Hello and welcome to the final part of my look at the first half of 2008! Today, I’m looking at one of the feds that everybody seems to talk about and I never used to read, New Frontier Wrestling.
And boy did I miss out.
Now, I’ll admit – I used to be put-off by some of what I read in NFW. I REALLY disliked a lot of the Troy Windham stuff I read a couple years back, like the teabagging of Joey Melton. I didn’t think it had any place on a wrestling card. But since I started reading the cards more regularly, there’s something I’ve noticed.
EVERYONE on the card has something to do!
It’s something that’s very rare in this hobby. Normally, you’ll only find one or two feuds of any merit, only a couple of interesting storylines, and those very often take up waaaay too much of a card. In NFW at the moment, though, you’ve so many storylines I can think of without looking back at the cards again – you’ve got Legion/Luci4 against James Varga, the HWC and Suicide Kings, Joe the Plumber against everybody, Lord Coyner Pollard’s diplomatic immunity, Lord Coyner Pollard vs. Legion, Nova vs. Kin Hiroshi, Teresa Q’s HUGE run with the gold, Rook Black and Uber Judge… it’s just amazing how much is on each card right now.
Add to that the Grand Prix (sorry M’lud) and you’ve got a very interesting time ahead.
Kudos, though, must go to Impulse. Never have I read a better straight babyface. I remember doing the rankings the other week, and there was a match where Impulse simply refused to take the win because of outside interference. He’s a really classy character with a lot of guts and a lot of determination, who hasn’t made a big name for himself. I really feel for the guy when, on a couple of Brawl cards, he’s had victory just snatched from his grasp – he’s the right sort of underdog.
Kudos also the two tag-teams – the Hollywood Wrecking Crew and Suicide Kings – for their INTENSE feud over the titles. It’s very rare that a tag team storyline is given such prominence on the card, but this has had me gripped since I started reading it. The HWC have really played the heels better than any other team currently out there, and the Suicide Kings… wow! I didn’t know it was possible to have two such evenly matched tag-teams. Along with Impulse, this feud’s really been a highlight of the cards.
Elsewhere on the card, you’ve got three characters that I think you should be keeping an eye on – Teresa Q (who’s one of the most interesting characters there is right now), Brock Alyas (who’s really got the makings of a legend), and Lord Coyner Pollard (insertrestofname). All three of these characters have a unique ability to move about the card almost at will, so seeing where they go from week to week’s going to be really interesting. The Diplomatic Immunity situation (which I had no hand in setting up but I’ll gladly run with) is going to be a huge boost to an already powerful undercard.
If it’s all sounding perfect at the moment, though, NFW’s not without its faults. When I’ve been doing the rankings, it’s sometimes been INCREDIBLY difficult to figure out what’s going on in some matches – especially on Brawl. I LOVE the idea of the Brawl cards, the same way I liked it when Dave was doing Onslaught in EPW, but boy does it become tough to figure out who won some of the matches! Sometimes I’m pretty sure I’ve given it the wrong way until the third or fourth time I’ve read the card. The PPVs and TV tapings are a lot easier to read, but even then, sometimes it seems I have to look reeeeeally close to find out the results. And that’s not good when I’m trying to put together the win/loss record!
But the highlight of the half-year so far? Definitely reading how well the characters are handled in the write-ups. The Dan Ryan/Nova match at Wrestlestock, together with the HWC/Suicide Kings series, have been some of the best matches I’ve ever read, with a lot of give and take. One thing NFW’s matchwriter’s know how to do is structure a match. The segments are always well spaced, and I’ve yet to see one which didn’t add something to the card. It’s really easy for a segment to become overlong and take away from the card, but I’m wondering if there’s some subtle editing going on to keep everything this tight.
2008 so far has been a great year to become a part of NFW. It’s a really strong fed which doesn’t really have any major weakness. Everyone is pretty much given a place on the card which puts them in the best light, and no one storyline is given such prominence that it feels like it’s taking away from the others.
Which, given the number of storylines there are going on at the moment, is a good thing. I don’t think we could take reading 1000 page write ups every week!
So that’s all for 2008 so far. I’m going to start reviewing individual shows a bit more often, and later in the year, look back and see how each of the three feds I’ve written about here has done closing the year. Until next time, stay safe, and remember…
If it’s green, get it amputated.
Sunday 27 July 2008
Monday 21 July 2008
2008 - the half in review, part 2
Hello and welcome again to 2008 – the half year in review! Today, I’d like to take a look at a place I spent almost four years, and the second part of the major War Games at A1E’s Vengeance, Empire Pro Wrestling.
Firstly, I have to congratulate Rocko Daymon and Troy Douglas on winning the top two titles respectively. Troy Douglas had a very nice series with Sergeant before winning the title at Black Dawn. It made a lot of sense to put Troy into the IC title scene, as the main event scene was INCREDIBLY heavy – having him in the triple threat when Brown finally lost the title meant that the new champion (Sergeant) had a great feud to head into. Troy’s performances on the cards have really impressed me, especially after his last run in EPW ended kinda disappointingly after an inferno match against Issac Byrnes/John Doe.
But, as Empire Pro has often had, the mid-card is amazingly strong. You’ve got Larry Tact, Beast (I’d definitely pay to see him and Troy go at it for the IC title), Stalker, Ice Tre, Shawn Hart, and a lot of other people who’d make excellent challengers and possible champions at that level whilst the main event scene readjusts itself.
Break-out star of the half year though, without a doubt, is Nakita Dahaka. I’ve always been a fan of this character – she’s something different, something you don’t usually see; a well written, Gothic type. One of my major gripes for a long time has been how low down the card she’s been – her feud with Frankie Scott last year was spectacular and showed how a lower-card feud could be done without a title being around, and her alliance with Sean Stevens is going to be the push she needs to propel herself up the card. I’ve always felt she was just a little unfortunate – for a while, there were people no-showing fairly often, but never against her. I didn’t like her series with Olvir, but with this new direction, I’m looking forward to seeing what happens.
The tag division’s at another cross-roads, with the Kings of the Cage tournament ongoing to name challengers to The Forsaken. I’m gonna reserve judgement, but once the tournament’s done, don’t be surprised if you get three or four teams stepping up in quick succession. Hopefully, most of the teams from the tournament will stick together once it’s done.
Storyline of the year, I’ve already touched on, is the Dahaka/Stalker/Stevens team. HUGE props go to this trio for coming together the way they did, and telling the story in RPs so effectively. I did not see these three getting together – especially with Dahaka in such a prime position. I don’t think they even need to add another member to The Fallen for a very long time, as each of these three can run great feuds up and down the card.
I must admit, I was disappointed by the Stalker/Daymon/Stevens saga. It seemed to really take over the cards, and a lot of the segments seemed overly nasty, especially the Stevens/Daymon ones. I’ve never been a fan of stories which get nasty quickly, and I think, honestly, it would’ve made more sense to hold back on it for a while. I wasn’t at all surprised, once Stevens and Daymon started interacting, that JA lost the number one contendership. It seemed really unfair to Holzerman IMO – he won the triple threat, then there was a storyline with the #1 contendership switching around, which made the PPV match seem irrelevant. I had been looking forward to seeing JA and Stevens go at it, with Rocko finishing with Stalker, but alas. Like I said a moment ago too, I think the Stevens/Daymon stuff was just too nasty. I can understand the idea – to show a deep hatred between the two, but I think that could’ve been built a lot slower, little interactions for the first PPV cycle, then this kind of nasty (especially the Stevens/Caitlyn bits) once things had been allowed to heat up. It’s pretty similar, actually, to the aforementioned Troy Douglas/Issac Byrnes storyline – that had a lot of potential but was rushed.
So, what can we look forward to? The Rocko Daymon/Sean Stevens saga finally seems to be getting interesting – the intensity is at a point I think it now deserves. The IC scene’s looking good, with Douglas and Tact the most obvious pairing. I’d like to see Beast and Craig Miles go at it on the mid-card, and the tag team division, once it’s settled down, should be interesting – The Forsaken look pretty unbeatable, but the Second Coming and The Fallen are both really strong. I think Kin Hiroshi and JA should definitely be staying around the main event, and, hopefully, the World Title scene can settle down a little and be about the title, rather than the soap-opera.
Then again, I really don’t like soap-opera, lol.
Well, that’s all for EPW for this half. Next time, I’ll be taking a look at New Frontier Wrestling. Until then, stay happy :)
Firstly, I have to congratulate Rocko Daymon and Troy Douglas on winning the top two titles respectively. Troy Douglas had a very nice series with Sergeant before winning the title at Black Dawn. It made a lot of sense to put Troy into the IC title scene, as the main event scene was INCREDIBLY heavy – having him in the triple threat when Brown finally lost the title meant that the new champion (Sergeant) had a great feud to head into. Troy’s performances on the cards have really impressed me, especially after his last run in EPW ended kinda disappointingly after an inferno match against Issac Byrnes/John Doe.
But, as Empire Pro has often had, the mid-card is amazingly strong. You’ve got Larry Tact, Beast (I’d definitely pay to see him and Troy go at it for the IC title), Stalker, Ice Tre, Shawn Hart, and a lot of other people who’d make excellent challengers and possible champions at that level whilst the main event scene readjusts itself.
Break-out star of the half year though, without a doubt, is Nakita Dahaka. I’ve always been a fan of this character – she’s something different, something you don’t usually see; a well written, Gothic type. One of my major gripes for a long time has been how low down the card she’s been – her feud with Frankie Scott last year was spectacular and showed how a lower-card feud could be done without a title being around, and her alliance with Sean Stevens is going to be the push she needs to propel herself up the card. I’ve always felt she was just a little unfortunate – for a while, there were people no-showing fairly often, but never against her. I didn’t like her series with Olvir, but with this new direction, I’m looking forward to seeing what happens.
The tag division’s at another cross-roads, with the Kings of the Cage tournament ongoing to name challengers to The Forsaken. I’m gonna reserve judgement, but once the tournament’s done, don’t be surprised if you get three or four teams stepping up in quick succession. Hopefully, most of the teams from the tournament will stick together once it’s done.
Storyline of the year, I’ve already touched on, is the Dahaka/Stalker/Stevens team. HUGE props go to this trio for coming together the way they did, and telling the story in RPs so effectively. I did not see these three getting together – especially with Dahaka in such a prime position. I don’t think they even need to add another member to The Fallen for a very long time, as each of these three can run great feuds up and down the card.
I must admit, I was disappointed by the Stalker/Daymon/Stevens saga. It seemed to really take over the cards, and a lot of the segments seemed overly nasty, especially the Stevens/Daymon ones. I’ve never been a fan of stories which get nasty quickly, and I think, honestly, it would’ve made more sense to hold back on it for a while. I wasn’t at all surprised, once Stevens and Daymon started interacting, that JA lost the number one contendership. It seemed really unfair to Holzerman IMO – he won the triple threat, then there was a storyline with the #1 contendership switching around, which made the PPV match seem irrelevant. I had been looking forward to seeing JA and Stevens go at it, with Rocko finishing with Stalker, but alas. Like I said a moment ago too, I think the Stevens/Daymon stuff was just too nasty. I can understand the idea – to show a deep hatred between the two, but I think that could’ve been built a lot slower, little interactions for the first PPV cycle, then this kind of nasty (especially the Stevens/Caitlyn bits) once things had been allowed to heat up. It’s pretty similar, actually, to the aforementioned Troy Douglas/Issac Byrnes storyline – that had a lot of potential but was rushed.
So, what can we look forward to? The Rocko Daymon/Sean Stevens saga finally seems to be getting interesting – the intensity is at a point I think it now deserves. The IC scene’s looking good, with Douglas and Tact the most obvious pairing. I’d like to see Beast and Craig Miles go at it on the mid-card, and the tag team division, once it’s settled down, should be interesting – The Forsaken look pretty unbeatable, but the Second Coming and The Fallen are both really strong. I think Kin Hiroshi and JA should definitely be staying around the main event, and, hopefully, the World Title scene can settle down a little and be about the title, rather than the soap-opera.
Then again, I really don’t like soap-opera, lol.
Well, that’s all for EPW for this half. Next time, I’ll be taking a look at New Frontier Wrestling. Until then, stay happy :)
Friday 18 July 2008
2008 - the year so far, pt.1
OK. So I kinda fell behind on updating this place. My bad. But here today is some more Dragonic goodness (and yes, Dragonic is a word).
Seems like a good time to do one of those "Half-year" review type things. But I'm gonna do it a bit differently. I'm gonna do three of these - one on NFW, one on A1E, and one on Empire Pro, which I do still read occasionally.
But today, I wanna talk about A1E.
Wow... where to start... the tag team division seems like the best place, as it's a very undervalued part of any promotion IMO. Over in A1E, this year we've seen two teams hold the titles - JA and Big Wreck held the titles til Vengeance, and Blitz finally took the gold in a three-team elimination match also featuring the Second Coming.
If anyone wants to see how to run a tag-team division, this is a good example. After losing at Bloody New Year, Blitz took a step back and got into a series with the Natural Disaster (a good little team with a lot of potential, whilst the Second Coming stepped up in a HUGE way into a feud with JA/Big Wreck which has JUST... after six months... finished. The best thing about that feud was the Second Coming really came on as a heel tag-team - they were sneaky, playing mind-games, and Big Wreck, especially, was a fantastic foil to them. After one PPV cycle, they carried on the "Ducky Kidnap" storyline, and just before the PPV, Blitz were added in to make the match at Vengeance a three-way.
Now, that made a lot of sense - even though Blitz had lost two matches back-to-back at that point, they'd been facing top-name stars at or near the top of the card, so having the tag-team specialists going for the tag team titles made sense. It also gave a nice dynamic, since it meant, whatever happened, the Big Wreck/Second Coming story could continue post-Vengeance - the titles could (and were) moved out of the frame, and everybody still looked good. Add to that the Chronic Crimson Collizion Calling, who were never far away, and you had a nice division.
With the CCCC now gone (not for long, Leonard's gut tells him they'll be back), the end of the big Wreck/SC story, and the new Mid-West Mafia, the tag division's looking really strong. They could do with another face team if I'm honest, since right now it's three heel teams, but all in all the coming few months should be big for the division.
Storyline of the half-year, though, has to go to... Cross/Duchess.
I know some people are gonna be going "What about the Dan Ryan/A1E storyline?", and I'll get onto that in a minute, but for me, this Cross/Duchess story has something about it... both characters are really fleshing out for me, and there are some REALLY nice twists and turns which I have a feeling will carry on for a very long time. Adding Wraith was a stroke of GENIUS, and the whole Apollyon bit was a total shock. Whenever Cross and Duchess are up, I'm interested, and I've not been able to guess a single thing about it so far, so it's definitely my story of the half.
But that's not to take away from the big one - the A1E vs Dan Ryan story. That was a truly great undertaking... but, like the Lindsay Troy/Dis thing, and something else I'll talk about when I do my EPW bit, it was really predictable for me. I wasn't surprised A1E lost War Games - I knew they wouldn't end that match happily, so I was more curious as to how they'd work their way around that. I was a bit surprised when Big Dog won the title, because I thought it'd be nice to carry it into a mini invasion of EPW, with Big Dog, Blitz, Duchess, Wraith, et al doing hit and runs against EPW's guys. But this was a nicely executed story that, despite being a little predictable, told a story you don't often see any more - good winning over "evil" with some redemption thrown in (though the redemption was predictable and too sappy for my tastes).
Now, if anyone thought the BC would take it easy after that, you've missed a lot. You've got a lot of great feuds building, most of which have the legs to carry on for two, possibly three PPV arcs (Big Dog vs. HSPC, Mid-West Mafia vs. A1E, Cross/Duchess vs. Wraith, and loads of others). Chip Friendly as World Champion opens a lot of doors if the MWM are kept away for the next cycle and a half (congrats to Dan by the way, that was a helluva match and a well deserved win). The Duchess/Wraith title situation is one to watch out for, and with Troy Douglas holding gold, it's gonna be tough to dislodge him. Tag team wise, look out for the Second Coming - they've been getting better and better, and it could be their time to shine (except for the two behemoths in the way :))
I'd say more, but there's been so much that it'd take me half a year to cover everything! Stay tuned for my next post, which'll be my review of EPW.
Seems like a good time to do one of those "Half-year" review type things. But I'm gonna do it a bit differently. I'm gonna do three of these - one on NFW, one on A1E, and one on Empire Pro, which I do still read occasionally.
But today, I wanna talk about A1E.
Wow... where to start... the tag team division seems like the best place, as it's a very undervalued part of any promotion IMO. Over in A1E, this year we've seen two teams hold the titles - JA and Big Wreck held the titles til Vengeance, and Blitz finally took the gold in a three-team elimination match also featuring the Second Coming.
If anyone wants to see how to run a tag-team division, this is a good example. After losing at Bloody New Year, Blitz took a step back and got into a series with the Natural Disaster (a good little team with a lot of potential, whilst the Second Coming stepped up in a HUGE way into a feud with JA/Big Wreck which has JUST... after six months... finished. The best thing about that feud was the Second Coming really came on as a heel tag-team - they were sneaky, playing mind-games, and Big Wreck, especially, was a fantastic foil to them. After one PPV cycle, they carried on the "Ducky Kidnap" storyline, and just before the PPV, Blitz were added in to make the match at Vengeance a three-way.
Now, that made a lot of sense - even though Blitz had lost two matches back-to-back at that point, they'd been facing top-name stars at or near the top of the card, so having the tag-team specialists going for the tag team titles made sense. It also gave a nice dynamic, since it meant, whatever happened, the Big Wreck/Second Coming story could continue post-Vengeance - the titles could (and were) moved out of the frame, and everybody still looked good. Add to that the Chronic Crimson Collizion Calling, who were never far away, and you had a nice division.
With the CCCC now gone (not for long, Leonard's gut tells him they'll be back), the end of the big Wreck/SC story, and the new Mid-West Mafia, the tag division's looking really strong. They could do with another face team if I'm honest, since right now it's three heel teams, but all in all the coming few months should be big for the division.
Storyline of the half-year, though, has to go to... Cross/Duchess.
I know some people are gonna be going "What about the Dan Ryan/A1E storyline?", and I'll get onto that in a minute, but for me, this Cross/Duchess story has something about it... both characters are really fleshing out for me, and there are some REALLY nice twists and turns which I have a feeling will carry on for a very long time. Adding Wraith was a stroke of GENIUS, and the whole Apollyon bit was a total shock. Whenever Cross and Duchess are up, I'm interested, and I've not been able to guess a single thing about it so far, so it's definitely my story of the half.
But that's not to take away from the big one - the A1E vs Dan Ryan story. That was a truly great undertaking... but, like the Lindsay Troy/Dis thing, and something else I'll talk about when I do my EPW bit, it was really predictable for me. I wasn't surprised A1E lost War Games - I knew they wouldn't end that match happily, so I was more curious as to how they'd work their way around that. I was a bit surprised when Big Dog won the title, because I thought it'd be nice to carry it into a mini invasion of EPW, with Big Dog, Blitz, Duchess, Wraith, et al doing hit and runs against EPW's guys. But this was a nicely executed story that, despite being a little predictable, told a story you don't often see any more - good winning over "evil" with some redemption thrown in (though the redemption was predictable and too sappy for my tastes).
Now, if anyone thought the BC would take it easy after that, you've missed a lot. You've got a lot of great feuds building, most of which have the legs to carry on for two, possibly three PPV arcs (Big Dog vs. HSPC, Mid-West Mafia vs. A1E, Cross/Duchess vs. Wraith, and loads of others). Chip Friendly as World Champion opens a lot of doors if the MWM are kept away for the next cycle and a half (congrats to Dan by the way, that was a helluva match and a well deserved win). The Duchess/Wraith title situation is one to watch out for, and with Troy Douglas holding gold, it's gonna be tough to dislodge him. Tag team wise, look out for the Second Coming - they've been getting better and better, and it could be their time to shine (except for the two behemoths in the way :))
I'd say more, but there's been so much that it'd take me half a year to cover everything! Stay tuned for my next post, which'll be my review of EPW.
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