Mike Quackenbush vs. Johnny Kidd, CHIKARA Aniversario: Chamber of Secrets (5/28/2016)

This was a World of Sport Rules match.

(It is also announced as Kidd’s final match by the ring announcer, but as anyone who can look at Cagematch can tell you, that is patently untrue. There was a retirement tour of sorts in 2016, but he would be back within eighteen months. Pro wrestling, baby.)

A match this is sort of self-selecting in terms of viewership in a way that I really respect.

For the most part, nobody is going to watch this match who won’t like it.

You know ahead of time, in most cases, if this is going to be for you. If you are some sort of boring water-brained weirdo who doesn’t like this sort of wrestling for any number of shit headed reasons, this is not for you (and that includes this site too, probably). If you are going to disqualify a match because Quack is a big ol’ geek or because he’s a shithead in real life, or because CHIKARA hosts some real eye-rolling stuff at this point at other points on a show, you know, you were probably never going to watch this to begin with.

I love that.

I love that for you, but way more importantly, I love that for me.

What we have as a result is a match for the true maniacs.

Twenty four minutes of the god damned sweet science. Sick reversals, cool holds, fun little bits that let in some entertainment but without it ever overpowering the contest. A slow and steady escalation of pace and intensity, furthered in tiny little ways, but all ones that matter. Little bits of storytelling like Kidd knowing more, but Quack being a little younger and a lot quicker. Nothing that shouts that at you, but again, there’s a kind of self-selection at play I think, where anyone who really needed that to be done likely wouldn’t have loved this match anyways. What matters is that the little things telling these small stories all matter, each finish in the match is about these ideas. Kidd’s first fall comes from him getting a little meaner to open Quack up for a pin, and Quack’s comes from shrugging off the respect and picking up the pace, outmaneuvering the old man before going into his own. It’s wonderful. It’s easy and cool and fun as hell.

In the end, time runs out, and the clock stays unbeaten.

For Kidd, the time runs out in his attempt to beat Quack for the “last” time. Too long is spent warming Quack up so he can bring up the intensity in the back half, unable to get him hot and bothered like he did to Zack Sabre Jr. in a similar match the year before. For Quack, time runs out in his attempt to beat Kidd after failing to in a similar match seven years prior in Germany. He’s a little less starstruck and a little more ready, looking more and more like he’s going to win as the match unfurls itself, but without enough time to effectively close in on a third fall that seems like a guarantee to fall in his direction.

There isn’t enough time to do everything that they ever wanted to do, but thankfully more than enough to do everything everyone else needed them to do.

One of the best matches of the year, provided you’re right for it.

***1/2

Johnny Saint vs. Johnny Kidd, CHIKARA Chikarasaurus Rex: King of Sequel N1 (7/30/2011)

This was contested under World of Sport Rules.

One of the better exhibitions of the style you’ll ever see on a U.S. indie show. There’s not a lot more to it than an old master trying to hold off a slightly younger guy trying to knock him off in front of a more casual audience to make his name, but that’s all they need. Just about everything that happens in this match works to that idea, before they take it in a different direction than one might expect for a special attraction like this.

In the first few rounds, Kidd repeatedly tries to putt Saint in positions where he’ll show his age and Kidd will look smarter, only for it to totally backfire. Saint embarrasses Kidd not through any real trickery on his own part, but simply by avoiding Kidd’s own attempts and leaving him holding the bag before patting him on the back as if to say that he tried his best and it’s alright.

As the match goes on, Kidd does pull ahead, because he’s younger and more importantly, Saint is an old man and once this pushes past fifteen and closer to twenty, that becomes pretty apparent in the story and also on a purely mechanical level. And that’s fine. It’s better than pretending that isn’t the case, and given how the first two-thirds played themselves out, it’s a more interesting way to go about it. Saint got caught up in playing around and showing Kidd up, but wound up getting boxed into something Kidd was better suited for. It catches up with him eventually when Kidd sits down on an attempted ankle pick and reaches back for the legs to get a three count. There’s not much of a struggle from Saint after that, being truly defeated and not simply trapped.

The sort of thing that isn’t going to change anybody’s mind one way or the other, but if this sounds like it’s for you, it absolutely is.

***