#ig2019

melissabenoist: 🌹🌹🌹#diorbackstage

Via IG Melissa Benoist

This was my first Chikara event since “Once Upon a Beginning” in Jersey City last month, which featured Sidney Bakabella return to the promotion as the new Director of Fun, as well as Dasher Hatfield defeat Mr. Touchdown in the best Ladder Match of the week to become the undisputed Grand Champion of Chikara. This was also my first event back in the Wrestle Factory since March. A very full crowd with a number of new fans coming in.

1. Still Life With Apricots and Pears beat Thief Ant to retain the Young Lions Cup with their Venus de Milo leg lock. It started with Still Life requesting referee Kris Levin to position the Young Lions Cup (now sporting a bouquet of flowers while in Still Life’s possession) on the entrance stage for the cameras. As Levin obliged, Still Life chop blocked Thief Ant’s knee before the opening bell, establishing Still Life as the heel after they received a warm reception during their entrance. Still Life continued working over Thief Ant’s knee, applying a figure four that Thief Ant was able to reverse. A little later Thief Ant used a figure four as well, but Still Life got to the ropes. The finish came out of Still Life throwing the Cup into Thief Ant’s hands, followed by Still Life hitting a bulldog amidst the confusion. Solid opener.

2. Lucas Calhoun & Stray Kat beat Travis Huckabee & Icarus when Calhoun pinned Icarus following a back suplex from a powerslam position following a kick from Kat. Allie Kat is now based on the East Coast, and she has started working in Chikara more with a modified name and black gear to mesh better with new partner Calhoun. Huckabee came out with his Campeonato de Parejas (his co-campeon Tony Deppen was absent, having popped up in PWG the previous night), and Icarus came out in a loud shirt, claiming to be on vacation and just acting especially sleazy. Kat wanted each of them to scratch her belly. When Icarus removed his shirt, Kat scratched his back twice to his displeasure. The match had some clunky moments but overcame them. Kat was able to survive a pedigree, and when Icarus went to hit a shiranui on Kat, Calhoun caught him on his shoulder to set up the finish. This was Calhoun & Kat’s second point towards a title shot.

3. Der Wildebeest (w/ Jakob Hammermeier) beat Missile Assault Man with a running cross body. Hammermeier is back in Chikara, with a new hair cut and a new monster to do his bidding in Der Wildebeest, a wide masked man with a thick beard, tattoos, furry gear, and no shoes. Hammermeier handled the ring announcing for him (his role for the BDK when he first appeared nine years ago), but did both that and corner his new monster while in his wrestling gear. He did a lot of talking and interfering during the match. At one point Wildebeest plowed Missile Assault Man over the top rope, and he had two front row fans help him back into the ring before he could get counted out. Towards the end, Jakob got on the edge of the ring to instruct Wildebeest to give Missile Assault Man a death valley driver, but Missile Assault Man slipped out and booted Jakob off the ring, only to lose right afterward. Jakob then kicked him low and hid behind Wildebeest as they left to the back. I can totally get behind Jakob being back.

4. The Colony (Fire Ant & Thief Ant) beat The Creatures of the Deep (Merlok & Cajun Crawdad) after they hit Merlok with a spiked Beach Break. My favorite match of the undercard. The ants worked together early on, only for Merlok to take them both down with a pounce when they attempted Ants Marching on Crawdad. Merlok showed off his power early, hitting a corner cannonball on both ants while one of them was on his shoulders. He and Crawdad hit Fire Ant with an Emerald Frosion/top rope double stomp for only a nearfall, with Green Ant making the save. They also set up a spot that was very well executed, with Crawdad attempting a springboard move into the ring, only to be taken out by Green Ant hitting a dropkick off the ropes. Even after this hard-fought victory, Merlok and Crawdad still attacked the Colony afterward, even forcing the ref to count a pin on Fire Ant, just so Crawdad could celebrate as if he actually won.

- Intermission.

5. Ophidian won the Infinite Gauntlet Match to win a Golden Opportunity. This match made up the remainder of the event, nearly lasting a full hour. Thirty-three wrestlers, starting with two in the ring and a new entrant coming out every eighty-eight seconds (though there were hiccups with the countdown screen and entry sound effects early on before they were sorted out) Eliminations occurred via pinfall, submission, or being thrown over the top rope with both feet hitting the floor (this match predates MLW’s Battle Riot, having started in 2016). The order of entry was:

1. Boomer Hatfield 2. Danjerhawk 3. Sonny Defarge 4. Dasher Hatfield, rocking the gold mask he debuted in Jersey City 5. Ice Cream Jr. 6. Nytehawk 7. Kobald 8. Frantik 9. Fireman’s Carry Fry, the first of five enhancement wrestlers in this match 10. Cornelius Crummels 11. BLANK 12. Molly McCoy, a debuting student who came out in hockey gear and wrestled in Flyers colors 13. Volgar 14. Snapmare Matt 15. John Francis of Coronado, now waving the American flag and decked out in stars and stripes, including his bow tie 16. Armbreaker Amir 17. Worker Ant 18. Rick Roland 19. Officer Warren Barksdale 20. The Whisper 21. Jawbreaker Josue 22. Oleg the Usurper 23. Bull James, formerly of NXT 24. Unsocial Jordan, an Australian wrestler 25. Enzuigiri Evan 26. Hermit Crab 27. Shazza McKenzie, back again from Australia 28. Razerhawk 29. Duke “The Dumpster” Droese, now in his 50s and wrestling with a prosthetic leg 30. Hallowicked 31. El Hijo del Ice Cream 32. Solo Darling 33. Ophidian

A number of stories to come out of this, the biggest one having nothing to do with the result. After being able to pin Danjerhawk and eliminate Defarge, Boomer and Dasher were left in the ring. Dasher instructed Boomer to leave the ring, but Boomer stuck around and fought. They eliminated Ice Cream Jr. and Nytehawk quickly as they continued wrestling each other. Then the next few entrants opted to stay on the floor while the the two Hatfields fought, beginning with Kobald taking a seat in the front of the bleachers and having a snack. BLANK rallied the others on the floor when he came out, but they all got eliminated, save for Fireman’s Carry Fry, who landed on an eliminated Frantik, escaped a powerbomb from him, and got onto the bleachers, hiding out while taking a seat next to me (I wasn’t able to get a good picture of us). When McCoy entered, she was revealed as Dasher’s niece, and she tried to smooth things over between Dasher and Boomer. She turned out to be on Dasher’s side all along and assisted him in eliminating Boomer. When the third enhancement wrestler Armbreaker Amir entered, he helped Fry re-enter the ring, and Amir, Fry, and Snapmare Matt worked together to toss out McCoy, as well as pin Worker Ant and Barksdale by piling up on them.

As this story of the enhancement talent rallying together begins to build, the recently rechristened John Francis of Coronado goes on a tear, gaining great support from the Wrestle Factory crowd that once largely despised him. Francis was able to eliminate Roland, who was still going after him after the Closers beat him up. He dropkicked Volgar to assist Dasher and someone else trying to eliminate him. Dasher gave Francis a high five for this, taking him by surprise, then immediately tried to toss him out, only for Francis to reverse it and toss him out for a huge ovation! Shortly after this, focus shifted back to the enhancement talents, as Jawbreaker Josue entered to join the other three, retrieving some tools from underneath the ring and proceeding to loosen the top turnbuckles so as eliminate the top rope. This pretty much happened by the end, but it got difficult as Oleg and Bull James shifted their focus from each other to them. When Enzuigiri Evan entered, he was the biggest and most powerful of the five students. I could see him having a future beyond this. He was able to pin James, and then the five students all ganged up to pin Oleg. Hermit Crab and was unfortunately eliminated by them almost as soon as he entered the ring, and the two Australian guests didn’t get a chance to really do much. Francis was able to kick out after receiving a pop-up powerslam from them (or maybe he wasn’t meant to be pinned after such a strong showing in his new tecnico role?). He was tossed out of the ring afterward, but the students slowly started to get eliminated. Droese of course brought a trash can with him, using it to eliminate one of the students. Armbreaker Amir used his armbreaker to make Droese tap out. The final four left in the ring, if I recall correctly, were Hallowicked, Darling, Whisper (who lasted a while), and Enzuigiri Evan. With the ropes being so loose at this point, all four of them tumbled to the floor... just before Ophidian made his entrance as the final entrant. As soon as he stepped in the ring, he was declared the winner and was awarded the three point medallions for his future Golden Opportunity. He nonchalantly accepted them and left, and talking with someone else online about it after the show ended, there’s a chance that the students rallying together was all in an effort to help Ophidian, their trainer, win the match. Time will tell.

Just as Ophidian left, Boomer re-entered the ring and called out his dad to exchange some harsh words. Dasher took the mic first, quietly called him “you little disappointment,” then got louder in running him down. He said Boomer doesn’t deserve to carry his bags, wrestle in his ring, share his last name, nor wear his mask. Boomer took over, saying that Dasher taught him a lot of great values in the past, but now he just sees him as a liar, a cheater, and a bully. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re not my dad!” The two began fighting again, refs tried to separate them, and then Bakabella walked out to calm them down. He referenced Fritz Von Erich in his intolerance for family in-fighting, so he made an official match for the return to Chicago in two weeks, Dasher Hatfield vs. Boomer Hatfield, Mask vs. Mask. Dasher then kicked Boomer low and swarmed him as Bryce Remsburg and seemingly the entire tecnico roster (including John Francis) caused him to leave the ring. Then Boomer got up on his feet as everyone else in the ring took a knee, and without a mic cut a fiery babyface promo about how Dasher’s new mask does not represent his legacy, and he will take it in Chicago.