Preshow Notes:
Attendance around 525. Entranceway is swank, I’ll attempt to get a picture at intermission. The merch tables are stacked to the high heavens with things from every single person. You want a JOB Squad shirt? Should've been here. The front row fans get the distinct honor of having padded chairs, a true sign of luxury. Brain Damage’s flight is currently delayed. Iceberg will not be here; his replacement will be selected at the appropriate time.
Arik Cannon, Ryan Cruz & Darin Corbin (The F1RST Family) vs. Austin Aries, Ryan Drago & Tony Kozina (Team EPIC WAR):
Aries gets a huge pop, and is playing babyface a bit too much early on. So glad to see F1RST back in CHIKARA! Drago tags himself in before the match starts, some slight dissent early for EPIC WAR. Aries does the Tatanka babyface comeback on Cannon early to a roaring response from all 30 people that actually get the joke. A lot of tension between Drago and Aries, with Drago tagging himself in at more inopportune times. Small aside - Drago has certain body features that match American Balloon, and not in a good way. NSE get it going with a dive from Corbin and an accompanied one from Cruz that was cut off by Aries. The F1RST Family adance in 11:42 following a Cruz Control on Drago. Awesome match, crowd is PUMPED. Great opener.
2. King of Trios 2009 ~ Opening Round: El Generico, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson [Team PWG] vs. Amasis, Ophidian & Escorpion Egipcio [The Osirian Portal]: Team PWG’s music is a best of both worlds compromise as “Olé” rolls right into “Mmmbop”. Awesome. Generico and Amasis lead off, the Funky Pharoh dancing his way out of the chain holds until Generico comes back with some moves of his own. Egipcio and…one of the Young Bucks (I’ll get torn a new one for that) hit some lucha stuff, making way for Ophidian and the other Young Buck (I feel so bad right now!) to trade off lucha of their own after a tag. Really cool stuff, crowd eats it up as they reaaaally lay into each other with some chops. Running through the various combinations of both squads now as the Bucks start to hit some sweet double teams on Amasis. PWG works Amasis over huge early, stringing together some cool stuff on him. Egipcio gets in and hits some killer power stuff, including turning Generico inside out with a clothesline. Portal gets their upper hand working over one of the Bucks until Generico gets the big tag. Quite the little battle between him and Escorpion. Match is starting to go bonkers, dives by the Bucks as the crowd rallies behind Generico. Twin 450’s by the Portal on the Bucks for 2!!! The Portal advance in 16 and change after Ophidian wraps up Generico for the pin. Alan4L’s heart is bleeding. “PLEASE COME BACK!” for the Young Bucks.
Claudio Castagnoli, Dave Taylor & Bryan Danielson (Team Uppercut) vs. Brodie Lee, Eddie Kingston & Grizzly Redwood (The Roughnecks):
No “Final Countdown”, but you have never seen a crowd get more hyped up for a potential showdown than Kingston and Danielson starting off…only for King to tag in Grizzly. small poseoff of physiques between Danielson and Grizz, with King showing off his chiseled body from the corner. Dragon toys around with his former student early, mocking his stature. Dragon toys around with his former student early, mocking his stature by overselling every big man spot from Grizzly in comedic fashion. Kingston comes in against Danielson to a “YOU’RE GONNA GET YOUR FLIPPIN’ HEAD KICKED IN” chant. Kingston gets bounced around in a circle of uppercuts from all three tecnicos. Not the match you would’ve expected to be lighthearted comedy early, but it’s soooo working. Things get a little more serious as Brodie powers Danielson, but Dave Taylor gets in and steps it up with some good chain wrestling, looking like he’s having the time of his life out there. Grizzly managed to take advantage of the concept of lucha tags by somehow getting Uppercut members to armdrag each other in confusion, but they reconcile. Dave Taylor on the top rope?!?! His teammates convince him to come down and just lay Roughnecks out with more uppercuts. The Roughnecks corner Danielson once again and start to work him over. Both teams brawl for a while…BIG SPIN ON GRIZZLY. Crowd is on their feet at 50…and it’s going. This crowd can’t count. It was 79-ish, not 100. Team Uppercut advances in 20:38 after Claudio’s Biggest Spin on Grizzly. INCREDIBLY fun.
Marshe Rockett, Trauma & Willie Richardson (Da Soul Touchaz) vs. Pinkie Sanchez, Greg Excellent & Beef Wellington (Team CZW):
Team CZW has Rickroll’d the crowd with their entrance music. Pinkie and Marshe kick this one off, but then Beef and Willie are tagged in…oh my god, Beef just got on the mic and dropped the first verse of “Ice Ice Baby”. Kind of incredible. Trauma and Greg now…and we are now dancing to “Apache”! Soul Touchaz are down to business now with a Big Willie flying elbow drop and some double teaming with him and M-80. Some triple team stuff from the CZW squad in return with plenty of Pinkie’s patented rear end action. Marshe with a HUUUUGE dive and…OH GOD, BIG WILLIE WITH A BIGGER DIVE OVER THE TOP ON EVERYONE. Beef hits the Ass Punch on Trauma and tries to get him up for E. Coli…but Trauma has none of it and lays him out with a DVD. Pinkie takes out Trauma and we’re hitting finishers galore! Da Soul Touchaz move onto night two in 14:56 when Willie drops Da Bomb on Beef. This was really, really fun stuff all around, maybe the most all around fun match so far.
Gran Akuma, Icarus & Chuck Taylor (Team F.I.S.T.) vs. Necro Butcher, Toby Klein & Brain Damage (Death Match Kings):
F.I.S.T. has perfectly matching purple tights, and Brain Damage is here! After a few seconds of control the Kings take it out into an all out brawl, with Necro KILLING Icarus and Akuma. Icarus went for a tornado DDT on Necro but ol’ Necro put him on his feet and punched dude in the face. AKUMA HAS CHAIRS AND HAS CHALLENGED NECRO TO A PUNCHOUT. Akuma kick in the head is countered by multiple Necro punches and a suplex while Akuma is still in the chair. F.I.S.T. takes over and gets the heat on Necro…chain of submissions by everyone but Brain Damage, who doesn’t know submissions but straight punched Icarus in the face to break it all up. DMK are killing everyone in F.I.S.T. with strikes, but it’s not enough to keep Team F.I.S.T. from advancing in 12 minutes when Chuck lays out Toby with an Awful Waffle of doom. “Death Match Kings!” chant to send out the losing team.
Jimmy “Equinox” Olsen, Lince Dorado & Helios (The Future is Now) vs. Kota Ibushi, KUDO & Michael Nakazawa (Team DDT):
Lince has new boots, do not fear, Internet. He starts it off with Michael, slipping all over until Lince wipes him dry. Ibushi gets in and tears it up…and yeah, words cannot describe DDT love right now. Michael lined up Equinox and Helios together on the mat at one point, poured oil all over them…then ran, did a double stomp on Equinox, then slipped into a senton on Helios. Really fast paced stuff here, hard to keep up. Really fast paced stuff here, hard to keep up. Triple german suplexes by Future is Now. Ibushi moonsault out of nowhere!!!! Michael went for the mist but Equinox chopped his throat, allowing Michael to choke on it. The Future is Now advance when Equinox hits the CHIKARA Special on Michael in 17-ish. Crowd booed the DDT loss big time.
Mike Quackenbush, Jorge “Skayde” Rivera & Johnny Saint (The Masters of a Thousand Holds) vs. Delirious, Hallowicked & Frightmare (Incoherence):
Skayde and Frightmare open it up, a good chance to see what the young rookie is made of. Skayde stretched him out but Frightmare hit a nifty little dive. Hallowicked and Quack square off and go even with one another in some killer stuff, then Saint and Delirious do some chain wrestling. A lot of really neat technical stuff all around, Johnny Saint catches Delirious in some sort of wacky clutch in 16:43, moving the Masters of a Thousand Holds. The Masters of a Thousand Holds vs Team Uppercut tomorrow night!
Vin Gerard, STIGMA & Colin Delaney (The UnStable) vs. Al Snow, D"LO F'N BROWN & Glacier (The Cold Front):
All members of The UnStable have their trendy heel mustaches in tact. Glacier and Al Snow have separate entrances, complete with “WHAT DOES EVERYBODY WAAAAANT?!” music. “HEAD!” and “WELCOME BACK!” chants galore for Snow. Third partner…Al Snow offers Head, Chikarason won’t allow it. Avatar? Snow says no. Shinobi? Snow says to shut up. Leif Cassidy? Al Snow almost takes out Louden, Bryce and Chikarason. The Amazing Red? He’s not here! Green Ant? He’s not here! D’Lo Brown? HE’S HERE! D’LO! Crowd chants “YOU GOT FIRED!” at Colin, D’Lo kinda asks the crowd to hush jokingly. Fun stuff, D’Lo and Snow are having one hell of a time and looking good in the process. UnStable gang up on Al Snow, all three members putting it to him in the biggest way. All three members of the UnStable hit the Lo Down on Snow, with STIGMA doing an especially good head wag. D’Lo hits the Sky High on Colin, but Colin backslides D’Lo in 26 minutes to move the UnStable on to tomorrow night. Lo Down on Colin after the match to send the fans home happy.
FUCK YES!!!!!!
