This week on the CHIKARA Action Arcade for Episode 8 we find out who’ll be the winner of the 2020 Young Lions Cup! The YLC final comes down to Green Ant vs. ‘Tuff Stuff’ Ricky South. I’ll always root for Green Ant or any other members of the Colony, but this is a huge challenge for the rookie ant. In other action, we’ll find out even more about this year’s Cibernetico. This week’s final match between the Crucible and Team Wrestle Factory leads us further towards the event!
Review: Action Arcade Episode 8
Match 1: Donna Rama vs. George Petrovski
https://twitter.com/ThatRoseTattoo/status/1261674545070694402
We know one important thing about Donna Rama: there are two sides to her personality! The usually mild-mannered CHIKARA correspondent-turned-competitor becomes a completely different person once it’s time to hit the ring. Donna went beast mode from bell to bell, even maniacally laughing off any offense Petrovski attempted. This opening match ends with Donna as the winner. She’s now one point closer to being a Grand Championship contender after decisively putting Petrovski away with a solid northern lights suplex.
Match 2: Green Ant vs. ‘Tuff Stuff’ Ricky South (Young Lions Cup Final)
https://twitter.com/ThatRoseTattoo/status/1261678628091420672
Finally, we would see who would claim this year’s Young Lions Cup! After weeks of awesome semifinal matches, the last of the tournament came down to Green Ant and Ricky South. A win for Green Ant would put him as well as his Colony brethren in the right direction. A victory for South would mean the first Australian competitor would hold the prestigious cup. A lot was on the line here, so these two went all out.
As capable and tough as Green Ant is, the big question was if he’d fall, victim, as others had done to South’s Kiss of Death. However, once South hit the Kiss of Death on Green Ant the first time, he amazingly kicked out and rallied back to try and attain the victory via submission. South still had enough left in the tank for one last attempt, and it worked. Green Ant fell to the second Kiss of Death off the ropes. South was able to score the victory, but it took everything he had to overcome Green Ant’s challenge. And there we have it! The 2020 Young Lions Cup winner is Ricky South, who now gets to take the Cup back home to the Land Down Under.
Match 3: Mike Quackenbush vs. Drew Gulak (Warp Zone/archive)
https://twitter.com/ThatRoseTattoo/status/1261679923300835329
The Action Arcade premiered a new segment this week on Episode 8. The Warp Zone takes us back to matches in CHIKARA’s vast catalog to deliver some of the best of each season. On this show, we have the final match of Season 16 from 2016, which featured a surprise main event in Chicago between Mike Quackenbush and Drew Gulak. This one was destined to be a classic. The match would be Gulak’s farewell before departing to WWE. It’s ironic and perhaps timely that this match aired on today’s episode, the day of Gulak’s apparent separation from WWE. Gulak/Quackenbush was an amazing send-off that ended with Gulak getting his final CHIKARA victory after reversing the Quackendriver into a dragon sleeper.
Match 4: The Crucible vs. Team Wrestle Factory
https://twitter.com/CHIKARApro/status/1261684057236275201
It’s time to see if Team Wrestle Factory can beat Ophidian’s Crucible at their own game! This week’s main event match is under Crucible rules, which means that the ring ropes are removed and competitors have exactly two minutes to win the match. Under these daunting rules, anyone would be intimidated, but the Wrestle Factory competitors didn’t back down at all.
https://twitter.com/ThatRoseTattoo/status/1261685190738481153
Ophidian was surely proud of the first two Crucible competitors. Devantes defeated ZERO in the beginning after pushing him out of the ring. Evan Demorest defeated Forged member JoSue Ibanez just under the two-minute mark. However, the tide started to turn once the Crucible’s Tunku Amir was bested by Forged’s Xavier Faraday in a big advance for Team Wrestle Factory. Amir hasn’t been held lately in the best esteem by Ophidian, so it’s safe to say Amir’s Crucible days may be numbered.
The benches emptied out and it’s turning into all-out war on #ActionArcade8! pic.twitter.com/KVmHIdLAvn
— CHIKARA (@CHIKARApro) May 16, 2020
Joshua Wells, the third Forged member, was next up against Matt Makowski. Makowski is undoubtedly tough and hard as nails, but it’s pretty clear the Crucible would take no further chances at a non-submission or KO loss or a close win. Makowski quickly got the jump on Wells before the timer on the match even started, taking the advantage to quickly catch Wells in a submission for the win. Refusing to break the hold, Makowski incited Team Wrestle Factory to intervene on Wells’s behalf.
As it stands, Ciberneticos will be the time and place to resolve the feud between the Crucible and Team Wrestle Factory. This was another great episode with another excellent new feature, the Warp Zone. Be sure to check it out on IWTV or CHIKARAtopia!
