15 Y.C. Part 10: Young Lions can do Great things.

In this review I’m looking at something that has been very overlooked over the past year, Chikara’s Young Lions Cup. Last year’s tournament had to be cut down to just one day due to bad weather and the finals saw Osaka pro’s Tadasuke beat Green Ant in the finals, since then he’s defended the cup twice in Japan and has not been back in Chikara. While last year’s tournament and winner caused nothing but problems, the previous year (2010) was a fantastic 3 day tournament and in this review I’m taking a look at Day 2 of the tournament taking place August 28^th 2010 in Reading, Pennsylvania. Now some details before we start, the Cup is only open to wrestlers under 25 years old and no previous holder can challenge or enter the tournament. We start the night with every participant in night 2 coming out and taking a group photo in front of the cup but Lince Dorado, representing the BDK, holds the cup throughout. We have Ultramantis Black on commentary all night with others joining during the night.

Skull vs. Ophidian: Ophidian’s music isn’t working and Gavin begins singing it until it starts, I like that a lot. Oh by the way I look like Gavin Loudspeaker apparently. Ophidian starts dancing but Skull jumps him. Ophidian does a standing Bronco Buster, not too impactful looking. Skull gets very little offence and it all looked weak. Ophidian hits a beautiful Fisherman suplex with a bridge. Skull hits a low flatliner that plants Ophidian. Skull runs off the ropes but Ophidian follows and gets a kick, love that spot. Ophidian locks on the Death grip, a Cobra Clutch with him hanging on the body for the win. Skull really didn’t impress here, Ophidian looked good and moves on to the semi-finals later tonight.

Eric Ryan vs. Cameron Sky: Sky has flashing sunglasses and throws out playing cards during his entrance. Ryan looks like a smaller and skinner version of Jeff Hardy. Sky was trained by Truth Martini explains his heelness. Ryan goes for a tope but Sky ducks so he stops and jumps over and hits a double stomp, he follows with a tope. Sky catches Ryan with a Half nelson suplex, when he goes for the pin he rubs his forearm into Ryan’s face which is always a nice added detail. Ryan comes back with a Blockbuster, the only good thing Buff Bagwell ever gave to the wrestling business. Ryan hits 2 Northern Lights suplexs and then a cross legged Suplex driver (it really has no name) for a near fall. Sky throws cards over the ring and hits an elbow. Ryan hits a DVD into the turnbuckle. Sky does a really awkward looking roll up for the win. Pretty good match here between the two and Ryan moves on to the semi-finals.

Obariyon vs. Dustin Rayz: This was Obariyon’s debut for Chikara and he now works there full time. Obariyon looks very creepy with weird face paint. Lots of stalling by Obariyon to start. They seemed to miss a spot and Rayz just headbutts him. Obariyon hits a clothesline while Rayz is on the apron and he flips and lands awkwardly. Obariyon is hanging on the ropes while Rayz tries to get in, I really liked that for some reason looked like he was waiting to continue the beating. Obariyon get a nice octopus hold. Rayz bulldogs him into the corner and then jumps off and nails a kick. Obariyon jumps off the top and hits a leaping DDT to win and advances. This match really helped Obariyon look great.

Mike Sydal vs. Keita Yano: Oh hey its Matt Sydal’s brother. He cuts a weird nonsense fill promo and comes out to “Paradise City”, he’s covered in stars including a large series tattooed on his back and is “Rock ‘n Roll” anything else needed to say he’s a douche? Yano comes out to GO!GO!1877’s “C7” which is awesome and he then does a great heel move and walks over the chairs forcing people to move. Yano has odd gear but he became my favourite in just one night, the music alone had me. Yano traps his arm into the rope and kicks it on release, there was a large lump on Mike’s back which looked disgusting he may have dislocated his shoulder, the ref helps put it back in and he continues. The next night Yano would face Green Ant and legit broke his arm in the match so Yano was dangerous here. Yano has a Kravate and bridges back sending Mike down. Mike goes for a kick but Yano yanks him forward resulting in him doing the splits. Mike keeps shouting about Rocking before moves making me hate him more. Yano hits a hanging neckbreaker on the rope. Mike’s in the Tree of Woe and Yano puts Mike’s own leg behind his head, he sure is flexible. Mike hits a Standing Moonsault that looked as great as Matt’s. Yano locks in an Anaconda Vice and bridges over for the win. A great match here, Mike’s flexibility helped with selling which is all Yano needed to. Yano leaves by climbing over the chairs again, I love this guy.

Lince Dorado vs. Gregory Iron: Lince’s original opponent couldn’t make it so they picked Iron’s name out of a hat. Now this was Iron’s debut and this was before he exploded in exposure, not to sound harsh but to me he was just another wrestler with a disability we’ve had someone with one leg, a legally blind and a legally deaf wrestler. Iron attacks to start and the fans are behind him from the beginning. An endless tilt-a-whirl head scissors and then a tope which he barely gets through the ropes. Iron puts his bad arm in the ring and Lince stomps on it, leading to his attack on the arm. Iron hits a top rope elbow after the two fight on the top. Lince turns inside out after Iron hits a clothesline with his bad arm. Iron gets the Sliced Bread for a near fall. Iron hits a flatliner for a near fall. Lince sweeps the legs and puts his feet on the ropes to win and advance. The fans were super into this and I think it was just how hated the BDK were at the time. Iron gets a standing ovation after. It was a great match and Iron was really good.

Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly: Cole is full blown heel here, which is just gold. We get a really nice feeling out process to start. Kyle gets a series of kicks and knocks him down with a sweep. Kyle hits 2 rolling Butterflies and locks in a crossarm breaker when the 3^rd is blocked. Kyle is caught by a dropkick when he jumps off the top. Cole hits a Sick Kick after reversing a tornado DDT attempt. Kyle hits a Superkick and then a lariat to come back. Kyle puts one of Cole’s legs on the rope and hits a Dragon Screw on the other, he then locks in a Ankle Lock, don’t tell Kurt Angle he’ll go crazy on Twitter. Cole hits a DVD on his knee but Kyle has been attacking his leg so he grabs his leg after. Cole is rolled up but he rolls through and gets a wheelbarrow suplex. Kyle hits a tornado DDT but picks him up straight away and hits a brainbuster, when he kicks out he locks in the ankle lock again but Cole gets the ropes. The two fight on the apron, Cole hits a jumping knee and hits a Northern Lights bomb on the apron. Kyle gets back in the ring at 19 but just barely. They trade boots and then hit a boot at the same time. Cole gets a seated Superkick for a near fall. Cole kicks off the ankle lock and gets a small package to win. Just a fantastic match between these two. If you want to see how they’ve improved check out their match for ROH’s last iPPV “Best in the World” they had a show stealer much like now as this was the best match of the night.

Super Smash Bros (Player Uno & Dos) vs. 3.0 (Shane Matthews & Scott Parker): Shane & Uno to start. Bits of comedy thrown into wrestling here. Shane gets a drop toe hold and Scott then runs up him and gets an elbow drop on Dos. SSB get the advantage on Shane after a head kick. Uno catches Scott’s foot and throws it to the ref who catches it and Uno hits a neckbreaker to regain the advantage. We get a “Defence” chant followed by an “Offence” chant. Scott blocks a suplex by going to his knees but Uno gets him up regardless. Shane gets the tag and goes crazy with head scissors. Scott throws Dos up and Shane nails him with a spear for a near fall. SSB hit an Alabama Slam/Lungblower combo. Uno and Scott hit this weird twisting superplex and it was hard to see who got the best of that. Dos gets hit with 2 Wheelbarrow Codebreakers by 3.0 for the win. Really solid tag match here.

The House of Truth (Christian Able & Josh Raymond) vs. Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw: This starts with Able explaining that he lost the night before in the tournament and says he’s a better tag wrestler so wants to prove it. This starts with Quack & Jig running in and attacking. The story here is that every time Quack & Jig get 2 points the BDK thrown something at them making them lose. Josh has some ugly, ugly tattoos. Able gets a capture suplex that gets the HOT the heat. They keep saying “Yeah”, I don’t know why. They do the wishbone double team shades of Bulldog & Owen. Able hits a hanging neckbreaker and Josh slings in with a senton while Quack is hanging there. Josh does 3 curb stomps minus the actual stomp. Quack finally gets the tag and flipping over both guys. Quack hits the Foley Senton to the outside on Able while Jig is facing Josh. Jig does a slingshot Ace Crusher, why he had to slingshot in I don’t know. Able clothesline Jig from behind to regain the advantage. Able hits a spear in the corner stays there and Josh hits a freaky looking dropkick. Jig goes for a sunset flip on Able who gets the tag and then when he goes over he holds on to Jig which was a nice touch. Able then powerbombs Josh onto Jig. Jig gets a tope which makes the tag. Quack hits a WWF No Mercy on the N64 style top elbow but follows it with a nice flip senton. Able does a reverse Razors Edge into the turnbuckle. Able tries it on Jig but he gets out and superkicks the back of his head. Josh hits a Shooting Star but Jig was standing up, never seen that. Josh is getting pinned and Quack is blocking Able who then just pushes Quack into the pin. Jig gets the Jig & Tonic for the win. Really, really good tag match here. I don’t know what happened to the House of Truth duo but they should still be teaming.

Cameron Sky vs. Lince Dorado vs. Keita Yano vs. Ophidian vs. Obariyon vs. Adam Cole-Elimination match: We have Derek Sabato as the ref, the BDK ref by the way. Jakob Hammermeir introduces Lince and this year Jakob actually advanced in the tournament. Just realised Yano has make up that makes it look like he has the Joker face scar. Sky actually brought a different pair of shorts, a nice cocky heel tough there. All 6 do the pose off to get the crowd reaction, Lince gets the most heat and Yano gets a huge pop. Everyone attacks Ophidian to start because Sky said so it seemed. Ophidian gets a twisting plancha on Sky, Lince gets an asai moonsault on the other 3 across the ring. Tags are needed in this match but no one has got to a corner yet, we finally get Sky and Ophidian as the legal men. More cards thrown everywhere by Sky. Ophidian reverses a slam into a bridging roll up to eliminate Sky, Derek is cleaning up the cards during the action. Lince hits a corkscrew springboard body press on Cole, lots of twists there. Cole hits a nice backdrop driver on Lince. Cole gets the Northern Lights bomb on Obariyon. Obariyon gets his leaping DDT to eliminate Cole. Ophidian tries his double knees on Yano but he was too far out and it was just weird. Ophidian gets his deathgrip but he counters it but clutching his legs that were around him. Yano does the Goldust counter to a back drop by dropping down and punching Ophidian. Yano does a Kiwi roll around the ring. Apparently Santino Marella got his start in BattleARTS according to Ultramantis. Obariyon yanks Ophidian out when he tries a springboard, he hits his Leaping DDT on Yano and eliminates him and I am upset. Obariyon gets the Air Raid Crash on Ophidian. Lince does a top rope stunner on Ophidian and also hits a leg drop on Obariyon. Obariyon gets the Chaos Theory suplex on Lince. Ophidian suddenly gets the roll up bridge and eliminates Obariyon. We are down to two, Ophidian has done the most while Lince has done the least in this match. We get both superkicking each other at the same time. Fans are really into the exchange of forearms, we get the Yay/Boo spot. Ophidian’s in the Wheelbarrow but he flips Lince over to plant him face first. Sabato’s counts are so slow and the point was to get extra heat and it would succeed. Ophidian goes for a flip plancha Lince catches him and Ophidian gets a hurricanrana that plants Lince on his head on the outside. The fans count Lince out while Derek counts slowly and starts over for no reason. Ophidian nails his double knees and then a Cobra Clutch suplex. Ophidian gets the Deathgrip and Sabato is pulling the ropes towards Lince. The fans chant for Bryce who’s the head ref and on commentary. Lince hits an Orange Crush bomb shades of Kenta Kobashi. Lince goes for a moonsault DDT but lands on Ophidian and it turns into a piledriver. Ophidian gets the Egyptian destroyer and Sabato rolls him out of the ring. Lince hits the Spanish Fly but Ophidian is out at 1. Lince does a flip over DDT and then hits a Shooting Star for a near fall. Lince locks in the Inverted Chikara special, Sabato lifts his hand once and calls for the bell. Lince wins and moves on to face Frightmare the next night where he would lose in an incredible match. This match got lots of time and rightly so, the fans were really into the final two and that section of the match.

Overall: I always find that the Young Lions Cup biggest problem is that many of the guys in it you don’t know as they get guys from outside Chikara but by putting them out there for a good amount of time they will usually get over by themselves. The opening matches were rather short but were still good. Obariyon was made to look great, Cole/Reilly was a great match, Ophidian got over as a singles star and Lince remained one of the hottest heel at the time. Now when it comes to the entire 3 day tournament this one was one of the best, all 3 shows were fantastic especially the finals on Night 3. Seriously go and check out this tournament.