By Sean Radican, Torch columnist

RADICAN’S CHIKARA DVD REVIEW SERIES
KING OF TRIOS 2012: NIGHT 2
SEPTEMBER 15, 2012
EASTON, PA

The show started with a F.I.S.T. promo. The members of the group told Sugar Dunkerton to do what they say and in return they would help him.

(1) F.I.S.T. (Johnny Gargano & Chuck Taylor & Icarus) w/Sugar Dunkerton beat Team JWP (Commando Bolshoi & Kaori Yoneyama & Tsubasa Kuragaki) in a Second Round King of Trios 2012 match. This was a very good opening match. F.I.S.T. does a great job of getting heat and it wasn’t hard for them to get the fans to go against them on this night against the likeable members of Team JWP. Team JWP hit some nice double team moves early in the match, including Kuragaki the powerhouse of the team lifting Bolshoi onto her shoulders on the second rope and dropping her down into a doublestomp onto Taylor. Kuragaki then hit a splash for a 2 count and the crowd popped. Later in the match Bolshoi, who is small, took a tandem ace crusher from F.I.S.T. followed by a pedigree from Icarus, but she kicked out at two. The finish saw Dunkerton try to take a weapon away from Icarus, but when he pulled it away from here, he accidentally hit Yoneyama. Yoneyama then passed out in a single-leg crab from Taylor to allow F.I.S.T. to advance. (***1/2)

The crowd was very upset that F.I.S.T. won, but ended up giving team JWP a big ovation.

Mr. Touchdown cut a promo with Veronica by his side. He said he’d been on a roll and that’s why he’s the YLC Champion. He said tonight he is getting closer to going all the way.

(2) Mr. Touchdown beat 1-2-3 Kid. Kid got a huge ovation coming out for the match. They kept this short, as Kid looked like he wasn’t feeling well at all. After some back and forth action, Veronica went down on the outside. With the ref distracted, Mr. Touchdown nailed Kid with a low blow near the turnbuckles and pinned him a short time later with a spinebuster. The finish came off strange given I didn’t see what had happened to Veronica. (*)

Kid got a big pop after the match. He told the crowd he was sorry they didn’t get their money’s worth tonight. He promised he would do better tomorrow.

(3) The Spectral Envoy (Frightmare & Hallowicked & UltraMantis Black) beat The Batiri (Obariyon & Kodama & Kobald) w/ Ophidian in a Second Round King of Trios 2012 match. The Batiri have really improved this year both in the ring and in terms of getting over as a heel stable in CHIKARA. They were fantastic in this match. The story here is that Delirious has ordered the Batiri to make sure the Spectral Envoy doesn’t win this tournament. He’s also sent Ophidian to accompany the Batiri during their matches as well. Both teams went at it right away brawling on the outside, as the Batiri attacked their opponents while they were making their entrance. The Batiri got the heat on Black during the early stages of the match. The crowd was behind the Envoy here and chanted loudly for Black. The Envoy eventually mounted a comeback and the action broke down. At one point, Black took out Kobald with a flip dive off the apron to the outside. Ophidian ended up tripping Hallowicked from the outside to give the Batiri the advantage again. After a long heat period on Hallowicked, Black got the hot tag and ran wild. The action broke down and eventually Hallowicked isolated Obariyon. Black ended up holding Obariyon up on his legs and Hallowicked came off the top with a doublestomp for the win. (***3/4)

After the match, Ophidian spit something in Hallowicked’s face. The Batiri then beat down the Envoy after the match. Kobald ended up hitting a doublestomp to Frightmare’s knees off the top and the fans booed.

(4) Ebessan & Takoyakida beat The Colony (Fire Ant & Green Ant). This was a fun match with a lot of comedy spots thrown into the mix. They did a sequence where Green Ant had Takoyakida in a leg submission and every time Ebessan tried to kick Green Ant, he ended up hurting Takoyakida worse because when Green Ant fell, he put more torque on the submission. The crowd ended up chanting “You’re not helping” at him. Later in the match, Green Ant hit the shell shock on Takoyakida and the crowd chanted “Feed me more.” After another series of comedy spots, Ebessan ended up using a can of bug spray on Fire Ant. He then hit a DDT for the win. (**1/2)

(5) Team Sendai Girls (Dash Chisako & Meiko Satomura & Sendai Sachiko) beat Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw & Manami Toyota in a Second Round King of Trios 2012 match. This match played more into the ongoing tension between Quackenbush and Jigsaw. Team Sendai Girls made for an awesome trio and the crowd loved them in this match. Quackenbush tried to work over Satomura on the mat during the early stages of the mat, but she powered out of a leg submission and nailed him with a big kick. They went to a big sequence where members of both teams hit dives to the outside. Quackenbush finished the sequence with a moonsault to the outside from the turnbuckles. Quackenbush’s team isolated Chisaka, but Sachiko made the save after Toyota nailed her with a top rope moonsault. The fans went nuts after Chisako kicked out of a German suplex from Toyota. After some back and forth action, Quackenbush accidentally hit Jigsaw with a palm strike. Team Sendai Girls then hit Quackenbush with a series of moves capped by Satomura finishing him off with a DVD for the win. (***1/2)

After the match, Jigsaw was disgusted and went to the back on his own.

(6) Tatanka beat Sugar Dunkerton. The crowd was into the match early. Gargano and Icarus came down to ringside. Taylor was also at ringside on commentary talking about how much he liked Dunkerton. Tatanka used his power to overwhelm Dunkerton during the early stages of the match. The crowd tried to rally behind Dunkerton, who finally mounted a comeback and got in some offense. The match was a little slow at times in the middle. Down the stretch, F.I.S.T. got involved, but Tatanka managed to fend off Gargano and Icarus with chops. Taylor ran to the ring and held Tatanka from the apron, but Dunkerton wouldn’t accept his help. He pushed Taylor away, which allowed Tatanka to finish him off with a Samoan drop. (**)

Team ROH cut a promo backstage. Matt mocked the ECW chant. He said it’s all about ROH now. They said Jerry Lynn was old enough to be their grandfather and promised to advance in the tournament.

(7) Team ROH (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson & Mike Bennett) w/Maria beat the Extreme Trio (Tommy Dreamer & 2 Cold Scorpio & Jerry Lynn) in a Second Round King of Trios 2012 match. Team ROH did a good job of playing the cocky heels during the match and mocking the Extreme Trio. Jerry Lynn can still go in the ring and he had a great exchange with Matt during the early stages of the match. Team ROH got the heat on Scorpio later on, but he mounted a comeback on Bennett and tagged in Dreamer, who ran wild. The fans went crazy after Dreamer hit a frog splash on Bennett, but the Young Bucks made the save. They went to a series of dives to the outside capped off by Dreamer hitting a big splash off the top to the floor to wipe out everyone. Down the stretch, Dreamer got his remote out and paused the Young Bucks when they went for a double superkick. He went behind the Young Bucks and went for a double clothesline after un-pausing them, but they ducked a double clothesline attempt and nailed him with a double superkick. The Young Bucks eventually finished Dreamer off with more bang for your buck. (***1/2)

The Extreme Trio got a big pop once the match was over.

Eddie Kingston cut a promo on Tadasuke backstage. He said tonight he was going to bring out the animal in himself because he knew what it would take to beat Tadasuke.

(8) CHIKARA Grand Champion Eddie Kingston beat Tadasuke. The announcers did a great job talking up Tadasuke and making him seem like a credible challenger to Kingston. Tadasuke wrestles out of Osaka Pro in Japan and he’s a big guy with a punishing in-ring style. The announcers speculated during the match that Tadasuke might take the Grand Championship back with him to Japan like he did after winning the 2011 Young Lions Cup and never coming back to defend it. They did several big strike exchanges during the match and things got very physical between both men. Tadasuke did a good job with his facial expressions, as he would smile sometimes after Kingston nailed him with a big chop. Kingston ended up taking a beating from Tadasuke, who worked over his arm and neck area throughout the match. Kingston sold the heck out of it and made a big comeback. They went back and forth down the stretch and Tadasuke got a lot of nearfalls, but couldn’t put Kingston away. Kingston finally hit a spinning backfist, a running forearm, and a backdrop driver for the win. This was very good. (***3/4)

After the match, Tim Donst came down to the ring in street clothes and told Kingston he hadn’t been happy since losing his hair in a match to Hallowicked. Donst said it made him smile to see Kingston so beaten and bruised. Kingston eventually charged at Donst, but Donst caught him with an STO. Donst mounted Kingston and yelled at him. He told Kingston that karma doesn’t exist, but Donst does.

Kingston eventually recovered and yelled at the ring announcer. He told him to shut up, but ended up apologizing and the fans applauded when he raised the title. The announcer then declared Kingston the winner of the match and he raised his title to a big pop.

Overall thoughts: (8.0) – This was a really fun show with some great storytelling up and down the card. I really enjoyed all of the trios matches on the card, as they were all good to very good. The crowd once again was hot and did some fun chants throughout the night.

I’m enjoying the Spectral Envoy vs. Batiri storyline that seems like it will continue throughout the entire tournament. CHIKARA gave fans a reason to come back and watch the third night to see if the Envoy would be able to advance to the finals of the tournament, despite being attacked and left lying on the mat by the Batiri and Ophidian.

The Team ROH vs. Extreme Trio match was a lot of fun as well. I’m really enjoying watching the ECW alum have fun and Dreamer worked really hard in the match and delivered some memorable moments, especially his dive to the outside that got the crowd red hot.

The main event between Kingston and Tadasuke was a hard-hitting battle. Kingston is really filling the role of Champion quite well in CHIKARA and he went to war with Tadasuke in this match. I was impressed by Tadasuke, who looks like a bruiser and comes across well in the ring. The post-match promo and attack by Donst on Kingston was well-done and gave fans a reason to come back to CHIKARA after watching King of Trios to see them go to war in the ring.

Overall this was a really good show and I give it a high recommendation.

You can purchase this release at SmartMarkVideo.com

***

Please click HERE and click “like” to join the Radican’s Wrestling Community Facebook fan page.

Follow Sean on Twitter at Twitter.com/SeanRadican

Contact Sean at PWTorchSean@gmail.com

We suggest these recent related articles...

RADICAN'S Beyond Wrestling "Greatest Rivals Round Robin" review 9/26 - incredible show of the year contender, Busick-Edwards top-flight MOTYC, more!

RADICAN'S "The Pull List" (Vol. 5) "Young Bucks Too Sweet Journey" doc review, The Flash season 1 Blu-Ray, Top Ten MOTYC for 2015

RADICAN'S ROH "All-Star Extravaganza VII" PPV BLOG 9/18: Booking issues dampen excellent in-ring action