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The End of CHIKARA


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CHIKARA has played a big part in the history of this board.     I have many fond memories of going to their shows on a regular basis from 2007-2013.   This is goddamn sad and makes me so angry that the people involved have acted this way and  allegedy hurt a lot of people behind the scenes.      Anyone else want to talk about this?

Wrestling Observer Website

Following accusations including both inappropriate language and misconduct with students that emerged due to the #SpeakingOut movement, Chikara founder Mike Quackenbush announced on Wednesday he is shutting down the company and resigning as head trainer of Philadelphia's Wrestle Factory.

The statement read:

“I have been made aware of recent allegations about myself, and people in my employ. I take all allegations seriously – whether they are about me, or members of my team. Addressing these with openness and transparency is of the utmost importance to me. So these matters can be given the proper time and attention, I am discontinuing CHIKARA and resigning as head trainer at the Wrestle Factory. I’ll make a full statement on these matters in the near future.”

Quackenbush (Mike Spillane) has also been a regular guest trainer at the WWE Performance Center. 

The news follows several wrestlers announcing they were leaving the company including Hallowicked, Kimber Lee, and Dasher Hatfield. Chikara had been in operation since 2002 following Quackenbush and Reckless Youth (Thomas Carter) opening the Wrestle Factory school.

Last Friday, Chikara announced that wrestler Kobald (Anthony Wilson) was done with the company after claims from several women that he was both physically and verbally abusive

Edited by paul sosnowski
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38 minutes ago, saveholmes said:

 

There is significant evidence to say at least a bit of this is bullshit. Specifically the Solo Darling thing was stated by many people who quit CHIKARA today as a bullshit story.

Basically, I know some of this stuff is true in this, but others seems to be a guy who has a bone to pick who also happens to run another promotion in the area.

Edited by The Man Known as Dan
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A lot of the replies are accusing Ursa Minor of hijacking the hashtag and telling stories that aren't their's to tell. 

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9 hours ago, The Man Known as Dan said:

There is significant evidence to say at least a bit of this is bullshit. Specifically the Solo Darling thing was stated by many people who quit CHIKARA today as a bullshit story.

Basically, I know some of this stuff is true in this, but others seems to be a guy who has a bone to pick who also happens to run another promotion in the area.

He sort of lost me at "Solo had moved out to be closer to Philly and be with Mike after he promised her a career in Chikara." Others also claiming a lot of the stuff is fabricated in regards to Solo. 

He did essentially confirm why the Chikara shut-down angle happened (the same reason that was 'rumored' at the time). 

 

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Well damn!!! I've always dug Chikara from its fresh perspective on wrestling, to it's zany antics and characters -many of whom went on to bigger and better things,  to the overall attitude of the Fed itself and OF COURSE the amazing ARTWORK they placed on the Dvds, comics, shirts etc. I hope this isn't true and that someone steps in and helps to train, book, etc. Please keep us  updated...this truly sucks!!!

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Some emails just leaked - Quack's email to the CHIKARA roster reviewing their performance at King of Trios 2009, Night 3, followed by Mitch Ryder's email to Quack quitting the promotion as a result of what Quack said about his ring gear in the first email

Subject: KoT, Nt. 3

Gang,

Today, I made my way through the March 29 KoT finale, and this is what I saw:

Team Uppercut vs. The UnStable: Dave Taylor is a strange man. You can tell he's a hardass, and probably took a lot of shit throughout his career. Maybe that's why it's so entertaining to see him having such a good time through this tournament. It's like he can't wipe the smile off his face half the time, even though he wants to act like a badass. And that's great. The crowd clearly picked up on how much Dave and Bryan were enjoying themselves, which made the UnStable great character foils as the spoil-sports of the tournament. Jerry and Tony's new light blue gear looks really good. The UnStable seemed more confident, more aggressive here then they were the previous nights, which is what we needed from them. Jerry's selling has come up a notch or two, maybe because having Colin around, who is outstanding in that department, makes you bring your game up. All the falsies were great. Really enjoyable all around.

F.I.S.T. vs. TFIN: This is how you get babyfaces over. Just watch FIST. I loved how, when Lince tagged in, there were about 20 people who "boo'd" his entry, but by the time his shine with Ron was over, he had turned the crowd on because the material was right, and both guys knew what to do. This match didn't entirely undo the damage of the previous nights, but it came as close as it could within 13 minutes. All the choices made in this match were the right ones. From the turn-around right through to the end, the crowd is electric. This is probably my favorite match of the whole weekend, the only other contender that hit as many correct notes would be FIST vs. F1rst from the night before. That fact convinces me that FIST were the right guys to win this whole thing. Excellent stuff from everyone involved.

Cannon vs. Generico: This match was added basically because I loved last year's Team IWS vs. F1rst match, and it seemed like a waste to have these guys and not pair them up in some way. Kingston and Bryce were excellent calling the action here. I think the crowd had lost a little energy during the hot finish to the last match (they were really nuts during the last 90 seconds of the TFIN/FIST match) and probably needed a little time to recover. This deserved better reactions than it got. Very solid, exciting content. I think Cannon would be better served using his punch once or twice a match rather than 8 - 10 times. Like Jimmy Olsen, his punch is so believable, it should be a false finish. In the end, this was a fine singles match, with good storytelling and believable action that never lost your interest.

Tag Team Gauntlet: This was tiresome in parts, excellent in others, and perhaps, needs to be dropped next year to change things up. I'll try to break this up into pairings.

Incoherence and Team EPIC WAR, when I watched it live, felt like it went 2 moves too many, but on DVD, it did not come across that way at all. Frightmare's new Globetrotter gimmick went well for a first trial run, but it's only about a 6 out of 10 right now. We'll polish it up some more this weekend in Easton. Louden seems to routinely confuse the Shooting Star Press and the Moonsault Press on commentary.

The Sea Donsters came on, and looked like they could barely do their own material. If Lince Dorado came out and was sloppy like this, the marks would burn him in effigy and tear the Arena down brick by brick. But, Philly likes whatever is cool on the boards, and luckily for Hydra, that includes him. When Donst saved Hydra from the suplex, it worked, but when Hydra had to save Donst, he showed up late, and missed it entirely. Hydra almost killed himself doing a pescado plancha. When the Donsters did their double-team on Mantis, Hydra got more Donst than he did Mantis, and it looked terrible. Felt like a slopfest. This was the only appearance by the Donsters all weekend, and as this is probably the most watched CHIKARA event of the year, what a terrible place to be inaccurate and sloppy. Casual fans will watch this 4 - 5 minute segment and wonder "how the hell are those guys over?"

The Neo Solar Temple is really hit or miss. Crossbones comes off like a badass bruiser one minute, then looks like an uncoordinated fat guy the next. When Beef and Turtle came on, it was going to be one end of the spectrum or the other. When you consider the challenges he has to work with, it's amazing what Turtle can do. Too bad they turned on his Phillies line, because that should have been gold. Beef Wellington occasionally looks like he knows what he's doing. This is not one of those times. His offense (watch the dropkick, or when he whips someone) is rookie-level, and his strikes and such aren't the least bit believable. Luckily, this segment was short.

Uno and C-A-W came on, fans did not like that the Order was eliminated. For being such a relatively big guy, Player Uno sure is one rotten base for high-flyers. Don't tell dudes you can base for them when you have no strength in your body. Or, perhaps, hit the gym first. I know it's awkward when someone asks you to help base them for a flying move, and in your head you doubt yourself, but you don't want to turn them down because that sets a bad precedent. But that's the safe, smart thing to do if you aren't strong enough to be a good base. Otherwise, you're going to kill somebody.

Pinkie and Mitch made for an interesting combination. Pinkie has an awesome presence, knows how to use his facial expressions, body language and vocals to get the most out of every spot, which is a lot like Mitch. Pinkie knows when to be explosive, and his offense is fresh and original. He also gets the difference between working face and heel - when Pinkie is trying to be a heel, he sells like a douchebag so the crowd can't sympathize with him. That too is like Mitch, who knows how to get the right reaction. My gripe here is that this segment was given 3 minutes on the sheet, and went just short of 7 minutes. There's no excuse for that. Mitch wore some bargain basement gear that totally robs him of his presence - and there was a time that Mitch Ryder had more heel presence than any guy on our roster. Here, he had almost none. The clothes make the man, they say.

The Soul Touchaz are a great act, and a big part of it is their dancing entrance. But in a situation like this, they probably should have just sprinted to the ring and gone after the heels, rather than allowing them time to recuperate. This segment went 5 solid minutes.

When the Young Bucks came on, it was the shot in the arm the match needed. Marshe is fuckass fantastic, and with his look and size, could really be a major star if presented correctly. If that whole crew lived out here, much like Cannon and his backwoods crew that thinks living in MN is a good career move, I'd put them on every show. The NSX are one of the indies' best kept secrets, and secrets they will remain in Minnesota. But they could all be fulltime players for us. That's how much I like the act. The Bucks know what gets them over, and they deliver.

The Bucks and Cheech & Cloudy really clicked well, and in some ways, they are cut from the same cloth. They can work that non-stop style realistically, and it was fun to watch for the 3.5 minutes it lasted.

Grizzly and Brodie did all the right stuff with Cheech & Cloudy, the only error clearly being the bit where Cheech was allowed to pick up Brodie into a powerbomb position. It ended badly.

The final segment where Jigsaw and I came on was a disappointment. There were good spots ruined by bad timing throughout. They were either rushed, or took a few seconds too long, and neither of those is especially desirable. I am as guilty as any of us for that. Not an impressive way to finish the gauntlet at all.

Colony/NSX vs. Portal/Team DDT: Wow, I'm so over Nakazawa's oil gimmick. It was beyond tiresome here, and worse, at the finish, it made the ants look like the punchline to a stale joke. Not good for babyfaces. The Egyptian Destroyer flip-piledriver should be Ophidian's Tiger Driver '91. Misawa would pull it out once or twice a year as a kill-finish when everything else had failed. That's how this should be. We saw it in January, again in Reading the next month, and again in this match. We shouldn't see it again until the end of the year. This way, it really means something when you see it. I realize that move can't be done with everyone, but that's no excuse to over-expose it. I do a Tiger Driver off the top rope, at most, once a year. I haven't done it since November, 2007. So when it finally comes out again, it's going to mean something as a finish. Anyway, the match. I hate the drooling of oil spot onto Fire Ant. In fact, I'm pretty damn sure it says right on every line-up I write not to do exactly that. Michael not withstanding, the rudos were pretty on point here, and the faces knew what to do. Maybe a minute or two too long, but the crowd really enjoyed this mixture of characters. If not for KUDO's explosive offense, I think Durrell would have been the star of this one. His vocals were great.

Kingston vs. Aries: Like it's not hard enough to keep Kingston heel in Philly. Instead of the babyface Aries I had asked for, I got the guy who does whatever the fuck he wants. Because, let's be honest, being a TV megastar on HDNet, (available to about 5% of the US, and watched by far less than that,) probably makes him better suited to decide the content of a CHIKARA show than me. Or perhaps, he realized he'd never be brought back, and decided to just go out and be a douche because his game was already over. Take your pick.

Kingston was a machine out there. The Sleepwalker suplex in particular looked great. The finish came out of nowhere, which was a good contrast to the preceding match. Solid, hard-hitting, like you'd expect from a Kingston match.

Player Dos vs. Ibushi: I thought here, more than any other match of his, Ibushi's star presence was really on display. I liked the back-and-forth nature of the first act, since both guys were faces, this seemed like a good idea. Apart from one little slip on the top rope (that Dos covered up very nicely), this was simply awesome, good high-flying fun. A bigger push for Player Dos in the back half of the year is clearly in order. Liked this one a bunch.

FIST vs. Team Uppercut: This told the right story in the right way, and didn't waste time getting to the heart of the matter. This late in the night, especially following Ibushi/Dos, that was a smart move. I had great confidence this would be good. If these 6 guys can't deliver a kickass match, something is wrong with the world. Fear not. All is right. The match was a fitting end to the tournament, and the weekend.

The whole King of Trios weekend was a mixed bag. When it was good, it was stellar. When it was bad, it was simply putrid. As I finish writing this, I looked at SMV's all-time Top 10 bestsellers, and all 3 nights of the tournament are already there. At least for 2009, this is the (non-ROH) indy event more wrestling fans will see than any other, and Night 3 in particular really delivered the goods.

Hopefully the time and effort put into reviewing these discs will be worth it. Even when harsh, I think honest feedback is the key to growth, and by year's end, I think the way we grow is going to go a long way toward closing the gap between us and Ring of Honor, a company that is losing ground every day to us.

MIKE

Edited by saveholmes
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Mitch Ryder's reply to Quack:

Quote

Subject: RE: KoT, Nt. 3

Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 22:58:43 -0400

after reading this review, it is with my deepest regret that i am quitting chikara. effective, immediatly. i will not be on the flight tomorrow. the reason i am sending this to all of you is that quack decided to involve you all in burying me about my "bargain basement" gear and my presence! mike, you have totally humiliated me! how unprofessional to do to that. if you have a problem with my gear or my work then you discuss it in private. you don't embarass the shit out of me and then smile and shake my hand when i walk in to the venue. who the fuck do you think you are? i wouldn't dream of criticizing one of my seniors in the business like tracy smothers or bull pain! especially in a bulk email! could you imagine me picking bull apart and then having the balls to send it in a bulk email! that is not how things are done in this business. you are way out of line! i have given all to chikara and as i look around my house and watch my daughter pack so she can go to her grandmas while i leave again, it becomes clear that i would be a fool to leave this behind to venture across the country to work for a man that disrespects me! i don't think so. i think of all the delayed and cancelled flights and how my family and i have suffered so greatly for chikara. in return, i get humiliated. i paid $125 for those pants and then went around your locker room showing them off, proud of the fact that i was willing to go to such lengths to modernize my look to try and better fit in with the younger workers. i was proud of those custom made pants and you just talked about me like i am one of your trainees. i don't think so. its been a running joke about how much ego you have in writing those show reviews every month. the whole locker room knows its in bad taste. we laugh at you down here because we have never seen anyone with so much audacity. i always just laughed it off until now. now, you have embarassed me anf killed my credibility with the boys. how are the younger guys suppose to respect and listen to me when you don't respect me. chikaras success has gone to your head. i use to say that mike quackenbush is my favorite person in this business. now, you rank among those that have hurt me most in this business. i thought we were friends. the old mike would never have embarassed mitch ryder in front of the boys. where did you go? i heard you described the other day as "a closet scumbag" and everyone in the locker room that heard that agreed. your an arrogant asshole and you have hurt my feelings huge! for those of you reading this let me tell you how it is suppose to go in this business- you honor and respect those that have been practicing this craft longer than you. your not suppose to humiliate them! mike, as far as the money your out, i guess i will use it to get some better gear other than the bargain basement shit i wear. i am gonna miss everyone like crazy but i have to make a stand. its not ok what your doing quack!

Edited by saveholmes
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16 minutes ago, Matt D said:

This is a bad take. This is a very bad take. It's an ill-timed take. I am sorry for this take, but...

Holy fuck is that Quack review ever absolutely fascinating. 

On its own, that's not a bad take at all...don't feel sorry for thinking it. It's an interesting read. 

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21 minutes ago, Matt D said:

This is a bad take. This is a very bad take. It's an ill-timed take. I am sorry for this take, but...

Holy fuck is that Quack review ever absolutely fascinating. 

We used to get those slipped to us on the private section of dan’s chikarafans board during the company’s high point (2007-2010). Always an interesting peek behind the. Curtain from somone so guarded about his business.

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43 minutes ago, Matt D said:

This is a bad take. This is a very bad take. It's an ill-timed take. I am sorry for this take, but...

Holy fuck is that Quack review ever absolutely fascinating. 

No, I think this is warrented. It's an amazing view into the mind of both a great wrestling mind and an awful human being.

He praises many but absolutely destroys some of his own damn students. I had heard rumors of how badly Hydra was treated for years, and good god does this support that. But you also can see how sharp his wrestling mind is here completely. Just a fascinating read. 

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Quack's email is a fascinating read.  I half think he meant to post that on the DVD forums under a screen name and goofed up and posted under his real name.

How was Chikara 2.0?  I didn't watch a single second of it after the first shutdown.  Chikara was probably my favorite indie for a long stretch, but I drifted out of the promotion near the end of the BDK storyline.  I didn't start hearing the stories about Quack until sometime around the shutdown and that plus the silliness with treasure hunts at malls and the infamous pdf kinda soured me on him and the promotion.

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Another Quack email leaked - this time his review of King of Trios 2008, Night 3:

Today I watched the final night of the tourney. Some thoughts: 

FIST vs. COLONY I liked the way this got going. The first 4 minutes (the shine stuff) was really, really good - some of my favorite stuff from the weekend, with everyone working their roles as perfectly as can be. This also had an advantage built in because most of our fans wanted to see the Colony win, and they hate FIST with a passion, so that adds to the dynamic. I liked the heat, Soldier Ant was effective throughout, and the heels looked good. The spot for the hot tag was good, but shortly after the tag to Worker, it got clunky here, and I'm not sure what happened. Before things got too bad, Fire and Akuma went into some hot shit, but things got sloppy again in the dive sequence. Some of the sloppiness hurt the momentum of the finish, but this one had the crowd with it 100%, and they seem to be very forgiving of babyfaces like the Colony. I thought Ron was in his full heel glory here. 

LUCHADORES vs. QUACK/JORGE/STORM Jose, let's tuck those tube socks back into the boots. We can't afford to have our cool, young rookie sensation look nerdy. The opening shine had some really rocky parts - like the kind of stuff that should have been practiced at training dozens of times until it was perfect before we saw it on a show. Tony, I think at times you overestimate your strength, and when working as a base for a flyer, that can be dangerous. Just eat some steroids - I have some with my waffles every day. This had its really fun moments, if I do say so myself. You can tell Jorge and Javier weren't overly pleased chaining together, but the crowd ate it up anyway. They went almost 5 minutes by themselves, and it was one of those exchanges that obviously means one thing to fans, but something else to workers. Incognito has the sweetest gear. I just wanted to say that. I think we did a good job of not killing too many false finishes early in the night, and the reaction of the fans at the finish was really a great moment of shock. 

JAPANESE vs. BLK OUT People raved about this match, and you can tell why. At least for Kingston and Joker, the Japanese were a perfect foil for them, and this was a true puroresu style match, so having this follow the pure lucha match gave each a distinct flavor. Ruckus felt like the odd man out to me. Our friends at ROH said this was the match that made Gabe see the potential in Kingston, and you could see how perfectly he fit into the dynamic of this style. Since ROH is aped puroresu at the end of the day... write your own joke here. Other than a really wacky Yoshi Tonic, this thing was on the money from start to finish. 

INCOHELIOS vs. FAB THREE The crowd was already starting to tire out by the time this one got to the ring. Helios needs black wrestling sneaks in the worst way. The first four matches of the night were each unique in their style, but after three days of non-stop matches, the crowd was getting a little deflated. Hawke is really good in his new role. I thought the guys made the right choice here in not going crazy with false finishes. 

TAG GAUNTLET There wasn't a whole lot to this, as the formula really dictated most of it, and only the Chivas were in for more than one turn, and that probably wasn't the smartest choice considering how it went. The Kartel stuff in the crowd was gratuitous, and for the part of the match that I did as a commentator (before leaving to deal with Frank Talent), this was my least favorite part. Then Marcus almost killing himself on a Dragonrana, there was the spitting, and this just turned into one of the lowlights of the gauntlet. When the goats where in, one of them got knocked out, and it went downhill. Shaky stuff abounds. The crowd gave up on this until Sara and Bobby hit the ring, and from this point on, it was all good. The Demolition stuff was great, to the point, and I wouldn't have changed it in hindsight. The middle of the gauntlet really dragged though, and in terms of running time, this year's was half as long as last year's. Incidentally, gents, the name of Demolition's finisher is not the "Demoliton Device," but the "Decapitation." For shame. 

INCOHELIOS vs. BLK OUT You'd never know Helios just had his gall bladder out the way he was selling and bumping his ass off here. A few times, the falsies were hurt by being broken up a second too soon, and it ruined the drama of the false finish (the Shadows Over Hell/SSP break up by Ruckus especially). Joker really brings the intensity. The finish brought good heat to set up the finals, and while it made Bryce a heel for the next hour, when he redeemed himself in the finals, all was right with the world. 

LUCHADORES vs. COLONY The crowd really wanted the ants to win this one, and the wind went out of their sails when the luchadores went over. Crowd was dead early, and the most they would give up was polite applause. Sadly, when they would rally behind the ants, there was nothing doing, and if anything, Incognito looked better than everyone else. Lince looked good putting heat on Worker Ant, which is not a role he's usually in. This contained the world's worst double-team, but I don't think it was Pantera's fault, even though it's clear from the sound of the audience that they blamed him. From that point on, the match was always flirting with disaster. The crowd just wanted it to end. The falsies were fine, but the crowd didn't give a shit. Fire Ant and Lince looked good together. 

4-WAY ELIMINATION By this point, I think the fans had had all the wrestling they needed for the day (or weekend), but what can you do? You can't rush the finals on or the guys don't have time to put it together and they're still tired from the semi-final, tiring crowd that was hard to motivate. By this point in the show, I really felt like ring announcer Nick and the music guy were holding things up by not moving the show along as briskly as possible. The delays on entrances became excruciating by this point in the night. Attention all refs: Check the guys for foreign objects as rapidly as possible from now on. You don't need to check a guy's wrists if he doesn't have anything on them. Too much stalling and standing around in this one for my tastes, and I took a long break between discs to have lunch. Imagine how the fans felt. Vin will need new tights soon, since the shredded pair over the Equinox gear is starting to show wear. Reno and Martin were fine, but the crowd was past the point of no return here. 

8-MAN TAG Did I mention the crowd was tired? This was fine, other than one spot where CAW appeared to have no clue what he was doing, and made it worse by just doing a random dropkick that made no sense whatsoever. Luckily, it ended quickly. I wanted this to break up the monotony of the shine-heat-climax format, but really, the crowd didn't need this match as much as the 6 guys in the main did. 

FINALS Well, we made it. Crowd was so not into the early going of this match, but by the heat, BLK Out were effective enough in the jerk role that they got 'em going. I'm not sure where Ruckus was on March 2, but his body showed up for our show. Note to Sabian - please don't ever get hurt again. Incognito ruled it big time here. Lince brought his A Game all through the night, and if his performance and push here doesn't make him into a top babyface, I don't have any more tricks up my sleeve. I thought the last 60 seconds were electric, and considering how the heat went, having King tap out wasn't as bad as I thought watching from behind the big screen. After he became the big jerk of the match, the crowd saw him as "having it coming" anyway. 

Man, I'm sick of Trios all over again. 

MIKE

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On 6/25/2020 at 8:20 AM, Infinit said:

So did they ever have a proper resolution to the shutdown angle from a few years ago? 

Short answer: Yeah, kinda.

A reddit post from a few days ago recapped the entire thing, from its origins all the way to the "finish".

It's... quite a long read.

Spoiler

In 2011 CHIKARA announced it had been purchased by the World Wide Media Development Corporation. A fictional company, and a part of a larger, also fictional corporation called the Titor Conglomerate.

Effective immediately a man named Wink Vavasseur, would be in charge - and the fans hated him. He introduced bureaucratic ratings systems to determine what “the fans wanted” and called himself the “Directory of Fun”. It broke up face stables, most notable The Colony.

In Season 12, he began being accompanied to shows by a group of security guards called Condor Security.

During this time, Eddie Kingston was the Grand Champion of the company. After Eddie accidentally injured Wink at a show, it was decreed that Eddie must defend his title at EVERY show.

It’s massively important to note, that in 2011 Chikara quietly created sister promotions at this time throughout the United States known as “Wrestling Is…”

Each major region in the US had its own promotion. Wrestling Is Art. Wrestling Is Cool. Wrestling Is Respect. Wrestling Is Intense, Wrestling Is Hearts... to name just a few.

Achibald Peck travelling back in time

In season 11, Archibald Peck (Robert Evans), lost a loser leaves town match at Chikara’s second iPPV, “Chikarasaurus Rex: How to Hatch a Dinosaur”. However, he redebuted under a new gimmick “The Mysterious and Handsome Stranger” basically a cowboy based on Dusty Rhodes. He eventually unmasked as Archibald Peck again at Chikara’s Under The Hood PPV in December 2012, the end of Season 11.

Wiki can do a better job explaining than I can here:“Peck's backstory at this point was explained in a video on the Wrestling Is YouTube channel published on December 31, 2012, where his barrister R.D. Evans presented his case for reinstatement to Chikara Director of Fun Wink Vavasseur, claiming that after Peck was given a spinebuster on the stage at Chikarasaurus Rex, he got into a backstage altercation with Eddie Kingston and, after being given a Backfist to the Future, was transported back in time to 1885. Living as a cowboy, Peck received another back fist from a fellow cowboy, Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen, which resulted in him being transported forward in time to after the show, meaning that the Archibald Peck who was pinned by Dasher Hatfield was not the real Peck, who should therefore be reinstated. According to Evans, there were now two Archibald Pecks; the one who was pinned at Chikarasaurus Rex and later wandered around in the "Where in the World is Archibald Peck?" videos and the one who returned under his cowboy persona The Mysterious and Handsome Stranger, a paradox that would be fixed when the real Peck receives another Backfist to the Future and is sent back to Chikarasaurus Rex to finish his match”

This leads us to May 2013 and mid way through Season 12. At this point the rudos (heels) in the promotion are seeming to join forces, many heel stables are coming together...

The penultimate show of the season was the finals of Tag World Grand Prix 2013, main evented by The Young Bucks vs. Jigsaw and The Shard.The semi main event was Peck vs. Eddie Kingston for the Chikara Grand Championship.Towards the end of the match, with Peck looking like he is going with win the title, he hits THREE Backfists of his own, in a row on Kingston and goes out onto the apron to hit a “NEW MOVE” (something he would shout, often hitting something simple like a DDT).Suddenly, a second Peck appeared on one of the arena's balconies behind the crowd. The Peck in wrestling the match is distracted and gets hit with a Backfist to the Future.

The lights went out, and BOTH Peck’s have vanished. Bryce Remsburg investigated around the ring to see if he could find either of them, and threw out the match. Kingston declared himself the winner and said Archie was dead… and next month Icarus would be too.

Archie goes missing again... He's been hit into the future?

The shutdown show

Aniversario: Never Compromise on iPPV - June 2013.

During the show, a "former employee" of the Titor Conglomerate jumped into the ring and said he had proof that Wink Vavasseaur and his father, and the management at Titor had links to white supremacists in Oklahoma…Later in the show, we’re main evented by Eddie Kingston vs. Icarus for the Grand Championship.

At the end of the match as it looked like Icarus would win, Wink grabbed the microphone and shut down the show, announcing that Titor was closing Chikara. Security escorted fans and wrestlers from the show. The storyline here was that Wink wanted to stop any further leaks.Stories surfaced after the show that Chikara was auctioning off assets, belts, tapes, everything and anything. An unkown bidder bought everything… and Chikara, from now on would cease to exist.

The end of Season 12 came some 5-6 months earlier than expected.

What happened during the shutdown?

For the rest of 2013 Icarus began a campaign online on Twitter, Facebook and Youtube to get Chikara back. Fans held rallies with him, they held a match in Philly in honor of the promotion - at this show Condor Security actually kidnapped a “fan”. The remaining fans and Icarus hunted down following clues left by Condor and found the kidnapped fan in a storage unit!

Remember those Wrestling Is… promotions? Well by now they’re getting decent attendances close to what Chikara could have expcted. They're not massive draws, but decent enough. Importantly they’re putting on more shows than normal because they’re across the US!

They're refereed by the same referees, like Bryce Remsburg, and hosted by the same people that normally did Chikara, like Gavin Loudspeaker and Lenoard F. Chikarason.

The majority of the faces on the roster wrestle on these shows, and many rudos/heels work under masks as new workers.

Fans at these shows would often ask Icarus or other Chikara wrestlers if Chikara would ever come back, and Icarus would regularly tell fans that he had hope and asked them to join him to make sure it returned.

New talent is brought in and developed and wrestlers are repackaged.

Did Chuck Taylor leave the company?

No he’s still there! He’s just under a mask as Mr. Azerbaijan. Chuck would wrestler for Chikara/Wrestling Is until around 2018. He even had a storyline in 2016 where he lost the legal rights to his name and fought against someone wrestling as “Chuck Taylor™”, Chuck had to use names like Rick Beanbag, Stewie Scrivens, Rich Mahogany, Bugg Nevans and some other fantastic names…

Did Archibald Peck really stop wrestling for the duration of the storyline?

No, Robert Evans (Archibald Peck) worked as Latvian Proud Oak in the Wrestling Is promotions!

What about the Flood and the other heels?

Around August or so the heels start attacking each Wrestling Is promotion and between August 2013 and December 2013 a stable of heels would shut down each promotion. Wrestling Is Cool, Art, Awesome etc.. all close for various reasons after heels either take them over or destroy them completely.

The feature film is released ‘Ashes’

Former Chikara wrestlers appear on it covering all the storylines from 2011 until 2013 that lead up to the closing of the promotion. Attempting to unearth the truth behind the closures, and who could forget, what really happened to Archibald Peck? 3.0 vow to find the man who had been completely missing since his match with Eddie Kingston.

Icarus as portrayed as a face, instrumental in trying to get the company back (as he had been doing on social media for most of the year) - whilst Eddie, frankly couldn’t give a rats ass if the company came back or not.

We are also introduced to Kid Cyclone (/u/kondron Kevin Condron… Jervis Cottenbelly) who is basically the leader of the next crop of students from Chikara’s Wrestle Factory.

Ready To Return

National Pro Wrestling Day - February 2014

During the advertised main event, a huge group of heels crash the show many wearing hoods/masks. The group are made up of many stables who shut down the satellite Wrestling Is promotions in the past few months.

A group of Chikara faces appear lead by Icarus to try and fight them, but they’re massively outnumbered.

Jimmy Jacobs removed his hood and proclaims he was the leader of The Flood - set on destroying anything related to Chikara and every promotion they can.

Suddenly the wrestlers in hoods/masks wrestlers in the ring unmask... they're not heel goons... they’re all long-standing Chikara wrestlers!

A huge brawl ensues between the two groups… when the camera pans to a door leading into the arena itself from outside…

A Delorean pulls up to a huge pop, and out from it steps Archibald Peck and 3.0! They’ve travelled through time to join the fight!

The faces fight back the heels; and wrestlers from Chikara who were former enemies join forces to save the promotion. Icarus holds up a sign that has a date on it and tells the cameraman and fans that Chikara will return from the Ashes in May 2014 on its 12th Anniversary.

During this time it is announced that the “mystery bidder” is none other than Mike Quackenbush. Whilst he is of course the founder of the company, he was never in story control of the company. He now - in story controlled Chikara and intended to bring it back.

Between February and May, there is a legit shutdown as the Wrestling Is promotions have been destroyed, and Chikara is gearing up to return.

The Return

You Only Live Twice on iPPV - May 2014

The largest crowd in the companies history, some 1,500 people attended and I believe the buy rate online was its largest to date.

The main event saw Icarus finally claim a win over Eddie Kingston and win the Grand Championship.

Did the story end there?

Absolutely not! At the end of the iPPV Jimmy Jacobs debuted a huge man called Deucalion, the real leader of The Flood. Deucalion would go on to use a One-Handed Choke Breaker to break the back of wrestlers and in story murder Kobald (of the Batiri).

Deucalion would kill nearly every wrestler who was part of the Wrestle Factory featured in the Ashes film. The last man standing was Kid Cyclone… who snapped and unmasked as Kevin Condron.

Icarus would feud with the Flood and eventually face off against Deucalion in December 2014 at Tomorrow Never Dies in Chikara’s first-ever Steel Cage match - and the faces of Chikara would face The Flood in a huge 16 man elimination match.

 

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