Friday, September 29, 2006

GTT6: The Next Batch

For those of you who don't know, I have an automatic bid for The Phantom Republican for being the first one to have a validated application. But enough about me, le's talk about some of the other people who've gotten into the tournament since we last talked.

Doctor Curiosity - Factoid, Dr. C is undefeated in PTC competition. Mainly on the strength of winning GTT4. I'm guessing most non-PTC readers know the Good Doctor from his king-sized fWo run, which was highly entertaining. Outside of the angle fed world though, he's a killer. Andy has gone to two straight finals, one with Dr. C winning and one with Shanty Jones running up. Does he have the legs this year to make it three? I'm going to say yes, but I think this will be more of last year than two years ago. Remember, no one has ever repeated as GTT Champion, and the field is stacked, not just with known talent but with the unknowns too. Unknowns tend to win this thing. Still, it's hard to bet against Dr. C.

Saij - I don't know too much about this character, although I do know the handler's had lots of success with Jimmy Bong in previous tourneys. I also know that XUW guys tend to do well in these interfed things. Making a blind stab of a prediction, I'm going to say quarterfinals perhaps.

Sammy Brown - This is a brand new character. Jayce Bradley's handler won entry into the tournament by fleshing out a character concept laid forth by Pete Speer in a competition, and this entry was with any character, not just Sammy Brown. The handler is showing major fortitude by coming in as this character rather than the established character, but then again, the unknowns, the ones who don't get praised are the ones who end up stealing the spotlight. Will he be one of the dark horses? Maybe, but from what I read of his in the ToC, it'll be tough. He was good, but he wasn't special. Maybe with another character, he'll prove me wrong.

Tigera - FUSE's Universal Champion, Tigera has been on a roll since her return. Despite having many of the big name handlers come through their ranks, not many of them seem to want to represent the fledgling fed, but Tigera does. I think this is huge. She'll have a chip on her shoulder to prove that FUSE doesn't deserve the disrespect it seems to get in the PTC circle. How much will that chip take her? I'm not sure. I don't see her winning, but I think she could very well be a surprise semifinal crasher.

Josh Kosidlo - I have no idea who this is. I'm not going to say anything derogatory or positive except that Global has a great rep and they produced Jake Hix, who came out of nowhere (at least to me) to finish final four in the ToC. I'm prepared to be surprised, but right now, I cant say anything definitive.

Vangelus Olsig - I think Olsig could go either way here. I can see Tywon having a bad week and getting knocked out in the first round, or I can see him marching all the way to the finals. The talent's there, it's just I've seen more lag than work from him with my experiences with him. However, he seems to have his affairs in order, so I'll go in the middle. Probably the quarterfinals or the round before that this time around.

Plucky the Cockfighting Duck - Yes, you read that right. He's a real duck. He's from UWF, a recently closed (and in recently, I mean like yesterday) fed that specifically blurs the line between fantasy and reality. From what I've heard, they've had imps and stuff wrestle there. Personally, it's not my cup of tea, but hey, more power to them. They had a great run, and now, aside from their super PPV in December, this is it for them. Now, I'd say that the duck would have a ticket home after the first round, but two things are totally preventing that.

1 - Animalian characters have done well before. Pete the PG Tips Chimp went to I think the quarterfinals last year, or maybe the round before that.

2 - The handler behind him also handled Tsunami Oni, a very respected and talented handler in the PTC circuit.

So yeah, I don't know what to make of this. With the recent public backlash and fighting over "absurd" characters, you could make a case that Plucky is headed for an early exit. But then again, a lot of stuff flies in PTC and PTC feds so I don't know how to gauge this. My gut feeling though is that third round is the max point.

The Illustrious Face-Eater - He's on my short list of guys who could win this thing. I stand corrected when I say that comedy really doesn't get you far in tournaments like these, so I'd like to apologize to Nova for dissing him... he moves onto my shortlist too. But back to Facey, I think what could be his undoing is his penchant for the absurd and the totally ridiculous. He himself isn't out for praise, he's in this for his own amusement, hence the spontaneous combustion angle at CIII. Still though, he's got a lot of fans, and his style works most of the time. I mean, why else would he have the success he's had, netting himself two Blog Wrestler of the Month awards? Like I said, he's on my short list to win this thing right now.

Easton Hall - I don't know much about this character except he's handled by Obinna, who used to handle Anton Assault in AWC. Therefore, I know he has the chops, but from what I saw of his character on his site for him, I'm thinking his chances are a bit iffy. I don't know, Obinna can write, but I think he needs to be inspired to make Hall work. I think he wins one, maybe two matches.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you're pretty dead on with the whole Face Eater analysis. Joe is a very talented writer, but who knows what type of judge he will get. His level of success in AWC was the way it was because Hyde isn't too narrow minded of a judger--he likes good writing, no matter how it's done, and good writing is rewarded. However, this is PTC, where the judges range from all sorts of backgrounds. While he's not as out there as Lia is (not a knack on Lia, her writing is AWESOME--it's just super nutty in the best possible way), it's still out there in some senses. If he gets one of those traditional judges ("IT WAS TOO WEIRD"), then he's fucked. I'm hoping for the best for Joe.

For a lot of the other ones you picked, they don't have that elite status. They're good...but not good enough to win with 10+ RPs. (I think that's about how many you need to write for GTT) A lot of them I see has quarter finalists or being beaten out by better people. The reasons curiosities, rollins, devilles, etc., go so far is planning (it seems) and stellar work every round. Also, another thing going for curiosity is that XUW (I believe) has a large RP limit, so he's used to writing lotsa RPs in a week. A lot of the 1 rp limit guys seem to fade away once you get in there.

Anonymous said...

A couple of things -

1. FUSE doesn't get disrespect; it gets rated above AWC now, for christ's sake!

2. Easton Hall's real name is Easton Weston Hall, which is just fantastic, therefore he will win.

Oh and it's my birthday, woo

Anonymous said...

hyde, stop telling people it's your birthday. they'll wish you a happy birthday if they want to. <3 u

oh, for tom's sake: hi tom

Jeffrey Paternostro said...

I think the world needs a Plucky the Cockfighting Duck/Yori Yakamo jr match.

To help pring about peace, well, pretty much everywhere.