CHIKARA Pro Wrestling made its debut in Virginia’s capital Sunday afternoon with a show that was clearly a stark departure from the form of wrestling the city has been accustomed to over the years.
CHIKARA Pro Wrestling made its debut in Virginia’s capital Sunday afternoon with a show that was clearly a stark departure from the form of wrestling the city has been accustomed to over the years.
For a company like CHIKARA, running Richmond was definitely going to be a gamble, but judging by the reactions of the two hundred fans before, during, and after the show, it was easy to say that this gamble was a triumph for the humble promotion.
Their Season 14 event at the Greater Richmond Convention Center, entitled “Moonraker,” featured seven match-ups over the course of three hours, all of which embodied a pure embracement of the entertainment aspect of wrestling. Comedy was abundant throughout the majority of matches, but the serious side came through when it needed to and was surely made more important due to the comedy preceding it.
As ring announcer Gavin Loudspeaker decreed before the show began, CHIKARA is “family-friendly” and it certainly was wholesome entertainment at its best, which is something that hasn’t been used to describe wrestling in… forever? Each match brought something different and unique to the table, and even with many of the matches being comedy and tag affairs, no two matches were alike and each clearly had their own separate and notable highlights. Shynron and Missile Assault Ant opened the show with a very good acrobatic match filled with easy comedy here and there to ease the crowd into the style. Later on, The Osirian Portal and N_R_G against The Wrecking Crew and Devastation Corporation was a good power-versus-high flying match-up that had some very good “lazy” comedy. One of the most recognizable factions in CHIKARA’s history, The Colony, was extremely entertaining while taking on one of the most absurd yet amusing stables in The Bloc Party. The crowd was even treated to a “surprise” as Delirious returned to CHIKARA unannounced to oppose Ultramantis Black in a three-on-three match-up.
Anytime the man from the edge of sanity graces a crowd with his pleasure, it’s going to be memorable.
The main event was for the Grand Championship of CHIKARA, currently held by Icarus. Opposing him was the dastardly Jimmy Jacobs, a ten year plus veteran of the Indy wrestling circuit that has recently terrorized CHIKARA with his group The Flood. Earlier in the show, Jacobs’ protégé, Volgar (who had his own section of people with Boo Volgar t-shirts) was defeated by the ever-popular Eddie Kingston.
Afterwards, Jacobs’ hell-beast Deucalion came out to wreak havoc and destroy Archibald Peck to the dismay of everyone. For the main event, the serious side of the wrestling came to the fore front as Icarus and Jacobs had a heated match that went back and forth all over and outside the ring. As the match built perfectly with near fall after near fall, Icarus finally hit his Wings Of Icarus move to put down the villain for good. Afterwards though, Deucalion threatened to destroy Jacobs for losing, but was fended off by Icarus and the rest of the locker room, leaving the show to end in a stare-down that foreshadowed events to come, namely their end-of-the-year iPPV Tomorrow Never Dies.
Outside of the serious main event, I’d have to say the highlight of the event was the four-on-four match-up that was at the beginning of the show. The show featured comedy as members of The Throwbacks, Los Ice Cream, and 3.0 were put on opposite teams (with Archibeld Peck and Ashley Remington), something that resulted in opponents wanting to hug instead of fight and others forgetting who was on what team. The comedy even went outside the ring as one member of Los Ice Creams noticed a young girl sitting on the floor outside and chastised the crowd for being heartless in making her sit there.
After the staff brought her a chair, the member ended up taking it away from her and enjoyed many a moment in the following match relaxing in it. Too much happened in this comedic gem to describe, but the highlight was clearly the frenzy involving an “imaginary” gun wielded by Remington and the devastation he unwittingly inflicted. It’s safe to say this was probably the funniest wrestling match Richmond has ever seen and it was only accentuated by the person who won the match: CHIKARA referee Bryce Remsburg. How do you even follow a match like that? With a wrestler selfie party of course!
One of Los Ice Creams borrowed my phone and took selfies with his partner who melted #selfie #chikararva @CHIKARApro pic.twitter.com/fzSGHXEZMk
— Batty Belfry (@HighDefPimp) October 26, 2014
As the event came to a close, the gratified crowd chanted three simple words that every promotion wants to hear when they take a chance on a new city: please come back. The words were heartfelt coming from a town that normally gets wrestling twice a year from a big corporation that most often leaves people with mixed emotions. Here, this Philadelphia-based promotion left the crowd completely happy and eagerly anticipating the next step. For three hours one Sunday afternoon, CHIKARA showed Richmond just how entertaining, amusing, and endearing pro wrestling can and should be. The show, much like the fan experience, was unlike anything else in the world when it comes to wrestling, and Richmond can only hope it will come back sooner rather than later.
Icarus retains! #chikararva pic.twitter.com/blieSX8X1i
— kate (@makeitloud) October 26, 2014
In case you missed it or just want to relive, CHIKARA’s Moonraker event was videotaped for Smart Mark Video and will be on sale there soon. Click here for more information.
