History Wrestling / CHIKARA

Currently their [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/pa/e/chikara/chikara-g.html Grand Championship]] is held by Eddie Kingston. The [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/pa/e/chikara/chikara-t.html Campeonatos de Parejas (tag team champions)]] are 3.0 ("Big Magic" Shane Matthews & Scott Jagged Parker). The [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/pa/e/chikara/chikara-yl.html Young Lions Cup X trophy]] is held by "Mr. Touchdown" Mark Angelosetti.

*** TheBigBad / TheEvilGenius: Sinn Bodhi

* ReallyGetsAround: Jakob Hammermeier thought it would be a good idea to accuse Sara Del Rey of being "the Queen of the Lockerroom". She didn't appreciate it, and beat the hell out of him.

** [[http://www.chikarapro.com/blog80.shtml One of Pinkie Sanchez's blog updates]] was a fairly tongue-in-cheek TakeThat is aimed at the portion of CHIKARA's fanbase that jumped to conclusions regarding the BDK angle when he writes "And the geeks out there figured I was a comic book character from the future. Great Scott - someone needs a reality check!"

** DidntSeeThatComing: This scheme would eventually lead to the creation of the BDK, and the destruction of Mantis's Order of the Neo-Solar Temple.

* BadAss: Even amongst wrestling, a profession in which you're expected to be badass, Eddie Kingston stands out.

* TheChessmaster: Ultramantis Black. He wanted the Eye of Tyr, which was in the possession of Kaiju Big Battel's Dr. Cube. So he finds out what Dr. Cube wants (Chris Hero to work for him), convinces Hero to work for Dr. Cube in exchange for the counter to the Chikara Special submission hold, and then breaks Shane Storm's losing streak in exchange for the counter.

* {{Expy}}: Amasis is a partial expy of Booker T.

*** TheBigBad / TheEvilGenius: Chris Hero

** The Osirian Portal, from [[{{UsefulNotes/Egypt}} Egypt]] (as heels)
** The Batiri, from Bled Island in [[{{UsefulNotes/Slovenia}} Slovenia]]

** Neatly followed up by Pinkie Sanchez and Tim Donst (again) through 2009 as they took on the roles of Carpenter Ant and Vökoder to infiltrated the Colony (and the technicos) and the Order of the Neo Solar Temple (and the rudos) respectively. They revealed themselves at the WhamEpisode detailed below.

* NoIndoorVoice: 2/3.0, especially Shane Matthews.

** The [[{{VideoGame/SuperSmashBros}} Super Smash Brothers]] from "The Mushroom Kingdom"

* TakeThat: CP Munk was a TakeThat against Wrestling/CMPunk, born after Punk canceled on one of their shows at the last minute. Punk didn't take it very well, which inspired CP Munk to become an occasionally recurring character, as well as the creation of Colt [=CaBunny=] (based off Punk's tag partner Wrestling/ColtCabana), and later Ace Panda (based off Ace Steel; the Panda portion of this character came from WWE losing the letter F to the World Wildlife Fund in a lawsuit, leading to jokes that WWE "lost to the Pandas").

* TheUnintelligible: Delirious, most of the time. Also Hallowicked and Frightmare. (There's a reason why their team is called "Incoherence.") Finally, Hydra mostly communicated in a series of grunts and growls.
** Fire Ant also usually only communicates with growling and yelling noises, but when the situation really calls for it he ''is'' capable of saying a few words. Soldier Ant, conversely, only speaks in military jargon ("SIR YES SIR!").

It's heavily influenced by not only the American style of pro wrestling, but also Japanese ''puroresu'' and Mexican ''lucha libre'', as well as a heavy dose of {{Superhero}} comics and ''[[{{Franchise/Godzilla}} Godzilla]]'' films. Unlike most wrestling promotions, CHIKARA has a defined season and off-season, and its season is built around 4 annual events: King of Trios (a weekend-long tournament of three-man teams), Aniversario, the Young Lions' Cup (a tournament to crown the new holder of the Young Lions Cup, a title that can only be held by wrestlers 25 years old or younger), and the Torneo Cibernetico (a 16-man ''lucha libre'' elimination match that serves as the show's main event). CHIKARA also operates the Wrestle Factory, a wrestling training school; many of CHIKARA's wrestlers are Wrestle Factory graduates.

* ViewersAreGeniuses: Simply being able to keep up with the numerous {{ShoutOut}}s and {{TakeThat}}s in an average event, from the wrestlers AND the announcers, requires a ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' meets Creator/QuentinTarantino meets Wrestling/JoeyStyles-level of cultural and wrestling literacy and attention span.

* BrotherChuck: There have been some roster members who just vanished (Like Melvin Snodgrass, [=BlackJack Marciano=], Lance Steel, Retail Dragon, Dr. Cheung and Private Eye, for example). but the most notable examples are probably Mitch Ryder, Lince Dorado, and Tursas. The most recent example is Sara Del Rey, who was signed in early autumn 2012 as a trainer with WWE but didn't get an in-character explanation for the departure.

** There's also the fact that Mike Quackenbush and Shane Storm (currently STIGMA and no longer working for Chikara to boot) have three points in tag team competition, but have yet to cash in their title shot.

** DidntSeeThatComing: This scheme would eventually lead to the creation of the BDK, and the destruction of Mantis's Order of Neo-Solar Temple.

** The Colony, from "The Ant Hill

** Archibald Peck does a lot of it. First, he was hit by Eddie Kingston's "Backfist to the Future" and actually went to the future. He brought back a Chikara Almanac, which is how he knew Colt Cabana would answer his open challenge at King of Trios 2011. Later, Peck's attorney The Barrister RD Evans used time travel to get him reinstated in Chikara at the end of Season 11.

* ViewersAreGeniuses: Simply being able to keep up with the numerous [[{{ShoutOut}} Shout Outs]] and [[{{TakeThat}} Take Thats]] in an average event, from the wrestlers AND the announcers, requires ''[[{{Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000}} Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' meets [[{{Creator/QuentinTarantino}} Quentin Tarantino]] meets [[{{Wrestling/JoeyStyles}} Joey Styles]]-level of cultural literacy and attention span.

* WhamEpisode: The end of Season 8 (the last of CHIKARA's 2009 shows) - BDK demands the Eye of Tyr back from [=UltraMantis=] Black, and when he refuses, BDK unmasks as Claudio's old tag partner Ares. Claudio attacks Mike Quackenbush, Carpenter Ant attacks the Colony, Vokoder attacks Ultramantis, Sara del Rey and Daizee Haze just attack whoever's there. After this the 8 pose in the ring, and Vokoder and Carpenter Ant unmask to reveal they were, respectively, Tim Donst and Pinky Sanchez.

* XMeetsY: [[{{Botchamania}} Maffew]] has referred to CHIKARA's King of Trios as the ''KingOfFighters'' of ProfessionalWrestling.

* ShoutOut: The DVD covers are all homages to famous comic book covers, and many of the show names are lifted from song titles from various bands (including the Talking Heads and Ben Folds Five).

** The team finisher for The Colony is "Ants Go Marching", which - in addition to using "Ants Marching" as their theme - is a ShoutOut to Dave Matthews.

* DiminishingVillainThreat: GEKIDO played with this trope. As soon as Quackenbush returned from injury to break 17's fingers, they went from dangerous invaders to losing most of their matches, and assailANT got reassigned to The Colony. However, after Quack injured 17 and combatANT on consecutive cards, The Shard TookALevelInBadass and went on a massive winning streak for the latter half of 2012.

* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: Tursas' background is very undefined, he just showed up out of the blue with Ares one day.

* DiminishingVillainThreat: GEKIDO are a notable example for it happening pretty swiftly. In less than half a year they've gone from dangerous invaders to losing more matches than they win. Likely justified by the fact that only 17 is really portrayed as a dangerous wrestler, with the others being opportunists who weren't good enough to make it into CHIKARA on their own.

* TheBusCameBack: Crossbones, who vanished in early 2010 and was absent for about a year and a half, made his return in a Big Damn Heroes moment to help Ultramantis Black against Sinn Bodhi and The Batiri. He didn't stay back though.
** As of the final weekend of 2011, Gran Akuma has returned from a year's hiatus with Icarus in his crosshairs.

-->'''Gavin:''' In fact, Claudio was ''so'' upset over this loss, he packed his bags, went down to World Wrestling Entertainment, and changed his name to "Antonio Cesaro". Who figured?

CHIKARA was cross-promoting with [[{{Wrestling/KaijuBigBattel}} Kaiju Big Battel]] for a time, though nowadays the only remnant of said cross-promotion is Louden Noxious (now Gavin Loudspeaker), who serves as an announcer for both companies. CHIKARA recently joined up with the USA counterpart of Japanese promotion DragonGate to help promote their arrival in the United States, with several wrestlers appearing on their shows and Leonard F. Chikarason (as well as Mike Quackenbush) doing commentary for the PPV and DVD versions of their shows.

* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Jakob Hammermeier is still technically a rudo and aligned with Tim Donst. Doesn't stop fans from feeling bad for him any time he suffers abuse and generally getting behind him however.
* {{Jerkass}}: Chuck Taylor. One of his favorite ways to get heat is to surprise little kids watching at ringside by screaming at them.

* TimeTravel: The Osirian Portal. Also formerly Lance Steel, Time Displaced Noble Knight (and his tag team partner... Lance Steel, Time Displaced Noble Knight). Carpenter Ant was hinted at being this, but it was ultimately a red herring.

* GainaxEnding: The ending of season 12. [[spoiler:Kingston defeats Donst to retain the Grand Championship. Cut to two guys looking for the pieces of the Eye of Tyr in a tunnel. Cut to Wink Vavasseur's Father telling him to stop screwing up.]]

* HeelFaceTurn: Well, it's a wrestling promotion, so obviously quite a few. Perhaps of the most note in the current CHIKARA landscape are [=UltraMantis=] Black, Eddie Kingston and Sara Del Rey. And most recently, [[spoiler:[=assailANT=]]].

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [=UltraMantis Black=] smashed the Eye of Tyr and gave Delirious his sanity back. Now Delirious is [[spoiler:involved in some sort of End of the World conspiracy with Ophidian and the Batiri]].

* PsychoRangers: As of 2012, a mysterious group that appears to be calling themselves Gekido has shown up, with members who appear to be dark mirrors of popular CHIKARA wrestlers like The Colony (combatANT, assailANT, & deviANT), Jigsaw (The Shard), and Mike Quackenbush (17).

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: 17's seventeen forgotten finishing holds. He only got about a quarter of the way through them before [[spoiler:Quack dropped him on his head 4 times to remove him from Chikara]].

** Homeless bum Vin Gerard just uses the Internet at the public library.
** Tursas has started speaking English, primarily in the form of his blog updates.

* FaceHeelTurn: Many times. The most prominent example of 2012 is Ophidian. [[spoiler:And ''probably'' Jigsaw.]]

Currently their [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/pa/e/chikara/chikara-g.html Grand Championship]] is held by Eddie Kingston. The [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/pa/e/chikara/chikara-t.html Campeonatos de Parejas (tag team champions)]] are The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson). The [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/pa/e/chikara/chikara-yl.html Young Lions Cup X trophy]] is held by "Mr. Touchdown" Mark Angelosetti.

* TakeThat: CP Munk was a TakeThat against Wrestling/CMPunk, born after Punk canceled on one of their shows at the last minute. Punk didn't take it very well, which inspired CP Munk to become an occasionally recurring character, as well as the creation of Colt [=CaBunny=] (based off Punk's tag partner Colt Cabana), and later Ace Panda (based off Ace Steel; the Panda portion of this character came from WWE losing the letter F to the World Wildlife Fund in a lawsuit, leading to jokes that WWE "lost to the Pandas").

* PartsUnknown: The Colony, from "The Ant Hill," [=Ultramantis Black=] from "The Black Tea Garden," the [[{{VideoGame/SuperSmashBros}} Super Smash Brothers]] from "The Mushroom Kingdom," Sugar Dunkerton from "Dunktown, USA" etc.

** Does the fact that the entire promotion is basically a live action version of ''{{Kinnikuman}}'' count?

** Another example involving Archibald Peck. Archie used to be in a relationship with Veronica. [[ArchieComics Sound familiar?]]

* TakeThat: CP Munk was a TakeThat against CM Punk, born after Punk canceled on one of their shows at the last minute. Punk didn't take it very well, which inspired CP Munk to become an occasionally recurring character, as well as the creation of Colt [=CaBunny=] (based off Punk's tag partner Colt Cabana), and later Ace Panda (based off Ace Steel; the Panda portion of this character came from WWE losing the letter F to the World Wildlife Fund in a lawsuit, leading to jokes that WWE "lost to the Pandas").

* ThePigPen: Vin Gerard.
** And to an extent, Michael Nakazawa, who carries ''baby oil'' with him at all times.

** Could arguably be used for CHIKARA as a whole.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: When Claudio signed with WorldWrestlingEntertainment, CHIKARA had to explain his departure somehow. So the end of his last match in CHIKARA (a losing effort against Icarus) was shown on the Podcast-A-Go-Go, followed by this news from Gavin Loudspeaker:

* BrotherChuck: There have been some roster members who just vanished (Like Melvin Snodgrass, [=BlackJack Marciano=], Lance Steel, Retail Dragon, Dr. Cheung and Private Eye, for example). but the most notable examples are probably Mitch Ryder, Lince Dorado, and Tursas. The most recent example is [[spoiler:Sara Del Rey]], who was signed in early autumn 2012 as a trainer with WWE but didn't get an in-character explanation for the departure.

* GainaxEnding: The ending of season 12. [[spoiler:Kingston defeats Donst to retain the Grand Championship. Cut to two guys looking for something in a tunnel. Cut to Wink Vavasseur's Father telling him to stop screwing up.]]

* JerkassHasAPoint: [[spoiler:Mike Quackenbush]] on why he tried to end the career of [[spoiler:17]] (and probably succeeded). [[spoiler:17]] was injuring people remorselessly and took about five years off [[spoiler:Quackenbush's]] career by breaking his wrist. General consensus was that [[spoiler:17]] did indeed deserve it.
** [[spoiler:General opinion on Quackenbush deliberately injuring [=combatANT=] on the other hand, was more along the lines of "Going too far, dude."]]

It's heavily influenced by not only the American style of pro wrestling, but also Japanese ''puroresu'' and Mexican ''lucha libre'', as well as a heavy dose of {{Superhero}} comics and {{Godzilla}} films. Unlike most wrestling promotions, CHIKARA has a defined season and off-season, and its season is built around 4 annual events: King of Trios (a weekend-long tournament of three-man teams), Aniversario, the Young Lions' Cup (a tournament to crown the new holder of the Young Lions Cup, a title that can only be held by wrestlers 25 years old or younger), and the Torneo Cibernetico (a 16-man ''lucha libre'' elimination match that serves as the show's main event). CHIKARA also operates the Wrestle Factory, a wrestling training school; many of CHIKARA's wrestlers are Wrestle Factory graduates.

CHIKARA was cross-promoting with KaijuBigBattel for a time, though nowadays the only remnant of said cross-promotion is Louden Noxious (now Gavin Loudspeaker), who serves as an announcer for both companies. CHIKARA recently joined up with the USA counterpart of Japanese promotion DragonGate to help promote their arrival in the United States, with several wrestlers appearing on their shows and Leonard F. Chikarason (as well as Mike Quackenbush) doing commentary for the PPV and DVD versions of their shows.

* ViewersAreGeniuses: Simply being able to keep up with the numerous [[{{ShoutOut}} Shout Outs]] and [[{{TakeThat}} Take Thats]] in an average match, from the wrestlers AND the announcers, requires ''[[{{Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000}} Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' meets [[{{Creator/QuentinTarantino}} Quentin Tarantino]] meets [[{{Wrestling/JoeyStyles}} Joey Styles]]-level of cultural literacy and attention span.

----

Currently their Grand Championship is held by Eddie Kingston. The Campeonatos de Parejas (tag team champions) are The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson). The Young Lions Cup X trophy is held by "Mr. Touchdown" Mark Angelosetti.

* TheVoiceless: Tursas. He's supposed to be some Finnish viking/monster thing, but it seems likely the wrestler has no knowledge of Finnish, so they use this trope. STIGMA spoke a whole lot less after turning heel, though he still spoke from time to time.