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  • Chikara Pro Wrestling

    Official Website | Official Forums | Official YouTube

    So, as people may have guessed, I'm a big fan of professional wrestling, and while I do enjoy WWE, I also look for alternative means of getting my wrestling fix that don't involve Impact Wrestling. This means I watch some Japanese pro wrestling at times, but I also watch independent pro wrestling, in particular one of the top indies in North America today, Chikara Pro Wrestling.

    Founded in Philadelphia in 2002 by 'Lightning' Mike Quackenbush and Reckless Youth, it initially served as a 'home company' for graduates from the Chikara Wrestle Factory, but it has since become a company that attracts talent from all over the country, indeed, all over the world. Chikara has a heavy influence from Mexican lucha libre, obvious from the fact that many of its roster members wear masks, the division of the roster into tecnicos (good guys) and rudos (bad guys), and some of its rules system. Chikara emphasizes its family-friendly atmosphere, keeping profanity as absent as possible, welcoming kids into the audience, and keeping their ticket prices as affordable as the market will allow.

    Chikara, unlike a lot of the wrestling business, also takes pains to keep tag-team wrestling alive, with multiple teams or stables of wrestlers around from which to draw teams, and for the first 9 years of its existence, its main championship was their tag team championship.

    Major Championships & Awards
    The Campeonatos de Parejas are Chikara's tag-team championship. The tag division in Chikara is governed by a simple points system. When a team scores a fall (via pinning, submitting, or DQ), they earn a point. When a team earns three points, they may challenge for the titles. If a team loses a fall, they lose all their points and must start over. All matches for the Campeonatos de Parejas are contested under 2-of-3 falls rules. There have been exceptions to both the points system and the 2-of-3 falls rules, but both were under exceptional circumstances. (F.I.S.T.'s Icarus & Gran Akuma were allowed to bypass the points system for their ex-champions rematch against Incoherence, because Icarus was not involved in the match in which they lost the titles. And the Colony's Fire Ant & Soldier Ant were allowed to challenge the Osirian Portal in a one-fall match because they had earned an unprecedented seven points before being able to challenge for the titles.) Currently, the Campeones de Parejas are The Throwbacks (Dasher Hatfield & "Mr. Touchdown" Mark Angelosetti), who defeated The Pieces of Hate (Jigsaw & The Shard) on July 20, 2014.
    [Previous CdP Holders: Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli) (2 defenses), F.I.S.T. (Icarus & Gran Akuma) (3 defenses), Incoherence (Hallowicked & Delirious) (5 defenses), Super Smash Bros. (Player Uno & Player Dos) (0 defenses), The Osirian Portal (Amasis & Ophidian) (3 defenses), The Colony (Fire Ant & Soldier Ant) (4 defenses), Bruderschaft des Kreuzes (Claudio Castagnoli & Ares) (4 defenses), Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw (2 defenses), F.I.S.T. (Chuck Taylor & Johnny Gargano) (4 defenses), 3.0 (Shane Matthews & Scott 'Jagged' Parker) (0 defenses), F.I.S.T. (Chuck Taylor & Johnny Gargano) (2nd reign) (0 defenses), The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) (3 defenses), 3.0 (2nd reign) (2 defenses), Pieces of Hate (Jigsaw & The Shard) (0 defenses)]

    The Young Lions Cup is one of two singles championships in Chikara, but not just anyone is allowed to challenge for the Cup. Only wrestlers who are 25 or younger, and who have not held the Cup previously, may challenge for the Cup. Once a year, Chikara hosts the Young Lions Cup tournament, in which young wrestlers from across the globe compete to win the Cup. When the tournament begins, the previous Cupholder relinquishes the title (though they get to keep the trophy). The Young Lions Cup XI tournament was hosted by Wrestling Is Fun and will have its finals in December.
    [Previous YLC Holders: YLC I - Hallowicked (4 defenses); YLC II - Larry Sweeney (0 defenses), Jigsaw (4 defenses); YLC III - Shane Storm (2 defenses); YLC IV - Arik Cannon (4 defenses), Maxime Boyer (5 defenses); YLC V - Chuck Taylor (2 defenses), Helios (3 defenses); YLC VI - Fire Ant (0 defenses), Vin Gerard (4 defenses), Jimmy 'Equinox' Olsen (2 defenses); YLC VII - Player Dos (2 defenses), Tim Donst (4 defenses); YLC VIII - Frightmare (7 defenses); YLC IX - Tadasuke (2 defenses); YLC X - 'Mr. Touchdown' Mark Angelosetti (6 defenses)]

    The Grand Championship of Chikara is the other major singles championship in Chikara, and as of March 2013, it will hence forth be defended on every single card that Chikara has. The only requirements for challenging for the title appear to be that current Director of Fun Wink Vavasseur likes you, or believes that you have a chance of beating Kingston. The Grand Championship was awarded to the winner of the "12 Large: Summit" round robin tournament, named in honor of the late Alex "Larry Sweeney" Whybrow. Currently, the Grand Championship is held by Icarus, who defeated Eddie Kingston at "You Only Live Twice" on May 25, 2014.
    [Previous Grand Champions: Eddie Kingston (14 defenses)]

    The King of Trios tournament is Chikara's biggest event of the year, known for bringing in world-renowned talent for special appearances in a three-night extravaganza. The tournament is made up of 16 trios, three-wrestler teams, in single-elimination competition. In addition to trios action, KOT weekends will often see major singles matches, and the annual Tag Team Gauntlet. There's a frequent running gag that every year's King of Trios will be the "last one ever." The King of Trios 2014 tournament was won by The Devastation Corporation (Max Smashmaster, Blaster McMassive, Flex Rumblecrunch), who defeated the Golden Trio (Icarus, Dasher Hatfield, Mr. Touchdown) in the finals on September 21, 2014.
    [Previous KOT Winners: 2007 - Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw, Shane Storm; 2008 - Los Luchadores de Mexico (El Pantera, Incognito, Lince Dorado); 2009 - F.I.S.T. (Icarus, Gran Akuma, Chuck Taylor); 2010 - Bruderschaft des Kreuzes (Claudio Castagnoli, Ares, Tursas); 2011 - The Colony (Fire Ant, Soldier Ant, Green Ant); 2012 - The Spectral Envoy (UltraMantis Black, Hallowicked, Frightmare)]

    The Torneo Cibernetico is another annual attraction for Chikara. A huge 16-man tag match, each team is comprised of eight wrestlers, captained by one wrestler each, wrestling in an elimination fashion until one wrestler is left. If one team is completely eliminated before the other, the remaining wrestlers on the surviving team will face one another until only one is left. In addition, there is a "batting order" to the teams, so Wrestler 1 can only tag out to Wrestler 2, who can only tag out to Wrestler 3, and so on. If a wrestler is eliminated, the wrestlers behind him in the batting order move up. The Cibernetico can be quite a long match. The 10th Torneo Cibernetico will be held on December 6th.
    [Previous Cibernetico Winners: 2004 - Jigsaw; 2005 - Gran Akuma; 2006 - Icarus; 2007 - Claudio Castagnoli; 2008 - Jimmy "Equinox" Olsen; 2009 - Carpenter Ant; 2010 - Eddie Kingston; 2011 - Sara Del Rey]

    2013 Schedule
    • February 2 - National Pro Wrestling Day - Philadelphia, PA
    • February 9 - "All the Agents and Superhero Crew" - Reading, PA
    • February 10 - "While the Dawn is Breaking" - Easton, PA
    • March 8 - "Just Shadows in the Fog" - Tampa, FL
    • March 9 - "Watchmaker" - Orlando, FL
    • April 6 - "The Shoulder of Pallas" - Sacaucus, NJ [Wrestlecon]
    • May 3 - "Battle Not With Monsters" - Gibsonville, NC
    • May 4 - "The Ghost of You Clings..." - Porterdale, GA
    • May 18 - "The Art of Humanoid Watching" - Chicago, IL
    • June 2 - "Aniversario: Never Compromise" - Philadelphia, PA
    • July 20 - "All You See Is Mine" - Easton, PA
    • July 21 - "Cause Each Other Pain" - Manhattan, NY
    • August 16 - "Who Am I Without You?" - Minot, ND
    • August 17 - "Wide Awake" - Sioux Falls, SD
    • August 18 - "The Things That You Saw" - Minneapolis, MN
    • November 2 - "Weeping Atlas Cedars" - Reseda, CA
    • November 3 - "All Things Must Pass" - San Diego, CA


    2014 Schedule
    • May 25 - "You Only Live Twice" - Easton, PA
    • June 21 - "Quantum of Solace" - Chicago, IL
    • June 21 - "Diamonds Are Forever" - Chicago, IL
    • June 22 - "Goldfinger" - Detroit, MI
    • July 19 - "The Living Daylights" - Manhattan, NY
    • July 20 - "The World Is Not Enough" - Revere, MA
    • August 16 - "Permis De Teur" - Limoilou, QC, Canada
    • August 17 - "Vivre Et Laisser Mourir" - Montreal, QC, Canada
    • September 19-21 - "King of Trios 2014" - Easton, PA
    • October 25 - "Thunderball" - Gibsonville, NC
    • October 26 - "Moonraker" - Richmond, VA
    • November 15 - "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" - Haverhill, MA
    • November 16 - "For Your Eyes Only" - South Windsor, CT
    • December 6 - "Tomorrow Never Dies" - Philadelphia, PA


    THE ONGOING PLOT

    Chikarmageddon

    On June 2, 2013, at "Aniversario: Never Compromise," Chikara Pro effectively 'died.'

    It was a sudden thing, but as it turned out, the wheels had been in motion. In 2011, Chikara was acquired by a company called Worldwide Media Development Corporation (WMDCorp), a subsidiary of the Titor Conglomerate. WMDCorp installed a man named Wink Vavasseur as the Director of Fun, although it soon became clear that Wink was an oblivious milksop with a poor grasp of business practices and even of wrestling and Chikara's history. His "Chikarabermetrics" system caused a major shake-up in the roster as long-standing teams were broken up, or forced to team with rivals or people with whom they did not get along. He allowed an invading group known as GEKIDO (17, The Shard, CombatANT, DeviANT, AssailANT) to join the roster, despite GEKIDO's intent to destroy Chikara. He decided to capitalize on long-standing fan-favorite stable The Colony by introducing his own version, The Colony XTREME Force (Arctic Rescue Ant, Orbit Adventure Ant, Missile Assault Ant), and then blatantly favoring them by retroactively declaring them the 2011 King of Trios Champions. Wink even fired Mike Quackenbush, the patriarch of the company, in April, coincidentally after Quack received an envelope from someone representing the No Private Army blog.

    There were signs, however, that Wink was merely a puppet for Titor, as following the "Under the Mask" iPPV at the end of 2012, a clip was seen where Wink was dressed down by a man later identified as Conrad Vavasseur, his father and one of Titor's executives. Conrad was seen telling his son, "No more screw-ups." Wink's apparent incompetence was verified by a WMDCorp representative, Anton Frady, on the 101 Forums, who said that Chikara was meant to be a place to put Wink out of the way. Noticeable at many of Chikara's shows were grim men from Condor Security, a private security company and subsidiary of Titor. The No Private Army blog intimated that Condor was in truth a private military contractor, responsible for crimes against humanity in other parts of the world.

    At "Never Compromise," things started to unravel. Partway through the show, disgraced ex-referee Derek Sabato entered the ring and revealed he'd received a photo, which he tweeted out. The photo depicted Titor Conglomerate executives (including Conrad Vavasseur) at a groundbreaking ceremony in Elohim, Oklahoma, a haven for a white supremacy group. It has been confirmed that Sabato received the photo from Quackenbush prior to the show.

    Then, as the main event drew to a close, Icarus looked to be on the verge of winning the Grand Championship of Chikara from Eddie Kingston, who was close to tapping out to the Chikara Special submission. However, before it could happen, Condor Security swarmed the ring, in greater numbers than had ever been seen before, dragging the competitors and referee out and to the back. They started tearing down the set and ordering people out of the Trocadero, while a disheveled Wink looked on from the stage, eating an apple.

    The next day, all future Chikara events were cancelled, and the members of the roster and staff were mute as to why. A month later, after no further information came out, some of the wrestlers broke their silence, but only to share their Chikara memories. Until Icarus declared he wasn't going to let Chikara end like that. And thus began the movement.

    #IAMCHIKARA

    Icarus started holding rallies, first at former Chikara venues on dates when shows had been scheduled. Fans signed petitions, they got "#IAMCHIKARA" trending worldwide during WWE TV broadcasts, they started spreading the word elsewhere across the Internet. More and more of Chikara alumni started getting behind it as well, although several big names remained mute or seemed indifferent (in some cases, even hostile) to the movement.

    It also transpired that Wink Vavasseur had broken away from his father and Titor and started answering questions and divulging information about Titor and its schemes. He revealed that Titor had wanted to turn Chikara and the Wrestle Factory into a training facility for their private army, but had been stymied when the Wrestle Factory broke away from Chikara to stay independent when WMDCorp acquired it. GEKIDO, it transpired, was on Titor's payroll, and the Colony XTREME Force were Titor soldiers that Wink had been ordered to add to the roster. Wink even gave out his father's email address, on which several fans started to harass the Titor exec.

    Things built up to the point where Icarus and several wrestlers and staff members staged a "secret show" at FDR Park in Philadelphia on November 2, 2013. A ring was set up and six wrestlers staged a match while fans streamed the event on Ustream, but then a dark tide fell over the event.

    Condor Security drove by, abducting a fan named Thom (who had been active on the 101 Forums), and driving off. Spooked, the Chikara crew quickly ended the event, tearing down the ring and scattering. Condor soon posted a video ransom note, demanding the fans show up on November 30 if they want Thom back, and warned them not to bring any wrestlers.

    On November 30, a scavenger hunt took place throughout Philly, as fans deciphered clues, and were soon aided by Chikara members, who briefly hijacked Condor's hunt to stall Condor. Eventually, a file was retrieved from a storage facility, which was swapped out by Icarus before the hand-off was made to Condor. Thom was recovered, and the file was revealed to be Titor plans to purchase a patch of land next to the Palmer Center in Easton, PA, on which Titor was planning to build its own training facility.

    Soon after this victory, Titor suddenly announced it was planning to sell off one of its "sports and entertainment assets." It started inviting bids privately, and a deadline was given for December 22 for bids. After the day, no further information came out, until a fan noticed on Facebook that Barridoff Galleries, an art auction company in Portland, Maine, had posted on its Facebook page that it had purchased Chikara on December 31. Of interest to Chikara fans is that Barridoff Galleries is run by Robbie Ellis, a part-time pro wrestler who has worked in Chikara before. Barridoff has confirmed that the post on their Facebook timeline is true, but that they can't discuss anything further at this time.

    Ashes

    Late in the summer of 2013, a website, The Ashes Of, surfaced, which has ties to the Chikara storyline. A Vine account attached to the site releases teaser clips that preview the full videos, which are hosted on the YouTube channel "Wrestling Is." These videos have been showing some of what's been happening since "Never Compromise," as Icarus looks for support to save Chikara's ideals, 3.0 look for answers from Archibald Peck, and the Colony look for their missing comrade Soldier Ant.

    "Prelude" - Set prior to 2002, it gives a little insight to the start of the Wrestle Factory, featuring a younger Mike Quackenbush speaking with a contractor about needed renovations to the building.
    "Man Down" - Set anywhere from prior to June 2013 to August 2013, it shows Fire Ant & Green Ant approaching a wheelchair-bound Worker Ant, looking for the M.I.A. Soldier Ant. It finishes with Worker giving Green his old gear, telling him "You're the worker now."
    "Garbage" - Set in July 2013, around a Dragon Gate USA show, it shows Icarus meeting with former stablemate Chuck Taylor, trying to convince him to help him save Chikara. Chucky T, however, tells Icarus it's over and advises him to call bookers to look for work.
    "Thwarted" - Set in October 2013, just after Wrestling Is Awesome was shut down, it features 3.0-- Shane Matthews & Scott Parker-- resolving to find out what happened to Chikara, and deciding to hunt down Archibald Peck.
    "Fickle" - Set at some point between July and October 2013, Icarus visits a furniture store that is managed by an eerily chipper Tim Donst, whose strange behavior confuses Icarus. Donst declines assisting Icarus, but does give him his Young Lions Cup trophy, asking him to give it to Jakob. The video ends with Icarus setting course for the Wrestle Factory.
    "The Letter" - Picking up immediately where "Fickle" left off, it features Icarus narrating, reading a letter written to him by Hallowicked, discussing the bond they have as Chikara Gen-1 Originals, and calling the Wrestle Factory "the closest thing to home."
    "Sweat Shop" - Picking up immediate where "The Letter" left off, it features Icarus meeting with Hallowicked at the Wrestle Factory, although it transpires that Icarus had been looking for Quackenbush, who hasn't been by and whose voicemail is full. Icarus swipes a piece of Quack's gear from a suitcase when 'Wicked isn't looking, comments on "the landlords out front," and asks at the end of the video, "When is this new batch of greenhorns going to be ready?"
    "Dead Horse" - Set at some point presumably between "Sweat Shop" and the events of November 30, it features Eddie Kingston backstage at an ROH show, where he's confronted by Icarus, who reminds him of the way he always stood up for Chikara. An irate Kingston tells him to stop living in the past. At the end of the video, Icarus notes, "You still have it?" Kingston holds up the Chikara Grand Championship belt and says, "Not it. Her."
    "Deja Vu" - Set after "Thwarted," 3.0 meet with barrister R.D. Evans, wanting to know "Where in the World is Archibald Peck?" Evans reiterated the time-travel theory surrounding Peck's adventures after being hit by Kingston's "Backfist to the Future," and eventually told them "I would start looking in Parts Unknown," the location of which, of course, he does not know. The video ended with 3.0 heading off to go try to find Peck.
    "Where Everyone Knows Your Name" - Set after "Man Down," Fire Ant and Green Ant go to a bar, looking for leads on Soldier Ant, and meet with UltraMantis Black. Accusations are thrown around and tempers flare, as the Colony reveal they don't trust AssailANT.
    "History" - Set presumably after "Where Everyone Knows Your Name" and "Dead Horse," Icarus goes to a library, where he confronts UltraMantis Black about his loyalties to Chikara's ideals.
    "Solitude" - Set after "Deja Vu," 3.0 trudge through some winter frigidness and make it to Parts Unknown, where they approach a barn and knock on the door...
    "Fuel" - Set at some point after "Sweat Shop," AssailANT and Jervis Cottonbelly are training/sparring at the Wrestle Factory when some unwelcome guests in the form of DeviANT and the Colony XTREME Force turn up...
    "Flood" - Picks up immediately after "Fuel," DeviANT demands that AssailANT help them burn down the Wrestle Factory. The big blue Ant refuses and goes down fighting...
    "Ideas" - Set at some point after "Sweat Shop," Icarus tracks down Mike Quackenbush at his home. He asks for Quack's help, noting "They won't listen to me, they'll listen to you... there's a war coming." Quack seemed haunted by the lengths to which he'd gone to fight GEKIDO and was reluctant, though Icarus gave him the wrestling gear he'd swiped at the Wrestle Factory before leaving.
    "When?" - Picks up immediately after "Solitude," as 3.0 confront Archibald Peck in Parts Unknown. Archie has no answers, only theories, and says they're too late to stop the traces of Chikara from being "washed away." But he does seem to think there's something to be done... and his eyes turn toward a diagram of a Flux Capacitor and the date "25 May 2014"...
    "Torch" - The shortest of the Ashes videos thus far. It depicts Green Ant angrily yelling at a Wrestle Factory student in an Equinox mask, at the Palmer Center in Easton, PA, and locking up with him, before the video is hijacked by the Ghosts of Rudos Past, while a voice speaks backwards and a message displays "THE END IS NOW."
    "Believe" - Set at some point after "History," and presumably before or perhaps after the Wrestling Is Fun show in January 2014, Icarus goes to the Palmer Center in Easton, PA, where he confronts the Colony. They agree to help him defend Chikara's ideals.
    "Rise" - Set in the week before National Pro Wrestling Day (2/1/14), it features several Chikara notables training. Icarus does a "Rocky" run through Philadelphia. The Throwbacks do calisthenics. Ophidian practices his kung fu.
    "Workin'" - In the aftermath of NPWD, the Colony finds AssailANT at the Fujiwara Arm Bar. Green Ant questions him about the change of heart, and AssailANT comes clean... and finds acceptance.

    The entirety of the storyline has been released via Smart Mark Video as "The Ashes of Chikara," and includes clips not shown online. Mike Quackenbush has stated in interviews that "The Ashes of Chikara" storyline comprises Season 13, with Season 14 starting at "You Only Live Twice."

    Wrestling Is... Ragnarok & The Ghosts of Rudos Past

    Several smaller indie wrestling companies sprang up in the wake of Chikara's demise, all named "Wrestling Is __." The first, Wrestling Is Fun, was actually founded toward the close of 2011. Two of them, Wrestling Is Heart and Wrestling Is Respect, were rebranded from existing companies, School of Roc: Class Wars and Pro Wrestling Respect, respectively. The others were Wrestling Is Cool, Wrestling Is Intense, Wrestling Is Art, and Wrestling Is Awesome.

    It didn't take fans long to make a further connection-- Cool-Heart-Intense-__-Art-Respect-Awesome almost spells out CHIKARA. There was some debate about what the K would be filled by-- with one theory being that Fun filled the K, since Fun's top prize is the Banana Championship, and the holder called the Possessor of the Potassium, and potassium is represented by "K" in the periodic table-- but recent events suggest that Kaiju Big Battel fills the K slot.

    From the fall of 2013 onward, old faces have been surfacing and making threats, and then systematically shutting down these companies. The 101 Forums have taken to calling these forces, collectively, the 'Ghosts of Rudos Past.'

    In September, GEKIDO broke a long Twitter silence to issue a threat toward Wresting Is Intense. At Intense's next show, 17, CombatANT, and DeviANT stormed the ring after the main event, grievously injuring the wrestlers involved (and seemingly killing Darkness Crabtree) and threatening to do the same unless Intense's head honcho closed the company. Reluctantly, he did so.

    In October, Kaiju Big Battel's Dr. Cube issued a YouTube video threat to Wrestling Is Awesome. At Awesome's next show, just as 3.0's Scott Parker had won Awesome's new (and expensive) championship belt, Dr. Cube's Posse invaded, stealing the belt and the gate money, and forcing Awesome's head honcho to close it down due to lack of money.

    In November, Kizarny Sinn Bodhi put a message on Facebook, threatening Wrestling Is Art. The day of Art's next show, a picture surfaced of a masked Bodhi meeting with Art's head honcho backstage. After the main event, Bodhi and his Odditorium (Oliver Grimsly and Qefka the Quiet), flanked by some of Dr. Cube's minions, came out. Bodhi revealed that he'd bought Art and was shutting it down.

    --It should be noted at this point that, in Kaiju Big Battel, Dr. Cube had been assassinated, shot in the head, but later turned up alive again. In KBB, this new Dr. Cube is firmly believed to be an impostor, and he also possesses the shards of the Eye of Tyr, a mystical gemstone capable of enthralling people's minds. The Eye of Tyr had been infamously used by UltraMantis Black in Chikara to brainwash Delirious, before the Eye of Tyr was stolen back by the BDK's Ares, who used it to bring Delirious to his side. When Mantis reacquired the Eye at the end of 2011, he used it to free Delirious, but a furious Delirious smashed the Eye and declared his intent to get his revenge on Mantis. At the end of 2012, a clip surfaced of Dr. Cube's minions gathering the shards of the Eye...--

    In December, the BDK posted a video on YouTube, threatening Wrestling Is Cool. At the show, Cool's head honcho, Milo Schnitzler, abruptly revealed his BDK allegiance and attacked the ring announcer, Gavin Loudspeaker. Milo was joined by a masked Ares and a horned, masked figure called Nøkken. They shut off the power and closed the company.

    At this point, fans knew there was a connection between the Ghosts of Rudos Past, and so did the wrestlers. Icarus started trying to rally support from the other wrestlers, but most weren't trusting of him, given Icarus' long rudo history and perhaps their own issues with him in the past.

    In January, both GEKIDO and Dr. Cube issued threats toward Wrestling Is Fun. Icarus stepped up his game trying to get support, and was seen on the day of Fun's next show, guarding the main door with a baseball bat. During the main event, GEKIDO and Dr. Cube's Posse stormed into the building from the back entrance, but were headed off by Icarus, Dasher Hatfield, and Estonian Thunderfrog. Dr. Cube declared, "Very well, Icarus, we shall respect your wishes," before leaving.

    The next day, during Wrestling Is Respect's show, GEKIDO and Dr. Cube's Posse turned up again, but were held off by the entire tecnico roster, who were joined by Sidney Bakabella's Wrecking Crew (Oleg the Usurper, JAKA, Max Smashmaster, Blaster McMassive, Flex Rumblecrunch). However, Cube made a "money" signal to the Crew, who turned on the others and laid them to waste. Bakabella declared that Respect was dead, and the company closed. Later that day, Bakabella tweeted out a picture of him shaking hands with Dr. Cube, revealing that he'd taken a pay-off from Cube.

    As February 1, 2014, National Pro Wrestling Day, drew close, all of the Ghosts of Rudos Past-- now known officially as "The Flood"-- have posted threats about NPWD. One of the "Ashes" teaser videos was hijacked and showed all of the Ghosts of Rudos Past gathered together, while a voice declared the date "February 1st, 2014," and then the words "THE END IS NOW" were displayed...

    National Pro Wrestling Day

    As the main event of NPWD drew to a close, Joe Pittman defended Wrestling Is Heart's La Copa Idola trophy against Heidi Lovelace. As Heidi had him trapped in the Chikara Special, the Flood invaded the venue, swarming the ring and ringside area. GEKIDO, the Odditorium, the Wrecking Crew, the BDK, and Dr. Cube's Posse all stood alongside three men wearing plague-doctor masks, identified by fans as the Condor goons from November 30. Cube's Posse had scores of minions in masks surrounding the ring as well. The villainous group smashed the Copa Idola trophy and looked poised to ruin the event.

    The Submission Squad (Pierre Abernathy, Evan Gelistico, Davey Vega, Gary the Barn Owl), who had just decided to try to save Chikara instead of invade it, turned up and said the baddies would have to go through them. So the baddies did.

    Then Icarus showed up, flanked by Hallowicked, the Colony, AssailANT, Kid Cyclone, Create-A-Wrestler II, and Dasher Hatfield. GEKIDO ordered AssailANT to take his place with them, but he drew a line on the floor and refused to step over it. The main plague-doctor unmasked to reveal Jimmy Jacobs, nihilistic anarchist from Ring of Honor, who mocked Icarus for thinking that eight men could stop their army. At which point, Icarus said that eight men couldn't, and gave the signal...

    ...at which point all of Dr. Cube's minions unmasked to reveal the entire Chikara roster. The Batiri, Mr. Touchdown, UltraMantis Black, Jervis Cottonbelly, the Baltic Seige, Frightmare, and others. They fought valiantly with the villains, who still looked to have the advantage...

    ...until the doors opened to reveal the DeLorean pull up outside, from which emerged 3.0 and Archibald Peck, who charged into the fray and helped turn the tide, sending the baddies fleeing out of the Palmer Center. The entire CHIKARMY celebrated the victory, as Icarus grabbed a sign and held it up in the ring, a sign bearing the date 5.25.14. As NPWD ended, Icarus shouted out, "We're coming back! Tell the world!"

    Chikara lives.

    The War with The Flood

    The Flood are dedicated to washing away Chikara and everything it stands for, and Jimmy Jacobs has stated he was "chosen" to lead them in this goal. Intimating there is something worse out there than him, he and The Flood have posed a serious threat to Chikara and its wrestlers, and this was proven at "You Only Live Twice" on May 25th, 2014 following the main event. Having defeated Eddie Kingston to claim the Grand Championship of Chikara, Icarus was joined by the roster in celebration, when The Flood stormed back into the building, along with a towering behemoth of a man, wearing armor and an ominous gas mask. This man, later identified as Deucalion, had with him Delirious and Soldier Ant, hooded and captive. But when Deucalion removed the hoods, Delirious promptly attacked UltraMantis Black, and Soldier Ant immediately attacked his former Colony brethren. In the midst of the chaos, Deucalion stood triumphant, and was challenged by Kobald of The Batiri, who delivered a spear-- that did absolutely nothing. Deucalion promptly heaved Kobald up over his head and delivered a "choke-breaker," a chokeslam backbreaker that left Kobald motionless on the mat. His point made, and Kobald broken, Deucalion and The Flood receded from the venue, and it was clear: this war was far from over.

    Deucalion, believed to be the enigmatic "Titan of Titor" alluded to on Archibald Peck's conspiracy board, is a frightening figure, one that even The Flood are afraid of. During his rampage in May, Doctor Cube cowered away from the ring. At the Detroit show in June, after DeviANT fell to the Spectral Envoy in a 5-on-5 match, Deucalion appeared, and destroyed DeviANT with a choke-breaker for his failure. In July, after Estonian Thunderfrog had destroyed the BDK's Tursas in a brawl, and after Thunderfrog and the Baltic Seige had just emerged victorious from their rivalry with the Bloc Party, the Flood attacked again, and then cowered away when Deucalion appeared to destroy the amphibious storm god in the same way he'd destroyed others. He also destroyed Thunderfrog's friend the Latvian Proud Oak, and spared the Lithuanian Snow Troll when he begged for his life, but had him dragged away in chains.

    Furious at what he perceived as a lack of response to these attacks, rookie wrestler Kid Cyclone decided enough was enough. Rallying two of his friends and fellow rookies-- Equinox III & Create-a-Wrestler II-- Kid Cyclone formed the Greenhorn Militia (GHM) and started calling out Deucalion. Insinuating he was a coward, Kid Cyclone pointed out that Deucalion only ever attacked and destroyed people when they were already weakened, and called him a bully. The declarations continued for weeks, without response from the Flood, until King of Trios 2014. While Deucalion was in the ring after a Flood trio victory, the GHM attacked, dog-piling on Deucalion while other Chikara roster members ran from the sidelines to attack the Flood. They were effortlessly defeated, and Deucalion shrugged off the GHM, but not before Kid Cyclone managed to unmask the Titan of Titor. Revealed as a bald monster with soulless black eyes, Deucalion expressed his displeasure at being called a "coward" by destroying Kid Cyclone's friends, forcing him to watch and look at their lifeless bodies. Terrified, Kid Cyclone fled the scene, and the villainous ringleader has only added to his dreadful legacy.

    Since then, Deucalion has mocked the senseless deaths and put the blame squarely on the Chikara roster and the Chikara fans. He has proven an indomitable force, and not one that suffers failure gladly. He nearly destroyed his own servant, Jimmy Jacobs, when he failed to defeat Icarus for the Grand Championship, and did destroy The Shard for the treachery of his partner 17. It is clear that The Flood fears Deucalion as much as everyone else does, and the mad "Titan of Titor" will not stop until his army washes away everything Chikara stands for.

    The numbers of the fallen grow with every passing month. Dragon Dragon. Darkness Crabtree, The Brown Morning of Belarus, Private Eye Jr., Kobald, DeviANT, Tursas, Plague Doctor #2, Estonian Thunderfrog, Latvian Proud Oak, Equinox III, Create-a-Wrestler II, Archibald Peck, The Shard

    Who will the war claim next?
    Last edited by Jay 2K Winger; 11-16-2014, 06:44 PM. Reason: Bringing OP up to date about current events
    PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

    There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

  • #2
    Chikara Roster Info - 2014

    Icarus is one of the "Gen-1 Originals," one of the members of the original graduating class of the Wrestle Factory. Over the years, he became one of the most hated members of the roster, as the nominal leader of the faction F.I.S.T., taking pride in his duplicitous nature and underhanded tactics, not to mention his hideous back tattoo. In 2013, however, he showed signs of change by attempting to make the best of the forced membership of Sugar Dunkerton in F.I.S.T. When Dunkerton quit and F.I.S.T. began to dissolve, Icarus reached out to his childhood idol, Marty Jannetty, for guidance leading up to a Grand Championship title shot. When Chikara was shut down in 2013, Icarus refused to let it die. He began drumming up grass-roots support with the fans, reaching out to anyone that would return his calls, trying to rally people behind him, especially when The Flood began to try to stamp out the remnants. His gambit paid off, and the Chikara roster stood up against The Flood at National Pro Wrestling Day 2014, and Chikara rose from the ashes on May 25th, 2014, culminating with Icarus' final redemption by defeating Eddie Kingston to claim the Grand Championship of Chikara. Since then, he's the one people are starting to look to for leadership against the threat of The Flood. (Trademark Moves: Wings of Icarus, Shiranui, Blu-Ray, Chikara Special)

    The Throwbacks are Dasher Hatfield and his step-cousin-in-law 'Mr. Touchdown' Mark Angelosetti. Their partnership began as one of duty-- Dasher feeling obligated to help his family-- and then became one of tension-- as Mr. TD's cheating tactics clashed with Dasher's sensibilities-- and finally became one of trust-- as the two fought and worked out their differences to forge a new bond together. Dasher is the 'Old Timey King of Swing,' a gentleman sportsman all about fair play and having a good time. Touchdown is a nerd-hating football prodigy, the 'Gridiron Grappler,' and has cleaned up his act in the last year. They quickly became the team to beat in 2014, quickly amassing points to claim the Campeonatos de Parejas. (Trademark Moves: (team) Bo Jackson, 3-D, (Dasher) Suicide Squeeze, Grand Slam, (Touchdown) Flea Flicker, Spinebuster)

    Eddie Kingston, styled 'The War King' (or more recently, the 'Mad King'), is a dangerous man. The bitter street brawler has been a rudo to the core for years, refusing to do anything to please the fans and out solely for his own gratification. He was, however, Chikara to the core, and turned tecnico solely to combat the threat of the BDK in 2009. In 2012, he warred his way through the "12 Large: Summit" in memory of his fallen friend Alex "Larry Sweeney" Whybrow, becoming the first-ever Grand Champion of Chikara, and defending the title against all comers. In time, however, something changed, perhaps because of the stress he was under from serious health issues (knee problems), perhaps because of his butting heads with then-Director of Fun Wink Vavasseur, but Kingston became more bitter and even more ruthless, and swore he wouldn't let anyone take "her" (the title) away from him. When Chikara folded in 2013, Kingston notably refused to help Icarus, and even after the company's resurrection, Kingston is solely concerned with "her," and now with getting "her" back since Icarus won the title from him on May 25th, 2014. To that end, it appears Jimmy Jacobs was able to convince Kingston to join The Flood by taking out and replacing one of his plague doctor acolytes. However, Icarus told Kingston that 'she' would be worthless if there was no Chikara, and convinced him to change back to the side of Chikara. (Trademark Moves: Backfist to the Future, Sliding D, Backdrop Driver)

    The Colony is one of the premier tecnico factions in Chikara. The current members are Fire Ant, Silver Ant, and Worker Ant. Fire Ant, referred to as Chikara's "Hottest Property," is an energetic and occasionally high-flying grappler, and a former Young Lions Cup champion. Silver Ant, formerly known as Green Ant, is the main spokesman for the group, a notoriously resilient and accomplished submissions wrestler. Silver Ant once broke his arm in a match and refused to quit, and has even made Mike Quackenbush tap out. Worker Ant is actually the second man to wear the mask, formerly known as AssailANT, who turned against his former Swarm brethren to defend Chikara, seeking to become a better man so his son could be proud of him. Worker Ant is a boisterous bruiser and won't stop until the job's done. The Colony has a fourth member, Soldier Ant, who was forced to join the villainous Swarm group, and was later left out in the cold when the Swarm fell apart and the Colony accepted Worker Ant and ignored him. (More about Soldier Ant in The Flood section.) (Trademark Moves: (team) Ant Hill, Ants Go Marching, Ant-a-pult, (Fire) Beach Break, Burning Down The House, (Silver) Chikara Special: Green, Cloverleaf, (Worker) Pumphandle GTS, Chikara Special: Blue)

    The Spectral Envoy are another top trio in Chikara. Led by Gen-1 Original UltraMantis Black, the team are never to be underestimated, being the 2012 King of Trios champions. Mantis-- "The Great & Devious UltraMantis Black"-- is a diabolical mastermind, obsessed for years with taking over Chikara, before changing his ways slightly to defend Chikara against its enemies. UltraMantis Black is also a heavy metal musician signed to Relapse Records. Joining him in the team is fellow Gen-1 Original Hallowicked, called "The Nightmare Warrior," and was the first ever Young Lions Cup champion, as well as a former Campeon de Parejas with Delirious. 'Wicked is another tough competitor. Rounding out the trio is Frightmare, a kinetic ball of frenetic energy, a fast-paced high-flyer. Wicked and Frightmare are known for their mode of incomprehensible speech. In recent years, they've been embroiled in conflicts with The Batiri and Delirious, and now find themselves fighting against The Flood's forces. In times of need, the Envoy will often be joined by the undead Blind Rage, an old ally of Mantis', and his loyal follower Crossbones. (Trademark Moves: (team) Catacombs of Abaddon, Headless Horseman, (Mantis) Cosmic Doom, Preying Mantis Bomb, (Wicked) Go to Sleepy Hollow, Yakuza Kick, (Frightmare) Kneecolepsy, Crucifix Bomb)

    The Osirian Portal are a popular tag-team consisting of Amasis & Ophidian. Hailing from ancient Egypt and arriving in modern times via the titular time-traveling portal, the duo have long since dropped their nefarious tactics to become fan favorites. Amasis, formerly the 'Funky Pharaoh,' has returned from a debilitating car accident to become the seasoned 'Madjai of the Deities,' while Ophidian has gone through his own metamorphoses. Ophidian, the 'Serpent from the Nile,' once betrayed Amasis and began down a darker path, changing up his style to include an almost martial-arts-style striking game, before Amasis returned to seek his vengeance. After being vanquished by the Madjai, Ophidian was purged of his darker nature and has rejoined his old partner in battle. (Trademark Moves: (team) Hypnosis, Osirian Sacrament, (Amasis) Discus Forearm, 450 Splash, (Ophidian) Cobra Clutch Death Grip, Egyptian Destroyer)

    The Batiri are a team of demonic warriors trained by 'Kizarny' Sinn Bodhi. Vile and villainous, what they lack of words they make up for with savagery. Obariyon & Kodama are face-painted demons from the underworld, and are frequently accompanied by their ally, "The Prince of All Goblins," Kobald. There is no limit to their depravity or sick minds, and they take evil pride in the lines they cross. They are, however, Chikara to the core now, since Sinn Bodhi's allegiance to The Flood came to light and after he snubbed their attempts at reforging their alliance. Kobald has since been destroyed by Deucalion, and The Batiri have sworn vengeance. (Trademark Moves: (team) Skull Bronzing, Seventh Circle, (Obariyon) Go To Hell, Rapture, (Kodama) Diving neckbreaker, Inverted Death Valley Driver, (Kobald) Demon's Toilet, Spear)

    3.0, the fan-favorite Canadian tandem of Shane Matthews & Scott 'Jagged' Parker, are always welcome when they come to Chikara. Parker is the more level-headed of the two, collected and passionate and knowledgeable, while Matthews brings volume and power and energy, no doubt due to a frequent diet of pepperoni sticks and Red Bull. Their early Chikara career was plagued with constant losses, but they evolved and bettered themselves, and are constantly seeking to get back on the road to the "promised land" of championship gold, a feat they've managed to accomplish twice. They are explicitly tag-team specialists, and as such they are stronger in a team than as singles wrestlers. Their timely time-traveling arrival from Parts Unknown with fellow Canuck Archibald Peck at National Pro Wrestling Day 2014 helped turn the tide against The Flood. (Trademark Moves: (team) Sweet Taste of Professionalism, Flapjack Spear, Samoan Drop/Neckbreaker combination)

    Archibald Peck is one of the more unique members of the roster. Undeniably charismatic, "Marchie Archie" was quickly embraced by the fans despite his rudo nature, and the whirlwind ride of his triangle with his majorette Veronica and romantic rival Mr. Touchdown led to Peck adapting a more ruthless side as "Mixed Martial Archie," and after being forced to leave Chikara in a 'Loser Leaves Town' match, snuck back into their lives as "The Mysterious And Handsome Stranger," a rootin-tootin cowboy. Peck is also at the center of a wild number of theories concerning time-travel. Peck has claimed to have been sent back and forth through time whenever he suffers a Spinning Backfist to the face, a fact backed by his legal representative, barrister R.D. Evans, and following his exile, spent an untold amount of time in Parts Unknown, where he derived several theories about the coming of The Flood. Together with 3.0 and with the help of a time-traveling DeLorean, Peck's timely arrival at National Pro Wrestling Day 2014 helped drive off The Flood that day. However, his time-traveling crusade came to an end at the hands of Deucalion in October when the Titan of Titor he'd been looking for destroyed him. (Trademark Moves: (Peck) My New Move!, Diving Headbutt, (MMArchie) Guillotine Choke, (Stranger) Diving Legdrop, Lariat)

    Chuck Taylor, the self-styled "Kentucky Gentleman," is a rudo par excellence. Once a member of the F.I.S.T. faction, 'Chuckie T' is a very accomplished singles competitor in his own right. A former Young Lions Cup champion, two-time Campeon de Parejas (with Johnny Gargano), King of Trios champion (with Icarus & Gran Akuma in F.I.S.T.), and Rey de Voladores champion, Taylor is never one to be underestimated. The child-hating rudo will stop at nothing to pick up a win, and when outside Chikara, is definitely not family-friendly. (His webshow, 'The Gentleman's Club,' is definitely NSFW for language alone.) (Trademark Moves: Awful Waffle/Omega Driver, Cross Crab, Sole Food)

    Shynron is a new arrival to the Chikara universe. The high-flying "Spirit Dragon" is capable of pulling off jaw-dropping aerial moves, laughing in the face of the laws of physics. A clear fan of anime such as Dragonball Z, Shynron is quickly amassing a following and becoming a wrestler to watch. He won the 2014 Rey de Voladores ("King of Flyers") tournament. (Trademark Moves: Backflip cutter, 630 senton, 450 Splash, King Kai Clutch)

    Juan Francisco de Coronado debuted in Chikara in 2014, but has been active in the Wrestling Is companies for the year prior. The arrogant Ecuadorian aristocrat, formerly known as Johnny Ego, considers himself above everyone and takes any evidence to the contrary as a personal insult. Formerly assisted and accompanied by his manservant, Herbert, "JFDC" frequently takes several minutes to even come to the ring to the theme from the movie "Titanic," and has inspired such levels of hatred that when he speaks, he cannot be heard over the boos. Despite his diminutive size, Coronado is surprisingly strong and is a submissions expert as well. One underestimates the braggadocio at one's own peril. (Trademark Moves: Coronado Clutch, bridging German suplex)

    The Baltic Seige [sic] are a trio of wrestlers from the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Although their grasp of English is shaky, and their grasp of American culture and society even shakier, they are nonetheless immensely popular for their eccentricities. They are led by the Estonian Thunderfrog, a powerful amphibious demigod who wields the Hammer of Peace, a Mjolnir-esque weapon with which he has destroyed his enemies. Next there is the cheerful lunatic Latvian Proud Oak (or "Tree" as most call him), who is undoubtedly the most eccentric of the three. And finally there's the Lithuanian Snow Troll, equally kooky and silly, but no less savvy. They've spent most of the last year embroiled in a bitter feud with The Polar Baron's Bloc Party. In July 2014, a day after destroying Tursas with his Hammer, Thunderfrog was destroyed by Deucalion and The Flood, and was soon joined by the Latvian Proud Oak, who was destroyed as well. The Snow Troll begged for his life, and has been enslaved by the Flood. (Trademark Moves: (Frog) Froggy Splash, (Oak) Tree Top Drop, (Troll) ??)

    The Bloc Party is a group led by Martov Sicklemeier, The Polar Baron, an ursine Soviet dictator from north of the Arctic circle. Since the Baron's arrival, he's observed and recruited followers, and when the Baltic Seige refused to bend knee to him, he's declared war on them. His first recruit was The Proletariat Boar of Moldova, a looming, silent pig-man that brings dominating power. Next is Mr. Azerbaijan, an equally silent grappler from the coal mines of Azerbaijan, where he's been the recipient of the 'Azerbaijan's Sexiest Man' title for several years running. (Except in 2002, when the coal miners' strike cancelled the competition.) The third active member is Prakash Sabar, a Pakistani expatriate now living in Georgia, who has evidently modeled himself and his style off of Sean 'X-Pac' Waltman. (Hence Sabar's fan-imposed nickname of 'X-Pakistani'.) Sabar replaces the Brown Morning of Belarus, a strange 'mythological figure' modeled off of Wolverine, who mostly yelled a lot, and who was destroyed by Estonian Thunderfrog in Wrestling Is Fun. In the summer of 2014, the Bloc Party lost a Flag Match against their Baltic Seige rivals, and the Polar Baron left the country in disgrace. (Trademark Moves: (Boar) Proletariat Lariat, Boar Gore, (Azerbaijan) Drop Suplex, Drop Sideslam, (Sabar) Bronco Buster, Split-legged Facebuster)

    Ashley Remington, aka "Smooth Sailin'" Ashley Remington, is the former Dalton Castle of the Northeastern indies. After his uncle Lester "Darkness" Crabtree fell at the hands of The Flood, he came into a sizable inheritance, with the expectation that he would use the money to live in an appropriate lifestyle. He took it to heart, rechristening himself Ashley Remington and becoming a yacht enthusiast. Accompanied to the ring on the arms of two lovely ladies, wowing and wooing fans with his smooth style and gentlemanly behavior, Remington is a sporting competitor, and will give his opponents a complimentary basket of fruit after their matches. (Trademark Moves: Anchors Aweigh, Fair Winds)

    Knight Eye for the Pirate Guy - The tag-team of the "time-displaced noble knight" Sir Lance Steel and the "original party pirate" Jolly Roger, KE4TPG are a fan-favorite team that can fool you with how accomplished they are in the ring. Roger can take to the skies when he needs to, and Steel is a stalwart grappler, aided at times by his armor-plate, which renders him impervious to chops. Lately they have added to their team Princess Kimberlee. Although Lee can be self-centered and prone to taking liberties, Steel will do anything she asks, and she has proven to be a resilient competitor. (Trademark Moves: (team) Jousting Time, (Steel) Boston Crab, (Roger) Walk the Plank, (Lee) ??)

    The Greenhorn Militia - These rookies started making names for themselves before officially debuting. They lent their aid to Icarus in the lead up to National Pro Wrestling Day 2014, and have been chomping at the bit to get their hands on the men who have hurt their friends. Leading the rookies' charge is the hot-blooded Kid Cyclone, who patterns himself slightly off of Icarus, fan-created character Create-a-Wrestler II and 3quinox, the third man to wear the mask of Equinox. Kid Cyclone taunted Deucalion for weeks, calling him a coward, and he paid dearly for it, as Deucalion destroyed his friends and sent the hothead fleeing in terror. (Trademark Moves: (Cyclone) The Twister)

    N_R_G - This rookie tag-team, Hype Rockwell & 'The Generator' Race Jaxon, are a high energy tag-team looking to make a name for themselves. They officially debuted for Chikara at King of Trios 2014 in the Tag Team Gauntlet. (Trademark Moves: (team) ??, (Hype) wind-up backbreaker, (Jaxon) ??)

    Argus - The gekko-roman grappler is another part of the 2014 rookie class, and is fairly enigmatic. He says little, if anything, and he frequently makes gestures to indicate that he is "watching." What he is looking to see, remains to be seen. (Trademark Moves: ??)

    The Flood
    This massive rudo group, formerly colloquially called the 'Ghosts of Rudos Past,' was formed to wash away the remnants of Chikara in 2013 and early 2014, and to destroy the company after its resurrection. A gathering of villains that have previously threatened Chikara, their motives for doing so are unclear. Speculation is that The Flood is being bankrolled by the shadowy Titor Conglomerate.

    Jimmy Jacobs is The Flood's field commander. Jacobs, known for being psychotic but dangerously savvy and possessing a willingness to put his own body through hell to destroy his foes, has stated that he was "chosen" for this role, but hasn't stated by whom he was chosen. Jacobs is frequently accompanied by men that have been dubbed the Plague Doctors due to the masks they wear, and whom Jacobs has referred to as his "acolytes." One of these men has since been destroyed by Eddie Kingston. The remaining member is called Volgar, but nothing else is known about him. (Trademark Moves: End Time, Cutter, Contra Code)

    GEKIDO is a sub-faction of The Flood that initially debuted in 2012, comprised of five men that were dark reflections of Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw, and The Colony, and has since been whittled down to three members, with The Swarm's destruction. The group's leader is the enigmatic 17, a ruthless submissions expert that evidently patterned his career off Quackenbush and claims to have mastered the "17 forgotten holds" of pro wrestling, and has been personally responsible for ending the careers (if not lives!) of Dragonfly, Tianlong, Darkness Crabtree, and Private Eye Jr. The rest of GEKIDO are together known as The Pieces of Hate and are Jigsaw & The Shard. Jigsaw, the former friend and protege of Mike Quackenbush, turned on his mentor and has become consumed with furthering his own career at the expense of anyone who tries to stop him. The Shard, who had patterned himself off of Jigsaw himself, cares for no one except himself and will gladly break anyone who tries, so don't let his diminutive size fool you. Wink Vavasseur has revealed that GEKIDO was backed by the Titor Conglomerate during their original rampage. GEKIDO had formerly included The Swarm's DeviANT and CombatANT, but CombatANT has never fully recovered from the neck-snap that Quack gave him, and DeviANT was recently destroyed by Deucalion for his failures. At King of Trios 2014, after refusing to fight his brother Jolly Roger and after weeks of friction with the rest of GEKIDO, Jigsaw turned on his partners, but remains focused solely on himself. The group's future is cloudy. With Jigsaw's departure, and 17's betrayal, The Shard was destroyed by Deucalion for his failures. (Trademark Moves: (17) Shotei Palm Strike, (Jigsaw) Jig'n'Tonic, Brainbuster, (Shard) Superkick, Roundhouse Kick)

    The Colony: XTREME Force are a trio of blatant cheap knock-offs of The Colony. Originally brought in by then-Director of Fun Wink Vavasseur to cash in on the Colony's popularity and to give a displaced Soldier Ant a group to lead, the CXF were more concerned with their own imagined magnificence than listening to Soldier Ant's orders, prompting him to quit in disgust. GEKIDO's DeviANT stepped up to fill the void, becoming their commander. The trio consists of Arctic Rescue Ant, Orbit Adventure Ant, and Missile Assault Ant, who all come complete with their own plastic accessories. Despite their seeming inexperience, they've proven surprisingly ring-savvy. Wink has since admitted that they were trained by the Titor Conglomerate and/or Condor Security, suggesting there is far more to these three than meets the eye. (Trademark Moves: (Arctic) Diving Legdrop, (Orbit) Crucifix Powerbomb, (Missile) Missile Launcher)

    Die Bruderschaft des Kreuzes (BDK) was a faction that once took over Chikara. Masterminded and bankrolled by the Swiss wrestler Ares, the faction invaded at the end of 2008 and ran Chikara throughout 2009 with their own figurehead Director of Fun and dominating force. The group has dwindled since then, but that doesn't make them any less dangerous. Ares is accompanied by his new ring announcer, Milo Schnitzler, and new enforcer, the Norwegian monster Nøkken. They also received assistance from a returning Tursas, the Finnish war machine that had been all but unbeatable in his original tenure in BDK and Chikara. What their ties are to The Flood's mysterious backers remain unclear. Tursas was recently destroyed by Estonian Thunderfrog's Hammer of Peace. It was recently revealed that Jakob Hammermeier "made a deal with some devils," and had possession of the Eye of Tyr, using it to control Nøkken and seeking revenge on Ares for the disrespect he gave him, and has taken control of the BDK. (Trademark Moves: (team) Ragnarok, (Ares) Toblerone Driver, (Jakob) Guten Nacht, KO Punch, (Tursas) Diving Splash, (Nøkken) ??)

    The Wrecking Crew, managed by Sidney Bakabella, is a group of mercenaries that work for whomever pays the best, and right now, that's The Flood. Bakabella, an 80s-era throwback (to such an extent that he often fails to realize what year it actually is), runs his Crew with a sharp ruthlessness. The Crew is centered around the Devastation Corporation, three face-painted behemoths that thrive on destruction: Max Smashmaster, Blaster McMassive, and Flex Rumblecrunch. Rounding out the crew are the savage Jaka and the barbarian warlord Oleg the Usurper. Jaka, for all his feral savagery, is surprisingly devious and has a steel-like skull. Oleg, while he may be sometimes foolish-seeming, combines speed with power to devastating effect, and is reviled as the "Dragon Dragon Slayer" for decapitating the beloved Dragon Dragon. (Trademark Moves: (Dev Corp) Death Blow, (Max) Gorilla Press, Clothesline, (Blaster) Fallaway Slam, Double Axe Handle, (Flex) Ropewalk Shoulder Block, Big Boot, (Jaka) Diving Headbutt, Throat Jab, (Oleg) Off With His Head!, Corner Avalanche)

    Doctor Cube, the notorious villain of Kaiju Big Battel, is also associated with The Flood, though to what end and what his connection might be to their backers remains unclear. There is some doubt as to whether this is the real Dr. Cube, as well, since he was assassinated by a sniper's bullet, but Cube's minions all follow the "impostor" Cube, so it effectively makes no difference. This Dr. Cube, who wears a Bill Cosby-esque sweater, also has in his possession shards of the mystical, mind-controlling Eye of Tyr, increasing the danger. Dr. Cube is aided by his "uber-minions," known as Haack & Slaash. At King of Trios 2014, "Cosby Cube" was revealed to be the BDK's Jakob Hammermeier in disguise, as part of a long-game scheme of revenge against Ares, and took control of the BDK. The real Cube, though dead, has his legacy live on in Kaiju Big Battel, as multiple Cubes from alternate realities have come to KBB to avenge their 'brother.'

    The Odditorium is a group led by the weird carny Sinn Bodhi (aka Kizarny), notoriously strange and devious to a man. Bodhi once coveted the Eye of Tyr from UltraMantis Black, and trained the Batiri with the expectation of receiving the Eye as payment, then sicced the Batiri on him for reneging on said payment. Bodhi has now attracted to his side the evil mime Qefka the Quiet, and evil carnival barker (and Alex DeLarge-inspired villain) Sir Oliver Grimsly. Since resurfacing, Bodhi has snubbed The Batiri's attempts at reconciliation, leading to a rivalry. (Trademark Moves: (Bodhi) Tallulah Belle, (Grimsly) Bed of Nails, (Qefka) ??)

    Delirious is a psychotic incoherent lunatic. For the longest time, he was a fan-favorite in Chikara, partners with Hallowicked & Frightmare as part of Incoherence. Then UltraMantis Black brainwashed him using the Eye of Tyr, turning him into an attack dog that obeyed his commands. Then Ares of the BDK stole him away using the Eye of Tyr again, and kept him as a pet. When Mantis regained the Eye of Tyr and used it to clear Delirious' mind, he went berserk, smashing the Eye of Tyr with a rock and bellowing "I REMEMBER EVERYTHING!" He swore "two years" of retribution on Mantis in exchange for the two years that Mantis had stolen from him, and swayed The Batiri and a rudderless Ophidian to his side. When Chikara closed in 2013, Delirious went off the grid, but he resurfaced at the side of Deucalion in 2014, and it seems his absence has not blunted his hatred for "Mantis Black." More worrying now is the fact that Delirious is now in possession of the reconstituted Eye of Tyr. (Trademark Moves: Chemical Imbalance #2, Panic Attack)

    Soldier Ant is a now former member of The Colony, where he'd been happy to be a part of the group. Then, under the administration of Wink Vavasseur, Soldier Ant was forced to join the evil Swarm faction of Ants, where he behaved like a prisoner of war, and refused to play by their rules. When the Swarm dissolved, and when The Colony didn't come to his aid, Wink made Soldier Ant the commander of the Colony: XTREME Force, but he very quickly grew fed up with their behavior as well, and resigned from Chikara in disgust. From there, he went off the grid, to the point where Fire Ant & Green Ant could not find him. He resurfaced in 2014 at the side of Deucalion, where he was sicced on his own former Colony brethren, and departed with the rest of The Flood without speaking a word. Whether he has joined them of his own volition, or whether he was brainwashed somehow, remains unclear. (Trademark Moves: TKO, Saluting Headbutt)

    Deucalion appears to be The Flood's true leader, or at least superior in rank to Jimmy Jacobs. Absolutely nothing is known about this man, who first appeared at the end of "You Only Live Twice" on May 25th, 2014. The massive man stands taller than Tursas and Nøkken and is broad of build, wearing body armor and an ominous-looking gas mask. The rest of The Flood seems terrified of him, and with good reason. On his arrival, The Batiri's Kobald bravely speared him, to utterly no effect, and was destroyed as a result. The following month, after DeviANT's failures in the weekend, Deucalion appeared and destroyed him, while Jacobs begged for mercy for himself. In July, after Tursas was destroyed, Deucalion paid retribution on Estonian Thunderfrog by destroying him and the Latvian Proud Oak. He does not suffer fools gladly and despises being called a "coward," as he proved when he destroyed Kid Cyclone's friends in the Greenhorn Militia. The man is believed to be the "Titan of Titor" that Archibald Peck's theories alluded to ("Who is the Titan of Titor?"), and possibly even the high-ranking Condor Security operative "Duke" that the No Private Army blog had referenced, but nothing is known about him. Just this: Where he walks, death follows. (Trademark Moves: Choke-breaker)
    Last edited by Jay 2K Winger; 11-16-2014, 06:49 PM.
    PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

    There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

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    • #3
      The BDK
      As seen in the previous post, a significant group called the BDK had a major impact on Chikara. But to fully explain it, requires a looooong info dump.

      In May 2007, at "Aniversario?", Mike Quackenbush defeated archnemesis Chris Hero by debuting a new submission hold, the Chikara Special, knowing that Hero could not break out of it. This move became Hero's "kryptonite," as Quack taught the hold to every tecnico on the roster, and Hero lost numerous matches because of it... until November 2007, at "The Sordid Perils of Everyday Existence," when in a Mask-vs-Hair match against the luchador Equinox, Hero revealed he'd learned the secret of how to reverse the Chikara Special, breaking out of it, and forcing Equinox to tap out and unmask as Wrestle Factory washout Vin Gerard.

      Quack was furious, wondering how Hero had learned the reversal, something he'd taught to only a select few. To learn the truth, in the spring of 2008, he sent Tim Donst to infiltrate the rudos in UltraMantis Black's Order of the Neo-Solar Temple, and for eight weeks, Donst played the part, until he learned the truth, and promptly put it in Quack's ear-- the man who'd sold out was none other than Quack's tag partner, Shane Storm. Storm admitted that he had sold the secret just before "The Sordid Perils of Everyday Existence," trading it to Mantis in exchange for a victory to break a crippling losing streak. Quack later went after Mantis in January 2009, torturing him with submission holds in a match, demanding to know why Mantis wanted the secret. Mantis blurted it out-- he needed to give it to then-Commissioner of Chikara Bob Saget (yes that Bob Saget).

      The reasons for Saget wanting it were due to his corruption as Commissioner. He'd signed Hero's Kings of Wrestling stable to lucrative new contracts, but left Hero out in the cold. Hero had threatened to expose him, and so to buy his silence, Saget was involved in a series of trades: Mantis traded the secret of the Chikara Special to Dr. Cube of Kaiju Big Battel in exchange for information, Dr. Cube traded the Special to Saget in exchange for Hero's contract (thus explaining Hero's brief appearance in KBB), and Saget traded the Special to Hero for his cooperation... then promptly kicked him out of Chikara to KBB. The information that Mantis had obtained was the name of a family that possessed a mystical artifact known as the Eye of Tyr.

      The Eye of Tyr's mystical properties were that it would allow the bearer to enslave the mind of another. Mantis borrowed the Eye from the family that owned it, using it to enslave Delirious in May 2009. However, he refused to return the Eye after using it, drawing the fury of a masked man who represented a group then only known as the BDK. The masked man made many cryptic threats to Mantis, even delivering a message to him that warned him: "A war is coming." Mantis, though spooked, still refused to relinquish the Eye.

      Also in 2009, a new member of the Colony turned up, dubbed Carpenter Ant. Though the Colony was puzzled by his arrival, they soon accepted him, as his in-ring skills were up to the task. Some rumors were that Carpenter Ant was from the future-- not unheard of in Chikara-- and he did seem to possess foreknowledge. Another strange individual sighted at Chikara shows was a masked, seemingly robotic figure called Vökoder, who soon approached Mantis to lend enforcement and to safeguard the Eye for him.

      Finally, at "Three Fisted Tales" in November 2009, following the main event, the BDK spokesman and his towering masked accomplice stormed the ring, stating they were tired of waiting for the war. The Chikara locker room emptied to face them, but the unimpressed spokesman demanded the "big guns," receiving Chikara Wrestle Factory trainers Claudio Castagnoli and Mike Quackenbush. Still unfazed, the spokesman called for "the one with the real power," and pointed to Mantis, who somewhat hesitantly came to the ring from commentary, demanding to know who the spokesman was.

      So the BDK unmasked to reveal the huge Viking berserker Tursas and Swiss mastermind Ares... long-time friend of Claudio Castagnoli. Quack realized it was a trap just before Claudio laid him out, and then chaos erupted. Vökoder took out Mantis, Carpenter Ant took out the Colony, Sara Del Rey and Daizee Haze and the rest of the BDK took out everyone in sight, destroying the ringside area before posing in the ring together in military-like formation. Vökoder and Carpenter Ant unmasked to reveal Tim Donst and Pinkie Sanchez, and the BDK-- the Bruderschaft des Kreuzes-- left Chikara in shambles.

      Things got worse. Through Ares' family's wealth, they bought a controlling interest in Chikara, installing new members of the Board of Directors, and removing Leonard F. Chikarason from the Director of Fun position, giving it to ex-Chikara student Dieter VonSteigerwalt. They also brought in their own ring announcer, Jakob Hammermeier, and soon expanded their ranks to include Lince Dorado and crooked referee Derek Sabato.

      They all had their motivations for betraying Chikara. Claudio & Ares had been planning this for years, waiting for the right time to strike. Mantis' refusal to return the Eye of Tyr to Ares' family was just the impetus they needed. Tursas was a long-time friend of Ares' family and merely wanted a war. Donst was tired of being seen as a joke and his ambition demanded respect. Sanchez had been shut out of Chikara despite efforts to fit in. Del Rey & Haze were frustrated at the lack of competition for them. Dorado had been a good tecnico, but reviled by the fans. Sabato had been unceremoniously fired. Dieter had been mocked for his German heritage, ditto Jakob.

      For the majority of 2010, the BDK ran roughshod over Chikara. With Dieter in charge, they were able to stack the odds in their favor, with Claudio & Ares quickly amassing the points needed to challenge for the Campeonatos de Parejas. Ares used the Eye of Tyr to sabotage Mantis' efforts at winning the titles by making Delirious join the BDK. Claudio & Ares won the titles, using Delirious to attack their opponents before the match for a quick first fall, and then used their brute force to steamroll through two-straight-fall victories. Tim Donst won the Young Lions Cup VII trophy. The BDK stacked the deck in the King of Trios 2010 tournament to give themselves easy wins and had Sabato slant the finals to give them the win.

      Chikara rallied back, however. Another Vökoder turned up and started making life difficult for Pinkie Sanchez. Eddie Kingston went to war with anyone flying the BDK colors. Mantis rallied the troops and forged a team of Chikara Gen 1 Originals to fight the BDK at "The Dark Ciberknetico." Though the BDK had suffered some significant losses, Mantis' team-- himself, Quack, Jigsaw, Icarus, Shane Storm, Kingston, Hallowicked, and Vökoder Larry Sweeney-- ended up victorious, with Kingston becoming the first man to both knock the mammoth Tursas off his feet and defeat him to win the Cibernetico.

      In December 2010, the next major crack in their armor happened when Claudio & Ares had to defend the Campeonatos against Quackenbush & Jigsaw. Wink Vavasseur replaced Derek Sabato with Bryce Remsburg. Eddie Kingston took out Delirious to stop the pre-match assault, and QuackSaw went on to dethrone the champs and end the BDK's near year-long reign as champions. In the off-season, Dieter was removed from power and replaced by Wink Vavasseur.

      In 2011, things got worse for the BDK. Though Claudio received a berth in the "12 Large: Summit" tournament by ordering everyone in the BDK to vote him into it, he was forced to use his own vote on someone else, and used it on Sara Del Rey... who received another vote from Daizee Haze, getting Del Rey her own berth in the tournament. He would lose his match against her when she refused to lay down for him, and that loss coupled with several others forced Castagnoli to pack his bags and leave Chikara in disgrace, changing his name to Antonio Cesaro and signing up with WWE. Haze, however, was brutally assaulted by Claudio before he left, ending her Chikara career.

      Meanwhile, Sanchez had gone insane and left Chikara, Dorado had been fired for his own shortcomings, and Delirious appeared to be shaking off his brainwashing. Tursas spent a good chunk of the year feuding with Green Ant, and Jakob Hammermeier-- now a wrestler in his own right-- antagonized Sara Del Rey. Donst went off the deep end when Hallowicked spoiled his chances of proving himself the "greatest Young Lions Cup champion ever" when he caused Donst to lose to former YLC champion Max Boyer in a record 4 seconds.

      It all culminated at "High Noon" in November 2011. Del Rey defeated Jakob to shut him up. Green Ant finally defeated Tursas, forcing the Finnish giant to tap out to his new Chikara Special: Green hold. Mantis and Wicked challenged Ares and Donst in a Double Lucha-de-Apuesta. The losing teammate would have to either unmask (Mantis/Wicked), get shaved (Donst), or surrender the Eye of Tyr (Ares). Despite interference from Sabato, the Spectral Envoy emerged victorious, with Mantis finally vanquishing his nemesis Ares to claim the Eye of Tyr.

      After this, the BDK was effectively dead. Donst and Jakob used the BDK name for a while, but soon even that was dropped. However, the BDK still left a lasting impact on the company.

      With the return from hiatus, however, the BDK resurfaced. Led by Ares, he had at his side the Norwegian monster Nøkken and new toady Milo Schnitzler. With Schnitzler as a sleeper agent in charge of Wrestling Is Cool, Ares shut the company down and joined forces with The Flood, and soon revealed that the mighty Tursas was still loyal to him. They continued to be a thorn in the side of Chikara, until Tursas was slain by the Estonian Thunderfrog's Hammer of Peace.

      At the 2014 King of Trios tournament, the BDK joined forces with the villainous Dr. Cube, but when they lost in the opening round, Nøkken spared Cube and assaulted Ares. Cube revealed himself to be Jakob Hammermeier, newly assertive and furious at Ares, blaming him for all of his own failures. Revealing that he had the Eye of Tyr and was going to seek retribution on everyone that had wronged him, Jakob ousted Ares and took control of the BDK for himself. Nøkken follows Jakob loyally, even though Jakob has given the Eye of Tyr to Delirious.
      Last edited by Jay 2K Winger; 11-16-2014, 06:52 PM.
      PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

      There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

      Comment


      • #4
        GEKIDO

        Chikara is no stranger to invading groups or groups looking to take over the company. There were the Kings of Wrestling (twice), Sweet & Sour International, the BDK...

        In 2012, another group emerged. It started in February, first when a man dressed as Green Ant interfered in the Colony's match, costing them their points toward tag title contention. The following night, after an eight-man tag, the man in the Green Ant mask came out again, only to be joined by four other men in masks of their own, being down Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw, and the Colony. A Twitter account and YouTube channel soon identified the group as GEKIDO, from the Japanese for "wrath."

        Comprised of five men, they declared their intention to expose the "dark underbelly" of Chikara. They dressed themselves and patterned themselves after five of Chikara's most recognizable faces in mockery-- three men calling themselves The Swarm mocked The Colony: combatANT, assailANT, and deviANT. The man calling himself The Shard patterned himself off Jigsaw with a broken-glass motif instead of puzzle pieces. And the leader of GEKIDO was an enigmatic man calling himself only 17.

        Derek Sabato reached out to them to liaise between the group and Chikara, and soon got them roster spots. In their debut weekend in March 2012, the Swarm took out Los Ice Creams to assume their place in a 4-team elimination tag match. The same night, 17 & The Shard took on Quack & Jigsaw, and 17 showed just how dangerous he was by breaking Quack's wrist with a submission hold. 17 would later explain that he named himself after the "17 forgotten holds" just as Quack was known as the "Master of 1000 Holds," and promised that he would continue to use his skills to break Chikara.

        In the next two months, Quack was sidelined with his injury, while the Swarm continued to antagonize the Colony, doing their best to unmask them at every opportunity. However, his place at the sidelines allowed Quack to recognize something about the way the Swarm wrestled, and was soon able to out them, identifying them as "Jose and the two Franks," three washouts from the Chikara Wrestle Factory who had refused to pay their dues as the other students had and had expected everything to just be handed to them. In due course, Jigsaw was able to identify The Shard as a man who had trained at the same school as himself and Eddie Kingston before leaving for the Wrestle Factory, but unlike Jigsaw and Kingston, The Shard had not followed them. Only 17's background remained a mystery, though he himself did state that he'd trained under the same men as Quack, just at a later date, and that the two of them had never met.

        Once their identities were outed, it became clear that The Shard and the Swarm were motivated by jealousy as much as anything else, watching as men they believed no better than them be accepted by the fans just for donning some masks, thus doing the same as Jigsaw and the Colony, aiming to take the fame and recognition they felt was due to them.

        Quackenbush soon healed up enough to make his return, but there was a darker edge to him. In his return at "Chikarasaurus Rex: How to Hatch a Dinosaur," after helping Chikara beat GEKIDO, Quack grabbed 17 and broke his finger and his thumb, warning him not to come back. He defended his actions by stating that, after losing to Eddie Kingston at "High Noon," he no longer felt that he had to be "the face of the company" and take the high ground against invading groups like GEKIDO, stating that he would use GEKIDO to send a message to any other group with a similar idea in mind-- "if you want to invade this company, I will meet you at the door, and I will break your bones."

        He proved he was willing to back up his words not long after, when he and Jigsaw faced 17 & The Shard again in tag action. Quack threw his usual by-the-rules persona out the window, blindsiding the enemy, doing whatever he could to hurt them, even at the expense of Jigsaw's knee. Some fans felt he crossed the line, however, when he hit 17 with all four variants of his QuackenDriver finisher, with no attempt to go for the pin, causing his team to be disqualified for excesivo de castigo. Jigsaw was furious, as this cost them their title shot points, telling Quack to get focused.

        In the midst of this, Director of Fun Wink Vavasseur's "Chikarabermetrics" system told him that the best team of "ants" to field for King of Trios would be Soldier Ant, combatANT, and deviANT-- the last of which tied with Green Ant, who only lost because deviANT came first alphabetically. The Swarm reveled in Soldier Ant's membership, lording it over him and forcing him to obey their orders. The Colony protested this, stating that this shut them out of the KOT tournament, leading Vavasseur to enter them into the tournament-- with the team of Fire Ant, Green Ant, and assailANT.

        These two mixed teams had trouble gelling. Soldier Ant refused to help the Swarm cheat, costing them victories. assailANT's enthusiasm and willingness to bend the rules didn't square with the Colony's usual tactics. But Vavasseur refused to change the line-ups, so they were forced to continue teaming. The 'new' Colony ended up losing in the opening round of KOT, as did the 'new' Swarm... who lost to Quackenbush's team with Jigsaw and Manami Toyota. After the match, while combatANT was admonishing Soldier Ant for costing them the win, Quack came up behind him, putting him in a vicious neck snap that injured his vertebrae and forced him to quit wrestling. Once again, Jigsaw got on Quack's case for doing it, telling him to keep focused, but it was clear that Quack was more concerned with driving out GEKIDO.

        Jigsaw was also seen apparently reaching out to The Shard, and appealed to Quack to try to convince him to let the rest of the GEKIDO members off. deviANT was quick to try to weasel out of an attack of his own, pointing out that combatANT and 17 were the ringleaders. Quack wasn't listening, and when, in November 2012, he and Jigsaw lost a match to deviANT and The Shard, things reached a breaking point. A week later at another show, Quack came out to the ring to try to get at The Shard. Jigsaw came out to try to talk Quack down, and when Quack refused to back down, Jigsaw superkicked him in the jaw, then left with The Shard at his side.

        This led to an 8-man tag match at the 2012 season finale, "Under the Hood," wherein Quack and Jigsaw's teams clashed. Quack led into battle the 'new' Colony of Fire Ant, Green Ant, and assailANT, while Jigsaw led deviANT, The Shard, and a reluctant Soldier Ant. The match saw dynamics shift. Jigsaw, who had seemed almost the more reasonable one, went full-on rudo, kicking out Fire Ant's bad leg. assailANT fought off his former GEKIDO allies to defend the Colony, who finally allowed him to join in their trademark three-man maneuvers. In the end, Jigsaw's GEKIDO picked up the win, pinning assailANT to do it, after he jumped in the way of a Jigsaw superkick meant for Quack's head. After the match, Quack even shook assailANT's hand, showing that he is accepting that at least the big blue ant had changed his ways.

        Jigsaw revealed later in a blog on Chikara's website his reasons for doing it. Hallowicked had been invited to be a trainer at the Chikara Wrestle Factory, when Jigsaw felt he was the better of the two, citing his own world travels and appearance on TV (briefly in Ring of Honor, and even more briefly in Impact Wrestling as 'Rubix'). He declared his intention to train and mentor The Shard and deviANT, to be a better trainer than Quack, a better partner than Quack, and just plain better than Quack in every respect.

        After this, the GEKIDO faction was effectively dead, until the hiatus came. At Wrestling Is Intense, GEKIDO resurfaced, with a recovered 17 in charge and accompanied by DeviANT and a neck-brace-wearing CombatANT. They assaulted the wrestlers in the main event, snapping Lester "Darkness" Crabtree's neck, and forced the company to shut down. They soon revealed they were allied with The Flood, and included Jigsaw in their number. Though CombatANT soon went off the radar again (his neck likely still not fully healed), GEKIDO seemed a threat... but there were doubts.

        With the return of Jolly Roger to action, Jigsaw refused to fight his own brother, causing friction within GEKIDO. This culminated with Jigsaw's turning against them, then storming out of Chikara in fury. Meanwhile, 17 had a number of enemies due to the careers he had ended, chief among them being the Greenhorn Militia-- Kid Cyclone, Equinox III, and Create-a-Wrestler II. The GHM targeted 17 whenever they got the chance, but 17 seemed reluctant to fight them. There were some questions as to whether 17 was really the same 17 that had previously been such a threat-- some theories hold that he is the brother of Dieter VonSteigerwalt that had been alluded to in "The Ashes of Chikara."

        17's loyalties were further put in question at "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" in November 2014. After Frightmare pinned his partner The Shard, a furious Deucalion tried to destroy Frightmare, only to be stunned when 17 saved Frightmare, then fled the venue. Deucalion destroyed The Shard for his partner's treachery, effectively killing the GEKIDO faction for good. 17's mask was found discarded backstage, and the enigmatic career-killer remains at large.
        Last edited by Jay 2K Winger; 11-16-2014, 06:59 PM.
        PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

        There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

        Comment


        • #5
          Chikara Videos

          Chikara has a YouTube channel-- CHIKARAoffice-- which is updated regularly with clips, announcements and similar.

          Mondays feature the "Podcast-a-Go-Go," which currently uploads a full match from a past Chikara show every week.

          Tuesdays feature the "Throwdown Lowdown," which features a clip of a particularly awesome or jaw-dropping move from a recent show. The move is shown twice, the second time in slow-motion, with a "Let's see that again!" bumper recorded by fans at the shows.

          Wednesdays feature the "Event Center," in which upcoming shows are hyped, matches are announced, and some brief promos are aired from wrestlers scheduled to appear on those shows.

          Classic Chikara Clips

          Video Game Nerd Rage - This is one of the classic Chikara YouTube clips. From 2008, the team of Incoherence (Delirious & Hallowicked) take on the Super Smash Bros. (Player Uno & Stupefied), and Delirious heckles Uno (a huge Nintendo fanboy) about his NES controller-themed tights and Nintendo's rivals. But then he goes too far when he insults Princess Peach...

          Archibald Peck vs Chuck Taylor - This match, from 2012's show "It's How You Play the Game," is considered one of the best comedy matches last year. Going into the match, Archie's valet/"girlfriend" had left him the night before, leaving him, in his own words "despondent," in need of some emotional support. He gets better through the match... sort of.

          Kota Ibushi vs Jigsaw vs Nick Jackson vs El Generico - From 2009, at "King of Trios 2009, Night 2," four of indie wrestling's best high-flyers take part in a 4-way elimination match for the 'Rey de Voladores' mini-tournament. ('Rey de Voladores' = King of the High Flyers) The match simply must be seen, and many fans call it 2009's Match of the Year.

          Chuck Taylor's Grenade - From 2008, Chuck Taylor threatens Worker Ant with the dreaded invisible grenade. What follows is horrifying. Worker Ant is lucky to be alive!

          The Really Big Swing - At "King of Trios 2009, Night 1," Claudio Castagnoli (now Antonio Cesaro in WWE) takes Grizzly Redwood for his trademark "Big Swing" ... and just keeps going and going.

          Take Me Out to the Ball Game - From 2009, a ten-man tag match between Dasher Hatfield, Green Ant, Carpenter Ant, Lince Dorado, & Colt Cabana against Vin Gerard, STIGMA, Colin Delaney, Jagged, & Shane Matthews... suddenly turns into a baseball game. Yes, you read that right.

          The BDK Invasion - At "Three Fisted Tales," the 2009 finale, immediately after the main event, the BDK invades Chikara in one of the most shocking conclusions to a Chikara show in history.

          Chikara is Vaudeville - A fan video, featuring most of a match from "King of Trios 2012, Night 3," 3.0, Takoyakida, & Ebessan vs Colt Cabana, Yolonel Sanders, Darkness Crabtree, & The Swamp Monster, filtered in sepia, with silent movie title cards, and to the tune of the "Maple Leaf Rag."

          The Badd Boyz reveal a shocking secret! - After winning a match against 2.0 via forfeit, the identical twin biker brothers the Badd Boyz get something off of their chests... and the top of their heads.

          Sugar Dunkerton believes he can fly. - At "King of Trios 2010," Sugar Dunkerton channels "Space Jam."

          You Can't Read Bryce's Poker Face - At "King of Trios 2011," Amasis and Icarus have a dance-off, until referee Bryce Remsburg serves both of them.

          Frightmare Hits the Ceiling-canrana - From 2011, in the midst of a hotly contested Campeonatos de Parejas match against the BDK, Frightmare blows everyone's mind by grabbing the ceiling and dropping down into a perfect hurricanrana.
          Last edited by Jay 2K Winger; 03-13-2013, 11:12 PM.
          PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

          There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

          Comment


          • #6
            Currently watching some of the youtube stuff, trying to get up to speed..but your posts are more enlightening about it then most of the videos.
            Engaged to the amazing Marmalady. She is my Silver Dragon, shining as bright as the sun. I her Black Dragon (though good honestly), dark as night..fierce and strong.

            Comment


            • #7
              Quoth Mytical View Post
              Currently watching some of the youtube stuff, trying to get up to speed..but your posts are more enlightening about it then most of the videos.
              Yeah, in 2010 and 2011, Chikara tended to release "Previously in Chikara" videos at various points during the year, to help newcomers and other fans catch up on things. They haven't done that in a while, and it might help some fans know what's going on in terms of storylines.

              Speaking of, I think I'll do another infodump post.
              PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

              There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

              Comment


              • #8
                2013 Happenings

                "Under the Hood" was the 2012 finale, and there is still some fallout coming out of the show. Archibald Peck's ruse as The Mysterious And Handsome Stranger enabled him to embarrass Mr. Touchdown on iPPV, and humiliate Veronica by pouring slop all over her. This caused Mr. TD and Veronica to break up, and Veronica is looking to exact revenge on Peck for it. To that end, she was spotted in the company of Tim Donst in February, and her distraction enabled Donst to pick up a win on Peck.

                Moreover, there is some time-travel headaches coming down the line, when it comes to Peck. Per the "Loser Leaves Town" loss at "C-Rex: How to Hatch a Dinosaur," Peck is supposed to be gone from Chikara. However, Wink Vavasseur had a meeting with Peck's legal representative, barrister R.D. Evans. Evans, a time-travel expert, explained the situation. Watch the video, because it's just... yeah. This also means there is another Archibald Peck, out wandering the world, as documented in a series of videos called "Where in the World is Archibald Peck?" R.D. Evans, realizing this, was shocked. "Wandering Archie" was last seen trudging through the snow into Parts Unknown.

                Wink Vavasseur is harboring a sort of grudge against Eddie Kingston. Kingston has never really respected Wink, treating him as an annoyance and bullying him into getting some matches that he wanted. Wink, in response, has booked Kingston to defend his title at any opportunity he can.

                Ophidian, it should be stated, came into Chikara as one-half of a team called 'The Osirian Portal.' His partner was 'The Funky Pharaoh' Amasis, and the two started out as rudos, but their antics and dancing won over the fans. In 2011, they welcomed the high-flying Hieracon into the fold, but Wink Vavasseur seemed to favor Hieracon over 'Snakeface,' driving a bit of a wedge into the Portal. When Amasis was sidelined by a terrible car accident, and Hieracon was overseas touring Europe, Ophidian was left to go it alone, but ended up in a crippling losing streak. At "High Noon," Amasis came to the ring to announce he would have to retire due to the injuries he sustained. Ophidian responded to this by spitting venom in his face, violently assaulting him, and stealing his mask. Over the course of 2012, Ophidian went through a transformation, changing his mask and adopting a more vicious 'Snake Style' to his in-ring tactics, stealing the mask of Hieracon when he came back. He appeared to be hearing 'voices' from the 'souls' (masks) of his former partners, arguing with them at length, and eventually performing a ritual to merge their souls into himself. He received further guidance from Delirious, shifting his allegiance to him instead of Osiris. However, at "Under the Hood," Amasis returned, taunting Ophidian from the crowd, and has been haunting him at events so far in 2013, infuriating the treacherous serpent.

                Sugar Dunkerton's life isn't getting any easier. He's miserable as part of F.I.S.T., not wanting to stoop to their tactics, and still trying to be friendly with the fans. All three members of F.I.S.T. hate his guts, and Icarus has told Sugar to either shape up (and do as they say) or get used to losing. Sugar has appealed to his former Throwbacks partner Dasher Hatfield to accept him back into the team, but when Sugar trashed Mr. Touchdown for his villainous behavior, Dasher actually got offended at the words levied against his step-cousin-in-law.
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                • #9
                  Current Events in Chikara as of March 12, 2013

                  Still in his brooding, almost nihilistic state of mind,Tim Donst is recruiting more followers to himself. Despite his grief over the loss of his hair and Donst's repeated abuse, Jakob Hammermeier still worships him and will do anything to please him. Veronica has also taken to hanging out with Donst, though her reasons for doing so have not come to light. Many fans are dismayed, however, by the fact that kind-hearted (if somewhat simple) Steve 'The Turtle' Weiner has been taken in as well. (Weiner is a common sight at Chikara shows, helping out where he can, showing great enthusiasm, and occasionally wrestling. He's a special case because he's autistic, but despite that still works at being a pro wrestler.) Weiner's reasons for joining Donst's band of misfits appear to be due to a crush he harbors for Veronica; when Archibald Peck accidentally knocked her down during a match, Weiner rushed to check on her, and then attacked Peck in a fit of rage for the accident.

                  Wink Vavasseur, recognizing that Soldier Ant doesn't get along with deviANT in The Swarm, and that The Colony are working fine with the new addition of assailANT, gave Soldier Ant a leadership position, giving him a team of his own to command, and "make lots of money." That team? The Colony XTREME Force, three new Ants with a definite "90s toyline" look to them: Orbit Adventure Ant, Missile Assault Ant, and Arctic Rescue Ant. The Colony XTREME Force showed great enthusiasm in their introductory matches, but their insistence on celebrating every big move that they or Soldier Ant made, instead of listening to him or tagging him in when he needed help, led to them losing one of their debut matches. Wink Vavasseur has placed the blame for this on Soldier Ant's leadership, not on any faults of the CXF.

                  3.0 have already beaten their previous title reign's lackluster one-month and zero successful defenses record, defeating the Devastation Corporation in Tampa, Florida thanks to an assist gone awry from D-Corp's manager, Sidney Bakabella. At present, two teams have two points out of three for title contention, Tim Donst & Jakob Hammermeier, and the Batiri's Obariyon & Kodama.

                  Eddie Kingston managed to pick up a victory over Amazing Kong (formerly Kharma in WWE), but did not show up in Orlando the following night for his scheduled Grand Championship defense against Green Ant. From non-Chikara interviews that Kingston has made, it appears that Kingston has some emotional issues he is going through, some of which are tied to his self-image (he's not in the best shape due to his injuries, for example) and two years ago this month, one of Kingston's best friends, Alex Whybrow (aka Larry Sweeney), passed away. The night before the Orlando show, Kingston got drunk and punched a mirror, causing the injury to his hand that forced him to miss the show.
                  Last edited by Jay 2K Winger; 04-04-2013, 07:51 PM.
                  PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

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                  • #10
                    Chikara at WrestleCon

                    So, as any pro wrestling fan knows, a week from Sunday is WWE's WrestleMania PPV-- THE biggest PPV wrestling event of the year. In recent years, indie wrestling has been mooching off the influx of wrestling fans to whatever area is hosting Mania to run their own shows. Ring of Honor arguably started it several years ago. Now other indies are getting in on the act, taking advantage of Mania being in the NY/NJ area this year. The northeast part of the US is home to a lot of indies.

                    What they have is WrestleCon. From April 5 through April 7, many indies are running shows from a single venue, rather than trying to find separate venues for everyone. Many of these shows are also being broadcast on iPPV (internet PPV). Chikara, alas, is not one of them, but they are putting a lot of big matches on their April 6 card, "The Shoulder of Pallas." Here's what WrestleCon has on tap--

                    April 5
                    4pm -> 6:30pm - EVOLVE 19
                    EVOLVE is holding a one-night tournament to crown their first champion.
                    • Bracket A: Four-Way Freestyle - Rich Swann vs Samuray del Sol vs Sami Callihan vs Jigsaw
                    • Bracket A: Semi-Finals: Chuck Taylor vs (Winner of the Four-Way Freestyle)
                    • Bracket B: AR Fox vs Jon Davis
                    • Bracket B: Semi-Finals: Ricochet vs (AR Fox or Jon Davis)
                    • Tag Team Main Event: The Young Bucks vs The Super Smash Bros.
                    • Special Tag Team Challenge: Johnny Gargano & Brian Kendrick vs Orange Cassidy & Drew Gulak
                    • No DQ Match: Arik Cannon vs Scott Reed (w/ Caleb Konley, Larry Dallas, & Trina Michaels)
                    • Plus: Uhaa Nation makes his return to EVOLVE


                    J2K's Thoughts: I'll admit, I don't follow EVOLVE that much. However, the 4-Way Freestyle could have some great fast-paced aerial action, with Swann and Samuray in the match, and that tag-team main event could be awesome.

                    8pm -> 10:30pm - Combat Zone Wrestling
                    • Main Event: CZW World Champion MASADA vs 'Crazy Monkey' Jun Kasai
                    • First Time Ever: Sami Callihan vs Brian Kendrick
                    • CZW Tag Team Championship: The Catalyst (Dustin Rayz & Eric Ryan) defend vs BLK-OUT (Ruckus & Blk Jeez) (w/ Robbie Mireno)
                    • Stand-Up and Fight: Greg Excellent vs Colt Cabana
                    • Aerial Assault: Shane Strickland vs CZW Wired Champ AR Fox vs Rich Swann vs Chiva Kid vs Shane Hollister vs Lucky 13
                    • International Tag Team Match: The Sumerian Death Squad (Tommy End & Michael Donte) vs OI4K (Jake & Dave Crist)
                    • Eight Man Tag Team Match: Drew Gulak's Campaign for a Better Combat Zone vs Niles Sozio's The Front
                    • Grudge Match: 'Bulldozer' Matt Tremont vs 'Chainsaw' Joe Gacy
                    • The Deathmatch Heroes Collide: 'Ultraviolent Shooter' Drake Younger vs 'The Deathmatch Drunkard' Danny Havoc


                    J2K's Thoughts: CZW gets flack from some fans for their frequent botches and reliance on ultraviolent hardcore deathmatch wrestling, though in recent years they have made an effort to move away from excessive amounts of it. It will still probably be a very violent show, not for the faint of heart.

                    11:55pm -> 2am - Kaiju Big Battel
                    Scheduled attractions:
                    • Space Bug YARSMENKO
                    • Funny Guys LOS PLATANOS
                    • The Undefeated STEAM POWERED TENTACLE BOULDER
                    • Rock Duo HAACK & SLAASH
                    • Kaiju Hero DUSTO BUNNY
                    • Magician NO MAGICIAN SCHEDULED
                    • Stupid Minion Tricks
                    • Plus Kaiju Grand Champion AMERICAN BEETLE
                    • And MORE!
                    • Will DR CUBE ruin the late night festivities and take home the Grand Championship? Tune in and find out.


                    J2K's Thoughts: Kaiju is very niche product, the carnie sideshow attraction of a carnie sideshow attraction. That said, their shows may not be as technically sound or jaw-dropping as others at WrestleCon, but it should still be fun.

                    April 6
                    10am -> 1pm - [url=http://www.wrestlecon.com/event-program/legends-of-the-ring/]Legends of the Ring "Classic" Superticket
                    • “Cowboy” Bob Orton Jr.
                    • “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka
                    • Lex Luger
                    • “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff
                    • Kamala
                    • Demolition (Bill Eadie & Barry Darsow)
                    • Mr. Fuji
                    • Tony Atlas
                    • Slick
                    • Ken Patera
                    • Tito Santana
                    • “Dangerous” Danny Davis
                    • Johnny Valiant
                    • Greg “The Hammer” Valentine
                    • Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake
                    • Leilani Kai


                    10am -> 12noon - Highspots.com presents Bret "The Hitman" Hart

                    12noon -> 3pm - K&S Superticket
                    • One Man Gang (Akeem)
                    • The Goon (Bill Irwin)
                    • Barry Horowitz
                    • Jazz
                    • Nikolai Volkoff
                    • Snitsky
                    • Brian Lee (Chainz/Fake Undertaker)
                    • Wolfie D (Slash)
                    • Marty Jannetty
                    • The Warlord
                    • The Kat
                    • The Sandman
                    • George “The Animal” Steele
                    • Ashley Massaro
                    • Paul Roma


                    1pm -> 4pm - Legends of the Ring & Lucky 13 present "Gimmicks" Superticket
                    • The Boogeyman
                    • “The Hurricane” Shane Helms
                    • “Mighty” Molly Holly
                    • Eugene
                    • T.L. Hopper (a.k.a. The Dirty White Boy)
                    • “The Genius” Lanny Poffo
                    • “The Shockmaster” Fred Ottman (a.k.a. Tugboat, Typhoon)
                    • Pete Gas (of “The Mean Street Posse”)
                    • Rodney (of “The Mean Street Posse”)
                    • Joey Abs (of “The Mean Street Posse”)
                    • “Doink The Clown” Ray Apollo
                    • “Dink The Clown” Tiger Jackson
                    • Mantaur
                    • Outback Jack
                    • Jameson
                    • Kevin Sullivan


                    J2K's Thoughts: These four attractions are all meet-and-greets and autograph signings. The Supertickets both have limited numbers of tickets available, all upwards of $200. If you're aiming to meet your old school wrestling idols, go for it. Otherwise, sleep in.

                    12noon -> 2pm - SHIMMER Wrestling 53
                    • Steel Cage SHIMMER Championship Match: Saraya Knight defends vs Cheerleader Melissa
                    • Rematch from SHIMMER 52: Ayako Hamada vs 'The Wrestling Goddess' Athena
                    • Rematch of SHIMMER 52 Main Event: Madison Eagles vs Jessie McKay
                    • Ayumi Kurihara vs Mercedes Martinez
                    • Amazing Kong vs Mia Yim
                    • Plus: SHIMMER Tag Team Champions The Canadian Ninjas, Evie, Made In Sin (Taylor Made & Allysin Kay), Rhia O'Reilly, Christina Von Eerie, Serena Deeb, 'The World Famous' KANA, Regeneration-X (Allison Danger & Leva Bates), 'Rate Tank' Kellie Skater, Veda Scott & Shazza McKenzie, Tomoka Nakagawa, Kimber Lee, Cherry Bomb


                    J2K's Thoughts: SHIMMER is an all-women's promotion, and can put on some very good shows. I'll admit, however, I don't follow them all that much, although I love the fact that they have a sci-fi geek team in Regeneration-X.

                    4pm -> 6:30pm - CHIKARA "The Shoulder of Pallas"
                    • Grand Champion 'The War King' Eddie Kingston defends vs 'The Nightmare Warrior' Hallowicked
                    • Tag Team Match: Jigsaw & The Shard vs Mike Quackenbush & ??
                    • Grudge Match: 'The Madjai' Amasis vs 'The Serpent from the Nile' Ophidian
                    • 4-Corner Elimination Tag Match: The Throwbacks vs The Devastation Corporation vs The Batiri vs The Spectral Envoy
                    • Rematch from March: Archibald Peck vs Tim Donst
                    • ANTomico Action: The Colony & Frightmare vs Soldier Ant & The Colony: Xtreme Force
                    • 8-Man Tag Action: 3.0 & Gran Akuma & Marty Jannetty vs F.I.S.T.
                    • Singles Action: Saturyne vs Kobald


                    J2K's Thoughts: King vs Wicked could be a war; both men have feuded before, in a heated rivalry back in 2007. Amasis vs Ophidian has been brewing since "High Noon" at the end of 2011, when Ophidian tried to end Amasis' career. Donst vs Peck will be a complicated one, since Donst now has three followers in Jakob Hammermeier, Veronia, and Steve 'The Turtle' Weiner. Soldier Ant is still trying to get the Colony: Xtreme Force to focus on following his orders and winning matches, and has to face his former Colony brethren to do it. Jannetty's addition to 3.0/Akuma's team is tricky; Jannetty has a bad ankle and is in a lot of pain. It's probable that the Throwbacks will win the 4-Corner Tag match; the Envoy is being represented by UltraMantis Black & Blind Rage. Likewise, it's not clear who Mantis will face in his return to action after surgery. As for Quackenbush's partner, speculation has run rampant. Some are saying it will be Shane Storm (former partner of Jigsaw, and with whom Quack has 3 points for title contention), others say it might be Rorschach (another former Jigsaw partner), while others are saying it will be Japanese legend Jushin 'Thunder' Liger.

                    8pm -> 10:30pm - Dragon Gate USA "Open the Ultimate Gate 2013"
                    • Open the Freedom Gate Champion Johnny Gargano defends vs Shingo
                    • Open the United Gate Champions CIMA & AR Fox defend vs The Young Bucks
                    • Grudge Match: Samuray Del Sol vs Jon Davis
                    • Akira Tozawa vs Ricochet
                    • Sami Callihan vs Uhaa Nation
                    • Brian Kendrick vs Rich Swann
                    • The Super Smash Bros. vs EITA & CIMA's Secret Weapon
                    • Six-Way Freestyle: Chuck Taylor vs Arik Cannon vs Jigsaw vs Tony Nese vs Fire Ant vs Shane Strickland
                    • Plus: The Scene (Scott Reed & Caleb Konley) w/ Larry Davis & Trina Michaels


                    J2K's Thoughts: An American 'brother' promotion of Japan's Dragon Gate, it has much in common with the Japanese DG: fast-paced, hard-hitting style and lots of faction warfare. Most members of the DGUSA roster are part of a stable. As per usual for DGUSA Wrestlemania weekend cards, they've brought in members of the Japanese DG to be on the show: CIMA and Akira Tozawa.

                    11:55pm -> 2am - 5 Dollar Wrestling LIVE

                    J2K's Thoughts: Like Kaiju, 5 Dollar Wrestling is a niche interest. But it's cheap and wild and their star attraction is the heavyset and unpredictable Freight Train.

                    April 7
                    9am -> 1pm - Legends of the Ring present The Ultimate Warrior Experience

                    10am -> 12noon - Highspots.com presents Bret "The Hitman" Hart

                    J2K's Thoughts: More meet-and-greet opportunities.

                    1pm -> 2:30pm - Dragon Gate USA "Mercury Rising 2013"
                    • Six-Man Tag Match: CIMA & EITA & CIMA's Secret Weapon vs Johnny Gargano & World-1 International's Rich Swann & Ricochet
                    • Shingo vs Akira Tozawa
                    • Ladders Are Legal High-Flyers Fray: Matt Jackson vs Nick Jackson vs AR Fox vs Samuray Del Sol vs Uhaa Nation vs Christina Von Eerie vs Facade
                    • Brian Kendrick vs Chuck Taylor
                    • The Super Smash Brothers vs D.U.F.'s Sami Callihan & Arik Cannon
                    • Tony Nese vs Soldier Ant
                    • Plus: Jon Davis, The Scene (Scott Reed & Caleb Konley) with Larry Dallas & Trina Michaels, and others


                    J2K's Thoughts: The Dragon Gate 6-Man Tag is a tradition of Wrestlemania weekend going back to when DG had a working relationship with Ring of Honor. They're always a mind-blowing extravaganza and worth the price of admission. The Ladders Are Legal Fray borrows elements of a Rumble (two men start, others arrive at regular intervals), but eliminations are via pinfall or submission or DQ. Ladders will be legal once all the participants have entered.

                    J2K's Final Thoughts: If you want to burn out on wrestling, WrestleCon and WrestleMania weekend is the way to do it. Between all the shows on tap, plus Mania, plus the post-Mania Monday Night Raw (which is usually in the area as well), fans can glut themselves on wrestling.
                    Last edited by Jay 2K Winger; 04-04-2013, 07:53 PM.
                    PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

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                    Comment


                    • #11
                      The Current State of Chikara: Updates from WrestleCon through June 4, 2013

                      The WrestleCon event, "The Shoulder of Pallas," was by all accounts a huge success. The main event saw "Lightning" Mike Quackenbush fulfill a lifelong dream when he got to tag with his idol, Japanese wrestling legend Jushin "Thunder" Liger, against the team of Jigsaw & The Shard (a team later officially named The Pieces of Hate). After the main event, however, Quack was approached by a fan wearing a hat stating NPA, and handed an envelope. The fan told Quack "You need to see this."

                      Immediately after the show, Quack was removed from the Chikara roster, and his Twitter profile removed any mention of his being a wrestler. Commentary during the May shows revealed that Quack had been fired by Wink Vavasseur.

                      It's now been confirmed that the NPA fan is the author of the No Private Army conspiracy blog, which has a number of posts backdated to 2006, some of which describe some shady and morally questionable activities within the Titor Conglomerate (which owns Worldwide Media Development Corp., which owns Chikara), in particular that of Condor Security, a private security contractor. Two members of Condor Security had been seen in Chikara in the past, apparently serving as bodyguards for Wink.

                      The envelope given to Quack was soon passed on to disgraced referee Derek Sabato, who made a digital copy of the picture in the envelope and waited for his moment...

                      The week before the "Aniversario: Never Compromise" iPPV, two wrestling bloggers-- Kevin Ford of The Chikara Special and Vince Morales of Ole Wrestling-- received emails from an individual calling himself "Chikara Answers," soliciting them to send him any three questions about Chikara. They did so, and received some cryptic answers, which they posted on Chikara's 101 forums. Some of these questions were about the Titor Conglomerate. The WMDCorp-appointed moderator soon deleted the thread and banned both of them. Morales sent an email to Chikara Answers about this, who replied, "You must realize how sensitive this is. There is more to come. Look for me on Sunday."
                      -------

                      At "Tag World Grand Prix 2013: 2nd Stage," Eddie Kingston defended the Grand Championship against Archibald Peck, a match that fans were dreading because of Peck's tendency to get sent through time as the result of taking Backfists to the Future. As stated in one of my earlier infodump posts, the current story holds that there are two Archies as a result of a time loop. One of them is currently competing in Chikara, the other was sent back to "Chikarasaurus Rex: How to Hatch a Dinosaur" when he took a Kingston Backfist, where he lost the "Loser Leaves Town" match and wandered off to Parts Unknown. When the title defense against Peck was announced, fans feared that we would see Peck get Backfisted and leave Chikara.

                      What happened instead is more puzzling. During the match, a second Archibald Peck was spotted in the balcony, watching the match. This distracted the Peck competing in the ring, allowing Kingston to hit him with the Backfist. The lights went out, and when they came back up, both Pecks were gone, leaving a confused Kingston to win the match by default...
                      -------

                      At the iPPV event, "Aniversario: Never Compromise," Derek Sabato turned up and got a live microphone. He revealed the envelope he had received and said he had a copy of the picture it contained, which he promptly tweeted out. Wink Vavasseur started making a phone call (fans said they heard him saying "It's happening right now") and Sabato was immediately thrown out. The picture showed the four Titor execs breaking ground at a building site in Elohim City, OK, a community that turned out to have ties to the Aryan Brotherhood and Timothy McVeigh.

                      Nothing more was heard from Vavasseur for the rest of the show, until the main event, in which Eddie Kingston was defending the title against Icarus, who was enjoying the largest amount of fan support he's had in years. Icarus had Kingston trapped in the Chikara Special, and referee Bryce Remsburg was checking to see if Kingston had passed out in the hold. But before he could drop the arm again, dozens of Condor Security officers swarmed the ring and ringside area. They grabbed Kingston and Icarus and Remsburg, dragging them out of the ring and to the back. An extremely disheveled Vavasseur turned up and ordered everyone out of the building. Condor started herding fans toward the doors, and started dismantling the set. One of the last things that fans saw on the iPPV was Leonard F. Chikarason, who was on commentary, pointing and shouting, "I see Archibald Peck over there! What's he doing here?" Before he could be seen on camera, however, the feed cut out.
                      -------

                      In the aftermath of the shocking end of the iPPV, Chikara's website updated its events page to list every previously announced event as "CANCELED." Chikara wrestlers started tweeting out that they were looking for bookings or another job. On the 101 forums, the WMDCorp moderator started cracking down much more heavily on the strong anti-Titor sentiment that had sprung up after the conclusion of the show. Posts were being mod-edited or deleted outright.

                      An announcement post on the 101 forums by the moderator also revealed that they were immediately liquidating all Chikara assets, warning that they were not beginning any new social media endeavors (likely in response to the sudden creation of two new Twitter accounts that sprang up, @TitorOSSWE and @CondorOSSWE), and warning that "Baseless accusations against a respected multi-national will not be tolerated in this forum any longer." Word filters on the forum were updated to remove any mention of Condor, Titor, or Conrad (Wink's father).

                      Fans are still extremely confused about this, and it's not clear what the future is for Chikara, but it seems that storyline-wise at the very least, Chikara is dead.
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                      Comment


                      • #12
                        One of the theories/stories making the rounds about Chikara's closure is that they have been in the red for some time now, specifically since the end of 2011, when they held a three-night post-season event called "JoshiMania," specifically to highlight some Japanese joshi (female) wrestlers.

                        As usual when bringing in foreign talent (particularly as many as they brought over for these three shows), it can get expensive, and Chikara underestimated how much interest there would be in it.

                        According to the stories going around, Chikara has still been struggling over the last year and a half since then, and finally had to close its doors to cut its losses, hence the abrupt ending.

                        Given that Mike Quackenbush is so secretive about the inner workings of Chikara, however, it's unlikely we'll ever know the truth.

                        Me, personally, I still believe this is all just a really meta storyline.
                        PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

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                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Updates about the state of Chikara Pro...

                          The company does still currently appear to be "dead." Wrestlers have been seeking bookings elsewhere for the dates on which Chikara had been scheduled to have shows. Posts on the 101 Forum from the WMDCorp-installed administrator, Anton Frady, intimated that they were selling off the Chikara assets, including the ring and the Campeonatos de Parejas belts.

                          A month after the "Aniversario: Never Compromise" iPPV, Chikara wrestlers and personalities started breaking their silence, with Dasher Hatfield being the first to speak, on the 101 Forums, where he regaled fans with his favorite Chikara memories. Fans and other wrestlers started chiming in with similar posts. When UltraMantis Black, who is notoriously private, finally made an account and posted in the thread on similar means, it was taken by most fans as a definitive sign that the company was gone.

                          ...until Icarus posted the following:

                          I've spent the past month reminiscing about CHIKARA and the arc of my life these last 11 years. There is one memory that stands out more than any other: the year CHIKARA ended.

                          The bureaucrats got the better of us. After a hard fought battle with the Allentown Zoning Board, we were denied our right to run events out of the Wrestle Factory because we lacked adequate parking for the venue. So that was it. The Wrestle Factory moved on and CHIKARA, barely even out of the gate, was put down.

                          In that down time, the family grew. We should have been scattered, broken apart. But the fight with the zoning board actually brought us together. We hit the road here and there but in the end, we focused on bringing CHIKARA back. We came to understand that when each of us is working tirelessly for the same end goal, together, we can change the world. Even in those dark days, we knew we were at the dawn of something special. So we regrouped. We fought to bring our vision for wrestling to life, we fought for our ideas, and eventually we won.

                          And now here we are 11 years later, shut down by a group of bureaucrats. And I look at this forum and where are my brothers in arms crying "fight!" like we did back in 2002? I see whimpering posts that seem to be saying "I accept this fate." It makes me sick, and heart-broken. It makes me angry. CHIKARA isn't some shadowy corporate suits pulling the strings behind the scenes. I am CHIKARA. You are CHIKARA. Are you forgetting that?

                          I was given a family that quite honestly, I can't stand. So I spent my adult life creating and molding a new one. A family that I respect and love. You can shut the doors, liquidate the assets, and slap a "for sale" sign on a company, but not a family. Not my family.

                          On my calendar July 20th is marked "Easton, PA." That's where my family was supposed to be that day. And I do not accept this fate. If Easton is where CHIKARA was supposed to be, then that's where I'll be. The Palmer Center. 7:00 pm.

                          I am CHIKARA. Are You?
                          Fans perked up, but in the days leading up to that date, most of the wrestlers confirmed they were already booked elsewhere. Icarus had to make clear on the boards and on Twitter that there would be no ring, no matches on July 20. Come the day, about 20-30 fans showed up, and were met by Icarus and a camera crew with Billy Kumohara. Icarus spoke with the fans, asking them to sign a petition to bring Chikara back. He passed out free t-shirts (that read "I Am Chikara") and left about an hour later.

                          Icarus is still keeping his grass-roots campaign going, today tweeting an address for the Blue Bottle Cafe, a couple of blocks away from a Dragon Gate USA show-- where a Chikara Tribute match would be taking place.

                          The closest other Chikara-related news is a new web series being hosted on the WrestlingIs YouTube account, called "Ashes." The first installment, Prelude, went live last week, and the gist of the series appears to be telling the genesis of the Wrestle Factory, the wrestling school that eventually gave birth to Chikara. A website, TheAshesOf.com, has a Vine account attached to it, and one of videos shows a glimpse of the Colony. So there may be more to come from this as well.

                          In the meantime, most Chikara wrestlers-- past and present-- have been competing in various other companies, all with names starting with "Wrestling Is." These companies include:

                          Fun
                          Cool
                          Heart
                          Intense
                          Art
                          Respect
                          Awesome

                          Apart from "Fun," those companies spell out CHI_ARA. (Although some fans have been including Kaiju Big Battel, since Gavin Loudspeaker is KBB's Louden Noxious, and referee Bryce Remsburg has been reffing in KBB as well.) Fans are keeping an eye on the Wrestling Is companies, in case something tying into Chikara pops up.
                          PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

                          There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Jay:

                            I tend to agree with you that this may be a big, kayfabe storyline. I've watched enough (and read enough about) the Stamford, CT promotion to believe that if any business like that were to go down, it wouldn't happen at the end of a major event or PPV. It would happen backstage or at a corporate office.

                            The Stamford, CT promotion had segments where they would "fire" someone in the middle of the ring, but you and I know that the individual who was "fired" was usually going to take some time off to take care of an injury, or something like that.

                            When a talent is "future endeavored", it usually happens "behind the scenes".

                            In fact, here's a little more for ya. According to this:

                            http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-t...motion-reforms

                            "--There are all kinds of stories regarding the finish of the CHIKARA show last night, from that the promotion is being shut down and replaced by "Wrestling is Fun," to its an elaborate angle to lead to a relaunch. All CHIKARA dates that had been scheduled have no tickets on sale and are being canceled. No tickets were ever put on sale, but in a swerve, they were listed. Before the shows, there were tons of rumors that the show would end with the promotion folding, but those at CHIKARA denied that was the case at the time."

                            (Emphasis mine)

                            Now, I'm not sure what that actually means as far as Chikara goes, but it is actually very interesting.

                            So you might be onto something with the "Wrestling Is..." thing, if they come up with a "Wrestling is..." that starts with a K...it would definitely be "CHIKARA".

                            Just when I was really starting to get into them, as well...darn...guess I'll just have to watch old matches on YouTube.
                            Last edited by mjr; 07-30-2013, 03:56 PM.
                            Skilled programmers aren't cheap. Cheap programmers aren't skilled.

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                            • #15
                              #IAMCHIKARA

                              Well, there's still goings-on in CHIKARA-land.
                              ====

                              The Ashes Of

                              TheAshesOf.com has been featuring various "teaser" videos on Vine, which lead up to the full videos, hosted by the "Wrestling Is" channel on YouTube.

                              "Prelude" is apparently set prior to the founding of CHIKARA, as it deals with the origins of the Wrestle Factory.

                              "Man Down" features Fire Ant & Green Ant visiting a man in a wheelchair (later revealed to be the retired Worker Ant), inquiring as to the whereabouts of Soldier Ant.

                              "Garbage" is easily the saddest of the three released so far, as it deals with Icarus' obsession with getting CHIKARA back, visiting former F.I.S.T. teammate Chuck Taylor after a Dragon Gate USA show.

                              The next one comes out in about a week, titled "Thwarted," and the teasers seem to indicate it picks up after the "Aniversario: Never Compromise" show, and follows referee Bryce Remsburg.

                              ===

                              Wrestling Is... companies

                              As noted, there are numerous smaller companies with some ties to CHIKARA sprang up a while back, but now there appears to be a black cloud hanging over several of them.

                              Last month, Wrestling Is Intense was suddenly invaded by the surviving members of GEKIDO, as 17 and CombatANT returned from the grievous injuries that Mike Quackenbush inflicted on them last year, and they were joined by DeviANT. They disrupted the show and forced the WIIntense company to shut down.

                              Meanwhile, Wrestling Is Awesome has been threatened by none other than the nefarious Dr. Cube, of Kaiju Big Battel infamy. Dr. Cube is suspected to be in possession of the mystical Eye of Tyr, and of course he has an army of minions at his disposal...

                              On top of all of that, Eddie Kingston has been running rampant in Wrestling Is Heart, adamant in his belief that CHIKARA is dead, and getting more and more aggressive and angry and insane with every passing week.

                              Those are all the threats that have a definitive connection, of sorts, to events related to CHIKARA. But even Wrestling Is Fun has a few threats hanging over it. From Sidney Bakabella's Wrecking Crew (the Devastation Corporation, savage JAKA, and the "Dragon Dragon Slayer" Oleg The Usurper) to the newly formed Polar Baron's Bloc Party (the Proletariat Boar of Moldova, Mr. Azerbaijan, and the Brown Morning of Belarus, led by the Polar Baron, Martov Sicklemeier), there are villains to combat the WIF heroes.

                              ===

                              Titor Conglomerate & the Vavasseurs

                              Icarus has hosted a few rallies around the Philadelphia and New York areas, trying to drum up some 'grass roots' support for CHIKARA, getting petitions signed and passing out t-shirts.

                              In the lead-up to the Sept. 14th rally, however, some clouds were on the horizon. On the Chikara 101 board, Icarus apparently posted a link to an online petition about CHIKARA... a link which turned out to have been a trap. Icarus revealed that his account on the board had been hacked, and the online petition was revealed to be hosted by Condor Security, a PMC owned by the Titor Conglomerate, the parent company of Worldwide Media Development, the company that had acquired CHIKARA. Many fans reported getting texts from a phone number advising them to stay away from the site of the rally on the day in question-- a phone number traced to a Google account. When fans called the phone number back, they got a message stating "Condor Target Locked."

                              Fans went to the rally anyway, and Condor was nowhere to be seen. But Titor/Condor's concern was proven accurate when Icarus gave away the email address for Titor executive Conrad Vavasseur, father of Wink Vavasseur, CHIKARA's last Director of Fun. Fans very quickly started bombing Conrad's mailbox, and getting angry responses in return. Some fans started playing more intelligently, attempting to pose as prospective investors or employees, and generally getting rebuffed at every turn.

                              Wink Vavasseur finally came out of his Twitter silence this week, seeming more open than he's ever been, but some of his Tweets have been somewhat forthcoming about his own previous failures and how hard his father's been on him.

                              ===

                              The Hellenic Air Force

                              With Titor's grip on the 101 Forums slackening, Leonard F. Chikarason took back his moderator status on the boards from Titor patsy Anton Frady. Icarus-- once he got a new account on the board-- was quick to get something started on the board. He started recruiting fans for a new initiative to get the word out about CHIKARA. This new movement-- dubbed the Hellenic Air Force-- started last Monday during WWE's Monday Night Raw.

                              During Raw (and for most of the day), fans took to Twitter and started working to get #IAmCHIKARA trending. They arguably succeeded, as some fans reported seeing it as the #4 trend during Raw across the USA. Fans were appending the hashtag to any tweet they made, if they weren't making a specific CHIKARA-related wrestling tweet.

                              Now the fans are tasked to get fans talking in non-wrestling forums, to keep the faith alive and get more people interested.

                              Fans won't let CHIKARA just fade into the darkness. As long as we keep believing, it won't die.

                              I Am CHIKARA. Are you?
                              PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

                              There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

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