Steventon
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Posts posted by Steventon
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32 minutes ago, MoeCristyV.1.6 said:
He even shouts it every time before using it. How can someone miss that?
For some reason I thought it was just a catchphrase, never clocked it as the name of the move. Facepalm
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Watching a PPV with a live crowd is so nice after the last year and half. Same thing with Wrestlemania. I enjoyed everything, even though I didn't think any single match stood out as being especially great, but the crowd gave everything a boost. If I had one major criticism it would be that EVERY match was evenly worked and had a bunch of kick-outs. By the time I got to the world title match, I was tempted to skip ahead because I was so exhausted and had spent so long watching the show already. They really could have done with one or two of these matches going shorter or being more one-sided just to break things up.
Page vs Cage was a fine opening spotfest, probably as good as this match could have been. Total GMSI match, but the spots were cool at least.
Tag title match had some fun moments and sections, but was another long Bucks 'epic' which wore out its welcome by the end. I have no time for the DX cosplay meta jokes heel schtick, but Moxley was a great bloody fired up babyface and him and Kingston made this enjoyable.
Battle Royale was fun. Glad they swerved expectations and had JB win, it feels like he's due his first title shot and dip in the main event waters. Cage will likely still get his shot before Omega is dethroned. Rush made me a fan in his WWE run so cool to see him signed rather than wasting away in the indys, though AEW is already bloated with guys like him. His few minutes in the match being a super choreographed sequence and low-key blowing his signature spot did not enthuse me though.
Cody vs Ogogo was fine but very average. Cody coming out in full Homelander outfit really should have made him the heel here. This was only Ogogo's third match but he clearly has potential. He has the personality, the athleticism and the stuff he hits he executes very well. He needs some direction and got lost at one or two points, but it wasn't super noticeable. Cody is the veteran and guy leading a match like this, so no surprise it was nothing special. Weird to go with that finish.
Miro vs Archer was kind of whatever. I howled at the animal cruelty heel spot. Archer once again is the guy who promises a hoss fight and spends most of his side of the match doing highspots. He's AEW's Dijak. Miro is a hot act right now and should probably get turned face. Dug the finish with the knees to the back to set up the Accolade (have they even given it a new name in AEW?)
Womens title match was as good as they could have done as a straight-up workrate match. I wasn't particularly wow'd by it, but it was a good effort. Definitely veered too much into nearfall exhaustion but we got the right outcome with Britt winning clean and Shida going down strong.
The Darby/Sting match was a blast. Sting taking the hard bump on the ramp, no-selling it, taking the shirt off, then hitting the big dive was a GREAT sequence. I popped hard for it. Compare how AEW uses Sting to how WWE uses legends like Goldberg, such night and day. Perfect use of Sting and he hit everything he did nicely. I will say I thought Page stepped up and gave a good effort and that Bam Bam Bigelow throw into the crowd was pretty nuts.
Mark Henry being signed is awesome. Again, AEW is making better use of WWE legends than WWE does. They are too busy signing hacks when they have a pool of guys still with plenty to give right there. Their loss.
3-way was OK but maybe the weakest match of the night for me. Way too long, way too much bloat, infinity nearfalls and no real structure to anything. I like OC a lot but if he is going to use the Orange Punch as a big signature move he really needs to throw a better looking punch or bulk up more. Can anyone really buy HIM knocking guys out? Omega did a good job holding things together but this seemed to go on forever for a match with 2 guys who don't really need protecting.
Stadium Stampede was decent, but I think I enjoyed last year's more. This kind of match works better when the tone is light and there's more comedy. The gags were still the highlight of this match, and were much needed to break up a half hour long quasi-cinematic match played serious. Dug the Konnan cameo. I had a feeling the IC were winning after this week's Dynamite, and I feel like they still have legs in this for another month or so. We still get any of these 5 guys in singles or tag matches and it'll feel major. Really glad Sammy got the win and big moment.-
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Mens triple threat was a good fun big man spotfest with the Godzilla vs King Kong vs Mothra carnage. Thought Braun in particular was awesome in it. As good as that possibly could have been.
Cesaro isn't a guy who's at his best when working from beneath selling a bodypart, but still that main event was really great. Just like the 2 Roman vs Bryan matches, if there had been a live crowd going mad for it, it would be a slam dunk MOTY. Excellent performance from both guys, really awesome 'journeyman has the match of his career' story. Even though you know Cesaro wasn't winning, they went as far as they could to make him look legit. His arm looked nasty with all the welts and cuts on it too. Seth Rollins is such a wet blanket, coming out in literally the worst suit I've seen in 30 years on this planet to set up next month's HIAC match. That couldn't have waited? -
Moxley vs Nagata was paint by numbers. Some stiff kicks at the end, but otherwise they could have had this match in their sleep. Haven't seen a Nagata match for a couple years and he looked old.
What in the good fuck was that Cody promo? Anyone? No idea
I already said before that running the Careers vs Titles match on TV rather than PPV was kinda dumb and I stick by it. It was OK match, they did as much as they could. Heel Troll Bucks are terrible, and Daniels is at retirement stage, but in fairness Kaz has actually become one of the most solid veterans they have and helped keep this from being a total shitshow. Michaels vs Flair was 13 years ago, doing that spot just felt so dated and lame. I did bite on some of the nearfalls at the end I will admit. Bucks then doing a trash heel promo where they lay out the challenge for TWO matches is dumb. I don't think these guys 'get' how to be heels.
The pivot to Moxley/Kingston vs Bucks rather than vs Omega is disappointing. Can anyone honestly say they'd rather see that tag title match and the threeway with PAC and OC than a threeway with Moxley and Kingston? Speaking of, PAC vs OC was fine, clearly not as good as their first match but it's a different situation entirely. Still, neither feels like they should be getting a PPV title shot and this threeway reeks of filler.
Page avenging his loss to Cage at the PPV and probably an angle with Cage leaving Team Taz is fine. Longs out the Page title shot for a little longer. As a match them doing 20 minutes of even-stevens probably won't be as fun as the squash a couple weeks ago, but it's fine.
I enjoyed Tully handing out the watches and the Pinnacle segment. Jericho coming back this week is questionable - they couldn't have had Sammy or Hager do the talking for once to sell the injury? Shit like that just makes it clear everyone else is supporting cast rather than main players. I am fine with them running it back with Stadium Stampede and AEW cementing that as a signature match. Having the WarGames be the lead-in for the Stadium Stampede match feels the wrong way round, but let's see how it plays out. Stipulation of IC having to break up definitely adds more juice and intrigue to it so I'm down.
Jade Cargill's 'I'm that bitch' catchphrase is going to catch on very quickly.
Main event was awesome. Everything it needed to be. Miro looked dominant, and Darby showed tonnes of heart and fight and still was protected by the injury. Very, very good stuff. Loved Darby getting fired up from the FIST BUMP with Stinger. I'm still expecting Sting/Darby vs Page/Sky in a cinematic match at the PPV, and it looks like Miro vs Archer too, though that could be for TV.
I enjoyed this week though there is a lot of very questionable booking in the big picture here -
Would Cesaro really have been a worse pick for a champion than Rollins, Wyatt, Strowman, Goldberg, Lashley, Miz, 2020 Orton, or Jinder friggin' Mahal? Because all of them have been a world/universal champ over the last 5 years and I'm not convinced Cesaro would be worse than any of them.
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Thinking about the possibility of them running another Stadium Stampede match with DoN with Pinnacle vs Jericho-less Inner Circle - what's Mike Tyson got in his schedule for the next month?
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52 minutes ago, alstein said:
I'm wondering where does everyone go from here? I feel like it was too early for this, as these guys kinda have to feud with each other for a few more months.
Hopefully it leads to Sammy being pushed to eventually take the TNT off of Miro in about six months after making MJF pay.
MJF kinda needs to go for gold against, but heel vs heel?
I get the feeling there's going to be another Pinnacle vs IC match at DoN with Jericho-less IC trying to get revenge for him. Not enough time to build towards another major match for MJF and the other big players all seem to have something going on right now. I'd be down for something like FTR/MJF vs Santana/Ortiz/Sammy would be sweet.
I didn't have issue with them leaving the cage, but that and the weapons did make this feel more like the TNA Lethal Lockdowns than an NWA-era WarGames (not that I have any beef with that).
2 minutes ago, hammerva said:The main person who should be happy with the finish besides MJF is Gabe Sapolsky because nobody is talking about how Ethan Page just ripped the fuck out of EVOLVE saying nobody watched his product. Which was kind of a self own to be honest
And the guy moans about how he never gets pushed too far in any company he's worked. What a turd.
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- I assume we are getting Bucks vs Mox/King at the PPV, otherwise literally no reason why you run SCU career vs title next week or have that #1 contenders match. I get they are pivoting Mox and King away from Omega, but so far there isn't much reason to want to see that over them in a singles title match
- As much as we all love to rag on Cody, I think the blood was obviously unintentional. I have no problem with him beating QT, he is much higher in the pecking order than him and this is obviously a stepping stone to the real end goal - Cody vs Ogogo.
- Fully expect Miro to beat an injured Darby next week, which is A-OK with me. Darby's run has served it's purpose and it's time for Miro to get elevated. Looking forward to the match. I predict Darby/Sting vs Page/Sky in another cinematic match for the PPV, which I am not overboard about. Darby needs to beat these geeks and move up the rankings.
- PAC vs OC as a #1 contenders match is just mind-boggling and so out of left field. I know the rankings are not meant to be taken as gospel and are a story-telling device, but Page was #1 and has moved out of the Top 3 due to one loss? Come on. When was the last time PAC even had a singles match on Dynamite? 3 months ago against Ryan Nemeth. OC has won a lot but the only guy of any value he's beaten is Penta. This is why when AEW fans talk about how their booking is planned out months in advance I call bullshit. PAC vs Omega has been done 3 times in AEW already, zero interest in it again. Omega's promo on OC did an alright job of getting me into that as a match, but it's definitely not a PPV title match level bout. I get that this is a filler match while they continue Omega's belt collector gimmick, but it's a PPV title match. Real wet fart booking.
- I am going to mull on the main event a bit. I enjoyed it, but didn't love it. In truth I didn't think it was significantly better than the NXT versions, which I am over. I caught a version without ad breaks and I'm not sure it was any better, if anything the ad breaks and TV format really hurt this. They had to deliberately pad out segments during the breaks, repeat a couple moments, and there was a moment where Jericho stopped climbing up the cage halfway so they could get the shot of him getting to the top during TV time. It was exposing. I enjoyed Jacksonville's greatest Arn & Tully tribute band bleeding gushers, Santana & Ortiz using the fork and Sammy's effort, but I don't think the others brought much to the table here. Match went on forever and the finish was a bit of a cop-out. Just have Jericho tap if that's what you're doing. I didn't have a huge issue with the angle at the end, it really made MJF a top level heel again, but the crash pad was way too obvious. Visually, it looked like a giant beanbag covered in cardboard, they needed to do a better job making it less obvious for me.Despite my moaning I did enjoy the show and look forward to next week.
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Reigns vs Bryan was a great match. Easily the best match on free TV this year, these two just match up so well together. Probably as good as the PPV match, the ad breaks were a bit awkward and broke up the flow a bit, but it had a much better more satisfying conclusion.
I am cautious they could still add Rollins to Roman vs Cesaro, but if they don't then I am PUMPED for that match.
Crew and Big E had yet another fun if unspectacular match with a guff finish. Looks like they are setting up for a fourway with Owens and Zayn for Backlash. Personally I am so over both of those 2 pairings, but it could be a fun match.
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Conti still has more to do, but she is getting there and cool to see her development. Between her, Cargill, Velvet and Britt, they have a few solid female workers who are all improving and should be the focal point of the division once they get past the joshi era.
Darby vs Jungle Boy was a really good match, juxtaposed with a god awful Luchasaurus-Sting exchange. Would happily see them match up again in future but I guess we have to see Darby/Archer vs Page/Sky next. I am sure someone out there wants to see that match but it's not me.
They have been pushing Page as #1 contender for weeks now with zero indication of a title match. Are they going to run that at the PPV? Or hold off on it? Seems like a strange move to have Page so strong if they aren't going to do anything with it. The match with Starks was pretty flat to me.
Out all the promos this week I thought Santana's was clearly the best.
I am with those low-key enjoying the Nightmare Family vs Factory feud.
In a promotion full of factions, the Elite are the biggest group of geeks going.-
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2 minutes ago, John from Cincinnati said:
Britt takes the belt then Rosa comes back in and demands the shot she thinks she earned is certainly a way forward. Britt ducks her because the lights out match doesn't officially count. This isn't difficult, and I wouldn't be shocked if it wasn't the end. It certainly wasn't for the Moxley-Omega feud.
You probably won't find that satisfactory if that's the route they go, but that's a different story.
Nah, that would all make sense if it happens that way, it's just not how I've read it coming. Britt should definitely win the belt soon but I get the feeling there are still blockers to do anything title-related with Rosa due to the NWA situation. I could see them going Shida > Britt > Cargill or maybe Statlander with the womens belt.
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1 hour ago, Web Conn said:
Ok I’m just gonna say isnt the Babyface winning the big bloody war match against the heel only for the babyface to come on tc for a few weeks and talk trash about the Face that just beat them only for the babyface to make their return and smack some sense into the heel pretty fundamental booking?
I thought the point of the Lights Out match was that it was the end of the Britt-Rosa rivalry? Britt's promo seemed to suggest her vs Shida is next on the agenda
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24 minutes ago, Dog said:
Rosa had a promo of equal or even greater length.
Only took them 3 weeks, but fair enough I must have missed that.
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This opening Bucks heel promo - didn't they already do all this shit last year and then just retcon it out because it went nowhere? Tony needs to get a grip on whoever is booking this shit because its dreadful. For all this talk of how AEW are booking long-term, this feels like they are making it up as they go along.
There will be some who cream over that opening tag, but honestly it was the sort of match that made me think I'll stop watching this promotion. Maybe I'll just skip all the Elite stuff. It's not for me.
4th Britt Baker promo in a row despite losing the Lights Out. No sign of Rosa still.
On the upside:
Jade vs Velvet was a pretty hot match that helped cleanse the pallet. Short, heated, and had a clear hierarchy between them. More of that.
Wheeler sold that Tyson punch like a motherfucker. Yeesh.
I am down for Christian vs Hobbs and Darby vs Miro on the docket
Darby vs Hardy was a total blast. Darby kicking out of the chair Twist of Fate and the table legdrop were both a bridge too far, but otherwise a great match. Felt like a war and that finish was awesome. Had no idea Whitmer was a producer in AEW either.-
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13 hours ago, just drew said:
I still don't understand the Bray Wyatt hate. I'd rather watch him work to a character than watch Adam Cole pretend to be HBK for 45 minutes...
I, too, would rather have leprosy than ebola
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Why did Dunne go over at the TakeOver if Kushida was winning the belt here? Because he's a HHH pet project or because they booked this show on the day? Both?
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3 minutes ago, GuerrillaMonsoon said:
How do you know she won't?
Will happily be proven wrong, but I think its a fair guess based on track record
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Rhea Ripley gets a crowning title win at the PPV, so of course CHHHarlotte returns and takes the title from her immediately. Classic.
I would feel blessed if the most over-pushed and over-protected worker in the WWE for the last decade was capable of putting someone else over for once.
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2 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:
I'm surprised to see some of the goodwill towards the women's tag last night. It was practically a handicap match most of the time with Tamina laying on the outside. Also, it looked like she must've been taking her splash lessons from Snoop Dogg. There was a botched tag even! I dunno, maybe if I had some kind of investment in Tamina, but I haven't been watching that story unfold.
Time seemed to stand still while Natalya and Tamina stood waiting for Nia to hit that crossbody
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Night 2 felt like a show with a lot of good, hard-hitting wrestling and a good effort from mostly everyone, but lacked a lot of the spectacle from Night 1 and wasn't as memorable. Outside those first 2 matches which were awful, everything was good without ever being great.
The Fiend match was laughable in every way. The guys whole act and popularity is his entrance. Bad match and the red lightning continues to be awful. I'm sorry but anyone who is into this stuff with Bliss is someone who's opinion I will automatically disregard in future.
Shayna was decent in the womens tag and that's the only nice thing I'll say about it.
Zayn vs Owens was whatever. It was just them running through all their old staple spots together. Cool they got to do it at Wrestlemania but maybe their least match together.
Sheamus vs Riddle was good with the ceiling of a 10 minutes RAW match. I prefer shooter-Riddle to spot-guy Riddle though he does have some cool stuff in his bag. Feels counter-productive to have Gatekeeper Sheamus win but that's WWE. Would be down a longer rematch.
All of the Big E vs Crews matches have been good without being great. I have to wonder who pitched this whole gimmick idea, whether it was an old white hack like Prichard or these guys themselves. Daba-Kato in an General's jacket was the topping on it.
Rhea vs Asuka was a good match but again suffered from how thrown together it was. On paper this should be a clash of titans, instead we got an established and super over babyface against someone most of the crowd didn't know and had acted like a heel recently. And they proceeded to have a match built around Rhea getting a big babyface title win even though she was the less popular wrestler and Asuka worked like a mega babyface. Not their fault and they put in a good effort (apron DDT was nasty), but the booking didn't do them justice here.
Main event was like the Orton-Batista-Bryan match, didn't feel like a great match and nothing I'll care to re-watch, but I did enjoy it. A lot of smokes and mirrors but Bryan was great as always. Interesting finish to put Reigns over so strong, it only took them 5 years and a heel turn. In theory Reigns beat Edge and Bryan decisively here, so Cesaro should be the next in line for a title shot, but that is probably wishful thinking on my part. -
Who knew hair could hurt so much? The whip was a great spot not just because it was brutal (seriously) but because Sasha had spent all match using Belair's hair against her. Not a perfect match but I thought it was really good and a satisfying title win to leave me feeling good at the end of the show, and that's really all I can ask for from a Wrestlemania.
I skipped the womens gauntlet, but I'd agree the show over-delivered. Wrestlemania has always been more about spectacle than great wrestling, and thats what we got.
Drew vs Lashley was as good as it possibly could have been between those guys and had surprisingly outcome
Cesaro got a big spotlight performance and win. In theory he should be the de facto #1 contender for whoever wins tomorrow but I don't have much confidence in them based on track record. Rollins is one of those guys who even in defeat, the story is about him - look at last year, what did Kevin Owens do after beating him? Hopefully I am proven wrong
Omos didn't do anything impressive, but he at least has personality and felt like a big deal. I thought it was smart of the New Day to play this light and I howled at Xavier yelling 'WE ARE STRATEGICALLY CUTTING THE RING IN HALF'. Cool that AJ is working with a rookie like Omos, hopefully something of value actually comes from it.
Even Braun vs Shane - a WWE steel cage match with interference built around Braun Strowman selling for Shane McMahon - managed to not suck. That is an accomplishment in itself. Thank God they kept it brief and Shane took a nutso bump that wasn't on to a crash pad for once. I'm not sure Strowman dedicating his win to stupid people was the best way of framing that, but still.
Bad Bunny match went way too long but he clearly put in a tonne of work and effort for this. The Destroyer was, is, and always will be dumb, especially for a non-wrestler to hit, but otherwise massive props to Drew Gulak who apparently trained Bunny for this match. -
1 hour ago, Spontaneous said:
I think putting some constraints in is good for creativity. Working within set limits forces you to do things differently.
I wasn't a fan at the time but I can't imagine those who were expecting ladder matches to evolve into what they are now while watching Michaels-Ramon at Wrestlemania X. Watching the Escobar-Devlin ladder match last night, I am shocked how most of the bigger moves in that match have been done to death, some almost quite literally over the years. A superplex off a ladder has become rote. The escalation and expectation that comes with that stipulation now just doesn't seem worth it. Some things come back around, Great-O-Khan in NJPW and the Von Erichs in MLW are using the claw as a finish. The genie cannot go back in the bottle on some things though. "How do you learn to fall off a twenty foot ladder"? I wish the less is more mindset would return to wrestling.
I have been trying to watch good matches along side some more mediocre matches lately. That is to say, I watched a Tsuruta-Misawa match from 4/18/91 and then a middling Misawa-Honda match from the late 90s. The latter was not anything worth tracking down but helped shape my appreciation for the bigger matches. No one watching AJPW tapes that influenced the Indy style that has influenced NXT/modern NJPW/etc was watching with the understanding that a Tiger Driver wasn't an every match move. Less is more.
Misawa also won a lot of big matches with incredibly basic moves like elbow strikes and a face-lock, for what its worth
The problem with the current scene is the guys who are getting the most time are the guys who were the worst indy guys of the last generation or so - Cole, Gargano, et al. Granted I think a lot of them have gotten better in WWE, but that generation isn't half as good as the generation of guys before them - Danielson, Joe, Ki, Aries, Nigel, etc.
Also, the WWE is massively to blame for a lot of matches being stale and gimmicks being meaningless. It used to be a TNA trope to run gimmick PPVs, but WWE have taken that and amplified to the extreme. There are only so many spots you can do with a ladder, let alone when you are running them almost once a month. Why did Devlin vs Escobar need to be a ladder match? You combine WWE's staleness with a bunch of mediocre indy guys who are have to get their shit in every match and it creates a pretty tedious product. I'm not saying anything new though.
I realise this is more a 'old man yelling at cloud' post than a Hot Take, but there we are. You think this is bad, wait until the guys who are influenced by the Young Bucks and Motor City Machine Guns start working half hour matches.
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Thought the top 3 matches on the show were awesome. WALTER vs Ciampa was GREAT. Hella stiff of course but also a smartly worked heavyweight title match with tonnes of bombs. On a brand full of Shawn Michaels produced weepy over-acted guff, this was match was MANLY.
Tag title match was a super fun spotfest. Particularly impressed with the Fantasma guys, thought all their big spots were spectacular. Just a balls out go-go-go train of cool stuff, which is what you want from a match like this. MSK feel like a really fresh act on this show and cool to see them continue their momentum and get the belts.
Main event was really good. We are used to seeing the 'big' wrestler dominate the 'small' wrestler in these situations, so it was something different to see the smaller, but more experienced ace use her superior agility to dominate the bigger opponent for most of the match. Gonzales is as good a 'base' for a high flyer as any male wrestler (most women workers are terrible at it) right now and all of the spots looked great. Hell, Gonzales is definitely one of the best female workers in the world right now, and her on top is something very fresh so glad they made the right call here. Just a really good clash of styles and big main event title match, Shirai saved her best defence for last.
Not sure if I will even watch anything from tonight's show, guess I'll wait and see what the reaction is, but Night 1 had 3 hits.
As an aside - someone needs to start a drinking game watching these shows were you do a shot every time there is an attack on a guy's hand. With a Pete Dunne match opening up there must have been about 50 over the course of this show. One of the agents really needs to tell them to mix it up more.
Friday Night Dynamite - 6/4/2021
in ALL ELITE WRESTLING
Posted · Edited by killsteve
Cool to see Andrade turning up. Hate the Vickie pairing though. She was screaming his name in such a way no one actually understood it until he came out. Not a great start. In terms of characters, they don't fit at all, they have literally only been paired because they're hispanic. If Penta has had his 100th flip-flop back to babyface with PAC, they should have gone with Abrahantes.