Seriously, how the hell did that happen? Maybe I'm getting more attentive in my old age ;) But yeah, I guess a slow day at work will give you something to want to do to pass the time that isn't playing flash games on the Intarwebs or bait trolls on message boards. That being said, here are the shows:
NFW Brawl: Kansas City - I've been out of the loop for awhile, although I've heard about the Dorchester Stratton, Cuatro Equis and other stuff, so I was a little bit disoriented. However, I thought it was a fun read, as most NFW Brawl shows are.
PRIME Revolution 200 - If I was out of the loop on NFW, I was lost in deep space on PRIME. I recognized some of the names, but a lot of the backstory was lost on me. Tyler Rayne's gone? Jason Snow is not only in e-fedding, but is the PRIME Universal Champion (I thought he'd have abandoned eW for creative writing sans wrestling a long time ago :p)? Talk about a... culture shock (pun intended). Still, for me not knowing a whole lot of what was going on, I thought it was a good show. I loved the concept as well. I thought the Shakur-as-Rayne swerve was pretty neat too. Congrats to ShadowKat, who won the Power Play BR with Kazys Jankauskas, and now has a banked Uni Title shot. Whoda thunk it?
EPW Aggression 45 - Finally, a fed that I'm not totally lost in, seeing as how it was one of the last feds I handled in before my retirement/hiatus (?!?!). As usual, a good show from EPW, but this week, something was a bit off. For one, the beginning... where did the show intro go? We went right into a match coming back from commercial. And Sarge was on two matches on the card? Weird. Still, a good read and a good effort from all those involved. Congrats to WF for capturing the TV Title as well.
Showing posts with label short review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label short review. Show all posts
Friday, July 17, 2009
Friday, April 03, 2009
NFW Crash 47
Crash POST'D~!
Nope, it wouldn't be The Blog without me posting about the NFDub and incurring Katz's wrath now, would it? Actually, I probably wouldn't incur Katz's wrath with this post because I enjoyed the show immensely. A lot of big stuff going on, and I liked the swerve at the end with the new Championship belt. Mayfield's the kind of egomaniac who'd do that, and it really furthers the feud between him and JTP, which could very well be the feud of the year when December 31 rolls around.
Congrats to Impulse for the TV title win as well, although the unmask might have meant a lot more to me had I been around when Randall Knox was in his heyday.
Nope, it wouldn't be The Blog without me posting about the NFDub and incurring Katz's wrath now, would it? Actually, I probably wouldn't incur Katz's wrath with this post because I enjoyed the show immensely. A lot of big stuff going on, and I liked the swerve at the end with the new Championship belt. Mayfield's the kind of egomaniac who'd do that, and it really furthers the feud between him and JTP, which could very well be the feud of the year when December 31 rolls around.
Congrats to Impulse for the TV title win as well, although the unmask might have meant a lot more to me had I been around when Randall Knox was in his heyday.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Quick Hits II: PRIME CS mini-review, HOW stuff, tourney shilling and MOAR!
- CultureShock, which is PRIME's answer to the Royal Rumble, was posted over the weekend. It was a two-night affair, but given that the second night was dedicated mostly to the 60-man battle royale known as the Dual Halo, well, it fits. The backdrop for the event was Russia, which I thought was a cool little spin. Maybe this will pave the way for someone to do a Communist Russian character? Maybe, maybe not.
Night One
Night Two
Congratulations go out to Jason Snow and to Garbage Bag Johnny for winning the PRIME Universal Championship and the Dual Halo respectively. All-in-all, I thought it was a solid event, with the matches written with PBP elements being easier to read and all, but that's always the case.
- Just another reminder, signups are open for the 2009 TEAM Invitational Tournament. They close March 31st, so you do have time to get in, but we've got a little more than 25% of the spots filled so far with some primo talent. I know there's a lot of noise about GTT being resurrected, but the TIT will get off the ground before GTT does, and it's a totally different-styled tournament, so if you're crafty, you can have room for both on your palate.
- Speaking of all that noise about GTT... I'm all for it. PTC has been lacking that tournament for awhile. Furthermore (to avoid making this item sound redundant from the last one!), the braintrust has floated out the idea of a round-robin styled tournament this year. Normally, being the e-fed conservative that I am, I might shirk at the reinvention of what had become a standard for the PTC community, but hey, it's been gone for more than 18 months now, and I think that if you can't get 64+ for the event, why not shake it up a bit so it can last a little longer and in turn, feel epic like it did before without having to inflate it with scouting for new talent that might not "get" the PTC style.
- High-Octane Wrestling made some waves last week debuting their HOTv subsite, which is dedicated to their weekly television program. It's drawn rave reviews for coding and I think the content on it is pretty swanky. Good job all around to everyone involved in the fed.
- Finally, this is a call to all you faithful blog readers out there. If you would like to participate in something new for the blog, please let me know. I want to keep the details hush-hush right now, but it involves reader participation and interactive perspectives on eW from the people who choose to participate.
Night One
Night Two
Congratulations go out to Jason Snow and to Garbage Bag Johnny for winning the PRIME Universal Championship and the Dual Halo respectively. All-in-all, I thought it was a solid event, with the matches written with PBP elements being easier to read and all, but that's always the case.
- Just another reminder, signups are open for the 2009 TEAM Invitational Tournament. They close March 31st, so you do have time to get in, but we've got a little more than 25% of the spots filled so far with some primo talent. I know there's a lot of noise about GTT being resurrected, but the TIT will get off the ground before GTT does, and it's a totally different-styled tournament, so if you're crafty, you can have room for both on your palate.
- Speaking of all that noise about GTT... I'm all for it. PTC has been lacking that tournament for awhile. Furthermore (to avoid making this item sound redundant from the last one!), the braintrust has floated out the idea of a round-robin styled tournament this year. Normally, being the e-fed conservative that I am, I might shirk at the reinvention of what had become a standard for the PTC community, but hey, it's been gone for more than 18 months now, and I think that if you can't get 64+ for the event, why not shake it up a bit so it can last a little longer and in turn, feel epic like it did before without having to inflate it with scouting for new talent that might not "get" the PTC style.
- High-Octane Wrestling made some waves last week debuting their HOTv subsite, which is dedicated to their weekly television program. It's drawn rave reviews for coding and I think the content on it is pretty swanky. Good job all around to everyone involved in the fed.
- Finally, this is a call to all you faithful blog readers out there. If you would like to participate in something new for the blog, please let me know. I want to keep the details hush-hush right now, but it involves reader participation and interactive perspectives on eW from the people who choose to participate.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
EPW Russian Roulette
Better late than never with this review!
EPW Russian Roulette
In the tradition of this event having a wild swerve at the end, apparent rivals Ice Tre and Sean Stevens joined up, with Tre helping Trip capture the EPW Title. This isn't on the level of Dis, but hey, what can be? Still very much an entertaining read, and appropriately ended too, seeing that Tre and Trip were pretty much all over the show. The match itself was MOTY quality, even though I thought the finisher-palooza towards the end was a bit over the top.
I also particularly liked the IC title match and the finish after that. I'm intrigued to see where Karl and Amy are taking this angle. I have to admit I wasn't really crazy interested in it before, but now, they're actually doing things other than talking, so maybe we'll see something go down in the build to the next PPV. Beau/Anarky was pretty entertaining too, as were the other matches, including my match. I don't want to comment on that one anymore than I am though, because I might give away angle details.
I'd also like to say that I marked out pretty hard for the return of Olvir Arsvinnar. I'm glad to see the pornographic viking make his way to EPW, but at the same time, I hope Strawsma doesn't burn himself out. He's handling three different entities in the same fed, and all of them are performing at a high clip right now. It'd be a shame to see any one of his characters suffer because of overwork. I know how hard it is to do three characters in a fed, since I handled three in A1E for a bit, and maybe even in MBE too. Still, I have high hopes.
All in all a good show, but then again, you come to expect this from EPW on the PPV stage.
EPW Russian Roulette
In the tradition of this event having a wild swerve at the end, apparent rivals Ice Tre and Sean Stevens joined up, with Tre helping Trip capture the EPW Title. This isn't on the level of Dis, but hey, what can be? Still very much an entertaining read, and appropriately ended too, seeing that Tre and Trip were pretty much all over the show. The match itself was MOTY quality, even though I thought the finisher-palooza towards the end was a bit over the top.
I also particularly liked the IC title match and the finish after that. I'm intrigued to see where Karl and Amy are taking this angle. I have to admit I wasn't really crazy interested in it before, but now, they're actually doing things other than talking, so maybe we'll see something go down in the build to the next PPV. Beau/Anarky was pretty entertaining too, as were the other matches, including my match. I don't want to comment on that one anymore than I am though, because I might give away angle details.
I'd also like to say that I marked out pretty hard for the return of Olvir Arsvinnar. I'm glad to see the pornographic viking make his way to EPW, but at the same time, I hope Strawsma doesn't burn himself out. He's handling three different entities in the same fed, and all of them are performing at a high clip right now. It'd be a shame to see any one of his characters suffer because of overwork. I know how hard it is to do three characters in a fed, since I handled three in A1E for a bit, and maybe even in MBE too. Still, I have high hopes.
All in all a good show, but then again, you come to expect this from EPW on the PPV stage.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
OverKill!
Damn, I'm a dynamo today with the show reviews :)
PRIME presents OverKill!
Much like WrestleBowl, OverKill had a nice end swerve, with FUCK YOU! turning on Nova. It was implied that they were wailing on Nova because Tchu ransomed the Golden Ticket for the destruction of the stable, although it's interesting to see what the new, streamlined version of that group is going to say in reaction at ReV 131. It's a good end-swerve for different reasons than WBIIN1, but still, a jaw-dropper no less. I'm wondering though if the injury angle with Sonny means Seth is going on the DL. I hope not, because he's pretty much my favorite part of the fed right now. I'm also pretty interested to see what happens with Nova, seeing that he virtually burned his bridges with Troy and Tchu, and FU! doesn't want him anymore. Should be good times for the PRIME uppercard.
The other notable surprise was the return of the Illustrious Face-Eater and his reuniion with Mike Wade. The Unfuckables were pretty much the most dominant pairing in AWC history, and it'll be interesting to see what they can do in PRIME. I have to think something's going to happen between Tchu and Facey from that segment where Facey revealed his return, but I think the meat of matters is going to be between Facey and Jack Murphy. Hopefully I can get off my ass and make a nice tag match happen at Colossus IV between the Unfuckables and SullyMurph Enterprises. That would be very nice.
The rest of the show was decent. Matches were good, not spectacular, but not bad either. Could have done without some of the longish segments. It's a PPV folks, focus on payoffs and matches.
Also, Killean, you'll be missed. Sad to see the character ride off into the sunset, but I'm sure Darryl isn't through with eW just yet. Maybe he's got another character idea cooking, maybe he doesn't. Still though, Killean Sirrajin was one of the great eW characters of all-time, and I feel like he's underrated outside of PRIME.
PRIME presents OverKill!
Much like WrestleBowl, OverKill had a nice end swerve, with FUCK YOU! turning on Nova. It was implied that they were wailing on Nova because Tchu ransomed the Golden Ticket for the destruction of the stable, although it's interesting to see what the new, streamlined version of that group is going to say in reaction at ReV 131. It's a good end-swerve for different reasons than WBIIN1, but still, a jaw-dropper no less. I'm wondering though if the injury angle with Sonny means Seth is going on the DL. I hope not, because he's pretty much my favorite part of the fed right now. I'm also pretty interested to see what happens with Nova, seeing that he virtually burned his bridges with Troy and Tchu, and FU! doesn't want him anymore. Should be good times for the PRIME uppercard.
The other notable surprise was the return of the Illustrious Face-Eater and his reuniion with Mike Wade. The Unfuckables were pretty much the most dominant pairing in AWC history, and it'll be interesting to see what they can do in PRIME. I have to think something's going to happen between Tchu and Facey from that segment where Facey revealed his return, but I think the meat of matters is going to be between Facey and Jack Murphy. Hopefully I can get off my ass and make a nice tag match happen at Colossus IV between the Unfuckables and SullyMurph Enterprises. That would be very nice.
The rest of the show was decent. Matches were good, not spectacular, but not bad either. Could have done without some of the longish segments. It's a PPV folks, focus on payoffs and matches.
Also, Killean, you'll be missed. Sad to see the character ride off into the sunset, but I'm sure Darryl isn't through with eW just yet. Maybe he's got another character idea cooking, maybe he doesn't. Still though, Killean Sirrajin was one of the great eW characters of all-time, and I feel like he's underrated outside of PRIME.
WrestleBowl 2, Night 1
NFW posted WrestleBowl 2, Night One after a long wait, and after an even longer wait, I review it!
Holla!
Well, after reading the card, I can understand why people who’ve been following the fed for the last two-three years might be a little peeved. The cornerstone feud of the West, Craig Miles and Eddie Mayfield, and it’s resolved in a bait and switch. No one said I quit, and instead, they beat the crap out of each other for ninety minutes just to reunite. At the very best, it didn’t make sense for them to destroy each other like that just to swerve the entire world and exact revenge on Anne Mystic, right?
Well, I don’t think so. I thought it was BRILLIANT. Sure, this is the kind of ending that I might have panned if the WWE did it, but then again, when the WWE pulls off these kinds of swerves, they’re usually so ham-handed that the whole ordeal leaves you with a sour taste in your mouth. This one though, sure, I’d have to say that initially, I was a bit baffled as to why Miles and Mayfield would pull a ruse such as this, but then I thought about it a little more. What would be the most dick ending you could come up with, the one that would establish both men as super-heels after the match? You play the whole thing as a ruse, that the Professionals never really broke up, and you piss everyone off. I mean, Craig Miles is the Dean of Thermodynamics at the Professional Heel Academy. Do you think he’d really pass up the opportunity to make everyone think he was going face and then pull the ultimate heel move? Hell no. This whole feud is the ultimate case study for how to piss off fans and faces alike.
Think about it though. Was there any real reason why Mayfield should have hated Miles with the white hot intensity that he claimed to when he revealed himself? He wasn’t invited to participate in NFW, and Miles had the PHA, which Mayfield saw as a rip of his own persona. Okay, so I could see the bad blood, but it doesn’t strike me as something to want to kill someone over. The swerve wasn’t immediately obvious, but it still seemed like something weak to build a feud over.
This payoff though, it pretty much sets up a million different angles for people if they are sticking around. It gives Eli Flair a reason to come out of retirement. It gives Sean Stevens a reason to come into NFW, since his main squeeze Poison Ivy was played for a fool. Tom Adler was treated as a pawn in the game. Troy Windham too. Hell, nearly everyone in the West had a stake in the Miles/Mayfield war. There are so many options for 3.0 that come from this match, and really, whose heat was damaged? Before anyone starts making comparisons, this nowhere comes close to warranting the outrage of All-Star Week in Season 1, and even so, Katz has shown that he had a direction from that so-called debacle.
The only thing that I feel detracts from this is that the Sopranos had a similar “WTF?!” ending, a sort of confusing ending that had the potential to polarize everyone. The only thing is, for as long as Katz and JAMMMAAARRRRR~! *shakes fist* have been planning this, there’s no way that they saw the end of that show and said, “Hey, let’s do something similar.” Besides, Katz has probably been writing that match longer than he even cared to realize the Sopranos was coming to an end.
But that’s enough about that. The rest of the show...
First off, hats off to Mike Dove for winning the NFW World Championship with Kin Hiroshi. Like I said before, long overdue, although he has a tough test Night Two against Jason Payne and Mittens T. Cat. Not out of the woods yet. The match was well-written too, two MOTY candidates to close the show. Night Two has a hard act to follow. I also hope that the finish of the match doesn’t mean Felix Red is really “dead.” He’s such a part of NFW right now, it’d be a shame to see him go for now. If I did have one criticism of the match, it’s the announcers. Even in the hands of a capable writer, I’m less than enamored to read Paul Shiro. The Mad Hatter’s okay in the hands of someone familiar with the style that he should be written in, but once again, after you read Hollywood and O’Connor as written by someone like Katz, Jamar or someone else who really gets them, it’s a definite difference. I don’t think they took away from the match all that much, but I guess my distaste writing for them (I actually stopped writing NFW East matches because I hated doing that announce team) does take away from enjoying them as written by someone else.
The Tag Team situation is very interesting. Once again, controversial decision to end the match with the Tag Titles on NPCs (which is how I understand the Original ShowStoppers as being right now), but it does set up a hot situation with the Cameron Cruise Project, the Blue Rogues and the new Gethard team (at least I hope Gethard is handling them). Hopefully, Bobby Nickens’ new team can step up too. I may even make a foray into the tag realm as well.
The Monkey match was what it was, absurd filler. Really, with the combination of Dan’s genius as Professor Tremendous and Katz’s insanity, this should have been expected. Yes, it’s totally unbelievable, not grounded in reality, but who cares. It’s comic relief done by master handlers, and it delivered exactly what it should have, laughs and plenty of them. Also, the Beau/Ryan stuff established what it had to establish from that feud.
One more thing, I’m glad to see that Eli Flair had a proper send-off. With the super competitive nature of eW and RP feds, it’s pretty rare to see impromptu matches on the card like that. Big ups to both Pete and Brunk for delivering an unexpected twist and another match to look forward to on Night Two.
All in all, a great show. Hopefully Night Two packs as much of a punch or more, but then again, you have Yori and Nova. I somehow doubt that Katz is going to shortchange that match.
Holla!
Well, after reading the card, I can understand why people who’ve been following the fed for the last two-three years might be a little peeved. The cornerstone feud of the West, Craig Miles and Eddie Mayfield, and it’s resolved in a bait and switch. No one said I quit, and instead, they beat the crap out of each other for ninety minutes just to reunite. At the very best, it didn’t make sense for them to destroy each other like that just to swerve the entire world and exact revenge on Anne Mystic, right?
Well, I don’t think so. I thought it was BRILLIANT. Sure, this is the kind of ending that I might have panned if the WWE did it, but then again, when the WWE pulls off these kinds of swerves, they’re usually so ham-handed that the whole ordeal leaves you with a sour taste in your mouth. This one though, sure, I’d have to say that initially, I was a bit baffled as to why Miles and Mayfield would pull a ruse such as this, but then I thought about it a little more. What would be the most dick ending you could come up with, the one that would establish both men as super-heels after the match? You play the whole thing as a ruse, that the Professionals never really broke up, and you piss everyone off. I mean, Craig Miles is the Dean of Thermodynamics at the Professional Heel Academy. Do you think he’d really pass up the opportunity to make everyone think he was going face and then pull the ultimate heel move? Hell no. This whole feud is the ultimate case study for how to piss off fans and faces alike.
Think about it though. Was there any real reason why Mayfield should have hated Miles with the white hot intensity that he claimed to when he revealed himself? He wasn’t invited to participate in NFW, and Miles had the PHA, which Mayfield saw as a rip of his own persona. Okay, so I could see the bad blood, but it doesn’t strike me as something to want to kill someone over. The swerve wasn’t immediately obvious, but it still seemed like something weak to build a feud over.
This payoff though, it pretty much sets up a million different angles for people if they are sticking around. It gives Eli Flair a reason to come out of retirement. It gives Sean Stevens a reason to come into NFW, since his main squeeze Poison Ivy was played for a fool. Tom Adler was treated as a pawn in the game. Troy Windham too. Hell, nearly everyone in the West had a stake in the Miles/Mayfield war. There are so many options for 3.0 that come from this match, and really, whose heat was damaged? Before anyone starts making comparisons, this nowhere comes close to warranting the outrage of All-Star Week in Season 1, and even so, Katz has shown that he had a direction from that so-called debacle.
The only thing that I feel detracts from this is that the Sopranos had a similar “WTF?!” ending, a sort of confusing ending that had the potential to polarize everyone. The only thing is, for as long as Katz and JAMMMAAARRRRR~! *shakes fist* have been planning this, there’s no way that they saw the end of that show and said, “Hey, let’s do something similar.” Besides, Katz has probably been writing that match longer than he even cared to realize the Sopranos was coming to an end.
But that’s enough about that. The rest of the show...
First off, hats off to Mike Dove for winning the NFW World Championship with Kin Hiroshi. Like I said before, long overdue, although he has a tough test Night Two against Jason Payne and Mittens T. Cat. Not out of the woods yet. The match was well-written too, two MOTY candidates to close the show. Night Two has a hard act to follow. I also hope that the finish of the match doesn’t mean Felix Red is really “dead.” He’s such a part of NFW right now, it’d be a shame to see him go for now. If I did have one criticism of the match, it’s the announcers. Even in the hands of a capable writer, I’m less than enamored to read Paul Shiro. The Mad Hatter’s okay in the hands of someone familiar with the style that he should be written in, but once again, after you read Hollywood and O’Connor as written by someone like Katz, Jamar or someone else who really gets them, it’s a definite difference. I don’t think they took away from the match all that much, but I guess my distaste writing for them (I actually stopped writing NFW East matches because I hated doing that announce team) does take away from enjoying them as written by someone else.
The Tag Team situation is very interesting. Once again, controversial decision to end the match with the Tag Titles on NPCs (which is how I understand the Original ShowStoppers as being right now), but it does set up a hot situation with the Cameron Cruise Project, the Blue Rogues and the new Gethard team (at least I hope Gethard is handling them). Hopefully, Bobby Nickens’ new team can step up too. I may even make a foray into the tag realm as well.
The Monkey match was what it was, absurd filler. Really, with the combination of Dan’s genius as Professor Tremendous and Katz’s insanity, this should have been expected. Yes, it’s totally unbelievable, not grounded in reality, but who cares. It’s comic relief done by master handlers, and it delivered exactly what it should have, laughs and plenty of them. Also, the Beau/Ryan stuff established what it had to establish from that feud.
One more thing, I’m glad to see that Eli Flair had a proper send-off. With the super competitive nature of eW and RP feds, it’s pretty rare to see impromptu matches on the card like that. Big ups to both Pete and Brunk for delivering an unexpected twist and another match to look forward to on Night Two.
All in all, a great show. Hopefully Night Two packs as much of a punch or more, but then again, you have Yori and Nova. I somehow doubt that Katz is going to shortchange that match.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Write-up roundup
Yep, show reviews. I'm breaking protocol and throwing up some quickie reviews for non-PPV events because, hey, I haven't done any kind of review in awhile and, well, I damn well feel like it.
- I know I probably should have started with this yesterday, but NEW's latest edition of Raucous hit the e-airwaves. Along with the most recent edition of EPW Aggression, this is required reading before you dive headling into the WrestleStock proceedings. A lot of buildup here, and a pretty good writeup for the main event. Yeah, I don't like the fact that there was a no-decision in the title match, but it did inject even more heat than was already there for the Night Two main. Sometimes you have to work in no-decisions in RPed matches to angle things along.
- NAPW's Tagstravaganza II was probably the biggie event that happened in the last week or so. Love the concept behind this event, two gauntlets with the winners facing off. I have to admit that I'm out of the loop concerning NAPW and Rebel, but I don't think you need to know that much. The cardwriters do a good job of filling everybody in. I thought there were a lot of good subplots in each match, and it definitely makes you want to "tune in" so to speak to the next NAPW or Rebel show. The attention paid to non-contending teams like the Celtic Assassins, the Murder City Devils and the Bluegrass Mafia is a prime example of why NAPW is the leader for tag team wrestling, and that's saying something given that EPW, PRIME and A1E all have strong divisions or are in the process of building them.
- Speaking of PRIME, ReVolution 127, live, on the air. I do have to say I'm enjoying really everything surrounding the main event angle. Given the players involved, I'm not surprised. Paranoid Jason Snow is a great twist on the character as well, and it should provide for some sparks after this angle's over. Good to see Chainz get injected here, as he's long overdue for a main event push, AWC or PRIME. I kinda enjoyed the Shakur/Sun Tzu stuff too. The first segment was pretty good, but I thought the attack on Gamble was a bit too inside-jokey and ridiculous. I'm also still not a fan of reprinting song lyrics in toto for entrances. It's not a good match extender... it's just annoying. I like the idea of combining the titles, and the segments worked for me. What doesn't work for me though are these extreme injuries that should take people out for long amounts of time. I mean, Dusk gets shot and he still comes back to win the Intense Title? Pierce Lavelle gets thrown out of a second story window and isn't out for an extended period of time? I'm all for going above and beyond the boundaries of what you can do in "real" wrestling, but some of this is too ridiculous even for my tastes. I feel like PRIME is a mixed bag right now.
- I know I probably should have started with this yesterday, but NEW's latest edition of Raucous hit the e-airwaves. Along with the most recent edition of EPW Aggression, this is required reading before you dive headling into the WrestleStock proceedings. A lot of buildup here, and a pretty good writeup for the main event. Yeah, I don't like the fact that there was a no-decision in the title match, but it did inject even more heat than was already there for the Night Two main. Sometimes you have to work in no-decisions in RPed matches to angle things along.
- NAPW's Tagstravaganza II was probably the biggie event that happened in the last week or so. Love the concept behind this event, two gauntlets with the winners facing off. I have to admit that I'm out of the loop concerning NAPW and Rebel, but I don't think you need to know that much. The cardwriters do a good job of filling everybody in. I thought there were a lot of good subplots in each match, and it definitely makes you want to "tune in" so to speak to the next NAPW or Rebel show. The attention paid to non-contending teams like the Celtic Assassins, the Murder City Devils and the Bluegrass Mafia is a prime example of why NAPW is the leader for tag team wrestling, and that's saying something given that EPW, PRIME and A1E all have strong divisions or are in the process of building them.
- Speaking of PRIME, ReVolution 127, live, on the air. I do have to say I'm enjoying really everything surrounding the main event angle. Given the players involved, I'm not surprised. Paranoid Jason Snow is a great twist on the character as well, and it should provide for some sparks after this angle's over. Good to see Chainz get injected here, as he's long overdue for a main event push, AWC or PRIME. I kinda enjoyed the Shakur/Sun Tzu stuff too. The first segment was pretty good, but I thought the attack on Gamble was a bit too inside-jokey and ridiculous. I'm also still not a fan of reprinting song lyrics in toto for entrances. It's not a good match extender... it's just annoying. I like the idea of combining the titles, and the segments worked for me. What doesn't work for me though are these extreme injuries that should take people out for long amounts of time. I mean, Dusk gets shot and he still comes back to win the Intense Title? Pierce Lavelle gets thrown out of a second story window and isn't out for an extended period of time? I'm all for going above and beyond the boundaries of what you can do in "real" wrestling, but some of this is too ridiculous even for my tastes. I feel like PRIME is a mixed bag right now.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
MBE Total Elimination
It's up!
I have to say, thoroughly enjoyable read. I thought it was a great show from a matchwriting standpoint, and a fantastic show from an angle standpoint. Congrats go out to Stanton for capturing the MBE World Championship with Doc Silver. That, surprisingly enough, wasn't the biggest thing that happened.
All the HoF stuff was jaw-dropping. From A kicking the shit out of Ryuji after the Red stuff to Promo joining that alliance, I thought everything was executed well. Fedheads take note, if you're running a fedwide angle, take it from Bill and Jeff (especially Bill), seeing as MBE was known for them back in the day. They prove they still have it.
I also don't know who's handling Ravage, but hopefully, it's the guy who originally handled him. If it is... then it proves that no one, and I mean no one, stays retired in this hobby forever without making at least one comeback. It would be great for MBE if that was the case, seeing as Kev was one of the great handlers from v. 1.0, and it's good to see a mix of old (myself, Andy, Brian, Shane G., Jeff, Bill, Chris [Justin's handler], Mat H., Jean) and new (Stanton, Shane C., the dudes who are handling Mason, O'Malley and CFC).
Of course, more new handlers to MBE would be nice, but right now, we've got something good.
I have to say, thoroughly enjoyable read. I thought it was a great show from a matchwriting standpoint, and a fantastic show from an angle standpoint. Congrats go out to Stanton for capturing the MBE World Championship with Doc Silver. That, surprisingly enough, wasn't the biggest thing that happened.
All the HoF stuff was jaw-dropping. From A kicking the shit out of Ryuji after the Red stuff to Promo joining that alliance, I thought everything was executed well. Fedheads take note, if you're running a fedwide angle, take it from Bill and Jeff (especially Bill), seeing as MBE was known for them back in the day. They prove they still have it.
I also don't know who's handling Ravage, but hopefully, it's the guy who originally handled him. If it is... then it proves that no one, and I mean no one, stays retired in this hobby forever without making at least one comeback. It would be great for MBE if that was the case, seeing as Kev was one of the great handlers from v. 1.0, and it's good to see a mix of old (myself, Andy, Brian, Shane G., Jeff, Bill, Chris [Justin's handler], Mat H., Jean) and new (Stanton, Shane C., the dudes who are handling Mason, O'Malley and CFC).
Of course, more new handlers to MBE would be nice, but right now, we've got something good.
Friday, September 22, 2006
UCW Scars 'n Stripes
Reader Shane C. from West Virginia, Pittsburgh, or whatever part of the sticks of the Applachians he's from :p, requested a review of UCW's latest PPV, Scars 'n Stripes. Now, for those who want to invoke the last entry, well, that was specifically for folks who are in feds that I don't currently cover. Didn't say anything about the ones I already do. Plus, I try to review all the PPVs, and I just missed on this one.
I did read the show as it came out. I thought it was a solid effort overall, not anything bad, but not their best card either. I'm not going to break this down hardcore, but I will give it some detailed thought.
First up, new additions to the roster. For one, I'm glad to be a part of UCW again. I know I kinda flaked out twice in the past, hopefully three times will be the charm. Hopefully, Jimmy has more juice left than Braumeister or BA had. The other big debut was Shawn Hart. Great addition for the fed if Ryan's got his legs under him.
Onto the matches... I thought there was something lacking here. I can't put my finger on it. The undercard was solid, but something was missing. The main event was well-written though. Congrats to Stanton for capturing the World Title again. The First is a pretty entertaining character, and he's a good anchor for the fed. Hopefully someone new can step up to challenge him though. Maybe Cameron Cruise?
Two other big things happened. One, we found out that BGB isn't Midnight Rider. I'm pretty intruiged as to who he is now. Plus the segments with him and Cloverleaf were amusing. The other big thing that happened was that Bryan Storms defected to UCW. I'm not sure what this does to the rest of the MCW invaders, but there's definitely some heat between them. It's all up to Rob Franklin and Nakhita Dahaka to step up and make a feud out of it.
I'd probably give this show three and a half stars out of five. Solid effort, something to build off of. Shane's been through so much with this fed with server issues and his co-booker crapping out on him, but I think he has things on the right track.
I did read the show as it came out. I thought it was a solid effort overall, not anything bad, but not their best card either. I'm not going to break this down hardcore, but I will give it some detailed thought.
First up, new additions to the roster. For one, I'm glad to be a part of UCW again. I know I kinda flaked out twice in the past, hopefully three times will be the charm. Hopefully, Jimmy has more juice left than Braumeister or BA had. The other big debut was Shawn Hart. Great addition for the fed if Ryan's got his legs under him.
Onto the matches... I thought there was something lacking here. I can't put my finger on it. The undercard was solid, but something was missing. The main event was well-written though. Congrats to Stanton for capturing the World Title again. The First is a pretty entertaining character, and he's a good anchor for the fed. Hopefully someone new can step up to challenge him though. Maybe Cameron Cruise?
Two other big things happened. One, we found out that BGB isn't Midnight Rider. I'm pretty intruiged as to who he is now. Plus the segments with him and Cloverleaf were amusing. The other big thing that happened was that Bryan Storms defected to UCW. I'm not sure what this does to the rest of the MCW invaders, but there's definitely some heat between them. It's all up to Rob Franklin and Nakhita Dahaka to step up and make a feud out of it.
I'd probably give this show three and a half stars out of five. Solid effort, something to build off of. Shane's been through so much with this fed with server issues and his co-booker crapping out on him, but I think he has things on the right track.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
MBE's Rebirth
Wednesday Night Warfare... in Meltzer-speak
My first impression of the writeup style was negative. I felt it was a little too hard to follow, a little dense, a little too much like reading Meltzer, who for all his prowess at reporting news is a HORRIBLE writer. I read through it a bit again though, and then I started to get it a little better. I think maybe it's because I'm so used to seeing results a certain way. You may remember that I really didn't like the way ACW/fWo/LoC and the angle feds of their ilk wrote matches at first, but now, not only do I enjoy those kinds of matches, I find myself preferring to write in that style. This style indeed is innovative when it comes to e-wrestling.
The other huge plus is that it helps keep things moving at a good pace if it's easier for Jeff to write than matches altogether. It did seem like there was a lot of action going on for what should have been a recap. That was good in a sense because you get leave a lot less to the imagination when it comes to official interactions. You don't have guys filling in blanks in promos that may embellish what would have happened in the match had Jeff wrote it out completely to his vision. However, I think they should be careful not to put too much in the recaps or else they'll become as unweildly as writing regular cards.
As for what happened in the show, I thought there was some good groundwork being laid. Yamada's speech was effective, although waiting three months for a Champion makes me a little antsy. That anxiousness is outweighed by the old-school feel of slowly building to a climax. That and the fact that the title is being decided by a league play set-up. That will be sweet in and of itself.
I also have to say that they hit a homerun with the YoROBOT/Cox/Silver/Dildo ridiculousness. It might have been a lot funnier if it was fully written out, but I feel enough of it came through in the writeups to leave an effective mark on the readers.
All in all a solid effort, and I'm looking forward to seeing what lies in MBE's future.
My first impression of the writeup style was negative. I felt it was a little too hard to follow, a little dense, a little too much like reading Meltzer, who for all his prowess at reporting news is a HORRIBLE writer. I read through it a bit again though, and then I started to get it a little better. I think maybe it's because I'm so used to seeing results a certain way. You may remember that I really didn't like the way ACW/fWo/LoC and the angle feds of their ilk wrote matches at first, but now, not only do I enjoy those kinds of matches, I find myself preferring to write in that style. This style indeed is innovative when it comes to e-wrestling.
The other huge plus is that it helps keep things moving at a good pace if it's easier for Jeff to write than matches altogether. It did seem like there was a lot of action going on for what should have been a recap. That was good in a sense because you get leave a lot less to the imagination when it comes to official interactions. You don't have guys filling in blanks in promos that may embellish what would have happened in the match had Jeff wrote it out completely to his vision. However, I think they should be careful not to put too much in the recaps or else they'll become as unweildly as writing regular cards.
As for what happened in the show, I thought there was some good groundwork being laid. Yamada's speech was effective, although waiting three months for a Champion makes me a little antsy. That anxiousness is outweighed by the old-school feel of slowly building to a climax. That and the fact that the title is being decided by a league play set-up. That will be sweet in and of itself.
I also have to say that they hit a homerun with the YoROBOT/Cox/Silver/Dildo ridiculousness. It might have been a lot funnier if it was fully written out, but I feel enough of it came through in the writeups to leave an effective mark on the readers.
All in all a solid effort, and I'm looking forward to seeing what lies in MBE's future.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
A1E Mercury Rising (and some self shilling!)
First up, TEAM Super Show I has been posted. Check it out and leave me some feedback. Please? Pretty please?
And now onto the meat of the post...
A1E Mercury Rising
It's funny. The chatter from other blogs would make you think that A1E right now is some place that no one wants to go to, that has rampant problems, etc. Jarrett and Phil have kinda hinted at it, but I don't know where they're getting it from. I know I've been critical of A1E off and on, but I don't think I've really put the hammer down on my home fed for awhile now.
I think most of the e-fed world, at least the e-fed world that is familiar with the fed, has been looking positively upon A1E for the last six and a half months. Look at it this way. A1E's gotten no less than five returnees or new signups (Justin Evitable, Cross, Rocko Daymon, Troy Douglas, Freakshow) among handlers, and guys like Dan West are still handling multiple characters. I've had at least one person from a community that A1ers might consider to be very far off inquire about A1E as if he'd want to join. There has been very little in the way of major complaints, and outside of an IM or two, I don't hear the massive bitch-stories that I'd hear and propagate myself three or four years ago.
I honestly think A1E is among the healthiest feds on the 'Net, and judging from all these extenuating circumstances as well as the matchwriting and promo activity, the fed is quietly having a terrific year. I'd venture to say it's having a better year than any fed hosted on FW, better than any angle fed not named LoC, and it would compare favorably with the feds at PTC. They consistently come out with solid shows, their sense of angle advancement and matchwriting ability have both come a very long way since this blog has begun, and the OOC atmosphere has improved drastically over the last two years.
This manifests itself once again in Mercury Rising. As with their two previous PPVs this year, the matchwriting is solid and it's indicative that this is a PPV and not a glorified version of Warfare. In fact, the matchwriting here is better than it was at Bloody New Year, mainly because the finishes were less screwy here. Particularly standout were the Contract on a Pole Match, the Best of A1E Final and the Triple Star Championship Match. We also possibly saw the beginnings of a Slambo face turn, which I've been saying for awhile would be as money as money could be, given the participants involved.
People are also getting involved with submitting stories and angles. Of course, there was the Slambo and Andy stuff, but then you had segments and attacks featuring Promo and AJ Cirrus as well as their Anarchy opponents, and by IrishRed and Eliminat0r.
All in all, I'd have to say this was the best A1E PPV of the year. Keep up the good work, but don't start resting on your laurels now.
And now onto the meat of the post...
A1E Mercury Rising
It's funny. The chatter from other blogs would make you think that A1E right now is some place that no one wants to go to, that has rampant problems, etc. Jarrett and Phil have kinda hinted at it, but I don't know where they're getting it from. I know I've been critical of A1E off and on, but I don't think I've really put the hammer down on my home fed for awhile now.
I think most of the e-fed world, at least the e-fed world that is familiar with the fed, has been looking positively upon A1E for the last six and a half months. Look at it this way. A1E's gotten no less than five returnees or new signups (Justin Evitable, Cross, Rocko Daymon, Troy Douglas, Freakshow) among handlers, and guys like Dan West are still handling multiple characters. I've had at least one person from a community that A1ers might consider to be very far off inquire about A1E as if he'd want to join. There has been very little in the way of major complaints, and outside of an IM or two, I don't hear the massive bitch-stories that I'd hear and propagate myself three or four years ago.
I honestly think A1E is among the healthiest feds on the 'Net, and judging from all these extenuating circumstances as well as the matchwriting and promo activity, the fed is quietly having a terrific year. I'd venture to say it's having a better year than any fed hosted on FW, better than any angle fed not named LoC, and it would compare favorably with the feds at PTC. They consistently come out with solid shows, their sense of angle advancement and matchwriting ability have both come a very long way since this blog has begun, and the OOC atmosphere has improved drastically over the last two years.
This manifests itself once again in Mercury Rising. As with their two previous PPVs this year, the matchwriting is solid and it's indicative that this is a PPV and not a glorified version of Warfare. In fact, the matchwriting here is better than it was at Bloody New Year, mainly because the finishes were less screwy here. Particularly standout were the Contract on a Pole Match, the Best of A1E Final and the Triple Star Championship Match. We also possibly saw the beginnings of a Slambo face turn, which I've been saying for awhile would be as money as money could be, given the participants involved.
People are also getting involved with submitting stories and angles. Of course, there was the Slambo and Andy stuff, but then you had segments and attacks featuring Promo and AJ Cirrus as well as their Anarchy opponents, and by IrishRed and Eliminat0r.
All in all, I'd have to say this was the best A1E PPV of the year. Keep up the good work, but don't start resting on your laurels now.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
NAPW's Get the Hell Off Our Lawn!
Part one, pre-riot
Part two, post-riot
First off, I have to say Get the Hell Off Our Lawn is the best name for a PPV event I've heard in awhile.
Now, to the results.
This was the first NAPW PPV event I've read, and I have to say, it was pretty good. Definitely on the level of their shows in terms of quality. The only thing I have a problem with is on the matchwriting level, that it seems a little too close to being a regular TV match in some instances. Still, it's a minor complaint.
There was a bunch of stuff going on here, a lot of promos that built up the matches. I love that. It gives the show such an old-school WWF PPV feel to it. Promo, D! and Static stand out for their spots.
I thought the riot was unique. I don't know what else to say about it, because I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, it's something unexpected and interesting. It's a good heat builder for Rex and Ravager and the other of Winchell's minions. On the other hand... it came of a little forced. If a riot really broke out, then the show wouldn't have resumed the next day and used for an angle, and if it was an angled riot, then it comes off a little cheesy. I don't know... I'll probably come around on it, especially if the parties involved build off it into something special.
I personally can't wait to see Tommy Deathrow react to having to wear a dress :)
The title match sequence at the end I thought was pretty good. You had some heel dickery, the underdog face winning against all odds, but there was a twist. I can't wait to see where this new Man in Black arc is headed, and I'm waiting to see how D! plays winning the title in a tainted manner. Diego's such a talented writer, I'm actually excited to see where it's going.
So in closing, I think you should read this show, even if it will be your first NAPW show. It's an overall positive experience, and I think it serves as a great building block into bigger and better things.
Part two, post-riot
First off, I have to say Get the Hell Off Our Lawn is the best name for a PPV event I've heard in awhile.
Now, to the results.
This was the first NAPW PPV event I've read, and I have to say, it was pretty good. Definitely on the level of their shows in terms of quality. The only thing I have a problem with is on the matchwriting level, that it seems a little too close to being a regular TV match in some instances. Still, it's a minor complaint.
There was a bunch of stuff going on here, a lot of promos that built up the matches. I love that. It gives the show such an old-school WWF PPV feel to it. Promo, D! and Static stand out for their spots.
I thought the riot was unique. I don't know what else to say about it, because I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, it's something unexpected and interesting. It's a good heat builder for Rex and Ravager and the other of Winchell's minions. On the other hand... it came of a little forced. If a riot really broke out, then the show wouldn't have resumed the next day and used for an angle, and if it was an angled riot, then it comes off a little cheesy. I don't know... I'll probably come around on it, especially if the parties involved build off it into something special.
I personally can't wait to see Tommy Deathrow react to having to wear a dress :)
The title match sequence at the end I thought was pretty good. You had some heel dickery, the underdog face winning against all odds, but there was a twist. I can't wait to see where this new Man in Black arc is headed, and I'm waiting to see how D! plays winning the title in a tainted manner. Diego's such a talented writer, I'm actually excited to see where it's going.
So in closing, I think you should read this show, even if it will be your first NAPW show. It's an overall positive experience, and I think it serves as a great building block into bigger and better things.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Taking a verbal dump
Seriously, you go away for a weekend and you get so far behind. Seriously, I'm still trying to catch up. Lots of shows to look at, including NEW's RAUCOUS, NAPW's Friday Night Action, FUSE's KillZone 04, KingPRO's first show (more on them later) and of course, NFW's Midnight Madness Week 10. The biggest show, however, came from EPW.
Yep, remember when I previewed Unleashed? Well, it was finally posted on Friday. I just got through it tonight, and let me say that it was worth the wait. Why? It wasn't so much for the matchwriting in general. I thought that missing two matches is a bit much for a PPV we've had two months to get together. A bit much indeed. I don't blame the Brunkster for posting the card as is though.
But for the stuff that happened, plus the major matches, which include the main event, which was phenomenal (and which I got the order of elimination completely CORRECT!), the Tag Title Match and the Cruise/Foxx match, were very good, smooth reads. I also liked the returns of the Troys, both Douglas and Windham. Plus, I think it's safe to say that Joey Melton has become one of the MVPs of EPW (along with Lindz), because every time he's got a segment, my eyes are glued to the screen.
So go read. Now.
In addition to the shows, we have news of some new feds coming along. First up was the aforementioned KingPRO wrestling, which is set to bring competition-based puro-style wrestling to the e-fed world. The fed is headed by Obinna, who handles Anton Assault in AWC and who is a general friend to the E-fed blog. If anything, give the fed's site a quick perusal and at least think about joining. It's a great concept, especially if you want to go in the tag division. It kinda reminds me of the Lethal Lottery, only done on a regular basis. That has the makings for great stories and pairings.
The next one is a fed near and dear to my heart. The great and venerable MBE is coming back full-time, under the guidance of Jeff Paternostro. MBE heads will remember him as Hida Yakamo, while NFW neophytes will recollect him as the handler of Yori Yakamo, Jr. Of course, Dan West, Bill Dempsey and probably Bobby Rodriguez will have some hand in running it, so you have that vintage MBE flavor going for it. The rub is that Jeff wants to start fresh with a bunch of new characters. Of course, old MBE characters are welcome, but in order for the fed to get off the ground, we can't rely solely on the history. I think it's a great idea, and if you have new character ideas you want to try out, or if you have a character that you've been using but haven't used in MBE in the past, then come aboard.
Seriously, MBE was perhaps the best fed I've ever been a part of. I think we can recreate the magic if we get the ingredients right.
Back with another entry tomorrow, hopefully with THE CONTENT~!
Yep, remember when I previewed Unleashed? Well, it was finally posted on Friday. I just got through it tonight, and let me say that it was worth the wait. Why? It wasn't so much for the matchwriting in general. I thought that missing two matches is a bit much for a PPV we've had two months to get together. A bit much indeed. I don't blame the Brunkster for posting the card as is though.
But for the stuff that happened, plus the major matches, which include the main event, which was phenomenal (and which I got the order of elimination completely CORRECT!), the Tag Title Match and the Cruise/Foxx match, were very good, smooth reads. I also liked the returns of the Troys, both Douglas and Windham. Plus, I think it's safe to say that Joey Melton has become one of the MVPs of EPW (along with Lindz), because every time he's got a segment, my eyes are glued to the screen.
So go read. Now.
In addition to the shows, we have news of some new feds coming along. First up was the aforementioned KingPRO wrestling, which is set to bring competition-based puro-style wrestling to the e-fed world. The fed is headed by Obinna, who handles Anton Assault in AWC and who is a general friend to the E-fed blog. If anything, give the fed's site a quick perusal and at least think about joining. It's a great concept, especially if you want to go in the tag division. It kinda reminds me of the Lethal Lottery, only done on a regular basis. That has the makings for great stories and pairings.
The next one is a fed near and dear to my heart. The great and venerable MBE is coming back full-time, under the guidance of Jeff Paternostro. MBE heads will remember him as Hida Yakamo, while NFW neophytes will recollect him as the handler of Yori Yakamo, Jr. Of course, Dan West, Bill Dempsey and probably Bobby Rodriguez will have some hand in running it, so you have that vintage MBE flavor going for it. The rub is that Jeff wants to start fresh with a bunch of new characters. Of course, old MBE characters are welcome, but in order for the fed to get off the ground, we can't rely solely on the history. I think it's a great idea, and if you have new character ideas you want to try out, or if you have a character that you've been using but haven't used in MBE in the past, then come aboard.
Seriously, MBE was perhaps the best fed I've ever been a part of. I think we can recreate the magic if we get the ingredients right.
Back with another entry tomorrow, hopefully with THE CONTENT~!
Thursday, July 13, 2006
ReV 100
So in the grand tradition of me reading a GCW show for the first time yesterday, I, like I said I would, read a PRIME show in full for the first time two days ago. That show was:
ReVolution 100
Unlike the GCW show... I was thoroughly impressed, because unlike the GCW show, you could sense there was something special going on. You got a sense of history with all the flashbacks to previous ReVs, including ones that featured past stars like Angelo Deville, guys who helped make PRIME what it is today. You felt a sense of importance, seeing that all five titles were on the line (Six if you count Ignatieus Liseaux's unsanctioned HoF title). There was a huge, landscape changing announcement. This is how a landmark show should be done. Feds should take note of this and strive for this kind of atmosphere. Some highlights.
- Tony Gamble was the dominant figure of the beginning of the show. His first segment ("I Dream of Damien Cruz") was a very solid interview piece. His second one where he confronted Johnathan Winters was okay, but it got the point across. I would have liked to have seen more interaction with Winters, but that's okay. Finally, the match, and it kinda sucks to see him lose his title. He seems like a very interesting character, but hey, he was probably out-RPed. Hopefully, he takes the next step up, because I like seeing him on the shows.
- One point of confusion for me was alignment. Who's the face and who's the heel? I think this was mostly prevalent with the interactions amongst Lindsay Troy, Tchu and K-Wolf, but I'm betting this is something I need to pick up with time. Speaking of which, the Troy/Tchu segment was very good. Lindz has always shone with collaborative segments, and it's a shame more handlers aren't like her in this regard.
- I just have to say that Ivan Stanislav randomly breaking the "DYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" in the middle of matches is my new favorite thing ever.
- The A-List segment... now, I read this and I'm thinking to myself that these guys could thrive in the FW environment. Brilliant wrestling promo segment by D-Ferg and Reggie Delray.
- Dustin Diamond as Hoyt Williams' mouthpiece? I thought this was a little overboard, and I also don't understand why the fans are chanting for Hoyt when it's clear that this behavior of shitting on them isn't new to this card, but I still thought it was a well-done, effective piece. Can't wait to see God's Champion back in action.
- Finally, we get the highlight of the night for me, which was Nova and Facey. Seriously, their sequence of segments and matches were pretty much the best e-fedding related thing I've read all year. Having each guy wrestle with the other glued to the other guy's hand was a very clever take, and Joe is just a fantastic writer. He's made me laugh more this year than anyone else in the hobby. The best part about the whole thing was that it wasn't some pretentious crisis type angle with no possible in-ring payoff. This is all about being a wrestling feud.
I think that's what drew me to this show the most. Everything on it had to do with wrestling feuds. Honestly, I can see now why everyone heaps praise on PRIME. They deserve it, and I hope they keep the quality up for 100 more shows at the absolute least.
ReVolution 100
Unlike the GCW show... I was thoroughly impressed, because unlike the GCW show, you could sense there was something special going on. You got a sense of history with all the flashbacks to previous ReVs, including ones that featured past stars like Angelo Deville, guys who helped make PRIME what it is today. You felt a sense of importance, seeing that all five titles were on the line (Six if you count Ignatieus Liseaux's unsanctioned HoF title). There was a huge, landscape changing announcement. This is how a landmark show should be done. Feds should take note of this and strive for this kind of atmosphere. Some highlights.
- Tony Gamble was the dominant figure of the beginning of the show. His first segment ("I Dream of Damien Cruz") was a very solid interview piece. His second one where he confronted Johnathan Winters was okay, but it got the point across. I would have liked to have seen more interaction with Winters, but that's okay. Finally, the match, and it kinda sucks to see him lose his title. He seems like a very interesting character, but hey, he was probably out-RPed. Hopefully, he takes the next step up, because I like seeing him on the shows.
- One point of confusion for me was alignment. Who's the face and who's the heel? I think this was mostly prevalent with the interactions amongst Lindsay Troy, Tchu and K-Wolf, but I'm betting this is something I need to pick up with time. Speaking of which, the Troy/Tchu segment was very good. Lindz has always shone with collaborative segments, and it's a shame more handlers aren't like her in this regard.
- I just have to say that Ivan Stanislav randomly breaking the "DYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" in the middle of matches is my new favorite thing ever.
- The A-List segment... now, I read this and I'm thinking to myself that these guys could thrive in the FW environment. Brilliant wrestling promo segment by D-Ferg and Reggie Delray.
- Dustin Diamond as Hoyt Williams' mouthpiece? I thought this was a little overboard, and I also don't understand why the fans are chanting for Hoyt when it's clear that this behavior of shitting on them isn't new to this card, but I still thought it was a well-done, effective piece. Can't wait to see God's Champion back in action.
- Finally, we get the highlight of the night for me, which was Nova and Facey. Seriously, their sequence of segments and matches were pretty much the best e-fedding related thing I've read all year. Having each guy wrestle with the other glued to the other guy's hand was a very clever take, and Joe is just a fantastic writer. He's made me laugh more this year than anyone else in the hobby. The best part about the whole thing was that it wasn't some pretentious crisis type angle with no possible in-ring payoff. This is all about being a wrestling feud.
I think that's what drew me to this show the most. Everything on it had to do with wrestling feuds. Honestly, I can see now why everyone heaps praise on PRIME. They deserve it, and I hope they keep the quality up for 100 more shows at the absolute least.
Monday, July 10, 2006
Some shows... TAKE TWO
Since Blogger was douchebaggish and ate my original post...
We're going to get some showage out of the way...
First up, I wanna pimp NAPW. They've been hitting on all cylinders the last couple of weeks, and it's produced some really good reads.
Tuesday Night Fights, 7/4
Friday Night Action!, 7/7
My one complaint with the matchwriting is the block text narrative paragraphs can be too long and the announce team, which is pretty good, seems to be underutilized. Other than that, these are fantastic, easy to read cards. Personal highlights for me were Team Man, the goings on with D!, Evan Cartwright and Carter Owens, KETCHUP~! in the ring and of course, the debut of Promo. I'm also really digging this F*NAPW thing they've got going, although I'm not sure how it started. Maybe I could get a little background from certain readers ;)
Next up in the queue is a long awaited show from GCW.
Warpath
Let me preface this by saying this was my first GCW show ever. I won't be too analytical of the deeper angle stuff, seeing as there's a lot of context I've been missing out on, but I will comment very bluntly on the matchwriting. It was underwhelming, and that was disappointing, especially seeing that as a fed, you should showcase your matchwriting at the PPV.
My biggest complaint was that a lot of the matches didn't have enough gravity behind them. I mean, it's hard to explain what I feel is gravity enough, but it didn't feel like a PPV, especially a PPV that's been brewing for a few months. For one, in nearly every match, the intros were too long and focused too much on reprinting lyrics rather than what they should be for, which is providing the annoucers time to give a little backstory for the match and gauging the crowd reactions for each wrestler. The intros in most cases took away from the matches.
Secondly, some of these matches were too short and didn't have enough oomph behind them. The main culprits here were the main event, which is your World Championship, for crying out loud, and the gauntlet match. I felt a lot of these two matches was just thrown together. In both cases, it took away from LeStatt Knight's and Jacob McKail's big moments. I thought, and this is totally a manner of personal taste, that some of the writing was awkward and forced.
I'm not going to dump on the whole show though. I thought the US Championship match was well-written. I liked the Masked Man's interactions in the show, as well as Dorian Ryan's promo. I also thought the interaction between Dawn McFarlane and Shadow was provocative, although I'm a bit perplexed as to why the faction's leader is only at the CW title level. That's probably one of the contexts I missed out on, but it still strikes me as odd.
Anyway, this definitely was not a show that GCW needed after a long layoff, and hopefully, they can rebound. Their roster is too good not to.
We're going to get some showage out of the way...
First up, I wanna pimp NAPW. They've been hitting on all cylinders the last couple of weeks, and it's produced some really good reads.
Tuesday Night Fights, 7/4
Friday Night Action!, 7/7
My one complaint with the matchwriting is the block text narrative paragraphs can be too long and the announce team, which is pretty good, seems to be underutilized. Other than that, these are fantastic, easy to read cards. Personal highlights for me were Team Man, the goings on with D!, Evan Cartwright and Carter Owens, KETCHUP~! in the ring and of course, the debut of Promo. I'm also really digging this F*NAPW thing they've got going, although I'm not sure how it started. Maybe I could get a little background from certain readers ;)
Next up in the queue is a long awaited show from GCW.
Warpath
Let me preface this by saying this was my first GCW show ever. I won't be too analytical of the deeper angle stuff, seeing as there's a lot of context I've been missing out on, but I will comment very bluntly on the matchwriting. It was underwhelming, and that was disappointing, especially seeing that as a fed, you should showcase your matchwriting at the PPV.
My biggest complaint was that a lot of the matches didn't have enough gravity behind them. I mean, it's hard to explain what I feel is gravity enough, but it didn't feel like a PPV, especially a PPV that's been brewing for a few months. For one, in nearly every match, the intros were too long and focused too much on reprinting lyrics rather than what they should be for, which is providing the annoucers time to give a little backstory for the match and gauging the crowd reactions for each wrestler. The intros in most cases took away from the matches.
Secondly, some of these matches were too short and didn't have enough oomph behind them. The main culprits here were the main event, which is your World Championship, for crying out loud, and the gauntlet match. I felt a lot of these two matches was just thrown together. In both cases, it took away from LeStatt Knight's and Jacob McKail's big moments. I thought, and this is totally a manner of personal taste, that some of the writing was awkward and forced.
I'm not going to dump on the whole show though. I thought the US Championship match was well-written. I liked the Masked Man's interactions in the show, as well as Dorian Ryan's promo. I also thought the interaction between Dawn McFarlane and Shadow was provocative, although I'm a bit perplexed as to why the faction's leader is only at the CW title level. That's probably one of the contexts I missed out on, but it still strikes me as odd.
Anyway, this definitely was not a show that GCW needed after a long layoff, and hopefully, they can rebound. Their roster is too good not to.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Some updates
- The Ultimate A1E Tournament voting on the Allen Thomas bracket concludes tonight. I'll put my own votes in a comment to that entry, and then we'll move on with the next bracket first round tomorrow or Saturday. On my glancing over the votes, no matchups really seemed close except for Torgo/Drifter, which surprised me. But regardless, we move on, so who knows what surprises lay ahaed.
- UCW's Civil War was posted, and it was a pretty good read. Great job by Shane and Dan to get a good show out after the server problems. There's a temptation to sort of put out a sluggish card after such problems and after RP for the card was so sluggish (I'm one to talk, seeing as how I only RPed once as Benoitholic... I'll get out more matierial with him as I get more comfortable with him, I promise!), but the steak of the show matched its sizzle. Joey Melton and Mr. Incredible... two surprises and two great additions to the UCW roster.
- Still more at ENN, and a little self-promotion here too, TRASH TALK~! I'm hoping this will help build up the RPs for round one by giving everyone some material. Big ups to everyone who trash talked so far, especially to Devin, who opened up with a phenomenal trash talk with Lord Lowell and really got things going. Shane G., Bryan and of course, Bill have also gotten up some really, really good material.
- Last, but certainly not least a huge, huge, HUGE congratulation goes out to Garbage Bag Johnny for winning AWC's Zero 2 Hero tournament. He faced some stiff, and I mean STIFF competition, and there really isn't anyone better to be carrying AWC's banner right now. Also, huge props to everyone who wrote and contributed to the tournament, especially to Mike Wade, Joe Schmidt and Fergus the Loon for concocting a brilliant swervy angle with Wadester turning on Adam Dick. This is a must-read segment. All in all, this write up has gone a long way into establishing Z2H as the premiere event on the AWC calendar, and hopefully, it will garner the attention in the PTC world and all across the e-fedding universe as one of the big, mark-your-calendar events.
- UCW's Civil War was posted, and it was a pretty good read. Great job by Shane and Dan to get a good show out after the server problems. There's a temptation to sort of put out a sluggish card after such problems and after RP for the card was so sluggish (I'm one to talk, seeing as how I only RPed once as Benoitholic... I'll get out more matierial with him as I get more comfortable with him, I promise!), but the steak of the show matched its sizzle. Joey Melton and Mr. Incredible... two surprises and two great additions to the UCW roster.
- Still more at ENN, and a little self-promotion here too, TRASH TALK~! I'm hoping this will help build up the RPs for round one by giving everyone some material. Big ups to everyone who trash talked so far, especially to Devin, who opened up with a phenomenal trash talk with Lord Lowell and really got things going. Shane G., Bryan and of course, Bill have also gotten up some really, really good material.
- Last, but certainly not least a huge, huge, HUGE congratulation goes out to Garbage Bag Johnny for winning AWC's Zero 2 Hero tournament. He faced some stiff, and I mean STIFF competition, and there really isn't anyone better to be carrying AWC's banner right now. Also, huge props to everyone who wrote and contributed to the tournament, especially to Mike Wade, Joe Schmidt and Fergus the Loon for concocting a brilliant swervy angle with Wadester turning on Adam Dick. This is a must-read segment. All in all, this write up has gone a long way into establishing Z2H as the premiere event on the AWC calendar, and hopefully, it will garner the attention in the PTC world and all across the e-fedding universe as one of the big, mark-your-calendar events.
Sunday, April 23, 2006
More A1E Talk
clicky clicky
This was actually one of the best Warfares in a good long while. They seemed to be booking with a purpose, building angles the right way.
The only qualm I have with it is Spoiler winning the Cyber Title. In character, the Emerald Belt is above Spoils, and it really doesn't help Eddie Weston in the short or long run either. Honestly, I think everyone would have been okay with a DQ or countout finish, letting Eddie keep the title and have Spoiler look strong without him taking up the title almost unnecessarily.
Other than that though, it was a very solid show, good builds all around, especially for Hida/Fly and the HPSC vs. the World feuds.
This was actually one of the best Warfares in a good long while. They seemed to be booking with a purpose, building angles the right way.
The only qualm I have with it is Spoiler winning the Cyber Title. In character, the Emerald Belt is above Spoils, and it really doesn't help Eddie Weston in the short or long run either. Honestly, I think everyone would have been okay with a DQ or countout finish, letting Eddie keep the title and have Spoiler look strong without him taking up the title almost unnecessarily.
Other than that though, it was a very solid show, good builds all around, especially for Hida/Fly and the HPSC vs. the World feuds.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
LVW Supershow on the Strip
clicky clicky... finally!
Once again, it's very hard for me to be completely objective with this show (if you're unsure why, just skip to the end of the main event), but I'd have to say, it was well worth waiting for. I liked the Olvir segments, and I have to say, Paul and Mike handle my character as well as I do with out of match segments.
So check it out, it's well worth reading.
Once again, it's very hard for me to be completely objective with this show (if you're unsure why, just skip to the end of the main event), but I'd have to say, it was well worth waiting for. I liked the Olvir segments, and I have to say, Paul and Mike handle my character as well as I do with out of match segments.
So check it out, it's well worth reading.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
A1E Sudden Death
clicky clicky
Disclaimer: it's going to be very hard for me to be objective judging the overall quality of this show because of what happens in the main event. Won't spoil it if you haven't read it, but once you read the finish, you'll know why.
Anyway, my personal attractions to the show aside, I feel this was a strong PPV for A1E, and the matchwriters stepped up and gave us some pretty compelling matches, especially for Irish/Fly vs. the Invaders and both the Triple Star and Cyber Championship matches. There really wasn't a bad match on the show.
The one thing I want to talk about is the IrishRed overdose angle. I don't know how I feel about this right now. I mean, I think it could be compelling to see a wrestler deal with painkillers and drugs on-screen, but I also feel a bit uneasy about such a topic that's a problem in real life wrestling OOC becoming an angle. The on-screen overdose was a very extreme way of putting it out there, and I'm not sure how I would have reacted if the WWE ran it with, say Raven or another wrestler who was reputed to be a drug user. Still though, I say we wait and see where Shane is going to take this.
But all in all, it was a solid show.
Disclaimer: it's going to be very hard for me to be objective judging the overall quality of this show because of what happens in the main event. Won't spoil it if you haven't read it, but once you read the finish, you'll know why.
Anyway, my personal attractions to the show aside, I feel this was a strong PPV for A1E, and the matchwriters stepped up and gave us some pretty compelling matches, especially for Irish/Fly vs. the Invaders and both the Triple Star and Cyber Championship matches. There really wasn't a bad match on the show.
The one thing I want to talk about is the IrishRed overdose angle. I don't know how I feel about this right now. I mean, I think it could be compelling to see a wrestler deal with painkillers and drugs on-screen, but I also feel a bit uneasy about such a topic that's a problem in real life wrestling OOC becoming an angle. The on-screen overdose was a very extreme way of putting it out there, and I'm not sure how I would have reacted if the WWE ran it with, say Raven or another wrestler who was reputed to be a drug user. Still though, I say we wait and see where Shane is going to take this.
But all in all, it was a solid show.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Holla! NFW Survivor Series!
clicky clicky
In the fedhead report card, it was noted that McNic was omitted from most of the praise I heaped on NFW. This was a major oversight, as he does a great job both with administration and matchwriting in the East.
The Survivor Series match is no exception. With all the different angles entwined into the match, it could have been easy to write a match that was choppy and disjointed, just a piecemeal of angles. But Mike incorporated everyone's story and had action that flowed excellently. Written as well as any tag match I've ever seen and a strong, early candidate for MOTY.
Plus, there are Shatner and Southern sightings. Read the show, enjoy the show!
In the fedhead report card, it was noted that McNic was omitted from most of the praise I heaped on NFW. This was a major oversight, as he does a great job both with administration and matchwriting in the East.
The Survivor Series match is no exception. With all the different angles entwined into the match, it could have been easy to write a match that was choppy and disjointed, just a piecemeal of angles. But Mike incorporated everyone's story and had action that flowed excellently. Written as well as any tag match I've ever seen and a strong, early candidate for MOTY.
Plus, there are Shatner and Southern sightings. Read the show, enjoy the show!
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