205 Live 11/29/16

ER: We get introduced to all the members of the 205 Live roster, all of whom were in the CWC. And then we get a long video package on the Bollywood Boyz, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me. This is not a show airing on actual television, and the video package didn't appear to be for the benefit of the live crowd. I can't imagine there are tons of people watching this on the Network who didn't watch any of the CWC, and they told all of the same stories during all of the build up for that. I don't think there are that many people who need to be reintroduced to any of these guys.

1. Bollywood Boyz vs. Drew Gulak/Tony Nese

ER: This was not a great start, and it looks like a real mistake to have this both live and AFTER Smackdown. CWC worked great at the performance center, this seems destined for the same reception as Danzig's famous "headlining openers", which just gives fans a chance to leave after already seeing the perceived main event. I don't see the "live" thing sticking. And rewarding the people who stayed with a Bollywood Boyz match seems a little mean. I thought they were fine in their dark match tag that got taped at the CWC finals, definitely stronger as a team than separate, but I didn't love this. Also didn't love that they appear to be a featured team over a team like Gulak/Nese. I'm not even certain they can dance Bollywood style, which is like the main thing tying them to that gimmick. This had some moments but didn't really work as an intro or as a good match. I liked Gulak's nasty bodyslam into the top rope. That's about it.

PAS: I thought Gulak was good, he is a guy with crisp nasty looking execution on everything he does and while this kind of tag match is kind of a waste of his talent, he looks good doing it . I think they are really making a mistake using Nese this way, he is a very limited guy but he does have some explosive athletic moves, making him a kick, punch, chinlock dude just exposes how bad his kicks, punches and chinlocks are. Bollywood Boyz appear not ready for prime time, I can imagine their shtick working in a Regina Armory, but they are pretty bush league for TV.

ER: Ugh and a Noam Dar video package? They are picking some real duds to feature in long video packages.

2. Ariya Daivari vs. Jack Gallagher

ER: Another Gallagher reintroduction match, excited for more of him so he can cut loose. Crowd is already into him which is a great sign, and his look is unique enough to really set him apart. This whole episode is basically pretending the CWC didn't happen, which is weird. Even in the intro they introduced TJ Perkins as a former cruiserweight champion, but didn't mention the CWC. And Graves kept saying things like "what a debut from...", so it's strange. But we'll get a couple weeks of these guys "debuting" and then hopefully just settling in. As it was, match was fun but worked more as an introduction.

PAS: I loved Gallghers headbutt after the rolling elbow, I really hope we get to see him work a little nasty, in addition to just doing WOS mat wizard spots. He has some Terry Rudge in him in addition to Johnny Saint, and I hope that gets exposed. Daivari didn't do much although I liked his knee drop, Gallagher showcase and his shtick always looks good, still I am hoping for more.

3. Brian Kendrick vs. Rich Swann

ER: Really good match though at the end I was left feeling that Swann got to kick out of too much stuff, while it didn't take a whole lot to put Kendrick down. I'm not sure why there appeared to be a big rush to get the belt off Kendrick, I think he's a more interesting champ for the division with guys like Swann making game challengers. But still this was really good and we had a simple story of Kendrick working over Swann's neck in really, really brutal ways. Kendrick dropped him with a couple nasty low angle backdrop suplexes, snapped his neck over the turnbuckle from the apron (nice call back to the CWC, if they were acknowledging that it happened), locked in the captain's hook and down the stretch even dropped him with a brutal dragon suplex. Okay yeah, lined up like that and it does seem like Swann took way too much big stuff. But I thought Swann handled it all well, sold well and moved nice opposite Kendrick. He was good about suckering Kendrick in for fast kicks, like that big high kick towards the end, and was always good about rubbing out his neck even while preparing to do a big move. I loved the way he sold while in the captain's hook, inching his body towards the closest rope while always grabbing at Kendrick's grip, loosening it from his neck. They started the hook in the middle of the ring and without Swann selling it and trying to loosen the grip it would have looked absurd that he survived it. The ending hook kick worked nicely as a flash pin, which is really the way they had to work it as a long string of moves at this point would have come off silly.

PAS: I am not totally sold on this show, but if we get a long showcase Brian Kendrick match like this I can't complain. Swann looked good, the height he gets on all of his leaps is unreal and he has a connection to the crowd which eludes guys like Tony Nese, still this was the Kendrick show. I loved all of the set up for the turnbuckle bolt neckbreaker, they are fight on the top and Kendrick just slickly removes the padding, very slight of hand close magic of him, then when he hit the move it was just brutal looking. I did think Swann had one kickout too many, they probably didn't need the top rope Sliced Bread #5, I also thought the finish came off a bit flat, still this was a heck of TV main event, and another feather in Kendrick's 2016 cap.

ER: Tricky first episode, reintroducing us to wrestlers who wouldn't be new to anybody who watched the CWC (and really, how many Network viewers are watching this, but skipped all of the CWC), but a damn fine main event. I still think it's better to have a heel champ like Kendrick on top with a longer babyface chase, but hopefully he can do something dastardly to regain. If anything, this show will be a fun way to see some CWC match-ups that the bracketing didn't allow.

PAS: Yeah I get why they wanted a title change on the first show, but Kendrick really should be the Flair of this division. Rich Swann makes a fine Ronnie Garvin, but Kendrick needs the belt back

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DVDVR Puerto Rico 80s Set: Invader I vs Bruiser Brody (6/15/86)

Disc 2: Match 13: Invader I vs Bruiser Brody (6/15/86)

Ok, let's talk about Brody. There are two ways to look at him. One is relative to the hype. Relative to the hype, Brody is terrible. This is the guy who is lionized as the greatest brawler of all time with awards named after him, who's brought up again and again in shoot interviews by old wrestlers as being great and believable and fearsome. When people in 2016 watch Brody matches on tape and don't see that, it's then pointed out that the fans reacted and he kept getting booked, so obviously the problem is with us as viewers. Some of it is that he can't live up to that level of hype. Some of it is that he simply doesn't. Some of it is that wrestlers value things that we don't. He was a role model to numerous wrestlers in standing up against promoters and that bleeds into how they talk about him in-ring. Apparently, he had amazing stamina which is all Flair ever wants to talk about with him.

The other way is to look at him a vacuum. That paints a slightly better picture. This is a guy who was very savvy about protecting himself and his position and his aura. In some ways he's the opposite of a guy like Terry Funk, who was able to create a legacy through selling. By not giving, Brody could feign toughness and give credence to the wild image. It didn't matter that his stuff didn't look all that good, because he built up enough credit with the fans/media/etc that it didn't have to. In that regard, he was a great "worker," as in he was "working" everyone, ensuring his bookings, granting himself freedom in what bookings he took, and making money. It sure didn't make for great matches, however.

You could even argue that by no-selling so much, especially in early parts of matches, by bumping but then bouncing back up again and again (and usually cutting his opponent off with an eyerake), it allowed for meaning to be bestowed whenever he DID sell. I don't think the evidence bears that out often. Some of that is due to the nature of AJPW tag matches, which is a lot of the Brody footage we have. They don't follow the shine/heat/comeback formula as much, which would allow for such things. We've seen that a bit more in Houston, but unfortunately, a lot of that footage has him as a babyface, which sort of defeats the purpose. Here in Puerto Rico, against a guy like Invader I even in a match that was mostly even, it works better. This was actually one of the best Brody matches I've seen.

When Brody was on top early, it wasn't as good as Invader's matches against Kamala or Abdullah, where he had a real force to sell for, but he's Invader I, so he made it work. When he comes back after a low blow, he's just unrelenting and the sense of escalation in the brawling leads to the arch-typical Brody formula actually working for once. He does start to sell more and more. It's absolutely warranted. And yes, in this particular situation, it means more because of how ungiving he was earlier in the match. When Invader drives Brody off with a chair, it feels like he actually achieved something. It's not easy to make a BS double countout finish mean something, but they managed it here, with the crowd carrying Invader on their shoulders to end the footage.

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