In “I Was There” 3MBooth provides a first hand account of a things we attend.

We were at what we thought was the last ever CHIKARA show. And as far as we knew it was. It looked like the ref’s hand hit the mat for the three count. It turns out that the last count was in slow motion for a year and at the 2 and 364/365 count, CHIKARA kicked out! CHIKARA rallied and lived again! So, at You Only Live Twice, their first iPPV since the last iPPV, we had to be there!

Sometimes a lot can change in a year. Icarus went from being a close cropped brunette in Marty Jannetty tribute tights to a curly blond hair and Greatest American Hero tights. And believe it or not, he’s walking on air the Grand Champion! He won a hard fought battle with Eddie Kingston, the two year champion. The entire good guy lockerroom came out during the match because the outcome was so vital to CHIKARA’s rebirth.

But it also let the chaos ensue after the main event. The bad guys came out. The two sides were in a standoff until a new BIG bad came out, revealing he had kidnapped and warped beloved heroes Soldier Ant and Delirious. The two attacked everyone and anyone in their sights, causing a melee. It was enough of a distraction to leave Big Bad alone with Kobald. Despite a brave attempt, Kolbald fell victim to what can be described as a Chokebreaker, a chokeslam into a backbreaker.

The good guys rushed to his aide and hopefully, Kobald recovers from that devastating maneuver soon. But this is indicative of CHIKARA. It’s teams, It’s factions. And that’s where they compete at their finest. So when The Colony – Fire Ant, Green Ant and Worker Ant – took on The Colony: Xtreme Force – Missile Assault Ant, Arctic Rescue Ant and Orbit Adventure Ant – in a Trios match, each team tried to stomp the other one out. But it was clear that the teamwork of The Colony was going to prevail. They build a pyramid to launch Fire Ant from the ring onto TCXF.

When it was clear they were going to lose The Colony Xtreme Force did what they’re best at: Cheat! They removed the middle turnbuckle pad and drove Fire Ant head first into it!

Cheaters never win in the long run and The Colony, thusly, retaliated post match. The feud continues…

But the biggest faction in CHIKARA is its fans. The CHIKARArmy has become even larger in this year span. The Citizens of CHIKARA are a venerable universe. A CHIKARAverse if you will. Right before the four tag team elimination match between 3.0, Gekido (17 and DeviANT), Pieces of Hate (Jisaw and The Shard) and Team Throwback (Mr. Touchdown and Dasher Hatfield) jumped into the crowd for a huddle. What was their battle cry? CHIKARA of course!

Check out the rest of our photos on our Facebook page. And if you get a chance to go to CHIKARA (or any live wrestling) go!