Chikara King of Trios Tournament
Philadelphia, Pa. at The Arena
Report courtesy of Brian Streleckis of PWChronicle.com

While waiting in line outside, somebody seemed to have fainted (I didn’t see exactly what happened). He later woke up and was talking, but he still left in an ambulance. The show started a maybe 13 minutes late because they had to replace the canvas with a new one (courtesy of CZW, not the only thing they contributed), but everything was smooth sailing from there.

1. Brodie Lee defeated Grizzly Redwood with his big boot. Brodie came out (and Gavin Loudspeaker made well sure he was clear of him) and said he was tired of getting disrespected, and he issued a challenge to any of the “dudes” backstage. Out came his former partner Grizzly, suspender-clad by shirtless, and looking for revenge for getting booted out of the team in October. Pretty one-sided, though Grizzly still fought back and hit a dive on Brodie on the outside. A top rope maneuver back inside by Grizzly was turned into a Black Hole Slam by Brodie, then he put the fork in him. (3:09)

2. King of Trios Quarter-Finals: Team Big Japan defeated The Future is Now when Daisuke Sekimoto countered a sky twister attempt by Helios into a German suplex. A very cool match, especially benefiting Sekimoto. TFIN didn’t quite have the strategy of Mike Quackenbush on the first night and just tried to counter the power with their agility, but it largely lead to Jimmy Olsen getting beat down.

Two big moments highlighted the match. Kankuro Hoshino (I think) was attempting to give a back superplex to Helios, Jigsaw (kind of loopy from a spot earlier) came in to try to pull Hoshino off the turnbuckle, but then Sekimoto came in, German suplexing Jigsaw and in turn causing the back superplex in an insane spot. A little later, Sekimoto took a flurry of moves, including one of Olsen’s punches and Helios’ 630, but still kicked out. Just plain fun with another semi-surprising end, but everyone was happy to see the Big Japan crew move on. (13:35)

3. Rey de Voladores 4-way Eliminator: Matt Cross defeated Flip Kendrick and Malachi Jackson and Amasis to advance. I spoke to Cross (making his Chikara debut) at the Fan Conclave in the afternoon. Very nice guy (as were all the other guys I met), and he mentioned how he got out of Europe just in time before the volcano closed down air travel a day or so later. The match here was just okay, with a lot of flips of little significance. Cross, sporting a Misfits-like tuft of hair and some fingers in a splint, heeled it up a bit.

He did his fake out dive where he rebounds his shoulders off the ropes, then came back a little later with a sky twister to the outside. Cross hit Jackson with a shooting star press and Amasis hit Kendrick with a 450, causing both of those guys to be eliminated simultaneously at a little over 7 minutes. Then Amasis, with the crowd behind him with “Funky Pharaoh,” wrestled Cross a little longer. Cross hit a couple more signature moves, including a double stomp to the back, then he finished things off with a moonsault double stomp and a standing shooting star press. (9:49)

4. King of Trios Quarter-Finals: Claudio Castagnoli and Ares and Tursas defeated Team Perros del Mal when Tursas killed Cuije with a 747 Splash. This match was exactly what it should have been and I enjoyed it for that. El Oriental fought off Claudio and Ares with some good lucha exchanges. Alebrije, the biggest man on his team, squared off with Tursas but was unsuccessful taking him down. We of course saw Cuije come in and attempt to stand up for his team (and he was still beloved here), but he just kept getting booted down.

Alebrije and Cuije faked out a tandem dive, rolling back into a pose. Cuije and Tursas indeed squared off, leading to Tursas pressing the little guy over his head and threatening to drop him on the floor, but instead he set him down, booted him again, and brought his girth down upon him.

Cuije was carried to the back by the ringside doctor. Oriental and Alebrije were left alone in the ring with Cuije’s boots, and Alebrije acted very sad. Oriental then thanked the crowd and gave a shout-out to Chikara and Mexico, and the crowd thanked him back with the “Lucha Libre” chant. Then came intermission.

5. Christopher Daniels defeated Hallowicked with the Best Moonsault Ever. Unannounced match time! Daniels’ old “Disposable Teens” entrance needs to be cleaned up for Chikara. He played the heel against the home player, taking a powder outside the ring two times early on when Hallowicked got the better of him. He came back and worked over Hallowicked, including with a quebrada. Nice back-and-forth action, including the Angels’ Wings getting blocked. Hallowicked looked to be going for a suplex or the Graveyard Smash, but Daniels grabbed the ref and pulled him into Hallowicked’s chest. Then he hit the urinage to set up his chant-along finisher. Good solid stuff from these two. (13:32)

6. King of Trios Quarter-Finals: Team Osaka Pro defeated F.I.S.T. when Tadasuke countered Chuck Taylor’s Awful Waffle attempt into a cradle with a handful of tights. Maybe my favorite match on the show, and a more high-profile match for the Osaka Pro crew really won them over with everyone. Atsushi Kotoge, the most agile guy on his team, ran the ropes really fast (shades of Masato Yoshino) and pulled off a few cool moves, including a tope that sent him over the guardrail and a Spanish Fly off the top much later.

Daisuke Harada liked his suplexes and hit the hiptoss into the knee again for a nearfall. F.I.S.T. hit the kick/lung-blower combo that got them their first round win, but that was only a nearfall this time. Lots of cool exchanges and some good Kotoge/Harada double-teams, and by the end, despite the shady finish, fans were chanting, “Osaka Pro” and, “That Was Awesome!” (14:27)

7. Rey de Voladores 4-way Eliminator: Ophidian defeated Rich Swann and Cheech Hernandez and Frightmare to advance. Swann is a CZW regular and as such got a strong reaction from a section of the crowd. He looked quite impressive, including when he and the other three hit dives to the floor early. Swann went for a standing 450 on Ophidian, but Ophidian got the knees up, and then Frightmare gave him the double knees moonsault at around the 4 minute mark. Cheech attempted to hit his version of GTS when he pulled his kneepad down, but never got around to it with all of the stuff happening.

Ophidian’s crazy escapes and arm drags eventually lead to him pulling off what looked like the Deja Vu headscissors on Cheech into a reverse rolling prawn hold to eliminate him. Ophidian and Frightmare were left alone and wrestled for maybe another eight minutes, all very good. Fans were chanting for both guys. They each survived the moves the other guy did to score an elimination, and they fought on the outside for a bit. It finally ended when Ophidian hit Frightmare with the Egyptian Destroyer (flipping piledriver off the top). It wasn’t as mind-blowing as when Kota Ibushi and El Generico met last year, but it was still very satisfying considering how impressive both guys have been in their runs thus far. (15:52)

8. King of Trios Quarter-Finals: The Colony defeated Tim Donst and Lince Dorado and Pinkie “Pink Ant” Sanchez when Soldier Ant made Donst tap out to the Chikara Special. The Colony had shiny new outfits, and Pinkie was sporting a homemade Pink Ant shirt. The match started with a dive to the floor by the Colony and some brawling on the floor that gave the BDK team the upper hand. I think it was Green Ant who was thrown into the ring post. These first few minutes back in the ring were a little rough as the heels had the advantage, and they also spent a few minutes alone in the ring posing. Green Ant came into the ring after a few minutes of this and fought back as best he could while still woozy.

I don’t think there were any genuine tags, just guys coming in one or two at a time to fight, but it did get better and mighty dramatic as it went along. Pinkie had Green Ant in the inverted Chikara Special, but it was broken up. Plenty of nearfalls here and there, including a top rope fireman’s carry by Donst. Fire Ant took out Pinkie with a Beach Break on the edge of the apron. Shortly after this, Soldier got Donst alone to lock in the special, and he may have even avoided the kicking counter long enough for the tap out ring. This got over like gangbusters as the Colony scored Chikara’s first decisive victory over BDK. Jakob Hammermeier on the outside threw a fit and threw his jacket down in anger, while Soldier celebrated Donst’s Young Lions Cup. Good match, GREAT ending. (18:51)

Overall: More fun stuff and variety as usual, some of it improving upon things from last night. The show ended before 11 PM despite starting late and moved at a pretty brisk pace, so no harm in that. Certainly the longest day when combined with the Fan Conclave in the afternoon, but it’s always an experience. Sunday, the Semi-Finals of King of Trios will be Claudio’s team vs. Team Big Japan and The Colony vs. Team Osaka Pro, leading to the Finals. Plus, Christopher Daniels vs. Eddie Kingston, Matt Cross vs. Ophidian in the Rey de Voladores finals, the annual Tag Team Gauntlet, and at least two other matches.

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