CHIKARA The Dark Cibernetico

DASHER HATFIELD vs. BRODIE LEE - 5.5/10

I really didn't like the whole thing with Dasher taking of Brodie's boot so he could stomp on his foot. It came off to me like a jerk move. Dasher, who was just coming off of an injury, pulled out the win with the debut of the Suicide Squeeze. This was also Brodie's first loss in quite a while, and they actually had Brodie kick out at 3.1 I normally hate that sort of thing, but I think it worked here. I don't know if you could quite say that it protected Brodie, but it definitely gave him a more tangible sense of frustration (as opposed when guys like Ishii and Shibata just do it for the sake of doing it).

DRAGON YUKI vs. OPHIDIAN (w/Amasis) - 4.25/10

Yeah… Dragon Yuki really isn't very good.

YOUNG LIONS CUP MATCH:
Frightmare(c) vs. Johnny Gargano - 7.75/10

They did a "pull a name out of a hat" segment to set this up that was supposed to be goofy and funny but wasn't. When Gargano came out and said (paraphrasing) "Hey! I earned a shot at this title by winning the Countdown Showdown, so I want that title shot right now!" he felt like the messiah, come to save me by pulling this whole thing back down to reality (or… well… CHIKARA-reality, anyway).

The match itself more than made up for it, as it was pretty darn great for the mere eleven minutes and change that it got.

CHEECH PROMO - meh.

VIN GERARD vs. CHEECH HERNANDEZ - 6/10

SUPER SMASH BROTHERS vs. OBARIYON & KODAMA - 7/10

The announcers did a great job of pushing the mystery of where Obariyon and Kodama came from and who they are. This strong win here over former Campeoatos de Parejas did a great job of establishing them as an immediate threat.

ULTRAMANTIS BLACK PROMO - GREAT!
This might be the single most UltraMantis Black promo ever.

TORNEO CIBERNETICO:
Team CHIKARA (Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw, Hallowicked, Eddie Kingston, UltraMantis Black, Icarus, STIMGMA, & Larry Sweeney) vs. the BDK (Claudio Castagnoli, Ares, Tursas, Sara Del Rey, Daizee Haze, Delirious, Tim Donst, & Pinkie Sanchez) - 9.75/10.

SO MANY stories here, and so many great payoffs! Add in a hot crowd, some cool spots, and an amazing story (and a good pre-match moment with Bryce taking Sabatos' place as the referee), and you have an almost perfect match. If not for the fact that some guys (STIGMA, Sweeney, Pinkie) took very little offense before getting pinned and Sweeney's botch in the beginning, I would have given this the full 10.

A PROMO BY THE SURVIVING MEMBER(S) OF THE WINNING TEAM - great!

It's almost always a sure bet that a show like CHIKARA's Cibernetico or ROH's Survival of the Fittest is going to be a one-match show, which means that going in, you really should be going into it with the following outlook: Does the match in question deliver? If it does, then that's great. Any other great matches we may get are just icing on the cake. If that match doesn't deliver then the show will be a disappointment, even if some of the other matches deliver. In this show, we got both an awesome cake and some great icing. This was definitely the best Cibernetico that CHIKARA (or possibly anyone else ever) has ever done, and both the Young Lions' Cup match and the semi-main event were better than I think everyone would have assumed going in, especially given the length of time they were given. Definitely a show you should pick up, although if you are strapped for cash, I'd recommend just getting CHIKARA's Best of 2010 DVD, which includes the Cibernetico match, which is the real draw of this show.