wrestlingisintense

On Friday, May 17th, Robinson, Illinois was the site of the newest “Wrestling Is” promotion: Wrestling is Intense. The card looked interesting and featured some of the best mid-western talent so I drove the three hours. Turns out I was front row for not only a great card but also a witness to an angle that would have an impact on the next day’s CHIKARA Tag World Grand Prix show. Gavin Loudspeaker was our host and announcer, which was a pleasant surprise. The crowd attendance looked to be around eighty people, and there were very few empty seats in the place. Spacious, well lit and the audio was clear. The community center was a good place to hold this event.

Opening the show was a graduate of the School of Roc, “The Catch Wrestling Hero” Mat Russo taking on former F.I.S.T. member “The Kentucky Gentleman” Chuck Taylor. If you thought that Taylor would have the upper hand from the start, you’d be wrong. Russo continually got the better of him until Taylor, in a fit of frustration, rolled out of the ring, grabbed the first thing he saw, and pitched it at Russo, who easily avoided it. Said object was yours truly’s purse. Fortunately nothing was damaged and Mat returned it to me – which begs the question, who was the real gentleman? Using his typical underhanded tactics, Chuck got the best of him; however, Russo came roaring back and clamped on his Calfslicer to make Taylor submit. It was a great way to start off the show, and despite not having seen Mat before, I came away very keen to see more of what he can do. Good, solid match.

The next was originally scheduled to be “The Intergalactica Luchadora” Saturyne versus Angelus Layne, but the former had to pull out. Her replacement was Darkness Crabtree – a masked old man who may have known your great-great-great grandfather. Angelus attempted to ask, “How old ARE you?” but we never got a response. Crabtree seemed entirely too eager to get his hands on Layne, but using her speed and power, she managed to avoid his grasping hands for awhile at least. He did land a few blows, but due to his slowness he failed to follow up. Angelus hit a beautiful Bridging Northern Lights Suplex for the win. Highly entertaining match that flowed well, and gave Layne a chance to show off her facial expressions as well as her wrestling progress. Having seen her only as a heel up to this point, it’s good to see she can play both roles well.

Third match was Juan Francisco de Coronado wrestling the Estonian Thunderfrog. Coronado was accompanied by his loyal manservant Herbert, who would be instrumental in securing Juan’s win. Before the match, Juan took the mic and proceeded to tell us why he was Ecuador’s finest athlete as well as run down the folks here in “Indiana” – by the end of his speech, the crowd was raining boos down on him. By contrast, the mallet-carrying Thunderfrog was given “Ribbit!” chants as the two battled it out. The mighty frog almost had him until he went up top. As Coronado distracted the referee, Herbert gave the Estonian Prince a shove, sending him tumbling to the mat. Juan went for a German suplex into a pin and got the three count. Coronado was easily the most hated person on the show, but the match itself was another good one. The poor Thunderfrog apologized in his halting English. During the intermission, he was selling his shirts to feed his little froggies, so I bought one. As a result I got to give him a kiss – he swooned and called me a Princess. That was worth the twenty dollars!

The first tag match of the show was up, and it featured The League (Tripp Cassidy and Reed Bentley) taking on AC/DC (Arik Cannon and Darin Corbin). This match was incredibly fun, fast paced and one of the best on the card. Like several others, this was my first time watching The League, but AC/DC I’d seen before. Darin often hashtags #KeepWrestlingFun on Twitter and they do a great job of doing just that. Bentley and Cassidy kept up with them and shone in their own right. No slow motion wrestling, but a lot of fun spots and a fantastic match. Arik hit a huge brain buster on Bentley for the win. I’d love to see a rematch down the line somewhere.

After intermission, the Devastation Corporation made their way to ringside, sadly minus their manager Sidney Bakabella (who was obviously somewhere negotiating for his boys to make their debut in another territory). Their unfortunate opponents were the Submission Squad, Gary the Barn Owl and Evan Gelistico. Have to say I loved Gary, owls are some of my favorite avians. While the Squad did get a few licks in, they were largely overpowered by the Corporation. A chokeslam and a powerbomb put poor Gary away and set the Corp up as strong contenders to win the CHIKARA Tag World Grand Prix the next day. This was almost a total squash match, but it made me a fan of the Submission Squad.

Sixth match featured another Submission Squad member, Pierre Abernathy, taking on one half of Da Soul Touchaz, Marshe Rockett. Pierre attempted to show that he was the better dancer by busting a move to “Call Me Maybe” but Marshe had better moves. However this turned out to be a ruse, as Pierre attacked in the middle of the dance-off. Abernathy used every dirty trick he could but Rockett was simply the better wrestler. I was highly impressed with Marshe, he has a great look, plenty of charisma energy and skill in the ring. He also took the three count after an ace crusher. To top it off, he snatched Pierre’s top hat, put it on and proceeded to leave. He looked smart wearing it too.

The semi-main was a trios match, and to be honest it was one of the matches I was looking forward to most. El Hijo del Ice Cream and Ice Cream Junior would team up with former WWE star Gangrel to face The Kentucky Buffet (Alex Castle and Matt Cage) and Davey Vega. The Ice Creams are insanity, and for the first few minutes refused to get anywhere near Gangrel (who did his WWF entrance, complete with blood chalice). They were the main ones wrestling, while Gangrel only came in a few times, but the match was tremendous all the same. Very fast paced and the action spilled out of the ring from time to time. Castle and Cage are one of the best tag teams out there today, Davey made a fine partner, and the match flowed very well. The KYB hit a double team maneuver to pin one of the Ice Creams (I kept getting them mixed up!) – and Gangrel was not happy.

He had been on the outside when the pinfall was counted, but got back in and attacked Alex and Matt from behind. Both Ice Creams and Vega ran to the back as Gangrel savagely bit into each man’s neck, then forced them to drink from the chalice. He announced, “What was once shall be again!” As the two convulsed, Gangrel held up the chalice – and as if possessed, Castle and Cage rose, then followed him to the back. This would lead to their CHIKARA debut on Saturday at the Tag World Grand Prix, not as the Kentucky Buffet, but as The Daywalkers, managed by Gangrel. It was the creation of a new Brood, and for someone like me who got into wrestling thanks to seeing an Undertaker with the Ministry of Darkness segment, it was exciting to witness. Not to mention creepy, I was properly freaked out. The crowd was quiet, unsure of what to make of this transformation.

The main event, Christian Rose versus Buck Boulder, was very good. Hard hitting, fast paced at times, and both men did great. The two fought in and out of the ring, but Rose finally got Boulder up on his shoulders (which was amazing to witness) but instead of going for a death valley driver, he switched it to drill Buck in the face with his knee. The two were evenly matched and I look forward to seeing more of them in the future.

Overall, the show was well worth the three hour drive and then some. There wasn’t a bad match on the show, the crowd was engaged and engaging, and it was a lot of fun. Wrestling is Intense returns to Robinson on June the 14th, so if you can attend I’d encourage you to. Be sure to buy the MP4/DVD of this debut show, I guarantee it’s worth the money! (You can now purchase the show at Smart Mark Video HERE)

You can view Jennifer’s photos from the show here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34197939@N04/sets/72157633540428345/

You can follow Wrestling is Intense on Twitter: @WrestIsIntense

You can also ‘Like’ it on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wrestlingisintense

Follow and converse with Jennifer on twitter at https://twitter.com/@PocketVolcano

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