Post by stennick on Sept 10, 2009 4:47:54 GMT -5
Alright Hobo. Its safe to say that if I struggle remember Tenn and Den storylines which I’ve been following for nearly this entire decade….literally. Then I know even less about yours. First because I haven’t read your show nearly as religiously since you just came on the scene a few years ago, and secondly because you produce more shows there for time flies much faster in your universe….thus more things changing than in theirs. That being said I reviewed a Heb show so I thought I’d review your latest ppv. Warning I’m not a nice guy, I don’t wear white hats….ok so that’s false I do wear white fitted caps all the time and my wife bitches because they get dirty in a week and I’m dropping another thirty on another cap….yes I could wash it but then the stickers fall off and it just looks gay. My point being is I refuse to give reviews where I say “hey it was great”. I’ll tell you if something was awesome, I’ll also tell you if you utterly fail at something. So if that bothers you….which I doubt it would. If it did however then stop reading....but really don't because it took me a long ass time to read this show in one sitting and review it in the same said sitting. So just deal with the fact I'll have good and bad to say and go on from there 
Great graphics for the hype although the background isn’t very trial and errorish I’m guessing someone else did these graphics for you…..that being sad as I open up the show I like the copywright law disclaimer. Fro there you cut into promos. I’ll be honest I don’t know 80 percent of these guys. I don’t know what they look like, how big they are, etc. Some pictures of these guys would be nice. I know a place you could d/l nice 150x.150 shots of these guys and it’d be something to go off of. Especially for people that are going to be reading this. 90 percent aren’t going to know who this Japanese cat is. I can tell you the Adam Pearce’s of the world, I can point out the BLK out’s of the world. However guys like Sexxxy Eddy are pretty much contained to a special part of the wrestling world that doesn’t get much exposure and given who presents that special part of the wrestling world nowadays maybe its for the best. At any rate if you want to draw people in, make them feel like their part of the show and part of these characters offer up some graphics. At the very least it’s a pay per view man. The pageantry is at an all time high on these things. Graphics, fireworks, videotrons, etc. Not too mention if your going to draw people in and if your going to point people in a direction to view your shows then shouldn’t it be at a balls to the wall, every story gets told pay per view? Its tough to draw in new viewers/readers when your just faced with walls and walls of endless text when something as simple as pictures, like the ones you used in your shorter hype of the show would be nice in this spot.
That being said I picked up a royal rumble vibe for the promos with Demolition making the eight year old me believe that one of them could win the royal rumble. That being said the time for these cut away promos is for the television shows. I’d rather go straight to something BIG happening. Even if it going straight to the opening match, or maybe its an attack in the back, or maybe its just ONE man in the RING telling everyone else how before the end of the night he will have FORCED them to have new found respect for him. At anyrate this sixteen man world title match sounds like it could be a bit much man. I mean lets be honest no promotion has a legit sixteen men, hell most don’t have a legit eight man that can truly be bought as world champion. Its over kill and has the potential to get confusing especially in text form. That’s my doubts but as a murdering wrestler and my former hero would say…..prove me wrong. The segment then dragged on and one another draw back to having to account for SIXTEEN people. Even with short promos sixteen short promos is still a long ass promo.
Finally we’re kicking things off……live I would assume? Douglas is money in the color spot, also having GMC on the introductions is pure awesome. Best ring announcer ever. I wanna send a big fuck you to Howard Finke….yeah GMC owns you bitch. Laaaaadies and Geeeeentlemen…..Naaaaaaaature Booooooy RiiiiiiiiiiiC Flaaaaair! Yeah that’s right.
This Menage a Trois thing its another thing in itself. Sometimes I think you push the envelope because people say “ohhhh that’s too much”. I get that, you wanna say “you think that was too much, fuck you, THIS is too much”. However doing that is like when Russo would find out a finish has leaked onto the net and for fear someone might know what was going on he would flip out and over do it just for the sake of over doing it. I think your guilty of this sometimes. You want to be too edgy, too hardcore. Which is funny because your promotion’s name is World Championship Wrestling Alliance which by its nature is a bland, catch all, generic wrestling name. Nowhere in that name would you believe a match being called “ménage a trios” three way. Instead of calling this a three way dance, or a triple threat match or old school WCW Triangle match which btw I believe was the first incarnation of this fairly modern triple threat match that we see constantly now. However getting back to my point is wrestling with grown men touching, and grabbing and pulling on each other all the while grunting and moaning. I’d say in their trunks but you’ve opted out of using guys with actual wrestling gear. Which btw takes away from the allure of the whole thing. If a guy is dressed like me wrestling in jeans and a wifebeater it doesn’t make me believe he’s any better than I am. Of course when a guy weighs as much as I do and lacks definition he can’t wrestle in trunks because he’ll look like a tiny boy compared to the 270 pound men that storm the major leagues. So it’s a damned if ya do, damned if ya don’t. My point is calling it a ménage a trios may be edgy, extreme and even personally satisfying for you to give the finger to those that rip your show. But then your going to get the whole “yeah wresting’s not gay enough we gotta bring up words like ménage a trios when it concerns grown men wrestling each other” type arguments such as this one.
Menage a Trois Title Match
All of that being said I really do like the idea of a tripe threat match TOURNAMENT. Best I can tell it’s a tournament of three way matches which is really bad ass. So instead of presenting me and hyping it as just that a simple, never before done tournament. You had to put the uneeded bells and whistles on it. Sometimes in wresting its ok if the fans know whats coming next it’s the game of the whole thing. Same thing for things like this. Sometimes keeping it simple and letting the innovation speak for itself is good enough. You could have spent more time bragging about how WCWA is on the cutting edge of whats new in wrestling doing this never before done tournament and capping it off with a TITLE match. Instead we got a lot of sexxxy eddy jokes.
That being said some breaks in here would be great. That’s where some graphics or some bolded text something. Its hard to follow along even in one sitting I can’t imagine trying to find your place if you had to leave and come back to it.
Good Jimmy Jacobs promo. Very good Hobo. I felt I was listening to a man on his last straw of sanity a man that wasn’t sure what the future held for him and LIKED it. I dig Jimmy Jacobs that is all.
Chuck Taylor vs Pac
I don’t know Pac but I liked his short promo and he sounds interesting. One little thing I know that Sexxxy Eddy is Sexxxy Eddy. But if you’re a real life breathing promotion and your marketing these guys. You can’t have Sexxxxy Eddy and then in the VERY next match have “Sexy” Chuck Taylor. Come up with another nickname for Chuck. Its not like he’s world known as “Sexy” Chuck Taylor. You could have completely renamed him and not a single person would bat an eyelash. I’m just suggesting you drop the sexy gimmick when you already have a sexxxy eddy. Anyway we’re two matches in and this is the second title match. Either you have a shit ton of titles or you don’t have many matches on the show. Or you don’t wanna space your title matches out…..lets see what it turns out to be. Ok so is the Kings of Wresting a stable WITHIN the Worldwide Stable? Tell me its not a stable within a stable. If it’s a tag team within a stable ala the Outsiders then that’s cool. Fuck if it’s a clique of three really close buddies who just every once in a while refer to themselves as the wolfpac “ala Syxx, Hall and Nash” that’s cool. But if it’s a stable that was swallowed or joined a bigger stable yet still keeping its stable indentity then that’d just be a bit much. Great high impact, fast paced match. You kept it in the ring mostly, you kept the momentum shifting and the finish outta nowhere. The ONLY suggestion I have is that I don’t have a damn clue what some of these moves are the trademark ones I mean. Omega driver? Maybe put OMGEGA DRIVER (piledriver) I know its NOT a piledriver but that’s just an example. Other than that you’ve been nailing it on the match front.
Good Lufisto Promo, acceptable Beef promo it was cute, fun, heart warming all that good stuff. The rest of this is starting to come together now that you’ve picked up some momentum.
Backseat Boyz vs. Delerious/Ricochet
I’m FROM ST. Louis so I know these two well. That on top of being a huge Backseat Boyz fan. I really dug this match. It wasn’t QUITE as crazy as the last match but it was more brutal and I liked that. The match was just fine for what it was. Not mach of the night but I liked the more brutal side of the Backseat Boyz and you captured the wackiness of Derlious quite well. Good match.
The Danny Havoc promo. We’re introducing this guy for the first time. The thumbs up freeze frame seemed Foleyish. You know the loveable hardcore wrestling who likes the simpler things in life. That and the several minute promo on cheese just didn’t really do it for me.
Then we get MickieKnuckles. Fisto scathed her in that promo. This promo she’s trying to be serious and get back at Fisto. Instead she comes up with “yeah you’d know about missionary” hahahaha then Sexxxy Eddy comes in and turns what is supposed to be a blood feud between two bad bitches into a comedy spot. Lufisto made me wanna see them fight. This segment just made me want it to be over. The Eddy spot I’m ok with, just not during a serious, no bullshit, I’m gonna show you I’m a bad bitch promo ya know?
Lufisto vs. Mickie Knuckles
I’m not a huge fan of women’s hardcore wrestling. I like women’s wrestling. The Victoria/Trish matches were damn good. This was good for what it was but honestly I can’t offer an unbiased opinion of it. It lived up to the hype and in wrestling that’s all that matters.
The BLK Out promo was good but I’m confused on Necro being part of BLK out. I thought BLK out was just that BLK as in Blacked Out. Necro is not gangsta thus not really fitting with the group. Is he aligned with them in some manner? I just don’t know the story so fill me in. The promo was fun though with Abby and what not
The Janetty Promo was more of the same, fun, light hearted I like that about them. So is this really a new MJ? Or was it a “ok well I tried but fuck it the sets falling apart I am who I am” MJ. I guess I’ll find out shortly.
MJ vs. Some Japanese guy with an American first name
So far we’ve had the WCWA International Title, Television Title, and Junior Heavyweight Title defended. I’m guessing International is better than Television no? Let me point out some irony to you my good friend.
“SD: He’s sports entertainment. And frankly Ben, Sports entertainment sucks. Let’s hope Vince signs this dumb fuck to be a part of his traveling circus with cheerleaders, worm eating idiots, and leprecauns who live under the ring.”
The Ironic thing is that if you add up all the segments you’ve had so far. You STARTED the show with a HUGE promo and you’ve been averaging two promos for every one match. You’ve had quirky crazy legends skit, you’ve had fat dude with a cute girl romance skit, you’ve had random wrestler with no clothes on skit. My friend like it or not you ARE sports entertainment. If Douglas is pissed off about this why isn’t he pissed about all the other skits being done on the show? Anyway the match was ok, nothing too technically wrong with it for being an MJ match and all. Good match at the end of there, things got more and more intense. I will say I’m sad to see MJ lose the match and the title but good finish either way.
Nathan Kelly is pissed at Messiah, honestly it seems like these promos have two gears. “dark and demented” or “light hearted and quirky”. I’d like to see some gearage inbetween. Maybe some condensending promos, maybe some passionate heart felt ones, maybe a wild crazy unpredictable promo….something more than the two gears I’ve gotten. Both are starting to lose their effect on me and we’re only halfway through the show. At first I was like “ohh that’s dark I like that” then I was like “ohh well wasn’t that funny and cute” and now I’m like “ok it’s a type a promo” or ok it’s a ‘type b” promo.
Feast or Famine Match
I got NO clue who these guys are. I can only imagine these are local guys from your area I’ve never heard of Tommy End or these other guys. This is were PICTURES would help me visualize some of these lesser known cats. You did to your credit give me their descriptions. Long haired grunge vs clean cut glitter. I didn’t like that one of them didn’t get cut. You seemed to really draaaaag this one out. So far your worst match of the night. I’m not saying it was horrible but even your commentary was saying “get to the point”
The Kings of Wrestling Promo. These guys are all over the place and I haven’t really cared much. Chris Hero with random “I am the best” promo. Is this a new group? What about Worldwide? I’m confused. Why does lance storm not speak ever it seems? Why does Storm let Hero proclaim himself the greatest when Storm himself is way more accomplished in all those areas than Hero? Anyway I’m not feeling the KOW maybe part of it is because the name I know was an ROH/CZW thing but before that TNA used it for their new World order knock off with JJ, Hall and Nash.
Webb vs. Messiah
Your allowed to have your hardcore match up now. I’m glad you’ve spaced them apart the female and the male. Other than that it was crazy bumps, sick shit being done, it was a deathmatch alright. The one problem I have with death match logic is this If a guy can take tables, lightbulbs, FIRE in some cases. Why doesn’t he go after the world title? If all of that shit can’t beat a guy, how are punches and kicks going to get it done? If he can take all that punishment your telling me someone being put through a table or THROWN through shit with force and gravity on their side is less effective than a finisher? There is a huge gap in logic when you have matches like this on a REGULAR basis. If you have a match where two men do this two each other out of a blood feud you can say “the adrenaline, the momentum, the sheer refusal to quit” but when it happens every show you start thinking. If Webb and Messiah can put each other through all of this shit, then why doesn’t one or both of them take on the world champ. How could they POSSIBLY lose a “regular” match up if they can withstand all of this punishment. Then you can replace that argument with “well their not technically effiecient enough to compete in regular matches. They would get pinned because they don’t have good enough technique to compete in those matches” However then I would say well why wouldn’t a regular wrestler with good technique compete in death matches with his gimmick being he’s exercising this demon from his business by beating death match men in their OWN match without using weapons. Either way it takes away from the other matches when you see these guys getting up from all of these insane weapon shots and table breaks. I understand its just one division and it could be the whole company. Atleast if its the whole company then their ALL on that hardcore, unbeatable, instane punishment taking level. Instead of a few elite few who can take all of this punishment, yet aren’t involved in title matches were they would take a tenth of the punishment and would seemingly never be beaten.
BLK OUT promo. This show has been KOW and BLK OUT. We had dark promo with Nathan this was quirky funny promo. Good promo, great Shiek, it was funny but do you see how your stuck in two gears this show?
JJ vs. Beef Wellington
This match ended the only way it could to make both men come out strong. JJ doesn’t take the L to Beef and Beef still gets a moral victory with the crowd. Nicely done my friend good match wrting and good story teling. Way to go for the logical choice and not the “send ‘em home happy” choice.
ANOTHER Chris Hero Promo. Dude this is like the third or fourth time I’ve seen Hero tonight. He was JUST on two matches ago. He’s saying the same shit over and over again. This is pay per view, even the E doesn’t give us the same guy in three long, lengthy promos on PAY PER VIEW. It feels like filler inbetween all of these matches. Its ok to have back to back matches on pay per view without segments in between. We don’t need five KOW and four BLK OUT promos. Atleast the BLK OUT promos are telling a story throughout the night. Hero is just rambling to be rambling. Those long drawn out promos aren’t making me buy him as some legit franchise player it just screams “go out there and tell them you’re the best for the fifth time this show”. If your going to insist on these many promos do some sexxxy eddy shit or some MJ shit keep it light hearted inbetween matches would be better than seeing Hero five times saying the same thing all five times. Last time not only did he talk for himself, but he cut promos for nearly everyone in his group. How much more talking does one man need on a show he’s yet to even wrestle on?
I did like the montage for the next pay per view nicely done on that regard.
We follow another Hero promo by ANOTHER BLK OUT promo. Man this has been WAY to promo heavy for a pay per view. Its be different if this was new guys but I’ve seen the same two guys on my “screen” all night long.
Sixteen Man Match
Ok I’m not very clear on the rules. The batting order can say guy four on that order NOT tag in guy one? Can you only tag the guy next in line in the batting order? What does it really matter who you tag in? I’m not real sure this seems like it could get over gimmicked REAL quick. On top of that its elimination. I’m gonna dive into the match to get the rules that way. So the match was basically a sixteen man tag elimination match with the winner being the world champ. That being said it was WAY more long and drawn out that it needed to be. There was no need for a SIXTEEN man world title match to main event a pay per view just for Chris Hero to remain champion. If your going to do something like that I would have suggested someone new, someone not favored win even if just for a week or two. The fans sat through all of that to get the same outcome as if it was a Kingston/Hero match. I don’t know if that’s what your building to or you’ve already done it. Either way the match was solid it was just over kill. Especially with the promos by the time this match happened I was sick of reading about these two teams. Again good match, great spots, I loved the Claudio spin.
OVERALL
Lets start at WCWA as a whole. This is my biggest and best look at them yet. These guys are mostly third rate indy guys. I’m not sure if TNA, WWE, and ROH all exist in this world. If they do I would understand why you use the guys you use. However to me a lof of this felt like CZW and IWA MS do pay per view. Most of your guys don’t use wrestling gear, most of your guys are undersized, and fourteen pay per views in or not there isn’t a single guy on your roster that stood out to me. Jacobs made an impression but then you had five guys cut dark, sadistic, the end is near promos of some mannor. BLK out’s segments were funny but they names all seemed interchangeable to me. You pushed Hero to the moon but yet he didn’t say anything in his promos that made me feel or hate him. He just sorta talked a lot and then in the next segment talked a lot about the same stuff he talked a lot about before. I’d like to see someone stand out on their own. Someone that has a bright light shined on them and said “this guys character is like none others and he’s a super star”. You tried to do that with Hero but you went about it all wrong. You could have talked about how Hero’s been mentored by the “best” going today and the best going “yesterday”. Name drop the likes of Dragon, Steamboat, Flair, Storm, Foley, Punk, Joe, Daniels, Styles that he’s rubbed shoulders with and competed along side and in some cases BEATEN. Instead I got none of that I got “we are the kings of wrestling and I’m the best all around wrestler today”.
When he could have said “I’ve paid my dues, I’ve been overlooked my entire career. I didn’t get a fancy WWE paycheck, I didn’t get the light schedule and stupid money TNA gives away. I didn’t get the respect that comes along with being an ROH champion. The funny thing is the men that got those things, they weren’t the best. Truth be told those things gave them an excuse to RUN from the best. I’m Chris Hero not because I’m your Hero….but because I’m mine”. Do you see how he’s arrogant, he’s the best, he’s the franchise and its more than “we are the best all around, blah blah. There was no flash, no arrogance, no REASONING.
So I’d say create a true number one babyface and not EK who did nothing to stand out apart from Sabian, or Necro, or the rest of BLK OUT. Hell they all got the same phrasing, the same catchphrases, their interchangeable. You need more than a story, you need the guys in your story to be unique. You got the story, I like and get the story and I dig that. However you lack the characters to TELL this unique story with. That’s the part I think that needs the most help. More characters all the way around. You have these HUGE clumps of guys that all sound and feel the same.
I know your extreme and on HBO and you can say fuck a whole bunch. Wrestling isn’t about that though. Its not about being edgy. Wrestilng is supposed to be the ultimate mans sport. Its supposed to be about one man saying “I’m better than you and I can prove it by literally using my own physical force to defeat you in a structured setting”. It goes beyond physical competition when that man does get beat or the man that promised the beating loses and he attacks him after the match, or talks trash about him on the next show. Or fakes an injury or whatever you get the point. I mean that literally your story telling is good. Your match writing is very good. I think your product in general is pretty damn decent. I think you cling to this “fuck you we’re edgy”. When in reality if you just toned down not the edigness but the constant reminding us your edgy. The ménage a trois, the Shan Douglas ripping on sports entertainment on a show LITTERED with sports entertainment. All of these distract from what is a very good product and very good writing Hobo. Sometimes its more complicated to be simple. Your name is World Championship Wrestling Alliance not the “we’re gonna do what we want fuckers and if you don’t like it we’re gonna up the ante just because”.
My third complain I touched on was change up gears. You had “dark and demented, vengeful promo” and you had “ha ha we’re just having fun isn’t this funny promo”. Mixed in with your Chris Hero I’m great promo. Those guys wrestling in that feast or famine match. They could have been saying shit like “I’ve worked my entire life to get to this point. I’m this close to being on pay per view every month, I’m this close to being on television every week. I’m this close to living out my dream. Its simple I’m about to walk into a wresting match that in one way is like every other match up I’ve been in. Time limit, one fall, you know the drill. While at the same time that extra ordinary match up holds my very future in it. So imagine if you will….imagine the amount of force its going to take to make me give up, to pin my shoulders to the mat for three full seconds. Can you imagine that? Because I can’t” Something like that its heart felt, its passionate, its “real”. Shit you could even go with the unpredictable, wild, crazy promo a good Heyman like or Douglas like promo. You know “oh shit he just said that type promo”. Instead you were stuck in two gears and with the amount of promos you had by the end of the night I was able to not only predict which promo types turn it was, but I was also no longer impressed with the dark promos and no longer laughing at the funny ones.
One final thing is some split up of the text man. Its just walls and walls and walls of text. No graphics, no breaks, shit sometimes we’re into the next segment and I’m like “wait why is Jannetty out there” before realizing it’s a new segment. Some simple pictures would be a nice touch. You do so well adding them into the pre show hype and then oddly enough you leave them out of the actual show. Its not that much more work just upload the pics to a photo bucket and there ya go. You’re a smart lad you know what your doing with that internet stuff way better than I.
You have the makings of a great writer Hobo no doubt about it. You get story telling, you got the match writing down. I don’t know what it was but there was so much of this pay per view that just felt over done. It felt like a Vince Russo show not in a shitty sense so don’t take it that way. In the sense of everything has to be bigger, better, and CRAZIER than ANYTHING before it. The problem is Russo very rarely had the stories to back it up. You had several good stories in here and they were shining through just fine. However that being said the minute I get into the story it would be dwarfed by some crazy over hyped stipulation, or needless joking gag in the middle of a serious promo. Good show but like I say way to over done and it felt like it was just for the sake of saying “its never been done before”. Sometimes my good friend there is a reason things have never been done before.
I hope you realize I’m not trying to be a dick and I’m not saying “you suck lolz”. Shit I’m not even say I could do better. I’m just giving you a very honest, very real look at your show. I’m not saying “I don’t like that there hardcore bullshit” because this show wasn’t about being hardcore. Infact I stated my thoughts on that earlier. It was just too much of “its never been done….FUCK YOU EVERYBODY….”. Instead of “WCWA continues to bring you the BEST wrestling in the world, along side the newest, most innovating wrestling in the world”. You have some great ideas they just get jumbled in your young, anti establishment brain. I hope you take these words to heart and honestly I hope you do realize that maybe you over did it on this show. I’ll be reviewing the next pay per view but until then its onto Anthony’s ICW show which I will be getting up in the next few days.
Even if you have decided that I know nothing and offer no valid points. Think about this you ask for reviews and you get them. However most reviews teeter in two directions. Either its “I hate this hardcore wrestling shit blah blah blah”. We’ve spoken about that negative feedback before. Then you get the “great outing Hobo you really made me care about people I didn’t know”. Well aside from this review being most likely literally SEVEN times longer than any of their reviews I’m singing a tune not yet heard. So if you’re a wise man which I’ve judged you to be in the past just stop and listen to what I’m signing for a minute you might even like the melody enough to change your song up a bit.
Great graphics for the hype although the background isn’t very trial and errorish I’m guessing someone else did these graphics for you…..that being sad as I open up the show I like the copywright law disclaimer. Fro there you cut into promos. I’ll be honest I don’t know 80 percent of these guys. I don’t know what they look like, how big they are, etc. Some pictures of these guys would be nice. I know a place you could d/l nice 150x.150 shots of these guys and it’d be something to go off of. Especially for people that are going to be reading this. 90 percent aren’t going to know who this Japanese cat is. I can tell you the Adam Pearce’s of the world, I can point out the BLK out’s of the world. However guys like Sexxxy Eddy are pretty much contained to a special part of the wrestling world that doesn’t get much exposure and given who presents that special part of the wrestling world nowadays maybe its for the best. At any rate if you want to draw people in, make them feel like their part of the show and part of these characters offer up some graphics. At the very least it’s a pay per view man. The pageantry is at an all time high on these things. Graphics, fireworks, videotrons, etc. Not too mention if your going to draw people in and if your going to point people in a direction to view your shows then shouldn’t it be at a balls to the wall, every story gets told pay per view? Its tough to draw in new viewers/readers when your just faced with walls and walls of endless text when something as simple as pictures, like the ones you used in your shorter hype of the show would be nice in this spot.
That being said I picked up a royal rumble vibe for the promos with Demolition making the eight year old me believe that one of them could win the royal rumble. That being said the time for these cut away promos is for the television shows. I’d rather go straight to something BIG happening. Even if it going straight to the opening match, or maybe its an attack in the back, or maybe its just ONE man in the RING telling everyone else how before the end of the night he will have FORCED them to have new found respect for him. At anyrate this sixteen man world title match sounds like it could be a bit much man. I mean lets be honest no promotion has a legit sixteen men, hell most don’t have a legit eight man that can truly be bought as world champion. Its over kill and has the potential to get confusing especially in text form. That’s my doubts but as a murdering wrestler and my former hero would say…..prove me wrong. The segment then dragged on and one another draw back to having to account for SIXTEEN people. Even with short promos sixteen short promos is still a long ass promo.
Finally we’re kicking things off……live I would assume? Douglas is money in the color spot, also having GMC on the introductions is pure awesome. Best ring announcer ever. I wanna send a big fuck you to Howard Finke….yeah GMC owns you bitch. Laaaaadies and Geeeeentlemen…..Naaaaaaaature Booooooy RiiiiiiiiiiiC Flaaaaair! Yeah that’s right.
This Menage a Trois thing its another thing in itself. Sometimes I think you push the envelope because people say “ohhhh that’s too much”. I get that, you wanna say “you think that was too much, fuck you, THIS is too much”. However doing that is like when Russo would find out a finish has leaked onto the net and for fear someone might know what was going on he would flip out and over do it just for the sake of over doing it. I think your guilty of this sometimes. You want to be too edgy, too hardcore. Which is funny because your promotion’s name is World Championship Wrestling Alliance which by its nature is a bland, catch all, generic wrestling name. Nowhere in that name would you believe a match being called “ménage a trios” three way. Instead of calling this a three way dance, or a triple threat match or old school WCW Triangle match which btw I believe was the first incarnation of this fairly modern triple threat match that we see constantly now. However getting back to my point is wrestling with grown men touching, and grabbing and pulling on each other all the while grunting and moaning. I’d say in their trunks but you’ve opted out of using guys with actual wrestling gear. Which btw takes away from the allure of the whole thing. If a guy is dressed like me wrestling in jeans and a wifebeater it doesn’t make me believe he’s any better than I am. Of course when a guy weighs as much as I do and lacks definition he can’t wrestle in trunks because he’ll look like a tiny boy compared to the 270 pound men that storm the major leagues. So it’s a damned if ya do, damned if ya don’t. My point is calling it a ménage a trios may be edgy, extreme and even personally satisfying for you to give the finger to those that rip your show. But then your going to get the whole “yeah wresting’s not gay enough we gotta bring up words like ménage a trios when it concerns grown men wrestling each other” type arguments such as this one.
Menage a Trois Title Match
All of that being said I really do like the idea of a tripe threat match TOURNAMENT. Best I can tell it’s a tournament of three way matches which is really bad ass. So instead of presenting me and hyping it as just that a simple, never before done tournament. You had to put the uneeded bells and whistles on it. Sometimes in wresting its ok if the fans know whats coming next it’s the game of the whole thing. Same thing for things like this. Sometimes keeping it simple and letting the innovation speak for itself is good enough. You could have spent more time bragging about how WCWA is on the cutting edge of whats new in wrestling doing this never before done tournament and capping it off with a TITLE match. Instead we got a lot of sexxxy eddy jokes.
That being said some breaks in here would be great. That’s where some graphics or some bolded text something. Its hard to follow along even in one sitting I can’t imagine trying to find your place if you had to leave and come back to it.
Good Jimmy Jacobs promo. Very good Hobo. I felt I was listening to a man on his last straw of sanity a man that wasn’t sure what the future held for him and LIKED it. I dig Jimmy Jacobs that is all.
Chuck Taylor vs Pac
I don’t know Pac but I liked his short promo and he sounds interesting. One little thing I know that Sexxxy Eddy is Sexxxy Eddy. But if you’re a real life breathing promotion and your marketing these guys. You can’t have Sexxxxy Eddy and then in the VERY next match have “Sexy” Chuck Taylor. Come up with another nickname for Chuck. Its not like he’s world known as “Sexy” Chuck Taylor. You could have completely renamed him and not a single person would bat an eyelash. I’m just suggesting you drop the sexy gimmick when you already have a sexxxy eddy. Anyway we’re two matches in and this is the second title match. Either you have a shit ton of titles or you don’t have many matches on the show. Or you don’t wanna space your title matches out…..lets see what it turns out to be. Ok so is the Kings of Wresting a stable WITHIN the Worldwide Stable? Tell me its not a stable within a stable. If it’s a tag team within a stable ala the Outsiders then that’s cool. Fuck if it’s a clique of three really close buddies who just every once in a while refer to themselves as the wolfpac “ala Syxx, Hall and Nash” that’s cool. But if it’s a stable that was swallowed or joined a bigger stable yet still keeping its stable indentity then that’d just be a bit much. Great high impact, fast paced match. You kept it in the ring mostly, you kept the momentum shifting and the finish outta nowhere. The ONLY suggestion I have is that I don’t have a damn clue what some of these moves are the trademark ones I mean. Omega driver? Maybe put OMGEGA DRIVER (piledriver) I know its NOT a piledriver but that’s just an example. Other than that you’ve been nailing it on the match front.
Good Lufisto Promo, acceptable Beef promo it was cute, fun, heart warming all that good stuff. The rest of this is starting to come together now that you’ve picked up some momentum.
Backseat Boyz vs. Delerious/Ricochet
I’m FROM ST. Louis so I know these two well. That on top of being a huge Backseat Boyz fan. I really dug this match. It wasn’t QUITE as crazy as the last match but it was more brutal and I liked that. The match was just fine for what it was. Not mach of the night but I liked the more brutal side of the Backseat Boyz and you captured the wackiness of Derlious quite well. Good match.
The Danny Havoc promo. We’re introducing this guy for the first time. The thumbs up freeze frame seemed Foleyish. You know the loveable hardcore wrestling who likes the simpler things in life. That and the several minute promo on cheese just didn’t really do it for me.
Then we get MickieKnuckles. Fisto scathed her in that promo. This promo she’s trying to be serious and get back at Fisto. Instead she comes up with “yeah you’d know about missionary” hahahaha then Sexxxy Eddy comes in and turns what is supposed to be a blood feud between two bad bitches into a comedy spot. Lufisto made me wanna see them fight. This segment just made me want it to be over. The Eddy spot I’m ok with, just not during a serious, no bullshit, I’m gonna show you I’m a bad bitch promo ya know?
Lufisto vs. Mickie Knuckles
I’m not a huge fan of women’s hardcore wrestling. I like women’s wrestling. The Victoria/Trish matches were damn good. This was good for what it was but honestly I can’t offer an unbiased opinion of it. It lived up to the hype and in wrestling that’s all that matters.
The BLK Out promo was good but I’m confused on Necro being part of BLK out. I thought BLK out was just that BLK as in Blacked Out. Necro is not gangsta thus not really fitting with the group. Is he aligned with them in some manner? I just don’t know the story so fill me in. The promo was fun though with Abby and what not
The Janetty Promo was more of the same, fun, light hearted I like that about them. So is this really a new MJ? Or was it a “ok well I tried but fuck it the sets falling apart I am who I am” MJ. I guess I’ll find out shortly.
MJ vs. Some Japanese guy with an American first name
So far we’ve had the WCWA International Title, Television Title, and Junior Heavyweight Title defended. I’m guessing International is better than Television no? Let me point out some irony to you my good friend.
“SD: He’s sports entertainment. And frankly Ben, Sports entertainment sucks. Let’s hope Vince signs this dumb fuck to be a part of his traveling circus with cheerleaders, worm eating idiots, and leprecauns who live under the ring.”
The Ironic thing is that if you add up all the segments you’ve had so far. You STARTED the show with a HUGE promo and you’ve been averaging two promos for every one match. You’ve had quirky crazy legends skit, you’ve had fat dude with a cute girl romance skit, you’ve had random wrestler with no clothes on skit. My friend like it or not you ARE sports entertainment. If Douglas is pissed off about this why isn’t he pissed about all the other skits being done on the show? Anyway the match was ok, nothing too technically wrong with it for being an MJ match and all. Good match at the end of there, things got more and more intense. I will say I’m sad to see MJ lose the match and the title but good finish either way.
Nathan Kelly is pissed at Messiah, honestly it seems like these promos have two gears. “dark and demented” or “light hearted and quirky”. I’d like to see some gearage inbetween. Maybe some condensending promos, maybe some passionate heart felt ones, maybe a wild crazy unpredictable promo….something more than the two gears I’ve gotten. Both are starting to lose their effect on me and we’re only halfway through the show. At first I was like “ohh that’s dark I like that” then I was like “ohh well wasn’t that funny and cute” and now I’m like “ok it’s a type a promo” or ok it’s a ‘type b” promo.
Feast or Famine Match
I got NO clue who these guys are. I can only imagine these are local guys from your area I’ve never heard of Tommy End or these other guys. This is were PICTURES would help me visualize some of these lesser known cats. You did to your credit give me their descriptions. Long haired grunge vs clean cut glitter. I didn’t like that one of them didn’t get cut. You seemed to really draaaaag this one out. So far your worst match of the night. I’m not saying it was horrible but even your commentary was saying “get to the point”
The Kings of Wrestling Promo. These guys are all over the place and I haven’t really cared much. Chris Hero with random “I am the best” promo. Is this a new group? What about Worldwide? I’m confused. Why does lance storm not speak ever it seems? Why does Storm let Hero proclaim himself the greatest when Storm himself is way more accomplished in all those areas than Hero? Anyway I’m not feeling the KOW maybe part of it is because the name I know was an ROH/CZW thing but before that TNA used it for their new World order knock off with JJ, Hall and Nash.
Webb vs. Messiah
Your allowed to have your hardcore match up now. I’m glad you’ve spaced them apart the female and the male. Other than that it was crazy bumps, sick shit being done, it was a deathmatch alright. The one problem I have with death match logic is this If a guy can take tables, lightbulbs, FIRE in some cases. Why doesn’t he go after the world title? If all of that shit can’t beat a guy, how are punches and kicks going to get it done? If he can take all that punishment your telling me someone being put through a table or THROWN through shit with force and gravity on their side is less effective than a finisher? There is a huge gap in logic when you have matches like this on a REGULAR basis. If you have a match where two men do this two each other out of a blood feud you can say “the adrenaline, the momentum, the sheer refusal to quit” but when it happens every show you start thinking. If Webb and Messiah can put each other through all of this shit, then why doesn’t one or both of them take on the world champ. How could they POSSIBLY lose a “regular” match up if they can withstand all of this punishment. Then you can replace that argument with “well their not technically effiecient enough to compete in regular matches. They would get pinned because they don’t have good enough technique to compete in those matches” However then I would say well why wouldn’t a regular wrestler with good technique compete in death matches with his gimmick being he’s exercising this demon from his business by beating death match men in their OWN match without using weapons. Either way it takes away from the other matches when you see these guys getting up from all of these insane weapon shots and table breaks. I understand its just one division and it could be the whole company. Atleast if its the whole company then their ALL on that hardcore, unbeatable, instane punishment taking level. Instead of a few elite few who can take all of this punishment, yet aren’t involved in title matches were they would take a tenth of the punishment and would seemingly never be beaten.
BLK OUT promo. This show has been KOW and BLK OUT. We had dark promo with Nathan this was quirky funny promo. Good promo, great Shiek, it was funny but do you see how your stuck in two gears this show?
JJ vs. Beef Wellington
This match ended the only way it could to make both men come out strong. JJ doesn’t take the L to Beef and Beef still gets a moral victory with the crowd. Nicely done my friend good match wrting and good story teling. Way to go for the logical choice and not the “send ‘em home happy” choice.
ANOTHER Chris Hero Promo. Dude this is like the third or fourth time I’ve seen Hero tonight. He was JUST on two matches ago. He’s saying the same shit over and over again. This is pay per view, even the E doesn’t give us the same guy in three long, lengthy promos on PAY PER VIEW. It feels like filler inbetween all of these matches. Its ok to have back to back matches on pay per view without segments in between. We don’t need five KOW and four BLK OUT promos. Atleast the BLK OUT promos are telling a story throughout the night. Hero is just rambling to be rambling. Those long drawn out promos aren’t making me buy him as some legit franchise player it just screams “go out there and tell them you’re the best for the fifth time this show”. If your going to insist on these many promos do some sexxxy eddy shit or some MJ shit keep it light hearted inbetween matches would be better than seeing Hero five times saying the same thing all five times. Last time not only did he talk for himself, but he cut promos for nearly everyone in his group. How much more talking does one man need on a show he’s yet to even wrestle on?
I did like the montage for the next pay per view nicely done on that regard.
We follow another Hero promo by ANOTHER BLK OUT promo. Man this has been WAY to promo heavy for a pay per view. Its be different if this was new guys but I’ve seen the same two guys on my “screen” all night long.
Sixteen Man Match
Ok I’m not very clear on the rules. The batting order can say guy four on that order NOT tag in guy one? Can you only tag the guy next in line in the batting order? What does it really matter who you tag in? I’m not real sure this seems like it could get over gimmicked REAL quick. On top of that its elimination. I’m gonna dive into the match to get the rules that way. So the match was basically a sixteen man tag elimination match with the winner being the world champ. That being said it was WAY more long and drawn out that it needed to be. There was no need for a SIXTEEN man world title match to main event a pay per view just for Chris Hero to remain champion. If your going to do something like that I would have suggested someone new, someone not favored win even if just for a week or two. The fans sat through all of that to get the same outcome as if it was a Kingston/Hero match. I don’t know if that’s what your building to or you’ve already done it. Either way the match was solid it was just over kill. Especially with the promos by the time this match happened I was sick of reading about these two teams. Again good match, great spots, I loved the Claudio spin.
OVERALL
Lets start at WCWA as a whole. This is my biggest and best look at them yet. These guys are mostly third rate indy guys. I’m not sure if TNA, WWE, and ROH all exist in this world. If they do I would understand why you use the guys you use. However to me a lof of this felt like CZW and IWA MS do pay per view. Most of your guys don’t use wrestling gear, most of your guys are undersized, and fourteen pay per views in or not there isn’t a single guy on your roster that stood out to me. Jacobs made an impression but then you had five guys cut dark, sadistic, the end is near promos of some mannor. BLK out’s segments were funny but they names all seemed interchangeable to me. You pushed Hero to the moon but yet he didn’t say anything in his promos that made me feel or hate him. He just sorta talked a lot and then in the next segment talked a lot about the same stuff he talked a lot about before. I’d like to see someone stand out on their own. Someone that has a bright light shined on them and said “this guys character is like none others and he’s a super star”. You tried to do that with Hero but you went about it all wrong. You could have talked about how Hero’s been mentored by the “best” going today and the best going “yesterday”. Name drop the likes of Dragon, Steamboat, Flair, Storm, Foley, Punk, Joe, Daniels, Styles that he’s rubbed shoulders with and competed along side and in some cases BEATEN. Instead I got none of that I got “we are the kings of wrestling and I’m the best all around wrestler today”.
When he could have said “I’ve paid my dues, I’ve been overlooked my entire career. I didn’t get a fancy WWE paycheck, I didn’t get the light schedule and stupid money TNA gives away. I didn’t get the respect that comes along with being an ROH champion. The funny thing is the men that got those things, they weren’t the best. Truth be told those things gave them an excuse to RUN from the best. I’m Chris Hero not because I’m your Hero….but because I’m mine”. Do you see how he’s arrogant, he’s the best, he’s the franchise and its more than “we are the best all around, blah blah. There was no flash, no arrogance, no REASONING.
So I’d say create a true number one babyface and not EK who did nothing to stand out apart from Sabian, or Necro, or the rest of BLK OUT. Hell they all got the same phrasing, the same catchphrases, their interchangeable. You need more than a story, you need the guys in your story to be unique. You got the story, I like and get the story and I dig that. However you lack the characters to TELL this unique story with. That’s the part I think that needs the most help. More characters all the way around. You have these HUGE clumps of guys that all sound and feel the same.
I know your extreme and on HBO and you can say fuck a whole bunch. Wrestling isn’t about that though. Its not about being edgy. Wrestilng is supposed to be the ultimate mans sport. Its supposed to be about one man saying “I’m better than you and I can prove it by literally using my own physical force to defeat you in a structured setting”. It goes beyond physical competition when that man does get beat or the man that promised the beating loses and he attacks him after the match, or talks trash about him on the next show. Or fakes an injury or whatever you get the point. I mean that literally your story telling is good. Your match writing is very good. I think your product in general is pretty damn decent. I think you cling to this “fuck you we’re edgy”. When in reality if you just toned down not the edigness but the constant reminding us your edgy. The ménage a trois, the Shan Douglas ripping on sports entertainment on a show LITTERED with sports entertainment. All of these distract from what is a very good product and very good writing Hobo. Sometimes its more complicated to be simple. Your name is World Championship Wrestling Alliance not the “we’re gonna do what we want fuckers and if you don’t like it we’re gonna up the ante just because”.
My third complain I touched on was change up gears. You had “dark and demented, vengeful promo” and you had “ha ha we’re just having fun isn’t this funny promo”. Mixed in with your Chris Hero I’m great promo. Those guys wrestling in that feast or famine match. They could have been saying shit like “I’ve worked my entire life to get to this point. I’m this close to being on pay per view every month, I’m this close to being on television every week. I’m this close to living out my dream. Its simple I’m about to walk into a wresting match that in one way is like every other match up I’ve been in. Time limit, one fall, you know the drill. While at the same time that extra ordinary match up holds my very future in it. So imagine if you will….imagine the amount of force its going to take to make me give up, to pin my shoulders to the mat for three full seconds. Can you imagine that? Because I can’t” Something like that its heart felt, its passionate, its “real”. Shit you could even go with the unpredictable, wild, crazy promo a good Heyman like or Douglas like promo. You know “oh shit he just said that type promo”. Instead you were stuck in two gears and with the amount of promos you had by the end of the night I was able to not only predict which promo types turn it was, but I was also no longer impressed with the dark promos and no longer laughing at the funny ones.
One final thing is some split up of the text man. Its just walls and walls and walls of text. No graphics, no breaks, shit sometimes we’re into the next segment and I’m like “wait why is Jannetty out there” before realizing it’s a new segment. Some simple pictures would be a nice touch. You do so well adding them into the pre show hype and then oddly enough you leave them out of the actual show. Its not that much more work just upload the pics to a photo bucket and there ya go. You’re a smart lad you know what your doing with that internet stuff way better than I.
You have the makings of a great writer Hobo no doubt about it. You get story telling, you got the match writing down. I don’t know what it was but there was so much of this pay per view that just felt over done. It felt like a Vince Russo show not in a shitty sense so don’t take it that way. In the sense of everything has to be bigger, better, and CRAZIER than ANYTHING before it. The problem is Russo very rarely had the stories to back it up. You had several good stories in here and they were shining through just fine. However that being said the minute I get into the story it would be dwarfed by some crazy over hyped stipulation, or needless joking gag in the middle of a serious promo. Good show but like I say way to over done and it felt like it was just for the sake of saying “its never been done before”. Sometimes my good friend there is a reason things have never been done before.
I hope you realize I’m not trying to be a dick and I’m not saying “you suck lolz”. Shit I’m not even say I could do better. I’m just giving you a very honest, very real look at your show. I’m not saying “I don’t like that there hardcore bullshit” because this show wasn’t about being hardcore. Infact I stated my thoughts on that earlier. It was just too much of “its never been done….FUCK YOU EVERYBODY….”. Instead of “WCWA continues to bring you the BEST wrestling in the world, along side the newest, most innovating wrestling in the world”. You have some great ideas they just get jumbled in your young, anti establishment brain. I hope you take these words to heart and honestly I hope you do realize that maybe you over did it on this show. I’ll be reviewing the next pay per view but until then its onto Anthony’s ICW show which I will be getting up in the next few days.
Even if you have decided that I know nothing and offer no valid points. Think about this you ask for reviews and you get them. However most reviews teeter in two directions. Either its “I hate this hardcore wrestling shit blah blah blah”. We’ve spoken about that negative feedback before. Then you get the “great outing Hobo you really made me care about people I didn’t know”. Well aside from this review being most likely literally SEVEN times longer than any of their reviews I’m singing a tune not yet heard. So if you’re a wise man which I’ve judged you to be in the past just stop and listen to what I’m signing for a minute you might even like the melody enough to change your song up a bit.