CHIKARA The Renaissance Dawns 2002

Just before Christmas, I decided to invest in a CHIKARAtopia subscription, which at approx. £5 felt like a good investment. I wasn't sure where to begin with CHIKARA, so I've gone all the way back to the first event. Seems a logical starting point. There's fun retrospective commentary from Mike Quackenbush and Bryce Remsberg to go with the matches.

Mr Zero vs Dragonfly

Mr Zero isn’t wearing the mask he’d become better known for wearing, which Quackenbush explains on commentary: apparently Zero had ordered his mask, but it didn’t arrive in time, forcing him to improvise from a local costume shop. This is the first match for both guys, and it’s pretty decent considering. They work some basic, competent mat stuff to start, before Zero turns it up a bit with a big clothesline in the corner. Zero works in some of his character-based comedy early, reading the business pages with Dragonfly locked in a camel clutch, then taking frequent gulps of coffee. Zero takes a posting on the outside of the ring, and Dragonfly takes control with some beginners-level high flying. I did like him neck-snapping Zero over the top rope from a tornado DDT position, and he hit a nice tilt-a-whirl DDT. Zero comes back with a huge German suplex and a Michinoku Driver variation for the win.

Marshal Law & Lovebug vs Hallowicked & Ichabod Slayne

Law is that oddly American kind of fat where he has no noticeable neck. Law and Bug are the faces, and they dominate early with two successive stereo atomic drops. The heels soon get Lovebug as their face in peril, and work him over well. Lovebug is able to hit a cutter to break this momentum and tag in Law, who introduces himself with a big shoulderbreaker. The comeback is short lived for the faces, as he takes a big flat back bump to the floor from the apron off a neck snap, which looked nasty. The heels wisely focus on his back with a series of kicks. Law is now face in peril, and Hallowicked hits a Burning Hammer on his partner onto Law, which gets a 2. All four guys end up in the ring, and the faces hit a 2^nd rope Hart Attack on Slayne, which Lovebug smoothly transitions into a reverse crab for the tapout win. This was decent enough.

Kid Kruel vs Zane Madrox

Kruel became better known for his spell in WWE developmental as Mike Kruel, and you can see why they might pick him up – he’s in very good shape, yet surprisingly agile for his size. Madrox is an odd looking character, tall but with a vacant look on his face, and Quackenbush says that he just stopped turning up for shows he was booked on. Madrox hits a nice spinebuster and splash early, but does look a bit lost on occasion. Kruel takes control of the match, and works Madrox over nicely by focusing on the shoulder. Madrox is hyped up on commentary as being surprisingly powerful, which he proves with a gutwrench suplex followed by a double powerbomb. Madrox is on a decent run of offence, but stops to eats some crisps outside the ring. He offers some to Kruel, who swiftly locks in a cross-armbreaker for the tap victory. Odd ending to a good match.

Blind Rage vs Ultramantis

This is before Ultramantis added the “Black” to his name. Rage is apparently more experienced, and he takes control with a slick series of moves, which Ultramantis does well to keep up with. Rage hits three quick flip sentons for a 2 count. Loved him casually arguing with the ref to distract from him choking Ultramantis with his shin bone. Rage hits a big backbreaker and holds Ultramantis over his leg, which I always love. Quackenbush highlights how Ultramantis used to use a lot of butterfly moves, to go with his whole “insect” theme, which is quickly proven with a butterfly praying mantis bomb for 2. Rage comes back with a Niagra Driver and a Gory Bomb for the win. Really fun match, Rage in particular looked good.

Mike Quackenbush, Reckless Youth & Don Montoya vs Chris Hero, CM Punk & Colt Cabana

The main event noticeably features 6 guys with more experience than the rest of the card. This was so fast-paced and endlessly entertaining, with all six guys working seamlessly together. We get some initial matwork with Quack pairing off with Hero, Colt with Reckless and Punk with Montoya. I chuckled at Montoya being too heavy for Punk to try and take over with a fireman’s carry, and it’s followed by a spot where Punk uses Montoya as a surfboard, only for the much bigger Montoya to return the favour moments later. Quack takes a huge dive to the floor to signal that things are about to pick up. Punk works well as a sneaky heel, with eye pokes and quick escapes from the ring to evade Montoya, but when he gets caught, Don chops the shit out of him. The heels work a fun heat section on Montoya, who tries making a comeback by pulling Punk’s shorts down and hitting a big DDT. A fun 6-person submission spot follows as things start to break down and get out of control. Colt hits a nasty looking Colt 45 on Youth, but the pin is broken up at 2. Youth responds by hitting a tornado DDT from the apron to the floor, which must have hurt. A big tope by Montoya, which he’d teased earlier, wipes out Hero and Punk. Quack nails a reverse rana on Colt and Reckless finishes it off with a 2K2 Bomb for the win. Super fun spotfest, which the crowd ate up.

ECWA Super 8 2001

I've had this tape for over 10 years, but had never gotten round to watching it until I found it the other week and decided to crack out this review. I think I've always been put off by the sub-handheld camera work and the terrible audio (making interviews with Jeff Hardy and Christopher Daniels unlistenable), but there's no denying the quality of the talent on display here, and this was a rather pivotal show in early 00's indy terms. How well has it all aged?

Low Ki vs Billy Fives
Fives has the look of exactly the kind of cruiserweight you'd find on WCW Saturday Night in the dying days of the company. They do some basic sequences to start, punctuated by a big Low Ki dive. Ki's speed and dynamicism mark him out as the face early on, so I do enjoy Fives doing basic heel stuff to ensure he gets booed, like calling for time-out outside the ring and doing the old "choke with shin bone across throat whilst chatting to the ref" spot. Ki wears Fives down with strikes, but Fives does get some decent offence in, and I loved the spot where he got Ki in a pumphandle, then just clubbed him in the back whilst he was prone. I also like the fact the Fives seems to time his comebacks for the moments when Ki most obviously telegraphs his kicks, allowing him to hit a sweet capture suplex. Ultimately though, Ki is too quick and too tough, winning with the Ki Krusher. Good stuff here.

Jayson Reign vs Tony Kozina
This feels a lot like a decent Heat match in the early going, partly helped by Reign's WWE developmental circa 2003 look. He seems to be in pretty impressive shape. He overpowers Kozina early, and hits a mad tope to the outside, which goes some way to winning me over. He hits his spots well, but you get the feeling that he is still being led through the match by Kozina. I adored Kozina diving from the top with a rana, which he used to send Reign to the outside. Kozina starts working over the leg of Reign, which makes sense to counter the power advantage, but Reign pretty much gives up on selling it as soon as he gets back on offence, even when hitting a bridging suplex, where his injured leg should have buckled under his weight. Kozina kicks out of a screwdriver at two, which really should have finished it. The end was pretty good, with Reign slipping out of a powerbomb into the perfect position to hit his Sister Abigail finisher, but this lost it's way a bit towards the end, especially with the non-sell of the leg.

American Dragon vs Spanky
I know I'm speaking here with the benefit of hindsight, where these two guys became big stars, one of whom is arguably the most popular wrestler in the WWE today, but it really is obvious how much better these two are than the guys in the first two matches. You suspect that they may have worked the opening sequence together many times in training, but the match itself is really good, and tells a far better story than the previous two. Here, Dragon works over Spanky's left arm relentlessly, with some lovely snap to his offence. I loved him avoiding a springboard crossbody and sending Spanky right into a Fujiwara armbar. For his part, Spanky sells it like a trooper, even resting only on the good arm when trying to get back up again. Dragon sends Spanky outside and hits a baseball slide (to the arm!) and then hits a swank top rope moonsault to the floor. Spanky's main offence from this point consists of hopespots and roll-ups, but the arm injury prevents him hitting Sliced Bread #2 properly, and Dragon locks in Cattle Muttilation for the tap out. Really good match.

Mike Sullivan vs Reckless Youth
Sullivan certainly has the better look of the two, though that doesn't mean he'll be the better performer. They work a nice series of counters and reversals that looks really good, before Youth hits a lovely tope to the floor. Nothing Sullivan does is particularly fancy, but it does look good, with a meaty German suplex looking particularly good. Sullivan also adds a nice hint of slight heeldom to add some flavour to the match. Youth hits a top rope cutter and a frog splash for two. They work a few more counters, but these don't look quite as good as before - one which sees Sullivan "power out" of a Boston crab gives the impression that Youth did a diving flip for no reason whilst holding the move. Youth gets the win with a quick fireman's carry roll-up which dropped Sullivan right on his head. Not bad, but not one to remember.

The Haas Brothers vs Ty Street & Simon Diamond
Street is a guy I've seen work for CZW a few times, not particularly impressively. Indeed, the best thing about the match is the double-teaming from the Haas', with a slingshot into an overhead belly-to-belly suplex being very nice. They work a looooooong heat section on Street, before Diamond gets in. In a referee botch, Diamond has one Haas rolled up for at least ten seconds in plain-view of the official, who doesn't bother to count. The end sees Dawn Marie at ringside preventing Charlie Haas from using a chair, allowing Diamond to grab it. However, Simon clearly realises his partner is shite, so nails Street with the chair and lets Charlie DDT Street for the win.

Jayson Reign vs Low Ki
Things start off with a bit of a bang, Ki missing a pescado and Reign nailing a huge tope early on. It doesn't really continue this way, however, seemingly due to some inexperience on the part of Reign. Ki is noticably having to temper his natural dynamicism here to allow Reign to keep up with him, most notably when he stands awkwardly on the second rope for ages to allow Reign to hit a sunset flip on him. The match is also quite short (good) but also quite spotty, and not all the spots hit cleanly, with Ki taking a flipping dive to the floor and only barely hitting Reign being especially noteworthy. The bout ends when Ki escapes a German suplex attempt and rolls reign up for three. Poor.

American Dragon vs Reckless Youth
By way of contrast, this is a very slick affair. The opening matwork was great, everything felt like a battle and the holds looked like they genuinely hurt. Neither guy seems hesitant, even as Dragon takes a big bump to the floor and gets hurled into the ringpost. Youth has some really good looking offence here, chaining his moves together nicely into pinning predicaments. I also dig some of the little touches, like Dragon trying for a Dragon suplex, finding Youth blocking him so hitting an elbow to the back of Youth's head to weaken him, then hitting the suplex. Finish sees Youth go for a frog splash, only for Dragon to meet him up top, send him crashing arm first onto the canvas, then locking in Cattle Muttilation for the win. Great bout.

Cheetah Master vs JJ & Patch
The box also advertises a battle royal, but it never happens. This is a handicap match, and not a very good one. Patch in particular is woeful, hitting the tamest backbreakers on Cheetah that I've ever seen. A short match looks to be over as Cheetah hits a HIGH elevation frog splash on JJ, before the Haas Brothers, Simon Diamond and what looks like Nick Berk come in to beat him up. Some other lads come in for the save, and another chap comes in dressed as a ref. For reasons unknown to me, this upsets JJ, who gets rolled up by Cheetah for three. No idea what that was all about, but it fucking sucked.

Low Ki vs American Dragon
And so to the final. I loved the initial matwork, especially from Dragon, who was throwing in little headbutts to add some spice to the grappling. He also nails a big boots to send Low Ki to the floor, but Ki is the master of striking, so he pummels Dragon in the ring. This seems to make Dragon change his plan, as he catches a kick from Ki and hits a lovely dragon screw legwhip. Given Ki's reliance on kicks, it's a good gameplan to start working the leg, which Dragon does with gusto. It also means that, when Low Ki gets back on offence, it just takes AmDrag one blow to the leg to regain control. Ki does get back in it, and sadly stops selling the leg, but the action in the final stages is still fun. I loved Dragon's deadweight fall to the floor when Ki kicks him off the apron, and I loved Ki following that up with a corkscrew moonsault from the top rope. There is a super slick sequence where, following repeated attempts by Dragon to hit a Dragon suplex, he manages to catch Low Ki mid-cartwheel, hit a Dragon suplex and quickly chain that into Cattle Muttilation. Just lovely stuff. The end sees Dragon go for a roaring elbow, but Ki catches him with a Ki Krusher and locks in a Dragon Clutch, which Dragon taps out to immediately. Really good match, and one that has aged really well in the past 13 years.