CHIKARA The Shoulder of Pallas
CHIKARA The Shoulder of Pallas (4/6/2013)- Secaucus, NJ
GAVIN SINGS- Worth the price of the DVD by itself! Gavin does a â€"We Didn’t Start the Fire†parody about Wrestlemania! The sound makes it hard to hear some of the words, but other than that, this was awesome.
SATURYNE vs. KOBALD- 4.75/10
The Sara Del Rey and Cena references did a good job of getting the crowd into things
FOUR WAY ELIMINATION TAG TEAM MATCH: UltraMantis Black & Blind Rage vs. Obariyon & Kodama vs. The Throwbacks (Dasher Hatfield & â€"Mr. Touchdown†Mark Angelosetti) vs. The Devastation Corporation (w/Sydney Bakabella)- 6.75/10
Character-work, action, comedy… Everything you love about CHIKARA all in one match.
Max Smashmaster did an extremely impressive dive, especially for someone his size, but then killed all of the good will this created botching a leap up to the top rope. Twice. In a row.
After the match, Dasher is hurt on the floor and Sugar Dunkerton comes out to help him but Mr. Touchdown yells at him.
AMASIS vs. OPHIDIAN- no rating, good segment.
Ophidian was not cleared to compete, but he came out anyway and tried to hypnotize Amasis. It didn’t work, and Amasis started pounding him until the Batiri attacked Amasis and Ophidian beat him with a crutch. Ophdian then tried to spray Amasis with venom but Amasis avoided it. Unfortunately, the Batiri quashed his hope spot pretty quickly and jus kicked his ass with some sick moves.
3.0, GRAN AKUMA, & MARTY JANNETTY vs. F.I.S.T. (Johnny Gargano, Chuck Taylor, Icarus, & Sugar Dunkerton)- 6.75/10
A good match that looks like it will be a major turning point for F.I.S.T. The thought of an Icarus babyface turn scares me.
DONST’S STABLE SEGMENT- Biker Veronica looks so extremely awkward.
ARCHIBALD PECK vs. TIM DONST (w/Jakob Hammermeier, Steve â€"The Turtle†Weiner, & Veronica Ticklefeather)- 5/10
There were a lot of times where it felt like they were going at a much slower pace than usual.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- After the match Gavin tries to convinces Donst’s followers that Donst only cares about himself. Donst hits Gavin from behind then cuts some of his trademark crazy hair.
Wink Vavasseur came out and officially named The Colony: Xtreme Force as the winners of the 2011 King of Trios (which the regular Colony had won). Solider Ant is obviously upset by this.
FRIGHTMARE & THE COLONY (Fire Ant, Green Ant, & AssailANT) vs. SOLDIER ANT & THE COLONY: XTREME FORCE (Orbit Adventure Ant, Arctic Rescue Ant, & Missile Assault Ant)- 6.75/10
Ten minutes of great action. The Colony XTreme Force didn’t listen to Soldier Ant, whom Wink had said was supposed to be their leader, and even threw him out of the ring at one point. The finish here got TONS of heat and the execution was just perfect! While the ref’s back was turned Missile Assault Ant ripped off Frightmare’s mask (which he had previously started to unlace and was scolded for by Soldier Ant) and rolled him up in a small package… and they managed to roll so that they were perfectly blocking Frightmare’s face from the ref and were on top of his mask so that the ref couldn’t see that the mask was off. Just BEAUTIFUL execution! The Colony XTreme force go into this over the top celebration which just plain pisses you off, until they are scolded by Soldier Ant… during which time they mockingly salute him. Soldier Ant storms angrily to the back.
CHIKARA GRAND CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Eddie Kingston(c) vs. Hallowicked- 6.5/10
Good match, but disappointing considering the big spot it was in. Kingston worked over Hallowicked’s neck while Hallowicked worked over Kingston’s injured arm. UltraMantis sounded almost heelish on commentary. That could be something to keep an eye (or rather, an ear) on. Something else to keep an eye on is the fan response to Eddie Kingston. After he won the match, he was getting more boos than cheers and there were even people chanting â€"Cena†at him (which seemed to really upset Eddie. Like, a lot. He really got in the fans’ faces about it).
JIGSAW & THE SHARD vs. MIKE QUACKENBUSH & JUSHIN â€"THUNDER†LIGER- 8/10
When Liger came out as Quack’s mystery partner, the place went absolutely NUTS! The match was, in many ways, a tribute to Liger, as a lot of the match was built around him and his signature moves. There was a lot of real emotion in there. You could really tell how big of a moment this was for Quack to be in there with his idol. The heels got great heat by mocking Liger and going after Quack’s oft-injured back and Liger got pops for nearly everything.
Overall, a great show from CHIKARA. CHIKARA was looking to expose new fans to its product, and this show did a great job of that. A very CHIKARA show. If you already like CHIKARA, you’ll love this. If you want to find out if you’ll like CHIKARA, this show should be a good barometer for you.
GAVIN SINGS- Worth the price of the DVD by itself! Gavin does a â€"We Didn’t Start the Fire†parody about Wrestlemania! The sound makes it hard to hear some of the words, but other than that, this was awesome.
SATURYNE vs. KOBALD- 4.75/10
The Sara Del Rey and Cena references did a good job of getting the crowd into things
FOUR WAY ELIMINATION TAG TEAM MATCH: UltraMantis Black & Blind Rage vs. Obariyon & Kodama vs. The Throwbacks (Dasher Hatfield & â€"Mr. Touchdown†Mark Angelosetti) vs. The Devastation Corporation (w/Sydney Bakabella)- 6.75/10
Character-work, action, comedy… Everything you love about CHIKARA all in one match.
Max Smashmaster did an extremely impressive dive, especially for someone his size, but then killed all of the good will this created botching a leap up to the top rope. Twice. In a row.
After the match, Dasher is hurt on the floor and Sugar Dunkerton comes out to help him but Mr. Touchdown yells at him.
AMASIS vs. OPHIDIAN- no rating, good segment.
Ophidian was not cleared to compete, but he came out anyway and tried to hypnotize Amasis. It didn’t work, and Amasis started pounding him until the Batiri attacked Amasis and Ophidian beat him with a crutch. Ophdian then tried to spray Amasis with venom but Amasis avoided it. Unfortunately, the Batiri quashed his hope spot pretty quickly and jus kicked his ass with some sick moves.
3.0, GRAN AKUMA, & MARTY JANNETTY vs. F.I.S.T. (Johnny Gargano, Chuck Taylor, Icarus, & Sugar Dunkerton)- 6.75/10
A good match that looks like it will be a major turning point for F.I.S.T. The thought of an Icarus babyface turn scares me.
DONST’S STABLE SEGMENT- Biker Veronica looks so extremely awkward.
ARCHIBALD PECK vs. TIM DONST (w/Jakob Hammermeier, Steve â€"The Turtle†Weiner, & Veronica Ticklefeather)- 5/10
There were a lot of times where it felt like they were going at a much slower pace than usual.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- After the match Gavin tries to convinces Donst’s followers that Donst only cares about himself. Donst hits Gavin from behind then cuts some of his trademark crazy hair.
Wink Vavasseur came out and officially named The Colony: Xtreme Force as the winners of the 2011 King of Trios (which the regular Colony had won). Solider Ant is obviously upset by this.
FRIGHTMARE & THE COLONY (Fire Ant, Green Ant, & AssailANT) vs. SOLDIER ANT & THE COLONY: XTREME FORCE (Orbit Adventure Ant, Arctic Rescue Ant, & Missile Assault Ant)- 6.75/10
Ten minutes of great action. The Colony XTreme Force didn’t listen to Soldier Ant, whom Wink had said was supposed to be their leader, and even threw him out of the ring at one point. The finish here got TONS of heat and the execution was just perfect! While the ref’s back was turned Missile Assault Ant ripped off Frightmare’s mask (which he had previously started to unlace and was scolded for by Soldier Ant) and rolled him up in a small package… and they managed to roll so that they were perfectly blocking Frightmare’s face from the ref and were on top of his mask so that the ref couldn’t see that the mask was off. Just BEAUTIFUL execution! The Colony XTreme force go into this over the top celebration which just plain pisses you off, until they are scolded by Soldier Ant… during which time they mockingly salute him. Soldier Ant storms angrily to the back.
CHIKARA GRAND CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Eddie Kingston(c) vs. Hallowicked- 6.5/10
Good match, but disappointing considering the big spot it was in. Kingston worked over Hallowicked’s neck while Hallowicked worked over Kingston’s injured arm. UltraMantis sounded almost heelish on commentary. That could be something to keep an eye (or rather, an ear) on. Something else to keep an eye on is the fan response to Eddie Kingston. After he won the match, he was getting more boos than cheers and there were even people chanting â€"Cena†at him (which seemed to really upset Eddie. Like, a lot. He really got in the fans’ faces about it).
JIGSAW & THE SHARD vs. MIKE QUACKENBUSH & JUSHIN â€"THUNDER†LIGER- 8/10
When Liger came out as Quack’s mystery partner, the place went absolutely NUTS! The match was, in many ways, a tribute to Liger, as a lot of the match was built around him and his signature moves. There was a lot of real emotion in there. You could really tell how big of a moment this was for Quack to be in there with his idol. The heels got great heat by mocking Liger and going after Quack’s oft-injured back and Liger got pops for nearly everything.
Overall, a great show from CHIKARA. CHIKARA was looking to expose new fans to its product, and this show did a great job of that. A very CHIKARA show. If you already like CHIKARA, you’ll love this. If you want to find out if you’ll like CHIKARA, this show should be a good barometer for you.