BRM Reviews CHIKARA The Germans (AWESOME!)

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews CHIKARA The Germans (AWESOME!)

Post by Big Red Machine » Nov 21st, '22, 22:57

CHIKARA The Germans (11/21/2010)- Philadelphia, PA

Welcome back to BRM’s Monthly “This Day in Wrestling History” Review Series! We’re going back to November being CHIKARA month once again, and this time we’re visiting arguably CHIKARA’s best year: 2010. It’s time for CHIKARA The Germans.

PINKIE SANCHEZ PROMO- GREAT!
He accidentally gave the date for this show instead of the date for the first show of the season when framing this match. Pinkie that he won that match against Green Ant and had since defeated Fire Ant as well, and he has only gotten better (and “crazier”) since, so Soldier Ant stands no chance against him. Then he went onto do a great job of convincing me that he actually is crazier than before. Any time you talk about one of your hated enemies breaking their arm and are upset because “I DIDN’T EVEN GET TO BREAK IT,” you’re pretty clearly crazy, and in the scary psychotic way, not the goofy R-Truth way.

SOLIDER ANT vs. PINKIE SANCHEZ- 6/10
Pinkie came out wearing his Pink Ant mask. Soldier Ant tore it off. Shouldn’t that be a DQ?
This was a good intense match. The Burning Hammer was an excellent false finish. Solider Ant finally got the win in poetic fashion with the CHIKARA Special, making the first time one the Ants had defeated the man who infiltrated their group. The other Ants came out to celebrate with him.

GRIZZLY REDWOOD & BRODIE LEE TRY TO CUT A PROMO BUT ARE ATTACKED BY THE THROWBACKS
Brodie was going to speak, but Grizz snatched the microphone away from him. He said something about “what happened last night in Easton,” but before he could elaborate, the Throwbacks charged out and attacked the them. Apparently last night Grizz slapped Brodie, which prompted Brodie to attack Dasher Hatfield (who had beaten him the previous month), and Brodie left with Grizz.
The teams brawled. People tried to break them up, but to no avail. Sugar Dunkerton got to do a big dive. The seemingly-reforming Roughnecks won the brawl. After they left, Sugar cut a promo challenging them to a match at the next show.

ARIK CANNON vs. LINCÉ DORADO- 7/10
Lincé slipped on a Lionsault, but other than that, this was a really fun match that built very well. Great for the time it got.

THE OLSEN TWINS vs. THE UnSTABLE (Vin Gerard & STIGMA)- 6.25/10
A good “big moves” match, a decent finish with the heel getting a taste of his own medicine, and a good post-match brawl to up the intensity of the feud.

TIM DONST PROMO- great
Donst is out to even the score with Hallowicked (who rolled him up last night), and prove that he is the greatest Young Lions Cup champion of all time.

TIM DONST vs. HALLOWICKED- 5/10
This was short (under six minutes), but quite intense. Donst won by chocking Hallowicked out with a cord. It was excellent for the time it got. You’d think this was building to a rematch, but these two wouldn’t face off in a singles match for two years.

ULTRAMANTIS BLACK PROMO- good
He says that he thought that Ares was like him- “a leader of men and women”- but it turns out Ares isn’t. He’s just “a cog in a much larger machine.” Foreshadowing. Of course, at this moment, we’re just supposed to think that UMB is talking about the BDK and is suggesting that perhaps Claudio is the real leader. And it’s possible that UMB himself doesn’t know just how true his words are.
While Ares might just be a cog, UMB says that if he destroys that cog, the machine will be destroyed. Then he says that he will “destroy everyone,” because even though his immediate goals align with the babyfaces’, UMB is still a supervillain.

FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE MATCH: UltraMantis Black vs. Ares- 7.75/10
Derek Sabato is your referee for this match, so of course there were shenanigans. This time, though, they did a good job of rarely giving UMB anything that felt like it could really be the finish, so it didn’t feel like he was constantly getting screwed. Tursas interfering also helped with that, as did the finish, which I will get into in a moment. Right now, though, I went to spend a sentence noting that we got a CHIKARA match with 1) a big dive off of a high place, 2) accidentally breaking glass bottles, resulting in wrestlers having to navigate broken glass, and 3) teasing throwing someone off of a balcony (and the fans responding to this by chanting “PUSH SABATO!”). This was quite the brawl, with a very chaotic feel, especially for CHIKARA.
They made their way back to the ring, where UMB was outnumbered, so he summoned his new minions from the other night, who revealed themselves to be Obariyon and Kodama. They came to stand by him, but when UMB ordered them to attack, another cloaked figure came out from the back and gestured for them to return to the locker room instead of do UMB’s bidding, and they did. This distracted UMB, allowing Ares to hit him with a chair, then give him a Praying Mantis Bomb onto the chair for the win. This new wrinkle in his story as well as essentially being a distraction finish (and UMB wisely deciding to stay down for a while despite Sabato doing a fast count here for the pin) helped avoid the problem that we have run into on previous shows with Sabato’s antics making things feel completely hopeless for the babyfaces, to the point where it detracts from the match because you know they’re going to get screwed no matter how valiantly they fight.


FOUR-WAY ELIMINATION MATCH: Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw vs. Osirian Portal vs. F.I.S.T. (Chuck Taylor & Icarus) vs. Bruderschaft des Kreuzes (Sara Del Rey & Daizee Haze)- 8.5/10
The commentators did a good job of setting things up for the eventual split in the BDK, calling our attention to the fact that Ares and Claudio were forcing Sara and Daizee’s ambitions to become subordinated by their own, saying “your job isn’t to get three points, it’s to keep everyone else from getting three points.”
The story here was Quacken-Saw overcoming the odds- and Quack’s rib injury, and the work on Jigsaw’s leg- to get three points in one match. The last few minutes- predictably a showdown between Quacken-Saw and the BDK ladies- were absolutely tremendous! I knew what the result of this match was going in, and I still jumped out of my chair and shouted “YES!” when Jigsaw finally got the pin on Daizee. I was that sucked in, even though I knew the outcome already, and have known it for twelve years.

DA SOUL TOUCHAZ COME OUT TO DO A RAFFLE DRAWING, BUT GET ASSAULTED BY THE BDK- great
C-Red noted that they have the BDK’s number, having beaten them three times after last night’s win, which is by part the most success anyone has had against them. The BDK then attacked them. Sara gave Dymond a Piledriver and Ares gave C-Red a Tigerbomb. This would wind up ending both of their careers (in CHIKARA, at least), and would turn this into a blood feud.

CHIKARA YOUNG LIONS’ CUP MATCH: Frightmare vs. Johnny Gargano- 8/10
Athletic head-droppy awesomeness. Frightmare is such a great babyface.

EDDIE KINGSTON PROMO- good
He won’t let his respect for Homicide stop him from fighting Homicide, who the BDK as brought in as a mercenary to take him out.

EDDIE KINGSTON vs. HOMICIDE- 8.75/10
This was a first-time-ever singles match-up, and it was just plain wonderful. They did a little bit of everything and it beautifully, while keeping up a tremendous atmosphere throughout and building up the whole time. The only negative I have is that the Backfist to the Future on the finish felt a little weak to end this particular match.


This was a freakin’ awesome show from CHIKARA, to the point where I don’t understand why it doesn’t get talked about, especially considering that 2010 was arguably their best year in terms of the combination of business (which really started to pick up with the BDK angle) and storytelling (which was awesome throughout, although I haven’t seen enough of the earlier stuff other than 2007 to really judge any of the years before it, since I was one of the many people who was brought into CHIKARA with the BDK angle in the end of 2009). Maybe it’s because it didn’t have any particularly major storyline developments that didn’t just feel like set-up for the Season Finale? I guess the BDK attack on Da Soul Touchaz fits that description, but we didn’t know exactly how big the consequences of that attack would be at the time (and its inclusion on this show only makes this show more awesome in hindsight).
Anyway, this was awesome… and as I type this, it’s 11:58 on the day I need to post it, so… see you next month.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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