5/26 Chikara Pro results

5/26 Chikara Pro Wrestling, Hellertown PA 1. Fire Ant and Soldier Ant d. The Olsen Twins -- Before the match, The Olsen twins were found to have brought a magnifying glass to ringside. 2. Brodie Lee d Equinox 3. Shyane Hawke d Player Uno -- Player Uno was undone by his Pause Button. Hawke hit it right after Uno had climbed back into the ring and was an easy pinfall victim. After the match, no one wanted to Un-Pause him, so Uno laid in the ring until the start of the next match. 4. Worker Ant d. Hydra (w/Ultra Mantis Black). Hydra tried to claim a pinfall on the frozen Player Uno, but the ref would have none of it. Worker Ant won after placing Hydra inside a giant paper bag and pinning him. After the match, Hydra continued to have problems with said bag, still being unable to wrestle out of it. 5. Simply Marvelous Mitch Ryder d. Shane Storm. After the match, Larry Sweeney and Chris Hero offered Ryder a chance to join their version of the Kings of Wrestling and he accepted. This sequed into the next match, where Sweeney teamed with a contractually-obligated Claudio Catagnoli. 6. Pantera & Lince Dorado d. Sweeney and Castagnoli. The reluctant partners were at odds in the beginning of the match and later at the end, when Claudio accidentally hit Sweeney with a European Uppercut that led to the pin. Pantera was able to get the crowd to frequently chant "LOCO" at Sweeney and delighted in mussing Sweeney's hair at every opportunity. 7. Young Lion's Cup defense -- Max Boyer d. Create-a-Wrestler After the match, Icarus and Gran Akuma offered Boyer a chance to join their version of the Kings of Wrestling and he accepted. They apparently just beat Chris Hero to the ring, who was apparently going to make the same offer to Boyer. 8. Hallowicked d. Eddie Kingston by DQ. Kingston was DQ'ed for mask ripping after a five-count. He even bit the stem off the top of Hallowicked's pumpkin-style mask. 9. Icarus & Gran Akuma d. Kagrra & Dragon Yuki 10. Mike Quackenbush d. Chris Hero in an extremely stiff match, full of chops, strikes and numerous headbutts. After hitting a double knee strike, Quackenbush made Hero tap to a Lucha-style submission. -- Mark Coale Odessa Steps Magazine The Year 1905 Blog

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The Anniversary Party

The Anniversary Party

CHIKARA Pro Wrestling Celebrates their Fifth Year with a Pair of Shows

Mark Coale

Odessa Steps Magazine

Tope Suicida Blog

There are all kinds of wrestling companies out there on the independent scene. Some are based on the traditional old school territorial model and some are modeled on Japanese organizations. There are those that approach the business very sternly (like Ring of Honor) and those that do not. CHIKARA Pro Wrestling is one that decidedly does not.

If there was one word to describe CHIKARA, there is probably no better word that “wacky.” In addition to the usual collection of babyface and heel wrestlers, you can find the following workers have competed under the CHIKARA banner: a colony of ants, a mechanical mummy, a giant chipmunk, an 80-year old grappler, an evil farmer with an ear of corn for a head, ice cream clowns and wooden training dummy come to life named Ken the Box.

CHIKARA is the closest thing we have in American to Mexican pro wrestling, better known as Lucha Libre. The promotion is full of masked wrestlers who fly all over the ring doing all kind of flips, dives and crazy submission maneuvers. It seems that the motto of Lucha is “the crazier, the better” and the same can certainly be said for CHIKARA.

Leading up to CHIKARA’s two Anniversary shows this weekend, we had a chance to do an e-interview with Mike Quackenbush, who co-founded the promotion back in 2002, about a variety of topics relating to the company’s past, present and future.

Q: When we did an interview right before CHIKARA started in 2002, you said the following. Do you think you succeeded in this goal?

"CHIKARA will, by design, bend and break the imagined parameters of American independent wrestling. When we say the "wrestling renaissance is at hand," that's not just some slogan we dreamed up, without any real meaning. CHIKARA will usher in a period of tremendous creative growth, maybe not for the circuit, but certainly within the confines of the company. We will toss preconceived notions about the way an indy show should be done, the way indy characters should be presented, the way indy matches need to be wrestled. This will be true to a fresh creative vision, without compromise, and if we succeed or fail, it will be on our terms alone."

A: I absolutely do. And it's the mantra that defines what we're still doing today, in 2007.

Q: I was at CHIKARA's first show in Allentown, PA and not living in the

Northeast again until recently, haven't been to another one since then. How has CHIKARA's product evolved over the five years?

A: I think it took us a year or two to really decide on a single direction, and to pursue it relentlessly. There was definitely a time in the early days when we weren't sure if we would survive another month, if we'd get to the next show, and seeing the bigger picture under those circumstances can be nearly impossible. These days, we know exactly who our fans are, we know exactly what we're trying to accomplish, and for the most part, that's what we try to do.

Q: What has been the high point of CHIKARA's five years in business? The low point?

A: I think our February tournaments are often the high point. A year ago, I probably would have said Tag World Grand Prix 2006 (which took place Feb. 24-26, 2006) and this year, I'd probably say King of Trios (which took place Feb. 16 - 18, 2007). CHIKARA has had some dark moments, some I wouldn't even want to mention. Ultimately though, those rough patches - whether before the Zoning Board in the crosshairs of a small-town political brouhaha, or catching a thief in our midst - all ended up bringing the CHIKARA family closer together in the end.

Q: Has there been a gimmick proposed that you thought was too "wacky" even for CHIKARA?

A: Sometimes I get emails from guys that work for other companies, and they write things like "I've come up with this great CHIKARA gimmick!" And I laugh at all of them. Because it's not something you just invent. It's not something pulled out of thin air. It's a manifestation of some part of the man under the mask. Bruce Wayne can only be Batman. Bruce Wayne can't be the Red Tornado.

Q: How was it working with Tiger Mask a few weeks ago (May 11, 2007), in the match where you won the NWA Jr. Heavyweight Title? As a longtime puroresu fan, it must have pretty cool.

A: It certainly was. I made sure I got all my Tiger Mask dream spots in there, and he seemed to really enjoy the process and the match.

Q: How did the working arrangement between CHIKARA and Ring of Honor come about?

A: I think between Chris [Hero] and Claudio [Castagnoli] having worked their main shows for so long, and having sent CHIKARA talent to FIP [Full Impact Pro Wrestling] (where they seem to cultivate new talent), we won over all the right people to open the door.

Q: On a similar note, how did the deal come about to wrestle on the musical festival THE WARPED TOUR?

A: Pure luck. Our friend, Mike Rotch, hooked it up. We didn't know them, they didn't know us. Mike just made sure we were in the right spot at the right time.

Q: Has the new indy wrestling paradigm (where revenue seemingly comes from DVD sales and house shows may be loss leaders) changed the business and CHIKARA specifically?

A: That's very true. If not for DVD revenue, we would have gone under almost two years back. It's a whole new ball game. This is the information age we live in, and promoters that came up in the business pre-internet (re: industrial age) are less and less equipped to take advantage of what's out there today.

Q: What's the secret origin of the comic book cover homages that grace the CHIKARA DVD releases? Any one famous cover you haven't done yet?

A: Just a nod to our superhero roots. There's a Dark Knight cover in our immediate future that has been a long time coming.

Q: Are you ever going to do a third book, to complete the trilogy?

A: Not currently. The books I've been slaving over the last few years are totally unrelated to [Quack’s first two books] "Headquarters" and "Secret Identity."

CHIKARA Pro Wrestling returns to action this weekend Saturday, May 26, in Hellertown, PA and Sunday, May 27, in Philadelphia, PA. For more information, CHIKARA’s website is www.chikarapro.com. Thanks to Dan from the Chikarafans.com website for his help on this article.

xxx

Chikara Flashback

In preparation for our interview with "Lightning" Mike Quackenbush, here's an article Mark wrote back in 2002. It was leading up to Chikara's first show in May 2002. It originally appeared on www.onlineonslaught.com and slashwrestling.com.

Can wrestling's dark ages be over?
One new promotion surely hopes so

Okay, what do you nowadays if you're a wrestling fan? And I mean, an actual fan of wrestling, not "sports entertainment." Are you contend with the dribs and drabs that you get Monday and Thursday nights? Are you satisfied that, after sitting through a garbage match with tables, chairs and fire extinguishers, a bikini match between silicone-enhanced bleach blondes, mind-numbing skits and twenty-minute interviews, you get three-to-five minutes of actual wrestling action?

Now, take that feeling and multiple it by 1000. That's what you imagine the average wrestler must feel, watching at home, seeing their dreams of making the big time being flushed down the toilet. Not the just-off-the-street ex-football player who now wants to be in the business after watching Steve Austin and the Rock for the last two years. No, I'm talking about the Indy wrestler who has toiled for years in high school gyms and armories and county fairs. These are the people who have dedicated themselves to their craft, not just their industry.

Some of them, honestly, have given up. They saw the writing on the wall and said "This was good while it lasted, but there's no future for someone like me now." But others, when confronted with that fight or flight mechanism we all have, decided to do something about it.

All of which, in a roundabout way, brings up to the industry's newest promotion, CHIKARA (which means power in Japanese), started by two of the East Coast's best-known Indy wrestlers, Reckless Youth and Mike Quackenbush. CHIKARA will debut Saturday night, May 25, in Allentown.

Here's part of an interview done recently with Mike Quackenbush:

Q: As an Indy veteran, what made you want to start your own company?

A: For Reckless and I, the reason was boredom. The scene is boring to us right now. There are very few companies we want to work for, and it seems like everyone is doing the same crap, and doing it poorly. It seemed like the time was right to step up to the plate.

Q: Was that a difficult decision, given the downturn in the industry?

A: I think the downturn in the business right now is primarily affecting the sports entertainment facet of the industry. Look at Lucha in Tijuana right now; it's never been hotter. In a global sense, American pro wrestling is in a slump, not pro wrestling as a whole. The Indies will always struggle in a sense, and we knew that coming in, so we're prepared for the fact that the best we can do is put on fun shows that satisfy us, because there's no real money to be made on the independents, regardless of month, year, or decade.

Q: Why did you go with a non-traditional approach to the promotion?

A: To be honest, it's because the "traditional" approach stinks. Every Indy out there is trying to be the most "extreme," or, help me, "x-treme." Everyone wants to be the most hardcore, or most alternative, or most hard-hitting. All the pretenders want to be #2 behind McMahon, they want to be the second rate ECW or FMW or All Japan or Smoky Mountain, or whatever. There really isn't an original idea out there within the parameters of the "traditional" approach. CHIKARA will, by design, bend and break the imagined parameters of American independent wrestling. When we say the "wrestling renaissance is at hand," that's not just some slogan we dreamed up, without any real meaning. CHIKARA will usher in a period of tremendous creative growth, maybe not for the circuit, but certainly within the confines of the company. We will toss preconceived notions about the way an indy show should be done, the way indy characters should be presented, the way indy matches need to be wrestled. This will be true to a fresh creative vision, without compromise, and if we succeed or fail, it will be on our terms alone.

Among those scheduled to appear at CHIKARA's first show on Saturday, in addition to Reckless and Quackenbush, are fellow Black T-Shirt member Don Montoya, Chris Hero and the first graduates of the CHIKARA Wrestling Factory school.
And in June, the company's sister promotion, KIRUKYU, also makes it debut. KIRYOKU promises to showcase women's wrestling with a Puroresu and Lucha flavor, without the T&A of traditional American wrestling.

For more information, you can go to the CHIKARA homepage at www.chikarapro.com and KIRYOKU at www.kiryokupro.com.

I'll be attending the show, so you can look for a first-hand report about this new promotion sometime in the coming weeks. If their claims are correct, fans won't have to rely solely on imported tapes to get their fill of quality wrestling action. And won't that be a welcome change for what we all have been reduced to as of late.

Mark Coale
Odessa Steps Magazine