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Hello and welcome again to 2008 – the half year in review! Today, I’d like to take a look at a place I spent almost four years, and the second part of the major War Games at A1E’s Vengeance, Empire Pro Wrestling.
Firstly, I have to congratulate Rocko Daymon and Troy Douglas on winning the top two titles respectively. Troy Douglas had a very nice series with Sergeant before winning the title at Black Dawn. It made a lot of sense to put Troy into the IC title scene, as the main event scene was INCREDIBLY heavy – having him in the triple threat when Brown finally lost the title meant that the new champion (Sergeant) had a great feud to head into. Troy’s performances on the cards have really impressed me, especially after his last run in EPW ended kinda disappointingly after an inferno match against Issac Byrnes/John Doe.
But, as Empire Pro has often had, the mid-card is amazingly strong. You’ve got Larry Tact, Beast (I’d definitely pay to see him and Troy go at it for the IC title), Stalker, Ice Tre, Shawn Hart, and a lot of other people who’d make excellent challengers and possible champions at that level whilst the main event scene readjusts itself.
Break-out star of the half year though, without a doubt, is Nakita Dahaka. I’ve always been a fan of this character – she’s something different, something you don’t usually see; a well written, Gothic type. One of my major gripes for a long time has been how low down the card she’s been – her feud with Frankie Scott last year was spectacular and showed how a lower-card feud could be done without a title being around, and her alliance with Sean Stevens is going to be the push she needs to propel herself up the card. I’ve always felt she was just a little unfortunate – for a while, there were people no-showing fairly often, but never against her. I didn’t like her series with Olvir, but with this new direction, I’m looking forward to seeing what happens.
The tag division’s at another cross-roads, with the Kings of the Cage tournament ongoing to name challengers to The Forsaken. I’m gonna reserve judgement, but once the tournament’s done, don’t be surprised if you get three or four teams stepping up in quick succession. Hopefully, most of the teams from the tournament will stick together once it’s done.
Storyline of the year, I’ve already touched on, is the Dahaka/Stalker/Stevens team. HUGE props go to this trio for coming together the way they did, and telling the story in RPs so effectively. I did not see these three getting together – especially with Dahaka in such a prime position. I don’t think they even need to add another member to The Fallen for a very long time, as each of these three can run great feuds up and down the card.
I must admit, I was disappointed by the Stalker/Daymon/Stevens saga. It seemed to really take over the cards, and a lot of the segments seemed overly nasty, especially the Stevens/Daymon ones. I’ve never been a fan of stories which get nasty quickly, and I think, honestly, it would’ve made more sense to hold back on it for a while. I wasn’t at all surprised, once Stevens and Daymon started interacting, that JA lost the number one contendership. It seemed really unfair to Holzerman IMO – he won the triple threat, then there was a storyline with the #1 contendership switching around, which made the PPV match seem irrelevant. I had been looking forward to seeing JA and Stevens go at it, with Rocko finishing with Stalker, but alas. Like I said a moment ago too, I think the Stevens/Daymon stuff was just too nasty. I can understand the idea – to show a deep hatred between the two, but I think that could’ve been built a lot slower, little interactions for the first PPV cycle, then this kind of nasty (especially the Stevens/Caitlyn bits) once things had been allowed to heat up. It’s pretty similar, actually, to the aforementioned Troy Douglas/Issac Byrnes storyline – that had a lot of potential but was rushed.
So, what can we look forward to? The Rocko Daymon/Sean Stevens saga finally seems to be getting interesting – the intensity is at a point I think it now deserves. The IC scene’s looking good, with Douglas and Tact the most obvious pairing. I’d like to see Beast and Craig Miles go at it on the mid-card, and the tag team division, once it’s settled down, should be interesting – The Forsaken look pretty unbeatable, but the Second Coming and The Fallen are both really strong. I think Kin Hiroshi and JA should definitely be staying around the main event, and, hopefully, the World Title scene can settle down a little and be about the title, rather than the soap-opera.
Then again, I really don’t like soap-opera, lol.
Well, that’s all for EPW for this half. Next time, I’ll be taking a look at New Frontier Wrestling. Until then, stay happy
Read this full blog post at the author's site
Hello and welcome again to 2008 – the half year in review! Today, I’d like to take a look at a place I spent almost four years, and the second part of the major War Games at A1E’s Vengeance, Empire Pro Wrestling.
Firstly, I have to congratulate Rocko Daymon and Troy Douglas on winning the top two titles respectively. Troy Douglas had a very nice series with Sergeant before winning the title at Black Dawn. It made a lot of sense to put Troy into the IC title scene, as the main event scene was INCREDIBLY heavy – having him in the triple threat when Brown finally lost the title meant that the new champion (Sergeant) had a great feud to head into. Troy’s performances on the cards have really impressed me, especially after his last run in EPW ended kinda disappointingly after an inferno match against Issac Byrnes/John Doe.
But, as Empire Pro has often had, the mid-card is amazingly strong. You’ve got Larry Tact, Beast (I’d definitely pay to see him and Troy go at it for the IC title), Stalker, Ice Tre, Shawn Hart, and a lot of other people who’d make excellent challengers and possible champions at that level whilst the main event scene readjusts itself.
Break-out star of the half year though, without a doubt, is Nakita Dahaka. I’ve always been a fan of this character – she’s something different, something you don’t usually see; a well written, Gothic type. One of my major gripes for a long time has been how low down the card she’s been – her feud with Frankie Scott last year was spectacular and showed how a lower-card feud could be done without a title being around, and her alliance with Sean Stevens is going to be the push she needs to propel herself up the card. I’ve always felt she was just a little unfortunate – for a while, there were people no-showing fairly often, but never against her. I didn’t like her series with Olvir, but with this new direction, I’m looking forward to seeing what happens.
The tag division’s at another cross-roads, with the Kings of the Cage tournament ongoing to name challengers to The Forsaken. I’m gonna reserve judgement, but once the tournament’s done, don’t be surprised if you get three or four teams stepping up in quick succession. Hopefully, most of the teams from the tournament will stick together once it’s done.
Storyline of the year, I’ve already touched on, is the Dahaka/Stalker/Stevens team. HUGE props go to this trio for coming together the way they did, and telling the story in RPs so effectively. I did not see these three getting together – especially with Dahaka in such a prime position. I don’t think they even need to add another member to The Fallen for a very long time, as each of these three can run great feuds up and down the card.
I must admit, I was disappointed by the Stalker/Daymon/Stevens saga. It seemed to really take over the cards, and a lot of the segments seemed overly nasty, especially the Stevens/Daymon ones. I’ve never been a fan of stories which get nasty quickly, and I think, honestly, it would’ve made more sense to hold back on it for a while. I wasn’t at all surprised, once Stevens and Daymon started interacting, that JA lost the number one contendership. It seemed really unfair to Holzerman IMO – he won the triple threat, then there was a storyline with the #1 contendership switching around, which made the PPV match seem irrelevant. I had been looking forward to seeing JA and Stevens go at it, with Rocko finishing with Stalker, but alas. Like I said a moment ago too, I think the Stevens/Daymon stuff was just too nasty. I can understand the idea – to show a deep hatred between the two, but I think that could’ve been built a lot slower, little interactions for the first PPV cycle, then this kind of nasty (especially the Stevens/Caitlyn bits) once things had been allowed to heat up. It’s pretty similar, actually, to the aforementioned Troy Douglas/Issac Byrnes storyline – that had a lot of potential but was rushed.
So, what can we look forward to? The Rocko Daymon/Sean Stevens saga finally seems to be getting interesting – the intensity is at a point I think it now deserves. The IC scene’s looking good, with Douglas and Tact the most obvious pairing. I’d like to see Beast and Craig Miles go at it on the mid-card, and the tag team division, once it’s settled down, should be interesting – The Forsaken look pretty unbeatable, but the Second Coming and The Fallen are both really strong. I think Kin Hiroshi and JA should definitely be staying around the main event, and, hopefully, the World Title scene can settle down a little and be about the title, rather than the soap-opera.
Then again, I really don’t like soap-opera, lol.
Well, that’s all for EPW for this half. Next time, I’ll be taking a look at New Frontier Wrestling. Until then, stay happy
Read this full blog post at the author's site