Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

#205LIVE


RIPPA

Recommended Posts

See, if you're gonna make it a big time program, Enzo has to beat Finn like two or three times and then a frustrated Finn will ominously say "Next time...you won't be facing the same man! You've unleashed the demon within me, Enzo!" and hopefully the announcers go "The demon within? What can Finn Balor possibly mean by that!?" 

Intrigue!

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fuck that crowd and double fuck the guy who hit Kalisto with a water bottle.

Great main event with Cedric and Gulak beating the hell out of each other.  Gulak cuts a great fired up promo before the match, but he gets shaky-kneed when he finds himself on the top rope and pulled off the ropes into a sweet Lumbar Check.  We get another Colin Delaney sighting as he gets put up against Hideo in his cruiserweight debut.  GTS looked a lot better this time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The crowd fucking sucked. Cedric Alexander vs Gulak was amazing and on my MOTY List. Definitely not the best, but whoa did Gulak turn up on the heat? The guy went CWC Gulak when he was just a better ZSJ. It was a really competitive match. Enzo sold that he was genuinely threatened by Alexander and while I feel that Cedric will lose the match for the title, I kind of want to watch Gulak stretch out Enzo.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Peck said:

To me, Gulak/Nia has way more comedic potential than Enzo/Nia

Gulak/Nia would be awesome.  I would make them two people who hate each other but overtime have this weird brother/sister vibe where they back each other up.  Drew being all white and nerdy would play nicely off of Nia's tough-but-swee-when-she-wants-to-be demeanor.  And while Drew is eventually going to turn on Enzo (or vice versa) him as the third wheel they eventually accept would have been good too.

But in any event Drew in any situation is aces.  He must be some kind of miracle worker because he single-handedly made me care about something involving Enzo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The issue with Cedric is that they are booking him as a generic babyface when he is really good at conveying intensity. The dude has these scripted promos where he comes off as a the plucky dude, but his offense is some of the most brutal in the WWE. The guy is stiff and physical as hell. He is athletic and for all intents and purposes, he should never be booked as the underdog in 205 or in any situation not including Brock Lesnar, Braun Strowman, Kevin Owens, John Cena, or any of the legitimately big guys. I hae seen Cedric toss around Michael Elgin after his huge weight cut like it was no different than with Jack Gallagher. The man is freakishly strong in which all of the muscle he had before his cit stayed while his fat disappeared.  Cedric is not Kalisto and he is bigger than Nelville. Gulak said it best. He is the biggest guy in 205 and hits really hard. His feuds basically amounted to him taking out these wiry snooty snotty assholes who did not resort to outperforming him to win, but just cheapness and distractions. Even Tony Neese, the next biggest guy has problems out muscling Cedric. His finisher is the only finisher that involves some measure of strength outside of TJP and Gran Metallik and you can't really compare the Lumbar Check with the Detonation Kick and Metallik Driver.

Cedric needs to be imposing babyface/tweener. Not this good guy bullshit. His story was that his own pastor said he would not make it. No one believed in him. So he needs to be constantly showing that intensity that he conveys in the ring. It should be when you see this dude, someone is about to get they back broke. In that exact syntax. Someone is about to get they back broke. Not "their back broke."" I mean every time Cedric appears on the screen, he should be the living embodiment of this.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That was a fun show, with a decent match pitting Jack Gallager against Hideo Itami.   Gallagher attempts to get revenge for his fallen compatriot's broken face and he gives Itami more than he's dealt with the past few weeks.  Hideo wins, but not with a GTS.

Tony Nese beats Akira Tozawa.  I know Nese had to get a win to make him credible, but has the shine just vanished off Tozawa or what?

And the sweet tag team match with Daivari and Gulak vs Cedric and Ali.  Good to see they're sticking to their guns with Gulak's anti-high flying character and it keeps costing his team wins.  Ali comes off the ropes with a beautiful 054 for the pin on Daivari.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think I first posted this when Breezango arrested Drew Gulak and truly started his rise on the microphone, but can we get MORE instances of the cruiserweights interacting with other members of the roster? 

The crazy team-up of Cedric and Goldust worked so well and the match against Gulak and Daivari showed that Goldust can still GO.  Goldust faking a dive to the outside only to pull the rope down so Cedric could vault onto Gulak and Daivari was pretty sweet, as was Goldust having to stop to catch his breath in the middle of a criss-cross.  Also, a callback to his top rope moonsault crossbody on Raw where, this time, he got cold feet and decided against trying anything high flying.  Fantastic stuff from all parties.

Meanwhile TJP is back... yay?  And Jack Gallagher delivered his retribution upon Hideo Itami with a good old fashioned pipe beating.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks like they cancelled the 1/19 touring show in Rhode Island due to "scheduling and routing issues". The 1/20(Lowell) & 1/21(Poughkeepsie) shows are still on.

Edit: Sorry, didn't see that RIPPA had this posted in the General thread.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gran Metalik is back!  With a swank all-black ensemble!  And he gets a win over TJP!  They're playing up the lucha connection between him and Kalisto as Lince Dorado twiddles his thumbs backstage.  Fun match featuring some great flying from Metalik including a sick sunset bomb off the ringpost.  Afterwards, TJP "destroys the ring side area" in possibly the weakest post-match meltdown I've ever seen.  He two-hand threw a bunch of paper like it was a medicine ball, you guys.

Middle segment continued the feud between Gallagher and Itami, not much to write home about.

Main event featured Cedric playing spoiler to Tony Nese's attempt to get back in the good graces of the Zo Train.  Pretty decent match from both guys.  Cedric wins with the Bret Hart Memorial Fake Knee Injury Into a Small Package.  He then plants Enzo with another Lumbar Check to end the show.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know it's Goldy an' all, but ffs.

This show is dead. Poor Gulak; he got himself over and they fucked him.

Alexander isn't even over. He's great but he's missing something. Shouldn't he be in Michael's finishing school? Maybe he is, but I kinda hope he isn't BC then there's hope.

I don't wish ill on any of these guys, but I hope they have a back up plan BC I cannot see this show surviving 2018.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gulak should be fine since he's the one on the show with personality other than Enzo and Gallagher.

Boy did turning Gallagher heel blow up on them.  He'd be perfect as a foil to Enzo.  

Its basically every other one else on the show that's going to be in trouble if it shuts down.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok... *takes deep breath*.  Two months ago, the Zo Train beat up all the (then) relevant cruiserweight babyfaces and duck danced on their broken bodies.

Last night, they lost a 3 on 1 match with Goldust.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This should lead to Enzo beating Goldust down on next week's Raw or 205 and Cedric getting revenge and the title at the Royal Rumble.  Then Gulak beats Cedric for the title and Batista (er, Nese) lifts him up on his shoulders and Enzo gives him the thumbs down...  Ok, I'm just projecting that last part.

At least Metalik got another win over crying TJP.  Good heel promo by Gallagher, too.

And on Cedric: I think he badly needs to work on his character and especially his promos.  He is incredible in the ring but his promos are rough.  I was hoping pairing him with Goldust would help with that, but all it really wound doing was displaying the difference in ability between the two of them when they have a promo together.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Goldust and Cedric: There's such a thing as a teacher being too advanced for the student. In baseball both Ted Williams and Rogers Hornsby (arguably the two greatest hitters who ever lived not named "Bonds" or "Ruth") were really shitty hitting coaches; regular players couldn't grasp stuff that came to them naturally, (both men claimed to be able to see which way the seams on a baseball were rotating on a given pitch; pretty incredible, but they had no reason to lie about it. However, as a certain person would say, "You can't teach that!" Dustin Rhodes has over 25 years experience cutting promos and learned from a father who was probably one of the top five guys on the mic of all-time. He's so good now that much of what he does is second nature to him and thus very, very difficult to teach. Cedric needs to learn to be above average before he tries to learn to be great. It's a nice idea and Goldust is one of the best things about this show now but as a teacher for Cedric,  the experience gap is just way too great. 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...