Valkyrie: V - Valhalla

One of the few "problems" with the explosion of footage becoming available in the last few years is that I find it remarkably easy to end up with more wrestling than I can watch. For example, this show, which I paid actual money for three years ago, then left it sat on my hard drive unwatched. Decided maybe it was time to give it a go.

Sumie Sakai vs Lexia Avery

Fair opener. Avery has a considerable size advantage over Sukai, but seems afraid to really commit, both with her weak strikes and with some of her bumping. Sakai is experienced enough to compensate for this, and adds some nice little touches to the match. Loved her going for a Boston Crab by holding Avery’s legs, letting the ref count a pin and Avery to lift her shoulder, then going with that movement to turn the larger opponent over. I’ll give Avery credit, her good moves look impressive, with a nice side slam and a meaty looking kerb stomp, and I dug her viciously kicking the rope as Sakai lies over it. Sumie has move painful looking chops, almost like she’s trying to convince Avery to lay them in more. The end sees Avery try an Air Raid Crash, but Sakai rolls through and locks a tight cradle to win.

Nina Monet vs Davienne

Good early impressions, as Monet really locks in her headlocks tightly. Davienne takes control with an awkward looking shoulderblock (how awkward? I didn’t realise what had happened until the commentator decided that was what had happened), but makes up for it with a decent stomachbreaker. Monet has a nasty streak, locking Davienne in a submission and kicking her in the back of the head. Short match sees Lexia Avery interfere and distract Davienne, allowing Monet to hit a side Russian legsweep and a leaping DDT to win.

Nikki Addams & Dickie Rodz vs Nyla the Destroyer & Aja Perera

Intergender match here, as Addams and Rodz challenge the massive Nyla to a 2-on-1 match, only for Perera to come out to even the sides. Rodz being the only male doesn’t unbalance the teams as he’s pretty much portrayed as a goof and he’s not much bigger than Nyla. Because the match is basically building up to Nyla getting in the ring, we get heat worked on Perera pretty much from the get go. Perera gets a few moments, hitting a boot as Addams tries a top rope nothing from the top rope. Addams hits a lovely top rope Eat Defeat as compensation. The build up to the hot tag leads to a few awkward moments like Perera getting a chance to tag, going to her corner, then deciding to go back on offence again. Nyla does eventually get in, blitzing Rodz with clotheslines, then planting him with a powerbomb from the corner for the win.

La Rosa Negra vs Hania the Howling Huntress

Two out of three fall match here, and it felt like two decent-good wrestlers being hamstrung by overbooking. The work both do looks really good. Negra in particular impresses, seems to have good instincts. For example, at one point she goes for the three amigos, but she adds a punch to the stomach between suplexes to keep Hania weak. Hania hits a few nice combos, lovely legsweep into a low dropkick, and she gets great height on a flip senton. Negra sells really nicely too, flying like a ragdoll on Hania’s offence, and getting into the right position to take offence in a natural manner. The problem comes with the booking, which sees Negra’s entourage interfering in clumsy ways. She’s joined by JGeorge and a towering lady called Natalie, and they seem to fail to understand that you want to interfere behind the refs back. At one point, Natalie gets on the apron and kicks Hania in full view of the ref, who has to awkwardly turn away and pretend he didn’t just see it. Even the commentator has to clumsily explain it as the ref somehow not spotting it. Later, Natalie just gets in the ring, runs the ropes in a manner the referee couldn’t miss, then tries a suicide dive that spectacularly misses both JGeorge and Hania. You know the booking is failing when the crowd are chanting “This ref sucks” instead of the heat going to the heels. In the end, with each wrestler having a fall apiece, JGeorge gets in, accidentally hits Negra with a superkick and Hania hits a leaping reverse DDT for the win. Good wrestling in a poor match.

Ashley America vs Little Jeanne

Curious to see WCW alum Jeanne appear on this show. Cagematch tells me she didn’t wrestle for 6 years, then came back to wrestle on this card. Very quick stuff here, America (who is the heel, which you wouldn’t guess from her name) jumps Jeanne before the bell, but is unable to maintain any control. Jeanne hits a nice clothesline, works a bodyscissors nicely, whilst America only gets in a few basic moves. Ashley tries a deathlock, but Jeanne elbows free and hits a second-rope suplex to win. This was fine.

Kacee Carlisle vs Jessie Brooks

This is for Carlisle’s Queen of Valkyrie title. Really liked the presentation here, as they managed to make a match between two ladies I don’t know into a real big match atmosphere. Julius Smokes is accompanying Brooks, and his rapidfire motormouth persona contrasts nicely with her stoic silence, making her look like a badass. This is turn carries over to Carlisle, because her refusal to back down, getting in Brooks’ face mean that she too comes across as a tough lady. The match? Really good, neither seem afraid to lay in the shots, as they exchange blows with an audible thud. Brooks hits a series of lovely running forearms in the corner. Nice submissions interspersed too, loved the Camel Clutch that Brooks locks in, really nasty angle and she holds a tight chinlock at the time too. Neither lets up the intensity either, and I liked Carlisle resorting to an eyepoke just to get a moment of control. The end is the only disappointment. Brooks climbs to the second rope to hit vicious knees to the back of Carlisle’s head (which looks great), sending Kacee into a tree of woe on the outside of the ring. Brooks lays in some shots, only for Carlisle to just hit a double-arm DDT, draped from the top rope, to win. Just felt like it came from nowhere. Overall, a good match.

Fred Yehi vs Dickie Rodz

Well, this was odd. A match not advertised that seems to being fought after the show with no audience (bar a load of wrestlers surrounding the ring like lumberjacks), with no commentary and you can even see the ring announcer in the background putting his coat on and heading off for the night. So, this seems to be a practise match, but it’s still fought with some intensity. Rodz comes off far better here, and Yehi looks terrific. They work a decent mat section before turning the heat up. Loved the headbutts that Yehi hits. Rodz hits a nice back suplex, but Yehi starts bridging out of pins and breaks a second back suplex with a big elbow to the head. Yehi gets the win with a sudden exploder, a running flatliner and the Koji Clutch for the victory. Nice little curio here.

NYWC April Reign 2017

Devon Moore vs Blake Morris

Just a swift little opener, goes barely 5 minutes. Wasn’t a great Morris performance, he seemed a bit less willing to lay it in than usual. I did like him stopping a Moore suicide dive with a swift elbow to the face. The end looks pretty good too, as Moore dives from the top into a Morris superkick for the win.

Willow Nightingale vs Sumie Sukai

I’ll be honest, I was slightly apprehensive about this match when I realised it was 17 minutes long. After all, I’d not been massively impressed by Nightingale in her match with J-Redd on the last show and, whilst I used to think Sukai was really good, it had been about 11 years since I’d last seen her in action and I wasn’t sure if she’d still be any good. As it turns out, I needn’t have worried. Sukai puts in a terrific performance, attacking Nightingale before the bell and heeling it up from that moment on. Sukai doesn’t give Willow a chance to rest with her heeling, making the most of every referee count and only breaking at 4, then immediately staying on the attack. Sukai is pretty nasty, fish-hooking Willow on a Camel Clutch, then grinding her wrist tape into the eyes. Loved her telling the referee to check for a submission, then using the distraction to bite Willow’s fingers. There is a notable size difference, with Sukai being tiny and Nightingale being well-built, so it’s impressive that Sukai makes Willow feel like an underdog. When Nightingale goes on offence, I like that she utilises her size advantage, putting on a Boston crab that looks like it’s breaking Sukai in half. Her offence is a bit weak in places, but her spinebuster looks great and her cannonball in the corner feels like it’d crush Sukai. The end is a bit weak, as we get a time limit draw, but it comes at a time where neither is really in control. It leaves it feeling pretty unresolved.

Milk Chocolate (Brandon Watts/Randy Summers) vs Private Party (Isiah Kassidy/Marq Quen)

Really like the Private Party gimmick, two VIP party boys, who take a pre-match shot and have a large bodyguard. Quen also has enjoyably ludicrous hair, and they’re very convincing in the role, posing cockily over the ropes. The bodyguard provides a distraction to give Private Party control, with Summers the face-in-peril. This is worked solidly to formula, with Milk Chocolate getting a few near tags before Watts tags in. Loved his STO on the apron to Kassidy. Great spot as Summers tries to send Kassidy over the top rope, only for Quen to block him on the apron and backdrop his partner back into the ring for a tornado DDT. Milk Chocolate win with a top rope stomp onto a draping DDT, which looks like it should finish a match.

BLK Jeez vs Rex Lawless

Perfectly decent little midcard match. Liked Jeez’s tactic of working over Lawless’s leg, trying to neutralise the size advantage. Lawless has some soft looking offence for such a big guy, though I did like his slingshot senton and his Finlay roll, so maybe he’s just good at forward flips. Jeez hits a killer looking top rope stomp that should end it, but Lawless hits a Baldo Bomb from nowhere to win.

Born & Bred (Anthony LaCerra & Jessie Vane) vs the Benson Brothers

Enjoyed what I’d seen from both teams previously, so was looking forward to this one. Born & Bred feel like a really good team, really like the double-team offence from both that felt like it flowed naturally. LaCerra hits some great rolling suplexes, they flowed nicely and looked to have real snap to them. They work heat on Brad Benson, and I really liked CJ’s work on the apron, working the crowd and motivating Brad by reminding him this was for the tag titles. CJ is a lot of fun as a hot tag, an energetic brawler. I’ve compared him to a surfer Jim Duggan previously, and I think it holds true. Loved his double chokeslam on Born and Bred. Crappy ending sees Private Party hit splashes on both teams to cause a double DQ, but the meat of this was good.

Bull James vs Scott Norton

Very short bout, quite curiously worked. Not sure if James has turned heel since winning the title, or if this was a one-time thing, but he cheapshotted Norton during a pre-match arm wrestle, then hit a top rope seated splash, before picking up Norton on the two count. Norton is obviously past his prime, but due to his size and demeanour, he still carries himself as a threat, and his offence looks nice and stiff. James also sells the damage of each blow to keep Norton looking good. That said, it’s probably for the best that this is kept short, as James hits a low blow and another top rope splash to win.

CHIKARA International Invasion of the International Invaders

Melvin Snodgrass vs Darkness Crabtree vs Ultramantis vs Jigsaw vs Sumie Sukai vs Jon Thornhill vs American Gigolo vs Mr ZERO vs Blind Rage

Opening match rumble to kill some time basically, with the winner facing Hallowicked for the Young Lions Cup later in the night. It opened with some old man comedy between Snodgrass and Crabtree, before Ultramantis hurled both guys out with gusto. There wasn’t much drama in this rumble, as most elimination attempts consisted of people hugging other wrestlers stood near the ropes, though Jigsaw took a dumb looking bump from a Sukai dropkick to be eliminated. Blind Rage, who has been the most impressive guy in early CHIKARA, gets binned almost right away, before ZERO eliminates Gigolo and Ultramantis at the same time to win. Some tension is teased between Ultramantis and ZERO at the end.

Rorschach vs Jolly Roger

Roger is basically working a party pirate gimmick and I kinda hate him. This is a pretty bland match, just passable rookie wrestling, with a few fun touches. I like Rorschach chopping Roger in the back, like a cat o’ nine tails, and you could see the Quackenbush training as he locks in a fun looking submission. There’s a terrible spot where Roger waits awkwardly on the turnbuckles, just waiting to be powerbombed, but on the whole, this was ok. Roger wins with a running unprettier, called Walk The Plank

American Gigolo vs Ultramantis

Gigolo is more experienced and there’s a noticeable upgrade in crispness from the previous match. Gigolo heels it up nicely, cheating to retain control, and I loved his seated Cattle Mutilation. Ultramantis makes a comeback and gets a two off a Skull Crushing Finale. Gigolo is still ahead and is able to regain control easily, locking in a beautiful takeover pin for the nearfall, only for Ultramantis to get a crucifix pin for the win. Short match, but fine.

Hallowicked vs Mr ZERO

This was actually pretty good. Loved the early matwork, with nice little touches like ZERO punching Hallowicked in the knee to break a body scissors. Both guys have their partners on the outside, and Hallowicked keeps provoking Ultramantis which allows Blind Rage to interfere on his behalf. Hallowicked concentrates his attack on ZERO’s head and neck, hitting a DDT and two neckbreakers, as well as teeing off with punches and kicks. ZERO gets to make a comeback after Hallowicked takes a needless chance, missing a cartwheel splash in the corner. Two uranage’s get two. Hallowicked hits a non-too-pretty looking sunset flip, before Rage drops ZERO neckfirst on the rope. This allows Hallowicked to hit a Michinoku Driver for the win. Pretty fun.

Jigsaw vs Sumie Sakai

I’m not a big intergender fan, but this was pretty well worked. Here, it actually made sense for Sakai to be able to control at the start of the match, given that she’s more experienced than a relative rookie in Jigsaw, and Jigsaw is so rail thin here that you buy her being able to knock him over without too much hassle. Jigsaw really bumps and stooges throughout the match to put over her offence too. When he does get control, Jigsaw does real asshole stuff, like standing on her face in the corner. He gets a really close two count off a Death Valley Driver after doing squats with her on his shoulders. Sukai’s comebacks come after Jigsaw gets too cocky, missing an elbow after dicking around, though he also gets screwed by the ref delaying him going to the top rope for a missed corkscrew splash. Jigsaw takes a few more massive bumps to put over Sukai’s missile dropkicks, but her moonsault only gets knees and a superkick gives Jigsaw the win. Again, not my favourite type of match, but this was ok.

The Wildcards vs Gran Akuma & Icarus

This was built up earlier after the Wildcards accepted a challenge for a match by attacking from behind, and severely working over Akuma’s leg. The result of this is that Icarus comes out alone and, though he runs wild at first, the Wildcards number advantage gives us a handicap match. Marciano hits a lovely flying knee to the head to down Icarus and the Wildcards are in total control Kingston is so confident he just hangs about in the crowd, while Marciano dominates. Eventually, Akuma comes to the ring on crutches to help out his partner, but even when Icarus gets a few hope spots (like a nice crossbody for 2), he refuses to tag in Akuma. Akuma eventually blind tags in, and gets in a few bits of offence that don’t involve his knee, causing the Wildcards to collide into each other and hitting a nice one-legged dropkick on Kingston. Eventually though, Marciano hits him with a chop block and Kingston locks in the Kondo Clutch. Just to rub it in, Marciano handcuffs Icarus to the ropes to leave Akuma no choice but to tap. More angle than match, but the Wildcards were great as heels here.

Skayde vs Mike Quackenbush

This is for Skayde’s AULL Mexican Middleweight title and is 2/3 falls. With this in mind, it’s a very brief match, with the second and third falls being particularly short. The match kicked off with some lovely matwork, with some impressive holds and counters being used, most of which I don’t know the names off.Things start to heat up as both find their way into the match. It’s Quack who hits a suicide dive to really push things along, and inside Skayde seems to be driven by this, hitting a legdrop to Quacks head and tying him up to earn the tap out. The second fall also kicks off with matwork, but takes less time to get heated as Skayde starts slamming Quackenbush to the match, seemingly to get a quick win, but Quack hits the Quackendriver for the equalising fall. The final fall sees a big dive by Skayde early on, and Quack take a nasty looking bump as American Gigolo pushes Skayde out of the way of a suicide dive. The smack as Quack hits the floor is nasty. Quack just beats the count and hits a victory roll for the title. Odd match, what we got was really good, but it seemed to be over before it really got going.

CHIKARA Tag World Grand Prix 2003

After the first CHIKARA show (previously reviewed), there's a gap of filmed shows until this one from a year later. This is a tag team tournament, with 12 teams competing. A mixed bag this one, though it does improve as the show progresses.

The Nightshift (Blind Rage & Hallowicked) vs Team Midwest (Brad Bradley & Jimmy Jacobs)

Fun opener here. Bradley is the wildcard factor of the match, being substantially bigger than the other guys. He dominates both of the Nightshift with his strength, before press slamming his partner to the outside onto their opponents. He follows with a super-impressive tope, with Jacobs holding the Nightshift in place as a nice touch. The heat, logically, is worked on Jacobs, with some nice double-teams. Particularly liked Blind Rage hitting a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and holding Jacobs in place for Hallowicked to drop an elbow. They establish Bradley as an easily distracted hot-head here, as Nightshift barely have to provoke him before he tries rushing into the ring, distracting the ref. Bradley looks great again on the hot tag, with both Nightshift members taking big flips off clotheslines. Great back suplex on both heels by Bradley, before his short-attention span costs his team the match. Hallowicked grabs his foot as he runs the ropes, prompting him to leave the ring, leaving Jacobs to get pinned following a bridging O’Connor roll from Rage. Good tag formula.

Team Toryumon (Arakencito & Skayde) vs the Superfriends (Chris Hero & Mike Quackenbush)

This one never felt like it got going in a meaningful way, and felt too exhibitiony for most of it’s time. Before the match, it’s announced that Arakencito only needs to pin Hero or Quack for a 2 count to win, and they’d need to pin him for a 4. Arakencito is a little spark plug here, and I dug his run of offence in the closing stages, hitting repeat leaping headbutts on Hero in the corner. The opening stages, however, are given up to some matwork between Quack and Arakencito, and Skayde and Hero. It’s all very smooth and enjoyably goofy (loved Skayde turning a Hero hiptoss into an abdominal stretch), but it all feels quite uncompetitive, like none of the wrestlers are really trying to win. There is an Arakencito tope to Quack that looks great, but there’s no sense of trying to stop tags or actively win the match. The end sees Arakencito try and ill-advised Tiger suplex on the much bigger hero, and Hero instead locking in the Hangman’s Clutch for the tap.

Team FIST (Gran Akuma & Icarus) vs The Conundrum (Jigsaw & Rorschach)

This wasn’t very good, which surprised me because some of these guys were really good within 12 months, but a lot of this was very awkward and sloppy. The reversals of go-behinds by Jigsaw and Icarus looked really co-operative. Akuma hits a lovely dive on Jigsaw, which I hoped would kick start things to life. Jigsaw does some nice heeling here, arguing with the ref whilst draping his knee over his opponents throat, and opportunistically slapping his opponent from the apron. There are some good moments from the heels, including a series of reverse and normal atomic drops, but there are several signs of greenness and hesitancy throughout. The faces regain control following a terrible looking twisting splash that misses by Jigsaw. Rorschach grabbing Akuma to go all the way over on a sunset flip and instead be hit with the Jig N Tonic was nice, before Jigsaw takes a stunner/crossbody combo for the loss. Patchy at best.

American Gigolo & Jolly Roger vs UltraZERO (Ultramantis & Mr ZERO)

At first this feels like a step in the right direction. Mr ZERO looks terrific in the early going, showing himself to be quite graceful for his size and showing nice touches like slapping Roger’s chest to open him up for a headlock. Gigolo and Roger seem to be working heel, and gain control of Ultramantis by Gigolo simply outwrestling him. There’s a lot of headscratching moments throughout, like Gigolo trying to whip Ultramantis towards his own corner during the heat section (and worse, Ultramantis deciding to reverse it), and there’s a few sloppy moments like Roger having to stand like an idiot and watch Ultramantis climb to the top. The faces win with a double-team neckbreaker on Roger, who gets abandoned by his partner.

Swiss Money Holding (Ares & Double C) vs Senior Assault Team (Lester Crabtree & Melvin Snodgrass)

Double C is, of course, the future Cesaro. Brief comedy squash, with the SAT being two masked lads playing old men. Double C sends Irish Whips Snodgrass, sending him off very slowly. This gives the Swiss time to destroy Crabtree in the corner and still have time to hit the onrushing Snodgrass with a double-team spinebuster/neckbreaker combo. Effective enough.

Mercedes Martinez & Sumie Sakai vs The Wildcards (Blackjack Marciano & Eddie Kingston)

Intergender tag match here, and one that does show some of the pitfalls of the genre. Mercedes is pretty tall and looks quite strong, so it’s not too much of a stretch to see her keeping up with and controlling the Wildcards, especially when Marciano is cockily underestimating her. Sakai, however, is tiny, and as talented as she is, it doesn’t look believable for the heels to bump for her. A top rope crossbody to the floor looks very safe given how easily they catch her en route to the floor, and you can see Marciano clearly protecting her on some slams. I did like the story of Kingston in particular being dismissive of Sukai, with some loud mouthed trashtalk, before Sukai gives him comeuppance, but some timing issues mean Kingston is on his feet looking like an idiot on more than one occasion before getting downed with a missile dropkick. Kingston takes slow looking ranas from both women, before Sakai accidentally dropkicks her partner. This allows Marciano to roll up Sakai for the victory. I do like Sakai, I’ve seen her have very good matches with other women, but even in those matches she looked small, so against two men she looked positively tiny, and her offence didn’t look tough enough to overcome that.

The Nightshift vs Team FIST

On the retrospective commentary on the first CHIKARA show, Mike Quackenbush revealed that Blind Rage had some wrestling experience before coming to learn in CHIKARA, and boy does it show. He’s really on here, love the sequence where he hits a necksnap on Akuma, slaps Icarus in the face then holds a chinlock on Akuma whist staring daggers at Icarus on the apron, all in one slick sequence. Everything looks a level above the last FIST match, as the Nighshift are both more experienced than the Conundrum. Icarus looks really good on the hot tag, nicely fired up, though he soon falls prey to a huge crucifix bomb by Rage. The end sees Hallowicked hitting a Michinoku Driver near the ropes, with Rage holding onto a leg to guarantee victory. This was fun

Swiss Money Holding vs The Superfriends

This was a whole heap of fun, and despite going 30 minutes, didn’t feel overlong or padded out. All four guys exchange some really nice mat sequences at the start, including Double C falling victim to the Sword in the Stone from Quackenbush. There’s a fun early spot where Ares twice fakes getting slapped in the face off a rope break by Quack, so on the third time, Quack does just slap him. Things heat up with a dive series, with a Quack flip dive followed by a Double C tope and a twisting dive from Hero. This takes us to the second stage of the match, where SMH work a heat section on Quack, including a great STO/Side Russian legsweep double team. After a long heat period on Quack, Hero then becomes face-in-peril, and this is even better. They pepper in enough hope spots to keep it interesting, but you get little details like Hero ending up in the wrong corner to prolong the heat. Things break down and the SMH spinebuster/neckbreaker only gets two. Hero’s Welcome on Ares gets 2. Hero locks in the Hangman’s Clutch on Ares as Double C locks a chickenwing on Quack and it’s a race to see who taps first…only for the bell to go for the 30 min time limit. Dig the fact they didn’t do any time announcements so as not to telegraph the result.

The Wildcards vs UltraZERO

They were always going to struggle to follow that, being two teams of rookies, but this was also really good. Wildcards jumped their opponents at the bell, which is a sensible change of pace from the previous match. The Wildcards do nothing fancy in this match, they’re just dirty cheating heels, and this also helps their opponents stand out. They concentrate an assault on Mr ZERO’s leg, and I love all the cheating from the apron behind the ref’s back, and Kingston trashtalking to the other corner whilst holding a Boston crab is great. Hot tag is made, and even when all four guys are in the ring and it breaks down, Mr ZERO still sells the legs, which I appreciate. Lovely sequence sees Marciano block the Praying Mantis bomb with a Northern Lights suplex, which Ultramantis holds onto and hits the Praying Mantis bomb second time round. It ends disappointingly though, as Ultramantis hits a really shit looking top rope…suplex? Kingston looks legitimately angry at his landing and ZERO awkwardly covers for the win. Until then, this was good.

UltraZERO vs The Nightshift

This is the tournament final, filmed on another day, but they’ve helpfully added it to this show. UltraZERO control this to start, with Ultramantis frustrating Hallowicked with armdrags, and I dug Mr ZERO holding an abdominal stretch on Hallowicked whilst Ultramantis dropkicked him, with Hallowicked having to eat the full impact. Blind Rage’s offensive run on Ultramantis is really good looking, love the big back suplex and a nice Fujiwara armbar. Rage also has nice little touches like rubbing his head after giving a headbutt, putting over how much thrust he put into it. ZERO tags in, and both Nighshift members take hilarious flip bumps from Mr ZERO clotheslines. Odd moment as Ultramantis goes for the Praying Mantis bomb on Rage, and Hallowicked runs at him but elects not to stop it, instead breaking up the pin on a two count. Hallowicked plants Ultramantis with a top rope brainbuster, and this gets the win and the tournament for the Nightshift.