January's Wrestler of the Month

No, I'm not dead :p

Anyway, January's coming to a close and that means we get to crown our first wrestler of the month for 2007. This month was a hard month to pick because there were more than a few guys deserving of the nod. In the end, I'm going with "The Ego Buster" Dan Ryan. He came back from the dead in the NFW playoffs, winning the second chance and earning a conference semifinal date with Felix Red. He also won A1E's Pier Six Brawl, earning a shot at the A1E World Championship.

This month's runner-up (new feature!) goes to Jason Snow, who captured GTT6, arguably the biggest non-TEAM tournament on the slate ;). He's in this spot and not the WOTM spot because his production in PRIME was a bit laggy. Still, an awesome accomplishment to say the least. (plus, FUCK YOU now has three, three, three GTT winners, ah ah ah!)

Honorable Mentions
Clinton Sage (FUSE, PTC Events), Chainz (PRIME), Felix Red (NFW), Yori Yakamo, Jr. (NFW), Shawn Jessica Hart, PhD (NEW, EPW), Beast (A1E), Doc Silver (MBE), Tony "The Grin" Gamble (PRIME), The New and Improved D-X (NAPW, MCW Events), Kin Hiroshi (NFW)

Ultimate MBE: The Next Two Brackets

Before I get into this entry, yes, I dropped from GTT6, and yes, I feel very shitty about it. However, I've run into a pretty busy time in real life right now, and there's no way I'd make the deadline. I did screw things up bigtime, but I'd rather bow out now and give people the heads up instead of flaking out by missing the sandbag deadline.

I'll make it up to you guys somehow else. I don't know how, because I feel so badly, but I will.

Also, a reminder to those who promised me guest blogs, well, the offer's still open. There's no deadline, and as long as I write here, I'll be accepting guest entries. However, I don't want you guys to forget about things, and I'm actually quite interested in seeing what you guys have to say. I've already gotten two fantastic guest entries and a third... well, I'll be nice and say it was interesting :). But if Dave's and Shane's entries are the indication, then I think the readership can benefit from hearing what you guys have to say greatly.

So in short... take your time, but don't forget ;)

And you other bloggers out there... an update would be nice :p

Alright, finally to the reason of the entry, I've been slacking on the Ultimate MBE Tournament, so to keep things moving, I'll do the other two first round brackets in one entry. Remember, if you're going to vote, please be sure to leave your name and a short reasoning behind each vote. Before we get to the new matchups, here's the results from the last one:

Maggot d. Cannibal
Aussie B d. Akira Otsuka
Webweaver d. Torment
Jack Gilkison d. Yori Yakamo, Jr.
Professor Tremendous d. Allworld
Meatbag d. Rat
Mango d. Jogi Fresh
El Tremendo d. Kanna Kirishima

And now...

Lord of the Boards Bracket

(1) Freakfish vs. (16) Vinman

Freakfish' Credentials: World, North American and Unified Champion, in-ring leader of Amazing, Inc.

Vinman's Credentials: Tag Champion, appeared in the first North American Championship match, currently MBE's ring announcer

(8) Tornado DDT vs. (9) Dumi

Tornado DDT's Credentials: World Champion, founding member of the Squalid Beasts.

Dumi's Credentials: Member of first Tag Team Championship team, appeared in first World and North American Championship matches, member of the Beasties

(4) IrishRed vs. (13) Guerilla

IrishRed's Credentials: Extreme Champion, Founder of the MwM, MBE Cup Finalist, current PbPro Quintuple Crown Champion which he won on MBE programming

Guerilla's Credentials: Contender to the Tag Titles with Maggot

(5) Duchess vs. (12) El Nino

Duchess' Credentials: 5x Tag Team Champion, Unified Champion

El Nino's Credentials: Tag Team Champion

(2) BobbyR vs. (15) Saigon Cinnamon

BobbyR's Credentials: World Champion, 5x North American Champion, 3x Tag Champion, Founding Father of MBE and the Beasties, leader of MwM v2.0 as The Red Don

Saigon's Credentials: Tag partner of James Irish back in the day

(7) Cerebral vs. (10) Justin Evitable

Cerebral's Credentials: Unified Champion, defeating a previously unbeaten streaked Freakfish (IIRC)

Justin's Credentials: Extreme, Unified and Tag Champion, runner up in the MBE Championship Series for the World Title in v2.0

(3) Paco the Wetback vs. (14) Tyrone the Tidy Giant

Paco's Credentials: World, North American and Unified Champion

Tyrone's Credentials: Unified and Tag Champion, battled World Champion Housefly to a draw in a title match in his first match

(6) Mr. Cable Access Television vs. (11) AJ Cirrus

CATV's Credentials: Unified, North American and Extreme Champion

Cirrus' Credentials: Tag and Unified Champion, last Unified Champion of v1.0

Total Elimination Bracket

(1) Hida Yakamo vs. (16) Blitzkrieg

Hida's Credentials: 2x World Champion, 3x North American, 4x Tag Team, TV Champion

Blitzkrieg's Credentials: First Cruiserweight Champion

(8) The Great Yamada vs. (9) Jack Blade

Yamada's Credentials: Current MBE Co-Owner, 3x Tag Champion

Blade's Credentials: Unified and Tag Champion

(4) Mr. Amazing! vs. (13) Outlaw

Mr. A!'s Credentials: North American Champion, 2x Tag Champion, former owner

Outlaw's Credentials: Unified Champion

(5) Doc Awesome vs. (12) The Twins

Doc's Credentials: Founding Father of MBE and the Beasties, 2x Tag Team Champion

Twins' Credentials: Tag Team Champions

(2) PILE vs. (15) Tha Eliminat0r

PILE's Credentials: World Champion, Founding member of the MBE Elite, 3x North American Champion, 2x Tag Champion

Elim's Credentials: Member of the MwM

(7) SweetJesusFunk vs. (10) Lady Rebellion

SJF's Credentials: 2x Tag Team Champion

LadyR's Credentials: Extreme and Cruiserweight Champion

(3) The Canadian Loonie vs. (14) Lance Thunder

Loonie's Credentials: North American and Extreme Champion

Lance's Credentials: Extreme Champion, MBE's most beloved jobber :p

(6) WhiteNoise vs. (11) Ravage

WN's Credentials: 2x Unified Champion, member of Amazing, Inc.

Ravage's Credentials: Umm... I wasn't exactly around for his first run :) Someone can fill this one in.

More Random Notes

I'm chock full of random notes lately, aren't I?

- First thing's first, I got a buttload of people who want to do guest bloggings, and I've only received two. Please don't disappoint me. I'm looking forward to your bloggings so. A few hints too.

1) Stick to IC and OOC... don't switch between the two.

2) Read over your entry before you hand it in and make sure it's something you want to represent you on a site that you don't operate. I don't mean to sound like a pompous ass, but I try to maintain a level of quality on the site. I'll publish whatever it is you want published (as long as it's not an out-and-out shill, that is), but make sure it's your best.

- HOLLA! HOLLA! You thought they wouldn't make it, but they did. NFW. Wild Card action, Eastern style. I haven't read through it all yet (I also have A1E and PRIME results to slog through too), but there's an interesting segment with Kooter near the beginning. Not sure what to think of it, but it certainly blurs the lines.

- In a stunning bit of GTT6 news, Iblis, that "newcomer" to the tournament, isn't a newcomer at all, but it's Andrew Delling, handler of "The Renegade" Rich Rollins. I'm surprised at who it is, but with all the raves over the writing, I guess it's not much of a surprise. Kudos to Andrew for getting another character over, into the tournament and that far before having to bow out. He says it's his tournament finale, but he said that after he lost at first in the tourney. Never say never in this hobby ;)

- Speaking of bowing out, Sean Williams, handler of Seymour Almasy among others, is bowing out of the game for now due to pressing law school concerns. I wish him the best in his endeavors, and hopefully he comes back. He's definitely one of the most creative minds in the game.

Some random notes

Alright, things have been hectic for me this week. That NAPW review took me about a week to do between RPing and work and turkey-related dealings of yesterday. Anyway, a random notes entry! Always fun...

- First up, big, big, HUGE congratulations are in order for James Irish, who captured the A1E World Championship at Cyber Brutality. It's two years late, IMO, but better late than never. If there's anyone in this hobby who deserves to be World Champion, it's James. As for the rest of the card, it was pretty good fare. It's good to see Steven Shane back in A1E; he's always been a solid character, and A1E is his home fed (one that he can actually compete in without having to deal with calls of self-booking :p). The "Slambo" swerve that got him back was pretty neat, even if it's still kinda overshadowed by the Beast/Anti-Cross unmasking that happened at GD. Speaking of Beast.... wow, what a match with him and Cross. Congrats to Cross too, as well as Hida Yakamo, for their title wins.

Three title switches and a draw in the tag title match... funny how A1E got somewhat strong contenders to their Tag Team Titles by accident with the draw. Hopefully, Blackburn and Drunken Tiger will be able to give Dog and Ryan the challenge they've been sorely lacking since they've gotten the straps.

- Lots of stuff surrounding MCW too. Josh Ray is turning the former Bolich-run up-and-comers fed into sort of a loose interfed construct, and he's running a tag team tournament. I'll be participating as a handler, which is a welcome change from the almost non-stop judging.

MCW Finale was also posted, and hopefully, that will be the next flagship review I do.

- My take on "story-driven" feds... they're the same as angle feds, unless they have nothing to do with wrestling at all. Then they're not e-feds at all and really shouldn't call themselves "feds." They should call themselves something different. But now I'm just being nitpicky.

I don't know. Maybe I'm getting crotchety, but if you're going to call yourself a "fed," you should be wrestling-centric. I'm glad those who don't like writing about wrestling anymore have found an outlet for their creativity, and Lord knows they should be allowed to talk about and promote these projects in our eW circles, but don't expect me to cover those projects here.

- Heads up for SbW. In their latest edition of Bad Juju (best name for a TV show ever, btw), check out the character DC Stark. He's handled by Obinna, who runs KingPRO and used to handle Anton Assault in AWC. Very entertaining character, one who could make an impact in the coming months.

- No I haven't forgotten about GTT6. It's now official that everyone off my shortlist has been eliminated. I'm terribly sorry for jinxing all of you. Please find it in your hearts to forgive me. We're down to our quarterfinalists, of which I'm one. I met my goal. Yay me! But enough about me. We have our first semifinalist, Sammy Brown, who is an amazing story. The handler, John Cantel (a ToC alum!), won a competition with the character pre-tourney, and elected to use him rather than one of his established characters (my favorite of which is the incomparable Tony "The Grin" Gamble). He proceeds to tear through the tournament, beating High Flyer and Easton Hall (another Obinna creation). He got to the semis because Tywon had to bow out with Olsig, but it's still no slight on Sammy Brown's run thus far. It'll be interesting to see how things turn out

[GTT6] Looking at round 2

The second round for GTT6 is in the books. Not the best round of tournament play in e-fed history, but that's what happens when you get wholesale no-shows like we got in this round. I can honestly say I'm aghast, but I can also say I'm pretty glad that I got a live one for my match.

Real life happens. I think I've stressed that in this blog more times than I care to recall, and there were some cases of real life happening. Sean Williams' alleged sexual encounter while at a convention here in the Greatest City In These United States is one thing. He entered the tourney assuming he'd have time, but this convention came up. Shit happens.

But then, you've got people who entered the tournament and they claim they didn't know what the committment was going to be all about. I have to ask, how could you not? I mean, the two RP minimum for an early round can be off-putting. I can see that. It almost prevented me from being eligible to advance with my work schedule having me commute back and forth between here and Baltimore for the last nine weekdays. But I knew that there was going to be a demand for RPing in this tourney, and fortunately, I met it. How did I know? Well, remember last year, the efforts that folks like Sean and Andrew Delling and Andy Hewitt put forth to make it as far as they did weren't trivial. They put up multiple RPs of great quality to make it as far as they did. In years' past to my knowledge, there was more of a demand for number of RPs. How could you sit back and say you didn't know you had to put that much effort in? I don't know.

As for the results, there were some huge shockers, like Earth-shattering. In the first round, while Sage over Rollins and VJ over Tchu were pegged upsets in the most techincal term, most people would agree that both those results were no surprise. Then again, the one upset that happened wasn't all that shocking, at least to me and folks who've followed AWC over the last year. Jack Murphy beat The Illustrious Face-Eater in a match that most people didn't see coming. Those in the know, though, would remember back in the springtime when the same Jack Murphy upended the only-slightly modified character Adam Dick for the AWC Transatlantic Championship. The other upset... well, looking back at it, maybe it's not much of an upset either, but still, even if it's Vangelus Olsig taking out Dr. C, it's still someone you wouldn't have thought would have taken out Dr. C.

All of this just goes to show that GTT is often a time when unknown talents come out and shine. We pump up our favorites and in turn create artificial shock whenever they lose. We're in the stage where everyone left deserves to be here.

Finally, I'd like to note that A1 has done itself proud by getting three people (myself, Dan West and Jeff P.) into the third round, all after losing in the first round and gaining play-ins. Hopefully, we can be the story of this year's GTT by continuing to do well and putting people on notice.

October's Wrestler of the Month

Alright, for this past month of October, the E-Fed Blog would like to honor Jason Snow as the Wrestler of the Month. Snow's return to e-fedding has been an impactful one, going toe to toe on the stick with two of the best in the business, "The Renegade" Rich Rollins and Angelo Deville. Then, in a shocking twist at PRIME's Great American Nightmare, he shocked the world and sided with the Satanically good duo, assaulting his own partner Xavier Kannon and forming perhaps the most formidable trio of wrestlers in the entire hobby as we know it right now. As an added bonus on top of that, Snow won his first round GTT6 match against Sentinel, a match that many have pegged as the best of the first round. Let's give a big round of applause for Snow, "informing" >=) his way to the top of th heap in October.

Honorable Mentions: Jason Payne (TEAM events, PTC events), The Spoiler (A1E, TEAM Events), James Irish (A1E, TEAM Events), IrishRed (MBE, A1E, UCW), The First (UCW), Garbage Bag Johnny (AWC, PTC Events), Tchu (PRIME, PTC Events), Nova (PRIME, TEAM Events, PTC Events), Seymour Almasy (AWC, GCW, PRIME, PTC Events)

Previous Wrestlers of the Month for 2006
January: The Illustrious Face-Eater/Adam Dick (AWC, PRIME)
February: Seymour Almasy (ACW, PTC Events)
March: Yori Yakamo, Jr. (NFW)
April: "Triple X" Sean Stevens (EPW)
May: The Illustrious Face-Eater/Adam Dick (AWC, PRIME)
June: D! (NAPW, TEAM Events)
July: Joey Melton (PRIME, NFW, UCW, EPW)
August: Tchu (PRIME)
September: Garbage Bag Johnny (AWC)

[GTT6] Round 1B Commentary

As for the first wave of first round goodness, here's a rundown of the other three brackets.

Pooh Bracket
Kanga Bracket
Tigger Bracket

And now, thoughts, in reverse order.

Tigger - There really aren't too many surprises here. GBJ advanced with a wicked RP... read it!, and I still think he's the bracket favorite. Still though, despite the inherent absurdity of the character, Plucky the Cockfighting Duck turned my head at least with his hilarious RP which contained a pretty memorable line:

"Holy frijoles, that duck knows lucha libre!"

Honestly, I want to hate Plucky, but I can't because the writing is so deliciously over-the-top. Also notable in this bracket is the advancement of Bryan Storms, who is the only FW/A1 character who won their first round match. Congrats to Shinder for being able to pull off what myself, Jeff P., Jason and Dan weren't.

Kanga - One HUGE upset here and another milder one. The Earth-shaking upset was Hoyt Williams losing to Joshua Kosidlo. I know I didn't have Hoyt on my shortlist, but I expected him to notch at least two wins under his Bible belt before losing out. The next one might have been expected from some people, but when a short-lister goes down, a short-lister who happens to hold the Global Championship in his last PTC event, well, it still turns heads. Kimbusa won the Global Championship from Seymour Almasy and knocked him out of GTT6 in the first round. Talk about one last Chocobo ride into the sunset gone awry. There weren't any other real huge surprises in this bracket though, but Almasy and Hoyt going down... man.

Pooh - First off, let me say that I'm not angry that I lost, not even in the short term like I was last year. I brought it, and it wasn't good enough to advance. Simple as that. Maybe next year, I'll be able to get in and get past the first round. Still sitting on a PTC goose egg, GTT and IG combined. *sigh*

Anyway, onto more objective discussion...

Two of the judges' comments rubbed me wrong here. One, Judge #3 in the Payne/Dash matchup... I understand the criticism. Although I personally enjoyed Jason's RP and thought it to be an amusing take on the proceedings, I know that the "unoriginality" of the piece could bring it down. The way the comment was presented though... I know it might not have seemed to have come off badly, or maybe it wasn't even intended to be posted as such, but it still was. While I don't begrudge the judges their right to their opinions, and while I certainly don't begrudge their right to be straightfoward and not to pull any punches, this, I think, goes too far. I don't want the judges to walk on eggshells with what they post, but I think they should know not to hand in inflammatory things for Ross to post.

(For the record, I did discuss this with the judge in question. I'm not going to say who it was - a good journalist never reveals his sources - but he understands the nature of how it could have been construed wrong as well. It was an honest mistake, and there are no hard feelings towards anyone, believe you me.)

The other judge in question was Judge #2 of the YYJ/Sirrajin match. I was pretty miffed when I saw the comments initially and thought they were also glib and uncalled for. After rereading them, I think that the opinions and criticisms offered within were valid points of view. However, this line sticks out to me:

"The big problem is, while the parodied storyline has been done, this would seem to be a storyline we'd expect from someone else and it wouldn't be as lacking in the ability to keep my interest."

Umm, what's this supposed to mean? I know most of the guys from PTC, unless they've been in NFW, have never been in contact with YYJ before, but how could this be something you'd expect from someone else and not Jeff P., who's done YYJ off and on for the last four or five years? He did post a bio page, for crying out loud. I feel you have a right to favor any RP over another RP, and you certainly have the right to think that Sirrajin won the match. Darryl is a solid writer in his own right, and I hope no one thinks that I'm taking anything away from his win.

I just like to see some better reasoning behind the judgings. If you can't put your feelings into words very well, then be short and somewhat vague with your critiques. Simple as that.

Other than that, the PRIME-killer, Digital Mortality, was finally killed by a PRIME-ate as Karina Wolfenden took him out. That stands out to me as the other notable result in this bracket. Nova also posted a quality RP, with more to come. I did pick him to win this bracket, mind you, so hopefully, I didn't jinx him too badly.

[GTT6] A question of play-ins

The first play-ins for GTT6, ie, two characters who lost in round 1-A who'll come back and compete in round 2 due to open slots through double-no-shows. Steve Watson, CPA (huzzah!) and Rich Rollins were given the spots, but Andrew Delling (Rollins' handler) refused the shot, sparking some debate on the boards over whether the spots should even be available. The main argument against them is that it's not fair to put someone who lost fairly back in the tournament, thus giving them a shot at new life. You lost, you're out. Simple as that, right?

Well, no, like most issues, it's not a black and white issue. Ask any fedhead to give his/her list of annoyances, and I'll bet you no-shows will be somewhere high on that list. I know the pain all too well, as I've seen more no-shows than I care to remember in the three tournaments I've run in relation to TEAM so far. Thankfully, I think the only two no-shows for the SuperShow were Lindz and Ed of SVJ fame, and they really weren't no-shows because Lindz told me in advance that neither she nor Ed were able to put up anything for the match, which I appreciate. What's really annoying though is when an entire match is washed out due to dueling no-shows, especially in a tournament setting. Now, you're setting up situations where guys get free passes into later rounds where other guys are busting their asses for them. Is this the fault of the person receiving the unintentional bye? Of course it isn't. I'm not going to sit here and pontificate on folks who are in the right place at the right time because it's all a game of chance.

However, chance or no chance, it's still a bum deal when a Watson, a Rollins, a Tchu or a Hunter Jones or anyone else who came with their A-game has to sit down because they ran into an opponent who was just on another level than they were for that one match while two other guys end up not showing for the tournament at all and cause a washout in a match. If there's a way we can rectify an unintentionally unfair situation, then I see no reason why we shouldn't do it. Pete Speer, an admin at PTC, said it best:

"...[H]ow would you feel about a champion of GTT that only wrestles 3 times the entire tournament, while others write 7 good rounds of stuff? Not very fair, is it?"

Besides, I'm not so sure if I would be proud of winning GTT6 if I only had to RP seriously for 3 rounds. I mean, in this hobby, there aren't many emptier feelings than winning a match just because your opponent no-showed.

Someone used the analogy of the Colts being readmitted into the playoffs after losing to the Steelers. That's an absurd comparison because in the NFL, it's very rare you see one team forfeit a game, let alone both. There is no counterpart for what happens here in major sports. We can't just assume there's an interchangeable situation for everything in our hobby. Some things are unique to us here, and I applaud Pete, Ross, RJ and anyone else involved in the decision making process to have this in place, for thinking on their feet and tailoring a solution to the annoying problem of X-TREEM NO-SHOWING!!!!1

Finally, it was commented that Andrew was classy in giving up his spot. I agree that he was doing the classy thing in that situation, but not for giving up the play-in altogether, as I felt some who were applauding him were only doing so out of their protestations of the system altogether. I thought Andrew did the right thing because he's done all he could have done in the GTT setting outside of being the first to repeat. Even without attaining that milestone, 48-0 is more than legendary, it's damn mythic. While the real life counterpart to our hobby sees so many people concerned with hanging onto their spots as long as possible, Andrew showed a great sensitivity for the longterm health and well-being of the hobby by passing along his spot to someone who had more to prove, someone who would be encouraged to improve him/herself and step into the elite, ensuring the life of PTC and the hobby in general long after the current guard has faded into the sunset. This is truly a case of someone putting another wrestler over, and for that reason, Andrew's actions should be applauded.

Results-a-palooza

First up, we have AWC's Untouchable pay-per-view. I haven't gotten the chance to read it yet, save the intro which is another shot in the ongoing IC battle with PRIME, but when I do, you know I'll post thoughts. I wasn't involved in this event at all, but I've got something big coming up in AWC. You won't wanna miss it.

Next up, it's time for some GTT6 results goodness. Now if you're familiar with the result posting style, you know that they don't post it in wrestling write-up format but by just posting the judges' in-depth (or in some cases, not-so-in-depth :p) feedback. Honestly, I've always thought this hurts the event in terms of showcasing, but it keeps the trains running on time I suppose. Here they are by bracket, the first three.

Piglet
Rabbit
Eeyore

Now, thoughts by bracket.

- Starting with Eeyore, there weren't very many surprises here. Dr. C and Facey both won, although I'm a bit disappointed that Oxios, who's becoming a favorite character of mine in PRIME, and Josh Moody, who has a lot of supporters, didn't show. Of course, I expected the Flyer/Watson match to be close, and it was. I think if PTC didn't know before how awesome either one of these guys are, they know now. It's a shame one of them had to go home, but I can't wear my Dan West fandom on my sleeve and say how much of a bummer it is that he lost because I still haven't read Ford's RP. Still, the Watson piece was fantastic and it just goes to show how versatile a writer Dan is.

- Rabbit, aka the "Sleeper Bracket", and once again, no surprises. Ember, Tigera, the Prophet all advanced. Kinda surprised that Axel Action got shut out, but Bobino does have an IG win under his belt. Another point of contention was the use of Mentok the Mindtaker, who's actually a real character in Harvey Birdman. With all the hullaballoo about plagiarism, I'm surprised they let him in, but I saw that this one is the last time it's going to happen. Honestly, I think if you're going to play someone just as he is on a TV show, then you should RP him in an arena that involves that TV show. People don't try to RP as Hulk Hogan or even a created wrestler character in Star Trek RP circles. I mean, be somewhat original.

- Piglet... Matt, I'm so sorry for jinxing you. I didn't think it would take effect this early, despite the fact that you were going up against VJ. Damn randomizer! I'll make it up to you somehow, even if I have to airlift a case of beer out to where you're at. I wasn't surprised to see Sage win, but I was absolutely shocked to see that Rollins didn't even get a single vote. He didn't lose a single judge last year, and he doesn't win one this year. How screwy is that? Can't say I'm surprised about the other results, but I'm pretty dismayed at the double no-show.

- Speaking of the double no-show, this means at least one person will get a chance for a play-in spot. You've got so many deserving candidates: Tchu, Rollins, Ron Mexico, Axel Action, Hunter Jones, Watson... who is going to get it? Or will it come from one of the 1B losers? When you're going to get someone losing from matches such as YYJ/Sirrajin, Almasy/Kimbusa and K-Wolf/DM just to name a few, then you've really got a deep field to choose from. Right now, it'd be a tossup between Tchu and Watson, mainly for selfish reasons. Tchu because I picked him to win it all, dammit, and Watson because I'm a mark for Dan West and the Watson character.

Finally, we have the business of a returning fed's first PPV back from hiatus. MBE presents Awakenings, and I have to say it was a solid show. For one, it was something different than the "smarkish" writeups we've been seeing for the TV shows.

One huge strength for this card is the angle and feud building and heat retention for everyone involved. Such attention is paid to details for each feud and angle, evident in the main event, the PbPro Quintuple Crown match and the CJD/El Terrible match. I also thought that they did a great job of keeping everyone's heat intact, the shining example here being Justin Evitable looking like a Champ against Doc Silver even in defeat.

However, I think the writeups themselves were a little rusty. Of course, Jeff P. had to write five matches by himself (and I'm still waiting for my Tag Team Championship writeup, dammit!), so that will sap someone for sure, but once again, I'm not a huge fan of the alternating narrative/PBP style. Stick with one, preferably PBP seeing that the banter between Till and Dr. P was OUTSTANDING.

I'd give this a solid 3.5 out of 5, which is pretty good considering it was the first PPV back since the MBE Cup finals, and they got it out in good time. Things are looking up for the fed as long as people get up off their duffs and start joining and RPing.

[GTT6] A survey and my pick to win

Alrighty, I composed an informal, three-question survey about GTT6 and I set out to get the opinions of various PTC heads. Now, I'm not going to associate the names with the answers because some of them are judges and I don't want to make people think they're biased, but I will tell you who all voted. You can try to guess who picked whom though ;)

Alrighty, your list...

Sean Williams - Handles Seymour Almasy, is the current PTC Global Champion and is your all-purpose target in this year's tournament
Mat Waters - He's Poser Jebus, plus he's handled two of PTC's most infamous characters, Xavier Kannon and Karina Wolfenden
Josh Kalvaledge - Handles Garbage Bag Johnny and pretty much has placed AWC in a garbage-ridden stranglehold, winning Zero 2 Hero and the AWC Transatlantic Championship within his first four months in the company.
Joe Schmidt - He's fucked your mind in both AWC and PRIME, blown up in the ring (or did he?) and won IG24 as The Illustrious Face-Eater
Kat the Shadow - She's the most recent former Global Champion as Shadow and she's got GCW under her thumb
Obinna - Handles a million characters (most recently Anton Assault in AWC, Danny Boy Vegas at TEAM SuperShow I and Easton Weston Hall in GTT6), plus runs KINGPro
Pitt Hix - Global's BMOC, he recently handled Jake Hix to a 4th place finish in the TEAM Tournament of Champions
Tom Ford - Architect of much fWo insanity as High Flyer, the fed's last Champion, also ran IWO for awhile
Max - Runs FUSE, and runs it well, I might add... has handled Team Baked and Jason Warr in the past
Sam Landry - Handles AWC's resident Bible thumpers, The Furious Fists of God
Andy Hewitt - What can you say that already hasn't been said? Handles a plethora of characters, including GTT4 pwner, GTT6 co-favorite and XUW Intercontinental Champion Dr. Curiosity
Trent - He handles Agent Dash in AWC and GTT6
Tywon - Been all around the world, most recently in PRIME, AWC and the recently departed ACW
Billiam - He's Mr. GCW, and has also graced Global with Vivica J. Valentine and Christian Zenith
Aaron Dillon - Another guy who's been all around the world in places like ACW, jOlt, PRIME, tSC, NFW and most currently GCW as the Only Diamond in This Sport, Brandon Youngblood
Lindz - Another one whose resumé is impeccable, she, like me, originally made her name in the FW world and A1E. In addition to her 3rd place ToC finish and World Championship in EPW, she's also a Tag Team Champion in PRIME
Darryl - Handles Killean Sirrajin in PRIME
Dean - Currently retired, but he's handled in PRIME, Core, GCW and other feds in the past as Baltasar and Buddy Kingfisher
Fergus Looney - An AWC mainstay as Jack Murphy
Al Larcher - YEEEHAW~! The Wild Williams Family is Al's domain
Ryan Murray - He's the bane of PTC as Archibald MacGregor, he's entering this as Clinton Sage, and like me, he's a Wawa afficianado

Now, without furhter ado...

1. If Rich Rollins, Seymour Almasy, Karina Wolfenden, Dr. Curiosity and Shadow somehow all got eliminated within the first two rounds of GTT6, who do you think would win?

As with the other two questions, I got varied response to this question, but not as varied. Looks like folks have latched onto a select few:

Clinton Sage - 4
Garbage Bag Johnny - 4
Nova - 4
The Illustrious Face-Eater - 3
Tchu - 2
Saij - 1
Jason Snow - 1
Digital Mortality - 1
Tigera - 1

Next up...

2. Among the super-unknowns, who do you think has the best shot of winning?

This one was a little more varied... a lot of different definitions of the word "super-unknown" too. Regardless, there are still a few favorites here despite the variance, plus a few people still seem to think I'm unknown... fancy that :p

The Mysterious Masked Mexican - 3
Easton Hall - 3
The Phantom Republican - 2
Samuel Tobias Stevens - 2
Yori Yakamo, Jr. - 2
Xian Phillipse - 1
Angelica Dominique - 1
Plucky the Cockfighting Duck - 1
Steve Watson, CPA - 1
The Handler - 1
High Flyer - 1
Garbage Bag Johnny - 1
Cadence Rain - 1
Dusk - 1

Finally...

3. Aside from yourself, who are you rooting for to win GTT6?

Much more variance here... a wide range of characters who are liked enough to be wanted to win this thing :)

Nova - 3
The Illustrious Face-Eater - 3
Seymour Almasy - 2
Plucky the Cockfighting Duck - 1
Hoyt Williams - 1
Jack Murphy - 1
Dr. Curiosity - 1
Token Weed - 1
Tigera - 1
Ely Braxton - 1
Garbage Bag Johnny - 1
Saij - 1
Tchu - 1
Tessa Windsor - 1
Shadow - 1
Violence Jack - 1

Alrighty, now, before I get to my pick, here are my answers to the above questions...

1. If Rich Rollins, Seymour Almasy, Karina Wolfenden, Dr. Curiosity and Shadow somehow all got eliminated within the first two rounds of GTT6, who do you think would win?

I'd have to go with Tchu. Like I've said before, he's dominated PRIME for the last few months, facing the best competition and outright owning them. He's used to the pressure (one burp against Clyde Walkins notwithstanding) and outside of PRIME, you rarely see him mentioned within the i-fed (at least where I've noticed). He's talented enough to win, and under-the-radar enough to dodge the overwhelming hype.

2. Among the super-unknowns, who do you think has the best shot of winning?

I was going to say YYJ, but with all the praise he's been getting on the PTC boards, I don't think he's that super-unknown. Also, another guy from A1 land has entered this thing, and he's on occasion dominated YYJ and Jeff's other character, Hida Yakamo. I'm talking about Steve Watson, CPA. Dan's got a pretty sharp wrestling mind, and he can take the most inane-sounding gimmick and turn it into the most over thing in your fed or tournament.

3. Aside from yourself, who are you rooting for to win GTT6?

Well, I want AWC to do well. I want us to increase our standing within the PTC community. I want to get more angle fed and PTC big name free agents, and I want our unofficial ratings to go up. The best way we can do all that is to have one of our guys win this thing. I think GBJ has our best shot, and I'm pulling for Josh to do well, but I have to say that if I don't win, I hope Jack Murphy does. Ferg's one of the most underrated handlers in AWC, and I think he has the talent to be one of the best, no matter what community. He deserves to get some press, and hopefully, he's able to slog forward and take the mantle for our humble little Club.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for

The pick

I posted my shortlist the other day. From that... there's one guy on that list I think is ripe for a first round upset: Rich Rollins. He's got Clinton Sage, one of Ryan's crazy characters, and I think the combination of rust and the fact that Ryan's been so hot lately... I think he's gone.

Now that that's out of the way and before Andrew sends me hate mail :), let's move onto the bracket winners.

Eeyore: This seems to be a pretty loaded bracket. You've got two on the shortlist here, plus some guys who could make big runs in Flyer, Watson, Murphy, the Vangelus Twins, Easton Hall and Hunter Jones. Honestly though, I think it comes down to Facey and Curiosity, and in a huge changing of the guard, I think Facey comes out on top to make it to the final six.

Kanga: Another pretty good bracket, two shortlisters, plus Windsor, Valentine and HOYT~! Since guys with target symbols on their backs tend to do well in these events, I'm going to go with Almasy. Kimbusa might just be his hardest challenge, but I think he can take that and the bracket.

Piglet: The randomizer must have hated the four favorites in this bracket because it paired them up into two matches. I already called the Sage over Rollins upset, so that leaves the winner of the Tchu/Jack match to be the other contestant to the bracket. I'm going to go with Tchu here, because at least the big matches will be right up his alley. I think he can take anyone in this bracket, and I think he will.

Pooh: Well, let's assume I don't win this bracket :p... seriously, I'm not going to pick myself in a serious competition, I just hope to do well. But assuming that I don't come out here, you've still got a whopping THREE shortlisters, plus PRIME Killer Digital Mortality and PRIME Cut Killean Sirrajin. There are also three certified upset specials in this bracket in Jason Payne, Damien Cruz and Agent Dash. I think this might just be 2006's Bracket of Death. Yes, I am officially christening it as such. So who comes out of this? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Nova here. He's due.

Rabbit: On paper, this is the easiest/weakest bracket. But these matches don't happen on paper... they happen in cyberspace :p... well you know where I'm going. For me, this is a toss-up, no shortlisters and a lot of unknown quantities and rising stars. Ember, M3, Tigera, Samuelsson, Bobino... out of all of these, I'm going to pick Tigera to make the final six.

Tigger: GBJ is the only shortlister here, and it's no secret, I'm picking him to come out of this bracket. I don't think it'll be easy though. He's got to deal with Youngblood, Saij, Plucky, Snow and Storms (if he shows, that is). Should be an entertaining bracket, but if anyone but GBJ comes out of here, I'll be surprised.

So your final six... Facey, Almasy, Tchu, Nova, Tigera, GBJ... six solid writers, six entertaining characters... only one can win. Who's my pick?

Tchu

I think he's got too much momentum going for him. Sorry Matt, I didn't mean to jinx you, but right now, I think you're going to take this.

So there. That's my pick. Now... discuss!

[GTT6] The Field has been announced

Alrighty, over the weekend, the complete GTT6 field was announced, and yesterday, the pairings were announced. Here's the entire listing, and yes, they are named after Winnie the Pooh characters. No more questions about that :p

Also, there are a few late entry spots left. If you want in, and you've got $10 laying around that you don't mind spending on an e-wrestling tournament, just go to the PTC boards and contact Argyle.

Anyway, there are a lot of people in this thing who could surprise the PTC community and a good amount of people who have a puncher's chance of winning. However, I have a shortlist of ten people whom I think can win this thing without much argument. In a related note, those of you whom I am about to put on my shortlist, I am so sorry for jinxing you in advance.

The shortlist, shall we?

Shadow - She was the most recent former Global Champion. Detractors will look at her gimmick or the fact that she won the title from Über Judge in a no-show. People who will tell you that she's easy pickings for an upset for those reasons are just haters. While my own predilections against her gimmick are well-known, what I can't deny are her writing talent and the objectivity of the judges. From what I've seen, there are no haters in the judging pool, and matched up against anyone, she can hold her own and win. That goes for everyone, from the scrubs that she should beat to the Rollinses and Almasies of the world. However, she's in a tough bracket. Seymour Almasy, Vivica J. Valentine, Hoyt Williams and Tessa Windsor are all formidable foes and some of them are GCW co-fedders. Familiarity may not breed contempt in this case, but these are the folks who know her best. Not to mention Almasy just beat her for that Global Championship. However, if she gets past here, I'd put good money on her to win it all.

Dr. Curiosity - I know I outlined him earlier, but it's so fun that I want to do it again :). Someone who's never lost a match in PTC competition is certainly dangerous, and the Curiosity character is among the best written cheesy characters of all-time. He's lumped in the same bracket as a lot of other oddball comedic-toned characters, including the Illustious-Face Eater and the man who ended his record fWo Cruiserweight Championship reign, High Flyer. Plus, everyone knows who he is now, and once again, no one's ever repeated as GTT Champion. Two big things that work against him. What he does have working for him though is being a veteran of the generous RP-limit environment of XUW and regular competition there. It's not like he has plenty of ring rust to shake off, like our next short-list member...

"The Renegade" Rich Rollins - Once again, I will not mince words. While 48-0 is damn impressive, Rollins has three huge things working against him. One, like I said for Dr. C, no one's ever repeated. Two, the fact that he didn't lose a single judge last time puts immense pressure on him, moreso than anyone else in the tournament. Three, he hasn't seen active competition since, I'd imagine, GTT5, unless he had some action in GCW after that that I didn't follow. However, he has one giant thing working for him. He was the first guy in three GTTs to win with some kind of hype behind him. From what I understand, no one saw Deville's or Curiosity's GTT runs in the previous two years coming. Rollins had a substantial amount of hype behind him last year, and he didn't falter. A sign of being able to handle the pressure? Yes. That works for him tremendously. However... other guys on this shortlist have been through wars more recently. They're more tuned into RPing for a giant battle than Rollins. This reminds me of the first year Jordan came back from his first retirement and played with the #45 in the playoffs. He was able to lift his Bulls to the second round, but his rust precluded him from taking them to the NBA Finals and a possible interruption of the Rockets' repeat. I see the same kind of thing from the Renegade.

Still though, you can't deny his talent. But speaking of rust, or lack thereof... and lemme tell you, facing off against one of Ryan's plethora of characters (Clinton Sage here), isn't a good way to shake off rust.

Tchu - The anithesis of Rollins the respect that he's been bombarded with top-level matches in PRIME over the past few months. Liseux, Sirrajin, Olsig, Nova... the parade keeps coming, and Tchu keeps mowing them down. Is there anyone hotter in the PTC circuit right now? The danger with the Inhuman Being is that after facing such a murderer's row, maybe he's a bit worn down. RPing in the PTC style takes a lot out of you. However, the truly great storytellers have ideas come to them. Tchu's an elite in PRIME, and I think he's got a great shot of taking that elite banner for himself across the entire i-fed as well. However, he's got a murderous first round matchup, and he's perhaps the most likely on the shortlist to get bounced without winning a match. Violence Jack is not one to take lightly. If Tchu gets by that unscathed though... well then all bets against him could very well be off.

The Illustrious Face-Eater - He ran roughshod over AWC. He's making PRIME his bitch as we speak. He just won IG24. If anyone can challenge Tchu for the best in PTC, it's Facey. The thing about him though, and I covered this, is that his writing has a tendency to be self-serving and eccentric. Most people love his style, but my fear is that he comes across a judge who's a little straitlaced or doesn't get the writing. Facey could flame out early or take this whole thing. However, I trust that there won't be any communication barriers, and Facey is going to ride a good long way.

Nova - He's one of the most widely entertaining and liked characters across the circuit. He's also one of the most accessible. I mean, anyone who uses MS Paint like it's going out of style is going to be a crowd pleaser. His comedy might get him in trouble, but comedy has won this before. Much like Deville and Curiosity before him, he's got the profile to win this thing. He's known, but not known enough to make people say "damn" like some of the other bigwigs in this tournament. He's never won a World Championship either. He's ripe to be elevated. What better place to do it than here?

Garbage Bag Johnny - Much like Facey, GBJ has run roughshod over AWC, probably in a more dominant fashion than Facey ever could have hoped to. One could argue that his slate in AWC is comparable to Tchu's in PRIME. He also carries the mantle of AWC most highly. He could be a victim of his own hype though, under the immense weight of being AWC's most highly touted competitor in the tournament. Plus, he's in the same bracket as Jason Snow, Brandon Youngblood and Saij. However, GBJ seems to be cool as a cucumber, and that goes a long way.

Karina Wolfenden - A former Global Champion and 5th place finisher in the ToC, K-Wolf is no stranger to success outside of the friendly confines of PRIME. However, Mat recently retired her from PRIME and was saying that he was gone from active competition. GTT6 pulls him out, and one has to wonder what kind of drive K-Wolf will have for the tournament? The talent isn't a question. It's just a matter of having inspiration to put up your best stuff. Still, if she does find it, then watch out.

Seymour Almasy - He's the sentimental favorite to win this thing. It's his last event in PTC, he's coming in as the Global Champion and he's found his swagger. Still, you can't be 100% sure that Almasy's going to win this thing. For one, if he meets up with Shadow in his bracket, there's a good chance he goes him. Only 1-6 in seven meetings with her, although the 1 came recently and for the Global Championship. It's hard to bet against Almasy, but it's hard to bet on him too.

Yori Yakamo, Jr. - Yes, you read this right. YYJ is my SUPERSLEEPERSPECIAL to win this thing. He's been a smash in both MBE and NFW, and who's to say he can't do it at PTC either? His writing style is a bit out there. He also relies on pure, 100% lewd and absurd comedy. Whether this is a plus or a minus depends on the judge, but I feel that if you don't laugh at a YYJ RP, you have no soul. I'm telling you, he could end up taking this entire tournament. And you laughed at me.

Now, how do I really feel is going to come out of each bracket? Well, tune in tomorrow :)

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.

[GTT6] Apps open later today and VIDEO HYPE~!

Man, I've been active in the last twelve hours, haven't I? :)

Anyway, in something like 12 hours, applications will open for GTT6. I'll post the link here, and I strongly endorse entering this tournament, no matter what fed you're from, no matter what community, no matter what anything. Challenge yourself and challenge the best from the PTC and the e-fedding world altogether.

Some of the guys in it this year have really gotten creative on how to hype themselves for it. The main mode of hypage last year was Photoshop, but this year, it's, soundbites, little animated movies and YouTube. Here are three of my favorites from the multimedia. Let's take a look:

"Renegade" Rich Rollins - Offering number two

This one is so off the wall outrageous. It features John Lennon, Big Bird flipping the bird and Rollins sounding off on the field, mainly Killean Sirrajin. Speaking of the PRIME Cut...

Killean Sirrajin - Boo-yeah

Solid piece, great trash talk and great hype. Good to see PRIME's big guns getting in on the action. Looks like Sirrajin is onery and ready to go.

Duke Williams for Hoyt Williams - Audio only, but still awesome

Oh man, there was some good trash talk in here, but I think the highlight of this audio is Duke Williams going off on gibberish for like two minutes at the end. High entertainment value here, folks. Seriously, even if you don't give a shit about this tournament, click that link and listen to this. If you're not laughing or marking out before this clip's over, you officially have no soul.

[GTT6] Rating the first in

See, I told you this would be hype central ;)

So far, we have six people in for the HYOOGE tournament. Unlike in March Madness, where the first to clinch are your West Bumfuck States and Snooty White Guy Techs, the first six in are some HEAVY hitters. Let's run down the list, shall we?

Hoyt Williams - God's Champion has been MIA since he lost the PTC Extreme Championship to one Archibald MacGregor (my, that seems like an enternity ago, yet it was just a couple of months). One can question how much ring rust he's got on his giant beard and hulking frame, but you can't deny that he brings quality to the table. That quality last year only took him into the second round, where he dropped the match to Digital Mortality. The year before, he dropped in the first round, losing to Dani Fuhrer, aka, the artist who would become Vangelus Olsig. Does this mean Hoyt has a chip on his shoulder this year? Will he be able to exercise the demons? The holy man in me says yes, because if anyone has the talent, it's Al. However, he's been out of active RP competition for awhile, and with the people already in, it'll be tough for him to prove me wrong. I say he maxes out at the quarterfinals if that.

Garbage Bag Johnny - Talk about someone who's been on fire lately. GBJ has come in and destroyed everyone in his path in AWC. He brings length, complexity and depth to the table, and those are all three things that seem to get you far. My worry about him is his relative newness to interfed competition. The ones we peg to dominate don't always come off right away, and I can definitely see someone coming in and upsetting GBJ or for GBJ to get a really tough first round draw and be an unfortunate early exit. However, despite his shortcomings, I'm going to say that GBJ has the potential to win the whole thing. Yes, believe it. He's my sleeper special.

Nova - He's definitely one of my favorite characters in PRIME and NFW as well. I have a feeling the Rising Star has a better shot of going deep in the NFW playoffs than he does in GTT. It seems to be that comedic characters, or characters who incorporate comedic elements into their game, tend to be overlooked for serious stories and characters. I think Nova can pull off a string of upsets, and he's one guy who I really, really, REALLY don't wanna face in this thing. However, I think he tops out after three matches.

Vivica J. Valentine - I have to cop to being a little unfamiliar with this character outside of what I've read of her in GCW (not RPs, but in the cards). From what I've read, she seems like a solid character. I can't gauge where she's going to go although I have a feeling she could make a run. GCW characters always seem to do really well in interfed doings. I guess I could peg her a sleeper based on rep.

Seymour Almasy - Much has been made of this being Almasy's last event in PTC. Sean's retiring the character soon. The Final Fantasy has had a good run of success in the history of the i-fed. He's won PIT (which, from what I'm told, was proxy to winning the unfinished GTT2) and he made a run to the semis last year. Does he have it in him for one more run? He could end up like John Elway, riding off into the sunset, or Brett Favre, hanging it up in a debacle like he is this year. I tend to think the former because Almasy's been coming with the content and not throwing up clunkers. Do I think he's going to win? Well... I lean towards no, because no one's ever won GTT twice and with the names in and some of the names who are rumored to be entering, Almasy might not have such an easy road to the finals. Still though, you cannot argue against him being one of the odds-on favorites to win this thing.

Rich Rollins - When Rollins announced he was entering this year, I got goosebumps, literally. He DOMINATED GTT5, not losing a single vote. It could turn out to be the most dominant performance of all-time. However, there are a few things to consider. One, I don't think he's RPed since that final match. If he has, it was in his home fed of GCW. If you think that rust is a factor in Hoyt's chances of winning, you have to believe it factors for The Renegade. Also, there's that thing of guys not repeating as winner of this tournament. Teh Deville didn't do it, Dr. Curiosity didn't (but then again, Andy entered as a different character... and still made it to the finals). If anyone has a good chance of doing it, it's Rollins... but I'm leery to pick him outright.

So your first six are in. I can't wait to see who else will end up in this thing. I know that Jayce Bradley's character has an automatic bid with any character he wants due to winning Pete's challenge, but as of now, I don't think he's specified. If he enters with Jayce, I think he could make some noise, but I don't think he has the upward potential of the top tier guys that I listed above.

GTT6 on the horizon... I need some advice ;)

Yep, GTT6 was formally announced sometime today on the PTC boards. For those who don't know, GTT is their big annual tournament where a bunch of folks from all over the e-fed universe get together in single elimination style. It once stood for Golden Turnbuckle Tournament, but I'm not sure if that's the appelation for it or if it's just simply GTT. Anyway, it's not just open to PTC members. There's a whole bunch of spots open for free agents, so if you're not in a PTC fed and you don't mind writing storyline RPs in narrative format, then give it a whirl. You'll have a good time.

Speaking of which, last year was my first time in the tournament and I lost miserably in the first round. I entered Maggot, since he's my NFW guy, but now, I'm firmly entrenched in a PTC fed, AWC, as Captain Suleimon. (BTW, Coast to Coast has finally been posted, and once I get through it, expect a full review). My original plan was to enter Suleimon, but now I'm not so sure. I've been finding it tough enough as it is to RP him in AWC, especially since I'm nearing the end of my current RP arc as him and am still struggling to find ideas for the next one which will have to carry me for another few months there. I don't want to run the risk of burning him out.

Yet on the other hand, I want to represent AWC. No one seems to want to rep them come tournament time. Last year, we had Red Rock and Paddy O'Shea enter. I don't have the stats in front of me, but it seemed like they were the only guys from AWC to throw their hats in. This year, I'm not sure who is interested. I'm sure Josh and Mick will want to try again, but then again, maybe they're facing burnout issues too. Who knows. Regardless, with Gabriel Afeaki, Garbage Bag Johnny, Pierce Lavelle, Chainz, Aimz, Darcy Crisis, Anton Assault and of course, the incomparable Jack Murphy on the roster, we have more than enough guys to go in and kick ass. The question is... will we have the drive to enter guys to represent? If not, then I would certainly feel obliged.

So that's my dilemma... do I go with my best chance to win the tournament, which is to enter a character with fresher "PTC legs," especially since I have some ideas in mind for some of them (JA and Roderick McRatrick especially... but I don't think I want to unleash Roddy on them for GTT)? Or do I go with loyalty to my PTC fed and a character who right now has a hot hand in the fed but whose entry MAY (not definitely, but may) burn out and cost AWC that momentum in-fed and in the interfed.

All relevant feedback is welcomed :)