Wrestling / Die Bruderschaft des Kreuzes

L-R: Sara Del Rey, Tim Donst, Claudio Castagnoli, Ares, Tursas, Pinkie Sanchez and Daizee Haze, CHIKARA Three-Fisted Tales, November 22, 2009. That's UltraMantis Black down on the left and Mike Quackenbush down on the right.

"I told you a war is coming, and I'm tired of waiting. Send out the victims."

—Ares, CHIKARA's Three-Fisted Tales

Die Bruderschaft des Kreuzes ("The Brotherhood of the Cross" in German) was a Professional Wrestling Power Stable in CHIKARA. The group formed at the end of the 2009 Season Finale Three-Fisted Tales on November 22, 2009, as the culmination of storylines going back to 2007. At The Sordid Perils of Everyday Existence, November 11, 2007, Shane Storm had defeated Hydra, a member of UltraMantis Black's The Order of the Neo-Solar Temple, when Hydra essentially sacrificed himself to end Storm's losing streak. Later that night, Chris Hero defeated Equinox (Vin Gerard) in a Mask vs. Hair match by breaking the CHIKARA Special^note a submission hold innovated by Mike Quackenbush to utilize against Hero and subsequently taught to the entire tecnico side of the locker room. Hero - top heel - would have a short losing streak against old enemies and midcarders, all of whom made him tap to the CHIKARA Special and forcing Equinox to tap out to the hold himself. It would slowly be revealed that Storm was the one who sold out the tecnicos by giving the counter to Mantis who gave it to Hero, and that Mantis and CHIKARA Commissioner Bob Saget (yes, that Bob Saget) had brokered a deal to send Hero to wrestle for Dr. Cube, the Big Bad of Kaiju Big Battel, in exchange for Cube giving Mantis the Eye of Tyr, a Norse Mythological artifact that can be used to control minds.

At CHIKARA Young Lions Cup VII Night III, August 16, 2009, there was a four-way tag team elimination match with Team F.I.S.T. (Icarus and Gran Akuma) vs. Chiva V/Halcon Guerrero vs. The Colony (Soldier Ant and Green Ant) vs. The Order of the Neo-Solar Temple (Mantis and Delirious). It came down to F.I.S.T. and the Order. A masked man in white walked to the ring and placed a box in the Temple's corner, distracting Mantis enough for Akuma to pin him. After the match, Mantis opened the box and found it contained a message reading "A War Is Coming."

At Cibernetico Increible on October 18th, there was a Trios Increibles match with The UnStable's Colin Delaney, the Temple's Crossbones and Icarus vs. Team F.I.S.T.'s Chuck Taylor, The UnStable's STIGMA (the former Shane Storm) and Mantis. During the match, the masked man appeared on the video screen, and then he and a much larger man showed up, scaring Mantis away from the match. That same night, Carpenter Ant won the Cibernetico match by making Soldier Ant tap out to the Inverted CHIKARA Special, which Mike Quackenbush had supposedly taught only to Tim Donst. At Three-Fisted Tales, the main event was CHIKARA Campeones de Parejas The Colony (Fire Ant and Soldier Ant) defeating The Osirian Portal (Amasis and Ophidian). After the match, the two masked men walked out, with the larger man actually pushing down the guardrail. The regular-sized man took the mic and cut a promo starting with the first quote above. Many CHIKARA wrestlers made their way out to see what was happening, with Quackenbush and Claudio Castagnoli confronting the two men. The man pointed to The Order of the Neo-Solar Temple (Mantis, Delirious and Vökoder) and said, "Send me the man with the real power." The Order walked to the ring, with Mantis handing Vökoder the Eye of Tyr. Mantis told the two men, "I'm sick of all your video threats. I'm sick of you interfering in my business. And quite frankly, I'm sick of you. I don't even know who you are." The larger man removed his mask to reveal a horned mask. His name would later be revealed to be Tursas. Then the regular-sized man removed his mask, causing Mantis' two years of machinations to completely blow up in his face. The man would be revealed to be Ares, Claudio's former Swiss Money Holding partner who had last been seen in CHIKARA in 2006. Quack turned to Claudio, who hit him with a European Uppercut. Carpenter Ant attacked The Colony, Vökoder attacked UltraMantis Black, Sara Del Rey and Daizee Haze made their way out and just attacked whoever was available, and all seven heels completely cleaned house. They all stood shoulder-to-shoulder, and Ares instructed Carpenter Ant to unmask, revealing Pinkie Sanchez. Then Vökoder unmasked, revealing Tim Donst, who had appeared earlier that night as himself.

They would go on to dominate CHIKARA, with 2010 consisting mostly of the CHIKARA locker room trying to unite against them and being unable to slow their roll. Lince Dorado, a tecnico who had struggled to be accepted by the fans, defected to the Bruderschaft, and Ares used the Eye of Tyr to mind control Delirious. Their first major setback came in the 2010 Torneo Cibernetico, which was won by Eddie Kingston eliminating Tursas in the final fall.

By mid 2011 the Bruderschaft was starting to fragment. Sara del Rey and Daizee Haze had earned the right to compete for a shot at the Campeones de Parejas, but Ares and Claudio were the Campeones at the time and Ares ordered them to stand down. They subsequently lost a match and their rights to a title shot^note in CHIKARA, teams earned 1 point for winning a match, earned a title shot at 3 points, and a loss reset their points to 0. This lead to Sara and Daizee getting kicked out of the Bruderschaft, with Daizee suffering a career-ending^note she chose to retire due to issues with anorexia chokeslam in the process. Sara got her revenge in the 2011 Torneo Cibernetico, and then... Claudio was signed by WWE, depriving the Bruderschaft of it's central figure. Ares acquired a personal ring announcer named Jakob Hammermeier around this time.

With Claudio gone to WWE, Del Rey and Haze having been kicked out, and Sanchez and Dorado having quit CHIKARA, the Bruderschaft was a shell of itself by the time it collapsed in 2012. With Ares and Tim Donst in a Hair vs Mask match against Ultramantis Black and Hallowicked, Donst abandoned Ares to save his hair, ending the stable.

The Bruderschaft returned in 2014 as a subdivision of The Flood, with Ares leading the group again with Milo Schnitzler^note The owner of Wrestling Is Cool, revealed to be a BDK member and Nøkken (another monster character similar to Tursas). Despite a surprising return from Tursas, this version of the BDK accomplished little. Tursas himself was killed off after being struck by The Estonia Thunderfrog's hammer. Hammermeier would use the Eye of Tyr to usurp control of the Bruderschaft from Ares, but he failed to lead the stable to its' former glory. Despite adding Jaka and readding Pinkie Sanchez to the group, it finally collapsed once and for all in 2016.

As for their in-ring achievements, Ares and Claudio were 1x CHIKARA Campeones de Parejas, Tim Donst defeated Player Dos for the CHIKARA Young Lions Cup, and Ares, Claudio and Tursas were the 2010 King of Trios.

Bruderschaft des Tropen:

• Arch-Enemy: Everyone in CHIKARA, to the point that there were sub-feuds within the overall feud.
• Artifact of Doom: The Eye of Tyr.
• Ascended Extra: Jakob first appeared on camera as the anonymous Wrestle Factory trainee thrown aside by Claudio during his "Respect"^note Loser must say "I respect you" to the winner match with Eddie Kingston at Three-Fisted Tales.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Subverted. Claudio was the top wrestler in the group, but Ares was the leader.
• Bald of Evil: Claudio, Ares
• Big Bad: Ares, the mastermind of the group.
• The Brute: Tursas, the big guy who first appeared as Ares' bodyguard. Later the Bruderschaft brought in Nøkken, who was a Suspiciously Similar Substitute.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive/Evil Overlord: Dieter Von Steigerwalt, who replaced Leonard F. Chikarason as the BDK's own Director of Fun. His role involved pulling strings and manipulating situations so that everything went the BDK's way as often as possible.
• Dark Action Girl: Sara, Daizee
• Deliberately Monochrome: Many of their promos, and their YouTube series Video Des Kreuzes, hosted by Sara Del Rey, as an Evil Counterpart to CHIKARA's Throwdown Lowdown, showcasing great moves by BDK members at the expense of regular CHIKARA wrestlers.
• Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: During the Team CHIKARA^note UltraMantis Black/Mike Quackenbush/Eddie Kingston/Jigsaw/Hallowicked/Icarus/STIGMA/Larry Sweeney-BDK Torneo Cibernetico match at The Dark Ciberknetico, October 23, 2010, it was down to Kingston vs. Claudio and Tursas. Claudio blatantly low-blowed King in full view of referee Bryce Remsburg, getting himself disqualified. Claudio's reasoning was that nobody had been able to knock Tursas off of his feet all year, and figured that King wouldn't be able to either. He was wrong, since King did knock Tursas down en route to pinning him to win the match.
• Disappointed in You: The 2010 Season Finale Reality Is Relative was not a good night for them.^note Tim Donst defeated Jimmy "Equinox" Olsen, their only win of the night. The Osirian Portal (Amasis/Ophidian/Hieracon) defeated Delirious/Lince Dorado/Pinkie Sanchez. Eddie Kingston defeated Tursas. The Colony (Fire and Soldier) defeated Sara and Daizee^note Who suffered a broken nose due to an error by Soldier. Before the match where Mike Quackenbush and Jigsaw defeated Ares and Claudio for the tag titles, Claudio was shown backstage tearing into Pinkie, Lince, Tursas and Sara, even saying, "You have no idea how disappointed I am in you right now."
• Dragon-in-Chief: Claudio was, officially, the second-in-command of the Bruderschaft, but both he and Tursas were booked as physically more formidable than Ares. The one time Claudio and Ares had a disagreement, Ares backed down quickly.
• Dramatic Unmask: Ares, later Jakob at King of Trios 2014, where he was disguised as Dr. Cube.
• Establishing Team Shot/V-Formation Team Shot: As shown above.
• Foreign Wrestling Heel: Ares and Claudio are legitimately Swiss and Tursas was supposed to be Finnish, and played up the "America sucks" rhetoric on Twitter.
• Foreshadowing: At Cibernetico Increible, Daizee and Bullfight Sora defeated Sara and La Malcriada by disqualification due to Castigo Excesivo (Excessive Punishment), because Sara kept hitting moves on Sora and pulling her up instead of going for the pin. After the match, Daizee cut a promo where she accused Director of Fun Leonard F. Chikarason of trying to treat her "like a little lady", saying that she is quicker than Kingston and could pack a punch just like Brodie Lee. Sara walked in and said she agreed with Daizee and that she, Sara, is bigger than Ophidian or that "Green Bean Ant". Sara said, "There's something going on that I think we might be perfect for." That "something" turned out to be the BDK.
• Friend-or-Idol Decision: At the 2011 Season Finale iPPV High Noon on November 13, 2011, there was a Lucha de Apuesta between The Spectral Envoy (UltraMantis Black and Hallowicked) and the BDK (Ares and Tim Donst). If Mantis or Wicked lost the fall, he would have lost his mask. If Ares lost the fall, he had to surrender the Eye of Tyr. If Donst lost the fall, he had to lose his hair. Late in the match, Donst, caring more about his hair and his Young Lions Cup, abandoned the match, leading to Mantis driving Ares through a chair with a Cosmic Disaster for the pin.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Jakob went from a heavily abused and injured ring announcer to overthrowing Ares at King of Trios 2014 Night I, September 19, 2014. He revealed that he had the Eye of Tyr, which Delirious had destroyed at the start of the 2012 Season Premiere The Thirteenth Hat on January 28, 2012. Jakob never revealed why he had it, only alluding to some vague Deal with the Devil.
• The Good, the Bad, and the Evil: After they formed, CHIKARA updated its roster page from "Tecnicos", "Rudos" and "Staff" to "Tecnicos", "Rudos", "Bruderschaft" and "Staff." They would not make such a distinction again until 2014, with The Flood being treated as a whole other category.
• Gratuitous German: Ares and Claudio sometimes cut promos entirely in German, and Jakob Hammermeier used a neckbreaker Finishing Move called Gute Nacht!
• Hammy Herald: Jakob Hammermeier's original role was as the BDK's ring announcer. For his own matches, he would announce himself, run to the back and then run back to the ring.
  • Dr. Milo Schnitzler took this role until Jakob fired him.
• Heävy Mëtal Ümlaut: Vökoder, which was a Time Traveling robot.
• Horny Vikings: Tursas. He, Ares and Claudio had a Finishing Move called Ragnarök.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Tursas (6'8", 376 lbs.) and Daizee (5'4". 110 lbs.), respectively, teamed up to defeat The Throwbacks (Dasher Hatfield and Sugar Dunkerton) at CHIKARA Aniversario Zehn on May 22, 2010.
• It's the Best Whatever, Ever!: Right before Tursas took out a remote control to turn out the lights after the group formed, someone in the crowd said, "Wow, this is one of the greatest things ever."
• Left Hanging: Pinkie and Nøkken defeated Battleborn (Lucas Calhoun and Missile Assault Man) to win the Tag Team Gauntlet at King of Trios 2015 Night III, September 6, 2015, giving them their third point for a shot at the CHIKARA Campeonatos de Parejas. Nøkken left CHIKARA immediately after this show and later deleted his Twitter. He was thought to have left wrestling all together until it was revealed he was still active, unmasked, as TJ Marconi. Pinkie left CHIKARA on bad terms a year later and then CHIKARA closed entirely in mid 2020, with them never having cashed in their earned title shot.
• Light Is Not Good: Their Dress Code featured a lot of white despite being heels.
• Make Way for the New Villains: Zig-zagged. The BDK quickly surpassed Team F.I.S.T., The UnStable and The Order of the Neo-Solar Temple. By June 2012, the group was down to Donst and Jakob, and they abandoned the name since GEKIDO had surpassed them.
• Matryoshka Object: The 2014 version of the BDK (Ares, Nøkken, Tursas and Milo Schnitzler) were part of The Flood, the amalgamation of Heel groups out to destroy CHIKARA, which was led by Deucalion.
• The Mole: Donst as Vökoder in The Order Of The Neo-Solar Temple, and Pinkie as Carpenter Ant in The Colony.
• Non-Indicative Name: Despite all the cross imagery, there was nothing religious about the group.
• The Quisling: Referee Derek Sabato, who a lot of people hated already, threw his lot in with the Bruderschaft and began acting as their partial referee.
• Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Tursas is a Finnish Sea Monster, and Nøkken is taken from Norwegian river demons.
• Ruda-Tecnica Turn: Sara and Daizee had the three points they needed to challenge for the belts going into the four-way tag match^note The other three teams were Mike Quackenbush/Jigsaw, The Osirian Portal and Team F.I.S.T. (Icarus and Gran Akuma). at The Germans on November 21, 2010. In this video, they said that they shouldn't have to be in the match and should be going for the belts. Then Ares and Claudio walked in and Claudio told them that it didn't matter how many points they had, their role was to make sure no other teams got the points and forced them to fall in line. Sara and Daizee lost the match and their three points as a result. They gained two points by eliminating The Throwbacks (Dasher Hatfield and Sugar Dunkerton) and then Matt Classic and Darkness Crabtree from the Tag Team Gauntlet at King of Trios 2011 Night III, April 17, 2011, but lost them when The Roughnecks (Brodie Lee and Grizzly Redwood) eliminated them.
• Shoe Out The Clowns: Before the Bruderschaft officially formed, Sara Del Rey was absolutely disgusted when forced to wrestle against a comedy-based wrestler named Bullfight Sora. Sara put an end to the fun by beating Sora so badly she (Sara) got her team disqualified.
• Spiritual Successor: To The Kings of Wrestling, who had been the most dominant rudos in CHIKARA from 2005-2007.
• Take That!: After the group formed, Pinkie Sanchez posted a blog on chikarapro.com where he explained that he disguised himself as Carpenter Ant out of frustration with not being able to get a roster spot as himself, as UltraMantis Black had rejected him for membership in The Order of the Neo-Solar Temple.
• Take That, Audience!: Lince Dorado said that he joined because of how the fans hadn't cared about him. This was actually correct, as Dorado was generally perceived as badly overpushed.
• Team Pet: Delirious. Ares led him around on a chain and even referred to Delirious this way. He usually served as a Right-Hand Attack Dog, since he would attack Ares and Claudio's opponents before their CdP defenses, leading to the BDK winning the first fall in around 5 seconds or so.
• They're Back: At WIC^note Wrestling Is Cool Best Served Cold, December 8, 2013, Ares and Nøkken showed up and they and Dr. Milo Schnitzler shut down the promotion. This was part of The Flood's campaign of destroying all the Wrestling Is... promotions^note Except for Wrestling Is Fun!, which closed on its own in 2014, and Billy Roc's Wrestling Is Heart in Indiana, which he closed himself a few years later. following the shutdown at CHIKARA Aniversario: Never Compromise on June 2, 2013.
• Two Girls to a Team: Sara and Daizee, who were the only women to ever be members of the group.
• Wham Episode: Their debut was one.
• Would Hit a Girl: Claudio Chokeslammed Daizee out of the BDK.
• Wrestling Monster: Tursas and Nøkken. Tursas was billed as seven feet tall and 400 lbs, Nøkken was a little taller than Tursas though quite a bit slimmer. Jaka is a borderline example - broad and muscular but rather short, and working a wrestling style straight out of the Wild Samoan playbook, although he's billed from Chad.

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Im namen der Bruderschaft