{"id":3258,"date":"2015-11-11T23:41:50","date_gmt":"2015-11-11T23:41:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=3258"},"modified":"2015-11-11T23:41:50","modified_gmt":"2015-11-11T23:41:50","slug":"chikara-15-8-afternoon-delight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=3258","title":{"rendered":"Chikara 15.8 – “Afternoon Delight”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Preamble:<\/em> This is the final show in the four-date UK tour, which I have taken an inordinately long time to cover\u00a0even compared to the original plan. \u00a0So I thought it might be an idea to wrap it up. \u00a0The storyline pace will pick up after this, partly thanks to\u00a0characters who weren’t on the tour re-entering the storylines after an eight-hour absence, and partly because the shows will be more spread out, which means there’s more scope for each one to advance the\u00a0plot. \u00a0This is the show that Al went to, by the way, so bonus\u00a0spotting opportunities there for fans of the podcast.<\/p>\n

When and where:<\/em>\u00a0It’s 6 April 2015, and we’re in London, England, as a pre-show video package of the tourist sights is\u00a0keen to stress. \u00a0More specifically, we’re at the Garage, which is basically a\u00a0music venue. \u00a0Which\u00a0means it has decent lighting and sound. \u00a0It’s packed.<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0Challenge of the Immortals: Battle Hive v United Nations.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The back story:<\/em>\u00a0Continuing the year-long\u00a0tournament. \u00a0To recap:\u00a0ten teams\u00a0of four, the top two advance to the final, and the winning team gets a vaguely defined prize which we’ll worry about another time. \u00a0It’s a double round robin – every team wrestles every other team twice, with\u00a0the captains deciding whether it should be a singles match, tag, trios, etc. \u00a0As we go in, the Nightmare Warriors and Dasher’s Dugout share\u00a0the lead on 3, the Wrecking Crew, the United Nations and the Arcane Horde all have\u00a02, the Snake Pit, the Gentlemen’s Club, the BDK and the Battle Hive all have\u00a01, and Crown & Court are still\u00a0on zero. \u00a0This is\u00a0a trios match, with Juan Francisco de Coronado, Mr Azerbaijan & Prakash Sabar<\/strong>\u00a0for the United Nations taking on\u00a0Amasis, Fire Ant & Worker Ant<\/strong> for the Battle Hive.\u00a0 No\u00a0more specific story here, beyond the fact that\u00a0these teams\u00a0already had their first encounter two nights ago, with the Hive winning. \u00a0It’s essentially one of those meetings that the tournament format requires and can happily double as a show-opener.<\/p>\n

The match:<\/em>\u00a0After a bit of comedy,\u00a0we\u00a0settle into a conventional match with Fire Ant as tecnico in peril. \u00a0Sabar misses his Bronco Buster as usual, but the ref fails to spot Fire’s\u00a0tag. \u00a0Fire makes\u00a0the hot tag to Amasis soon enough anyway, so I’m not sure why they did the phantom\u00a0tag. \u00a0The Hive win clear in 15:19 when Juan gets pinned after a rather awkward looking Ant Hill (normally a Colony triple team move, but with Amasis taking Silver Ant’s place). \u00a0Bit of an awkward finish, though Amasis being unfamiliar with his teammates repertoire\u00a0actually works for plot purposes, so they get away with it. \u00a0Good opener to set the tone.<\/p>\n

The upshot:<\/em>\u00a0Well, the\u00a0Hive\u00a0are now on two points, level with the Wrecking Crew, the United Nations and the Arcane Horde.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0Director of Fun\u00a0Mike Quackenbush<\/strong> comes out for a promo to thank the UK fans for\u00a0coming, and brings out\u00a0Johnny Kidd<\/strong>\u00a0to\u00a0say hi to the crowd.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0Blind Rage v UltraMantis Black.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The back story:<\/em>\u00a0A minor skirmish in a long running story. \u00a0UltraMantis Black used to be the leader of the Spectral Envoy, until his long-time ally\u00a0Hallowicked turned on him back in December, after getting mind-zapped with the magical Eye of Tyr and undergoing a personality change. \u00a0Hallowicked took the rest\u00a0of the Envoy (including occasional member Blind Rage) to form the Nightmare Warriors. \u00a0They now worship a god called Nazmaldun who supposedly\u00a0has very strong feelings about UltraMantis Black in particular. \u00a0This might be a delusion brought on by the Eye of Tyr, but then again, given Mantis’s own dabblings in magic, it might not.<\/p>\n

Last month, Hallowicked interfered to\u00a0stop Mantis getting the three\u00a0consecutive wins that he needs\u00a0in order to\u00a0earn a title shot. \u00a0Mantis started over by beating Mr Azerbaijan on the first night of the tour, so a win here will give him two points. \u00a0(Unusually, the commentary gets this wrong, and claims that he stands to win a title shot tonight. \u00a0This\u00a0sort of\u00a0continuity error is uncharacteristic in Chikara, but it does happen a few times this season as\u00a0the convoluted tournament scoring system seems to confuse everyone at times.)<\/p>\n

The match:<\/em>\u00a0They a fairly straightforward match. \u00a0Mantis\u00a0hits the Cosmic Doom, but it’s too early, and\u00a0Rage kicks out at 2. \u00a0Rage distracts the ref while Frightmare runs in and nails Mantis with something or other, for the screwjob pin in 6:29. \u00a0An angle first and a short match second, with an odd pause near the end that makes me wonder if someone missed a cue.<\/p>\n

The upshot:<\/em> Back to square one again for Mantis and his quest for a title shot, and his feud with Hallowicked continues to tick over.<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0Mark Angelosetti, Race Jaxon & Obariyon v.\u00a0Dasher Hatfield, Hype Rockwell & Kodama<\/strong><\/p>\n

The back story:<\/em>\u00a0This is a\u00a0trios increibles<\/em> match: three regular tag teams –\u00a0the Throwbacks, N_R_G and the Batiri – split into opposing teams for a trios match. \u00a0Obviously, by the fourth day of a tour with a limited crew, you’re working through the permutations. \u00a0All six guys are tecnicos, so there are no mixed alignment issues here. \u00a0Last night, N_R_G challenged for the tag titles, and lost comprehensively. \u00a0In a pre-match promo,\u00a0Race is pretty unhappy about that and blames Hype –\u00a0playing into a subplot about Race basically being a bit of a dick to Hype, which\u00a0will be quietly dropped shortly after this point. \u00a0(This is also a Magic Move match – everyone in the audience gets a prize if anyone hits the\u00a0“randomly selected” (cough, cough) magic move – but that doesn’t really play into anything tonight.)<\/p>\n

The match:<\/em>\u00a0Some even exchanges in the early minutes before we get the partners facing off against each other. \u00a0The\u00a0Throwbacks shake hands, but are\u00a0willing to wrestle. \u00a0Angelosetti works\u00a0mild\u00a0heel, since he was always the\u00a0one who stated off as a rudo. \u00a0But they still hug at the end. \u00a0The Batiri\u00a0consider hugging, but can’t work out how (being demonic henchmen and all). \u00a0Instead they wrestle, and\u00a0Obariyon wins their\u00a0exchange. \u00a0Finally N_R_G come in, and Race is\u00a0more than willing to fight his partner, but Hype gets tagged out before it can go too far. \u00a0Race Jaxon is clearly playing rudo for a night here, as he ends up taking all his opponents’ finishers and getting pinned clean by Kodama in 15:54. \u00a0Fun interaction between the\u00a0regular partners.<\/p>\n

The upshot:<\/em> Some minor advancement for N_R_G’s storyline, but as I say, it changes direction soon after this, and Race’s heelish tendencies will fade out. \u00a0More subtly, Angelosetti acts as\u00a0a self-appointed team captain and showing a few rudo tendencies. \u00a0At the time, this looked like a side effect of an\u00a0increibles<\/em> match, but it’s actually sowing some seeds for him to start\u00a0slowly reverting to type over the course of the year. \u00a0Chikara can be quite good about disguising the early\u00a0signs of a story like this.<\/p>\n

4. \u00a0Silver Ant v. Oleg The Usurper.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The back story:<\/em> This is\u00a0another match that was supposed to feature Eddie Kingston until he was pulled from the tour at the last minute and replaced with\u00a0Silver Ant. \u00a0So there’s no particular\u00a0story reason for this match – it’s just\u00a0the match they ended up with when Silver was swapped in. \u00a0At this point Oleg is essentially a tweener – on the verge of turning face but still under the malign influence of his Wrecking Crew cohorts.\u00a0 He\u00a0beat Juan Francisco de Coronado on the first night of the tour, so he has one point coming in.<\/p>\n

The match:<\/em>\u00a0Technician versus brawler,\u00a0of course. \u00a0A back and forth contest, with duelling chants. \u00a0Oleg blocks the frog splash and\u00a0pins Silver Ant clean with the Off With His Head in 12:05. \u00a0One of Oleg’s\u00a0better singles matches; he’s\u00a0a personality\u00a0wrestler, but Silver is able to bring the\u00a0technical side of things. \u00a0It’s a slightly awkward pairing in that\u00a0the match dynamic naturally casts Oleg as the heel\u00a0– this wouldn’t have been an issue with Kingston, an antihero brawler. \u00a0But they get away with it. \u00a0Oleg accepts Silver Ant’s handshake after the match, continuing his turn.<\/p>\n

The upshot:<\/em> Oleg now has 2 points, so his next\u00a0singles match will\u00a0be for a title shot. \u00a0The\u00a0rest of the\u00a0Wrecking Crew regarded him as an expendable fifth wheel when they booted him out of their COTI team and sent him to hobble UltraMantis Black. \u00a0Might\u00a0it be time for a rethink?<\/p>\n

5. \u00a0Challenge of the Immortals: The Gentleman’s Club v The Wrecking Crew<\/strong><\/p>\n

The back story:<\/em>\u00a0The Crew have 2 points – so a win here will\u00a0make them joint leaders – and will be represented by the tag champions\u00a0Max\u00a0Smashmaster & Blaster McMassive<\/strong>, plus stablemate\u00a0Jaka. \u00a0<\/strong>The Club have 1 point,\u00a0and will be represented by\u00a0Chuck Taylor, Drew Gulak & The Swamp Monster<\/strong>. \u00a0Their fourth member\u00a0Orange Cassidy is with them, but he’s barely conscious as usual.\u00a0 <\/strong>Technically this is rudo\/rudo, but the Club are loveable rogues and the Crew are dominant bastards, so the Club are babyfaces by default. \u00a0They also have\u00a0Chuck Taylor’s entrance music, which is\u00a0awesome<\/em>.<\/p>\n