The opening round matches are complete for this year’s Young Lions Cup as just moments ago the final matches were confirmed. First, it’s a clash between a CHIKARA debutant and one of CHIKARA’s youngest lions as the pink ‘n’ black attack of Brendan Michael Thomas confronts Incoherence member Frightmare. In the other contest to round off the opening night action, Roughneck member Grizzly Redwood looks to capitalise on his momentum after tag success in Reading, but his opponent El Leonino will not be intending to give him an easy ride in his CHIKARA debut.

Moving onto night 2, the debuting and mysterious Bret Race will be taking on the Midwest’s own Yellow Dog. And finally, expect nothing more than tremendous fast-paced action as Trik Davis goes up against a man he knows very well, Shane Hollister. These men have wrestled numerous times in the past and have been compared to fellow speed style wrestlers Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin. Whether they can live up to that particularly high billing is yet to be seen, but only one will advance to the second round of YLC.

Footage of the Dragon Gate USA debut show, Open the Historic Gate, has been released, showing the events following the CHIKARA tag where YAMATO and Gran Akuma beat down Jigsaw and Mike Quackenbush. That can be viewed by clicking here. As a result of that, just added to the September 6th Chicago show is a grudge tag team match between Quackenbush & Jigsaw and YAMATO & Akuma.

CHIKARA “Young Lions Cup VII ~ Night 1″
August 14, 2009 ~ Palmer Community Center, Easton, PA
1. Fire Ant & Soldier Ant [The Colony] vs. Jagged & Shane Matthews [2.0]
2. Young Lions Cup ~ Opening Round: Hydra vs. Tim Donst
3. Young Lions Cup ~ Opening Round: Lince Dorado vs. Prince Mustafa Ali
4. Young Lions Cup ~ Opening Round: Stinky the Homeless Guy vs. Colin Delaney
5. Young Lions Cup ~ Opening Round: Create-A-Wrestler vs. Jason Hades
6. Young Lions Cup ~ Opening Round: Brendan Michael Thomas vs. Frightmare
7. Young Lions Cup ~ Opening Round: Grizzly Redwood vs. El Leonino

CHIKARA “Young Lions Cup VII ~ Night 2″
August 15, 2009 ~ Palmer Community Center, Easton, PA
1. Arik Cannon vs. Lince Dorado
2. Lucha Libre Showcase: Mascarita Dorada & Turbo vs. Pierrothito & Jorge “Skayde” Rivera
3. Young Lions Cup ~ Opening Round: Soldier Ant vs. Carpenter Ant
4. Young Lions Cup ~ Opening Round: Darin Corbin vs. Ryan Cruz
5. Young Lions Cup ~ Opening Round: Player Uno vs. Player Dos
6. Young Lions Cup ~ Opening Round: Chimaera vs. KC “Cloudy” Day
7. Young Lions Cup ~ Opening Round: Bret Race vs. Yellow Dog
8. Young Lions Cup ~ Opening Round: Shane Hollister vs. Trik Davis

CHIKARA “Young Lions Cup VII ~ Night 3″
August 16, 2009 ~ The Arena, Philadelphia, PA
1. Golden Dream Triple Threat Trios Match: Vin Gerard, STIGMA & Chuck Taylor vs. Jimmy “Equinox” Olsen, Helios & Jigsaw vs. Fire Ant, Hallowicked & Arik Cannon
2. 4-Corners Elimination Tag Team Match: UltraMantis Black & Delirious [The Order of the Neo-Solar Temple] vs. X & X vs. X & X vs. X & X
3. Mascarita Dorada vs. Pierrothito
4. Eddie Kingston vs. Claudio Castagnoli
5. Young Lions Cup ~ Final: X vs. X

Catching up with the week’s news, it’s only appropriate to update everyone on the entrants into this year’s Young Lions Cup of which there are three new ones! First up is yet another talent from the Midwest – Iowa, to be specific – and a wrestler that’s looking to follow in the footsteps of many of his influences, including Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin and Tyler Black. This man is Shane Hollister, a young man who’s worked extensively in the past for AAW in Berwyn, Illinois, and more recently IWA Mid-South.

Joining Hollister in the Young Lions Cup is quite possibly the greatest of unknowns in this year’s competition. Going by the name Bret “Restle” Race, even CHIKARA has said that they know quite literally nothing about him. They don’t even have a photograph, so this really does bring into question Leonard Chikarason’s research when it comes to YLC participants. He does however have a bare-bones MySpace page, and there are rumours circling that his name may be an anagram for one of CHIKARA’s more interesting characters. Perhaps the subtitle for this website’s message board is truer than first thought…

And finally, a regular face to CHIKARA fans becomes the penultimate participant in this year’s YLC: The UnStable’s Colin Delaney. This is actually Colin’s first Young Lions Cup despite making his CHIKARA debut in 2006 and he’ll be looking to join his stablemates STIGMA and Vin Gerard as well as his “baby brother” Jimmy “Equinox” Olsen as holders of the Young Lions Cup.

In addition to the tournament action over YLC weekend, night 3 of the weekend will see Claudio Castagnoli and Eddie Kingston clash in a continuation of their growing rivalry. Kingston will be coming off a short injury lay-off for this match – an injury forcing him off the upcoming Reading card – and Claudio has shown his willingness to exploit injuries to defeat Kingston in the past (see their March 2007 match), but Kingston has never gone down without a fight and coming off a win over Claudio at “Aniversario Yang” he may feel he has the momentum coming into this one.

CHIKARA Podcast-A-Go-Go #170, featuring Lince Dorado & Helios vs. Gran Akuma & Icarus and The Osirian Portal vs. The Colony.

CHIKARA “Young Lions Cup VII ~ Night 1″
August 14, 2009 ~ Palmer Community Center, Easton, PA

CHIKARA “Young Lions Cup VII ~ Night 2″
August 15, 2009 ~ Palmer Community Center, Easton, PA
1. Lucha Libre Showcase: Mascarita Dorada & Turbo vs. Pierrothito & Jorge “Skayde” Rivera

CHIKARA “Young Lions Cup VII ~ Night 3″
August 16, 2009 ~ The Arena, Philadelphia, PA
1. Golden Dream Triple Threat Trios Match: Vin Gerard, STIGMA & X vs. Jimmy “Equinox” Olsen, Helios & X vs. Fire Ant, X & X
2. Mascarita Dorada vs. Pierrothito
3. Eddie Kingston vs. Claudio Castagnoli

Announced Young Lions Cup VII Participants:
1. Create-A-Wrestler (new character TBA) (3rd Young Lions Cup)
2. Soldier Ant (2nd Young Lions Cup)
3. Trik Davis (2nd Young Lions Cup)
4. Frightmare (1st Young Lions Cup)
5. Player Dos (2nd Young Lions Cup)
6. Yellow Dog (1st Young Lions Cup, CHIKARA debut)
7. KC “Cloudy” Day (2nd Young Lions Cup)
8. Player Uno (3rd Young Lions Cup)
9. El Leonino (1st Young Lions Cup, CHIKARA debut)
10. Hydra (3rd Young Lions Cup)
11. Grizzly Redwood (1st Young Lions Cup)
12. Brendan Michael Thomas (1st Young Lions Cup, CHIKARA debut)
13. Lince Dorado (3rd Young Lions Cup)
14. Tim Donst (3rd Young Lions Cup)
15. Jason Hades (1st Young Lions Cup, CHIKARA debut)
16. Ryan Cruz (2nd Young Lions Cup)
17. Darin Corbin (2nd Young Lions Cup)
18. Chimaera (1st Young Lions Cup, CHIKARA debut)
19. Carpenter Ant (1st Young Lions Cup, CHIKARA in-ring debut)
20. Prince Mustafa Ali (1st Young Lions Cup, CHIKARA debut)
21. Shane Hollister (1st Young Lions Cup, CHIKARA debut)
22. Bret Race (1st Young Lions Cup, CHIKARA debut)
23. Colin Delaney (1st Young Lions Cup)