Chikara Makes Its Return To South Philly With Torneo Cibernetico

Courtesy of Combat Hooligans'Art Shimko:

Chikara
"Cibernetico & Robin"
September 22, 2007
New Alhambra Arena
Philadelphia, PA

Chikara makes its return to South Philly with Torneo Cibernetico

PHILADELPHIA, PA - Pennsylvania-based Chikara Pro Wrestling returned to Philadelphia's New Alhambra Arena on Saturday night.

What made this show unique was the main event which was the promotion's annual Torneo Cibernetico, a match inspired by lucha libre pitting two eight-man teams against each other where there can be only one winner following eliminations via pinfall, submission or knockout. Seeing that only one wrestler can win the Cibernetico for their team, members of one team remaining after the elimination of the opposing team must face each other until there is a winner.

Besides the main event there other matches as well as the evening began with two prelim matches which weren't announced on the card so one can assume these were "dark matches" although they'll most likely make it on the DVD release.

Brodie Lee and Mike Stevens opened the show with a short yet fun match, Lee was in control for most of the match and kicked Stevens in the face for the pinfall. Brodie was over and the crowd would remain hot pretty much the entire show.

The lovely Daizee Haze defeated Candice LaRae when she held the ropes for a pinfall. LaRae was Human Tornado's former valet in PWG and not only received "Tornado" chants from a small yet vocal portion of the crowd but also "Crossface" chants referring to Tornado put her in a crossface at PWG's Battle Of Los Angeles show a few weeks ago. LaRae didn't take too kindly to those chants. Match was okay, LaRae either needs some more polishing or just had an off-night.

Delirious & Hallowicked defeated Ultramantis Black & Hydra after Hydra took a vicious superkick from Hallowicked and was pinned. Great match that began with some comedy and featured lots of great spots and ring work from both teams. Delirious & Hallowicked scored three points with this win and can challenge Team F.I.S.T. for the Campeonatos de Parejas.

In a student vs. teacher match we had Mike Quakenbush defeat Tim Donst [who does an amateur wrestler-type gimmick] via the Chikara Special submission. Donst was over with most of the crowd as he tried to outwrestle Quack who was countering every move and putting Donst in various submissions, lots of good mat wrestling and reversal of moves from both men. At one point Donst hit a killer swinging neckbreaker on Quack.

Next we had a great tag match as Cheech & Cloudy defeated Jimmy & Colin Olsen [The Olsen Twins] with a Shining Wizard following a powerbomb. The Olsens worked hard double-teaming Cloudy a good portion of the match, Colin hit a great tope out the ring hitting a tornado DDT on Cheech.

Super Xtremo defeated Kris Chambers with a hurancanrana for the pinfall, match was okay, both men worked hard but following the tag match it may have taken the wind out of the crowd a bit.

The next match was interesting as The Osirian Portal [Ophidian and a Pharaoh] defeated Shane Storm & Jigsaw in what I thought was a surprise finish. Ophidian,who reminds me of Cobra Commander except with an actual snake mask, got the Cobra Clutch on Storm for the victory. This match was surreal to say the least, Storm and Jigsaw didn't know what to make of this bunch, crowd was definitely into it so that's always a good thing. A little more seasoning and the Portal will certainly fit in with the Chikara world.

Another somewhat surprising win was The Colony [Soldier Ant, Worker Ant & Fire Ant] defeating BLK OUT [Eddie Kingston, Joker & Sabian]. BLK OUT was dominant from the beginning and looked as if they'd get the win but The Colony came back and put up a good fight. Another fun match that had the crowd cheering like crazy for the Colony.

TORNEO CIBERNETICO:

Teams:
Tecnico Squad:
Lince Dorado [captain]
Chiva III
El Hijo del Ice Cream
Chiva IV
Ice Cream, Jr.
Equinox
Magno
Incognito

Rudo Squad:
Chuck Taylor
Larry Sweeney
Icarus
Gran Akuma
Shayne Hawke
Chris Hero
Claudio Castagnoli
Mitch Ryder [captain]

Lots of action alone in this match, the rudos took the early lead as Equinox took the first elimination from Chris Hero followed by Chiva III pinned by Gran Akuma.

Larry Sweeney then got eliminated by Incognito, Ice Cream Jr. was eliminated by Gran Akuma who was then pinned by Magno.

The odd were even 5-5 as El Hijo del Ice Cream pinned Icarus, El Hijo was then eliminated by the awesome Shayne Hawke who also pinned Chiva IV.

Magno spoiled Hawke's victories when he eliminated Hawke, rudos up 4-3. Magno was eliminated by Hero. Lince Dorado pinned Chuck Taylor, Claudio Castagnoli eliminated Incognito, Mitch Ryder eliminated Lince Dorado.

The finals came down to three members of the rudo team with Ryder, Hero and Claudio. Hero and Claudio had issues with each other the whole match and in return Claudio put Hero in the Chikara Special, Hero tapped and was eliminated followed by Claudio hitting the Riccola Bomb on Ryder to win the Torneo Cibernetico.

A great night of wrestling, I always enjoy Chikara's product and was happy to finally see a Torneo Cibernetico in person. Definitely pick up the DVD when it's released.

Chikara returns to Philadelphia on November 18th for their season finale.