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CWC EPISODE ONE - 1st Round (7/13/16)


RIPPA

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Thought the worst guy on the show was Lun. Like he's a really cool story, but he wasn't very good against Daivari. Hope it was just an off night, cause I want to like him, but really kinda drug things down a bit.

 

Was very impressed with everyone on the show. Petiot, Saez, Daviari, and Maluta made some strong showings for "clear one round and out" guys. Was nice to see some guys getting one match to try to stand out and look pretty good.

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Kota Ibushi - still fucking great. 

Best spot of the night was Saez running around Metallik instead of hopping over him and then kicking a confused Metallik in the face. 

I loved this. 

The pro sports gimmick for this tournament is so fresh for the company, too, and Bryan being a good pro-sports-style color commentator is a big part of that. 

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Mauro and Bryan are probably the best team in the company.  I wonder how good it would be if they added Graves.

 

The whole presentation is just amazing, it's like EVOLVE with a budget.  Petiot, Alexander, and Maluta did not waste their shot to impress.  Lun and Davari were fine.  I wasn't impressed by Saez, his mannerisms took me out of it a bit.  Big opps on Metalik losing his mask on the Dorada Driver.

 

 

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Well isn't this just the best fucking thing ever.  The presentation is magnificent. I love the ring mat.  I love the intro videos. I love that there's a little UFC/boxing in there with the prefight instructions. Also, the ending highlight package was very well done.

Gran Metalik won the crowd over in about two seconds. His unique offense is special.  Of course Kota Ibushi rocked but that was a solid match too.  Brilliant execution this episode.

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It's also an amazing time we live in, where on a WWE Show, Mauro namechecked Misawa, Kawada, and Kobashi, and mentioned Okada as having one of the best dropkicks in the world.

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Show was pretty good aside from the Barbra Walters filter and the Code of Honor stuff. Lun winning was baffling and fucking hilarious at the same time. You'd think there's enough veterans backstage to spot a backyarder when they see one. Crowd was kind of sitting on their hands, but I'm sure that will change as it progresses. Really looking forward to the rest of this with LU finishing up their season.

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Full show thoughts:

Metalik vs Saez - Seaz is awkward. Really awkward. As for Metalik, he didn't even bust out half of his cool stuff yet. Metalik is even better than Andrade in reality, but Metalik has never gotten the push due to unknown reasons.

Hoho vs Ariya - Hoho has potential. Clearly not as good as others in the work department, but I think he gets when to play with the crowd and the crowd likes him for his name. Someone said he could be an Asian Delaney and I could see it. At worst he gave me a Dunn and Marcos/Ring Crew Express vibe. Could be a good underdog character. Ariya looked pretty solid and better than his brother. He was crisp and hit some good stuff.

Cedric Alexander vs Petoit - Alexander looked good, but I feel he did most of his stuff and likely isn't capable of more. Feel bad for Petoit as he isn't a flipper and wasn't going to get a huge reaction no matter what.

Ibushi vs Maluta - As I expected, Ibushi pretty much is on his own level. Yes, he has cool spots, but it's the way he hits them and moves. He's still saving some stuff too for the later rounds. Clearly should be in the finals with Metalik. Maluta held up pretty well and had a good performance. He was better than I expected and did not get outclassed by Ibushi. NOTE - Maluta just gained about 70 followers within 30 minutes - not bad.

Announcing - Really good and simple stuff. They just stuck to the wrestling and pimping the wrestlers.

 

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This was the first time I'd seen Metalik and was impressed, he's someone I'd like to see stick around.  Saez was decent and gets credit for trying to interject some heel personality.  I think he'd be better off bulking back up and wrestling as a heavyweight though.

Maybe it was his gear but Lun came off indy as hell.  He wasn't bad though, just a case of someone who has been around for a while but who probably hasn't been in the ring with people he can learn from.  Daivari was ok but not memorable.

Petoit also fit into the ok but not memorable category.  Like Daivari and Saez he gets credit for trying to showcase some personality.  Alexander looked good as always and even though he's clearly going to lose to Ibushi I hope he gets to come back at some point.

They've telegraphed Ibushi wining way too much for me to look at his match as anything but a glorified jobber match but it was decent for what it was.

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Didn't think any of the matches were particularly special, but the whole show was a good and different experience from the norm in WWE.

Metalik looked good, and Saez had some impressive stuff for a guy his size. Hope if he ever shows back up though its as a heavyweight as it feels like it would be more natural for him.

Lun was the worst guy, not bad, but not really good either. Hopefully he is better in his next match because his story is a good one. Daviari looked decent, way better than Lun.

Maluta's dive was a bit scary, but he looked solid otherwise. Kind of feel sorry that his first opponent was Ibushi as there was no way he wasn't going to get overshadowed.

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The one thing I would say is that there needs to be a 12-seed get to at least the second round. 

I am reminded of a piece of sage-like wisdom from Old Glory WCW Thunder: There's no way you lose after a sweet video package like that. 

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16 minutes ago, Infinit said:

Really like the arena set up too...the angled entrance aisle gave the show a real unique look.

Unfortunately the crowd was pretty eh for most of the show until the main event.  Now if I remember there was an issue that caused the crowd to be smaller than usual but man I hope they wake up a little more

 

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Overall I loved the show. A very basic presentation that let the wrestlers carry it without all of the crap I FF through twice a week. DB's unpracticed on commentary, but he's got such a great wrestler's brain that he can usually add to the basic story without bumping into breaking kayfabe, and his enthusiasm is as infectious as every. The handshakes were an interesting choice. I wonder if somewhere, Rob Feinstein is...no, y'know what? I don't want to know what he's doing.

I liked the first match. Saez was a bit rough but I'd like to see more of him. Think he'd be a good one to get into the performance center, especially with some more weight on his frame. Gran Metallik is great, and should go far.

Ho Ho Lun is a great story, but I feel like the wrong wrestler went over in that match. His strikes seemed loose, and he seemed lost at times. Feels like he won because WWE wants to make more money from China. Daivari looked much better, although given the brackets, maybe it's better to avoid an Iranian heel versus Noam Dar in the 2nd round.

I'd never seen Clement Petiot before, but I want to see more. He liked great in that match. Before Bryan made that comparison himself, I was seeing similarity in how he incorporated a lot of movement and pantomime to make his strikes look more impactful. Alexander showed his strengths well, looking very smooth and composed in his aerialism. This was narrowly my MotN.

Maluta did a hell of a job selling that he wasn't quite in Ibushi's class while still taking a big chunk of the match and showing off some impressive offense. Not sure if that double flip was a fuckup or not. Ibushi is going to the finals. Nuff said. That Pele was bonkers. Did Mauro accidentally call him Kenta?

Looking forward to another couple months of this.

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Ibushi vs. Maluta was amazing. They really made Ibushi come off like the one seed who was on the ropes against the 16-seed that played the game of its life and should have been seeded a lot higher. This thing rules so much.

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Saez was clearly milking his ten minutes for all it was worth with the slightly over-the-top facial expressions and such, but it came off as charming to me. I liked that guy.

Lun looked bad. I've seen him once before, and he looked alright then, so we'll see in round two.

Metallik and Ibushi are the obvious guys who are head-and-shoulders above the pack. 

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