Chikara (professional wrestling)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

CHIKARA
Details
Established 2002
Style Lucha Libre
Puroresu
Location Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Founder(s) Mike Quackenbush
Reckless Youth
Owner(s) Mike Quackenbush

CHIKARA (sometimes referred to as CHIKARA Pro) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Their signpost events each year include the King Of Trios tournament (previously Tag World Grand Prix) in February, Aniversario Weekend in May, Young Lions Cup in June or July & the Torneo Cibernetico in the fall. The CHIKARA promotion is based heavily on comical & wacky storylines and characters.

The company takes both the name & logo from the Japanese kanji meaning strength.

Contents

[edit] History

CHIKARA Wrestle Factory was founded as a wrestling school in January 2002 in Allentown, Pennsylvania by Mike Quackenbush & Reckless Youth. After five months, the school started CHIKARA.

In 2004, Chris Hero became a co-trainer at CHIKARA Wrestle Factory. In 2005, Jorge Rivera joined as the third trainer. In March 2005, the school moved from Allentown to the New Alhambra Arena, in Philadelphia. They then took over the training for Combat Zone Wrestling, leading to the school's new name of CZW/CHIKARA Wrestle Factory. The schools split in 2007. The training center is once again simply known as CHIKARA Wrestle Factory. In 2007, Claudio Castagnoli took over Chris Hero's training duties[1].

The company's catalog of events (on both VHS & DVD) are available through Smart Mark Video[2]. A confirmed release date of November 6, 2007 has been publicized as the arrival of CHIKARA's first commercial DVD release, distributed to retail outlets in North America by Big Vision Entertainment[3].

On Sunday, March 2, 2008, CHIKARA drew their biggest crowd ever of over 550 at the New Alhambra Arena in Philadelphia to see the finals of the King Of Trios event.

CHIKARA also makes Internet Pay-Per-Views by the name of Pod-Per-View. CHIKARA also hold a weekly Internet show by the name of Podcast-A-Go-Go which contains CHIKARA matches and interviews.

[edit] Current Champions

Championship Champion(s) Defeated Date Won Location
Campeonatos De Parejas Incoherence[4]
(Delirious & Hallowicked)		 F.I.S.T.
(Icarus & Gran Akuma)		 October 26, 2007 Reading, PA
Young Lions Cup Helios[5] Chuck Taylor October 27, 2007 Barnesville, PA

[edit] Roster

The CHIKARA Roster of 2005
The CHIKARA Roster of 2005

[edit] Stables & Tag Teams

  • 2.0 (Jagged & Shane Matthews)
  • BLKOUT (Sabian, Ruckus, Joker & Eddie Kingston)
  • The Colony (Fire Ant, Soldier Ant & Worker Ant)
  • F.I.S.T. (Gran Akuma, Icarus & Chuck Taylor)
  • The Fabulous Three (Mitch Ryder, Shayne Hawke & Larry Sweeney)
  • Los Ice Creams (El Hijo Del Ice Cream & Ice Cream Jr.)
  • Incoherence (Delirious & Hallowicked)
  • The Order Of The Neo Solar Temple (UltraMantis Black, Hydra, Crossbones & Tim Donst)
  • The Osirian Portal (Amasis & Ophidian)
  • Up In Smoke (Cheech & Cloudy)
  • North Star Express (Darin Corbin & Ryan Cruz)

[edit] Referees

  • Bryce Remsburg – Senior Referee
  • Derek Sabato

[edit] Administration

  • David Coulier – Commissioner
  • Crazy Frank – Czar Of Security
  • Leonard F. Chikarason – Director Of Fun

[edit] Alumni

[edit] Tournament Winners

  • Young Lions Cup I - Hallowicked
  • Young Lions Cup II - Larry Sweeney
  • Young Lions Cup III - Shane Storm
  • Young Lions Cup IV - Arik Cannon
  • Young Lions Cup V - Chuck Taylor
  • Tag World Grand Prix 2003 - Hallowicked & Blind Rage
  • Tag World Grand Prix 2005 - Claudio Castagnoli & Arik Cannon
  • Tag World Grand Prix 2006 - Claudio Castagnoli & Chris Hero
  • Torneo Cibernetico 2004 - Jigsaw
  • Torneo Cibernetico 2005 - Gran Akuma
  • Torneo Cibernetico 2006 - Icarus
  • Torneo Cibernetico 2007 - Claudio Castagnoli
  • November 2006 Tag Tournament - F.I.S.T (Icarus & Gran Akuma)
  • Rey de Voladores 2007 - Chuck Taylor
  • Rey de Voladores 2008 - Incognito
  • King Of Trios 2007 - Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw & Shane Storm
  • King Of Trios 2008 - Lince Dorado, El Pantera & Incognito

[edit] Commercial DVD Releases

Big Vision Entertainment Releases

DVD Name Release Date Region Additional Information
Best of CHIKARA November 6, 2007 Free Contains 9 matches from 2005 & 2006.

[edit] References

  1. ^ CHIKARA/CZW Wrestle Factory
  2. ^ CHIKARA DVD
  3. ^ Big Vision Entertainment's CHIKARA DVD Release
  4. ^ Campeonatos De Parejas History
  5. ^ Young Lions Cup History

[edit] Further Reading

[edit] External links

Languages