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Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Chikara: Tag Teams

Chikara gold
By Chad Smart
@ChadSmart on Twitter

One of the biggest complaints wrestling fans (or at least Kevin and I) have with the current wrestling scene is the lack of focus on tag team wrestling and the lack of tag teams in general. In WWE, the current tag team champions and challengers are two teams who were formed out of the need for there to be tag teams to hold and fight for the tag team titles. TNA recently broke up their biggest tag team and only have a handful of teams left to fight for the titles. Both companies also only seem to have one storyline going for tag teams at a time.

Over in Chikara it’s almost the exact opposite. Looking at the current roster section of Chikara’s website, I noticed there are only three competitors who do not have a full time tag team affiliation. Those three are Eddie Kingston, Gregory Iron, and Archibald Peck. The rest of the roster not only have standard tag team association but most also are part of a trios team. Chikara is known for their trios action including their annual King of Trios tournament, which takes place in March or April of each season.

The Kings of Wrestling
Tag team wrestling is such a major part of Chikara that until the first Grand Champion is crowned at High Noon on November 13 (available on Ippv), the only championship Chikara has had for the past six years is the Campeonatos de Parejas. Over the course of the past six seasons there have been nine sets of champions. The first champions the Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli) held the titles for almost 9 months before losing the belts to their proteges Team F.I.S.T. (Icarus and Gran Akuma).

One of the more interesting aspects to the Chikara tag team scene is how a team must acquire three points before being able to challenge for the tag titles. Each tag team victory counts as one point. Once a team reaches three points they are then able to request a title match. If at any time on their quest for three points a team suffers a loss, their points are lost as well. They go back to zero and must start again. I’m not sure but I think even if a team has three points and loses a match before getting a title shot, they still lose their points and their chance to challenge for the tag straps. The point-based system pretty much guarantees there are no random title matches thrown onto a show just for the sake of having a title match. You know, basically how most WWE tag team title matches end up on PPV.

In addition to needing three points, the other difference to Chikara tag title matches is how every match is contested under 2 out of 3 falls. I don’t know if that stipulation favors the champions or challengers but it usually guarantees the matches are not short contests with fluke victories.

F.I.S.T.
Heading into High Noon, the new incarnation of F.I.S.T. (Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano) are the current Campeones De Parejas. As of this writing, there is currently no tag title match scheduled for the Ippv, though I expect the champions to be on the show in some fashion.

While the current line up for High Noon only has one tag team match announced, the focus of tag team wrestling is such a pivotal aspect of the company that I can see either a couple more matches or a tag team gauntlet added in an attempt to showcase most of the Chikara roster to potentially new viewers.

High Noon is only $15 and can be ordered by clicking this link. For such a relatively cheap price I would be hard pressed to doubt the you won’t get your money’s worth out of the show. For more on Chikara check out, their website and keep up to date with their official YouTube channel.

And of course, follow My123Cents on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. I have 11 more days to persuade you to buy High Noon.

1 comment:

  1. Yes, even if a team had three points but then lost a tag match before cashing in the points, they would still have to start back at zero. This happened at the Chikara event The Germans. There Sara Del Ray and Daizee Haze had three points, but were pinned and had to start from scratch.

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