CHIKARA- Join the Fight on November 2nd In Philadelphia

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CHIKARAIBangCHIKARA started in 2002 in a small gym in Easton, PA and over the past decade, grew into one of the most intriguing and entertaining independent wrestling portions in the country. A blend of Americanized Lucha Libre, and colorful comic book-influenced characters, any given CHIKARA show could see a frog from Estonia with the powers (and “magic” hammer) of Thor take on a time-traveling old-timey baseball player. Or a team of soccer-playing goats take on the sons of a Mexican ice cream cone [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Its7mk40d1Y]. Who’s that making the matches as CHIKARA authority figure, the Director of Fun? Bob Saget, obviously [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUDAxKjXIII]. (He would later lose the job only to be replaced by Dave Coulier.)

All this took place alongside some of the most intricate story-lines ever devised. CHIKARA was once taken over by a powerful and wealthy group of Scandinavians in possession of an ancient Nordic charm, the Eye of Tyr, that gave them the power to control the minds of their enemies. CHIKARA survived that invasion, just barely, but it couldn’t survive what would happen on June 2nd, 2013.

CHIKARA began 2013 under a cloud of suspicion, strange rumors began swirling around a corporation said to be the real owners of CHIKARA after it was bought out in 2011 by a company called Worldwide Media Development (with the ominous initials “WMD”). WMD was a subsidiary of the Titor Comglomerate, a corporation about which very little is known aside from the fact that they own WMD as well as a private security firm called Condor Security, members of which could be seen acting as security at various CHIKARA events dating back years.’

The Titor Conglomerate seems to be named after John Titor, an self-proclaimed time-traveller from the future who would call-in to Coast-to-Coast AM with Art Bell in the late 90s. Titor was from a future where the United States, ravaged by war, had split in several different territories. Titor would eventually disappear and be written-off as a crank, but his legacy inspired the Titor Conglomerate.

In CHIKARA, there are several prominent time-travelers, but perhaps none more so than Archibald Peck. Peck began as a seemingly innocuous marching band leader, who, after being hit with a spinning backfist move called Backfist to the Future, would actually travel to the future, 2015 to be exact. There Peck would learn knowledge that would give him a competitive edge when he returned to the present, but some say he might have been driven insane by that knowledge. Soon after, Peck would again be backfisted, but this time was flung into the far past, into the Old West. He would return to the present as a mysterious and handsome stranger in cowboy garb, but this created a temporal paradox wherein two Archies were created, the Cowboy version living in a loop where he was destined to be backfisted again and return to mid-2012, the other Archie disappeared, last seen wandering into “Parts Unknown.”

As any science-fiction fan knows, nothing good can come from manipulating the time stream, and the first half of CHIKARA’s monthly 2013 events were titled after particularly apocalyptic and dark moments from the comic series Watchmen. At an event in March, longtime CHIKARA stalwart Soldier Ant (yes, some of their wrestlers are ants, and yes, it is hilarious) would quit the company and go MIA. He hasn’t been seen since. At an event in early April, during WrestleMania week, the main event would see CHIKARA’s co-founder and head trainer “Lightning” Mike Quackenbush team with his idol, the Japanese legend Jushin “Thunder” Liger, to defeat two of his former students, Jigsaw and the Shard. As Quackenbush was leaving the ring, a fan approached him and handed him a mysterious envelope, immediately after which the feed would abruptly cut-out.

In May, CHIKARA Grand Champion Eddie Kingston would take on Archibald Peck. As Peck was setting up a springboard move on the outside of the ring, he suddenly noticed the doppelganger Peck looming from the balcony! Peck launched himself at Kingston and ate a third Backfist to the Future. The lights would go out in the building and when they came back on, both Pecks had disappeared and Kingston, a longtime fan-favorite, would snap and begin destroying the ringside area as he was showered with boos.

Then came the end. On June 2nd, at the Trocadero in Philadelphia, CHIKARA would host “Aniversario: Never Compromise.” The show itself is a wonder of acrobatics, comedy, technical, mat-based wrestling, and a few big WTF! spots like a dive from the second floor balcony and a flipping piledriver on the stage. It was the first CHIKARA show to be released on blu-ray and is worth picking-up from SmaartMarkVideo.com. The main event of “Aniversario” pitted CHIKARA’s first and only long-reining Grand Champion Eddie Kingston (he of the spinning-backfist finisher) against long-time recipient of fan-scorn Icarus. Only, in the month or two prior, their roles had reversed. Kingston had become increasingly aggressive and derisive towards the fans, while Icarus showed a less-arrogant side of himself, even appealing to his childhood hero, Marty Jannetty (kicked-through-the-Barbershop-window Marty Janetty!) to come watch him compete on June 2nd. The match appeared won, Icarus had Kingston nearly unconscious in the “CHIKARA Special” submission, and Kingston was about to tap, when all of a sudden some two dozen members of Condor Security would storm the ring, removing Kingston, Icarus and the referee from the building and kicking out the fans as they began tearing down the stage. One of the commentators mentioned seeing none other than Archibald Peck behind the curtain as it was torn down. Peck was not scheduled for a match that night. The feed abruptly cuts-out.

The next day, the remaining CHIKARA events for 2013 were cancelled, and all CHIKARA merchandise was put on sale for liquidation. The wrestlers scattered many a group of companies running under the “Wrestling Is…” umbrella that bear similarities to CHIKARA. But CHIKARA, the unique and wonderful thing was lost.

Ever since there have been rumors and clues leading many to believe things are not as they appear. Mysterious DVDs have been left by Icarus in the bathrooms of various indie wrestling events (NIN fans will be familiar with this:)) and various rallies have been organized. For a complete rundown of this storyline and it’s endless facets, go to chikara101.proboards.com and join our discussion.

The next rally was announced by buying a comic book off of ebay from a guy with an eyeball for a head (this CHIKARA stuff is crazy, if that wasn’t clear). And the following coordinates and a date and time were written on the backing board:

“+39 53’57.15″
-75 10’42.13″

11.2.13
4:00 PM

#IAmCHIKARA”

Which leads to the FDR skate-park underneath the Delaware Expressway in South Philadelphia. No one knows what will happen on November 2nd. Icarus is building his own resistance to combat Condor and more wrestlers are coming back into the fold as the Wrestling Is… companies are being targeted for closure by evil forces from CHIKARA’s past. Join Icarus in Philadelphia on November 2nd and fight for all that is good, all that is unique, and everything that you love about professional wrestling.

If nothing else, watch this video and see if you don’t think CHIKARA might be for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0r4bcMB3F4

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