- Joined
- Sep 29, 2010
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- 2,040
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- Age
- 35
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My fellow Smarks, this is an occasion that needs no introduction, no detailed explanation, no rhyme or reason at all beyond sheer popular demand. To be more specific, albo asked me to bring it back after listening to the most recent edition of Chillin' with Chase which had me as the guest, making my record fifth appearance(if you haven't listened to it yet, please do so). However, I'll be honest, lately I haven't been all that confident about the work I'm putting out so this will be sort of a test run to see if I should bring this back. I'm not a doctor but I play one on the internet and this is my prescription for all your wrestling needs, The Dresden Dose!
To make it easier, I'm going to keep it familiar and only review the most recent edition of Anarchy. But before I get into the show, I'd like to clear something up. Yes I was supposed to retire from writing but honestly I love helping out with the Wednesday Night brand too much. I asked Sam if I could be co-head again but by that point, SBS had already appointed natlav so I guess I'm more of a creative consultant in that I've booked the recent cards and Sam and I discuss booking plans still, as do natlav and I on occasion. So yes, I am still on the writing team of Anarchy in a matter of speaking. Anyhoo, let's get this started.
This week's Anarchy was hard hitting on the matches as the Ironman Tournament got underway and strong on storyline developing promos. Here's what stood out.
1. OPENING SEGMENT
Anarchy opened up this week with Vince Russo expressing his displeasure with some of the things that happened at Lockdown, like Sting winning his match and securing himself the reward of whatever he wants, Rhino making his UWF return, and Fandango becoming International Champion. Russo invites Sting out to reveal what he's chosen for his reward, but instead Trish Stratus comes out and talks about how Umaga has no competition left and deserves a shot at the International Championship.
Russo takes exception to the interruption and mouths off to Trish, which brings out The Rock who insults Russo and also claims that Umaga deserves the title shot, while also throwing his own name out there. This brings out Sting, who refuses to stay backstage and let Rock's title shot come to be. Sting reveals he has hired Mick Foley as co-GM of Anarchy, brought Joey Styles back to commentary, and gotten his rematch for the Extreme Championship scheduled for Summerslam with his reward for winning his match.
Foley comes out and promises to make Russo's life miserable and then things go to Regal and Dawson to open up the show officially. I felt this was a strong segment, and not because I wrote it, though I am proud of it since the only dialogue I didn't write was Trish's. This continues the feud between The Rock and the Modern Day Double Dragons if the "Great One" gets the title match, it continues the feud between Umaga and Sting both through the Summerslam match being created and the back-and-forth between Sting and Umaga's friend/relative/stablemate The Rock, it teases a potential feud between The Rock and Sting, and it also raises the question of what might happen between the Trish, Rock, Umaga dynamic if Rock gets the title shot instead of Umaga. Unity? Division? It also continues the feud between Russo and Sting and serves as a way to bring the previously on strike Joey Styles and Mick Foley. What about Matt Striker? Time will tell.
2. RHINO PROMO
This week, the "War Machine" made his much anticipated return from the suspension he never should've been put on. He addressed the storyline reason for his and Daniels' suspension and tried to keep it lighthearted with some comedy, but also kept it serious by addressing how he felt he'd let his fans down and then addressed what happened at Lockdown with him getting involved in the International Championship match. He caps off the promo by giving his honest thoughts of the now Co-General Manager of Anarchy, Vince Russo, which I thought was a nice touch even though it was vulgar.
This promo was effective for several reasons. I like that Rated R Superstar used the UWF.com entry that was used when the suspension occurred and tried to make sense of it, even though there is no sense to make of it. I like that the feud with Punk and Rhino is continuing because, as evidenced by the promo, the two have quite an extensive history on Wednesday nights. Anarchy has several long-term feuds that are continuing for the biggest party of the summer, and I think that's great. However, now that Punk is no longer rolling solo, so to speak, Rhino has more to contend with, and it will be interesting to see how that works out in the future.
3. LAX PROMO
In what was no doubt the first of many, one of Anarchy's newest tag teams/stables LAX took the time to address the members of the audience and the roster by giving a more in-depth explanation of what they stand for. When Chase dropped the "Bounty Hunters" team of Ryback and Monty Brown to pick up LAX, I'll admit I was confused as I'm sure we all were but I did expect some quality because of who it is playing them since Chase is well versed on TNA knowledge which includes their superstars and how to play them. Anyhoo, I have been pleasantly surprised by this pick-up because of how much depth they have as far as their cause and clearly Chase has done his homework. Couple that with the fact that he's already captured gold and is so far undefeated and you've got something to contend with.
This was effective because, as Chase puts it, a lot of people are under the impression that his interpretation of LAX is just your run-of-the-mill, cookie cutter racist heel group. This promo proved that wrong and opened the eyes of all of the readers, giving us insight into what they actually are and hopefully leaving all of you as hungry for more of them as me.
4. PUNK PROMO
At Lockdown, the masked man that's been randomly attacking superstars and associating himself with Punk was revealed. Not in the way Shawn was intending, I don't believe, but the reveal was made nonetheless and the "Best in the World" had some explaining to do this week. This promo was effective for the same reason that Rhino's was, it gives continuity to that feud by revisiting their history, granted it was in more detail, but that's to be appreciated. Punk goes on to more or less warn that, when he gets his rematch for the International Championship, it better not be in a match with multiple men, and then challenges Rhino to an Extreme Rules Hell in a Cell match. Will Punk get the match he wants?
5. THE MATCHES
Now, before the mistake is made, I enjoyed the Fandango promo very much, I'm enjoying the fact that Captain has brought in Curtis' alter ego full time, the arrogance he exudes and the dynamic change the Modern Day Double Dragons is experiencing is quite entertaining. In a way, I feel as though I've created a monster. lol Anyhoo, on to the matches.
Chase made his return to match writing with the Ironman Tournament match between Rhino and Perry Saturn, which is ironic considering he's the champion the tournament was established to determine a contender for. Sam took on light duty this week as he wrote the Ironman Tournament match between Dolph Ziggler and Matt Hardy, and natlav wrote all of the other matches, showing that he was a wise addition to the writing team and giving a breakout performance of sorts.
I did think it was ridiculous that Homicide and Sting went to no contest as it made Sting look like a doofus, but I was able to use that for my trash talk this week, so I don't suppose it's entirely bad. The match of the show was the champion versus champion match between Fandango and Umaga, a match that had arguably the strongest weekly trash talking session that Anarchy has seen in quite some time.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
This edition of Anarchy gets a passing grade to me because it did a great job of building towards Summerslam in all three title pictures, the feud between two former champions in Punk and Rhino, and changes the face of the brand with the introduction of a Co-GM. So there we go guys, that's the test run. Let me know what you think and if I should bring the Dose back.
To make it easier, I'm going to keep it familiar and only review the most recent edition of Anarchy. But before I get into the show, I'd like to clear something up. Yes I was supposed to retire from writing but honestly I love helping out with the Wednesday Night brand too much. I asked Sam if I could be co-head again but by that point, SBS had already appointed natlav so I guess I'm more of a creative consultant in that I've booked the recent cards and Sam and I discuss booking plans still, as do natlav and I on occasion. So yes, I am still on the writing team of Anarchy in a matter of speaking. Anyhoo, let's get this started.
This week's Anarchy was hard hitting on the matches as the Ironman Tournament got underway and strong on storyline developing promos. Here's what stood out.
1. OPENING SEGMENT
Anarchy opened up this week with Vince Russo expressing his displeasure with some of the things that happened at Lockdown, like Sting winning his match and securing himself the reward of whatever he wants, Rhino making his UWF return, and Fandango becoming International Champion. Russo invites Sting out to reveal what he's chosen for his reward, but instead Trish Stratus comes out and talks about how Umaga has no competition left and deserves a shot at the International Championship.
Russo takes exception to the interruption and mouths off to Trish, which brings out The Rock who insults Russo and also claims that Umaga deserves the title shot, while also throwing his own name out there. This brings out Sting, who refuses to stay backstage and let Rock's title shot come to be. Sting reveals he has hired Mick Foley as co-GM of Anarchy, brought Joey Styles back to commentary, and gotten his rematch for the Extreme Championship scheduled for Summerslam with his reward for winning his match.
Foley comes out and promises to make Russo's life miserable and then things go to Regal and Dawson to open up the show officially. I felt this was a strong segment, and not because I wrote it, though I am proud of it since the only dialogue I didn't write was Trish's. This continues the feud between The Rock and the Modern Day Double Dragons if the "Great One" gets the title match, it continues the feud between Umaga and Sting both through the Summerslam match being created and the back-and-forth between Sting and Umaga's friend/relative/stablemate The Rock, it teases a potential feud between The Rock and Sting, and it also raises the question of what might happen between the Trish, Rock, Umaga dynamic if Rock gets the title shot instead of Umaga. Unity? Division? It also continues the feud between Russo and Sting and serves as a way to bring the previously on strike Joey Styles and Mick Foley. What about Matt Striker? Time will tell.
2. RHINO PROMO
This week, the "War Machine" made his much anticipated return from the suspension he never should've been put on. He addressed the storyline reason for his and Daniels' suspension and tried to keep it lighthearted with some comedy, but also kept it serious by addressing how he felt he'd let his fans down and then addressed what happened at Lockdown with him getting involved in the International Championship match. He caps off the promo by giving his honest thoughts of the now Co-General Manager of Anarchy, Vince Russo, which I thought was a nice touch even though it was vulgar.
This promo was effective for several reasons. I like that Rated R Superstar used the UWF.com entry that was used when the suspension occurred and tried to make sense of it, even though there is no sense to make of it. I like that the feud with Punk and Rhino is continuing because, as evidenced by the promo, the two have quite an extensive history on Wednesday nights. Anarchy has several long-term feuds that are continuing for the biggest party of the summer, and I think that's great. However, now that Punk is no longer rolling solo, so to speak, Rhino has more to contend with, and it will be interesting to see how that works out in the future.
3. LAX PROMO
In what was no doubt the first of many, one of Anarchy's newest tag teams/stables LAX took the time to address the members of the audience and the roster by giving a more in-depth explanation of what they stand for. When Chase dropped the "Bounty Hunters" team of Ryback and Monty Brown to pick up LAX, I'll admit I was confused as I'm sure we all were but I did expect some quality because of who it is playing them since Chase is well versed on TNA knowledge which includes their superstars and how to play them. Anyhoo, I have been pleasantly surprised by this pick-up because of how much depth they have as far as their cause and clearly Chase has done his homework. Couple that with the fact that he's already captured gold and is so far undefeated and you've got something to contend with.
This was effective because, as Chase puts it, a lot of people are under the impression that his interpretation of LAX is just your run-of-the-mill, cookie cutter racist heel group. This promo proved that wrong and opened the eyes of all of the readers, giving us insight into what they actually are and hopefully leaving all of you as hungry for more of them as me.
4. PUNK PROMO
At Lockdown, the masked man that's been randomly attacking superstars and associating himself with Punk was revealed. Not in the way Shawn was intending, I don't believe, but the reveal was made nonetheless and the "Best in the World" had some explaining to do this week. This promo was effective for the same reason that Rhino's was, it gives continuity to that feud by revisiting their history, granted it was in more detail, but that's to be appreciated. Punk goes on to more or less warn that, when he gets his rematch for the International Championship, it better not be in a match with multiple men, and then challenges Rhino to an Extreme Rules Hell in a Cell match. Will Punk get the match he wants?
5. THE MATCHES
Now, before the mistake is made, I enjoyed the Fandango promo very much, I'm enjoying the fact that Captain has brought in Curtis' alter ego full time, the arrogance he exudes and the dynamic change the Modern Day Double Dragons is experiencing is quite entertaining. In a way, I feel as though I've created a monster. lol Anyhoo, on to the matches.
Chase made his return to match writing with the Ironman Tournament match between Rhino and Perry Saturn, which is ironic considering he's the champion the tournament was established to determine a contender for. Sam took on light duty this week as he wrote the Ironman Tournament match between Dolph Ziggler and Matt Hardy, and natlav wrote all of the other matches, showing that he was a wise addition to the writing team and giving a breakout performance of sorts.
I did think it was ridiculous that Homicide and Sting went to no contest as it made Sting look like a doofus, but I was able to use that for my trash talk this week, so I don't suppose it's entirely bad. The match of the show was the champion versus champion match between Fandango and Umaga, a match that had arguably the strongest weekly trash talking session that Anarchy has seen in quite some time.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
This edition of Anarchy gets a passing grade to me because it did a great job of building towards Summerslam in all three title pictures, the feud between two former champions in Punk and Rhino, and changes the face of the brand with the introduction of a Co-GM. So there we go guys, that's the test run. Let me know what you think and if I should bring the Dose back.
