Professional wrestling doesn’t get to be Shakespeare or tell that classic story nearly as much anymore. The typical babyface versus heel narrative has been drastically altered by society’s whims to the point that men like Don Draper and Dexter Morgan are protagonists while the police or genuinely good people are annoying ants who we want to see our heroes crush. Chikara, in many ways, tries to throw us back to an era where good can overcome evil when the time is right. For all the talk of Chikara doing things wrong in 2012, there’s one angle they got right. Mr. Touchdown versus Archibald Peck. Through every iteration of the Peck character and through every aspect of this feud, I never felt insulted or offended. It was all so simple. A big dumb jock versus a marching band leader. Even better, it was all about a girl. Chikara decided to end their season premiere in grand fashion with a main event, no disqualification match between these two as a means of settling their feud. The simplest feud turned out to be the best executed beginning to end.
Surprises abounded during the Mr. Touchdown/Archibald Peck match at All the Agents and Superhuman Crew. We got to see a little Marchie Archie, a little bit of the Handsome Stranger, and the shocking revelation that sweet Sapphire was indeed alive (albeit wheelchair bound and with a neck brace on). It was the perfect way to cap off the rivalry, a match so well executed I can’t see any other promotion with the gumption to have a match like this mean so much. People can easily write this off as some goofy match involving plastic pigeons, a drum set, and multiple costume changes. For members of the Chikararmy, this will go down as one of the most important matches held all year. You would be hard-pressed to find a better story told on any other show. Even the weapons used made sense given the context. Touchdown and his drums. Peck and the drum. Touchdown even unmasked Peck at one point, a big no no in Chikara… but remember, no disqualification. Even Veronica got her comeuppance with an accidental spear received from Touchdown. Honestly, this main event alone makes me think you should be spending 10,12, or 15 dollars on this show. Thankfully, there’s a lot of other fun stuff too.
Green Ant and Eddie Kingston defied expectations to an extent with a match that mixed in heavy striking but mostly focused on the more technical aspects of their offenses. The story was Green Ant working over Eddie Kingston’s knee and then actually winning by submission with a Texas cloverleaf. Kingston made sure to tap almost immediately. No fighting spirit here. Kingston tapped. Green Ant won, and it actually meant something to the crowd. Although this was non-title, it convinced me that Green Ant is not only worthy of challenging for the Grand Championship, but could easily hold the title. This is the second straight premiere where we’ve seen the best of Green Ant. Unlike last year, I hope Chikara follows up and uses him better. This match was one instance of setting up things for the rest of 2013. More later.
Two of the other really good matches on this care featured a trios and singles action. Hallowicked and Chuck Taylor were a surprising penultimate match. In this position, they could have easily dropped the ball. Taylor is a mixed bag as a singles while Wicked needs specific motivation to really excel at this stage of his career, Taylor looked to be in the best shape of his career, toned down the goofiness, and had a fun little match with the Gen-1 original. Based on both the positioning and quality, I have to imagine Wicked is going to be challenging for the Grand Championship soon enough.
Trios action saw Gran Akuma and 3.0 take on Kevin Steen and the Young Bucks. Not going to lie. It was nice to see Steen behave like a heel and actually get the appropriate reaction for it. I feel the Bucks and Steen carried much of the Cibernetico pacing, and they were as good here. 3.0 and Akuma looked slightly more fluid here than in the past, but I’m not sure this is the correct pairing for either side. Akuma would seem to fit better as a single, and 3.0 obviously have things to do with the tag team division. The Bucks winning was clearly the right call to set up the next night.
The first half of the show was generally mediocre to merely okay. One of the stories of 2012 was tag teams not getting along losing to tag teams who do get along. This show featured two more examples of this as Soldier Ant and deviANT couldn’t get along against the Colony duo of Fire Ant and assailANT. Some teases of the old Colony could be seen early in the match as Fire Ant and Soldier Ant took on their respective opponents. Why Fire Ant and Soldier Ant had to be split, only to leave them both without much to do, is still incredibly frustrating. deviANT and assailANT have both showed improvement, but they’re still not the Colony. Also, I’m moving that we change assailANT’s name to Overenthusiastic Ant since he’s so darn excited about everything. The match itself was pretty okay, but the storyline again dictated where the wrestling went instead of other way around. Similarly, Icarus and Sugar Dunkerton jobbed out yet again to Jigsaw and the Shard. The motivations of Icarus do not seem to be clear as he rotates between wanting to team up with Dunkerton and hating him. I do appreciate Jigsaw and the Shard working well together even though this was their first time out. They sold the fact that they were students together well and should be pushed immediately toward title contention. Jigsaw can now move away from Mike Quackenbush’s shadow, and Shard can be given a greater purpose going forward this year.
Speaking of purpose, the Batiri still seem to have none even though there are five members. Delirious, the leader of the group, lost in 51 seconds to Dasher Hatfield. Hatfield is obviously improving with every match and beating Delirious so swiftly was a great start. If he gets stuck in a feud with the Batiri though, it’s tough to see him being anything more than a midcarder. Kodama and Obaryion got a win, but it was to a team that has been nothing but fodder since their title shot five years ago in Los Ice Creams. Finally, Ophidian was so distracted by the Amasis masks and threat of a potential appearance, he lost to Frightmare. Given the lack of strong heels, especially with Batiri jobbing two out of three times and Tim Donst’s complete lack of purpose as a character, this promotion needs a shot in the rudo arm.
I enjoyed this show significantly more than last year’s season premiere. This was just what Chikara needed to get 2013 off to a strong start. This wasn’t a perfect show, but there were at least four matches well worth checking out, nor was there anything offensive.
Grade: B+
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Quick results, match times, and star ratings
– The Colony (Fire Ant and assailANT) defeats The Swarm(Soldier Ant and deviANT)/9:34/**1/2/***
-Dasher Hatfield defeats Delirious/0:51/N/R/N/R
-The Batiri (Obaryion and Kodama) defeats Los Ice Creams (Ice Cream Junior and El Hijo del Ice Cream)/7:44/**/**3/4
-Frightmare defeats Ophidian/6:51/**1/4/***
-Gekido (Jigsaw and The Shard) defeat F.I.S.T (Icarus and Sugar Dunkerton)/10:15/**3/4/***
-Green Ant defeats Eddie Kingston/16:01/***1/2/***1/2
-Kevin Steen and The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) vs. Gran Akuma and 3.0(Shane Matthews and Scott Parker/15:50/***1/2/***1/2
-Hallowicked defeats Chuck Taylor/13:47/***1/2/***1/2
-Archibald Peck defeats Mr. Touchdown in a no disqualification match (w/Veronica)/25:48/****1/4/****1/2
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. Something relatively new to Smart Mark Video is video downloads. This is a great way to save on shipping and not have a DVD clogging your shelf (if that’s what you’re concerned about). It’s super easy to purchase and then download on your computer. I could not recommend this service strongly enough whether you’re buying CHIKARA or many other promotions.
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 who is 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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