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| Quack played with fire "scheduling" those shows Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein |
Chikara is/was (depending on your whole view of the happenings from Aniversario) a very popular wrestling company as far as non-televised, independent promotions go. There's a reason why they can break into new markets and draw big crowds without the benefit of prior build. They're a nationwide entity. In the digital age, word travels, quite literally, at the speed of light. So when a whole gaggle of Philadelphians, New Yorkers, New Jerseyans, and New Englanders all rave about this lucha libre outfit down in Eastern Pennsylvania, well, let's just say word of mouth on social media plus the finely tuned distribution machine of Smart Mark Video is going to create demand for the company to travel outside its comfort zone. Chikara in the last few years has done that with trips to Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, North Carolina, Alabama, Atlanta, Florida, Indiana, and Tennessee.
It raised more than a few eyebrows to see that the company was headed to such exotic, for them at least, locales as Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Southern California. I was excited to share my favorite wrestling promotion with new fans live. But then Aniversario happened, and all those dates were cancelled. Of course, it raised even more eyebrows when tickets had not gone on sale for any shows past Aniversario, and that several Wrestling Is promotions had dates conflicting with already announced Chikara dates. There was a big reason for that.
I didn't really grasp the gravity of getting people's hopes up until Luke Johnson commented on the blog yesterday. He was resentful that Chikara had never planned to come to Sioux Falls, and in all honesty, I can't blame him. Regardless of how remote a location you're going to pick, there are going to be fans there of your product without going to extremes like, say, in Nunavut or Chiapas or the South Pole. But then again, I do know a blog reader who is fond of Chikara that has spent at least a little time in the Northwest Territories, and that's about as remote in Canada as you can get without being smack dab next door to Santa Claus.
In a silver lining, it's a testament to how popular Chikara has become. The reason why a dummy show might have been scheduled there in the first place represents the maverick booking style of Mike Quackenbush, who has set things in motion months, sometimes years in advance in order to create signature moments like what happened on Sunday. It's one thing to point and laugh at the fans like Green Lantern Fan, who demanded a refund. I guess I understand if the Condor Security shakedown was a bit too real seeming to them. Remember though, the only people that Condor physically accosted were Billy Kumohara, Zia Hiltey, and our friend who smashed the Trocadero door. The former two are Chikara employees, and the latter wasn't technically touched by Condor as much as he was led back inside by Trocadero security to be read the riot act for his misdeed. That was a true outcome for that show. Unless you just walked in off the street to a wrestling show that happened to be there on your lucky day and you never heard of Chikara before in your life, you had to have some sort of idea that something cataclysmic was going to happen.
But the promise of going to a show being ripped from before you? That's kinda tricky to deal with. On one hand, it's a necessary evil. In order to create chaos, you need to create the illusion that there was order in the first place. And to their credit, the various Wrestling Is promotions are starting to fill in dates that were supposed to happen. I wouldn't be at all surprised if, say, Wrestling Is Intense or Wrestling Is Heart happened to make a trip through the Badlands and into Minnesota.
However, I can't really say tough luck to fans who were looking forward to their first Chikara. It does feel like a dick move, even if it's a necessary one to get maximum impact on the story. Still, it's very hard for me to side with the promoters over the fans here. Maybe there could have been a better way to handle this? I don't know. If I did, I'm not sure I'd be here right now. But my heart goes out for the people who thought they were going to get Chikara but instead are seemingly getting bubkiss.
It raised more than a few eyebrows to see that the company was headed to such exotic, for them at least, locales as Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Southern California. I was excited to share my favorite wrestling promotion with new fans live. But then Aniversario happened, and all those dates were cancelled. Of course, it raised even more eyebrows when tickets had not gone on sale for any shows past Aniversario, and that several Wrestling Is promotions had dates conflicting with already announced Chikara dates. There was a big reason for that.
I didn't really grasp the gravity of getting people's hopes up until Luke Johnson commented on the blog yesterday. He was resentful that Chikara had never planned to come to Sioux Falls, and in all honesty, I can't blame him. Regardless of how remote a location you're going to pick, there are going to be fans there of your product without going to extremes like, say, in Nunavut or Chiapas or the South Pole. But then again, I do know a blog reader who is fond of Chikara that has spent at least a little time in the Northwest Territories, and that's about as remote in Canada as you can get without being smack dab next door to Santa Claus.
In a silver lining, it's a testament to how popular Chikara has become. The reason why a dummy show might have been scheduled there in the first place represents the maverick booking style of Mike Quackenbush, who has set things in motion months, sometimes years in advance in order to create signature moments like what happened on Sunday. It's one thing to point and laugh at the fans like Green Lantern Fan, who demanded a refund. I guess I understand if the Condor Security shakedown was a bit too real seeming to them. Remember though, the only people that Condor physically accosted were Billy Kumohara, Zia Hiltey, and our friend who smashed the Trocadero door. The former two are Chikara employees, and the latter wasn't technically touched by Condor as much as he was led back inside by Trocadero security to be read the riot act for his misdeed. That was a true outcome for that show. Unless you just walked in off the street to a wrestling show that happened to be there on your lucky day and you never heard of Chikara before in your life, you had to have some sort of idea that something cataclysmic was going to happen.
But the promise of going to a show being ripped from before you? That's kinda tricky to deal with. On one hand, it's a necessary evil. In order to create chaos, you need to create the illusion that there was order in the first place. And to their credit, the various Wrestling Is promotions are starting to fill in dates that were supposed to happen. I wouldn't be at all surprised if, say, Wrestling Is Intense or Wrestling Is Heart happened to make a trip through the Badlands and into Minnesota.
However, I can't really say tough luck to fans who were looking forward to their first Chikara. It does feel like a dick move, even if it's a necessary one to get maximum impact on the story. Still, it's very hard for me to side with the promoters over the fans here. Maybe there could have been a better way to handle this? I don't know. If I did, I'm not sure I'd be here right now. But my heart goes out for the people who thought they were going to get Chikara but instead are seemingly getting bubkiss.