CHIKARA Tag World Grand Prix 2005 Night 1

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.

PWG Guitarmaggedon 2005

Arrogance vs Hook Bomberry & Topgun Talwar
Not a great opener. The Arrogance team of Scott Lost and Chris Bosh seem pretty good, whilst Talwar is pretty much a comedy act (shown by his ludicrous sell of a leg bite). That said, some of the Talwar/Bomberry double teaming looks pretty good. Wisely, the heels soon take over on Bomberry after Bosh knees him in the back running the ropes. I say wisely, because given a solid spell on offence, Arrogance look great. Bosh especially impresses, with both some novel moves (liked the clothesline into the backbreaker) and some dickishness (opening up his ring cloves to rub the roughest part into the head of Bomberry).Bomberry gets the hot-tag following a decent enzuigiri, and Talwar does come in with a fun move where he knocks Bosh down in his own corner, then slingshots Lost from outside the ring onto his own partner. Bosh takes a huge spill to the floor, before Talwar and Bomberry hit stereo dives to the floor. The match drags a little more, before Arrogance hit a Hart Attack into a backbreaker on Bomberry, before Lost locks in a sharpshooter for the win.

Puma vs the Human Tornado vs Davey Richards
This is an elimination 3-way. Have to say, Puma looks pretty badass here in plain black flared tights. He also acts like a surly dickhead during the match, which meshes nicely with Tornado’s shtick. So one hand you get Puma hanging Tornado in a tree of woe, charging the corner and stopping to punch Tornado in the balls, on the other hand you get Tornado pimpslapping Richards and hitting him in the corner with offence coming from dance moves. In fact, it’s the presence of Richards that brings the match down: for while he does nothing wrong, he gets in the way of seeing what could be a fun Puma/Tornado match. Tornado comes close to taking himself out of the match at one point, missing Richards on a tope and landing in a heap of chairs. Puma and Richards battle each other exclusively to buy Tornado some time following that. Tornado recovers pretty quickly, but gets caught in a Richards powerbomb for 2. A Richards Shooting Star also only gets two. Puma and Richards then work a series of pinfalls and reversals, which ends with Puma getting a bridge for the three. Puma is left with the still-groggy Tornado, and Richards comes back to steal Puma’s mask, allowing Tornado to hit a Tornado DDT for two. However, Puma blocks a corner charge and nails a 450 splash for the win. They really put Puma over strong here, and he looked the best out of the three guys.

Alex Shelley vs Joey Ryan
Ryan is introduced as the “Technical Wizard”, so naturally Shelley totally schools him on the mat from the get-go. Shelley is working face, and throws in some wonderfully wankerish moves, grabbing Ryan in a wristlock to clap his hand, then manipulating Ryan’s fingers so he’s flipping himself the bird. After a few minutes of humiliation, Ryan finally gets an advantage by kicking the ropes into Shelley’s groin on a rope break, but this merely fires Shelley up more, wrapping Ryan up like a pretzel. I love the dynamic of Shelley being so arrogant on the mat as a face, doing some push-ups while having Ryan trapped in a headscissors. The fans are really into laughing at Ryan, to the extent that even a small child at ringside gives him shit (earning the child a chant). Ryan finally gets on offence by avoiding a Shelley charge into the ringpost, giving Ryan an opening to work over Shelley’s shoulder, hitting a nasty hammerlock slam on the floor before bringing him back in for a Divorce Court. Ryan dominates for a good spell and Shelley’s selling is terrific, constantly shaking his hand to get feeling back and frantically trying to keep Ryan away from his injury. Shelley finally makes his comeback and gets two from a Flatliner. Shelley goes back to the mat with a few pinfall attempts, but gets caught up when trying La Majistral as Ryan grabs the ropes and holds on for a controversial win. Great match, really well structured and it kept both men looking strong.

Aerial Express vs Los Luchas
Man, the opening section here is so fluid, all reversals and counters. Scorpio Sky (of the Aerial Express) is especially impressive, countering out of a wristlock beautifully. Sky hits Phoenix Star with a swank looking backbreaker out of the corner. Star is equally as impressive, levelling Quicksilver with a nice spinning German suplex. Los Luchas display some excellent team work. One double team move is fantastic: Zokre gets Quicksilver in a surfboard, Phoenix Star hoists Silver on his shoulders out of the surfboard and then drops him face first on Zokre’s knees. I also loved Zokre elevating Quicksilver in the air to be caught by a huge Phoenix Star spear. Really, this match shows why tag team wrestling is such fun. Though not booked to be spectacular, the fact that these are two actual tag teams who know how to work effectively with their partners, means that they were able to work a totally enjoyable ten-minute match. In the end, the Aerial Express reign supreme, isolating Star by sending Zokre outside, and hitting a choice missile dropkick into a piledriver on Star for the win.

AJ Styles vs James Gibson
This is for AJ’s PWG title, but AJ, as reigning NWA champion, offers to put both belts on the line, which pretty much telegraphs the result. AJ is the bigger of the two men, and uses his size advantage to bully Gibson a bit, and is able to use his relative power to back suplex Gibson out of a headlock. AJ starts working over the arm of Gibson, and quite nastily wrenches Gibson’s arm into the mat. He also hits a lovely Northern Lights suplex onto a hammerlock. However, AJ gets a bit flashy, which costs him, getting rammed chest first on the apron following a failed baseball slide, then getting caught on an attempted tilt-a-whirl which Gibson turns into a gutbuster. The dynamic now switches, with AJ being forced to fight from underneath, whilst Gibson wears him down with headlocks and headscissors. AJ manages to come back into it following a Pele and, whilst Gibson manages to block a Styles Clash by grabbing the ropes, AJ instead decides to give him a brainbuster on the apron. A Spiral Tap attempt is missed, and Gibson plants Styles with a huge German suplex for two. We then go into a swanky ending sequence, as AJ reverses a Trailer Hitch attempt into a rana, then from that into a bridging pin, then from that into the Clash for the win. Really enjoyable match.

Christopher Daniels vs El Generico
This is for the TNA X Division title, which once again telegraphs our winner. Daniels slaps away an attempted handshake and gives the ref some shit in the opening minutes to establish his heel credentials. Daniels dominates Generico on the mat to start, including locking in a full Nelson (which Daniels yells is a Masterlock). Generico gets in a bit of offence, including a nice standing moonsault, but Daniels is quick to regain control, taking out Generico’s legs on an attempted springboard armdrag, which sends him crotch-first to the ropes. Daniels continues to show his superiority, as they really mark out Generico as the underdog here with Daniels again wearing him out on the mat. However, as Daniels carries him to the top rope, Generico gets a break, slipping free and nailing him with a 2nd-rope powerbomb for two. Generico sends Daniels out and hits a spectacular twisting tope. Back in, Generico hits a good looking tornado DDT and levels Daniels with a Yakuza kick in the corner. Daniels is deadweight, but turns out to be playing possum, meaning a second attempt misses, giving Daniels the chance to hit the BME for the win. Pretty fun, told a good story, but lacking that certain something to make it really good.

Super Dragon & Disco Machine vs Excalibur & Kevin Steen
Dragon, Disco and Excalibur are all former members of SBS, before Excalibur turned heel due to what he perceived as the ego of Super Dragon. This is a war from the get-go, with both teams on the attack. Excalibur and Dragon especially exchange some harsh blows. Disco Machine becomes face-in-peril pretty early on, after Steen catches him in the corner, and the Steen/Excalibur team really start going to work on him. Disco tries to come back with a cannonball from the ring apron, but Excalibur moves, letting Disco splat on the floor with a sickening thud. A Super Dragon suicide dive on Excalibur is stopped by a Steen boot, and the heels position Dragon on the apron to allow Steen to use him as a launching pad to moonsault onto the still-prone Disco. Back inside, it’s like a wrestling Passion of the Christ, with the heels giving Disco an absolute kicking. A monster Excalibur German suplex gets two. Disco finally gets a burst of offence, hitting Steen with a sick tornado DDT from inside the ring all the way to the ring apron! He makes the hot tag to Dragon, who wails away on Excalibur, hitting a huge powerbomb into an STF. However, Dragon tags Disco back in to allow him to hit a toprope stomp on Excalibur whilst he’s prone on Disco’s knees. The problem is that Disco is still weary from his beating and is soon beaten down again, massacred by a Steen powerbomb. Excalibur and Steen hit a diving headbutt and frogsplash respectively for two. Disco blocks an Excalibur Tiger Driver and nails a chokeslam, but elects not to make the tag and is soon beaten down yet again by Steen, who levels him with a sick Fisherman’s Buster. Disco again elects not to go for the tag after downing Excalibur with a DDT, so Dragon comes in, slaps him and drags him to their corner for a tag. Dragon is a house of fire, hitting a kerbstomp on Excalibur, a roaring elbow to Steen before nailing Excalibur with the Psycho Driver, only for Disco to turn heel by kicking him in the head. Disco nails him with a chokebreaker, before feeding him to Steen for two package piledrivers for the win. Awesome battle, with a sensible heel turn as Disco tries and fails to get the job done, but gets annoyed with Dragon for doubting him. A whole heap of brutal fun.