So.  We’re now far enough behind that I’m going to start skipping the less important shows in order to keep somewhat in touch.  But this one is worth covering, because it’s a bit of an epic – it comes with two dark matches recorded at a meet-and-greet in the afternoon, and introduces a new gimmick that will start cropping up on almost all Chikara’s shows going forward.

It’s 13 June 2015, and we’re in the Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago.  They come here every year (in fact, they’ll go back in October).  It’s a rather nice ballroom type venue.

Pre-show Match 1.  Missile Assault Ant v Arik Cannon.

Arik Cannon is a former Chikara regular making a one-off guest appearance.  Missile Assault Ant has been on a losing streak since leaving his heel stable in January.  Cannon hits his Total Anarchy finisher, but Missile unexpectedly kicks out, ducks the Glimmering Warlock (a Shining Wizard variant), and pins Cannon clean to break his losing streak in 6:55.  Perfectly good for a dark match, and the upset finish helps.  As Missile leaves, Kevin Condron – who’s been trying to recruit Missile for his stable of stray  henchmen – appears in the gallery and yells at him that he’s a man, not an ant.  He’s trying to break Missile’s brainwashing in the same way that already worked with Lucas Calhoun; as we’ll see, it won’t go quite so smoothly with Missile.  At first glance it seems odd to put storyline content in a dark match, but then if you’re following the storylines at all, you’re buying the videos – and it’s not really a dark match on video.

Pre-show Match 2: The United Nations (Juan Francisco de Coronado & Prakash Sabar) v. N_R_G (Race Jaxon & Hype Rockwell).

Last time, Hype Rockwell finally found the cure for his chronic narcolepsy in the form of outrageously blatant product placement Electric Monkey energy drink.  So this is N_R_G’s first outing without having to build that gimmick into their match.   Sabar’s gimmick is that he’s an X-Pac tribute act, so he wants to go for the Bronco Buster, but de Coronado stops him twice, quite reasonably pointing out that it never works for him.  Once Juan is down, Sabar tries a third time, and what do you know, Juan was right.  It doesn’t work.  He stumbles into N_R_G’s combo finisher in 8:33.  That’s a second point for N_R_G, so their next match will have a title shot at stake.  Perfectly fine set-up for N_R_G’s next title shot, and Sabar’s obsession with the Bronco Buster will get a pay-off down the line.

1.  Challenge of the Immortals: The Battle Hive (Amasis, Worker Ant & Ashley Remington) v. The Arcane Horde (UltraMantis Black, Obariyon & Kodama).

Challenge of the Immortals is the ten-team double-round-robin tournament lasting all year.  Winning team all get a “golden opportunity”, which is essentially a Money in the Bank title shot (for the title of your choice, and Chikara treats the tag titles as roughly equal to the singles belt).  As we go into this show, the Nightmare Warriors and the Wrecking Crew share the lead on 4 points (though the Warriors have a match in hand), the BDK, Dasher’s Dugout and the United Nations are all on 3, the Snake Pit, the Gentleman’s Club, the Battle Hive and the Arcane Horde are all on 2, and the Crown & Court are on 1.

This match is face-face, but that’s inevitable in a round robin tournament.  Neither team is doing especially well so far.  It’s the first time Ashley Remington has actually wrestled for the Battle Hive (because he’s been tied up in chasing a title shot until now, but even so, it’s been left awfully late).  Since it’s a trios match, the Horde have sensibly benched Oleg the Usurper (who can’t be trusted, since he’s still under contract to the Wrecking Crew’s manager).  Oleg tries to offer his support before the match, but Mantis politely sends him packing, then pretty much tells Obariyon and Kodama that the three of them are the real team.

No particular story here – it’s a fairly typical Chikara opener, with some comedy spots, some solid action, and the big moves at the finish.  Mantis and Remington face off for a bit, which I suspect was intended to tease a singles match that never happened, due to Mantis’s career-ending injury on the next show.  Remington pins Kodama with his deadlift German suplex in 13:35, so the Horde are continuing to bump along the bottom.  But obviously, their storyline is about to be derailed.

2.  Kevin Condron & Lucas Calhoun v. Dasher’s Dugout (Icarus & Heidi Lovelace).

The Dugout are the heavy favourites on paper; Icarus is the previous Grand Champion and Heidi has the secondary title, the Young Lions Cup.  Last time, Condron & Calhoun made a solid debut in their first outing as a tag team, but Calhoun was obviously under Condron’s thumb.  Backstage, Condron gives Calhoun a pep talk about making him a star, but drifts off into imagining his own fame instead.  Calhoun either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care – he’s a loyal follower.

This is a Magic Move match; if anyone hits the “randomly selected” move, everyone in the crowd gets a token prize.  This was the weekend after Dusty Rhodes died, so the Magic Move is the bionic elbow.

Condron lets Calhoun start, but insists on tagging in as soon as his sidekick has the upper hand on Heidi.  They work her over for a bit.  Calhoun tries for the bionic elbow, but Condron stops him, hoping to suck up to the crowd by doing it himself.  Naturally, Heidi ducks and makes the hot tag to Icarus.  Icarus hits the bionic elbow on Condron and goes for the Pedigree, but Condron’s lackey the Troll interferes (precisely how is not desperately clear from the camera angle), and Condron backdrops his way out, then rolls up Icarus using the tights for the upset win in 10:27.  Icarus is outraged – not only has he lost the title, he’s now losing to a bozo like Condron – but reluctantly leaves with Heidi.

Afterwards, Condron tells Calhoun that his ring gear sucks and gives him a new red outfit, which looks like something the Honky Tonk Man would wear.  It’s spectacularly tacky but Calhoun seems to genuinely like it.  Good match, and it serves both teams’ storylines.  Condron’s team is working, their dynamic is further established, and the Dugout continue to fall short of their stellar CV.

3.  Silver Ant v. Blaster McMassive.

Silver Ant is the weak link in the Nightmare Warriors – a team he didn’t want to be drafted to in the first place, and who are blatantly trying to win him over to worshipping their god Nazmaldun.  Blaster is part of the Wrecking Crew, who are normally monster heels, but he’s also a tag specialist branching out into singles .  This match is great – fast and aggressive, with Silver’s skill and superior singles experience letting him hold his own against the big guy.  Note, though, that while Silver is still undoubtedly a tecnico here – he’s wrestling Blaster, after all – “fast and aggressive” is precisely what the other Nightmare Warriors have been pushing him towards all year.  And here, it works, as Silver goes straight to another move every time Blaster kicks out or escapes a hold, finally catching him in a triangle choke.  Blaster passes out in 9:53, giving Silver an impressive win by TKO.  But, very subtly, he’s starting to listen to the rest of his team…

4.  Challenge of the Immortals: The BDK (Jakob Hammermeier & Soldier Ant) v. The Nightmare Warriors (Hallowicked & Frightmare).

This is technically heel-heel, but the round robin tournament format means it has to happen.  As already noted, the Warriors are joint tournament leaders on 4 points.  But the BDK are in touch, since they have 3 points and a match in hand.  The BDK are kind of the good guys by default here, since Jakob is an underdog with delusions of greatness, and Soldier Ant is a brainwashed tecnico in his thrall.  And they’re facing the Grand Champion and his regular tag partner.

Jakob’s control over Soldier Ant has always been on the level of “point him in the right direction and hope for the best”, but by this point it’s looking extremely ropey.  He’ll enter the match if he’s actually tagged, and when he’s in, he’ll fight.  But he refuse to actively co-operate with Jakob, even to the point of extending his hand for a tag.  The Warriors try to beat him down, which isn’t the smartest strategy, since he’s been acting invulnerable all year.  More accurately, he seems to be impervious to pain – big moves don’t faze him, but actually wrestling him to the ground still seems to work.  Finally, Soldier makes the hot tag to Jakob… who is instantly swatted aside, because he’s Jakob, and he’s completely out of his depth.  So Soldier just comes back in.  He hits his Trench Slam finisher on Hallowicked, but Frightmare makes the save.  Jakob tries to get Soldier to work with him, but Soldier hits Jakob instead.  (By accident?  It’s not clear – probably deliberately.)  Soldier clears the ring – but then his former teammates from the Colony run in to try and break his brainwashing.  He looks confused, but does seem to recognise them.  But then the Warriors clear the ring, chaos ensues, and Hallowicked pins Jakob with a roll-up in 11:57.  Soldier clutches his head at ringside.

In an odd post-match segment which actually does go nowhere, Jakob tries to ingratiate himself with Hallowicked by joining in the Nightmare Warriors’ victory prayer circle, and they allow him to.  This was very heavily story-based, but given the teams and Soldier’s Winter Soldier gimmick, I’m not sure how else this pairing could have worked.

5.  Eddie Kingston v Jaka.

These two had a pull-apart brawl after a tag match on the last show, which would probably have made more sense if the ending hadn’t been botched.  This is a fast, high-impact brawl.  It’s one of Jaka’s more Umaga-ish performances, though, and I’ve never been comfortable about that aspect of the character.  Anyway, Eddie no-sells a superkick and pins Jaka with the Backfist to the Future in 6:29.  Judging from the commentary, the idea was supposed to be that they both hit finishers at once and Eddie happened to land on top, but that really didn’t come across visually.  Jaka demands a rematch, but Kingston wanders off.  The rematch never happens – probably due to the storyline reshuffling caused by UltraMantis’s injury on the next show – but it’s not like this mini-feud was catching fire anyway.

6.  Challenge of the Immortals: The Wrecking Crew (Max Smashmaster & Flex Rumblecrunch) v. The Snake Pit (Ophidian & Argus).

The Crew need a win here to stay tied for the lead with the Nightmare Warriors.  The Snake Pit only have 2 points, but then they’ve only wrestled 3 matches, fewer than anyone else.  Nonetheless, as a mentor/rookie duo giving away a ton of weight to the tournament leaders, they’re serious underdogs.

The Snake Pit attack before the bell but the Crew swiftly overpower them to take control.  The rookie Argus is face in peril, but the Crew can’t put him away.  Argus is over with this crowd.  Finally Argus dodges a cannonball and makes the hot tag to Ophidian, who runs wild on both heels for a bit before getting dumped outside.  Under Chikara rules, that’s a tag to Argus.  Once again, the Crew double team him, but can’t keep him down.  Max misses a moonsault, and Argus manages a two-count on Flex (with  help from Ophidian).  Max tombstones Ophidian, but again struggles to put Argus down, before Flex finally pins him with a Razor’s Edge in 10:56.  That was really good – Argus actually looked strong even while being beaten down the whole match.

Before the main event, we have a brief segment celebrating the recovery from serious illness of Kevin Ford, a well known figure in Chikara fandom (this being his home town).

7.  Dasher Hatfield v Tommaso Ciampa.

This was before Ciampa started showing up in NXT, I think.  It’s played as his debut, but it’s actually a one-off appearance.   Hatfield already has the three points needed to challenge Hallowicked for the title, but a loss tonight will send him back to zero.  So by honouring this prior commitment, he’s putting his title shot on the line.  That’s the only storyline aspect here; otherwise, it’s Hatfield facing the outside big name.  Ciampa is wrestling as a heel irritated by Chikara’s “fun” atmosphere.

These guys are good storytellers, so they get away with working basic holds in inventive ways for the start  of the match.  Dasher sets up for his running-the-bases spot and Ciampa plays along with the Chikara house style by fighting him over the invisible baseball bat.  That doesn’t work, so he just nails Dasher the conventional way.  When Ciampa tries to take the win by count-out, Dasher’s partner Mark Angelosetti comes out to cheer him on.  Dasher barely beats the count and survives a couple of two counts.  Ciampa hits the White Noise from the second rope, but it only gets 2.  Ciampa is stunned, and Dasher grabs him with a small package for the flash pin in 18:24.  Hatfield advances to claim his title shot in July.  That was excellent – very well laid out, wonderfully done.

The crowd chants for one more match as we fade to the closing credits.

Closing credits.

Oh, hold on.  The crowd are still chanting for one more match.

Challenge of the Immortals: Crown & Court (Jervis Cottonbelly, El Hijo del Ice Cream & Ice Cream Jr) v. The United Nations (Juan Francisco de Coronado, The Proletariat Boar of Moldova & Prakash Sabar).

Yes, Chikara introduces encores to professional wrestling.  This is going to be a regular feature from now on.  It’s largely a comedy match – it’s an encore with Los Ice Creams, for heaven’s sake – though for once, the Ice Creams’ signature offence doesn’t backfire on them.  Jervis still has to do the heavy lifting, but the clowns are at least helping for once.  The finish – and this is probably a mistake for the video audience – is basically a repetition of the UN dark match: Sabar keeps trying for the Bronco Buster, Juan keeps stopping him, and when he does hit it, it goes wrong and he gets submitted by Jervis.  Crown & Court win, and that doesn’t happen often.  This puts them back in joint last, though without directly breaking the Ice Creams’ losing streak.  It’s not time for that yet.

Worth getting?  Well, you certainly get your money’s worth, with 10 matches, ranging from the solid to the really very good.  It’s a pretty good showcase of a typical Chikara show, actually, without requiring too much in the way of storyline knowledge.  You can buy the show – or individual matches – here.