In the TH style. Show is not available for home video purchase yet, but keep your eyes peeled on Smart Mark Video.
Highlights:
General Observations:
Match of the Night:Eddie Kingston vs. Eric Corvis - Kingston was still new enough as a rudo that a sizable number of fans audibly cheered for him upon his entrance. To the best of my knowledge, this was the first time that Corvis had appeared for any Chikara-affiliated promotion. So, what did Kingston do? He threatened to destroy a cooling fan, harassed each and every one of the human fans, and gave Corvis the foundation upon which he could engineer a solid structure of fan following. Corvis then took that opportunity and ran with it.
The crowd-play, with the exception of an unnecessarily hateful remark towards a fan with brown skin that looked like he was of South Asian/Middle Eastern descent, was fine, but it had to be backed up with remarkable action. Kingston threw his bombs stiff and sure, but Corvis, who was billed as the "Wrestling Scientist," had heady counters, timely kicks, and even tried a bit of psychological warfare by breaking out Kingston's signature short Kawada chop flurry at one point. Corvis also bumped his ass off during the match, almost as if he knew Kingston was going a bit crazy from the heat. When he got his butt whipped, he certainly got his butt whipped.
But I keep going back to the part of the match when Kingston, haughtily discounting Corvis' abilities by turning his back to him for such a long time, shoving the front row fans out of the way and turning to face the young kid who was looking away from the ring too much. I could understand maybe the kid being scared to death that the big bad man who got all ornery and threw chairs into the ring would do something bad to him. Maybe it went a bit over the edge, but when Corvis blindsided Kingston as he was berating the kid, it made the whole exchange worthwhile. And when Corvis high-fived the kid? That made the entire show a success to me. I became an Eric Corvis fan at this show, and I gained a whole new appreciation for the War King. That's the mark of a great match.
Overall Thoughts: I don't want to make my review a referendum on the venue, because really, it was a great looking, intimate, well-organized, DIY-feeling venue with one major HVAC-related flaw. Even the werewolf mascot for New Moon Rising Wrestling with its inappropriately-drawn package was appropriate. Wrestling is absurd at its core. And it wasn't like they ignored how awfully hot the arena was either. I mean, when you have the top babyface act in the company hand out free ice cream to the crowd, I'm pretty sure you're well aware that the people might need it.
I also don't want to talk about the venue because it would demean how good the show was. All seven matches were at least entertaining, with two being worthy enough to write about, and a major signpost moment happening at the end of the show. For $10 at the door, I'm not sure you can beat that kind of value.
Onto the show, it felt like each match had a sense of urgency. Maybe it was the heat, or maybe it was the focus, but there wasn't a whole lot of needless drawing out of the match just to pour in a billion spots into a short stretch in an attempt to overcompensate for the ticket price. Each match had the appropriate big spots, tension, pops, and good-to-great finishes.
The show was also filled to the brim with the great character beats fans like myself have come to expect from the Chikara family. Arctic Rescue Ant tried to win the crowd over with blinking lights on his snowboard. Estonian Thunder Frog teased smashing Orbit Adventure Ant's helmet with his hammer, and when the usurper Ant and referee Jon Barber tried holding it, they were crushed under the weight. Chuck Taylor tried to tattle on everything that Amasis did or didn't do wrong just to gain an advantage.
Eddie Kingston simultaneously was the star of the show and its biggest goat. I know he was the heel, and he played his shtick up not only intensely, but masterfully as well. But I still don't feel like it's ever appropriate to yell the kind of accusing-of-terrorist slur at a person with brown skin ever. Luckily, the crowd was savvy and sympathetic enough to lash out at Kingston for his bad word, not join in him in a moment of making fun of someone who looks different than you or I.
Outside of that awful, awful moment, Kingston shone as a kayfabe bad guy (not a real, terrible person, big difference), tossing around chairs, threatening to break a fan, spitting on shirts and the Smart Mark camera, threatening fans, getting in the grill of a young fan for not watching the match as intently as Kingston would've liked. All of his actions were meant to get Eric Corvis, a relative newcomer to the Chikara scene, over big, and you know what? It worked, especially when Corvis went down and high-fived the kid after Kingston berated him.
But ahead of the heat, the ice cream, the slurs, and the unfortunate rash of slips the wrestlers seemed to suffer, I think this show should and will be remembered best for the reunion of the Osirian Portal. Circumstance rent them asunder before they were really ready to be broken up. They did more of a soft reformation today; there was no hug, no handshake, and for whatever reason, there WAS a sense of uncertainty in the air as Ophidian invited Amasis to walk to the back with him. But the theme song don't lie, man. I for one am gosh darn amped to see the Portal get back together, and all in all, I'm glad I soaked my t-shirt with sweat to see it. Whenever this drops on video, pick it up right away, grab some ice cream to recreate the feeling, and enjoy.
Highlights:
- After handing out free ice cream treats to the fans in attendance, the Colony rode the wave of good vibes with a victory over Los Ice Creams. Fire Ant got the pin on El Hijo del Ice Cream with the Ants Go Marching powerbomb double team with Green Ant.
- Arctic Rescue Ant put down Jolly Roger with a guillotine leg drop.
- The Lithuanian Snow Troll fought valiantly, but he fell to The Shard, passing out while in the ankle lock.
- Frightmare reversed a German suplex into a victory roll to get the win over Juan Francisco de Coronado.
- In a match that featured a lot of crowd interaction, Eddie Kingston got the win over a debuting Eric Corvis with the Backfist to the Future.
- The Estonian Thunder Frog held onto the top rope to evade a Frankensteiner from Orbit Adventure Ant and followed up with a frogsplash for the win.
- In the main event, Amasis used miscommunication between Chuck Taylor and Orange Cassidy to roll Taylor up into an O'Connor roll for the win.
- After the match, Cassidy and Taylor beat on Amasis, but it was Ophidian who made the save. The Osirian Portal has reunited and will team together at the next Wrestling Is Cool show on August 25.
General Observations:
- Let's get this out of the way now. For as stifling as the "Proving Grounds" were, it didn't feel nearly as hot as the Troc, nor did it have the inconvenience of bad seating. It was a better venue. Also, there was a werewolf painted on the wall with a microphone, a title belt, and a hilariously-shaped bulge in its tights. I may check out New Moon Rising Wrestling JUST for the mural.
- Los Ice Creams wrestled in velour. In velour. In that heat. They have become the most hardcore wrestlers in existence.
- The Ice Creams informed the crowd that it was National Ice Cream Day, yet it was the Colony of Fire Ant and Green Ant who celebrated it by bringing out styrofoam coolers full of frozen treats for the crowd. @JohnJohnPhenom, @chudleycannons, and I all got Drumsticks, while a child behind me got a Fudgesicle. I don't know what else came around though. Still, that was maybe the best gesture of goodwill from a wrestler/company towards the fans in history. Of course Los Ice Creams wouldn't be Los Ice Creams if they didn't try to prevent their distribution.
- El Hijo del Ice Cream and Green Ant went to lock up in a Greco-Roman knuckle lock (or test of strength to the lay folk), but Hijo just slumped to the canvas, as if he were melting. It was all a ruse, but it was brilliant, because again, a grown man should not be wrestling in velour in 100+ degree heat. Also, because he's anthropomorphic ice cream, and duh, ice cream melts.
- There was a lot of good jabber back and forth in this match, mostly from Hijo, who barked at everyone he could, especially at Dan Yost for not counting three for him.
- At one point, the Colony both were dancing around Ice Cream, Jr.'s fallen body doing the ol' Road Dogg shimmy over him. I forgave them, mainly because they gave me free ice cream.
- Arctic Rescue Ant leaped into the ring to give Jolly Roger a springboard hurricanrana, but he landed funny and in effect gave himself a Ganso bomb. In fact, between that and a couple of other bumps that made me cringe a bit, I'm surprised the frosty usurper ant was able to walk to the back, period.
- The Ant actually had Roger in the leg-lock portion of the Romero Special/Mexican surfboard, only instead of hooking in the arm portion and rocking back, he was "shoveling snow." I commend his troll move now, even if at the time, I wanted to fling my sweat-soaked shirt at him for teasing us with the prospect of a frosty cold winter.
- Roger shoved Ant chest first into the ropes, then roared into a stiff German suplex. That spot felt amazingly fresh to me, even though it's something that feels simple or intuitive to me in the context of a wrestling match.
- The Lithuanian Snow Troll vs. The Shard was the next match, which was funny, given that we had two matches in a row that featured an ice-gimmick wrestler against someone associated with Jigsaw (Jolly Roger being his brother and The Shard being his tag team partner). Serendipity! I also swear the arena felt a degree or two cooler when the Troll made his entrance.
- The Snow Troll hid under the ring at one point, causing Shard to go looking for him. In classic fake-out fashion, the Troll reemerged from the same side he hid under and gave Shard a plancha.
- Shard was supposed to be the stiff, puro-inspired dude, but I swear, The Snow Troll busted out maybe the most inspired Buisaku Knee I've ever seen.
- Juan Francisco de Coronado made his entrance without his faithful manservant? Life's not worth living anymore.
- Coronado no-sold Frightmare's "RAWR!"-scare ya taunt twice, smacking him in the face each time. After Frightmare gave him the runaround for a bit, he got him with the third taunt in classic story build fashion.
- The best scream of the match, nay, the night, though came from Coronado absolutely shrieking like a murder victim in a horror movie in anticipation of Frightmare's planchas. Even more incredible was that it was all a front to allow Coronado to heel-sweep Frightmare onto the apron.
- Coronado actually went over to a group of fans who were heckling him to shut them up, which was awesome. Dude could be a star if he tightened up his selling a bit and emoted a bit more consistently (especially facially) during the matches.
- Biggest mass of boos of the night went to Eddie Kingston for unplugging one of the fans that was futilely trying to cool the place down and threatening to throw it in the ring. I'm pretty sure the crowd would've rioted if he followed through with it, and if we all hadn't been sapped of our excess energy from said heat.
- Kingston spent a good portion of the match berating the fans, whether as a collective or individually. At one point, he chided a youngster, couldn't have been more than seven years old, for "not watching the match" to the point where he turned a chair around and faced the kid to dress him down. This set up an awesome retaliation by Eric Corvis to assail Kingston and then give the kid a high-five.
- Not all of Kingston's taunts to the crowd sat well with me. He blasted a fan who looked like he was from an area of Asia where the United States is fighting a "war on terror" by asking him if he had any terrorist acts to commit. I cringed at that myself. The crowd didn't appreciate it and booed him some more, which was heartening. I know in my mind that there are a thousand reasons to defend that statement just as there are a thousand to condemn it, but let's leave it at this; there are better ways to insult a singular person in the crowd than that.
- One of the moves in Corvis' arsenal was a shining Ace Crusher. It was visually one of the most impressive moves I've ever seen.
- At one point, Corvis retreated from Kingston's assault, caught a breather while the War King insulted the crowd, and quickly glanced at a handbook he had brought to the ring with him. For a guy whose nickname is "the wrestling scientist," I thought that was goddamn brilliant. I'm glad I caught it. He followed it up with a mule kick to Kingston's gut, so whatever he saw, it clearly worked.
- Orbit Adventure Ant spent nearly the entire match trying to lead his own chant of "ORBIT ADVENTURE ANT!" to which the crowd replied with 100% surety "ESTONIAN THUNDER FROG!"
- The Thunder Frog went to destroy Ant's ostentatious helmet with his MIGHTY HAMMER, but I guess that piece of equipment was so near and dear to him that he was willing to take the hit for it. Instead, Frog just gave the hammer to him, and Ant fell back onto his shoulders as the Frog counted the 1-2-3. I will never tire of that MIGHTY HAMMER being so heavy only the Thunder Frog can pick it up, by the way.
- Chuck Taylor accused Amasis of touching his butt and calling him a bad word, among other things. He also offered his hand to Amasis which everyone knew was a trap. Taylor is so transparently evil that it's no wonder he gets more cheers than boos.
- Orange Cassidy, who was doing commentary during the match, came out to run interference, but predictably, it ended with Amasis shoving Taylor into him and getting the stumble for O'Connor Roll leverage.
- Ophidian's grand save took a serious nosedive from start when he slipped and fell right as he got to the ring, presumably on a puddle of sweat. His one knee looked hobbled too, which would be awful if it's a shoot injury and not just selling.
Match of the Night:Eddie Kingston vs. Eric Corvis - Kingston was still new enough as a rudo that a sizable number of fans audibly cheered for him upon his entrance. To the best of my knowledge, this was the first time that Corvis had appeared for any Chikara-affiliated promotion. So, what did Kingston do? He threatened to destroy a cooling fan, harassed each and every one of the human fans, and gave Corvis the foundation upon which he could engineer a solid structure of fan following. Corvis then took that opportunity and ran with it.
The crowd-play, with the exception of an unnecessarily hateful remark towards a fan with brown skin that looked like he was of South Asian/Middle Eastern descent, was fine, but it had to be backed up with remarkable action. Kingston threw his bombs stiff and sure, but Corvis, who was billed as the "Wrestling Scientist," had heady counters, timely kicks, and even tried a bit of psychological warfare by breaking out Kingston's signature short Kawada chop flurry at one point. Corvis also bumped his ass off during the match, almost as if he knew Kingston was going a bit crazy from the heat. When he got his butt whipped, he certainly got his butt whipped.
But I keep going back to the part of the match when Kingston, haughtily discounting Corvis' abilities by turning his back to him for such a long time, shoving the front row fans out of the way and turning to face the young kid who was looking away from the ring too much. I could understand maybe the kid being scared to death that the big bad man who got all ornery and threw chairs into the ring would do something bad to him. Maybe it went a bit over the edge, but when Corvis blindsided Kingston as he was berating the kid, it made the whole exchange worthwhile. And when Corvis high-fived the kid? That made the entire show a success to me. I became an Eric Corvis fan at this show, and I gained a whole new appreciation for the War King. That's the mark of a great match.
Overall Thoughts: I don't want to make my review a referendum on the venue, because really, it was a great looking, intimate, well-organized, DIY-feeling venue with one major HVAC-related flaw. Even the werewolf mascot for New Moon Rising Wrestling with its inappropriately-drawn package was appropriate. Wrestling is absurd at its core. And it wasn't like they ignored how awfully hot the arena was either. I mean, when you have the top babyface act in the company hand out free ice cream to the crowd, I'm pretty sure you're well aware that the people might need it.
I also don't want to talk about the venue because it would demean how good the show was. All seven matches were at least entertaining, with two being worthy enough to write about, and a major signpost moment happening at the end of the show. For $10 at the door, I'm not sure you can beat that kind of value.
Onto the show, it felt like each match had a sense of urgency. Maybe it was the heat, or maybe it was the focus, but there wasn't a whole lot of needless drawing out of the match just to pour in a billion spots into a short stretch in an attempt to overcompensate for the ticket price. Each match had the appropriate big spots, tension, pops, and good-to-great finishes.
The show was also filled to the brim with the great character beats fans like myself have come to expect from the Chikara family. Arctic Rescue Ant tried to win the crowd over with blinking lights on his snowboard. Estonian Thunder Frog teased smashing Orbit Adventure Ant's helmet with his hammer, and when the usurper Ant and referee Jon Barber tried holding it, they were crushed under the weight. Chuck Taylor tried to tattle on everything that Amasis did or didn't do wrong just to gain an advantage.
Eddie Kingston simultaneously was the star of the show and its biggest goat. I know he was the heel, and he played his shtick up not only intensely, but masterfully as well. But I still don't feel like it's ever appropriate to yell the kind of accusing-of-terrorist slur at a person with brown skin ever. Luckily, the crowd was savvy and sympathetic enough to lash out at Kingston for his bad word, not join in him in a moment of making fun of someone who looks different than you or I.
Outside of that awful, awful moment, Kingston shone as a kayfabe bad guy (not a real, terrible person, big difference), tossing around chairs, threatening to break a fan, spitting on shirts and the Smart Mark camera, threatening fans, getting in the grill of a young fan for not watching the match as intently as Kingston would've liked. All of his actions were meant to get Eric Corvis, a relative newcomer to the Chikara scene, over big, and you know what? It worked, especially when Corvis went down and high-fived the kid after Kingston berated him.
But ahead of the heat, the ice cream, the slurs, and the unfortunate rash of slips the wrestlers seemed to suffer, I think this show should and will be remembered best for the reunion of the Osirian Portal. Circumstance rent them asunder before they were really ready to be broken up. They did more of a soft reformation today; there was no hug, no handshake, and for whatever reason, there WAS a sense of uncertainty in the air as Ophidian invited Amasis to walk to the back with him. But the theme song don't lie, man. I for one am gosh darn amped to see the Portal get back together, and all in all, I'm glad I soaked my t-shirt with sweat to see it. Whenever this drops on video, pick it up right away, grab some ice cream to recreate the feeling, and enjoy.