Action Arcade Episode 9: CHIKARA Action Arcade Review

By
Tiffany Merryhill

The Action Arcade is open once again! CHIKARA’s weekly Saturday series took a brief hiatus last weekend, but they’re back with more action. CHIKARA Action Arcade Episode 9 begins with Ophidian setting an additional stake in his upcoming match with Mike Quackenbush. Per Ophidian’s challenge, a loss for Quackenbush in this match would mean a huge power shift. A win for Ophidian in this week’s main event, however, would mean Crucible rules at this year’s Cibernetico. Check out the episode in full on IWTV or CHIKARAtopia!

Action Arcade Episode 9:

CHIKARA Action Arcade Review

Match 1: BLANK vs. Gary Jackson

BLANK has set his sights on Cabana Man Dan! The cagey piece of work had a message to send to the master of the flip flop chop in the opening match. BLANK made quick work of Gary Jackson, but in doing so his message to CMD was quite clear. Jackson took the loss to BLANK after getting hit by the Color Wheel. I’m sure Our Dan had his eye on this match, though.

Match 2: Red Queen & One-Eyed Jack vs. Cajun Crawdad & Hermit Crab

I’m continuously impressed with Red Queen & One Eyed Jack. Their overall style and performance make them shine bright among tag teams. This is also considering that they’re an intergender tag team, too! To stand out so far in the independent tag scene is pretty notable, if not pretty proper (get it?).

You can’t help but love Cajun Crawdad and Hermit Crab, however. Those crazy crustaceans are just too much fun, but this match was all business. Crawdad & Crab rose up pretty well to the challenge. They brought forth great offense at different points of the match. Queen and Jack would not be denied, though. They wanted that win and that point going towards the Campeones de Parejas. Red Queen and Jack got the victory and the point, putting them one step closer to tag team glory.

Match 3: Team CHIKARA vs. Team Beyond (Cibernetico 2018)

We take another trip to the Warp Zone in this week’s Arcade! This time we’re taking a look at the final moments of Team Beyond vs. Team CHIKARA at Cibernetico 2018. Near the end of the match only John Silver, Nick Gage, and Chris Dickinson remained as representatives of the best of Beyond Wrestling. Hallowicked and Dasher Hatfield were the last two standing for Team CHIKARA. Excellent finish to this match which saw Dickinson take the win for Team Beyond after not one, but two devastating Pazuzu Bombs delivered to Hatfield.

Match 4: Ophidian vs. Mike Quackenbush

I think everyone watching knew that this main event would be an instant classic. This match definitely delivered on the emotion and drama! With high stakes on the line that stood against Quackenbush’s favor, there was a lot riding on the victory in this one. Excellent teacher versus student storytelling went on here as well. I’m glad to see Quackenbush still giving his all in the ring and putting on a wrestling match as fierce as this one. Maybe this is why I expected Quackenbush to get the win; he really did shine with intensity throughout this match.

However, this was the Crucible leader’s chance to take the reigns at Cibernetico and he would not miss out on the opportunity. Ophidian got the sudden and surprising victory over Quackenbush after making him submit to a devastating hold, named as one of the forgotten holds. Amazingly, this meant something unprecedented for CHIKARA – this year’s Cibernetico would now take place under Ophidian’s Crucible rules.

I’m glad the Arcade is back and I’m excited to see so much upheaval and commotion going on both in-ring and on the CHIKARA weekly Scoreboard. As it plays out it really does feel like CHIKARA will come back to regular wrestling without having missed much of a step at all.

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