CHIKARA King of Trios Fan Conclave
Easton, Penn.
Report by Dot Net Staffer Chris Shore
Much like WWE Fan Axxess, CHIKARA holds a Fan Conclave on the second day of the King of Trios tournament that allows fans to interact with CKIARA wrestlers and purchase various souvenirs. I wasn't sure what to expect, if for no other reason than CHIKARA can be a strange group. What I saw endeared me to the promotion more than any of their shows I have been to.
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The first thing I saw when I walked in was Soldier Ant playing Battleship with a fan. As weird as that sentence may sound, it may have been the coolest thing I have ever seen at a wrestling event. Yes, it's a silly kids game, and yes, he's wearing a mask. That's exactly the point! How many times have you seen masked wrestlers interact with fans at this level? And it wasn't just him. Red Ant made an appearance to congratulate Soldier Ant on sinking his opponent's battleship, and Ophidian ruled the table at Guess Who. Fans had almost as much fun watching them play the games as they did actually challenging the CHIKARA stars. Especially the kids, which CHIKARA might be the best promotion for.
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The game playing wasn't limited to board games. A Wii and Xbox 360 were set up, with the Xbox sporting WWE '12. CHIKARA had taken the time to create their stars in the game, and fans could play against their person or team of choice, both digitally and in real life. Los Ice Cream, an act that I think is a riot, finally made an appearance and beat a couple of guys who chose to be the Throwbacks. Viva Los Ice Creams!
There weren't just games being played. There was a free photo booth were fans could have a professional picture taken with a wrestler. The ants of the Colony and Swarm raced kids in a crab walk race. The Batiri had a kissing booth that saw even the Sendai Girls having fun, several video companies were there selling their wares, and there was even a "Obviously Not Jeopardy" game for hardcore fans with prizes.
The moment of the Conclave for me personally was singing Bust a Move with ring announcer Gavin Loudspeaker. It wasn't even a planned moment, insofar as I was just taking pictures and then a group closed behind us and I had no where to go. He started singing and started following along quietly. He saw I knew the words, and the results were pretty funny, not to mention a ton of fun.
And fun is what wrestling is always supposed to be. I know a lot of people believe we live to mock wrestling and wrestlers, but nothing could be further from the truth. In our hearts, we are, and always will be, fans. And we want to be entertained. We want to smile, laugh, cry, become angry. We want to be taken on a trip, swept along by great action and entertaining moments. And at the end of the day, we want them to know that we love it, that we appreciate what they do, and that they appreciate the fact that we honestly and sincerely want to see them succeed. On this day in Easton, Pennsylvania, CHIKARA did appreciate it.
