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The King of Trios Retrospective: Day 2

August 25th, 2012 by | Tags: , ,

King of Trios 2007: Night 1

On Demand
DVD

The show starts out, uniquely enough, without a match. As it turns out, there’s a huge blizzard going on and the ring doctor hasn’t arrived yet, so the fans in attendance have to sit on their hands for a while and wait. To warm up the crowd, the Order of the Neo-Solar Temple arrive along with referee Bryce Remsberg, who looks like he’d rather be anywhere else. Accompanied by UltraMantis Black and Crossbones, we see that Hydra is wearing a blue bathrobe for some reason and is straining to drag a chair towards the ring. Bryce gives him a hand by easily picking it up.

Upon entry, UltraMantis announces the return of the Hydralock Challenge (occasionally pronounced “hydraulic”). Remember how Chris Masters used to do his Masterlock Challenge in mid-00’s WWE? Hydra’s decided to take it to another level. UltraMantis takes a second to rail at the crowd for being stupid enough to come to a wrestling show in such terrible weather and then has Hydra remove the robe. What a specimen.

The last time they did this bit, they made a teenage girl tap out (or should I say, UltraMantis tickled her and claimed her giggle was a sign of surrender). This time, he wants a challenger with more panache. When he’s about to announce the prize, a fan asks, “A bathrobe?” Angrily, UltraMantis calls him a rapscallion and shows that the winner will get $50,000, as shown in the roll of cash in his hand that he swears is not just a bunch of singles. A handful of fans raise their hands to volunteer, but UltraMantis refuses to acknowledge them. Then Robbie Ellis shows up, poses a little and volunteers to see if he can withstand Hydra’s “unbreakable” full nelson.

My favorite little fan moment in this is when he sits down and flexes, someone in the crowd yells, “He’s bringing sexy back!” and gets a good laugh from some of the others. Hydra does a lot of stalling, but finally secures the Hydralock. In an instant, Ellis taps out. UltraMantis boasts at how unstoppable Hydra is while slipping Ellis the wad of cash behind his back. Ellis smirks for a bit until inspecting the money and seeing that it isn’t the amount they agreed on. Ellis’ partners Mitch Ryder and Larry Sweeney run in, offended at the Neo-Solar Temple for trying to swindle a legend like Ellis. Ryder cuts a promo about respect and then makes a challenge for a pose-down: Sweeney vs. Hydra.

Hydra accepts. To his own theme song, he rubs oil on himself and does some lackluster posing. Then it’s Sweeney’s turn. He turns to referee Bryce and says, “You always walk around with a bottle of oil on you, right?” He does! Oiled up, Sweeney poses to cheers despite being a rudo. UltraMantis insists that it’s a draw and ups the challenge to a 6-way pose-off. The Fabulous Three oblige and flex their guns. Realizing they’re sunk, UltraMantis leads his henchmen to cheese it, declaring, “You planted this audience!”

Match 1
The New Jersey All-Stars (Lucky and JC Ryder) vs. Up in Smoke (Cheech and Cloudy)
0 tag points vs. 0 tag points

Just to review the tag team situation in CHIKARA: getting a win in a 2-on-2 tag match gets you a point. Whenever you lose, your points go back to zero and you have to start over again. When you earn three points, you earn a title shot. Good? Good. Both teams are starting from scratch.

Before the match, Cheech and Cloudy come across a bald fan in the front row and joyfully rub his scalp. JC Ryder gets offended and demands they wipe their hands because that man is disgusting. It starts out with Cheech mixing it up with Ryder, outclassing him repeatedly with Ryder constantly racing for the ropes to free himself. Lucky gets tagged in and unsuccessfully tries to start up a, “LET’S GO JERSEY!” chant. He and Cloudy have a rapid set of exchanges ending in a standoff, but Ryder jumps Cloudy and the two double-team the little stoner. They work over Cloudy with frequent tags. At one point Ryder comes in, dramatically acts like he’s going to hit something huge and then just gives him a simple kick. Though he also does this move, which is neat.

During the trade-offs, Ryder tags in, leaps over the ropes and nails an Ace Crusher. Eventually, Cloudy surprises Lucky with some kind of reverse Samoan Drop and makes the hot tag to Cheech. Cheech cleans house and allows Cloudy to recuperate for a minute before performing Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Cheech (a 619 from Cloudy and a dropkick from Cheech at the same time) on Ryder. Immediately after, Lucky superkicks Cloudy out of the ring and fights off Cheech. The Jersey All-Stars grab Cloudy and hit their double team finisher the Shake ‘n’ Bake (a double-Impaler DDT), but Cheech breaks up the pin. After a series of pin breaks from both sides, Cheech and Ryder are the only ones left standing. Cheech takes out Ryder with his Go 2 Sleep variation, the Go 2 Cheech, and pins him. Now they have one tag point to start with.

A good start, though not the most surprising outcome. I mean, King of Trios 2007 is the first and last time I’ve heard of the New Jersey All-Stars, so… yeah.

Match 2
2.0 (Jagged and Shane Matthews) vs. Shanesaw (Shane Storm and Jigsaw)
0 tag points vs. 2 tag points

Prior to the match, we see a hilarious promo from 2.0 as they go over their hatred for Shanesaw. It isn’t just how Shane Storm and his then-partner Mr. ZERO defeated them during their debut a year earlier, but as Jagged explains, his hatred for Jigsaw goes back to Christmas of 1988. At this point, Matthews has no idea what he’s talking about, but enthusiastically supports him anyway. As it turns out, Jagged once received a Real Ghostbusters jigsaw puzzle as a kid, but was distraught to see it was in pieces! Since then, he’s hated Christmas.

The best part is how Jagged mentions that the box had “Jagged” on it because that’s his real name. Matthews breaks character and fails to keep a straight face.

Before the match begins outright, Matthews and Jigsaw make an agreement that since they’re both coming back from knee injuries, knee attacks are off limits. They lock up and Matthews pushes Jigsaw into the corner. Already, he’s cheering, “YEAH! 1-0!” He and Jagged are able to scare Jigsaw by screaming, “BOOYAH!” in his face, but he then discovers that he can do the same thing against them and “BOOYAH!”s Matthews into Jagged, knocking him off the apron.

Jigsaw goes to make a tag to Storm and asks the crowd if they’d like to see that. Matthews frantically screams, “NO! NOBODY WANTS TO SEE SHANE STORM!” but he’s tagged in regardless. 2.0 are quick to turn the tables and gain the upper hand. Matthews nails some sweet, hard-hitting suplexes. Storm is able to get Jagged with an Air Raid Crash out of desperation, allowing him to tag Jigsaw in. Despite Matthews’ anger at this, he and Jagged still dominate the match. They set up Storm for some kind of double team attack where Matthews holds him in wheelbarrow position and Jagged races across the ropes. Jigsaw catches him with a superkick, Storm gets Matthews with That Japanese Move (Shining Wizard) and pins him. The two celebrate earning a future title shot against FIST and Matthews storms off, declaring, “I DON’T CARE!”

Match 3
King of Trios Round 1
The Order of the Neo-Solar Temple (UltraMantis Black, Crossbones and Hydra) vs. Los Ice Creams (El Hijo del Ice Cream, Ice Cream Jr. and a Very Mysterious Ice Cream)

As the Neo-Solar Temple stand ready in the ring, Los Ice Creams’ heads each peak out from behind the curtain like a totem pole. The third one, known only as a Very Mysterious Ice Cream, is a rather tall drink of water with suspenders and a tie. The crowd is certain who it is, but are polite enough not to call it out. The most we get is one guy losing it and saying, “Oh my God…”

Throughout the match on commentary, Bryce Remsberg makes multiple gag references to who he could be, such as, “HEEEEEEEEEY! Wait a minute!” and, “All six men in this match are wearing masks. One of them looks really familiar. I know I’ve seen Crossbones somewhere before.” He also wonders aloud if Swiss Miss ever made ice cream.

Very Mysterious dances along with his partners, though he’s incredibly jerky and off about it. He allows Junior to start the match against Hydra. Hydra tries to intimidate his opponent with his delusional flexing, but Junior just spins his hips around and screams, “ICE CREAM!” Hydra figures that maybe he can intimidate him with some push-ups, but despite his struggling, he’s unable to get up for even one. Junior first responds by again spinning his hips and screaming, “ICE CREAM!” but then gets down and succeeds in doing about 20 push-ups until Hydra loses his cool and stomps his hands. Junior gets up and ejects Hydra from the ring, allowing him to taunt one more time.

Very Mysterious does the same kind of mischief against UltraMantis. He keeps outwrestling him and when able to strike, he’d forego the opportunity to instead tickle the proboscis part of UltraMantis’ mask, driving him mad more and more. Very Mysterious tosses UltraMantis out and we get Hijo vs. Crossbones. Crossbones is the first member of his team to put up a real fight, although Hijo still outsmarts him repeatedly, even goosing him as a counter to a backdrop. He and his teammates do a triple Ice Cream Sandwich (chest-first body checks on the victim from surrounding directions) and they start shaking their hips. The Neo-Solar Temple finally get it together and clear the ring until it’s just the three of them beating down on Junior. They try some cocky pins that don’t take. Crossbones bends Junior’s cone hat thing, which he sells as being actually painful. Hydra even does the Earthquake Splash spot, to the extent that he even does the jumping startup.

During this, there’s a kid in the front row wearing a Rey Mysterio mask. Junior begs the kid for help and reaches out for a tag, to no avail. He gets up and Hydra begins chopping him. After enduring a series of rapid chops, Junior notices that Hydra is actually pretty weak and stands up to him. Hydra and UltraMantis set up a double backdrop, but Junior DDTs them both and makes the tag. Very Mysterious puts Hydra in a cravat hold, UltraMantis puts him in the same hold and it goes on and on until we have a chain of cravats. Rather than join in on that, Hijo delivers a Cold Stone Stunner to Crossbones and everyone goes flying back. Hydra gets up and tries a Vader Bomb on Very Mysterious, but is literally kicked out of the ring while Very Mysterious remains on his back. Very Mysterious Ice Cream fights off the Neo-Solar Temple himself before finishing the match with one crazy as hell chokeslam on Hydra.

You know what? Have some dancing for the hell of it.

Match 4
King of Trios Round 1
The Iron Saints (Brandon Thomaselli, Sal Thomaselli and Vito Thomaselli) vs. the Fabulous Three (Mitch Ryder, “Sweet and Sour” Larry Sweeney and Robbie Ellis)

In a pre-taped promo, the Fabulous Three excitedly yell over each other about how great they all look, but it’s mostly Mitch Ryder boasting about how there’s never been a more charismatic, glitzy and glamorous group of guys than the three of them. This match is an interesting one as by playing off Ellis’ novelty and likability, as well as opposing the less charismatic Thomasellis, Ryder and Sweeney play the face role here. As far as I can tell, King of Trios 2007 weekend is the only time Ryder’s ever played face in CHIKARA.

Ryder and Vito start it off. Basic headlock stuff, since Ryder’s Memphis style isn’t the flashiest. Sweeney is brought in and Vito holds him down with some leg scissors until tagging in Brendon. Sweeney gets his bearings and starts taking down Brendon with a series of shoulder blocks where each one is followed by excited posing. He sends him to the outside with an Atomic Drop and follows with a tope through the ropes. Ellis faces Sal and surprises everyone watching him for the first time by hitting tilt-a-whirl headscissors and a Shiranui! Keep in mind, this guy is in his mid-60’s at this point! Good God!

Then again, that’s really all he has going for him in terms of offense. After some quick tags to his teammates, he’s back in and gets his eyes raked by Sal. Vito comes in and they take turns beating on the old man. Sal holds him up so Vito can clothesline him, but Ellis evades it, Sal gets clobbered and Ellis tags in both of his partners. Ryder and Sweeney Atomic Drop Vito and Brandon into each other, then go after Sal. As they bounce off the ropes, they’re each tripped and pulled out of the ring. A moment later, Sal holds up Sweeney wheelbarrow-style and drops him onto Vito’s knees while at the same time, Brendon does a 450 Splash off the top. It… doesn’t look quite as cool as it sounds. They pin Sweeney, attack Ellis a little more and then leave. Ellis and his buddies stand in the ring for a bit to soak up the applause of the crowd.

Match 5
King of Trios Round 1
Team DDT (American Balloon, Danshoku Dino and ???) vs. Team Kaientai Dojo (KUDO, MIYAWAKI and Yoshiaki Yago)

A promo shows the Dojo trio backstage. MIYAWAKI yells out, “WHAT! THE HELL! ARE YOU! DOING?!” and that’s the only thing I can understand as the rest is followed by lots of Japanese lingo. In the ring, the ring announcer warns us about Dino and promises that he’s been warned not to touch any of the audience members. True to his warning, Dino comes out, steals a fan’s phone and takes a picture of the inside of his trunks. Unfortunately for Team DDT, the third member Moribe is stuck in traffic and can’t make the show in time. Because of that, they have a drawing. Their replacement is pulled out of a hat. First they announce Giant Gonzalez, but for some reason he’s not there, so they try again and get MASAMUNE, a mysterious, armored, masked, one-eyed warrior from Osaka Pro. Dino checks him out from behind.

After they make sure that Bryce checks Dino (Dino is the most insistent), we begin with a nice mix-up between MASAMUNE and MIYAWAKI. Finding themselves evenly matched, they tag to KUDO and Dino with someone in the crowd warning KUDO, “Watch your… everything.” Dino keeps grasping for KUDO’s junk, but KUDO eludes it again and again via dodging and physically holding his hand at bay. Despite his efforts, KUDO still has his ass pinched. Then we get Balloon vs. Yago. These are the biggest guys of their respective teams, so they do some power testing against each other, turning into Yago overpowering him and then delivering a stiff punch to the face. He and his partners all get their licks in on Balloon and then he utterly destroys him with some heart punches in the corner. KUDO is back in and tries a kick, but Balloon catches it WITH HIS MANBOOBS! Then he turns that into a Dragon Screw and makes the tag.

Dino comes in and does moves while feeling up KUDO. Now, all this time, UltraMantis Black is doing commentary alone and he is trying so, SO hard to spin this into something family friendly. As great as this match ends up being, UltraMantis is the true most valuable player. Anyway, MASAMUNE comes in and sets up KUDO for what looks like Shattered Dreams, but slaps the hell out of him instead. Balloon comes back in and literally punches KUDO with his right boob. He then does a splash where he lands manboobs-first onto KUDO’s face and tries to pin him that way. He and MASAMUNE beat up KUDO on the outside and while that constitutes a tag for the Dojo guys, both MIYAWAKI and Yago are reluctant to get into the ring with a very willing Dino.

KUDO eventually gets a couple surprise kicks in and tags Yago. Yago annihilates MASAMUNE with his punches, clotheslines Dino and Balloon, then drills Dino with a punch combination. Seriously, Yago’s punches are hard as hell and are about equal to being hit in the chest with a police barricade. KUDO and MIYAWAKI double-team against Dino (though not in the way Dino would like, I suppose) and once it’s MIYAWAKI alone against Dino, he finds himself having to force him off as Dino keeps trying to kiss him (UltraMantis insists he’s going for a headbutt). Finally, Dino succeeds in forcing a mouth-to-mouth kiss on MIYAWAKI and then delivers a Rock Bottom. Balloon and MIYAWAKI go at it with some cool strikes back and forth. Balloon wins the exchange with a suplex and then nails a gross-looking Balloonsault.

Sorry.

The pin is broken. Dino is preparing for his patented piledriver (where he places his opponent’s head inside his shorts), but Bryce refuses to allow it to happen on CHIKARA grounds. Dino fends against Yago and KUDO by grabbing them by the heads and forcing them to kiss… before sticking his head in and making it a three-way make-out session. Bryce actually checks the arms of Yago and KUDO and while they drop twice, they stay up on the third check and get Dino off of them. Balloon tries a twisting Balloonsault on KUDO and misses. Yago gives him a suplex and KUDO finishes it with a jump off the top while nailing Balloon in the face with his knees. Both teams get a standing ovation and Dino decides to chase Bryce into the backstage area.

Match 6
King of Trios Round 1
Kings of Wrestling (Icarus, Gran Akuma and Chuck Taylor) vs. Team USA (the Patriot, USApe and Jay “Kidd USA” Jaillet)

A promo is shown of Chuck Taylor talking to Chris Hero over the phone, excited about how they’re going to win the King of Trios. Hero is less than thrilled and hangs up on him. FIST members Akuma and Icarus glare at Taylor and Icarus points out that they’re going to conquer the world of wrestling with this tournament and they’re going to start by beating these guys representing America. They walk off and leave Taylor alone, but still jazzed.

Team USA comes to the ring with USApe waving the flag. The Patriot faces Icarus, who repeatedly chops him in the chest, only to scream in pain. He gives Icarus a few massive chops, then he and Kidd USA throw USApe off the top rope and onto Icarus. Patriot tries to start a “MONKEY!” chant from the sidelines and the fans correct him by chanting “APE!” Kidd USA vs. Akuma is the highlight of the match in terms of ringwork, since they’re both easily the best workers on each team. The Kings of Wrestling end up getting an advantage over USApe and work him over for a little while. Cool part has USApe break out of an abdominal stretch by hiptossing Icarus, only to have Icarus curl up and kick him in the face.

With the Team USA guys getting the attention of Bryce as they try to enter the ring, Akuma spins USApe around by the legs, allows Taylor and Icarus to each get a dropkick in, and then slams USApe down on his face. USApe eventually begins to “ape out” or “go ape” or whatever the term is for getting his second wind as he stands up to Icarus, takes him down and pounds on his chest. Kidd USA is tagged in and fights off the Kings of Wrestling. He superkicks Taylor out of the ring, is thrown out by Akuma and then gets hit with a tope. In the ring, USApe pulls down his straps and puts Icarus in an ankle lock. Icarus escapes, so USApe throws him into the corner and goes for a Monkey Flip. Icarus lands on his feet, turns around, pulls USApe in for a Pedigree and it’s over.

After soaking in the loss, the Patriot quietly splits from his teammates and walks off to the gimmick table, so he can try to sell t-shirts. Yep. They sure got their money’s worth by having him perform for less than a minute. I found out later on that this isn’t even Del Wilkes, the guy who played the Patriot in WCW and WWF. This is Tom Brandi, who wrestled in WWF for a couple months as Salvatore Sincere, then stole the Patriot gimmick without permission and insists that he bought it from Wilkes despite Wilkes’ claim to the contrary. Go figure.

Match 7
Shiima Xion vs. Nobutaka Moribe

Shiima Xion, known these days as Zemo Ion in TNA, is a young dude obsessed with bombarding his head with a can of hairspray. His opponent is Nobutaka Moribe, who finally got to the show. I guess this was originally supposed to be Xion vs. MASAMUNE, so they jumbled the show a bit. Begins with Xion using a lot of rapid and unique matwork, laced with lots of armdrags. Moribe slows it down quite a bit and within a few minutes, the crowd seems confused. During his intro, Xion came off as kind of a heel, yet Moribe is the one playing the heel role. Plus the two just don’t jibe well. While Moribe works on Xion’s neck, I’m more enthralled with UltraMantis and Larry Sweeney on commentary talking about anything else. Moribe delivers some hard strikes in the corner, Xion gets him with a surprise DDT, follows with a missile dropkick, another armdrag, a tornado DDT and Moribe kicks out. Moribe delivers a sloppy Dominator and pins him.

Match 8
Ricochet vs. Maxime Boyer (c)
Young Lions Cup Defense

Commentators UltraMantis and Sweeney are a little confused as to how newcomer Ricochet has earned a shot at the Cup, but then get sidetracked when they start discussing how he’s from the same hometown as Miss Elizabeth and UltraMantis makes sure to remind everyone that she’s dead. When Sweeney goes awkwardly silent, UltraMantis apologizes for breaking the news to him.

Ricochet nails Boyer with a surprise dropkick and would go at him like a ball of fire if not for Boyer escaping the ring and taking a walk. Boyer takes him down and mocks the crowd for clapping for Ricochet. He fails to pin him and argues with the ref that it was three. This argument reaches the point where he yells, “THREE!” at the crowd and they yell, “TWO!” back at him. He starts to throw Ricochet around and due to the kid’s size, Ricochet flies around like a kite before each slam. Boyer climbs to the top, counts to three, does a diving headbutt and misses. Bryce begins to count both of them out and makes sure to scream in Boyer’s ear when he gets to three. Ricochet gets up and goes on a string of offense, with Boyer acting increasingly dizzy while stumbling more after every hit. Ricochet climbs up for a moonsault and gets crotched on the ropes. Boyer tries a superplex and gets shoved to the mat. Ricochet jumps off the top and tries for a hurricanrana, but is instead powerbombed. Boyer gives Ricochet the LifeStyle (a kind of pump-handle piledriver/brainbuster) and retains successfully.

Match 9
King of Trios Quarterfinals
Kings of Wrestling (Icarus, Gran Akuma and Chuck Taylor) vs. Los Ice Creams (El Hijo del Ice Cream, Ice Cream Jr. and a Very Mysterious Ice Cream)

With FIST and Taylor waiting in the ring, the ice cream truck jingle begins to play and Very Mysterious Ice Cream bolts to the ring with his mask untied. While his partners stand confused on the entrance, not understanding why he screwed up their intro, Very Mysterious clears the ring with European uppercuts and then unmasks to reveal Claudio Castagnoli, pissed off and looking for revenge.

Despite how obvious this has been since the first match, the crowd still chooses to chant, “WELCOME BACK!” as if it was a surprise. The Kings of Wrestling join together and pile it on Claudio, finally taking him down. Much of the match is the three of them beating him down, whether one at a time or all together. When Icarus and Akuma try to suplex Claudio, he instead suplexes the both of them. Both Ice Creams are tagged in and they take apart the Kings of Wrestling. Junior puts Chuck Taylor over his shoulders and Hijo jumps off the top and knocks him off with his ass. They put him in a double Boston Crab until FIST arrive for the save. Claudio returns to the ring to deal with them. Then it’s a big string of finishers and signature moves. Junior delivers a Jack and Jill Hammer onto Akuma, Icarus with a tornado DDT on Junior, Hijo gives Icarus a Cold Stone Stunner, Taylor gives him a picture-perfect belly-to-belly suplex, then he leaps out of the ring and onto Claudio. Los Ice Creams set up an Ice Cream Sandwich on FIST and miss. FIST finish it by grabbing each Ice Cream and doing their partner’s finisher at the same time. In other words, Akuma does Icarus’ Pedigree while Icarus does Akuma’s Yoshi Tonic.

After the match, they beat on Claudio some more and he still tries to give chase.

Match 10
King of Trios Quarterfinals
The Iron Saints (Brandon Thomaselli, Sal Thomaselli and Vito Thomaselli) vs. Team Kaientai Dojo (KUDO, MIYAWAKI and Yoshiaki Yago)

Due to the crowd’s enthusiasm towards him, Yago is chosen to start the match, but none of the Thomasellis want a piece of him, going with the crowd chant of, “YAGO’S GONNA KILL YOU!” It finally settles into Vito vs. MIYAWAKI, which has a very slow start. The fight spills to the outside, where Yago and Sal brawl. KUDO backdrops Brandon onto the others, then hits everyone with a tope. The Dojo boys have things in hand until MIYAWAKI ends up at the mercy of the Iron Saints. At one point, he stands up to his attackers and starts a strike war with Vito, but Vito pokes him in the eye and tags in one of his brothers to keep the punishment going. MIYAWAKI ends up hitting Brandon and Vito with a dropkick, then tags in his partners. It becomes like a feeding frenzy with the way Yago and KUDO press the attack.

Really awkward Botchamania moment here when Vito powerbombs MIYAWAKI and goes for the pin. Yago takes too long to break the pin, so the ref hesitates to count to three, making UltraMantis come up with justification on commentary. With a lot of high-impact moves, one after the other, we’re soon left with a ring of six bodies spread across the canvas. KUDO gets up and challenges Vito, hitting him with a series of kicks until being pulled in for a powerslam. Brandon sets up a superplex for KUDO, but then gets caught up in the second rope in the corner. With Brandon suspended horizontally directly underneath him, KUDO jumps up and lands knees-first onto Brandon’s head, spiking him into the mat. Insane.

MIYAWAKI and Sal go at it and stiffly slap each other as hard as possible back and forth again and again until MIYAWAKI grabs Sal and gives him the nastiest headbutt I have ever seen in my life. There’s this very loud thud like someone just clapped two stones together and the crowd becomes unglued. I’ve watched this clip a million times and I’ll probably watch it a million more. So many crazy reactions, including one fan giving a high-pitched, “OOHOOHOOHOO!” out of disbelief. MIYAWAKI’s head is busted open from this.

MIYAWAKI clotheslines Sal, but the pin is broken. Sal and Vito try a wheelbarrow/Lungblower combination and while they hit it, Yago breaks the pin. MIYAWAKI and Brandon fight on the top rope, leading to MIYAWAKI driving Brandon down with a powerslam from the second rope. He gets the pin, the Dojo advances and the fans give it the night’s biggest ovation.

The Kings of Wrestling appear at the entrance, watching the events with no emotion. Not even Taylor. MIYAWAKI grabs the mic and thanks the crowd. While his broken English is hard to decipher, one thing is for sure. On Night 3, he swears, “EVERYBODY DEAD!”

Here’s the bracket so far.

Tomorrow we’ll get the other half, as we gather two more semifinalists. Night 1 is one of the better introductory shows to CHIKARA, despite being a rather long one. Ten matches in one show is a rarity most of the time and the Hydralock Challenge only stretched it out even more. It is weird to watch it now, as the yet-to-debut Tim Donst is hanging around as one of the sound guys. He’ll have to wait a year before taking part in the tourney.

King of Trios Retrospective: Contents Page!

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