The Chief Posted July 14, 2016 Report Share Posted July 14, 2016 Maluta held his own, that was a great star vs upstart match. I hope WWE signs him if they haven't already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm funk Posted July 14, 2016 Report Share Posted July 14, 2016 I thought Clement Petiot looked pretty good, would like to see him get signed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted July 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2016 I really enjoyed him as a character . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted July 14, 2016 Report Share Posted July 14, 2016 Bryan was ok. He needs a lot more time before he's good at announcing. At times he sounded like ROH 2006 announcing. That's not good. I totally think he'll end up as a good announcer, but to be honest, this show he was mediocre at best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conker8 Posted July 14, 2016 Report Share Posted July 14, 2016 I didn't know the guy but Petiot needs to get signed by WWE or Evolve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infinit Posted July 14, 2016 Report Share Posted July 14, 2016 This was a really fun hour of wrestling. Who would've thought 5 years ago that we would see something like this on WWE TV??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cap Posted July 14, 2016 Report Share Posted July 14, 2016 I just watched the first round and really enjoyed it. Admittedly, I enjoyed it a lot more so because of the novelty and its appeal to sort of smart fan culture. I am not entirely sure it will hold up quite as well in a few years. That is neither here nor there though. Â I thought Ibushi predictably stood out. He just had a crispness and fluidity that stood out. He didn't have seem to have the nerves others may have. God, he is just such an athletic freak that his offense always jumps off the screen. That pele kick in the corner and the power bomb at the end looked so much bigger and more impressive coming from him. My hat is off to Maluta as well. I really liked his offense and he kept pace with Ibushi. Aside from that biffed dive, which could have looked much worse, he was very much on. I loved some of his combo moves, especially that kick right into the neckbreaker. Overall, this was just a really fun match and a great choice to headline the first show. Â Clement Petiot was definitely a nice little surprise. Some of the best in ring charisma on this show, really crisp too I hope - and am sure this will happen - that if he doesn't get a chance in the E he gets more looks elsewhere. Alot of these guys are going to get a lot more attention after this show. Â I thought the first two matches were fine for what they were, certainly not offensive. Hoho Lun didn't impress me as much as I kind of hoped he would, but that could have been any number of things. Alejandro Saez is a guy I liked more and more as he went. He was kind of awkward at times but there was something about him that I liked. I also thought it was a solid match to set the tone. They didn't go out and do too much, but they hit some good spots, kept up the pace, and both men were putting in a lot effort. Â I liked Bryan announcing pretty well. I agree that he wasn't a great at it just yet, but just having him call the matches added a little something to them for me (and I am sure many others). Plus, his energy for wrestling - especially this kind of stuff - always comes off as genuine, even when he is a little awkward. If he wants to do this kind of thing long term he could be elite once he translates his knack for storytelling in the ring to storytelling on the mic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Posted July 14, 2016 Report Share Posted July 14, 2016 Bryan was ok. He needs a lot more time before he's good at announcing. At times he sounded like ROH 2006 announcing. That's not good. I totally think he'll end up as a good announcer, but to be honest, this show he was mediocre at best. Â He's already better than the majority of announcers in WWE. Not that that necessarily means anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.S. Posted July 14, 2016 Report Share Posted July 14, 2016 Ibushi vs. Maluta was amazing. I'll even go as far as to say I enjoyed more than Finn vs. Nak, which didn't really get going until the final five minutes and had the bullshit WWE "let's kick out of finishers" crap that's so trite now. Nak is amazing - an elite wrestler and character - but Finn still leaves me feeling cold. Â Anyway, did I ever think Ibushi was going to lose? No. But a couple of near-falls at the end had me doubting just a wee bit. Â I also thought Daivari's brother was the best of the bunch at the heel/sports entertainment/playing to the crowd stuff, which will make him instantly more attractive to Vince than a lot of these other guys IMO. I wonder why Daivari's brother got the nod instead of Daivari himself though? Â I thought Mauro and Bryan were a phenomenal announce team. The people criticizing Bryan in this thread are nuts. Does he have room to improve? Sure. But in his very first outing, he was better than the majority of commentators the WWE has thrown at us over the last 30 years. Â BTW, is this thread safe from spoilers or should I avoid if I'm watching week to week and want to be surprised? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted July 14, 2016 Report Share Posted July 14, 2016 The jet lag thing was annoying me. As if the guy got off a plane and went straight to the arena. 😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.S. Posted July 14, 2016 Report Share Posted July 14, 2016 The jet lag thing was annoying me. As if the guy got off a plane and went straight to the arena. Â They overdid that talking point, but it was nice to actually hear the commentators treating it as a sport, as real life, by bringing up things that could affect a normal person. Okay, no one likely went straight from the airport to the ring, but jet lag can still plausibly affect someone's ability to win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cap Posted July 14, 2016 Report Share Posted July 14, 2016 Agreed. I didn't care for the jetlag thing. They could have easily just said they have traveled a great deal in the last few weeks and everyone has been training hard since getting here, no telling when guys are getting caught up on rest. One wrong move in these final weeks of training can be the difference and those who travel furthest have one more thing to worry about..... yadda yadda yadda. I tend to think those little nuances bother me more than most though. Â I like that they busted out the handshake - ala early ROH - as a way of immediately establishing some personality dynamics for people the audience may or may not know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Childs Posted July 15, 2016 Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 I enjoyed the presentation and found the matches appropriately brisk as appetizers. Some of the analytical points they tried to pound home were over the top--not just jet lag but the stuff about weight cutting. But I understand they were trying to establish an overall vibe. I'll certainly keep watching. It's cool that as shitty as WWE can be on some fronts, it's become such a large tent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirEdger Posted July 16, 2016 Report Share Posted July 16, 2016 According to PWTorch, both Kota Ibushi & Gran Metallik (aka Mascara Dorada) have signed NXT deals. Cedric Alexander & Zack Sabre Jr could also be offered deals after the tournament, if it hasn't already been done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.S. Posted July 16, 2016 Report Share Posted July 16, 2016 So, how is Gran Metalik pronounced? Â Both Mauro and Bryan pronounced it different ways - Gran META-leek (Bryan) and Gran Muh-tah-leek (Mauro) - and Mauro stubbornly stuck to his pronunciation, except in one case where he pronounced it the way Bryan did. Â Reminded me of the Nitro days where Schiavone and Tenay would pronounce Ultimo Dragon differently. Â Or Lord Alfred Hayes calling Kato "Kah-toe" while Mooney and everyone else said "Kay-toe." Â In a way, I kinda like it. Makes the broadcast feel more real and less homogenized. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenmistguy90 Posted July 16, 2016 Report Share Posted July 16, 2016 According to PWTorch, both Kota Ibushi & Gran Metallik (aka Mascara Dorada) have signed NXT deals. Cedric Alexander & Zack Sabre Jr could also be offered deals after the tournament, if it hasn't already been done. I wonder how many non winner they plan to offer contracts to / can be convinced to offer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
...TG Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 Tajiri is old as hell but those kicks still look great. The guy he wrestled (Slater?) seemed pretty generic. Tajiri v Metalik in the next round should be fun. Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
...TG Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 TJ Perkins v Da Mack was a lot of fun, TJP with his smooth lucha-y stuff and Mack kinda goofy and fun. Mack is a strange looking dude - his legs are super long compared to the rest of him and it was kinda freaking me out. OTOH, hearing Mauro and Bryan say "Da Mack" was pretty funny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Dragon Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 Some thoughts on episode 2: You really have to do something I've never seen before for a pure spot match like Lince/Mustafa to get my attention, but I don't think I've seen much in the way of what Lince was busting out during that match. Some really cool stuff there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
...TG Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 Some thoughts on episode 2: You really have to do something I've never seen before for a pure spot match like Lince/Mustafa to get my attention, but I don't think I've seen much in the way of what Lince was busting out during that match. Some really cool stuff there. That was a great show. Dorado did a nutty reverse rana that landed poor Ali right on his head, and then Ali did this springboard spanish fly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gutenberger Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 Two rounds in, the only competitor to advance to the 1/4 finals to not impress me at all is Lun, whose offense just comes across as weak and having barely any impact. The rest of the brackett has really been good looking, although failry predictable. Â Sadly, Da Mack is out, even though it doesn't come as a surprise. He's had a good showing though, busting out some good offense and showing off some great charisma in losing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superstar Sleeze Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 Watched the first episode last week. Boy, did they get some green people just to make this truly international. I love camp and hamming it up, Alejandro Saez was not good at it. Gran Metallik seemed fine. Ho Ho had no business advancing. Good natural babyface, but green as grass. I actually liked the Cedric/Petoit match, probably the best match of the first night and I had it **1/2. It was hilarious to me that no could pronounce a basic French name. Benoit =Ben-wah, Petoit=Pet-Wah. Jesus, I thought Ranallo was supposed to be good! Matula was meh, his only spot worthwhile was the superkick, which was a great one. It was a decent exhibition for Ibushi, but I think they should have just had hit run through his crazy spots and not worried about a competitive match. Â Hate to be a spoil sport, but the first episode was meh. Hopefully once they get the riff raff out this will pick up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 It was hilarious to me that no could pronounce a basic French name. Benoit =Ben-wah, Petoit=Pet-Wah.  Except it's Petiot. Which is not as easy to pronounce for foreign speaker. io = eeo. As far as Benoit goes, they usually got the "oit" part allright, since "wah" does the trick. But the "Ben" was never ever pronounced right. Sounded like Bènoit. Which doesnt exist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superstar Sleeze Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 Lol, really guess I got egg on my face. I misread the name. Yeah that sounds difficult. I'll cut them some slack then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 Yeah that sounds difficult. I'll cut them some slack then. Â I'll give you my professional point of view on how bad it is when I get to watch it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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