Season 1: 2002 (written by Babs)Over the past Seasons, there have been many important dates in CHIKARA history like
February 26th, 2006, when
The Kings Of Wrestling became the first
Campeonatos de Parejas,
February 18th, 2007, when
Jigsaw,
Mike Quackenbush, and
Shane Storm won the first King of Trios tournament, or
November 13th, 2011, when
Eddie Kingston became the
Grand Champion at CHIKARA's first iPPV. But the most important is
May 25th, 2002, the date of the first CHIKARA show, which is appropriately titled The Renaissance Dawns.
The first show featured five matches:
Mister ZERO pinned
Dragonfly,
The Beauty And The Beast (
Love Bug and
Marshall Law) beat
The Night Shift (
Hallowicked and
Ichabod Slayne),
Kid Kruel pinned
Zane Madrox,
Blind Rage pinned
Ultramantis, and in the main event,
The Black T-Shirt Squad (Quackenbush,
Reckless Youth, and
Don Montoya) beat
The Gold Bond Mafia (
CM Punk,
Colt Cabana, and
Chris Hero) when Reckless pinned Colt after a Northern Lights 2K1 Bomb.
The second show was less than a week later on
May 31st. UltraMantis faced ZERO and they would feud for the rest of the Season before teaming up in the next. The primary rivalry of the Season also started at this show between The Squad and The Night Shift (Rage, Hallowicked, and Slayne) when the two teams met in the main event. The Shift beat The Squad after Slayne hit Quack in the head with the pumpkin he brought to the ring with him, allowing Rage to get the pin and the win.
Over the next few shows, The Shift would continue to win, usually thanks to Slayne's ever-present jack-o-lanterns (later revealed to be supplied by ZERO). Eventually, the interference begun to backfire and The Squad was able to turn the tide as the Season continued. On
June 28th, Slayne took the losing fall in a 10 person tag featuring The Squad, Love Bug, Queen Bee, and UltraMantis against The Night Shift, Mister ZERO and
Trinity H. Campbell. He had to wear a dress during the atomicos match on the next show at
October 12th, where Quack, UltraMantis, Dragonfly, and a masked
Gran Akuma faced off with Rage, Wicked, Slayne, and ZERO. The stress and tension of constant losses destroyed The Shift from within. Slayne turned technico and lost his mask in CHIKARA's first lucha de apuesta, a mascara contra caballera (mask versus hair) match, at the
season finale on December 7th. He would return the next season as Icarus.
It's impossible not to talk about the first season without talking about The CHIKARA Wrestle Factory (now known as just The Wrestle Factory,) as CHIKARA grew out of it, as originally it was a way to showcase The Factory's students. The Factory was founded in January 7th, 2002 and the first class included UltraMantis, ZERO, Dragonfly, Wicked, and Slayne. The first CHIKARA shows were held at The Factory itself, which was located at 1313 Linden Street in Allentown, PA.
This upset some neighborhood activists who didn't want wrestling in their neighborhood and a lawsuit was filed against CHIKARA claiming that The Factory was not zoned to host large groups or events. The lawsuit also claimed the wrestling shows would ruin the "complexion of the community", another zoning issue. The Courts agreed and ruled that The Factory couldn't host CHIKARA events any longer because it didn't have enough parking for their shows.
Because of the case, CHIKARA didn't run any shows during the summer of 2002. However, that didn't stop them from finding a new venue and starting to run shows again. CHIKARA's new home was at St. John's Lutheran Church, only a few blocks from The Factory. The first St. John's show was on October 12th and new talent would join the roster, including Akuma, Kingston, "Black"
Jack Marciano,
DJ Skittlez and
Lester Crabtree. Later in the Season, Jigsaw and
Bryce Remsburg would join them. Season 1 also marked the first appearance of
Mitch Ryder and a special guest in
La Parka during the fourth show on June 14th.
Before removing the gender wall entirely, CHIKARA had a short-lived sister promotion, called
Kiryoku Pro. Kiryoku means willpower, inner strength, and vitality. Their event on June 28th was made of mostly women's matches, with the exception of the 10 person tag, which was made in the aftermath of the Bee versus Campbell match. It was the first intergender match in CHIKARA history. More Kiryoku Pro showcase matches would happen through the rest of the Season, featuring
Mercedes Martinez,
Alexis Laree (better known as Mickie James), and
Sumie Sakai.
Season 1 also featured the start of the longest running tradition in CHIKARA, The
Young Lions Cup tournament. It started as a way to highlight the best of The Factory's students. The YLC was a two night affair, with
Night 1 on November 9th and
Night 2 on the 16th. The inaugural tournament included Skittlez, Akuma, Marciano, UltraMantis, Kingston, ZERO,
Super Orka, and Wicked, who would go on to win it by beating ZERO in the finals with a super fisherman's buster. Wicked's first and only Season 1 defense would be at the season finale against Akuma.
Season 2: 2003 (written by Rave)After a short break during the winter months (establishing CHIKARA's seasonal format), Season 2 began on
March 8th, 2003. Blind Rage, having vanquished partner-turned-enemy Ichabod Slayne in a Lucha de Apuesta (hair vs. mask) match at the Season 1 Finale, turned his ire towards DJ Skittlez in a losing effort, commencing a feud that would rage throughout much of the Season. Hallowicked defeated
Private Eye, CM Punk was defeated by Don Montoya, and Gran Akuma defeated Mitch Ryder. The main event was a Trios match, in which Mike Quackenbush, Mister ZERO, and UltraMantis Black defeated the
Toxic Trio of Jigsaw and the
Wild Cards (Eddie Kingston and "Black" Jack Marciano).
Later in the month, a Double Jeopardy Battle Royal saw ZERO and UltraMantis be put in a match later in the show, which was declared a double disqualification due to the interference of the Wild Cards, who had participated in the battle royal as well. Kingston defeated Private Eye later in the night. The former Ichabod Slayne, now known as
Icarus, re-debuted during this show, defeating Hallowicked. The main event saw the debut of
Rorschach, as he, Jigsaw, and Blind Rage were defeated by Quackenbush, Akuma, and DJ Skittlez. Jigsaw and Rorschach would soon form a team known as the
Conundrum.
Ultra ZERO and the Wild Cards clashed once again as Marciano and Kingston met ZERO and UltraMantis in separate singles matches
the next month, with Kingston defeating UltraMantis and the match between ZERO and Marciano ending in a double disqualification. The feud that had ignited between the two teams was nowhere near finished. At the next two shows the two teams would face each other during a pair of Trios matches (ZERO teaming with Quackenbush and Akuma the first match and Ultra/ZERO teaming with Quackenbush the second to face the Wild Cards and Rorschach), with the tecnico team defeating their rivals each time. In revenge, after the latter match, Kingston locked UltraMantis in the Kondo Clutch and refused to let go, injuring him. Also Hallowicked made his first successful defense of the Young Lions Cup during the Season (and second overall) when he defeated Icarus, and the feud between Blind Rage and DJ Skittlez continued as the former defeated the latter.
UltraMantis sought revenge against the Wild Cards
in May, interfering in a tag match and causing a double disqualification. DJ Skittlez was once again defeated by Blind Rage, though not without controversy as the referee failed to notice Skittlez' foot on the bottom rope. The feud between both men came to a head at the very first
Aniversario show, as Skittlez defeated Rage in a match where the winner would be able to choose the loser's entrance music. Amusingly, Skittlez selected "Conga" by the Miami Sound Machine as Rage's new entrance music. Ultra/ZERO and the Wild Cards met in another match as they took part in a main event ten man tag team match that also included Quackenbush, Akuma, Icarus, Hallowicked, Jigsaw, and Rorschach. The tecnicos defeated the rudos to close out the show. This match is also notable for being the first time the future
Team FIST (short for Friends In Similar Tights) had teamed together.
Unfortunately, the triumph of the technico team did not settle the issue between the two teams, as the next month at
You Be The Booker!, they met once again, this time in an I Quit match (won by the Wild Cards), then one last time during the very first
Tag World Grand Prix in July (with Ultra/ZERO victorious). Team FIST made their pairing official, entering the Grand Prix as well, though they were defeated in the second round by eventual winners Blind Rage and Hallowicked.
Claudio Castagnoli made his first appearance in CHIKARA during the tournament, bringing with him a figure who would become very important in later Seasons:
Ares. They met the
Superfriends (Quackenbush and Chris Hero) during the tournament, resulting in a thirty minute draw which eliminated both teams. The finals of the tournament actually took place
later in the month with the Night Shift winning before injuring ZERO.
Having moved on from Ultra/ZERO, the Wild Cards next engaged Team FIST, starting a feud that would last through the rest of the Season and into the next. In separate singles matches on July 26th, Icarus and Akuma respectively defeated Marciano and Kingston in separate singles matches, then were defeated by them in further singles matches on
August 16th. UltraMantis sought revenge on behalf of ZERO, defeating Hallowicked at the same event but later failing to unseat him for the Young Lions Cup the
next month. Also at that event, Team FIST teamed with Quackenbush to take on and defeat the Toxic Trio in a six man tag two out of three falls match, and Rorschach defeated
Jolly Roger to qualify for the following Season's Young Lions Cup tournament.
At the Season Finale,
The International Invasion of International Invaders, Jolly Roger won entrance into the Young Lions Cup tournament (though he would have a rematch for entry in the following Season); ZERO won #1 contendership for the Young Lions Cup in a battle royal, but was unable to unseat Hallowicked; foreshadowing one of the biggest rudo turns in CHIKARA's history for the following Season, Blind Rage revealed that the Night Shift was actually a trio while UltraMantis began to display rudo behavior towards ZERO; the Wild Cards ambushed Team FIST, leading to a no disqualification match that was very nearly a handicap match due to Akuma being injured, the match (won by the Wild Cards) ensuring that their feud would continue into the following Season; and in the main event, Quackenbush defeated
Skayde for the AULL/IPW Mexican Middleweight Championship, which would become one of the titles that made up Quackenbush's International Crown the following Season.
This was not meant to be the Season Finale, but sudden and unforeseen issues regarding the venue CHIKARA events were regularly taking place in ended the Season early, forcing a change in location before the next Season could begin.
Season 3: 2004 (written by Rave)Season 3 began on March 20th, 2004, at
Kids Eat Free On Tuesdays. The very first match featured the debut of Shane Storm, who would go on to become a semi-important figure in later Seasons, as he teamed with Private Eye to defeat Darkness Crabtree and
Phantasmo. Mike Quackenbush held a gauntlet match to determine a #1 contender to the four titles he held (dubbed the International Crown), which, interestingly enough, were all from other promotions. This would not be the only time titles from other promotions would be defended in CHIKARA, or even during this very Season.
The gauntlet was won by Jigsaw, who defeated DJ Skittlez (who had upset UltraMantis in the match before, prompting UltraMantis to shove him to the floor in anger) in the final match. Jolly Roger qualified for the Young Lions Cup tournament by defeating Rorschach, and the feud between the Wild Cards (Eddie Kingston and BlackJack Marciano) and Team FIST (Gran Akuma and Icarus) continued, as they, along with Hallowicked and Quackenbush on each respective team, main evented the show in an elimination six-man. Akuma would come away the sole survivor, though Kingston would make his child cry afterward, which was an unforgivable offense.
At
Pick Up Or Delivery,
Cavalier Jones, a member of the Board of Directors, presented Jolly Roger with a medal indicating his entry into the Young Lions Cup tournament, which would later be stolen by Darkness Crabtree. The Wild Cards and Team FIST continued their war, bringing Quackenbush and Jigsaw into it as their match for the International Crown was interrupted. While Cavalier Jones threatened to suspend the Wild Cards, Quackenbush offered another solution: a six-man Lucha de Apuesta (Icarus' hair, Akuma's mask, and the International Crown versus the Wild Cards' hair and Jigsaw's mask), set for Aniversario.
UltraMantis, having already displayed rudo behavior at the Season opener, backstabbed his longtime partner Mister ZERO during a tag match. After verbally abusing his now-former tag partner and claiming that he was sick of the human species as a whole, he removed a black mask from ZERO's briefcase and donned it, declaring the birth of one of CHIKARA's cornerstones: UltraMantis Black.
Aniversario soon came. Storm was presented with a Young Lions Cup medal, though he would take some verbal abuse from a newly-rudo Cavalier Jones, who had aligned himself with the Toxic Trio (the Wild Cards and Jigsaw). Jones' job was placed on the line in the main, as well. Jolly Roger reclaimed his Young Lions Cup medal from Darkness Crabtree. Blind Rage declared his retirement after defeating DJ Skittlez, though this would actually last less than a year. The
Dark Breed would form, as UltraMantis Black teamed with Hallowicked to defeat ZERO and Storm. In the main event Lucha de Apuesta, the team of Team FIST and Quackenbush defeated the Toxic Trio with Akuma submitting Kingston, costing Jones his job as well as the Wild Cards their hair. Many tecnicos gathered afterward to watch the Wild Cards get their heads shaved.
It was soon time for the
second annual Young Lions Cup tournament, which attracted many young competitors as it had back in Season 1. Highlights included the members of two separate tag teams meeting within the tournament as opponents (Jigsaw and Rorschach in the opening round and Kingston and Marciano in the quarterfinals) and an additional qualifying match made on the
second day due to the sudden absence of
Jay Lethal. His replacement, Chris Hero, made it all the way to the semi-finals before being knocked out of the tournament by
Larry Sweeney. The tournament was won by Sweeney, who defeated Jigsaw in the finals. This win gave rise to the formation of
Sweet 'n' Sour International with his minions the
ShareCropper,
Crossbones, Mano Metallico,
Spyrazul,
Mobius, and
Flex Fenom.
Sweeney's win over Jigsaw began a rivalry that would last for the remainder of the Season. After an eight-man tag at
Retribution Rumble of Revenge and Rumble to Remember (during which the absence of Quackenbush was pointed out, which would begin to foreshadow a related event later in the Season), Sweeney proposed a best of seven between Sweet 'n' Sour International and a team led by Jigsaw to see who the best really was. The odds were soon upped by both Jigsaw and Sweeney, putting a future match between the two at stake in the series as well.
At
77, the show before the series began, Jigsaw would defeat Sweeney in a six-man, which also saw the full-time debut of Claudio Castagnoli, who had previously competed at the 2003 Tag World Grand Prix. Also at 77, the Wild Cards continued the trend of non-CHIKARA titles being defended at CHIKARA shows, defending the
IWA Mid-South tag team championships, which they had won at the 2004 Ted Petty Invitational. They would continue to defend them for the rest of the Season, even clashing one last time with their long-time rivals, Team FIST.
The best of seven series commenced at
Beware of Barely Badd Blasts and/or Blood Brawls on the Beach. Jigsaw recruited Team FIST, Skittlez,
Sabian, Jolly Roger, ZERO, and Storm, while Sweeney fielded his Sweet 'n' Sour International (bolstered by the addition of Jigsaw's ex-tag team partner Rorschach), Castagnoli (replacing Mobius), and the Dark Breed. Once again, Sweeney made reference to Quackenbush's absence. In a 4-3 result in favor of CHIKARA (with Akuma taking the final victory against Mano Metallico), Jigsaw/Sweeney became the show's main event. Jigsaw achieved victory over his hated rival, but Sweeney was quick to remind him that it was not for the Young Lions Cup. As he had gone through sixteen men to attain the Cup, he believed Jigsaw should have to as well to get a shot at it, the idea of which gave rise to a yearly CHIKARA tradition, the Torneo Cibernetico. Before the Cibernetico, Jigsaw and Sweeney clashed one more time in an eight-man at
More Songs About Buildings and Food, which saw Sweeney pin Jigsaw.
At the
Cibernetico Cometh, for a third time, Sweeney pointed out Quackenbush's absence from the proceedings. All his references to Quackenbush would soon come back to haunt him. A long, thrilling match came down to Jigsaw against Sweeney, Rorschach, and Spyrazul. The three-on-one advantage pleased Sweeney, who would begin to celebrate his impending victory. Unfortunately for him, this victory was not to be. Behind his back, Spyrazul turned on Rorschach before unmasking to reveal that he was Quackenbush in disguise. Throwing his mask at Sweeney, he wished Jigsaw well and voluntarily exited the match, making it one-on-one. Not long after that, Jigsaw secured victory and his shot at the Young Lions Cup at
Fear of Music.
Jigsaw made good on his shot. Sweeney came out wearing a sling, claiming he had injured his arm putting on his robe, and that he would have to forfeit the match. He had seen that this had worked for Sabian earlier in the show and had tried to use it for himself. While it didn't work, he was able to attack his opponent from behind. After a hard-fought match which nearly saw the interference of Rorschach before Quackenbush (who had fended off Sweeney's interference in his match earlier in the show) cut him off, Jigsaw defeated Sweeney to win the Young Lions Cup, a moment that was celebrated by tecnicos hoisting him onto their shoulders. The next night, at the Season finale,
In Memory Of Adam Mills…, Jigsaw made his sole defense of the Season, defeating "Black" Jack Marciano.
Season 4: 2005 (written by Rave)The
second Tag World Grand Prix opened Season 4. Thirty-two teams (including a mystery draw) competed in a tournament spanning three days. Highlights included the first appearance of the
Ring Of Honor Students (the teams of
Davey Andrews and
Shane Hagadorn and
Anthony Franco and
Matt Turner), the resurrection of Blind Rage to replace an injured UltraMantis Black as Hallowicked's partner (reforming the Night Shift and representing the
Dark Breed), and a wrestling bear.
In the finals, the SuperFriends (Chris Hero and Mike Quackenbush) and the team dubbed AC/CC (
Arik Cannon and Claudio Castagnoli) squared off.
Quackenbush did not see it coming (though, as Hero would claim afterward, the signs were there), as he fought the combined forces of Cannon and Castagnoli to reach his corner. Hero tagged in…only to turn around and hit Quackenbush with a forearm, then another, and finally the Rubix Cube, before rolling out and leaving him to the wolves. The moment was pure revenge for Hero, who had been upset by Quackenbush the year before at the 2004 Ted Petty Invitational, and would shape the landscape of CHIKARA for Seasons to come, with many future events (such as the introduction of the Eye of Tyr and the formation of
Die Bruderschaft des Kreuzes) firmly rooted in Hero's rudo turn. At the next event,
Remain In Light (an event which also saw the debut of
Delirious and the commencement of what would turn out to be a short series of matches between
Men At Work (Mister ZERO and Shane Storm) and Team FIST (Icarus and Gran Akuma) as they went to a fifteen minute draw), Hero, Cannon, and Castagnoli officially formed one of CHIKARA's most influential rudo factions: the
Kings Of Wrestling. They commenced their domination of the promotion that very night.
Over the next several shows, various tecnicos (including Quackenbush, Jolly Roger, and Storm) did battle with the Kings, coming up short in each match. At the same time, they battled Larry Sweeney's Sweet 'n' Sour International, achieving considerably more success. Meanwhile, Men at Work and Team FIST continued their series with a second draw at
Speaking In Tongues, while a round robin tournament commenced between the Ring of Honor students for a spot in the Season's Young Lions Cup tournament. Jigsaw successfully defended his Young Lions Cup against all comers, including his tag team partner Sabian, his ex-tag team partner Rorschach, and Hero.
At the first of Season 4's three Aniversario shows,
Aniversario Blue,
Equinox (who would become a semi-important figure in Seasons to come) debuted. The series between Men at Work and Team FIST was settled, as Storm pinned Icarus less than five minutes into a match with a thirty minute time limit. Another important point in CHIKARA's history happened during the event's intermission, as Team FIST turned rudo by attacking Men at Work, with Icarus injuring ZERO in the process. Sweeney and The ShareCropper of Sweet 'n' Sour International lost a match to
Knight Eye For The Pirate Guy (Jolly Roger and
Lance Steel), which, by the stipulations decided upon, meant that their entire faction had to wear a diaper the very next night. Finally, the main event saw the return of CHIKARA co-founder Reckless Youth to assist Quackenbush and Jigsaw in fending off the Kings.
Over
Aniversario Orange and
Aniversario White, the second and third of the Aniversario shows, FIST accepted an offer to join the Kings, a humiliated Sweeney (having been forced to honor the aforementioned match stipulation and wear a diaper under threat of exile from CHIKARA by Director of Fun
Leonard F. Chikarason) officially disbanded Sweet 'n' Sour International, the team of Quackenbush, Jigsaw, and Reckless Youth scored a solid victory over the Kings, and Quackenbush and Hero finally met in a singles contest. Unfortunately, their issue would not be settled by that match.
Young Lions Cup season began after Aniversario, with qualifiers commencing at
Stop Making Sense, an event which also saw Blind Rage resurrected once again to assist the Dark Breed. The round robin tournament between the Ring of Honor Students also continued, resulting in Franco securing a place in the Young Lions Cup tournament at
Planet Of The Grapes. Having recovered from the loss of Sweet 'n' Sour International, Sweeney made his return to CHIKARA, introducing the
ICW/ICWA Tex-Arkana Television Championship and a personal bodyguard,
Mana The Polynesian Warrior (who had previously competed at the Tag World Grand Prix). Icarus added another dubious accolade to his growing list, injuring Jolly Roger. Hero would subsequently champion him for the Young Lions Cup, an interesting move considering that their fellow factionmates Cannon and Castagnoli had also qualified for the tournament.
Justifying Hero's faith in him, Icarus rose to the tournament finals during the very
first night. This would sow additional discord within the Kings, as Cannon also competed during the first night and was eliminated during the semi-final match. On the second night, motivated by the thought of revenge on behalf of his fallen tag team partner ZERO, Storm also ascended to the finals, knocking Castagnoli out of contention along the way. The clash between the two hated rivals ended with Storm winning the Cup and gaining revenge by using ZERO's own finishing move, the Last Shaven Unicorn Drop, to end the match.
Outside the tournament, Eddie Kingston, having spent four months outside a CHIKARA ring providing commentary, had finally had enough of watching the Kings dominate. He left commentary during the
second night to come to the aid of
Mickie Knuckles, who was being brutalized by the Kings, then halted the show, seeking to get his hands on Hero. His wish was granted by Quackenbush, who added Kingston to his team for a showdown with the Kings on the
third night. During their match, Quackenbush pinned Hero with his own finisher, the Hero's Welcome, and demanded a one-on-one rematch. When Hero turned him down, Kingston immediately issued a challenge. Hero turned him down as well, which prompted the appearance of Chikarason to make Hero choose between them, under threat of exile from CHIKARA. Hero selected Kingston, who promised a bloodbath and received Quackenbush's blessing.
The match took place at
Negative Balance, an event which also saw the team of
Lancelot (Lance Steel and ... Lance Steel) form, Icarus injure a third competitor (this time, Equinox), and the rivalry between the Ring of Honor Students officially escalate into a full-blown feud following Hagadorn, Andrews, and
Evan Starsmore (who was not involved in the round robin tournament) attacking Turner and Franco after a match with
Cheech and
Cloudy back on night three of the Young Lions Cup tournament.
Unfortunately, Kingston would not be able to act on the promise he had made, as the match ended with their issue not settled. Hero took the easy way out after Bryce Remsburg, who had been struck in the face, failed to witness him low blowing Kingston. Their war was just beginning, Kingston stated afterward. At
Son of the International Invasion of International Invaders – First Stage, Icarus received a rematch for the Young Lions Cup, but failed to unseat Storm. Hero began to plan his team for the upcoming Cibernetico at the
Second Stage the night after, making a deal with the Dark Breed similar to what Sweeney had made with them the Season before.
Chuichiro Arai defeated Sweeney for the ICW/ICWA Tex-Arkana Television title at
Little Creatures.
Soon,
The Cibernetico Returneth. Hero's plans were nearly derailed at the beginning of the event, as bad blood between Icarus and Blind Rage (stemming from their battles during Season 1) threatened to boil over. Sweeney recaptured the ICW/ICWA Tex-Arkana Television title from Arai. In the main event Cibernetico, the eighth man on Quackenbush's team was revealed to be a returning ZERO, seeking revenge on Icarus for injuring him back at Aniversario Blue. Unfortunately for ZERO, he wouldn't be able to get his revenge, as Icarus once again forced him to tap out. Storm would last until the final two, but would be defeated by sole survivor Akuma, who tried to take his mask on multiple occasions. After the match, Storm challenged Akuma to a Lucha de Apuesta, with both putting their masks on the line.
The next month, at
Running In The Red, the feud between the Ring of Honor Students ended with Franco and Turner defeating Hagadorn and Andrews to qualify for the next Season's Tag World Grand Prix, while Castagnoli defeated Quackenbush in a match where the loser would not be able to compete in it. In the main event Lucha de Apuesta, Storm defeated Akuma and took his mask. Cannon turned on the Kings at
True Stories, though he would not be accepted by the tecnicos (with Quackenbush stating that ten seconds couldn't erase ten months), his defection would ultimately not harm the Kings, and he would have difficulty finding his way on his own.
The Season came to an end at
Hors D'Ouerves & Dynamite, with the
North Star Express (
Darin Corbin and
Ryan Cruz) earning their way into the next Tag World Grand Prix, Sweeney successfully defending his title once more, and the team of Quackenbush, Jigsaw, and Storm standing tall after defeating FIST and Hallowicked.
Season 5: 2006 (written by Sen)Season 5 would begin in February 2006 with
Tag World Grand Prix. Held over three nights, the tournament would see the crowning of the first ever Campeones de Parejas. Having been kicked out of The Kings Of Wrestling at the end of Season 4, Arik Cannon would find himself in need of a new partner in order to compete at Tag World Grand Prix. Cannon would be rejected by
Mark Wolf,
Adam Flash, Jigsaw,
Andy Sumner,
Niles Young and
Jervis Cottonbelly before Jigsaw would reconsider and agree to team with Cannon.
Cannon & Jigsaw would be successful in their opening round match against
Kevin Steen and
Sexxxy Eddy but would exit the tournament after a second round loss to
Osamu Nishimura and
Katsushi Takemura. Cannon went on to singles success during the season by winning the
Young Lions Cup in July. After three successful defences against
Jon Moxley, Equinox and Lance Steel, Cannon would lose the Cup
in October to
Max Boyer.
Tag World Grand Prix would also find Hallowicked seeking a new partner after his regular tag team partner, UltraMantis Black was unable to compete due to injury. A random draw would see Delirious selected as Hallowicked's partner and the two would make their way to the Semi-Finals with wins over Crossbones and Rorschach plus Cheech and Cloudy in the first two rounds before beating Team DDT in the Quarter Finals. They would lose to the eventual tournament winners, Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero in the Semi-Finals. Hallowicked and Delirious, now known as
Incoherence, would continue to team together for the rest of the season much to the chagrin of Hallowicked's Dark Breed partner, UltraMantis Black, who, on his return from injury, would form a new stable known as
The Order Of The Neo Solar Temple with Crossbones and
Hydra.
UltraMantis Black and Hallowicked would meet in a singles match
in September, which would see UltraMantis Black take the victory after an assist from Hydra. Incoherence would gain a measure of revenge
in November by beating UltraMantis Black and Hydra in a tag team contest and again taking victory in an atomico at the
Season Finale, which would see The Order Of The Neo Solar Temple joined by Blind Rage, while Incoherence would partner with "Hallowickedcito" and "Deliriouscito", otherwise known as Cheech & Cloudy.
Tag World Grand Prix would also see Mister ZERO suffer a career ending injury at the hands of Icarus, as Men At Work, ZERO's tag team with Shane Storm fell to FIST in the second round. Following the loss of his tag team partner, Shane Storm would begin to team with Jigsaw, facing FIST in a tag team match in March, with Icarus pinning Jigsaw for the win. The two would go on to meet each other in several contests with Icarus unmasking Jigsaw in a trios match in June. As a result of his actions, Commissioner Bob Saget ordered a Lucha de Apuesta with Icarus' hair against the mask of Jigsaw.
This match was held in July and would see Jigsaw defeat Icarus. Upon realizing that he was about to lose his blonde hair, Icarus tried to flee only to be met by Jolly Roger and Mister ZERO, who escorted him back to the ring to lose his hair. The humiliation would only serve to drive Icarus on. He would emerge as the Cibernetico winner in October and FIST would take the Campeonatos de Parejas from their Kings Of Wrestling stable mates, Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli, in November. Infuriated by the loss and by rumors that Claudio was signing with WWE, Hero would turn on Castagnoli, attacking him with help from FIST, only for Mike Quackenbush, Jigsaw and Shane Storm to make the save and drive the Kings Of Wrestling from the ring.
Hero and Castagnoli became the first ever Campeones de Parejas after winning Tag World Grand Prix at the start of the season. The day after the new tag titles had been won, Director of Fun Leonard F. Chikarason would explain the rules regarding the Campeonatos de Parejas. In order to challenge for the titles, a team would have to accrue three points by winning three consecutive tag team matches. If a team accrued the required points but lost a tag team match prior to their title match, all points would be lost and the team would have to restart their title quest.
The first team to accrue the required points, Lancelot, would suffer this fate after being eliminated in a tag team gauntlet match on the eve of their title match. This caused further tension between Lance Steel and Lance Steel, which began over the younger Lance Steel's friendship with Dragon Dragon and
Retail Dragon. This would eventually lead to a Loser Banished to the Past Match, which saw the younger Lance take a tainted victory to send the older version of himself back to the past.
The season would also see a fierce rivalry between Larry Sweeney and Eddie Kingston, which began during Sweeney's "Winner's Circle" Interview segments in May. Sweeney questioned Kingston's track record with tag team partners and Kingston walked away from the interview. Later in the evening, Sweeney, after winning back his ICW/ICWA Tex-Arkana Television title from Milano Collection AT, would invite Kingston back to "The Winner's Circle". When Kingston came out, Sweeney apologised for criticising The King of Diamonds earlier. Kingston accepted the apology, shook hands with Sweeney and gave him a hug, only for Sweeney to sucker punch him with brass knuckles.
The two would meet in a singles match for the ICW/ICWA Tex-Arkana Television title in June, at Night Three of the Young Lions Cup. Sweeney would lose the match by DQ but would hold on to his title and subject Kingston to a vicious assault after the match. Kingston would have his revenge
the following month, when he met Sweeney for the Tex-Arkana title once more. This time Kingston would pin Sweeney to win the match and Sweeney's beloved title. Sweeney's first attempt to win back the belt
in August would end in a double count out after Sweeney grabbed the title along with UltraMantis Black's car keys and left the building. When Kingston went after him, Sweeney ran him down with UltraMantis Black's car, leaving Eddie nursing a damaged knee.
Sweeney and Kingston would captain Cibernetico teams against each other before settling their feud in a Yellow-Bellied Strap Match at the season finale in November, in which Kingston would take the victory.
Season 6: 2007 (written by Sen)After Season 5 saw Claudio Castagnoli kicked out of The Kings Of Wrestling, Season 6 would begin with a rather mysterious new partner for
Los Ice Creams during King of Trios.
El Hijo del Ice Cream and
Ice Cream Jr. would enter the tournament with Mysterious Ice Cream and would win their opening round match on
Night One against The Order Of The Neo Solar Temple.
They would go on to face FIST comprised of Icarus, Gran Akuma and Chuck Taylor, as part of The Kings Of Wrestling, in a Quarterfinals match the same night where Mysterious Ice Cream would unmask and be revealed as Claudio Castagnoli. Claudio and Los Ice Creams would lose the match to FIST and Claudio would face a post-match assault for his former rudo partners, until Los Ice Creams came to his rescue and forced FIST away. FIST would go on to the Semi-Finals of King of Trios, losing to the Kaientai Dojo team of Miyawaki, Yoshiaki Yago and Kudo. The tournament would be won by the team ofMike Quackenbush, Jigsaw and Shane Storm.
Claudio would make clear his real target
in March, when he ran out to attack his former tag team partner, after Chris Hero's win over Hallowicked in a singles contest. Hero attempted to flee only to be cut off by Mike Quackenbush. Quackenbush and Castagnoli would agree to a match the following night where the winner would get a singles match with Hero. This would see Claudio take the win to set up a match with Hero at April's
Rey de Voladores, where the stipulation was added that if Claudio won, Hero will become his personal butler but should Hero be victorious, Claudio would have to rejoin The Kings Of Wrestling. The match would also feature Mike Quackenbush as special guest referee, but even this could not prevent Hero from gaining a blemished victory to force Castagnoli back into the Kings Of Wrestling stable.
Castagnoli would not gain his freedom until September, during
Cibernetico & Robin, where due to the Cibernetico rules, Claudio was able to not only fight the remaining members of his own team but went on to win, eliminating Hero and Mitch Ryder in the process. Finally free of The Kings Of Wrestling, Castagnoli would have to wait until December to gain another singles match against Hero. Castagnoli would emerge the victor and Hero would leave CHIKARA. This would not be the only feud that Hero would find himself involved in during Season 6. He would finally have to face former tag team partner Mike Quackenbush in a singles match at
Aniversario? in May.
Having waited two years to get his hands on Hero during a singles match, Quackenbush would win the match with a new submission hold, The CHIKARA Special. Hero would lose matches to
Lince Dorado,
El Pantera, Claudio Castagnoli and Equinox, all using The CHIKARA Special to force Hero to submit.
After losing a tag team match
in November against Equinox and Claudio Castagnoli, Hero would snap, attacking Equinox and attempting to tear off his mask. Even the threat of being fired from Director of Fun Leonard F. Chikarason would not be enough to stop Hero. It was only Chikarason's offer of a singles match with Equinox, where if Hero won Equinox would have to unmask, that calmed Hero. It was only after Hero accepted the match that Chikarason, added the stipulation that if Hero lost he would lose his hair.
The Apuesta would take place
the following night in Hellertown. The contest would prove to be hard fought battle, where Equinox would again trap Hero in The CHIKARA Special. With everyone believing Hero could not escape the submission, it looked as though Hero would have to tap out and lose his long blond hair in the process. Instead, Hero would shock everyone by countering the submission before catching Equinox in The CHIKARA Special himself. Equinox would be forced to submit and would have to unmask in the centre of the ring. Mike Quackenbush, on commentary, could not understand how Hero could possibly know the counter to the feared submission.
Hero would force Equinox to reveal his face to the crowd and took delight in naming him as a failed Wrestle Factory trainee, Vin Gerard, and not the Mexican luchador he claimed to be. The humiliated Gerard would be met at the entrance to the back by
The Colony, Shane Storm and Lince Dorado, who threw his bag to him and pointed him to the exit.
Lince Dorado would himself face a battle to keep his mask during his feud with Mitch Ryder. Ryder would claim that Dorado was an illegal immigrant and the feud would lead to an Apuesta
in November where Dorado would wager his mask against Ryder's hair. The match would see the tecnico and rudo locker rooms surround the ring in support of their respective men. Dorado would emerge with the victory but would pay a high price, injuring himself on a shooting star senton which would cause him to suffer a seizure. Dorado would be taken away from the arena in an ambulance and hospitalized. Director of Fun, Leonard F. Chikarason ensured that Ryder adhered to the stipulation and lost his hair. Dorado would return to CHIKARA in full health
in December.
Season 6 would also see a wrestler gain a mask.
Ricochet, having lost a career vs. Young Lions Cup match
in August to the reigning YLC Champion and Rey de Voladores winner,
Chuck Taylor, would re-emerge under a mask in October as Helios. Helios would successfully challenge Taylor for the Young Lions Cup in his debut match.
The season would also see the debut of
Tim Donst at Rey de Voladores. Donst would make a name for himself after facing Eddie Kingston. Eddie viciously took out his frustrations at having been pinned by Hallowicked earlier in the year on Donst. In spite of the assault, Donst would refuse to stay down and impressed with his heart and determination despite ultimately losing to Kingston. Kingston would finally avenge his loss to Hallowicked in a Falls Count Anywhere match in November.
Hallowicked and Delirious continued teaming as Incoherence, gaining the three points required to mount a challenge for los Campeonatos de Parejas. They would challenge FIST
in October. FIST would try to avoid the title defense by pointing out that Gran Akuma was injured and unable compete. Director of Fun, Leonard F. Chikarason would rule that, as a member of FIST, Chuck Taylor would have to defend the titles with Icarus. Despite an attack on Hallowicked prior to the opening bell by Eddie Kingston and interference by Gran Akuma during the match, Incoherence would emerge victorious to become los Campeonatos de Parejas.
Season 7: 2008 (written by Sen)As Season 6 ended with the unmasking of Equinox and the rejection of Vin Gerard by the CHIKARA locker room, Season 7 was set to be a tale of revenge and redemption. Vin, now an outcast refused entry to the locker room and forced to find alternative places to dress for his matches, would seek to take out his frustrations on the masked members of the CHIKARA roster, most notably, the members of The Colony, even recruiting the help of
Bull Pain to make his point. Vin's performance in the early part of the season, scoring wins over
Glacier, Lince Dorado,
Create-A-Wrestler (who would later in the season become Ultimo Breakfast) and
Jimmy Olsen, would force a reluctant invitation from Director of Fun, Leonard F. Chikarason, to enter the Young Lions Cup VI tournament.
Taking his place in the
YLC, Vin would defeat
Sami Callihan in the Quarterfinals, before emerging victorious from his Semi-Finals match up against
Drake Younger,
Stupefied,
Amasis,
Pelle Primeau and
Pinkie Sanchez to secure his place in the Finals.
Night Two of the YLC would see
Worker Ant unable to compete after being injured in a sneak attack by Gerard. He would be replaced by his Colony teammate,
Fire Ant. Fire Ant would defeat
Chip Day in the Quarterfinals and
Shayne Hawke,
Ophidian, Lince Dorado, Tim Donst and
Marshe Rockett in the Semi-Finals to set up a Finals meeting with Vin Gerard.
The Finals would prove to be a fiercely contested and highly emotional contest, with Fire Ant taking the win to become Young Lions Cup Champion. Much to the delight of both the fans and the members of the tecnico roster, who had come out to the ring during the match to show their support for Fire Ant. The celebration would be short lived as Fire Ant would lose the Cup to Gerard in his first defense
the following month, after Vin utilized the Cup itself as a weapon.
During the YLC tournament, Mike Quackenbush and Shane Storm would secure their third point for a shot at los Campeonatos de Parejas after a hard fought victory over the
Super Smash Brothers. However, there would be no time for celebrations for the new number one contenders as, after receiving a message from Tim Donst, Quackenbush would turn on Storm.
Donst had spent much of the early part of the season as a member of The Order Of The Neo Solar Temple after being dropped on his head during a match with UltraMantis Black. Never one to miss an opportunity, Mantis had quickly taken Donst from the ring and convinced him to join the Order as their "Chosen One". Donst, apparently suffering amnesia, adapted to the Order, wearing a robe and face paint to the ring and forming a tag team with fellow Temple acolyte Hydra. The tag team combination proved to be a great success, earning three points to challenge for los Campeonatos de Parejas.
Donst had deliberately infiltrated the Order at the request of Mike Quackenbush, who wanted to find out how the rudo's had learned the secret counter to the CHIKARA Special submission hold. As part of The Order Of The Neo Solar Temple Donst discovered that Shane Storm, suffering a losing streak, traded the counter to UltraMantis Black in exchange for a win over Hydra. This led to the move being passed to Chris Hero, who used it to defeat Equinox and force him to unmask.
Incensed by Donst's actions, UltraMantis Black issued an ultimatum to Hydra, who still felt a loyalty to his tag team partner. Hydra left The Order Of The Neo Solar Temple to join Donst and the two would become known as
The Sea Donsters. Their challenge for los Campeonatos de Parejas would be unsuccessful after interference from UltraMantis Black and Crossbones would cost them the match. The two teams would meet in a tag team bout
in December, with The Sea Donsters taking the win. The following night, at the
Season Finale, Hydra would defeat his former mentor UltraMantis Black in a singles contest.
Shane Storm, now revealed as a tecnico traitor, was shunned by the locker room. Facing Mike Quackenbush in a singles match in July, Storm was awarded the win after the original submission victory for Quackenbush was reversed because Quackenbush refused to release Storm from the hold. Storm was confronted in the ring by Vin Gerard, who thanked Storm and encourages him to embrace his new circumstances. Vin would help Storm gain a further victory over Quackenbush
in August and Storm returned the favour
the following night by interfering in Gerard's Young Lions Cup match with Drake Younger.
This led to Storm's transformation into STIGMA, who allied with Vin Gerard and the returning
Colin Delaney to form the
UnStable. Gerard and Delaney had been selected to team together during
La Loteria Letal and would go on to meet Jimmy Olsen and Lince Dorado
in the Finals.
Storm would take revenge on Tim Donst injuring him during a tag team match and stealing his headgear. The UnStable attacked Donst's partner, Mike Quackenbush but would be prevented from inflicting further damage by the return of an unmasked Jigsaw. Quackenbush, unhappy that Jigsaw had removed his mask, rejected his former tag team partner.
Sensing an opportunity to expand their own ranks, The UnStable invited Jigsaw to join them. However, he refused and was saved from an attack by Mike Quackenbush, who still rejected the idea of reforming unless Jigsaw dons his mask again. Jigsaw would return under the mask in December, replacing an injured Tim Donst as Quackenbush’s tag team partner to defeat Colin Delaney and STIGMA.
Since returning to CHIKARA from WWE, Delaney considered himself better than the other members of the roster, including his twin, Jimmy Olsen. Jimmy had been unaware of Colin's stint in WWE's ECW brand. Not knowing the whereabouts of his brother, he had been convinced by Vin Gerard that Colin was working for CHIKARA under a mask. Believing Vin's story, Jimmy set about unmasking members of the roster in an attempt to locate his brother. He was devastated when he learned the truth about Colin's absence and realized that he has been manipulated.
Jimmy joined forces with Lince Dorado and Helios to form
The Future Is Now and in an attempt to get into Vin's head, adopted the Equinox persona. In this guise, Jimmy was victorious against Gerard's team in CHIKARA's annual
Torneo Cibernetico before going on to challenge Vin for the Young Lions Cup at the season finale in December. The match ended in a double DQ and as a result, the Cup was vacated.
Lince Dorado had won
King Of Trios earlier in the year with partners Incognito and El Pantera by forcing Eddie Kingston of the
BLKOUT to submit to the CHIKARA Special in the tournament finals. Kingston would seek to redress this loss by targeting Dorado. Despite being defeated by Kingston twice, Dorado would push Kingston to the limits of his sanity by refusing to stay down and asking Eddie for more punishment. A third encounter ended in Kingston being disqualified for "Castigo Excesivo" before Dorado insisted that the match be restarted. The DQ decision against Kingston would remain after Eddie delivered a low blow to Dorado and walked away stating he was done for the sake of his own sanity.
Brodie Lee spent much of the season locked in a heated feud with Claudio Castagnoli. Lee and Castagnoli had two singles encounters
in April and
May, which ended in DQ decisions after the referee was hurt during each match. With one disqualification each, a No DQ match was set for July, with Brodie Lee gaining the win after interference from Mitch Ryder and Shayne "Buck" Hawke. This would lead to CHIKARA's first and only cage match, held
in September and would see Castagnoli emerge victorious.
The involvement of Ryder and Hawke would bring Larry Sweeney, who had been kicked out of their trio
The Fabulous Three earlier in the year, to try to gain favour with Claudio Castagnoli. Claudio was initially unwilling to team with Sweeney, but finally succumbed to Sweeney's persuasion to team up and gain a measure of revenge on The Fabulous Two. The team of Castagnoli and Sweeney, dubbed Swiss And Sour, would face Ryder and Hawke in a tag team match at the Season Finale. Unfortunately for Claudio, Sweeney would turn on him, costing him the match and rejoining Ryder and Hawke.
Season 7 would also see the end of Incoherence's eleven month reign as los Campeones de Parejas, losing to the Super Smash Brothers.
Player Uno and Stupefied overcome a losing streak and many in-ring miscommunications when Stupefied became the masked Player Dos. The team quickly earned the three point required to challenge for los Campeonatos de Parejas and won the titles in September. Los Campeonatos would change hands once more before the end of the season, with the Super Smash Brothers losing to
The Osirian Portal in their first defense
in October.
Season 8: 2009 (written by Sen)Season 8 would begin in
January 2009 with a ladder match for the vacant Young Lions Cup between Vin Gerard and Jimmy Olsen as Equinox, with Olsen taking the victory to become the new Young Lions Cup champion. Olsen would hold the Cup until the Young Lions Cup VII in August, making successful defenses against Amasis and his former tag team partner, Colin Delaney.
Night one of the YLC VII would see tag team partners Tim Donst and Hydra face each other in a first round match. Hydra would take the win, leaving Donst, who already blamed Hydra for earlier tag team losses in the year, frustrated. At
Night three of the YLC, The Sea Donsters and their partner, KC "Cloudy" Day, lost to the trio of Player Uno,
Yellow Dog and Dasher Hatfield. This loss would see Donst snap and turn on his partner, Hydra.
The
following month Donst and Hydra would face each other again in singles competition. Donst would take a submission victory in just 16 seconds but only after having savagely beaten his former tag team partner in an attack prior to the match. After a further attack
the following night, Director of Fun, Leonard F. Chikarason, suspended Donst for 60 days. A Loser Leaves CHIKARA match between the former Sea Donsters was set upon Donst's return
in November. This would see Donst victorious after a low blow and force Hydra into retirement.
The YLC tournament would see Player Dos of The Super Smash Brothers crowned as the new YLC Champion after having defeated his own tag team partner in the quarterfinals and beating Colin Delaney in the Finals. The tournament would also see the debut of Vökoder, who would later join The Order Of The Neo Solar Temple.
The Order Of The Neo Solar Temple would spend the early part of the season trying to recruit a new member. After Sami Callihan and Pinkie Sanchez failed to impress and in April, UltraMantis Black and Crossbones kidnapped Delirious, who would debut as a new Solar Temple recruit
in May.
UltraMantis would reveal that he had traded the counter to The CHIKARA Special in exchange for The Eye of Tyr, which had been in the possession of Dr. Cube. By teaching the counter to Chris Hero and allowing him to defeat Equinox in Season 6, UltraMantis had been able to get Hero to agree to leave CHIKARA to work for Dr. Cube in
Kaiju Big Battel. The strange artifact enabled UMB to brainwash Delirious and make him a member of The Order. Legend had it that the Eye must only be used once and then given away or it would bring bad luck. UMB refused to believe this and kept the Eye in his possession.
On the last night of the YLC, Mantis would be left a box by a mysterious masked man dressed in white. The box contained a note that stated a war was coming. After further encounters with the same man and his associate, a much larger man, also dressed in white, a rattled Mantis would recruit Vökoder to The Order Of The Neo Solar Temple to help protect The Eye of Tyr.
Along with the debut of Vökoder, Season 8 would also see two new members of The Colony, but the group would also suffer the loss of Worker Ant. This would occur after losing a King Of Trios qualifying match to "CHIKARA's most dangerous trio", Icarus, Chuck Taylor and Gran Akuma, collectively known as FIST. After the match, Chuck Taylor delivered an Awful Waffle outside the ring to Worker Ant, ending his career in the process. While Worker Ant was helpless on the floor,
Green Ant would make his debut, coming to assist his fallen Colony teammate.
FIST would go on to reaffirm their trios dominance by winning
King of Trios, beating The Death Match Kings, The F1rst Family and The Future Is Now to set up a finals match with Team Uppercut, a team made up of
Bryan Danielson,
Dave Taylor and Claudio Castagnoli. FIST would secure a submission victory with Chuck Taylor forcing Danielson to tap out to a single legged crab.
The rivalry between FIST and The Colony would continue to Aniversario in May, when, at
Aniversario Yang, the two teams would meet in a double apuesta mask vs. hair tag team match. This would pit Chuck Taylor and Icarus of FIST against Fire and
Soldier Ant with the members of FIST wagering their hair against the masks of The Colony. Despite interference from FIST's Gran Akuma, The Colony would emerge victorious, after an assist from another new member, Carpenter Ant. The Colony would keep their masks and won the hair of their opponents.
The Colony would go on to greater success by defeating The Osirian Portal
in September to become los Campeonatos de Parejas. Meanwhile Carpenter Ant would surprise everyone by winning Torneo Cibernetico
in October, taking victory with the previously unseen Inverted CHIKARA Special. This caused Mike Quackenbush to question Tim Donst on how Carpenter Ant had come to know the move, seeing that Quackenbush had taught the move to Donst alone as a reward for his infiltration of The Order Of The Neo Solar Temple in Season 7.
Having made it to the Finals of The King Of Trios with Team Uppercut, Claudio Castagnoli would find himself challenged by Eddie Kingston, who claimed to have been embarrassed and disrespected by Claudio after having had his trios team,
The Roughnecks, with partners Brodie Lee and
Grizzly Redwood, beaten in the
opening round of King Of Trios by Claudio's Team Uppercut. Kingston stated he could outwrestle Claudio and would prove his point by pinning Castagnoli in a singles match at Aniversario Yang in May. Claudio would avenge this loss with a count out victory over Kingston at night three of the Young Lions Cup in August.
With both men owning a win over the other, a Respect Match, in which the loser would have to publicly declare their respect for the winner, was set for the
season finale in November. This match would prove to be a hard fought encounter, with Claudio taking the win. After the match Kingston refused to show respect, hitting Claudio with his Spinning Backfist before declaring that Castagnoli was not the man everyone thought he was and that he was not to be trusted.
By the end of the evening Kingston would be proved right as Claudio would turn rudo by joining his former Swiss Money Holding tag team partner, Ares, as part of Die Bruderschaft des Kreuzes. Ares would be revealed as the mysterious white clad man stalking UltraMantis Black. He and his enormous associate
Tursas, would invade the ring after the main event, a successful Campeonatos de Parejas defense by The Colony against The Osirian Portal.
The tecnico roster would come to ring to confront the invaders, but the still masked Ares demanded to speak to the man who held the real power and pointed out UltraMantis Black, who had been providing commentary on the main event. Mantis approached the ring, handing The Eye of Tyr to Order of The Neo Solar Temple member, Vökoder and claimed that he did not even know who the men in the ring were. Both Ares and Tursas removed their white masks, with Tursas revealing a further mask beneath and in the same moment Claudio Castagnoli attacked Mike Quackenbush.
An all-out attack would result with Vökoder turning on The Order Of The Neo Solar Temple and Carpenter Ant attacking his fellow Colony members.
Daizee Haze and
Sara Del Rey, who had put aside their own differences during the early part of the season, would also form part of this new factions attack. Both Del Rey and Haze had grown increasing frustrated with their perceived lack of competition in CHIKARA, citing that they were both more capable than many of their male counterparts.
At the end, the members of the new rudo group, Ares, Tursas, Claudio Castagnoli, Sara Del Rey, Daizee Haze, Vökoder and Carpenter Ant stood in formation, having cleared the ring of the CHIKARA roster. Vökoder and Carpenter Ant removed their masks to reveal Tim Donst and Pinkie Sanchez. After saluting in formation, the group cut the arena lights.
In the aftermath of the attack, Director of Fun, Leonard F. Chikarason would find himself unable to access his office, being met by Wrestle Factory trainee, Dieter Von Steigerwalt, who handed Chikarason an envelope and informed him that he was late for a performance review with the CHIKARA Board of Directors. On December 7 2009, it was announced that Von Steigerwalt had replaced Chikarason as Director of Fun and Chikarason would now be reassigned to commentary.
Season 9: 2010 (written by Rave)The aftermath of the Season 8 finale, Three Fisted Tales, would affect the entirety of Season 9, as tecnicos and rudos alike were forced to put aside their differences to battle the new threat which had formed: die Bruderschaft des Kreuzes ("The Brotherhood of the Cross", or the BDK for short). These seven individuals were soon joined by an eighth, as Lince Dorado had grown tired of fans booing him constantly despite his (now former) status as a technico. Their individual reasons were varied, but almost all of them had one thing in common. In some fashion, they each felt betrayed by CHIKARA enough to betray it right back. Ultimately, they were all used in the grab for power orchestrated by Ares and Claudio Castagnoli; one aided by newly appointed Director of Fun Dieter Von Steigerwalt and several German members of the Board of Directors.
Right out of the gate, the BDK dominated CHIKARA, starting at the Season 9 opener,
A Touch Of Class, as Tim Donst took the first spoils of war in the form of the Young Lions Cup by defeating Player Dos. This was followed up by Ares and Castagnoli quickly picking up three points and capturing the Campeonatos de Parejas by defeating Fire and Soldier Ant of The Colony two months later at
Wit, Verve, and a Bit o' Nerve, and eventually would culminate in the team of Ares, Castagnoli, and Tursas becoming the 2010 King Of Trios winners.
However, The King of Trios tournament wasn't a total victory for the BDK, as, on their own way to the finals, The Colony scored the first major victory for CHIKARA in the war by knocking the BDK's secondary Young Lions team of Donst, Pinkie "Pink Ant" Sanchez, and Dorado out of the tournament. The BDK's tournament win did not come without controversy: with the referee officially appointed to oversee the
finals, Bryce Remsburg, removed from the proceedings by Tursas, it was former CHIKARA referee and polarizing figure
Derek Sabato who would fast count the pinfall before revealing his own connection to the BDK. He would continue to be their personal referee for the rest of the Season.
Despite stating multiple times that he did not care about the BDK (even going so far as to state that their arrival was not his fault), UltraMantis Black, left reeling by the loss of the Eye of Tyr, his enslaved minion Delirious (as the BDK had quickly brought him to heel via the power of the Eye), and chances at los Campeonatos de Parejas and entrance into the King of Trios tournament, attempted to form alliances amongst the rest of the roster to combat them, most notably with Mike Quackenbush. Upon being rebuffed, he resorted to a new plan: the introduction of two new minions,
Obariyon and
Kodama, collectively known as
The Batiri. Unfortunately for him, the deal he made to receive their aid would soon go awry.
At
Chikarasaurus Rex: King of Show, two months after King of Trios, something very strange happened. Vökoder, the identity Donst had assumed in the buildup to the BDK's formation, appeared. At first, he appeared to only Pinkie, whose claims were written off by the rest of the BDK because they considered Pinkie to be unhinged to begin with. Unfortunately for them, Vökoder was not a figment of Pinkie's imagination, but real and lurking in the shadows. There wouldn't be an answer as to who had taken over the identity of the robotic detective until
The Dark Ciberknetico, but he continued to appear during the interval to torment Pinkie into further insanity.
Though The Colony had paved the way for the resurgence of CHIKARA against the BDK and Vökoder had succeeded in tormenting one of the BDK, further victories would still be few and far between, at least for a short while longer. The second blow against the BDK came when, after several successful defenses, Donst was forced to vacate the Young Lions Cup in time for the yearly tournament. The BDK fielded Dorado and the increasingly-unstable Pinkie in an effort to take it back to their camp, but both were defeated by the eventual winner,
Frightmare.
This marked the turning of the tide, as BDK members started to lose matches more and more, their former invincibility (whether by skill or by cheating) seemingly wearing away. This would also mark the very start of Donst's obsession with the Cup and the madness he would descend into in later Seasons.
The Dark Ciberknetico was the site of a showdown, as the entire BDK and Team CHIKARA faced off. Fittingly, Team CHIKARA, captained by UltraMantis, was comprised of those who had been there from CHIKARA's earliest days: UltraMantis, Quackenbush, STIGMA, Icarus, Eddie Kingston, Hallowicked (UltraMantis having attempted to ally with him as well), and Jigsaw. Vökoder became the eighth man and revealed himself to be a returning "Sweet 'n' Sour" Larry Sweeney, who eliminated his months-long target from the match before being eliminated himself. (Sadly, this would be Sweeney's last match. Though he announced afterward that he would return in 2011, he passed away before he was able to do so.)
The match also saw one of the BDK's main weapons, The Inverted CHIKARA Special, be neutralized, as Quackenbush was able to reverse it into the original CHIKARA Special, but not before Donst had eliminated Icarus and Jigsaw using it. The match was won by Kingston, who became the first man to stand toe-to-toe with Tursas and beat him.
Even though he had captained the successful Team CHIKARA, UltraMantis' woes were far from over. Near the end of the season at
The Germans, the true master of the Batiri summoned them away as they tried to aid against both Ares and the interfering Tursas, resulting in a win for the BDK. At the Season finale,
Reality is Relative, the master of the
Batiri (accompanied by their third member,
Kobald) revealed himself as Sinn Bohdi and demanded his payment for the Batiri's services: The Eye of Tyr. When it was not produced (as it was still in Ares' possession), UltraMantis' allies became his enemies. This continued into Season 10.
Auditor and future Director of Fun Wink Vavasseur arrived on the scene near the end of the season. At first, his presence was only to keep Sabato impartial, but he would soon take over from Von Steigerwalt. The season closed out at Reality is Relative with a wounded and waning BDK falling further prey to the CHIKARA forces, as Castagnoli and Ares were defeated for los Campeonatos de Parejas by the team of Quackenbush and Jigsaw.
Season 10: 2011 (written by Rave)Season 9 had ended on a high note for CHIKARA, as los Campeonatos de Parejas had been liberated from die Bruderschaft des Kreuzes. For the BDK, though they had suffered setbacks before, Reality is Relative was the beginning of their end. Not only had they been defeated for the highest accolade in CHIKARA, all of the power that they had held prior was stripped away. Dieter VonSteigerwalt was ousted from his position as Director of Fun following the show, replaced by Wink Vavasseur (appointed by his father, Conrad Vavasseur, Executive Vice President of Acquisitions for the Titor Conglomerate, which through their subsidiary the Worldwide Media Development Corporation had arranged the purchase of CHIKARA for reasons that would only become clear two years later), and Derek Sabato was subsequently forced to become a regular referee once more.
Their personal ring announcer
Jakob Hammermeier soon became a regular competitor in addition to his ring announcing duties, offsetting the further loss of Lince Dorado, who vanished from CHIKARA without explanation within the first half of Season 10. While they would remain together as a collective unit for a good portion of the Season, they would also be involved in more individual pursuits, such as Tim Donst's quest to become the greatest Young Lions Cup champion (something that would contribute to his later descent into insanity) and Claudio Castagnoli's increasingly-personal feud with Eddie Kingston.
UltraMantis Black, having succeeded in forming an alliance with Frightmare and Hallowicked, led the newly formed
Spectral Envoy into battle. While they would continue to clash with the BDK, they would mainly square off with the Dark Army (Sinn Bohdi and The Batiri) over the entire season. At one point later in the season, the Spectral Envoy would be aided by Crossbones, a member of UltraMantis' former faction, the Order of the Neo-Solar Temple, who had not been seen in CHIKARA since being seriously injured by Delirious during Season 9.
On February 3rd, 2011, Wink announced that a brand new singles championship would be introduced during the Season. He organized a CHIKARA-wide vote amongst the roster, with the only stipulation being that nobody could vote for themselves. This led to wrestlers openly pleading for votes for the next two months, and to Castagnoli ordering the rest of the BDK to vote for him. This revealed an additional crack in the once-invincible BDK's armor, as Sara Del Rey asked for votes for herself as well.
CHIKARA was soon purported to become the target of another invasion, as The Band (
Archibald Peck and
Veronica, also known as March Madness with the inclusion of Colt CaBunny) marched into
Operation: Big Freeze. Unfortunately for them, they marched straight into an angry Kingston who had been ambushed by the BDK prior to the match, and their invasion did not fare quite as well as invasions prior.
Peck would fare much better against Colt Cabana on
Night Two of King of Trios, though he would later tell a curious story as to why this was. According to Peck, receiving the Backfist To The Future from Kingston had actually transported him to the year 2015, where he had purchased a sports almanac (later retconned as a CHIKARA Yearbook) which revealed to him just who he would face at King of Trios, as well as information that he would attempt to use for the rest of the Season. While the subject of time travel had come up in CHIKARA prior (most notably in the backstories of Vökoder and Carpenter Ant, as well as both Lance Steels), Peck's time traveling would become an important plot point in later Seasons.
As Castagnoli, Ares, and Tursas had decided not to enter the King of Trios tournament, Donst was selected to head the team representing the BDK, and soon announced Hammermeier and Delirious as his partners. They made it to the quarterfinals, only to once again be knocked out of the tournament by The Colony (a match that included Green Ant actually bodyslamming an interfering Tursas, a feat he had attempted to do earlier in the day during a bodyslamming contest only to be thwarted by Hammermeier), who went on to win their first King of Trios by defeating FIST in
the finals. During the tournament, the Spectral Envoy confronted the BDK team, and UltraMantis promised that he would right his past wrongs, especially in regards to Delirious, who ran out of the building and disappeared from CHIKARA until the following Season.
The voting to get into the championship tournament (soon named the 12 Large: Summitin memory of "Sweet 'n' Sour" Larry Sweeney, who had passed on a few days before King of Trios) was tallied at the end of April. The competitor with the most votes was, unsurprisingly, Castagnoli, though he had only received five votes from his seven faction-mates. The others who would take part in the tournament were Jigsaw, Amasis, Brodie Lee, Kingston, Fire Ant, Hallowicked, Icarus, Mike Quackenbush, UltraMantis, Vin Gerard, and, surprisingly, Del Rey. Over the next month, more details regarding the 12 Large: Summit would be revealed. The tournament itself commenced at Aniversario & His Amazing Friends. Also occurring in the show's main event was the official disbanding of the UnStable at the hands of
3.0. STIGMA would subsequently disappear from CHIKARA.
In June, Amasis would be forced to drop out of the 12 Large: Summit due to injury. This time, the CHIKARA fans were allowed to vote as to which of Amasis' Osirian Portal teammates (Ophidian or
Hieracon, the latter having been introduced to the group in Season 9 as Jonathan Gresham before donning the mask and identity of Hieracon) would be allowed to replace him, and Ophidian was selected, only to have to drop out himself in July. Injury also claimed Lee, who was allowed to rejoin once he had healed, but declined. Jigsaw started the tournament on the sidelines, having to wait until July to take part, though he picked up a forfeit win due to being in the same tournament block as Lee.
At the end of July, the BDK crumbled even further as Castagnoli and Del Rey squared off, and Del Rey pulled off a shocking victory over her faction's leader. This prompted Castagnoli to exile Del Rey from the BDK. When fellow faction-mate and Del Rey's regular tag partner Daizee Haze stood up to Castagnoli on behalf of her partner, she was exiled as well. This led to Del Rey formally announcing her resignation from the BDK several days later, as well as an announced leave of absence for Haze, who Castagnoli had physically attacked. (Haze would subsequently retire from professional wrestling.)
At the end of August, Castagnoli would become the first person to actually be eliminated from the tournament, after a loss to Icarus. He was said to have been so embarrassed by this loss that he left the BDK and CHIKARA completely, fleeing to the WWE. (Also of note was fellow BDK member Pinkie Sanchez departing CHIKARA that same day.) It was also announced in August that the finals would take place during Season 10's finale and CHIKARA’s very first live Internet Pay-Per-View, High Noon, in November.
The name of the singles championship was also revealed as the Grand Championship. In October, Quackenbush and Kingston secured their spots in the tournament finals, the former defeating Del Rey and the latter ascending when Jigsaw defeated UltraMantis. Even though he had secured his spot, Kingston had drawn the ire of Gerard along the way (to the point where Gerard forfeited a match with UltraMantis to prepare himself for Kingston), who would soon place Kingston’s participation in the finals in doubt following a vicious assault with a chair. Gerard would be subsequently exiled from CHIKARA until he resorted to blackmail to regain his roster spot in the next Season.
Outside the 12 Large: Summit, Green Ant embarked on a "Flex Express" bus tour in July in preparation for a match with Tursas, who had angered The Colony member by writing several anti-American blogs. Older wrestling fans should find this saga involving Green Ant and Tursas familiar, as it payed homage to a similar saga involving
Lex Luger and Yokozuna from 1993. Luger himself would appear during a video to voice his support for Green Ant.
Unfortunately, Green Ant would lose the match, thanks to further interference from Hammermeier, but he would revenge himself upon Hammermeier by defeating him in the semi-finals of that year's
Young Lions Cup tournament, before being defeated by Tadasuke in the finals. (Interesting note about this tournament: Peck, who had relied upon his attorney RD Evans to gain access after being disqualified for being overage, claimed that his own loss to Tadasuke in the semi-finals was contrary to the information he had received earlier in the Season, indicating that the future he had been Backfisted to was no longer valid.)
In September, the Campeonatos de Parejas changed hands once more, as Quackenbush and Jigsaw were defeated by FIST members Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano at
Martyr Yourself To Caution, following two straight falls of dishonest refereeing by Sabato. Gran Akuma made his return to CHIKARA at
Cibernetico: The Animated Series in November, with FIST firmly in his sights and revenge on his mind, though he wouldn't get his hands on his former partners until the following Season. Cibernetico: The Animated Series also saw Del Rey achieve victory over several of her former faction-mates in the BDK in the Cibernetico match, last eliminating Donst, who had named himself captain of his team.
All of this led up to the Season 10 finale, High Noon. Amasis announced his retirement from professional wrestling as a result of his injury from earlier in the Season, only for his own tag partner Ophidian to turn rudo and unmask him. (Amasis would return to seek revenge upon Ophidian for this traitorous act in Season 12.) Green Ant avenged his defeat at Tursas' hands earlier in the Season via a new submission, a variation of the CHIKARA Special that would be called the CHIKARA Special: Green. The last major item in the possession of the BDK, the Eye of Tyr, was reclaimed by UltraMantis following a Lucha de Apuesta tag match which also saw Donst abandon his own faction-mate Ares to avoid his head being shaved and Hallowicked take Donst's Young Lions Cup. (The theft of his Cup, combined with his obsession with the Cup in general, sent Donst spiralling into madness, triggering the behavior he would display in later Seasons.)
The main event of High Noon was the finals of the 12 Large: Summit tournament, pitting Quackenbush against an ailing Kingston... and after over seventeen minutes of Quackenbush targeting Kingston's knee and Kingston returning every bit of punishment he received, the match was decided. Kingston had won. Like they had done at the end of the preceding Season, the locker room (which included figures from CHIKARA's past, such as Reckless Youth) emptied into the ring to congratulate Kingston on his hard-fought victory. This outpouring of love brought the Season officially to a close.
Following High Noon, every member of the BDK that was left, save for Donst, Hammermeier, and Delirious (who had disappeared following King of Trios), departed CHIKARA. Though Donst and Hammermeier tried to keep the faction alive by themselves, the glory days of die Bruderschaft des Kreuzes were well and truly over. In addition, UltraMantis honored the original deal he had made with Sinn Bohdi, giving himThe Eye of Tyr... until it was revealed that the Eye that had been given to Sinn Bohdi was a fake. There was a method to UltraMantis' duplicity: the promise he had made to Delirious earlier in the season. He would make good on his promise, but not until the following Season. (This would also lead to the destruction of
Wrestling Is Art! in 2013 at the hands of Sinn Bohdi, who was well aware of the fake Eye.)
Unusually, this Season had a set of three post-Season shows: JoshiMania. Though these shows were largely a showcase of top talent and thus did not affect the Season itself, it included Fire Ant and Soldier Ant of The Colony cashing in the points they had earned during the Season in a losing effort against FIST, and the short-lived return of Brodie Lee.
Season 11: 2012 (written by Rave)UltraMantis Black was on top of the world. At the close of Season 10, he had reclaimed the Eye of Tyr and brought an end to both die Bruderschaft des Kreuzes and the threat of the Dark Army. All that was left now was a promise he had made. Accompanied by fellow Spectral Envoy factionmate Hallowicked, he journeyed to the lair of Delirious, who had fled CHIKARA mid-Season 10, and freed him from the influence of the Eye, hoping to draft him into the Envoy as well. However, the curse of the legendary amulet was not yet finished with UltraMantis. Before he could react, Delirious snatched the Eye away, shattered it with a rock, and fled. Seconds later, in perfect English, Delirious issued an eerie proclamation: "I REMEMBER EVERYTHING". UltraMantis would soon regret the fulfillment of his promise.
Season 11 opened at
The Thirteenth Hat on January 28th, 2012. In addition to the revelation documented above, it featured Green Ant utilizing the CHIKARA Special: Green to defeat the originator of the CHIKARA Special, Mike Quackenbush; the introduction of "Mr. Touchdown"
Mark Angelosetti by Dasher Hatfield; the first clash between partners-turned-enemies Gran Akuma and Icarus, which ended in a double countout and included interference by another of Icarus' rivals,
Gregory Iron, who had also developed a problem with Akuma following an inadvertent kick to the head at the end of Season 10; the inauspicious start of Tim Donst's reign as kingpin of the BDK as he and Jakob Hammermeier were defeated by 3.0; Ophidian unmasking former Osirian Portal factionmate Hieracon; and the return of Vin Gerard, who had been exiled from CHIKARA the preceding season after injuring Eddie Kingston. Kingston would chase Gerard from the building before insisting that Director of Fun Wink Vavasseur reinstate him, a request that was denied for the moment.
At
A Death Worse Than Fate, an event which also saw Brodie Lee defeat Jigsaw before issuing a challenge for the Grand Championship the next month, the continuation of Archibald Peck's losing streak, and the appearance of a Green Ant impersonator, UltraMantis felt the first taste of Delirious' wrath. The former "Perfect Weapon" interfered during a match for the Campeonatos de Parejas between the Spectral Envoy and Icarus and Chuck Taylor of FIST (the former substituting for an injured
Johnny Gargano), delivering the Praying Mantis Bomb to his former master and costing the Envoy the match. The next night, at Caught in the Spider's Den, Delirious made his intentions known. Declaring that UltraMantis' end would come in 2014, Delirious vowed to make him suffer for two years in revenge for the two years of his life stolen away by the Eye.
Caught In The Spider's Den also saw the very beginnings of a love affair between Mark Angelosetti and Veronica; the beginning of Gran Akuma's trials as Akuma defeated Chuck Taylor; Eddie Kingston successfully defending the Grand Championship against and retiring a newly re-instated Vin Gerard; and the return of the Green Ant impersonator. Along with four other masked men, the impersonator led an attack upon Quackenbush, Jigsaw, and The Colony. Later, their identities were revealed to be
17,
The Shard,
combatANT,
deviANT, and
assailANT (the latter three known as
The Swarm), collectively known as the
GEKIDO.
The GEKIDO immediately made their presence known at
Green Ice, with the Swarm targeting The Colony and 17 utilizing one of the variations of the Quackendriver before snapping Quackenbush's arm back with one of what he would soon term the Seventeen Forgotten Submission Holds, injuring him. Meanwhile, 3.0 journeyed to the Promised Land, defeating Taylor and Icarus for the Campeonatos de Parejas; Angelosetti and Veronica continued their flirting ways, with Veronica ultimately leaving Peck for Angelosetti; and Delirious continued to haunt UltraMantis.
Once again, UltraMantis' plight would only worsen, as Ophidian would align with Delirious the next night at
It's How You Play The Game, stealing UltraMantis' skull staff in the process. Also at this event, Donst sought to regain the Young Lions Cup that Hallowicked had stolen from him at the end of the prior Season, an effort which would prove unsuccessful; the Swarm successfully unmasked Green Ant; and Brodie Lee's title aspirations were brought to an end by Kingston in a successful defense of the Grand Championship.
At
I'll Be A Mummy's Uncle, UltraMantis unsuccessfully attempted to reclaim his staff from Ophidian, who indicated that the staff held the key to his next transformation; fed up with Angelosetti and determined to show Veronica that he could be a winner, Peck donned the identity of Mixed Martial Archie and was ultimately disqualified for excessive violence towards Angelosetti; Akuma faced the second of his trials, defeating Iron; Donst continued to make his case for a match with Hallowicked to regain his Cup, passing around a petition before defeating Jigsaw; and Kingston stood alongside The Colony to face the GEKIDO in a losing effort, one that was witnessed by an injured and angry Quackenbush on commentary.
Following a quick stop at the
2012 Road to Ruin Fest, CHIKARA arrived in Chicago Ridge, IL, for
Hot Off the Griddle. The Colony teamed with Jigsaw to revenge themselves upon The Shard and the Swarm of the GEKIDO, with combatANT tapping to Soldier Ant's CHIKARA Special; in his debut match, an unlucky Tianlong faced and was soundly defeated by 17, who proceeded to end his fledgling career with another of the Seventeen Forgotten Submission Holds; Donst reclaimed his Cup by attacking Hallowicked during intermission and putting him in the From Dusk 'til Donst, leading Hallowicked to run Donst off during an Atomicos match later in the show; a heated rivalry between 3.0 and the
Bravado Brothers began during the same Atomicos match as
Lancelot Bravado injured
Scott Parker with a chair; after his offer of an alliance was vehemently rejected by Kingston at a Ring of Honor show earlier in the month, Kevin Steen returned to CHIKARA for the first time since 2005 in an unsuccessful attempt to win the Grand Championship; and Akuma successfully completed the third of his trials, a handicap match against the whole of FIST, with an assist from Iron.
The next night, at
The Contaminated Cowl, the
Young Bucks secured three points for a future shot at the Campeonatos de Parejas in an elimination tag match also featuring the Spectral Envoy, Donst and Hammermeier, and Kodama and Kobald of the Batiri; The Colony and the Swarm battled once again, with both teams going for each other's masks before 17 arrived to cause a disqualification; Kingston challenged 17 following the match, coming away with the victory though 17 and The Shard would injure him as well; Jigsaw laid down a challenge for the Grand Championship after defeating Icarus, the match itself noteworthy for being the first time the two had faced off since 2006; and Gargano and Taylor unseated 3.0 to become the first two-time Campeones de Parejas in CHIKARA's history. The Bravados came out after the match to mock 3.0's loss (one they had partially caused the night before by injuring Jagged), but left before anything else could happen.
Aniversario time had come again. Over two nights, at
Aniversario: A Horse of Another Color and
Aniversario: The Ogg and I, fans amused themselves by singing "Whacking Day" from The Simpsons as Ophidian was defeated by Dasher Hatfield; Season 11 and Season 3 collided as Donst and Hammermeier teamed with the Batiri to face Shane Storm, Crossbones, Jolly Roger, Lance Steel, and Rorschach; Mixed Martial Archie was defeated by Darkness Crabtree in an MMA exhibition; Donst challenged Hallowicked to a Lucha de Apuesta (mask versus hair) for the upcoming
CHIKARAsaurus Rex; 3.0 and the Bravados continued their feud by interfering in each other's matches; Frightmare returned from injury to complete the Spectral Envoy in what was unfortunately a losing effort in a multi-team Trios match; and Kingston successfully defended the Grand Championship against Jigsaw.
Not long after the Aniversario shows was CHIKARAsaurus Rex: How to Hatch a Dinosaur. Ophidian completed his transformation, though he would be defeated by UltraMantis; in a Loser Leaves Town Match, Mixed Martial Archie (who resurfaced as Archibald Peck midway through the match) and Colt Cabana were defeated by Angelosetti and Hatfield, with Angelosetti using nefarious means to do so and Veronica officially aligning herself with him post-match; in a ladder match refereed by Iron, Akuma completed his last trial, defeating Icarus and winning his way back onto the CHIKARA roster; Hallowicked defeated Donst in a Lucha de Apuesta, taking his hair and nearly taking his Cup; Quackenbush returned to action, replacing an injured Fire Ant in an Atomicos match alongside Kingston and the remaining Colony against the GEKIDO, gaining a measure of revenge against 17 for injuring him earlier in the Season; and the Young Bucks cashed in their three points to win los Campeonatos de Parejas from Gargano and Taylor.
After this event, Peck embarked on a journey through North America, which was soon documented through the "Where In The World Is Archibald Peck?" webseries, and would soon be the focal point of a very strange series of events taking place during both this Season and the next.
Young Lions Cup season began at
The Foggiest Notion, an event which also saw 3.0 defeat the Bravados, as Hammermeier won his way into the competition. Angelosetti joined the fray at
Smack In The Middle, while three GEKIDO/CHIKARA mirror matches (Green Ant/deviANT, Jigsaw/The Shard, and Soldier Ant/assailANT) took place, Donst's arrogance pre-CHIKARAsaurus Rex had worn away, replaced by a crazed desperation as he was defeated and soundly mocked by Sara Del Rey (his change in attitude would soon be accompanied by antipathy and disdain towards Hammermeier), and Kingston successfully defended the Grand Championship against Hatfield.
Next into the tournament was newcomer
Anthony Stone, who advanced at
The Great Escape. Also at The Great Escape was the successful debut of a familiar-looking masked fellow by the name of The Mysterious and Handsome Stranger; the announcement that, determined by Wink's CHIKARAbermetrics calculations, Soldier Ant would be forced to join the Swarm for the upcoming King of Trios; and another successful defense by Kingston, this time against Del Rey.
At
Give 'em The Axe the next night, Del Rey took her final bows as a CHIKARA competitor after a loss to Icarus; in a strange interview segment, Donst attempted to curtail Hammermeier's enthusiasm about being in the Young Lions Cup tournament, then advised him to leave professional wrestling after proclaiming Hallowicked a god (marking the start of an odd idol worship phase for Donst towards Hallowicked);
ACH became the fourth competitor to advance in the Young Lions Cup tournament; and the Young Bucks successfully defended los Campeonatos de Parejasagainst Angelosetti and Hatfield, with Veronica sowing discord between the two after the loss and after Hatfield had given Angelosetti an ultimatum regarding his use of questionable tactics.
A Benefit for Baseballtown Charities saw the debut of
Sidney Bakabella and his
Devastation Corporation, who destroyed two young men;
Marty Jannetty made an appearance to team with Green Ant against Los Ice Creams; Saturyne was next to feel the wrath of the crazed Donst; and Angelosetti resorted to more bullying tactics during a tag match against FIST, handing out a wedgie and a swirly to Taylor and Icarus, respectively, yet somehow still remaining a tecnico through it all.
The semifinals of the Young Lions Cup tournament were underway at
Shoot A Crooked Arrow, as Angelosetti defeated Stone and ACH defeated Hammermeier following interference by Donst; 3.0 fell prey to the Bravados during an elimination tag match; and Wink's CHIKARAbermetrics once again came into play as Sugar Dunkerton was shuffled out of
The Throwbacks and into FIST and assailANT took Soldier Ant's place in The Colony, changes that no one was pleased with. Ophidian and Delirious officially welcomed the Batiri into their ranks at
The Ring of Wax, an event which also saw Quackenbush use every variation of the Quackendriver to injure 17 (noticeably upsetting Jigsaw, as it cost him and Quackenbush points) and Angelosetti become the 2012 Young Lions Cup champion.
It was soon time for King of Trios. Another CHIKARAbermetrics calculation saw Akuma join 3.0 for the event, as 3.0's usual Trios partner
El Generico was absent from the tournament. Unfortunately for Wink, all of his created teams that competed (FIST being the exception as Dunkerton did not compete in the tournament) were defeated during
Round 1. Quackenbush struck again, injuring combatANT. Upset at
The Throwbacks losing in the first round, Veronica soon had her eye on the Mysterious and Handsome Stranger. The Devastation Corporation squared off with and came up short against
Demolition during a ten man tag gauntlet which eventually saw
The 1-2-3 Kid and Jannetty earn two points.
After an Atomico, Condor Security arrested The Swamp Monster for post-match disorderly conduct, prompting
The Gentleman's Club to free him after the show. Within the tournament, the Envoy embarked on a hot streak, knocking out both hated rivals the Batiri and perennial favorites FIST on their way to the finals. Their eventual opponents, Team ROH (the Young Bucks and Mike Bennett, accompanied by Maria Kanellis), eliminated The Extreme Trio (
Tommy Dreamer,
Too Cold Scorpio, and
Jerry Lynn) and the Sendai Girls (
DASH Chisako,
Meiko Satomura, and
Sendai Sachiko) on their own trek to the finals.
The two teams clashed at the end of
Night Three, in a twenty minute match that saw Delirious, Ophidian, and the Batiri interfere, only to be chased off with the assistance of a returning Crossbones. With the interference neutralized, Hallowicked ended the match by making Bennett tap out, and the Envoy became the 2012 King of Trios. This was especially noteworthy for being the first and so far only accolade won by UltraMantis during his entire time in CHIKARA.
Dunkerton joined FIST in Trios action for the first time at
Deep Freeze, though it would be in a losing effort against Ophidian and Batiri members Kodama and Obariyon due to discord with his faction mates. Angelosetti made his first successful defense of the Young Lions Cup at the same event, defeating Green Ant. Over this and the next several events, assailANT began to warm up to the idea of being a tecnico, embarking on a quest to get into the good graces of both the fans and the tecnicos, including his factionmates in The Colony. Donst began to target Kingston, while the Mysterious and Handsome Stranger had Angelosetti in his sights.
This would cost him the life of his friend, the feral pigeon Sapphire, as she was brutally murdered by Angelosetti at
Zelda The Great. Quackenbush's vendetta against GEKIDO continued at
A Piece Of The Actiony as he targeted first The Shard then deviANT, further upsetting Jigsaw. The Mysterious and Handsome Stranger sought revenge for his fallen friend at the same event, but was disqualified for excessive violence during the match, a decision which should sound quite familiar.
The violent rift between Steen and Kingston reared its ugly head once more, as the two men were chosen to lead the Season's Cibernetico teams. Steen selected Ring of Honor regulars
Jimmy Jacobs,
The Briscoes, the Bravados, and the Young Bucks for his team. Kingston countered with Frightmare, UltraMantis, Hallowicked, Donst, Akuma, and 3.0. The two teams clashed at
The Cibernetico Rises. After an hour-long war, Donst (who had been idolizing Hallowicked during the match to the point of attempting to protect him several times) turned on Kingston and attempted to feed him to Steen, but ended up getting Steen eliminated in the process, turning the match into Donst vs. Kingston. After an assist from Hammermeier and use of a foreign object, Donst secured the win, becoming the sole survivor of the 2012 Cibernetico.
After the match, Donst and Hammermeier further brutalized Kingston, resulting in a challenge being made for the Season Finale,
Under The Hood. Outside the Cibernetico match, Jigsaw turned rudo for the first time in several Seasons, turning on Quackenbush with a superkick and aligning himself with The Shard, the resulting team soon becoming known as
The Pieces Of Hate.
The Season closed with the Season Finale, Under The Hood. 3.0 triumphed over FIST to secure a shot at los Campeonatos de Parejas for the following Season. Jigsaw joined GEKIDO to face Quackenbush and The Colony, with assailANT completing his redemption by sacrificing himself to block a superkick from Jigsaw that was intended for Quackenbush. ACH received a rematch for the Young Lions Cup, though he failed to unseat Angelosetti.
A CHIKARA-wide vote for the CHIKARA Homecoming King and Queen came to an end, with The Mysterious And Handsome Stranger and Veronica being voted for the respective positions. After a slow dance, Veronica attempted to remove the Stranger's mask for a kiss, but was stopped and told to turn around and close her eyes... only to receive a bucket of slop poured over her as the Stranger unmasked to reveal that he had been Archibald Peck the entire time. He was quickly hustled out of the building by Condor Security as Veronica pitched a fit.
Delirious led his iteration of the Dark Army against the Spectral Envoy, who once again resurrected Blind Rage to even out the numbers. During the match, Ophidian was shocked by the appearance of Amasis, who had been absent from CHIKARA since the preceding Season. The match ended with UltraMantis gaining a measure of revenge on Delirious for all that had happened during the Season. The 1-2-3 Kid and Jannetty, having secured a third point, made an unsuccessful bid for the Campeonatos de Parejas.
In the main event, Kingston and Donst battled it out for the Grand Championship in a twenty minute match that saw referee Bryce Remsburg knocked out of the proceedings, Hammermeier showed reluctance in assisting Donst with the loaded bag, and the match end with two Backfists To The Future. Afterwards, Hammermeier saved Donst from a further beating. Accepting the possible ire of Kingston as a result of his actions, Hammermeier was prepared for punishment, but in a rare moment of compassion, Kingston let him leave without further issue.
After the show, two videos played. One featured two men in hazmat suits near the lair of Delirious where the Eye had been smashed picking up and placing something (assumed to be the pieces of the Eye) into a bag. The other featured Wink being ordered by his father Conrad Vavasseur not to "screw up" any further. A third video was released to Youtube afterward, describing the very strange and very complicated reason Archibald Peck would be able to return to competition. Due to time travel, there were now two Pecks: one who was backfisted to the past during the Loser Leaves Town Match, and one who lost that match and had been walking all that time, eventually reaching Parts Unknown. It had been the former who had assumed the identity of the Mysterious and Handsome Stranger, and by virtue of not having been the one who lost the Loser Leaves Town match, he would be allowed to compete until he received another Backfist, which would theoretically complete the time loop. This didn't come into play until the following Season.
Season 12: 2013 until June (written by Babs)Season 12 unofficially started with National Pro Wrestling Day on February 2nd, which included CHIKARA and all the Wrestling Is companies. They each sent representatives and presented a match. The CHIKARA match featured 3.0 and The Colony against Los Ice Creams and FIST.
The next weekend was CHIKARA's Season Premiere. It started with
All The Agents And The Superhuman Crew in Reading on February 9th. In the main event, Archibald Peck finally got his revenge on Mr. Touchdown by beating him in a no disqualification match, causing Veronica to leave him afterwards. Tim Donst practiced his barbering skills on a very unwilling Jakob Hammermeier, while the FIST team of Sugar Dunkerton and Icarus continued to have communication issues. Eddie Kingston had a literal run-in with Director of Fun Wink Vavasseur, creating even more tension between the two men.
The commotion of this show carried over to the next day's event
While The Dawn Is Breaking.
Saturyne and Touchdown started the show with an excellent Young Lions Cup defense. Mike Quackenbush and
Incoherence (collectively known as Team Frightening) failed to get revenge on deviANT, The Shard, and Jigsaw. Sugar Dunkerton called out Dasher Hatfield to explain he didn't want to be in FIST. Sugar tried to convince him exactly what kind of person Touchdown really is, but Dasher wasn't interested in reuniting and became infuriated that Sugar would bring his family into their problems.
Wink freed Soldier Ant from GEKIDO and offered him a group of his own to lead. Peck and Donst started their three match series, and in the aftermath, Veronica joined Donst and he would threaten
Gavin Loudspeaker. 3.0 cashed in their three points and defeated The Young Bucks to bring the Campeonatos de Parajas back to CHIKARA, becoming the second team in history to win the titles twice, with the first being the FIST team of Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano.
In sunny Florida the next month, at
Just Shadows In The Fog on March 8th, 3.0 would make their first successful title defense against The Devastation Corporation, thanks to old-fashioned tag team strategy and a little bit of cheating. Quackenbush was again denied revenge against Jigsaw and The Shard in the opening tag team elimination match, but Icarus and Sugar started to act like a team, winning the match and scoring their first point. The crowd actually cheered for Icarus during this match. Ophidian attempted to destroy the soul of Amasis, but before he could, the Madjai appeared to stop him and chased him out into the crowd.
Soldier Ant's new squadron, The
Colony Xtreme Force debuted.
Missile Assault Ant,
Arctic Rescue Ant, and
Orbit Adventure Ant quickly made an impact, but Soldier was already annoyed with their antics. Veronica debuted a new, edgy look and Steven "The Turtle" Weiner sounded quite enamored with her on commentary. Kingston took on
Amazing Kong and beat her, but his anger boiled over, as he became frustrated with the fans who are chanting for Green Ant. King was supposed to defend the Grand Championship against Green the next day in Orlando, at
The Watchmaker. The match would be postponed to
Battle Not With Monsters on May 3rd because Kingston would injure a tendon in his hand after getting drunk and punching a mirror in his hotel room.
The Watchmaker started with
Eddie Graves versus
Oliver Grimsly. Grimsly would later join Sinn Bohdi's
Odditorium. Soldier led Colony: Xtreme Force in battle against The Batiri and, after the match, Amasis attacked a vulnerable Ophidian, getting a little revenge, before chasing him to the back. Hammermeier had a breakdown during his match with Hallowicked and blamed him for Donst's behavior and taking away his friend. Speaking of Tim, he took on Peck once again. Veronica got knocked down accidentally by Archie during the match and Turtle attacked him and joins up with Donst's motley crew. In the main event, 3.0, Gran Akuma (also known as Booyakuma), Dasher, and Green Ant took on Icarus, Gargano, Sugar,
Max Smashmaster, and
Blaster McMassive and we saw FIST disinigrate further. Gargano's distain for Sugar was on plain display.
The Shoulder Of Pallas took place on April 6th at Wrestlecon and the crowd was the largest in CHIKARA history at the time, with around 1,200 attendees. It drew fans from all over the area and the globe. The Devastation Corporation, The Throwbacks, The Batiri, and a returning Spectral Envoy team of UltraMantis Black and Blind Rage faced off in an elimination tag match. The Batiri won the match and earned their third point. Amasis and Ophidian were supposed to wrestle, but the match got pushed back to Aniversario due to Ophidian's knee injury. The Batiri attacked Amasis, but he was able to fight back and poison Ophidian with his own venom.
The FIST quartet of Taylor, Icarus, Gargano, and Sugar beat 3.0, Akuma, and Marty Jannetty after Icarus made Akuma tap out to The CHIKARA Special. FIST continued to splinter apart. After Gargano fouled Jannetty, Icarus slapped him, as Jannetty is one his heroes. Icarus also shoved Taylor after the match and declared that Sugar was part of FIST. However, Icarus was upset at the dissention and blameed Sugar for it. Peck and Donst had their final match and at the end, Gavin trieed to convince Jakob and Company that Tim didn’t care about them. Donst lashed out at Gavin and cut off a piece of his hair. Soldier and Colony: Xtreme Force faceed off against The Colony and Frightmare, who won the match after Missile Assault Ant took off Frightmare's mask. Kingston defended the Grand Championship against Wicked and more fans turned against King.
In the main event, Quack teamed up with a mystery partner, who turned out to be
Jushin Thunder Liger, to take on Jigsaw and The Shard, The Pieces of Hate. Quack would finally get his revenge. Thunder and Lightning would win after Liger hit a super brainbuster on Jig. After the show, as Quack was leaving, he was given an envelope by a man in an NPA hat. NPA stands for No Private Army, which was a blog that focuses on conspiracy theories, corporations, privatized military organizations, like Condor Security and The Titor Conglomerate. Right after the show, Quack was removed from the roster page and The Wrestle Factory was split from CHIKARA.
It was confirmed at the next show, May 3rd's, Battle Not With Monsters that Quack was fired by Wink Vavasseur, but no reason was given. The first half of the show was hosted by Donst and Company. We discovered that they attacked Gavin and locked him in a closet. He got out in the middle of the show and took over announcing and hosting the show. The Colony and Los Ice Creams versus The Batiri match opened the show with an entertaining match. deviant took over as leader of The Colony: Xtreme Force, as Soldier Ant resigned from CHIKARA during the Event Center on April 18th. His first duty was to lead them into battle against Booyakuma and they win after hitting Akuma in the back with Arctic Rescue Ant's snowboard.
Amasis defeated The Shard in his return match. Peck prepared for his Grand Championship match against King by taking on and beating Jig. The Spectral Envoy beat FIST. The miscommunication between the FIST members got worse and battle lines were drawn between Gargano and Taylor and Icarus and Sugar. However, Gargano's frustration boiled over and he quit FIST. Green Ant finally got this Grand Championship match with Kingston. It was an impressive defense and King left North Carolina still the Grand Champion.
After taking on a submission specialist in Green Ant, Kingston took on and defeated Touchdown in a hard-hitting encounter the next day during
The Ghost Of You Clings. 3.0 also defended the Campeonatos against The Batiri.
Shynron made his debut against Taylor and was victorious. The Pieces of Hate beat The Colony. Sugar lost to Akuma, in part to Icarus's "attempts" to help. He was embarrassed in front of his hometown fans and had enough of the FIST philosophy. Sugar quit and declared himself a free agent.
Colony: Xtreme Force beat The Spectral Envoy and Green Ant after Missile Assault took off his own mask and framed Mantis. Donst continued to abuse Jakob and it was clear Hammermeier was close to exploding. Saturyne beat Donst and during the match, Gavin came to ringside to cheer for Saturyne, because Tim had Turtle, Veronica, and Jakob with him. Donst snapped and attacked Gavin, then cut and ate his hair. He later had his stomach pumped. Gavin was taken out on a stretcher.
Two weeks later, CHIKARA brought back the
Tag World Grand Prix in Chicago on May 18th. The teams in the TWGP included
The Baltic Siege, The Young Bucks, The Spectral Envoy, Colony: Xtreme Force, The Bravado Brothers, The Batiri,
The Daywalkers,
Zero Gravity, The Colony, Los Ice Creams, The Devastation Corporation,
The Submission Squad,
ACDC, Saturyne and
Heidi Lovelace, The Pieces of Hate, and
Da Soul Touchaz. The Pieces of Hate
won the tournament by defeating former Campeones, The Young Bucks. Afterwards, they gave a speech and announced they would cash in their points at
Aniversario: Never Compromise.
Icarus defeated Colt Cabana, giving him momentum going into his upcoming Grand Championship match. Kingston beat Peck, after Peck was distracted by his doppelganger in the balcony. This distraction gave King the opportunity to Backfist Archie for a third time. The lights went out and when they went back up, Peck had disappeared, presumably returned to Chikarasaurus Rex: How to Hatch a Dinosaur to lose the fall in the Loser Must Leave CHIKARA match and closing the loop in the timeline.
At Aniversario, some conflicts came to their conclusion, while others left open ended questions. The Envoy beat The Colony: Xtreme Force. The Colony and The Devastation Corporation continued their feud, which started at TWGP after they fought to a double count out. Amasis finally got his revenge against Ophidian in a sarcophagus match. In the end, Amasis demasked Ophidian, revealing he was wearing an Amasis mask underneath. Gavin beat Donst in their Hair versus Hair match, after Hammermeier snapped and knocked Donst out. Jakob, Turtle, and Veronica abandoned Donst and after shaving his head, he left alone.
Derek Sabato came out and revealed a compromising photo of Titor Conglomerate executives. Wink came out and ordered the CHIKARA referees to remove him from the building. The Pieces of Hate became the new Campeones and Icarus came close to beating Kingston for the Grand Championship. He had King in The CHIKARA Special, but before his hand could drop for a third time, Condor Security came out. They removed Bryce Remsburg, Icarus, and King and carried them to the back.
They ordered the audience to leave and tore down the staging, and Peck could be seen on the stage as well, along with a strange tableau of Gavin lying motionless on Ophidian's casket while Doc attended to him. In the middle of the chaos, as the shocked CHIKARA fans chanted and refused to leave, Wink sat calmly eating an apple.
The abrupt ending of Aniversario was surprising, but no one, not the fans nor the locker room, could anticipate that the next day CHIKARA would be shut down and the rest of Season 12's shows would be cancelled by World Wide Media Development Corporation and their parent company, The Titor Conglomerate.
Season 13: July 2013 until May 2014 (written by Rave)Silence had fallen in the wake of Aniversario: Never Compromise. CHIKARA had been shut down by the Titor Conglomerate the day after, canceling the rest of Season 12. CHIKARA's official message board, CHIKARA 101 (henceforth referred to as just the 101), had been censored by an overzealous employee of the Conglomerate, known as Anton Frady, who had been appointed as an Administrator prior to the shutdown. The fans had started to despair that CHIKARA was dead for good.
The dark days had begun.
After Never Compromise, Mike Quackenbush (who had been missing from CHIKARA since April) met with Derek Sabato and, surprisingly, former Director of Fun Dieter Von Steigerwalt. In exchange for a promise to protect his brother, Von Steigerwalt had provided the Photoshopped image that Sabato had revealed during Never Compromise that had contributed to causing the complete and total shutdown. Through the 101, Titor announced the sale of several CHIKARA assets in their possession, including the Campeonatos de Parejas, which had been surrendered to them by The Pieces of Hate. Neither the Grand Championship nor the tenth Young Lions Cup (the latter later confirmed to still be in the possession of "Mr. Touchdown" Mark Angelosetti) were included in this sale, and the CdP was purchased by a then-unknown buyer.
A month later, CHIKARA wrestlers would finally break their silence on the 101 (and the overzealous Anton Frady would disappear, with Leonard F. Chikarason returning as Administrator in his place) to share memories of happier times. However, there was one man who refused to accept the shattering of the family that he had chosen. He had brooded for that entire month, and, unlike everyone else, had decided to stand up and put the pieces back together. That man was Icarus.
Later that month, he would organize the first of several CHIKARA rallies. The first rally was held on July 20th in Easton at the Palmer Center, the date and site of one of the cancelled events. At this event, Icarus would deliver a rousing speech and the CHIKARMY would speak out about their love for CHIKARA. They were also given shirts proclaiming "I Am CHIKARA", which they would wear to various events. A group picture was taken and a movement – the #IAmCHIKARA movement – was born.
A few days afterward, he would attend
Dragon Gate USA's
Enter the Dragon 2013 event to speak to (and ultimately be rebuffed by) Chuck Taylor. Titor struck back at him by compromising his 101 account, luring fans into signing a fake petition and making them known to Condor Security as well. They would use this information to attempt to stop the movement by frightening away the CHIKARMY with harassing and misleading voicemails, post card mailings, and even visits to their homes.
Seeking their comrade Soldier Ant, who had resigned from CHIKARA out of disgust with then-Director of Fun Wink Vavasseur and subsequently disappeared following a set of appearances in the UK, Green Ant and Fire Ant sought out former Colony member Worker Ant. He had not seen Soldier Ant, but passed on his mask and gear to Green Ant, attempting to anoint him the new Worker Ant. Green Ant was undecided, but took the box containing Worker Ant's gifts with him.
After further rallying the CHIKARMY by leaving DVD's at wrestling events (something he would continue doing for a while longer), Icarus, having been denied by Taylor, chose to visit another CHIKARA alumnus, Tim Donst. He would be further disappointed and denied, though Donst entrusted him with his Young Lions Cup to give to Jakob Hammermeier, a request which was ultimately unfulfilled (probably, as the Cup was never mentioned again).
Prompted by a letter he received from Hallowicked, he drove on to The Wrestle Factory, where he would question him regarding the whereabouts of Quackenbush (taking a piece of Quackenbush's gear, which had been left behind, in the process), who had gone silent once more, and review the progress of four promising wrestlers-in-training who would quickly become his allies: Equinox III, Create-A-Wrestler II,
Kid Cyclone (who would become a polarizing figure in the not-so-distant future), and Private Eye Jr.
The second rally took place during what would have been King of Trios weekend, specifically September 14th, on the steps of The Philadelphia Museum of Art. Despite their unease and an attack on Kobald by Condor Security, the CHIKARMY came and listened as Icarus rallied us once again. He then left a clue, a reference to the unsolved Mysterium P puzzle, which would lead the CHIKARMY to Private Eye Jr.'s Instagram account. That same rally would also provide an email address for Conrad Vavasseur, Wink's father who had played a large part in the Titor Conglomerate acquiring CHIKARA in seasons past, and fans would deluge him with email. During that month, Icarus would pay a visit to Eddie Kingston at a Ring of Honor television taping, only to be shot down for the third time, though he would also learn that Kingston was still in possession of the Grand Championship.
Before the shattering of CHIKARA, seven offshoot promotions, the Wrestling Is set (Cool, Heart, Intense, Fun, Art, Respect, and Awesome), had been birthed. With CHIKARA gone, these promotions became a lifeboat for wayward CHIKARA wrestlers, but unfortunately soon also became targets from surprising adversaries, who began removing them one by one.
Wrestling Is Intense was the first to fall in September, as the resurrected GEKIDO dismantled the promotion, after making their intentions known via their Twitter account, injuring
Jervis Cottonbelly and killing Darkness Crabtree. It was followed by
Wrestling Is Awesome in October, robbed and destroyed by Dr. Cube, who had similarly broadcast his intentions beforehand. This was not the Cube who had invaded CHIKARA prior, as he had been assassinated months at the Kaiju Big Battel event during Wrestlecon in April of that year. The identity of the imposter would not be revealed for another year.
As requested by Icarus, fans took to Twitter in droves during a WWE broadcast at the end of September. They were soon joined by CHIKARA alumni, all spreading love and memories like wildfire with a single hashtag: #IAmCHIKARA. This movement, as well as all the emails to his father, prompted the reappearance of Wink Vavasseur, who had fallen completely under the radar after Never Compromise.
Wink had come to regret his role in what had happened to CHIKARA. Over the month of October, after a visit from his mother, apologizing to those he had wronged (save for Kingston) and hiding himself away from the circling Condor Security, he let slip important information regarding his now-former employers: Titor had acquired CHIKARA in an effort to fuel, train, and front their own private army. They had planned to 'refine' and 'relocate' their base of operations, Elohim City.
Quackenbush's disappearance from CHIKARA had come after he barred the Wrestle Factory to Titor. The Colony: Xtreme Force were handpicked Condor mercenaries. Titor had been funding GEKIDO and paying 17 and combatANT's medical bills. assailANT (viewed as the weak link of GEKIDO) had been placed with The Colony to adulterate and demoralize them, with the CHIKARAbermetrics system serving the same purpose for the other affected teams. Following another run-in with Condor Security, Wink promised more 'bombshells' at the early November rally, but dropped out of sight once more.
Following the death of Wrestling Is Awesome, 3.0, still bothered by the events of Never Compromise, chose to take their road trip in a new direction: tracking down the whereabouts of Archibald Peck, who had been seen in the aftermath. They paid a visit to Peck's barrister, RD Evans, who pointed them towards the snowy landscape of Parts Unknown.
Green Ant and Fire Ant, on their search for Soldier Ant, soon came to the Fujiwara Arm bar to inquire with Dan Yost whether he had been there. Passing Blind Rage (who had intentionally failed to answer a call from Icarus seconds beforehand) on the way in, they soon encountered UltraMantis Black, who called them out on the real figurative elephant in the room, that being assailANT. The rarely-speaking Fire Ant soon admitted that neither he nor Green Ant trusted assailANT.
Having been refused by all he had contacted, Icarus soon reached out to UltraMantis, who seemingly rebuffed him as well. However, he was no longer alone in his endeavor, as, along with Hallowicked and the luchadors-in-training, several other CHIKARA alumni had joined his quest, and fans on the 101 had assembled into The Hellenic Air Force to help spread the word.
November brought with it the death of another Wrestling Is promotion, as another rudo of CHIKARA's past, Sinn Bohdi, first threatened, then purchased Wrestling Is Art for the sole purpose of dismantling it with his newly formed Odditorium (Oliver Grimsly and
Qefka The Quiet) and, strangely, Dr. Cube's minions. This was the first hint that the attacks on the Wrestling Is promotions were not isolated incidents. Trouble was brewing.
The third rally for CHIKARA happened at the beginning of November. After the second rally at the Art Museum was nearly disrupted by Condor Security, Icarus and Private Eye Jr. had chosen to become more furtive about their plans, this time revealing the date and location through clues included with parcels mailed out as part of an eBay sale. Fans had originally expected something much like the first two rallies, and were surprised when Private Eye Jr. revealed that there was a wrestling ring being set up.
The rally, broadcast and recorded by fans, would feature both an impromptu performance by Gavin Loudspeaker and a
wrestling match, pitting Icarus, Hallowicked, and assailANT versus Kobald of The Batiri and Los Ice Creams (El Hijo del Ice Cream and Ice Cream Jr.), and was unfortunately cut short when Condor Security crashed the festivities and kidnapped a fan named Thom, who left his hat behind. A disturbing video was soon sent, where Condor Security challenged fans to return to the spot of the rally at the end of the month for a then-unknown task, with Thom's fate at stake.
Back at The Wrestle Factory, assailANT had been sparring with Jervis Cottonbelly when deviANT and The Colony: Xtreme Force struck, attempting to lure their former comrade back into the fold and burn down the building. Jervis was subdued and abducted in the process, and other than his absence from several subsequent events that he was scheduled to wrestle at, it is unknown just what happened to him during this period of time. (Jervis refused to speak of it.) Instead of siding with GEKIDO, assailANT chose to defend The Wrestle Factory, preventing it from being burned down though he would be assaulted in the process. In assaulting his former comrade, deviANT spoke of
The Flood, and how it would wash assailANT away if he did not stand with them. This was the first time the name was invoked for the eventual rudo supergroup.
Heeding Condor Security's warning that any wrestlers present at the gathering would endanger Thom's life, Icarus chose to step away, instead seeking out Quackenbush, who had become a veritable recluse. Though Icarus failed to rally Quackenbush back to the cause (even attempting to use the piece of ring gear he had taken from The Wrestle Factory to help sway him), his words would stay with him.
Just before the end of the month, it was leaked that the unknown challenge posed to fans by Condor Security would be a scavenger hunt throughout Philadelphia. Efforts were coordinated and the CHIKArmed Forces both physically present and looking on over the internet were a united front aiming to recover one of their own. Partway through the hunt, it soon became clear that CHIKARA forces were sabotaging Condor Security's plans, as CHIKARA wrestlers and personalities soon turned up to point the way at each stop. The road led to a disheveled Wink, who turned over the keys and unlock code for a storage unit.
Inside was an envelope, containing schematics for a compound earmarked for Titor's army and, shockingly, leasing papers for the land Easton's Palmer Center stands on. Once the papers were recovered, Condor Security tweeted that they would trade the papers for Thom and gave their location. Before fans could head there to make the trade-off, Icarus would appear to switch the envelopes, ensuring that Titor would not get what it wanted. At the site, two men in maroon suits and plague doctor masks (one later revealed to be
Volgar, though the other, his partner Callux, would still go unnamed even after his forced departure from CHIKARA) waited to accept the envelope, and fans prevented them from getting away until the van that had abducted Thom arrived.
The van was chased down as well (with fans even standing in front of it!), until Thom was freed and safely returned home. The contents of the real envelope were soon circulated via the No Private Army blog, and Titor announced plans to sell CHIKARA to the highest bidder. It would later be revealed that Wink had masterminded the hijack of the scavenger hunt, having gone underground to learn what was happening.
In what had become a depressing trend, following another threat broadcast over the internet, another Wrestling Is promotion was killed in December.
Wrestling Is Cool's owner, Milo Schnitzler, was revealed to be in the employ of the resurrected Die Bruderschaft des Kreuzes, destroying the promotion from the inside. It was also revealed that CHIKARA had been sold. The promotion had passed into the hands of the Barridoff Galleries, with co-owner Robbie Ellis later revealing that he had purchased it because he believed that professional wrestling was an art form in itself.
Following a visit to Dasher Hatfield over the holidays, Icarus gained two more allies to his cause: the Throwbacks (Hatfield and "Mr. Touchdown" Mark Angelosetti). He would end 2013 on a hopeful note, having accomplished so much towards something that others had once thought impossible.
3.0 had finally reached Parts Unknown, discovering Peck's abode and the web of conspiracies he had woven, which provided many hints and clues for the future. They encountered Peck, who believed that, as time ran differently in Parts Unknown, it was too late to save CHIKARA from certain doom. Their words convinced him otherwise, and the three began to plan a way to avert that doom.
Having been alerted that something was indeed wrong with the Wrestling Is companies dying, Icarus showed up to Wrestling is Fun!'s
The Wild Bunch event on January 18th wielding a baseball bat. After initially guarding the gate against incursion, he successfully prevented the assembled Flood forces from dismantling the promotion, though Dr. Cube's proclamation that they would "respect" his wishes proved ominous.
The next day,
Wrestling Is Respect was destroyed when
The Wrecking Crew (Max Smashmaster, Blaster McMassive,
Flex Rumblecrunch,
Oleg The Usurper,
Jaka, and manager Sidney Bakabella) revealed that they had been paid to join the Flood. Only two Wrestling Is promotions, Fun and Heart, remained.
After a sparring session, Green Ant and Equinox III spoke of the latter inheriting the Equinox mask and name, which had previously been used by Vin Gerard and Jimmy Olsen. This made Green Ant further think upon the choice he needed to make: whether or not he would accept the legacy of Worker Ant.
The assembled forces of The Flood soon made their intent known: they were coming to destroy
National Pro Wrestling Day 2014. Knowing when the showdown would occur, Icarus arrived early to speak with Fire Ant and Green Ant, gaining them as allies. Everything was falling into place. It was time to wait, and to plan.
National Pro Wrestling Day 2014 soon arrived. During the main event, a match between Heidi Lovelace and Joe Pittman for
Wrestling Is Heart's La Copa Idolo, the Flood struck, destroying the accolade and bringing Heart to its end. It was later revealed that they had snapped Private Eye Jr.'s neck before entering the building. Entering with the Flood forces were the maroon-suited masked men from the scavenger hunt, along with a third masked figure who soon revealed himself to be the then-ringleader: Jimmy Jacobs. As Jacobs gloated, The Submission Squad ("Pistol Danger"
Evan Gelistico, "The Elegant Assassin"
Pierre Abernathy, "Brainwave"
Davey Vega, and
Gary The Barn Owl), who had broken down on the side of the road yet again, arrived, announcing that if they wanted to destroy CHIKARA, they would have to go through them first. They were beaten down, but saved by the timely arrival of Icarus and his allies.
Once again, an overture was made towards assailANT, who drew the line instead. 17, standing by the entrance curtain, was dragged behind it by a cane (heavily implied to have been Quackenbush, who had left his home midway through the main). As Jacobs continued to further gloat, asking Icarus how he and the few allies with him could hope to stand against the Flood, Icarus sprung his trap, revealing that Dr. Cube's minions were actually CHIKARA forces in disguise. However, even with the numbers now equal, CHIKARA was still in danger of being overrun…
…and then the doors to the Palmer Center opened, and a DeLorean was driven into the building. Archibald Peck and 3.0 had arrived, and by giving CHIKARA the advantage, turned the tide, which sent the Flood packing. The triumphant CHIKARA forces celebrated their victory (most noteworthy being Peck and Angelosetti, after a tense moment, settling their differences with a hug), with further cause for celebration being provided by Icarus announcing that CHIKARA would be returning on May 25th, 12 years to the day of the very first CHIKARA show. Emotional fans, both present in the building and watching over the internet, were then treated to a bonus match featuring Icarus, the Osirian Portal (Amasis and Ophidian), and The Colony teaming to face Los Ice Creams and the full Batiri (Kobald, Kodama, and Obariyon).
After National Pro Wrestling Day 2014, Green Ant and Fire Ant once again returned to the Fujiwara Arm bar, this time to speak with assailANT regarding what had happened. assailANT soon revealed the real reason why he had sided with CHIKARA – he wanted to be someone that his infant son would be proud of. Hearing this, Green Ant and Fire Ant accepted him into The Colony, with Green Ant passing the mantle of Worker Ant on to him.
Between November and National Pro Wrestling Day 2014, Wink Vavasseur had been found by Condor Security, with his father ordering them to "make this screwup go away". His whereabouts are currently unknown, as is whether or not he will appear in CHIKARA ever again, but his role in the resurrection of CHIKARA and his atonement for his past sins shall not be forgotten.
Five hundred fans would soon receive letters through the mail from various members of the CHIKARA roster. The contents were simple: the date of CHIKARA's return, which had been revealed at National Pro Wrestling Day 2014, and one single word: "Believe". It had been that shared belief, bolstered by the actions of one man who had refused to give up, that had wrought a miracle, and the fans would soon be rewarded for that belief. The dark days had ended…
…or so it was believed, at the time.
In truth, while CHIKARA had been victorious at National Pro Wrestling Day 2014, it had not been the final battle. The Flood, though beaten back, had not been completely vanquished, and were lying in wait to strike again. A threat far greater than Jimmy Jacobs lingered on the horizon, ready to step in where his harbinger had failed.
No one in CHIKARA could foresee the long, tragic war that was yet to commence.
Season 14: 2014, starting in May (written by Sen)Season 14 would begin on May 25th, 2014 with the iPPV
You Only Live Twice. New CHIKARA owner
Robbie Ellis introduced Mike Quackenbush as the new "Director of Fun". You Only Live Twice would feature the CHIKARA debuts of
Juan Francisco de Coronado and
Ashley Remington. Remington, formerly known as Dalton Castle, inherited a large sum of money from his Uncle Lester "Darkness" Crabtree. The inheritance came with the stipulation that Castle had to bring the integrity and lifestyle that came with it. Unsure at first what his Uncle meant, Castle would transform himself into "Smooth Sailin'" Ashley Remington. Acquiring a yacht, the newly christened Remington set sail for Easton and You Only Live Twice. He would arrive at the Palmer Center, accompanied by a lovely lady on each arm, known as "Ashley's Angels". The almost impossible to dislike Remington would be victorious in his debut match against Chuck Taylor and would present his bemused opponent with a commemorative fruit basket after their contest.
The main event would see a rematch from Aniversario: Never Compromise between Eddie Kingston and Icarus for the CHIKARA Grand Championship. Icarus, who had emerged as CHIKARA's champion during season 13, enjoyed a hero's welcome and would defeat Kingston to become CHIKARA Grand Champion. The CHIKARA locker room joined the new champion in the ring to celebrate but the joy of the moment would be short lived as events took a sinister turn. Members of The Flood would surround the ring and with them would be a huge, masked figure. The masked behemoth would be accompanied by Delirious and Soldier Ant, who wore hoods over their heads.
Once the hoods were removed, Delirious moved to attack UltraMantis Black, while Soldier Ant would launch himself at The Colony. Icarus would be attacked in the squared circle by Jimmy Jacobs and as brawls erupted around the ring, the masked man, who would later be named as
Deucalion, would enter the ring to survey the chaos. Kobald would climb into the ring and attempt to spear Deucalion but the move had no effect. In response, Deucalion lifted Kobald and delivered a devastating chokebreaker that would leave Kobald lying motionless in the ring. He would be carried back to the locker room area and a few days later, The Batiri would announce that Kobald was gone.
The loss of the Grand Championship would be difficult for Eddie Kingston. Having previously refused to align himself with CHIKARA against The Flood, Kingston would find himself a man without a country and without his greatest possession. Jimmy Jacobs would appeal to Kingston to join forces with The Flood before their singles match at
Diamonds Are Forever in June. Kingston would offer no response until Jacobs brought up his loss of the CHIKARA Grand Championship. As the match began Kingston would attack Jacobs but, as Jacobs continued his attempts to recruit Eddie to his cause, Kingston would appear conflicted.
Jacobs would swear that he would get back the CHIKARA Grand Championship for Eddie before delivering a spear to Kingston to win the match. Eddie would appear at Goldfinger not dressed to compete for his match against Shynron and would offer little resistance until Jimmy Jacobs appeared and whispered to him. At this point, Kingston would fight back, taking the victory with a Backfist To The Future. By
The Living Daylights in July, Kingston's apathy would return and he would offer quickly tap out to Juan Francisco de Coronado's Coronado Clutch during their singles match.
Chuck Taylor would receive a further fruit basket after another loss to Remington at The Living Daylights. Taylor would accept the gift but complained that his feet had been on the ropes when the fall was counted. Director of Fun, Mike Quackenbush would remove the loss from the records and a further match between the two men took place at
Vivre Et Laisser Mourir in August. This time Taylor would take the victory and would present Remington with a baguette as a gift. The ever-charming Ashley would break the bread in half and present it back to Chuck.
Also at
The World is Not Enough, Kingston would again be reluctant to fight in his match with Jervis Cottonbelly. This time the match would end in a DQ for Kingston after Jimmy Jacob's acolytes, wearing Plague Doctor masks, attacked Cottonbelly. Over the PA system, Jacobs instructed Kingston to destroy one of the acolytes in the ring so Eddie could take his place. Jacobs promised Kingston that, in doing so he would prove that he could protect "Her", the Grand Championship. Eddie would viciously attack one of the men, Callux, before leaving the venue via a side door.
Callux would not be the only casualty that night. After celebrating a victory against
The Bloc Party in a Losing Team waves Winners' Nations Flags match, The Baltic Siege would be attacked by The Flood. Deucalion would once again deliver a devastating chokebreaker, this time to
The Estonian ThunderFrog. The ThunderFrog would not be seen again in CHIKARA.
The World is Not Enough would see an important victory for CHIKARA as Dasher Hatfield and Mark Angelosetti would defeat Jigsaw and The Shard to win los Campeonatos de Parejas. The loss would have consequences for The Pieces of Hate and at
Permis De Tuer in August, The Flood would make The Shard suffer for it. Placed in a match against Eddie Kingston, who despite some resistance at first, would follow orders from Jimmy Jacobs and Deucalion to punish The Shard. The match would ultimately be thrown out after Icarus attacked 17 and
Nøkken, who had made their way to ringside.
The Latvian Proud Oak and
The Lithuanian Snow Troll would join the brawl, attempting to avenge their fallen team mate, but this would be in vain. As Kingston held back the Snow Troll, Jacobs threw the Latvian Proud Oak to Deucalion, who would once again leave a broken body in the wake of his chokebreaker. The Lithuanian Snow Troll would beg Deucalion for his life. In response Deucalion threw down a chain, which the Snow Troll picked up and placed around his own neck. Jacobs would take control of the chain and The Flood would lead the imprisoned Snow Troll away.
The Shard would receive a further chance at King of Trios in September. Teaming with 17 and Jigsaw, the
first round would see The GEKIDO take on Knight Eye For The Pirate Guy along with
Princess KimberLee. Although The GEKIDO would take the win, the match would reveal fractures in the team with Jigsaw being reluctant to take on his brother, Jolly Roger and The Shard taking Princess Kimberlee too lightly. After the match Jolly Roger would disown Jigsaw who was left alone in the ring by his GEKIDO team mates. The Flood elite team of Jimmy Jacobs, Eddie Kingston and Volgar would eliminate 2012's King Of Trios winners, The Spectral Envoy, but only after Deucalion came to ringside to set Delirious on Ultramantis Black.
With The Devastation Corporation also progressing to the next round, The Flood looked to dominate the tournament but their last entry, The BDK team of Ares, Dr. Cube and Nøkken would suffer defeat. It became apparent during the match that there were issues between Ares and Dr. Cube and after the loss to
3peck0, Ares and Cube would begin to argue. Cube slapped Ares and when Ares raised a fist to retaliate, Nøkken moved to block him before hitting him with a piledriver. Dr. Cube removed his head to reveal himself as Jakob Hammermeier. Jakob told Ares that he had always overlooked him but he now possessed the Eye of Tyr after making a deal "with some devils" and all the wrongs that had befallen him will now be made right.
CHIKARA's own Golden Trio of Icarus, Dasher Hatfield and Mark Anglesetti, plus The Colony would also be victorious in the first round. However, The Greenhorn Militia, made up of Wrestle Factory students Kid Cyclone, Equinox III and Create-A-Wrestler II, felt that the CHIKARA roster hadn't done enough in the wake of the losses of Kobald, The Estonian ThunderFrog and The Latvian Proud Oak. Kid Cyclone would call out Deucalion, calling him a coward before the rookie trio were removed from the ring by their trainer, Hallowicked.
The following night would see The GEKIDO fall to 3peck0. Jigsaw, who tapped out in Shane Matthews' Boston Crab, would not leave with 17 and The Shard, remaining alone in the ring after the match. This would bring out Director of Fun, Mike Quackenbush, who told Jigsaw that he belongs in CHIKARA and asked where he stood. Jigsaw would tell everyone that he was the best wrestler in the building and didn't need anyone before walking past Quackenbush and leaving.
Juan Francisco de Coronado would take exception to Remington's German Suplex, believing it to be inferior to his own. The snobby Ecuadorian aristocrat would attack Ashley during his match against
Yoshi Tatsu on Night 2.
The Devastation Corporation and The Golden Trio would progress to the semi-finals on Night Three and The Flood elite would beat The Colony after Deucalion unleashed Soldier Ant onto his former team. After their victory, Volgar and Jimmy Jacobs would both drop to one knee in Deucalion's presence but Eddie Kingston appeared hesitant to do the same. He was saved from having to make a decision by The Greenhorn Milita, who attacked Kingston, Volgar and Jacobs. The Batiri would join the fray and in the chaos, The Greenhorn Militia would attack Deucalion himself.
Kid Cyclone, having leapt onto Deucalion's back, would pull off the monster's mask to reveal his face for the first time. Deucalion, bald, bearded and with completely black eyes would scream "coward" at Cyclone, before stopping the charging Equinox III with a chokebreaker. As Kid Cyclone was held down by Jimmy Jacobs, Deucalion would deliver the same fate to Create-A-Wrestler. Cyclone would free himself from Jacobs grasp and flee, leaving only his cape behind.
Night 3 would see The Golden Trio beat The Flood in the semi-finals to meet The Devastation Corporation in the tournament Finals. The Flood would take the victory, with the Devastation Corporation beating the Golden Trio with a Death Blow to Dasher Hatfield, but not before Icarus has kicked out of the fearsome finishing maneuver.
As The Devastation Corporation celebrated, the Flood would attack The Golden Trio in the ring. Jacobs threatened Icarus that he would reduce CHIKARA to ashes unless he handed over the Grand Championship. Reluctantly, Icarus passed the golden belt to Eddie Kingston. As Kingston turned to leave with his prize, Icarus grabbed a microphone and told Eddie that the title meant nothing if there was no CHIKARA and asked him whether he wanted to be a worthy champion or the "King of Ashes". Kingston would respond by handing the Grand Championship back to Icarus and attacking Jimmy Jacobs. As The Flood retreated, Kingston told Icarus to keep the title warm.
Eddie would team with the Golden Trio against The Flood at
Thunderball in October but would find his new teammates reluctant to trust him. In the end, he would save Icarus from a spear by Jimmy Jacobs that allowed the tecnico team to pick up the victory. The Flood would gain a measure of revenge by beating down the CHIKARA team after the match and Jacobs, who would meet Icarus for the CHIKARA Grand Championship the next night, warned Icarus that he would take the title from him.
Moonraker, held the following night, would see Delirious team with the BDK against The Spectral Envoy. Delirious would make several attempts to persuade Frightmare to join him but to no avail. At the end of the match, Jakob Hammermeier would hand the Eye of Tyr over to Delirious. Eddie Kingston would defeat Volgar in a singles match but would be attacked by The Flood afterwards. After a brawl involving the CHIKARA roster, in which Deucalion would again be unmasked, ring announcer, Gavin Loudspeaker found himself left alone with The Flood's monster.
Archibald Peck heroically ran to the ring to save Gavin but would suffer Deucalion's chokebreaker for his efforts. This would be the last time Archie would be seen. Later that evening, Icarus defended the CHIKARA Grand Championship against Jimmy Jacobs. The loss would bring Deucalion back to the ring and he looked to deliver the fearsome chokebreaker to Jimmy Jacobs as punishment. Icarus saved Jacobs with a spear that took Deucalion off his feet.
Deucalion would make his in ring debut at
On Her Majesty's Secret Service in November, where he would team with 17, The Shard, Jimmy Jacobs and Volgar against The Spectral Envoy and The Batiri. The CHIKARA team would take the victory after The Shard was pinned. After the match, Deucalion grabbed Frightmare for a chokebreaker only for 17 to turn on him before fleeing. Deucalion would then look to punish Jimmy Jacobs but Jacobs would remind him that it was The Shard who actually lost the match. It would be enough to make Deucalion change his mind and The Shard would suffer the chokebreaker instead of Jacobs. As Jacobs and Volgar made their way backstage, they found 17's mask and attire discarded on the floor.
The following night at
For Your Eyes Only, the BDK would see the return of a familiar face as Jakob's minion Slaash would be unmasked as Pinkie Sanchez. Sanchez would attack Milo Schnitzler on Jakob's orders, removing Schnitzler from the BDK. Icarus would confront Deucalion and Jimmy Jacobs, demanding a match with Deucalion. The challenge was accepted and a match was scheduled for the season finale in December.
At
Tomorrow Never Dies both sides would seek to put an end to the war between CHIKARA and The Flood. Eddie Kingston would finally face Jimmy Jacobs and in victory, earned his third point to challenge for the CHIKARA Grand Championship. His celebrations would be short lived as Kid Cyclone ran to the ring and attacked Kingston. Cyclone unmasked and named himself as Kevin Condron. Blaming Kingston for the loss of his Green Horn Militia brethren, Condron vowed to right Kingston's wrongs. Condron took back his cape from Jimmy Jacobs before unchaining the Snow Troll.
Ashley Remington and Juan Francisco de Coronado would end their feud with a German Suplex Match. Both men held a victory over the other with Remington having beaten de Coronado at Thunderball and de Coronado taking a victory at On Her Majesty's Secret Service but it would be Ashley Remington who would prove victorious at the season finale. The Throwbacks would lose los Campeonatos de Parejas to The Devastation Corporation and Delirious was defeated in a Loser Leaves CHIKARA match to Ultramantis Black. Before he left, Delirious produced the Eye of Tyr and used it on Hallowicked. The result was Hallowicked turning on his Spectral Envoy teammate. The Eye's effects would also be felt by Frightmare, who appeared to try and resist them but would leave with Hallowicked when commanded to do so.
The Flood and CHIKARA would face off against each other in the Torneo Cibernetico. Jakob Hammermeier would lead the team of Oleg the Usurper, Jaka, Flex Rumblecrunch, Oliver Grimsly, Nøkken, Volgar and Soldier Ant against The Colony, The Batiri, The Osirian Portal and Jervis Cottonbelly. The Cibernetico was won by Soldier Ant, who chose to leave the ring after the match by the CHIKARA entrance and not The Flood's entrance.
The main event would see Deucalion and Icarus fight inside a steel cage. Icarus made his way to the ring with the Estonian ThunderFrog's Hammer of Peace, which had been missing since the ThunderFrog's demise at the hands of Deucalion. The Hammer could only be lifted by someone worthy of holding it. With the CHIKARA roster surrounding the cage, Icarus would counter Deucalion's choke breaker and take victory with the CHIKARA Special, only for Deucalion to summon The Flood to his aid.
As The Flood gathered outside the steel cage, Icarus climbed to the top rope with the Hammer of Peace in his hands. Jimmy Jacobs held back the other members of The Flood, telling them that Deucalion would kill them all. As Jacobs told Deucalion he had made his bed, now die in it, Icarus came off the top rope to hit Deucalion with the Hammer of Peace.