Much news has broken over this past weekend’s shows, mostly on the Philadelphia show that occurred just moments ago. Delirious was kidnapped by the Order of the Neo-Solar Temple. Frightmare earned the biggest victory of his career so far by upsetting “The Big Rig” Brodie Lee. Escorpion Egipcio was kicked to the curb by the Osirian Portal after much miscommunication in a loss to The Future Is Now. However, the news that will have the biggest ramifications for CHIKARA has to be the announcement that CHIKARA and Dragon Gate USA have come to a working agreement. This announcement was alluded to several times on the DGUSA Twitter account by Gabe Sapolsky, the Vice President of DGUSA, but was made official just a short time ago.
The relationship between CHIKARA and Dragon Gate seems to be an obvious one, although it is not one that has ever really materialised until now, outside of m.c. KZ’s participation in King of Trios 2008 and a Dragon Gate vs. CHIKARA trios match on a Full Impact Pro card a year or two ago. CHIKARA’s roots are highly based around the type of wrestling that also influenced Toryumon and later Dragon Gate, as both companies have utilised high-flying and stylish pro wrestling as well as slightly zany gimmicks and a significant emphasis on “generations” and students. Not only that, but one pivotal figure in this relationship is the legendary Jorge “Skayde” Rivera. Skayde has worked for both promotions in his long career, but more importantly, he’s trained arguably the two “talismans” of Dragon Gate and CHIKARA: CIMA and Mike Quackenbush, among others. That link appears to have brought the two groups together. Both sides have commented on this breakthrough in the complete DGUSA feature article, with both Quackenbush and Sapolsky sounding extremely positive.
From a fan standpoint, this can only be a positive thing. Not only does this answer any questions about which American independent wrestlers will be used on DGUSA cards, but it will also benefit CHIKARA and the wrestlers greatly by giving them a chance to wrestle with or even just on the same card as some of the best wrestlers on the planet. This agreement brings together two of the more consistently entertaining and growing wrestling promotions around today, which can never be a bad thing.
CHIKARA will be sending 8 wrestlers to the Dragon Gate USA debut show on July 25th and they will all be participating in an 8-man tag team match. The participants will be announced in due time on the Dragon Gate USA website (which has now been added to the sidebar, along with Jae’s dgusa fan-site) and on the official CHIKARA website, which of course will all be summarised here at CHIKARAFans.com! Also stated on the DGUSA website is that CHIKARA will be involved in the Labor Day weekend event in Chicago, Illinois, so this relationship will not just be limited to the North-East.
- Dragon Gate USA Debut Show
July 25, 2009 ~ The Arena, Philadelphia, PA
1. CHIKARA Showcase Match: X, X, X & X vs. X, X, X & X
Also scheduled to appear: Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, CIMA, Dragon Kid and many more!