Chikara Season Five

CHIKARA's Season Five was a milestone year for CHIKARA as they crowned their first champions at the start of the season.

Season 5 would begin the weekend of February 24^th, 26^th, and 27^th with Tag World Grand Prix. Held over three nights, the tournament would see the crowning of the first ever Campeones de Parejas.

Having been kicked out of The Kings of Wrestling at the end of Season Four, Arik Cannon would find himself in need of a new partner in order to compete at Tag World Grand Prix. Cannon would be rejected by Mark Wolf, Adam Flash, Jigsaw, Andy Sumner, Niles Young and Jervis Cottonbelly before Jigsaw would reconsider and agree to team with Cannon. Cannon and Jigsaw would be successful in their opening round match against Kevin Steen and Sexxxy Eddy but would exit the tournament after a second round loss to Osamu Nishimura and Katsushi Takemura.^[1] Cannon went on to singles success during the season by winning the Young Lions Cup the weekend of June 23^rd through 25^th.^[2] After three successful defences against Jon Moxley, Equinox and Lance Steel, Cannon would lose the Cup on October 28^th at Cibernetico Forever to Max Boyer.^[3]

Tag World Grand Prix would also find Hallowicked seeking a new partner after his regular tag team partner, UltraMantis Black was unable to compete due to injury. A random draw would see Delirious selected as Wicked’s partner and the two would make their way to the semi-finals with wins over Crossbones and Rorschach plus Cheech and Cloudy in the first two rounds before beating Team DDT (KUDO and Kyohei Mikami). They would lose to the eventual tournament winners, Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero in the semi finals.^[4]

Hallowicked and Delirious, now known as Incoherence, would continue to team together for the rest of the season much to the chagrin of Hallowicked’s Dark Breed partner, UltraMantis, who, on his return from injury, would form a new stable known as The Order of The Neo Solar Temple with Crossbones and Hydra.

Mantis Black and Wicked would meet in a singles match on September 22^nd at Once in a Lifetime, which would see UltraMantis take the victory after an assist from Hydra. Incoherence would gain a measure of revenge at Brick on November 17^th by beating Mantis and Hydra in a tag team contest and again taking victory in an atomico (four on four person match) at the Season Finale (Talent Borrows; Genius Steals) on November 18^th), which would see The Order of The Neo Solar Temple joined by Blind Rage, while Incoherence would partner with Hallowickedcito and Deliriouscito, otherwise known as Cheech and Cloudy.

Tag World Grand Prix would also see Mister ZERO suffer a career-ending injury at the hands of Icarus, as Men@Work, ZERO’s tag team with Shane Storm fell to F.I.S.T. (Gran Akuma and Icarus) in the second round. Following the loss of his tag team partner, Storm would being to team with Jigsaw, facing F.I.S.T. in a tag team match in March at Naked on the 31^st, with Icarus pinning Jigsaw for the win. The two would go on to meet each other in several contests with Icarus unmasking Jigsaw in a trios match during Young Lions Cup Night Two. As a result of his actions, CHIKARA Commissioner Bob Saget ordered a Lucha de Apuesta with Icarus’ hair against the mask of Jigsaw.^[5]

This match was held in July at The Crushing Weight Of Mainstream Ignorance on the 22^nd and would see Jigsaw defeat Icarus. Upon realising that he was about to lose his long, blonde hair, Icarus tried to flee only to be met by Jolly Roger and Mister ZERO, who escorted him back to the ring.^[6] The humiliation would only serve to drive Icarus on. He would emerge as the Cibernetico winner in October.^[7]

Hero and Castagnoli became the first ever Campeones de Parejas after winning Tag World Grand Prix at the start of the Season.^[8] The day after the new tag titles had been won, Director of Fun Leonard F. Chikarason would explain how teams could earn a title match. In order to challenge for the titles, a team would have to accrue three points by winning three consecutive tag team matches. If a team accrued the required points, but lost a tag team match prior to their title match, all points would be lost and the team would have to restart their title quest.^[9]

The first team to accrue the required points, Lancelot, would suffer this fate after being eliminated in a tag team gauntlet match at Aniversario Delta on May 26^{th, the eve of their title match.} This caused further tension between Lance Steel and Lance Steel, which began over the younger Lance Steel’s friendship with Dragon Dragon and Retail Dragon. This would eventually lead to a "Loser Banished to the Past" match at "Return Of The Son Of The International Invasion Of International Invaders: 1^st Stage", which saw the younger Lance take a tainted victory to send the older version of himself back to the past. on August 19^th

F.I.S.T. would take the Campeonatos from their Kings of Wrestling stable mates, Hero and Castagnoli, at Brick. Infuriated by the loss and by rumours that Claudio was signing with WWE, Hero would turn on Castagnoli, attacking him with help from F.I.S.T., only for Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw and Shane Storm to make the save and drive the Kings of Wrestling from the ring.

The season would also see a fierce rivalry between Larry Sweeney and Eddie Kingston, which began during Sweeney’s “The Winner’s Circle” interview segments. On May 26, at Aniversario Epsilon, Sweeney questioned Kingston’s track record with tag team partners and Kingston walked away from the interview. Later in the evening, Sweeney, after winning back his ICW/ICWA Texarkana Television Championship from Milano Collection AT, would invite Kingston back to “The Winner’s Circle”. When Kingston came out, Sweeney apologized for criticizing "The King of Diamonds" earlier. Kingston accepted the apology, shook hands with Sweeney and gave him a hug, only for Sweeney to sucker punch him with brass knuckles.

The two would meet in a singles match for the ICW/ICWA Texarkana Television Title on June 25^th, at Night Three of the Young Lions Cup. Sweeney would lose the match by disqualification, but would hold on to his title and subject Kingston to a vicious assault after the match.^[10] King would have his revenge the following month at The Crushing Weight Of Mainstream Ignorance,^[11] when he met Sweeney for the Texarkana Television title once more. This time Kingston would pin Sweeney to win the match and Sweeney’s beloved title. Sweeney’s first attempt to win back the belt in August at Return Of The Son Of The International Invasion Of International Invaders: 2^nd Stage would end in a double count out after Sweeney grabbed the title along with UltraMantis Black’s car keys and left the building. When Kingston went after him, Sweeney ran him down with Mantis’ car, leaving Eddie nursing a damaged knee. Sweeney and Kingston would captain Cibernetico teams against each other before settling their feud in a “Yellow-Bellied Strap Match” at the Season Finale in November at "Talent Borrows; Genius Steals", in which Kingston would take the victory.

References

1. ↑ "DVD Review: Chikara Pro, "Tag World Grand Prix, N2" (2-25-06) with Cannon, Milano, Skayde, JJ Dillon". Retrieved 2 February 2014. 
2. ↑ "Archived: CHIKARA: Young Lions Cup". Retrieved 2 February 2014. 
3. ↑ "Chikara Podcast-A-Go-Go Episode 49". Retrieved 2 February 2014. 
4. ↑ "Cheap Wrestling for Cheap People 04.06.06: Chikara Tag World Grand Prix (Part 1)". Retrieved 2 February 2014. 
5. ↑ "Tape Review: Chikara Pro, "Young Lions Cup 4," (6-25-06), Cannon wins cup, Hero, Quackenbush". Retrieved 3 February 2014. 
6. ↑ "The Magnus Analysis - Chikara Crushing Weight of Mainstream Ignorance". Retrieved 3 February 2014. 
7. ↑ "Contemplating CHIKARA 10.16.09: Cibernetico Especial~!". Retrieved 3 February 2014. 
8. ↑ "Archived: CHIKARA: Campeonatos de Parejas". Retrieved 2 February 2014. 
9. ↑ "Archived: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)". Retrieved 3 February 2014. 
10. ↑ "Tape Review: Chikara Pro, "Young Lions Cup 4," (6-25-06), Cannon wins cup, Hero, Quackenbush". Retrieved 3 February 2014. 
11. ↑ "The Magnus Analysis - Chikara Crushing Weight of Mainstream Ignorance". Retrieved 3 February 2014.