CHIKARA The Shoulder of Pallas Review

Mike Quackenbush has a big surprise for his former partner Jigsaw!

CHIKARA The Shoulder of Pallas

Secaucus, New Jersey 4/6/13

This show was one of the many shows held by various promotions (Dragon Gate USA, Evolve, SHIMMER, etc...) at WrestleCon during WrestleMania Weekend. I believe the attendance was at or close to 1000, which I think is the highest attended show in CHIKARA History.

1.) Kobald vs. Saturyne: **1/2

A fine opening match. Both used Sara Del Rey's moves during the match (Saturyne because she was Del Rey's protege of sorts & Kobald did it to make fun of her). Again, nothing fancy but a good way to get things going.

2.) 4-Corner Elimination Match – The Spectral Envoy (UltraMantis Black & Blind Rage) vs. The Throwbacks (“Mr. Touchdown” Mark Angelosetti & Dasher Hatfield) vs. The Batiri (Obariyon & Kodama) vs. The Devastation Corporation (Max Smashmaster & Blaster McMassive with Sidney Bakabella): ***1/4

I think this is my first time seeing one of these four-way tag matches that are one of CHIKARA's signatures. As always, Points are in Play in this one. This was very fun. Lots of stuff in here was very entertaining, and although it had a sloppy moment or two, I found it very enjoyable. The Throwbacks were eliminated first, followed by The Devastation Corporation, and The Batiri last eliminated The Spectral Envoy to secure their third point and a shot at the Campeonatos de Parejas.

Sugar Dunkerton came out afterwords to check on his friend Dasher Hatfield, but Mr. Touchdown tells him to get lost.

3.) Amasis vs. Ophidian

Ophidian was injured (some type of leg injury), and came out in a wheelchair. He cuts a promo on Amasis and while doing so makes hand moments that slowly hypnotize Amasis as he continues talking, seemingly putting Amasis in a trance....but it appears Amasis fooled him by only pretending to be hypnotized (or breaking the trance), and went right after his former partner. The Batiri come out and go after Amasis. The numbers are too much and eventually Ophidian hits Amasis with his crutch. Ophidian pulls out a special blend of venom that he says he made just for Amasis, but when he was about to spray it, Amasis hit Ophidian in the throat, causing him to choke on his own venom. Ophidian & The Batiri retreat, but Amasis runs backstage to try & catch them. There was no match here so it doesn't get a rating, though it was a good advancement of the story.

4.) F.I.S.T. (Icarus, Chuck Taylor, Johnny Gargano & Sugar Dunkerton) vs. 3.0, Gran Akuma & Marty Janetty: ***1/2

They are really playing up the fracturing of F.I.S.T. here as Icarus & Dunkerton are in purple while Taylor & Gargano are in black. A very fun Atomicos Match. Their were a lot of interesting spots and the crowd seemed very entertained. The dissension of F.I.S.T. was also played up very well in the match itself, with Taylor & Gargano constantly cheating and berating Sugar. Despite their issues, F.I.S.T. picks up the win when Icarus makes Akuma tap out to the CHIKARA Special.

After the match, Gargano & Taylor continue to degrade Sugar but Icarus stops them, saying Sugar is apart of their group whether they like it or not, which leads to Icarus shoving Taylor. Gargano & Taylor leave without them, and Icarus leaves Dunkerton alone, displeased that he's still causing dissension.

5.) Archibald Peck vs. Tim Donst (with Veronica Ticklefeather, Jakob Hammermeier & Steve “The Turtle” Weiner): **1/2

This is the third match Donst & Peck have had this season (their first two matches both ended in DQ's if I recall correctly). The match itself was decent, but nothing really stood out. Peck is finally able to get a clean win over Donst.

Afterwords, Gavin Loudspeaker takes to the microphone and tells Donst's crew that Donst doesn't care about them and is only out for himself. Jakob gets in Gavin face, which leads the lovable ring announce wide open for an attack from Donst, who then takes a pair of scissors and cuts a piece of Gavin's hair of!! He taunts Gavin and tells he can do this whenever he wants.

Prior to our next match, Director of Fun Wink Vavasseur calls The Colony: Xtreme Force to come down to the ring. He pulls out a metal from his suit jacket and retroactively declares them the 2011 King of Trios Champions! Soldier Ant, as well as Fire Ant & Green Ant protest this. Things get heated, leading to assailANT & Frightmare coming down and getting things started...

6.) The Colony (Fire Ant, Green Ant & assailANT) & Frightmare vs. Soldier Ant & The Colony: Xtreme Force (Arctic Rescue Ant, Missile Assault Ant & Orbit Adventure Ant): ***1/4

This was another fine Atomicos Match. Not as good as the one earlier in the night, but still solid. The Colony: Xtreme Force prove to be very annoying, and the dissension between them & Soldier Ant was pretty evident. The match ends when Missile Assault Ant removes Frightmare's Mask (That fiend!!!) and cradles him for the pin. Normally the removal of a wrestler's mask is a DQ in CHIKARA, but since the ref did not see this, the Xtreme Force were not DQ'ed. 

7.) CHIKARA Grand Championship – Eddie Kingston vs. Hallowicked: ***1/4

I was actually really looking forward to this coming into it. Kingston's right hand was taped up pretty heavily and it's obvious that he's hurting. The match itself was good, though Kingston's hand injury definitely hampered things, which sucks because this had the potential to be a lot better. Kingston retains the title, and is obviously in a lot of pain. Wink Vavasseur (who was at ringside) throws the belt on Kingston in apparent disgust.

8.) Jigsaw & The Shard vs. “Lightning” Mike Quackenbush & Jushin “Thunder” Liger: ****

The placed exploded when Liger came out, in what I think is his only CHIKARA appearance ever. Very solid main event. It's always a pleasure to see Jushin Liger wrestle and he & Quack worked pretty well together as a tag team. To their credit, Jigsaw & The Shard looked good as well, and everything just came together in an entertaining main event, which sees Quack & Liger get the win.

Liger & Quackenbush celebrate with the crowd at the end of the match. As Quack is making his way back up the aisle, a guy wearing a Watchmen Smiley Face Pin & a hat with the initials "NPA" on it hands Quack a package/envelope and says something to him. The camera quickly cuts to black. Quackenbush was soon taken off the roster page (apparently either fired or quit on his own), his Twitter  reportedly no longer became affiliated with CHIKARA, and his merchandise was also discounted. Couple that with the fact that on the next fews shows, in commentary, Events Center, Podcast-A-Go-Go, etc... his name was never mentioned or brought up again, and we have ourselves a very interesting turn of events.

NPA, for anyone who doesn't know, stands for "No Private Army" which is a blog that is apparently apart of the CHIKARA storylines. You can view it here: http://noprivatearmy.blogspot.com/

Overall: 8.0/10

This was a pretty solid show from CHIKARA. Their were a lot of good matches and a fair deal of storyline advancement. Even though the Grand Championship Match ended up being below expectations, the fact that Jushin "Thunder" Liger was on this show in what will probably be his only CHIKARA appearance totally makes up for it. Thumbs up from me.