MEETING NEW PEOPLE
Big Damn Heroes, Dusty Griffith and Frank Dylan James having a nice sociable moment. I like these kinds of segments. Only gripe I have -- and it's really minor -- is the use of the five-second countdown up top. I get using the countdown if you're going to start the show in the ring with pyro and pomp and spectacle, because it's dramatic and exciting. But if the first segment is backstage with everyone sitting around, the countdown doesn't make a lot of sense.
THE BAWS RETURNS
Oh man, it's real now. Dane will NOT be barred from his own promotion. Does Kelly Evans have a history of pulling a shiv on folks, or is this something new? I've been around DEFIANCE for about a year now and I've never seen her this stabby before. Desperate measures, though, I guess.
THE RUNDOWN
Darren and Angus's reactions coming out of the previous segment were perfect. Great continuity.
JASON NATAS VS. ???
Good showcase match for the newcomer, very well written. The Handsome Man Modeling School make for some pretty entertaining jobbers.
SHOTS FIRED
And a well done Lance Warner interview to allow Natas to give his mission statement as a new member of the DEFIANCE roster. It seems he's making a transition to asshole-stomping babyface after formerly being a heel in PRIME, so it'll be interesting to see how he fits into the already chaotic social dynamics of DEFIANCE.
LOYALTY
Crazy intense standoff between Eric Dane and Edward White! Here's what I like about this: we get some details about the business deal they struck, and we get the consequences of White breaking his "silent partner" agreement. I like that a portion of DEFsec is motivated enough by their loyalty to Dane to stand with him against the others. I ALSO like the fact that, although Dane used his lawyers to deal a blow to White's claim to power, it's clear that we're not seeing that power completely dismantled in one shot. I'm really interested to see how this develops going forward. An angle like this needs to play out at a slow burn, and White needs to continue to be a legitimate threat for some time.
Oh, and I see now why there was a call for someone to write some commercials, since there was kind of an abrupt jump from the in-ring standoff to a match. The problem could've been avoided by formatting the segments in a slightly different order, or at least by not teasing the match BEFORE the in-ring and then trying to go right back to it afterward. It is what it is, though.
SAM TURNER JR. VS. JAKE DONOVAN
Decent match showcasing this obvious clash of styles, with flippy doo taking the fall!
LBC INTERVIEW
The Legitimate Businessmen's Club are one of my favorite groups in DEFIANCE. Challenge issued! Nice to see this feud with the BDH continue to boil right up to the PPV.
YOU KNOW HOW IT IS...
Ty! Jake! Troy! Saori! ASSEMBLE! Folks be forming teams all over the place!
WELCOME TO DEFIANCE! PART 1
A Japanese man is forced to show papers to White men before he can go about his business. That's racist, bro.
CURTIS CLUTCH CHALLENGE #4
Penn has been so damned entertaining this arc, much like he was as the SoHer Champion. Jake Donovan interrupts again, and we finally get the match booked for the PPV. Can't wait to see this battle ensue!
KLEPTOMANIAC
Brian and I wrote this. I'm happy people like Frank Holiday and Billy Pepper's shenanigans, but Brian deserves recognition as well for how he's been playing Pyre off of Holiday's nuttiness, and the Kelly Evans dialogue was all him. It's been really rewarding so far to work on this together. Also, shout out to Lindz for the T-shirt idea. I can't take credit for
#STALKTONPYRE though; I think that name originated in someone's feedback a while ago. So good for whoever that was.
DON HOLLYWOOD VS. HEIDI CHRISTENSON
Jesus. How vicious is this? Am I the only one who would love to see a Mortal Kombat X-ray vision version of the arm-breaking spot? There should've been a deep, echoing voice bellowing "FINISH HIM!" before the armbreaker.
WELCOME TO DEFIANCE! PART 2
I'm still baffled by the relationship between the Osaka Street Cutters and Zongetsu Ryushin, but I'm chalking that up to not knowing the history prior to them being in DEFIANCE (if there was in fact history). If Ryushin is the babyface in this situation, I feel like these characters were introduced in the wrong order, because the first time we saw him was when he launched an attack from the crowd on the OSC -- which makes him the aggressor and the heel by default, all else being equal. Anyway. I'm still watching.
NEGOTIATION... DEFIANCE STYLE.
Junior Keeling is being his usual awesomely dickish self, and Ty Walker's bravado got him into an extremely dangerous situation. Can't wait to see this battle explode on PPV, especially with Team HOSS leaving this segment looking overwhelmingly powerful.
DECISIONS, DECISIONS.
The ACX are cartoon characters in the best possible way: ridiculous, over-the-top, always entertaining. Don screaming in pain = WIN. Edward White giving them a hard time here = WIN. I don't know where these guys will be in the long term, but I always enjoy them.
MUSHIGIHARA VS. FRANK DYLAN JAMES
Can any ring contain this massive conflict?!
WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE
Very dramatic confrontation between Eugene Dewey and Heidi Christenson, which should make for an exciting match on PPV. Interesting comment by Heidi about DEFIANCE's "boys club" atmosphere needing to be cleaned up. Is this her new mission statement? Should Angus Skaaland, at this very moment, be hiding his sexist, homophobic, not to mention racist and bigoted, self in a deep, dark hole so she can't get her hands on him?
Also, Eric Dane and Kelly Evans show up again and threaten to cut a bitch. The knife thing feels uncomfortably violent to me. I wouldn't like to see this kind of thing escalate, because if you take a "real weapons" arms race to its logical conclusion, somebody's going to start pointing guns around.
BEASTS UNLEASHED
Finally -- we got our PPV battle of the bulge! Mushi vs. FDJ isn't going to be pretty, but it should generate readings at the U.S. Geological Survey.
THIS ONE'S FOR THE RIPPER
Troy Matthews and Jane Katze in an effective segment setting up their PPV match. I also didn't get the Terry Woods reference, not that that fact necessarily diminishes the impact of what Troy said for those who do know. But I think it highlights the downfall of calling back to ancient history, especially with so many new handlers making up the current DEFIANCE roster. If people don't get it, then what was the point? Sometimes a reference is TOO inside, you know?
PETE WHEALDON VS. ROMERO ANTIGUAS
After all those weeks of underwhelming performances and losses, Antiguas finally has enough and shows everyone the vicious person he really is. This is a wonderful example of how a character can get over in a big way without needing to rack up countless wins week after week.
WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE...
And then he uses the interview with Christie Zane to rub it in. What a dick! Nice work here.
SHIT-TALKING AND FUCKERY
Well, there goes our PG rating! And by the way, where did everyone suddenly get the balls to openly flirt with Lindsay Troy? Did they all figure if STJ can do it and get away with it, then it's game on? Either way, I kind of like the BDH and Team HOSS verbally dusting it up at Gorilla just before the Heroes head out to the ring. There are so many exciting matches down the road involving the whole Trios division.
BIG DAMN HEROES VS. LEGITIMATE BUSINESSMEN'S CLUB
A beatdown by the LBC instead of a full-fledged match was the right way to go here. SoHer Champ Tony Di Luca and the others look strong going into the PPV, while the Heroes now find themselves in the defensive position. Great use of this booking.
SPEAKING FOR HERSELF
As Lindz said, I mentioned in a DEFIANCE chat a few days ago that this segment, for me, was the first time I came to appreciate Claira St. Sure as a character. Up to now, I've only seen her as a mostly silent member of a collective and her personality and motivations were a cipher to me. That all changed here through her interaction with Jonny Booya, taking his own words and turning them against him, pushing all his buttons. Loved this segment, and in one stroke made me excited for a CSS/Booya match. Well done.
KAI SCOTT VS. DAN RYAN
Fantastic main event, period. I just want to say that the match writing in DEFIANCE is absolutely amazing pretty much every time out. Kai Scott looks world class, Dan Ryan looks like a loose cannon, poor Benny Doyle pays for trying to enforce the rules, and Dusty Griffith again puts his history with Scott aside to make the save.
And then all hell breaks loose.
You guys are killing it with this whole angle so far. I really can't say more except that the World Title match is going to be tremendous, and really, the whole PPV has got me psyched.
