Chikara Season 11

By Chad Smart
@chadsmart on Twitter

January 28, 2012 is finally here. Today is the day I’ve been waiting for for two months. Ever since season 10 ended with Chikara’s first iPPV High Noon, the anticipation for the next season was slowly growing by the day. Tonight at 7pm in Easton, Pennsylvania season 11 kicks off with a line up that if Chikara was WWE this would be great Wrestlemania card.

Jigsaw (photo by Andy Hedrick)

In a match of veteran vs. rookie, Chikara stalwart Jigsaw battles Kobald of the Batiri. I haven’t seen Kobald in many singles matches so this could be his proving ground. After defeating El Generico in the High Noon pre-show, Jigsaw has his sights on an eventual match for the Grand Championship. While this probably won’t be match of the night, it should still provide plenty of action and show once again the level of talent that comes out of the Chikara Wrestle Factory.

I don’t know how else to describe the meeting between Hallowicked and Archibald Peck than to say it’s a true styles clash. “Marchie” Archie who marches to the beat of his own drummer is attempting to get back on a winning streak after his lost to Colt Cabana at High Noon. Peck’s majorette, Veronica, has pretty much told him either he starts winning or she’ll find someone else to escort to the ring. I’m curious to see how this plays out.

 

HammerTim vs. 3.0

Similar to Kobald’s, his Batiri partners Obariyon and Kodama find themselves in a tag match with two of Chikara’s most successful and popular wrestlers, Fire Ant and Soldier Ant of the Colony. This should prove as another example of how good tag team wrestling could be when done properly.

Another tag team match that could be off the charts is 3.0 vs. Tim Donst and Jakob Hammermeier, or as I like to call them, HammerTim. With Chikara making their Canadian debut in two months, I would expect 3.0 to take this victory putting them on the path to 3 points and eventual tag team title shot in their home country.

Green Ant challenges his trainer Mike Quackenbush in their third match up. Quack beat Green Ant in the previous two matches but after defeating the largest member of the Chikara roster, Tursas at High Noon Green Ant feels he has greatly improved and wants to test himself by battling the man of 1,000 holds.

The final two announced matches are battles of former tag team partners. The first features Osirian Portal members Ophidian taking on Hieracon. At High Noon after the Portal’s leader Amasis announced his retirement, Ophidian attacked his former partner ripping off the funky Pharaoh’s mask. Ophidian has vowed to do the same thing to Hieracon. I’m not expecting much of a technical masterpiece in this one. I think Ophidian is more concerned with collecting the birdman’s mask and sending Hieracon back to where he came from more than winning the match. Hopefully this will be the first step to Ophidian really establishing himself as a singles wrestler this season.

Team F.I.S.T. back in the day.

In a match almost two years in the making former F.I.S.T. mates collide. Icarus turned his back on friend and partner Gran Akuma back in 2010 feeling Akuma had gone soft. Johnny Gargano was brought in as a replacement and currently he and the third member of F.I.S.T., Chuck Taylor hold the Campeonatos de  Parejas. Much like the Ophidian match, I don’t know how much of an actual match to expect from this encounter.  This feud could last for the better part of the season so I’m not expecting a clean victory. With Johnny Gargano currently on the shelf with what could be a very serious injury, maybe Icarus will try to off Akuma his spot back in F.I.S.T.

In addition to the announced matches, Mr. Touchdown will make his debut and I believe there will be a promo or something with Chikara Grand Champion, Eddie Kingston. For anyone not familiar with Chikara, this is a near perfect show to use as an introduction. For longtime Chikara fans, this is almost a dream card. I can’t find anything to complain about or wish was different. If this is how Season 11 is kicking off, I am very excited to see what happens throughout the rest of the season. Hopefully the DVD of the show gets released in a quick manner.