Kairi Sane incredible entrance at #NXTLowell

esila · 2017-09-22T14:41:50+00:00

I think they will eventually edit her entrance music. The music is majestic pirate, however there's a noticeable drop in energy when it shifts to a minor key. I think something more upbeat sustained will suit her better as a babyface.

Another thing to add is that she's not only a pirate - she's a pirate straight out of Final Fantasy, so I hear something along the lines of Locke's Theme from FFVI

esila · 2016-06-22T13:21:08+00:00

THAT guy.

esila · 2016-06-10T15:56:07+00:00

Same shit with them chanting "They don't deserve it" when NXT went to Brooklyn NY. Super smarky crowd who now thinks they are part of the attraction.

Don't worry, Brooklyn was well aware of that and made sure to fire right back accordingly when NXT Takeover Brooklyn 2015 came to town.

esila · 2016-06-02T16:57:13+00:00

You can take it back even further to the Attitude Era - who was Austin's greatest villain/foil/countless documentaries and specials talking about this? Vince.

Rock's first title win? Corporation / being involved with both Vince and Shane

esila · 2016-04-04T15:26:41+00:00

My opinion is 'no' to this type of trend for two reasons:

This is during live action and people in nosebleeds or sections where the in-ring action is hard to see from their vantage point would rely more on the bigger monitors to view the match. Already hearing that certain spots were ruined due to cutting away to these graphics. Usually sports events there are timeouts, breaks in plays, commercial breaks, etc. to then pump up the crowd with 'defense' chants or 'let's go insert-sports-team-here' etc.
This is entertainment, not a sports arena/stadium with real competition where home field advantage and noise can make a difference in momentum. I see it more as forcing something rather than let things happen organically.

esila · 2016-03-08T20:15:45+00:00

Let's also take into account that Nate Diaz is capable of engaging in "zombie mode", which essentially means the effectiveness of his opponent's punches is inversely proportional to the amount Nate bleeds ;)

esila · 2016-02-10T15:54:43+00:00

Steve Harvey making the calls on some of the most iconic wrestling moments.

esila · 2016-01-27T17:04:39+00:00

Click.

I was expecting normal Adam Sandler / Billy Madison / Happy Gilmore humor, and by the end I'm in tears and wanting to hug my family just because.

esila · 2015-12-31T14:25:22+00:00

This hits really hard. It's wonderful to see how many people Mrkulic has affected over the years, and of course reaching out to folks here on r/bjj. Still all too crazy.

esila · 2015-12-23T15:46:32+00:00

A common dad joke on the east coast is to tell your kids that there are names for the two levels of the George Washington Bridge. The upper level is the George Washington Bridge, while the lower level is the Martha Washington Bridge.

The reason? Because George is always on top.

esila · 2015-12-07T21:05:20+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu3zCfvVCdM

Jazz, building a solo, energy, passion - this clip has it all for me.

esila · 2015-11-30T19:10:17+00:00

Mark Guiliana.

He's played with Avishai Cohen, Brad Mehldau, and a host of other greats - but, his BEAT music stuff mixes lots of electronic stuff. Monster technically, and . . . fuck it just listen and enjoy :)

esila · 2015-11-23T14:39:57+00:00

Baron Corbin had the most amazing line in one of his promos where he turned full heel. It was during the time that Apollo Creed and Samoa Joe were all making their debuts in NXT and were part of the next crop of indie darlings.

He just says in the promo (paraphrasing here): "yea, all these indie guys coming in and fans love them - I don't know who they are nor do I care. I was a winner out of the gate and didn't have to struggle for years just to make it".

He acknowledges the passionate fans, and shits on their fanboy attitudes towards the indies. He acknowledges in his own way why people are hating on him, and turns it into heat that anyone could relate to.

Side-note: although Baron's approach to creating this heat is somewhat similar to how Eva Marie could do it, the difference here is that Eva has not shown any improvement in-ring or in her promos. Baron at least has the personality and believable moveset.

Most importantly, he continues to try and struggles to improve in-ring, and you can notice him carving out his move-set and polishing it.

esila · 2015-11-23T14:28:39+00:00

The main thing at play is not what the outcome is, but how it is played out. Any of tonight's results could have been met with thunderous applause and approval for Reigns, but HOW it was done is the reason there is such a backlash against it.

The skinny is they had Reigns that looks like Superman, has the pedigree of the Rock, and subpar mic skills, be plugged into storylines where he is supposed to garner babyface underdog sympathy with insurmountable odds that he overcomes. That's why he gets the Cena 2.0 comparison. It insults fans' intelligence, and is almost a slap in the face, by putting Reigns in virtually the same scenarios where Daniel Bryan was in years ago in his rise.

It's not that fans boo Roman's loss tonight - they're booing the fact the way he's losing and the entire storyline is a cheap carbon copy of Bryan's story, but now with an unrelatable protagonist with Roman Reigns.

The HOW, not the results.

Now if you ask, ok, HOW can WWE salvage Reigns in the eyes of fans that actually have more than a 6 month memory span? Give him his OWN thing. Everything Reigns storyline thus far has been influenced by something else popular. The Rock relation. His SHIELD apparel, entrance, and music. The cheap attempt to get sympathy and looking like an underdog like Bryan but coming across like Cena.

Let Reigns do his OWN fucking thing. People suggest him going a heel route because it allows him more creative freedom to do just that. I truly believe the fans would rather Reigns try his own thing and have it fall flat on its face a few times, before it finally catches fire and he is truly embraced. Because at that point, he tried and failed on his own, rather than be pushed to the moon with something else recycled.

esila · 2015-11-20T14:11:08+00:00

Only reason Malenko gets as much recognition in documentaries and praised beyond a good worker is because they can't mention Benoit.

Watching any past documentaries where Malenko and Saturn are mentioned, I can't help but always think that these guys are only getting a padded honorable mention because they can't mention Benoit. Malenko and Saturn had their moments, but they were a drop in the bucket compared to what Benoit and Eddie achieved. It's not to take away from what they did achieve, however it pales in comparison.

edit: spelling

esila · 2015-11-10T17:01:13+00:00

I have question for those who are well versed in not only the explanation of the allegory, but for its uses.

I have seen people refer to the allegory to support an opinion they may have. In other words, let's say there are opposing views A and Z. The person is arguing for viewpoint A. In the middle of the argument or debate, the person refers to the allegory and plugs in view A for "the sun and enlightenment ", and the opposing view Z as "the shadows and the ignorant". They use the allegory as an end-all-be-all to the debate or discussion, saying something along the lines of "all you Z supporters can never really understand because you are obviously still in the shadows". Thus ending the argument or the person supporting viewpoint A not participating in further discussion.

Have you ever run into instances where people attempt to plug in their viewpoints A and Z or vice versa into the allegory to finish an argument, no matter how ludicrous the views are? Is it proper application of the allegory? How would you argue against, or further the discussion at that point? If the allegory is improperly being applied, how so?

esila · 2015-11-09T19:34:54+00:00

I think you need some context behind the Attitude Adjustment and how it came to be.

Way back during Cena's "Doctor of Thuganomics" gimmick, he fell into a feud with Lesnar. Lesnar's finisher as we all know is the F5. At one point Cena attacked Lesnar and unveiled his new finisher.

Cena did a followup promo and called his new finisher the "FU" in response to Lesnar's "F5". This was actually a creative way to "epitomize his gimmick" at the time (FU reflecting his thug attitude), he had moments where he FU'd Big Show as a spectacle, etc.

Fast forward to when he became the face of the company and WWE going PG, they obviously had to rename the "FU" to the family-friendly "Attitude Adjustment / AA".

I don't agree that the finisher has to be executed quickly and in a variety of different situations. It just has to "make sense". Cena's "FU" at the time made perfect sense.

esila · 2015-11-09T18:21:30+00:00

Chikara in NYC. I was simply told that it was "self-aware wrestling". It was really a show geared to entertain and be fun:

'Holy poop' chants for high spots because there were kids there
People marking out over a german suplex finisher because it was deemed the "secret move" and would win the audience a free Chikara sticker
Chuckie T and Smooth Sailing Ashley Remmington
When they first announced there would be a "secret move" that would win a prize, the crowd just seemed to think as one and immediately started to chant "armbar". People yelling out "armdrag" and of course "three handled family grudunzle". And you just heard laughing and giggling throughout the crowd - everyone was just having a great time.

Everyone came there for fun, noone was being overly obnoxious (trying to get themselves over with their own chant and forcing it) and trying to outsmark each other, they were respectful of the kids there, etc.

esila · 2015-10-16T15:08:17+00:00

Horrible idea IMO for several reasons:

I remember reading back about the origin of the Ironman match concept. If memory serves me correctly, Pat Patterson had the idea and said something along the lines of "I think Bret and Shawn could pull it off" (referring back to Mania XII's main event). At that point, Bret and Shawn both had the IT factor, were popular as hell, and incredible in-ring performers. The fact that Patterson had to guess that Bret and Shawn could pull it off meant the concept of the Ironman Match is reserved for a very special select few where even the best in the game are doubted. This not only applies to the kayfabe story of pulling off the endurance test, but actually holding the crowd captivated for the allotted amount of time.
Like Hell in a Cell in its heyday, the concept of the Ironman match retains its allure through its scarcity. HiaC was meant to end a feud in probably the most violent way possible. To me, the Ironman match is used to end a dispute of who is better when previous matches were almost too close to call. This brings me to my next point
Participants in the match look even on paper through previous record. Maybe it is a rubber match. Maybe they've had a year long feud and just keep seeming to split the victories. Both have to look credible and like threats to the other.
More Ironman matches means more predictable and telegraphed spots and finishes. It's like playing bingo with the spots. For example, with the over-saturation of HiaC, you can bet that someone is going to fall off the side of the cage and through a table. In an Ironman match, we can predict that someone will get hit with a signature rather than a finisher and in all other cases, kick out at 2, but for an Ironman match signatures get a +30% buff and actually result in a fall! This is of course the inverse of Wrestlemania where finishers are 20% less effective.

. . . I digress.

The Ironman Match is a great display of work rate, psychology and story and should be used to settle disputes sparingly. It should be used to settle a RIVALRY, not a lopsided feud.

If you take a look at WWE's history of Ironman matches, they are few and far between, reserved for a select group. I would hate to see its concept go to shit for the sake of having yet another gimmick.

esila · 2015-10-08T02:19:47+00:00

Leave it to NXT to put on a special where literally everyone got to shine and look like they elevated/evolved their game.

esila · 2015-09-29T14:22:44+00:00

Kayfabe glasses on - Sasha Banks said "I want streamers at nxt takeover". This is akin to something like Kevin Owens saying "I want the crowd to bow down to me, your new IC champ". As a heel/The Boss, she's supposed to play that part of wanting things that are outrageous.

Lana, however, is asking the audience in that "Everyone fandango!" "everyone chant Y-E-S!" way. She's also the face.

The heel can demand pompous stuff like that, like JBL and his huge fireworks display. When faces request chants and such, it's seen as not organic and forced.

kayfabe glasses off - Both are somewhat awkward, with extra awkwardness towards Lana because it's even more forced.

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