Chikara King of Trios DVD Reviews
Think wrestling’s too vulgar? Maybe too violent? Want something fun that you can enjoy with your young kid? Well do I have a promotion for you-CHIKARA PRO! Imagine comic book zaniness, luche libre influence, and some old school WWF fun. When I first heard of the promotion I was skeptical. But based on building buzz I gave it a shot and I quite enjoyed it. Though not as good as Ring of Honor and even if the wrestlers are young and still green, its fun and entertaining and you can see everyone working hard to please the crowd and having fun doing it. And, in spite of not being the best around in the sport its still earns many replays because of the entertainment factor.
This is reviews, relatively short, for the entire King of Trios. A monstrous trios tag tournament that featured wrestlers from USA(obviously), Japan, Canada, and Mexico. Including Mexican legend Pantera, former WWF star patriot, and Alex Shelly, Chris Sabin and Sonjay Dutt comprising Team TNA. Done under luche libre tag rules(rolling out counts as a tag). Plus other cool and fun matches that were thrown on. Enjoy.
King of Trios Night 1-Hellertown, PA **¾
King of Trios Night 2-Barnesville, PA ***½
King of Trios Night 3-Philadelphia, PA ***¾
Overall Score: ***½
King of Trios Night 1-Hellertown, PA **¾
In brief, a fun show with several nice spots or great moments but a little under whelming in that some matches were not satisfying. Here’s the match by match.
New Jersey All Stars(Lucky & JC Rider) vs. Cloudy & Cheech **½
Pretty good, though short, back and forth tag match. Rider Nad Lucky play decent heels. One tries getting a “Let’s Go Jersey” chant to the boos of the Pennsylvania fans. Cheech has this nice move that starts as an electric chair pick up, he drops them onto their feet while hooking their arm between their leg and then goes into a pump handle overhead throw. Cloudy did this nice move that started as exploder suplex but swung them down into a hard uranage slam. Cheech won the match for his team with a modified go to sleep. For those who don’t know that, its basically dropping an opponent towards the mat while kneeing them in the face.
2.0(Jagged & Shane Matthews) vs. ShaneSaw(Shane Storm & Jigsaw) ***
Good promo by 2.0. Very charismatic comedy heels. Their in ring charisma puts many wrestlers to shame in my opinion. Similar in ways to early Edge & Christian but with sort of an 80s WWF flair to it. They team against Shane Storm and Jigsaw. All four wrestlers, individually, have flaws but as units they are not as noticeable and they still work their buts off to produce good work.
Theres a great bit in the beginning with Shane Matthews “winning” exchanges with Jigsaw and yelling “booyah!” Gets to the point where his between both 2.0 members and receives one from each of them. Only to dodge a swing, Shane stopping before hitting Jagged, turning and having jigsaw startle him with the same line. Sending him back into Jagged. Both teams work well together and Shane Storm pulls off That Japanese Move(Shining Wizard) for the win. Earning three points for his team to earn a shot at the champonais de parajes(sp?)I wish this match was longer.
Order of the Neo Solar Temple(Ultramantis Black, Hydra, Crossbones) vs. Los Ice Creams(El Hijo Del ice Cream, Ice Cream Jr., Mysterious Ice Cream)-King of Trios Round 1 ***
Comedy tag has the “super villains” of Ultramantis Black(also a color commentator and one hell of a fun commentator at that), the masked Mexican super heavyweight Crossbones and the mini man monster Hydra(complete with drawn in muscles) fight the Ice Creams including a new member who is non other than former Kings of Wrestling member Claudio Castignolli in a mask. Various comedy bits including a push up contest between Hydra and El Hijo and Double C messing with Ultramantis lower antennae. Both teams start being a little more serious part way through. Nice triple team with Crossbones using a uranage slam over Blacks knee and then Hydra with a double stomp on the Ice Cream, accidentally slipping and nailing a back senton. Match ends with an insane looking choke slam by Double C where he launched Hydra high in the air, reaching about 8 feet and then catching him by the throat for a choke slam. By the way, Double C has no rhythm. His attempts at mimicking the Los Ice Creams persona was very amusing because of that.
Larry Sweeny, Mitch Ryder, & Robbie Ellis vs. Iron Saints(Sal, Vito, and Brandon Thomaselli)-King of Trios Round 1 **
Larry Sweeny, another occasional color commentator and I guy who wrestles like he misses the days when Randy Savage was in his prime, teams with a pair of older little known wrestlers Mitch Ryder and Robbie Ellis(who has to be pushing 60) to face a trio of generic looking indy wrestlers. This Robbie Ellis surprisingly does the shiranui(or Slice Bread #2, whatever) and the fans are quite behind Sweeny’s team and really elevate this match more than it is. Its not bad, just one of the more bland matches on the card. Saints pulled off a mean triple team move. One sets up the Quesadore(that’s luche libre terminology) while the second guy a lung blower(reverse back cracker if you will) and then the third wrestler comes down with a flipping leg drop.
Miyawaki, Yago, & KUDO vs. Dino, American Balloon, Masamune-King of Trios Round 1 ** ½
Sometimes a single wrestler can bring down a match. No, not American balloon and his incredible girth and man boobies, but Dino. Balloon was able to balance between comedy based on how he looks and seriousness with four Japanese wrestlers who were more serious and hard hitting where as Dino tried to bring more fun to it. Bit of a clash. In spite of it, including some man on man kissing, there were some nice stuff. American Balloon can do high flying maneuvers such as moonsault and twisting senton. Yago was intense. Very reminiscent of older All Japan wrestlers. Heart punches, stuff kicks, and mean moves. Very intimidating. Very surprised he went with some of Dinos offense as he looked to be able to destroy him. KUDO with the flying knees to win.
Kings of Wrestling(Icarus, Gran Akuma, Chuck Taylor) vs. Team USA(Patriot, Kidd USA, USApe)-King of Trios Round 1 **
What other promotion will you have that features former WWF star the patriot and USApe? Not exactly a good match but silly and amusing. Kidd USA did a few nice moves, Patriot only had brief portion which involved absorbing Icarus’ chops and then using his own. USApe did his Kurt Angle impression. This was a bizarre encounter. Icarus and Gran Akuma are Chiakars Champonais De Parajas, which are the main titles. Their luche tag titles that have their matches in 2 out of 3 falls.
Shiima Xion vs. Nobutaka Moribe **½
Moribe missed his teams match, they lost anyway, and gets a singles match. Or, I believe he was on Dino and Balloons team initially and maybe Masamune was to fit this role as Moribe, Balloon and Dino represent Japans DDT promotion.
Anyway, back and forth match with a nice luche libre opening. Moribe controls for a while until Xion, who needs totally new look, catches a back kick, swings Moribes leg forward and catches him with a reverse DDT. A very odd yet cool reversal. Does a bit of high flying but Moribe uses the sit out power bomb and then dominator type move to win. Good, too short.
Skipped Max Boyer vs. Ricochet
Kings of Wrestling vs. Los Ice Creams-King of Trios Round 2 **½
Double C gets unmasked as he attacks his former stable mates right off the bat. Becomes something of a wild brawl for a moment. KOW work of Claudio for a portion. Hot tag to the Ice Creams and they go at it. Including a nice variation of the doomsday device where instead of the flying clothesline one of the ice Creams hit the hip attack. Chuck Taylor shines the most on his team. His heel charisma flows. In a few years this guy will be one of the hottest indy wrestlers. Great personality, good mic work, and solid in ring. Plus an intense finisher if you’ve ever seen it(starts as a belly to back suplax into a piledriver). Match ends when Gran Akuma and Icarus hit one another’s finishers on the Ice Creams respectively.
Iron Saints vs. Yago, Miyawaki, KUDO-King of Trios Round 2 ***½
Best match on the show. Back and forth at the beginning with the Iron Saints at first trying to avoid Yago. Eventually Miyawaki ends up getting worked over by the trio. They work over Miyawakis gut and ribs and keep him isolated. When he does tag both Yago and KUDO explode in. the match breaks down and the teams go at it. Yago gets hit with this power bomb into a back cracker. First time I ever saw it and it was nice. Goes back to format as KUDO gets worked over. Borrows from Low Ki(Senshi) and KENTA with a suspended tree of woe spot involving him coming down knees first on the upside down wrestler. Miyawaki in and utilizes stiff strikes on Sal Tomaselli including a non protected head butt that made himself bleed. Breaks down but Miyawaki uses a modified emerald fusion from the second turnbuckle to advance his team further.
King of Trios Night 2-Barnesville, PA ***½
The first night survived mostly on humor and outrageous moments you never expected to see in wrestling. Night 2, the matches were better overall. But at first, I was worried.
Gran Akuma vs. Masamune **¾
Akuma is on the rise in the indy scene as his become a regular for Floridas FIP promotion and will be getting a try out on a few Ring of Honor shows. His style is similar to what some people expect of puroresu. Masamune, straight from Osaka pro, utilizes the PuroLucha style which mixes Mpuroresu and Luce Libre. The two have good chemistry here. He ahs a mean spot where he traps his opponent in the corner much like Golddust use to. He then runs in, stops, and smacks his opponent hard. Did this in the trios match but figured I point it out here. Anyway, he uses one of my favorite variations of the STF so that earns points. Akuma uses a weird double wristclucth to flip his opponent into a reverse power bomb. The ending is anti-climatic so costs this.
Chuck Taylor vs. Create-A-Wrestler **¾
Fans are important to Chikara and right now they’re doing a create-a-wrestler contest. He debuted against Smooth Chuckie T. Chuck gets the heel thing down pat and at first create looks green but he works hard. Does a nice slingshot over to the outside twisting low dropkick to the face. Luckily the rings low so there’s not a huge drop to the floor(this comes up later). Chuck comments about the contest “Call him masked jobber.” Nice bit with Chuck taking an Alex Wright action figure and moonssaulting with it. The ending is a bit anti-climatic but overall fun warm up match.
Team PWG(Joey Ryan, Chris Bosh, Scott Lost) vs. Team Mexico(Pantera, Sicodellico jr., Lince Dorado)-King of Trios Round 1 ***
Representing California’s Pro-Wretsling Guerilla is the stable the Dynasty. Promo has Joey Ryan(who you might know from Mtv as Joey Magnum Ryan from that 70s Team) comments on “We fly across the country and who do we face? Mexicans.” They even come out to Beverly Hills 90210 music.
Team Mexico proves to me that Mexican wrestlers are at their best outside Mexico. Because they’re trying to impress non Mexican fans. I tried watching AAA and CMLL to no real amusement but these guys were firing on all cylinders. PWG open up with a little comedy as Joey Ryan lubes up for the match. Each team member has an opening exchange. Ryan with Sicodellico which was bit of a size/comedy bit. Lince and Lost go fast paced luche action. Pantera and Bosh do the longest opening exchange showing off why Panteras popular in Mexico and still very talented. PWG works over Dorado for a bit. Apparently Dorado was relatively new but he moved like he had been wrestling for a few years. Quite impressive. Once the match breaks down it continues to be good with Sico scoring a roll up pin for the victory. Not too many fancy spots, just great work all around.
The Colony(Fire Ant, Solder Ant, Worker Ant) vs. Hallowicked, Cheech, Cloudy-King of Trios Round 1 ***
Nice opening with Cheech mockingly using gourry special(and inverted version) on Worker ant. But Worker gets the best in the end and we see the faster cloudy in with Soldier ant for a fast paced exchange leading to Fire ant and Hallowicked. Fire ant loves those fireman carry takedowns but Wicked didn’t give him any. Interesting, well pretty hilarious spot, with Hallowicked over selling the hurricaran on the floor. He rolls outside. Cheech and Cloudy take on Worker and Soldier as Fire ants confused. Once his backs turned Hallowicked returns with a block of snow/ice to break over Fires back. Each team pull out great team up moves and fire ant finally gets those fireman carrys going. However Hallowicked wins this with a combination firemans throw and kick followed with the running yakzua kick to the face.
Team Canada(Jagged, Shane Matthews, Max Boyer) vs. Mike Quackenbush & ShaneSaw(Shane Storm and Jigsaw)-King of Trios Round 1 ***½
Match starts off good. Various exchanges. Quackenbush shows off his ridiculous knowledge of wrestling holds and locks. The match gets real good when jagged proclaims he can “outwrestle” Mike Quackenbush and the two go back and forth with Jagged using a couple of cheap tactics to try and earn the edge. Of course he losses. Back and forth for a little while with Team Canada working over Shane Storm. Shane is able to roll out to earn the tag and the match breaks down again. Shane Storm uses the air raid crash for the win. The best match on the show and one of the two best Trios matches thus far which is surprising but I’ll explain that later. My full opinions on the trio of Quack and ShaneSaw.
Team TNA(Alex Shelly, Chris Sabin, Sonjay Dutt) vs. Black Out(Sabian, Joker, Ruckus)-King of Trios Round 1 ***¾
Each team show off their belts. However Sabin has the X-Division title and him and Shelly are carrying silver tag titles from Japan and rocking their little seen in the States tag gear.
Watching these teams just shows the difference in skill level. Alex Shelly and Chris Sabin are just amazing athletes and they perform so well. Especially Shelly here who is able to make all the little things look important. Theres some nice mat work and luche work all through out. Each team taking some time to control. Sabian gets worked over by the TNA guys and gets double team and triple teamed to punish him for the upcoming finish but Sabian gets the luche tag and his team mates come in to even the score. Ruckus shows off why he at one time was one of the most talked about indy wrestlers with crazy high flying moves like a rolling scissors kick or the cartwheel handstand back flip into corner elbow smash. Incidentally caught and turned into a submission by Shelly. Eventually Sabin hit’s the cradle shock on Ruckus to advance. Best of the Trios thus far.
Skip Icarus vs. Player Uno
Olsen Twins vs. Madawaska & Yago **½
Just to show how bad ass Yago is. But Yago and Miyawaki allow Olsen twins to do some work and get their moves in. Miyawaki shows off some mean chops. Not as mean as those kick boxer heart punches that Yago uses. His finisher, a modified crucifix power bomb done up almost like Kawadas gonso bomb is brutal.
Team Mexico vs. Cheech, Cloudy, & Hallowicked-King of Trios Round 2 ***1/2
Pantera opens with the larger Hallowicked and shows off. Him and team try to single out Hallowicked until Hallow is able to get out and tag in Cheech. Sicodellico is able to cut off Cheechs building momentum with a mean side thrust kick. Sicodellico incidentally one of the biggest men in the tournament. Second and third only to Yago and Patriot. Some good stuff with Cloudy and Lince. Its just back and forth as the teams try to get an advantage. This match is a more structured version of something you’d see in AAA and works because of the fact each athlete brings their best and works well. Fun, flashy, entertaining. Though, a little too short. Team Mexico advances when Lince Dorado with a top turnbuckle cartwheel splash.
Team TNA vs. Mike Quackenbush & ShaneSaw-King of trios Round 2 ***
Something didn’t work here. But still a good tag match. Better than you’d see most the time in WWE or TNA. Sabin and Quackenbush have a nice exchange in the beginning. Starts picking up fast paced steam. Its back and forth in the early going. Alex Shelly pulls off a Johnny saint tribute much like you’d see Nigel McGuinness or Colt Cabana pull. Its to European for me to try and explain but if you know those two wrestlers you might able to decipher a series of moves they both do or have done at one time or another. Team Chikara, if you will, take control for several minutes and then Team TNA work over Jigsaw. As always these matches come down to hot tags and spots. Big signatures, multi-man team up moves, etc. Match ends with Jigsaw nailing the reverse piledriver and pulling a win. I would have liked Team TNA to have advanced but I’m assuming that with the money Chikara was spinning on the international talent, the other talent, and the ECW arena the next night they couldn’t book Shelly, Dutt and Sabin which is a shame.
I think Quackenbush, Storm and Jigsaw are good but… Quackenbush overdoes a love his stuff. Too technical without the personality in his craft I see with Danielson. Shane Storm has an interesting style and look but at times seems off. Jigsaw, well, really very generic but has good charisma. Really, good wrestlers, good team, but I don’t think I would have booked them to past Team TNA if I could’ve gotten Team TNA for another night.
King of Trios Night 3-Philadelphia, PA ***¾
Filmed at the ECW arena. Which, incidentally, made the atmosphere much better. More fans, full ring, and the such just elevate the product.
Kings of Wrestling vs. Miyawaki, Yago, KUDO-King of Trios Semi-Finals ***½
Opens with a kick exchange between Yago and Akuma which shows that Akuma may kick, but not with the force of an ex-kick boxer. Back and forth in the beginning with the Kings eventually working over KUDO. Miyawaki in on the jot tag and the men from Japan take control briefly with the Kings fighting back with the Campeones de Parajas nailing spots. Yago and his team don’t stay down as they fight back with Yago eventually hitting the gonso crucifix bomb on Taylor to advance his team.
Team Mexico vs. Mike Quackenbush & Shane Saw-King of Trios Semi-Finals ***¾
Pantera shows his skill early on working circles around the much younger Jigsaw. Including the ever humiliating rocking pendulum to the bottom buckle. The match starts moving in a more structured version of what you would see in Mexican promotions like AAA. Fast paced action, high flying, team maneuvers, etc. Lots of lucha exchanges with team Mexico looking very good. They even do power bombs on all three opponents. It comes down to Quackenbush and Pantera with Quackenbush using a roll up for the victory. Best match in all trios tournament but needed five more minutes to be rated higher. Also, I’d have loved Team Mexico to advance since they impressed me the most only behind Yagos team.
Allison Danger vs. La Malcrida *½
Better than the WWE diva matches? Yes. All that impressive no. But La Malcrida makes a good heel and Allison Danger is constantly improving in the ring(those were some mean elbows to the jaw), and looks very hot here.
Skipped Max Boyer vs. Sal Tomaselli
Matt Sydall vs. Hallowicked ***
Former ROH tag champion and Dragon gate lightweight champion Matt Sydall makes his Chikara debut(or special appearance) against hallo wicked. There is a good opening exchange. Sydall starts to slowly play the heel. It seems as more of a response to the fact that, while he incidentally is more known on the indy scene and across the world, Chikara is Hallowickeds home and thus Sydall is the bad guy. The two have nice chemistry for what could be a first meeting in general. There’s a nice reversal from hallo wicked super snap mare that’s a headscissors takeover. Nice lucha spots and Wicked uses his graveyard smash which starts as a fishermans pick up into a swinging sit out spine buster. Nice move.
Tag Gauntlet ***
Gauntlet matches are when two people start and every time someone loses a new person comes in. I’ve never seen a tag version, let alone any version with more then about seven people. But here is over a dozen!? Yikes. In brief, first few teams go at it fast paced. Some crazy high flying including a springboard twisting splash to the floor by one of the New Jersey All Stars. Than a semblance of tag wrestling with 2.0 eventually coming in and doing a good job of working over Mitch Ryder and Robbie Ellis and then the team of Joey Ryan and Excalibur. Finally quickly finishing two of the three Colony ants only to get a quick roll up pin and out. The highlight of that series was the match with Ryan and Excalibur which had some fun comedy spots. More teams enter and eliminated until PWG tag champions Chris Bosh and Scott Lost bring some seriousness after guys like Player Uno would use the “pause button” in the match. They dominate a few teams and then meet Cheech & Cloudy. Some incredible high flying including a complex move where Cheech uses the middle rope to flip forward and bounce off the top and back off into a pair of arm drags. Or when Bosh uses a tornado DDT on the apron. Cheech and Cloudy win and beat one more team to not only win the tournament, but to earn shots at the title as they’ve accumulated 3 points.
Mecha Mummy vs. Mokujin Ken ½*
Errrr…
Daizee Haze vs. Sara Del Rey **¾
Good womans match. Sadly too short and coming up after the insanity that was the tag gauntlet. Both these women are amongst the top womens wrestlers in the states. Sara Del Rey does incredible in the ring working over body parts and has some serious power while the smaller Daizee Haze in amazing on the mat and overall a skilled performer. Haze wins with a nice sunset flip pin.
Masamune vs. Moribe ***
Fast lucha exchange opens. Masamune takes control until Moribe cuts momentum. Good back and forth action between these two. Moribe uses a nice modified abdominal stretch into a power slam at one point. Masamune goes heel and utilizes a low blow and then follows with a running, hooking, flipping reverse DDT to win.
Ricochet vs. Claudio Castignolli ****
Double C is one of those ROH wrestlers I never quite liked. But I am digging his Chikara work. One of the tallest men in the company here he plays the base to a lot of spectacular high flying maneuvers. Flipping off Double Cs shoulders, using insane head scissors takedowns. Richochet utilizes his handspring twisting 450 splash which is an amazing looking move and nails a springboard flipping hurricarana on Double C. The ending comes when Claudio launches Ricochet about 10 feet in the air and nails him on his way down with an uppercut. Best Chikara match I’ve ever seen. One of my favs with Claduio and Chris Hero vs. Kings of Wrestling stable mates Akuma and Icarus.
Yago, Miyawaki, & KUDO vs. Mike Quackenbush & ShaneSaw-King of Trios Finals ***¾
Back and forth traditional tag format with the Japanese team first working over Shane Storm and then the home team working over Miyawaki. Yago and co. shifts power abck and all get in on punching their opponents hearts. Jigsaw gets worked over for a while until he hit’s a superrich and tags out and Quackenbush and KUDO go at it. The Chikara team fight back but after brief spurts it’s the Japanese team in control. Part way through jigsaw swings momentum for his team and then things break down into back and forth action. Tombstone by Quack on KUDO followed by a guilltoine leg drop by Jigsaw secures the win.
Overall fun DVDs. Very cool and looking forward to upcoming DVDs.
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