The One Where TH Thinks Ricky Morton's First Name Is Robert

Direct link for your downloading pleasure

Episode 42 of the A1-Podcast, the official show of A1-Wrestling, is online. Obviously, I'm on it, but only for the first half, but it was a good first half. Me and the crew talk about RAW this past Monday as well as tag team wrestling, and at the end of my live segment, I rant about people ragging on John Cena for being "Superman" and then fawning over Shawn Michaels despite the fact that he also does the same things.

I also name Robert Morton as the best tag wrestler of all-time, despite there being no Robert Morton who ever wrestled. It was late and I was tired, but I now submit myself to take the Ricky Morton treatment from any two huge Rock 'n Roll Express fans. I also give a shout-out to Claudio Castagnoli, and in my pre-taped Sound Off! segment, I call Dave Lagana to the carpet for trying to glom Kevin Steen's heat. After I leave, the discussion continues about Hardcore Justice and PWO's Wrestlelution 4. Try and guess which one the panel liked more. Hint, it's not the show run by Impact Wrestling.

Give it a listen, subscribe on iTunes, and hey, visit the boards because it's a good place to talk wrestling. Or rasslin. Or both.

The Queen Has Arrived: The Night Sara del Rey Became a Heroine among Heroes

Sara del Rey kicking Mike Quackenbush at Chikara's The Germans last year: Moments like this helped pave the way
for her crowning moment at Chikarasaurus Rex this past Sunday.

When Sara del Rey rolled up Claudio Castagnoli at the end of Chikarasaurus Rex weekend Sunday, the roar from the hundreds of fans who'd packed into the iconic indie wrestling mecca nearly tore the roof off the building. Compare that to the reaction she had gotten fewer than 24 hours prior, sound boos from a crowd that had some overlap, and you'd be surprised that it was the same wrestler. What happened between those two events that made the Queen of Wrestling the queen of the hearts and minds of Chikara faithful?

The easy answer would be to say that she went up against Claudio, the leader of the most hated group in the promotion, perhaps in its history. Wrestling against him in a Chikara ring would make anyone a favorite in the eyes of the crowd. However, I'm not sure that was wholly the case. There were some story elements going on here that really enhanced the atmosphere and really made del Rey's ascension that much more special.

First, del Rey has a legitimate case for the respect she feels she hasn't been shown by Claudio and the rest of the males in the BDK. This runs a lot deeper than "David vs. Goliath" or "Billie Jean King vs. Gerald Bobby Riggs" if you wanted to play battle of the sexes. If being a woman in a man's world was enough to make someone a babyface, then Sara and Daizee Haze would have gotten raucous cheers their first match as members of the BDK, a tag affair against the Osirian Portal. The cold truth is that del Rey has been a dominant force, holding her own against the men for the most part, imposing her will on a gender that is supposed to be superior to hers in every way when it comes to all things physical. Audiences, especially indie ones and especially indie ones that are as keen to storytelling as Chikara crowds are, pick up on this. It's not like Sara is a damsel in distress. She's the exact opposite, and that's why she commands respect. So when big, bad Claudio treats her like she's Kelly Kelly in a sea of Randy Ortons, then that's a major party foul. If there wasn't so much equity built up in Sara del Rey before this angle began, then there'd be no way that she'd command that kind of fan support for her to prove her "superiors" wrong.

And while I don't think that the whole "woman in a man's world" metric is the only or even the biggest reason, it certainly plays a part. Again, Kelly Kelly is the Divas Champion in WWE, and she's for the most part feeble. No one would buy her if she were to switch divisions and wrestle the men. Sadly, this is the archetype for the mainstream female wrestler, no matter how many Beth Phoenixes or Kharmas have come along. Even then, the trope is that a woman has to be of a certain build to compete, and often, that build is unflattering.

Only recently, and by recently I mean in the last 10 years if that, has the Joshi ethic of women of all shapes and sizes being asskickers caught on here in the American underground. It's obvious why del Rey would attract such a female fanbase, because hey, identification with a strong character is not solely a male trait. However, she's also getting props from male fans. This is not an accident. Again, Chikara attracts a much smarter, much more socially progressive crowd. That isn't to say that we've been itching to root for a woman, but if the right one comes along and kicks ass, you had better believe that she's going to get a massive amount of support.

Sara del Rey is the right woman.

The way that main event theater played out, it was no surprise that del Rey got the loudest reactions all weekend in that singular match. She was a true feel-good story without really pandering to the lowest common denominator. Yeah, Claudio overpowered her at times, but she more than held her own. It didn't matter if it wasn't "realistic" (as if 100% realism is even in the top 5 of things when it comes to a great story in pro wrestling); the crowd collectively bought it as if it were Mike Quackenbush the night before or Tommy Dreamer, Chris Hero or UltraMantis Black at events past. It was clear she was the underdog though, but at the same time, when she hit those three koppo kicks in succession, it worked. That's a testament to all parties involved.

I think that's what made the finish work as well as it did. Sure, the whole "pick up your beaten opponent at 2 only to get flash-pinned" is a tried-and-true story mechanism that works in all situations. It would only make sense that a chauvinistic man would do that to a defeated woman to prove a point. However, the fact that Claudio was doing it to del Rey? I don't know about the rest of the crowd, but in the moment, I felt insulted. It was because del Rey had proven herself worthy, not like some fluky über-underdog who gets the flash pin at the right time because of cockiness alone. There was a feeling that del Rey used guile and technique to counter Claudio's hubris, hubris that was unwarranted from get-go one because del Rey had earned the respect she demanded, at least with the crowd.

So that brings us back to the beginning of the post. del Rey rolled up Claudio for the win, and the place exploded. You now know the reason why the reaction was so magnified, and when I say that this was a true coronation of the new Queen of Chikara, it's not trite or cliched. It's real.

Whether del Rey goes on to win the Campeonato del Mundo from here is irrelevant. I think she'd be a terrific choice to win (and I've said so on two separate occasions now), but the real story here is that she's made it, at least in Chikara, she has. No other woman has really made this much of an impact in an indie fed that wasn't already dedicated to female wrestling excepting maybe Rachel Summerlyn and Portia Perez down in ACW, where men and women also wrestle each other on the reg. And she didn't do it by flaunting her tits or anything that would have made her rise cheap.

She earned it, every last bit of it. That's why this is so impressive, and that's another reason why Chikara is so much better than most other wrestling promotions out there.

Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography

Sara del Rey and a World of Sport: Chikarasaurus Rex 2011 Review

Sara del Rey don't take no crap from no one
Photo Credit: John Hyperion/Dirty Dirty Sheets Tumblr

On a weekend that was supposed to belong to a scrappy Ant fighting for the good ol' United States of America and two old-timey English wrestlers come to amaze and marvel with their expert execution of counters, submissions and good, clean chain wrestling, it was a Queen who stole the show. I'm not saying that the other two things didn't dazzle and amaze. I'll admit I was a bit nonplussed at the finish to the former, but I was totally amazed and astounded by the latter. Hell, and if I wrote this review in a moment of stopped time between match 7 and the main event on Night 2, then the weekend would have played to seed. But yeah, about that main event... it belonged to Sara del Rey, and in effect, she seized the entire weekend for herself. And no, I am totally not complaining about. That being said though, there was a whole mess of great action leading up to the final match, and it was pretty snazzy, or in terms of Chikara, par for the course.

Night One started in Reading at the Goodwill Fire Association Hall. Much like the Palmer Center in Easton, it had a really intimate feel to it. There are no guard barriers; the front row is situated ten feet from the ring apron. It was so close that we could notice (and skeeve out, by the way) at Mima Shimoda hocking a loogie on the floor, which was linoleum, by the way. I liked that it was all contained in one room rather than in Easton, where it was on a basketball court that was half shut off. It's a neat little venue, even if it was a little dingy with very rude concession staff.

Our first match of the evening was a 12 Large Summit contest. Jigsaw, making his return after a biceps injury, took on Fire Ant in what turned out to be a very spry, very well-worked opener. It kicked off with a nice display of chain wrestling, almost setting the tone for the evening. Maybe they were looking to impress the English Johnnies with their knowledge of grappling. It ended with Fire landing an arm drag on Jig, which led into the heart of the match, Jigsaw selling the arm that had just healed. The rest of the match's narrative centered around this, and it made for some really good theater. At one point in the match, I thought things were getting a little testy for a match between two fan-favorites. Jig teased a brainbuster, but his arm couldn't support the weight and Fire countered slickly into an Ace crusher and then into a brainbuster of his own for two. Jig made a slight comeback after that, getting in position for the Jig 'n Tonic, but Fire reversed into a cross armbreaker on the weak arm. Jig tapped out, and Fire Ant gained three points. Afterwards, sportsmanship abounded.

Next out was Jakob Hammermeir, who came out in his ring garb. He quickly made an announcement for himself, describing himself as "handi-capable". Hmmm... he rushed to the back and then came back out, preening and gloating all the way. Say what you want about him, but I respect the hell out of Jakob because he, like Icarus, puts so much effort into getting people to hate him, and it all works. His opponent for the evening was none other than Gregory Iron, which got a big reaction from the crowd. I think the intros to the match were longer than the match itself though, really short. Iron started out like a house on fire, but there was a shockingly early ref bump, which Jakob took advantage of with some cheating. Then, shortly thereafter, UltraMantis Black came out from the Commentation Station and hit Jakob with the Praying Mantis Bomb. He threw Iron on top, and bam, decision in something like two minutes. Afterwards, Mantis commented that he'd do the same thing to the rest of the BDK until Ares stopped running and hiding from him.

Third match of the evening pitted Eddie Kingston against Adam Cole, who showed more personality and panache in his 30 second walk to the ring than he has in his entire ROH career to date. If you're surprised by this, then I have beachfront property to sell you in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Cole actually did a really good job heeling it up here. He kept doing big moves and then screaming "I'M ADAM COLE!" afterwards, which elicited "If he says that one more time, I'm screaming MATT DAMON at him" from my Twitter pal and TWB superfan IronyNOW. Actually, the antics started before the opening bell, as Cole Pearl Harbored Kingston as he was making his entrance into the arena, which the War King quickly turned the tide on. Once the action began, it was Kingston pretty much hammering Cole until Panama's Finest was able to get a clean shot on Kingston's traditionally injured knee. HE works that injury into a lot of matches, I wonder if he's got a legit history there that he plays up? Either way, it led into maybe my favorite spot of the night, where Cole had Kingston locked in the Figure 8 (think a Figure 4, only done off to the side) and then raked his nose. I love arcane heel tactics like that. If he had only broken out a fishhook later on in that match, I might have changed allegiances. Even when Kingston was on offense, he was selling the leg, most evident when he couldn't hold the bridge on a Northern Lights suplex. Anyway, despite the leg injury, Kingston got the duke with a Sliding D and a Backfist to the Future on a seated Cole. Afterwards, they got a cup of ice to put on his knee from concessions. I wonder how many times they had to ask the surly old ladies behind the counter for it? No, I'm not bitter.

Final match before intermission was a doozy, a trios match between Team FIST (Icarus, Johnny Gargano and Chuck Taylor) and Team ¡3.Olé! (El Generico, Scott Parker and Shane Matthews). If you know anything about Chikara, you had to have had the feeling that this match would be insanely silly, insanely fun and insanely action packed. You'd have been right too. Pre-match saw some infighting between Parker and Matthews over a can of Red Bull. Apparently, Matthews has a problem, and there may be a Red Bull intervention staged at a later card, but that's just my gut feeling. Icarus didn't tease the jacket coming off for nearly as long as he'd do at King of Trios, but once it did come off, it got an elbow drop from Parker. Taylor countered with threatening to cut El Generico's t-shirt with a pair of scissors, which yielded an elbow drop on Taylor's t-shirt. This was all in the first couple of minutes after the bell rang. God, I love Chikara.

Once the action started, it was pretty high-octane stuff. Matthews busted out some attempts at his big moves, but was thwarted. The faces got a lot of the advantage early on. 3.0 has a lot of really cool tag team offense. They've got some of the best teamwork offense in the game today, and I'm glad that we kinda get them exclusively in Chikara when they visit down South of Quebec. Generico got to show John Morrison how to properly do a split-legged move off the top with a moonsault. At one point a little later, Matthews took a cheap shot at Taylor's throat, and when he was called out on it by Nick Papageorgio, he remarked "Karate! That's called karate!" This led into the heels getting the advantage and a long face-in-peril sequence on Generico. At one point, Matthews tried to get into the ring to help his teammate, and Papageorgio held him back, to which the crazy Canadian replied "You're deceptively strong!" See, it's banter like this that makes 3.0 so awesome to watch.

Generico dead-weighting on a powerbomb attempt and getting the hot tag on the subsequent counter lead into the match's third act, which was pretty insane. Matthews went into his headscissors-o-rama on FIST, and then all three members of the tecnico trio locked in Boston crabs on their counterparts. Matthews went for a powerbomb pin, but it was broken up and FIST went onto their advantage, which featured Taylor leapfrogging over a charging Parker that led into Gargano doing his slingshot spear from the apron. Generico teased a BRAINBUSTAAAAAHHHH~! on Icarus, but Taylor ripped him from the top and hit him with Sole Food. He was then taken out with a corner EXPLODAAAAHHH~!, which led right into eating a face bomb/Codebreaker combo from 3.0 for the win. Really, really fun trios match, which by my estimation was the best part of the first half. The winning trio then posed for pictures in ring with fans during the break.

After the intermission, we were treated to our first entree into the World of Sport, as Johnny Kidd, making his American debut, took on the man that I bet more than half the arena wished were their grandfather, Johnny Saint. The match was separated into six rounds of five minutes apiece, which is how they did things back in the day on the iconic British sports program on ITV. Both men were greeted very warmly, and the crowd was super into the match. That warmed my cold black heart, because I was a bit worried whether the crowd would get into a match that didn't feature any high spots, head drops or big impact strikes. Instead, the crowd ate up every top wristlock, every reversal, every little wink and nod to the absurdity of wrestling without making fun of it . It was terrific.

Round one featured a full nelson back-and-forth, and Saint really kicked his game off in high gear. Basically, if you've never seen Saint work, the crux of his in-ring game is performing magicians' escapes from submission holds and reversing them into ones of his own. It really is fascinating to watch. Kidd is similar, but he relies more on his slyness rather than his creativity when escaping holds. Case in point, towards the end of round two, Kidd had Saint in a seated wishbone lock. Saint reversed it and had Kidd in one of his own. Kidd pointed over Saint's shoulder, basically to say "LOOK!", and as Saint turned his head, Kidd just got right up and dusted himself off.

I could try to describe more of the action in detail, but I feel like this the kind of match that needs to be experienced, not described. Chain wrestling can come off as boring in the written word, and to the untrained eye, or at least the eye of a shithead indie wrestling fan who goes to ROH shows and boos any attempt at doing this style over HEAD DROPZ N FLIPZ GUISE, it can look boring. But there's a sublime beauty inherently embedded in the DNA of good chain wrestling. For those who appreciate it, there's nothing better than seeing the cat and mouse and the safe acrobatics that come with a good round of catch-as-catch-can brilliance, especially when laid down by masters such as Kidd and Saint. That isn't to say that all other styles aren't beautiful, or that this is the best, or that you're dumb if you don't like chain wrestling (although it is symptomatic of some short-sighted, read: shitheaded, fans that they hate this when it subs in for their usual 20 MOVEZ in 2 minutes desires). I'm sounding really pretentious here, and for that I'm sorry. However, I really like seeing this kind of action from time to time.

Kidd ended up winning with a, according to the Chikara Pro site, kneeling frog press out of an Irish whip in the fourth round, but I'm of the school of thought that the result in this particular match was immaterial in comparison to the actual body of work. If you seek out the DVDs for this weekend, I'd do it if just for this match and the Night Two tag match alone.

How could they follow up that match? Well, they tried with the six woman expo between the BDK Ladies and Makoto against Team Mima Shimoda, which also featured Tsukasa Fujimoto and Portia Perez. Tried is the operative word here, because this match was flat for a few reasons. One, there were no real defined roles in the match. Ostensibly, Team Mima was the babyface trio, mainly because of the presence of both del Rey and Daizee Haze on the other team. That really didn't stop Mima or Perez from working total rudo during the match. In fact, I'd say the only one who worked face was poor Makoto, who got beaten like she owed the other team money. When Makoto made her hot tag to Haze, the crowd was dead silent, mainly because no one wanted to pop for her (yet...). The match was mainly centered around del Rey and Mima going at it, which sounded better in theory. It wasn't Sara's fault either.

Mima Shimoda was one of the names I was looking forward to watching during this weekend, and sadly, all I could think of watching her in the ring was "Man, I wish it was Manami Toyota instead of Mima." There was just something off about her in-ring. I couldn't put my finger on it. I hate to continually compare her to Toyota here, but it was like she was way, way, WAY less fun than her other joshi counterpart. I dunno. I wanted to like this match, but it came off as very disjointed. Mima got the duke over Haze with a Tiger superplex.

Match seven was the long-awaited Flex Express match, Green Ant taking on Tursas. During the introductions, Greenie removed his original mask to reveal a red-white-and-blue mask to match his Old Glory-themed Colony ring wear. We got the scoop from friend of TWB and shutterbug extraordinaire Zia Hiltey that he was being rechristened US Ant for the evening. Derek Sabato reffed the affair... which meant there were going to be shenanigans abounding. I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

The match started off with Jakob going for a sneak attack, which US Ant thwarted. Tursas tried to use it as a way to get the jump, but US Ant was savvy enough to thwart that too. It wasn't long before the action spilled out into the outside ring area as well as well into the crowd. Sabato let the extracurriculars go, like Tursas choking US Ant with the American flag around the ring post, as long as it favored the BDK behemoth. US Ant was able to mount a bit of a comeback, felling the giant with two splashes from the top rope. There were a few countout teases, harkening back to how the original Lex Express angle ended with the SummerSlam countout victory for Luger. Tursas got back to his feet and proceeded to start wrecking shit like a man of his size is wont to do. He took US Ant from the apron and superplexed him into the ring, afterwards taunting him with "You wanna fight? You wanna fight me? You're gonna DIE!" For as tightly as I had my mark hat on during the match, I had to admit that that was an awesome, awesome visual.

One thing I didn't understand was Sabato going into a standing ten count for US Ant when he'd be laying on the canvas by himself. I thought I had missed the point where they announced it to be a Last Man Standing match. From here, they started going into Rocky (the movie, not the wrestler) territory with the Ant making some valiant comebacks that were squelched right away by the Finnish giant. To his credit, Ant's bumping here really sold that sizzle. He is my favorite worker in the Colony by a large margin, and it's not like I hate the other two for their ring game either. Tursas really played into the whole spirit of the angle by going for the Banzai Drop on a couple of occasions. The first one led into US Ant trying to wrangle Tursas into the Torture Rack, which would have literally blown the roof off the Goodwill Fire Association. Seriously, the roof would have flown into the air and landed somewhere on the PA 12 highway. After the second missed Banzai, US Ant segued into a cross armbreaker, which was countered by Tursas with a smush into the corner.

From here, I think I have to give Tursas some props for being a huge guy who isn't afraid to fly or look good doing it either. He went into a moonsault that he missed, but it was damn impressive looking. It's one thing to be a big dude, but to be a big dude who can move? Major respect. Off the miss, Ant bodyslammed him, and the place exploded. Tursas fell out of the ring, to which Sabato kept his full attention. Ant tried to exit, but he was blocked at every attempt, so he went around to other parts of the ring to exit...

...only to be whacked in the back of the head twice by Jakob with a tennis racket that he pulled out from Tursas' fur entrance overcoat. Tursas got back into the ring and proceeded to hit US Ant with a Border Toss, and then after a cocky let-up at 2, a top rope splash that won the match for the Finnish evildoer. Afterwards, he spat on the Stars 'n Stripes before he left. The crowd clapped for US Ant's valiant effort.

I couldn't help but be a bit disappointed at this finish. I mean, I get that the story's not over yet, probably not even close to being over with the referee shenanigans and the rampant interference, but still, I was hoping to see Chikara do with this whole angle what the WWF failed to do... deliver a cool resolution to the bus trip across the country. That being said, I can't hate on it, because it was a brilliantly executed wrestling match with a great story and some damn fine performances from everyone involved, including Sabato and Jakob.

Finally, Night One's main event was upon us, another 12 Large Summit match between Mike Quackenbush and Claudio Castagnoli. Just like in the opener, there was some World of Sport-style chain wrestling going on after a short opening dominance by Claudio, although it wasn't nearly as good-spirited as the grappling between Fire Ant and Jigsaw. I wanna write about the officiating here for a moment and how it played in the match. Just as Sabato was instrumental in the story of the last match, I think Justice Jon Barber's refereeing played a role in this story too, albeit a smaller, subtler one. With Bryce Remsburg being absent for the proceedings (he had a wedding to go to on the Left Coast), it allowed for the other officials to have more time in the sun. Barber is definitely the least experienced of the troupe, and he played that up so well in this match, whether intentionally or not. The best would be when Claudio would blatantly cheat, and he'd feebly admonish him, almost afraid to do anything but say "You can't do that, Claudio!" or "C'mon, stop! Please?" He really was the perfect choice to officiate this match in Bryce's absence.

The action spilled to the outside, as most of the matches did that night, and between taking ranas and ramming Quack into the ringposts, Claudio took to breaking people's miniature American flags in half (which were handed out pre-show for the Flex Express match). He kept a wooden shard from one of his conquests and hid it in his trunks, doing his best to stab Quack with it whenever Barber's line of sight was obstructed or distracted. When Barber found out and grabbed the shard from Claudio, someone in the crowd yelled "DQ!" Then, in his best Lenny Leonard (the Simpsons character, not the DGUSA announcer) voice, Claudio retorted "Shut up!" That was pretty awesome.

The interruption didn't cost Claudio that much momentum as he kept toying with the smaller Quack, dropping him gut first on his knee via a military press and ending a short-lived comeback with a huge bicycle kick. Quack made another comeback that culminated in a Chikara Special attempt, but Claudio got the ropes, leading into a blocked tornado DDT -> Swiss Death -> UFO with a LONG no hands spin sequence. Quack countered a Ricola bomb into a la casadora pin, but he couldn't block the second one, which Claudio performed while standing on the apron facing the ring. He could only muster a two-count. He went for another Swiss Death, but Quack countered it by standing on the top of Claudio's chest, backflipping and wrangling him into the Chikara Special right in the middle of the ring. Claudio tapped out, and Quack sent the crowd home happy with another awesome match to top off the card.

Night One wasn't without its bumps, notably the women's match and the decision to an otherwise outstanding tilt between US Ant and Tursas, but hey, not even Chikara can attain perfection all the time. Plus, there was still another whole night of action to go Sunday in Philadelphia.

The opener for this slate was the two Ice Ribbon imports, Makoto and Fujimoto, doing battle in singles competition. My disappointment in the previous night's match really tempered my excitement for this match, because I really wanted to see them do well, especially Makoto. Joshi girls are notorious for being super stiff, and the beating she took from Mima especially the night before made me cringe a little bit, even though I knew in my heart that Makoto more than likely enjoyed it in a perverse way. That was sort of validated in this match, as both women came out stiffing each other with smiles on their faces, after they removed streamers that got stuck in the rafters before the match began. I had never heard a wrestling crowd mark so loudly for debris removal in my life. Seriously though, back to the action, I've never seen any two people enjoy beating the crap out of each other in a worked match than I did these two. Normally, you'd think shit like that would be a turnoff, but here, I was somewhat charmed in my own perverse way. You had to think these were two women who were working in America their first time, and as big as wrestling is in Japan, it's big in a different way over here.

They ran through a bunch of spots they did the night before, only with more emphasis because they weren't being overshadowed by Mima's domineering presence. Makoto draped Fujimoto over the top turnbuckle and kicked her, field goal style. Fujimoto was able to land a 619 without the Internet combusting in hatred over such a contrived move, and then sweetly followed up with a rolling clutch pin attempt. Fujimoto got the win with a pseudo-springboard-off-the-turnbuckle enzugiri in what was a largely satisfying and redemptive opener for the gals of Ice Ribbon. Brandon Stroud is onto something with this promotion, I think.

Second into the card was a comedic matchup between Archibald Peck and Dasher Hatfield, two of the funniest (in a good way) acts in all of wrestling. The two met nose to nose in the middle of the ring before they were patted down by Barber. Peck removed his glove and swung at Dasher's face, duel-style. The only thing was Dasher ducked, and Peck smacked Barber right in the face with his glove, leading right into a roll-up attempt by the Old Timey King of Swing. After throwing a temper tantrum into the ropes, Marchie Archie accused Dasher of having a pirate hook while Barber was patting him down. Then when it came to Peck getting patted down, he "accidentally" mule kicked Barber. Poor kid got the business all match.

I remarked before the match that this was a classic jock vs. band geek match, and they totally played it up, with Dasher using the Wet Willy as an offensive maneuver, and later on, a wedgie as a potential submission hold with the crowd chanting "TAP! TAP! TAP! TAP!" Again, I love Chikara. Barber got nailed a third time by Archie accidentally, after that time, skulking out of the ring like he was never there. He then accused everyone short of Darkness Crabtree of knocking the easily intimidated official to the ground. Peck got the duke with his Unchained Melody, an inverted tombstone-style Styles Clash, after using Barber as a shield from an impending Dasher attack. As far as comedic matches go, you can't get much better than this one. Very well-played.

Next up, Mima Shimoda against Daizee Haze. Again, Mima straight up heeled her ass off during the match, which again was weird given that there was no inkling that anyone from the BDK would ever be cheered against anyone other than a member of their own faction, at least to that point. It started from get-go one, when it was Mima who pulled out the handshake fake into an attack. Haze got a bit of advantage early with a suicide dive, but it was basically a clinic in Mima stiffing the crap out of her the entire time. Haze would get the win with a roll-up, but the story was more in the after-match beatdown... by Mima. Playing up the sore loser heel schtick, Mima destroyed Daizee, finishing her off by throwing her HARD into the guardrails. Yeesh. It was so bad that Gavin Loudspeaker after the match did the whole "give it up for Daizee Haze" spiel he does for defeated babyfaces. Maybe that was the first clue...

Just like Night One, Team ¡3.Olé! finished off the first half of this card, this time against the Spectral Envoy of UltraMantis Black, Hallowicked and the infectiously fun Frightmare. While making their intro, Parker grabbed Mantis' staff from the timekeeper's table and remarked at it before giving it back. He then went into the ring and told Mantis "Hey, I like your stick!" Again, I love Chikara. Hell, if there's anyone better at in-match banter than 3.0, someone let me know, because I'm not aware of them. Okay, maybe Archibald Peck or perhaps Robert Evans. And no, they're definitely not the same person. Matt Classic told me himself. Not to be outdone by his tag partner, Matthews beckoned to Generico to pull Hallowicked's horn while he had him in a headlock, which Generico did to the chagrin of the referee.

Matthews went for his HEADSCISSORS schtick early in the match on Hallowicked to no avail, being greeted by an elbow instead. His second attempt was greeted by a clothesline. Third time was the charm, as he ran the ropes twice to get his move off on Wicked. Mantis entered the ring and ate a headscissors of his own, but when Frightmare got into the ring, it was he who was the executor of the move on Matthews in a nice little twist.

There was a lot of back and forth and some really cool spots in this match. Again, 3.0 is such a fun tag team, and they showed their double-team-o-rama style here in full display. Mantis showed his wrestling chops too, hitting a slick arm drag into a pin attempt at one point. Towards the end of the match, Frightmare hit a nice looking tope con giro on Generico to the outside, but he inexplicably didn't get up afterwards. A moment later, I saw Tim Donst wielding a steel chair, having just nailed Frightmare with it on the ground. The BDK then assembled in the entry way, distracting everyone except for Mantis and Generico in the ring, as Mantis hit the Praying Mantis Bomb for the win. Afterwards, the combined forces scared off the BDK back to the back.

After intermission was our surprise match of the evening. First in the ring were Gargano and Taylor of FIST, awaiting their opponents. Loudspeaker announced that their scheduled opponents didn't show, so they brought out the hat (albeit a Chikara hat instead of Bryce's traditional Phillies hat, since of course, Bryce wasn't there). The first team picked out was Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson, but they predictably weren't in the back. The second team was announced as Rey Bucanero and Atlantis. We all expected Sabato to run back without them, because they usually go three or four deep, but to my surprise, the lights went down and yes, the lucha veterans came out from the back to a very surprisingly tepid reaction. I'm not sure whether the crowd was taken aback by the abruptness of their entry or whether they just didn't know CMLL all that well to know who they were, but they got a disappointing reaction from where I sat.

Taylor put his antics into overdrive from jump, trying to start a chant for himself, and then later, after selling his own headbutt more than Bucanero did, chastising Gargano for not being totally ready for the tag, yelling "WHAT ARE YOU DRINKING WATER FOR?" Gargano and R-Truth are now inexorably linked as the answer to the trivia question "Which two wrestlers were admonished in 2011 for drinking water during a match?" I think that's good company, don't you?

I thought the two luchadors acquitted themselves well. I was into them, but it seemed like I was the only one, which is odd because Chikara fans usually go nuts for guest stars from South of the Border. Was it that these two really didn't click with the crowd? I dunno, I thought they were great, but then again, I've proven time and time again that I can be out of touch with what fans at large like. Whether that's a good thing or bad thing is up to you. Anyway, I loved their tag offense, spotlighted by two really cool spots. One came with Gargano draped across Atlantis' knees, catapult style, with Bucanero coming off the top with a senton elbow. The second one was towards the end Atlantis launched Bucanero out of the ring and into Taylor. Right after that, while Sabato was distracted, Gargano feigned like he was just kicked in the balls by Atlantis, dropping to the canvas holding his crotch. Despite not seeing any evidence other than Gargano's acting, Sabato disqualified the visiting luchadors. Crowd was dead for the finish, which was par for the course for the match, sadly. Afterwards, the duo got a "Please come back!" chant, which hopefully means they will come back and get a little better heat next time.

After the match, Loudspeaker made the announcement that Chikara was coming to iPPV for the first time with their November 13th return to The Arena in Philly, High Noon. I imagine that it'll be the card where the 12 Large Summit will conclude, which is as fine a time as any for the first foray into live Internet streaming. Very excite! Very very excite, although I probably won't need to buy a stream. Cuz I'll be there. Duh.

Next up, Jigsaw and Kingston did battle in what many called the match of the night (not me, but I loved it regardless though) in a 12 Large Summit tilt. There was a test of strength early, where Kingston got in a nearfall, playing up the weakness in Jig's biceps. Jig would return the favor by targeting King's gimpy knee a little later on in the match, turning it into dueling injured limbs. Jig had maybe the most creative spot in that back 'n forth when he did a yakuza kick in King's knee while it was draped over the ropes.

The action spilled to the outside, and here's where the most superfluous run in of all time happened. Vin Gerard came out, presumably to wreck Kingston's shit, when he's stopped by a Jigsaw superkick before he could do anything. I feel like it was just something to try and add heat to the feud between King and Gerard, but it just came off as so unnecessary, the only real black mark on the match. This segued into King's big advantage in the match with a bunch of big moves that netted him a two count. Jig countered back with a bunch of big moves, culminating in a top rope double stomp, the move which Jig beat King with way back at Open the Freedom Gate in late '09. It netted a two-count.

The match from here really went into indie-rific territory, with a lot of big moves, strike trading and kicking out of finishers. That being said, I thought it still kept a lot of its composure and psychology if that makes any sense. I never got the feeling once that I was watching Davey Richards and Kenny Omega throw all semblance of selling out the window just to do moves to each other for the last five minutes of a long match. I think that's where the whole "DR is good in his style!" argument gets thrown out the window, because I see guys like King, Jig, Generico and Kevin Steen work a similar style and still have some idea that hey, this is a hard-hitting match and we're supposed to act hurt. Okay, side-track over.

Jig set Kingston up for a Coast to Coast in the big finish, but he fanned when King moved last second. This led into the finishing sequence of Backdrop Driver, Backfist to the Future, two-count and Backdrop Driver pin hold to give the War King three points. Afterwards, the two embraced and held up the Chikara logo tablecloth that was on the timekeeper's table. After the two left, Loudspeaker predictably announced that the DVDs for the weekend's shows would be available Monday (which is TODAY~!), which I expected because this was where they first did that offer last year. Smart Mark really is good at what they do.

The World of Sport tag match was next, although this one didn't have any rounds, just a straight-up, American rules tag match. Kidd's teammate was Colt Cabana, while Saint's was Quack. The review for this match may be a bit sparse, because I didn't take a whole lot of notes during it. That didn't mean sometime between Saturday and Sunday, the style got boring and I didn't care. That was the opposite. The fact that it was a tag match added so many more layers to the affair, and it made it that much harder for me to take notes and still take in the action in the ring, which again was rich, plentiful, layered and above all else, fun.

There were some spots repeated from Saturday, but the old dogs did bust out some new tricks. I thought a lot of what worked to make this match feel more unique than the one the night before was the addition of Cabana and Quack to the affair. Not only did they have great rapport with each other, but they also did well with their British counterparts as well. Cabana was a scream on the apron too, saying stuff like "Just like I taught you, Johnny" when Kidd was trying to counter out of various holds. I think the most amazing thing was that the match went 26+ minutes, and Saint and Kidd were in there for just as much time, if not more, than their American counterparts. After going 21+ the night before... I am in awe. Seriously, these guys were such a welcome addition to the Chikaraverse this past weekend, and they totally exceeded my expectations. Saint and Quack got the win when Saint pinned Kidd with a reverse rolling prawn hold. After the match, both Quack and Saint got on the mic and thanked the fans. That still bugs me, because it should be us thanking them, but hey, these guys were genuinely touched, and I'm glad that my enjoyment of what they put out helped them get some enjoyment back. It's an unvicious circle, guys!

After everyone cleared the ring, they played another video on the big screen, promising the return of Manami Toyota. I got excited because I've kinda fallen in love with Toyota over the last year, and any chance I get to see her back in the States is golden. But then the feed cut out, and when it came back in? Aja. Fucking. Kong. Promising death and destruction and to take Toyota and turn her into a Smart Car. It was the first of what I hope are many promos for Joshi-Mania in December. Quack definitely is serious about this education in joshi he's giving us here, although I have a suggestion. Kong's awesome. Toyota's awesome. Ice Ribbon is awesome. The SHIMMER guests (Ayumi Kurihara etc.) would be awesome. Bringing in domestic women like Rachel Summerlyn, Portia Perez, Nicole Matthews and even Mercedes Martinez would be awesome. Mima Shimoda? Please leave her at home, thanks.

Now, if the event had ended there, it would have been awesome, another feather in Chikara's cap. However, the main event, for me at least, and judging by the crowd reactions everyone else too, shifted it into overdrive. Sara del Rey, seconded by Daizee Haze, and Claudio Castagnoli, accompanied by Tursas, in the 12 Large Series would close the show, refereed by Derek Sabato. Judging by the look Death Rey had on her face, she wasn't going to reenact the Finger Poke of Doom. Of course, Claudio ordered her to lay down, but she was like "no thx, gonna kill u now lol not jk". Claudio responded by shoving and slapping her, but then del Rey followed up by dominating the shit out of Claudio from jump. And The Arena exploded. She went for the Royal Butterfly way too early, but she didn't break serve until Tursas tripped her up on a rope-run.

From there, Claudio had his fun working del Rey over like a woman's wrestler, circa 1950 would, with gratuitous hair pulls and tosses, all the while with Sabato looking on like he was watching Johnny Saint putting Johnny Kidd in a top wristlock. Of course, this didn't stop the crowd from chanting "LET'S GO SARA!", which elicited mock chants from the Swiss Stalwart as he was working del Rey over. At one point, Claudio tried to pin del Rey by holding her down to the mat by her jaw. That didn't set well at all with anyone in the arena outside of Tursas and maybe Sabato. Her feistiness shone through on a few occasions, getting some flash pins between the Claudio offense, but her comebacks were short lived each time. She did initiate some limb work, dodging a corner spear and causing Claudio to go chest first into the ring post. She then almost caused the roof to cave in when she did a koppo kick off the apron onto Tursas.

From there, she started to work the arm, hitting a crossbody and then locking Claudio in a cross armbreaker. He got to the ropes and then nailed her with a bicycle kick upon recovery. After a UFO though, he was back on the defensive, missing a corner splash and then eating three koppos from del Rey, back into another sequence where she tenaciously kept going for the cross armbreaker, a move that was super over all match long. Claudio again got to the ropes and mounted a comeback that ended in a Ricola Bomb. He cockily grabbed her up from the pin attempt at 2, repeating it after a hard European uppercut. He didn't get a chance to do a third move, because del Rey got a surprise backslide and a successful three count. The place came UNGLUED. For a moment, I think everyone in the former ECW Arena was a feminist.

After the match, I'm guessing the expulsion of del Rey and Haze from the BDK was complete as Claudio sneak attacked the Queen of Wrestling with a bicycle kick to the back of the head. Then, when Haze went in the ring to confront him, she was met with a HUGE chokeslam with Claudio's good arm. After barking at Sabato for fucking up the match, they left, and the former ladies of the Bruderschaft got a standing ovation.

After seeing this match, everything made sense. It was almost like the matches from before with Mima were put in some kind of post-The Sixth Sense light that revealed that Bruce Willis was dead the whole time maybe del Rey and Haze were both faces the entire weekend. Of course, I still had major problems with Mima's in-ring, so it wasn't like I could go back and bump up my opinions of the offending matches, but hey, at least there was now a rhyme and reason associated.

All things told, I think that Chikarasaurus weekend is definitely a must-get on DVD if you didn't attend live. Most of the action is good, believe me, but it's must see if just for the World of Sport stuff, both Jigsaw matches, both Generico/3.0 matches and ESPECIALLY for Sara del Rey becoming the biggest babyface in all of Chikara in the span of one main event match.

Weekend Wrap-Up: Meet the New Champ, Same as the Old Champ

The Queen of the Weekend

- It was a Chikara weekend, and I went to both shows. A full report will be up soon, but for the impatient, here's a very concise run-down. Night one saw Fire Ant and Mike Quackenbush earn points towards their goal in the 12 Large Summit with wins over Jigsaw and Claudio Castagnoli respectively. Johnny Kidd beat Johnny Saint in what may have been the best match of the year. UltraMantis Black spiked Jakob Hammermeir on his head and told Ares that he would do the same to the rest of the BDK until the co-founder of the group stopped being so chicken and wrestled him. Finally, the Flex Express was derailed as Tursas defeated US Ant (Green Ant), but only after crooked officiating, a Jim Cornette-esque tennis racket shot by Jakob and a top rope splash from Tursas himself.

Night two saw a surprise appearance from luchadors Rey Bucanero and Atlantis, only to be disqualified in their match against Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano thanks to a low blow that didn't happen. Kidd and Saint tore the house down again, only this time in a tag match where Kidd teamed with Colt Cabana and Saint with Quack. Saint got the receipt on Kidd in this one. Both 12 Large Summit matches were PHENOMENAL, as Eddie Kingston took out Jigsaw in one, and Sara del Rey shocked the world and became the biggest babyface in Chikara in the process, rolling up Claudio in the main event. For her troubles, both she and Daizee Haze got attacked after the match by the big Swiss sore loser.

- AIW ran their fourth Girls Night Out even Friday, and they crowned a new Women's Champion in Mickie Knuckles. She defeated Jessica Havok in a match after the announced main event of Havok retaining over Angel Dust. This seems to be a trend with indie feds lately, with this being the third time in the last couple of months, second time in AIW. Also on the card, Portia Perez retired Roxie Cotton, although Cotton after the match jumped her. Something tells me she's not staying retired for long. Also, Sara del Rey defeated Sassy Stephie.

- Adam Pearce is once again NWA World Champion, in essence negating the entire fiasco that evolved from him losing the title anyway. For those not in the know, he dropped the belt to Colt Cabana in NWA Hollywood, who then dropped it to The Sheik a month or so later in the latter's home fed of NWA Fusion in Jacksonville. This sparked rumors that Cabana was an intermediary between the two because of politics, although again, they were just rumors and were not confirmed by anyone so they are not to be taken as fact. Anyway, Sheik then pulled out of a title defense against Pearce in Milwaukee, which caused the NWA to strip him of his title, necessitating a match in Columbus where Pearce regained the Championship in a four way dance against Chance Prophet, Jimmy Rave and Shawn Tempers. Got it? Good. Anyway, the good news is that the World Championship will again most likely be featured on TV in Hollywood again, and maybe if they do the right thing and strap Cabana again, it'll stick a little longer. Anyway, this is Pearce's fourth reign with the title, and it could be his last as he's on a "One Last Ride" tour, a farewell tour of sorts where he does his thing for a little while longer before his neck injuries become too bad for him to wrestle.

- Finally, in sad blogger news, Josh "PUNTE" Zerkle is leaving Kissing Suzy Kolber. Why should you care about one of six guys leaving a football-related blog? Because if it weren't for PUNTE, there'd probably be no Wrestling Podcast right now. I was a guest on Episode 43 of his House of PUNTE podcast, and thusly, I was bitten by the podcast bug. I had him on Episode 8 of TWP as well. I'm not sure what he'll be doing in his spare time now, although hopefully he'll continue doing the podcast. Either way, best of luck in your future endeavors...

...wait, that didn't come out right.

Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography

The Very European Beginning of the End?: Chikarasaurus Rex Preview

Quack. Claudio. One Last Time.

Chikarasaurus Rex: King of Sequel, is a two day event which will cap off what has been an excellent month in professional wrestling. Saturday's card takes place in Reading, PA at the Goodwill Fire Hall on 100 Madison Avenue (doors open at 6:30 PM) . Sunday's event will be in Philadelphia, at the former ECW Arena at Swanson and Ritner (doors open at 3:30 PM). Both cards will be known for their guest stars, and have gained a sort of accord because of them. Granted, Mima Shimoda, Johnny Kidd, Portia Perez, two imports from the Ice Ribbon promotion in Japan, Adam Cole, El Generico, Colt Cabana and of course, Johnny freaking Saint, would be enough to sell anyone on going to one or both of the shows.

Hell, I was already going to the Philly show, and thanks to a series of fortunate turns in events, I'm more than likely heading to Reading as well, mainly because I'm a Chikara fanatic and go to every Philly show possible. But even so, the two English legends of Saint and Kidd were huge selling points for me. Not only am I huge into English chain wrestling, but they're both William Regal approved. Who better to give his stamp to guys you may never have seen before than the surly English legend?

However, there is another reason, one that has nothing to do with Chikara storylines or happenings (but at the same time, everything), why people need to go to these shows. Night one has a match between Claudio Castagnoli and Mike Quackenbush. Yeah, that may not sound all that special right now, because they've had several matches against each other over the last decade. They're inexorably linked, especially given the events of 2010, with Quack leading the Chikara faithful against Claudio's charging Germanic invaders, the BDK. Tomorrow night's match takes on a more wistful tinge given that Claudio, along with his tag team partner Chris Hero, are reputed to be on their way to WWE.

That makes this match between the two titans of the indie world perhaps their final encounter ever. That puts a much different spin on things than when this match was originally charted out as part of the 12 Large Summit. Nominally, Claudio would come into this match as the mega bad guy, and Quack as the protector of all that was good. He'd stand as a barrier between the evil Swiss evildoer and the honor of being called the first ever Chikara Campeon del Mundo. With the specter of Claudio leaving, this match might become the first of a prolonged farewell tour from the indies for the King of Wrestling. What better opponent to kick that tour off with than his longtime rival and colleague in Quack?

Of course, there are any number of things that could demean everything I'm writing here. Quackenbush could always join Claudio in WWE (highly unlikely). Claudio may end up back in the indies after a year for whatever reason (more likely). I mean, remember the last time he was signed by Stamford? He didn't even make it to developmental before he got his future endeavor well-wish. Of course though, I have more of an optimistic view on this, and I seriously want Claudio and Hero to succeed at the next level. They more than deserve it.

So, it's with that in mind that I write this match off as a very special occasion. Hell, the match the next night in Philly, Claudio taking on his BDK partner and stablemate everywhere else in the indies Sara del Rey in another 12 Large Summit match. Honestly, I'm not sure why WWE didn't take del Rey as part of a package deal with the Kings, since with the signing of Kharma and the extension of Divas matches beyond the normal 20 seconds, they seem to be serious about pushing women's wrestling as more than time filler. Still, that's the card she's been dealt. This match to me was a big deal before Claudio's rumored leaving was even an option. Now? Well, there may just be an electric atmosphere in The Arena, way more electric than any match between two BDK members ever would have been before now.

That isn't to say the weekend is all about Claudio. Again, the lineup is stacked. Saint and Kidd will go 30 minutes in six separate five-minute rounds on Saturday; Sunday, Saint will team up with Quack and Kidd with Cabana to provide obvious Match of the Year candidate bait. The fact that Shimoda will follow in the footsteps of Manami Toyota is a huge deal in and of itself. Quack is serious about giving the fans of America a proper Joshi education, and for that, he deserves some major props. Team 3.Ole reforming for two matches over the weekend is music to my ears.

And hell, maybe the most entertaining part of the weekend could very well be the culmination of the Flex Express. Green Ant has been on a mission, and although it wasn't a mission from God like it was for Jake and Elwood, it was handed down from Lady Liberty and from the person whose original run in 1993 inspired this whole story:


(Go to 2:50 on the video to start)

Yep, that's right, Lex Freaking Luger is on board with the Flex Express. That. Is. Awesome. If you don't know, well, Greenie has been out to take down Tursas. He body slammed the Finnish Warlord at King of Trios en route to the Colony defeating the BDK in the second round of the tournament. He's been on a tour of America (and oddly enough, Canada too), and now he's ready to be the first man to levy a pinfall loss on Tursas in a singles match… ever?

The fact that the culmination of the Flex Express may only be the third or fourth biggest thing going down this weekend shows you that Chikara doesn't screw around when it comes to building up its events. Believe you me, this is an event. IF you're anywhere in the greater Philadelphia area this weekend, come on down to Reading or Swanson and Ritner (or both) and partake. You seriously won't be disappointed with the English legends, the Joshi standouts or the patriotic young ant looking to slay a monster.

But most of all, you'll get the chance to be there for the start of something special, the beginning of a farewell tour for one of the cornerstones of Chikara. I'd say that's worth the trip.

Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography

My Favorite Wrestlers Ever: Announcement and Honorable Mention

He frightens small children, and for that, I own his shirt

For those who don't keep track, this is post number #2,500 for The Wrestling Blog. In honor of reaching that plateau, I'm going to roll out a top 25 list of my favorite wrestlers of all-time. I did this for my then-current favorites last year, but that was all in one post. This list will be rolled out in the style that I did the Wrestler of the Decade posts back in Aught-Nine.

The list will be compiled by my own arbitrary standards, because DUH, it's a favorite wrestlers list. If I had objective criteria, then it wouldn't be a "favorite" list now, would it? I will say that the standing on this list will be geared not towards how I feel about the person now completely, but towards my admiration of their work and how I felt about them at certain times in my life.

So, without further ado, here are the ten wrestlers/entities who didn't make it but almost did. My honorable mentions:

- Sara del Rey is the first one I'd like to mention. She's also the only woman to appear here, so that means she's my favorite female in wrestling history. That's more a reflection on how poorly women have been treated in wrestling than it is my fandom of the artform. Still, the Queen of Wrestling kicks major ass.

- The Eliminators, Perry Saturn and John Kronus, were an ECW staple for me. ECW had a lot of really good tag teams with their own unique flair, and the low-down, dirty ass-kicking of these two really exemplified that for me. Plus, TOTAL ELIMINATION.

- Ric Flair is in this category, most likely because I wasn't exposed to his greatness all that much until the mid-'90s. Hey, I was a WWF kid growing up. Don't shoot me!

- One of my favorite current wrestlers is the high-flying Evan Bourne, a guy who wows me every time he's in the ring nowadays. This is true even if he's not doing a high spot. The guy knows how to sell and be enthusiastic. Those are two great qualities.

- Chuck Taylor frightens little kids and throws grenades. Plus I own his t-shirt. How could he not be at least in the honorable mentions?

- This is a really old school guy who is listed for stuff he did in the later years of his career. Bob Backlund's clean cut, white bread babyface run was way before my time, but when he came back in the early '90s as the kooky old-man psychopath, he had me hooked. Plus I'm a mark for the crossface chicken wing.

- As a fan of comedic wrestling and podcasting, Colt Cabana sates my needs for both. He's awesome at both, and he's a cool dude to boot.

- Mr. Perfect was always a guy I liked for what he could do in the ring, even if I was compelled to root against him as a young fan. He and Bret Hart were guys who made me the fan I am today in some respects. Plus, I always wanted to pull for him, so that run against Shawn Michaels in 1993 was certainly a high point in my life as a fan.

- The Osirian Portal, the time-traveling Egyptian tag team, is on here mainly because they're a time-traveling Egyptian tag team. Very fun tag team who always worked entertaining matches and were able to weave dancing into the foray. I'm gonna miss Amasis a whole lot.

- Finally, the Woo Woo Woo Kid himself, Zack Ryder, rounds this honorable mention section out. I hate to pull the wrestling hipster card on all y'all, but I liked him even before he blew up Youtube. WWWYKI.

Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography

Two of My Favorite Women in Wrestling Ever, in One Picture

Epic.
Photo Credit: Tammy Sytch

What happens when Sara del Rey wrestles Portia Perez in New York state's 2CW promotion with Tammy "Sunny" Sytch as the guest referee? You get an epicly awesome picture of two of my favorite women ever in pro wrestling out of it. I'm sure Brandon Stroud will protest that Portia is nowhere to be found in that shot, but hey, she posted the match too at her blog, along with another picture of del Rey standing in front of a tiger cage.

This has been your requisite break from the CM Punk/Money in the Bank deluge of posting today. It'll resume shortly.

Wrestling Six Packs: Wrestlers I Want to See Win the 12 Large Summit

Jigsaw is TH-approved to win the 12 Large Summit
Photo Credit: Random Chikara Fan

The 12 Large Summit, the FIRST 12-person round-robin wrestling tournament being held this year with the purpose of crowning Chikara's first ever Campeone del Mundo, is in full swing. As with most things Chikara, I'm following this with baited breath. I also have an opinion on whom I want to see win. Of course, making this the subject of a six pack might seem a bit silly since I'd be naming half the participants in the tourney. Also, I'd be happy with anyone winning the tournament who's entered. Except Vin Gerard, because he's stinky and mean looking. But anyway yeah, I guess you could call this a power ranking of the people I want to see win. It's in order, unlike some other six packs. So without further ado...

1. Jigsaw

Jigsaw's my top pick that I want to see win. Why? Well, I feel like he's one of the best workers that Chikara has to offer, one of its most indelible characters, a guy who's become an ambassador for the fed. Maybe it's because I own his mask. Maybe it's because he reposted my Chikara year end review on his Facebook fan page. Maybe it's because he was such a cool dude towards me during King of Trios weekend. Maybe it's all of the above plus the fact that the guy doesn't have bad matches. But I feel like for whatever reason, he'd be the perfect first representative.

2. Sara del Rey

I'm a paradoxical wrestling fan. I like old school stuff, but I also love when feds push the envelope. Chikara having a female winning a title among men would be progressive as fuck, and the "onward and upward"-type fan in me would love to see that. Plus, I have an unabashed crush on SDR. Call me a hopeless romantic, I guess.

3. UltraMantis Black

Mantis is arguably my favorite wrestler in the field, so why is he only three on my list? Well, the thing is I'm not sure the belt is right for Mantis. He's not a guy who needs to be Campeone de Parejas or King of Trios Champion or Cibernetico winner to be worthy of my eternal adoration. Despite being one of Chikara's longest-reigning roster members and most regularly appearing ones, he feels very much like a special attraction. Still, I'd be losing my shit with everyone else if he were the one who ended up holding the title at the end.

4. Icarus

For the lulz, obviously. Can you imagine the epic storm of shit talking emanating from the Winged Warrior if he won? It would be so troll-tastic, especially if he retweeted all the hate messages he got. Plus, his matches would become like a million times more entertaining with the swagger he'd exhibit. Christ, now I almost want Icarus to shoot up to #1 on the list because of the comedic potential.

5. Ophidian

I've always been a huge Portal fan, but I think I have Ophidian here because I'd love to see him win for Amasis. For those who don't know, he took the Funky Pharaoh's spot when he was (unbeknownst to everyone else at the time) permanently shelved. It would be pretty awesome to see him take the title home for his fallen brother.

6. Eddie Kingston

Okay, now we've come to the guy who is probably the hands-down favorite to win. I admit, I wouldn't be opposed to seeing the War King win the title. I mean, he's earned it. He's been the anchor to the biggest storyline of the last two-plus years. When he hasn't been fighting Claudio Castagnoli or the BDK, he's been representing Chikara against the various guest stars they've had come in, from Austin Aries to Colt Cabana and everyone else whom he wrestled in between. It might be predictable, but who said predictable was bad in and of itself?

Know Your Indie Wrestlers: Sara del Rey

Death Rey

Who: Sara del Rey
Also Known As: Death Rey, Queen of Wrestling
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 150 lbs.
Hometown: Martinez, CA

Promotions: SHIMMER, Chikara, ROH, WSU, JAPW (alumna), ACW

Affiliations: In Chikara, she's a member of the devious and deadly BDK. Otherwise, she's found palling around with the Kings of Wrestling as their queen.

Twitter: @TheSaraDelRey

Signature Moves:

Piledriver


Top 10 Moves, including bridging fallaway slam and Royal Butterfly


Accolades:
SHIMMER World Championship
JAPW Women's Champion (current, perhaps final)
ROH Undisputed Intergender Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (w/ Chris Hero)

Promos:

Sara and Daizee are furious over the lack of competition


Promo on Kong and Raesha


A candid talk about women in wrestling


Promo on Daffney


All About Sara del Rey:

Her Matches - She's not the biggest competitor, even among her peers in the women's divisions or in SHIMMER. However, regardless of how much mass or height she has or doesn't have, she's always projecting a fearsome aura. She's definitely the prototype of the female bully, only one that isn't a larger woman. I think that makes her unique, whether she wrestles men or women. She's got some of the best strikes of any gender, especially her koppo kick which is strangely not clipped anywhere on Youtube (or maybe it is, and I'm lazy). I also absolutely love that she uses the piledriver as a finisher. Not a tombstone or a fire thunder or any other variant, but a regular, Memphis-style piledriver. She's definitely the best female wrestler in America right now, at least in my estimation.

Her Character - In nearly every promotion I've seen her, she seems to play down her femininity and work as a bully like she does in the ring. From the facepaint to the menacing scowl, she's the most unladylike of the current crop of women wrestlers. With her ROH/KoW-second character as the Queen of Wrestling, it works brilliantly. She's the new prototype of woman wrestler, one who, despite her obvious inherent good looks and somewhat petite size, doesn't rely on her looks at all and instead on her ability in the ring. It's a brilliantly simple character.

Why You Should Know Her - Honestly, I may be biased, because she's my favorite female in any wrestling promotion, but I think that Sara del Rey is must see whenever she's in the ring or even out of it. It's a good thing, because she's in very high demand. Whether it's in Chikara, SHIMMER, WSU, start-up women's feds or in any women's division, you can count on her being there and turning in great performances. She's clearly making her case to join her former peer Awesome Kong in WWE as part of a new movement of anti-Divas who can actually wrestle and do more than shake their tits and ass.

The thing is that she dowdies herself down and is actually very, very attractive when she accentuates her femininity. However, I think that it makes a very poignant point. She could very well make it to WWE by glitzing up, putting on a shit-ton of makeup and a push-up bra and trying to fit the mold. She doesn't, and I think she's a credit to women's wrestling for doing it. She's talented and it seems like she wants to make it on her merits as a wrestler. That's awesome to me, maybe the biggest reason why I think I have such a crush on her. She definitely has enough talent as well, maybe the most in my estimation.

SO yeah, you need to know her, because if she's not the best in the world, she's at least one of them. She's just about the biggest star remaining on the indie scene, maybe tied with Serena and Cheerleader Melissa, and if she's on a card in your town, I think you need to be there just to see what she does. I think that goes double for if she's in town with Chikara, because she's most likely wrestling intergender, and those are the best examples of her talent.

Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

The Summit Hits the Heartland: Chikara Weekend Preview (and AIW too)

Haters gon' hate... but will they if Icarus gets bullied by SDR?

Last year, Chikara made its debut in the Detroit area and returned to Cleveland for the first time in a few years. There will be no such wait for either area, and they even threw in a Chicago date for a rare tripleshot of shows that will surely take the Midwest by storm

The tour kicks off tomorrow night in Chicago with The Case of the Bulletproof Waldo. Doors at the Logan Square Auditorium will open at 7 PM CDT, and you can still get tickets. Trust me, if you haven't already, you definitely want to get them. There will be three big matches in the 12 Large Summit taking place at this event. There are two matches taking place in Taylor the next night as well. What is this 12 Large Summit? Well, if you don't know, it's the original 12-person round robin tournament to be announced this year. The winner will be crowned the first ever Chikara Campeon del Mundo. There are two blocks (A - Claudio Castagnoli, Hallowicked, Icarus, Ophidian, Mike Quackenbush, Sara del Rey; B - Brodie Lee, Eddie Kingston, Fire Ant, Jigsaw, UltraMantis Black, Vin Gerard), and I assume that the winners of said blocks will face off for the right to be the Champion

Only two matches have been contested so far, both of them being upsets with Gerard going over Brodie and Hallowicked defeating Quackenbush. This weekend's slate of matches for the tourney should be good. In Chicago, we have Claudio battling Hallowicked, del Rey locking up with Icarus and Fire Ant taking on Mantis. At the Taylor show, which takes place Saturday at the Taylortown Trade Center with doors opening at 7 PM EDT, Mantis will battle Kingston, while Quack tackles Ophidian. OF all these matches, the most interesting to me is the Icarus/SDR tilt. They're both rudos, well-entrenched rudos to be even more specific. Icarus' smarmy demeanor and heat-garnering back tattoo have made him the target of hatred to almost every crowd he's performed in front of. Conversely, del Rey, despite being a female wrestling in a man's ring, has become one of the biggest bullies in Chikara, really beating up on the smaller males at will. Of course, the crowd will gang up on Icarus early, but I have to wonder if he'll remain the de facto heel during the match if del Rey starts abusing him. If that happens, then Chicago would truly become one of the most special Chikara crowds instantly.

Aside from the tournament action, there are some really cool matches going on this weekend. Tomorrow night's main event in Chicago features native sons, Da Soul Touchaz, looking to exact some revenge for the heinous crimes perpetrated against them by the BDK since last year's The Germans in a six-man tag match against Ares, Tursas and Tim Donst. After dominating the BDK for the first part of last year, the Chicagoland trio has not been able to defeat them ever since the evil German stable decimated their manager, C-Red, in a sneak attack. This should be a pretty hot match. Another Chicago native, Colt Cabana, will take to the ring to battle Eddie Kingston in a special attraction match. I wonder how Cabana's comedic antics will match up with the War King? That one should be interesting to say the least.

Rounding out the Chicago card will be a trios match between the Throwbacks (featuring Matt Classic) and the Batiri, a tag match featuring Soldier and Green Ants from the Colony against Johnny Gargano and Chuck Taylor from FIST and a special attraction tag between Ophidian and Hieracon of the Osirian Portal and two standouts from Chicago's GALLI promotion, Emperador and Ripper. I'm not familiar with GALLI, but I've heard it's another American lucha libre fed, so I'm looking forward to seeing this one on DVD.

The non-tournament matches on the Taylor card are headlined by a rematch from last year's King of Trios final. The 2010 Champions of Claudio, Ares and Tursas will take on the 2011 Champions from the Colony in a match that's being billed as the war to settle who the ultimate Kings are. Both these teams are no strangers to each other, and I feel like this could be your match of the weekend.

Also on the card will be some guest stars from CLASH Wrestling. Greg Iron will tangle with Icarus in one match. Iron fell victim to Icarus earlier this year in Reading, and he's looking for some revenge. If he can beat the tattoo off Icarus' back, he'll be a fan favorite in no time. Also on the card will be a trios match featuring six of CLASH's best and brightest. Cameron Skyy, who participated in last year's Young Lions Cup, will team with the tag team Too Sweet to take on CLASH Champion Gavin Quinn and the H3RD. TWB superfan Dorian Jackson will probably be able to tell you more about this match than I can.

Rounding out the card, Hieracon will take on Gerard in singles action, Hallowicked and Frightmare will wrestle Taylor and Gargano in one tag match, and the Throwbacks will battle the BDK's team of Donst and Jakob Hammermeir in another.

Sunday's card in Cleveland doesn't have any 12 Large Summit matches, but it's still pretty loaded. The show, titled The Evil That Lies Within, Pt. 4, will emanate from St. Gregory's Byzantine Hall in Lakewood, OH, and doors will open at 3:30 PM. The top two matches on the card should be dazzlers. The assumed main event is an atomico match featuring Quackenbush teaming with the Colony against Team FIST and Gerard. That one should be standard operating procedure for a Chikara multi-man match. Good for the crowd in Cleveland, that usually means fireworks. The other big match is a Young Lions Cup defense by Frightmare against the devious Kodama. This is an extension of the greater feud between the Spectral Envoy and Sinn Bodhi's Batiri, and I fear that Frightmare's title reign could be in jeopardy here. Whatever it is, it'll have a lot of heat behind it.

As for the other two members of the Envoy, Mantis and Hallowicked will have other old scores to settle as they gun for Ares and Donst of the BDK. Wow, it seems like there are a lot of old BDK-related feuds and arcs coming to the forefront this weekend. Could we be seeing a lot of closure to some of the issues between Chikara and the marauding Germans? It's possible, but at the same time, while the Brotherhood has been somewhat castrated, they're still very much a threat. The other two Batiri are in action too with them participating in a four-corner elimination tag match. In the other three corners will be Aeroform (Louis Lyndon and Flip Kendrick), the Olsen Twins (Colin and Jimmy) and Los Ice Creams. It'll be interesting to see if any one team will garner three points so they can challenge the Campeonatos de Parejas of Quack and Jigsaw.

Rounding out the card in singles competition, Dasher Hatfield battles Tursas, Hieracon battles Kingston, Hammermeir takes on Cheech Hernandez and Dunkerton will meet Ophidian. As an added bonus, following Chikara's show will be Absolute Intense Wrestling's Absolution 6, which is their biggest card of the year. Their show will be headlined by Gargano, who is their Absolute Champion, trying to fend off a challenge by Donst, whose stock has risen in the Cleveland indie promotion in the last year. Also on the card, Facade will battle Sabu and Kingston will take on former ROH standout BJ Whitmer among other matches.

All three Chikara shows, and the AIW show even, look really cool. There may not be a whole lot in the way of guest stars, but I feel like if you want a real feel for Chikara, you need to see them when it's mainly their regulars in tow. They have a very talented roster, and that will be on display this weekend, whether it's deciding matches in the 12 Large Summit or just other business-as-usual action. If you're in Chicago, Detroit or Cleveland or if you're willing to road-trip, you gotta go and see at least one of these shows. It'll be worth it.

Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!