FIST (Icarus & Gran Akuma) vs Team WXW (Mana & John
Cabbie)
Nicely worked opener, with FIST portrayed as the more fluid
unit, but Mana being the wildcard factor in the match. FIST control Cabbie
early with some nice double teams, but suffer when Mana gets tagged in. He’s a
big guy, who easily puts both guys on his shoulders for a Samoan drop before
blitzing Akuma in the corner with shoulder barges and running knees. Mana even
no sells a pair of dropkicks, really getting put over, before Cabbie blind tags
back in, and in the melee accidentally superkicks his own partner. Icarus hits
a spinning flapjack on Cabbie for the win. Good stuff.
Davey Andrews & Shane Hagadorn vs the Ring Crew Express
For a guy who vanished off the face of the wrestling earth
the same year, Andrews seemed pretty decent. He and Hagadorn are representing
Ring of Honor as their students, and even heelishly put RoH turnbuckle padding
in their corner. There’s bit of this that aren’t very good, not restricted to
an early blown victory roll spot. For some reason, we get a game of dodgeball
breaking out midway through, which is pointless. The rest of the bout is basic,
but solid, tag formula stuff which is hard to mess up. The RoH team heel it up,
double-teaming behind the referees back. Andrews hitting a dropkick on Marcos
whilst Hagadorn held him in an abdominal stretch looked really good, and an
Andrews stomach buster got real height on it. There’s a few slightly blown
bits, like Andrews not tagging in before a double team move, making it look a
bit awkward as Hagadorn was clearly expecting the tag. Andrews hit a diving to
the floor, the kind of move that probably explains why he didn’t wrestle after
this year. It gets a bit messy after the hot tag, before Dunn and Marcos get
the win with a double team senton.
Crossbones & Mano Metalico vs Knight Eye For The Pirate
Guy (Lance Steel & Jolly Roger)
This was nicely worked, you can see guys like Roger and
Crossbones improving show by show. Here, Roger is really laying his stuff in,
looks like his strikes are actually meant to hurt his opponent. Fun early spot
sees Roger breaking a Crossbones Full Nelson by just punching the hands until
Crossbones has to let go. Fun jousting spot, with Roger carrying Steel on his
shoulders to hit Crossbones in the corner. Metalico plays monster here, and
he’s pretty effective at it, reversing a wheelbarrow into an Irish Curse in one
great spot. For some reason, Crossbones seems to be working against his
partner, holding an opponent in place for a kick, then moving him so Metalico
falls over. Very odd. Metalico beheads Steel with a clothesline, but Roger
turns a flying headscissors into a small package for the victory
Big Daddy (Shirley Doe & Darkness Crabtree) vs Team
Osaka Pro (Ebessan & Billy Ken Kid)
The cleverly named Big Daddy team are rather an unusual
pairing, but Doe and Ken Kid pair up really nicely in the ring together.
Ebessan and Crabtree, for their part, work a comedy bit based on Crabtree’s
usual slo-motion wrestling, but in a nice twist Crabtree then takes his
medication and works a fun, swiftly paced sequence with Ken Kid. Unfortunately,
the pills are his downfall, as he takes some more and has a heart attack,
culminating with Ebessan hitting a Shining Wizard for the win. Short, stupid,
but kinda fun. Ken Kid looked really good, bodes well for the later round.
Team You Can Call Me Al (Allison Danger & Alere Little
Feather) vs Claudio Castagnoli & Arik Cannon
Smartly worked intergender match, with the women outsmarting
the larger men in the early stages. Really neat spot with Claudio elevating
Danger high into the air, only for her to land and flip him into a crucifix.
Alere becomes face in peril, with Claudio hitting a nice giant swing into a
Cannon dropkick. Cannon also hits a really good looking fistdrop. This is a
short match though, and it breaks down a bit sloppily towards the end. Danger
gets a nearfall on Cannon with an STO, but Claudio saves. A Glimmering Warlock
and Ricola Bomb finish Danger.
Rorschach & Ravage vs Jigsaw & Sabian
Jigsaw looks pretty terrific here, working Rorschach on the
mat and looking really smooth in doing so. The heel team look pretty good
double-teaming Sabian, with a nice Rorschach wheelbarrow into a Ravage running
knee, followed by a Rorschach facebuster. They work over Sabian’s arm, with
Larry Sweeney on commentary rightfully questioning this tactic, highlighting
that Sabian barely uses his arm and that it would make more sense to go after
his leg. Really liked Rorschach hitting a cross-armbreaker which he rolls
through with into a chancery. This whole match is probably the best Rorschach
has looked in CHIKARA so far. Jigsaw is great as the hot tag, full of energy.
Sabian and Jigsaw lock in a fun double submission and both heels tap. This was
fun.
Team IWA (Din Mak & Mat Bomboy) vs Team IWA-MS (Danny
Daniels & Jimmy Jacobs)
The IWA-MS are very much an odd couple, very much opposites
in terms of character, but working surprisingly well as a team. Daniels is
enjoyably cocky early on, schooling Din Mak on the mat. Bomboy kind of mirrors
Daniels, also being pretty cocky, but he’s laying things in a bit stiffer than
his partner. Unlike the IWA-MS team, IWA don’t have much in the way of
teamwork, with Bomboy breaking a Din Mak cover in order to try and get the
glory himself. Daniels steamrolls both thanks to this distraction, until Bomboy
tires of Mak, superkicks him, and Jacobs hits a top rope senton for the win.
Team PWG (Super Dragon & B-Boy) vs Glenn Spectre &
Mokujin Ken
Spectre and Ken are the mystery opponents after several
names get called out and aren’t there (plus the Rachies, who are there, but are
in no state to compete). If you haven’t seen Ken, AKA Ken the Box, he’s a
wooden tree-man essentially. His size means he’s unable to stand on the apron
while Team PWG kick the shit out of Spectre. Spectre is given a brief comeback,
hitting an RKO on Super Dragon, but has no-one to tag to with Ken being stuck
on the floor. Spectre instead sends the opponents to Ken, taking big bumps as
they run into Ken’s wooden fists, but in the ring Spectre gets destroyed again,
eating a Shining Wizard, a Kerb Stomp and a double stomp from the top for the
loss.
Claudio Castagnoli & Arik Cannon vs Team FIST
The second round matches are all longer than the first
round, so they all get a bit more meat to flesh things out. Really fun spot
early, as the heels try to avoid stereo pescados from Team Fist, run into each
other and then get wiped out by the dives they were trying to avoid. Icarus
showcases an ability to hit an armdrag from any angle, much to the annoyance of
Cannon. Cannon holding a full Nelson to allow Claudio to nail a brutal looking
uppercut was a great spot. Icarus is face-in-peril, and takes a good beating,
including a lovely moment where Castagnoli locks in a full Nelson and swings
him round, a la the giant swing, getting a good number of rotations. However,
Claudio manages to uppercut Icarus so hard that he falls into the corner to tag
in Akuma. Akumao gets a Yoshitonic on Claudio for two, but an attempt on Cannon
is blocked and Claudio nails him with an uppercut. The Glimmering
Warlock/Ricola Bomb combo gets the three.
Ring Crew Express vs Jigsaw & Sabian
Two popular teams here sees this match receiving some
duelling chants. Nice even stuff to begin, with Marcos and Sabian working some
fun mat exchanges, whilst Dunn and Jigsaw work quicker, rope-running sequences.
Sabian and Jigsaw hit dual topes to take control. Lovely spot sees Jigsaw
holding Dunn in place in a surfboard to eat a top rope stomp. Jigsaw misses a
450 legdrop, allowing Dunn to tag in Marcos, and we get a melee of action in
the ring. The Ring Crew Express hit the assisted senton, but Sabian saves, and
the Sliced Bread #2 is reversed into a Jig’N’Tonic in a smooth sequence for
three.
Jimmy Jacobs & Danny Daniels vs Knight Eye for the
Pirate Guy
Interestingly, Jacobs hints at a heelish nature in this
match, acting even more douchey than his partner, a guy who is working heel. It’s
the addition of little cocky touches, like shaking off his fist after a great
punch. Daniels drills Roger, who becomes face-in-peril, with some lovely
looking kneedrops, really driving the knee into him. Both members of the IWA
team hit airplane spins on Roger in a fun spot. Steel cleans up after a blind
tag, and locks in his “unbreakable” Boston Crab on Jacobs. There’s a slightly
clumsy bit, with Steel backdropping Daniels out of the ring as he tries to
break it, whilst still holding onto Jacobs, didn’t flow very well. Jacobs gets
dragged to the centre of the ring, and has to tap out.
Super Dragon & B-Boy vs Billy Ken Kid & Ebessan
Going into this, I was curious how Ebessan would fit into
this, a guy who’s primarily a comedy worker. The answer, it turn out, is by
having Dragon and B-Boy bully and batter him, making him the sympathetic face
in peril of the match. They establish this early, with Dragon cheapshotting
Ebessan on the apron. Both PWG guys are clearly frustrated by Ken Kid, getting
outworked and sent to the floor, stalling for time before re-entering, before
feasting like piranhas when Ebessan gets in. The beat him down in the corner,
B-Boy locks in a nasty bridging Cobra Clutch on the mat, Super Dragon hits a
nasty cappo kick in the corner followed by a B-Boy dropkick to the face…basically
a big kicking to a likable schlub like Ebessan. Ebessan kicks out of just
enough to remain credible, not taking any big killshots, just a lot of
sustained offence. He makes the tag after Super Dragon misses a corner charge
spectacularly, flying into the post, and Ken Kid is a ball of energy on
offence. He hits a lovely cannonball from the second rope to the floor on
B-Boy, only to be stopped by an unlikely leaping rana from Super Dragon, who
shows great athleticism. Loved the end of this one, BKK ends up alone with
B-Boy, and he circles him round by the arms, suddenly switching it into a backslide
and he gets the three, thrusting his legs into the air on the final count to
add more weight and to avoid Super Dragon’s save. Absolutely great stuff.
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