{"id":3151,"date":"2015-10-31T14:52:54","date_gmt":"2015-10-31T14:52:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=3151"},"modified":"2015-10-31T17:18:49","modified_gmt":"2015-10-31T17:18:49","slug":"chikara-15-7-pier-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=3151","title":{"rendered":"Chikara 15.7 – “Pier Pressure”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Preamble<\/em>: Yes, I’m still doing these. \u00a0Yes, we’re falling further and further behind. \u00a0That was always the plan, since now I know where a lot of this is going. \u00a0Anyway, this is the third show on the four-date UK tour.<\/p>\n

When and where: <\/em>It’s Sunday 5 April 2015, and we’re in the Masonic Hall in Cardiff, which the Chikara\u00a0website gamely describes as “intimate and picturesque”. \u00a0It is indeed a charming\u00a0little room, presently dominated by a\u00a0wrestling ring. \u00a0Looks like a nicely mixed crowd, actually. \u00a0The stage set up is a bit rudimentary.<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0Elimination Match: Los Ice Creams (El\u00a0Hijo del Ice Cream & Ice Cream Jr) v. The United Nations (Juan Francisco de Coronado & Prakash Sabar) v. The Wrecking Crew (Jaka & Oleg the Usurper) v. The Gentleman’s Club (Chuck Taylor & Drew Gulak).<\/strong><\/p>\n

The back story:<\/em>\u00a0The four-team elimination match is a\u00a0Chikara staple. \u00a0The winning team will get a point towards a tag title shot for every team they eliminate. \u00a0Nobody has any points coming in, but you only need\u00a0three for a title shot, so a clean sweep could win you a title shot right away. \u00a0(This handily explains why anyone would bother tagging in for the first fall.) \u00a0All\u00a0the\u00a0teams are technically rudos, but only the UN are unequivocal baddies; Los Ice Creams\u00a0and the Gentleman’s Club are loveable cheats, while Oleg\u00a0is\u00a0teasing a face turn. \u00a0This is the first time Oleg has wrestled as a member of the Wrecking Crew since being left out of their squad for the season-long Challenge of the Immortals\u00a0tournament. \u00a0But\u00a0it fits with the storyline of the Crew trying to assert their\u00a0continuing control over him. \u00a0Los Ice Creams\u00a0are jobbers, but everyone else has a credible shot.<\/p>\n

The match:\u00a0<\/em>Oleg\u00a0seems perfectly happy to work with Jaka – who is, after all, his regular\u00a0tag partner. \u00a0The\u00a0Ice Creams and the Club are\u00a0indeed working as\u00a0de facto<\/em> babyfaces. \u00a0A Juan does a pre-match promo sucking up to everyone and asking them not to ruffle his well-groomed hair,\u00a0which oddly never leads to anything. \u00a0A lot of largely well-done comedy in this one, with Gulak and Jaka periodically bringing\u00a0some more serious wrestling to keep the match on the rails. \u00a0Prakash\u00a0is still trying for the Bronco Buster to complete his X-Pac homage act, and still can’t hit it. \u00a0(He’ll get there in the end,\u00a0but it’ll take him a while.) \u00a0Everyone else goes after Oleg, but they can’t keep him down. \u00a0Sabar manages an X-Factor on Ice Cream Jr, but Jaka breaks it up. \u00a0Ice Cream\u00a0Jr is still motionless, so Juan\u00a0saunters over to pin him. Before he gets there, Oleg\u00a0hits him with the Off With His Head, then pins Juan and Jr in quick succession to win the\u00a0first two falls. \u00a0That leaves the\u00a0Wrecking Crew and the Gentleman’s Club, with a tag shot on the line if the Crew win the fall. \u00a0They do a few minutes of\u00a0back and forth action. \u00a0Oleg\u00a0takes on both members of the\u00a0Club for a\u00a0bit, but the numbers catch up, and Gulak jackknifes him to win the match in 17:11.<\/p>\n

The upshot:<\/em>\u00a0Good opener, even though it’s a very lengthy segment once all the entrances and pre-match comedy is thrown in. \u00a0The Gentlemen’s Club leave with one point. \u00a0Oleg gets to look strong by winning two falls and coming close to a third. \u00a0And Jaka and Oleg show no tension at all, which is a story in itself (and the kind that doesn’t overshadow the match).<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0Silver Ant v. ???<\/strong><\/p>\n

The back story:<\/em> This was originally announced as\u00a0Eddie Kingston<\/strong> versus a mystery opponent, but Silver Ant was slotted into all of his matches on this tour when he pulled out at the last minute. \u00a0It’s a Magic Move match – if either wrestler hits the “randomly drawn”\u00a0Magic Move, everyone in the crowd wins a\u00a0(low value) prize. \u00a0Today, it’s the Shooting Star Press.\u00a0\u00a0The mystery opponent\u00a0is TNA’s\u00a0Mark Andrews<\/strong>, who’s a local. \u00a0He wrestled in King of Trios last year, and also won a bonus singles match after his team were eliminated.<\/p>\n

The match:\u00a0<\/em>Both guys are\u00a0tecnicos, and in the absence of any wider story, this is your technical showcase for the night. \u00a0It’s flyer versus submission wrestler, at least in terms of their signature style, but Andrews can hang on the mat. \u00a0Silver Ant\u00a0tries a bit of flying, to rather\u00a0less success. \u00a0It’s a lovely exchange of moves and reversals, this one. \u00a0Silver tries\u00a0to indulge the crowd with the Shooting Star Press once, but he can’t do it, and thinks\u00a0better of it the next time the opportunity presents itself. \u00a0(The Magic Move isn’t a winning stip, after all.)\u00a0 Andrews has no such difficulties, and pins Silver Ant clean with\u00a0the SSP\u00a0in 11:30.<\/p>\n

The upshot:<\/em>\u00a0Andrews now has two points towards a Grand Championship shot, so if he\u00a0comes back for another singles match, a title shot will be on the line. \u00a0We’ll see him again, but not until September.<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0Challenge of the Immortals: The Nightmare<\/strong> Warriors v. The Battle Hive.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The back story:<\/em>\u00a0I’ve\u00a0explained the tournament set-up before, but it’s been a while, so let’s\u00a0briefly recap: ten team captains each draft a four-man team from the roster. \u00a0The teams compete in\u00a0a double round robin – each team\u00a0faces every other team twice. \u00a0It’s up to the team\u00a0captains to decide\u00a0whether each match should be singles, tag, trios or atomics (8-man). \u00a0One point for every match won. \u00a0The top two teams at the end of the double round robin will advance to\u00a0a final. \u00a0(Did I mention that? \u00a0Not sure I did.) \u00a0Everyone on the winning team gets a “Golden Opportunity”, which is basically the right to book themselves into any match they want. \u00a0(It’s been a while since they actually spelled out explicitly what the prize is, though. \u00a0It’s not being stressed at this stage.)<\/p>\n

This is a tag match. \u00a0The Battle Hive is Amasis’s team, and they have only 1 point from 3 matches. \u00a0Amasis & Fire Ant<\/strong> are the team tonight, which is odd, since Fire’s usual partner\u00a0Worker Ant is also on the tour and wrestling in a different COTI match later tonight. \u00a0Mind you, there’s a personal stake in that match, so maybe he was particularly keen to have it. \u00a0The Nightmare Warriors are Hallowicked’s squad of Nazmaldun-worshippers (plus Silver Ant, who was drafted onto the team to his utter bemusement). \u00a0\u00a0Frightmare & Blind Rage<\/strong> are representing them here tonight. \u00a0Frightmare normally tags with either Hallowicked or Silver, but Hallowicked is challenging for the Grand Championship tomorrow, and Silver was added to the\u00a0tour after\u00a0this match had been booked. \u00a0The Warriors have 2 points from 3 matches.<\/p>\n

The match:<\/em>\u00a0Hallowicked comes out with his team. \u00a0The undead Blind Rage is baffled by Amasis’s dancing. \u00a0It’s\u00a0a standard tag story – the Hive control at first, the Warriors come back by isolating Amasis. \u00a0Rage\u00a0slips up by going for an uncharacteristic top rope move, and Fire Ant gets the hot tag. \u00a0Hallowicked interferes\u00a0by\u00a0getting in the way of a dive to the outside, and\u00a0Frightmare takes advantage of the distraction to pin Amasis with the Kneecolepsy in 9:42. \u00a0All pretty straightforward, but\u00a0solid, and Frightmare and Fire Ant had some really good exchanges.<\/p>\n

The upshot:<\/em>\u00a0The scores are now Nightmare Warriors 3, Wrecking Crew\u00a02, United Nations 2, Dasher’s Dugout 2, Arcane Horde 2, Snake Pit 1, Gentleman’s Club 1, Battle Hive 1, BDK 0, Crown & Court 0. \u00a0So the\u00a0Battle\u00a0Hive are not doing brilliantly after four matches. \u00a0The\u00a0Nightmare Warriors move into the lead, but they won’t be alone on three points for long, because…<\/p>\n

4. \u00a0Challenge of the Immortals: Arcane Horde v Dasher’s Dugout.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The back story:<\/em>\u00a0Both teams have 2 points after 4 matches, so the winning team will join the Warriors in the lead on 3 points. \u00a0The Horde\u00a0are\u00a0fielding team captain\u00a0UltraMantis Black<\/strong> along with\u00a0the Batiri (Kodama & Obariyon).<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0In a backstage promo, Mantis stresses that despite\u00a0his dubious history of manipulating them in the past, they’re\u00a0definitely<\/em> all on the same page now. \u00a0The Batiri seem willing to play along, and at the very least, they don’t have the divided loyalties of their fourth member Oleg the Usurper to worry about tonight. \u00a0The Dugout\u00a0are fielding current\u00a0Grand Champion\u00a0Icarus<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0the Throwbacks (Dasher Hatfield & “Mr Touchdown” Mark Angelosetti)<\/strong>. \u00a0In theory the Dugout\u00a0trio have the advantage of more experience working as a\u00a0team, but Icarus has a title defence tomorrow night, and he lost yesterday, so is his mind\u00a0on the tournament? \u00a0Officially\u00a0both teams are tecnicos, but the Horde are distinctly morally flexible.<\/p>\n

The match:<\/em>\u00a0The Welsh crowd is particularly keen to join in on Dasher’s pre-match huddle. \u00a0We work through various pairings in the first few minutes, leading to a\u00a0(deliberately)\u00a0contrived spot of everyone biting\u00a0the guy in front (started off by Kodama, who isn’t exactly above that sort of thing). \u00a0UltraMantis, as a vegan, frets over whether\u00a0to join in, but eventually succumbs to temptation. \u00a0We\u00a0return to regular\u00a0wrestling with control going back and forth as the teams take turn to try and isolate one of their opponents. \u00a0Everyone trades finishers. \u00a0Icarus slips up again and gets double teamed by the Batiri, but he manages to Blu-Ray both of them, and pins Kodama for the clean win in 17:12. \u00a0Decent action, maybe a bit sprawling\u00a0in terms of the match story.<\/p>\n

The upshot:<\/em>\u00a0 Nightmare Warriors 3, Dasher’s Dugout 3, Wrecking Crew 2, United Nations 2, Arcane Horde 2, Snake Pit 1, Gentleman’s Club 1, Battle Hive 1, BDK 0, Crown & Court 0. \u00a0So the Dugout become joint leaders (though the Warriors have a match in hand). \u00a0Icarus gets a win before his\u00a0title defence tomorrow, but he’s\u00a0still showing cracks. \u00a0The Horde seem to be able to work together effectively when Oleg isn’t around to cause trouble – again, the sort of plot point that doesn’t overshadow the match.<\/p>\n

5. \u00a0Challenge of the Immortals: Battle Hive v BDK.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The back story:<\/em> It’s a singles match, with Worker Ant<\/strong> for the Battle Hive and\u00a0Soldier Ant<\/strong> for the BDK. \u00a0Soldier, you’ll recall, used to be a member of the Colony but apparently got brainwashed somewhere along the line, and has wound up\u00a0as an enforcer\u00a0for\u00a0the\u00a0Bruderschaft des Kreuzes – though he isn’t actually a member of the Brotherhood himself, and their control over him often seems to be limited to “point him in the right direction and hope for the best”. \u00a0Naturally, his former Colony teammates would like to shock him back to his normal personality. \u00a0He beat Silver Ant last night. \u00a0Tonight it’s Worker’s turn. \u00a0Worker is a\u00a0reformed rudo who replaced Soldier on the team, and so he’s\u00a0not\u00a0Soldier’s favourite guy at the best of times. \u00a0In his pre-match promo, Worker seems to view Soldier more as a traitor than a victim – and entirely glosses over the fact that they were never actually teammates. \u00a0He’s done this sort of thing before, so it’s probably deliberate. \u00a0A win here will get the BDK off the blocks in the tournament, not that Soldier could care less.<\/p>\n

The match:<\/em>\u00a0Soldier\u00a0looks confused by Worker Ant. \u00a0\u00a0Worker keeps asking Soldier to explain himself,\u00a0but he doesn’t respond, and just sticks to the wrestling. \u00a0The crowd\u00a0are certainly into the match but don’t seem inclined to treat\u00a0the story quite as seriously as\u00a0Chikara were probably hoping. \u00a0It’s a slower affair, which\u00a0is fine as a change of pace on the show, and works in large part thanks to Soldier’s odd\u00a0behaviour. \u00a0He methodically dominates, and (as usual since his\u00a0brainwashing) largely shrugs off Worker’s offence. \u00a0He doesn’t look invincible – he can be staggered, he can be wrestled down for a two-count with leverage\u00a0– but\u00a0nothing seems to have serious lasting effects on him. \u00a0Soldier twice fails\u00a0to break on a five count, but the rookie referee bottles out of actually disqualifying him. \u00a0Soldier pins Worker\u00a0with the Trench Slam in 12:51 and looks quizzically at the other ant for a while before leaving.<\/p>\n

The upshot:<\/em> \u00a0Nightmare Warriors 3, Dasher’s Dugout 3, Wrecking Crew 2, United Nations 2, Arcane Horde 2, Snake Pit 1, Gentleman’s Club 1, Battle Hive 1, BDK 1, Crown & Court 0. \u00a0So Crown & Court are the only team still to score. \u00a0And the slow burn of Soldier failing to respond to the other Colony members continues.<\/p>\n

6. \u00a0CHIKARA Campeonatos de Parejas: The Devastation Corporation\u00a0(Max Smashmaster & Blaster McMassive) (c) v. N_R_G (Race Jaxon & Hype Rockwell).<\/strong><\/p>\n

The back story:<\/em>\u00a0This is the DevCorp’s second defence since winning the tag titles at the end of last year. \u00a0They beat the Osirian Portal last month. \u00a0N_R_G\u00a0got the three points for their title shot by beating the Colony: Xtreme Force at “A New Start” in January, Flying Francis at “National Pro Wrestling Day” in February, and the Throwbacks in a four-way eliminator at “Alter Egos” in March. \u00a0Their usual gimmick is that Race is ludicrously excitable and poor Hype is always exhausted because Race makes him do all the driving. \u00a0Obviously that doesn’t work on a UK tour,\u00a0but Hype is conveniently jet-lagged. \u00a0This still undermines the idea that Race is a bit of a dick who doesn’t realise that he’s the problem – but that angle will get quietly dropped anyway in a few months, when\u00a0a product placement deal yanks N_R_G’s storyline in a different direction. \u00a0As with all Chikara tag title defences, this is best of three falls. \u00a0N_R_G are emphatically underdogs.<\/p>\n

The match:<\/em>\u00a0Race\u00a0manages to get the upper hand, but has to wake Hype in order to tag him in. \u00a0Max is understandably not very intimidated by the sleepy\u00a0man, and amuses himself by stalling with the fans. \u00a0DevCorp get overconfident, and N_R_G manage to take advantage with\u00a0some double team offence. \u00a0But\u00a0normal service is soon resumed as DevCorp isolate\u00a0Race. \u00a0Once again,\u00a0the champions start looking overconfident. \u00a0Heel miscommunication\u00a0allows\u00a0the hot tag to Hype. \u00a0N_R_G manage their superkick\/Hyperwheel combo finisher on Blaster, but Max breaks up the pin. \u00a0He throws out Hype, and the DevCorp pin Race with the Death Blow to win the first fall. \u00a0Race is out cold. \u00a0Hype\u00a0nobly takes on both\u00a0champions on his own… and gets pinned with the Death Blow in less than two minutes. \u00a0The rudo\u00a0champions win clean in straight falls at 14:54 total. \u00a0A good match given the\u00a0limitations of N_R_G’s gimmick; it’ll get easier for them later in the year when\u00a0their story moves beyond this stage.<\/p>\n

The upshot:<\/em>\u00a0When you do\u00a03-fall matches regularly,\u00a0it’s always worth reminding the audience that a win in straight falls can happen. \u00a0N_R_G plainly need to sort out the “half of the team being asleep” thing if they expect to win the titles. \u00a0This, of course, will be their storyline going forward. \u00a0In the meantime, an emphatic loss to the DevCorp helps\u00a0the champions’ dominance.<\/p>\n

Worth getting? \u00a0<\/strong>The Sunday night show (with Icarus’ title defence) is really the one to go for from the UK tour, but this is a\u00a0solid show up and down the card. \u00a0Incidentally, the 2015 shows are just starting to appear on Chikara’s subscription service,\u00a0which is cheaper than buying them individually anyway. \u00a0It’ll be a few months before they get to this one, though.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Preamble: Yes, I’m still doing these. \u00a0Yes, we’re falling further and further behind. \u00a0That was always the plan, since now I know where a lot of this is going. \u00a0Anyway, this is the third show on the four-date UK tour. When and where: It’s Sunday 5 April 2015, and we’re in the Masonic Hall in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wrestling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3151"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3252,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3151\/revisions\/3252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}