Hit or Miss Volume 18

More than just a few days late…it’s Hit or Miss Volume 18!! Joining me as usual we’ve got Matt Waters and Chris GST!

Hit or Miss: The Colony winning KOT

Matt Waters: Hit. Even though I really wanted it to go to The Spectral Envoy so that UltraMantis Black could finally do something meaningful in Chikara and Incoherence could avenge their first round exit last year, it is about time one of the most consistent trios in the company won their trios tournament. Sure, the Portal have been on fire, but Justin Houston put it perfectly when he said that if they won a few months after their formation then what do they do after that? Nothing. The Colony have been scrapping away for years now and after getting screwed in the finals last year they finally broke through. It was a little bit too predictable, hence several of us picking other teams to win, but predictable is not always bad. Congrats to the Colony.

Chris GST: Hit. While the BDK feud is slowing down, it’s good to celebrate some home grown talent and really this is one of the major teams that made sense to win the whole tournament.  I haven’t caught up to KOT yet so not sure what this means in terms of story lines but I’m sure it will fit in.

1 for 1

Hit or Miss: El Generico winning RDV

MW: Hit. Remember that insane RDV qualifier two years ago? You know, that one with Kota Ibushi, Jigsaw, Nick Jackson and ummm…. some dude… Well that dude was Mr. Generico and for my money he was responsible for one of the most impressive sequences of moves in wrestling history in that match. He’s also in my opinion one of the ten best in-ring competitors in the world and despite not being an official member of the Chikara roster, his frequent guest appearances over the years have made him a part of their extended family. Generico being crowned the King of Flyers not only thanks him for being a member of said family, it recognises his contributions to wrestling over the last half-decade, in Chikara and elsewhere. Also I picked Sean Waltman to win as the final part of his redemption weekend, and when you look at the list of competitors there could only be one realistic opponent for him in the finals and that man was El Generico.

CGST: Hit. El Generico is a talent that really has come on strong for the last 2-3 years and his stock is rising.  Anything that gives CHIKARA more glances is a good thing and I feel that this is the major reason behind his winning.  Do we see more of him in CHIKARA now?  I sure hope so.

2 for 2

Hit or Miss: The WWE Draft edition of Raw

MW: Hit. Call me crazy but I enjoy the excitement and big-time feel that comes with a draft. Things got started the right way with the shock of all shocks with Cena going first after an always somewhat enjoyable battle royal and they only got better with Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton, Alberto Del Rio, Big Show, and Sin Cara getting swapped before the night was over. And then they corrected the shocking mistake of moving Cena by bringing him right back, a first for draft night and something I commend. This way they got to do something surprising without actually committing to it, keeping the top star on the main show. The wrestling wasn’t so bad though as always it was too short. The bar for episodes of Raw isn’t all that high, but the draft edition was one of the better ones. (ed note: link to Matt Water’s personal blog article about the draft: http://blogofhonor.wordpress.com/2011/04/28/breaking-down-the-draft/)

CGST: Miss. Total lazy ass booking and the WWE.com draft did nothing for me either.  The bait and switch with Cena was stupid as they have clearly said in the past that once you are drafted you are taken out of the draft selections.  This is worse than when Triple H was drafted to SD and then traded back for the Dudley’s and I believe Booker T.

2 for 3

Hit or Miss: The announced field for the tournament to crown the first Chikara singles champion

MW: Hit. It’s tricky to answer that given there are twelve different competitors who could all be critiqued positively or negatively for their inclusion, but the sheer variety of the group gets a big Hit from me. Some of the guys (and girl) are obvious – Quack, Claudio, Kingston – and some are deserving but a surprise – Amasis, Vin Gerard, Sara Del Rey. When you mix this eclectic group of wrestlers together things get very interesting. Realistically I think only 6 of the 12 have a shot at winning, but how many wrestling tournaments can say 50% of their entrants are strong favourites? It’s the block-based round robin system that makes things interesting as it means we’re not only going to get more singles action in the next few months than in some entire seasons, but also certain wrestlers can go to the finals or even win without ever beating certain other wrestlers. One thing is for sure, this tournament is going to be a wild ride.

CGST: Hit. Does anyone else demand Ultramantis Black win this or is it just me?

3 for 4

Hit or Miss: The American Wolves will split at ROH Revolution: USA

MW: Miss. It seems entirely logical that they will have a miscommunication during their rematch with the Kings of Wrestling and their friction will boil over to set up a match between them. That match taking place on the New York show ROH are touting as the biggest in the company’s history would be quite fitting as a main event. But I don’t see it happening this early. I think Eddie needs more time with the belt to build a name for himself and I think Davey is probably going to run through everybody in the company until he accepts there is no other option than to challenge for the title. With no television to hype their events ROH need to film some angles at their live shows and release the footage on their video-wires, and when picturing the hype video for a match between them I see a few more twists and turns before we get to an out and out break-up. I’d like to see them book Eddie against KENTA at the New York show and save Eddie vs Davey for late summer or perhaps even Final Battle.

CGST: Hit. I definitely see it happening and really this story should be given lots of time to grow organically.  It has potential to have an awesome blow off and should be booked as such.

3 for 5

Hit or Miss: King of Trios 2011 (the overall tournament)

MW: Hit. My copies of the DVDs have yet to hit British soil but every single thing I’ve heard about every moment of the weekend has been complimentary. The results work, the matches sound amazing, there are special attractions galore, and I look forward to the redemption of Sean Waltman and the plethora of Larry Sweeney tributes. What else is there to say? It’s Chikara, it’s King of Trios, it’s a Hit.

CGST: HUGE Hit. It sounds like it was one of the best from both an out of ring and in ring experience.  123 Kid debuting, team Osaka Pro, team Dragon Gate Vets, and of course Team Original Michinoku Pro are just a few of the things I’m going to take away from this tournament without having seen any of it yet.  I think that CHIKARA has some large shoes to fill for next year.

4 for 6

That’s all for this week! Sorry it took me so long to get it ready…if you’ve watched the news you’ll see that a huge wave of storms ripped through the South. Anyway, be good everyone!

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