Finally saw XXX/AMW Cage from 12/04 PPV

[Tim Cooke 0]

"Bottom line though is that everyone has their own opinion on what they feel is a good match and what isnt."

 

That's great in the grand scheme of "opinions can't be wrong" but what I was pointing out were major flaws that prevented the match from even being able to take the form of a good match. If they would have laid out the match better (better face/heel structure which would lead to control segments) and positioned the spots in a manner where they would have got the best crowd reaction for each spot, then we wouldn't be having this discussion. Well, maybe we would. But at least the match would have had some structure. Whether it would have been my cup of tea, probably not, but all I would be arguing then is that the people giving it the MOTY hype are smoking the ratings bong.

 

 

"My major argument was that a match that had me personally on my feet near the end of it in anticipation of the finish would no way get only *** 1/2 from me and I am really shocked that anyone would rate this match that low. But as I said, to each their own - but it's just something I still don't get after reading long winded post after long winded post here."

 

I wouldn't say long winded, I would say analytical.

 

I love 24 on Fox. I mark like hell for almost everything, regardless of if it makes sense. But I wouldn't argue the merits of an illogical storyline or scene if it was so, even if I am "standing on my feet during the segment marking out." Enjoying matches that make you pop is one thing. Debating their actual merits is another.

 

"A lot of the points made about the structure of the match and build of it being weak - I didnt see personally, but I've only watched it a few times and I'm not one to breakdown a match piece by piece in most cases, which maybe is the difference here."

 

I watched it once, didn't take one note, and write my case against it 24 hours later. I certainly didn't break the match down like scientists would break the atom down. It was just clear from paying attention what was going on.

 

"I felt XXX had been established enough as the heels in the weeks past on Impact as well, with teams like the Naturals actually helping XXX assault AMW before, etc. I dont think I mind that the heels and faces werent defined though to the n'th degree but thats just me (and maybe my love to ECW)."

 

Then why didn't XXX heel it up? Daniels sort of did but Skipper didn't follow and eventually Daniels stopped doing it. Just being able to show who is the face and who is the heel would help so much in getting the crowd into the early part.

 

I have been to shows where a match can contain 50 million dives and indy innovation spots and get no response. And on that same card, two unknown wrestlers, who establish their characters early on and get the crowd engaged with them, have a simple match with a ton of heat. I'm not saying go Hulk Hogan and work the same lazy match each and every time out. What I am saying is make the early parts of the match matter more in the grand scheme of things so every PPV you don't have to risk killing yourself to get over. Look at where it got Jeff Hardy...

 

"All I know was it started out fast with some good cage brawling"

 

It was back and forth, back and forth, with no one showing any semblence of a storyline. The whole "we are equal" thing was done in the first two lock up's. After that, it was mindless.

 

"early blood"

 

Which will probably be expected the next time a cage match comes along since it was established here.

 

"and in general, not wasting much time to get somewhere."

 

They didn't waste much time getting no where early on, as indicated by the back and forth randomness.

 

 

"Working the highspots at a certain time, such as doing Daniels elbow some other time, wasnt a big deal to me since logic concludes that he was up by the top of the cage anyway after the Skipper highspot and they were going to attempt to finish off Harris with the two big manuevers one after another."

 

That's all well and good but it got much less heat and by that logic, failed to engage the crowd as much as it could have in a spot before the Skipper rana.

 

"Example - even though I dont think it was the greatest match ever, Foley taking the fall from the HIAC match with Taker right away didnt make it a worse rated match if it would have been held til the end of the match."

 

There is plenty of other stuff that is a mess in that match but that is for another thread, another time.

 

If ***1/2 out of ***** is good but something you wouldn't watch again, then what is *****? Something worth watching 1 1/2 times? I might be on a 30 star scale with your system.

 

Tim

[Tim Cooke 0]

"How do we know? TNA has NEVER been consistent. You have to have long term goals, but those goals are reached through accomplishing a series of short term goals.

 

Step 1) please crowd

Step 2) follow up.

 

I will say that I have no faith in TNA to properly book the follow up to this match. The booking will be all over the place, inconsistent, bad, and won't lead us anywhere. That's what Tna has shown me in their history. However, the question was only about this match, and I thought it was good.

 

I don't think the points about well defined heel and face is realistic in 2004. Those lines were blurred many years ago, and now fans are condiioned to cheer whoever they like the best. I'm not saying it's good for wrestling, but it's hardly TNA's fault"

 

Tim: Everything you say here points to an organization that won't suceed (and surely hasn't yet unless losing 15 million dollars is suceeding in someone's world).

 

Tim

[Guest whitemilesdavis]

Then why didn't XXX heel it up? Daniels sort of did but Skipper didn't follow and eventually Daniels stopped doing it. Just being able to show who is the face and who is the heel would help so much in getting the crowd into the early part.

 

What is heeling it up today? Lying, cheating and stealing? The lines have been so blurred (and that's not good) that wrestlers can't depend on old cliche heel tactics. Lying, cheating and stealing apparently make you the top face in the compnay nowadays. XXX can't be booked as pure heels, it's impossible, fans like them too much. People are gonna cheer Daniels regardless, because they like him. On the same note, AMW playing the same bland face that worked in '84 doesn't quite get them over either. This is not TNA's fault. Blame it on Russo, I guess.

 

Everything you say here points to an organization that won't suceed (and surely hasn't yet unless losing 15 million dollars is suceeding in someone's world

 

I have no grand illusions of TNA's success. In my view, they are going down the toilet faster than a peanut-laden turd. They have made stupid decision after stupid decision for the entire history of the company. They will probably go out of business soon, and they deserve it. However, this match will not be a contributing factor in their demise. This is one (of few) clean spots in a cesspool of wrestlecrap.

[Guest Dynamite Kido]

I guess I'll elaborate on a couple of things here.

 

First and formost I do not think this is a poor or bad match. I also admit I'm not as strict in my ratings as Tim as either. I would put this match in the ***1/2-**** range. But honestly I would like to give it another look over after all this discussion.

 

Another thing that has bothered me about this thread though is the fact that people are getting so pissy about people being critical of the match. C'mon guys, it's evident that Tim or anyone that really analizes this or any other match to great detail is someone that clearly loves the spots. How could you not at least respect that? There is a large percentage of fans that are clearly TOO passive with everything that they watch and are more brainless than half of the matches that they seem to love. I've stated more times than not about how refreshing that this thread has been for the TNA folder as it's the most interesting thing posted here in quite sometime. Honestly, I know that not everyone over evaluates matches and that's fine too. But criticising someone else for doing it is pretty lame. Also, even if you don't criticize matches or look into them at this degree.......then read what was posted and go rewatch the match. At least it'll give you a new perspective on what you've already watched.

 

I don't think the points about well defined heel and face is realistic in 2004. Those lines were blurred many years ago, and now fans are condiioned to cheer whoever they like the best. I'm not saying it's good for wrestling, but it's hardly TNA's fault"

 

Tim: Everything you say here points to an organization that won't suceed (and surely hasn't yet unless losing 15 million dollars is suceeding in someone's world).

 

Tim

 

I would fully agree with Tim on this one as well, considering that if there was absolutely no heel/face gauge in wrestling.............everything would go out of business. It's simply how the business was built....and how it survives.

[RedJed 0]

Just for the record, I'm not pissed off or anything because someone is this critical of the match (I'm not sure if this point was directed to me or what, but am assuming so) - surprised, yes, but not pissed. Just because I figured any way you slice it, this match was an easy **** to even the most analytical. And I certainly dont mean to act like I'm critisizing or "giving someone some shit" over it either. Just making for some rare worthwhile discussion is all, as was stated.

 

For the record though, everyone has a different style or degree of watching or rewatching a match. For just as many who might rewatch it now after this discussion and notice things that might drop the overall opinion of the match, just as many may see it the opposite way. There was a letter to Meltzer on how high he rated the match and then about a week later wrote back to mention how he now sees it in a different, more positive light. The posts related to that are at the Observer site. So it goes both ways.

 

Relating to face/heel definitions - I'm not even going to touch that other than stating that I dont think a companies survival or this business would die without it. Ultimately the business would still survive such as New Japan, All Japan (albeit its seen better days) and NOAH lives and even though thats in a different country, U.S. fans could be conditioned to live without it if done right. You just simply turn it into more of a legitimately based sport without the shooting. In fact I think an organization where the roles arent THAT defined would flourish well in the future and be a refreshing change to change the formulmatic structure of some matches (like face is in peril, cant make the tag due to cheating, etc, etc, hot tag finally made, etc), and if ROH, for example, took that approach completely, I dont think it would affect their overall appeal.

[RedJed 0]

If ***1/2 out of ***** is good but something you wouldn't watch again, then what is *****?  Something worth watching 1 1/2 times?  I might be on a 30 star scale with your system.

 

Tim

Quite simply, by how I rate things, there are too many *** 1/2 matches out there to watch each over and over (I just dont have the time). Again I refer to alot of RAW main events or, say, a match like London v. Kidman from No Mercy or something like that. Anything over or at **** to me are definately matches worth mentioning to a friend to check out, and definately worth a second viewing.

[Guest Dynamite Kido]

For the record....Jed I didn't mean you. You actually had more to add to the conversation than OMGTHISMATCHISAWESOMESTTHINGEVER!!!!!!!

 

I like the fact that you were posting here Jed, as it gave an alternative opinion to what Tim was saying and somewhat different than myself. I was more aggrivated by the people saying that you shouldn't be bitching about the match.......also, nobody here was doing that either. You can have your opinion about this as well as everyone else here, hell I'm happy that there is actually WRESTLING related conversation in this thread.

 

Relating to face/heel definitions - I'm not even going to touch that other than stating that I dont think a companies survival or this business would die without it. Ultimately the business would still survive such as New Japan, All Japan (albeit its seen better days) and NOAH lives and even though thats in a different country, U.S. fans could be conditioned to live without it if done right. You just simply turn it into more of a legitimately based sport without the shooting. In fact I think an organization where the roles arent THAT defined would flourish well in the future and be a refreshing change to change the formulmatic structure of some matches (like face is in peril, cant make the tag due to cheating, etc, etc, hot tag finally made, etc), and if ROH, for example, took that approach completely, I dont think it would affect their overall appeal.

 

I see what your saying Jed, and here's where the problem lies with your comparison. The Japanese market and US market are SO different that they can't be compared on a business level in the way you are doing so. See in Japan the big ticket right now is MMA, and it's considered to be a real sport. If Japanese wrestling companies market their product as a sport and not "sports entertainment" then they are probably going to be better off....at least business wise. So they can afford to scrap the face/heel dynamic that STILL does exist.....although it's rather watered down compared to US wrestling. But in the US, it's not that easy. If you would try and present pro wrestling in the US as if it was a legit sport.....you'd be laughed at. As funny as it is, that seems to be the line where people won't let their intelligence insulted. But it seems more presentable in the "sports entertainment" aspect to have face/heel characters because of what US wrestling (mainly WWE/TNA for this case or at least the mainstream) patterns itself after. Movies and television. Just like Japanese wrestling brings in elements of REAL fighting into their matches, the US companies use elements of drama and storylines. Thus, the reason why the heel/face thing is so important when it comes to selling tickets, PPV, merchandice etc.

[TheBigSwigg 0]

I see both sides, but I'd see Tim's better if he would use the QUOTE FEATURE instead of quotation marks.

[RedJed 0]

Well good to hear I wasnt the one being referred to

 

Regarding the Japan v. US thing, I hear ya on the two different dynamics, and are/have been aware of the styles from both countries, but I still say that if at least a small amount of fans were conditioned to treat a company like, say, the way a company like NOAH is run, it could work because its different and I think the US wrestling industry needs a shakeup or "the next big thing" to make it happen. Time will tell, but I see MMA gaining momentum in the states as well and if you could do a wrestling company with no real heels/faces but with still the flashy personalities and storylines that dont reek of "good v. evil" it could still work. Sure, you would have to have some characters be more heelish than others just because of their character traits but I think movement should be made for a true alternative to TNA/WWE and everyone else, and that might be it. I can't, off the top of my head, think of any company who has tried that route in the US yet, so how can you say it would fail? Its certainly not like the current US scene is booming at this rate....

[Guest whitemilesdavis]

I see both sides, but I'd see Tim's better if he would use the QUOTE FEATURE instead of quotation marks.

I must concur. That is a bit hard to read, Tim.

 

Now, about the face-heel thing:

 

You can't argue that since the late 90's, the face/heel dynamic has changed drastically in American wrestling. The guys who are adored today, would have ben booed out of the building in the early 80's for their tactics. Everyone knows it's just a show, and now most fans appreciate a good performer regardless of if he is playing a good guy or a bad guy. Most guys who garner heavy heat, are getting booed because the fans don't want to see them. ( Before you start making a list, I realize there are plenty of exceptions) The guys who are really heeling it up, end up getting huge pops from the crowd. They are then turned face by the office, at which point their appeal to the crowd normally fades. It's an odd delimma for the industry to find itself in, but I must disagree with you guys to a point. I don't think , at this time, better defined heels and faces would help a company grow. Quite the opposite. Take WWE for example. They've tried to revert to their black and white ways, where the good guys are good, and the bad guys are...foreign. It's not working. Crowds aren't buying it. The curtain has already been pulled back, we're all in on the rib. We decide who we cheer, and normally boo those who bore us to tears.

Now, I don't think TNA should at all do away with heels and faces. They have to be more subtle about it. More clever. I'm not talking about Vince Russo shades of gray crap here, I'm talking about character depth. Give us a reason to hate a guy, other than he is of Arab decent. You pay people to write this crap, let's see someone go all out with it.

[Guest Dynamite Kido]

I think that people are kind of missing the point on this one. Mainly it should be decided at least in a match who will be heel or face. I understand what everyone's saying about there not being that much of a difference between heel and face in today's wrestling landscape. Well, Triple H....who besides Jarrett is one of most hated guys in the world or wrestling and is a storyline heel......right? OK, then why is his character playing the sympathetic babyface in matches? That would be a main reason why he sucks the heat right out of wrestlers that they are trying to build up (Ex: Benoit during his title run). Then guys like Jericho and Benoit aren't getting the heat and it's all going into Triple H. THAT IS WHY THEY ARE HAVING TROUBLES DRAWING. Period.

 

But honestly, if someone wants to really discuss this further.....lets start another thread. This thread has already gone WAY off topic.

[Guest whitemilesdavis]

I think that people are kind of missing the point on this one. Mainly it should be decided at least in a match who will be heel or face. I understand what everyone's saying about there not being that much of a difference between heel and face in today's wrestling landscape. Well, Triple H....who besides Jarrett is one of most hated guys in the world or wrestling and is a storyline heel......right? OK, then why is his character playing the sympathetic babyface in matches? That would be a main reason why he sucks the heat right out of wrestlers that they are trying to build up (Ex: Benoit during his title run). Then guys like Jericho and Benoit aren't getting the heat and it's all going into Triple H. THAT IS WHY THEY ARE HAVING TROUBLES DRAWING. Period.

 

But honestly, if someone wants to really discuss this further.....lets start another thread. This thread has already gone WAY off topic.

Agreed.

 

Now, relating that to this match, it is given that AMW were gonna be face and XXX were gonna be heel. The problem in that is the crowd doesn't necessarily see them that way. Now you could say that XXX should have used more heel tactics to establish that dynamic, but in this case, I don't think it would have worked. I think the more XXX did bad, the more they would have gotten over. Then you've got the problem of the heels being much more over than the office-appointed faces,and I'd assume XXX wouldn't want that. I think the divide crowd actually added to this match, much in the same way the Rock/Hogan crowd did.

[TheBigSwigg 0]

I think an AMW heel turn would be nice. It's Overdue.

[Guest whitemilesdavis]

I think an AMW heel turn would be nice. It's Overdue.

Yes it would. A "we're tired of playing to the crowd" type story would probably work nicely. Daniels should get a main event push, and skipper should become the new "crazy-bump guy" for the X-division. If they play their cards right (they won't), they could make four legit stars with this match.

[Guest Dynamite Kido]

The way I'm thinking with this is TNA missed the boat on turning AMW. See I agree with WMD that AMW were the faces and XXX were heels, so that's more of a reason to turn AMW when you know how over Daniels and to a lesser degree Skipper is. It would have made the match MORE memerable than it is now, and lets face it....people have been going apeshit about this match since it happened. It would have made for a perfect situation for TNA at this particular PPV. Plus there's no doubt they would already have a custom built fanbase where they are at with a match like that. Good in ring stuff, with the good storyline change to freshen it up and you change the dynamic of what they ended up doing. I just feel that would have been the right way to play this.

 

Plus the one mistake I am already seeing since the PPV is that they haven't stepped up the roles of Daniels/Skipper the way they should have. They should both be closer to the top of the card considering that they just main evented a PPV. There was no sense in making that match the main event unless you are going to try and elevate the workers involved or at least keep them at the same level. They are dropping the ball on that.......

[Guest Ray]

I watched this today and it was dull as dirt until the cage spots. They really didn't do much at all outside the big spots - and didn't have heat until them either. Now, admittedly, I nearly jumped out of my chair for the two big spots, but then I remembered that they didn't do anything remotely interesting in the rest of the match.

 

In the end this will be nothing more than TNA's version of Foley-Undertaker. Shocking at first? Yes. Great match? No.

[Guest whitemilesdavis]

Kido,

 

I love your idea of turning AMW during that match. They could've almost done the Bret/Austin double switch, or had all three turn on Daniels, cementing him as a super-sympathetic face. Interesting.

[Dark Age 0]

And the motives for the turn would be......?

[Guest Dynamite Kido]

And the motives for the turn would be......?

How about they are sick of playing to the crowd. Considering that people boo them regardless of what they do, they could simply just acknowledge it.

[King Cucaracha 0]

It was only given **** by Meltzer because it was a TNA match.

 

It's like the high ratings ECW matches used to get sometimes when they were first viewed. Meltz or whoever would watch it and the match would stand out from the crowd, which causes the guy rating it to be more lenient with the snowflakes. Which you can forgive Meltzer for doing. An entertaining match on an otherwise dull show is going to be more memorable than an entertaining match on an entirely entertaining show, after all.

 

Looking back, then you can probably say he over-rated it. Point is, different people have different opinions on wrestling and what constitutes a good match. Tim's opinions are just as valid as Meltzer's are, because that's what they are...opinion. And star ratings are the same...purely individual. One person's *** match is probably someone else's *3/4 star match.

[Guest krazykat72]

Time will tell, but I see MMA gaining momentum in the states as well and if you could do a wrestling company with no real heels/faces but with still the flashy personalities and storylines that dont reek of "good v. evil" it could still work. Sure, you would have to have some characters be more heelish than others just because of their character traits but I think movement should be made for a true alternative to TNA/WWE and everyone else, and that might be it. I can't, off the top of my head, think of any company who has tried that route in the US yet, so how can you say it would fail? Its certainly not like the current US scene is booming at this rate....

MMA's really not making much headway in the US at all, and this is from a big time UFC fan. They're by far the biggest group in the US and they constantly lose money, have no TV (though hopefully the Spike reality show will help interest), and many people and journalists have a very uneducated negative stigma towards them. It will probably be *years* if ever that MMA really connects here.

 

As for the NOAh dynamic, ROH is booked kind of like them (emphasis on the title), subtle heels and faces (with exceptions). They're never going to get big.

No one is unless they find a huge money mark willing to put up tons of money for start up, get a good tv slot and *maybe* catch fire.

 

 

 

-Paul Jacobi-

[Astro101 0]

Just wanted to say I finally saw it tonight on replay. Loved it. But I'm not one to critique a match like some of you.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Tim sent in a letter to the Observer website, and, not only was it put up, but Dave replied. Here is the letter, and Dave's reply:

 

TNA CAGE MATCH

 

Dave:

 

I finally got to see the TNA cage match from the December PPV.

 

Certainly wasn't awful but it won't be blip on the radar map for 2004/2005 match of the year candidates.

 

The problems with the match are numerous. There was absolutely no build in the match. From Daniels blading 2 minutes in (most likely being told to do so) to the noticeable lack of crowd heat in the first 14 or so minutes (due to the story being told so weakly) to the absurd nature of the high spots.

 

Wrestling matches, like great songs, television shows, movies, plays, etc. all build from an opening to a middle portion to a climaxing ending. This match featured no opening and no ending, just a middle portion that served to represent all three portions of the match.

 

There were no control segments to help the heat of the match. Besides the fact that most of the match consisted of "your move, my move", the lack of roles from the teams had a clear impact on the teams. Since the fans didn't know who to cheer and who to boo, the first 3/4's of the match was heatless. This killed the face in peril segment on AMW. Daniels did a little in trying to heel it up but Skipper was oblivious to that fact.

 

The final 10 minutes was little more than the "your move, my move" wrestling that is flashy on first sight but won't hold water a few viewings later, none the less years later. Skipper's spot off of the top took so long to set up that I thought I was watching a bad ECW match where RVD would take forever to set up a spot that might end up looking decent but would kill any logic that the match had. This was followed by Daniels hitting a really pretty elbow off of the top of the cage. But guess what? It got no heat, since it wasn't placed before the more higher risked move. The lack of thought in designing the match was clearer than ever.

 

I wasn't expecting epic selling but I expected more than, "I'll sell, okay you're down so now I will pop up."

 

I am hardly a fan of the Ring of Honor Scramble Cage matches but at least they present a well built story, build the spots in order from smallest to biggest, and don't just run through everything in their arsenal in random fashion. The story of the TNA match with both teams putting everything on the line because they don't want to split up was good but would have worked a lot better if there had been some build.

 

**1/2 for the hard work that everyone gave. But without smart and logical thinking and planning, hard work will only get you so far.

 

Tim Cooke

 

DM: You really need to be more open minded about what constitutes a great wrestling match. The idea it "won't hold water a few viewings later" misses the entire objective of a match in the first place (although the second time I saw this match I thought it was as good as the first time, but wrestling matches aren't created for multiple viewings, at least, I've never heard a wrestler discussing to me how the match will look if a fan watches it five times or if it'll hold up to a standard of judgement by a viewer in 2024 as wrestling changes over the next 20 years). Fans, at the end, were chanting "Best match ever," which is the first time in history in the U.S. or Japan there was a chant like that at the end of a PPV match. That seems to indicate the four guys did their job, and a lot more, in making their audience believe they had seen something really special. If the first three-quarters of the match were "heatless," as you described, but fans were chanting "best match ever," I think you were misinterpreting what "heatless" really is. I can only say it was one of the best cage matches I ever saw, and Mike Tenay, when announcing, saying the same thing, was saying it because he meant it, not because he was the TNA announcer, and when it comes to understanding wrestling matches, he's in the top tenth of one percent out there. You don't have to build spots from smallest to biggest in order to have a great match, or necessarily have a lengthy spot where the heels are beating on the faces if the crowd enjoys big moves more, but you should have the climax come at the end.

[Guest Dynamite Kido]

Well............Tim's response should be interesting nonetheless.....

[Michrome 0]

Dave's response was a lot of nothing, I'm not sure how Tim could even respond to that. I don't buy into the Tenay argument because I have WCW TV blocks, and recently watched a 6 minute lucha 6 man he called one of the best matches he's ever seen. Tenay is clearly biased here, he works for the company. I don't think the crowd chanting "best match ever" means anything either, this is the same crowd that was doing dueling chants for AJ Styles and Scott Hall 2 weeks earlier. My friend Lauren who was there said there was a smaller "best match ever" chant in her section during Petey-Sabin but it wasn't loud enough to make air--if it had, would it make that match ****3/4? I'd probably give the match *** for the effort, the nice finish, and the drama they built, but as a grudge blowoff cage match this was no MoTYC.

[Blade2kxx 0]

One person's *** match is probably someone else's *3/4 star match.

See: Raven vs. DDP at Turning Point...

 

I liked it, and thought it was good enough to show DDP can still go... that yoga must be paying off.

 

But others hated it...

 

As far as the S3 Match? I'll agree... FUCKING AWESOME~!

[Guest Black Tiger]

I just finished watching this match myself, and I agree with a lot of what Tim said. I'm not going to simply rinse and repeat though.

 

One aspect I did like was exactly what the match was about: Pride. It wasn't about titles or overcontrived storylines, it was straight and simple pride and hatred. Daniels heeling it up helped for some level, because it gave the fans a chance to exactly determine who they should be cheering for.

 

The cage rana spot should have been either (a. used for the finish, or (b. not done at all. There was no way they were going to top it, so why bother? Skipper was damn lucky he got close enough to hit it too. He just barely made it over to Harris (or was it Storm?).

 

The handcuff bit worked as a measure of getting heat (i wasn't aware of all the handcuff angles going on) but when the key was on the mat, why in the blue hell wasn't the referee picking it up? He's supposed to be the offical and the man in charge, but he's just standing there. Then we get the payback portion where Daniels in cuffed to even the odds and seal the deal. AMW eventually get their win, by going all out and doing the heel tactics that XXX were using.

 

I do have issue with the Power Plex being the finish though. West and Tenay made it perfectly clear that they know each other quite well (and its established with the escape from the Catatonic) but shouldn't any wrestler know how to survive his own finisher? If its the move that puts them away for you, you'd think they'd know how to brace themselves or something.

 

All the diving off the cage really adds up to is "top this" mentality. Just total ingorance of psychology and storytelling to pop the live crowd. It'd have been nice to see AMW use the Death Sentence (off the cage to pay homage to their last cage match win) or off the top rope. To avenge the now cuffed Daniels, breaking up their first attempt at it.

 

It certainly was enjoyable as a grudge match, with blood and brawling, with some spectacular looking spots. But fun doesn't always = good.