So I'm starting my in - depth review at 8:57 AM and will update this as I finish segments and things. Or as things come to me.
OUT OF THE FIRE - Believe it or not, I got the idea to write that whole setup about four days ago. I told Katz I was working on a series and that if he didn't hear from me by the time Gregg's stuff was in he shouldn't wait because it wasn't essential to the story. Big ups to everyone who drew the parallel to the ULTRATITLE I playoffs (even the title - I was Out of the Fire, the segments involving Shawn Douglas were Into the Fire). The key was that Impulse is a new character but the issues and players involved in the Windham war with NFW is an old school war, so where does he fit in?
Answer: He doesn't, not the way he was thinking.
Sidebar: Katz is responsible for inspiring the line "You don't f'k with heaven after surviving hell" which made me think we were going to see Deacon. And if anyone has any questions on the segments, per Katz' prior comments, direct them my way and I'll do my best.
Intro segments (Presidential Preview to EMT): Tone was great. Eddie is a man prepared (though we didn't know yet) to lead his troops into a battle that he's sacrificing a lot in and is prepared to lose, but he's Cool Hand Luke all the way, dealing with everyday business because it's his job.
Because he's a PROFESSIONAL.
And I think as much as "Sleep Now in the Fire" was the theme of 3.0 and the Revolucion, "The Ecstasy of Gold" is a perfect theme for 4.0 and the Evolution.
And, again - as soon as I saw the word "the" spelled as "t'e" in the Presidential Plan, I knew we were in for Deacon.
EMT title match: Perfect. It wasn't about defending the belts for the HWC, it was about sending a message, and I think they did just that. Peter Windham is a cowardly little twit and I love his characterizations.
National Title Mish-mash: I decided from the start that I wasn't a fan of Legion's music so I changed it for his refereeing job, and since I didn't know anything about the wrestling nature of Thirteen, I improvised. Legion and Katz both sent me some notes on how Legion should referee and they were good background noise but I didn't really refer much to them at all, I just did what I thought a heel referee with history steeped in both sides of the match would do. Glad to see that, so far, I was spot on.
TV Title match: Definitely dug the shoutout to Yori and the loved, missed Dildonites. Great re- introduction for Shawn Hart and introduction for Stalker and Mr. Meyers... can't wait to see who's behind it. And of course, big ups to JB for winning the gold, it's definitely deserved.
HOF: Nova is awesome.
National Mishmash Redux: I remember the High Flyer vs. Dr. Curiosity series for the Cruiserweight belt in the FWO that ended with Flyer stealing the Curious Rulebook and making on the fly updates, feeding into Impulse unwittingly getting in the middle of their attacks and receipts during the NFW Grand Prix, so it makes sense to me from a storyline AND historical perspective.
From a storyline perspective I thought it wrapped up the National Title craziness very nicely and gave Rook a good place to kick off fresh, but from a critical standpoint it seemed like a lot of production to just get back to where we started (which is not a knock on any character or any writing through the entire thing). Big ups remain strong for the matches and the show in general.
Main Event Madness: First of all, my iPod is on shuffle this morning, and I swear to you "Sleep Now in the Fire" started playing just as I got to Team NFW's entrance.
Props to Eddie Mayfield for the Eli Flair shoutout, nice to know my main man's not forgotten. And I love the fact that Eddie was the mystery 5th man - he has to get his hands dirty, and I love Dorchester's reaction to his partners. Perfect.
Elimination 1: Eddie takes out August. Perfect. August is a little bit'ch anyways, and if he wasn't the first one gone something would be seriously wrong.
Elimination 2: Bobby Jack over Cameron Cruise via countout. Cruise should've kept his focus on the Windhams during the promos instead of getting sidetracked by Jack Bryant. The invasion started with Cammy, it should've escalated with Cammy getting at least one Windham out. Bad form, Cruise!
Sidebar: Dorchester and his orders. I can't wait for Castor to pimp slap him.
Elimination 3: DC takes out Bobby Jack. I should hope so. The dirtiest player in the match takes out the PUREst? Gotta love the subtext.
Elimination 4/5: Ryan eliminates Eddie. Definitely love how Eddie ultimately made the tag to save his company, only to get Humility Bombed for his troubles, and for Dorchester to get himself DQ'd in the process. Not a good idea when you just attacked the man who, by his good graces, gave you a 25% chance to win the World Title.
Halfway point, we're down to Castor and Impulse (who'd've thunk?) vs. Troy, Ryan, and JJ.
Elimination 6: IMPULSE PINS DAN RYAN. This is significant because they're opponents in the first round of the World Title tournament. Has to be a big blow to the Windham Clan, that the smallest of the President's Men just got the pin on the biggest of the Windham Clan. And yes, I'm including Bandit.
Elimination 7: Troy pins Impulse. So far, Troy has been picking his spots in this match, kind of reminds me of the 1994 Survivor Series where Shawn Michaels only came in at the very end. OOC he had a broken hand and couldn't really wrestle, but the cocky, arrogant instigator motif fits very well. By now, though - Troy couldn't really 'hide' anymore, so he had to fight. And while Castor gave him enough to put him away for good, Impulse refused to bend his Rules of Engagement anymore and Troy capitalized.
Elimination 8: CASTOR PINS TROY. Thank f'king christ.
Elimination 9: JJ DeVille wins the match for the Windham Clan.
I think Gregg did a great job with this match, and gave just about everyone at least one "I'm awesome" high spot, and with this kind of craziness, ended things just about the only way they could end: seemingly out of nowhere.
Aftermath: Wrestlebowl I... so much Wrestlebowl I.
And big ups to everything included.
11:28 AM