King of Trios 2011: Night 3

Match 1
King of Trios Semifinals
The Osirian Portal (Amasis, Ophidian and Hieracon) vs. the Colony (Fire Ant, Soldier Ant and Green Ant)

Handshakes all around from the two trios. Green and Ophidian start it up with some opening grappling. Amasis and Soldier do some low key holds to each other. Hieracon and Fire continue the feeling out process. Fire is pulled into the Osirian Portal corner and Ophidian comes in to chop at him. The match starts to speed up and intensify between the two. Soldier and Green come in to fight Hieracon and Amasis with synchronized offense, leading to dual backdrops sending them to the outside. With the Portal nestled together outside, they’re prime targets for the Antapult. Only this time, the Portal guys grab Green and Soldier by the legs and drag them out before they can pull off the move. Ophidian puts Fire in the Cobra Clutch, but the ant is saved by Soldier doing a saluting forearm. All three Colony members get a shot at Ophidian, then move on to hitting Amasis with a bevy of corner assaults. He ends up falling into the corner and the Colony do a variation of FIST’s triple dropkick corner move.

They prepare for the Anthill on Hieracon, but Ophidian shoves them down, then follows Soldier out of the ring with a leaping corkscrew into a forearm. The Portal focus on Green, each getting their licks in quickly. Ophidian does a springboard senton and Fire breaks the pin. Fire tries fighting Ophidian and Amasis at the same time, but isn’t good enough to keep track of them both and it blows up in his face. They beat him down with teamwork and Hieracon ends it with a standing moonsault. Fire kicks out. Hieracon picks him up for a vertical suplex and Fire reverses it into a Stunner. The Portal switch it up and focus on beating down Soldier. They have him laid out in the middle of the ring and Ophidian and Amasis climb the ropes for the Osirian Sacrament. Fire and Green try to stop them, but it just causes them to direct their jumping attacks at these intruders instead of Soldier. Ultimately saved, Soldier is able to get up, grab Hieracon and put him down with a TKO. Hieracon kicks out, so Soldier locks on the CHIKARA Special. Amasis rushes in to make him break the hold. Ophidian gets on Amasis’ shoulders and performs a superplex on Soldier. Without missing a step, Hieracon picks him right up with this weird rolling Angle Slam thingy here.

Soldier kicks out. Green clotheslines both Amasis and Hieracon, then reminds everyone of his Viking-slamming might by bodyslamming them both.

Amasis does a rapid flurry of palm strikes on Green, bounces the ropes, Fire pulls the top down and Amasis flies out. Hieracon and Soldier both crawl into the empty ring and end up literally head-to-head. Hieracon’s offense gets a little on the sloppy side, but he’s able to reverse a TKO into a DDT and follow with a Shooting Star Press. Soldier kicks out. Hieracon goes back to the top, Soldier stands up and dropkicks him. He climbs to the top, puts Hieracon over his shoulders, does a saluting Inverted TKO off the top-rope and gets the pinfall. The Osirian Portal take the loss well and Amasis tells his friends straight up, “The rest is up to you.”

Match 2
King of Trios Semifinals
FIST (Icarus, Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano) vs. Team Michinoku Pro (Dick Togo, Great Sasuke and Jinsei Shinzaki)

It seems like we’re going to get Togo vs. Icarus, but Chuck takes his spot instead and ambushes Togo from behind. Chuck sets him up top in the corner, gets kicked in the face and Togo sends him packing with a headscissors takedown. Shinzaki takes on Gargano and easily handles him, including his rope-walk chop. Icarus steps into the ring, gets booed, steps out, gets cheered, steps in, gets booed, and so on and so forth until meeting Sasuke. Sasuke puts him in a headlock and the crowd chants, “TAP!” Heh. Togo is tagged in and does a slingshot senton onto Icarus before tagging in Shinzaki. Shinzaki sets him up in the corner, does a second rope double stomp and hears the crowd cheer for him to do it one more time. He does the same move, only this time he lands in a splash.

Having seen enough, Chuck and Gargano attack Sasuke and work on him for a while. Chuck bites Sasuke and then even bites referee Derek Sabato just because. They do their FIST Boogie and a double suplex. Sasuke kicks out. Sasuke remains in peril as FIST proceed to cheat when possible to wear him down even more. Chuck goes back to the well by biting Sasuke’s foot. Sasuke gets his bearings after clotheslining both Gargano and Icarus. Shinzaki is tagged in and delivers chops and kicks to everyone. He sends Gargano to the apron, pursues him and gets caught with a Spear through the ropes. Gargano jumps off the top rope and is caught in the throat with a thrust strike. Shinzaki climbs to the top, does a diving tackle and only gets the two-count.

Chuck desperately rolls up Togo and he kicks out. Togo then grabs Chuck for the crossface. The ring fills with everybody kicking the everloving hell out of each other until only Togo and Icarus are left standing. They clothesline each other, so that ends that. All six men get back up and Team Michinoku Pro does a batch of three Sunset Flips. Then three kickouts. FIST escapes to the outside, so Sasuke dives out onto them. Togo and Icarus make it into the ring and Icarus goes for a Pedigree. Togo deadweights it, backdrops him and gives his own Pedigree. As he climbs to the top, Gargano hits him in the ribs with a chair. Sabato doesn’t see it. Icarus grabs the chair and prepares to hit him again, but Shinzaki stops him. With the ref still distracted, Sasuke places Icarus in the chair, then climbs up and FINALLY hits that blasted Swanton.

Chuck breaks the pin and then throws some white powder in Sasuke’s face. Icarus rolls him up and steals a trip to the finals. They get out of there, leaving the fans to do a standing ovation for Team Michinoku Pro.

Match 3
Ultimate Spider Jr. vs. Jigsaw

Spider does a Japanese promo, so all I get out of it is who he is. Still, he has some awesome charisma to him that comes off despite the language barrier. The two shake hands in the middle of the ring and instead of wrestling, they compare rolling skills by doing somersaults all over the ring. They mix it up, dodging and reversing everything until Spider finally gets a clean hit via a spinning heel kick. Jigsaw gets him back with a Missile Dropkick, then follows with a tope. They trade forearms, Jigsaw breaks out a series of unique kicks and it isn’t enough to finish him. Spider gets up and dropkicks Jigsaw to the outside, then flips over the ropes onto him. Spider continues to hold the advantage and does his web slingshot dropkick.

The guy rules, is what I’m saying. Jigsaw surprises him with a Pele Kick, drapes his legs over the top rope and DDTs him. Spider continues to kick out. Jigsaw holds him up for the brainbuster, gets kneed in the skull and puts him down. Spider turns it into a Falcon Arrow and still can’t put him away. Jigsaw pulls off a sweet move called the Rack Bottom (a Torture Rack into a Rock Bottom, natch), but gets a kickout. Jigsaw misses a double stomp and recovers well enough to dodge a spinning heel kick, land a superkick, follow with a brainbuster and finish with the intended double stomp. Jigsaw pins the amazing and spectacular spider man. Afterwards, Spider helps himself up by webbing the ceiling and pulling himself to his feet. The crowd chants, “PLEASE COME BACK!” at this sleeper hit wrestler. He seems touched by this and says some stuff on the mic that I didn’t quite catch. That is, except the end when he yells, “I come back!” Aww.

Match 4
Tag Gauntlet

Our first matchup is Da Soul Touchaz (Willie Richardson and Acid Jaz) against the F1rst Family (Arik Cannon and Darin Corbin). Arik and Acid start it up and Arik goes to work on Acid’s arm. Corbin tags in and wears on it as well. Acid fights them back with some kicks, tags in Willie and he overpowers Arik. Arik slaps Willie hard in the face, dashes to Corbin and tags. Corbin can’t budge Willie no matter how hard he clotheslines him, but Arik sneaks in to help take Willie off his feet with an assisted Shiranui. Acid breaks the pin. Arik and Acid fight it out on the outside while Corbin gets the dumb idea of propping Willie onto the top rope for a superplex. As expected, Willie recovers and turns the attempt into a second-rope Manhattan Drop. He goes for the Pounce, but Corbin uses his magical slow motion power to evade it. As he points out how smart he is, Willie hits him on the rebound.

Then he slowly claps his hands to a slow chant of, “WILLIE!” Arik sneaks in, rolls him up and pins him. The Batiri (Kodama and Obariyon) ambush Arik, toss him out and bring in Corbin. Kodama lays into him, pulling off a nice jumping neckbreaker at one point. They keep the pressure on him until Obariyon is on the top rope and Corbin is able to shove Kodama right into him. He tags in Arik, who fights Kodama for a bit until Obariyon gets his bearings. He jumps at Arik, gets caught and is suplexed into the corner. Obariyon hits some offense, runs right into a slap to the face and is taken for a ride with Arik’s Siakolypse. He’s able to get his leg on the rope, negating the pin. Kodama does a reverse hurricanrana on Arik, which he has the wherewithal to roll out of the ring. Corbin picks up Kodama and gives him an Inverted Alabama Slam. As he waits for Kodama to stand up, he notices Obariyon climbing the ropes. He turns around, Kodama uses this opening to do a Backstabber, Obariyon jumps off and hits a DDT and it’s over for the F1rst Family.

Next out are the Throwbacks (Dasher Hatfield and Sugar Dunkerton). They take apart the demons and Dunkerton at one point dunks Obariyon’s head into Kodama’s crotch. They stay on Kodama for a bit until an angry Obariyon comes in there and kicks Dasher in the junk. They’re disqualified, but continue attacking the time-displaced sports team. That’s a shame for the Throwbacks as next out are die Bruderschaft des Kreuzes (Sara Del Rey and Daizee Haze). Haze slams Sugar’s head into the post on the outside, Sara drops Dasher with a double-armed DDT and the Throwbacks are eliminated.

Then it’s the dream team almost a century in the making as we get the team-up of Matt Classic and Darkness Crabtree. Once they’re both in there, Matt makes Crabtree do some warm-up exercises. Crabtree doesn’t take long to fall over. Matt looks him over, then nudges him to the apron with his foot. He hands his entrance gear to Sara and Haze, then turns around to call out his actual opponents.

Haha, oh boy. They aren’t happy and when Haze gets in his face, Matt prepares to spank her on the spot. Sara boots him in the skull. Crabtree tags in and says, “Hit the bricks, Matthew, I got this!” He creeps over to the two women and does a kind of skeevy gesture with his fingers as he gets closer for the lock-up. Matt doesn’t take too well to his elderly partner and they argue, even going as far as to tell Crabtree, “You’re the worst partner I’ve ever had! You’re worse than Pinkie Sanchez!” Sara grabs the two and conks their heads together. Crabtree goes down, but Matt is completely unaffected. Sara and Haze do some double shoudlerblocks, but keep falling over with Matt unhurt. He applies the claw on them both, but Sara kicks him in the head and he rolls out. Crabtree is back in, Haze German suplexes him and she gets the three-count.

Out next is team #7, the Roughnecks (Brodie Lee and Grizzly Redwood). I like how without context, watching these two through King of Trios is like seeing a love/hate relationship. Brodie is quickly tricked into spilling out into the floor and Sara Cannonballs onto him from off the apron. Haze chops at Grizzly and puts him in an arm/neck submission. Grizzly powers out by standing up and carrying her, but Sara puts a stop to the comeback with a cartwheel kick to the head. The two beat on Grizzly for a little bit until Brodie trips Sara, pulls her out and tosses her into the rail. He steps into the ring, Haze runs in the opposite direction of Grizzly to set up a move and bounces right into Brodie. Honestly, this part of the match is weird to watch. We want to see the BDK ladies get their comeuppance, but when Brodie gets going on that, it gets kind of unsavory. Maybe it’s just me.

Brodie hiptosses Grizzly into Haze and Sara comes to the rescue. She kicks Grizzly, then runs right into a Black Hole Slam. Or I guess as Brodie calls it, the Truck Stop.

Haze hits him with a Missile Dropkick and he no-sells it. Sara kicks him while at the same time Haze delivers a German suplex. Grizzly makes the save. Grizzly and Haze do a couple reversals on each other until Grizzly has her down in a pinning position while placing his legs on the ropes. For the third time in the weekend, the BDK is done.

Osaka Pro’s Atsushi Kotoge and Daisuke Harada come out to challenge the Roughnecks. They break the team down with their speed and teamwork until Brodie boots Kotoge. He puts Kotoge on his shoulders, Grizzly does a dropkick off the top and Harada breaks the pin. The two Japanese wrestlers regroup, hit double enziguris on Brodie, send him outside and Harada dives out onto him from the apron. Kotoge hits Grizzly with a Yakuza Kick, sets him up on the top and does a top-rope C-4. Indeed, that’s a successful pin.

Team #9 is 3.0 (Shane Matthews and Scott Parker). The two teams mix it up and 3.0 get first blood with a double STO on Harada. The two teams fight back and forth. The Osaka Pro team seems to have things well in hand after Harada powerbombs Parker down onto his knee and Kotoge hits Matthews with an Ace Crusher, but 3.0 aren’t as beaten down as expected. Harada prepares a superplex on Parker, Matthews pulls him off the top for a Samoan Drop, but Parker assists, making it a Samoan Drop plus neckbreaker. Matthews then powerbombs Kotoge and is frustrated to see him kick out. They prepare for an assisted Lungblower, but during the setup, Harada sends Parker crashing to the outside and Kotoge is able to take advantage of Matthews’ confusion by rolling him up for a pin.

The final team is the Dragon Gate contingent in Super Shisa and KAGETORA. They focus on the more hurt Kotoge. He’s able to get his bearings by Yakuza Kicking Shisa, giving KAGETORA a hurricanrana and tagging in Harada. Harada fights them both and brings it down to just himself and Shisa, punishing him with a brainbuster and a second-rope double stomp. The Dragon Gate team gets back into it and holds each Osaka Pro member in a submission. Kotoge escapes and saves his partner. Kotoge hushes the crowd for a second, then headbutts KAGETORA pretty freaking hard. He follows with a springboard Frog Splash and he kicks out. KAGETORA comes back with a mighty kick flurry and Kotoge kicks out.

The Dragon Gate duo double teams him, ending with a Shisa Missile Dropkick. Kotoge kicks out. He and Harada get a second wind in there and start going to town on Shisa with a trading rhythm of strikes. Harada does a Death Valley Driver while Kotoge kicks Shisa in the skull and goes for the pin. Unfortunately, the ending is a giant botch as the ref claims it was a two-count, then realizes he messed up and calls the match a win for Team Osaka Pro. Everyone is completely confused here. One thing’s for sure, though. Despite being visitors, Kotoge and Harada have earned three points and have a title shot waiting for them.

Match 5
Madison Eagles vs. Manami Toyota

Backstage, Eagles gives her thoughts on how even though she’s the Shimmer champion, she can’t be the best until she defeats Toyota. True to her word, she catches Toyota off-guard early on with a clothesline and desperately goes for a pin. No luck. Toyota goes to town on her, tying her up in the ropes and then dropkicking her in the back. The two trade submissions to slow it down for a second, but it speeds up when Toyota breaks out a top-rope armdrag that sends Eagles across the ring. She goes for a double-underhook suplex, but Eagles fights out of it and rolls her up for an unsuccessful pin. Toyota briefly holds her in a Camel Clutch variation where instead of the chin, she pulls back Eagles’ hair.

She lands two Missile Dropkicks and Eagles continues to get a shoulder up. Madison gets back in the fight with some crazy kicks, then a Northern Lights Suplex. Toyota fights back with her Rolling Cradle, rolling her in a circle around the ring and dizzying her. Madison appears to have things going her way when she pulls Toyota off the top rope with a German suplex, but Toyota springs back up with FIGHTING SPIRIT! She unleashes her own German suplex, but it’s not enough. She tries a moonsault. Kickout.

Madison gets the advantage back by doing a Death Valley Driver into her knee. Kickout. Toyota gives her the Queen Bee Bomb (which is like an in-between mix of the Impaler DDT and the Snow Plow, I guess). The two knock each other down with a double clothesline. They slowly get back up and Toyota tries to put her away with her trademark, the Ocean Cyclone Suplex. To her surprise, Madison kicks out of that too! She goes back to the well with another Queen Bee Bomb and that’s enough to finish the match. They get a standing ovation and Toyota bows to the fans in appreciation.

Match 6
Akira Tozawa vs. Eddie Kingston

Eddie explains that after the humiliation he recently suffered from Claudio Castagnoli, he’s more itching to fight than normal. Since Claudio’s not around for King of Trios, he’ll have to take his frustrations out on Akira Tozawa. Nothing personal.

Strangely, they start it out by going for submission wrestling. The crowd chants for Akira and he does a Li’l Jon routine of, “WHAT? WHAT? OKAY!” The two chop each other back and forth HARD. How hard? Even Eddie sells it. Akira runs into an elbow and ends up outside. Eddie runs for a tope and gets kicked in the head instead. Akira unleashes on him some more and has it under control until being caught with a belly-to-belly suplex. Eddie works him over, double stomps onto his back, does a Northern Lights Suplex and Akira kicks out. Akira works in a comeback, kicks him under the bottom rope and shows him how the whole dive game is played with TWO TOPES RAPID FIRE!

Then he flips off the apron with a senton. Eddie’s brought back in and Akira does his missing headbutts routine. He planchas in, misses a diving headbutt, bounces up and misses a second headbutt, sees that Eddie has his knees up, shoves the knees down, then does the senton. He delivers a Backdrop Driver and Eddie kicks out. He sets him up for a Yakuza Kick, misses, gets his leg tangled in the ropes and Eddie counters with a kick to the back of the head. He plants him with a Straightjacket Suplex, but can’t get the full pin. Akira sets up a superplex, Eddie slaps him down, Akira springs back up and nails Eddie with a jumping Yakuza Kick. He tries to shove Eddie into the ropes for a roll-up, Eddie holds onto the ropes, so Akira rolls back, Yakuza Kick to the back of the skull, then German suplexes him on the head.

Eddie kicks out. Akira runs right into a powerful lariat, Eddie hits the Sliding D and Akira kicks out of that too. The two slap and kick at each other some more and Eddie grabs him from behind for the Backdrop Driver. Akira fights back with dozens of super-quick elbows that seem almost never-ending. Despite his efforts, he falls victim to the Backfist to the Future, pulled in for the Backdrop Driver and Eddie gets the pin. Afterwards, Eddie bows down to him and thanks him. On their knees, the two shake hands.

Match 7
Rey De Voladores Finals
El Generico vs. 1-2-3 Kid

Amusingly enough, the fans chant, “UNO! DOS! TRES!” They shake hands and Kid out-grapples him from the start. Generico twists his arm and Kid escapes by grabbing Bryce and flipping over. The crowd chants back and forth between, “1-2-3!” and, “Ole!” Kid messes with Generico by offering his handshake, then pulling it away at the last second. He catches Generico with a kick, but Generico moves out of the way before the Bronco Buster can hit. Generico starts breaking out some serious armdrag action and Kid is notably impressed. Kid maneuvers him out of the ring then does a flipping senton out onto him. Kid runs at him, Generico flings him up and he accidentally hits the post crotch-first. The ref doesn’t disqualify Generico because he doesn’t consider it on purpose.

It takes a while for him to crawl back in and Generico unsuccessfully tries a pin. Generico ruins his lead when he tries a split-legged moonsault and misses. Although he fights back, he’s shut down with a roundhouse kick. Kid ends up on the apron and when Generico runs at him, he shoulders him through the ropes in the gut. Generico recovers and does a running jump kick that sends Kid to the guardrail. Generico follows with an Asai Moonsault. Back in the ring, he grabs him for a Blue Thunder Bomb and Kid is able to kick out. Generico tries a hurricanrana and it’s reversed into a powerbomb. He kicks out. Kid climbs to the top, Generico meets him up there and tries a brainbuster. Kid escapes it and cradles him for a pin attempt. Generico gets out of it, but is pulled in for the X-Factor. Kickout. Generico gets back to his feet, misses a Yakuza Kick, slaps him in the chest a couple times, hits him with the second Yakuza attempt and then drills him with the brainbuster. Kid kicks out. In a moment of absurdity, Generico breaks out the Razor’s Edge! And it works!

Kid reverses the pin into a crucifix pin of his own benefit, but Generico escapes. Kid tries the X-Factor from the top, since that won him the last match. Generico fights out of it and tries a brainbuster. Kid fights out of that and finally brings him to the mat with that Super X-Factor. Generico kicks out! The place is unglued and they’re fully in support for the Generic Luchador, singing his theme song. Kid goes to the top again and tries a flipping senton. He misses. Standing up, he eats yet another Yakuza Kick. Generico props him up, holds him up and nails that top-rope brainbuster. He pins the 1-2-3 Kid and becomes the 2011 Rey De Voladores. Wink Vavasseur comes in to deliver the plaque.

He helps Kid up and they hug. The crowd chants, “THANK YOU BOTH!” and Generico takes off, leaving Kid to cut one last promo. He heartfully says that this all means a lot to him. He feels that Philly is the capital of wrestling and these truly are the best fans. He suggests that maybe this will be his last year of wrestling, but if this ends up being his final match (and it isn’t), he can’t think of a better final opponent than El Generico. The crowd thanks him some more as he makes his way around ringside to high-five fans.

Kid’s words were spoken from the heart as shown when somebody found this letter taped to the locker room.

Oh-oh-oh, the sweetest thing.

Match 8
King of Trios Finals
FIST (Icarus, Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano) vs. the Colony (Fire Ant, Soldier Ant and Green Ant)

For the first time since 2008, we get a pre-match photo op.

Right after, the two teams start duking it out and the brawl spills to the floor. Funny moment comes when Chuck Taylor is supposed to slam a chair into Green’s arm in the corner. He accidentally hits the foot of the chair right into the post and it launches into the crowd with Chuck realizing he screwed up.

Icarus and Soldier make it into the ring and Icarus works him over. Soldier spends the next few minutes in peril at the hands of FIST until Icarus makes the mistake of backdropping him out of the ring. Fire lays into Icarus, but falls into the trap of having Icarus pull his neck over the top rope, Gargano do a Spear through the ropes and Chuck finish with a moonsault.

They take their turns wailing on him and Icarus briefly pulls on the mask. Chuck tries for a powerbomb and it’s reversed into a Stunner. Fire escapes the ring and that leaves Green Ant. Unfortunately for him, Icarus targets his arm ASAP and pulls it over the rope. FIST bring him in and start focusing on the injured elbow, including a removal of the protective pad. When Icarus is doing the damage, he takes a second to glare at the crowd for chanting, “PLEASE RETIRE!” That’s cold. Green surprises him with a headbutt and rolls out of the ring. Soldier gets in there, throws Icarus out and topes out into him. Chuck and Gargano rush in and Chuck is caught with a Fire Ant top-rope crossbody. Fire outfights the two, sends Chuck to the outside and dives out. Soldier knocks Gargano down and delivers a diving headbutt with added salute. Gargano kicks out and scoots to the corner. The Colony run forward and all dropkick him in the face.

Icarus comes in to help out his buddy and faces down Soldier. He maneuvers him into the corner, where Gargano and Chuck join in for the triple dropkick spot. After that, Icarus does a double stomp off of Chuck’s Death Valley Driver and Gargano follows with a kneeling Ace Crusher. Green comes to the rescue and as the ring becomes complete bedlam, Soldier tries to set Icarus up for a top-rope TKO. Icarus elbows him off and as this goes on, Chuck drags over a table. He makes an effort to pull off the Omega Driver on Soldier, Fire stops him and tries the Beach Break and while Chuck fights him off, Bryce removes the table and puts it back where it came from. Finally, Chuck wins out and piledrives Fire on the apron.

Chuck reenters the ring to receive a saluting discus punch courtesy of Soldier. He wraps Chuck in the CHIKARA Special and while Chuck doesn’t tap, he does seem to have passed out from the pain. Bryce lifts his arm and drops it twice. On the third time, Icarus grabs the ref by the legs and pulls him out of the ring. He gets in there, gets his hands on Soldier and throws him into the corner with the Bluray. Soldier kicks out and Green rolls in to clean house. Icarus puts a stop to that by putting him in an armbar. Green rolls out of it and gets the rope for the break. Icarus brings him to the apron and tries a Shiranui. Soldier shows up to sort of catch Green and break the fall a little. Gargano picks him up and throws him like a lawn dart into the corner post. Chuck gets Fire in the middle of the ring with the Omega Driver and it should be all over.

But it’s not! He kicks out! Having a flashback to two years prior, Chuck puts him in a Half Crab. Fire grabs the rope, but Chuck yanks him back and puts the hold on harder. He holds out long enough that Green Ant enters the ring and clocks Chuck with his exposed, metal-laced forearm. Chuck’s reaping what he sowed. Green picks up Gargano and twists him with the Torture Rack, but as Bryce is distracted, Icarus steps in there and blatantly kicks Green between the legs. He delivers a Pedigree and… KICKOUT! Chuck and Gargano join in with Chuck angrily tearing out one of the antennae. They do their elaborate triple team combo move and again Green kicks out (though I think Soldier was supposed to break it here and mistimed it). Soldier rolls Green to safety and prepares to take his lumps. Chuck throws some white powder, but misses Soldier completely and gets Gargano by accident. Blinded, Gargano superkicks Chuck by mistake. Soldier and Fire use these confused victims as fodder for the TKO and the Beach Break.

Wouldn’t you believe it, they both kick out. Icarus slithers in and gives the two a look of utter disdain. He holds both for a double Shiranui, but they proceed to fling him off. Green comes in, they do the Ant Hill and for what may be the first time in the move’s history, Icarus kicks out! Soldier and Fire climb onto the same turnbuckle. Chuck and Gargano attack them, but both are knocked to the floor. Green climbs up his partners (the crowd response: “PLEASE DON’T DIE!”) , gets launched with a Super Antapult and lands on Icarus. There’s nothing left of him and he stays down for the pin. After five years of trying, the Colony finally win!

On paper, the Colony win seems to be done out of necessity. They’re the premiere trios team in CHIKARA, so they really have to win King of Trios at some point. I have no problem with that or any of the booking, really. What impresses me is how they learned from their mistake in 2008 with the Luchadores team. In 2011, the tournament roster is almost entirely face teams. Yet the Colony don’t go up against anyone who trump them in popularity. They face the Dark Army, the BDK, the Osirian Portal (where it’s pretty even) and FIST. If they beat Michinoku Pro, the crowd might have turned on it.

Also great was how between Colony and FIST being involved in King of Trios for so long, there are so many callbacks. Chuck trying to redo the ending of 2009. The Colony getting the best of Derek Sabato. The Colony getting a decisive win over the BDK, especially Tursas. Chuck defeating the Osaka Pro team the exact same way the Osaka Pro team unfairly beat him the previous year. Very cool stuff.

Join me tomorrow as we wrap this thing up and I get ready for my trip to Easton.

King of Trios Retrospective: Contents Page!

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Posted in Chikara, King of Trios, Wrestlecomics by Gavok |