Pride Final Conflict 2004 Discussion

[Styles 0]

Since there hadn't really been a thread on it for fear of spoilers, I'll start one...

 

One thought: FUCK.

 

Reminicent of that empty feeling when Randy/Vitor had a similar fluke ending, but worse since there wasn't even a winner.

I never would have thought the UFC show I was moments away from not ordering would blow away what looked to be a surefire Pride show.

 

Nothing really stood out tonight. The first match between Bustamante and Nakamura I found somewhat boring. Probably too cerebral.

Nogeira/Khaotonov (I know Im spelling names wrong) was pretty good, but it would have been nice to see another round.

Fedor/Ogawa was about what was expected with Fedor finishing him off in short order.

Cro Crop's knockout of Alex was the shot of the night. Simply awesome. Dangerous man still is Cro Crop.

Randleman vs. Waterman was a good power match up, but I would have loved to seen a knockout rather than a submission in this one.

Silva/Kondo is fight of the night as both came out swinging. Silva's knockout shot and hard stomps were brutal. Another dangerous man (I still think Couture would ground him).

Fedor/Nog was looking good and just as I was getting into it, shit happens. That gash was gastly though. Very Eastman like. Why didn't they just superglue it as suggested? Fedor looked like he could have continued. Oh well, everyone comes away pissed. Bring on the rematch I guess.

Still some good fights but overall a big disappointment, especially compared to a blowaway UFC show...

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

*Cries*

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

I disagree about nothing standing out - Silva stomping the hell outta Kondo, Cro Cop killing Aleks, and Nog vs. Kharitonov stand out in my mind pretty clearly.

 

I enjoyed tonights show, but since it had the 1 week delay I didn't have the same amount of excitement for it as I did with the UFC show. Plus, the fact that they didn't start the first fight until 9:20 PLUS re-aired everything from the pre-show hurt the hype. Quick Intro -> Long live PRIDE intro -> individual fight intro -> fight.

 

The NAK vs. Busta was a poor choice to lead off with. It was a REALLY good fight, with Nakamura showing some really good GnP, but it went to a decision and you need to start off hot. They should have shown Cro Cop vs. Aleks first, or Silva/Kondo. The Nak did an awesome job with some excellent control in the clinch and showing some Sakuraba-like moves when Busta was on his back. Him vs. Silva in the future??

 

Noguiera vs. Kharitonov was dope. It's a FOTYC IMO. They just killed each other out there in an extended version of Frye/Takayama. Sergei landed some SWEET body shots and took some sick jabs to the face. Really constant action, some exciting moments on the ground (power bomb~!), which made it the fight of the night IMO.

 

Fedor vs. Ogawa - Ogawas entrance rules! Fedors music rules! The entrances were WAAAAY longer than this fight! THIS is how you book a tournament - have the challenger take the long road, have the champ take the easy road; up hill climb. Watching Fedor let loose is the shit.

 

Cro Cop vs. A.E. was really fun. Aleks did a good job pressing the action to Cro Cop, which is the way to beat him. However, his stand up was pretty sloppy and he slowed down when he should have kept going. The end kick was disgusting, as usual. I love the booking here, and they didn't work it.

 

Randleman/Waterman I missed most of, but you'd think Randleman would learn how to avoid armbars by now.

 

Silva/Kondo was awesome. I love Silva. Stomping on Faces is what's hot in 2004. That was wonderful. 6 stomps in like 6 seconds.

 

I love Fedor/Nog. Their first fight is one of my favourite fights of all time. I couldn't tell you how many times I have watched it. This fight was better than it right up until the cut. It was really fucking good. Noguiera learned his lesson and kept Fedor close and his legs high - he tried more submissions in those 5 minutes than both the UFC and PRIDE shows this weekend. I loved how the fight was going.

 

And then...

 

*Cries*

 

I wanted this fight to continue. But..

 

I didn't hate the ending.

 

Now, before you start thinking I'm trying to spin this into a positive because I'm a PRIDE mark, I honestly am not mad that I didn't get a finish. For the feud, I think it's tremendous. For the tournament, obviously, it's a screw job ending, but in terms of dramatics - you know that when they lock up again the heat and excitement on that match will be insane. There was controversy, and the way they used the cameras and the announcers and the refs - it made it big. I saw the promo video in my head as it was going on and I was stoked to see _that_ fight even more than the fight tonight. To extend the feud, it was probably the best possible result because Nog was _winning_ the fight, but it wasn't clear whether he could "win" it... if that makes sense. BUT, he exposed his gameplan to Fedor, so how will both men adjust? It opens a lot more questions than before.

[Styles 0]

-I don't know, I enjoyed most of the matches but nothing really made me feel into the show. Like UFC last night, I was literally jumping out of my chair and cheering several times. This show was more of a slowburn that lacked a satisfying ending.

 

-I agree on the wrong choice for an opener. The Japanese fans might like it but especially after having to sit through 20 minutes of the same preshow package and people playing drums (I don't care what anyone says about UFC's stalling, at least they talk about the fights, profile the fighters, make odds, etc. not trying to do a broadway production), but anyway after all that stalling, I wanted action, and instead we got what I'm sure was a very cerebral ground war, but it wasn't exactly a "hot opener" to get me into things.

 

-I too liked Nog/Khar but I would habe liked to have seen another round and an ending. As such, it felt like a fight cut short before it was ready.

 

-You might be right about the no contest ending building the feud well, but this isn't pro wrestling where we have matches every week to build up to rematches. This would be akin to a WWF title match ending in a DQ, it just feels like you were ripped off as a customer for paying 30 bucks to see it (now obviously, this is different since no one is in control of such things), but I really don't see how anyone can feel satisfied that the big main event was a no contest, and there will likely be a 6 month wait on a rematch. But, yeah, if I was booking a feud it would be a logical step, but no one got thrown through a limo, ya know?

 

And, why are we the only 2 discussing the show? I thought this one was highly anticipated. Is it that everyone already read the spoilers and didn't order it, or is everyone too busy crying over the ending to post?

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Tomorrows Monday, I was thinking about not coming on here tonight because I need my sleep. But alas...

 

I agree on this show not being nearly as exciting - that tape delay really hurt it IMO, along with them NOT STARTING THE FIGHTS UNTIL 9 FUCKING 20! By 10 we had only seen 1 fight.

 

I like watching PRIDEs openners, so I enjoyed the drum session... even if it went on way too long. I always enjoy seeing the fighters come out with PRIDEs music blasting. The set was HOT.

 

I can definitely understand being unsatisfied with the main event, it's just that... I'm not. I can't really put my finger on exactly why I'm not, I just am not. I think, in the long run, this helps more than it hurts and that's what I'm looking towards. They had some excellent action in what they had, so it wasn't like Belfort/Couture where it was just 20 seconds and nothing really happened. This gave you a nice taste of what you could see in the future... granted, the finals of the biggest heavyweight tournament ever is not the place to do that. It's just... I think the fact that it is new appeals to me.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

 

Starring Wanderlei Silva as the guy who's going to stomp this trash-car torch's ass into oblivion.

 

Man, that cut on Fedor was fucking nasty. And Nog vs Khanitarov was farkin beautiful.

[Guest RickyChosyu]

"Reminicent of that empty feeling when Randy/Vitor had a similar fluke ending, but worse since there wasn't even a winner."

 

The problem with declaring a winner off of an acidental head but stoppage is that it cheapens the win, and, in turn, the championship. Vitor winning the title off of a fluke made him look like an undeserving champ and lowered the belt's value. I think DSE was smart not to award the fight to Nog.

 

I'm not sure how this helps, though. It certainly fucks over Cro Cop a bit since now his showdown with Fedor has been pushed back past 12/31 in favor of Nog/Fedor III.

 

I guess it's good that Silva beat Kondo since it would have looked pretty stupid to have Silva defending the strap against Rampage after having already lost in a non-title match. At the same time, where do they go with Kondo from here? Will he go the route of Tamura, being brought in for only high profile jobs? Hopefully he can still be the achor of the Welterweight division, because it seems like a waste of his talent to go the route of so many other Japanese fighters post-Silva loss.

 

From a pro-wrestling standpoint, it seems that DSE has booked themselves into a corner with Silva because he's almost too heavy to be holding the title, but as a result they can't find anyone to get it off of him, especially when it comes to Japanese fighters.

[Angle-plex 0]

Pretty good show last night, although I was hoping it would be better. Will Silva EVER lose? Hopefully if the Silva/Cotoure fight happens it is in a PRIDE ring since I bet the Octagon would screw Silva up.

 

So will Silva fight Cotoure, Rampage, or someone else next? I'm betting on Rampage.