For feedback this time, I'm just making notes as I read. So, it may be less coherent than usual, but cover more ground. Also affecting my ability to make sense is the lack of sleep I'm currently pretending to function on. So this should be interesting.
Definitely odd seeing Momoka Kasai so out of sorts. I like how this has turned out to be about her fixation. Not sure Rath would agree with her reasoning. That went from fun to threatening. I enjoyed this quite a bit. Entertaining character piece.
"Gutterball" Gwen Striker does it again... in 1:09:11. Never give this woman no time limit. One of these days her pre-show match will be longer than the actual show and I am here for it.
Yay Saki! Oh fun times for the IZANAMI students. How could it not be, they are hanging with a legend and they get to sing Happy Birthday. That's just awesome schooling right there. Saki's lines are killing me. Every show she stands out. Finally gets someone to sing only so she can belittle some more. Then forces an unofficial title change. Murder island mention. Connection to the opening scene. She's the best.
Goto rocking the purple and appreciating the Saki. Mental health checks could hamper some things with rosters and staffers.
Yuna Saito vs Shino Suzuhana has had plenty of buildup to this point. Which one will be leaving the galaxy? I like the contrast at the start of Yuna striding out to the center and Shino being apprhensive about it. Announcing is really selling it. Placing the strap scene is building things further. Shino being underhanded? Who would ever expect that? Consider me outraged. Good beating before the official start essentially. That was looking close, but now the comeback. The blood lick and the going pale was great. Very good match to start off the night. Hard fought by both. Yuna wins and Shino is out, but Yuna isn't done. Liked the interactions after all of it.
Kotohiki caught hiding a flask. Look away peoples. Nothing to see here. Galaxy Princess Cup yay. Also yay, more Battles 2 looming over the fed.
Battle Royal time. Dig the faction separation before. Makes sense with what they are all facing here shortly. Makes sense SMG would get right to it as a group. Maddy and Megumi working together to start was nice. Proving once again that Maddy can work with anyone in BDL as a team. Saio/Skye spots were fun to see. Big Boy with the save! Fastball special. Reminds me of reading comics as a kid. Like the sequence of Nash and KIO and how it turned into a double clothesline from Satterfield and Mizuno. Immediately shifts as Risako flies in. The action is coming in fast and heavy. This very much feels like a battle royal with everything moving fast and constantly changing. Hiromi tries to fight her way out but ends up being "helped" out of the ring by LUNA. The blindsides only continue from there. SMG is on a roll. Maya's "WHY!?" over the thumb to the eye cracked me up. Oh no, not slinky neck. Every doctor will tell you it's a terrible condition. Dig the situational cross-faction team up to eliminate KIO. Big Boy still hovering. Tries to prevent the elimination, but it's too much. Triple elimination by Nash. That was a great spot. Love the Tasman/Skye rope balance fight. Their elimination does nothing to slow down the feud. Nice set up for their future match. Maddy holding it down for a faction mate as per usual. Nice teamwork between her and Megumi to eliminate Nash. Took their eyes off of Rumi though and that ends Megumi's first match. Great showing in it though. Maya is rocking the cross-faction teamwork. Then we get a mystery person and an eliminated Maya. Be interesting to see where that goes....it goes to a returning Shikishi. Right on. The feud continues. Nice ending with Satterfield and Saio. Saio gets the victory with a nice move. What a fun, high energy match. Lots of material for everyone involved.
Sweet. We get a backstage brawl with Maya and Shikishi. Love how hard they are fighting it out. This is well written fun. Going for the broomhandle stabbing aka the Janitorial Goodbye. Also...NEWMAN! Hey, if the announcers are going to bring it up, I gotta do it. Typhoon with the save. The awkward hug made my day.
Stark vs Iwata time. What does serious Stark mean for this match? She's been going through it with SMG lately. " Stark gestures for Iwata to bring it on, made evident by the fact that she shouts "BRING IT!" at the top of her lungs". That made me giggle for some reason. Match is off to a good start. Knee pin was cocky. I liked it. The match flow is fun with how the tide keeps turning. Two spears was cool. And we're out on the floor. Excited to see what happens out there. Clothesline against steel doesn't disappoint. Hell yeah, we're in the front row now. Fans are getting more than what they paid for now. Serious Stark is really putting in the offense out here. Iwata turns it around nicely. Hahaha Honda getting called on and admitting ex-wife commentary. Wasn't expecting Iwata to shift it back in ring so quick. These two are really going for it and I'm here for it. Oh man, Shiori is out here and wrapping a chain around her arm. Even more invested now. Love the character. Not surprised Stark got distracted. Nice offense by Iwata. Love that Stark is gutting through it. Pushing through it even better than I thought she was. Shuko interference. Oh man. Wow, Stark takes her down! This is so good. Then a Stark reversal for the victory. Great match. That aftermath is nicely done for the three characters. Goto's Christmas card comment lol. This storyline is heating up nicely.
GDF segment. Yuna basking in her own power could be a problem. She just can't leave the Devil in the box. Feel bad for Kasey and Mizuki here. While this looks like it could be bad, I have a feeling this could be a misdirect.
Twinstar Gauntlet. Once again, nice contrast between opponents at the start. Lots of good flair at the moments before matches tonight. Dig the format for this match. We start with XK Ultra vs Ayame and Vebbins. Excellent start to the match. Nice superkick. Commentary is on point here. Kanna's foot grabs have done a lot for XK Ultra in this. Both teams make nice showings, but XK Ultra pulls it out to advance. Time for Cloud and Tora. Charging right away was a good approach against a team that just finished facing another team. They are bringing it right to XK Ultra. Again, commentary is killing it. They've been a huge bright spot tonight as they often are. XKU regroups. Unfortunately, Kumo Tora are just too much for a team that's already put in work right before this. Vex and Typhoon slow things down with a stare off to start. Also a good approach with against a team that is running hot. The Vex/Cloud sequence is a good time. Azumi joining in is a nice touch. Good teamwork from them. Unfortunately, Kumo Tora is high efficient as a team. Typhoon absorbing the Tiger Feint Kick for Vex and then collapsing was awesome. What a great spot. Love it. Ending is great. Vex and Typhoon fought hard, Typhoon almost recovered enough to break the pin in time, but Kumo Tora manages to take it. Storm and Valdez are coming in fresh against a team that just had a tough match. They sure have an entourage with them. No time wasted getting started. Good call. They are taking it to Tora, but there's a Cloud save. Yes, that was intentional. No, I'm not sorry. Double suplex. How much energy do they have left against a fresh GAA team though? Apparently a good amount. The action is getting crazy. Clever move by Valdez. Cloud is still going...well she was till Storm flattened her. Still manages a kickout. Cloud is really clawing with everything she has. It's just not enough. Storm and Valdez stop Kumo Tora together and get the pinfall. Those two got on the same page. Had a feeling they would. This was an interesting match with a fun format. There were lots of good spots and all the teams looked good.
CoV segment. Not a great time when the group walks in to find their locker room has been blair witched. Good character moment for Ayame. Oh yeah, more Mecca looming. Digging the build towards Battles 2. Then the Tylenol line lol. That's great. Good scene that leaves interesting material for them.
Sarako vs Datura for the ENDVR Championship. Like the posing for photos beforehand. Datura just silently waiting it out is cool. Commentary builds up both well. Liking the vibe of this so far. Neither is rushing in. They are just letting the pre-match do its thing. It's a nice contrast to some of the craziness we've had to start earlier. Good technical display by Datura to get rolling. It takes Sarako a bit to get her bearings, but she revs up quickly at that point. Ooh the slap. Probably not a good idea to do that to someone and then take your time before a top rope move. It costs her and Datura gets on another roll. The eye stalking and hand raising were nice touches. Good spotting the flail. The staredown to make Tamako disappear was really fun. It's a distraction though and Sarako capitalizes. Wonderful series follows with both characters working their asses off. Nice float over. Another solid sequence before we get the pinfall and a new champ in Datura. This match is a good read with a lot of character. Congrats.
Momoka segment. Enjoying this. The McCloud stuff tends to be interesting and we get Rath Rathing it up. He chews scenery. He's willing to to defy the Black Company for the Tome. This is getting intriguing. Demonico being oblivous is pretty great. Kasai is in a tough spot here. She manages to keep it together and make the smart move. He expects results. His ending line is so simple yet holds so much weight. Oh sneaky sneaky Jessa. I like Cloud's surprise entrance after. Really like how this scene was handled for both characters. Looks like we get to involve other factions and have a bullet train fight. Sounds like a party to me.
Sullivan and Cain vs Gorgo and Vilero. Cain sitting on the turnbuckle staring over the shoulder of a ready to fight Sullivan just feels right. Gorgo and Vilaro's pre-match is great too. Really capturing these contrasts between opponents well all show. So good. Starts out with Cain and Vilaro. I like how cerebral this start seems as they feel each other out here. Jack rolling her eyes as Cain's cheap shots caused a giggle. Cain just shrugging only enhanced that. They're a fun team. Hard offense from Jack. Gorgo ready to go at her and having a leg in the ring is so fitting. Nice move to push their feud by Jack demanding the tag and Gorgo being thrilled by it. A fight between those two rightfully has a different feel than the rest of the match has so far. Love the Gorgo freak out. Very nice touch. Size difference makes for a fun matchup with Cain and Gorgo. Crucifix bomb hits hard. Agree with Emi, good luck on the ref maintaining order here. Cain and Vilaro ending the Jack/Gorgo staredown is a nice spot all around. Works well for all involved. Fun sequence with Cain and Vilaro follows. I really like the flow of these two facing each other.
We get the bonus of Gorgo and Sullivan out on the floor. Who didn't want to see that? It's just all brute power out there. Sullivan's arm being injured would be a bad sign for the BDL team. In the ring, the series at a nice pace. Rather cool sequence between the four in a scramble for pinfalls. Dig Vilaro throwing a fit. The shriek at Gorgo is also great. The GAA team is really taking over now. Tough pin break by Jack. The kick to her shoulder isn't going to help. Too hurt to hold Gorgo up. Armbar is doing her no favors. Way cool that Vilaro is all in on letting Gorgo continue to do damage at the expense of a victory. I like that as a match ending. BDL team wins via DQ. Aftermath makes total sense with how difficult it is to get Gorgo off of her. This match and the feud around it have a distinct flavor from the matches before it and it really helps highlight it.
SMG segment. "Cigarette smoke" as a starting line is nice. Uh oh, when Shiori isn't happy, no one around her is happy. Her not wanting to hear from Kanna seemed very her. Don't disturb Big Boy's fried chicken Xia! Sheesh. Shiori's mind is obviously already made up. I like that Xia sees the attack coming immediately. Nice moment for the character even when things are going wrong. Especially because they are. XKU isn't going down easy, but the numbers are too much. Shiori with the boot on Layne giving that speech is really good. Love the dialogue here. Well done scene and it'll be neat to see where XKU goes from here.
Valkyrie Triple Threat. I like a pre-match that just starts with "Silence". Just the start with the three of them in front of the cameras is already telling a story. It's a nice little opening scene for this. Commentary sets up the match and displays the stakes well. All outcomes lead to something historic. It's just good build up. Short circling, instant action. I like how Iruma boots Jessa and Kasumi gives her the same. Iruma and Kasumi get a qucik moment to go at each other with Jessa having to recover. Step-Up Boot looked rough and I dig it. Now we get Kasumi off to the side while Jessa and Iruma get a quick highlight facing off. Kasumi is right back in it and she and Jessa get their moment against each other. This is a really nice dynamic to the match on display. Oooh we are not only outside again on this show, but in the front row again. Crowd is getting getting their yen worth. Kaede with a nice rail walk. Shotgun dropkick into the stairs is a nice spot. Iruma is really going for it now. Even when things don't go as planned, she shifts quickly. Kasumi coming back with the ushigoroshi and a pin was great. Now Kasumi has the momentum and is using it to pummel Iruma.
The shifts in this match are a ton of fun. Jessa is right back in it to shift things again. She does some damage to Kasumi and gets her out and tries to inflict some on Iruma in an attempt to end the chain of blindsides, but Kaede is still fighting. Nice stiff lariat. Attempt at Winter's Curse is well countered into a Poison Rana. Kaede is so good at shifting things to her benefit. Unfortunately, she forgets about Kasumi as she goes to the top. Kasumi follows up that superplex fast. Jessa with the pin break leads to a fun series of offense from Kasumi against an out of it Wells. Jessa flinging herself out to the floor and Kasumi throwing a fit is just good times. An exhausted Wells fighting Kasumi out on the floor is a fun read. One second of rest on her part leads to a baseball slide from Iruma. Wells with an actual counter against Iruma. Moonsault into power slam. How neat is that? She finally gets the Winter's Curse, but Nijima isn't letting the three count complete. This match is insane and the threeway element is done so well. Nijima doesn't have the steam to do more after having hit the ringpost earlier, but she did stop the count.
Wells brawls her ass off, but can't keep her down so she goes for an armbar. That she isn't going to let go of and the ref can't dq her. There have been so many nice sequences for all three wrestlers in this match. Kaede is back to stop the submission. All the kickouts. It's just getting frantic now and I love it. Haru Niijima enters the fray to break up the pin. We get Wells vs Haru. It's a nice bonus to the match. This is just a crazy series of events now and it's going hard. Ooooh Kasumi with Kaede's bat. That'll do it. Kasumi is a two time Valk champ. Post match is great too. A stare down with Kasumi and Jessa and then Heartkillers not making efforts to be pals with Wells. What a match. Such an enjoyable read with so much going on. Super happy with how Jessa is written. Really love the RPs of my opponents. Congrats to Anthony on his title win.
Kato's office segment. Kato and Reeve have company. Kasai has been a nice storyline throughout the show. The reception is chilly. Oh the fun of purposeful mistranslation. That's an uncomfortable couch. Kasai can always turn on that commanding presence. She can also always not like Kau. That makes me smile. Woohoo Mecca instructions. Sounds like a survival exercise for those left behind. This will be a brutal game. Consider me a fan of this concept. Nice tie in to the beginning with the "this could have been an email". Ah can't fully contain the Cap fixation. Segment works really well and is a nice announcement of things to come.
Main event. "Tension" "Electricity" Another fun open. More great commentary coverage to set things up. Dig them remaining in their corners after the bell and coming out slowly with fan clapping driving them forward. The buildup is really good. Lock up with a couple of corner breaks only builds it further. Knight seems to be trying to control the pace and hinder things with stoppages. All tactics of course as she uses the fake hair pull complaint to get at Caponata. The tactic does work. Not surprising Cap doesn't appreciate it. Cap gains the momentum, but Knight smartly rolls to the outside to stop her opponent's offense from continuing. Commentary continues to be on point. Knight's manipulation of the ref is something. Miyao is looking quite gullible so far. Knight's gameplan is overall going well. Every time something gets started she has a way to disrupt the action. It's clever. Tornado DDT on the floor was solid. Floor moves are taking their toll, but Caponata punches her right out of a double axe handle. Knight remaining standing and then face planting was a great touch. Ringpost hit to Knightcap is tough. Very happy to see them both hit some nice moves and then both get to their feet and collide in the center of the ring. The headbutt trading is so good. Both going down from it really displays how rough it is on both. So many offensive moves countered. This is stacking up to be quite the match. Uh oh crashing into the ref. No ref to count. Here comes the GAA. Finally the BDL comes running out. Yay faction brawl time!
Meanwhile Knight and Caponata continues as Aria takes advantage of the damage already done. Oh man that headbutt is brutal. The chaos everywhere is just fun. Caponata has Knight down and Isla ruins the count. She gets a punch for her effort. Still, she achieved her goal. Things just continue to descend into fun madness. Chaos and headbutts are the specials of the day at this restaurant. Caponata gets a shoulder up after all of that and a towerhackerbomb from the top. More trading, but here comes the brass knucks. The punch is blocked. The storytelling in this match is just good times. Ooooh hits Aria with the knucks and then puts them into her tights. Goto's "stop staging a fucking crime scene" got me. So many distractions. Another referee down. Knight catching the knuckles was pretty cool. Oh yeah, Endo and Crush. Another ruined pinfall. The shitshow is real and we all bought tickets. Another ref down lol. Ouch for Isla. Now we are into the real intensity. The stare down with crimson masks and the drop of the knuckles. Such a great, silent moment. Both clearing the ring of debris is so fascinating to see in this moment.
We are about to get into the final act here. Then with a shriek and a charge from Knight we are back in it. Such a great match. It's just them and an active ref again and they get at it. Caponata manages to end another count. Love that Knight takes a moment to cover her mouth in shock. It's just good storytelling all the way around here. Caponata's struggle and then middle fingers was great. 70 billion Bangers and Mash later and Caponata is full. New champion. Both are totalled at this point. Congrats to both for an awesome match and congrats to Aria as new champ. It was always going to be something crazy like that with these two and it didnt disappoint. Also, love the little moment after between Caponata and Knight with the belt raise and the nod.
Oh great, Karakuen Hall forgot to pay the electric bill. Nope, nevermind, it's just Yuna. Of course it's going to be a challenge Emi. Once having held the belt, and wanting to take it back, is something Yuna thinks about quite often. No way Aria is going to back down from that.
Post show. Hold on, i have to stop to get coffee. I'm exhausted at this point...
...okay back. So as I was saying...
Post show. Something is about to happen to Shino. Could be good, bad, or both. Nice and eerie. I'm a fan. I like the details of the character's thoughts as we go into this. The crying before. Firing Shibuki. Unknown voices don't usually lead to happy places. Is Devil back in control again? Yeah, that went terribly for Shino. Oh shit. Aoi and Devil Matsumoto. Well there's something you don't want to see...well you do, but you don't. Oh Mecca, you are going to be a fuck ton of crazy. I'm so excited.
Well that was an amazing show that I am probably going to be still processing for another day or two. Well written, super fun, great matches, killer segments. Sorry my feedback ended up being so crazy long with so many details from the matches. I tried to start out a little more restrained with it and somehow got very carried away as I continued to read.
Just want to say well done to Josh, congrats to everyone on the show for being a part of something great, and I really enjoyed what came out this RP cycle. Now I can finally look at the next show once I post this.
Cheerleading complete.
