Derailments of Thought

Again we open with a nice summary of those who had advanced so far and quick introduction of this week’s competitors and matchups before the standard opening video. Nice narration and presentation here.

My thoughts on the first and second episodes.

Round 1 (continued):

9) Ayesha Raymond vs Toni Storm 3/4*

This is my first time seeing either, but I’ve heard a lot about Storm. She’s an 8 year veteran at 21 years old and has significant hype around her. Her video showcases her rock star attitude and she gets a great line to encapsulate everything: “Poor girl. I’m just sorry in advance for the damage I will be causing you.” Ayesha gets a nice chance to talk about her deadlifting and strength, comparing herself to powerful felines. Nothing wrestling related is shown for her though.

Storm pulls back the handshake to “ooohs” instead of boos, and seconds later the crowd is chanting for her. If she’s trying to work heel it’s not going to happen. If she’s not and it’s just “attitude” she shouldn’t be doing the same thing numerous heels in the tourney are doing to try to generate heat.

Really nothing to this. Trying to get Storm over as resilient in three minutes is a story that’s never going to work well. Raymond looked fine until the end (when something clearly went wrong with the finish and they improvised stalling, a missed splash, and an awkward rollup) in a limited role using power based offense. Storm did less than ten moves, and half of them were thrusting her “hip” at Raymond’s face. Lungblower and Northern Lights suplex looked good, but mostly I’ll have to wait until she gets a proper match to see what the fuss is about with Toni Storm.

SARA DEL REY (Amato) is next to Charlotte Flair. Bringing Sara (on of the greatest wrestlers in the world) as a trainer has paid glorious dividends for WWE’s women’s divisions.

10) Kavita Devi vs Dakota Kai **

TEAM KICK!!! Dakota Kai is the former Evie and a fantastic wrestler I’ve had the privilege of following in Shimmer, where she held the Tag Team Championships with Heidi Lovelace (Ruby Riot). She self describes as a girl next door, being quick, and “Ido a lot of strikes. I kick hard.” Enough said. 🙂  Kavita is the first Indian woman to wrestle for WWE and mentions being trained by the Great Khali.

The debuting Devi works within her limits well here, with it being all about her stalking Kai using her power and size. The pace is awkward, but it’s an effective story and Kai BOUNCES all around the ring to make Devi look impressive. Devi does a nice ropewalk arm drag (twice, which is once too many for a showcase like that) and a gorilla press drop that pop the crowd.

She eventually stalls too much, allowing Kai to dodge out of the corner, nail the parabola kick (always looks so awesome) and a top rope double stomp for the victory. Short, inoffensive, and got both over. Kai worked her ass off here holding it all together She advances to face Rhea Ripley, which will be a similar dynamic and should be a good matchup.

11) Bianca Belair vs Sage Beckett *1/4

Another pair of two new to me competitors. Wait, check that – Beckett is the former Andrea from Shine. Decent power wrestler. She’s presented as “a shaman, not a witch.” Good look and gimmick for her. Belair’s intro focuses on her strength, track star past, and long braid.

Basic power offense from Beckett, which Belair counters with speed and hard shots of her own (including some sadly awful looking face slams to the mat). Bianca gets the better of her larger opponent for most of the match, eventually capitalizing on a miss from the top rope with a whip of her braid (uhm, shouldn’t that be illegal) and a short spear for the victory (which honestly looked ridiculous given the size differential and the lack of building up momentum).

Belair controlling so much of the match and often kicking out of Beckett’s offense at 1 undermined what would have been a better story of her weathering the storm to upset the monster. She also needs a different finisher badly. Beckett’s capable of more, and I’m surprised to see her go out here. All that said, there was good effort and a couple nice sequences in this.

The brackets remind us that even in advancing Bianca’s just destined to be fodder for the winner of Tessa vs Kairi.

12) Piper Niven vs Santana Garrett ***1/2

Viper (Piper Niven) is a great wrestler who’s extremely agile for her size and has incredible charisma. Santana is a highly decorated independent wrestler who’s held numerous titles across various companies and seems exactly the type WWE’s trying to attract with this tournament, but honestly I’ve personally always found her decent but a bit dull. Let’s see how this shakes out.

Santana talks about staying humble and “being you,” while being called wrestling’s “Wonder Woman” and wearing capes. Ok then. Piper’s video includes a great soundbite from JR talking about her headlining Korakuen Hall, impressive footage from her time in Shimmer, and emphasis on how she can do things people half her size would have trouble with. Both wrestlers were well presented and from just the intros it’d be hard to say who was favored (which is what they should always be aiming for).

Piper’s out in bright blue gear as opposed to the dark colors larger female wrestler usually wear in WWE and (as always) comes across as totally comfortable in her own skin. We need to see more of that in wrestling.

Santana described by JR as a veteran looking for her break, but Piper actually has slightly more experience of the two. Nice exchanges in the early going varying the size versus speed dynamic we’ve seen in several matches by building it around grappling and counter wrestling. Piper throws a great crossbody at one point that wipes Santana out. Crowd getting behind both. These two are using holds and strikes no one else has thus far in the tournament, letting this stand out. Nothing crazy, but simply adding a cravate and striking while in a hold sequences for variety goes a long way.

Commentary actually better than usual for this match, focusing on good points like Santana having trouble trying to out quick Piper because the larger athlete is quite agile in her own right and the specific strategies each wrestler is using. Santana with Eat Defeat at one point, which shouldn’t have happened since it was established as Mia’s finisher earlier in the round. Seen things like that a couple of times so far, and the agents should be more on top of it in this kind of tournament.

Santana catches Piper up top with a handstand rana late (after Piper fought it off once in a great sequence) for a close 2 count, and the crowd totally bought it as the finish. Superkick and she goes for the backflip splash but Piper moves, drops a huge elbow, and nails a Michinoku driver for the win!

Perhaps the best I’ve seen from Santana. These two had fantastic chemistry and this is easily my favorite match so far in the tournament. Pleasantly surprised to see Piper advance, as while Santana definitely made the most of this appearance and would have been a fine choice for round 2 I feel Piper’s better overall and there are more interesting stories to be told with her proceeding. She’ll face another veteran in Serena Deeb in round 2.

We again end with a well done summary of this episode’s winners as well as the remaining competitors and matches. Big names in LaRae, Savoy, Sane, and Blanchard still to come.

——-

The formula of these first round episode continues, with several quick matches focused on a particular aspect and a longer, more impressive main event. Hoping to see better showcases for Storm and Kai in the next round.

Down to the last four matches left for round 1 next episodes. Let’s go KAIRI!

Nice highlight video of the first episode and quick summary of this week’s competitors before the standard opening video.

Round 1 (continued):

5) Xia Li vs. Mercedes Martinez *3/4

Interesting setup here with a debuting wrestler against a 16 year veteran and Mercedes really sinks her teeth into it, doing an excellent job of getting herself over in the short time given in her intro package. In under a minute we know her experience, style, outlook, and attitude. Well done. Xia’s wisely emphasizes her martial arts background and desire to prove herself in this new environment.

Mercedes mocks Xia and wipes her hand after the handshake to a fair amount of heat, which the announcers immediately undercut by saying she’s “having fun with the inexperienced Xia” and ridiculously talking about how it was to intimidate through the language barrier. JR’s also still talking about single elimination tournaments like it’s an alien concept. I’m going to try to ignore the commentary dumpster fire from here on out so I don’t go insane.

This is kept brief, with Xia countering Mercedes’ superior grappling skills with hard strikes to show fighting spirit while being overmatched. The veteran ties Xia up in a leg trap dragon sleeper for the submission victory in short order though. Made its point. Xia is of course super green and a bit awkward, but she kept it basic, connected with everything, and there’s definitely potential for her going forward.

6)  Marti Belle vs. Rachel Evers – UGH (zero stars)

Evers is new to me, while I’ve seen a fair bit of Belle in Shimmer and elsewhere. She’s honestly a pretty generic heel who’s ok but doesn’t remotely live up to her near decade of experience. Evers’ video package focuses on her being adaptable in style and growing up the daughter of Paul Ellering yet isolated from his profession until now. Marti’s touts her being a “powerful Dominican woman” with “street smarts.” Neither did much to make the viewer care.

This was the first actively bad match of the tourney. Pace, timing, execution were all off all match long, and most of it looked to be on Marti’s end. At one point the relative rookie actually had to stop, walk over and pull the wrestler with seven+ years more experience back into position for a senton when Marti forgot what they were doing and started to roll away. Neither looked very good, but Rachel did look better between the two and was the right choice to advance (which may have been an audible do to Marti’s poor performance if rumors are to be believed).  Really though, either going to round 2 when Kay Lee Ray, Jazzy Gabbert, etc are already out is nonsense.

Wow, the placement of a clip of HHH telling the 32 participants to make the most of the opportunity they have right after that last match is (unintentionally?) biting.

7) Miranda Salinas vs. Rhea Ripley *1/4

I know nothing of either competitor coming into this one. Miranda’s summary primarily explains her “look sets her apart,” she’s short (and doesn’t care), and was trained by Booker T. Rhea’s shows a quirky personality, highlights her nine year soccer career at just 20 years old and the kicking ability it gives her, and JR calls her “one of the most highly regarded performers in this tournament.” Am I supposed to think Miranda’s going to do anything except be demolished after that?

Indeed, the match lasts just long enough to Miranda to cheat a couple of times, the six foot tall Rhea to show off some nice dropkicks, a couple of strike exchanges, and Rhea kicking Miranda’s head off then hitting a full nelson slam for the win. Like Baszler’s and Mercedes’ matches this was about making a point, and it did.

Ok, I have to break my silence on the commentary for a minute. “These women don’t care about how they win. It’s just winning. Nothing wrong with that quite frankly – the losers go home.” YES THERE IS. There are RULES and you’re supposed to be praising those who do care and win while following them! How the hell are heels supposed to get heat when the announcers are advocating winning as everything and cheating as a normal, justifiable part of the match? Blah.

8) Mia Yim vs. Sarah Logan ***1/4

In a nice touch, Mia’s video mentions her devotion to raising awareness about domestic abuse and how she shared her own story to help others. Her martial arts background is spotlighted with clips that give a good idea of what to expect from her in the ring. The wild woman gimmick is an interesting hook for the former Crazy Mary Dobson. The matchup is interesting, although given Logan appeared in a losing effort to Peyton Royce at NXT Takeover tapings just days before this aired I’m not sure why we’re supposed to believe she has a chance here.

Solid back and forth match of a style we haven’t really seen yet in the tournament. Early the story was Logan countering Yim’s mat skills with ferocity and strikes, but of course Yim’s an accomplished striker herself and eventually lays in hard kicks to fight fire with fire. So Sarah adapts and goes to some submissions herself.

They have a great exchange of seated palm strikes and kicks at one point. Logan also hits some fun offense like a cartwheel dodge into a double knee strike and a fisherman suplex out of the corner. Mia keeps wearing her down with German suplexs, etc though and eventually hits “Eat Defeat” for the win. This edges out Laith vs Gabbert as the best so far. Mia’s got Shayna in round 2.

——-

Presentation and background packages were little better this time overall, although the commentary’s still a problem. Format’s still fine, with two matches there to serve a specific purpose (which they did) and the best match in the main (let’s just forget about that other match in the middle).

Eight more matches left across two episodes for round 1, including two of the participants I’m most excited for (Savoy and Sane). Onward to episode 3.

Finally getting a chance to dive into this, and am hoping to get caught up before the live final next week. Excited for this not only based on what I’ve heard, but also as a longtime fan of women’s wrestling as well as being familiar with a majority of the field. Nearly half of them have previously wrestled in Shimmer (a fantastic Chicago based women’s wrestling promotion – find more information here), and a number of other highly regarded wrestlers from around the world are involved as well.

Let’s get started.

The tournament introduction narrated by Stephanie McMahon walks a line between appropriate and heavy handed / self indulgent.

Round 1:

1) Princesa Sugehit vs. Kay Lee Ray **1/2

The video packages seem quite short. Sugehit’s really gives no background on her other than the meaning of her name. Kay Lee Ray’s does a much better job getting her over, being just a little longer and using a fair amount of Shimmer footage to good effect. Never seen Sugehit before, while KLR’s a personal favorite.

I understand why Jim Ross and Lita were chosen as the announce team, but right off the bat they are all over the place and detracting from the action to a frustrating degree. JR comments about the tournament having a “very unique format: single elimination.” Uhm, actually single elimination ladder brackets is the most standard tournament format there is.

They spend the match trying to sell the “rookie” story of grappler Kay Lee Ray needing to ground high flying veteran Sugehit to have any chance (including constant criticism of KLR’s strategy EVEN WHEN SHE’S IN COMPLETE CONTROL OF THE MATCH. Seriously – WTF?), but every once in a while they remember that KLR is herself an eight year pro AND a high flyer herself and say something that contradicts all their previous points.  They repeatedly mention the talking point of Sugehit’s “confusing style” being hard to handle, yet she does pretty much NOTHING odd or unique in this match. It’s like they wrote a story before the actual match took place based and were sticking to it no matter what. Not a good first impression.

As for the match itself, it was a solid enough start to the tourney, though a little disjointed. A particularly great sequence saw KLR reverse a sunset flip attempt into gory bomb attempt, but Sugehit reverse that into a code red instead. Overall KLR looked better than Sugehit, and it’s a shame to see her out so early.

2)  Vanessa Bourne vs. Serena Deeb *1/4

Former cheerleader who’s only hook is apparently claiming to be more than that against former WWE star and redemption story for the tourney. No uncertainty here, and the short video packages do nothing to change that. Deeb did create the slightly bit of doubt/drama through eating the corner hard on a spear miss though, which was a nice touch. Nothing match otherwise, with Bourne mostly dominating in basic fashion (and looking a bit lost at times) until Deeb hit a “surprise” spear for the win.

3) Shayna Baszler vs. Zeda *1/4

The conversion Baszler’s made from MMA to pro wrestling has been incredible (as I’ve talked about here), and she’s been really impressive in Shimmer. I know nothing about Zeda. Her introduction as “representing China from Richmond VA” screams WWE stretching to make the tourney seem more international.

So the role model who’s trying to “be her own superhero” gets destroyed in 2 minutes by an unsportsmanlike bully who has three friends cheering her at ringside. I feel like literally ANY other story would have better here. Shayna’s the clear star, so crowd cheers her regardless of her being the heel. Just a squash, but with a beautiful finish that sees Baszler counter a guillotine into a suplex position then drops right into the choke. The point of Baszler’s choke being deadly was made, but her character and skills come across much better in longer, more even contests.  Rousey’s getting as much attention than the actual competitor, which is understandable but disappointing.

4) Jazzy Gabbert vs. Abbey Laith ***1/4 

Nice intro for Alpha Female (Gabbert), whose video has the best distillation of a competitor/character yet. Haven’t seen her wrestle before but obviously have heard quite a bit about her. Her opponent, the former Kimber Lee, references Mae Young as an inspiration and points out she indirectly inherited a finisher from Mae (the Alligator Clutch). That doesn’t bode well for the apparent favorite Gabbert.

One thing I have liked about the commentary is reference to past accomplishments, including acknowledging Laith as former Chikara Grand Champion (a hell of an achievement as she’s the only woman to hold that title). Gabbert comes out carrying a German flag and carries herself like a star.

Abbey goes straight at the imposing monster to little effect, and the combination of her determination and Gabbert just setting herself and playing immovable object fires the crowd way up. This was good, with both getting a chance to shine with some back in forth. Although I will say Gabbert shouldn’t be using rear naked choke in the middle of the match right after Baszler established it as instant death.

Unsurprisingly after the intro, Laith eventually counters into the Alligator Clutch for the win. Another curious early exit, but in terms of getting Abbey over as a threat by beating the imposing Gabbert mission accomplished.

——-

Decent beginning overall. The presentation isn’t what I’d hoped, from superficial video introductions to the competitors to disappointing commentary, but the important things still get across just enough. This round is definitely being built for episodic format, with some matches clearly more about making a point or just introducing someone in as little time as possible rather than extended action with longer ones to open and end each episode.

Effective enough, just remember it’s the early part of a tournament and not everything’s supposed to be tearing the house down at this point. Already wishing certain people had gone farther, but we’ll see how things shake out going forward. And I suppose some big matches needed to happen early to provide main events for each episode.

Twelve more matches left across three episodes for round 1. Onward to episode 2.