WZCW Show Reviews

[Revolving Door]

Well, I promised I'd review Ascension, and I've taken it out to dinner, liquored it up and now I am going to review the shit out of it.

A week in review; Part 2;

Opening;

Ah, hello again Steven Holmes, good to see you being your aristocratic best and not troubling us with your insanity, and it looks like you’re setting a bounty. Hey Numbers, remember when I pitched the idea getting fired and it went to Holmes? I asked to follow that up with a bounty storyline, and it’s gone to Holmes. . .

Okay, so that’s playful joshing now for the most part, while Steven Holmes getting fired and then rehired the next day was one of the lamest things I’ve ever seen in the fed, ever, especially as it was a hatchet job of the storyline idea I pitched, Barbosa was supposed to bully authority figures until S.H.I.T got rehired, instead what we got was fucking lame, but I digress, I am glad that this one came to fruition with Holmes, no really, because it suits his character down to a tee, “I am above XXX, someone else deal with him.” Simply done, well done.

---------------- ----------------------------------- ----------------

Match 1;

STA vs W.I – Or how I learned to stop worrying and campaign against Male on Female violence, see later for why.

Well, I assume that because Reese got those bad boys in late he got the no show treatment, and it was nicely executed, that’s all there is to say about that. Hopefully because Remix seems to be playing ball that isn’t the end of the STA though, toodle pip.

------------ ---------------------------- --------------

Grand Mystique wishes to address us, and prophecy a future, a future of doom for us all.

----------- ---------------------------- ---------------

Match 2;

Ricky Runn vs Isabel Stone – Or how I learned to stop worrying and love Male on Female violence.

I like that much like the STA vs W.I match, this was written with the characters personalities in mind, in my day when a chap no showed they were simply stomped out of the company, see King Shabba. Isabel Stone goes out after Ricky Runn gets a bit akward attempting to sit on her face or vice versa, the only danger this creates is that Ms Stone has become a somewhat sympathetic character, although I am sure that’ll be killed off if/when She returns.

------------ ------------------------- ----------------

XXX, haven’t seen you in a while, I see the announcers appear to be trying to cash in on the bounty, much fun and merriment to be had by all, this is all fun and games at the moment, but this is somebody’s career we are talking about here.

---------- --------------------------- -----------------

Match 3;

TITUS! vs Grand Mystique – Or how I learned to stop worrying and try to work out how Mystique, Ty Burna and The Undertaker do that.

Loong match, much like S.H.I.T on Meltdown young Titus looked set to put this bad boy away, only to be interrupted by theme music, the veteran is distracted, making us all feel better, it’s okay, it happens to every guy, and Mystique gets the pin. Another classic heel/face encounter, with the bigger Mystique using his size and strength but Titus showing the heart to come back and almost pick up the win, unfortunately he came up short due to the distraction.

So, this fuels the fire of Titus vs K.O, while Mystique moves on to, well, whatever he’s doing at the moment. I am glad of this, because outside of Prophet IRL no one has attacked the “White Knight” more-so than Titus, and this moves their feud further on. Still, the real question remains, has anybody tapped to the ankle lock?

------------- --------------------------- --------------

Ricky Runn is heading off to crack one out, may I suggest sitting on your hand first young man.

------------ --------------------------- ---------------

Match 4;

Mister Alhazred vs Sam Smith – Or how I learned to stop worrying and wonder what imaginative soul came up with the ring name of Sam Smith.

Sam Smith, using the six degrees method manages to state that he is the best wrestler in the company, thing is, using his logic its hard to argue, its all true, Smith is better than Burna.

A fine display of athleticism in this match, lots of people jumping over each other, I was going to put the 100M hurdles on but I am glad I didn’t now. You think you get a sense of where this one is going when the ref starts checking on Alhazred, we are talking Matt Tastic/Rush territory here, but once again the Powerglove being used as a great equaliser and Alhazred is able to engage the champ on a more equal footing than Tastic on Meltdown, until eventually getting finishered. Good bit of back and forth at least.

Smith gets a mic again, and gives a pretty good speech, what if they actually have nothing to do at Unscripted? That’s actually pretty cool.

----------- ------------------------- -----------

Oooh, Da Who Church and Chris K.O. Evil Overlord and Psuedo White Knight motherfuckers!

---------- --------------------------- ------------

Contract signings, they are cool, and we get a bit of an explanation behind the Empire, basically Constantine is using it as a vehicle to win the belt, Cooper and Bowen are just your average, everyday ethnic cleansers. Obviously Showtime cannot allow this rant to go on uninterrupted and decides to come out, mocking his opponent, much to all of our amusement. Okay, I really enjoyed Constantine being denied the four corners match yet again, good throwback to the PPV there, you could guess that Showtime wasn’t going to get decked again, and Barbosa flying out from under the table was FUCKING cool! Really enjoyed them clearing the ring between them, once again I personally would’ve liked to have seen a S.H.I.T appearance here, perhaps coming out and throwing Constantine back to the wolves before staring down with Barbosa or something, but meh. It was fucking cool.

------------ ------------------------- ------------

Main Event;

Drake Callahan vs Mikey Stormrage – Or how I learned to stop worrying and appreciate the fact that we’ve got this far and this is the first time we’ve seen Drake Callahan.

Pure, unbridled hatred, I take back what I said about the entrances for certain people. Good lord lol.

Well, Mikey is really angry, or hungry, and once again we go with the contrast here, Mikey’s huge size adding a comedic element to the match against the more serious Callahan, is this Callahans new gimmick by the way? Get dominated by wrestlers he thinks are beneath him and then pull out the win. This was, well, this was a Main Event, and a good match that ended with only the two people in the ring and no distractions or whatnot, not that I am against such things, but its nice to go clean through sometimes. Bad luck Mikey, but I think you can play with the big boys now.

------------ ----------------------------- ---------------

Ah Titus is down. . . Did we ever find out who attacked Black Dragon all that time ago? Oh well, PSEUDO WHITE KNIGHT! JUST IN CASE YOU DIDN’T KNOW! Anyway, with any luck this backstage attack gives us some pay off. Unlike the one with Dragon. . .

[Revolving Door]

A week in review; Part 3;

Aftershock!

Opening;

Multi-layering. If there is one criticism I’ve had of you in the past, and obviously there has been more than one, but it’s been your recent inability to build more than one feud at a time in your segments or matches. Using Action Saboteur to not only promote their own match but to put over the bounty on XXX’s head kills two birds with one stone and removes the need to have XXX or Holmes on the shows yet again. This is the sort of thing I’d like to see more of.

------------ ---------------------------- ------------

Match 1;

Brent Blaze vs James Carter – Newbie vs No Show

Like the little pre-match clip and the subsequent reaction.

This is a case of a no show working out for the best, the fed being what it is makes it rare for a brand new character to earn himself more than one or two wins at a time, as someone that doesn’t believe in paying your dues I can understand why so many people do duck out before long. The addiction Brent Blaze goes two nil up and hopefully his RP’s improve at a rapid enough rate for him to stand a chance when he’s challenged by another.

---------- ----------------------------- -------------

Here we go again with the multi-layering, seriously, not that long ago something like this would’ve taken you two segments to do, Barbosa interviewed, comments on SHIT, Empire and current opponent, liked the one word answers and Callahan turning up puts over the conspiracy theory part.

------------ ---------------------------- -------------

Match 2;

Angel vs Darren Bull – Fuckin turn up for fucks sake!

Bulls gone, I appreciate the effort he went to but it’s not to be. Angel has hope, I hope Ryder follows up.

Bull gets decked, TNC have yet more to say.

Not entirely sure Mystique should be entering to different ring music than the rest of the New Church, show some solidarity here guys. Honest to God, pro-wrestling or not, that is an assault that should have bought the cops in.

GM grabs a mic, very talkative for a dark mysterious chap is this fellow. Me, I’d have Westhoff be the mouthpiece with Mystique as the silent dictator. Especially if he is going to say things like “spending the next few weeking eating through a tube.”

And now Stormrage comes in and chases Mystique off, before the Bearded Gents arrive. Why did I just state all of that? Just complimenting the multi-layering here.

----------- --------------------- -----------

Match 3;

The Bearded Gents vs The New Church – I have no tagline

Okay, I am done reviewing the matches as a whole, mainly because I am not the best match writer out there and other people are far more qualified. Basically if I say a match was a lot of fun, then that means good and this one was a lot of fun, with good face/heel psychology, which is what I enjoy in a match, even a written one. Not surprised to see the Bearded Gents win this one, RP wise they smashed it this round. The only drawback is that the “Big Evil Stable” suffers a setback, which is something that didn’t happen to the Apostles (shameless plug) but this was covered well enough with the removal of Mystique and it makes it look like only a temporary setback. Booking 101 basically, try not to make people look like shit.

BAM! Back to Stormrage. Honestly, if I thought the appearances of TNC on Ascension were pointless and achieved little, Aftershock has fucking wiped that clean away. This is one of the better feuds I’ve seen in a long time on here. Good work.

------------- ------------------------ --------------

Brent gets his challenge, he’s had a two round window to step up his game well enough before the momentum starts getting sucked away from him, which is more than most get, let’s see what he can do. We transition to Krypto, who must pick his opponent. Yep.

----------- --------------------------- -------------

Match 4;

Barbosa vs El Califa Dragon – Barbosa vs Mini Burna

Barbosa. . . Playing ball with someone else?

Seems our resident conspiracy theorist is late to the party with thinking Dragon is Ty, the match was classic Barbosa with perhaps the expected outcome, back and forth and all that jazz with the notable point of Dragon going for the Consecrated Banishment which certainly filled Callahan’s pants full of joy. A clean finish, which is nice, perhaps the right outcome although I thought the RP’s were very close for these two.

Ooh, what are Bowen and Cooper planning? A statement in the ring, you bad mofos.

------------ -------------------------- ------------
Main event;

Action Saxton and Saboteur vs The Empire – Whatever happened to their ever changing ring name? vs The Empire

Rome indeed wasn’t built in a day, as despite attempted aid from The New Church Action Saxton and Saboteur were able to beat Empire in what for me was joint MOTN with Bearded Gents against New Church. I like this because the two most fun teams have advanced all the way and while I put ActSab as the favourites I’d really like to see Bearded Gents really step it up and give them a fight. The Masked Gent certainly has the tools and The Beard is finding his way up there, I am looking forward to the final here.

The Evil Stables suffered another setback here, as TNC got run out by Action Saboteur and Bowen and Cooper were ambushed by Barbosa and S.H.I.T, I said before that I was disappointed with S.H.I.T’s and to a lesser extent Barbosa's lack of activity so far but if this was the plan all along I’ll concede it was for the best. Setting up for the next round with the 6 man tag, S.H.I.T and Barbosa put their differences aside so far, but we’ll see if those two can co-exist with each other and Showtime next round.

Thoughts, well this was the best show of the week, probably because it was the payoff show. I dispute Showtimes comments about it being the best show because of the lack of guest writers in the discussion thread, as I think some of the guest writers upstage certain members of creative in match writing skills. This was the best because of the storylines coming together in the way that they did, and all in all was probably the most concise of the three shows and didn’t leave me scratching my head or rolling my eyes even once.

Good job.

[Sexual Dynamite]

Meltdown Madness 85 Review

Okay here we go.

Opening

-So we open with Big Dave and the only thing of relevance he says is that "there are no qualifies for this year's Lethal Lottery only entrants will be at the discretion of WZCW management. Which brings me to ask does this mean creative gets to choose who gets to be in the match? If so I have to ask how they plan to do this. Looking at the roster thread there is a little over 30 characters minus whoever is in the world title match, I assume they will be saving spots for surprise entrants. I'll let them explain this when the time comes but hopefully they do it soon.

- Holmes interrupts, goes on the usual tirade about how he doesn't like Dave, he beat Triple X, he's #1 contender, etc.

- Showtime interrupts him, talks about how he's the best, World Champion, catering the crowd etc. Dave interrupts them both and announces the World title match on Aftershock between Show, Celeste, and Saboteur.

-Overall it's the usual Meltdown opening with Big Dave and whatever two creative members are feuding for the belt. Glad to see a title match is taken place even though it's probably going to be Show or for a real shock Saboteur winning it. No offense to Ech or his RP this week, just bad luck for him to put out the RP he did when he earns a title shot.

Blaze vs Reese

-Not going to be going into detail with the matches, never really been a critic of that.

-Surprised to see the new kid on the block get a win over Connor here. Definitely something to brag about, no real story advancement though, and I don't really care about Remix's vocal RP gripe so nothing to see here really.

-Overall this first match is fine, shame that the first match of the night is a standard nothing interesting on the line type deal though, but hey they can't all be crazy street fights.

-Mikey Stormage now has a backstage segment where he's calling out Mystique again, nothing new to be honest.

Krypto vs The Head of Creative (Sandy Desserts)

-Sucks to lose again, especially when it's conveniently to the newly Head of Creative but I'm not going to cry awful and be subjected to ridicule. That's what those bastards want me to do.

-The match was brutal good fun however.

-Sandy getting a shot at the Mayhem title is interesting, assuming Vega is still champion after this round let's see if Falkon can maneuver his way into championship gold.

-Overall and pointless kidding aside I'm fine with this, as I've said in the Discussion thread it will be fun writing what I've got planned due to this.

-By the way is it just me or is the Runn/Reese segment a complete rip off of this John Morrison/Jericho segment minus the Old lady thing?



Chris KO segment/Vs. Alex Bowen

-Titus is gone for the time being unfortunately, only thing I got out of the in-ring segment.

-KO beat Bowen in a predictable match, once again no offense to Phatso, just easy to see these things coming now.

-Blaze, Hunter, and Thrash have a backstage segment. Looks like a Thrash/Hunter feud is brewing, get your tickets for this show stealing Kingdom Come match while their hot!

Ricky Runn vs Mikey Stormage

-This match was good, really good even, I like violent matches.

-Mystique shows up at the end of the match to stare down Stormage in their usual song and dance to end the show.

-Overall it was a fun match, decent show, hopefully Ascension has more substance to be honest. This show just felt like it was missing something but I think the purpose of this round was the have everything cool happen on Aftershock or something.

[Ekacnap]

Meltdown Madness 85 Review:

Opening segment

It was a nice little segment featuring WZCW's resident big wig, and it was a neat way to introduce the unique rules to the Lethal Lottery this year though it does raise some questions.

The roster for WZCW is 31 members on a good day, and to have a match with 30 whole people would be dangling out one poor soul from the match. It is also a bit upsetting to see that Lethal Lottery qualifying matches are gone and instead end up being at the choice of creative on who gets in the match. Granted, it seems like everyone will be in the match but last year there was a lot of fun in the cards having people trying to win number 30. (Like what Baller did last year, and as a result he was writing up some pretty solid stuff.)

Oh well, moving on.

The Holmes/Showtime segment was alright, but it felt a bit underwhelming with the announcement of the Triple Threat match at Aftershock. Which to me, is more of a draw than the Holmes/Showtime match, if only that we might see a chance of Celeste grabbing her first gold, or Saboteur reaching the coveted brass ring.

Brent Blaze vs Conner Reese

Now this where creative got a ton of flack from Remix, because according to Remix, his character this week went through a promo that made it evident he wouldn't speak, or some jazz like that.

(Also side note, I don't know if it was suppose to be an error on Reese's behalf, but Dave said that)

and furthermore, from this point forward, there will be no qualifies for the match.

(From the sound of that, it seems to me that both Ricky and Conner won their spot in the Lottery, so I don't think Reese would worry about that, right?)

The match itself was alright, writing a heel vs heel match could be tough but it was a great effort to work them together in a match that made sense.

At the start, I wasn't too sure about having Blaze try to grab a quick win over a fellow heel. What good would that have done, getting heat for cheating a heel who has cheated in the past as well? I know it ended in a two fall but a heel cheating to win over another heel just doesn't do it for me.

This might be a comment more for IHW than it is for creative, but where exactly is Blaze in the alignment chart? He's a heel, but he seems to care about the fans opinion and what they think of him. I thought his gimmick was that he has fans and that they can't help but cheer for him, yet when someone is cheering for him he get's all befuddled and confused?

Match Grade: D+

Mikey Stormrage Segment

I call gimmick infringement if only because Ricky is the one who screws up sayings like Friend or Foe

All the rest though was solid in showing some of the tougher side to a character who is mainly goofy and half-hearted. It also builds up the feud against Grand Mystique, just in case anyone thought it was over.

Sandy Deserts vs Krypto

Ooo neat, a Mayhem Contenders match, this should be fun.

Man poor Krypto took a fucking pounding this match didn't he? I think after a match like this, it would be fair to show how the match was voted on, because if it wasn't the roulette rounds, you would have thought Krypto broke every single rule of the RP rulebook. He had a few shining moments against Sandy, and for a moment you would have thought he would have pulled out an upset, not the case.

Can Sandy end Vega's streak? One can hope, all we can really hope for is that it will be an entertaining read.

Match Grade C+

Runn/Reese segment

I won't pretend like I listen to Remix's vocal RP's completely, and whether or not that is a bad thing is completely different subject, but this segment was pretty amusing.

Where did Ricky push this woman? The pits of jobbers hell? Don't get me wrong, I love bad luck Ricky, but that part of the segment had that Tom and Jerry feel to it.

Runn was written pretty damn well, I like to think Reese was written as according to Remix, but like I said earlier, I don't listen to the full play of his vocal RP's so who knows what I missed.

Oh hamburgers.

Titus/Chris K.O segment

Yes Lee, someone read this segment. :P

When I worked with Numbers, one of the biggest conflicts we had was the spelling differences when it comes to thinks like savior and saviour. When it is written like saviour, I always imagine a British guy saying it, or at least someone is speaking in a British accent. It isn't a knock at you Lee, nor is it really something that demands changing, but that is just my two cents.

Titus announces his hiatus from the fed during a heel promo from his rival? That's a rather odd time to do it, don't yeah think so?

"I beat Titus at All or Nothing"

"Ohh yeah mate, well guess what?"

"what?"

"I'm going on vacation."

You see what I mean where it just comes off as awkward? Though it is a nice little surprise to have K.O injure Titus, once you return to the fed you will already have yourself a nice feud ready for your return.

K.O vs Alex Bowen

What, no gimmick match this time of round?

For a quick finishing move, it is surprising how many times Chris K.O misses with it. If it were a real sword, you would think Chris would have chopped off his own arm or poked out an eye by now. I get wanting to build up suspense by dodging the finisher, but I think you would get the same effect with a signature, right?

Other than Chris who seemed like he had the visual acuteness of a bat, it was a solid match that gave two heels a solid back and forth. Further building momentum for a once staggering Chris K.O.

I know I said earlier a heel cheating to win against another heel doesn't really work all that well to gain heat, but it was a good choice considering if you want to make the Empire look strong despite the loss. Good showing from both men.

Match Grade: B

Dustin/Blaze/Thrash segment

Yellowwwwwwww fonttttttttttttt

Here I was thinking Runn and Stormrage were the only dudes in the bag who had a non tag-team bromance. It is obvious that Hollywood Nightmare and IHW are buddies, so them tagging in the fed would make some sense. Or at least it will if they go down that route.

Thrash is smiling when talking to the heel who attacked him from behind? Weird.

Runn vs Stormrage

Sweet Mary Balls of fire, we got ourselves a street fight.

I wonder who it will be between....

Fuck.

Runn and Mikey are in the Main-Event tonight, and who would have thought that Mikey's segment from earlier was foreshadowing?

I love the bit with the "For Lucky" T-Shirt, it is nice to feel you guys are reading my stuff and I also need to thank Barbosa here for originally working this into Ricky's gimmick.

These two are not going to goof off this match are they? The last time they were in the ring they were doing matrix flips and airplane spins.

Wait what the fuck, what is Vega doing on my T.V screen? NWO Takeover!?

Oh no, he's just gloating.

So he's defending his title on Ascension? Sweet, so might be facing someone different if someone got lucky on the draw and dethroned the king of Mayhem.

Moving on.

I think I will work in the Miz style flying clothesline to Ricky's move-set. Seeing as he is a spot monkey it'll make for an easier transition to any high placed spots you guys want to use.

Man Runn is being manhandled by the fatter bigger foe, he's going to need some equalizer if he wants to stay in this match.

A trash can will work.

In a battle if you want to use wits vs strength, it helps to actually have some wits (unlike Runn) though granted it seems his wrestling instinct is far sharper than his clumsiness outside of the ring. After throwing trashcans were ineffective, using one to psych out Mikey was pretty damn cool.

The ladies go wild for Runn, neat. Too bad women these days when they get near Ricky tend to get hit by meteors.

After Ricky was dragging Mikey's fat ass around the backstage they end up in the garage with what I presumed to belong to either Ricky, or Darren Bull (those one beer cans can really mess you up). Rick seemed to have control over the match until Mikey uses his retard strength to break.

Ricky seems to love trashcans more than people love calling Thrash, trash.

Taking Mikey to the shitty car was a bad move in hindsight, as he gets clobbered to death on that thing before he counters with a facebuster.

Yup, that car had to belong to Darren Bull, who's stupid enough to leave the keys in the ignition anyway?

Wait Ricky is going to try and murder his friend isn't he?

Awesome!

As awesome as a spot as the car was, Mikey was able to pull it out and end up making Ricky's strange fascination with trashcans a deep regret as Mikey uses one to beat Ricky out cold for the three count.

Considering these two tried to murder each other on a car, I don't think it was a respectable bout between two faces that are friends, both of them wanted to win, and I think the two are big enough to understand the business comes first, but I don't think using a car as a weapon is respectable. Just my two cents on that.

Match Grade: B+ (Match of the night)


(Overall Grade: 8/10) It was a fantastic show all around with only minor kinks keeping it from being a 9/10 in my book. It tied up any loose ends from All or Nothing and it did a damn good job starting up and continuing new feuds even with the madness that is the random roulette rounds. Let's see what Ascension brings.

[JGlass]

Opening segment- Congrats Harthan, and welcome to the short list of people who have successfully written Saxton and Saboteur.

Smith/Myles Promo- The Overlast return was a cool bit at the end… but how can Myles send Smith to a grocery store for a match? What if he spun an empty arena match? Isn’t the roulette wheel the GM for this round of shows? I thought the Smith promo was kind of generic, but I did like parts of it, particularly the part about how he was kind enough to grace the arena with his presence even though Rush didn’t.

Flynn vs. Grand Mystique Ladder Match- I thought this was a very well done match. Most of Flynn’s offense came from intelligent wrestling, and that’s exactly what suits his character. What I liked even more was how he got virtually no offense in based on strength, an area where Mystique dwarfs him. The match was quick, clean, and got the point across: Grand Mystique is a big bad dude. Nothing wrong with bringing Stormrage out to keep the feud hot, either.

Showtime segment- Cocky, but in an amusing way: exactly what we like to see from Showtime. And I feel you Klamor, I can’t wait either, but we’ve got at least one more match, and I’m betting it’s got my boy Action Saxton involved!

Tag Team Grocery Store Brawl- Wow, I guess Chuck Myles is really lucky to predict the roulette wheel like that.

One thing I will say off the bat is that the logistics of this match are confusing. In every grocery store I’ve ever been in the dairy section is a long way away from the checkouts, so it seems illogical that Saxton and Smith got there so quickly. A wrestling ring is a known commodity, but it’s harder for the reader to figure out the geography of your imaginary grocery store.

I will say that the spots ranged from hilarious (Beard in the freezer, Saxton punching through the cereal aisle) to vicious (Hunter choking Beard with the mop) to all sorts of uncomfortable (the lobster pinching the frozen nipples of Beard was… strange), and I loved Klamor’s enthusiasm throughout the match. Sad mah boy Saxton didn’t win, but a fun match nonetheless.

Main event- I’m writing this in stream of consciousness, and I want to say that I just started reading this and my heart is already beating a little quicker than usual! The build throughout the show has been dynamite!

Nice job playing the three personalities off each other at the beginning of the match. Celeste is certainly the cool quiet type, but you know what they say about those types…

I don’t know what it is with you people and making Saboteur into an imaginary human ragdoll, but there must be something to it because it seems like every match writer enjoys seeing Saboteur go flying at sometime or another. That’s not to say that he isn’t wont to do so.

FalKon always did have his own unique way of writing Saxton. It’s not exactly how I’d do it, but it can certainly provide a few chuckles.

The Stephen Holmes watching bit is so very ominous. He and Saboteur have had very limited interaction, so what the heck is he so interested in Saboteur for?

The bromance of Saxton and Saboteur has been the most heartwarming thing WZCW has ever done. I mean, my knowledge of WZCW history doesn’t go past Saboteur’s debut, but this is pretty heartwarming stuff. Oh, and I grow increasingly anxious as this match goes on.

Crazy good ending, even if the wrong man won. In all seriousness though, I’m not sure if that was a great match or if I was just so emotionally invested that I am overrating it, but I found that match wildly enjoyable. The spots were terrific and I loved Saxton’s involvement. The Holmes/Celeste bit is a little confusing, but I assume that will be clarified in future episodes of WZCW programming.

I didn't do match grades or show grades. I'll just tell you that I liked almost all of the show except for the problems with the grocery store brawl that I already pointed out. Other than that though, solid stuff.

[Барбоса]

Lethal Lottery

- poor Ricky. His bad luck continues to drag himself and others down with him. I know this gimmick was sort of foisted on Pancake without his consent but I think it has worked well for even when Ricky is not winning he gets a silly segment because unsurprisingly, Creative enjoys finding creative ways of using that gimmick for comic effect.

- It is also nice to see someone else with something approaching a catchphrase - "Oh hamburgers." Get WZCW Merchandise on that immediately. The Ricky Runn Hamburger would sell in big numbers - what is unlucky about it? It is either really a hotdog or it does not have any meat in it at all. Or through an unfortunate string of events that took place when Ricky visited the factory, it contains a strong laxative. Hey... there is an RP in that for Pancake!

- much like the Royal Rumble, the numbers section always intrigues me. I am assuming that because only #7, #13 and #8 are listed as winning entrants means that one of them was won from twice?

- the excellent run of graphics continues as well as the good choices of music.

Action Saxton and Saboteur def. The Bearded Gentleman and The Four Faces/BarboSHIT/Barbed Wires/Technosa to win the WZCW World Tag Team Championship
- much like everyone else, I found this too close to call on both an RP and a kayfabe level. I suppose you could argue that BarboSHIT were the favourites coming in having beaten both their opponents and brought down the Empire but that does not mean very much.
- if I had one criticism of the match, it was that I found it a little short or maybe more accurately I found the ending a little abrupt.
- otherwise, I had no issues with this as once again my own character is made to look like a monster despite being no bigger than Kurt Angle, SaboSax regain their tag titles
- I'd like to think that even though we have had to say cheerio to the Empire and seemingly to the Bearded Gents (Grizzly Bob vs the Beard anyone or even the invention of Grizzly Beard as a team?), that my original plan to aid the tag team division by joining up with SHIT has come to some fruition, especially now with the additions of CoC and Natural Selection, the seeming return of Strikeforce, the bolstering of TSA and the continued greatness of SaboSax.

- Holmes having to play on a level play field? Yeah right

Drake Callahan def. El Califa Dragon in a Mexican Death Match
- never been a fan of Last Man Standing/Texas Death Matches myself. I think they undermine the idea of pinning your opponent being difficult. Would have rather seen a straight No-DQ match myself, although it still produced a decent match for what would seem to be the end of this feud with Drake's exploits later in the match
- as I have said already, the over-telegraphing of Ty's return has bugged me a little; I know I suggested the whole fore-shadowing of Ouija Scroll wielding menace but I think that the line was crossed into full on spoiling of what might have been a surprise.

- was that Saboteur use of POOP a mention of Manic Barbosa's calling SHIT "Poo"? If it was, good; if not, then Miko and I continue to be disappointed.

- Mikey has a friend? A friend that will help him when times are tough? Let us find out with...

- hey there is Triple X! Why isn't he defending his title?

Mikey Stormrage vs The Grand Mystique in a Steel Cage Match
- unlike others, I had no problem following what was going on but I do think Creative crammed a little too much into one scenario - the match itself, the redebut of DC, the return and then turn of Jacobs, the abduction and attempted brainwashing of Mikey and then the return of Howard - Kermit suggests that there might have been a little too much asked for by the participants and maybe all involved could have had used a little more coordination between them
- the story itself is not bad at all. I just think Creative over-stretched and perhaps even hot-shotted it. You have to remember that there is quite a bit of time between LL and KC and there was more than enough there to fill out a round or two. I would almost have held off on the return/turn of Jacobs for a while and have Howard save Mikey (although remain unseen), which would have removed the question of why did Howard not come out to help Mikey during his abduction rather than wait until his return during the Lottery?
- to be honest though, that is only a minor criticism - "Hey Creative, you are trying to be too creative" - except maybe was there an actual winner of the match?

- Chris is smitten once more

- Smith vs Rush. My prediction has already been made.

Steven Holmes def. Showtime Dave Cougar to become the WZCW World Heavyweight Champion
- I have absolutely no problem with Holmes winning or how it went down - it actually reminded me somewhat of my request to Ty about when Barbosa won the title - make it as heelish/cowardly as possible and I think the outside interference suited Holmes down to the ground
- my concern over the use of Celeste still remains though. Creative and Ech need to be careful about how they play that as Celeste could easily become nothing other Holmes' lip-locking arm candy rather than a Chyna-type bodyguard who continues on her own competitive path.
- just a quick mention of Showtime stepping down as I am going to miss his match writing. Easily one of my favourites, probably up alongside Ty. Certainly did a fantastic job with Barbosa/SHIT.

- interesting development with the KFAD; a bit disappointed that it looks like my idea has not been used though... well, not that disappointed. I could not get everything I asked for during my brief Creative stint.

- hey there's Vega! Why isn't he defending his title?

Drake Callahan wins the Lethal Lottery
- early start for Drake; he has no chance now, although his BFF is already in the ring
- not a good night for Masque
- the right usage of a returning Jacobs even if I think it was rushed
- Alhazrypto might even trump SaboSax and BarboSHIT for utter silliness... oh wait, they are both gone
- I won't say much more on the Ty return as I essentially wrote the outline of Chris KO as #1 (although I had him demand it rather than be forced into it) and the dual Califas. I might have been tempted to have Chris KO and Ty exit the match a lot sooner too to make it more obvious if the feud is going to be between them - although that way we would not have gotten the interactions between Ty and his past associates/opponents.
- Drake was right but also wrong
- knowing that Howard was returning did not detract from it at all.
- DC causing a lot of bother on his return
- nice cameo from Grizzly Bob - I also refer to my suggested team of Grizzly Beard from earlier...
- Barbosa actually appears in a Lottery that he was meant to participate in. Doesn't prevent him from continuing his annual killing session though
- Vega vs Triple X? Yes, please
- SHIT, Barbosa and Ty's staredown was rather nifty
- Blade vs Vega? Yes, please
- even though I had figured it out (I had asked Coco if Kravinoff could appear at Barbosa's birthday party and he rebuffed me saying that he was being used by someone else), Kravinoff returning was great, especially Barbosa's reaction to it - his two great allies/opponents returning in the same match
- I made no secret of my want for Rush to win the Lottery and go on to face Showtime at KC and also said that if Holmes won the title, there was no obvious challenger from a kayfabe stand point, which definitely made the Lottery more intriguing
- no problem with Drake winning but it was hardly the big change that had been mentioned and I am most certainly in the anti-heel vs heel camp for the KC title match so Creative will have something to do regarding the main even scene. For my money, neither Holmes noe Drake should be sacrificed with a forced heel turn. As triple threat with Showtime or maybe even a four way with Showtime and Celeste is the way to go, even if it does mean going against the "tradition" of a 1 on 1 title match.

[a0161613]

I promised to do this and I hate that this is my first one.

Lethal Lottery 5

A fantastically funny intro with Ricky and a great numbers package.

I can see Barbosa’s point about the tag title match being brief. Looking at it on the screen, it looks short. I know match length is rarely if ever dictated and quite rightly so but I would say that this would have benefitted from another paragraph or two of action. However, every match on the show is pretty epic and this probably has the least feud-like build so brevity is not a major issue.

Nice and logical segment with Dave and Holmes.

I’ve enjoyed the feud with Dragon and Drake. After a MOTY candidate at AoN, this brutal encounter would be the perfect ending. This had good length and although the amount of near falls was a disappointment, I can see the logic as these two were shown as near equals.

Mikey / GM is another very well written match. The action so far has been great and this continued through the show. I’ll take some blame on the ending as some time had passed on Yaz and I discussed. I don’t think it matters in the long run. Quite frankly, the fuss about the bazooka was ridiculous and a couple of members took it upon themselves to exaggerate things way too much. I thought that bit was handled brilliantly. I am not keen on the part Jacobs played at all. I don’t understand why he had to show himself as an ally of TSA. But the result played itself exactly as planned, giving us massive build for KC which will have a winner. Plenty of positives outweigh a couple of minor negatives for me but definitely not enough to stop this beast of a feud moving along.

I enjoyed the WHC match, the title change was written really well. This whole situation was handled well enough that I can ignore what I thought was really poor build into this. While the Celeste thing was clever, I still maintain that the snog was out of character.

The lack of KFAD was a big announcement deserving of the hype. I hope the tournament lives up to its’ billing but for me a lot of it depends on its size and the entrants. I hope it’s treated as an anyone-can-win situation.

I can understand the point of no title defences for Vega and X. Probably in a no win situation here. A small nitpick is that maybe X should have got the same kind of interview? The assault of Showtime was very well done.

I enjoyed the LL match. Every significant superstar got a big moment. The Ty/Califa thing has been planned for ages and I can only assume it went exactly as planned. The TSA/Mikey story rightly dominated the middle act and the events should play a big part in the KC feud. I especially loved how DC helped take out Mikey.

The ending didn’t disappoint either. Massive drama with all the big names going out, it was written excellently throughout but this was top notch. If the ordering was random then it definitely lent itself to the story that played out.

My main negative: Some really bad spelling mistakes that should have been caught. If the show was sat on for some time, then there were some errors that would have been caught. There were also some formatting mistakes that could have been caught with some quick editing.

I do wish that the delay had been handled a little better but I suspect there was a big reason for it coming out so late. I speculated that it was due to a surprise (and maybe inconvenient) outcome and I think I was right. I would be surprised if it was because of late votes. You guys know how important it is to get things up by a certain time but it is normally easier for a PPV, well any PPV that isn’t the LL. I guess it would have been worse if some of us had to RP twice.

This was a really good show, not without faults or controversy (and my biggest gripe isn’t going to be aired here - what a waste huh?) but generally pretty well written and handled on the road to KC. If I wasn’t psyched for this cycle before, I am now.