HARD TIMES
A hero to us all. Whether you got to see him in action, listen to him on commentary, watch and learn from his amazing promo work, and of course hear him discuss the business… Everyone was a fan of the American Dream… Dusty Rhodes will be missed.
THE RUNDOWN
Keepin’ it simple and moving along.
NOT EVEN SAYING “NO COMMENT”
EUGESMASH! And now we gotta find out what’ll be setup for the champ at MAXDEF. Good stuff, not tons of talking, make it short, simple and too the point that puts over what it needs to. Euge is not happy and not in the mood and will lash out with a hair trigger.
JAKE DONOVAN v SAM HORRY
Heel Jake 8( I have to ask, where does this go? Because there’s no way this shouldn’t go somewhere. Even if Jake is using Sam’s name to try and get over via new heel dickishness. We shall see.
NEW DAYS, OLD WOUNDS
Ryan continuing to hammer this program, and look, there’s a little sneak peak at Matthews and Harmony and that they’re not quite friends anymore.
OFFICE ENVY
Ken and I came up with this segment randomly based on a gag line near the end and it’s something of a ‘sequel’ to the Ty & Frank seg in Billy’s office. There will be things at play, so it may not make sense ‘right now,’ but it will in the future.
DEF*MAX - MUSHIGIHARA v HENRY KEYES
No waiting around to get this one started, and with these two, that makes sense… Love that you’ve played up Keyes’ arm throughout the tournament, or at least since the match with Box (where I believe it really became an issue, right?)... Excellent use of the dastardly heel manager to break the tough as nails babyface’s concentration… DAAAAAAAAAAAAG, fuck you, Dante, awesome… And then immediately sell the arm, good writing… Mushi savaging Keyes, the red haired bastard being tougher than a government mule… Ben, you need to look into a guy like Togi Makabe, that’s what I’m thinking with Keyes, just a tough bastard, not the most technically sound, but he’s pound for pound one of the best scrappers in DEFIANCE… Nice finish with Keyes just being so damn tough, but being so banged up makes the loss a ‘good’ one (or it doesn’t hurt him)... Good stuff, dunno why you were thinking this wasn’t quite up to par.
FIREWORKS
Hah, I wonder who did hire Logan to join DEFsec. Probably Dane’s idea, IMO.
THE PRECIPICE
Craig continuing to kill it with these super babyface promos via Noble.
DEF*MAX - CURTIS PENN v DAVID NOBLE
Hah! Thanks for covering last weeks Ty & Penn shenanigans in the commentary… Another fast start, given the stakes with this match, it makes sense for these two to get right to it… I always love classic psychology and tactics, picking a limb and working it is one of the easiest ways to keep a match flowing, and gives the heel an “easy button” when he starts to get in trouble… HAH, BOOM! Noble gets rolling and Penn goes right to the arm to put the ol’ kybosh on that shit… Might should have had Noble sell the arm after the Frog Splash because of the impact on the arm upon landing it… REF BUMP ALERT!... Liked how that lead to the run in, I wouldn’t have had Penn need to hit an impact finish three times to get it done (I get what you were going for though, showing Noble’s grit and whatnot). Actually I might not have had Penn hit a lift/impact at all, maybe Noble gets up from the fall after being shoved off the top by Mushi. Noble slowly rises and gets picked off by some Curtis Penn cheapshot (big kick to the head, for example)... Penn wakes the ref up, 123, then Penn celebrates like the douchebag that he is, while Noble comes to and is full of piss and vinegar and proceeds as you wrote it from there… Regardless, another good effort from you, Craig. The end of this review is nitpicky as hell, I agree, and it doesn’t mean that I think what you wrote was wrong (too subjective to be honest), and it doesn’t take away from the match.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
This match is about as well setup as you can get it. Mushi has been a right bastard to Noble for weeks on end. Noble has been the never say die underdog champion (he’s basically the new Eugene Dewey of DEFIANCE.) I really liked the ending interaction between Noble and Kelly as well, putting them on somewhat common ground is a good move. Shows Kelly isn’t favoring only established stars and acknowledges Noble (and by extension) Holiday’s impact in DEFIANCE.
OFFICE ENVY, PART 2
Funny bits throughout. A nice call back with the granny panties line. Once again, this is continuing something. Just have to be patient in a long term sense.
HARMONY v RICH MAHOGANY
Chickenshit heel stalling to start, I like… Clearly know how to run with Angus on commentary when it regards Harmony, hah, well done… HAAAAHAHAHAHA the commentary is fucking awesome… The action is solid too, but you even commented how the commentary was what was popping the most for you as you were writing… Good finish, and the post match back and forth with Malachi works… Might need to be a segment where Lindsay Troy takes issue with Harmony calling herself a queen, hah, but that can be some derpy fun kind of segment, too serious bee… And Malachi leaving her laying is a good last look before they throw down on PPV… Good first effort on the matchwriting front, Tracey, welcome aboard.
PHONE A FRIEND
I see you realized you should make Sam younger than he originally was (wasn’t early 30s once before?). That works. And yeah, you pretty much had Keebs say it, this was basically pointless, except for Sam to appear and talk shit. Which is fine.
GRAB THE FUCKING RING
I like that the #bromance is not only real, it’s full force here. Frank being super duper aggro about Noble getting fucked over. Noble being surprisingly calm, but knowing he’s going to have his chance to whoop Mushigihara, so he’s gotta focus on that. Meanwhile, joining Billy as they try to reason with Frank to calm down and focus on what’s important. Even having to basically repeat themselves a couple of times, showing Frank is a bit thick and being clouded by anger making it worse. Then of course ends on a laugh spot. Very good work, guys.
DEF*MAX - DAN RYAN v FRANK HOLIDAY
I always love these opening power lockup exchanges… LOL Icarus Washington… Good action so far, Frank having to deal with the size and strength advantage of Ryan is being done well… I like that you’re not bothering with build up moves, this is for all intent and purpose a knock-out match, so they should both be on their proverbial horses and going all out… HAAAAAHAHA, the commentary in this match (and the Harmony match and the Noble/Penn match) is why we keep full results a thing outside of PPVs, good stuff (the bit about awkwardness between Ryan and Troy if they meet in the finals)… Short match, didn’t need to take up a lot of time, you got both guys some shine and the interference from Eugene keeps the heat going for him… Not great, but it’s not bad either, so don’t feel like this is some sort of let down (I know you weren’t completely satisfied because it was rushed), it got over what it needed to get over and didn’t hurt anybody in the process.
WHAT’S SHE GONNA DO?
Dames hitting some good notes with the segment work on this show. And it’ll be played off nicely later on. This is a good reason to make sure people keep in touch so we can ensure things mesh together properly like they are on this show.
CHEAP HEAT
Bronson Box talking is always fun, there’s really not much more that needs to be said. Just good stuff, IMO. Angus having to handle the commentary briefly on his own was on point as well.
DEF*MAX - LINDSAY TROY v BRONSON BOX
Nice surprise twist to open the match with LT coming in through the crowd… Brutal fighting here on the outside, LT being a savage, and then Box giving it right back to her… Nice back and forth, Box being brutish, Troy trying to find a way to get a step ahead, but Box is also a vicious, cheating bastard… Yep, Box being cocky is the good play to get Troy right back into it… Good counters being used by Troy and commentary to highlight the fact… Like the fact that you guys wrote Troy selling Boxer’s ability to eat her punishment like a Slasher Movie villain and just get right back up… And then play up Boxer getting very frustrated with LT’s own resiliency and the fact that he hadn’t already mopped the floor with her (as a guy like him thought he would)... Love that Box is straight taunting LT, waking her up and getting her back into the match again… Really good, brutal fight, masquerading as a wrestling match hah… FUUUUUUUU… Don’t know if this tops the Ladder Match from #50, but this is certainly in the Top 2-5 of the tournament so far… Not a fan of Keebs cussing, but the Crowning Glory spot was worthy of it… Haha at Angus’ displeasure of the flippy doo… Double Knockout finish, I dig it… Outstanding effort and easily the match of the night for sure.
ENDING SEGMENT
Lindz, Evan and myself wrote this.