Re: DEFIANCE ROAD ARC DISCUSSION THREAD - DEFtv #61 IS LIVE!
Seat of Power
"Hello Darkness, my old friend" - line of the night right away. All downhill from here. Seriously, some of my favorite things to read (and write) are conversations between longtime and longtime-established friends, where they don't have to say what's up for you to know what's up, but you get the gist.
Cake Day Cancellation
Oooh, freudian slide at the "former" Fist of Defiance. That's gotta hurt.
The revelation in Dewey's face, along with the slow dissolve of perkyblonde's perkiness was priceless.
Andy Murray certainly has a place in this business!
Starting the show proper with Dewey, thusly being interrupted by Dan Ryan was the right way to go. And my goodness, I'd forgotten what an arrogant bastard Ryan can be when he wants. But this was an efficient, effective setup, gives us our main event, and provides appropriate levels of hype. Aces all around.
Boss Bitch and Queen Bitch
It's already been stated, but there should've been better communication about the main event of the night through the show. That aside, there was some good interplay between the women, with inside comments that someone new to the show might not understand - it's the blessing and curse of the episodic storytelling.
I will say that starting backstage, then going to the ring, then going back to a backstage segment was a little dragging on the show at this point. I understand the need to have a buffer between the in-ring mic spot and the first match, but with that in mind I don't know that we needed to meet Eugene Dewey outside and essentially follow him all the way in. Cold showing his reaction to the celebration, maybe with a facepalm and an annoyed lampshade would've been just as effective.
The Murrrrrrrrrrray Bros vs. Angel City Exxxxxxxxpress
Rich Mahogany! I missed that perverted bastard.
I know some people can't wrap their minds around summary style but I think it works best for a weekly or bi-weekly show: it can showcase the details of a match while highlighting what matters and ignoring what didn't, all without having to worry about interspersing witty commentary throughout. And yeah, this was a definite long form summary but I think it succeeded admirably. Enjoyable read.
Dame una Oportunidad
Fourth segment of the night, and third involving Kelly Evans. I know she's The Boss but there should be a few lieutenants about just to keep overexposure to a minimum. In the FWO, there were four senior road agents put in charge, each with equal power and personalities, and when you added the junior member Poison Ivy to the mix, there were plenty of authority figure types to use without any one getting used too much. Not saying anything negative about this one at all - the interplay between Ty and ETJ and Evans, and signing the match for later in the night were effective at moving the story along. Trebol remains an awesome find. Glad he moved in from Utah.
Where's the Beef?
"Fatas..." "NATAS."
That's how to write an effective color commentator. Little digs that made Heenan so glorious to listen to are easily seen between Angus and DDK. One thing, though - "Sharp shrugged in the moment while Christie moved onto his next question" - so far the match(es) have been written in past tense while the segments are written in present, except for this line.
Structure aside, Mikey absolutely stole this one out from under Andy Sharp. Perhaps if this was the reaction Lance Mikes had gotten in Utah, Utah would still be around. Yes, I blame Lance Mikes. Still, Mikey goes over huge as an egotistical dick heel, and Sharp goes over as an insulted babyface, one that the fans want to see kick Mikey in the dick. That's "feud - selling 101."
Angel Trinidad vs. Jason Fatas...NATAS
"Just like they did out here with Sharp and Unlikely" - no punctuation. Little things can kill, people... little things can kill. Also:
Darren Quimbey:
Your winner of the match, but pinfall… ANGEL TRINIDAD!
Again, nitpicks aside I think it was a good match, it gave both wrestlers a nice bump in their respective levels of heat.
There's No Place Like Home
"Debutants" - Isn't that what they call celebrity whores like Paris Hilton? Is Murrr partying with the big boys?
Good in-the-head conversation between the Murray boys, and of course it was broken up by Eric Dane so I guess we're continuing that story. No complaints here.
"Don't get cute with me, Dorothy" - I kind of want to see the Dane/Cayle relationship mirror the one on Scrubs between Dr. Cox and JD where Dane will always refer to Cayle by a different girl's name.
Also: Anything ever that contains a Bobby Dean cameo is the best thing on the show.
You Do Not Mess With Curtis Penn
Being introduced as 'The Most Amazing Wrestler Alive' reminds me of 2 Cold Scorpio in the ECW days always correcting the ring announcer, that he doesn't weight 238, he weighs 235 and I hope that Penn does that every time he shows up. If not, he should start. That said, when Penn says he's going to 'skullfuck' Harmony into submission - are we broadcast on TV? Is this internet only? Censorship of vulgarity should be something either consistent or nonexistent. If Curtis Penn is the loosest of the loose cannons, that's one thing - but shouldn't the company put him on a three second delay in that case?
El Trebol Jr vs. Tyrone Walker
This was a nice little match, with no pun intended toward ETJ. Tyrone was written perfectly, as an athlete who wants to win, but who also is pulling for Trebol to look good and to show Evans what he's got. The little touches like that make this one for me - the curt nod, the pulling by the mask (but not to pull it off), etc. Aces.
*
I can feel the motivation resonating off my computer screen, and I can hear the Rocky theme somewhere behind me.
A Warrior's Call
We don't see this enough - a manager who is the actual mouthpiece for a wrestler. Usually a wrestler in the real world has a manager if they can wrestle well but not cut a promo - in the game, if you can write you can write, so a manager can be largely superfluous.
Chance von Crank vs. Henry Keyes
Short and bell clapped to the point.
Street Fighted
I sprained my mouth trying to pronounce 'Undefeatifiable.'
A Key Interaction
Nothing really happened here. Laying groundwork for the next thing I suppose. Nothing bad to say about it, just no frame of reference at the moment.
Dusty Griffith and FDJ vs. Super Muscle Bros
Impressive debut, and a continued story for Dusty and Trinidad. Not much to say about it.
Clauses and Claws...es
More Kelly. At least she had a mid-show break to rub one out if she wanted. Anyways, I enjoyed the banter with Dewey, and - calling back to the show open, I've been enjoying the contained arc that Kelly has had on this show, from up to down and everywhere in between. We have to wait for the Dewey/Ryan rematch, which is cool - it just makes us want it more.
I Want My Shot
Planting seeds for what will clearly be a Harmony defense against Donovan. Textbook, but effective.
Harmony vs. Curtis Penn
I feel like this match was less about the title and more about getting the personalities of the wrestlers over. Not sure why, but just reading the prior segment and the match itself, I never felt like the belt was in danger. Not a criticism; like Ford said, this show felt like a post-Wrestlemania RAW which means that we really needed to see the kind of Champion Harmony is going to be, and Curtis Penn was the right kind of shitty bastard to display against. Aces on both ends.
Honoring Your Agreement
Hopefully this is the end of the night for Kelly. She needs a drink. Nice consistency with her office 'mockingly' named the Pleasure Domes. More F-bombs... where do we broadcast? Glad to see Tyrone Walker stepped inbetween, but I feel like this is gonna spell trouble for Ty in the near future.
Main Event
This was a main event. The banter at the start was glorious, and the commentary was used effectively sparingly. Leading the finish into the Bronson Box interruption was a great transitional spot that once again answers the eternal wrestling question - What's next?
Overall
It was a rebuilding show. Things were blown off or escalated at the PPV, so this needed to be a new chapter, and I felt like it was. All of the segments and matches either started new stories or added heat to existing ones. That's probably one of the best things that can be said about a show, no matter what: there wasn't a stitch of filler.
