LET'S FUGN FIGHT!!!

Hello! Pre AH Thoughts! 

 

Belle with a nice straight forward promo, re-establish presence and alignment. Nothing crazy happened but perhaps this was just a warmup leading into the triple threat today

 

Very nice job on the Damian Bourne reintroduction. Surely a whole new persona here, but I dig it. He's like a reliable combination of anti-american heel but adding in a snarling, weasly positivity. I imagined a goofy patriotic stock song in the background of this. Lot more campy than I expected after the first promo but I like this extreme better anyways.

 

Goddrifter on the scene! First impression is I really like the throwback/Doom/Slayer flashing during the introduction of his song. As a fan of this song, I'm wondering if it could be mixed better to remove the slow bridges? Goddrifter's appearance is a bit... busy. There's a lot going on and not a whole lot to make sense of. Not to say that's necessarily unwinnable if chaos is the idea, look at stupid horse. If that is the case, we'll figure out the character more over time. If not, I think the look can be refined down too once he evolves.

Petie drags the kid as expected. Everyone gets a beatin' or two learning the ropes. Nice win and a shout out to Omen at the end.

 

Jacob Hawk continues the new guy parade with a dark brooding promo. At least he didn't kick Jim Black's ass like SOME PEOPLE WOULD. Pretty standard new hights promo but with different flair, not just new hights but a focus on the danger and risk. There's something to explore there, especially if there's consistency or logic behind following that loose thread. Could see a delusional heel who targets "comfortable" situations while he works his way up the ranks.

 

Great 30 second hit for the Red Menace. I thought this was RIOT, not Ambition??? I'm guessing this is that new Belakor dude, which is amazing if so. Either way if not, it was well done and straight to the point for a new wrestler. No overuse of "red scare" cliches as a Russian born wrestler, he had an accent and mentioned the tough life on the streets. 

 

Ambition segment sees John Carter leverage his Ambition experience (like when Trance buckle bombed his dick in the dirt) to try and raise the spirits of a young rookie. Gabe seems to be battling with confidence issues, but I was taken by surprise by John's challenge. I'm very glad to see Ambition 100 stuff gearing up already, and John helping add good-guy feathers to his cap by helping out a new kid. John's AI voice is... better than the ridiculous Italian meme voice, but still not my favorite. It's not up to me to say whether that voice fits, but it's one of those where hearing it doesn't match how my brain had thought he sounded. Too movie-trailerish, but it's hard because most shitty AI voices are that way. 

 

Perl falls to Christine, so the theme of both Valk and Perl seeming to be unable to focus on anyone but each other will continue. Solid matchup of different styles, and the ending was fun. Perl getting pissy but shut down by a version of Valk that's tapping back into her violent side, showing she's willing to go there ahead of the Hell in a Cell match between these two. Always strong longer stories out of Valk and I think in general that more deliberate feud pace has caught on too. Perl couldn't ask for a better feud to put her on the map as her own woman and we still got a little bit before OCW 20.

 

Sheldon Tremblay's quiet humility is finally broken, as we see the tattered remnants of a man beaten and left by everyone and everything he was told he was the just heir too. You feel bad for Tremblay in a way that makes you NOT want to see him tarnish his reputation. A justifiably pissed off prodigy who may not be completely delusional, but it seeming to be willing to go to undue lengths to get there. Great way to work in his own history without overdoing it, talking about where he's been and that people should respect his body of work. "OCWFed is the best but I can make it better my way!" Not the old trope of "I will destroy OCW for casting me aside", but a flavorful take where he wants to BE OCW's #1 guy and mold the place in a way that won't mistreat him the way he perceives he was mistreated. Even in darkness, you can still see the morality and motives of Sheldon shine through... Guess we need to wait to see what lengths he'll actually go to.

 

THE EIGHTIES ARE BACK

 

Marisa weaponizing her own misguided world-view onto someone from an entirely different background, great comedic setup in general, but this was more serious than I expected. I love that Marisa continues to justify her "bad" behavior with reasoning you could genuinely see her believing is true. As a usually-lying manipulator, I thought it was notable she wasn't lying to Skadi, even on a level where you could think she's trying to actually befriend her. She is definitely not lying when she says she thinks everyone only cares about appearances, which both explains her own fixation on glamour/appearances as well as shows she isnt' some twisted materialistic weirdo, it's just how she handles self-preservation. This angle has always been one of her strongest to appear more human, but I'm interested to see it show up now with Skadi, who herself is just only beginning to establish the kind of person she is, as she does here showing that despite her appearance and tough-girl facepaint, she's staying true to herself.

 

The tag division keeps taggin along as the Temple of Omen opens it's doors to the Pivot. The new establishment steps on the PIvot as Mass Effect get their licks back from the recent jumps from the Pivot's side. simple but effective. At some point these back and forth attacks need to be settled by something between ME and the Pivot... but what? 

 

Belle and Ashley address the awkward timing and lack of togetherness on TV lately, Ashley really fucking mean girls Belle here, super passive aggressive and feeling as if she's the one who has been let down by Belle. Rather than chatting out any misunderstanding, she goes right for the veiled shots and finger pointing ahead of Belle's match. 

 

Cesar segments are always show stealers, showing substance and simplicity can both exist together. Junko continues to seek out a weakness of Draga-chan, which she cannot becaus eDraga-chan is pefect. Flecha is different person but also perfect. Junko seems to be uncertain of all the unfiltered silliness, but is definitely fixated on figuring out Dragana (which she wont because dragana is perfect)

 

Megan Suzuki and Belle put on a showcase. Megan's aesthetic is super pastel punk and I dig it, lil joshi variance. Let's mix that crowd audio with the theme and such going forward! (Also you can turn Break Out HUD off in your game settings when recording OCW ents/victories!) Belle gets CLIPPED before Ashley provides just enough of a distraction for Belle to land a Contour Crush. Great match as Belle is known for & now Ashley has forced her hand into Belle's matches, how will the pupil respond to this interference?

 

Luis Bishop is fine, but CLOWNDIO WONT BE WHEN HES THROUGH WITH HIM. Luis is such a natural and all the good things you all think about him are exactly why I signed him as a Dillinger Dude. (name pending). 

 

B17 & Wrex's wacky adventures popped me huge. First of all, how do so many people have access to dialing into that TV screen? WREX has to be off several rockers at this point, right? Has someone checked his head, uce? I'm pumped for the tag match and enjoy the little threads they're building off of to get there, especially between BASH and B17. More threads mentioned with Jacob Trance's son tapping in (huge pop for the windows XP reboot joke to get there) and mentioning Invictus. This was simple fun. 

 

someone please check on wrex for the love of god

 

John is back in real time now! Oh for some reason his voice sounds better in this one than it did in the Ambition one. I could see it, he does sound *older* than he looks but it works otherwise. Substance wise, more John showing his humanity focusing not just on Parca's abhorrent behavior, but on his love for Wrestling, which has persisted even when he was being a fucking moron and wearing headgear. It was a gimmick, but the love never was. Nova interrupts as Parca's little proxy young boy, as Parca usually sends. He warns John he won't make it to Parca with some harsh words. Also, Nova sounds like some sort of digital age MAHARAJA (iykyk) 

Pissed off Sheldon Tremblay doesn't just come out attacking good guys! He's still got a score to settle and focuses on Nova with John as they try to keep pushing through to the champ himself.

 

Pugh is ready to kill the guy who just said he loves hamsters on the mic. He does just that, as he tears into Wrex in a classic promo style that seems to be more and more vintage by the year. Pugh stays on target, but mentions everything has a shelf life, which both attacks Wrex's perceived complacency as well as throws his own shelf-life and mortality front and center. Being someone who doesn't let obvious contradictions like that sit there, Pugh immediately takes a bite out of it, showing it does affect him too and that's why he feels so strongly about getting vengeance on Wrex for taking out Rust Cohle and by extension, his own avenue to a Grand Slam accolade. Saying Wrex is set to expire soon isn't just a flat insult, it's a reminder to both men where Wrex is headed, and the reason he's headed there all at the same time.

 

ITS MEAT MOUNTAIN TIME WOO Tre and RyVaughn beef it out. I always enjoy RyVaughns creativity on offense. Tre on the backfoot most of the 2nd half of the match, a spear out of nowhere made me think a big comeback was coming, but RyVaughn shut it down with another Omerta Kama.

 

Cold Front washes through to chill Stacy Clark, dig it. I love how I can read everything Iceman says in his own voice, even written. Iceman starts with some words of optimism and hope after Hard Target, addressing that loose end as Samsin digs his heels in talking about his goals to kill DNS once and for all. The two wrap up by targeting the Underground Elite to help set up next weeks tag match, which I was already looking forward to before promo work. This was very effective and reminded me of a classic Sanctum promo. Not in the same style or character work, but more in the sense that they are able to have multiple different goals/things going on and address them efficiently in single promos. Nothing left in the void unanswered. Here's what we're doing. Here's why we're doing it. Everything covered.

 

El Primero delivers a harsh retort to Carter, explaining he was just on his usual path to world domination and John just had to go and fall in the way. John's quietly been on his own journey to main event greatness, so I have enjoyed how they've split what I expected to be a triple threat into two separate programs. I'm even more interested that Sheldon isn't just going away but will remain a factor in this. I could see him costing John a big moment out of rage? Maybe John puts his foot down? How does Jinder MaNova fit into that? Either way, terrific promo from El Parca and his VA does a great job being expressive.

 

COWNIO grew out his locs and furrowed his brow and wants us to take him super serious all of the sudden. Take your ass somewhere else you bikini wearing freak. COWNLIO focuses his efforts on John ahead of their Animol House brawl and continues stating his goal of being a champion once again. The world's greatest babyface Luis Bishop comes out with the world's worstest theme to respond to the previous attack and CLOWNIO runs away like the coward he's always been

 

Everyone's favorite International Champion Nate Ortiz is here. Nate drops a few of his intentions, and after that absurd celebration, I'm inclined to believe nobody wants to sit through a 43 minute Nate Entrance to compete for his title. Suddenly P3 shenanigans break out! Mugen and B17 join the fray and it sort of pans over to them for the rest of the segment, interconnected segments popped me. Mugen toils in nonsense for a few moments, but starts to eye down the CCW title noting that it's the only thing he's never won... MUGEN has been a bit "so back" as the kids say since his pretty solid INT title run and he's always entertaining. My OCW viewing experience began with Mugen as World Champion and he's a right sport to challenge Bingo's throne next should that be where it's headed.

 

Wrex responds to Pugh! Wrex gets back to his serious self and drops some knowledge. Beautiful job picking up that thread Pugh delivered about legacies, historical importance, and our mortality. Wrex takes his stance in a similar direction, noting he's ALSO after the grand slam, but providing a dig to Pugh by saying he wasn't even out there to deal with him. it was the International Title he was after. Wrex toils in the negative reinforcement aspect of their legacies and sort of reminisces over the glory and power it gave him. He doesn't care about being the "face" of a company, as long as he's the one everyone remembers. Two men with reasonable and well-meaning goals, now tied up with each other (again) as a means to accomplish their goals. Very different from their 2020 feud in all the best ways.

 

THE MAAAAAAIN EVENT was awesome! Great use of character in both guys actions/moves and going out of their way to add flair and variety in the offense, B17's history in champ vs champ matches is never disappointing. Parca gets a measure of comeuppance at the end when The Mouth of the South Johnnie Carter shows up to serenade him. We brought up the King of OCW Match from 2020, their only other singles match. B17 won that match and it ended on a respectful handshake. Loved the parrallels here in the change, as they seem to be shaking hands again only for Parca to walk away like a pissy prince. 

B17, at least for now, is OCW's Crown Jewel Champion. John, your interference and stealing his glory probably mean you're going to get put through the ground, but hey it was fun on the way! 

 

get your charity hats on for animol house today!