Following allegations of misconduct against owner and head trainer Mike Quackenbush surfaced during the #SpeakingOut movement, on Wednesday there was a mass exodus of CHIKARA stars including Dasher Hatfield, Kimber Lee, Hallowicked, and Still Life With Apricots & Pears from the longtime US indie staple. In response, Mike Quackenbush has now issued a statement and that is that CHIKARA is shutting down operations immediately, with Quackenbush resigning from the Wrestle Factory Wrestling School. A full statement will come in the “near future”.
— Mike Quackenbush (@MikeQuackenbush) June 24, 2020
CHIKARA was founded by Mike Quackenbush in 2002 and immediately became one of the pioneers of the indie revolution in the fallout of WCW and ECW’s demise, that saw promotions like Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), Major League Wrestling (MLW) and TNA/IMPACT Wrestling come into prominence. Over the years, CHIKARA saw many of its stars move on to bigger pastures, such as Cesaro, Orange Cassidy, Ricochet, Chris Hero (Kassius Ohno), Kimber Lee, Ruby Riott, Drew Gulak, Chuck Taylor, Johnny Gargano, and more, while continuing to train some of the top indie talents in the country. The move will be a huge blow to the loyal fanbase, the “CHIKARArmy”, who had embraced the promotion as a way of life and will become a major blemish on the career of a man who was considered an innovator and pioneer of the modern US indie movement. CHIKARA joins Los Angeles’ Bar Wrestling as the next promotion to shut down following allegations against their owner, while a similar exodus is happening in Canada with Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling (ECCW).
CHIKARA was never about one person or one building or any tangible thing.
CHIKARA was about a community, about a spirit I (and many others) spent my entire adult life helping to facilitate, on both sides of the curtain.
When processing this, please try and separate the two.
— Bryce Remsburg (@dabryceisright) June 24, 2020
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