CHIKARA - F.I.S.T. vs. Atlantis and Rey Bucanero Review

CHIKARA – Chikarasaurus Rex II Night 2

7/31/11 – Philadelphia, PA

F.I.S.T. (Chuck Taylor & Johnny Gargano) vs. Atlantis and Rey Bucanero

This match caught my eye on paper as a big lucha fan, with the opportunity to see two mainstays like Atlantis and Rey Bucanero facing two of the better young guns on the U.S. independent circuit today in Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano.

F.I.S.T. comes out first and it is announced that their “scheduled opponents”, Beer Money, are not in the building. They decide to pull names out of a hat, and the first name is Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson, who are not there. Then they pull out Atlantis & Rey Bucanero, who the crowd reacts to lightly and the two of them come out to a modest reaction. Rey starts out with Chuck doing some work on the mat and the two seem to have a little miscommunication at first with Rey not going over for a headlock takeover right away and looking a little hesitant. Chuck tags out and Gargano is in with Atlantis now, who works Johnny’s left knee over and then almost gets an early submission from Gargano with an armbar. Gargano gets up favoring the left knee and left elbow and Atlantis goes to work with punches to the arm and then a hammerlock, but Gargano takes him over with a wristlock. Atlantis hits the ropes but Taylor kicks him in the back and Gargano takes control. 2 on 1 beatdown on Atlantis and F.I.S.T. is in control of the contest early. Double big boot by F.I.S.T. sends Atlantis out and Bucanero hops in but gets a quebradora from Taylor followed by a running knee from Johnny on a propped up Rey. Taylor distracts the ref while Gargano chokes Rey in the corner and Taylor then knocks Atlantis off the apron. F.I.S.T. runs at the same time into the corner on Rey but he puts up the boots and Atlantis comes off the top with a double plancha. Double irish whip into the ropes and stereo quebradoras by the tecnicos. Snapmare and knee to the head by Atlantis on Gargano. Atlantis makes the rudos run into each other and then hits a big hiptoss and then quebradora on Taylor followed by a knee to the back and then tags out. Springboard elbow by Bucanero on Taylor and the two of them trade shots in the middle of the ring. Slingshot spear by Gargano takes Rey down and they start going at it. Slingshot by Atlantis on Gargano followed by a great corkscrew by Rey onto a prone Gargano draped across Atlantis’ knees for a two count. Clothesline in the corner and bulldog out by Gargano on Rey but Atlantis is in now. Running crossbody by Atlantis for two and then a big bodyslam for another two count. Atlantis clotheslines Taylor out and then slingshots Bucanero over the ropes for a tope con giro in a cool spot. Atlantis and Gargano are the last two in the ring as the ref attends to the other two on the outside and Gargano pulls an awesome move out of the CMLL playbook by going down and faking a low blow which gets the tecnicos disqualified and F.I.S.T. wins.

This was a fun match, definitely enjoyable as a lucha fan and as a fan of both members of F.I.S.T. It was cool seeing Bucanero and Atlantis interact with some younger U.S. indy guys and they managed to make a good match out of it. I liked the DQ finish as it put F.I.S.T. over as big rudos and didn’t discredit Atlantis and Bucanero for a possible return down the line. The only problem I had with the match was the lukewarm reaction of the crowd; one has to figure that Atlantis and Bucanero was something they pulled together at the last minute, because they could’ve certainly advertised them and gotten some more fans who know who they are and could welcome them with a good reaction to the U.S. All in all a good match though and I applaud CHIKARA for doing something like this.