By Kevin Hunsperger & Chad Smart @my123cents on Twitter Every year, we here at My 1-2-3 Cents sit down and do our own little end-of-the-year awards show. Sometimes we agree on the winners, but most of the time we don't. One thing we both agreed on, 2013 was a rather blah year in the world of wrestling. Chad and I explain all of our choices toward the end of this From the Rafters Radio Podcast. Click hereto listen. Without further ado, here are Kevin and Chad's picks for the 2013 Centy Awards.
Wrestler of the Year: Kevin: Daniel Bryan Chad: Daniel Bryan Most Hated: Kevin: Stephanie McMahon (the character) Chad: Randy Orton Most Underappreciated: Kevin: "Gentleman" Jervis Cottonbelly Chad: Logic Most Overrated: Kevin: Big Show Chad: CM Punk Breakout Star of the Year: Kevin: Summer Rae Chad: Goldust
Show of the Year: Kevin: Raw after Wrestlemania Chad: SummerSlam Star on the Horizon: Kevin: Adrian Neville Chad: Enzo Amore
Female of the Year:
Kevin: AJ Lee
Chad: AJ Lee
Best Use of Social Media:
Kevin: Chuck Taylor (@SexyChuckieT on Twitter)
Chad: Chuck Taylor (Chu Biggest Fall From Grace: Kevin:Dolph Ziggler Chad: TNA
Last Saturday, (July 21) I attended Pro Wrestling Guerrilla’s ninth anniversary show, Threemendous 3. I had a couple of co-workers who decided they wanted to see what the independent wrestling scene was like so I agreed to go with them to the Reseda American Legion Hall in celebration of PWG’s anniversary. My co-workers ended up having to cancel their trip due to other obligations, but since tickets were already bought, I found replacement peeps and went anyway. Initially I wasn’t too excited about the line up. I felt the two title matches would be good but the undercard lacked any real stand out matches. After the show, I was pleasantly surprised at how good the show was with a couple of matches I didn’t expect much from ending up being really impressive. However, I noticed something that has been plaguing the Indy scene for quite some time. There are hardly any heels.
In the eight matches featuring 22 wrestlers, I would say only three wrestlers acted and were treated like heels. Joey Ryan was his usual sleazy, arrogant self, who elicits half cheers and half boos from the audience. Since turning heel a year and a half ago or so, the Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) have amped up their annoying personalities and get a massive heel response from the crowd. Then you have guys like PWG Champion Kevin Steen, Sami Callahan and Chuck Taylor who by their actions should be considered heels yet they get more cheers from the audience than boos.
Kevin Steen Photo by My 1-2-3 Cents
I’m not saying wrestling fans should automatically cheer faces and boo heels, I believe in freely being able to treat wrestlers however you choose. I don’t care if WWE has Randy Orton coming out kissing babies, petting dogs and curing cancer, I don’t think I’ll ever cheer him. The bigger issue is it seems very few wrestlers want to be full on heels. Sure they may want to be a cool heel, which is the category I’d put Kevin Steen in, but few wrestlers appear to be full on dastardly heels.
Maybe it’s not entirely the wrestler’s fault. Perhaps the fans are to blame. Because Indy shows are smaller and fans have more interaction with the wrestlers, instead of seeing them as strictly a performer in the ring, they see them as a friend they talk to after the show and this leads to the fans wanting to be supportive, but not critical. One of my biggest pet peeves with independent wrestling matches from the crowd perspective is the overuse of dueling chants. I believe it just about every match at the PWG show there was a “Lets Go Wrestler A,” "Lets Go Wrestler B” chant several times throughout the matches. Granted fans on the Indy level are more die hard wrestling fans than your normal WWE/TNA fan and appreciate the athletic aspect of what wrestlers do more than just wanting to hear a catchphrase or see the top guy. This may lead to wanting to see a good match up over seeing a specific wrestler.
Ladder match Photo by My 1-2-3 Cents
The problem I have with this though is that if you’re not rooting for a specific wrestler than the matches become unnecessary. Maybe not unnecessary, the matches become meaningless. Who cares who wins or who loses? As long as the match can get a “This is Awesome” chant the fans leave happy. Maybe it’s the old school fan in me, but I miss the days where you had a wrestler you wanted to see get his comeuppance and had a wrestler you wanted to see succeed. While I appreciate a well contested back and forth match and can acknowledge a heel’s talent, is it too much to ask for to have actual real heels in today’s wrestling universe?
I think that’s part of why I enjoy Chikara as much as I do. (Come on, you didn’t think I’d write a blog and not get a Chikara plug in did you?) Between The Swarm, Tim Donst, The Batiri and Icarus, they have guys who relish in being heels and fans enjoying booing them.
Anyway, that’s my take. What do you think? Should heels be more pronounced in today’s wrestling environment? Share your thoughts on Facebook or Twitter.
In preparation of Tim
Donst’s upcoming interview on From the Rafters Radio, I decided to finally
review Tim’s self-produced CD that I bought at the Chikara show in Chicago
Ridge. The CD is cleverly titled, Reflections: Old Memories of a Young Lion,
playing off Tim Donst being a former Chikara Young Lion’s Cup winner.
Before I get into thoughts
on the nine tracks, I want to get the harshest criticism out of the way. The
audio levels leave a lot to be desired. I’m guessing Tim recorded this at home
on his computer or cell phone or some type of recording device that wasn’t a
professional studio. There’s little consistency in volume level from track to
track and some of the tracks are over modulated. If you get past the amateur
audio though, this is a highly entertaining CD.
The first track is entitled
Free Bonus: Chapter 36 of Tim’s Biography.This is Tim reading a chapter talking about his youthful
days and a game of tag with friends. A simple game of tag leads to a backyard
tickle fight/wrestling match against Tim’s nemesis Betsy Palmer. I won’t ruin
the ending of the story, but will say the purpose of the story is to show Tim
had a Rudo side to him even as a child.
From there the CD segues
into the first song called “Do the Donstaroo.”It may just be me but this reminded me of the Bloodhound
Gang’s, “The Bad Touch.” Of the five songs on the album, this is the weakest.
Tim shows his versatility on
track 3: Open Mic Night Standup. As the title implies this is Tim doing a
comedy routine.Donst has some
good jokes including one about dating a girl who was such a bad cook she burnt
his Eggo and wondering if Chuck Taylor also dated her and if she was the
inspiration for Chuck’s finisher, the Awful Waffle. Based of this track if Tim
ever comes to Hollywood and performs at the Laugh Factory or Comedy Store, I
would definitely go to the show.
Track 4 should already be on
everyone’s Ipod. It is Tim’s multi-platinum hit song “Who’s the Man?”If you’ve been living under a rock and
aren’t familiar with the song here’s the YouTube video. A running
theme through most of the tracks is Donst’s obsession with proving he’s the
best Young Lion’s Cup Champion and especially better than Hallowicked. On Who’s
the Man” Hallowicked shows up at the end to give his thoughts on the matter.
After the greatness that is
“Who’s the Man,” Tim goes into another story. This one dedicated to former
Chikara Director of Fun Leonard F. Chikarason’s son. “The Talk” offers words of
advice to the young Chikarason about being careful when it comes to women and
trusting them and keeping them away from your tag team partner. The ending to
the story is pretty entertaining.
Following the tale about
being careful about women, Track 6, “Be My Ring Valet” is a pseudo-ballad to a
future rat. Heartwarming and if we were living in 1988, “Be My Ring Valet”
would be a bigger hit than “Every Rose Has its Thorn.”
Track 7, “voicemails from
Easton from 1.28.11 with Jakob Hammermeier.” This is a series of voicemails
Jakob leaves on Tim’s phone. The weakest track on the CD and could have easily
been left on the recording room floor.
Hallowicked & Donst Photo by: Flickr user Rick Foster
The CD ends with my personal
favorite track, “Greatest YLC RAP.” Comparable to Billy Joel’s, “We Didn’t
Start the Fire,” Tim runs down the events of his Young Lion’s Cup reign.
Detailing all the opponents he bested while working in shots at Hallowicked.
Honestly how can you not like a song that includes the line, “Hallowicked
you’re Screech and I’m Zack Morris. All my Donstaroos sing the chorus.” A fine
closer to the CD if ever there was one.
I don’t know if all CDs
feature it but my copy has a hidden bonus track called, “Knockin’ on Wink’s
Door.” Since current Chikara Director of Fun Wink Vavasseur wouldn’t listen to
Tim’s request for a match with Hallowicked, Tim decided to put his request into
song form. It seemed to pay off as Tim and Hallowicked squared off at
Chikarasaurus Rex 3.
When I purchased this CD I did
so more as a novelty and didn’t expect much from it. With the exception of the
Voicemail track and “Do the Donstaroo” this turned out to be a highly
entertaining and catchy CD. I think on the road trip from Chicago to Lafayette,
Indiana to Marion, Illinois we must have listened to this four or five times. There
are a lot of Chikara references so someone who isn’t as familiar with the past
three years of Chikara storylines probably won’t appreciate the stories and
songs as much as die hard Chikara fans, Still there’s a lot worse CDs you could
be listening to. Seriously, listen to “Who’s the Man” and if you don’t find
yourself humming it or singing along later in the day, I’d say you have no
soul.
I don’t know if Tim is still
selling copies at live events he’s booked on, but if you want a copy, you can
always hit him up on Twitter @tdonst and ask how to obtain a copy. The holidays
are coming up and this would make a great present.
After you buy Reflections:
Old Memories of a Young Lion let us know on our Facebook page. Want to hear
from satisfied buyers.
For years, I've listened to Chad hype the independent wrestling company Chikara. Years I tell you. He even drove 15 hours once to watch a series of shows in Pennsylvania. I'll be honest, having watched just a bit of it on DVD, I didn't understand the appeal of driving all that way. The shows were a bit campy in my estimation and while entertaining, lacked a wrestling company feel that I had been accustomed to.
But fast forward 6 years and my exposure to indy wrestling has exploded. Besides working with All American Pro Wrestling for the last year, I've also been to several other shows, including ROH and Dragon Gate. Then on Saturday, April 28 I attended my first Chikara show. A day later, I was at my second show. And what an experience.
My fellow AAPW comrades Adam Testa and Drew Robbins loaded up in my Prius (hopefully Daniel Bryan reads this) and headed to Chicago Ridge. It was an estimated 5 and half to six hour drive, but we made it in about 4 and half. We met AAPW Executive Producer Chris Hagstrom and Chad outside the building, ready to embark on two days of wrestling bliss. Three shows, two towns, many countless memories.
Mr. Touchdown and me
Chikara opened the weekend up with "Hot Off the Griddle." I must tell you I was really impressed not just with the talent in the ring, but the way they all interacted with the fans outside the ring. I posed for pictures with the Colony (a group of wrestling ants), Mr. Touchdown (a wrestling football player), and Chuck Taylor (one half of the new campeones de parejas). Not one of them asked for any money or for fans to buy their merchandise. They were there and took the time to thank the fans for being a part of the show.
Without bashing ROH too much, I can't say the same about them. Photos with their stars were $10 each. After the price of admission for three shows, travel, hotel, food, and other merchandise; I decided that was not a good deal.
The wrestling from both companies was solid. This was booked as a Synergy event, and talent from both companies appeared on each other's cards. El Generico for example wrestled on both shows, in the main event of Hot Off the Griddle he was pinned by the Queen of Wrestling, Sara Del Rey. What an amazing contest that ended up being. I will write and vlog more in the near future about that match and the topic of men vs. women in the ring. Kevin Steen took Chikara Grand Champion Eddie Kingston to the limit in a match that the champ won by disqualification. Steen definitely knows who to work the crowd, as many of the Rudos (heels) do. Chuck Taylor for instance hurled Chad's cousin's bottle of Gatorade across the arena. The kid was devastated. A couple of other highlights from first day: Mixed Marital Archie, the Throwbacks, and the Colony. All very entertaining and not too campy or over the top like I thought Chikara might be.
After the double shot Saturday afternoon and evening we headed about 40 minutes away to Indiana where we booked a hotel. After a few hours sleep we headed south to Lafayette for day two of Chikara and the Contaminated Cowl event. Because Lafayette is a much smaller town than Chicago Ridge, this show was in an old movie theater. It was quite an intimate feel to it as well as we were so close to the ring that when guys were on the floor brawling we could reach out and touch them.
Chuck Taylor & me
It was another solid day of wrestling action, this time just by the men and women of Chikara though. I got to get a pic with Mixed Martial Archie and watch FIST members (Chuck Taylor & Johnny Gargano) become two time campeones de parejas (a first for Chikara). Chris got his hat tossed into the crowd, Chad's show was stolen and elbow dropped in the main event, and Adam had his shoe thrown across the room too. Adam also tried to show respect to his team, 3.0 and offer up some Red Bull and Slim Jims, only to see the beverage dumped in the ring. We interacted after the show again with the likes of Dasher Hatfield, who did 10 Questions with us a while back, Arik Cannon, and Chuck Taylor.
I'm so very glad I made this trip. Not only did I get to witness Chikara live and in person for the first time ever, I had a great time with my friends. The saying getting there is half the fun is an understatement. This is only the tip of the iceberg, there were so many memorable moments. My hope now is that Chikara will head a bit further south in the future, maybe St. Louis or even southern Illinois. How about it Quack? Also, I hope that Darkness Crabtree and Dragon Dragon make a comeback too.
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One of my breakout stars of the last year is Archibald Peck. “Marchie” Archie, along with his majorette Veronica, made their debut at Chikara’s “Operation Big Freeze” in a losing effort against current Chikara Grand Champion Eddie Kingston.
In his second appearance, Peck issued an open challenge to any competitor in the locker room at King of Trios. Colt Cabana answered the challenge only to be defeated by the crafty bandleader. Archie would later reveal that when Eddie Kingston hit the Backfist to the Future in his debut match it actually sent Archie to the future where he picked up a sports almanac and knew who would answer the open the challenge.
(From Chikara)
Archie went on to rack up a 7-1 record leading into his rematch against Colt Cabana at Chikara’s first Ippv “High Noon.” Prior to the rematch Archie revealed his new mascot, Colt Cabunny. Cabunny had not been seen in Chikara since the 2005 Tag World Grand Prix where he teamed with CP Munk. Due to the treatment of Cabunny by Archie, Cabana was going into the match not only with the hope of avenging his loss but also to free the bunny. At the end of the match Colt Cabunny got involved and helped Cabana win the match.
Since the loss at “High Noon,” Archibald has gone on a 7 match-losing streak. The lack of trips to the pay window did not set well with Veronica who came out and said if Peck didn’t start winning she would stop accompanying him to the ring. Throwing another wrench into the situation was the debut of Mr. Touchdown. Anyone who has gone to high school can relate to the scenario of the cheerleader pining for the captain of the football team.
With the consecutive loses along with the loss of his valet, Archie decided a change was in order. Two weeks ago “Marchie” Archie was retired and Mixed Martial Archie debuted. I have not seen the match nor have I heard much about it. I don’t know much about the new gimmick, but I am curious to see it in action. “Marchie” Archie was fantastic (and his last match against Chuck Taylor from the 3/25/12 show in Canada is one of the greatest matches ever) and I have no doubt Mixed Martial Archie will be just as entertaining. Here is MMA’s promo leading into the contest this Saturday against Kobald.
For full thoughts on this weekends Chikara and ROH shows follow My123Cents on Facebook and 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.
