Joe's Thoughts: Week of January 25, 2004
That's right boys and girls, Joe's back for another week of
e-wrestling reviews...Let's waste no time (since I've got nothing to
really say at this point anyway) and go straight to the shows...
Rumble Pro Wrestling
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rumblepro/
Have to admit, I've been excited for the last week or two about the
coming debut of Rumble Pro Wrestling...While I never read FSW or really
know Pete personally, there was still a sort of energy and drive in his
posts (and shills) that made me think RPW will be nothing short of
great...Now here's to hoping I'm right...
Here's my extended review of the show:
-Opening/Lethal Lottery Drawing: Good for what it needed to be, short,
to the point, and a great way to set the night up...Have I mentioned
how much I love the Lethal Lottery gimmick? WCW fan or not, you have to
admit they had some great ideas way back when...
-Tony Antony segment: I'm not one to harp on spelling errors or
punctuation problems, we all make those little mistakes here and there, but
there were some really glaring blunders here that made this segment
hard to get into...Example, “The kid does look like he's a day over
fourteen with his pale face dark hair and his long brown hair puffed out
with slight curls.” I felt like I was sitting in Spanish class, I
was so confused...The rest of the segment goes all right, though I
didn't find it particularly funny, nothing was too bad about it either...
-Ben Tuckwell promo: Good stuff...Definitely peaked my interest for the
character, who I've never seen before...Tuckwell sounds like he can
be a big player in RPW...Every company needs an "established
veteran" coming back for his thirty-fifth last run...
-Wild and Starring vs. Afternoon Delight: First I have to say it's an
honor to have my team involved in RPW's first ever match...And to
boot, the match was pretty good...Both teams worked really well, hit some
nice spots, and overall really delivered a good match...Wild and
Starring won me over with their pre-match promo and with some of their moves
during the fight...And again, it's a huge honor (a surprising one as
well) to have Afternoon Delight win the match...As the Lee's would
say, awesome! Totally!...
-Justin Kell promo: Interesting, very interesting...Kell sounds like
quite a character, a dedicated wrestler who clearly has a dark side he
doesn't want to be consumed by...I like it! This was a good way to get
a Kell/Fenriz feud going as well...
-Lark Fenriz promo: Good stuff, very well written...I have to admit,
I'm just about established as a Fenriz mark...But since he's like in
every company these days, it's only natural to be a fan of his
work...
-Jack Ripper promo: Wow, great stuff...This is the first time I've
seen this character and I like him, a lot...His style of speaking, it's
so fitting...Wow, just great...
-Rodgers and Fenriz vs. Ripper and Kell: Really good match, very
enjoyable read...I love the back and forth mat action mixed with well built
high spots...It's the type of wrestling I like to watch, the type I
try to write when doing matches, and the type I love to read...The angle
between Fenriz and Rodgers worked perfectly here and really has me
looking forward to their further involvement against each other...I was
also pleasantly surprised by the outcome of the match...
-Marty Lyons/Lance Williams interview: Short and entertaining, what
more can you ask for? I'm liking Lyons as an agent, and can't wait to
see Williams debut in the ring for the company...
-Cade and Smith vs. Tuckwell and Knight: Great match! Wow, just plain
fantastic...I loved the psychology in the match (I'm a mark for the
little things, like constantly focusing on a specific body part
throughout the match) and all of the back and forth fighting worked
perfectly...All four guys looked great here...Honestly, this match had me sitting
at the edge of my seat, grinning like a dirty old man watching a Britney
Spears music video...That was awesome!...
-Sanders vs. Gregorson: Okay match, placed perfectly on the card as a
nice cool-off from the steaming hot tag match that just
concluded...Werewolf Gregorson looked great, and Sanders served his purpose...It was
sort of obvious who would win here (one guy got a big entrance, the other
was just there) but that's not a bad thing...
-Diablo vs. Valentine: First I have to say I loved the set up for this
match...Both promos were so well done, it just clicked and
worked...Good match as well...I was really into Diablo, a little disappointed he
lost, but I can see the potential in building stuff up from here with him
(hopefully against Valentine)...
-Smith and Cade vs. Afternoon Delight: Another really good match on
this really good show...Again the psychology was on target, the spots were
built up and executed perfectly, and from a personal point of view,
Afternoon Delight were written exactly as I hoped they would. Constant
tags, using double team moves when they could, and capturing that overall
classic team feel I'm trying to get with them (mixed with comedy of
course, in promos at least)...Good stuff...
-Smith and Cade vs. Ripper and Kell: Good match, chuck full of great
action...I appreciated how injuries to people in earlier matches were
still a factor here (Smith's back for example)...Again, little things
like that just help the show flow so well...I would have liked to see
Smith and Cade win, but nothing wrong with Ripper and Kell
winning...Here's an idea, Smith and Cade as a full time tag team...They worked so
well together tonight, they could easily be the building foundation of a
rewarding tag division in RPW...
-Ripper vs. Kell: A first-class main event to end an overall excellent
show...The story here, with Kell trying all he can to overcome the odds
against the bigger Ripper, is perfectly done...Loved the outcome as
well...
Final show thoughts: Whoa...that was exhilarating! What a great show!
Everything just worked, from the matches, to the couple of feuds that
got started, and even the promos/skits delivered...The style of the show
is great, making things flow so well...What else can I say, if you
haven't checked out the first RPW show, what are you waiting for? This is
the company to pay attention to right now! Get in on the ground floor,
either joining one of your characters or at least reading the
shows...Rumble Pro Wrestling will be one to watch in 2004...I'm blown away and
loving every minute of it...
Finale Grade: A...
J-MAX - Hyper MAX Series - Opening Before the Opening
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/J-MAX/
Alright, I know nothing about J-MAX, except I received an invite to
join the Yahoo group and decided why not, the best way to discover some
new stuff is by welcoming it when brought to you...
Thing is, this wasn't really a “show” per se, it's more like
results from a show that would have been great to read...I guess this is
summary e-wrestling at it's most basic (I prefer summary a la
Rumble Pro, or even the mixed summary/play by play we do in I-X) which makes
it hard to judge the show...I'm hoping (from the show name) that this
is just a way of getting us ready for future, full out cards to be
seen...If not, and J-MAX sticks to stating the results instead of showing
the cards, I'll likely stop reading...This is definitely not my cup of
tea as is...
I won't assess a "Final Grade" as there was no real show to grade
here...
Super Japan Pro Wrestling - Team Tiger Dojo Live Event 1/24/04
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Super_Japan/
We have pretty much the same situation as J-MAX here, except the
summaries of matches on this show are a little more (just a little) flushed
out...Again, it's a show that sounds like it could have been great if
we got to see the whole thing, but as is it really does nothing for
me...
Something else I was thinking about, if you're going to have a fed
where matches are summarized in one paragraph, the least you could have
are some thrilling, thought provoking (that's right, I said it)
storylines to make the short show summary feel necessary to read...As it is,
SJPW sounds very wrestling based, but we don't get to see the
wrestling...So what do we get? Well, disappointed for starters...Now perhaps
SJPW will produce shows with longer summaries soon, this is their first
show back in awhile after all, so I'm willing to look past this and
go into the next (hopefully longer) SJPW show with a clear mind...But if
it ends up being more of this, then it's really not for me...
NOTE: I was just looking at the SJPW Yahoo group and reading some older
messages, and it occured to me the show I commented on above was a
"house show", thus it was meant to be small in size and nature...
I don't recall anything being mentioned in the actual show that it was
a "house show" (live event could be a major show, they are live at some
point) so it never occured to me...I would have certainly read it (or
not read it) a lot differently knowing it was only a house show and not
a big show...
Just wanted to say that, seeing as how I was mistaken...I won't change
my original thoughts since they weren't only talking to SJPW, but to
other feds in general, and as of now this house show is still all I've
seen of SJPW...Hopefully, if everything's going well with the fed-head
and we get to see a full show in the near future, things will be a lot
better...
Other Stuff
I planned on reviewing the latest WILD show in this week's update,
but then I ended up going so in-depth with my Rumble Pro thoughts, I'll
have to save it for next week...But I promise WILD's latest show,
which is sitting in my Yahoo mail-box as we speak (well I speak, you read)
will be the first thing reviewed on next week's column...
Now some cheap and shameless shilling for the fed I lead, I-X...First
off, I have to say thanks to Rick (IGA's Tommy Danger) for creating a
brand new logo for I-X...It's exactly what I wanted...Great job Rick,
very much appreciated...
I-X's latest show, "3...2...1" took place this past week...The
card featured:
-I-X World Title Match: 411 (c) vs. Jugga
-Caramel w/Kevin J. Ridge vs. Killmore w/Taaurus
-D Money vs. "The Cuban Missile" Jorge Carddera
-I-X Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Venom (c) vs. Hazzard
-I-X Women's Title Match: Amanda Clark (c) vs. Phoenix
-Bouncer vs. Dante
-The Asian Foundation vs. The BET
-Spindle vs. Smokey
You can check the show out at:
http://ixefed.proboards26.com/index.cgi?board=PPVs&action=display&num=1075349937
If you have any comments on it - the good, the bad, the downright nasty
- they would be very much appreciated...
Remember I-X is always looking for new talent to add to the
roster...And we now accept both roleplayers to join our message board and
roleplayers to join via e-mail...If you'd like to join the message boards, go
to:
http://ixefed.proboards26.com
...and sign up, it’s easy and basically painless...If you want to
join via e-mail, send me an application (mainly of your character's
stats) to [email protected] and I’ll get you all set up...
If you have any questions about I-X, feel free to drop me an e-mail, or
catch me on IM if you see me on (AIM: Joemovie, YM:
Joemovie2thesequel)...
Final shill (I swear), our Yahoo group is at:
groups.yahoo.com/group/i-xwrestling/
...Sign up if you'd like to receive our shows and updates straight
into your mail box (will the sexual undertones ever end?)...
If you want me to check out a show from your fed to review here on a
future column, send me an e-mail at [email protected] and I'll gladly
take a look at it...Fair warning though, while I'm fair and hopefully
helpful with my comments, I'm also as honest as can be...If the show
doesn't work for me, you'll know it...
That's it for this week...I need sleep! Until next time I say goodbye
everyone out there in our little circle of the Internet...
Ciao...
Joe Lopez...
Have an interesting perspective on the wrestling world? Then e-mail
[email protected]