User Poets
The Shadow Pope
- Joined
- Jan 6, 1995
- Messages
- 2,192
- Points
- 36
- Age
- 45
- Location
- Top of the Pile
- Website
- www.valeriansgarden.com
So I'm not going to spoil anything in case people haven't read the show yet, but right here are the notes I put together for the bracket, complete with who I voted for. I am but one of five judges so this is not necessarily the winner, but this is where my head was at.
Since I won't be on for the podcast tomorrow (unless Merritt moves it to Wednesday or Thursday) I thought this would be useful:
Felicia Hart vs. John McDonough
McDonough was good at setting the scene - his hype RPs introduced his supporting cast so I wasn't going 'Who is that?' Did not like the lampshading of Felicia Hart's skill (or lack thereof) but it is consistent with his character as a teacher. End part of RPs was off-putting, it didn't seem to fit. Storyline to give background to his character is fine, storyline to build a mystery feud is a little out of place in this tournament. Rebuttal was solid, calling out the ridiculousness of Felicia's first post without breaking the suspension of disbelief around it.
Felicia Hart promo was just...creepy. Not that that is bad, in and of itself, but the subtext was like a bad fetish porn. Also not a fan of Felicia's intentions to "get as far as she can so she can lay down for her brother." Undermines entire point of tournament and takes me out of the narrative - it reads like an in-character justification of "I have two characters in the tournament so they can help each other win so I can win." Second RP was a lot of generic rhetoric that, on its merit, could have been written two weeks ago with McDonough's name filled in just before posting.
DECISION: I do not like the end-RP 'stalker' bits, but in every other aspect I think McDonough crushed Felicia Hart. He wrote flowing, logical RPs that combined what I think is the best of a character narrative and a match promo. I felt like the character's defining traits came across well and he was as clear and concise as can be.
VOTE: John McDonough
Jack Harmen vs. Tyler Boyd
VOTE: Harmen wins via no-show.
ADDENDUM: In my opinion, the first of Ford's two RPs for Jack Harmen was the best single RP that I read in the entirety of Round 1.
Henry Dylan vs. Kevin Powers
This is an interesting match - both wrestlers are approximately the same age, but Dylan started wrestling later than Powers, while Powers has been more or less retired for a few years. Strange mirror image of style.
Henry Dylan is creepy. Not Felicia Hart creepy, but he's up there. In a good way, as far as the RPs go. First post was a good way to illustrate the difference between "on camera" and "off camera." On camera, he seems like a wrestler who gets it - he knows he's an untested quality in this particular gathering so he's looking to prove his point. Off camera he's the Dr. Maplewood of professional wrestling, it seems. Still, the juxtaposition was effective and the character is intriguing, and I think he got his point across well in his first post. His rebuttal was a thing of beauty. It was simply a line by line deconstruction of everything that Powers said with what I thought was a logical and thought out reason why it was a groundless boast. The post-promo storyline piece seemed out of place, but unlike McDonough it was a logical extension of the nutjob that Henry Dylan seems to be.
Good God! Kevin Powers had what I thought was an effective rebuttal/reintroduction to his character. He balanced his past accomplishments with a sense of 'I still got it' without out and out saying it, and he managed to belittle his opponent without pulling himself out of 'character.' His second post was a more traditional 'interview' featuring my favorite martian Rudy Seitzer, and he really hammered home what he's hoping to get from the Ultratitle, it was a nice continuation without a response from his oppponent.
DECISION: Both of these men deserve to move on to the second round, I think for someone not known in this community Henry Dylan has shown he's not afraid to go balls deep with his promo and narrative style, and that's something to be commended. Likewise, Zieba reminded me in spades why Kevin Powers is one of my favorite opponents and characters of all time. Unfortunately, only one of them can get to the second round and while I think Zieba's posts would beat 98% of the field, Dylan is in that other two percent and is definitely one to watch.
VOTE: Henry Dylan
Kevin Watson vs. Javid Dones
Kevin Watson's first promo was a good reintroduction to a guy that I first saw as the Innovator of Insanity something like fourteen years ago. He made it known that he's older and a little more beat up, and by that token he's also smarter and more calm. The first post wasn't much more than the reintroduction of his character (the title alone, part 3, indicates that this is part of a longer series), but he does bring up how the Ultratitle is not part of a veteran's redemption because of the one loss you're out policy, and by that token he actually talked about Javid Dones a lot more than he thought. Watson was solid and a good read. His reply, on the other hand, was brilliant. Dones deconstructed his entire first post and Watson deconstructed the deconstruction, bringing up a very simple point: while Dones was off in the wilderness finding himself, Watson was wrestling every night. This is a wrestling tournament, not the first meeting of the Ultratitle Metaphor Society. It was really nice to see Dones' very well crafted first reply shut down so simply and so effectively.
That's not to say that Javid Dones was anything but absolutely brilliant. The fact that he DID compare a glacier and underground volcanic eruptions to his opponent - and making it WORK - is the kind of RPing I really like to see. Even the throwaway detail of Watson holding the Greensboro Title was deconstructed with his "I used to reach for trinkets, now I'm above that" sentiment.
DECISION: This was another really tough one. Watson was more traditional while Dones was more metaphysical with their respective verbal attacks, and both have their merits. The irony here is that there was not a single WEAK moment that I can point to in any of the four RPs. However, while Javid Dones was brilliant at the dovetailing of seemingly disparate topics into professional wrestling and his opponent in particular, I think Kevin Watson did a superior job at getting over the mentality of the wrestler that he is, the fact that he's getting older and still working just as hard, and the fact that this is about what happens in the ring, not what happens in the mind. And when it came to a dismantling of the opponent's promo, there wasn't any real competition.
VOTE: Kevin Watson
Jethro Hayes vs. Vincenzo Savonarola
VOTE: Vincenzo Savonarola via no-show.
Deacon vs. Rezin
VOTE: Deacon via no-show.
Jeffrey Roberts vs. Demon
VOTE: Jeffrey Roberts via no-show.
Freddie Sagawa vs. Kevin Hardaway
Kevin Hardaway gave a solid and competent RP, however I felt like he didn't SHOW enough. We know his wife's death hit him hard and we know it's affected his career and that he's currently looking at the Ultratitle (in addition to his home fed's upcoming major event) as possible bookends to his career. We know that because he told us, not because it resonated. Additionally, when he started to talk about his potential opponents, he A: did not mention his first round opponent at all, and B: was cutting a promo on a tombstone and was addressing it like it was an interviewer, which I found a bit distasteful. This is his wife, he left the business for her, if he believes that she can hear him, why is he talking to her tombstone about wrestling instead of how much he misses her?
Freddie Sagawa... or, more appropriately, his manager/publicist, Cameron Lee Waubash, went the less traditional (though who knows why that is) route with a public blog, and I think it got the point across. Since this was fully textual, he was able to use the medium to tell instead of show, and I think he was able to effectively shut down Hardaway's entire point.
DECISION: It's a shame we didn't get a second post out of either man, because I think Hardaway would have had something with more substance to reply to Waubash's blog as opposed to his first post character study. This is as good a study in opposite styles as Zero vs. Blaine Hollywood, and while both posts were solid, the blog captured more of what I think a wrestler/manager with a vested interest in the Ultratitle would have. Kevin Hardaway would be a great wrestler to have in a fed but for a tournament, the cemetery spot doesn't really work in the first round.
VOTE: Freddie Sagawa
August Joyce vs. Joe the Plumber
VOTE: August Joyce via no-show.
Pat Gordon Jr vs. Suicide
If I'm reading this right, Pat Gordon SR had a history with Suicide, which makes this matchup very interesting to have in the first round. I enjoyed Gordon's first post because it was very much SHOWING, not telling. Sure, he was telling a story, but I really felt his meaning come across in what he said in his promo. He was a huge Suicide fan growing up but now, as a wrestler, he is going to face off - and defeat - his childhood hero because he carries his father's name. It's a touching sentiment. His reply to Suicide - Hound - was nice to read because it dismissed the changing gimmick/face without no-selling it. Point of order, he did exactly what I hoped he would do - and work WITH the change. He dismissed Suicide's game of alternating personalities/faces as a dodge, and I think he did this exceptionally well.
Suicide is an old hat at this, and like the riff to Smoke on the Water, he still rocks. I really liked the idea that he was going to be doing an homage to "The Many Faces of Ulysis Solian" during his time in the tournament, and I don't know whether Medina is planning this out or truly doing this as a blind draw but Gordon will be facing the Hound, and it's a definite hook for a wrestler to have a "different faces of" type gimmick to him. His second post really solidified this - the 'dark figure' that I assume to be Ulysis Solian himself - warning Gordon that he is 'not worthy' to face Suicide, so instead, he gets Hound. Perfect separation of character and a great portrayal, I think, of a hypersane split personality.
DECISION: I'm really torn here. On one hand, Suicide has been a master at pushing the importance of this match, both for himself and for Gordon and the 'grand prize' of actually facing off with Sucide as opposed to Hound, but on the other, Gordon did just as great a job at playing the youngster looking to face off against his hero who may not be all he originally thought. This is another case where, against another opponent, both men would continue on. For me, however, the deciding factor was in Pat Gordon's confidence in himself and in his quest to move on, he made it clear that it simply doesn't matter to him which face of Solian he wrestles.
VOTE: Pat Gordon Jr
Ken Cloverleaf vs. Lex Taylor
VOTE: Ken Cloverleaf via jobber match.
Lucious Starr vs. Shamon
Shamon is one of the most out-there gimmicks I've ever read, but also one of the most well - done, because of the committment to the character. There is no "this is who I really am" thing, and there's no irony factor, that he's doing this to get a laugh. I think his first RP was a great introduction to the character in the Ultratitle, getting over his psychology as well as his complete lack of toughness (Vote now!). I also liked the way Shamon addressed the 'Michael Jackson Ripoff' comments with a very uncomfortable/oblivious to it story of the weekends with his idol. Overall, he took everything that's interesting about the character and ran with it as far as he could, even going so far as to pick up the things that his opponent said and added it to his style.
I was not a fan of the way Lucious Starr completely no-sold Shamon's gimmick. It might seem strange for me to say that when I'm all about 'Realism!' but Shamon is very much grounded in reality in the strange world of professional wrestling. It's one thing to call someone ridiculous for what they do, it's another for someone to say the word 'Gimmick' in a match RP. It takes you out completely and reminds 'the audience' that it's all part of the show.
DECISION: Shamon is not the strongest character in the tournament, but he is what he is and he is always consistent. Lucious Starr no-selling the character as 'a stupid ripoff' is the cheap heat way to go, and he wasn't helped by the way Mad Dog turned it around and ran with it. If Lucious Starr had posted another RP he could possibly have turned it around with a strong rebuttal, but it just didn't happen and I think it was a mistake on Starr's part.
VOTE: Shamon
Troy Windham vs. Eugene Dewey
Eugene Dewey was going to be in a tough spot from the start: this is a roleplay tournament and was against probably the best pure trash talker in FWC history in the first round. I liked the fact that he addressed it - he had his twitter post and a subsequent reply which was a really nice way to set up his assumed role as the underdog in this match. And if this was an actual wrestling tournament complete with athletes and booking, etc - he'd be more of an underdog than Cobra against Dan Ryan (WAIT--). But he played the hand the random draw gave him and he accepted it - and by playing up the expectations you can more easily subvert them.
Dewey's major character flaw is brought to attention by Troy Windham. Dewey brings up his fondness for NES games and YTMND, while Troy says one telling thing: if you act important and look important, then you're important. Dewey's conversations with his brother make him look like a kid playing wrestler as opposed to the next big thing.
Troy Windham, on the other hand, quietly exuded confidence through the entire pair of posts. For a traditional trash talker, he took to a narrative style to get inside the head of a twenty year veteran with a legendary profile and a bad neck like he's been doing it for years.
DECISION: Eugene Dewey has the makings of an underdog who could luck his way through the Ultratitle on the back of his improbably training regime, but Troy Windham has the realistic expectations of a man who has been living larger than life and to hell with the consequences and is finally facing the possibility of paying back those debts.
What it came down to for me is how the writing feels. Eugene Dewey feels like a kid who likes video games and internet culture and has found innovative ways to use them in his wrestling training. Troy Windham feels like an aging alternative icon who is the first to believe that his time is over, but the last to accept it. Who put their character across the most convincingly is who I have to give this match to.
VOTE: Troy Windham
Shawn Jessica Hart vs. Bob Praxis
VOTE: Shawn Hart via jobber match.
Alexander Hayes vs. Hijo de Sombra
VOTE: Alexander Hayes via no-show.
Lane Cash vs. Bonecrusher
VOTE: Bonecrusher via no-show
Since I won't be on for the podcast tomorrow (unless Merritt moves it to Wednesday or Thursday) I thought this would be useful:
Felicia Hart vs. John McDonough
McDonough was good at setting the scene - his hype RPs introduced his supporting cast so I wasn't going 'Who is that?' Did not like the lampshading of Felicia Hart's skill (or lack thereof) but it is consistent with his character as a teacher. End part of RPs was off-putting, it didn't seem to fit. Storyline to give background to his character is fine, storyline to build a mystery feud is a little out of place in this tournament. Rebuttal was solid, calling out the ridiculousness of Felicia's first post without breaking the suspension of disbelief around it.
Felicia Hart promo was just...creepy. Not that that is bad, in and of itself, but the subtext was like a bad fetish porn. Also not a fan of Felicia's intentions to "get as far as she can so she can lay down for her brother." Undermines entire point of tournament and takes me out of the narrative - it reads like an in-character justification of "I have two characters in the tournament so they can help each other win so I can win." Second RP was a lot of generic rhetoric that, on its merit, could have been written two weeks ago with McDonough's name filled in just before posting.
DECISION: I do not like the end-RP 'stalker' bits, but in every other aspect I think McDonough crushed Felicia Hart. He wrote flowing, logical RPs that combined what I think is the best of a character narrative and a match promo. I felt like the character's defining traits came across well and he was as clear and concise as can be.
VOTE: John McDonough
Jack Harmen vs. Tyler Boyd
VOTE: Harmen wins via no-show.
ADDENDUM: In my opinion, the first of Ford's two RPs for Jack Harmen was the best single RP that I read in the entirety of Round 1.
Henry Dylan vs. Kevin Powers
This is an interesting match - both wrestlers are approximately the same age, but Dylan started wrestling later than Powers, while Powers has been more or less retired for a few years. Strange mirror image of style.
Henry Dylan is creepy. Not Felicia Hart creepy, but he's up there. In a good way, as far as the RPs go. First post was a good way to illustrate the difference between "on camera" and "off camera." On camera, he seems like a wrestler who gets it - he knows he's an untested quality in this particular gathering so he's looking to prove his point. Off camera he's the Dr. Maplewood of professional wrestling, it seems. Still, the juxtaposition was effective and the character is intriguing, and I think he got his point across well in his first post. His rebuttal was a thing of beauty. It was simply a line by line deconstruction of everything that Powers said with what I thought was a logical and thought out reason why it was a groundless boast. The post-promo storyline piece seemed out of place, but unlike McDonough it was a logical extension of the nutjob that Henry Dylan seems to be.
Good God! Kevin Powers had what I thought was an effective rebuttal/reintroduction to his character. He balanced his past accomplishments with a sense of 'I still got it' without out and out saying it, and he managed to belittle his opponent without pulling himself out of 'character.' His second post was a more traditional 'interview' featuring my favorite martian Rudy Seitzer, and he really hammered home what he's hoping to get from the Ultratitle, it was a nice continuation without a response from his oppponent.
DECISION: Both of these men deserve to move on to the second round, I think for someone not known in this community Henry Dylan has shown he's not afraid to go balls deep with his promo and narrative style, and that's something to be commended. Likewise, Zieba reminded me in spades why Kevin Powers is one of my favorite opponents and characters of all time. Unfortunately, only one of them can get to the second round and while I think Zieba's posts would beat 98% of the field, Dylan is in that other two percent and is definitely one to watch.
VOTE: Henry Dylan
Kevin Watson vs. Javid Dones
Kevin Watson's first promo was a good reintroduction to a guy that I first saw as the Innovator of Insanity something like fourteen years ago. He made it known that he's older and a little more beat up, and by that token he's also smarter and more calm. The first post wasn't much more than the reintroduction of his character (the title alone, part 3, indicates that this is part of a longer series), but he does bring up how the Ultratitle is not part of a veteran's redemption because of the one loss you're out policy, and by that token he actually talked about Javid Dones a lot more than he thought. Watson was solid and a good read. His reply, on the other hand, was brilliant. Dones deconstructed his entire first post and Watson deconstructed the deconstruction, bringing up a very simple point: while Dones was off in the wilderness finding himself, Watson was wrestling every night. This is a wrestling tournament, not the first meeting of the Ultratitle Metaphor Society. It was really nice to see Dones' very well crafted first reply shut down so simply and so effectively.
That's not to say that Javid Dones was anything but absolutely brilliant. The fact that he DID compare a glacier and underground volcanic eruptions to his opponent - and making it WORK - is the kind of RPing I really like to see. Even the throwaway detail of Watson holding the Greensboro Title was deconstructed with his "I used to reach for trinkets, now I'm above that" sentiment.
DECISION: This was another really tough one. Watson was more traditional while Dones was more metaphysical with their respective verbal attacks, and both have their merits. The irony here is that there was not a single WEAK moment that I can point to in any of the four RPs. However, while Javid Dones was brilliant at the dovetailing of seemingly disparate topics into professional wrestling and his opponent in particular, I think Kevin Watson did a superior job at getting over the mentality of the wrestler that he is, the fact that he's getting older and still working just as hard, and the fact that this is about what happens in the ring, not what happens in the mind. And when it came to a dismantling of the opponent's promo, there wasn't any real competition.
VOTE: Kevin Watson
Jethro Hayes vs. Vincenzo Savonarola
VOTE: Vincenzo Savonarola via no-show.
Deacon vs. Rezin
VOTE: Deacon via no-show.
Jeffrey Roberts vs. Demon
VOTE: Jeffrey Roberts via no-show.
Freddie Sagawa vs. Kevin Hardaway
Kevin Hardaway gave a solid and competent RP, however I felt like he didn't SHOW enough. We know his wife's death hit him hard and we know it's affected his career and that he's currently looking at the Ultratitle (in addition to his home fed's upcoming major event) as possible bookends to his career. We know that because he told us, not because it resonated. Additionally, when he started to talk about his potential opponents, he A: did not mention his first round opponent at all, and B: was cutting a promo on a tombstone and was addressing it like it was an interviewer, which I found a bit distasteful. This is his wife, he left the business for her, if he believes that she can hear him, why is he talking to her tombstone about wrestling instead of how much he misses her?
Freddie Sagawa... or, more appropriately, his manager/publicist, Cameron Lee Waubash, went the less traditional (though who knows why that is) route with a public blog, and I think it got the point across. Since this was fully textual, he was able to use the medium to tell instead of show, and I think he was able to effectively shut down Hardaway's entire point.
DECISION: It's a shame we didn't get a second post out of either man, because I think Hardaway would have had something with more substance to reply to Waubash's blog as opposed to his first post character study. This is as good a study in opposite styles as Zero vs. Blaine Hollywood, and while both posts were solid, the blog captured more of what I think a wrestler/manager with a vested interest in the Ultratitle would have. Kevin Hardaway would be a great wrestler to have in a fed but for a tournament, the cemetery spot doesn't really work in the first round.
VOTE: Freddie Sagawa
August Joyce vs. Joe the Plumber
VOTE: August Joyce via no-show.
Pat Gordon Jr vs. Suicide
If I'm reading this right, Pat Gordon SR had a history with Suicide, which makes this matchup very interesting to have in the first round. I enjoyed Gordon's first post because it was very much SHOWING, not telling. Sure, he was telling a story, but I really felt his meaning come across in what he said in his promo. He was a huge Suicide fan growing up but now, as a wrestler, he is going to face off - and defeat - his childhood hero because he carries his father's name. It's a touching sentiment. His reply to Suicide - Hound - was nice to read because it dismissed the changing gimmick/face without no-selling it. Point of order, he did exactly what I hoped he would do - and work WITH the change. He dismissed Suicide's game of alternating personalities/faces as a dodge, and I think he did this exceptionally well.
Suicide is an old hat at this, and like the riff to Smoke on the Water, he still rocks. I really liked the idea that he was going to be doing an homage to "The Many Faces of Ulysis Solian" during his time in the tournament, and I don't know whether Medina is planning this out or truly doing this as a blind draw but Gordon will be facing the Hound, and it's a definite hook for a wrestler to have a "different faces of" type gimmick to him. His second post really solidified this - the 'dark figure' that I assume to be Ulysis Solian himself - warning Gordon that he is 'not worthy' to face Suicide, so instead, he gets Hound. Perfect separation of character and a great portrayal, I think, of a hypersane split personality.
DECISION: I'm really torn here. On one hand, Suicide has been a master at pushing the importance of this match, both for himself and for Gordon and the 'grand prize' of actually facing off with Sucide as opposed to Hound, but on the other, Gordon did just as great a job at playing the youngster looking to face off against his hero who may not be all he originally thought. This is another case where, against another opponent, both men would continue on. For me, however, the deciding factor was in Pat Gordon's confidence in himself and in his quest to move on, he made it clear that it simply doesn't matter to him which face of Solian he wrestles.
VOTE: Pat Gordon Jr
Ken Cloverleaf vs. Lex Taylor
VOTE: Ken Cloverleaf via jobber match.
Lucious Starr vs. Shamon
Shamon is one of the most out-there gimmicks I've ever read, but also one of the most well - done, because of the committment to the character. There is no "this is who I really am" thing, and there's no irony factor, that he's doing this to get a laugh. I think his first RP was a great introduction to the character in the Ultratitle, getting over his psychology as well as his complete lack of toughness (Vote now!). I also liked the way Shamon addressed the 'Michael Jackson Ripoff' comments with a very uncomfortable/oblivious to it story of the weekends with his idol. Overall, he took everything that's interesting about the character and ran with it as far as he could, even going so far as to pick up the things that his opponent said and added it to his style.
I was not a fan of the way Lucious Starr completely no-sold Shamon's gimmick. It might seem strange for me to say that when I'm all about 'Realism!' but Shamon is very much grounded in reality in the strange world of professional wrestling. It's one thing to call someone ridiculous for what they do, it's another for someone to say the word 'Gimmick' in a match RP. It takes you out completely and reminds 'the audience' that it's all part of the show.
DECISION: Shamon is not the strongest character in the tournament, but he is what he is and he is always consistent. Lucious Starr no-selling the character as 'a stupid ripoff' is the cheap heat way to go, and he wasn't helped by the way Mad Dog turned it around and ran with it. If Lucious Starr had posted another RP he could possibly have turned it around with a strong rebuttal, but it just didn't happen and I think it was a mistake on Starr's part.
VOTE: Shamon
Troy Windham vs. Eugene Dewey
Eugene Dewey was going to be in a tough spot from the start: this is a roleplay tournament and was against probably the best pure trash talker in FWC history in the first round. I liked the fact that he addressed it - he had his twitter post and a subsequent reply which was a really nice way to set up his assumed role as the underdog in this match. And if this was an actual wrestling tournament complete with athletes and booking, etc - he'd be more of an underdog than Cobra against Dan Ryan (WAIT--). But he played the hand the random draw gave him and he accepted it - and by playing up the expectations you can more easily subvert them.
Dewey's major character flaw is brought to attention by Troy Windham. Dewey brings up his fondness for NES games and YTMND, while Troy says one telling thing: if you act important and look important, then you're important. Dewey's conversations with his brother make him look like a kid playing wrestler as opposed to the next big thing.
Troy Windham, on the other hand, quietly exuded confidence through the entire pair of posts. For a traditional trash talker, he took to a narrative style to get inside the head of a twenty year veteran with a legendary profile and a bad neck like he's been doing it for years.
DECISION: Eugene Dewey has the makings of an underdog who could luck his way through the Ultratitle on the back of his improbably training regime, but Troy Windham has the realistic expectations of a man who has been living larger than life and to hell with the consequences and is finally facing the possibility of paying back those debts.
What it came down to for me is how the writing feels. Eugene Dewey feels like a kid who likes video games and internet culture and has found innovative ways to use them in his wrestling training. Troy Windham feels like an aging alternative icon who is the first to believe that his time is over, but the last to accept it. Who put their character across the most convincingly is who I have to give this match to.
VOTE: Troy Windham
Shawn Jessica Hart vs. Bob Praxis
VOTE: Shawn Hart via jobber match.
Alexander Hayes vs. Hijo de Sombra
VOTE: Alexander Hayes via no-show.
Lane Cash vs. Bonecrusher
VOTE: Bonecrusher via no-show
