Preamble: Three shows into the year, Chikara gets back to its regular schedule of running multiple shows over one weekend per month.  Between shows, they’ve also announced “Challenge Of The Immortals”, a tournament which will run for the rest of the year.

There are a lot of COTI matches coming up in future shows – a lot – so let’s run down the rules:

• There are ten teams of four.  Director of Fun Mike Quackenbush (the GM) appointed the team captains, who then took turns to draft members from the roster, followed by a brief window for trades.
• It’s a double round robin – every team faces every other team twice.
• Each match can be a singles, tag, trios or atomicos (8-man tag) match.  The team captains are supposed to decide between them.  The same two teams can’t meet in the same type of match on both occasions.  (Singles and tag matches don’t count towards title contention.)
• A team gets one point for every match it wins.  The team with the most points at the end of the day is the winner.
• Everyone on the winning team gets a vaguely-defined “Golden Opportunity”, which is effectively a money in the bank title shot, though you could use it for something else if you really wanted.

In practice, many of the established factions remain intact, since most team captains chose their regular allies, and avoided people who would obviously prefer to be on a different team.  The glaring exceptions are the Osirian Portal (because they both put themselves forward as team captains), the Wrecking Crew (because there are five of them, and they won’t all fit on the same team), and the Colony (we’ll come to them).  Of course, that doesn’t stop these groups from teaming outside the tournament.

Since this is ninety  matches over ten month, it’s a bit of a slow burn, and it’ll be filling out quite a few second-tier shows.  And, let’s be honest, the bit about different match types is rather complicated.  But it gets more variation into the tournament, and besides, it serves overriding practical requirements of working around injury, availability, and any other logistical difficulties that might happen to stand in the way of certain teams facing certain other teams.

When and where?  It’s Saturday 7 March 2015, the first of two shows this weekend.  A practical issue with this sort of schedule, by the way, is that the live crowd for the Sunday show won’t have seen this one, so the booking has to allow for that.  This is easier than it sounds, as long as you avoid angles that scream for an immediate follow-up.   We’re in the “New Mid-Atlantic Sportatorium” in Gibsonville, North Carolina – a small but decently outfitted studio which is the home base of CWF Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, and which Chikara regularly uses when in town.  It looks pretty packed.

This is another show that has serious problems with sound quality on the commentary, but fortunately it’s the last one.  And the sound is otherwise pretty good, so the atmosphere is intact.

– An outrageously bombastic Challenge Of The Immortals graphic makes the first of many appearances this year

1.  The Wrecking Crew (Flex Rumblecrunch & Jaka, w/ Sidney Bakabella) v. Crown & Court (Princess Kimberlee & Jervis Cottonbelly) v. The BDK (Jakob Hammermeier & Pinkie Sanchez) v. The Colony (Fire Ant & Worker Ant).

The back story: Four-team elimination matches are a Chikara signature.  Each fall counts as one point towards a tag title shot.  You need three points to earn a title match, so in theory you can earn a title shot in one night if you eliminate everyone else.  This is a good rule because it explains why anyone would bother tagging in during the first fall.

This isn’t a COTI match, but let’s run down how everyone fits into the tournament.  The Wrecking Crew remain together, save for poor unwanted Oleg, who was unceremoniously traded away in order to reunite the rest of the team.  Max and Blaster are defending the tag titles later tonight, so naturally it’s the other two in this match.  Crown & Court is a newly formed stable led by Princess Kimberlee.  After “National Pro Wrestling Day 2015”,  she enlisted her admirer Jervis Cottonbelly and perma-jobbers Los Ice Creams.  On paper, they look to have no chance in hell.  The BDK also remain together, with semi-detached ally Soldier Ant taking their fourth slot.  And the Colony were split up, with Fire Ant and Worker Ant drafted to Amasis’s Battle Hive.

The match: Crown & Court are over in a big way with these fans.  We get some back and forth wrestling and a bit of comedy to set the tone, before the story starts to kick in as the two rudo teams take turns working on Worker Ant.  Bakabella keeps passing Flex a fork to use as a weapon, but Flex fumbles returning it, and a little girl in the front row pockets it.  After a while, Flex manages to isolate Fire Ant, and calls for the dreaded fork.  Bakabella can’t find it, Flex panics, and Fire Ant rolls him up for the pin.  Oops.  In the much shorter second fall, the BDK double team Jervis, but heel miscommunication lets him roll up Jakob for the pin.  That leaves the two tecnico teams, and after a brief exchange, Kimber pins Fire Ant by reversing his Beach Break into her Alligator Clutch for the upset pin in 21:53.

The upshot: Loads going on there.  The first half could have been tightened up in places, but the second half is great.  Crown & Court get some much-needed credibility (with Kimber in particular getting to look strong) and leave with two points, meaning that their next tag match will be for a title shot.  They’re otherwise engaged tomorrow night, and they weren’t booked on the April shows (which were a UK tour), but we’ll get back to this thread in May.

2.  Hallowicked v Argus.

The back story: Argus made his main roster debut in the 22-man tag on the last show. He’s a tecnico with a vaguely lizard-themed gimmick, though there’s something a bit off about him – he has a weird staring mask, he never speaks, and though he does tweet, he seems oddly obsessed with eyes and sometimes calls himself “the Watcher”.  For COTI, he was unexpectedly drafted to the Snake Pit by his trainer Ophidian.

Hallowicked is a team captain, and he’s drafted his regular partner Frightmare, his semi-regular ally Blind Rage, and… Silver Ant.  In a pre-match promo, Hallowicked – who never even spoke intelligibly before getting zapped by the Eye of Tyr in December – declares his team to be a “legion of terror” following the directions of Nazmaldun, “the Lord of Rot”.  All will be subject to Nazmaldun forever more.  Silver Ant is utterly baffled and disconcerted by all this, and can’t understand why he’s even been drafted to this team, but figures that at least they’re all good wrestlers, so he can try to make it work.   Hallowicked seems convinced that Silver Ant will come round in time…

Hallowicked was one of Argus’s trainers before his turn, so this is a teacher-vs-pupil match.  (Probably in real life as well as in story.)

The match: It’s a “Magic Move” match, something we’ll be seeing a lot this year – if either wrestler hits the magic move, everyone in the audience gets a prize!  (Translation: boy, we ordered too many of these trading cards.)  The “randomly chosen” magic move is a knee drop.  Argus can hang with his trainer in a technical match, but he’s trying too hard to win over the crowd by hitting the magic move.  He finally hits it on the third attempt, stops to celebrate, and immediately gets pinned with a Yakuza kick in 7:23.

The upshot: A very good debut for Argus, who held his own technically and was getting his character over with body language.  And the story plays to him being a rookie without underselling his basic competence.  Hallowicked now has two points (he got his first by beating Worker Ant back in November), so he stands to win a title shot in his next match.

3.  Challenge of the Immortals: Dasher’s Dugout v. Nightmare Warriors, Match 1

The back story: I’ve covered the Nightmare Warriors already.  Frightmare and Silver Ant will represent them in this match, and the obvious question is whether they’ll get on.  Dasher’s Dugout is Dasher Hatfield’s team – there was a brief angle on Twitter with everyone else trying to persuade him to change the name.  Quite reasonably, he has drafted his regular tag partner Mark Angelosetti, the reigning Grand Champion Icarus, and the Young Lions Cup champion Heidi Lovelace.  Icarus and Angelosetti are representing the squad.

The match: As it turns out, Silver Ant and Frightmare can work together just fine.  Silver Ant is willing to compete for his eccentric teammates, and for the moment at least, that’s all Frightmare seems to be asking of him.  There are no mind games, and only one example of Frightmare doing something vaguely rudo-ish (which Silver doesn’t seem thrilled about).  That leaves the way clear for a fast-paced exchange of great wrestling.  Icarus and Silver Ant reverse pin attempts until Icarus gets the pin in 13:47.  Frightmare pounds the mat in frustration, but doesn’t seem to take it out on Silver.

The upshot: Dasher’s Dugout 1, everyone else 0.  Frightmare and Silver Ant are established as a viable team, and it’s made clear that this is not going to be one of those stories where a rudo stable torments a stranded tecnico.  They’re going the subtler way – they genuinely want to win him over.  Note that, even though he was trying, Silver Ant loses the fall for his team – albeit to the champion.

4.  Trevor Lee v. Chuck Taylor

The back story: And now, as a palate cleanser, Chuck Taylor will wrestle a rising star of the indie circuit.

The match: It’s a straight, fast-paced, no-frills wrestling match between two guys who are very good at it.  Taylor wins with his Awful Waffle finisher in 9:44.  They get a standing ovation afterwards.

The upshot: Sometimes you just want a showcase of great wrestling on the bill.  And that’s a great ten minutes.

5.  Challenge of the Immortals: United Nations v. Arcane Horde, Match 1

The back story: Juan Francisco de Coronado has drafted the entire Bloc Party to form his United Nations.  They may be a bunch of losers but at least they’re not American.  Meanwhile, UltraMantis Black – who fancies himself as a brilliant schemer – tried to be clever and draft members of the Wrecking Crew.  After they made it clear to him that it would be a very good idea to do a trade, his Arcane Horde wins up with both members of the Batiri (his ex-henchmen, who now hate him), and Oleg the Usurper (the supernumerary member that the Crew regard as a liability, and were looking to offload on someone).  Oleg has been teasing a tecnico turn for a while now.  The match is an 8-man tag.

The match: The Horde seem willing to try and make this thing work, but it soon becomes clear that the Batiri would rather tag each other, and nobody else wants to risk tagging Oleg.  When he tags himself in, and fights happily enough, they tag him back out as soon as they can.  Eventually Oleg saves a pin for his team, and takes on the Nations on his own for a bit, only for Wrecking Crew manager Sidney Bakabella to run out and yell at him that he’s still under contract.  Bakabella is obviously implying that he should throw the match, but poor Oleg is too dimwitted to figure that out, and just looks confused.  Oleg finds himself in the ring with de Coronado and goes for his finisher, but Bakabella yells at him some more.   Oleg dithers, and de Coronado pins him with a German suplex in 17:42.  Mantis looks exasperated with Oleg, and the Batiri just look annoyed with the whole situation.

The upshot: United Nations & Dasher’s Dugout 1, everyone else 0.  The story of de Coronado starting to rehab the Bloc Party’s win-loss record gets a gentle start (and the match is even enough that it doesn’t come across as a fluke), but the big story here is Oleg still on the way to turning, while remaining a liability to his new team as well.  And, more generally, the Arcane Horde is clearly not going to work out very well.

6.  Kevin Condron v. Dasher Hatfield.

The back story: Condron is an embittered rookie (for reasons too long to go into here), who’s trying to show his disrespect for wrestling tradition.  Nobody drafted him for COTI, because who’d want the hassle?  He complained bitterly on Twitter about not being made a captain.  Dasher Hatfield, the old-timey baseball player, is solid and traditional… and he wants to teach Condron about respect.  In January, Condron won his first Chikara match with the old Eddie Guerrero trick of pretending to be hit with a chair and tricking the ref into a DQ.  He’s deliberately going for cheap wins to make a point.

The match: Again, Condron goes for cheap wins and stalling.  He hits Dasher with a wrench (behind the ref’s back) to take control.  Dasher finally makes a comeback and we get a bit of actual wrestling, in which Condron can hold his own.  The ref gets bumped and Condron tries to set up the same DQ spot that worked last time.  But the ref doesn’t buy it, because last time it was Eddie Kingston, who is a thug, while this time it’s Dasher Hatfield, who is a saint.  Condron leaps to his feet to protest the decision, and Dasher promptly rolls him up for the pin in 10:19.

The upshot: Pure story, but that’s fine on this card.  Condron knows his character, and that was a pretty good display of heel stalling, but I’m not sure I’d have beaten him quite so quickly.  Still, Condron will learn from his mistakes, and when we see him again in May, he’ll change tactics.  As for Dasher, he gets his first point.

7.  CHIKARA Campeonatos de Parejas: The Devastation Corporation (Max Smashmaster & Blaster McMassive, w/ Sidney Bakabella) © v. The Osirian Portal (Amasis & Ophidian).

The back story: First defence for the champions.  The Portal both put themselves forward as COTI team captains, so they’re on separate teams – but of course that doesn’t stop them teaming the rest of the time.  Ophidian has a minor angle about being disillusioned with his gods, which hasn’t really been going anywhere.  Like all tag title defences in Chikara, this is best of three falls.

The match: Bakabella does a great pre-match promo demanding the return of his fork (“a family heirloom”). It’s a flyers versus power match, naturally.  The Portal run rings around the champions for a while, and manage to pin McMassive with a double-team for the first fall.  Bakabella protests furiously about the double pin and the DevCorp decide to walk out until the ref points out that that would be a title change.  The Portal continue double teaming, but Amasis is taken out with a spine buster, and DevCorp go to work on Ophidian, with Blaster pinning him to level the match.  The third fall sees the Portal fight back through their injuries for the escalating big moves (nicely held back until late in the match).  The crowd is hugely into the near falls.  The Portal hit their Pyramidplex and Osirian Sacrament double teams on Blaster, but he kicks out at 2.  Ophidian is distraught, and the champions retain with the Death Blow in 25:32.

The upshot: A very good main event match, strong defence for the champions, and a last high-profile use of the Portal for a while, since they’ll be caught up in COTI for most of this year.  If I’m going to nitpick, I do query having the Portal treat the tag rules quite so casually if there’s going to be a big spot about the fair and impartial referee – if anything, Bakabella had a point about the first fall.  Not that this troubled the live crowd in the slightest.  DevCorp await other challengers, while Ophidian’s disillusionment arc simmers gently.

Bottom line: It’s a great show pretty much top to bottom, but it does have the dodgy sound issues that mar the early shows of the year.  Fortunately it’s just the commentary that’s affected, and the atmosphere is intact, so it’s a recommendable show regardless.