Gami/14:10/***1/2/***1/2
-Ophidian talks about the events of High Noon and how he going to continue his transformation. It’s apparently all Amasis’s fault. He has to be coming back, right?
Match in Five Words or Less: The Comeback Begins
Match Highlights: Immediate running kick by Ophidian. Hard chop. Series of stomps. No feeling out process here. Irish whip but Iron sends Ophidian outside. Big tope suicida. Open hand strikes all along ringside. Running back elbow and bulldog. Running senton for two. Forearms but Ophidian chops him. Guillotine across the good arm of Iron. Divorce court. Stretching submission hold. O’Connor roll blocked. Iron goes for a roll-up. Ophidian grabs the rope, and Jon Barber actually sees it. Big boot sends Iron down. Small package for two. Kick to the arm and a fisherman’s suplex gets two. Running splash in the corner. Stomp. Head stand and he drops down on Iron. Fans chant “You can’t beat him.” STO on the arm. Gimp slap and a rana off the top. Headscissors followed by a clothesline. 1-2-NO! Shove by Ophidian. Running elbow by Iron. Forearm. To the top rope. Cross body gets two. Ophidian can’t quite hook the Death Grip. Roll-up gets two. School boy. Sweet kick combination. Ophidian Death Grip quickly broken. Headbutts by Iron. Neckbreaker. Gimp slap misses. Backbreaker. Ouch. Running boot to the back of the head. Ophidian Death Grip and he bridges over. Iron taps.
Match Analysis: This was a fantastic means of getting Ophidian as a heel threat, by having him beat one of the most inspirational stories of 2011. Ophidian has a highly underrated run of matches, and I feel like he’s going to be rewarded next year with a lot of wins. Iron put in a fairly strong performance as well, which was very much needed after a disappointing match against Icarus.
Winner (s)/Time/Match Rating/Entertainment Rating: Ophidian/9:54/**3/4/***
Match in Five Words or Less: What A Flurry
Match Highlights: These two were on the same team the night before and picked up a victory in the opener. Exchange of holds to start. Yoneyama slammed head first into buckle. High cross body gets two by Yoneyama. Nakamori comes around for a roll-up. Immediate stretch muffler. She transitions into a half crab. Yoneyama grabs the rope. Double chops. Nakamori send into the buckle. Hars knee. Running forearm by Yoneyama. Reverse of the whip and boot by Nakamori. Forearm exchange. Clothesline by Nakamori followed by a fisherman’s suplex. Series of hard kicks. School girl and roll-up by Yoneyama. Elbows miss. High knee from Yoneyama. Gutwrench suplex and she bridges over for two. Kick and shining wizard by Nakamori. Yoneyama drops out of a DDT. Kick right to Nakamori’s head. Back and forth with the roll-ups. German suplex by Yoneyama gets two. High knee off the top turnbuckle gets the victory. That was impressive.
Match Analysis: These two ladies packed a lot of punch into eight minutes. Great chain wrestling to start. Lots of great looking moves and a good finish. I’m already way more into this show than night one. Both the action and the crowd have been significantly better.
Winner (s)/Time/Match Rating/Entertainment Rating: Kaori Yoneyama /8:23/***/***1/2
Match in Five Words or Less: Another Battle of Partners
Match Highlights: These two were on the losing end of a tag team match on night one. Ozaki refuses to shake Shirai’s hand. That’s just mean. Quick series of counters. Ozaki turns heel based on some rather underhanded tactics, including biting. Shirai manages a cradle for two. Ozaki uses her nails and digs into Shirai. And to think. THESE TWO WERE PARTNERS THE PREVIOUS NIGHT! Camel clutch while holding the hair. Shirai’s head sent into the mat multiple times. Cover for two. Shirai sends her by the hair into the corner. Choking. Sleeper hold. Camel clutch of her own while tearing at Ozaki’s nose. Off the ropes and a knee. Snapmare and stiff kick. 1-2-NO! Boots from Ozaki. Ozaki grabs a chain. Shirai kicks the chain out of her hand and then into the front row. Boots to Ozaki. Cover for two. Forearm exchange. Kicks from Shirai. Kick and DDT by Ozaki. That sucker was on her hand. Ridiculous. Powerbomb countered. STO by Shirai. Fujiwara armbar. Ozaki rolls out and slaps the ever loving crap out of her. Whip and met with a boot. Shirai hooks a tarantula in the rope. Dropkick off the top gets two from Shirai. Enziguri misses. Chops to the face from Ozaki again. 1-2-NO! Fisherman’s suplex on her head. 1-2-NO! Kick from Shirai. Third time with the slaps but Shirai won’t die. Ozak kick, which is a modified yakuza, gets three.
Match Analysis: Shirai and Ozaki showed me a lot as a tag team with their heel work on night one, so it made sense that they would almost out heel each other at points. I really dug what these girls had to offer. These two brought a lot of intensity, and Shirai seemed to gain the respect of everyone involved just by simply not dying. This was also another match that didn’t go very long but packed a lot of punch.
Winner (s)/Time/Match Rating/Entertainment Rating: Mayumi Ozaki/9:42/***1/4/***1/2
-Sara Del Rey keeps it simple. She’s going to beat the ace of JWP, Tsubasa Kuragaki.
Match in Five Words or Less: Best of the Weekend
Match Highlights: Some early submission holds from both ladies. They turn to exchanging forearms. Del Rey begins using leg kicks. Back elbow by Kuragaki. Into a scorpion deathlock. Running boot off the ropes. Knee strikes and rolls over into a cross armbreaker. Del Rey continues working the arm. Del Rey rolls Kuragaki into the bottom turnbuckle. Whip reversed. Series of clotheslines. Big vertical suplex. Kuragaki slips on the top rope. Del Rey joins her. Kuragaki goes for a powerbomb. Del Rey escapes. Dropkick off the top rope by Kuragaki. Torture rack. Kuragaki drops her. Del Rey forearms her in the back. Kick by Kuragaki. Del Rey kicks her opponent to the floor. Running somersault senton. Combo kick gets two. High kick while holding the arm. Angle slam for two. Back drop driver by Kuragaki. Elbows from Del Rey. Chinbreaker. Del Rey hits an axe kick. Lariat by Kuragaki gets two. Series of strikes. Another clothesline gets two. Moonsault misses. Del Rey crucifix pins her for two. Kurgaki gets a backslide and bridges over, yet only gets two. Kuragaki gets kicked while on the top rope. Sloppy Royal Butterfly off the top. Del Rey locks it in again and drops her to get the three count.
Match Analysis: What an excellent match these two had. Kuragaki really brought it tonight. Del Rey continues to impress with her varied offense and ability to work multiple styles. Even a slightly messed up finish can’t hurt my enjoyment of the match.
Winner (s)/Time/Match Rating/Entertainment Rating: Sara Del Rey/13:49/***3/4/****
-Icarus says when people think Joshimania, they think F.I.S.T. We get a Good Will Hunting reference before Icarus turns their attention to the Colony, Quack, and Manami Toyota. Chucky T vows to go after Fire Ant and slap Toyota in the F.I.S.T.
Match in Five Words or Less: A Fun Sprint
Match Highlights: Toyota and Icarus start. Icarus takes his jacket off right in front of the legend. She responds by kicking him out of the ring. He oversells it. Chucky T and Green Ant enter the ring. Taylor rips at the mask. Green Ant controls everything on the mat. Chop to Taylor. Double flapjack. Fire Ant takes Gargano down. Lucha sequence that Fire Ant dominates. Icarus comes from behind. Miscommunication as Gargano first forearms and then is sent diving into his partner. Green Ant send into F.I.S.T, and they slam in the ring apron. Quack chops Gargano. Quack rolls them over. Toyota dropkicks Icarus and Gargano. Toyota cross bodies to the floor. Portia Perez attempts to come from behind but is slapped down. Dropkick to the lower back. Toyota works the leg and applies an Indian deathlock. Another dropkick off the top rope. Toyota gets two after hitting a third one. Kick from Perez. Flatliner. Clothesline misses. Toyota rolling cradle. Perez dizzily rolls out. Icarus spears Toyota. Face first into the buckle. Quaruple team. Brief heat segment before Fire Ant comes off with a crossbody on Icarus. DDT on Taylor. Cutter and running knee. Dropkick to the left knee. Gargano and Icarus follow up on it. Hey hey! Psychology! The knee work continues. Perez refusing to dance with Gargano like Taylor usually does was pretty awesome. Taylor charge misses. Gargano low bridged over. Icarus kicked away Here’s Green Ant. Strikes on Icarus. Charge misses. Boots up. Up and over. Hip toss. Running headbutt. Tope suicida. Quack and Gargano in. Series of forearms. Running dropkick. Black Tornado Slam into a roll-up for two as Perez breaks the count. She rakes the eyes of Toyota. Quack brings Gargani up and over. Lightning Pal strikes on Perez. Quack hits a tope con helo. Tiger suplex on Perez gets two. Moonsault gets two as Taylor breaks the count. Soul Food but Toyota hits a German suplex. Cover broken up. Icarus pulls Toyota’s hair. Colony hits double beel. Quack hits a swanton. Triple dives to the floor. Toyota switches her in mid air and hits the Ocean Cyclone suplex for three.
Match Analysis: I can’t think of a single time in recent memory when one of these eight person tags hasn’t worked. This was a very good eight person showcase with some continuity included from the previous night for good measure. Everything was smooth and hit well. Fire Ant in particular looked unbelievable with his combination of maneuvers. Having not even seen the next match, I’m somewhat disappointed this didn’t main event since it was a perfect way to end the show.
Winner (s)/Time/Match Rating/Entertainment Rating: Mike Quackenbush, Manami Toyota, and The Colony/17:39/***1/2/****
Match in Five Words or Less: Not Exactly Divas
Match Highlights: Kick to the ankle. Right to the chops. Kong hits an open-handed chop. Kong charges but misses. Armdrag exchange. Kong wins a test of strength. Hamada tries bridging her up and fails. More chops from Kong. Suplex slam and an elbow drop. Kong grabs a hold and grabs the hair. She steps on Hamada’s hair. Spinning leg lariat by Hamada. Headbutts do nothing. Kong responds in kind and rams her own head into the top turnbuckle. Kong tries to introduce the garbage can as she did last night. She disrespects Bryce Remsburg! Piledriver gets two. Camel clutch. Strike exchange. Lariat from Kong. Hamada pal strikes Kong on the top rope. Iconoclasm. Boot to the side of the head. Moonsault meets double knees. Kong hits a back drop driver. 1-2-NO! Superkick from Hamada. Sunset powerbomb hits. 1-2-NO! Moonsault press hits. Big fist from Kong. Brainbuster gets two. Dropkick off the middle rope. Hamada kips up. Series of counters. Kong hits a vicious back fist for the victory.
Match Analysis: A perfectly acceptable contest between two of Joshi’s finest. My stance on what should have been the main event stands, but these two delivered hard hitting action and gave the fans of Everett, Massachusetts something special.
Winner (s)/Time/Match Rating/Entertainment Rating: Aja Kong/10:10/***1/4/***1/2
-Fave Five
5. Everyone in the opening contest established that this night would be a lot smoother and better than Philadelphia. They set a good tone and had an excellent match.
4. Ophidian may not have had the best match of the night, but his character is already manifesting itself. He’s being way more aggressive and varying his moveset. I’m very excited to see him moving forward.
3. Even in a losing effort, Mio Shirai looked awfully impressive in absorbing punishment. She showed a lot of potential and could be a future Joshi star.
2. Sara Del Rey had an outstanding match and continues to look good this weekend. I’m really glad her second match of the weekend turned out so much better than the first. To me, one of the keys to the weekend was to show just how great Sara Del Rey is, and this achieved that goal.
1. Fire Ant’s performance in the eight man tag clearly stood out to me on this night. Very good work from him in selling his knee injury from the previous night and also crisply hitting his moves.
The Verdict: I enjoyed this show significantly more than the first night. Tons of well above three star matches and good action. This was also a show that ended in just under two hours. That means we had a collection of good matches in an efficient amount of time. A higher thumbs up for night two than night one.
For more information in CHIKARA Pro, including tickets and event information, please check their website. While you can purchase DVDs there as well, you can also purchase their DVDs on Smart Mark Video. To get a great sense of history and participate in discussion of the company, check out their official messageboard. One thing the promotion does really well? Videos. They have frequent (almost daily) updates on their YouTube channel.
As someone relatively new to reviewing these shows and not nearly the CHIKARA fan as certain others, even I need to look up information and have a good CHIKARA resource. I can can think of no better place to do this and also read exclusive reviews of every CHIKARA show in history than at The CHIKARA Special. Kevin Ford maintains this little blog and also updates a CHIKARA Special Tumblr with news and videos nearly every day.
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Mio Shirai, Iyo Shirai and Kana for King of Trios 2012!!