Above Average

That's a pretty stacked card! Although one thing is lacking, which is the application of a Canadian Deathmatch... at G7 in Canada?! Somebody should ask to have their match changed to that.

Well, I fell asleep with my laptop to my left on the couch last night before RAW even came on, thusly wasting an entire match outline including about 1000 words already finished. If I have time should I try to finish it up or did Cross turn something in?

Cross, just thought I'd give a heads up. Some minor updates to my stats.

I like that fact that you've expressed your motivation. Like Toxx said the language Cross uses is a little much, but I can still enjoy the promo for what it is. Character Direction. I get this really gritty indy promo vibe from it which works well for your particular character.

Since I hadn't seen this one before hand I thought I should comment. That and the fact that it's a really good promo. Using a quote box for that text message was pretty inventive and the running theme of re-using the same ending for those last few paragraphs worked.

Heh, of course I remember Divefire. Wilson had me nearly kill you at Genesis as my debut into the Mag7 at the end of your match.

Edwin and Thugg beat Muzz (but then again Edwin and Thugg beat everybody) and Fallout did as well, though he did that during a best of seven series which was all written competitively to the best of my knowledge.

CIA: You guys just don't know. Z will say it all the time and I'll back him up. CIA was sick. You guys just know of him from those Thoth reports, but coming up in the JL this guy may have been the only person that I thought I couldn't beat if we both showed at our best. Tom wasn't there long enough... and I was a cocky little bitch so take that as you will. He was a great match writer and even better promo. He kept me in the fed when I was thinking about quitting over not getting bumped. Feuding with him made me stick around and looking back, the right decisions were made by CC because we "saved" the JL until the new class was ready to take over by having the feud of the year, making the sWo the stable of the year, co-writing a cage match that had the WFers giving us props and together we got bumped and opened fuckin' G3 as our blowoff. It was my first real feud and probably my favorite. Tom Flesher: The character and writer. While I have to attribute a lot of my growth as a writer to Flesher because of his insight into amateur freestyle, I couldn't beat the bastard because like WC said of Ejiro he wrote my character better than I do. I literally talked to people I lifted with on the University wrestling team about freestyle pins and the like (I didn't tell them why of course) so that I could hope to come close to Tom's knowledge. Plus, he told me about the Peterson roll. If I ever get a win against him I may stop writing and retire on the spot. Danny Williams: This guy made my career. It says something that people still talk about our feud and Ironman. It gets mentioned fondly among great feuds of this fed, which has had some unbelievable ones (much better than ours) and it was between two "mid-carders" for the fuckin' US title. It started in a competitive non-title match I won and then the only thing we planned was that it would end in an Ironman. Everything that happened in between involved competitive matches and promos that just went with the flow of who won. I understand the love but still can't believe it's given. Overall, Danny may have written better matches, but that Ironman actually changed my writing style and idea of how to write Mak. Muzz: When we wrote head-to-head I've never beaten him. I had the privilge to feud with him at the biggest PPV of the year, G4. And I made my comeback as Mak in a feud with him. He's one of the best writers in fed history and since I couldn't beat him, I joined him. I co-wrote a match with Muzz at Clusterfuck that I feel like may be the best match and finishing sequence I was EVER apart of. I think that match gets suprisingly little love considering the story we came up with and tried to tell, five or six hours before the deadline. Danny Williams said he read our match and liked it so much that it brought him out of retirement. That says it all. Spike gets an honorable mention because we never had that defining competitive match that I had with the above guys. It would have been as Ryan Dustin in the three-war ladder match at G5, but he didn't finish.

“So, you ready to go?” Landon Maddix asks his tag partner the question and then notices he’s already packed up. “Seems to me I should be the one asking you that, eh Landon?” Mike Stephens responds, looking at the pile of clothes, tights and CD’s dropped carelessly on the floor, Landon’s OAOAST 24/7 belt on top of the TV (Stephens shakes his head) and finally his tag team belt, which is draped across an arm of the sofa, in their locker room. “Well, I’ve got a lot of extra stuff. JP finally got all my songs on his I-pod!” Maddix says proudly. “I can’t wait until we get to come out to Copacabana!” “Great. And don’t ever call him JP again.” “Sure thing, Mike… uh, you wanna help me get all this stuff packed?” Mike gives him a look that could say a thousand words, but in reality only needs to say two. Hell and No! “Right, I’ll just go get Megs and she’ll help me clear…” Michael Stephen’s looks up at his partner’s trailing off. It’s not like Landon to not be talking. The guy is chattier than most girls he knows, but this time it seems like he has a good reason. Blocking Maddix’s path through the door is none other than Gabriel Drake. Landon takes a step back and looks on curiously as Drake leans against the door frame. “I said I’d give you time to stew and see what I can do. Well, times up, Toxx.” Drake adds with a smirk, striding through the doorway. “Will you face me in a match? Will you do it on Lockdown?” “Next week?” Stephens says, eyes opening wide in surprise. He expected Gabe to come after him, but right before Genesis? He didn’t see that one coming at all. “I doubt Peters will let it happen, you know how he’s all about the big payday. Hell Gabe, it’s the main reason he hired a certified lunatic like you straight out of jail. I saw the match with Akira, you bloody psychopath-” “-Psychopath! Get your facts straight Toxx-” “Oh, what, you prefer fucking nutter? Cause that’s what you are, Gabe.” “Just get me my match-” “-Yeah, about that…” Landon Maddix’s stops looking back and forth like he’s watching a tennis match and cuts in, getting a strange look from both Stephens and Drake. “After Joe reamed me out for missing my flight, his secretary mentioned we’d probably have a tag title defense soon too. And Mike has to defend the title at Genesis so…” “Who in the fuck asked you?” Gabe interrupts sharply. “Is that what you were going to say, because I want to know who made you think your opinion mattered?!” Drake snarls quickly turning back to face Stephens. “I don’t care about your tag team titles or Peters' Genesis main event! I just want my match! I deserve my match! You have the clout to get this done, so get it done, Toxx.” “Hey, come on, you’re not even going to get a title shot if you do it like this.” Landon’s voice cuts through their argument once again and this time it sounds annoyed. “Why don’t you just continue jerking the curtain and then when his schedule’s a little lighter-” “For fuck’s sake, Landon, shut your bloody gob for once.” At the stricken look on Maddix’s face, Stephens can’t help but roll his eyes. This situation is escalating fast and Landon’s upset that he told him to shut up? Michael sighs and runs a hand through his hair. Gabe asking for this match at this time was a calculated decision, of that he’s sure. How did everything get so fucked, so fast? Better mend fences with Landon, at least… (“Please, okay? You’re a sensitive little shit aren’t you?") (“That’s all I wanted to hear, Mike.”) “But that’s not all I wanted to hear, Mike.” Gabe adds to the little side conversation. “I want to hear you say one word. Yes. But you won’t do it cause deep down, Toxx, past your false bravado and catchy slogan, somewhere in that body of yours there’s this gut feeling that says, I don’t want to face Gabriel Drake.” Stephens stares into Drake’s cold hazel eyes. He really seems to think what he said is true and maybe he’s not too far off. This isn’t the right time for this match. “That little bitch right there might think this isn’t serious, but you know differently.” Landon’s eyes narrow at that comment. “It was your fault I made my debut four years too late and I’m going to take every second that you made me spend in jail out of your hide.” But Michael Stephens won’t back down from a fight… “I didn’t make you do anything, but you’ll get your match, Gabe.” Mike pauses for a second and then looks away. “I promise.” “No going back on this promise, Toxxic.” Drake reiterates, his eyes lighting up at Stephen’s choice of words. “The last time you did that you ruined my life. Now it’s my chance to ruin yours.” Gabe finishes in an even voice, most traces of his earlier anger gone. Turning to leave, Gabe spots Maddix eyeing him up and snorts derisively, before giving a wave over his shoulder to Stephens. Somebody needs to break the silence… “So, I know we had this discussion before, but what is the deal with you and that guy beyond all that jail stuff?” Landon starts, watching Drake as he goes. “I mean, not to be an ass, but I called you out on national TV, slept with your sister and ran around like an idiot trying everything under the sun to get you into a ring and then all he has to do is chat with you for five minutes and just like that you give him a match?!” “There’s more to it than that, Landon.” “Then tell me what’s really up! We’re partners, right?! Being Tag team champs takes work and we can’t work properly if you’re distracted by some glorified jobber!” Maddix’s shouts, trying to catch Mike’s eye waiting for some kind of response and getting none. “And you’ve got Flesher—Tom freakin’ Flesher in the biggest Main Event of the biggest show of the year! I know it’s a lot, but tell me you’re not looking past our tag title defense, Mike…” “Landon, you’re just going to have to trust me on this one," Stephens says seriously, "I’m not looking past our title defense. Gabe and I have some unfinished business and it needs to get aired out.” he finishes, his grey eyes shifting to everywhere but Maddix’s blue ones. “I need to talk to Peters…” Mike Stephens exits the room with a purposeful walk and heads off down the hall, leaving Landon all alone. After a moment Landon begins to pick up his things, but suddenly pauses and looks out the doorway. “And apparently, so do I…” FADE…

I could do a long reply with proper grammar, but that's too involved. I think the words Fuck and You should cover it. Properly capitalized of course.

Since I'm one of those guys Tom talked about who used to give match critiques... I think I'll begin to comment again. I'll just briefly cover some stuff and if you want something more specific comment on the show and I'll do it. The general idea behind Stephens vs. Flesher seemed pretty basic to me. Flesher wants to avenge some losses and is trying to cement his status as King of the Mountain, while Stephen's wants to prove that he's the top dog against the stiffest competition available. I like that the cruiser belt was added because I really didn't expect it. It'd be nice if there was another twist to an angle that's been pretty straight forward, but I kinda feel like you guys wanted it that way. Tom's match kinda validates that with the Perfect-plex because it was all about showing that Flesher can put anyone in a pinning predicament and all it takes is three seconds. I think it was heavy handed and terribly executed... okay thats a lie, but really, even though Tom's matwork sucks dick (unlike mine~!) it did a nice job of establishing the action and it felt like it was a fast paced match. And like I said, the ending was abrupt for a reason. Nemesis deciding that he didn't want to win the match was interesting. I wonder how you'll follow up on that, especially considering the fact that he went against his master's wishes for the first time (in the fed at least). Match wise you've got this quirky humor that stands out among a lot of the serious writers and it good to see something new. I'd work a little on your grammar, but mine isn't the greatest either. What I think you should really work on is making your spots a little more plausable. You're inventive, but it's hard to picture a few things happening in this match, the French-Canadian announce table spot in particular cause you didn't really set it up. In general, it's harder to read if you just tell us what happened. It seems like Cross just got tossed from center ring into the table, while I know thats not what happened. You didn't really describe how he was thrown or indicate why this would be such a big move. I think your matches just lack that extra description that helps with flow. Maybe its the word limits and you need to better budget words. Still, solid match though. Spike vs. Akira should be interesting. I honestly have no idea where this is going beyond the cruiser belt. I know there's backstory but it doesn't seem to be leading to any particular type of blow-off match. Straight singles again could be interesting.

I loved Dean Douglas! He was undermined! The clique! Boo! Hiss! Although, Shane is one of my favorite characters and he may have a point considering HHH basically took his gimmick, ramped it up a bit and became a 10 time WWE champ with it.

11/03/06 - More Minor Edits Smarks Board Name: Above Average Real Name: Damien Gabriel Drake Junior Wrestlers Name: Gabriel Drake Alias: The Beast Height: 6’ 4” Weight: 258 lbs Hometown: Athens, Georgia Age: 25 Face/Heel: Heel Stable: None Ring Escort: None Weapon(s): Steel Chair Quote: None Looks: Somewhat untidy, a little over ear length black hair with some white highlights on the right side framing cold hazel eyes. Unshaven, with a barbell piercing in his left eyebrow and a hoop pierced into his lip. Average legs with big shoulders, well toned arms and biceps, though his abs area isn’t defined much and a distinguishing tattoo of three sixes in a triad on the back of his neck. Clothes-wise, he’ll be in traditional trunks of blue or red with a solid black bar down both sides. In the middle of his waistband sits a white logo box with three sixes in a triad in the same color (either red or blue) as his trunks. Boots with kickpads and kneepads, all in black, completely the look. NOTE: His right hand will be completely taped up with white padding, while his left will only have black wrist tape. Ring Entrance: Rob Zombie’s “The Devil’s Rejects’.” “I am the bad one… Distant and cruel one, I am the dream that, keeps you running down…” “With distraction… Violent reaction… Scars of my actions, Watch me running out…” “Hell doesn't want them. Hell doesn't need them. Hell doesn't love them.” “The Devil's Rejects… Rejects…” “The Devil’s Rejects… Rejects…” This is just a general outline. The arena will be filled with an eerie Blue light and white strobes will flash in time with the beat. Sorry guys, if you need an example see the Ground Zero match for now, until I can actually fix this section. Stats: ¯¯¯¯¯ Strength: 5 – As a true Heavyweight in a fed of Cruisers his strength seems amplified. He could Powerbomb someone 280+ pounds with some effort and probably place anyone on the roster into a fireman’s carry. Speed: 3 – He can go quickly when he needs to, but it’s more about his fluidity in the ring than anything else. He just looks like a superstar in the making when moving. Vitality: 7 – Tough as nails, he takes punishment like a man and comes back for more. He’s that hard-headed kid who loved to fight because he was good at taking a punch. Charisma: 5 – Smart, but sinister; he sometimes uses vulgar language to intimidate. His tone slides from aggressive to nonchalant easily. He’s the kind of guy that grew up with a chip on his shoulder. Style: Traditional Mid-90's Heavyweight mixed with the current WWE style. Good puncher, but not really a striker… considered more of a brawler. A solid grasp of basic wrestling mechanics and technique with flashes of impressive power; a semi-accomplished chain wrestler who uses stretches, a few suplexes and his basic knowledge of mixed martial arts to wind and dominate opponents’ center ring, building to his vicious arsenal of power moves and deadly effective finishers. Signature moves: Spear – Executed like Edge’s running side tackle. Shotgun Lariat – Lariat after using the ropes for extra momentum. Multiple Rib breakers into a Fall-away slam “The Right Hand of Gabe”: Leaping Palm Strike Shoot fighting holds – Rear Naked Choke (Sleeper w/ body-scissors), Guillotine choke and many other basic MMA blood chokes and stretches. WWE style, for the RNC and Guillotine at least, they are closer to unique or spiced up “rest” holds than submissions. Butterfly Suplex "Demon Bomb": Powerbomb – Has been known to do a Double Powerbomb or Spiral Powerbomb as well depending on the opponent’s weight. “Devil’s Reject”: Steve Austin’s Stungun Top Rope Superplex – A Mid-90’s staple. All the way up top, unless in special cases when the opponent isn’t able to be put in position. This is normally executed after "The Right Hand of Gabe”. “Brute-force trauma”: Swinging Flatliner – Grab the opponent for a standard Flatliner and then step infront arching them over, before whipping backwards sending them face-first into the canvas. I like Landon's description better than mine, but basically it's Alex Shelly's "Shellshock". Common moves: Pieface STO Dragon screw leg-whip Knife-edge chops: Rapid fire and only used on an opponent in the corner. Backbreakers: Pendulum, Tilt-a-whirl and most other variants you can think of... Snap Spinebuster Yakuza kick: Like Masa Chono to an opponent’s head while on one knee. Corner shoulder thrusts Back mounted forearms: Randy Orton’s repeated forearms to the upper-chest of a kneeling opponent. Vertical suplex Basic legwork: Seen the Hitman work the left leg… use that as a guide here. Knee related offense: Running knee lift to the head, Muy Thai knee strikes, kitchen sink knees to the gut, knee drops and a Harley Race high knee in the corner. Powerslam Belly-to-Back suplex STF – Step over toehold with a facelock, which can be a follow up to a “Face plant”. “Face plant”: Off a hard whip into the corner he will throw his staggered opponent to the mat face first. Rare moves: “Manslaughter”: Running Musclebuster; The most frequent of Gabe’s rare moves because he’s strong enough to just lift them into it, but it’s most common use is for special cases when opponents can’t be maneuvered into a Superplex. Then he tries this, which could in theory also follow "The Right Hand of Gabe”. Ring post figure four Koji Clutch: Normally set-up through a Complete Shot. “The Unholy Trinity”: Triple Powerbomb: He hits a Double Powerbomb followed up by a Spiral Powerbomb. Finishers: “The Mark of the Beast”: Cradle Stunner; more commonly known as a Piggyback Stunner. There are many set-ups but one of the most common is from a Fireman’s carry into the cradle position by sliding them off his shoulders and trapping the left leg under his left arm. If the opponent is too large to piggyback then from the DVD position Gabe’s opponent is flung into a falling Ace Crusher like maneuver without the cradle. “Spite and Malice”: Stretch Muffler Crab; crushes the ribs/back while punishing the left leg through torque. If the opponent is small enough Gabriel will practically sit on their head as he twists their body like a pretzel. Ouch… Notes: Having never actually wrestled outside of his Wrestling Academy, Gabe is prone to making mistakes, but being a second generation wrestler the little things come naturally. He was considered the best chain wrestler of his class, but this is the pros and there will be much better and experienced guys around. When going against a pure striker he will get out struck, but trading rights center ring with the crowd actively booing… he can go toe to toe with a lot of fighters. And finally, for someone fairly inexperienced he is very territorial about his ring, especially with opponents smaller than him. He’ll try to add injury to insult whenever possible. Bio: A second generation wrestler trained at Dave Taylor's Blueblood Academy…

I went back to read this one so that I could try and put all the pieces together. I'm surprised this promo got no love, as it's very well done. I like the little details like Toxx's reaction to finding out his friend is considered a mechanic and Livvy's Caller ID line. Good stuff.

...Drew has arrived. Bow down bitches. Respect.

Suicide King busting out the Rocky III reference... and because of it I felt moved to predict. THE MAIN EVENT - HARDCORE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH Insane Luchador vs. Jimmy the Doom vs. Spike Jenkins vs. Scott Rageheart Jimmy the Doom, if only because random words for sound effects in a match make it seem much more exciting. Cruiserweight Exhibition - Non Title Match Michael Cross © vs. Landon "La Cucaracha" Maddix Cross has a gift for prose in my opinion, but Landon has that gift and won the previous encounter. Special Welcoming Committee Match #2 ??? vs. Manson If it's me then I'm going to win, but since it isn't... MANSON could take this. He can write well, but as is the case most times ??? wins their re-debut. Special Welcoming Committee Match #1 Tom Flesher vs. Kerry Staunton Flesher is a dick and he loses! Err... okay, Flesher is a dick but he wins. Opening Bout Ghost Machine 3.0 vs. Ced Ordonez Ghost Machine.

I'd come back for the Hardcore Title match. Reboot may be one of the smartest cartoons I ever saw as a kid. I need to find the show online ASAP.

Wow. Does everyone really feel like the PPV finish sucked? I don't post much in the WWE folder but what did you want to see? RVD to win the belt and pull a Shane at the PPV. That was a shoot for a reason... what promoter would let their flagship belt get basically pissed on. Even though it was bittersweet to most, this was the finish that made the most sense and should've happened. And this is coming from a Philly guy that grew up hearing about and seeing ECW on network TV. It protected Cena, set up Vengence and still gave ECW a claim at the belt. After Monday, they can talk shit on their cable TV debut about how Vince screwed them and figuratively throw it down then. Bye the way, Edge's run in was the OMG HOLY SHT moment in my mind. JBL and Sandman/Eugene were pretty good shocks I guess, but really, how surreal is it that after the heat he got for pinning Beulah the way he did, EDGE, got a damn "Thank you, Edge" chant! PPV gets a thumbs up just for the great little stuff RVD/Cena did with the crowd, but I'd err on the side of caution to buy it if you can get over the little things. They were there and will be jarring to most. This wasn't as great nostalga-wise as last year, but it wasn't supposed to be and I enjoyed it.

You guys should use CIA... that's who I voted for.

Spike killed Mak and has the right to kill anyone else he so chooses... it says so in his contract. Zyon is a dead man.

Firstly, IMO the three man booth concept is tough. It makes commentary less seemless and you have to find lines for people instead of letting it flow. Respectfully Mark, I disagree. I loved writing GSMS because he had that fed backstory. You don't need to know it all, but his reactions were REAL cause he'd been involved and him trying to remain impartial (most times failing) while standing up for the faces could be written very dramatically. His character just FIT with the straight man play-by-play position and seemed like a logical progression. Honestly, I would suggest bringing him back now if it didn't go against the whole idea of his last feud. I wouldn't mind if you used face Mak. I'd think he would work better as a color man like Tazz though. Him and King would be interesting, cause I think Mak could play the straight man, so if you guys could write him as a PBP then go for it. But what about... Frost/King! Solely on interaction this would own the booth, but who do you make play-by-play. It'd have to be Frost and thats the problem. I don't see anybody listed as that play-by-play guy that Mark seemed to fill. CIA's a little too wacky to play the straight man. Axis rocks as the straight man, but is a little too bland. I'd suggest Frost or CIA, but Axis may be your best choice to appease everyone. Hell pick Mak, if I write again I'll need all the advantage I can get! Edit: somebody should find a list of all the old faces.

Maybe he is... he is masked after all so no one knows if there is someone "known" under the mask. (not that I get the Mak Francis reference but still) I ended up inserted into the Spike/Toxxic feud because Spike wanted to try and get high profile win and we never got the chance to run a feud. But I ended up beating Spike in the blowoff, Toxx beat me, and then Toxx lost the title to Ejiro before he could defend against Spike. Hindsight being 20/20 if Toxxic had beat a red hot Ejiro (which would have been tough), my insertion would have added to the feud instead of screwing Spike, because then Spike's whole drug Toxxic angle and subsequent chase would have not only been for the title, but to beat an opponent his "JL mentor" couldn't, plus everything else that made their feud as good as it was. And by the by, I couldn't write my way out of a paper box much less devote the time necessary to attempt to write my way out of said box. And good promo too.

Tom means the washed up veteran looking to make good. Nothing to fear unless you add to that gimmick with a healthy dose of fall down drunkeness at times. Makes it a lot easier to explain away no-shows and the like.

I like the concept of a review show. And Tom I don't think anyone would want to head into Ryan Dustin territory. That mindset involves more drinking than it's worth. Good stuff all around

This was far from the worst RAW ever... it was decent bordering on good. Edge started with a solid little promo and Shawn/Vince was okay if not anything new. They just wanted to reinforce Shane's involvement for the larger RAW audience. RVD didn't get a squash like I thought when I saw Snitsky in the ring and he's moving into the predicted Carlito feud. Who knows how that'll turn out, but I've reserve judgement until it starts. Trips didn't show ass for Chavo like I thought he might, but whatever, he's in the WM ME and he's going to be getting strong booking... it was not the way I'd have gone about it, but makes sense I guess. I would've given Chavo the win then have HHH in a rematch beat his ass with a chair or sledge taking a DQ. Then he can go over next show and pedigree him to hell if they must give him back his win. Show/Kane vs. Carlito/Masters was a solid tag match. Perfectly acceptable wrestling. Plus the prematch promo was fun. Shelton is getting his push and it's good that he's getting more time in the midcard cause they've been giving too many people the Main Event hardsell. Plus he never got a decent IC title feud, sans taking the belt off Orton. I'd have preferred the T.O. gimmick I've heard around the boards, but that can easily evolve from this, since premodonna is a logical leap from mama's boy. And I loved the fact that they progressed Trish/Mickey the way they did. I think Trish turning isn't all that impossible now, if a crowd chants "We Love Psycho's" if I heard correctly... EDIT: could've been "Mickey's Psycho" though, not sure. Either way it's not impossible for the swerve to go down. And I think the Main Event finish was a way to not give up on Edge. It was reported by someone that Meltzer said Vince had a talk with him the night of the PPV and this may be the start of it. He does have a legit reason for claiming another rematch now (DQ win over Cena), even if it's "bullshit" cause Lita hit him trying to hit Cena or even if they planned it. He's opportunistic. That coupled with the announcers acting the way they did makes me think something is up.