Turmoil 291 - Back 2 Blue!

We’re back.

 

Lots of Words, Some Vids, and A Match

 

Quick fire

 

Nice to see Written Content from Harri, helps our champion feel fleshed out and less like an onscreen gag.

 

Quartz-Deaver was nice to see from a world-building aspect and to show some of the ripple effects in a post "Team Kasstianity vs Team OCW" world. These same effects are beautifully mirrored later on in the show.

 

Great Solo Writing from PAPA, wait that’s used, DADDY, wait that’s weird, FATHER Trance as he explains his actions.

 

Mugen and Doc have a clever and petty battle of 1up-manship.

 

Concussion Storylines

 

Concussion angle is genius from a writer's perspective given the way in which OCW takes place and I'm upset I didn't think of it sooner.

 

What better way to showcase it then this banger EMP-Terra promo that is probably my Promo of the Night

 

Terra consistently tries to run from, and hide her past from Sue as it keeps catching up to her.

 

At the same time, we have the increasingly overpowering heel undertones coming from our general manager, EMP. Before, we knew she wasn't a nice person but we just thought she was a little crazy and chaotic. By this point, it's pretty clear she's just a jerk, which sets up the sequence after our main event perfectly.

 

Great work from all parties and I guess what they say is true, "Absolute power packed into a thicc 4"11 frame corrupts absolutely"

 

Marcus-Jasmin

 

Not a fan of this one because it felt like it very much took place in a vacuum.

 

We start with a reference to one of Aisu's mask. With this, came no mention of his status with TWC, his attempted retirement, or his interaction with our NA Champion.

 

To give the benefit of the doubt, the characters or the people writing them may have no idea of any of these events so I can excuse them for not digging deeper on Aisu.

 

The next one I can't give the same benefit to.

 

Throughout the whole promo, there is no mention of Marcus turning on John. Marcus is just a pure Babyface in this promo. We can't even use the whole "Well he likes her so he's nice to her'' reasoning because building off of Jasmin taking a firm anti-TWC stance last week, this would have been the perfect opportunity for Marcus to show how committed he is to her and talk to her with his light skin 360 waves in her ear like:

 

"I choose you over everything bebegurl

Forget Christian Garcia

Forget John Carter

It's just you and me, locked in til’ the end"

 

Instead, we got the same Babyface Marcus that was too honorable to attack Christian Garcia earlier in the show, that exists in stark contrast with the Monster Heel Marcus that laid John Carter out for literally 6 whole minutes(I counted).

 

This double-sucks because this could be remedied by having the feud be a Triple Threat. You have Snarky Garcia laughing cause he's turned them on each other and saying "Whatever happened to bros before-" you know the rest. On top of that, You have a Defensive and Angry Marcus holding his territory and defending his woman using them pythons. And you can have a Babyface John Carter who will feel wronged by both men and look to get revenge.

 

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like this is what's happening and I can only hope TWC literally dieing doesn't get glossed over in favor of other storylines both Marcus and John are in.

 

 

Kasstianity

 

Kasstianity is feeling the effects of this economic recession as they have to say goodbye to yet another member.

 

Given all the actual FPR chicanery during the tag match, Chris, the character, saying "I let McMichaels get that victory, after all" was something that I did not enjoy reading.

 

That being said, the end of this promo referencing Mujera and leading up to a faceoff between her and Kass was nicely done. +1 Point for Conciseness. +1 Point for World Building. And +1 Point for Giving me A Reason to watch (read) next week.

 

Between the Cody Hagen storyline, Chris Greene's recent run of form and whatever will happen with La Mujera, Kasstianity has found a way to keep itself relevant and in multiple storylines without trying to TAKE OVER THE WORLD (dun dun dun).

 

It's a shame Harvey is still crying over spilt blood.

 

Interlude

 

I just finished writing the whole RP Section and THERE'S NO P3 ON THE SHOW. I don't know when's the last time that's happened but that's crazy.

 

Rebuilding Hito

 

This rebuilding Hito package was sick and nicely picked up where the last one left off. While part of me is disappointed he got booked last week and we ended up having to see him too early, another part of me thinks it’s a nice way for Hito to get some feedback and do little course corrections to make his proper return even more of a spectacle than I think it will be. Thoroughly hyped.

 

Aisu Retires Like a True Wrestler

 

Not a big fan of this one large in part to the whole retiring cliche it relied upon. Not only is it overdone, but I don’t think it makes much logical sense. If Aisu wins, does he retire and vacate the championship? If he loses, are we gonna get another promo from him saying goodbye that can be potentially interrupted again. While you could say that these are reasons to keep watching and stay invested, none of those outcomes seem that fun.

 

OWEN’s voice promos are still a WIP but we’re slowly but surely getting there. Way more character and presence than some of the earlier ones and now just gotta focus on pacing both on the mic and in the video but the man already knows this.

 

The video in general also ran a bit long but there were quite a few vid promos that ran long on this show.

 

Marisa Welch-Mac vs Harri Etiquette

 

Amazing clash of styles between the Explosive style of Marisa (guess you could say she’s a bombshell), and the hyper-acrobatic style of Harri.

 

Amazing Comeback Win for Marisa against the New Champ, Big Props for sticking in there and securing the W.

 

However, this brings to mind some thoughts about the game and how it works in the competitive environment.

 

2k22 thus far has proven to be way more incredibly volatile than 2k19 ever was. Even at the end of the cycle for 2k19 where we were all closer together in skill, it was way easier to predict matches and there was more of a sense of rankings and more separation between the ranks.

 

Why is that? Could be a couple reasons. Could be because the game was such a drastic shift that all of a sudden a lot of “legacy” skills were completely abolished and everyone was on a more even ground. Or it could be because in replace of reversal management strategy, there are now infinite reversals which take a lot of the decision-making out of the game as “Just Reverse” takes you a lot further than it used to.

 

Now, whatever your thoughts on that may be aside, it makes these sort of Non-Title Matches way harder to gauge. On the one hand, it might make matches seem more like the roll of a dice and less interesting, on the other, you never know what can happen. For every Quartz-Mac match, we also get a Quartz-Wrex or a Harri-Marisa match and from a pure storytelling aspect it makes things way more interesting especially as “The Card” is way more open than it ever has been as you can have someone like Hanzo come out of nowhere and go on a little streak against established people. New Opportunities and New Matches (in theory) exist now more than ever.

 

Final Thoughts

 

Really liked BOTH shows of 2022. I feel like we’ve come at the new year with some new energy which is exactly what you want to see after taking a break. Now this could also be because I’ve gotten some rejuvenated energy but either way, I’m enjoying it and can’t wait till next week. See y’all then.

Aisu Retires Like a True Wrestler

 

Not a big fan of this one large in part to the whole retiring cliche it relied upon. Not only is it overdone, but I don’t think it makes much logical sense. If Aisu wins, does he retire and vacate the championship? If he loses, are we gonna get another promo from him saying goodbye that can be potentially interrupted again. While you could say that these are reasons to keep watching and stay invested, none of those outcomes seem that fun.

 

I feel like this meta-analysis actively harms your enjoyment of the segment.

 

The logical questions you've asked here are jumping the gun because you're rushing to think about what the ending is going to be.

 

Let us tell the story first, then judge it?

Thank you very much for the review of the show maxxx it was very good and I enjoyed hearing your thoughts on the content. Of the show. As this is very time consuming not always done I am always happy to see a review. Thank you very much.

I feel like this meta-analysis actively harms your enjoyment of the segment.

 

The logical questions you've asked here are jumping the gun because you're rushing to think about what the ending is going to be.

 

Let us tell the story first, then judge it?

 

I think trying to guess what will happen and going through all the possibilities is a fun way to pass time between weeks, though I do agree that coming to your own conclusion on how the story/interaction SHOULD or COULD end and judging off that is a bit hasty.

 

Technically speaking, Aisu never said he was retiring. That's an assumption we all made based on the language. I feel like that was the intention, but if we just look at everything at face value, Aisu was interrupted before his BIG ANNOUNCEMENT, which could have been anything.

 

This was my segment of the night because of that intrigue, the players involved, and the execution, but it's also interesting to see a varied interpretation of those events and how just one assumption can change your whole mindset around it.

 

Yes, thank you Maxx and I could not agree more about your point made at the end regarding volatility. It makes watching every match more fun from a viewer standpoint and definitely provides the air of "anything can happen" which inherently makes feud blowoffs feel bigger scale (especially those that have a ton of effort around the story aspects).

 

As a handler, the volatility also allows more room for creative exploration after a result you could have never predicted, which is always fun for those of us who don't stake our entire mindset on wins and losses.

Honestly, I don't know how to reference things because I'm used to discord not the forum but my whole thoughts for the Aisu promo was going in I had the idea of okay this is going to play up as a retirement but in reality, Aisu is leaving TWC before anyone has a chance to drag him down any more (no offense John, you kill teams)

For the record Jasmin and I had NO CLUE what Aisu was up to. So there was no connection there between us and Aisu.

 

As for Marcus, he is face. Despite what you may think as him being “MONSTER HEEL”. I don’t know how he can be monster heel if his tag team partner has been in the business for himself for quite sometime. TWC has been put on a shelf as everyone hates John for doing just that.

 

Marcus has had enough of that and finally turned on one of the biggest heels of the company and now Marcus is the heel? I’m confused by your take on that. The audience was confused by the crowd booing but that was an honest editing mistake.

 

Prior to the match, Marcus and CG interacted with each other and told him enough was enough. He’s tired of being “Professional” aka passive. Marcus has never actually tried to be anything more but tag team champion with his old buddy John and it didn’t work. He followed him to GOAT Academy didn’t work. Took the blow from Parker turning on them. Supported him when Aisu Jasmin and Spider was saying he needs to do better. Never interfered in his relationship with Marisa. So now he’s taking his career by the horns. Unfortunately after his interaction with CG, Marcus had to go to move on and do better. Again I don’t see how you think he’s the Monster Heel.

Also, did you catch the sly comment John made to his friend after the match?

 

“Oh my shoulders hurt.” Meaning, you carried the team to victory. That’s not very face. As a consensus EVERYONE that night in chat was happy Marcus did what he did and see him as face now.

For the record Jasmin and I had NO CLUE what Aisu was up to. So there was no connection there between us and Aisu.

 

As for Marcus, he is face. Despite what you may think as him being “MONSTER HEEL”. I don’t know how he can be monster heel if his tag team partner has been in the business for himself for quite sometime. TWC has been put on a shelf as everyone hates John for doing just that.

 

Again I don’t see how you think he’s the Monster Heel.

 

You may need to consult your video producer. Doesn't really relay "babyface breaking away from oppression" when the crowd is in full +20db BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO as you're attacking John Carter and cutting the promo. The crowd noise for me, completely dictated how that segment was perceived.