FEEDBACK - Executive Decision

[SenorJames]

http://www.defiancewrestling.com/results/86

Happy New Year, DEFIANCE.

Let's see to it that 2015 is even better than 2014.

You know what to do, so let's do it, do it.

 

[CraigM]

DEFIANCE Presents: Executive Decision - One of the things I love about watching wrestling PPVs is the awesome promo videos they put together. Reading through the first half of this, I felt like it would have made an awesome promo video. Someone make it happen.


Skybreakers vs. Sons of the Soil - Awesome opening match with a ton of back and forth action. Had no idea which way this was going to go. Sons of the Soil have positioned themselves as being a very dangerous team. Reminds me a lot of the Wyatt Family. Just pure mayhem, power, and brutality and that came across clearly in the match.


Arrive The Boss - Dane says he has plans. Does he have plans? Or is the long con really him conning Dusty and all of the good fans of DEFIANCE. I feel like there is a twist about to come.


Samuel T. Turner II vs. Zeke Cassidy - Nice, quick squash match that really highlights the drastic turn that STT has made over the past few weeks.


Arrive The Champ - Some foreshadowing be happening in these parts. James run at the top so far has been filled with intrigue and this has all of those elements, what made him champ (FDJ) and what he has done since being champ (Dane/White).


Mushigihara vs. Jed Whitehood - Another squash match. I hope Mushi can find himself a formidable challenge soon. The monster that he is has been a great build to everything, but now is the time for something serious to come out of him.


You Failed Miserably - Damn. He must have heard me!! Run for the hills because FrankenMushi is going to kill us all! Going to be interesting to see what comes next from the beast because the promo from Eddie Dante before the massacre was some good stuff. Has the potential to become a Lesnar/Heyman type of duo.


Keyes/Noble - Had a blast writing this with Ben!


Send in the Clown - First off, amazing. I laughed HARD when Lance Warner got in the ring. Oh man, that was hilarious. The stipulation of Ryan as the referee? Intriguing. Ryan wants Dusty… I think. Not in that way, weirdos. He wants him in the ring and he wants him to have that championship when he does. Another amazing element. And I’m with Angus. I’m not letting DEFSec walk me anywhere.


Stockton Pyre vs. Frank Holiday - An amazing match through and through and probably the first match (of many) that I was eagerly anticipating. There was so much action, it was ridiculous. The heated rivalry between these two has become one of the best feuds I’ve read since I joined DEF and it paid off. The ending left me in shock and then the match restarted! Great ending on top of that and such a great written match.


I Don’t Think I Know - More hype for the main. Good stuff.


BDH vs. LBC - Another match that I was eagerly waiting for. And it was worth waiting for. Geez, this match was packed to the gills with action and commentary. My head is swimming after reading it because of how much happened. Great, great match. Phenomenal ending. The outcome was what I personally expected. Geez. Something else.


We Gon’ Learn Today - More hype! If you weren’t aware, there is a match between Dane + Dusty tonight. Short and to the point.


Jonny Booya vs. FDJ - Booya for World Champ. Or something like that.


Stayin’ Alive - Thank you, Dan Ryan!


VIAGRA vs. HOSS - Consider this match another one that was on my ‘hotly anticipated’ list and it did not fail to deliver. This was a match that I had no idea what direction it could end up. By the end, I was definitely shocked, but the action leading up to it was so good. Back and forth and the work with MLM vs. HOSS was great to play up the anger of Harmen. Couldn’t get enough of it. Hope this isn’t the end.


Sitting in the Dark - For those who have asked, the MLM + Noble stuff will play into the next arc. This is just laying the foundation!


Curtis Penn vs. Eugene Dewey - A solid match through and through. I definitely thought the match would have a different outcome, but thankfully it did not go down the predictable route. Good stuff though. I laughed at the line about ’11 pages in’.


With Great Power - The main is coming…


A Tale of Two Titans - It’s almost here…


Eric Dane vs. Dusty Griffith - BAH GAWD, IZ HERE! There was a ton of hype coming into this match (*coughJames*cough) but it was definitely a good match. A LONG match, but good nonetheless. Action through the roof. You could not have asked for a better written main event and it is without question the match of the evening. I don’t even know what to say. Blown away. James gets the match writing kudos for life. No one even try to say he doesn’t. He wrote one hell of a match that blew it away and then some.


Conflict of Interest - WHATS GONNA HAPPEN NOW?! RUN AND TELL YOUR MAMA! RUN AND TELL YOUR PAPA! SHIT JUST GOT DONE REAL *Drops the mic*

 

[Jonathan Todd]

Match of the Night:
I’m torn between two matches, Curtis Penn v Eugene Dewey because Damien is a freaking amazing match writer and he made Penn look tough in a loss that is his specialty. Then the Main Event, I was fully expecting Dan Ryan to screw the match up, but James surprised me and with a clean finish. Very cleaver you sly bastard.

Segment of the Night:
Arrive the Boss was the best segment for me, because of the one line from Kelly which happens to win the award for Best Line of the Night. Read below.

Surprise of the Night:
Eric Dane TAPPING LIKE A BIOATCH

Babyface of the Night:
Eugene Dewey for defeating Curtis Penn in the Submission match

Heel of the Night:
Ed White for being a true dick head at the end of the show.

MVP of the Night (IC):
Dusty Griffith for the awesomeness of ass beating that he took and kicked.

Best Line of the Night:
Read the segment Arrive the Boss, don’t skim it. Also if you do not know much about Team Danger except Dane and Walker or maybe Greer then you don’t know shit. London.. the London is talking about is a soulless bastard ::bonedaggers::
Evans: [defeated]
Fine. I’m calling Ty. And Steve. And London.

What Ruled?
Every match was top notch and it was really hard to pick a winner for the match of the night. So the entire really ruled.

What sucked?
This arc couldn’t have picked a worse time for me. I had a ton of real life issues pop up, Thanks Damien for toting the load.

 

[PositivelyKen]

OPENING MONTAGE/RUNDOWN
Well done as usual. The main event gets the lion's share of hype here and throughout the rest of the card, which is appropriate to the stature of the match.


THE SKYBREAKERS vs SONS OF THE SOIL
Pretty action-packed lucha-style trios match here. The finish made sense to get the SotS over as ferocious competitors. Where do they go from here? We shall see! On a side note, we got a surplus of "Kevin/fag" jokes in this match and can I just say I think this whole deal ran its course a long time ago and it's beyond tedious now. Can we drop it?


ARRIVE THE BOSS
The boss arrives. He's got tactics and strategies pouring out of his orifices and cryptic foreshadowing all over the place.


SAMUEL T. TURNER II vs ZEKE CASSIDY
Nice little showcase for the new heel Sam. Considering what a major turn he took this arc, I hope he'll have a more prominent role in the shows to come.


ARRIVE THE CHAMP
I liked the character moments between Griffith and FDJ, they really helped sell the friendship between these guys. Edward White is backing the champ? Interesting!


MUSHIGIHARA vs JED WHITEWOOD
How do you say "squash" in Japanese? So match number three has pretty much the same result as the others, and Whitewood gets absolutely zero shine other than a mildly amusing entrance. It all felt kind of pointless in the end.


YOU FAILED MISERABLY
The upshot is Mushi unmasking himself, speaking in Japanese, and beating up Whitewood so much it even worried Dante. I got a Paul Heyman/Brock Lesnar losing control vibe here. I hope Rob can partner up with someone in the next arc who can help him push Mushi to a new level, to take advantage of this character evolution.


HENRY KEYES vs DAVID NOBLE
Really fun match with lots of entertaining banter. I just called 1-800-DIE-ANGUS and pledged some money, hah! Also, it's awesome how the Bell Clap has become this fearsome KO move. Love it. Great action, and the respect spot at the end was well done too.


SEND IN THE CLOWNS
Potentially game-changing turn of events as Dan Ryan demands consideration, and gets to referee the main event. This was a darned good segment. STAY TUNED!


SOUTHERN HERITAGE CHAMPIONSHIP - STOCKTON PYRE vs FRANK HOLIDAY
I wrote this.


I DON'T THINK... I KNOW
Some effective continuity here as Dusty Griffith reacts to Dan Ryan being appointed the special guest referee, and asserts he's the man to lead DEFIANCE. A strong message from the champ, and a needed one. Good stuff.


BIG DAMN HEROES vs LEGITIMATE BUSINESSMEN'S CLUB
So this was a fantastic match, and a bit of a clusterfuck at that. What made it great for me were the fun touches like the way the BDH interacted with the fans, Rayne's Captain America spot, Dentari trying to steal an old lady's purse(!), and the whole backstage brawl sequence. Tremendous finish too! Loved it.


WE GON' LEARN TODAY
Eric Dane promo FTW.


JONNY BOOYA vs FRANK DYLAN JAMES
A big meaty big-man match that is pretty much what you'd expect. The commentary was a bit heavy-handed in telling us all that Jonny Booya's stupidity is just a put-on and he's actually smart and awesome. You do realize his dopeyness and own-worst-enemy qualities are what made him such a fun character and got him over huge recently, right? Don't take that away from us now!


STAYIN' ALIVE
...And there it is. Nicely done.


WORLD TRIOS TAG CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM VIAGRA vs TEAM HOSS
I really enjoyed this match, particularly for the way every character's personality was on display throughout. I'm starting to mark the heck out for Jack Harmen's random exclamations, so keep that coming! This was a well-done trios match that kept the action hot and didn't overstay its welcome.


SITTING IN THE DARK
I know there's been some pushback against unnecessary segments being included on cards lately. My personal criteria for this kind of thing are: 1) Does the seg relate to an ongoing angle or current event? And 2) Is it believable that this interaction would happen at the venue during this show? Now in general, number 2 is fairly straightforward; it's number 1 that seems to cause problems, because for the most part we -- by which I mean, people other than the writer(s) -- don't always know what the relevance of the seg is and where it's intended to go. With that being said, I'm working with Craig in the next arc so I know the relevance of this seg and I can vouch for it. But even if I didn't know that, if you look back, he's already begun developing the relationship between Noble and MLM on previous shows, and it's clearly something that has some direction behind it. So number 1, check. As for number 2, it's not only believable but completely natural that Noble and Mayweather would have this conversation tonight, considering how both their matches went. Long story short, I liked it.


FIST OF DEFIANCE - CURTIS PENN vs EUGENE DEWEY
I got a kick out of all the fourth-wall-breaking comments throughout the match. The basic story was a good one: Dewey, having an extremely limited repertoire of submission holds, trying to defend in a submission match against Penn, a master of holds. I liked the spot where Eugene tried and failed to improvise a new hold on the fly. It sounds like Damien wrote this at the eleventh hour, so it is what it is, but I have to say the finish felt a little abrupt to me. Still, fairly enjoyable all in all.


WITH GREAT POWER...
Edward White and Dan Ryan conspiring! Jane! Get Ed a sinister moustache so he can twirl it!


A TALE OF TWO TITANS
Hey, did you know there's a title match tonight, and Eric Dane and Dusty Griffith are in it? Well, here's your 8th reminder.


WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP - ERIC DANE vs DUSTY GRIFFITH
To put things in perspective, by the time I got to the title of the main event, the scroll bar on the right of the browser window was at about the 3/4 mark. That means that if you added up the entire content of Executive Decision, at least 25% of it consisted of THIS MATCH. Add in the various hype segs and it probably pushes it to around 30%. In case you were wondering which was the most important fight on the card.


James sets out to outdo himself every PPV, and he produced a classic once again. You've got Griffith vs. Dane, this thing needs to be EPIC! And it was. The inclusion of Dan Ryan added an extra set of variables that were effective at muddying anybody's expectations of where this match would go. Dane using the fork to gouge Griffith in the head... OUCH? Excellent psychology at play when Dusty had to go outside of his own limits and get vicious in punishing Dane's knee. Super Stardriver WHAT! Atomic Powerbomb NO! And a satisfying, clean finish by tapout using a hold that was perfectly chosen for the purpose. I applaud you, James, for another awesome match. *standing ovation*


CONFLICT OF INTEREST
But wait... there's more! Edward White just HAS to get the last word in, that smarmy bastard. The way he jerks around Eric Dane's career, one day he's going to get his comeuppance...


FINAL THOUGHTS
That was a very long but very excellent show. Great work, everyone!

 

[SenorJames]

THE RUNDOWN
I wrote this...

SKYBREAKERS v. SONS OF THE SOIL
Good opening spotfest to kick this off… Then Ty done gets his ass whooped on for a good while, leading to my best line of the night so far:

Angus:
Why in fucks shit did he need to jump FIVE TIMES in order to do a gorram DDT? FLIPPYDOO HOMOQUEER!

Followed closely by:

Angus:
ONE MILLION KEVINPOINTS FOR MAKING MUHBOITY PLAY RICKY MORTON!

And then the fight back from Ty with Angus being the biggest mark ever is always awesome. The only reason I don’t push for shorter results for everything, but paperviews is because of the Angus-isms that we can create. Good stuff through and through, spottiness to get the crowd “up” to begin the show and all that. Good stuff overall..

ARRIVE THE BOSS
Dig the fact that this touches on what Lindz kept bringing up about Kelly’s whereabouts. Good look in spot.

SAMUEL T. TURNER THE SECOND v. ZEKE CASSIDY
BOOM! Good squash, I know it’s a PPV and having a jobber squash is odd, but STT2 needed a match right away after his comments about not getting on paperviews and whatnot.

ARRIVE THE CHAMP
I wrote this.

MUSHIGIHARA v. JED WHITEWOOD
Devastation. Simple as that.

YOU FAILED MISERABLY
Murderfied that kid, and told him he sucked while you did it, dag… And Mushi demasks, going somewhere with that, RAWB? Also, you definitely seem to be more into writing Mushi and Dante, just something to consider.

HENRY KEYES v. DAVID NOBLE
Dang, Keyes just whoopin’ on Noble to start, no build up or nothing, just beating his ass like whut. Also this exchange was fun:

Angus:
Are we certain this is a wrestling match or a pimp beating his hoe?

DDK:
Well that’s just weird.

Angus:
Or a dealer trying to get his money or product back?

DDK:
Just stop.

And Keyes just continues to beat his ass, Noble doing the whole tougher than smart deal here… And before you know it, the comeback is ON!... Dig the crossbody to start the comeback after a couple of elbows to back Keyes off… Noble getting his shots in until it starts getting wild on the floor… BELLCLAP!... Huge suplex for a near fall after the big count out spot, nice… Noble gets a big shot in and a near fall… Back and forth, jockeying for position until Keyes lands a killshot out of it for the three count. Good pacing, Noble comes up just a tad short, but gets some good fight back moments and helps make sense of the segment later on in the show, so, well done.

SEND IN THE CLOWNS
Dave nailed this bit and then the WWE stole it from us with Rollins / Cena at the end of RAW this week. Bastards!

SOHER - FRANK HOLIDAY © v. STOCKTON PYRE
ITS REMATCH TIME!... Won’t let ya down, KENNAH!... Oooh, nice cheap shot spot before the bell… Pyre going big on this ass whooping… Frank with some nice, but minor desperation offense, and I like how two matches on this show really play around with the count out spot. I mean actually drawing it out, playing with the details of it...

You derped here:

DDK:
I guess you’ve got a point, Keebs -- but it’s now a moot point as Frank Holiday has managed to get himself in the ring to break Carla’s count.

Angus:
Break her what?!

DDK:
Her count. What did you think I-- Jesus Christ, Angus.

But the rest of that bit is classic Angus & Keebs… Liking Holiday skirting the line with the referee, letting his aggro out on Pyre… I like the detailing of anger on both sides, it’s good stuff… Hah, nice move with the mask on Frank’s part… Getting visions of the CSI Vegas intro as the fans are chanting that line from The Who’s song, good stuff… OOOOH SHIZZLE… Stalker Town On Fire putting hands on Billy, THAT BASTARD!... BOOO Double Countout after Billy gets blasted, NAAAAH MANG, NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!... Shoulda had a big RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH line in there after Jane restarts, even if it is Jane doing it, big pops for the match being restarted… Super Duper Train Wreck for the win, outstanding… And Frank goes full babyface, handing the damn book back to Pyre because it’s not worth keeping… Well done, sir, well done indeed.

I DON’T THINK… I KNOW
I wrote this.

STREET FIGHT - BIG DAMN HEROES v. LEGITIMATE BUSINESSMEN’S CLUB
I read a good deal of this while helping Lindz get commentary down, so she could focus on getting this monster finished… Everyone got shine, the transitions in control and momentum were done nicely, smashing back and forth like a really long rendition of the fight from They Live… The details were also not ignored, Lindz put over the selling and didn’t gloss over the little things, which gets you to appreciate what’s happening… And the end run of this, when everyone converges back on the ring, super fun to read all the way to the finish… I know matchwriting is a nightmarish chore for you, but you done good and this was a great way to blow off this war between the LBC and Heroes.

WE GON’ LEARN TODAY
Justin doing what he does best… Eric Dane’ing.

JONNY BOOYA v. FRANK DYLAN JAMES
Just a good monster brawl to start, with the added benefit of Jonny Booya being Jonny Booya for the lulz factor thrown in when he tries to actually wrestle with the aid of Mark Shields “directing” him, hah…

Angus:
Fucking WOW.

DDK:
What now, Angus?

Angus:
I’m just disgusted beyond words. I’ve seen the partial ref helps bad guy win things a fuckton of times. I’ve been that ref before. I’ve never seen ‘partial’ defined as ‘tells his guy to remember to do actual wrestling moves’.

Hah, brainmeats… Dem hedbutsdoe!... Good finish sequence too. The whole product was fun.

STAYIN’ ALIVE
This basically starts off for me with this bit of narration…

[The only thing that I, as your humble narrator, can think of that might explain this travesty is that having been forced to use his brain for part of a match, Jonny Booya is being extra stupid to try and keep himself from becoming a nerd.]

So much truth and logic in those words because Jonny Booya… Finally a little funny after all of the super duper serious business going on with this show.

TRIOS - TEAM H.O.S.S. v. TEAM V.I.A.G.R.A.
Seth doing what he does, owning it… Takes six different wrestlers and manages to make them all stand out in different ways, in style and characterization, so it’s not like one long stream of sameness… And of course the use of good old fashioned tag team psychology and pacing… All of this makes this match easy to follow… Really good hot tag sequence going on here… Oops, yep, there’s the heel shenanigans from Keeling… Annnnd that’s a wrap… Nicely done, as always, Senor Seth.

SITTING IN THE DARK
I basically already covered this in chat over a week ago, Craig and I also discussed the bit. I get the purpose for it, he understands where I’m coming from, so it’s all good, even possibly opened a door for doing something a little later on that involves this situation.

FIST - EUGENE DEWEY © v. CURTIS PENN
Ty 4 FIST...ing?! Maybe someday, not anytime remotely soon though… Fourth walls breaking… You and Ken both the derps, having Keebs refer to himself as if he were Angus… Star Wars reference… Euge with dat GnP… Penn with dat sub game…

Angus:
See, that’s the problem with the flippy-doo bullshit. It takes too long to execute.

DDK:
A senton is hardly flippy…

Angus:
We’re talking about Eugene Dewey here, Keebs. For him you’ve got to consider walking as flippy.

Haaaaah… Penn killing Euge’s “girlfriend”... MOAR 4THWALL and references to me!... Penn going straight Anderson’s style on Euge’s arm, I dig it… Euge Rampaged outta that shit… Just thought of a nifty way to get the Curtis Clutch (Dragon Sleeper)... Hah, a line about skimming, nice… Sleeper hold finish with the arm drop count, good stuff, kinda abrupt as Ken said, but the overall product was good goddamned work, sir.

WITH GREAT POWER & A TALE OF TWO TITANS
More last minute filler material, Dave getting it done at the last minute with the first one… I wrote the second one, same last minute stuff… None of this was planned, we just had space to fill and this is how it got done.

WORLD - DUSTY GRIFFITH © v. ERIC DANE
I wrote this.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Where O' where are we going next? STAY TUNED!

 

[Justin]

 

[Lee R.]

DEFIANCE PRESENTS: EXECUTIVE DECISION

What, no obligatory PPV music video? Meh no one would've read that. Good on James for stepping up and doing this.

SONS OF THE SOIL vs SKYBREAKERS

The only thing that brought this match down for me was that it was obvious from day zero that the Sons were going to win. I did, however, like the way te Sons got written to wrestle smart instead of wrestle beastmode. Also, Angus can say fag again? I'm downright ebullient.

What I'd like to see from here is the Skybreakers do some soul searching and put in some work to get themselves on the same page. Not just practice double team moves, but try to get where they're able to anticipate what each other are going to do.

heh, kevinpoints.

ARRIVE THE BOSS

Good to see Kelly back, there's not a whole lot for her to do when Dane's active, but I guess she could've been hanging out with him on the prior shows? Or on newsposts? I dig the whole Dane/Kelly vibe because it just works so well in a completely broken morally sick way.

SAMUEL T. TURNER II VS ZEKE CASSIDY

Why's everyone except DDK on a full name basis in this match? Not that it really matters. STT establishing monster chops, Zeke with DAT OVERSELL.

ARRIVE THE CHAMP

Nothing really to say about this one. It was good, it set up something down the road. I'd have wondered more about what White was up to if I hadn't already known. I do miss secrets (though I'd rather know everything than write RPs)

MUSHIGIHARA vs JED WHITEWOOD

The Sumo God-Beast feeds!

YOU FAILED MISERABLY

Eddie Dante trying to verbally whip some fight into Whitewood. AND MUSHI SNAPS! THE SUMO GOD BEAST FEEDS... not quite yet. But I do have to say that Rob's doing a kickass job with Mushi these days. Sooner or later someone's getting flattened into a rice pancake and consumed.

HENRY KEYES vs DAVID NOBLE

Know what this match reminds me of? Rey Misterio, Jr. vs Ultimo Dragon, Dragon's first shot at the WCW Cruiserweight Title. That's a compliment by the way.

SEND IN THE CLOWNS

I'm going to complain like I didn't like the segment (which is unfair, because I did), but there's one thing that bothered me just a little bit about it. We've made a big deal about assaults on backstage staff in the past, ever since Box broke the techie's leg. Now, Ryan gets away with threatening to hospitalize the head interviewer? I know, easy, White can take care of it, but you know how Justin's always asking for news/fallout? That's a good thing to do some news/fallout about.

All that aside, good stuff. It might've been cool if someone (one of the enhancement guys maybe, or maybe HMMS) decided they thought they'd get some air time, and Ryan's just all double chokeslam, humility bomb... on the other hand having everyone not want to step makes him look scary too.

Oh yeah and I decensored the censored word. This is DEFIANCE. Fuck.

FRANK HOLIDAY vs STOCKTON PYRE

That thing James quoted it? I'd quote it if he hadn't already.

The match was great. I have no criticisms of any kind to offer.

The post match, not so much but I know there were IRL circumstances behind it and it gets things where they ought to be.

I DON'T THINK... I KNOW

Solid, and good on remembering to sell Lance's incident with Ryan.

BIG DAMN HEROES vs LEGITIMATE BUSINESSMAN'S CLUB

I like to read things twice before I feedback, and I haven't had time to do that for this match and beyond. Because I read things for fun first, and then I go back and read them critically.

WE GON' LEARN TODAY

Not bad for last minute filler.

JONNY BOOYA vs FRANK DYLAN JAMES

I writed this.

STAYIN' ALIVE

I wrote this, but one thing about it.

I didn't get Brunk's permission to use Dan Ryan. I've had this idea of Booya singing Stayin' Alive in my head for ages, but I never had an end plan for why I'd do it. So I threw this in at the last minute, asked James if he thought Brunk would mind, and said I'd offer to rewrite it without Ryan in it if he did.

TEAM VIAGRA vs TEAM HOSS

Haven't re-read this.

SITTING IN THE DARK

Angus is at his best when he's no-selling drama.

CURTIS PENN vs EUGENE DEWEY

Haven't re-read this one.

WITH GREAT POWER

I hope this friction with White and Ryan goes somewhere, because the possibilities are too good for it not to.

ERIC DANE vs DUSTY GRIFFITH

Wow.

My words are insufficient to do this match justice.

I'm kinda mad at James because this one might be better than Griffith/Scott.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

OHHHHHHHTHESHOCKINGSWERVE!!!!!

 

[Aaron]

Well guys, first show I've read in a long time.

Skybreakers .v. Sons of Soil
As an opener, It provides a nice palate cleanser in to the rest of the show, some good ribs on Kevin and MOEVS!. Otherwise this kind of was there, and I didn't feel invested at all.

Star Rating:**

Arrive The Boss
Eric Dane is the Boss, and he wants the belt. Which makes sense.

Sam T. Turner II .v Zeke Cassidy

Not knowing who Turner is, this worked really well as an introduction for me. Came across as a bad ass, and He uses a Lariat. <3

Star Rating: Squash

Arrive the Champ
FDJ will always be one of my favorite EW Characters, Dusty is really high up there, glad to see these two paired together.

Mushigihara .v. Jed Whitewood
Mushigihara is a bad ass. Post match business was also excellent. I didn't LOVE him unmasking. Because I don't have the back story(Does he do this often?). But overall, He comes across as menacing

Star Rating: Squash

Henry Keyes .v. David Noble
This caught me completely by surprise, I was getting a little annoyed, because this started out like the last couple of matches, But then it kept going, and kept going, and kept going, and managed to keep getting better. By the end I was pretty caught up. I was surprised by who won. I figured that when the comeback kept getting fed, that there was going to be a huge payoff. The post match was super classy and well played. I don't remember the last time I read that, and I certainly don't have any recollection of it working that well.

Star Rating: *** 1/2

Send In The Clowns
Dan Ryan reminds me of early NWO era Hulk Hogan without the Outsiders and Eric Bischoff.

Stockton Pyre .v. Frank Holiday
That notebook must be important, this started out really hot. I liked the segment trying to unmask Pyre, glad they didn't. (Unles Pyre turns out to be someone with some history, I don't think he ever really needs to be unmasked). I wasn't super keen on the back and forth dialog between the two. Match was hot enough with the detraction. And I hated the fake draw. Match lost me at that point. Match wasn't bad at all until the end. Fake endings don't do anything for me in normal wrestling either. grain of salt.

Star Rating **1/2

I Don't think... I know
Love Dusty. I like the segments tying the show together really well(Keep in mind I was last in DEF shortly after the move to angle). This stuff really makes me excited for the main event.

Big Damn Heroes .v. Legitimate Businessman's Club
Information overload. TONS of stuff going on here. I parsed it to see what was going on. far too many "Holy Shit" spots. And this was really really long. Not poorly written mind you, I feel bad for skimming it. But I didn't really feel it. Sorry.

Star Rating: DUD

We Gon' Learn Today
Dane does what Dane does best. Ever wonder why I think Eric Dane has worked up in to the top ten E-W characters ever(baring my own different list of favorite characters)? When he says he is willing to do something it's believable. Dusty in trouble.

Johnny Booya .v. Frank Dylan James
Im gonna go ahead say, I knew ahead of time I was going to enjoy this match. The spot with Shields reminding Booya to wrestle is thus far my favorite thing on the show. The multi-headbutt is always going to be a winner for me. Really great fun brawl that didn't overstay its welcome

Star Rating: ***

Stayin' Alive
I guess Johnny Booya is Scott Norton to Dan Ryan's Hogan? Yes. I like that.

Team Viagra .v. Team Hoss
Best trios match on the card. This flowed and read really well, and built up well to the hot tag. Loved that it led directly to the finish. Mostly because it leaves the door open for these two teams to work together more. I'm excited to read more of these two teams(Though I recognize a couple of the names I think)

Star Rating: ****

Sitting In The Dark
This was nice. It'd be intriguing to see Noble in Mayweather's spot. And this left me wondering what if for the title match.

Curtis Penn .v. Eugene Dewey
I'll say this straight away Penn's entrance is hilarious, I am picture Pantheon from League of Legends wearing Affliction gear coming out to one of the Undertaker's Wrestlemania entrances. Memorable to say the least. I'll ignore the breaking of the fourth wall. Amusing to see Dewey not have any submission moves. Liked seeing the sleeper win it all said.

Star Rating: **1/2

Eric Dane .v. Dusty Griffith
Great match. Like the early strike trades, to Dane countering Dusty's power with wrestling. Dug the Butcher spot. Kind of surprising giving who's involved here. Dusty reminds me of Morishima against Danielson(Manhattan Mayehm II) Just pure raw unbridled power. Great Great stuff. This was a match where I felt the huge Burning Spirit from everyone was really spot on. Great ending too. Loved this. Not much more to say

Star Rating: ****

Conflict of Interest
Didn't see that coming, that's for sure. The last match had the feeling of a torch passing IC. The last segment cemented it.


Overall a pretty solid read.

 

[Evan H.]

Skybreakers vs Sons of the Soil
The Sons needed a bit of a retort to Ty to start things off. I like the visual you were trying to achieve with them just popping out of the crowd. Even if it was just a line from the leader. The match itself was well written, The Sons were established pretty well. Remus seems awesome. I'm sold, but y'all know my penchant for loud gimmicky heels, so... heh.

And since I absolutely love Aaron adopting the Meltzer star ratings, ** stars.

Arrive the Boss
Short, simple, and got more character across than segments twice it's length. It accomplishes the goal of getting you caught up on the story-line and provides just enough new information to show you things are progressing towards a goal.

I also mini-marked at the London Freemantle reference. #WfWA #NeWA #OldFart

Samuel T. Turner II vs Zeke Cassidy
Meant as a platform to get over Sam's new heel-ish ways, and did that. This character can easily evolve into a top flight heel. Lots of fun twisty history to play with now, lots of stories and feuds to be developed. I know Chris can do it to. Good squash match that accomplished it's goal 100%. Squash

The announcers flow from each segment has been good, but this one was particularly good. Visually for the show to feel less chopped into chunks, having the announcer chit chat overlap from the end of a match into the next segment sort of uninterrupted looks and reads really nice. Just btw.

Arrive the Champ
Could have been stretched in a few places, been a little more descriptive but overall it did its job, moved the story along. I might have dropped the idle chit chat between Dusty and Frank and made the interaction with White longer, wordier to get some of that across. Segments that switch settings are always tough to pull off though. Any segment I've worked on that switches settings get a little rough and read funny. Just something I've noticed.

Mushigihara vs Jed Whitewood
DEF is amazing because of the sheer diversity of character, I mean, these first three matches personify that. These two weirdos, The Sons of the Soil, Samuel Turner. Top notch characterization. Mushigihara evolving a little is good, the mask isn't partitive. If you're losing the mask though it does beg more explanation. Card segments can be sort of limiting in getting stuff like this over, maybe think about an "off camera" RP or a news bite that expands on it a little? I think the dirt sheets would be all over that with speculation. Squash

Henry Keyes vs David Noble
So far match lenghts have been spot on. Even on a BIG show, if it's a squash... write that fucker like a squash. It's the joy of an angled fed / its what NPC's and "side" characters are for. We got a competitive opener, a couple well written shorter squashes / heel victories and then BAM a nice longer showcase featuring two characters on their way up and a rarely seen handshake / bro down ho-down. I'm with Aaron, usually nicey nice endings don't read genuine. This was really well done. *** stars

Send in the clowns
I think the intended vibe was they were coming back from a commercial, LOVE that... but I think it begged something mentioning that like before Keebler spoke a [We cut back to ringside where we rejoin our intrepid announcers already blah blah etc.] or something. But Brunk, man... to think you came into DEF with Ryan as a goody two shoes redemption seeking babyface. It was a tad wordy until the end with the countdown and Ed and Dusty coming out. REALLY well written.

Stockton Pyre vs Frank Holiday
Again, if there's "commercials" there needs to be some bracketed flavor text saying so, see above. Not a biggie, just a nit-pick. Y'all stuck balls to the wall with this story from start to finish man, awesome follow through. Absolutely top notch match writing here, absolutely. The heel showed some ass, the face walked away champ. I'd like to see more content from Pyre, I think a little more outside the box thinking in how he's presented would do a lot for the character. A blog, a twitter feed, a series of mysterious RP's... just something. *** stars

I Don't Think... I Know.
Tight old school promo with the announcer, my favorite thing in the world. This is the sort of short little promo we could be using for that weird transition from this segment to that match, a nice unobtrusive promo (it could be "pre-taped", even) popped right there before the match. I just feel like straight up old school wrestling promos are a lost art in wrestling, who doesn't love a good wrestling promo? Go watch some mid to late 80's wrestling promos and educate yo'self.

Big Damn Heroes vs Legitimate Businessmen's Club
Stellar use of Keebler and Angus to recap the feud with as few words as possible. That honestly can be a challenge sometimes. Now... goodness, wow. That... was a marathon to get through, I hate to say it. That was so long. So so good, so well thought out but it was written as a main event and it was smack dab in the middle of the card. It just felt... out of scale? I don't know how to say it. I feel like there's SO MUCH awesome story here and it's all sort of lost in these huge walls of text. I would have liked some of this storytelling to have come earlier in a promo or a segment backstage that sort of eeeeeeased us into this obviously huge blow off match. Less is more is the moral of the story here I think. ** stars

We Gon' Learn Today
Hopping from Dane to Dusty to Dane through these little shorter tighter promos has been a nice thread to follow through the show.

Jonny Booya vs Frank Dylan James
I mean... just two of the most hilarious awesome brutal characters ever. I also love how Frank lives so well written independent of any one handler. Booya is the same, correct? How else can weird storytelling like this between characters like this happen in anything but an angled format? Well written, nice breather from the last match. Didn't take itself overly serious. Booya is fantastic. **1/2 stars

Stayin' Alive
LOL, Dan Ryan straight up tells Booya to stop being a dumb twat. Solid.

Team V.I.A.G.R.A vs Team HOSS
Let me begin by saying there's a reason I've almost exclusively done singles characters. I find tag matches confusing to write and trios matches exceedingly hard to follow... accept when they're written this well. I'm not as well acquainted with Team Viagra but the top of the match recap was well done, and 'dat entrance. The length was perfect, it was really really well written. Team HOSS though man, what a great gimmick. It all almost makes me want to dream up a trios team... almost. ***1/2 stars

Sitting in the Dark
Damn, poor chick. Didn't overstay it's welcome, obviously building to something. Solid.

Curtis Penn vs Eugene Dewey
Angus not being sure who he hates more is always gold. Penn's entrance... honestly, I laughed out loud. What a fucking shitheel. I love it. Keebler should NEVER sell the fourth wall break. I love a good self aware fourth wall joke, but it needs to stay just in Angus' head / mouth. Keebler should always respond with a confused "huh?" Anyway... the hook of this being a submission match and Eugene being a little less than well versed in submission wrestling was great. Penn is such a sniveling MMA-putz... I loved this top to bottom. Again, perfectly paced, perfect length, lots of flavor text. Eugene is being built up so well, can't wait to see what Eugene's next hurdle materializes as. Penn lost NOTHING from this loss, by the way. A good heel knows when to show a little ass. **** stars

Props though to Jon. Penn right now is my favorite read in the whole fed. Great characterization, fantastic heel, knowing that in the end the heels role is to eventually LOSE is something some writers grapple with. Leftovers from years of RP feds I think. #HCWF

With Great Power...
Ryan's dark side mojo > Ed's dark side mojo.

A Tale of Two Titans
Liiiiiiiked this segment a lot. Lot lot lot.

Eric Dane vs Dusty Griffth
Now THAT'S how you properly break the fourth wall. It's Angus' super power. I don't need to lube these guys buttholes any, the responsible parties know how good this match turned out. Now... that being said it did lean towards being a little long but in the end, killer pacing. Everything flowed, it was over the top but at a big show (/its just ewrestling, fuck it) it worked really well. Bravo guys. I like the attempted links to old shows and moves on YouTube, links didn't work. **** stars

Conflict of Interest
The staircase was insane and wonderful. Carry on you crazy cats. I like White screwing with Dane and I know Ed lives in lala land betwene like five different writers but White seriously needs to outline WHY he loath Dane so much. I need more motivation for Ed beyond "he's a rich asshole"... unless that really is his motivation, just needs to be stated a little clearer why he's going to all this trouble. Otherwise, good stuff.

 

[brusch]

Holy moley what a show. I've been so bad at feeding back and I want to make sure I get some in this time. Going to start the year off by getting better about it.

Match of the Night:
The main event is an obvious selection for this; it was 1/3 of the card, it was a true epic, it had massive implications all around, there's not a lot that could supercede it. I want to give some love to the Penn/Dewey war and the VIAGRA/HOSS matches, they kicked all the ass too.

Segment of the Night:
The use of imagery in Tale of Two Titans with no spoken dialogue from the two main players worked really well for me here, and really the entire show's Dane/Dusty stuff worked for that matter.

Surprise of the Night:
DEWEY DONE CHOKED 'IM OUT! Dewey and Penn have killed it the entire arc, and with the added stipulation I was fascinated to see how this would turn out.

Holy Shit Moment of the Night:
The closer of the show with Ed White's law-laying (or law-declaring?)

Babyface of the Night:
Your world champ, and your FIST.

Heel of the Night:
EDWARD WHITE HOW COULD YOU

MVP of the Night (IC):
Eric Dane for making the most of what may be his last DEF run (or is it?)

Best Line of the Night:
(please don't make me pick just one!)

What Ruled?
Working with Craig on the Keyes/Noble match was a pleasure, and though this was a massively long show, there was lots of juice top-to-bottom.

What sucked?
Easy to say stuff like delays in putting it up, but it's around the holidays and it's not the sort of thing that really gets on my nerves. So, not a lot!

 

[Damien]

DEFIANCE Presents: EXECUTIVE DECISION
A special rundown instantly give the upcoming card a special feel, as it should do with a PPV. I’m fine with weekly shows going through the motions with the rundown and having a little bit of generic-ness to them, but a PPV should be something different, and the video package to kick the show off feels real and is definitely different to the norm.


Skybreakers vs. Sons Of The Soil
Great opener. Very real feel to it. The way this match played out it definitely read like it was the first match of the show. Fast paced, hard hitting, early dives to the outside. And a W for the Sons pretty much had to happen for their debut, but it’s a shame the Skybreakers just can’t get it together.


Arrive The Boss
Good to see that Kelly Evans hasn’t been forgotten about.


It seems to have been a point of DEF recently that on PPVs the main event gets a shit ton of segment time. I’m all for that, and this is anything to go by there’s going to be a storyline pertaining to Dane’s plan told throughout the night.


Samuel T. Turner II vs. Zeke Cassidy
I definitely want to see Sam amp it up in the next arc. His heel turn is solidified now. Time to use it. As far as the match goes, it was fine. Jobber matches aren’t unheard of on PPVs, but this is probably where the developmental roster could have been utilized, as that’s been completely forgotten about recently.


Or maybe it was and I’m just not familiar with the name Zeke Cassidy.


Arrive The Champ
Looks like errbody’s got an agenda tonight. And yep, James is going all out on the build up to the main event.


Mushigihara vs. Jed Whitewood
Another squash and I’m guessing from Rob’s comments in the runsheet thread that we’re not gonna be seeing much more of Jed.


You Failed Miserably
Holy crap moment of the night candidate. Mushigihara speaks. Jed’s on the way out fo’ sho’. Going forward though Mushi has to do something of note now. He’s kind of floated around not doing much of major note since the feud with Troy Matthews, and I could see him in something major for the wargames arc and then being a stand out in the MoW tournament.


Henry Keyes vs. David Noble
A welcome change from the 2 previous squash matches, and a damn good match.


Not sure if I agree with the use of a ‘Holy Shit’ chant after a European Uppercut, but whatever, if that’s my most major gripe with this match then so be it.


I’m warming to Noble now, and I’ve always been a fan of Keyes, so it’ll be interesting to see where these two go heading forwards.


Send In The Clowns
After such a smooth transition between match and segment earlier it was very jarring to see this one.

Angus:
Pretty amazing, eh? Ed White is the Sony Pictures of DEFIANCE.

Best freakin’ line ever.


I can’t but echo Lee’s words here. Such a big deal has been made over non wrestling staff getting assaulted that laying hands on DEFSec or even DPS would be made such a big deal. Sure Edward White’s in charge and can make things go away, but I’d like to see that addressed (Hey newsposts). Maybe “DEFsec member threatens legal action”, followed up swiftly by “DEFsec member drops suit against Dan Ryan - Announcement made from brand new Beverly Hills mansion”.


Stockton Pyre vs. Frank Holiday
Another good match, and now I think it’s time these two part ways for a long time. Having the SoHer title injected into the feud definitely added something to this match, but this should be it now. Pyre needs something new now, and considering he’s been chasing after, and subsequently unable to capture, the SoHer title for long, maybe he needs to set his sights on something else going fowards.


I Don’t Think I Know
Dusty’s last words should surely come right before the match, no? I mean, there’s so much left of this show (judging by the scroll bar on the right) you can’t have last words half way through, surely?


Big Damn Heroes vs. The Legitimate Businessmen’s Club
I want to start by thanking Lindz, Shane and Asa. This feud has been so fun from the start all the way through to the finish.


Onto the match, this was wall of texty. It had to be in places because there was just so much going on. Could there have been less going on? Maybe there could have been less spots, but this was the blow off for such a big feud. We wanted it to be special, and in my opinion it was… if a little on the long side.


We Gon' Learn Today
This right here is reading like an old fashioned RP battle. Dusty has points, Dane rebukes them. I gotta say, I like it.


Jonny Booya vs Frank Dylan James
I’m gonna echo Ken now and say that the Jonny as the Goofball is what got him over. He doesn’t have to be a Kai Scott v2 working in disguise to work at the top of the card, especially not when he’s going White’s money behind him.


Stayin' Alive
Well… good to see the goof is still there.


Team V.I.A.G.R.A vs Team HOSS




Sitting in the Dark
Still with the Melrose Place vibe (because would you guys know what I was on about if I said Coronation Street?). Not feeling it, I’ll be honest. Please take this somewhere.


Eugene Dewey vs. Curtis Penn
Not all of this was written at the 11th hour, but a large chunk was, so that might explain a little bit of choppiness. The ending was definitely 11th hour, but I was hoping it’d come across more as ‘out of the blue’ rather than abrupt. Obviously I’ll have to work on that going forward.


Again, Jon has been a pleasure to work with for this arc. Curtis Penn is such an easy character to write for, so handling segments has been a breeze and hitting them back and forth between us has been so easy.


With Great Power…
Shit’s about to go down.


A Tale of Two Titans
A nice change of pace from the talking segments. I clock that at 7 segments just for the main event. I guess maybe next PPV those of us in the under card should plan a couple to avoid overkill in the future.


Eric Dane vs Dusty Griffith
James just absolutely knocks it out of the park whenever the shit he wants to. Seriously, this was awesome. People have talked about the length, and yeah, it was long, but so was the rest of the show, so at least it’s in keeping. I can’t critique it though. It’s just… fantastic.


Conflict of Interest
Ok, this muddied the water a bit for me. Either I’ve missed something, forgotten something, or the contents of the folder haven’t been made clear yet.


It’s probably me missing something to be honest.


Final Thoughts
This was a beast. It was an absolute slog to get through and the thought of critiquing every part of it felt daunting to me, which is part of the reason it’s taken me so long to get this done. I think we need to pump the brakes in future when it comes to PPVs. Main events going for 50 pages? Sure, I’ll go with it if it’s once every 2/3 months, but 3 or 4 matches going 20+ pages along with said 50 page main event? Please god no.


Still, literally everything in the fed looks good as we head forwards, which is completely awesome.