Preamble: Well, I did say these would be erratic.

National Pro Wrestling Day is Chikara’s annual free charity show, which basically means they run the live show for donations, and there are regular exhortations to donate to the year’s selected charity.  It’s notionally also a celebration of pro wrestling generally.  This is the third one.  The first two were (in storyline) not Chikara shows – this was terribly useful because it meant there was an actual show where they could pay off the shutdown angle in 2014.  This year it’s an official Chikara show, and pretty much a regular one with a couple of outsiders and not much in the way of explicit angles (though some stuff is set up for the future).  Anyone with a complicated story pretty much skips this show entirely.

There are probably two reasons for that.  First, it’s going for a casual audience so there’s no point doing anything too story-heavy.  Second, as I mentioned last time, the production on Chikara’s first in-house show in January was not, shall we say, 100% successful.  Shortly after this show, Chikara announced the year-long tournament which will dominate 2015’s storylines.  With hindsight, this looks a bit like a low key show designed to get some more kinks out of the system.  Camerawork is indeed better than last time, but the sound levels are still a bit dodgy.  It’ll be fine by March.

When and where?  It’s the afternoon of 8 February 2015 – two weeks after the last show, a month before the next one, in an unusually quiet start to the year.  (They’ll be doing four shows in a weekend by April.)  We’re in a gym in Norristown, Pennsylvania, where Chikara’s discontinued Wrestling Is Fun brand ran a few shows last year.  Turnout is decent.  No set, but it’s got a nice balcony to make entrances from.

For no apparent reason, Missile Assault Ant is hanging around at ringside making a nuisance of himself during the show intro.

1.  Juan Francisco de Coronado v. Fire Ant.

Backstory: Juan lost his last two matches (albeit to top tier opposition), so he could use a win.  Missile Assault Ant is still at ringside.  His whole Colony: Xtreme Force stable are intentionally obnoxious knock-offs of Fire Ant’s Colony group, and for obvious reasons there’s a long-simmering feud.

The match: Juan pins Fire Ant with his German suplex finisher after interference from Missile Assault Ant in 7:41.  A straightforward opening match, well executed.

The upshot: Juan gets a much-needed win, against somebody who’s credible but won’t take any real damage from it because he’s mainly a tag wrestler.  Missile will be back later in the show, but with the benefit of hindsight the stuff with Fire Ant doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

– Mike Quackenbush comes out to give an Ambassador for Independent Professional Wrestling award to some guy I’ve never heard of, whose actual role and function is not terribly clear from anything Quack says.

2.  The Bloc Party (The Proletariat Boar of Moldova & Prakash Sabar) v. The Osirian Portal (Ophidian & Amasis).

Backstory: The Osirian Portal won their last two tag matches, so under Chikara’s points system, a win here will get them a shot at the Devastation Corporation’s tag titles.  The Bloc Party, making their first appearance of 2015, are a trio of masked Eastern European rudos.  The Boar is the power guy.  Sabar notionally represents Georgia, but is originally from Pakistan, on top of which his actual gimmick is that he’s an undisguised X-Pac clone (complete with sticky-out tongue built into his mask, and DX colours).  The Party’s third member Mr Azerbaijan isn’t at ringside.  They’ve been largely directionless since last year, when their tecnico counterparts the Baltic Siege were annihilated by the Flood.

The match: In a pre-match skit, the Portal propose a “Sexiest Man Alive 2015” competition, which is a riff on Azerbaijan’s gimmick.  They have a sash and tiara for the winner.  Amasis and Sabar agree to compete under “Azerbaijan rules”, with which the referee is surprisingly familiar.  It ends in a no contest when the Boar interferes in a dance off.  Finally, the match starts with the Party quickly taking out Ophidian.  Sabar steals the sash and tiara.  The Bloc Party double-team Amasis for a few minutes until heel miscommunication lets Amasis hit a 450 splash for a clean pin on Sabar in 4:32.

The upshot: Well, that’s an odd way to get a title shot – a skit based on the gimmick of the Bloc Party member who isn’t there, followed by a short match where Ophidian never tags in.  You have to wonder if they were working around an injury or something.  I can’t quite fathom why they did a no contest in the Sexiest Man contest either – Sabar adds the stolen sash and tiara to his already convoluted gimmick from here on, so why not just have him cheat to win?  At any rate, the Portal will get their title shot on the next show.  The Bloc Party’s losing streak is setting up a story where Juan Francisco will take them under his wing.

3.  Max Smashmaster v Shynron.

Backstory: They were on opposite sides in an 8-man tag in the last show.  Max is one of the tag champs, who are 80s throwback monster heels clearly inspired by Demolition.  This is a rare solo outing for him.  Shynron’s a high flyer.

The match: Speed versus power, obviously.  They have an even match, until Missile Assault Ant distracts Shynron and Max pins him with a piledriver in 5:15.  Short and sweet.

The upshot: I’ve no idea what the point was of Missile interfering in two matches, because it doesn’t come up again.  What actually happens is that he goes on a losing streak until Kevin Condron takes an interest in him – in which case, it would have been better for him to simply wrestle on this show and get pinned.  Max’s win gives him two points, but he’s yet to go for a third, presumably because he’s preoccupied with the tag titles.

4.  Drew Gulak v Ashley Remington.

Backstory: Gulak is an outsider – a serious-minded mat wrestler and former CZW Champion.  Remington is an unbelievably cheesy yet sincerely nice 1970s yachtsman.  Everyone loves him, he’s so sportsmanlike that he breaks on the count of 1, and he gives defeated opponents commemorative fruit baskets.  Only in Chikara would this be a babyface gimmick and actually work.

The match: Gulak is irritated by Remington’s schtick and aims to outwrestle him.  But Remington can hang, and dials back the goofiness to have an evenly matched technical battle.  A series of near-fall reversals culminates in Remington getting the pin at 9:24.  Great match.  Afterwards, Gulak gracefully accepts his fruit basket.

The upshot: Gulak’s going to be a regular this series, so this reintroduces him while taking the opportunity to use him as a quasi-outsider.  Remington gets a clean win over a serious and credible opponent, and has 2 points towards a title shot.   We won’t see him again until May (because he’s also Dalton Castle in ROH, and he’s kind of busy these days), but his title hunt will be picked up then.

– Gavin Loudspeaker does a promo putting over the Seva Foundation.

5.  Los Ice Creams (El Hijo Del Ice Cream & Ice Cream Jr) v. Old Fashioned (Jervis Cottonbelly & Marion Fontaine).

The backstory: These teams fought twice in 2014.  Old Fashioned won both times, which is hardly surprising, because Los Ice Creams haven’t won a match in years.  Notionally, their gimmick is that they’re the sons of the legendary Mexican luchador El Ice Cream, but basically they’re absurdist jobber clowns.  Technically they’re rudos, but they cheat so ineffectually that everyone loves them anyway.  Old Fashioned are Chikara regular Jervis Cottonbelly, The World’s Sweetest Man, and occasional guest Marion Fontaine, who has a similar antiquarian grappler gimmick.

The match: Old Fashioned deliver a debatably audible pre-match promo, the gist being that after the match, Jervis will be doing a recitation from Romeo & Juliet, dedicated to Princess Kimberlee, who happens to be manning the merch stand.  This is Kimber Lee from CZW and elsewhere; in Chikara, she’s a dippy self-proclaimed princess in a tiara and tutu, which she’s really very good at.  Kimber is clearly delighted by Jervis’ gentlemanly attentions.  Somewhere along the line this ends up as a stipulation, where if Old Fashioned win, Los Ice Creams must join in with the Shakespeare rendition.  Of course, it’s Los Ice Creams, so really it’s more “when” than “if”.  (And yes, the crowd cheers the prospect of Shakespeare.  It’s Chikara.)

The match is the usual Los Ice Creams lunacy where they end up wrestling each other, offer to catch their opponents on dives, and triumphantly celebrate the smallest bit of offence they actually manage to get in.  Kayfabe is not rigidly adhered to.  Eventually Old Fashioned score simultaneous pins with side Russian leg sweeps for the inevitable win at 8:27.  Los Ice Creams honour the stip and gamely attempt to participate in the Shakespeare recital, despite obviously not knowing any of the words.  Kimber seems oblivious to anything being wrong, is hugely impressed, and pats everyone on the head.  All good stuff.

The upshot: With hindsight, this is the most plot-heavy match on the show, because it’s setting up the formation of Kimber’s Crown & Court stable, comprising herself, Jervis and Ice Creams.  It also sets up the fact that Jervis is smitten with Kimber and (by implication) tells us all to quietly forget about the fact that Kimber is supposed to be dating Lance Steel from Wrestling Is Fun – a rare example of a Chikara dropped plot.

6.  Blaster McMassive (w/Max Smashmaster) v Mark Angelosetti.

The backstory: McMassive is the other half of the tag champs.  Angelosetti was one of the guys they beat.

The match: Max interferes freely, Mark’s tag partner Dasher Hatfield comes to his rescue, and it’s a double DQ in 4:30.  Both teams agree to find more partners and return later.

The upshot: It’s an angle to set up the main event.

7.  Jenny Rose v Princess Kimberlee.

The back story: None.  Rose is a visiting indie wrestler.

The match: Short and solid.   Kimberlee wins clean with the Alligator Clutch in 5:21.

The upshot: More build for Kimber going into the COTI tournament, as well as establishing her finisher.

8.  Flying Francis (Francis & Francis) v. N_R_G (Race Jaxon & Hype Rockwell)

The back story: Flying Francis are visiting indie wrestlers from Quebec.  The ring announcer and commentators bill them as “Francis and Francis”, but the official results page lists them as Matt Novak & Branden O’Connor.  Oops.  N_R_G, of course, are still doing their gimmick where Hype is permanently exhausted from doing all the driving, and Race is ludicrously amped up and seemingly oblivious to his partner’s problems.

The match: Sound quality on the commentary is really bad for this match.  Flying Francis quickly establish themselves as the heels.  They’re pretty good, with some slick double teams.  Jaxon hits an overenthusiastic dive to the outside that nearly takes out several fans.  Rockwell summons up a few minutes of energy after getting the hot tag, and N_R_G win with their Maximum Overdrive combo in 8:24.

The upshot: N_R_G’s best straight competitive match, continuing their build, and playing down the exhaustion schtick for a change.  That’s their second straight win, so their next tag match will have a title shot on the line.

9.  The Wrecking Crew (Max Smashmaster, Blaster McMassive & Oleg the Usurper), The Bloc Party (Mr Azerbaijan, Prakash Sabar & The Proletariat Boar of Moldova), Los Ice Creams (Ice Cream Jr & El Hijo Del Ice Cream), Juan Francisco de Coronado, Missile Assault Ant & Shayne Hawke v. The Throwbacks (Dasher Hatfield & Mark Angelosetti), The Colony (Fire Ant & Worker Ant), The Osirian Portal (Amasis & Ophidian), Old Fashioned (Jervis Cottonbelly & Marion Fontaine), Princess Kimberlee, Argus & Shane Storm.

The back story: Yes, a 22-man tag.  Well, they did say they were going to get some partners and come back.  Storm and Hawke are retired wrestlers from earlier years making a one-night-only guest appearance.  Argus is a rookie with a mute lizard gimmick (honest).  This is his main roster debut, though he did wrestle a couple of times for Wrestling is Fun last year.

The match: It’s a comedy main event, obviously, and the sheer unwieldiness of it is largely the joke.  There are a couple of story points in here, though, as Oleg continues his slow turn by giving a genuine handshake to his opponent, and Los Ice Creams (who are only technically rudos anyway) stop their teammates from double-teaming Kimber.  There’s a 22-man chain of submission holds which ends up extending to most of the audience.  (“I’m surprised the referee is allowing this,” muses lead commentator Leonard F Chikarason.)  We’ll be seeing variations of this spot a lot in 2015, but this is pretty much the ur-version that works the best.  There’s an awful lot of Shayne Hawke in this match, considering how long he’s been retired, but the guy’s got a ton of charisma, so no complaints.  The tecnicos win (well, the other side does have Los Ice Creams), with Argus pinning Hawke after a splash from a human pyramid in 17:05.

The upshot: It’s a fun capstone for a semi-detached show, simple as that.  But Argus at least gets to do something noticeable in his debut, and the formation of Crown & Court is quietly furthered as well.

Bottom line: If NPWD was a quasi-PPV in the previous two years, this time it’s pretty much an episode of Smackdown.  That made it a bit underwhelming at the time, but re-watching it with lower expectations, it stands up better.  There’s some fun wrestling on it and it’s relatively newcomer-friendly, though the sound issues on the first few shows of this year continue to grate.