Tuesday, November 14, 2006

The Rundown: MBE

In preparation for the epic Ultimate MBE tournament, I give you the latest in this occasional series of fed-reviews, the venerable senior A1 fed itself.

The Site
Well, they're just a forum at A1 now, but I have it on good authority that they'll have a site soon.

The Champions
World: To be decided at Total Elimination in a match between Doc Silver and Justin Evitable
Tag: The Thrillbillies

Before closing in 2003, MBE had two other titles: The Unified and Survivor Championships. AJ Cirrus was the last holder of the Unified Championship (which is called as such because it's an amalgamation of the Cruiserweight, Television, Hardcore and North American Championships, all added at different stages), and Kanna Kirishima was the only MBE holder of the Survivor Championship. Followers of A1E will duly note that A1E had a title by the same name up until about summer of this year. That lineage is the same as MBE's since Kanna brought the title to A1E, and A1E duly recognized it as a title of their own.

Latest Event: WNW, recapped Meltzer style

The Skinny on Recent Happenings (note, this is all an in-character description... we had OOC discussion about the events in the first couple of paragraphs before, and I'd like to think all those issues are dead, buried and forgiven)

Before you can know what's going on now, I will take you back to 2003, a magical time when the Curse of the Bambino still lived, Britney Spears was still single and hot, and yours truly was teetering on the edge of e-fed retirement. In the spring of that year, the demand for e-fedding at A1 got pretty low. There were also three feds on the site, A1E, MBE and the third fed, UXW. By the time April/May rolled around, the leaderships of the two feds decided it would be in their best interest to merge and combine rosters. For about three or four months, MBE plodded on, and along the way, Promo defeated Paco the Wetback to unify the MBE and UXW Championships, while AJ Cirrus won the Unified Championship.

In September, feeling that MBE was stagnating, Promo and Cirrus jumped ship for A1E, taking the titles with them. MBE was crippled and decided it would be best to shut down. Many of the MBE faithful held deep grudges against the two superstars. Among them was one Andrew F'n Gilkison. When MBE reopened and Cirrus and Promo came back to roost, Gilkie was waiting to meet them head-on. The first major battle in the war happened at the first PPV, Awakenings. Gilkison defeated Cirrus in a last-man standing matchup.

Gilkie was then on a collision course with Promo first through the double elimination MBE World Championship Tournament. Their match on the 10/25 WNW was brutality defined. The next week, Promo cost Andy his match against Justin Evitable through interference. The hate between these two wrestlers is very tangible, and their match at Total Elimination should be a barnburner.

Speaking of the World Championship, the recently completed Tourney has come down to Justin Evitable and Doc Silver. This is not the most surprising result, but it's also not without interest. Justin's been in-and-out of MBE over the years, and has never risen above the midcard. Silver has made several enemies over on the other fed on A1, and it's remarkable that he'd even enter another fed on the same site. Still, there's no denying that these two deserve their shots. Two other folks who deserve their shots are a surging Jogi Fresh and the stalwart Duchess, who will face off for the Number One Contendership for the MBE Championship at TE.

The feud between the Thrillbillies and the Sheffield Wednesday Lot will come to a head at Total Elimination as the Billies will team with Jimmy Donovan and defend their MBE Tag Team Championships in an elimination match against the entire Lot, Nate, Mac and Juen Lee. This feud has been simmering since before Awakenings, and it boiled over at the first WNW after the PPV, when the Lot assaulted Jimmy Donovan, and the Billies made the save. This brawl was the last straw in a series of brawls between the two factions, and Yoshihiro Yamada ordered a no-contact clause between the two up until Total Elimination, where they'd face off in the six man elimination match. Since then, the Lot has been doing their best to play mind-games with the Billies, but the Southern Boys would have none of it.

Who to Watch For

Justin Evitable Yes, it's an extremely cheesy name, but Justin's evolved into a solid character who's finally showing the staying power he needs to make it to the main event. In these beginning stages of the MBE Reboot, that staying power is crucial. His work with Yori is pretty damn entertaining, and I wouldn't be surprised if he takes the World Title in a minor upset over Doc.

Jock McCrunk Ryan, Jock's handler, was my favorite guy to promo against back in the day. He's finally back with Jock after a couple year hiatus, and once he shakes off all the ring rust, watch out. The McCrunk character is great in premise, and he's got the talent behind him to ride to the top somewhere down the line.

Jogi Fresh Another mainstay from the old days, Jogi's another one whose handler is coming back from a longish hiatus. He's done a much better job shaking the ring rust, and he's a threat now to win it all. If only he can get past that sneaky Duchess...

Promo What happens when you've got the biggest bullseye in the fed on your back? Well, you tend to be the most interesting personality and the most readily accessible for a hot program. Promo carries a lot of baggage for a lot of characters, and the feuds shouldn't run dry for a long time.

The Sheffield Wednesday Lot What can I say? I'm a mark for hooligans. Easily the best new character concept I've seen this year. Hopefully, Bill and Jeff can devote the time needed to this group to make it super-entertaining.

2 comments:

Jeffrey Paternostro said...

For some reason, I thought Jock was a second character for Mat, nice to know that Ryan is back in the game. Now if I could just figure out who CFC is.

Anonymous said...

I'd like to reiterate Jeff's "In other news, Hell froze over" commentary in his recent WNW recap. Never have I expected to come back and have the honor to even challenge for the MBE World Title, and along the way, it is even more entertaining than it ever has been and am glad to be working with everyone that is making MBE into something great again. Thank you tom for your shout out. BTW, I'm a closet Sheffield Wednesday Lot fan.