Kris Cruise is lit af heading into this already. There was a shitton of energy in the typically ordinary match rundown lol. Makes sense though. I dig how Chandler v Felicity is being billed as one of the biggest things ever. Having it main event Night 1 is ideally a great decision in the grand scheme of things but more on that later. It
does lead into the opening match, which I wrote, and somehow forgot was the opening match of the night. I did my best to stay true to the vision that Mott and Justine had and I hope I did them justice. In retrospect, as a wrestling fan, I wish the opening had gone a bit differently. You never want you “WrestleMania” to start off with a DQ finish, but the way I see it… the story was there and the energy was there, so I could see the altercation hyping up an IRL audience and getting them on-edge-- possibly even thirsty for blood, the psychopaths. I had fun writing it even though it was short and I still love the story these character are telling. These two have to basically put on a classic in their follow-up though. But they likely will.
Something about the dialogue in this Lowri Moss promo was… odd, to me. I couldn’t tell if Jessie came off as comically awkward or just awkward. In a strange way it kind of added to the seg lol. Don’t ask me. But she played her rookie babyface role really well and did a fine job of hyping the ladder match.
In the back of my head I convinced myself the Empire was going to win this one. The Keisters are currently more fun chasing the titles despite being heel and PLAS winning is deserved
but I could see an irl crowd being slightly deflated after the way Elon and fam had been building their story... which could take away from a face victory. (This may be me overthinking, don’t mind me.) Regardless I’m a Herrera fan and I’ve grown to love the Peaches character-- and the match was well-written and easy to read-- so no complaints really. The DQ finish in the opening made it so this didn’t suffer much from going on second.
“Skullduggery” makes an appearance on my screen. Fantastic. Stryker sounded like a gd college professor in this seg.
DOWN. Just kidding. It was good. They’re great.
UP. I’m glad Tillman recaptured the 15 Title. Lots of feel-good moments on the show after the opening. The match itself struck me as just “okay.” It was well-written and I thought Macy was a fine champ. She introduced a new title to FGA and it made her stand out, so hopefully she’s still able to shine without it. If this feud continues, hopefully the blowoff is mid-cycle allowing the two to go onto different things before PG. Seems like solid closure BUT you don’t beat someone’s ass in their home state and just get away with it. Unless it’s WWE.
Lol I love the way the Julian Tijerina segs are written, and his interactions with the interviewers are priceless. In a way he comes off as sarcastic/arrogant, but it’s done with this subtlety that legit makes for a charming character.
Solid promo by Chandler Scott afterward. I (like most people) was already pretty pumped for the match, so this one may or may not have been necessary but it was still good stuff.
The ladder match was awesome. Neon and I worked to make the Camp Envi bits the best story we possibly could and sent brief spot notes to Terr for this, which he turned into gold p much. The Camp Envi implosion/turn was probably predictable, but it’s rasslin’ and I’m of the belief that sometimes “predictable” is better. Definitely not always, but every now and again. Anyway, there were awesome spots and multiple stories told in this match. Stryker’s character feels like he belongs in chaos like this. Rogers briefly seemed to completely abandon the “Minimalist” thing for outright carnage which was cool to see, and equally cool to see it acknowledged by commentary. Tijerina came off as a *major* player here in particular. I expected to see Lowri or AMIRA win this so the end-result was honestly surprising. Terr killed it with this.
I already hate Mark Bisley. What a prick. What a heel. BOO THIS MAN. HURRY UP AND HAVE HIM DEBUT SO HE CAN GET RETIRED. BOOOO. TAKE MY MONEY.
I’m mad that Izzy and Karma hate punctuation so gd much that they had to assault it in the middle of the show. I AM BENT. But seriously, I love when these two interact. On the first read, this is the only seg I didn’t skim through, and it made me want the Undisputed Title match ASAP. Izzy is charismatic af but Karma is so damn easy to get behind. I feel like I don’t want this feud to end yet tbh.
Spencer Burke is so fascinated by Dom Harter’s life. Poor guy. But yeah, this Dom segment was definitely important to have but at times I feel a little confused as to whether I’m supposed to think Dom is a changed guy like the “fans” do or if there’s supposed to be this undertone of sarcasm and dickishness with everything he does. (Also Dom and Ramsey were on an upper-balcony, not the aisle during Page v Herrera DONTCHAKNOW, DON’T ROB ME OF THESE VISUALS!) But yeah, this entire feud has made me curious as shit for Dom v Page, mainly to see who reverts back to their old ways first. It’s a race.
I had fun writing Molly v Heather and hope I did the two justice. !
Also, this Camp Envi seg was written with the assumption that Sadie wasn’t winning the strap. I guess it makes sense either way but it was clearly written with the idea that Sadie had no title.
DOM VS PAGE, DOM YOU SON OF A BITCH. And… I’ll give him credit here. I was never sold on the face run but the
first formation of a new stable was a surprise, although 1) idk why the commentators acted like anyone knows who Fenrys is supposed to be and 2) idk why Jaelynn needed a mask. I think the way it was written though was really Attitude Era-esque (which is a good thing in this case). These kind of reveals are always fun and the entire match + aftermath was just fun to read.
D.C. ayyyyyy.
Chandler v Felicity was absolutely sick. Seeing Scott forced to turn up the aggression, Fel hitting Scott with his own Roaring Hammer, the fistless fist-fight toward the end, the DNA Driver off the gd top… like… the end of that match had me stressed tf out in the best way lol. And there was small shit, like the commentary, and the image of Scott patting Fel on the head in the early-goings, and the isolated text during the aforementioned “fistless fist fight”... all the little things brought this together. It was long af but once you got past the opening paragraphs, it was really easy to read and a fun ride.
Good way to wrap up Night 1 and props to everyone involved.
That anti-piracy pic...
