Edwin MacPhisto

I listen to a lot of stuff, and I have a similar glassy heart for John Mayer. It's simple, unbridled hate for his snivelly, saccharine work. I do have a soft spot for the first Counting Crows album, but 10 years of poor follow-up and a lot of weight gained between all the members hasn't done a lot for them in my eyes.

Say it ain't so! I like it a lot. Fun take on things--and way to work in your original mission statement. Methinks I will enjoy this one.

I get to mark JD vs. Apostle? Sweeeeeet. I'll be gone for the next two days, but this will make it all worthwhile, or something like that. Actually, it probably won't at all, but hey, fun match.

The formerly masked man and woman both make the most of their first nights "out," so to speak. Great promos from Spike, wasting no time in shaking things up, and a big, big main event win for Annie. Some tournament surprises, a few sure things--the brackets for the next round are going to be veeeeeeddy interesting.

You know, we can just start calling you Sean Atlas if you like on the cards and what-not. "Blah blah, I am Spike, but Spike is old, this name has more syllables and is therefore better and also won't get me confused with that JL guy, et cetera." Or we could just bypass both names entirely and call you Toothpaste.

What, no info about Strangler's upcoming Playgirl spread? You cheat us all, Mark. Otherwise: very nice. More of the fun "inside the business" type stuff that also adds a little more depth to the King/Mark scenario.

::lifts Aussie glass ceiling:: ::reinstates on behalf of Crow::

Oh no, not again.

More or less, but you really need to fuse that with the grind-style intensity of...uh..."Mean Mr. Mustard." I'm really reaching for material here. Ouch.

Now why couldn't they just release a merry jaunt called "Corpsegutting Christmas" and bring us all together? Fuckin' Beatles.

::sets tape to record Lockdown:: I'm impressed you had all the old quotes on record. Mad skills, my man.

Well, there was the time you said the thing about the Allen wrench and the baby shampoo. You were right; it does have a certain tingle.

Outkast, "Hey Ya," again. Come out sooner, album. Please?

Outkast, "Hey Ya." Wow.

Yeah, I would have liked some Rollins Band stuff too, but Ramones were good enough for me. It was just such a nice, upbeat shift after all the liquid aggression. Also, I would have avoided any Circle Jerks songs after the initial Kieth Black Flag salvo, because he looks sorta like a zombie-mummy and I think I might have gotten nightmares had he persisted.

If I'm paying $50-60 for a ticket (U2, Radiohead), they damn well better give me an encore. Favorite encore I've seen, though, was when the Rollins Band came back out and sent us home with some Ramones covers. Good, fun way to end things. There are some shows where an encore just doesn't make sense. Tool, for example--at the 2 shows I hit, they ended their set with the three-part suite from Lateralus and the song "Lateralus." It was just too huge and spectacular a finish--about 40, 45 minutes of interconnected mastery. Coming out 5 minutes later to play "Prison Sex" would have diluted a lot of the grandeur of the experience.

Mos Def, "Rock N' Roll." Go Mos, go.

NIN lyrics are immature and often ridiculous, and I think most of us sorta wear them out by the time we pass 15 or 16, but I don't care because I love the soundscapes Reznor creates. That might be why Broken is my favorite album of his: 22 minutes of concentrated rage, and the vocals are more a half-distorted ranting with occasional loveable phrases like "fist fuck" pushing up through the surface. I wish the guy did more instrumentals. "A Warm Place" is probably my favorite track on Downward Spiral.

Don't fuck with Inc, man. Motherfucker looks like Vin Diesel.

Write however you want, IL. I'm marking, and I'll just take into consideration however you or Craven approach it. No worries indeed.

Yeeeeeeeah, that's kind of EXACTLY what I was looking for. Very nice stuff, Duran. The clipfest does a quick pick-up for those of us out of the loop on Duran's creds, and the RANDY TURNER REFERENCE (god, it's such a shame he never got a chance to grow further) brings the wayback juice for people with good memories. The spot I quoted is my favorite part--there's Duran in a nutshell, with a motivation, a plan of action, and a goal. Cool, cool, cool stuff.

Rando, I promise you that it'll all make sense when you get there. There might be an error or two on the bracket graphic--I think we don't go to three-ways soon enough on there--but don't sweat it. There's no reason to worry about this stuff now--it doesn't matter what number you are, nor can you possibly figure out who you might be facing in round 3 if you lose one match but x no-shows and y gets an upset but z wins as expected--just ride it out and write for Wednesday before worrying about the future.

Yep. The loser's and winner's brackets will be running simultaneously. It will take 7 shows altogether to crown a tourney winner, leaving one show extra for ADDED HOSTILITIES! I'm tinglin' with excitement already, I am.

No, that's not entirely correct. Move the Craven match to the very bottom, and you have it, to the best of my knowledge. I moved it to the top so we could have the Annie/Judge match as main event. 1) Sacred Xcalibur Kibs English Dragon Jay Dawg Duran Crow Apostle 2) Quiz Mak Danny W. Viktor Dante Crane Stryke Dace Ejiro 3) CIA Spike Show Aecas Judge Annie Craven ??? I believe that's how your initial bracket shapes up.

Come on, folks. The guy booking the show shouldn't have to be the one pushing comments into the double digits. Only half a dozen people have even posted on it, and the two who've said anything about the show in detail aren't even writing matches. Even a quick 5-minute note would be wonderful. That said... Comments for Duran! First off, don't worry: as far as I know, Comet is here for a good long run. I like the little change-up you do with your entrance, knocking the beer out of the woman's hands. It's a nice touch. One thought first of all: fire off a board promo between now and Lockdown. Short of what I've read in these last two matches and your stats, I have very little conception of who John Duran is and what makes him unique in the SWF. Big note #1: It might help to run back through your match after you've written it and do some edits. There's a lot of repeated information here and just a few simple clean-ups can keep your flow moving more fluidly. It'll also save you words at the end of the day. Here's another question off that same quote: why *does* Duran go for the early pinfall? Comet calls him a fool and everyone'd tend to agree. Keep an eye out for things like that--just because we're used to seeing WWE guys go for pinfalls off vertical suplexes sans explanation doesn't mean it's the best thing here. A quick aside about how getting the first pinfall gives Duran the psychological advantage or challenges CIA to match him can do a lot for making the match seem more than by-the-numbers wrestling. You do a real nice job with CIA's first offensive burst right after--the bulldog, the playing to the crowd quickly, and the dropkick to the corner make for a compelling early sequence. Nothing too complicated, but all very effective and good for traditional face mayhem. Duran's repeated punches and then forearm to the face is another simple little sequence that I like. I would have liked to see a longer sell on the Michinoku Driver II after the dragon sleeper. You start it off very well with Duran being all stumbly and getting the desperation DDT, but he pops up so quickly afterwards that it makes me wonder what the point of the MD II was if we could have just gone straight to the DDT. A move that doesn't progress the match along somehow, tell part of the story, or pop the crowd in particularly notable fashion isn't really a move worth having. The Ultimate Sin tease into the piledriver, on the other hand, is excellent for exactly those reasons. Crowd reaction, starts CIA on the route to his demise. Add in the taunting afterwards, and Duran is becoming a savvy heel in this match--a good mix of dickery and pure power. The chokeslam is another goodie, and I think with just a bit more of a sell from the commentators and crowd reaction, I would have totally bought it as a near fall. I like that you didn't waste much time with the boring "elbows to the gut" transition out of the sleeper, and just had Duran shove CIA into a vulnerable position when the hold was going sour. The sunset flip counter I DID buy as a near-fall. Excellent work there. CIA's face comeback and showboating is also very well timed thereafter. Between that and the taunting, you're doing well with non-contact theatrics. As for the finish: I don't think you needed to have CIA kick out at the last second. It was a nice gesture, but don't worry about that sort of thing unless you happen to draw a match against the current world champ or you're in a heated feud. Him kicking out at the last second doesn't make him look strong--just incompetent--and it makes Duran's finisher look like it's barely enough. You'd be better off having CIA stumble up after the match and still get a rousing cheer from the crowd. So all in all: the match is a bit mired in basics and a few bad habits. Yet look at how much I wrote about it--I really enjoyed reading it, and you're doing a helluva lot more things right than wrong. My summarized suggestions: -Give us WF guys who haven't followed the JL much a board promo or a pre-match spiel that lets us see a little more of John Duran the character. Flipping folks off and being an ass is a good trademark, but I want to see more behind it. -Keep an eye out for stuff like the Michinoku Driver II not really syncing up with the rest of the match. -Play to your strengths for now: good, short sequences (CIA's first face offense, the Ultimate Sin tease/piledriver/chokeslam/sleeper sequence) and clever in-ring action (CIA playing to the crowd, Duran taunting). I think you'll also gradually want to get more adventurous. It was a good match, but like your PPV affair, a bit plain. I think your tourney match with JD is a good place to experiment a bit--his character can be taken as a tough-ass brawler, hardcore maniac, sick submissionist--he's got a cool moveset and you can really work with him in whatever way you want to try. Keep on truckin'. And that all only took me about 20, 25 minutes. See? Everybody can do it!