4.25.2020
Championship Rundown
Grand Champion: Dasher Hatfield
Campeones de Parejas: Solo Darling & Willow Nightingale
Young Lions Cup Champion: TBD
Commentary is provided by Jason Worthington and Sidney Bakabella.
The episode opens with a replay from Episode 2, where Dasher Hatfield and Sidney Bakabella, his new legal advisor, establish the Sword of Damocles amendment when it comes to Grand Championship defenses: as long as Dasher is Grand Champion, every Grand championship match going forward will be a loser leaves CHIKARA match. You must still earn three points to challenge for the title, but any challenger now must also put their CHIKARA career on the line (as does Dasher each time he defends the title.) Bakabella states that CHIKARA just got a lot more interesting.
The Red Queen & One-Eyed Jack vs. Larry Sampson & Heidi Lee Morgan
This is the debut for both the Queen and Jack. After absorbing a punch from Sampson, Jack delivers a step-up knee. Queen follows with her own knee, then with Jack hits a diving neckbreaker/Samoan Drop combo. Morgan breaks up the pin. Jack absorbs her punches too, then gives her an elevated reverse DDT across his knee. The Queen sweeps her out of the ring. Jack and Queen pummel Sampson with clotheslines, with Jack turning him inside out. Jack and Queen then hit a variation of the “Night Falls” Hallowicked and Icarus used to do, but in this instance, it’s from a Death Valley Driver starting position and Queen does a 450 splash onto Sampson! This amazing move, known as “Cashing Out”, earns Jack and Queen the win at 2:33. This was a pitch perfect debut for Jack and Queen, with a nice showcase of their offene and one of the coolest tag team finishes today. **
Scott Holladay runs down some of the teams with one point towards a Campeones de Parejas opportunity. Thos teams include: The Red Queen and One-Eyed Jack, The Spoiler and Sonny Defarge, Dasher Hatfeild and Molly McCoy, and F.I.S.T. of Icarus and Travis Huckabee. Huckabee says that F.I.S.T. is a CHIKARA dynasty and that no other team on the roster compares to them. Icarus says they will annihilate any team that gets in their way and leave scorched Earth en route to the Campeones de Parejas. We then hear from the Campeones de Parejas themselves. Willow Nightingale knows that the stable of F.I.S.T. have held the Campeones de Parejas on four separate occasions over the course of CHIKARA’s history, but that is simply history. Solo says they aren’t the Campeones now. She dares F.I.S.T. to get a third point and challenge them, because they’re ready. We then hear from the Creatures of the Deep, Hermit Crab and Cajun Crawdad. Crab says he will use his pincers to claw to the top of the tag team division, and Crawdad says they will leave the tag team roster too salty. Both wish Merlok was with them.
The next match is contested under Crucible rules: no ropes, 2:00 time limit, and you can only win by submission, knockout, or if your opponent exits the ring (ring out) whether on their own or by circumstance.
Matt Makowski {TC} vs. Pete Christy
Makowski gets in a high kick to start. He then grabs Christy’s arm to avoid a German suplex. He goes for a cross armbreaker, but when Christy locks his arms to prevent it, Makowski converts to a rear-naked choke.Christy is able to escape. A high kick gets him the knockout win at 1:30. Makowski really should have been able to gobble Christy up more quickly. *
We get words from The Spoiler regarding the masked man who has been around his matches the past few weeks. Spoiler denies the masked man’s claim that he is a fraud; he is the real Spoiler, and he will kick the butts of him and all his buddies.
Sam Laterna brings us some words from some of the Young Lions Cup competitors. Xavier Faraday talks about the baggage all of his opponents have going into their match. He has no weight holding him down – he will rise to the top, and take home the Cup. We then hear from Donna Rama who will make her CHIKARA debut next week. She actually hopes her opponents judge and underestimate her. She looks forward to surprising them and everyone else by dismantling her opponents. Laterna then introduces us to Cabana Man Dan (not a competitor in the Young Lions Cup.) He believes he and CHIKARA are a perfect combo, like peanut butter and jellyfish. He doesn’t want to be a splash in the pan – he wants to dig his toes deep into the sands of CHIKARA. Together, they will shake the coconut tree, and share the fruits of their labor. CMD also makes his CHIKARA debut next week.
Lucas Calhoun vs. Tunku Amir {TC}
“National Pro Wrestling Day 2020” – Philadelphia, PA – 2.8.2020
We are reminded that Calhoun defeated Kobald on Episode 2. Amir controlled a significant chunk of the match at first. Calhoun stopped him with a uranage before giving him an exploder suplex into the corner. Calhoun caught Amir charging in a Cobra Twist to pin him at 4:39. This was a very oddly structured match and these two didn’t have the best chemistry with one another. Calhoun moving one step closer to a Grand Championship match is positive. He now has two points *
A montage of Dasher Hatfield lifting weights is this week’s Likabro ad – because bodybuilding is related to professional wrestling! Then, the announcement of the return of the Arcade Hotline!
We then hear from the masked man who has been antagonizing the Spoiler. He knows for sure the Spoiler isn’t the genuine article, as he’s wrestled the real Spoiler himself, and is wondering if anybody else even cares, or if they are going to do anything about it. We then are treated to a Wrestle Factory moment with Travis Huckabee regarding good form when it comes to neck bridges.
Young Lions Cup XVI Quarter-Final Elimination Match
Frey Nassar {TC} vs. Molly McCoy vs. Ricky South vs. Xavier Faraday
“Young Lions Cup XVI” – Philadelphia, PA – 1.18.2020
Last year, Ricky South made it to the semi-finals in the Young Lions Cup tournament, and is the first tournament appearance for the other three individuals. An interesting aspect of this match is that Ricky South had an advantage simply by being a neutral participant amongst the issues between Faraday and Nassar, and having no issue with McCoy. While McCoy and Nassar took turns pummeling Faraday, Faraday was able to side step a koppu kick from McCoy after she dropped him out of a Gory Special. Faraday sat down on McCoy’s upper body and pulled back her left leg to eliminate her with a pin at 6:57. As South and Nassar were fighting, Faraday jumped in and bicycle kicked Nassar as South held him in a wheelbarrow position. Faraday superkicked South before pinning and eliminating Nassar at 8:12, giving the “Forged” a nice one-up on the Crucible. South stopped Faraday’s momentum with an inverted Northern Lights suplex, then drilled him with a piledriver to win the match via pinfall at 8:53. Given both his overall wrestling experience and YLC tournament experience, it would stand to reason that South would come out on top, especially given how wise he was to stay out of the affairs of others for most of the match. Molly was my pick to win this whole thing, and even though she lost, her performance was very impressive. The rivalry between the Crucible and Forged getting some spotlight during the tournament on top of giving Faraday two big pinfall wins was a plus as well. More good stuff out of the relative rookies. **¾
Sam Laterna brings us the Cibernetico Report where the team captains each add three people to their teams. Mike Quackenbush adds to his team Forged of Xavier Faraday, Joshua Wells, and JoSue Ibañez, while Ophidian counters with Matt Makowski, Tunku Amir, and E.M. DeMorest.
Boomer Hatfield vs. Sonny Defarge has also been added to the Cibernetico card. Defarge says it seems like Dasher doesn’t want Boomer in his family anymore, and Sonny will assist Dasher in making that a reality. He also offers a new surname for Boomer, Platmeal, originally offering it royalty free but then immediately takes that back and says each time it is used, 38 cents will be given to Sonny Defarge LLC.
Speaking of Boomer Hatfield, our main event sees him in tag team action.
Boomer Hatfield & ZERO vs. Icarus {F} & Travis Huckabee {F}
“Stem the Hemorrhaging of Polka” – Philadelphia, PA – 2.29.2020
Hatfield and ZERO lost in their first match as a team earlier in the month, but are giving it another go against two former Campeones de Parejas. Also, Hatfield did defeat Huckabee on Episode 1. Icarus tripped Hatfield as he hit the ropes and Huckabee dropped a knee across the back of his head. Although Hatfield monkey flipped Huckabee across the ring and to the floor, and kicked Icarus over the top rope, Huckabee yanked ZERO off the apron so he couldn’t be tagged. Unfortunately for Huckabee, ZERO followed Huckabee into the ring as Hatfield rolled to the apron, and the larger ZERO overpowered the Golden Grappler. Icarus intercepted his and Hatfield’s double team offense and dropped ZERO with a Shiranui for two. Boomer saved ZERO from being pinned after a double flatliner. Icarus accidentally assisted Hatfield with a suicide dive onto Huckabee, leaving him alone to eat a big boot from ZERO. That Japanese Move got ZERO a close two count. Hatfield jumped in with a Fastball Special and with ZERO landed a double senton. Huckabee sent Boomer out and dropped ZERO with a modified butterfly suplex for the pin at 8:43. The one thing that the other tag bouts on this card lacked that this match had was the sense that that result was of consequence to future CHIKARA happenings. Huckabee and Boomer have tremendous chemistry and bring out the best in one another, and the history between Icarus and the original Mister ZERO added a nice wrinkle of intensity when Icarus was matched up against his son. I like Huckabee using a new style of suplex to earn the win, one that his opposition could not have been able to scout, and that although there’s an influx of fresh blood in the tag team division, it’s a tried and true CHIKARA staple who are the only team currently on the scoreboard with two points. Really good stuff. ***¼
NEXT WEEK: The final first round Young Lions Cup XVI match, and the Action Arcade debut of Cabana Man Dan!
A post-credits scene is another BLANK video with mannequins. Throughout his tough to comprehend mutterings we hear the words “art” and “chaos.”
The CHIKARA Special 