Tommy Platinum

Yeah but what is on this show?

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Xanta

The podcast? Well, it shows you clips from 2 matches from recent events. Of course, not the whole match, but the climaxes to see if you are interested.

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horrorfan_1986

Okay well, what I'll do is this, I'll post the one match (Mainly because I already uploaded it). However, if you do like it, go to Smart Mark Video and order some DVD's like I did.

For future reviews of shows, I don't know. >_>

At least for the show I saw, only the undercard and main event was very gimmicky. When they need to, they can get serious.

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Tommy Platinum

I don't see too much harm in downloading just a couple of matches to check out the show though. Before I ever bought an ROH dvd, I downloaded Punk/Joe II, and after seeing just how awesome it was, I ordered a bunch of dvds. It can be a good thing for people to see full matches without parting with cash, as it can help the promotion in the long run.

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Bon

as much as I don't advocate downloading, Tom, so far from this year, a few matches I'd recommend are:

January 27, 2008 "Two Eyebrows Are Better Than One" - Hellertown, PA:
Shane Storm vs. Eddie Kingston

March 2, 2008 "2008 King Of Trios - Night 3" - Philadelphia, PA:
F.I.S.T. (Chuck Taylor, Icarus & Gran Akuma) vs. The Colony (Worker Ant, Fire Ant & Soldier Ant)

June 15, 2008 "2008 Young Lions Cup - Night 3" - Hellertown, PA :
Vin Gerard vs. Fire Ant

August 10, 2008 "Vanity & Violence" - Philadelphia, PA:
Brodie Lee & Osirian Portal vs. Incoherence & Claudio Castagnoli

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Xanta

Add to that list Mike Quackenbush Vs. Shane Storm from Tragedy and Triumph and Claudio Castagnoli Vs. Brodie Lee from Style and Substance. All over the 4 * mark.

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Bon

Yeah, those too, even though I haven't seen the cage match.
and Diablo, time to fix your sig eh?

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King Steventon

I'm no expert on CHIKARA so forgive me for these views (soz Bon)...

From that which I have seen.... the comedy is 90% total failure and rarely gets a rise out of me. I have enjoyed a few matches, but they re from guys like Quack and Taylor who I know are reliable. They seem to have some good angles, though I'm not sure since I don't follow it that much. I really am doubting the show had this many epic matches on it. Yes, I know that sounds retarded seeing as I havent seen any of them, but nothing I've seen from them has come close to three stars let alone....four..

And lol @ those people whining about uploads. It's not as if people like Tom are going to buy the DVDs wether they see the uploads or not, if anything its helping people get into the product so they may buy in the future.

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horrorfan_1986

Style & Substance
September 7, 2008

Much better production values compared to La Loteria Lethal. The lights and signs actually makes it feel like a wrestling show instead of some event after school.

Team F.I.S.T. vs The Colony
A rematch of sorts from the previous night with Akuma and Taylor vs Worker and Fire Ant. Worker Ant is wearing a very sweet jacket. Taylor hits a nice moonsault. With Worker Ant in the ring, Taylor sets up another hand grenade. Worker Ant catches it and slips it into Taylor's tights. Being the compassionate partner that he is, Akuma kicks Taylor's ass to save everyone. Meh, not nearly as good as the previous nights grenade. The Colony hits their Ants Go Marching (Power Bomb/Neck Breaker combo) for the 2. Taylor with a huge top rope hurricrana on Worker Ant which is followed up by a D-Lo Frog Splash. Fire Ant breaks it up. Akuma connects with his Cheetah Swipe (Awesome looking rolling through snapmare with a Buzzsaw kick). Fire Ant reverses Akuma and hits a DDT (Very Rey Mysterio like), but Taylor breaks up the pin with the OMEGA Driver. That's it for the Ants and F.I.S.T. gets revenge from the previous night. Post match sees Chuck Taylor trying to scare some little kid, but the kid no sells it....bastard. Pretty enjoyable match. It had some comedy, but it was mostly a serious match. The OMEGA Driver is incredibly awesome move to see. I'd like to see a Trios match with F.I.S.T. vs The Colony. 11 Minutes. 3 1/2 Stars.

Eddie Kingston vs Lince Dorado
Dorado made Kingston tap out at the previous show. Before the match, Kingston cuts a promo saying how Dorado is trying to make him crazy, but it won't work. Kingston jumps Dorado before the match and just throws him around on the outside. Finally, the match begins and Kingston continues to beat down on Dorado. Lince makes a small comeback, but the best he can do is his a Ghetto Blaster. Kingston hits a few Back Fists to the Future and covers Dorado. Kingston pulls Dorado up before the three. That's enough for the ref to end the match due to Kingston just wanting to beat Dorado up. Dorado begs the ref to start the match. Dorado looks to get the surprise win, but Kingston kicks him between the legs. The ref DQ's Kingston giving Lince his second straight win over Kingston. After the match, Kingston tells the cameraman that he's done with Lince, he won't let him make him crazy. Not much of a match, but it did do a lot in terms of storyline progression and getting to know the characters. Kingston plays a great paranoid crazy heel while Dorado is good enough for the fiery comebacks. I expect to see more of the downfall of Kingston to come. 9 Minutes. 1 1/2 Stars.

The Fabulous Two vs Super Smash Bros.
From my short research over CHIKARA, to earn a shot at the tag titles, you need 3 points. To get a point, you just need to win a match. 3 wins = tag title shot. Super Smash Brothers already have 2 points, so this could be a big win for them. Before the match, some fan gives the masked duo a stuffed gold cube from the Super Mario Bros. game. The Fabulous Two are Buck Hawke (Formerly known as Shane Hawke) and the epic Mitch Ryder. Player Dos (smaller member of Super Smash Bros) is in pretty good shape, well for a guy who's 150 pounds soaking wet. Player Uno looks and wrestles like he just came in off of the streets. Ryder and Hawke works in some old school tag moves together while Player Uno plays the face-in-peril for most of the match. SSB hits an assisted piledriver (Regular piledriver with Player Uno randomly dropping down while holding the leg of Hawke) to win the match. Their finisher looks like shit. I was hoping for better with the Super Smash Bros. Clever gimmick, but Uno just sucks. Buck Hawke isn't the greatest in the ring, but I like his gimmick of inspiring to be just like Ryder. 13 Minutes. 2 Stars.

Jimmy Olsen Interview
Jimmy Olsen calls off his match with Solider Ant tonight (Aww
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) since he has no beef with him. Olsen plugs his feud with Vin Gerard some before calling out his brother, Colin Delaney. I love the Olsen's theme song. The Full House theme mixed together with Britney Spears' Toxic is epic. Once in the ring, Colin and Jimmy embraces...aww. Jimmy tries talking, but Colin rips the mic out of his hand. Delaney informs Jimmy that the reason why he didn't tell him about what he was doing (Woohoo for African Safaris) is because it would take Jimmy off of his game. However, since coming back the previous night, Colin believes Jimmy is even worse off than before. This brings out Gerard and Shane Storm to jump Jimmy from behind. Storm and Gerard holds Jimmy up while Colin slaps his brother. Lince Dorado comes out to try and make the save for his unlikely partner, but the trio stomps away on him. Gerard gets on the mic and yells at Jimmy and Lince that they are fools for thinking they can beat Delaney and himself (Finals of the La Loteria Lethal). Finally, Gerard announces that the three of them will now be called The UnStable. I gotta admit, I like the beginning of heel Delaney. I assume this means Jimmy is a face now. Nice buildup to the finals of the tournament. The UnStable looks like they could be a great faction. Now, if only I can figure out what to make of Shane Storm.

Incoherence, Hydra and Helios vs The Best Around and The Order of the Neo Solar Temple
Incoherence are the tag team champions, Delirious and Hallowicked. Hydra is wearing a muscle body suit, which is just total bad ass. The Order of the Neo Temple are UltraMantis Black (Indy version of WCW's Mortis?) and Crossbones (Fat kind dressing up in a cheap halloween costume). The Best Around are a new team with both members reminding me of Austin Starr. I wonder whatever happened to him. TNA really missed out in a money match with Starr vs Austin Aries. Hydra does some posing before the match. The technios (Faces) take turns attacking UltraMantis in the corner using the Lucha tags. The match breaks down in the "You hit a big move, then you get hit by a big move, rinse and repeat). Tug and war with one of the Best Around guys being the rope. Old schoolyard trick with the technios tripping up the Best Around guy to get the pinfall. Too short of a match to really show off anyone. Hydra was very over and is one of the most enjoyable CHIKARA guys to see. I'm not really sure if I like Helios or not. He seems very spotty. Crossbones is just lucky that he's bigger than everyone else, if it wasn't for the other wrestlers selling, the guy would look like shit. The Best Around looked good though. I'd like to see more of them. They look like they could be pretty good once they get more experience together. 7 Minutes. 2 Stars.

In the back, Hydra is checking himself out in front of the mirror. One of the broadcast members brings up how Hydra looks a lot different. He mentions how CHIKARA has a strict wellness policy. Hydra has to have a meeting with him this coming Monday. Uh oh...hasn't Hydra learned anything from fellow muscle men like Chris Masters?
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Solider Ant vs Colin Delaney
Solider Ant is in the ring when The Director of Fun (Hey, it's the dude that talked to Hydra...ah ok) comes out. Since Jimmy Olsen is injured, he's substituting Colin Delaney in the match. Delaney comes out to boos and just punishes Solider. Slaps and various pinfall attempts follows. Solider tries to come back, but Delaney hits the double boots to Solder's head. Colin with the FU to Solider and that's all she wrote. After the match, Delaney demands tougher competition next time. Just a squash match, but it did it's job to get Delaney's new attitude over. I like more aggressive Delaney, so I'm happy. 4 Minutes. 1 1/2 Stars.

Osirian Portal vs Cheech and Cloudy
First time seeing Cheech and Cloudy on their own. Cloudy is still a midget since the last time I saw him in ROH. Cheech and Cloudy now have a surfer gimmick. A lot of taunting early on. Sadly, unlike with Hydra or Solider Ant, I'm not enjoying it at all. The OP slows down the match to work over Cloudy. The match drags on some. The match picks up in the end with more of a fast paced style. Some nice near falls. Ace Crusher by Cloudy only gets a 2 count. The OP finishes Cloudy off with a top rope body press/legdrop combo. The last few minutes really saved this match from being terrible. Amasis annoys me a lot and not in a good heel way. Cheech and Cloudy looks like they have talent, but they need to tone down the taunting. The surfer gimmick just doesn't work. 13 Minutes. 2 Stars.

Icarus vs Larry Sweeney
This should be interesting, two of the biggest loudmouths in the company. Icarus blindslides Sweeney before the bell. Icarus is in control for most of the match. Dropkick to the back of Sweeney's head attempt, but Icarus totally misses Sweeney. Sweeney wins with a schoolboy and using the tights for extra measure. Short, pain free, but not memorable in the slightest. 2 Minutes. 1 Star.

Vin Gerard and Shane Storm vs Mike Quackenbush and Tim Donst
This is another match in the heated feud with Storm/Gerard vs Quack. From my limited research, I take it that Storm and Gerard were students of Quack. Gerard turned evil and convinced Storm to turn as well. Well, looks like I need to watch some earlier shows. Before the match, Gerard announces that Shane Storm is now STIGMA (Caps since he's more evil~!). Much better name name Shane Storm. I'm still trying to figure out if Storm...err STIGMA is a normal wrestler or more in the vain of a Kane/Abyss character. Either way, a ordinary name like Shane Storm just doesn't fit well. Quack slaps STIGMA around some to start the match. Donst and Gerard engage in a long sequence where Donst just looks so fucking green. The UnStable (...heh...get it? They're a stable...but they're the UnStable?) works over Donst for most of the match. Quack re-injures his knee from the previous night. Quack finally gets in and does his best to work with the bummed out knee. Weak chops by Quack to STIGMA. Badass combo move by Quack. He bulldogs Gerard while hitting a dropkick to STIGMA, but on the way down, he gives a legdrop (Not sure if that was on purpose though) to STIGMA. Quack locks in the CHIKARA Special (Much better angle than the previous show, so I actually know what it is now), but for whatever reason, the ref just leaves the wrestlers. Gerard breaks up the submission and locks in the STF for the second night in a row. The ref comes back looking like he was hurt. I have no idea what's up with that. The ref holds up Quack's arm, but it drops three times, giving the UnStable it's first official tag win. After the match, Colin Delaney hits the FU to Donst on the cement. STIGMA brings in a chair and Gerard sets up the chair on Quack's throat (Kane to HBK post Bad Blood 2004). Jimmy Olsen runs out to try and get revenge, but Colin hits a John Morrison like DDT. STIGMA heads to the top rope, but Jigsaw runs out to push STIGMA off before he's able to jump on the chair. A small welcome back chant for Jigsaw. Jigsaw looks to shake Quack's hand, but Quack refuses. Obviously, I missed some backstory between the two for why Quack would be upset at Jigsaw. For the match, this was a huge disappointment. The longer it went, the more sloppy it went. Having a face be the face-in-peril for most of the match works, but only when you have a sympathetic babyface in the role. Donst doesn't interest me in the slightest. That being said, the storyline of The UnStable and their enemies is starting to get very interesting. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this progresses more. While the match was a letdown, I'm becoming more and more impress with Gerard. If he's normally this good, this kid is going to be huge in the indy scene. The only question is, how will ROH's changes effect people like Gerard? It looked like Gerard was getting his chance in ROH, now, I'm not sure. Either way, I still think Gerard will become one of the top indy stars. 13 Minutes. 2 Stars.

Claudio Castagnoli vs Brodie Lee - Steel Cage Match
Obviously, these two men have been feuding for some time if CHIKARA is putting on a steel cage match. What's been the backstory? I have no idea. HA. It seems as if the CHIKARA gods were listening to me as they play a nice video recap of the feud. It began with Lee destroying a lot of the smaller guys. At the beginning of the year, Claudio challenged Lee to a match so he (Brodie) can face someone his own size. In the next two matches, both men were DQ'd for missing the Big Boot and hitting the ref. In a No-DQ match, Mitch Ryder lit a fireball in Claudio's face to help Lee win. So in order to settle this feud, CHIKARA announced this match, the first steel cage match in their history. Nice. Before the match, Claudio cuts a promo only to be joined by Larry Sweeney. Sweeney tells Claudio that he wants Mitch Ryder in a match. However, the only way to get it is if it's a tag match, so Sweeney asks Claudio to be his partner. Claudio laughs it off and refuses. Lee and Claudio attacks each other before they even get in the cage. With Lee on the outside, Claudio hits a suicide dive from inside of the cage to outside. Once they get inside the cage, the door is locked behind them. To win the match, they have to either pin the other or climb over the top of the cage. Submission or going through the door won't get you the win. Lee controls most of the match through just some brawling. Brodie tries a European Uppercut, but that just pisses Claudio off. Brodie is busted open. Sitdown power bomb by Lee, only gets a two count. The ref is knocked out while Claudio sets up the Ricola Bomb. It should be mentioned that the cage door didn't actually shut. Instead, it was just kept shut with a chain. With Claudio covering Lee and the ref out cold, a ref from the outside pulls the door open pretty far. However, since he's not supposed to get inside, he quickly shuts it acting like he can't get inside. Ah, the steel cage blunder. By time the ref gets up, Brodie kicks out. More fighting. Brodie and Claudio crotches each other on the top rope. Brodie hits the big boot (The move he destroyed people all year with) but it only gets a 2. Brodie calls out Buck Hawke (Ryder's little bitch buddy) to bring him a steel chain. Sweet N Sour Larry Sweeney comes out and takes out Hawke showing his loyalty to Claudio. Claudio takes out Brodie and climbs to the top of the cage. He begins to climb down before he rethinks it. Claudio stands on top of the cage and jumps and nails a European Uppercut to Brodie~!!!!! Claudio finishes Brodie off with a Ricola Bomb to get the victory. And with that Claudio wins the feud. The biggest problem with the match was just it's commentary. Neither guy really sold the spots well enough and actually made things seem worse than it really was. Had they had better commentators, this would of been an epic match. That being said, this was an awesome match. In a huge contrast to the rest of CHIKARA, these two didn't put on a match full of MOVEZ~!! and didn't fly around. It's exactly what you'd expect from a steel cage match - tons of brawling. Brodie and Claudio did a good job in bringing up spots from their previous matches (The ref bump and Hawke). The end spot of Claudio with the top of the cage European Uppercut was insane when you remember just how big of a guy Claudio really is. To show how smart CHIKARA was with this match, they ended the feud with Claudio/Lee, but it also sets up the new match/feud with Claudio/Sweeney vs The Fabulous Two. Overall, probably Claudio's most interesting match (For me at least) this year. 17 Minutes. 4 Stars.

Overall
Match-wise, the show was a slight disappointment in terms of quality. Claudio vs Lee is the only match that you need to go out of your way to see. However, from a storyline point of view, it's a pretty important show. The debut of a new faction in The UnStable, heel turn for Delaney, first cage match in CHIKARA history and a team winning the final 3rd point to get a tag team titles match. Currently, The UnStable and it's feuds is the hottest thing in CHIKARA and I can't wait to see what's next for them.

Next up - The Artistic Pursuit Of Being Yourself

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King Steventon

Dare I ask for the cage match before the inevitably whining starts? Yes, it would be nice to see it.

Cheech & Cloudy don't usually taunt that much in their matches, but I havent seen them under their surfer gimmick so iunno.

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