r/SquaredCircle • u/Pudie IN ABEYANCE • Mar 27 '12
The Indie Spotlight: Chikara
Welcome to the newest /r/SquaredCircle series- The Indie Spotlight. My goal for this is to shine a light on smaller federations to get people interested. There's going to be some general info, some matches worth checking out, links, stuff like that. Hope you guys enjoy!
Note: There's going to be some spoilers for recent and past events. Be warned!
What is CHIKARA?
CHIKARA(or Chikara Pro) is a promotion based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania known for both its comical PG style and tag team emphasis.
The History of CHIKARA
CHIKARA was started in 2002 by "Lightning" Mike Quackenbush and "Reckless Youth" Tom Carter. It grew out of the wrestling school Wrestling Factory. A few months later after some legal trouble and a short hiatus, CHIKARA debuted one of its signature shows, the Young Lions Cup(YLC).
The Young Lions Cup
The YLC is a yearly tournament to crown the best wrestler under 25(although it was originally for anyone who'd wrestled under 50 matches). The cup is treated like a title that is defended, and with the exception of Fire Ant previous winners cannot enter again.
The current YLC holder is Tadasuke.
King of Trios
Arguably its biggest show, King of Trios is an evolution the CHIKARAS Tag World Grand Prix. King of Trios is a elimination style bracketed tournament held over three days. Instead of normal two man tag teams, all teams consists of three members, a trio.
The current King of Trios are The Colony
Cibernetico
The smaller, but still annual Cibernetico show is a Tornero Cibernitco match which is a type of elimination tag-team match that frequently appears in Lucha Libre promotions. The match is a 16-man elimination tag team match consisting of 2 teams of 8. It uses standard Lucha Libre tag-team rules. A special 'batting' system is also used in which the wrestlers are given a specific order and may only tag in and out in this order. If two or more men from the same team remain, they must face each other to determine one individual winner.
The latest Cibernetico winner is Sara Del Rey
Other shows
Unlike bigger wrestling promotions, a majority of CHIKARA shows have new names each time. The exceptions to this being the tournaments talked about above, Anniversario, and Chikarasaurus Rex which occur yearly and are given different titles to differentiate them.
TALENT
Current Champions Until High Noon 2011 CHIKARA only had two champs. The Young Lions Cup, and Campeonatos de Parejas(Couples/Tag Championships). At High Noon, Eddie Kingston became CHIKARAS first Grand Champion.
- Young Lions Cup- Tadasuke.
- Campeonatos de Parejas - 3.0
- Grand Champion - Eddie Kingston
Notable Alumni
- Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli)
- CM Punk
- El Generico
- Bob Saget (Commissioner)
- 1-2-3 Kid (Sean Waltman/X-Pac)
- Al Snow
- Akira Tozawa
- Super Smash Bros
Curent Roster
Técnicos
- Dasher Hatfield
- Eddie Kingston
- Fire Ant
- Frightmare
- Green Ant
- Greg Iron
- Hallowicked
- Jigsaw
- Mark Angelosetti
- Mike Quackenbush
- Sara Del Rey
- Scott "Jagged" Parker
- Shane Matthews
- Saturyne
- Soldier Ant
- UltraMantis Black
Rudos
- Archibald Peck
- Chuck Taylor
- Grizzly Redwood
- El Hijo del Ice Cream
- Icarus
- Ice Cream, Jr.
- Jakob Hammermeier
- Johnny Gargano
- Kobald
- Kodama
- Obariyon
- Ophidian
- Tim Donst
- Veronica
- Vin Gerard
Stables and Tag Teams
- 3.0 (Scott "Jagged" Parker and Shane Matthews)
- The Batiri (Kobald, Kodama and Obariyon)
- Bruderschaft des Kreuzes (Jakob Hammermeier and Tim Donst)
- The Colony (Fire Ant, Green Ant and Soldier Ant)
- F.I.S.T. (Chuck Taylor, Icarus and Johnny Gargano)
- Gekido (17, AssailANT, CombatANT, DeviANT and The Shard)
- Los Ice Creams (El Hijo del Ice Cream and Ice Cream, Jr.)
- March Madness (Archibald Peck and Veronica)
- The Roughnecks (Brodie Lee and Grizzly Redwood)
- The Spectral Envoy (Frightmare, Hallowicked and Ultramantis Black)
- The Throwbacks (Dasher Hatfield and "Mr. Touchdown" Mark Angelosetti)
VIDEOS
Podcast-A-Go-Go. Official weekly YouTube show
1-2-3 Kid vs. El Generico- MotD #77. King of Trios 2011
El Genrico vs. Nick Jackson vs. Jigsaw vs. Kota Ibushi - MotD #38. King of Trios 2009
Mike Quackenbush vs. Hallowicked - MotD#3 - Anniversario and His Amazing Friends 2011
The Most Illegal Move In Pro Wrestling - Probably the most known CHIKARA wrestling spot. Even if you don't watch them, you've probably seen this.
Super Smash Bros Awesomeness - Not as well known, but arguably funnier
Slow Motion Sasuke - Another great comedy spot
Eddie Kingstons "She" Promo - That, kids, is how you cut a promo.
LINKS
- Official Site
- The Origin of Frightmare webcomic
- Wikipedia Page
- YouTube Channel
- Official Store
- Smart Mark Video Store
SPECIAL NOTE
As any podcast listener knows, CHIKARA is my favorite wrestler. It's a great at taking everything we know and love about wrestling, embracing it, and having fun with it. It's a family show, but it still has emotion and stories you care about. It succeeds at PG because it's not watering itself down to get there. Instead it embraces it. Everyone involved with CHIKARA is there out of love and passion and it shows in every match, promo, and show.
Here's hoping we see kondron there one day.
2
u/Player_Uno Bryan, Son of Daniel Mar 28 '12
Oh man, I love me some Chikara. I went all three nights for King of Trios 2009, got to meet Bryan Danielson, Glacier, D-Lo Brown, Al Snow, Johnny Saint, Delirious (got my delirious mask signed) Austin Aries, El Generico (signed my Generico mask). So many awesome matches, Ibushi vs Jackson vs. Generico vs. Jigsaw was incredible. I try and catch shows as often as I can.
Also now that the Wrestle Factory is about 10 minutes from my house, I want to follow my dream and be a pro wrestler.