“I’m glad this isn’t an iPPV.” -Leonard F. Chikarason
No truer words were spoken for the entirety of Wrestlecon than the ones said by the former director of fun. As seemingly every promotion in the world was running on one of the numerous iPPV providers, Chikara was saving up their big showcase for June 2. Fortuitously,The Shoulder of Pallas was only the most attended Chikara show in history. It featured one of the rare occasions where a mystery partner actually lived up to its billing. Most importantly, this showed what Chikara is about. In most cases good and a couple not so much. Some 1,100 fans were on hand to see what could have been one of Jushin Liger’s final match in the states and perhaps the last match involving Mike Quackenbush for a long time… maybe forever.
Jushin Liger in the main event tag team match was the worst kept secret of the weekend, but that doesn’t mean his appearance wasn’t any less special. Seeing him live was a bucket list moment for me as a wrestling fan. Thankfully, he can still deliver in short bursts and be the man we’ve loved for over 25 years. Even in his advanced age, he knows how to live up to still being one of the best wrestlers in the world. Mike Quackenbush worked as hard as I’ve ever seen him work. Unfortunately, he banged his knee against the horrendous guard rails (which I’ll need to rant on someday) and clearly favored it the rest of the match. I admire Quack just for being able to walk after something like this, but to perform at such a high level was special. Jigsaw and Shard were also at their best in this match as they worked over Quack’s back and played the perfect foils against what was truly a dream team. This was a great match, almost underrated amidst the numerous other MOTYC that took place this weekend. An absolutely perfect way to cap off the show and send everyone home happy.
Oddly enough, the Grand Championship match was not the main event because of Eddie Kingston’s arm injury and the need for this to be shorter than expected. Given their blood feud a few years ago and the roll Wicked had been on, I thought this was the title most likely to change hands. Jay Briscoe proved me wrong Friday night, and as soon as I saw Wicked come out, I knew there was no way we were seeing a title change. Wicked also started hitting his finishing offense eight minutes into the match. Technically, there was nothing wrong with the match as they heat all the beats they needed in eleven minutes. Kingston worked hard and sold his injured arm quite well. I also liked him using the left handed Backfist to the Future to win the match after further hurting himself earlier using the right arm. With the circumstances as they were, this was never going to be anything but just a good wrestling match featuring two of the best Chikara students ever. I may sound negative on the match, but I enjoyed what I did see and thought it was even a little better upon rewatch.
The funny part is as I was watching this again, I couldn’t help but think if Kingston had turned heel the same way Johnny Gargano did later on at the DG USA show (Gargano hitting a low blow and choking out Shingo with tape), it would have made so much more sense. Kingston had the tape on his hand. The crowd was behind Wicked. Fans are starting to turn on the current champion. This wasn’t the main event, so the fans could still be sent home happy. I’m not dinging Chikara for this, but I thought it was a worthwhile observation.
The other major disappointment has to be Tim Donst versus Archibald Peck. Both their feud and the match itself. These are two of the overall best performers in independent wrestling, and there was no juice to this whatsoever. The promo that aired before the match was cringeworthy. Any promo that starts out with a person saying “I hate the sun” will only cause me to get nautious. Their match wasn’t bad, but it was missing something for it to be something special. Donst losing all three matches obviously doesn’t help. The fact that it never felt like anything was at stake didn’t either. To me, if you’re going to surround a wrestler with people, they need to actually enhance and give them a big time feel. No one associated with Donst comes close to making him feel like anything but a Raven knockoff. And honestly in 2013, that’s one of the worst kinds. Donst is also back to trying to cut people’s hair. After the match, Gavin Loudspeaker tried talking sense into the other members of the flock. Donst cut a small piece of Loudspeaker’s hair before taunting him and walking away.
There were two atomicos matches which delivered exactly as they needed to. F.I.S.T wrestled the team of 3.0, Akuma, and Marty Janetty. Thankfully, I wasn’t uncomfortable watching him this time around as he was wisely used minimally. This was solid match with some comedy, a dance contest, and enough story to give the match a foundation to build upon. Icarus seems to be turning tecnico slowly as he was willing to put his jacket on at the behest of Janetty, wasn’t happy when Johnny Gargano low-blowed his idol, and even won with a move typically associated with the tecnicos in the Chikara Special. F.I.S.T was still shoving each other after the match. I believe a F.I.S.T blow-up is forthcoming, and I’m pretty sure Dunkerton is going to be paired with. as a tecnico team.
The other atomicos featured a toned down Colony Xtreme Force taking on the Colony and Frightmare. Wink Vavasseur tried giving the new ants Soldier Ant’s 2011 King of Trios medal. Why Vavasseur would have access to it is beyond me, but the Xtreme Force didn’t get on my nerves nearly as much in Secaucus as they did in Orlando. They turned in a serviceable performance with the match going 10 minutes. 10 minutes is perfect for them since they won’t be overexposed. Poor Frightmare took yet another loss and had his mask taken off in the process, but it appears he and his Spectral Envoy mates will at least have a feud to keep them busy for a bit.
Even though Ophidian was unable to wrestle due to injury, he did a cool angle with Amasis. Ophidian cut a promo and moved his hands around so it seemingly looked like Amasis was being put into a trance. Very subtle but a cool moment. Amasis hit a spinebuster but the Batiri overwhelmed him and beat him down. Ophidian threatened to spit a special venom in Amasis’s face, but the babyface pharaoh came back with a kick. Batiri still took him down, but at least we got some sort of advancement and a tease down the road for a future match. In a way, I think this angle benefitted a potential match even more since there was minimal contact made. The anticipation can build for the iPPV when they finally meet and Amasis likely gets his revenge.
In a four corner eliminator, the Batiri picked up one more point and will not get a championship match against 3.0. This was a good contest with a hot crowd and everyone playing their roles well. Ultramantis was as over as ever and makes matches a little bit better just because he has that crowd behind him. I like Mark Angelosetti and Dasher Hatfield individually, but this is a case of yet another tag team in Chikara not getting along. I don’t want to insult them by calling it Vince Russo booking, but what makes a good tag team division is cohesive teams who get along and deliver in ways singles matches can’t. Still though, this was a very watchable match as most eliminators are.
I’ve been pretty critical of Kobald getting long extended singles matches, so him being in a six minute opener actually set the tone perfectly for the show. It wasn’t anything more than about two stars, but Saturyne and Kobald got the massive crowd into the show and served its purpose without wearing out its welcome. I feel like every match on this show got exactly the time it needed. This was about the best paced Chikara show I’ve seen in a long time and a perfect introduction for someone seeing the company for the first time. This was not without its flaws, but I had a fun time rewatching Shoulder of Pallas and would strongly urge anyone to buy it.
Grade: B+
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Taped from Secaucus, New Jersey
Commentators: Bryce Remsburg, Gavin Loudspeaker, Leonard F. Chikarason, Keith Lipinski
Quick results, times, match ratings, and entertainment ratings:
-Saturyne defeats Kobald by pinfall after the moonsault block/6:27/**
-Obaryion and Kobald gain one point in a four team eliminator involving The Throwbacks (Mr. Touchdown and Dasher Hatfield), The Devastation Corporation (Blaster McMassive and Max Smashmaster), and Spectral Envoy (Ultramantis Black and Blind Rage)/14:12/***
-Amasis and Ophidian did not take place due to an injury to the latter/0:00/N/R
– F.I.S.T (Icarus, Sugar Dunkerton, Chuck Taylor, and Johnny Gargano) defeat 3.0 (Scott Parker and Shane Matthews), Gran Akuma, and Marty Janetty when Icarus makes submit to the Chikara Special/18:31/***1/2
-Archibald Peck defeats Tim Donst by pinfall after the Cranian Cresendo/9:08/**3/4
-The Colony Xtreme Force (Soldier Ant, Missile Assault Ant, Orbit Adventure Ant, and Arctic Rescue Ant) defeat The Colony (Fire Ant, Green Ant, and assailANT) and Frightmare after Missile Assault Ant rolls up Frightmare/10:50/**3/4
-Eddie Kingston successfully defends against Hallowicked by pinfall after Backfist to the Future/11:11/***1/2
-Mike Quackenbush and Jushin Liger defeat Jigsaw and The Shard by pinfall after Liger hits Jigsaw with the top rope brainbuster/18:22/****
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 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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