PKO
King Koopa
Posts: 12,623
|
Post by PKO on Sept 2, 2017 12:23:07 GMT -5
Finished the shows last night, I've enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts so far and seeing the different opinions. Interesting to see I differ opinions on several points that seem to be the general consensus. I'll talk a little about the show in general, and what I took away most from each match. The commentary is...not great, at best. It's true JR isn't the commentator he used to be, sadly. There were times when he just seemed to be pushing the wrong narrative, going back to the same points in every match ("X will have to go back to her country!" and the female version of JR talking about football careers; talking about what college they went to) and he just didn't sound that enthusiastic. Part of that could be the re-tapes. Still, paired with a better partner I feel like JR would have been a lot better. Lita is dreadful. Commentary is very hard (anyone ever tried commentating a video game? That alone is hard enough!) but choosing Lita for the job was not a smart choice. She was awful on those pre-show panels, and someone saw those and STILL thought she would be a good choice for this. Really should have been Renee in retrospect. A wrestler would have been a good choice to talk about their experience in the ring but Lita has done none of that. The two of them together have little chemistry, but it's sort of endearing in a way. They're like that episode of Frasier where he scripts the banter for a Christmas parade. My favourite was JR asking if Lita ever wrestled in a mask and she replied "I never wrestled in a mask.....I really wanted to". Thanks for that quality information Lita! As opposed to many here I thought the crowd were great. Very respectful, enthusiastic for nearly the entire thing (it was a long show, unsurprising there were a few dips in their excitement!) and, while they were hot for the established names, they let themselves be won over by the lesser known talents. Loved the presentation, similar to the CWC. The darkened audience feels more intimate, the handshake gives an opportunity to show off their characters, and I love the winner's hand being raised in that manner. The only real issue I had was with the ref's checking the competitors pre-match; even reading the grease explanation earlier I just thought it looked stupid. Especially when some of the girls wearing bigger outfits weren't checked more thoroughly. It just looked like it was done for show rather than any real purpose...which of course, it was ![:P](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/tongue.png)
|
|
PKO
King Koopa
Posts: 12,623
|
Post by PKO on Sept 2, 2017 12:23:21 GMT -5
Kay Lee Ray vs. Princesa Sugehit A good match to start things. I liked the story of the younger competitor getting a bit ahead of herself and losing to the veteran, and I thought both ladies looked very impressive. I know of KLR but haven't seen much of her work, but I'll agree that it's disappointing she was a first round elimination. It's a shame because you need a good match to kick things off with two good competitors, but that means one of them has to be knocked out. Overall I'm glad it was Sugehit that went ahead.
Serena Deeb vs. Vanessa Borne Great to see Serena back, and I hope this leads to something more permanent. She looks very different; I'm sure she is, but I hope she's healthy. Very basic match. This was one of the matches that was slated in the spoilers, and while it was nothing special I thought it was decent enough. Borne wasn't bad but seemed to lack that star quality. Obviously the correct winner.
Shayna Baszler vs. Zeda I actually felt a little uncomfortable that the pre-match video was Zeda talking about wanting to be a superhero to little girls after overcoming bullies, only to have her promptly destroyed by Shayna who gets called a bully on commentary and slaps and disrespects Zeda. It just came off badly to me. Shayna is a beast, and will be exciting to watch going forward. Zeda looked decent from what we saw, and has a great look.
Abbey Laith vs. Jazzy Gabert Best match of the first episode. Explosive. Told a great story, everything looked brilliant. This was the toughest to decide which competitor should have gone forward; while I liked Abbey winning with Mae's pinning predicament, Jazzy had star written all over her. Does she have a reputation of being green? I've always heard good things about her, other than the TNA run. Loved the post match hug. They could be a great mismatched tag team.
Mercedes Martinez vs. Xia Li Simple match but good stuff. Mercedes looks like a slimeball, in a good way. Just outclassed Xia, and the lack of disrespect established her very well. Xia has a great look and looked fantastic considering that was her first match.
Marti Belle vs. Rachel Evers It's been absolutely slated here, and it was the one people were waiting for (in a bad way) judging from the spoilers. While I don't think it was a disaster, it was far and away the worst match of the tournament. Neither woman looked like she belonged in the ring. Sloppy, basic, boring. Not a good combination. Judging from this showing they both should have been knocked out.
Miranda Salinas vs. Rhea Ripley Rhea has a lot of potential. She looked like a star already, and she's only 20?! Very impressive. With some training she could be something special. I also though Miranda looked good. Certainly worthy of a development contract, a lot of personality. The correct winner though.
Mia Yim vs. Sarah Logan Again, the main event is the best match of the second show. Before this Logan hadn't impressed me at all but she looked great here. Mia Yim needs to be signed off this tournament also. She's a great performer and has a valuable message for the world. Loved the finish.
Ayesha Raymond vs. Toni Storm Toni Storm is a well known name and that's no surprise judging off this match. She came off like a star. Never heard of Ayesha but she looked pretty good too. Not the best match but fine action. Storm was the obvious choice to advance.
Dakota Kai vs. Kavita Devi Wow, Devi was much better than I was expecting, and I'd be shocked if she didn't get a contract. I know Kai has a big fanbase and I understand after that match. Great underdog. Again, correct winner.
Bianca Belair vs. Sage Beckett I was super impressed with Bianca in her qualifying match, so I was looking forward to seeing her here. I've also been pulling for Sage. This was a pretty bland affair...considering they're both PC girls I think they should have practiced together a bit more. I still think Bianca has a really bright future and I'm looking forward to seeing more of her, but didn't come away thinking much of Sage.
Piper Nevin vs. Santana Garrett I've heard a lot about Piper over the past year, but unlike everyone else here, I wasn't that impressed with her here. I think she has a lot of potential but overall I was underwhelmed. Maybe I heard too much hype. Really needs to work on her facial expressions, but before anything else she needs to go and buy a decent attire. Bloody hell that thing was UGLY. Booker T probably hates Satana because she was smiling throughout that whole match. I thought she looked pretty good but looked more like someone playing wrestler than an actual wrestler. I'd still like to see more of both ladies.
Candice LeRae vs. Renee Michelle Candice LeRae is the one everyone has been waiting for. Like a few others in the tournament she came out and instantly looked like she belonged. Unlike Piper she lived up to the hype for me. I was pleasantly surprised with Renee. Never heard of her but she has a lot of potential. Fugly outfit, but very pretty, and she moves well. The correct winner, and a great finishing move.
Lacey Evans vs. Taynara Conti A mixed match; they started and ended well, but there was a period in the match when they looked a little messy. HATE, HATE, HATE Lacey's "lady" outfit. Looks so tacky and cheap. Everything else about her screams potential. Taynara is a little firecracker. Very impressed. Those throws and kicks were great, and it was nice to see a smaller competitor just come across like a threat instead of an underdog or cheating. To be honest, I think another competitor should have gone through rather than Lacey (or Taynara), but we'll see how she does next round.
Nicole Savoy vs. Reina Gonzalez Not a bad match, but didn't really get out of first gear for me. Reina was big and moves well, but unremarkable. Weird outfit. Finish seemed to come out of nowhere. I'm intrigued to see more of Nicole; there was a disconnect with her video and how she actually came across in the match.
Kairi Sane vs. Tessa Blanchard Wow. If Kairi doesn't win this whole thing they have made a huge mistake. That's your winner. She was amazing, totally lived up to the hype, looked like a star, wrestled like a star, dressed like a star. Most impressed I've been with Tessa too. Best match of the first rounds.
|
|
|
Post by häšhtå.gdālėÿ on Sept 2, 2017 14:56:02 GMT -5
Finally finished watching all of this. Some quick thoughts that are still bouncing around my head.
-There wasn't really a match that blew me away, but nearly everything was above solid. Only two matches stood out as bad.
-I'm super disappointed Tessa had to draw Sane in the first round... I wish she could have gone much further. Helps that the first time I saw her in NXT I immediatly jumped on her bandwagon... Sane's really good, and I love her RPG air pirate thing she has going... though I find her rag doll elbow more goofy looking than impressive.
-Piper's awesome.
-Candice's finisher is awesome... but her hair is distracting. That white blonde thing isn't a good look.
-I didn't like Jazzy as much as everyone else in this thread.
-Sage Beckett is a better Nia Jax than Nia Jax.
-Both Lacey Evans and Taynara Conti surprised me. Can't wait to see them come through the ranks.
-Reina Gonzalez and Marti Belle were the duds of the tournament.
Bring on round 2!
|
|
the2ndevil
Grimlock
Super Seducer Survivor
Where Is Your Santa, Now?
Posts: 13,635
Member is Online
|
Post by the2ndevil on Sept 2, 2017 18:37:16 GMT -5
I've only seen episode one, but I've got to say, I think Abby over Jazzy was a mistake. Crowd seemed to be more into Jazzy, and I wanted to see more of her in this.
|
|
|
Post by SHAKEMASTER TV9 is Don Knotts on Sept 2, 2017 21:01:50 GMT -5
I watched all four episodes up. I think tournaments like this are really not that interesting. I only watched one CWC and didn't even bother with the UK tournament. There is just no story to it or personality. These are all basically face-vs-face matches and those don't entertain me usually.
Most matches were well-worked, but didn't stand out. Maybe that's my fault were watching episodes back-to-back-to-back-to-back. But I think it's more on the booking a tournament. Kairi Sane was the most interesting, the crowd was very into her work and she knew how to get them into it. Got to show some character, even if its just dressing up as a pirate. Her match with Tessa Blanchard was entertaining, they had some chemistry I thought, Kairi sold very well Tessa's big moves.
I really hate the NXT style editing. With almost every move, there is a cut. It was in the Roode-Strong match, and here it was worse because Kairi's big elbow drop gets cut away twice and you don't even see the whole thing.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2017 23:27:08 GMT -5
Just finished the fourth episode, random thoughts.
Kairi's match was my first time seeing her and, wow, she certainly does live up the hype. Hoping she goes all the way.
Abbey Laith impressed me as well; she played a really convincing underdog and got me legit invested into her match.
Good to see Serena back. I don't expect her to win but I hope she at least gets a decent showing.
I like Mercedes Martinez but good lord the generic reggaeton theme they gave her is horrible.
Belair isn't bad but that hair whip thing is incredibly dumb.
Contrary to everyone else I'm not particularly impressed by Baszler - she's not bad but she didn't wow me any more than Jazzy or Piper. I'm worried she's gonna' win the tournament due to being friends with Ronda and WWE craving validation from outside sources; hoping I'm proven wrong on that front.
What else? Dakota Kai is cool. Candice is cool. Lacey Evans has a really good look. Marti Belle vs. Rachel Evers was bad but given the the amount of flak it's gotten I was expecting a Shelly/Rebel level disaster.
Overall it's been decent so far.
|
|
|
Post by Final Countdown Jones on Sept 3, 2017 3:10:08 GMT -5
I've only seen episode one, but I've got to say, I think Abby over Jazzy was a mistake. Crowd seemed to be more into Jazzy, and I wanted to see more of her in this. I feel like there's some merit to it in hindsight, but I don't think it was a mistake as much as it was not as even and obvious an advancement as it should have been. The crowd immediately fell in love with Jazzy and that's continued in the likely-untelevised matches filmed just to give the crowd some filler stuff where they chanted 'Please sign Jazzy afterward'. But aside from not knowing the crowd was going to respond that way--and with them not exactly having turned on Abbey to do it--I think the issue is that the tournament has its big heels that it's building up for the later rounds, and Abbey was one of the planned babyfaces meant to go further and get run over by a heel later in. Jazzy changes that plan and throws everything out of the intended balance.
|
|
|
Post by Oh Cry Me a Screwball on Sept 3, 2017 3:22:10 GMT -5
Uhhh holy shit, the view count. There's a reason they wanted an Indian star in this.
|
|
|
Post by EoE: Well There's Your Problem on Sept 3, 2017 3:36:41 GMT -5
Uhhh holy shit, the view count. There's a reason they wanted an Indian star in this. There really is something to this attention that WWE are paying to India lately, the trick is just figuring out how to monetise it... especially when a large percentage of the population don't even have a regular electricity supply. (Either that, or New Zealand are REALLY f***ing hyped for Dakota Kai)
|
|
Perfect Timing
Dennis Stamp
Sigs/Avatars cannot exceed 1MB
Posts: 4,869
|
Post by Perfect Timing on Sept 3, 2017 10:03:43 GMT -5
Not really into Piper. She's like Bertha Faye with the charisma of Steve Blackman.
|
|
|
Post by Final Countdown Jones on Sept 3, 2017 10:28:07 GMT -5
Uhhh holy shit, the view count. There's a reason they wanted an Indian star in this. There really is something to this attention that WWE are paying to India lately, the trick is just figuring out how to monetise it... especially when a large percentage of the population don't even have a regular electricity supply. (Either that, or New Zealand are REALLY f***ing hyped for Dakota Kai) India might be a good market if WWE had a strategy to monetize it, but in general OTT services don't work out well in Asia--even New Japan World has not-great figures in Japan just because culturally it doesn't 'fit', Netflix has the same issue--and for all they throw around talk of it being a country of over a billion people, 58% of the Indian population lives on less than $3.10 a day, so how likely they are to buy shirts is up for debate. I think fumbling Jinder is a decent part of why India's apparently experienced virtually no growth in the last quarter, but yeah WWE may be looking at the social media numbers and Youtube views a little bit too closely here.
|
|
|
Post by ThankGodForSidJustice on Sept 3, 2017 14:42:59 GMT -5
One thing I've found annoying with this tournament so far is the fact they had pretty much all the girls that were positioned as the faces moving on. It got really repetitive as it felt like I watching the same match over and over with the same structure and story. Heel dominates, heel makes stupid mistake, face capitalizes and wins. Of the sixteen matches I think literally only three heels won. It's even more puzzling when they had so many heels who got shafted and should've went further then the first round like Kay Lee Ray and Tessa Blanchard. I get that you don't want Kari Sane getting bumped from the first round either but then they should've done a better job setting up the brackets and had Blanchard face someone not as good, that way you wouldn't have so many similar matches and have more heels later in the tournament that you want to see the face girls overcome.
|
|
|
Post by carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army) on Sept 3, 2017 14:51:41 GMT -5
One thing I've found annoying with this tournament so far is the fact they had pretty much all the girls that were positioned as the faces moving on. It got really repetitive as it felt like I watching the same match over and over with the same structure and story. Heel dominates, heel makes stupid mistake, face capitalizes and wins. Of the sixteen matches I think literally only three heels won. It's even more puzzling when they had so many heels who got shafted and should've went further then the first round like Kay Lee Ray and Tessa Blanchard. I get that you don't want Kari Sane getting bumped from the first round either but then they should've done a better job setting up the brackets and had Blanchard face someone not as good, that way you wouldn't have so many similar matches and have more heels later in the tournament that you want to see the face girls overcome. This was a far worse problem in the CMC, where I think literally half of the matches ended with someone missing a top rope move and then getting hit with a finisher and pinned.
|
|
the2ndevil
Grimlock
Super Seducer Survivor
Where Is Your Santa, Now?
Posts: 13,635
Member is Online
|
Post by the2ndevil on Sept 3, 2017 15:05:53 GMT -5
Just finished episode 2.
I think Mia Yim Vs. Sarah Logan was the match of the tournament so far. I marked out hard for the Eat Defeat at the end of the match.
|
|
Reflecto
Hank Scorpio
The Sorceress' Knight
Posts: 6,847
|
Post by Reflecto on Sept 3, 2017 17:46:11 GMT -5
There really is something to this attention that WWE are paying to India lately, the trick is just figuring out how to monetise it... especially when a large percentage of the population don't even have a regular electricity supply. (Either that, or New Zealand are REALLY f***ing hyped for Dakota Kai) India might be a good market if WWE had a strategy to monetize it, but in general OTT services don't work out well in Asia--even New Japan World has not-great figures in Japan just because culturally it doesn't 'fit', Netflix has the same issue--and for all they throw around talk of it being a country of over a billion people, 58% of the Indian population lives on less than $3.10 a day, so how likely they are to buy shirts is up for debate. I think fumbling Jinder is a decent part of why India's apparently experienced virtually no growth in the last quarter, but yeah WWE may be looking at the social media numbers and Youtube views a little bit too closely here. But the problem is that Youtube views and social media numbers are always big from India, so this was no surprise to it. Heck, I personally thought that when Jinder moved to Smackdown, it was an inspired choice to actually give him a push and at least try to see if something was going on there (not a damn fool thing like make him WWE Champion that soon, but A larger role on the show) in large part because Jinder Mahal's Youtube views were always in the top 10 for Raw week-in, week-out in his lesser role. Even then, it's basically proven that India views WWE the most by the Youtube channel- but the question is what WWE does. Perchance putting WWE highlights on Youtube Red- but even that is a question mark if it'd translate well.
|
|
the2ndevil
Grimlock
Super Seducer Survivor
Where Is Your Santa, Now?
Posts: 13,635
Member is Online
|
Post by the2ndevil on Sept 3, 2017 18:58:41 GMT -5
Okay, I love the vaguely pirate like music they gave Kairi.
|
|
|
Post by Feargus McReddit on Sept 3, 2017 19:05:31 GMT -5
India might be a good market if WWE had a strategy to monetize it, but in general OTT services don't work out well in Asia--even New Japan World has not-great figures in Japan just because culturally it doesn't 'fit', Netflix has the same issue--and for all they throw around talk of it being a country of over a billion people, 58% of the Indian population lives on less than $3.10 a day, so how likely they are to buy shirts is up for debate. I think fumbling Jinder is a decent part of why India's apparently experienced virtually no growth in the last quarter, but yeah WWE may be looking at the social media numbers and Youtube views a little bit too closely here. But the problem is that Youtube views and social media numbers are always big from India, so this was no surprise to it. Heck, I personally thought that when Jinder moved to Smackdown, it was an inspired choice to actually give him a push and at least try to see if something was going on there (not a damn fool thing like make him WWE Champion that soon, but A larger role on the show) in large part because Jinder Mahal's Youtube views were always in the top 10 for Raw week-in, week-out in his lesser role. Even then, it's basically proven that India views WWE the most by the Youtube channel- but the question is what WWE does. Perchance putting WWE highlights on Youtube Red- but even that is a question mark if it'd translate well. Considering that those YouTube views and social media numbers haven't translated to any kind of major income from India as is, putting WWE highlights on YouTube Red sounds like a bad idea in so many ways. And some of it isn't WWE's fault. The reason they lost so much money from social media the past while was less to do with social media practices as the fact that YouTube decided wrestling was bad content and demonetized it.
|
|
the2ndevil
Grimlock
Super Seducer Survivor
Where Is Your Santa, Now?
Posts: 13,635
Member is Online
|
Post by the2ndevil on Sept 3, 2017 19:38:05 GMT -5
How many of the participants been signed?
Tessa Blanchard really impressed me.
|
|
|
Post by EoE: Well There's Your Problem on Sept 3, 2017 19:45:34 GMT -5
How many of the participants been signed? Tessa Blanchard really impressed me. 13 of the 32 entrants: Abbey Laith Bianca Belair Dakota Kai Kairi Sane Lacey Evans Reina Gonzalez Rhea Ripley Sage Beckett Sarah Logan Taynara Conti Vanessa Borne Xia Li Zeda
|
|
|
Post by Final Countdown Jones on Sept 4, 2017 3:54:13 GMT -5
How many of the participants been signed? Tessa Blanchard really impressed me. Nobody who didn't come into the tournament with a pre-existing contrast has been signed yet. EoE's list is good and complete, but it only counts the ones who were already signed when the tournament started. I figure we'll probably only get some backstage rumblings when the tournament is over or nearly over, and actual announcements strewn out over the coming months as whoever they bring in finishes up their bookings.
|
|