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CHIKARA Live Results
October 22, 2015
Minneapolis, Minn.
Report by Ryan Canaday, PWTorch correspondent
Thursday night, for the first time ever, Chikara came to the Twin Cities! I have been a fan of Chikara for a long time, so I was really excited to go to a live show. I went with a couple of friends and one of my nephews. My friends had notseen much, if any Chikara, and my nephew, Desi, did not have much interest in wrestling until watching Summerslam and Night of Champions. This was his first live show of any sort. The tickets said that the show was for ages 15+, which was kind of surprising. My nephew is younger than that, but he can pass for a short 15-year-old and they didn’t say anything.
Before I go any further, I have been to several concerts at Mill City Nights. It is a good place for concerts. Not so much for wrestling. If you ever plan on going to a wrestling show there, do yourself a favor and get floor seats.
The show started a few minutes late, and during the introduction, the announcer messed up and swore! He caught it right away and corrected himself, but the fans teased him about it anyways. There was a decent crowd, with probably 250-300 people there.
(1) Chuck Taylor defeated Frightmare. This was a Challenge Of The Immortals match. Desi said he liked Frightmare (all night he was cheering for the masked wrestlers). There was some fun comedy in the match and at one point they were outside of the ring and Chuck used a fan as a shield. In the end, Chuck won, picking up some points for his team.
(2) Darin Corbin & Punk Rock All-Stars beat N.R.G & Farmer Frog in a six-man tag match. This was an unannounced match. I don’t know much about the Punk Rock All-Stars, but Corbin is based out of Minnesota. Despite being only a few hours from home, Corbin and the All-Stars were the heels (sorry, this is Chikara, so rudos) for the match. It was a decent match and in the end, Corbin and the All-Stars picked up the win.
(3) Oleg The Usurper beat Arik Cannon. Cannon is also based out of Minnesota and runs F1rst Wrestling, which runs shows a few blocks down at First Ave. (across from the Target Center, where WWE usually runs shows.) Not to surprisingly the fans were cheering for him a lot, but there were plenty of Oleg chants as well. My friends weren’t too impressed with Oleg, or Cannon for that matter, but Desi liked them, especially Oleg. After an okay match, Cannon got the win.
(4) Los Ice Creams & Princess Kimber Lee beat Icarus & Mr. Touchdown & Heidi Lovelace in a mixed tag match. This was another Challenge Of The Immortals match. For all of us this was the match of the night. I have always enjoyed Los Ice Creams act, and so did everyone else. Right after the bell rang, a fan up in the balcony said something about Dippin Dots, which brought on of the Ice Creams upstairs. After contemplating throwing him over the rail, he just scolded the fan and went back to the ring. This was a really fun match, with lots of comedy and in the end Lose Ice Creams and Princess Kimber Lee won.
[Intermission. During intermission, Shynron was walking through the balcony and hanging out with fans. When he saw my nephew, he made sure to give him a high five and ask if he was enjoying the show. For the rest of the show, Desi kept asking when Shynron’s match was.]
(5) Ariya Daivari beat Wildcat, Venom, and Kody Rice to retain the F1rst Championship. Daivari got a lot of heat early on, stopping the match because he had to pray. Wildcat interrupted him and knocked him down by pulling his rug out from under him. This was a decent Four-Way, with some comedy mixed in when someone threw a ball of yarn into the ring. Wildcat tried to ignore it, but in the end had to play with it. In the end, Daivari won the match to retain his title. F1rst’s next show is Wrestlepalooza 7 in a few months at First Ave.
(6) Hallowicked beat Jacob Hammermeier in a non-title match. This was a Challenge Of The Immortals match. Even though it wasn’t for the Grand Championship, I was surprised that it wasn’t the main event. From a wrestling standpoint, I thought this was probably the best match of the night. In the end, Hallowicked got the win for his team.
Before the main event, they had a raffle drawing. The prize was a poster signed by everyone in the locker room. They picked a little girl (who in no way could pass as being 15) to draw the winning number. And the winner was…her dad!
(7) Shynron & Ophidian & Eddie Kingston beat The United Nations. This was the final Challenge Of The Immortals match of the night. Desi was excited because Shynron was in this match. My friends meanwhile thought Prakash Sabar and Proletariat Boar of Moldova were kind of stupid. It looked like they were teasing some problems within the Snake Pit, as Kingston kept tagging himself in when he didn’t need to, but in the end, they picked up the win.
Overall this was a fun show. I really enjoyed it, and more importantly Desi had a lot of fun. Hopefully they come back to Minnesota soon (but hopefully in a different venue).
That’s strange about Chikara’s tickets saying the show was for ages 15+. They typically run shows in PA where children get in free with a paid adult, and they usually go overboard in being “family friendly.” At the KoT tourney, Drago swore audibly in the ring on Night 2 and apologized to start the show on Night 3.