BRM Reviews Style Battle Season 1, Episode 7 (boring)

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews Style Battle Season 1, Episode 7 (boring)

Post by Big Red Machine » Sep 24th, '17, 21:19

Style Battle S1, E7 (9/17/2017)- Port Richey, FL

FIRST ROUND MATCH: Darby Allin vs. Kai Katana- 3.75/10
A short but decent match that served to help get over Darby’s “I am going to prove myself as a technical wrestler now” angle, getting a win with the same “Gibson Leg Lock” roll-up that he beat Timothy Thatcher with at Evolve 91.

DARBY ALLIN PROMO- a good, determined babyface promo, but in Darby’s standard foreboding tones. It worked.

FIRST ROUND MATCH: Matt Palmer vs. Leon Ruff- 4.5/10
Ruff has only been wrestling for nine months, and won his way into this tournament by winning a big multi-person match of A.R. Fox students on the previous show. Palmer, to contrast, has been wrestling for eleven years. He was apparently trained by Lance Hoyt and R.D. Evans. That must be one hell of a crazy wrestling school.
This was another short match, but was enjoyable enough that I definitely wouldn’t object to seeing either man again.

MATT PALMER PROMO- another good determined babyface promo, but of a much more classical variety that Darby’s.

FIRST ROUND MATCH: Nathan Cruz vs. Saieve Al-Sabah- 5.5/10
This is another match where we have a rookie (Al-Sabah) taking on a guy with eleven years of experience (Cruz). The twist, however, is that Cruz is actually younger than Al-Sabah is. Another fun fact about Cruz is that he was the first-ever PROGRESS champion. They had a pretty good babyface vs. heel match for the time they were given. Al-Sabah won and the announcers talked it up as a big upset.

SAIEVE AL-SABAH PROMO- his promo was good, but he came off a little heelish even though he was pretty clearly a babyface during the match.

FIRST ROUND MATCH: A.R. Fox vs. Snoop Strikes- 6.5/10

A.R. FOX PROMO- good. He says that he will win tonight’s tournament and become “Mr. Style Battle.”

SEMIFINAL MATCH: Darby Allin vs. Matt Palmer- 6.5/10
This match was very good for the time it got. The story was both men trying for their finisher- Allin’s Gibson Leg Lock and Palmer’s sharpshooter. Also interesting was Darby reverting to a more traditional daredevil Darby Allin style rather than this newer, more technical style.

DARBY ALLIN PROMO- he didn’t really say anything.

SEMIFINAL MATCH: A.R. Fox vs. Saieve Al Sabah- 5.5/10

A.R. FOX PROMO- same as before.

WWA4 HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE FREE 4 ALL BATTLE ROYALE: James Bandy(c) vs. Adrian Alanis vs. Mighty Vic vs. Bobby Flaco vs. Damien Parker vs. Damien Smith vs. Jaxon Vile vs. Kavron Kanyon vs. Rudy Wristlock vs. Ryan Rembrant vs. Tommy Maserati vs. Tony Midas- 5/10
Despite being called a “battle royale” this was just a standard elimination match, with no consequences for going over the top rope to the floor. This was just guys taking turns doing spots with each other, usually one at a time, while everyone else just stayed on the outside. In a twelve-way match. I know they were selling, but this format, with two guys doing a few spots and another guy just coming in to replace whoever was laid out at the end made it feel a lot more like they were just waiting their turn. The last few guys did some good stuff, but this was just random dudes doing spots.

SHINE NOVA TITLE MATCH: Priscilla Kelly(c) vs. Candy Cartwright (w/Aria Blake)- DUD!
Apparently this new “Cutie Pie Club” gimmick has given Aria Blake not only a makeover but also a personality, which was something she was missing before. Kelly is billed as both “Hell’s Favorite Harlot” and “the Pro Wrestling Succubus,” which have got to be the two most Priscilla Kelly nicknames ever.
Very little of what they did even came close to looking good, plus we got a Dusty Finish which really just returns us to the status quo ante of Candy thinking she got screwed by bad officiating and thus deserves a rematch, but in a match this short it would have been better to just not have the match than tread water with a Dusty Finish.

STYLE BATTLE SEASON 1, EPISODE 7 TOURNAMENT FINALS: Darby Allin vs. A.R. Fox- 6.25/10
Both guys cut decent promos before the match. The match was unfortunately short (less than ten minutes!), and I really didn’t like the booking here, as it made Darby’s “big win” look almost like a fluke, which feels like a huge step backwards for Darby.

A dull episode of Style Battle, and a pretty bad show by any standards. I was on the fence about watching this one, but I figured Darby would probably win, and wanted to see him win something meaningful in the WWN, and between that and the fact that I had watched the first six and there are only two more after this, I figured I might as well watch it. After watching this show, if I do wind up watching the next one, it will only because I have watched the first seven and toughing it out through the end will make the time I have spent watching all of these mediocre shows feel at least slightly validated.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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