National Pro Wrestling Day 2014
National Pro Wrestling Day 2014 (2/1/2014)- Easton, PA
HUGE pop for Bryce Remsburg at the begging of the show.
2 OUT OF 3 FALLS MATCH: Drew Gulak vs. Colt Cabana- 6.25/10
I don’t think I have seen a single Drew Gulak match since 2006, when he was still considered a CZW student, so I don’t know if he normally does this or not, but Gulak gave a little salute during his entrance. Maybe he’s been hanging out with Soldier Ant? The rest of The Colony should ask him where they can find Soldier Ant. He might know.
A great mat-wrestling match.
Gavin then brings out the â€"Official National Pro Wrestling Day Correspondent†Maria Kanellis. This prompted some â€"ROH†chants. Can you imagine the response you would get from 2002 Gabe Sapolsky if you told him that in twelve years, the appearance of a former WWE Divas who was a pretty bad wrestler would inspire an indy crowd to chant â€"ROH?â€
THE BALTIC SIEGE vs. BLOC PARTY (w/the Polar Baron)- 6.5/10
There was a production screw-up here and they put the wrong graphics up for the two teams, leading to much confusion on my part.
I stopped caring a bit in the middle but they got me back into it. They had a decent CHIKARA-style trios match. The babyfaces won but the heels beat them down after the match. The Estonian Thunder Frog went backstage and got his giant hammer to come make the save with.
COLT CABANA PRESENTS THE AMBASSADOR OF PRO WRESTLING AWARD TO MIKE BURNS-
For those who don’t know, Mike is the owner of Smart Mark Video and does a lot of other stuff. He was also the booker in CZW during some of its best times (specifically 2005). Nice to see Mike get some recognition for everything he does. Personally, I would like to thank him for all of the effort he puts into the Best of the Indies shoot interview series. As a fan of the creative process, we rarely get any insight into the angles that have gone on in indie wrestling, and Mike’s series gives us some of that.
HALLOWICKED vs. â€"THE PRODIGY†MIKE BENNETT- 6.25/10
I couldn’t see the full match because they were having streaming issues which haven’t been fixed on the Youtube replay yet. Apparently we didn’t miss much of this match… but what we did miss was the move that ended the match. I looked at some live reports and based on those, I’m pretty confident in my rating, but I’ll probably come back and update this once the whole thing is finally fixed.
EDDIE KINGSTON vs. DASHER HATFIELD- 6/10
On his way to the ring, Kingston made some comment into the camera about getting fired for something having to do with HD, which I think is him working in his current angle in ROH, but I’ not quite sure.
The crowd got on Eddie’s case here, and he certainly reacted. He went up to fan and tore his sign up (Dasher then came over and gave the poor fan a hug, which was awesome). Then Eddie got into what I really hope was a worked confrontation with a child… The child actually did some kicks, but Eddie managed to avoid them all and got away as quickly as possible. Seeing the way the kid reacted to this (he got cheers of â€"LITTLE KID!†from the crowd and raised his arms in victory), I’m pretty sure it must have been worked… and if it wasn’t, someone needs to sign this kid now because he is a freakin’ natural!
They had a good match, but nothing great. Dasher gets a roll-up victory, which I actually like a lot. Obviously Icarus SHOULD be first in line for a shot at the Grand Championship, but I think it would work better to have Icarus take the belt from Kingston at the Season Finale (assuming that the May 25, 2014 we saw on Archie’s wall of clues is the date CHIKARA is returning), so giving Dasher a win here sets him up as a challenger for Kingston to fend off between the return and the season finale.
SONJAY DUTT vs. ERIC CORVIS- 5.5/10
NO DISQUALIFICATION MATCH: Shynron vs. Juan Francisco de Coronado- no rating.
We missed the beginning of this one because of streaming issues. What we did get to see looked like a pretty awesome ending to a great match. Both guys looked very impressive.
WRESTLING IS HEART COPA IDOLO MATCH: Joe Pittman(c) vs. Heidi Lovelace-
More streaming issues in the beginning of this one, too. Great heel stuff from Pittman. This was a great Big Heel vs. Small Babyface match. Heidi locks in the CHIKARA Special and is about to win the championship (sounds like a familiar set-up, doesn’t it?) when…
WARNING! SUPER-ULTRA-MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!
The Gekido, Ares and his new Tusas-like friend, Sidney Bakabella & Wrecking Crew, Sinn Bodhi, Qefka the Quiet, Colony: Xtreme Force, a couple of guys in masks and hoods, Dr. Cube, and a whole bunch of Dr. Cube’s minions all come out from backstage and beat them both up.
Then the Submission Squad came out from backstage, and one of them said â€"if you want to destroy what’s left of CHIKARA, you’re gonna have to go through us!â€
So they did.
One of the heels unmasked and un-hooded… but did so facing away from the hard-cam so I still don’t know who he is.
Then all of the babyfaces came out, led by AssailANT, and dared the heels to fight them.
The recently unmasked guy starts to cut a promo. Turns out it’s Jimmy Jacobs (which you could kind of tell from the hair coloring and the necklace he had on). He says that they are all in the BDK and that they are unstoppable. Icarus responded by giving some sort of signal, and Dr. Cube’s minions unmasked themselves and it turns out they were Los Ice Creams, the Batiri, and some other CHIKARA and Wrestling Is… guys, and they brawl with the heels while the other babyfaces also attack (Quack, Donst, and Kingston are notably absent).
Then the camera started focusing on one of the doors and some fog rolled in and a car pulled up… then the gull-wing doors opened and it becomes clear that this isn’t just any car: It’s a Delorean. 3.0 and Archibald Peck step out of the car and join the fight.
Jimmy Jacobs, who is apparently the leader of this new BDK instead of Ares for some reason, calls a full retreat. The crowd, predictably, goes nuts, and the babyfaces celebrate (Archie and Mr. Touchdown even shared a celebratory hug). Icarus grabs a sign that says 5/25/2014 and says â€"tell the world we’re coming back!â€
ICARUS, THE COLONY, & THE OSIRIAN PORTAL vs. LOS ICE CREAMS & THE BATIRI- 6/10
Everyone got huge babyface pops here, which was really weird to see for the Batiri. Icarus, of course, got the biggest pop of all.
A lot of stuff. Very CHIKARA. Icarus wins clean in the middle of the ring with the CHIKARA Special.
A decent show from… whoever exactly puts this show on. (Oh, who are we kidding. It’s definitely a CHIKARA production. There is no point in hiding it anymore.) The matches weren’t great, but they weren’t bad either. Solid wrestling up and down the card, but not much better than solid. We got some major news on the â€"return of CHIKARA†front, which is important, but I was hoping for something more of an explanation. Jimmy Jacobs’ involvement in particular baffles me. How is he connected to this? I was hoping for updates about Condor Security, the Titor Conglomerate, Wink Vavasseur, and everything along those lines. Hopefully we will get those as CHIKARA returns.
HUGE pop for Bryce Remsburg at the begging of the show.
2 OUT OF 3 FALLS MATCH: Drew Gulak vs. Colt Cabana- 6.25/10
I don’t think I have seen a single Drew Gulak match since 2006, when he was still considered a CZW student, so I don’t know if he normally does this or not, but Gulak gave a little salute during his entrance. Maybe he’s been hanging out with Soldier Ant? The rest of The Colony should ask him where they can find Soldier Ant. He might know.
A great mat-wrestling match.
Gavin then brings out the â€"Official National Pro Wrestling Day Correspondent†Maria Kanellis. This prompted some â€"ROH†chants. Can you imagine the response you would get from 2002 Gabe Sapolsky if you told him that in twelve years, the appearance of a former WWE Divas who was a pretty bad wrestler would inspire an indy crowd to chant â€"ROH?â€
THE BALTIC SIEGE vs. BLOC PARTY (w/the Polar Baron)- 6.5/10
There was a production screw-up here and they put the wrong graphics up for the two teams, leading to much confusion on my part.
I stopped caring a bit in the middle but they got me back into it. They had a decent CHIKARA-style trios match. The babyfaces won but the heels beat them down after the match. The Estonian Thunder Frog went backstage and got his giant hammer to come make the save with.
COLT CABANA PRESENTS THE AMBASSADOR OF PRO WRESTLING AWARD TO MIKE BURNS-
For those who don’t know, Mike is the owner of Smart Mark Video and does a lot of other stuff. He was also the booker in CZW during some of its best times (specifically 2005). Nice to see Mike get some recognition for everything he does. Personally, I would like to thank him for all of the effort he puts into the Best of the Indies shoot interview series. As a fan of the creative process, we rarely get any insight into the angles that have gone on in indie wrestling, and Mike’s series gives us some of that.
HALLOWICKED vs. â€"THE PRODIGY†MIKE BENNETT- 6.25/10
I couldn’t see the full match because they were having streaming issues which haven’t been fixed on the Youtube replay yet. Apparently we didn’t miss much of this match… but what we did miss was the move that ended the match. I looked at some live reports and based on those, I’m pretty confident in my rating, but I’ll probably come back and update this once the whole thing is finally fixed.
EDDIE KINGSTON vs. DASHER HATFIELD- 6/10
On his way to the ring, Kingston made some comment into the camera about getting fired for something having to do with HD, which I think is him working in his current angle in ROH, but I’ not quite sure.
The crowd got on Eddie’s case here, and he certainly reacted. He went up to fan and tore his sign up (Dasher then came over and gave the poor fan a hug, which was awesome). Then Eddie got into what I really hope was a worked confrontation with a child… The child actually did some kicks, but Eddie managed to avoid them all and got away as quickly as possible. Seeing the way the kid reacted to this (he got cheers of â€"LITTLE KID!†from the crowd and raised his arms in victory), I’m pretty sure it must have been worked… and if it wasn’t, someone needs to sign this kid now because he is a freakin’ natural!
They had a good match, but nothing great. Dasher gets a roll-up victory, which I actually like a lot. Obviously Icarus SHOULD be first in line for a shot at the Grand Championship, but I think it would work better to have Icarus take the belt from Kingston at the Season Finale (assuming that the May 25, 2014 we saw on Archie’s wall of clues is the date CHIKARA is returning), so giving Dasher a win here sets him up as a challenger for Kingston to fend off between the return and the season finale.
SONJAY DUTT vs. ERIC CORVIS- 5.5/10
NO DISQUALIFICATION MATCH: Shynron vs. Juan Francisco de Coronado- no rating.
We missed the beginning of this one because of streaming issues. What we did get to see looked like a pretty awesome ending to a great match. Both guys looked very impressive.
WRESTLING IS HEART COPA IDOLO MATCH: Joe Pittman(c) vs. Heidi Lovelace-
More streaming issues in the beginning of this one, too. Great heel stuff from Pittman. This was a great Big Heel vs. Small Babyface match. Heidi locks in the CHIKARA Special and is about to win the championship (sounds like a familiar set-up, doesn’t it?) when…
WARNING! SUPER-ULTRA-MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!
The Gekido, Ares and his new Tusas-like friend, Sidney Bakabella & Wrecking Crew, Sinn Bodhi, Qefka the Quiet, Colony: Xtreme Force, a couple of guys in masks and hoods, Dr. Cube, and a whole bunch of Dr. Cube’s minions all come out from backstage and beat them both up.
Then the Submission Squad came out from backstage, and one of them said â€"if you want to destroy what’s left of CHIKARA, you’re gonna have to go through us!â€
So they did.
One of the heels unmasked and un-hooded… but did so facing away from the hard-cam so I still don’t know who he is.
Then all of the babyfaces came out, led by AssailANT, and dared the heels to fight them.
The recently unmasked guy starts to cut a promo. Turns out it’s Jimmy Jacobs (which you could kind of tell from the hair coloring and the necklace he had on). He says that they are all in the BDK and that they are unstoppable. Icarus responded by giving some sort of signal, and Dr. Cube’s minions unmasked themselves and it turns out they were Los Ice Creams, the Batiri, and some other CHIKARA and Wrestling Is… guys, and they brawl with the heels while the other babyfaces also attack (Quack, Donst, and Kingston are notably absent).
Then the camera started focusing on one of the doors and some fog rolled in and a car pulled up… then the gull-wing doors opened and it becomes clear that this isn’t just any car: It’s a Delorean. 3.0 and Archibald Peck step out of the car and join the fight.
Jimmy Jacobs, who is apparently the leader of this new BDK instead of Ares for some reason, calls a full retreat. The crowd, predictably, goes nuts, and the babyfaces celebrate (Archie and Mr. Touchdown even shared a celebratory hug). Icarus grabs a sign that says 5/25/2014 and says â€"tell the world we’re coming back!â€
ICARUS, THE COLONY, & THE OSIRIAN PORTAL vs. LOS ICE CREAMS & THE BATIRI- 6/10
Everyone got huge babyface pops here, which was really weird to see for the Batiri. Icarus, of course, got the biggest pop of all.
A lot of stuff. Very CHIKARA. Icarus wins clean in the middle of the ring with the CHIKARA Special.
A decent show from… whoever exactly puts this show on. (Oh, who are we kidding. It’s definitely a CHIKARA production. There is no point in hiding it anymore.) The matches weren’t great, but they weren’t bad either. Solid wrestling up and down the card, but not much better than solid. We got some major news on the â€"return of CHIKARA†front, which is important, but I was hoping for something more of an explanation. Jimmy Jacobs’ involvement in particular baffles me. How is he connected to this? I was hoping for updates about Condor Security, the Titor Conglomerate, Wink Vavasseur, and everything along those lines. Hopefully we will get those as CHIKARA returns.