Riot 574: SUPER SHOWDOWN!

[Mr.Sensation]

http://ocwfed.tv/recapshow/Riot/riot2k21.png

Kwan_Watts.exe Failed To Load, Bruh. Laying Down!

[Jacob Trance]

FIRST.

 

[Tiberius Dupree]

Rps

Boob and Beef war of words, and Minio got under that skin. Lovin' how this is already unfolding. Great seeing Boob back in the saddle, with just a few lines instantly drew me back in. Top tier work here

 

Baker and Harv, this wasn't the best written rp on the show but to me it had the most impact without the filler. The best friend feud never gets old to me, and considering how much Harv has been "cheating" on him not even knowing he has a child. Idk who's the scumbag here lol

 

Ryu and Rust, FAMILY! It's sad to say after what happened later in the night, you should've listened to Trash, Hon! Well written, didn't waste my time.

 

Vid

The EMP and Dragana vid hands down, rp was a nice set up too. Things may seem innocent between the two, but I'm cynical and see it as psychological warfare. She brought Dragana to a place of ultra violence, a place she knows well. Great quality and storytelling.

 

Show ender, but because it made me cry. This was my summer first :(

 

 

Match

Surprise SCOOP Party, I got EXACTLY what I wanted when I booked this and Colin fugn showed up! The match itself was one of the most enjoyable I've seen all year on Riot. It was highly competitive and had everything you look for in a heel vs. face match. How Quartz spun it afterwards was a thing of beauty pushing his current feud while setting up for the future.

 

KISS, Always and Forever.

[Quartz]

RPS

 

- You just gotta love the MMM/Archer series so far. It has all the mixings of stupid meta jokes and progression, not taking itself too seriously. The Mad Mike Mansion is a place to behold and I kinda wanna take some acid and go there.

 

- The back and forth with EMP and Dragana is unique, not in a hateful kind of way like most returns or staking claim to the title. Continuing the dynamic they had before with the knowledge that they're on a collision course. This leaked into the video with the Kumite as well.

 

- The Hollywood USA promo has to be my pick for the last one. With Jasmine continuing to try and flirt with Jehst and mayhaps is actually falling for him. Can't say I blame her, but is ole Justin going to fall for it?

 

Videos

 

This show in total felt like a women's division showcase, which was awesome. We had the Mina video trying to keep the peace with Heather and getting her ass kicked, the post Kota Rain segment and the creepy voice talking to FloJo over the PA system. We had Marisa doing Marisa things and getting her face kneed' off by Valkyrie. Just good stuff all around.

 

The two Dominion promos were good, but the Tony/Parca one felt a little bit long. I enjoyed it, but it could have been a text RP just the same. I'm always going to be a fan of that style of editing and I'm glad someone else is using it now, as it's really versatile in what you can do with the stills. I appreciate the effort that goes into that style and the RP was readable and effective.

 

- Valkyries' return and revenge was very good as a moment. With Marisa hearing cheers but thinking they're for her to the quick-and-clean attack from Valk, getting revenge and not overstaying it's welcome. Very good stuff.

 

- I'll group all the Dominion stuff into one for my second pick. The implosion is happening all over the board and not necessarily due to one person's ego or whatever. It's a good way to keep faction implosions new and fresh. Of all people snapping and breaking the group, the calm, cool, collected one (Nate) being the main facilitator was not what I expected.

 

Match

 

- Some dope matches on this show, but I have to give the nod to the tag team match playa. AC and TY work well as a team and the whole tag match was great. Falling just a hair short and catching a couple spears did them in but you know I'm a sucker for a good tag team match. This also displays the continued friendship of Antonio and Nate despite everything else going on so I wonder if that will play into the continued destruction of Dominion?

[Maxx Edwards]

Great show like this does need more discussion. Still working on formatting.

 

Harvey-Baker Promo

 

This was such a surprisingly good promo. The crazy part is it did absolutely nothing fancy. It stayed simple and played upon pre-existing dynamics.

 

I’m not gonna pretend and act like I know a whole lot about Baker but he came back and is pretty obviously different. He had this weird “reformed” vibe where he isn’t really himself.

 

On the other hand, Harvey has been around the whole time and has been on this upward trajectory of trying to prove himself. Even in this promo, we can very clearly see how imperfect Harvey is which contrasts the “put-together” persona Baker put on.

 

This makes the surprise 10x better. There were just as many red flags and there were signs so while we should’ve seen it coming, we didn’t. Baker came back in a suit but it was never business, ALL PERSONAL.

 

This was my Promo of the night until literally the next one.

 

Jordan-Colby Promo

 

Now this promo is what I call being on top of the pen game. It did so much in nice smooth natural fashion.

 

Off the bat, it was a bit long. Do I care? Put the Dicaprio gif in here. ABSOLUTELY NOT.

 

Such a nuanced program and promo as even though we’ve seen their disagreements before, this is the catalyst of the feud. I specifically didn’t say this is where the feud starts because the unique thing is it’s clear that this isn’t a typical feud as this has been an ongoing thing outside of the characters’ OCW work relation. This promo is where the characters and the audience get to see the real crux of their long-standing quarrels.

 

This promo also did a very good job at establishing the two characters. Especially Colby, who recently returned and went through some creative changes. We saw both character’s imperfections and flaws but they still established a clear heel and face and their conflict seems natural.

 

A very underrated and (I think) hard to pull off thing that is done well here is how amazingly the two convey events that happen that we as the audience don’t know about. It really helps convey the passage of time and build the world around them. These characters’ lives don’t stop when the “camera” is off them and for these two to incorporate it in such a natural way just really elevates the writing in terms of authenticity and believability.

 

I will also note that I use the word feud but I also realize that the two might not immediately go after each other or even in the near future but the foundation is there and there is conflict between them regardless if they’re building for a payoff match at X PPV.

 

This promo had tension, pettiness, and comedy. It was just fantastic. Promo of the night for me.

 

Just Derek Promo

 

This was a promo that I thoroughly enjoyed. It did so much right and was very fundamentally sound in terms of promos.

 

It followed a nice flow and had a nice progression. Speaking of, it pushed the story forward and had a reason for existing. It came with a nice introduction that played off of Derek’s previously established video message promo, and had a good ending that made me want to see where this goes, which was the point.

 

The one thing I will say is that it was pretty wordy and redundant. It could have been shrunken down a bit but I’m not too worried as I suspect Derek will get better at it as he becomes more comfortable writing and with his character. An example of that would be this:

 

I am a weapon. I was a weapon constructed by Thomas Archer. A weapon that walked away from the big money picture and ran by myself until I was fed to the Wolves,but now I run with the Wolves.

 

When he could have said:

 

I am a weapon. One created and funded by Thomas Archer before I was fed to the Wolves I now run with.

 

Again, not too concerned especially because even with the repetitive nature, the promo didn’t run long at all. Definitely my favorite piece from the whole triangle storyline Derek is involved in.

 

All 3 of these promos made page 3 a WILD page. Seriously, go back and read it, I tried not to spoil or speak directly on what happened cause it really was crazy.

 

MinaV-Heather Video

 

Black Borders!

 

I’m going to cheat here and also talk about the accompanying RP because it very much relates to how I interpret the video. The video was good. In the few words we got from Mina we got to establish a clear face-heel dynamic.

 

After watching the show however, I do think this video was very similar in format to the Valk-Marisa video. One person comes out and talks, then is promptly interrupted by the person they’re feuding with. In that regard, the Valk-Marisa video was better.

 

Another problem is one I suspected, with the short form video content and with Mina V jumping right into a feud, we know nothing about her. I thought this was going to happen given her Lution debut especially with how out-there of a character she is, but then I was happily surprised when she had an rp on the show.

 

Rp was short but we still got to learn a little bit about here and by proxy, where(and when?) she comes from. Good stuff all around.

Everett-Parca Video

 

I think the verdict is clear on this one. Long and wordy.

 

The powerpoint images style used definitely work against it BECAUSE of its length. Some people like it, others not so much. In this instance, due to the fact it was 6 minutes and had a whole lot of words, I was not a fan of it.

 

Jake said that this could have been an rp. Maybe I have been fooled by the font size, but I still think it would have been a lot.

 

I think in terms of, “Come out to the ring and talk to the audience promos”, I really liked Rust’s this week. It had video with less text. Obviously because of the game’s limitations, that’s not nearly as easy with a tag team on the ramp, so I understand.

 

Telos vs Thomas Archer

 

Bunch of good matches all around. Didn’t really matter which one I picked.

 

This was such a fun meaty men match-up but as we all know, Archer ain’t in the meat-slapping business. Good win for Archer but it’s obviously part of a bigger story. More on that in the conclusion.

 

Conclusion

 

This was an amazing show all around.

 

Matches all came and delivered. On top of that, 99% of them had a story integrated with them, either before, during or after the match. Top to bottom can’t ask for more from a RIOT card.

 

The written content then took all that and kept it going. Everything served its purpose and did it well. Beautiful, no complaints.

Video Promos were probably the weakest part of the show only because they were relatively simple and the matches and promos were just a step above.

 

One thing this show made apparent to me was the web of stories being told. It seems like we are about to have 10 people doing duty at Cide and obviously, that’s not gonna happen. So many characters are involved in multiple storylines. Can’t wait to see how they all end whether it’s before, after or at SummerCide.

 

It gets dangerous in the Summer. Tensions are high and the stakes are higher. Great stuff from everybody.