Mike Quackenbush vs. Hallowicked (CHIKARA National Pro Wrestling Day 2020 2/8/20)

A clever match. On paper and even in execution, this is a match I should be pretty over the moon about. Quack and Hallowicked are two of the CHIKARA originals who have been with the company pretty much since day one. They were there when I was a CHIKARA fan in 2010-2011 and they’re still holding down the fort and pushing out good work. And this match is good, even great. A lot of smooth exchanges that lead into Hallowicked working over Quack’s midsection. Quack does a great job selling his midsection, fighting through it to make his comeback with those Liger palmstrikes. There’s even pieces of learned psychology here as Quack learns to anticipate Hallowicked kicking in his incoming palm strike. Just writing about this now, there’s a lot of really excellent elements here that I should be much more in love with than I am. But this match exists much more in the brain than in the heart for me. Perhaps when I revisit it later in the year, it will jump forward, but for now it’s just a very smart, well-executed match that’s worth seeing.