By Pat McNeill, PWTorch columnist

The holiday weekend used to be one of the biggest weekends of the year in professional wrestling. But that was twenty-five years ago. In 2011, Christmas weekend is a dead spot in the industry. Well, enough of all that. It’s time for a year-end supercard to end all supercards.

For the past two years, we have created a pay-per-view length wrestling card off of my pile of unwatched wrestling DVD’s. We welcome you to “Indy Starrcade 2011,” where we’ll look at one match each from several different discs featuring several different not-so-national promotions. No repeat wrestlers on the program. These discs have not been reviewed before, at least not by me. The matches are (more or less) in the order they appear on the actual DVD’s. We have a lot to choose from, but let’s start with our opening match. We’re going to use the opening bout from CHIKARA’s “Chikarasaurus Rex King of Sequel – Night 1” show.

(1) Jigsaw vs. Fire Ant (taped 7/30/11 in Reading, Pa.).This is a Block B match in the 12 Large Summit. (Chikara Title Tournament) We’re in one of these great venues that screams “indy wrestling.” Your announcers are the normal Chikara broadcast team of Gavin Loudspeaker, Ultramantis Black & Dr. Ferdie Pacheco. I might have made that last part up. Jigsaw, one-half of the Chikara tag team champs, cuts a prematch promo talking recovering from a torn bicep and promising to win one for the late Larry Sweeney. Fire Ant comes out to “Ants Are Marching” by the Dave Mathews Band, and we’re ready for mask on mask action.

It’s chain wrestling time, until Jigsaw gets control of the leg and put Fire Ant in a surfboard. Fire Ant escapes, applies and a leg submission of his own, and Jigsaw counters. We then get a bunch of nice lucha spots, with a crispness you don’t often see on Galavision, ending with Jigsaw dropkicking Fire Ant in the face. Ant then gets to work over Jigsaw’s injured arm, sending Jigsaw out to the floor to recover. The crowd rallies behind the champ. Then we get a suicide dive and a flip plancha followup from Fire Ant. Unfortunately for Ant Del Fuego, he stops working the arm, and Jigsaw rallies. A German Suplex gets a near fall, but Fire Ant counters the brainbuster into a stunner, then stays on the arm this time. Fire Ant gets the submission victory with the kimura at 11:40. The crowd was really into this. Good opener, probably in the three-star range.

“Chikarasaurus Rex King of Sequel – Night 1” is available from Smart Mark Video. Presumably, they’re also selling Night 2. I’ll recommend it, without even seeing the Johnny Saint match, or the Quackenbush vs. Castagnoli main event.

Moving right along, let’s take you to our second match, provided by Dragon Gate USA. We’re using the “Way of the Ronin 2010” DVD. Since it wasn’t on pay-per-view, or iPPV, you might have missed this show.

(2) CIMA vs. Chuck Taylor (taped 9/26/10 in Milwaukee, Wisc.). Your announcers areLenny Leonard & Lenny Chikarason. CIMA comes out and talks about the rich history of Milwaukee, which was originally an Alonquin word meaning “the good land.” Oops, wrong DVD. Actually, CIMA asks the fans if they’re ready for a good show, then invites Taylor out to the ring. Taylor wants to join Warriors International, but he has to beat CIMA first. The fans really like both wrestlers, and are into every move, which helps a lot.

It’s time for comedy. CIMA works the ankle, and then bites Taylor on the ankle. When referee Jason Harding doesn’t break the hold right away, Taylor bites Harding on the ankle. Then CIMA sets Taylor up in the corner for the big running dropkick to the coccyx. CIMA gets most of the offense in, but Taylor has a sweet-looking dropkick of his own, which he gets to break out a few times. But CIMA gets to hit all of his major moves. Iconoclasm, Perfect Driver, Schwein, and then the Meteora, which is a top rope double stomp to the head. Thankfully, it’s also the finish. CIMA scores the fall at the 11:18 mark. This was a good comedy match, and Taylor got to bump and stooge off, both of which he does very well. After the match, we get cameo appearances from Johnny Gargano, who wants to join Warriors International, and Drake Younger, who wants to beat up Johnny Gargano.

The rest of the DVD features stuff like Bryan Danielson vs. Jon Moxley, and BxB Hulk & Speed Muscle vs. Kamikaze USA in a six-man tag, so I’m guessing it’s a keeper. Recommended.

Next up, we’re going to take another stab at watching the All-American Wrestling (AAW) promotion in suburban Chicago. Their DVD’s are available at Smart Mark Video, but I cheated and pulled a match from their official YouTube channel.

(3) Shane Hollister vs. Louis Lyndon (taped at “Reign of Violence 2011,” 8/20/11 in Berwyn, Ill.). Phil Colvin & Ryland Foxx are your announcers. You might have seen Lyndon as one-half of the Aeroform tag team in DGUSA and Evolve. Both wrestlers are babyfaces. Lyndon does a quebrada and lands on his feet, then trips up Hollister. Chain wrestling, near falls, standoff. Colvin refers to Lyndon’s unique offense as “monkey kung fu,” because that worked so well for Howard Cosell, back in the day. Lyndon goes for a running dive through the ropes and Hollister pops Lyndon with a forearm shiver. Ouch. Lyndon grabs an octopus hold, but Hollister sits down in it for a nearfall. Lyndon gets a series of kicks for a false finish. Lyndon continues flying around until Hollister surprises him with a powerbomb for a very near fall. Hollister kicks out a dragon suplex. Lyndon kicks out of the Ace Crusher. Then Lyndon reverses a rollup for the pin in 10:20. The announcers put over that Hollister, the former champ, has lost two in a row. A decent enough match, given that the fans didn’t know who to cheer for. Call it two and a half stars. Can’t recommend the actual DVD, although there’s an Arik Cannon vs. Steve Corino match that looks like fun.

Pro Wrestling Guerilla is ready to deliver in a big way. This SoCal indy group is a sillier version of Ring of Honor. For this we go to PWG’s annual DDT4 tag team tournament, and one of the more hotly anticipated bouts on this show.

(4) The Briscoe Brothers vs. Kevin Steen & Akira Tozawa (taped 3/4/11 in Reseda, Calif.) This is a first round match in the DDT4 tournament, to determine who gets a PWG Tag Team Title shot against absent champions El Generico & Paul London. Excalibur & Rick Knox are your announcers. Steen & Tozawa are teaming as the “Nightmare Violence Connection” according to Excalibur. Steen surprises Tozawa with a kiss on the lips (no tongue) before the match. The crowd is standing room only in the dinky American Legion hall, and they love both teams. Chain wrestling and Tozawa grabs the headlock. They trade holds and strikes until Tozawa gets the advantage with a kick to the knee. Tag to Steen, who takes over and bites Jay on the nose. Unfortunately for him, Jay makes the tag to Mark and the Briscoes hit Steen with some double-team redneck kung fu. Steen bites Mark on the ear, which only upsets the Briscoes more. Steen finally breaks free and tags Tozawa. The crowd cheers Tozawa, who tells them to “shut the f*** up” for a big pop. Mark ends up in the ring with Tozawa, and they begin exchanging strikes. Tozawa is working an Americanized style, slowing down and making every move mean something. After some comedy, it’s time for Everyone Hits A Finisher. The Briscoes go for the Doomsday Device on Steen. Tozawa blocks it and hits Jay with a springboard shining wizard, and Steen gets the win at 9:45. This was fun while it lasted, but it wasn’t even the best Steen/Tozawa match on the DVD. Maybe three stars for the match. The DVD, however, may be the best indy show of the year, so we’ll recommend that.

Now it’s time to Evolve, as we take you to the...
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This is a VIP excluisive article from this week's PWTorch Newsletter #1236. To read the rest of the article including the rest of the Indy Starrcade 2011 line-up, and also gain access to the Pat McNeill VIP Library to read prior Indy Starrcade match listings and all of his VIP exclusive feature columns, go VIP! Click here: www.pwtorch.com/govip.

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