CHIKARA Primer a Beginner’s Guide

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CHIKARA Primer: A Beginners Guide toWrestlings Funnest Promotion

With all the wrestling I watch, my favorite company by far isCHIKARA.Ive talked about it for

years and have done posts about theirDVD coversand my own experiences at their shows.Every now and then, I get people asking me about where to start or what to expect. With thecompany celebrating its 10 year anniversary, I thought it would be good to do a write-up ofwhat the world of CHIKARA is all about for beginners.

CHIKARA is a Philadelphia-based independent wrestling company thats both a promotion and aschool known as the CHIKARA Wrestle Factory. The students learn a mix of different wrestlingstyles from around the world, with a strong emphasis on the Mexican luchador aspects. Theshows are locked into a family friendly label, meaning no cursing or general lewdness to thepoint that when something seriously impressive happens, the fans are wont to chant, HOLYPOOP! The in-ring antics tend to have a real comic book edge to it all, with colorful, masked

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competitors with over-the-top gimmicks and a share of fourth-wall-breaking comedy. Its thekind of show where this would happen on a semi-regular basis.

Despite reveling in fun and goofiness, the shows tend to tell strong, long-running stories thatany new fan could pick up on. CHIKARA treats every years worth of shows as a season, usuallygiving closure to major arcs by the time they reach the finale. Seeds for future storylines comein various subtle and unique forms, existing sometimes years before theyre brought into action.

While students and graduates are the core of the roster, they also include people from otherends of the indies and tend to include lots of foreign talent for flavor. Everyone tends to belabeled tecnico (good guy) or rudo (bad guy), with the insinuation that those two groupstrain exclusively together. They tend to do just over two dozen shows a year, usually withmultiple shows over the course of a weekend, and always release them soon after (24 hours totwo weeks, depending), available from Smart Mark Video in the form of DVD, online stream orMP4 download. Recently, theyve started doing internet pay-per-views and have one coming upon Saturday, June 2nd.

They also sponsor YouTube sensation and internet wrestling fan stapleBotchamania.

How it Started

In 2002, indy wrestlers Lightning Mike Quackenbush and Reckless Youth Tom Carter decidedto start their own wrestling school, partially based on their distaste for there being no schoolthat catered to anything international. Hence, they started up the CHIKARA Wrestle Factory inPhilly. Their first class was made up of five students: Hallowicked, Ichabod Slayne (later Icarus),UltraMantis (later UltraMantis Black), Mr. ZERO and Dragonfly. The question came up of wherethese guys were supposed to compete. On May 25, 2002, they held their first show for the sakeof showcasing the new guys, while including other indy names like CM Punk, Chris Hero and ColtCabana.

Since then, the schools been churning out groups of graduates every year or so. Early on, Tom Carter left the fold and Hero took his spot as instructor. The Wrestle Factory occasionally factorsinto the story, usually in terms of how the wrestlers mask is something that they had to have

earned through paying their dues and completing their training. To remove ones mask orperform in one without earning the right is considered a prime insult.

How Should IGet Started?

Smart Mark Videohas a bunch of Best of DVDs for each year, which is the best bet. You cantgo wrong with any year of King of Trios, although keep in mind that each King of Trios event isthree shows long. Other strong shows to start with include Young Lions Cup VI Night 3,Chikarasaurus Rex, We Must Eat Michigans Brain, Eye to Eye, Aniversario Elf and most definitelyHigh Noon.

Right before finishing this write-up, I watchedHot Off the Griddlefrom three weeks ago andthats a pretty great one too.

Um is There a Way I Can Get Started Without Paying?

Instead of jumping headfirst, you can check outCHIKARAs weekly podcast, which featureslengthy snippets from various matches, as well as the occasional interview. Other than randomstory and event updates, the channel also features Throwdown Lowdown, which is a quick lookat a random devastating maneuver, including a slow motion replay. Every once and a while youmight get something truly special, likea lengthy brawl between Tim Donst and Hallowicked in afurniture store.

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The main site featuresblog postsfrom CHIKARA personalities and theresthis webcomicthatjust got started.

The Rules

Your usual pro wrestling rules with a couple minor differences:

- Count-outs last for a count of 20 instead of 10.- Removing someone elses mask results in immediate disqualification.- In a tag match, they use lucha tags, which means that exiting the ring constitutes a legaltag.- Two-man and even three-man pins are allowed, with the logic being that the victims partnershould be able to break the pin unopposed.- If a tag partner or opponent cant make the show, usually a replacement will be picked from apile of names. This pile appears to have every wrestlers name in it, so dont be surprised whenyou announce the Shockmaster and he doesnt show up. Just keep going until something takes.

Championships

There are mainly three titles in CHIKARA. The first one is the Young Lions Cup, a trophycompeted for every year in a 1-to-3-day tournament for wrestlers 25 years or younger. For theyear following, the winner defends his trophy like a championship to challengers of that agerequirement. Once someone loses the trophy whether because someone defeated him for it orbecause the following years tournament has started they can never compete for it again.There have been 15 YLC holders in the companys 10 years with the current one being Japanesewrestler Tadasuke. He hasnt appeared in CHIKARA since, but he has been defending the trophyinternationally.

Next came the Campeanatos de Parejas, the tag team championship belts for the company.In 2006, CHIKARA held a multi-day tournament called Tag World Grand Prix, where the winningtag team became the champs. This ended up being Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli, otherwiseknown as the Kings of Wrestling.

The rules for title defenses is one of the more interesting staples of CHIKARA. Rather thansimply getting a title shot, each team needs to earn it through a point system, with the teamneeding three points to advance. Every tag victory (not counting 6-man or 8-man tags) countsas a point. Every loss brings your count to zero. This means that you need to win threeconsecutive tag matches over time to earn your title shot. If two teams are put against eachother and they both have two points, then its basically all -or-nothing. The quickest way to earna shot is to take part in a four-corners tag match and get the pin on all three rival teams. Oncethe title defense happens, the tradition is for it to be decided by best two-out-of-three falls. Thecurrent Campeones de Parejas are Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano, FIST, enjoying theirsecond reign.

It took a long while, but the 2011 season finally gave us a top singles title in the CHIKARAGrand Championship. Twelve contenders were split into two groups and spent the followingmonths taking part in a series of round robin matches. Then the guys with the best win-lossrecords from each group met at the companys first internet PPV, High Noon. Eddie Kingston isthe first and still-reigning champion.

While not an official CHIKARA title, the late Sweet n Sour Larry Sweeney tended to center hismatches around his vanity belt, the ICW/ICWA Texarkana Television Championship.Throughout the indies, including CHIKARA, hed regularly lose it and win it back shortly after tothe point that he held the belt 27 times.

Major Show Types

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CHIKARA tends to do two Aniversarioshows on a May weekend and then a showtitledChikarasaurus Rex in July. Neither show really has much of a theme to it other thanbeing a tent pole to the company.

The aforementioned Young Lions Cuptournament takes place every summer, though the waythe tournament works keeps changing. One of the main ideas of the concept is that rather thanbe a regular tournament, one of the rounds would feature a series of multi-man matches. Forinstance, most years would have six singles matches for the first round, followed by those sixwinners having an elimination match against each other. The winner would go onto the finals.Last years tournament ended up being crammed into one show due to Hurricane Irene.

During the fall, a lot of the main stories usually funnel into Cibernetico(each shows title isnamed after a Batman movie, such as Cibernetico Returns, Cibernetico and Robin, CiberneticoBegins, etc.), an event and really large main event match that can last anywhere from an hourto just under two. Like an amped up Survivor Series elimination match, its made up of twoteams of eight. Each side has a strict tag order instead of letting anyone tag in. There can only

be one winner, so if the winning team has 2+ guys left, they have to fight it out until theres oneman left standing.

Earlier in CHIKARAs existence, theyd do an annual multi-day tag tournament called Tag WorldGrand Prix. The tournament featured tag teams from all over the world and various indy feds,with a couple years ballooning to 32 teams. Other than a brief reprise in 2008 when CHIKARAwent to Germany for a week, Tag World was retired in 2006 to make way for its natural follow-up.

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Since 2007, CHIKARA has annually held the tournament King of Trios, going from tag teams tosix-man tags. Always done across three days, the tradition is to have 16 teams of threecompete, though the 2008 year upped it to 28 (the biggest wrestling tournament ever, with 84competitors). Considered to be CHIKARAs biggest show and really a celebration of wrestlingitself teams include the local roster and trios from all walks of wrestling, usually lumpedtogether by some kind of theme. Two rivals from, say, Ring of Honor may have to put aside theirdifferences to represent their company in the tournament. Losers are freed up to compete in

unrelated exhibition matches on the remaining nights and the third night features a massive TagTeam Gauntlet Match. The sixth King of Trios is coming up in September and do I ever haveblogging plans for the lead-up to that one.

In 2007, CHIKARA also had an event called Rey de Voladores(which roughly translates intoKing of the Flippy Wrestlers), an 8-man tournament of high-fliers. It would feature two 4-corner elimination matches with the winners facing off in the finals. Since they already have theworld-wide talent flown in, theyve since made Rey de Voladores a part of the King of Triosweekend, taking place over the course of Night 2 and Night 3 with the contestants generallybeing those who were eliminated in the King of Trios tournament in Night 1.

Whos in Charge?

Highest on the food chain is the CHIKARA Commissioner. Originally, it was Bob Saget (yes, THATBob Saget), who was only mentioned for a while until finallymaking an appearanceto lay downthe law and sign a Hair vs. Mask match between Icarus and Jigsaw back in 2006. An unknownscandal caused him to step down, giving the position to the current Commissioner Dave Coulier.He has yet to make an appearance or even publicly acknowledge the company. Weird.

Working under the Commissioner is the CHIKARA Director of Fun, a guy who also gets to makethe matches, but has more of an on-air role. For years, it was Leonard F. Chikarason, a fair andreasonable man who moonlighted as a commentator for the shows. After Coulier took over,Chikarason was relieved of his Director position and became a full-time commentator, along withother various tasks. He was replaced by the corrupt Dieter VonSteigerwalt, whose decisionsswayed in the favor of the evil BDK stable. CHIKARA was bought out by a company calledWorldwide Media Development, which had the promotion audited by representative WinkVavasseur. He helped clean up CHIKARA and ended up replacing Dieter as Director of Fun. While

hes an all right guy and filled with enthusiasm and creativity, he hasnt gotten a firm grasp onthe whole wrestling thing quite yet.

Theres also a Board of Directors mixed in there, but whatever.

What Kind of Weird Characters are We Talking About Here?

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- UltraMantis Black: an evil and devious masked, cultist supervillain who enjoys plots of worlddomination as well as the spirit of Christmas.- Los Ice Creams (Ice Cream Jr. and El Hijo del Ice Cream): two creepy, clown-like Mexicantricksters with cones sticking out of their heads. Accompanied to the ring by an ice cream truck

jingle.- The Olsen Twins (Jimmy and Colin Olsen): fraternal twins who act as if theyre identical inorder to fool their opponents.- CP Munk: a giant chipmunk with a Pepsi logo on his shoulder who says no to acorns. Teams upwith Colt Cabunny. Colt Cabana found this pretty funny. CM Punk most certainly did not.- Amasis: a breakdancing pharaoh.- Hydra: a small and borderline frail aquatic monster who believes himself to be the toughesthoss of the indies. after retiring, he went on to co-host a cooking show for kids. Yes, really.- Player Uno: the 8-Bit Luchador is an NES enthusiast with a built-in pause button thats more ofa hindrance than anything else. Teams up with Stupefied/Player Dos to form the Super SmashBrothers.- Lance Steel: a knight from medieval times pulled to the present via time rift. When in need ofa tag partner, he used a time machine to bring in a slightly younger version of himself.- Darkness Crabtree: the Octogenarian Luchador, hes too feeble to be of much use unless hesgiven his pills.- Private Eye: a skilled detective whose head happens to be a giant eyeball.- Create-a-Wrestler: a blank slate of a masked wrestler who left it up to the fans to come upwith his identity in a series of contests. After going through such gimmicks as Moscow theCommunist Bovine and Ultimo Breakfast over the years, he settled on Dasher Hatfield, a turn-of-the-century masked baseball player with a handlebar mustache. Hes teamed up with SugarDunkerton, a Harlem Globetrotter from the 70s, and Mr. Touchdown, a nerd-hating meatheadwho happens to be Dashers step brother-in-law.- Tursas: a giant, bearded Viking warrior of few words.- Dragon Dragon: a dude in a cumbersome, plush dragon costume.

Keep in mind that even in a company of dragons and sea monsters, nothing is goofier thanIcarus terrible back tattoo.

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Look at it. LOOK AT IT!

Season-by-Season

Season 1 (2002):

The Black T-Shirt Squad (Mike Quackenbush, Reckless Youth and Don Montoya) find themselvesunable to defeat the Night Crew (Blind Rage, Hallowicked and Ichabod Slayne) in anycombination due to constant cheating from the rudos, usually in the form of using a jack-o-lantern as a weapon behind the refs back. The Squad finally gets their revenge by winning acouple tag matches, including one where the stipulation is that Ichabod has to wear a dress athis next CHIKARA appearance. The tension between Ichabod and his leader Blind Rage boilsfurther when they keep trying to help each other in their matches via interference, only for it tobackfire. Ichabod becomes a technico and challenges Rage at the finale. Rage wins thanks toHallowickeds interference and, as part of this stipulation, unmasks Ichabod.

Season 2 (2003):

The season begins with a feud between DJ Skittlez and Blind Rage, escalating into a matchwhere the winner gets to choose the losers new theme song. Long story short, the skull-faced-painted, dark soul known as Blind Rage would go on to enter the ring to the tune of Conga byMiami Sound Machine. He shakes off that loss by winning the Tag World Grand Prix with

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Hallowicked, where in the finals, they injure Mr. ZERO. ZEROs partner UltraMantis tries toavenge his partner while defeating Hallowicked for the Young Lions Cup, but ultimately fails.ZERO too earns a match against the champ and doesnt succeed.

Mike Quackenbush defeats Jigsaw in a match that goes 45 minutes, which gnaws at Jigsaw andhis partner Rorschach (known together as the Conundrum). They work to get revenge on him,as well as his female ally Sumie Sakai. Unfortunately, these stories end rather abruptly due to

sudden issues in terms of the company finding a venue to perform in.

Season 3 (2004):

Jigsaw starts to win over the crowd and becomes a tecnico. The second Young Lions Cupfeatures a wild card system where of a handful of new wrestlers yet to compete in CHIKARA, twowould be chosen to be part of the tournament. One of these turns out to be newcomer Sweet

n Sour Larry Sweeney, who ends up making it far due to the help of the other wild cardnames, angry at the unfairness of the process. Its Jigsaw vs. Sweeney in the finals and amongthe chaos, Jigsaws partner Rorschach (who Jigsaw had defeated to advance) ends up costinghim the match and joins Sweeneys side. Sweeney then starts a stable called Sweet n SourInternational.

While talking big about how hes going to take out the likes of top names Quackenbush andChris Hero, Sweeney continues to duck Jigsaw when it comes to a rematch. At the bigCibernetico match, its revealed that one of his masked associates, Spyrazul, is really the long -missing Quackenbush in disguise. Jigsaw ends up pinning Sweeney, earning him a shot at theYoung Lions Cup, which he ends up winning at a future date despite all the outside interferenceworking against him.

Season 4 (2005):

Tag World Grand Prix starts off the season where in the finals, a jealous Chris Hero turns on hispartner Mike Quackenbush to side with their opponents Claudio Castagnoli and Arik Cannon,calling themselves the Kings of Wrestling. Quackenbush faces Hero through several tag matches,but for the next two years, hes unable to get a single singles match out of the guy. While

Quackenbush and friends get a win or two in there, the season ends with Claudio defeatingQuackenbush in a match where the winner is banned from competing in the 2006 Tag WorldGrand Prix.

Two popular tecnico teams FIST (Gran Akuma and Icarus) and Men@Work (Mr. ZERO and ShaneStorm) have a competitive rivalry that gets out of control. The two teams have two matcheswith no clear winner due to time limit draws, leading to a third match with an hour-long timelimit. That appears to be a moot decision, as Men@Work gets a surprise win within a coupleminutes, causing FIST to snap and put Mr. ZERO on the shelf due to injury. The team of JollyRoger and Lance Steel (Knight Eye for the Pirate Guy) put an end to Sweet n Sour Internationalfor good by humiliating Sweeney, but soon after, Roger is forced to retire after the now-rudoIcarus refuses to relinquish a submission hold long after the bell at the end of a match andcauses permanent damage.

Shane Storm makes a name for himself as a singles competitor by winning the Young Lions Cuptournament and then successfully defends it against Icarus. FIST would get that win back atCibernetico, as Gran Akuma defeats Storm at the very end to become the sole winner. This allculminates into a mask vs. mask match with Storm winning and Akuma being forced to show hisface.

In a contrast to the Men@Work/FIST feud, a series of battles between Jigsaw and Hallowickedcause the two to gain a mutual respect and Hallowicked begins to head towards a more virtuouspath, much to the chagrin of his partner, UltraMantis Black.

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Season 5 (2006):

Reckless Youth makes a brief return appearance, with Hero and Castagnoli trying to injure him.Reckless Youth is rescued by longtime fan, Arik Cannon, who becomes excommunicated fromthe Kings of Wrestling and has a hard time finding a partner for Tag World. He ends up teamingwith a reluctant Jigsaw. Also of note is that UltraMantis Black cant make the show due to aninjury, meaning his partner Hallowicked is forced to find a replacement through a random draw.

His partner is the vocally-incomprehensible madman Delirious, who ends up matching upperfectly with Hallowickeds style. They end up becoming a permanent team as Incoherence,causing UltraMantis Black to start a new group with Crossbones and Hydra known as the Orderof the Neo-Solar Temple in hopes of teaching Hallowicked a lesson. Hero and Castagnoli win thetournament to become the companys first Campeones de Parejas and spend the seasoncrushing any team of challengers.

To replace Cannon, Hero and Castagnoli adopt FIST into the ranks of the Kings of Wrestling.Icarus has a major setback when he loses a Hair vs. Mask match against Jigsaw and publiclygets his head shaved, but towards the end of the season, he and Akuma earn a title shot anddefeat their mentors. Since Castagnoli is the one who is pinned and is leaving for a short-livedWWE contract, Hero has his champion minions put the boots to him until Quackenbush and theother tecnicos save Castagnoli.

The biggest story of the year comes from a tag match where Eddie Kingston teams up withinternational star Shinsuke Yamagasa, who replaces Kingstons usual partner Joker. Oncommentary, Larry Sweeney jokes excessively about how Kingston is terrible when it comes tobeing in a tag team as his partners always leave him and this is no different. A rivalry beginsbetween Kingston and Sweeney that continues to escalate with Sweeney jamming his Texarkatitle belt into Kingstons throat and at a later point running him over with a car. Having a hardtime getting his hands on Sweeney even in the Cibernetico match where theyre both captain Kingston gives Sweeney his comeuppance during the season finale in the form of a Yellow BellyStrap Match where the two are connected by a strap and Sweeney has nowhere to go.

Season 6 (2007):

In an 8-man tag match, Eddie Kingston is rolled up and pinned by Hallowicked out of nowhere,causing Kingston to lose his mind. He has a deep-seated resentment due to the perception thateveryone thinks Hallowicked is the best Wrestle Factory student when Kingston feels he himselfis. A match between the two becomes a no-contest after some lengthy brawling. Kingston isntgiven his requested rematch and takes out his frustrations on new wrestler Tim Donst. Kingstongives him the beating of a lifetime and although Donst stands up to it, gaining the respect of thecrowd, he ultimately goes down. Kingston finally faces Hallowicked in a Falls Count AnywhereMatch and defeats his rival.

Chuck Taylor, the newest acquisition into the Kings of Wrestling and third member of FIST,proceeds to make a name for himself, especially by winning the Young Lions Cup. Hesconstantly pestered by Ricochet, who eventually challenges him to a match where if Ricochetloses, hell never show his face in CHIKARA again. Ricochet indeed loses, but sometime later, amasked man named Helios challenges Taylor for the cup. Taylor is incensed, screaming to

everyone in earshot that that is MOST OBVIOUSLY Ricochet in a mask, but nobody acts on it andHelios ends the year as holder of the Young Lions Cup.

At King of Trios, Claudio Castagnoli makes his return, going right after the Kings of Wrestling.His one-man war against the stable is all for naught as he loses a match against Hero due tocheating and is forced back into the fold against his will. The Kings of Wrestling begins tosplinter into two groups of four, but member Mitch Ryder convinces them all to put theirdifferences aside and join back together. Despite their dominance, Hero begins to lose a lot ofmatches due to Quackenbush introducing a new submission hold called the CHIKARA Specialthat Hero is susceptible to and teaching it to all the tecnicos. The Kings of Wrestling win

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Cibernetico against Ryders rival Lince Dorado and his team of luchadores with Hero, Castagnoliand Ryder left. In a situation where hes legally allowed to attack his teammates, Castagnoliturns on his stable and wins the match. He ends up working his way through various membersof the Kings of Wrestling until facing Hero and defeating him decisively, causing Hero to leavethe company for good.

Season 7 (2008):

Eddie Kingston proceeds to decimate any tecnico in his way, as does the bigger wreckingmachine Brodie Lee. Castagnoli, the only guy tall enough to look Brodie Lee in the eye, decidesto teach him a lesson. Their matches are filled with disqualifications and outside interferencefrom Kings of Wrestling diehards, but Castagnoli finally shows his dominance in the companysfirst and only Cage Match.

The end of the previous season revealed that fan-favorite Equinox is not really a luchador fromMexico, but a Wrestle Factory dropout named Vin Gerard who faked his international identity totrick his way onto the roster. He becomes excommunicated from the locker room and comesback as a bitter, emo hobo guy with intent to wage war on anyone in a mask. He mainly targetsthe Colony (Fire Ant, Soldier Ant and Worker Ant) and the feud leads to him winning the YoungLions Cup. His main ally for a while is Jimmy Olsen, who is completely unaware that his brother

Colin Olsen moved on to the WWE under the name Colin Delaney. Gerard tricks Jimmy intothinking that Colin is masquerading as one of the masked wrestlers, causing Jimmy to unmaskand humiliate his opponents in his desperate search, playing into Gerards hand.

Gerard finds himself on the same page as Shane Storm, who is hated by the locker room afterits discovered that he sold tecnico secrets (namely how to escape the CHIKARA Special) to therudos. Storm undergoes a transformation and becomes Stigma. Soon after, theyre joined byColin Delaney, back from WWE and acting like a big shot. They refer to themselves as theUnStable. Gerard is finally taken down a peg by a masked wrestler, but not one he would haveexpected. Jimmy Olsen takes up the mantle of Equinox as a way to mess with Gerards head andtheir feud leads to a Ladder Match with Equinox acquiring the Young Lions Cup.

Meanwhile, UltraMantis Black defeats Tim Donst and gives him amnesia with a bump to thehead. He brainwashes the youngster and makes him a member of the Neo-Solar Temple whilegiving him better treatment than Hydra. This is part of Donsts plan to infiltrate the rudos. Afterdiscovering Shane Storms secret from earlier and fulfilling the mission, he ends up convincinghis new friend Hydra to join him and leave UltraMantis behind. While the Neo-Solar Templescrew them out of becoming Campeones de Parejas in a match against Incoherence, the SeaDonsters are able to defeat UltraMantis and Crossbones in both tag team and singles fashion.

Season 8 (2009):

This is an interesting season as its mostly setup. Due to Jigsaw returning in the previous seasonafter a leave of absence, Tim Donst believes himself to be looked over by his mentorQuackenbush and being stuck with a comedy nothing like Hydra makes him bitter. He feuds withhis partner and sends him packing in a match where the loser has to retire.

Castagnoli, having beaten Brodie Lee in Season 8, now goes after Eddie Kingston. Kingstonendures several losses, but takes it harder than he probably should. He tells the fans thatCastagnoli isnt the great guy everyone thinks he is, but this falls on deaf ears and comes off assour grapes. Whatevers going on, Kingston just plain doesnt respect the guy.

The Colony feuds with FIST, who give Worker Ant a career-ending injury. During a big tag matchof Worker and Soldier against Chuck Taylor and Icarus, the Colony is helped out by new memberGreen Ant and a mysterious newcomer named Carpenter Ant. Even the Colony know very littleabout Carpenter Ant, but he pulls his weight. Carpenter Ant ends up winning Cibernetico in a

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shocking turn of events with a Reverse CHIKARA Special on Soldier Ant. After that, CarpenterAnt becomes more and more of a jerk, causing his partners to oppose him.

The strangest story involves UltraMantis Black acquiring a stolen museum artifact called the Eyeof Tyr through some dubious and convoluted means. It gives him the power to take overDelirious mind and make him his slave, helping him face Hallowicked and his sidekickFrightmare. At every turn, UltraMantis is warned about using the Eye of Tyr excessively, both by

the enigmatic newcomer Vokader (who ends up becoming UltraMantis advisor) and by a maskedman who releases some videos online, insisting that, War is coming!

At the end of the last show of the season, the Osirian Portal (Ophidian and Amasis) vs. theColony (Fire Ant and Soldier Ant) ends and the man from the video and a gigantic, hornedcompanion storm into the ring. Quackenbush, Castagnoli, UltraMantis and others run out to thering, demanding answers. The mystery man removes his mask to reveal Ares, ClaudioCastagnolis original tag team partner. The CHIKARA roster is attacked and left laying by thegrouping of Ares, Castagnoli, Tursas (the horned giant), Vokoder, Carpenter Ant, Sara Del Reyand Daizee Haze. Vokoder unmasks to reveal Tim Donst and Carpenter Ant turns out to bePinkie Sanchez, a CHIKARA regular who spent the first part of the season unable to find a tagteam partner who wouldnt stab him in the back. They become known as Die Bruderschaft desKreuzes, translating to The Brotherhood of the Cross.

Season 9 (2010):

The BDK is shown to be a group of those who feel betrayed by CHIKARA in one way or another,such as Del Rey and Haze being annoyed that they were only given matches against each otherinstead of facing the main male roster. Though in the end, its Claudio Castagnoli and Ares usingthe others as part of their plan to control everything. They own the Eye of Tyr, so Delirious istheir attack dog. The new Director of Fun Dieter VonSteigerwalt is in their pocket, so theycontrol the matches. They even have hated Derek Sabato as their biased referee, wearing theircolors instead of the traditional blue ref shirt. Early in the season, Lince Dorado joins the groupdue to how the fans had been booing him for years despite being a tecnico.

The group dominates the company like nothing else, winning all the titles and standingundefeated. Castagnoli, Ares and Tursas are practically unbeatable themselves, but the othersget by with outright cheating. UltraMantis Black tries to combat them with his new minions theBatiri (Obariyon and Kodama), but it turns out their master Sinn Bodhi had lent them to him inreturn for the Eye of Tyr. Since UltraMantis cant pay up, his allies are now his enemies.

While the BDK continue to crush the CHIKARA roster again and again, Pinkie Sanchez startsfreaking out because he insists on seeing Vokoder during his matches. The others dont believehim, especially since hes unhinged to begin with. But Vokoder is indeed in the shadows and if itisnt Tim Donst under the mask, who is it really?

The BDK crisis causes tecnicos and rudos to put aside their differences and team up, especiallywith an ongoing story where UltraMantis Black tries to make nice with Hallowicked after years ofbeing at each others throats. CHIKARA begins to get some wins here and there, includingFrightmares victory at the Young Lions Cup tournament over Lince Dorado. When it comes time

to face the BDK at Cibernetico, the group is made up of the crew from the companys earliestdays: Quackenbush, Eddie Kingston, UltraMantis, Icarus, Jigsaw, Hallowicked and Stigma.Vokoder is brought in as the eighth man and unmasks to reveal himself as Sweet n SourLarry Sweeney, making his long-awaited return (and sadly, his final CHIKARA appearance).Kingston wins the match by being the first guy to take down Tursas head-to-head.

Auditor Wink Vavasseur shows up to make sure Derek Sabato remains impartial and theCHIKARA guys continue to rack up the wins, ending the season with Quackenbush and Jigsawdethroning Castagnoli and Ares and becoming the Campeones de Parejas.

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Season 10 (2011):

The BDK is wounded and things only get worse for them. Sabato is forced to be a regular ref,Wink Vavasseur takes over as the new Director of Fun and their only new acquisition is allowingtheir special ring announcer Jakob Hammermeier to wrestle in their name. Tursas spends theyear feuding with Green Ant, who returns from a broken arm with delusions of believing himselfto be the next WWF-style Lex Luger. He even bodyslams Tursas at one point! Their rivalry finds

its way to the season finale, where Green Ant gets his big win and Tursas is never heard fromagain.

Wink decides that its time that CHIKARA has its own top singles title and puts together a 12 -man round robin tournament called the 12 Large Summit (12 Large, brother! being thecatchphrase of the late Larry Sweeney). Everyone on the roster votes for one person to be in itand the top 12 vote-getters are contestants. Its cool because while they never spell out whovoted who, you can make some educated guesses upon seeing the tabulated votes. These manymatches occur over the course of the year.

While the finals of Eddie Kingston vs. Claudio Castagnoli is expected, that isnt the match weget. Instead, Castagnoli is undermined by Sara Del Rey. She joined the BDK to get respect and amore diverse set of opponents. Shes gotten that and is still treated like a dog by her leader, so

why stick around? Especially when Castagnoli strikes against Del Reys friend Haze and puts herout of commission. Shes able to defeat Castagnoli, as wel l as other members of the BDK, andhelps relegate Castagnoli to the lowest rank of the tournament outside of Brodie Lee (whowrestled one match before getting injured, so he has an excuse).

The finals end up being Kingston vs. Quackenbush. Despite a bad knee, Kingston fights off hisformer teacher and stands tall as the new CHIKARA Grand Champion.

The other leader of the BDK, Ares, continues his war with UltraMantis Black. UltraMantis justcant seem to win against Ares and feels ashamed enough that he almo st unmasks himself infront of the crowd before thinking better of it. At the last show, he and Hallowicked have aspecial match against Ares and Tim Donst where if Hallowicked or UltraMantis get pinned, theloser has to unmasked. If Donst gets pinned, he has to get his head shaved. If Ares gets pinned,he must give up the Eye of Tyr. When the going gets tough, Donst abandons his leader and letsAres take the fall. As it is right now, the BDK is really just Tim Donst and Jakob Hammermeier,which is like Tito insisting that hes the Jackson 5.

Season 11 (2012):

UltraMantis has warded off Sinn Bodhi by giving him a fake Eye of Tyr. Once hes gone, he usesthe real Eye of Tyr to undo its magic and free Delirious of mind control. Delirious, himself for thefirst time in years, breaks the Eye of Tyr and runs off screaming, I remember everything!Delirious, now far grimmer and speaking very clearly, is out to make the next two years a livingnightmare for UltraMantis in order to pay him back. Even though UltraMantis is a tecnico now,Delirious feels that his own redemption comes from destroying the man who stole his will.

The big story of this year is the arrival of the GEKIDO, a group of outsiders taking the form ofevil versions of top CHIKARA guys. Instead of the Colony, we have the Swarm (AssailANT,CombatANT and DeviANT). Instead of Jigsaw, we have Shard. Leading this group is a maskedman named 17, acting as a dark mirror to Quackenbush. While Quackenbush is the Master of1,000 Holds, 17 is the Master of the 17 Forbidden Holds. Hes proved this point by breakingQuackenbushs wrist, ending the career of a newcomer during the poor guys first match anddoing the same to original Wrestle Factory student Dragonfly.

The group has been identified as a handful of former Wrestle Factory students who were kickedout due to their violent natures and refusal to pay their dues by helping with putting together

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the rings and doing security at the shows. Their training has been completed by 17, whose trueidentity is one for speculation. Quackenbush has recognized the Swarm as former students of hisnamed Jose, Frank and Frank, which is crazy, since theyve been namedropped in blog posts andinterviews WAAAAY back.

Its the CHIKARA counterpart to Cobra Kai and the good guys have yet to get all that much solidground in their current war.

Is There Anything Else Like CHIKARA?

Wrestling is Fun!is a CHIKARA side promotion of sorts. From what I understand, its a moredown-low set of exhibition matches featuring CHIKARA regulars and students without being tooheavy on storyline. Its like the companys own version of WWE Superstars.

Pro Wrestling Guerrillashares the mix of pro wrestling and goofiness, though acts a lotraunchier. The wrestling quality tends to be better due to featuring more experienced wrestlers,though theres a good deal of crossover between the two companies.

Then theresInter Species Wrestling,which is even raunchier. Its best described as CHIKARAsalcoholic, abusive uncle. Dont expect too many five-star matches, though. Just expect a drunkand out of shape man in a tiger mask making you and everyone around him very uncomfortable.

Dramatic Dream Teamis a Japanese fed that I admittedly know very little about for the mostpart. I still know enough that it and CHIKARA can be mentioned in the same breath, what withan inflatable doll being treated like a wrestler, there being an invisible man on the roster, and a24/7 championship belt thats been won by inanimate objects.

Then theresKaiju Big Battel, a super-weird reality where giant rubber monsters are shrunkdown into wrestling rings to do battle. Its definitely an experience, but theres only so muchmobility you can expect from those monsters.