Professional wrestling has a lot in common with pizza. (Stay with me here, I'm trying to use an analogy that hasn't been beaten to death, like how pro wrestling has a lot in common with theater for example.) You've got traditional hand-tossed crust, Chicago style deep-dish, thin crust, stuffed crust, and probably half a dozen other types of crust - and that's just the crust, we haven't even begun to scratch the surface of pizza possibilities because for every style of crust there's at least ten different toppings one might add to a given pie. Likewise, there are many different styles when it comes to professional wrestling. Lucha libre is common to Mexico whereas strong style is more or less the norm in Japan. Here in the United States we seem to be latched onto sports entertainment although that's not to say there aren't pockets of resistance, if you will, dedicated to preserving what would nowadays be considered old school, as in the style of wrestling made popular by greats such as Ric Flair, Harley Race, and others.
There are a lot of promotions out there these days that seem to strive towards doing just one thing when it comes to the style of wrestling they've chosen to display. Ring of Honor, for example, has become known for being arguably the most popular equivalent to a strong style promotion that we have here in the US. Not to say that they are doing a disservice to the wrestling world as a whole, but in my opinion when a promotion is all one style of wrestling the product can become bland. "Bland" is a term you'll never hear in regards to Chikara Pro, a company that is anything but vanilla when it comes to the variety of wrestling styles and characters they put on display at their events.
If you're a regular reader of my blog, you might remember that my wife & I were able to see Chikara's event in Porterdale, Georgia last year. The trip to GA made for a great weekend getaway (we were celebrating our anniversary - we each got our way on the trip; my wife wanted to visit the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta and, of course, I wanted to see some wrestling) and the show was a tremendously memorable part of the occasion as I feel like we both came away from it with a smile on our faces (at least I know I did). The fact that the Porterdale experience was as enjoyable as it was became the primary influence behind my decision to make the drive all the way to Burlington, North Carolina (all 200+ miles of it) as the stars of Chikara would be making an appearance there for an event entitled THUNDERBALL.
The CWF Mid-Atlantic Sportatorium served as host for this event and the arena was absolutely jam-packed with fans. Indeed, it was great to see that kind of turnout as some insist that pro wrestling is on a downward slide. I would contend that only certain pro wrestling shows are in that state - definitely not Chikara, at least by the number of fans that were on hand this night.
Matches on the card included the following.
1) The Bloc Party (Proletariat Boar, Prakash Sabar, and Mr. Azerbaijan) vs. The Spectral Envjoy (Ultramantis Black, Frightmare, and Hallowicked)
2) Aftermath (Chet Sterling & Trevor Lee) vs. 3.0 (Scott Parker & Shane Matthews)
3) "Smooth Sailing" Ashley Remington vs. Juan Francisco De Coronado
4) The Flood (Oleg the Usurper & Flex Rumblecrunch) vs. The Osirian Portal (Ophidian & Amasis)
5) The Devastation Corporation (Max Smashmaster & Blaster McMassive) vs. The Colony (Fire Ant & Worker Ant)
6) Shynron vs. Silver Ant
7) The Flood (Jimmy Jacobs, Jakob Hammermeier, Nokken & 17) vs. Icarus, Mr. Touchdown, Dasher Hatfield & Eddie Kingston
Of course, it goes without saying that I had my camera in hand! Here's episode 10 of my Rasslin' with Redbeard YouTube program.
If you enjoy the show, please subscribe to my YouTube channel. I try to keep it as freshly stocked as I can with new content include match videos, vlog entries, and others. And if you didn't enjoy the show, all I can say is I'm sorry - that's almost 49 minutes of your life you'll never get back.
In closing I'd like to point out an observation I made while typing up the credits for this episode of Rasslin' with Redbeard. There were 32 wrestlers on the card for this event - yes, you read that right, THIRTY-TWO. That is somewhat mind-boggling to me seeing as how for a typical wrestling event (indie or otherwise) you would normally see around half of that number present as representing a "full" roster. I think the volume of talent present is an indication as to how involved and how passionate Chikara is about their product in that they want to give everything they can to their loyal and dedicated fans.
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