Weekly Watchlist 042 - March 30 2025

Welcome back wrestling fans!

I wish I had better news this week, but I'm afraid I don't. It's been a rough go of things lately, a whole lot of life has happened all at once and it's hard to keep on top of things. As a result, I've only got one review for you guys this week. It's a really fun match, but it's all I could manage this week. Hopefully things will be back on track next week, but I just needed some time to look after myself this week. 

I hope you'll understand. 

CZW

Weekly Roundup

Here's what I watched for the week;

 

 

Jack Marciano, Jigsaw, Larry Sweeney & The Dark Breed vs. Team FIST, Men At Work & Mike Quackenbush - CZW High Stakes II: Afternoon Show - 09/11/2004

The battle of rudos and técnicos. A tale as old as time. CZW

Well, another tough week for your favourite blogger. A lot going on day to day that really weighs heavy on the mind. As a result, I've been really struggling to find something to watch. My spreadsheet screenshot shows a few "famous" matches after this one that I tried to watch and review but man, I just didn't have it in me. Sure, they were good and I could have gotten something out of them, but I just don't have it in me this week, I apologize. I hope this match will suffice.

In, what I can only assume is one of the earliest CZW/CHIKARA cross-promotional matches, we see "Team Rudos," comprised of Jack Marciano, Jigsaw, Larry Sweeney, Ultra Mantis Black and Hallowicked of The Dark Breed against "Team Técnicos," featuring Icarus and Gran Akuma of Team FIST, Shane Storm and Mister ZERO of Men At Work & Mike Quackenbush. Leaning into the "less than serious" attitude of CHIKARA, we are given the combined heights of each team, instead of their combined weight. The Rudos (heels) stand 34"1' while the Técnicos (faces) stand 29"7' combined. There's some confusion when announcing the teams at the start here, but they get it sorted by the time the técnicos's make their way to the ring. 

I feel it was kinda important to mention that this isn't the first time CHIKARA has been represented in CZW. It's difficult to find out exactly when (not impossible, I just don't have the time to dig right now), but the crowds reaction and commentary made me think that this was a "trial by fire" here, but then I remember that this is the early 2000's so making a Village People reference is kinda par for the course. 

Icarus and Jigsaw start things off for their teams, with this match having lucha libre tag rules, meaning that a tag can be made the traditional way, or by simply leaving the ring. All CHIKARA tag matches are done with this rule set so it's nothing new. It's a very basic start to this match, with Jigsaw and Icarus starting off with hammerlocks, armbars and basic takeovers as Eric Garguilo on commentary points out "this isn't wrestling, it's CHIKARA!" ok then what's happening in the ring, eh tough guy?

Akuma tags in and gets tied up by Jigsaw as "Blackjack" Marciano tags in, with the action picking up a bit more as the exchange is quicker with Marciano needing to leapfrog over both Akuma and one of his teammates in Jigsaw, who got in the ring just to flip the crowd off some more. What he doesn't notice, however, is Icarus joining his partner in the ring as the pair take off against the ropes, taking the Rudos down with a pair of armdrags to clear the ring. 

With the técnicos in control, Quack vaults in the ring and goes for a dive on Blackjack and Jigsaw but stops himself just short of the dive, rolling back in the ring and... commanding everyone involved, including referee Bryce Remsburg, to do a little jig? I mean, it's CHIKARA so nothing surprises me here. 

Wrestling is the fucking best, man. CZW

Sweeney gets in for his team and goes straight for Quack but gets caught in a wristlock, allowing Quack to tag in Shane Storm, with he and Sweeney trading back and forth until Storm gets the better of the exchange with a spinning heel kick after a big armdrag. It's not untilIcarus gets back in and Sweeney tags in Hallowicked that things pick up a bit. Despite his height, Wicked takes Icarus down with a big headscissors that sends him to the floor. Wicked takes off against the ropes and goes to dive onto Icarus but Storm, being a unionized traffic regulator, stops Hallowicked dead in his tracks with a literal STOP sign. 

I'm not making this up, guys.

Workers going to work. CZW

Quack takes advantage of the frozen Hallowicked to dive in with an armdrag and starts to take things up a notch with one of the first people step foot in the CHIKARA Wrestle Factory. Their chemistry and flow is evident the entire time they are in the ring together, with Zero, Mantis, and Icarus among the first group of trainees that learned under Quack and Reckless Youth. Taking Wicked down with a Manhattan Drop, Quack ties Wicked's arms and legs up like a pretzel and turns him over, rendering him completely immobile. 

Quack returns to his corner to tag in Mister Zero while Sweeney pulls Wicked back to their corner to tag himself in. Zero isn't in the ring longer than a second before Sweeney jumps him from behind and takes him down. He takes Zero back to his corner as Mantis tags in, trying to take it to Zero, but in typical Mantis fashion, as soon as he receives any offence, he starts screaming bloody murder. It seriously sounds like a sheep is being slaughtered. 

Zero takes Mantis to the técnicos corner and applies an abdominal stretch. Quack is quick to react as he climbs to the top rope, taking flight as Blackjack and Jigsaw come charging across the ring only to get crushed with a crossbody. The Rudo's clearly planned for this, for as soon as Quack stands up, he's backed against Hallowicked who traps his arms as Blackjack and Jigsaw charge in, but Quack slips out to leave Hallowicked wide open for a double chop. 

Fundamentally fending off his ferocious foes, Quack takes Jack, Jig, and Wicked down with a triplet of standing armdrags, only to get beaten down in the centre by all three men. He falls to his knees and crawls through the legs of the lanky man from Sleepy Hollow, hitting the ropes and using Hallowicked as a huge springboard, leapfrogging over him to land a double dropkick on Blackjack and Jigsaw. Look, I may not like Quack, which is a conversation for a whole other occasion, but he's pretty clever when it comes to putting together some clever spots. 

Wicked takes Quack down with a single chop when he turns back around, the joy leaving his body as fast as a shot. Wicked takes off against the ropes with hopes of doing something to Quack, but gets sent over the top rope to the waiting arms of his friends, with Mantis now joining the fray. Acting quickly, Akuma, Icarus, and Storm climb in the ring and take off against the ropes, with four of the five técnicos taking flight at once!

Air técnicos! CZW

 

With Zero and Sweeney the only legal men left, Zero takes a charging Sweeney down with a drop toe hold and locks him in the camel clutch, reading the newspaper as he does so! He is the Middle-Aged Business Tyrant after all, gotta keep up to date! He stomps out of the clutch and tags Akuma in, who lands a nice stalling suplex on Sweeney. He isn't down long, however, as he manages to hotshot Akuma off the top rope and tag in Jigsaw, who gets a double foot stomp off as he springboards in the ring. 

Jigsaw isn't in the ring very long before tagging in Jack Marciano, draping Akuma across the middle rope as they go for a double 619! Sweeney tags himself back in and drops Akuma after an Irish whip with a bionic elbow. An running elbow drop takes Sweeney into one of the first pinfall attempts of this match, but Akuma is still too fresh. Sweeney tags in Wicked who then tags in Blackjack (my god there's a lot of tags in this one) and they drop Akuma with double back elbows before landing a double elbow drop. 

Jigsaw tags in and Akuma shows signs of life, but it's short lived as a heel kick takes him off his feet again. Suddenly, Mantis, Blackjack, and Sweeny are all in the ring, all four men catching Akuma out the corner and doing, what I can only describe as the Spirit Squad drop. Y'know the one they did against Shawn Michaels in 2006? It's like that but when a lot less height. Wicked is perched on the top rope and takes off across the ring with a huge swanton bomb, going for the cover but Bryce is a bit slow to get to the cover, but Akuma gets out at two. 

Jigsaw is in now and has Akuma down in the centre, climbing to the top rope with his back to the ring before taking off with a corkscrew moonsault. Akuma rolls out of the way and leaves Jigsaw to land in an empty pool, with both men laid out in the ring now. Both men are able to make it to their sides for the tag, with Quack and Sweeney now the legal men. Quack takes it to him immediately, running him into the corner and hitting him with windmill chops as the rest of his team takes out the rest of Sweeney's team. 

It's a five on one assault against Sweeney in the corner, with Icarus the final man to charge in but eats nothing but buckle as Sweeney stumbles out of the way. With Icarus stunned, Sweeney goes for the 68 Comeback Special, a neckbreaker combo into a DDT. Storm breaks up the cover as Zero gets in the ring with him and the pair, known as Men at Work, take Mantis and Jigsaw over with stereo German suplex's. Wicked breaks the pin as Quack gets in the ring now, only to eat a powerbomb from Hallowicked. It's a bit nasty looking on the part of Hallowicked, with his feet giving out on him as he tries to shift Quack above him, but he gets the move off without issue and doesn't look to be hurt at all.

It's bedlam in the ring, with so many guys in the ring it's almost impossible to tell who the legal man is. Quack and Akuma are sat on the top rope now, with Blackjack and Mantis taking Jigsaw and Hallowicked on their shoulders, respectively, and moving in to try and superplex their foes from their friends shoulders. Just insane shit. Quack and Akuma are able to fight their way out, sunset flipping over both stacks of men and powerbombing all four men! 

With a heap of Rudos now incapacitated, Akuma and Quack tie them up like how Quack tied up Hallowicked earlier, flipping the bundles of Rudos over to their fronts and trapping them in a human pretzel. 

Now, Sweeney is all alone. 

Commentary is doing the heavy lifting with naming the moves for the viewer here, saying that they're "forming Voltron" which is just an insane thing to say at a wrestling show. So, get this, Storm and Zero are on the ground, they have Quack and Akuma on their shoulders, Icarus is climbing to the top rope and then stands on the linked arms of Quack and Akuma. From a height beyond the top rope, The Winged Warrior comes crashing down on Sweeney with a huge splash, covering him for the three count. 

You can consider Voltron, assembled. CZW

 This was such a fun tag team match. I've talked about CHIKARA a couple of times on here but they are such a comfort watch for me. They are a brilliant blend of completely insane nonsense and excellent, crisp wrestling. I can't help but smile when I watch CHIKARA guys in action. Especially these 10, which are some of the absolute best to ever work in CHIKARA. What a treat. 12 Large Forever. I was a bit worried the CZW crowd would shit on this match but they were so into it, especially at the end. You can see in the GIF above just how many people got to their feet when Icarus started to climb. They're behind you then.

 

There we have it, another review in the can. I feel kinda bad that I had to make this another short post, I really don't like doing less, but I needed it this week. I'm fairly certain next week will be a return to form.

As always, email is cliffmorganwstl@gmail.com and you can send just about whatever you want there. Within reason please, be kind.

Until next time, take it easy friends.

Cliff Morgan