CHIKARA Zelda The Great Review

The 2012 King of Trios Champions get their shot at Tag Team Gold!

CHIKARA Zelda The Great

Chicago, Illinois 11/10/12

The show starts off with the lyrical stylings and guitar skills of Gavin Loudspeaker, who sings "CHIKARA's Just What I Needed", which is a take on "Just What I Needed" by The Cars. Really awesome job by Gavin and the crowd was really into it.

1.) The Batiri (Kobald, Obariyon & Kodama with Ophidian) vs. Da Soul Touchaz (Marshe Rockett, Acid Jaz & Willie Richardson): ***

Ophidian accompanies The Batiri to ringside. I think this is my first time seeing Da Soul Touchaz in action. They've semi-regulars in CHIKARA over the years, mainly doing their Mid-West Shows. I gotta say this was a very entertaining opener. The Batiri were great as always and Da Soul Touchaz were impressive as well, but an Ophidian distraction allows The Batiri to get the win.

Sidney Bakabella is out next to give to local guys an opportunity. Unfortunately for these two local talents, their "opportunity" is against Bakabella's Devastation Corporation.

2.) The Devastation Corporation (Max Smashmaster & Blaster McMassive with Sidney Bakabella) vs. Wayne Campbell & Garth Algar: DUD

Nothing much to say here. Basically a squash. McMassive shows impressive athleticism for a guy his size. The Devastation Corporation get the win with The Death Blow.

3.) El Generico vs. The Shard: ***1/2

Now this was a match that I was really looking forward to seeing. These two had an really good match! Right from the opening bell they went right at it and the action never stopped. El Generico proved why he is one of the best in the world and The Shard put out a really impressive showing. In the end, El Generico would get the win in a very solid contest.

4.) The Swarm (Soldier Ant & deviANT) vs. F.I.S.T. (Chuck Taylor & Johnny Gargano): **3/4

Of course Soldier Ant is now technically apart of The Swarm because of the unnecessary melding of Director of Fun Wink Vavasseur. Nothing overly good, but a fine outing. Gargano & Taylor are very entertaining as apart of F.I.S.T. and they continued to play up The Swarm/Soldier Ant situation, where Soldier Ant sees himself as a Prisoner of War. He even purposely hits his partner/enemy deviANT! This dissension would lead to a F.I.S.T. victory and gives them another point towards a Campeonatos de Parejas shot.

5.) Mike Quackenbush vs. Colt Cabana: ***

This is a rematch from Shoot A Crooked Arrow in Milwaukee a few months prior, which Quackenbush won. Pretty much exactly the kind of match you'd expect from these two. A lot of catch-as-catch-can wresting and exchanging of holds. Cabana would get the win after a series of pinfall exchanges. Pretty entertaining stuff. 

Both guys shake hands and compliment one another after the match.

6.) Six-Man Tag – Jigsaw, Fire Ant & assailANT vs. Jimmy Jacobs & The Bravado Brothers: ***1/4

I believe that Green Ant was originally supposed to be teaming with his fellow Colony members in this one, but from what I remember hearing he had an illness and couldn't make it. This is apparently Jimmy Jacobs' first appearance in a CHIKARA ring since 2005. He & The Bravados are teaming up as a bit of a preview for the big Cibernetico match the following week (they are apart of Kevin Steen's team). Another entertaining trios match on this card. They had a lot of good action in here while simultaneously continuing the story of Fire Ant still not fully trusting assailANT. This match sees a lot of back & forth action until Jacobs & The Bravados are finally able to score the victory.

7.) Gran Akuma vs. Tim Donst (with Jakob Hammermeier): **1/2

While it was a fine match, it was probably the weakest on the card. Their was good action but it just never really grabbed my attention. Donst continuously abused Jakob at various points throughout the match. While the ref is distracted, Donst hits Akuma with a bag containing something of a sizable mass and locks in a submission for the eventual victory.

8.) Four-Team Elimination Match – 3.0 (Scott Parker & Shane Matthews) vs. The Throwbacks (Dasher Hatfield & “Mr. Touchdown” Mark Angelosetti with Veronica) vs. The Mysterious and Handsome Stranger & Sapphire) vs. F.I.S.T. (Icarus & Sugar Dunkerton): ***3/4

Points toward the Campeonatos de Parejas are on the line here. I've heard a lot of people of people say that this is the kind of match that encapsulates CHIKARA, and they were exactly right, from eight man submission holds, to dancing, to even offense from The Mysterious and Handsome Stranger's "Feral Pigeon" Sapphire, who even gets stuck in Sugar Dunkerton's afro!! The match then takes a gruesome turn as Mr. Touchdown, for lack of a better term, murders Sapphire. Everyone is shocked, from the wresters, to the commentators, to the referee Bryce Remsburg and the fans. The Stranger is in shock and this leads to Touchdown eliminating him first. Soon after F.I.S.T. is eliminated by 3.0. Finally, 3.0 is able to eliminate The Throwbacks to get the win and two points towards a future title shot. A great combination of action, hilarity, and story telling...exactly what is CHIKARA is famous for.

9.) CHIKARA Campeonatos de Parejas – 2/3 Falls – The Young Bucks vs. The Spectral Envoy (UltraMantis Black & Hallowicked): ****

All matches for the Campeonatos de Parejas are contested as 2/3 Falls Matches. The Young Bucks score the first fall pretty quickly with a Spike Tombstone Piledriver on UltraMantis. This plays into the match as now The Spectral Envoy fight the proverbial "underdog's fight", coming back in spectacular fashion to score the second fall and tie things up. Hallowicked & UltraMantis seemingly had the titles won at several points during the third fall, but interference from The Batiri prevents this from happening. Everything is breaking down and bodies are flying everywhere! It would end up taking a combination of Ophidian Poisonous Venom and More Bang For Your Buck to secure the third fall for The Young Bucks, who retain the titles. I was really into this match. A great main event to close the show.

Overall: 8.0/10

A very solid showing here from CHIKARA. Virtually every match on the show was at the very least decent, and on the whole we saw very consistent action. What I really like about this card is that we got to see various forms of CHIKARA's specialty: Tag Team Wrestling. From two very solid trios matches, to a four-corner tag team match, and finally the Main Event for the Campeonatos de Parejas (which was the Match of the Night), you got to see what CHIKARA is all about. El Generico vs. The Shard & Cabana vs. Quackenbush deserve special mentions for their performances as well. A very entertaining wrestling show, the likes of which only CHIKARA can provide!