My First Chikara Experience

First in line!

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

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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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.

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.