Chikara King Of Trios Night Two
Philadelphia, Pa. at the New Alhambra Arena (a/k/a Viking Hall)
By Art Shimko of Combat-Holligans.com.

The second night of Chikara's humongous King Of Trios took place in South Philadelphia at what some like to refer to as "The Arena.” It's not the Wachovia Center we're talking about, it's the world famous Viking Hall.

Saturday night was an awesome night. One fan told me that she felt the first night was better paced but Saturday night had all sorts of cool things to offer.

Two trios teams received byes this evening, Team WWF (Demolition & One Man Gang) and Team AZW (AkuA and the Immortals). Why Team AZW got a bye I'll never understand and you'll see what I'm talking about.

1. Round 1: Team Japan (KUDO & SUSUMU & MIYAWAKI) defeated The Southern Saints (Shawn Reed & Marcus O’Neil & Reno Diamond).
I got in during this match and was settling in, the ref finds all sorts of gimmicks on the Saints beforehand such as a whole bunch of chains, the Saints were not happy about this. Better opening match than Friday's with nice fast-paced action, Team Japan goes over as SUSUMU pins O'Neil with a modified swinging Yoshitonic. Nice job by the Saints, wouldn't mind seeing them again.

2. Round 1: The Soul Touchaz (Acid Jaz & Willie Richardson & Marshe Rockett w/ C-Red) defeated Team BSE (Kobra Kai & Super Xtremo & La Sombra)
Soul Touchaz are over! These guys provided such greatness that the crowd immediately loved them, BSE wasn't to my liking, some dissension in that group as Kobra Kai (who had the best mask on) was heeling out towards his teammates. Willie Richardson of the Touchaz is a huge man who could fly like no one's business. Dropkicks, a massive leg drop on La Sombra for the pin, this guy is awesome.

3. Round 1: F.I.S.T. (Gran Akuma, Chuck Taylor & Icarus) defeated Sweet n’ Sour, Inc. (Tank Toland & Bobby Dempsey & Sara Del Rey).
I was hoping politics wouldn't play a part in this one but... Oh yes, FIST goes over SnS on this one, folks. Tank showed lots of personality here, Dempsey was over, and Sara's hot but I wouldn't f--- with her. Good match, SnS showed some decent offense but the creepy FIST crew did their dastardly heel shit and win after Icky puts Dempsey away with a pedigree. Icarus had tons of heat, someone commented that he had so much heat that X-Pac has Icarus heat, which was such a great comment.

4. Round 1: The Fabulous Three (Mitch Ryder & Larry Sweeney & Shayne Hawke) defeated Tim Donst & Drew Gulak & Andy Sumner.
Good match here, the Fabs were in control of this one and Sweeney hit Sumner with a top rope elbow drop for the win. Not a big Donst fan either, the amateur wrestling gimmick is ho-hum and the kid's not that great to begin with.

5. Round 1: Team IWS (El Generico & Super Smash Bros.) defeated Team F1rst Wrestling (Arik Cannon & The North Star Express).
This was an awesome match, my favorite of the night. Loads of high-flying and hard-hitting action with tons of near falls and drama of who would win this one, could've been either one really. Great spot where Cannon plugs a game controller into Uno's back and made him dance and attack his teammates, that equaled lots of buys! Both Uno and Stu pin Cruz for the win, great show by these guys.

6. Round 1: Team Mexico (Lince Dorado & El Pantera & Incognito) defeated Los Ice Creams (Ice Cream, Jr. & El Hijo del Ice Cream) and Glacier.
At ringside random names are being picked for Los Ice Creams' partner. The first pick is Iceman Parsons, who isn’t around. Next is Lance Steel, who is not around either. Glacier of WCW is picked, He isn’t around either...until...we here dance club music as blue lights and snow flakes covered the entrance ramp. We in fact do have Glacier and everyone marks out!

Dr. Keith Lipinski is ringside and has his hand over his mouth in awe for about five minutes, Glacier looked to be in pretty decent shape and worked well with his opponents. Ice Creams were certainly heeling it up in this match and spread out the dreaded Sprinkles to lay out Lince upon. Lince hits a moonsault on Jr. for the pin, and I have to say it was nerve-racking watching Lince go for dives or takes moves landing almost on his head but the dude made it through without any scratches so to speak.

7. Round 2: Team Japan defeated Team AZW (AkuA and the Immortals).
The Immortals f---ing suck. Why they were booked I'll never understand. If they're great then it wasn't shown here at all. They tried to heel towards the crowd and didn't even work in the ring from what I remember... apparently dissension between AkuA and those two goofs who were fat squat little dudes with "Eyes Wide Shut" masks on. Some folks made comments that one looked like Christy Rivera and the other Rockin' Rebel. I felt bad for AkuA, he worked his hardest to have a good match with Team Japan, KUDO hits AkuA with a double knee strike for the pin.

8. Round 2: Team FIST defeated Da Soul Touchaz.
We are again graced by the presence of the great Soul Touchaz, really cool match with lots of killer six-man action, the Touchaz really showed their stuff and gave FIST some great offense, Willie flew around at times impressing the crowd a lot. Chuckie hits an Omega Driver on Jaz for the win, another fine showing from the Touchaz who were still mega-over and got a very loud "please come back" chant from the crowd.

9. Round 2: The Fabulous Three defeated Team WWF (Demolition & One Man Gang).
I marked out like a motherf---er when the opening riff to Demo's theme music came on. There was a guy in the front row dressed as Akeem: five stars! Sweeney addressed One Man Gang as "Mr. Gang" and challenged him to a strut-off! "Jive Soul Bro" plays on the PA system as both men dance in the ring. It was one of the greatest moments in our sport's history. Demolition Ax runs in to stop the nonsense and gets the match underway. Hawke's the first one in and he's scared shitless. Fun match and pairing these two teams were so appropriate, Ryder clocks Gang with brass knucks for the pin. Afterwards Team WWF gets a "thank you" chant from the crowd.

10. Round 2: Team Mexico defeated Team IWS.
Early on the match felt a bit slow but eventually picked up with some fun lucha and indy high spots and such. Lots of near falls towards the end and Incognito pins Stupefied for the win.

All in all, a great night, bigger crowd than on Friday. My favorite night so far.

The tournament concludes Sunday night.

Again thanks to ChikaraFans.com for assistance with filling in a few details.

RECOMMEND THIS ARTICLE: