In this series, you will find short, concise reviews of stuff I've recently watched. These aren't supposed to be full, thorough reviews, just basically a stream of conciousness, if you will. Kicking off this new series will be the March 2011 CHIKARA shows. I know Geo will be reviewing these as part of his ongoing series, but I figured that I would offer up my thoughts on them as well. Enjoy.
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CHIKARA Operation Big Freeze 3/12/11
1) Da Soul Touchaz vs. Tim Donst & Pinkie Sanchez – 4
2) Madison Eagles vs. Toshie Uematsu – 5
3) Eddie Kingston vs. Archibald Peck – 3
4) Dasher Hatfield, Sugar Dunkerton, & 3.0 vs. Brodie Lee, Grizzly Redwood, Vin Gerard, & Stigma – 6
5) Fire Ant vs. Icarus - 6
6) The Osirian Portal & Hieracon vs. Kizarny, Obaryion, & Kodama - 4
7) Wille Richardson vs. Tursas - 3
8) Mike Quackenbush, Hallowicked, & Frightmare vs. Claudio Castagnoli, Tim Donst, & Sara Del Ray - 4
Seen the Touchaz before live and they’ve got some good offense didn’t show it here though. Crowd didn’t know who they were. Acid Jazz bumped pretty well. BDK team just really put forth much effort. Match didn’t have much heat. Women’s match was pretty good. Uematsu is a former WCW Women’s Cruiserweight champion? Never heard of that title. Liked the surfboard stretch submissions from Eagles. Had some comedy worked in as well and a good nearfall off an Eagles brainbuster. Peck and his marching band gimmick are both useless. His offense is sloppy and weak and his valet is one of those “butterface” type girls. Eddie had a WTF look when Peck came out. Nice to see Eddie destroy him after a brief skirmish. 8-Man tag was a lot of fun. The basketball tip off spot was something you can only find in CHIKARA. Stigma looked like a really bad backyard wrestler, working in jeans and a hoodie with his mask on. Never been a big fan of Icarus but I was pleasantly surprised by his match with Fire Ant. Couple miscues in the Kizarny match, most notably where Obariyon and Kodama tried a dropkick/suplex double team move and completely whiffed the dropkick. Kizarny seemed lazy in the ring. Really impressed by Hieracon, seems like Jonathan Gresham has given new life to a somewhat stale Portal act. Semi-main was a big man battle that was just like any other big man battles where both guys try to knock the other off their feet with big powerful moves. Noticed that Tursas cut his beard down too. Main event six-person felt really choreographed during the first half and just a giant mess during the last half. Hallowicked has slimmed down some. Didn’t seem like anyone really exerted more energy that needed to get by. Overall, a fun show but not a recommendable show by any means.
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CHIKARA Creatures From the Tar Swamp 3/13/11
1) Green Ant vs. Jakob Hammermier – 3
2) The Osirian Portal & Heiracon vs. Tim Donst, Pinkie Sanchez, & Tursas – 5
3) Vin Gerard & Stigma vs. 3.0 – 0
4) Toshie Uematsu vs. Sara Del Ray – 5
5) Dasher Hatfield & Sugar Dunkerton vs. Brodie Lee & Grizzy Redwood – No DQ Lumberjack Match – 6
6) Frightmare vs. Obariyon – 4
7) Ultramantis Black vs. Kizarny – 3
8) Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw vs. Fire Ant & Soldier Ant – Best of Three Falls Match - 5
9) Eddie Kingston vs. Claudio Castagnoli - 6
Quite the opposite from the previous night’s festivities. Opener was primarly a way to start getting Hammermier over as a wrestler but he got knocked senseless from a Green Ant lariat. Six-man tag developed out of the interference at the end of the first bout. Match was a lot better than I thought it would be on paper. Portal’s double and triple team manuevers were just mind boggling they were so crisp. The BDK members did their role well but didn’t stray much from their formula. Ophidian’s dive onto Tursas at the end was wild. Not sure what happened with 3.0 and the Unstable, as the match never happened after a skirmish on the outside, but I was left scratching my head. Ladies match was hella good. Both of them worked really well together. Favorite match by far of the first half of the show was the lumberjack match. I was surprised that a video package was put together for it. It had all the feel of a big blow-off match, unlike any WWE or TNA blow-off match recently. Dasher had on a Brooklyn Dodgers jersey, probably paying homage to the late Duke Snider who played outfield for Brooklyn during the glory years of the 50s. Had the big dive spot where Dasher and Sugar dove onto everyone. Sugar really stepped up his game and went toe-to-toe with Brodie. Finish was stolen from the Cena/Batista match at last year’s Extreme Rules PPV with Dasher taping Brodie to the ringpost. Probably the best CHIKARA match I’ve seen in ages. Next two bouts had their issues. I don’t buy for one second that Frightmare could bust out his finisher and not sell anything mere seconds after getting knocked loopy on the apron and taking a 19-count to get back in. Kizarny focused mainly on the mask of Ultramantis. While Mantis got some shots in here and there, it was all Kizarny. Final fall of the three falls match was good. Had a lot of close nearfalls and a big dive into the crowd. First two falls were basically mat work and reversals. Main was a decent match. Had interference from the BDK cronies and a ref bump. Kingston’s work and Claudio’s heel tactics were enough to save it. Crowd did seem dead at spots, probably from blowing their loads earlier in the evening. Not a bad show overall, even though Mantis and Kizarny dragged.
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