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| Blue's BST Review | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Sep 30 2012, 09:00 PM (989 Views) | |
| BigPoppaBuyrate | Sep 30 2012, 09:00 PM Post #1 |
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Poppin' Buyrates Since 1996
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This could take... awhile. But let's see what we can do here... Kicking things off, I saw a few comments here and in e-mail saying I was crazy for doing a two night show with a Rumble and a tournament ending on the same show. Totally agree! I did it knowing quite well that some things would be overshadowed in the process and that it was going to be an INSANE amount of work - which it obviously was. By the end, I was running on "fumes of fumes" as one of you put it but I was quite determined to still give it as much as I had left. Feedback for the most part has been overwhelmingly awesome. You guys have all been very kind. There has been the occasional constructive critique but most have been along the lines of "You shouldn't have done this match on the show because it got overshadowed" - that's feedback I can easily live with. One of our handlers - someone who has been in every fed I've ever done and has seen pretty much every show I've ever put out - called it (as a whole) better than any EMWC show... which is a pretty bold statement but one that I greatly appreciate. Okay... let's dig in... Night One begins with my tribute to the Olympic Swim team video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPIA7mpm1wU). It's always hard to figure out the right way to start a show and for some reason, this idea kept popping into my head so I thought I'd take a swing at it. It kinda reminded me of the old WWF Wrestling Album video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtCtZ5x9EJI) which to me was a good thing. No one seemed to complain so I guess no one minded it. Then we had the little serious promo trying to put over the importance of the tournament and the title. Into the show intro which mentions a crowd of approximately 10,000 which - if I'm not mistaken - is probably the biggest crowd every listed for an AWA event. We go almost immediately into a match - a match that is not in the proper place on the announcers' format as should be evidenced by their surprise and being cut off by Phil Watson. Pretty early in the planning for the show, I asked Jer if it wouldn't make sense for Percy to manipulate the schedule to get Vasquez/Monosso on first so he'd have control over Vasquez the whole weekend. Plus, it made more sense so that Dufresne's arrival wouldn't have him sitting under the ring all night. A Falls Count Anywhere match to start the show. We're hardcore. I always have a little bit of trouble with FCA or any sort of "loose" rules match to be honest because I want it to be a wild brawl... but there's a fine line to walk in what's acceptable in the AWA and what's acceptable in the E. For instance, when chairs are used in the E, there was no limits and several headshots per match but in the AWA, I've designed things so that one shot to the head is a match-ender and may have serious physical repercussions. Same problem lies with tables. We've teased tables a ton but never put anyone through one... not yet at least. The big story to tell here is the growing dissent between Childes and Monosso and Percy's complete lack of trying to hide that he wants Vasquez in the Alliance. Percy's obviously pissed at Monosso but he still needs to him to win in this one. The other story to tell is the continued fall of Vasquez from white knight into someone who is willing to do WHATEVER it takes to accomplish his goals (i.e. the Curbstomp into the ring post.) One of my favorite spots in the match is Monosso countering the right cross into a crossface but it seemed so against what we know Monosso as, I had to ask Jer in mid-match if it seemed like something that Monosso would be capable of doing. I figure that in the once upon a time when Monosso wasn't the lunatic he is quite yet, he must've known some wrestling moves so when Jer green-lit the idea, I was pretty stoked. Vasquez going for his own Concussionizer was another slip down the slope for Vasquez as he continued to get more and more violent in his attempts to win the match. After the Spike and the elbows and the trapped stomps all in short succession, I felt Percy HAD to save Monosso. A kickout there seemed like too much to me. Then we got the re-do of the Mizusawa/Vasquez spot where Juan ties Monosso in the ropes so he can deliver the right cross. We get the INSANE kickout by Monosso which makes Percy realize that if he's going to set his plan into motion, he's gotta do it now. At the same time, Juan loses his damn mind and pulls a fork out of his boot to finish off Monosso. That leads to a partial ref bump... ...and the return of the Ladykiller in a moment we've been waiting for almost six months. Dufresne comes out from under the ring, gets at Vasquez, hits the Wham Bam... and delivers Vasquez to the Unholy Alliance with a ribbon and a bow. We have some post-match stuff where Juan realizes that he's in a position he never dreamed he'd be in - he's a member of the Unholy Alliance and must follow Percy Childes' every whim. Which leads right into the first tournament match of the night - also quite possibly an intentional move by Childes. Monosso's accomplished his goal... now it's time to get him out of the way so that Nenshou doesn't have to worry about facing him in the tournament. Gunnar Gaines vs Monosso was the second match of the night. Gaines' exit from the tournament at the hands of Ryan Martinez has been planned for a while. I was just waiting for the right time to do it and this was the right time since I wasn't done with Monosso quite yet. I wanted Monosso to take some more punishment in this match but not a ton because I knew there was a limit to the believability that he'd be able to compete in the next round. As a side note here, I know a lot of people expect that I know all the answers to booking long in advance but when I went into writing this show, I really had no idea who was winning this tournament. I had some ideas of angles that I thought would work well and I knew some people (like Gaines or Craven in this instance) certainly weren't because of other angles that needed to happen but at no point before the show started or even as I got a few matches deep did I know for certain who was winning this thing. The main goal in Gaines/Monosso was to have Monosso advance by a Ryan Martinez accident which would lead to the little interaction between Ryan and Justin Gaines. Easy enough. This is also the match where the fans start to turn a bit. Somewhere in here, I get the idea that Monosso getting cheered is starting to make some sense just because of the heart he's showing and the situation he's in with Percy. Not a ton of cheers, mind you... but those "respect" cheers for all he's giving. I also liked the schoolboy here because it gave Monosso a "skin of his teeth" type of victory which I felt was needed under the circumstances. The pull of the tights also gave more weight to the feeling that Monosso was willing to do anything to win. We go to the Control Center with Stegglet and Watkins. This is Watkins' return to television and he makes it instantly clear that while he was under an unofficial suspension and is still under probation, he's also still in control. There's an early mention of Langseth in here and his PVW appearance because I didn't think it could go unmentioned... plus it provides a little reminder of that situation since the Petrow thing HAD been planned for a while. We go from there to Jerby Jezz vs Stevie Scott. This match was kinda the reason I hesitated to have Jezz this late in the tourney. I knew it was a foregone conclusion yet I still had to find a way to make it worth reading. That came in the form of a lot of Rave doubleteams but I was still uncomfortable with it because I hate when the WWE makes tag teams look weak by having one guy run them both over. So, I tried to make it as much NOT that as I could. There's a mention immediately after the match of Monosso/Stevie... which wasn't a lock at that point but it was a Quarterfinal match I was thinking about doing. Yes, I didn't even have the Quarterfinals locked in place at this point. Somewhere in here, I decide that the Control Center will be where we do other announcements that need to be made - such as Rumble participants. Watkins announces Bryant/Hudson for Homecoming in here which needed to be done as well. There's a Craven promo in here. Craven is still a bit of an odd fit in the AWA, I think. Right now, he's the king of the crazy weird promos that go on a bit. If Monosso ever faces Craven, I think the promos might drive US insane. I think IN the ring, Craven works well in the AWA as a big monster beast. Outside the ring, it's more of a stretch because so many of you are delivering promos right in the vein of the 80s territories and Craven is more of a 90s type of character, I think. Craven vs Lynch is next. I knew Craven was being eliminated from the tournament at some point to set up the Martinez return on Night Two in the Rumble but I hadn't decided on when quite yet. But I felt Moze had RPd well enough that he deserved to beat Lynch... and quite honestly, I still don't think Travis has evolved enough that anyone would have bought him as a threat in the Elite Eight while Craven still raised some eyebrows as a possible tournament winner. At a certain point in a tournament like this, sometimes booking comes down to which is least likely to give away match results and make the end result unpredictable... which we'll probably discuss more later on. I'm not sure Craven vs Lynch worked as a match. I wanted to try something a little unique with it and the idea of Craven not fighting back and trying to "turn" Lynch was mine and mine alone. If you didn't like it, don't blame Moze because he had nothing to do with it. In hindsight, a more traditional monster vs babyface match might have been a better read but you can't blame me for trying! The post-match Supernova appearance was to set up what should be the blow off match between he and Craven at Homecoming. Both have other plans for SuperClash so it seemed like a good time to set that up. Watkins delivers a pretty fired-up promo on Craven in the Control Center to set that match up and kinda get on Craven's case a bit about all the Revolution stuff. SDW promo was next. I needed to do the promo for the match and I actually liked it a lot. It seemed really in-character for SDW to try and convince Sharif that Bathwaite was keeping him down... and then of course, there's a Blue cameo. Let's talk about that for a second... In all honesty, when I announced the Empire Sports co-sponsorship, there were no ulterior motives behind it. Since the AWA was using what I would assume in character is an EMWC trademarked name, I figured it made sense to announce it as a co-sponsorship. And since SuperClash is in LA where the E was king, it made sense again since you would again assume, in character, that Blue would have a lot of stroke in town and be able to make things easy for an incoming promoter. But you all thought it meant more! So I had to try and find a way to make it mean a little bit more! I came up with the Craven thing and then decided a Night One cameo would remind you he's there to set up the Night Two appearance. Oh, and Dane stumbling over his words was because I was trying to give the impression that suddenly stumbling upon Blue would be a bit of an intimidating moment for an announcer. The equivalent of Matt Striker trying to stay on his game if Vince just showed up next to him. Maximus vs Bart was next. This one was tough for me. You all know I love Blackwater Bart. I made no secret of that. If I had any indication that Sager would stick around after the tournament, some results on this show might have turned out a lot different. Going into this match, while I like the Maximus character, I didn't feel he earned a win over Bart. That said, since Bart's a short-termer and Maximus is presumably in for the long haul, I didn't want to completely kill the Maximus mystique. A countout loss to the Piedra fit my needs nicely. Pure X vs November was next. I thought Wallie did an outstanding job in this comeback run for November... but I thought Bren did an excellent job with Pure X as well. This one really could have gone either direction and I changed my mind a few times on it. As I told Bren yesterday, I feel like I should like Pure X as a character more than I do... but maybe he's also more of a 90s character. He's got so many tweener characteristics, it's hard to see him fitting in the AWA too. In hindsight, I might've gone with November if I had considered who seemed more likely to fit on the roster longterm. But at the time I was writing this, I was leaning towards a Pure X/Wright match in the Quarters so... sorry Wallie! Oh, and the "Pyerks" thing drives me nuts. In the past when I've done these, I usually mention every promo but I don't really think it's necessary here. I'll just mention those that I have something to say about. SDW/Sharif was, again, kinda a foregone conclusion so I wanted to go quick with it but not squash SDW since he's a kinda useful guy to have around at times. The now-infamous Marley promo was next. I thought it was a pretty good promo. I know Jer and Don have both said it was one of the best they'd read (or done in Don's case) for that character but honestly, I didn't really buy into it on that level. I think in some fashion - which came across in Bucky's words after the promo, I'm sure - that promo bugged me. It got under my skin. I think it was the UEW stuff, to be honest. It came across all shooty and what not... which just isn't really the AWA's style. Try to picture that style of promo being done on WTBS. It just all came across as so "woe is me." It just struck me as a weird promo to do in that situation. The promo would have served him better if all the UEW and PVW stuff was mentioned in vague terms and not that specifically, I think. However, I do believe that my words through Bucky were somewhat on target concerning Rick Marley - especially when it comes to the "what has he done?" part. I'll take a large chunk of the blame for that but since his return, I think Marley has just kinda floated along. We knew there was some kind of feud brewing with Nenshou but nothing really came of it. But for someone who got a pretty big moment for his return, I think there wasn't much done with that. That said, in all honesty, Nenshou was probably winning this match no matter what. There was just too much groundwork laid ahead of time to not have Nenshou win here. Jer has done such great work with Childes for so long and built so much of his stuff around the idea of Nenshou trying to win the World Title, I felt he needed to get closer than that. Now, when we talk about the match, I wanted that match to be one of the highlights of that round because I thought Don and Jer deserved it. A big part of that match also needed to be the role of Vasquez and what would he do. I wanted him to show reluctance but eventually realize he didn't really have a choice in the matter. Some of you thought he didn't show enough reluctance but I think Percy wouldn't tolerate a whole lot of pushback before making sure Juan did "the right thing." TO BE CONTINUED... |
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| Overly_Critical_Jue | Sep 30 2012, 11:14 PM Post #2 |
Amigo, I ain't anybody but Juan Vasquez!
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The two biggest shows AWA ever drew were both in Louisiana iirc. This explains everything behind the Wright madness! |
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| BigPoppaBuyrate | Sep 30 2012, 11:26 PM Post #3 |
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Poppin' Buyrates Since 1996
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PART TWO... I toyed with some different finishes but ultimately, I thought we needed the big statement punch from Vasquez that showed he, indeed, was going to follow Percy's orders. Moving on, we get a Control Center that really focuses on Jim Watkins' dislike for all things Royalty - especially Dave Cooper. Watkins opts to go to the ring for the next match even though his status on probation could cost him everything if he makes a mistake. The Wright promo was next. I "get" the people asking why Wright won the Rumble and I'm going to talk about that more when I get there but honestly, Terry did such a fantastic job with him throughout the tournament, it was hard for me to have him lose at all. Terry and I had a discussion where I was considering having him lose here because I really liked the Cooper angle and thought there might be more mileage there. Ultimately, I decided that the work was just too strong to toss it away and that there might be a better angle in having Wright end Cooper's threat to the title than almost anyone else that would be left in the Quarters with the possible exception of Scott and Sharif. I love the work Bob's been doing with Cooper but if he wasn't going to win the title - and he wasn't - there seemed like there might be a chance to go a very different direction and just see how things developed. Remember, I haven't picked a winner at this point, just eliminated several possibilities from my mind. The story of this match became Cooper vs Watkins... which wasn't really intentional but it also seemed like a good way to play it since there wasn't really heat behind Wright/Cooper. Ultimately, Cooper pays a little too much attention to Watkins and it costs him. I liked having Todd run Cooper off, again playing into the idea that EVERYONE hates Cooper and Royalty - no matter how they may feel about others. Todd saving Wright from Cooper was a cool moment in my head. And then to have Wright turn down the apology and ask for his shot at Craven? Pure money. As a side note, Terry had done several versions of the end of that promo with different opponents slotted in but I thought Wright versus Craven had the most potential considering Craven's angle. We went back to the Control Center for what I'd call a tournament "reset" where we could clearly see who was left in it. We've done this a bunch of times in the tournament just to be able to keep track of everyone. With so many guys involved, it was difficult to keep track at time so that's why the Control Center is important in a situation like this. The Quarterfinals are set at this point. Let's run down the matches and why I picked them... Stevie Scott vs Blackwater Bart - I knew this is where Bart was going to make his exit and since we never really paid off Stevie saying he wasn't going to let an outsider win the tournament, I knew this was our chance. Sharif vs Pure X - I mentioned earlier in this that I was leaning towards Pure X vs Wright but with Terry's promo, the match versus Craven just seemed like such a great idea, that made me switch gears. We already knew Wright vs Craven which meant that the final Quarter was Monosso vs Nenshou. There was a piece of me who really wanted to save this for a potential semi or even a Final but as the pieces started to come together, I could see how things would shake out. I really disliked the idea of an all Jer final so I wanted to avoid that if I could. The only way to avoid it seemed to be to start matching his characters against each other. Plus, Monosso vs Nenshou would have been an awesome way to end Night One. Just out of curiosity... let's say I went a different direction... Let's say I went with Wright vs Pure X as I originally intended. And since Monosso vs Nenshou was going to be saved, we probably would have had Monosso vs Stevie in the Quarters. Craven vs Bart? Nenshou vs Sharif? I don't know. It just didn't seem as solid to me as the four matches I picked. As we came back from break, we showed some footage of Bryant and Hudson brawling in the parking lot. I knew that Bryant was going to cause Hudson's elimination from the Rumble but I wanted a little extra reason for Hudson to want to kick Bryant's ass bad enough to eliminate himself from it. That was one of those segments that I decided I wanted at the last second so I had to take creative liberties and write their dialogue. Our first Quarterfinal saw Stevie vs Bart. Like I said, as much as it bummed me out, I knew this was Bart's exit. I also knew that if Josh really were around to know all the history, he'd agree with this decision. I think deep down, I always knew that Stevie would need to be in the tournament all the way towards the end. I may not have known he'd be in the Finals but I think I knew the Semis would be the earliest that he'd exit. The story's too good. The character's too good. The promos are too good for that character to be out any earlier than that. There's a Pure X promo that interrupts the Control Center that, better than anything else, shows exactly why I have issues with that character. It's such a heelish thing to do - even though he's in the right in what he's saying - that it's hard to get behind him as a face. There's a Bucky moment which, again, really explains my feelings about X... GM: The fans are a bit mixed on this guy, Bucky. BW: Who can blame ‘em? Pure X has moments where he seems like the wrestling fan’s dream come true - a whitebread fan favorite who wants to fight the good fight and make those who disrespect the sport pay for that error in judgment. And then he turns around and berates announcers, executives, and fans for their words. I’m not even sure Pure X knows who Pure X REALLY is on some nights. Yup. Pure X vs Sharif gave me a chance to write something kinda different. I wanted to see a battle between X's MMA-influenced ground game and Sharif's traditional amateur wrestling style. I got a little of it before I thought I was boring people and went to a more pro wrestling style. I really liked the idea of Sharif getting a win with a gutwrench powerbomb... and even moreso that he'd lift Pure X off the mat up into it, showing Sharif's power that we sometimes don't discuss. The dueling Wright/Craven promos were solid but ultimately didn't matter much to the booking since I already knew this was where Craven was making his exit. I again toyed with the idea of sending him through to the Semis but I couldn't find the value in it. I couldn't see where losing to Stevie or Monosso or Nenshou or Sharif would do him any good whereas losing to Wright wouldn't really hurt the character but would still accomplish what needed to be accomplished. The idea of Wright as the Cinderella story really started to take hold with me by this point. The backslide was just another way for Wright to squeak by an opponent. The Night One Main Event had finally arrived and the question was - would Monosso lie down for Nenshou? This one tortured me quite a bit. You can ask Jer. We had a few conversations about this match and how the different results would affect all of the characters involved. I really could have gone either way but as the tournament had progressed, I started to get a bit of a soft spot for the idea of Monosso going the distance. At this point, I knew I had other plans for Sharif. I knew Wright winning the whole thing wasn't going to happen. That left Stevie, Monosso, and Nenshou as the potential World Champions in my head and to be honest, I saw great possibilities with all of them. But the more I thought about it, the more I kept coming back to Monosso. It was such a big moment - something long teased as Percy has abused Monosso more and more over time. It was something we hadn't planned... we hadn't discussed until now... but it just seemed... right. I tried the best I can to make Monosso/Nenshou something very special. I knew it should be since it was the first meeting between the two. It was an interesting match to write because Monosso can't be TOO strong considering the amount of punishment he's taken already but you don't want a complete squash until the comeback either. With the win, the Semis were set, the Rumble field was growing, and soon we'd be off to the races for Night Two... TO BE CONTINUED... |
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| guzzdude | Oct 1 2012, 12:04 AM Post #4 |
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Martin Luther King, Jr
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Quick note, I was very excited to refresh the thread after the first post to see part 2 was already up! Reserving actual comments for the end! |
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| orklad | Oct 1 2012, 09:51 AM Post #5 |
The Luther Burger
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Honestly, I'd thought about keeping things a bit more vague, but a conversation with Sonby pointed out that most of the stuff that's really caught on in e wrestling (and pro wrestling in general) sorta blurred that line between real and kayfabe...which lead me to ask 'well: what can I do that would do that?' The glass ceiling thing was what popped to mind...not because I actually feel that way (Marley's gotten big pushes in AWA, both in his first run and this one), but because some UEW handlers have complained about it often enough that it's sorta become its own story-line in our circle. I didn't want it to get under Blue's skin (though having Bucky rip on Marley for what he said was a perfect addition to the promo, I thought), and if it aggravated Chris, I'd like to apologize for that...but I still think the promo felt more "real" from Marley than a lot of the stuff that I've done for him over the past few years, if not ever...and that was really a good feeling for me. And for the record, I also expected Nenshou to go over in that match (though I actually expected him to win the whole thing)...and Bucky's anger at Marley, coupled with the loss to Nenshou after Vasquez popping him one in his mouth opens up a lot of avenues for Marley going forward, I think. |
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Orklad or Don, Lord of Pudding | |
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| NotPicky | Oct 1 2012, 10:04 AM Post #6 |
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Unregistered
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Marley messed up his promo. He didn't say he had the privileged of handing over his title to a true champion. 
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| Overly_Critical_Jue | Oct 1 2012, 10:17 AM Post #7 |
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Amigo, I ain't anybody but Juan Vasquez!
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CM Marley getting knocked out by Juan Cena will be the most important moment of our times! |
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| BigPoppaBuyrate | Oct 1 2012, 01:07 PM Post #8 |
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Poppin' Buyrates Since 1996
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NIGHT TWO Night Two starts with a VERY serious video package to show that we mean business. It was the segment that I asked you guys to help out with and you came out in support in a big way. I think it really put over the value of the World Title and what it meant to all those guys on there. One of the things that I find interesting is that the AWA, on the whole, has an older talent roster - guys like Monosso and Gaines and SDW and the like are all into their 40s so you could really understand when some of these guys say it's their last shot, they truly mean it. Actually, just re-reading that segment now it occurs to me how good some of those pieces are. Damn good stuff. There's a line in the opening intro by Gordon and Bucky where Bucky says that the Road To Glory might be ending but the Road To SuperClash IV begins "tonight." It's my not-so-subtle way of turning focus away from the end of summer, the end of the tour, and the end of the tournament and towards the next big event even before this one is over. Up front honestly, I intended for Night Two to be around two and a half to three hours of "TV time." Made sense since there was only five matches. It was more. Definitely more. We go to the Control Center where they run down the Rumble lineup again only to be joined by Todd Michaelson and then interrupted by Stevie Scott. I asked John for this promo where Stevie is trying to get the counter to the crossface out of Todd because I thought it was a good way to show that Stevie was concerned about facing Wright, to put over Wright as a legitimate threat to Stevie's path to the World Title. I think the promo came off a bit more heelish than I would have intended... not sure if that was John's goal or not. I actually kinda like Todd and Stevie trading words and I always like the chance to reference a history between characters like the WarGames mention here. Terry does another awesome promo next which... just for an instant... makes me re-think putting Stevie over him. But I thought John's promo was really well done too and what it came down to was I felt that if Wright made the Finals, the result would be a foregone conclusion since no one would believe I'd put the first World Title on an "outsider" just like no one ever believes that an "outsider" will win the Stampede Cup. Stevie HAD to win if that Final was to have any doubt and suspense left in it. This one allowed me to play up more of the Stevie vs the Outsiders card as Wright was the last "outsider" left in the tournament. Stevie's promo set that one up nicely as being the big story of this one while Wright's continuing Cinderella story was the subplot. I put the t-shirt on Stevie just because I liked the idea of a pissed-off Wright ripping it open to deliver the chop... and because there was a certain symbolism to Wright ripping a shirt that reads "AWA Original" on it. The early Heatseeker attempt is an important spot because it shows that Stevie is taking Wright seriously and isn't looking to screw around with him. He wants the win and he wants it fast. But Wright's counter of it into a half Crab is equally important because it shows that Wright probably can outwrestle Stevie and if the Hotshot wants to win, he needs to get nasty. There's also an early discussion about whether or not Stevie would give up in a match of this importance with Gordon saying that since he didn't give up in I Quit than he wouldn't give up here. Bucky points out the difference between the two matches in that if he gave up against Broussard, he'd lose his career. That's just to plant a seed in your head that Stevie might quit even though he didn't the last time we saw him in circumstances like this. There's a lot of Stevie rule-bending early and some talk about how he's the same guy he's always been. This is to make sure everyone remembers that and no one's surprised when he gets casual with the rules either in this match or the next. One of my favorite spots in the match was Stevie turning the Fat Tuesday into a figure four... which I believe was on Terry's strat. Just a really great counter and move right into offense which leads to a very blatant grab of the ropes for leverage by Stevie - something that's a bit on the heel side even for him. Just another example of Stevie being desperate to get to the Finals. I knew I wanted to have Stevie try to use the Piledriver in the Finals so all the desperation here was setting that up. There's another cool segment in here where Wright avoids a baseball slide by Stevie and then starts tearing into the neck which Bucky describes as the "surgically-repaired" neck and points out this was probably Wright's target all along. A series of shots to the neck gives another near fall and then another cool spot where he tries to lift Stevie for Fat Tuesday too quickly, losing his balance on the bad leg, and getting rolled up for another near fall. I let Terry use the choke into a suplex to put over the big time feel of the match. It's not ordinarily a move I would use but... big matches get big moves. Then there's the Heatseeker that knocks Wright to the floor. I'm a big fan of that spot too. It's a good way for someone to get their big move in but not have to suffer a kickout at the hands of it. We also get the attempt at the Riley Roundup in here somewhere, a nod to SDW. The end was a little fuzzy to me. I knew I wanted Stevie to barely escape with the win but to be honest, Wright doesn't have a ton of non-submission moves on his app. I started thinking about a counter to something but most of Wright's moves had already been used and/or countered. Then it occurred to me... the Billion Dollar Bomb. Of course, Wright would try to use the move that showed he IS a Combat Corner student... but Stevie yanked out the legs, got the cradle, and got the three count. The Unholy Alliance backstage piece where Vasquez makes the proverbial deal with the devil is next. He'll do Percy's bidding... if Percy delivers him Calisto Dufresne. Percy gleefully agrees... which can't be what Dufresne had in mind when he helped Monosso defeat Juan on Night One. Sharif promo was next. I love Jer to death but man oh man... sometimes he cooks up something that makes me scratch my head. This Monosso on drugs bit of the promo is the perfect example. It comes out of nowhere... really has nothing to do with the story other than potentially firing up Sharif... and just seems out of place to me. There was a similar strat for Sharif on Night One to avoid interference at the hands of Dave Cooper by sic'ng the officials on Cooper for having drugs in his bag. Weird. Cooper promo was next. I figured Cooper would enter the Rumble just to piss off the suits if nothing else. Bob figured Cooper would think it was a setup to allow twenty-nine guys to beat the crap out of him so he said Cooper would take the spot but bring in a sub. 4M was my suggestion since it kept that tie to Petrow fresh in our heads. Cooper also uses his mic time to imply that one of the guys left in the tournament might be a Royalty ally. I didn't really focus on that too much during the matches that were left because it seemed like such an obvious red herring, I thought it might take away from the show. Then there was the Monosso bit about not being in the building. Another one Jer came up with on his own, stratted it, and I had to roll with it. =) This one turned out okay though, I thought. It made sense that Percy would try to screw him after Night One and it also made sense that Watkins would be ready for it. When I first saw the Sharif entrance with the camel, I chuckled. Then when I saw what Jer wanted me to have Sharif do to that poor camel (yes, I realize how that sounds), I had to hesitate. Ultimately, I went with the noggin knocker on the camel but I WAS conflicted about it! But it did allow me to make some World Wildlife jokes so I was okay with that. The biggest key to this match was I needed to play up Monosso's horrific physical condition as much as possible. He needed to sell A TON which is unusual for Monosso who usually dominates most matches on offense. That's also the reason for the constant time calls so we knew how long Monosso had been subjected to more abuse. There's also a spot in here where Bathwaite physically puts himself on the line - another spot to show how badly people want this World Title. The Hogan/Sheik spot? All Jer's idea. I just went with it and thought it was so awesome, I decided to end the match with it. The Bishops' promo was next. I dug it. Dan reworked it after I didn't really care for the first one and I thought the second one was much better. The tag titles were on the line next. Honestly, the angle worked so much better for the future if the Bishops kept the title... even though this part of the angle had an unhappy ending for VU... that it would have taken a magnificent VU promo to get me to go that direction. VU is a bit of a problem for me. On one hand, I really love writing the team in the ring. They have so many cool spots... so many options for making them look like king-sized badasses. But they also suffer a bit from Road Warriors syndrome. They look unbeatable to the viewer. That pays off well when they lose because it's a big coup for the other team but it also makes them a little difficult to rally behind sometimes, I think. One of my favorite things about writing a VU match is coming up with crazy power moments for Danny Morton. One of my favorite things about writing a Bishops match is trying to find ways to get them down without Cletus Lee getting floored a bunch. We've worked pretty hard at making it a big moment when Cletus Lee gets dropped so it's hard to keep that going sometimes. But a spot like Cletus Lee staying on his feet after the double tackle and then dropping them both with the double clothesline is pretty awesome to me. One of Dan's requests for this match was to get over Duane Henry's high flying side so I tried to get in as many nutty spots for him as I could - the first of which was diving off his brother's shoulders. I don't have a whole lot to say about this match other than I thought it was one of the better tag team matches I've written in a while. I thought it did the feud justice and was a good feud-ending battle. Well, except for the fact no one commented on my "Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em" reference. We got a barrage of Rumble promos next. Some good stuff, some average stuff. Up next was the Blue/Craven segment. Again, when I decided to put Blue on the show, I knew this had to happen. It only made sense considering Craven's angle. It was an interesting segment to write because Blue should, naturally, be afraid of Craven... but that character has a certain level of ego that that wasn't gonna fly for long. So, eventually he gets mouthy and Craven comes after him. Then it was time to Rumble. Honestly, I was pretty exhausted by this point. I generally look forward to writing the Rumble every year but this year... not so much. Those of you who've read my Rumbles in the past know that I tend to look at them as a series of "moments." But as I looked at the list of people in it, I didn't have as many moments as I would like. I knew the Craven/Martinez thing had to happen and I knew the battle of the MAMMOTHS was another. Terry and Wallie had suggested a double elimination for November and Jones. But that was about it. Everything else was up for grabs. Having Blue sit in on commentary was a last second decision and there was no real reason for it other than to have more of a reason why he showed up to the show. Glad some of you seemed to enjoy it though. Rick Marley draws #1. It's funny how things work out sometimes. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this in the past but for a large part in these Rumbles, I tend to go with a random draw. Obviously, there are some places where I fudge it or decide that a certain person can't go in a certain spot where their name comes up... but for a big part of the Rumble, I let the fates decide. So, when Rick Marley was the first name to come up after his promo from Night One, I have to admit... I laughed. It was just too perfect. Marley coming out a little surly and cranky was my decision. Don hadn't advised me on any way to have him react. I went off the Night Two promo and kinda expanded upon it on my own. I liked Rust coming in at 2 since he wasn't going to win and since he has a history with Marley from the early days of the AWA. Much like the tournament, I knew people who wouldn't win... but I didn't know who WOULD... not yet at least. Staley drew 3. Dan wanted him in early in hopes that he'd have a big Ironman-esque showing and toss a bunch of people. I'm not sure it turned out the way he was hoping for but I thought he did a nice job with Staley for the tournament. Bren had asked to put in Macht and I've always been fond of the character so I didn't see any problem with it. Gave us an early chance to establish the importance of allies in the match - something that would come back with the Unholy Alliance. Mr. Mensa comes in at 5... and honestly, we've only got one potential winner in the ring at this point. Rick Marley... and really, I think most people didn't expect him to win either. So, the first five guys are in and there's not a legit winner there yet. This was somewhat intentional. I knew in my head what I wanted to do with the clearing the ring spot... so I wanted to get some of the guys who weren't going to win out there early. A lot of Rumbles end up with the whole "Guy going the distance" story thread but I didn't see a need for it this time. I wanted the MAMMOTHS at one point, Martinez/Craven at another, and THEN the Rumble would really get going with legitimate threats to win. Ryan Martinez was next. His was another spot that I knew I wanted. I wanted he and Gaines to work together for a bit but ultimately, Gaines would toss him to get some payback for Ryan shoving down Justin the night before. Green comes in early - gotta get the King of the Battle Royals some ringtime. He gets a couple of quick tosses because I love the character so much. And then comes Maximus. I wanted to have him do some damage and show himself as a big hoss in there. He quickly dominates everyone, standing tall alone as the count starts and 4M makes his entrance. Joe asked for some stuff with 4M that I didn't use... just didn't feel it fit in with what we were doing. Invented some history between 4M and Staley and Maximus on the spot to add a little something to it. Gaines is in. Goes straight for Martinez while Maximus powerslams 4M to remind you of his power. Tyler Lee's in as a surprise. Nothing big but pretty cool to have him back. Mizusawa is next. Now, some have asked why there wasn't this huge throwdown between the two. I considered that... but I thought it might be better to tease it and save it for another day. I also liked the idea of Travis Lynch coming in and trying to take on both giants. Seemed like the kind of thing a babyface like him would attempt, no matter the consequences. Summers was next and went after Lynch for one of those older references I like - kinda like when Flair went after Piper and Kerry and Valentine in the Rumble that year he won the title. Mizusawa eliminates Maximus... Maximus (with the aid of Marley) eliminates the giant. All hell breaks loose outside the ring. November comes in at the halfway mark... then Jagger... then Craven. I decided that Craven needs a couple eliminations before Martinez arrives to send him packing. BIG VERN! Vernon Riley was one of my favorite AWA characters from days gone by so when John said I could use him, I was stoked... and equally saddened when John said he'd never use him again anyways. Someone should convince John to let you run him. Oh, he's also offered up the War Pigs to anyone who wants to try them. Skywalker Jones' stay in the match is probably one of my most regrettable. I put him in too late to really have an impact and the character has been one of the highlights of the AWA in recent months and deserved better than that. Martinez enters, cleans house... and then eliminates himself as well. Alphonse Green gets lost in the chaos and is presumed eliminated also. I liked the idea of ring getting cleared out and the next guy coming in having to stand around and wait. Which just so happened to be Nenshou. This is where things started to pick up because most of the final ten stood a pretty legit chance to win the whole thing - at least to the reader. Vasquez comes in next which lends more credibility to the idea that Percy has more control over backstage happenings than he should. The next bit is to establish the Unholy Alliance as a united force as they eliminate BC fairly easily. Then they do the same to Hamilton Graham, which we lend more conflict to Vasquez to by playing up some history between Graham and Vasquez... which sorta exists based off conversations that Terry and I have had. There's a little bit of conflict between Nenshou and Vasquez which leads to the arrival of Supernova which puts three legitimate contenders in there together. He's the first to be able to survive Nenshou and Vasquez working together. Donovan's in next. Glenn Hudson's next... who I don't think anyone would buy winning but he's in there for just a bit until Bryant arrives to cause him to eliminate himself. Right now, there's four guys people would buy as winners. Nenshou, Vasquez, Supernova, and Donovan. Jeff Matthews is next. I'm not sure if people would buy him winning. My guts lean towards "no" considering he's not really on the AWA roster. But he's a former World Champ and a Hall of Famer so... maybe? Wright comes in at 29 and Sharif at 30... So, the way I look at it at this point is that there are six guys in the ring that you, the reader, would buy as a challenger for the World Title at SuperClash... that's if we say you buy Supreme Wright which apparently some of you don't. Six guys... one of which I have to decide is going to get that shot. Hudson goes out with the Bryant interference to keep their thing going. I know that Donovan's not going to win... despite possibly making for an awesome SuperClash title match... because of the tag stuff he's doing. So Vasquez tosses Donovan AND Matthews with one shot... which leaves my five guys who might win. Vasquez, Nenshou, Wright, Supernova, and Sharif. Who would win? I pondered it for a while. By this point, I was pretty sure that Monosso was winning the title so I wanted to consider who would make the best opponent for him at SuperClash. I really disliked the idea of having Jer face himself at SuperClash. So, that kinda eliminated Nenshou and Sharif from my mind. I liked the idea of Vasquez winning a lot... but I wasn't sure I wanted to go that direction. That left Supernova and Wright. Supernova made a lot of sense to me. He needed a boost after 2012 wasn't the kindest year to him after a big end of 2011. Being the first two-time Rumble winner would be pretty awesome... but to me, I was putting him in another no-win position. I didn't believe anyone would buy him beating Monosso at SuperClash just like it was a hard sell that he'd beat Dufresne last year. I just thought I was putting him in a position to fail. That left Wright. The more I thought about it - it really seemed like the answer. If you asked me flat out who had the best promos throughout the tournament, Supreme Wright would be at the top of my list... maybe at the very top. I knew that every time I wanted to eliminate him, I found it very hard to do so because of the promo quality. I knew that the story was fantastic - the kid who walked away from the AWA coming back to shock the world AND get the shot at the title he always wanted to begin with at the biggest show of the year. It was such a fantastic story to tell, I couldn't resist. The more I thought about it... the more I loved the idea of the aging veteran with "one last run" left in him taking on the young kid trying to make his dreams come true in the biggest match of his life. Supernova eliminating both members of the Alliance was in hopes that it'd give him that little extra boost coming out of the show. Sharif getting eliminated by Alphonse Green just... well, it amused me. I was waiting for the right time to have Green make a return to the match and this seemed to be the best moment. And I do have to admit, the idea of Green winning did cross my mind for a second or two but I wasn't going to put him in the title match and I couldn't think of a way out of it. So, Wright wins... and for those of you who don't like it, I defy you to tell me that after the promos Terry put together for this tournament, you don't believe he deserves it. And that leaves us with our Main Event... What I loved about this Final is both men had a helluva story as to why winning the title was important to them. It was as non-traditional a face vs face final as you can get too. I put Watkins out there to allow for a little bit of a more relaxed rules. I was SOOOOO tired by this point but damn it, after all this... this had to be good. Monosso goes for a pin within seconds. We know he's hurting. We know he's in bad shape. We know he's desperate. But we also know that if he's got anything left in the tank, he's gonna use it to try and win this match. Stevie again for the quick Heatseeker, trying to find a way to finish this thing before it really gets going. He's tired and hurting too and wants no part of an extended war with Monosso. I tried to write this with Stevie on offense most of the time but James occasionally exploding with some offense before selling again. Like the Descent Into Madness spot where he hits it but can't cover. A couple days after the Lawler thing had happened, I was thinking of having Monosso fire up, pull down the strap, fistdrop, piledriver to win. But I kept going back to what someone had said about the piledriver not being as dangerous in the AWA as it used to be and I didn't want that to get any worse. The strap still came down but there was no piledriver. Really liked the middle rope lariat nearfall where Stevie got a foot on the ropes. I thought it was a pretty believable nearfall. The Moonsault. I considered a Superfly splash. Seemed more believable. But again, the more I thought about it, I thought... "Well, as often as he's worked with Nenshou, he must have at least THOUGHT about pulling one out." I wanted it to be an ugly one though... like Terry Funk ugly. Or in our world Chris O'Brien and Steve Kowalski ugly. I loved it. I loved the moment. I could SEE it... I could FEEL it... and to me, that means it was an amazing moment. But I had one more ace up my sleeve. The celebration was on... ...until Joe Petrow arrived to channel his inner Andre The Giant. "I'm here for one reason... to challenge you to a championship match at the Wrestlemania." And Jim Watkins jumps right on top of a handcuffed Petrow to bloody him up. END! |
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| StevieScott | Oct 1 2012, 01:20 PM Post #9 |
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...EVEN CHILDREN!
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I didn't intend for him to come off heelish, but I did intend for him to come off real. Let's face it, given Stevie's past he can't be a traditional face. He has to be himself and sometimes that's going to come across heelish. He was supposed to be pissed at Todd. To him, Wright was an outsider and to see Todd supporting him even after their history...that was pretty unfathomable to Stevie. Plus, it sows the seeds of his obsession with the AWA World Title...and maybe the fact that he will eventually do ANYTHING to get his hands on it. |
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"Destruction of Hell" start playing as Mason drop the mic and exit the ring as fans throw stuffs at him but he punch out most of the fans even children. | |
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| Overly_Critical_Jue | Oct 1 2012, 01:34 PM Post #10 |
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Amigo, I ain't anybody but Juan Vasquez!
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Ever since I created Wright, the Combat Corner backstory was something I wanted to touch upon eventually and the world title tourney gave me the perfect opportunity to do it. The funny thing is that I don't think I ever told Blue that Wright was going to enter the Rumble. The Wright holds up an arm to the crowd and walks through the curtain moment after he lost to Stevie, was in my head, his farewell to the AWA. He cameback, had people be pissed that he walked out on the fed, started off with a huge chip on his shoulder, fought hard enough in the tourney to earn people's respect and even softened a bit on his own stance on the AWA, near the end of the whole journey. So yeah...imagine how shocked I was that he actually won the damn thing. This definitely goes down as my own personal biggest e-w surprise ever. It even forced me to write feedback to Blue! |
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| Walls | Oct 1 2012, 01:44 PM Post #11 |
The Luther Burger
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I would definitely put this on par, quality, with any EMWC show. Only the ECW tribute really stands to the test. EMWC had this whole quality of craziness that made their shows really stand out. Shock value. It's why it's really been remembered so fondly. However, for an older school style fed, one where a moonsault is a huge spot, to be on that level, that's really saying something. So kudos. Amazing event. Glad to have been a part of it! |
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| sychosys | Oct 1 2012, 04:25 PM Post #12 |
This Space For Rent
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sychosys goes back to re-read every promo he's ever written in an Andre the Giant voice. |
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| BigPoppaBuyrate | Oct 1 2012, 04:30 PM Post #13 |
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Poppin' Buyrates Since 1996
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If only Andre was giving promos about a kiwi. |
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| sychosys | Oct 1 2012, 04:33 PM Post #14 |
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This Space For Rent
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Blue was a closet Double Eye fan? Who knew... ...and, with Andre's voice, how you can tell that Andre never gave a kiwi promo? I've pretty sure that he surrendered the world tag team titles at The Main Event... |
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| sychosys | Oct 1 2012, 04:46 PM Post #15 |
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This Space For Rent
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Blue forgot to mention this show's Karate Kid tribute! The role of Darryl Vidal was played by Supreme Wright. Logically, this would mean that Johnny was Stevie Scott, Daniel was James Monosso, and the Crane Kick was the Moonsault. |
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11:32 AM Jul 13