Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

By Nicholas Jason Lopez

“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.

(Aired 4/2/16)

Championship Implications 

– As a pleasant surprise, we saw an influx of new WCWC talent on the show. The first ones were the superhero-esque Midnight Marvels tag team who’d take on the well-established top heels of The Wrecking Crew in the form of WCWC Legacy Champion Grappler 3/Kassius Koonz, accompanied by Jeremy Blanchard (who revealed he was cleared to compete once again) and it was on.  A battle also brewed on commentary, as Morty Lipschitz kicked Jeff Akin off the booth and brought in Dr. Goldfarb. They did an entertaining job of bullying Todd Keneley while also expressing they’d get payback against Gangrel/The Grappler with a potential lawsuit. Commentary actually overshadowed the in-ring action. The Las Vegas-bred new team established themselves as keen high-flyers, but the gimmick was too generic and they’re still green in the ring – not to the point where it was bad, but they could certainly improve. As you’d expect with the WC around, G3’s orthopedic boot won them the match.

– Another new wrester named Kash carried a flag with him, spewing a language that definitely wasn’t English. He came across as a leaner Rusev in the way he carried himself. His backstage promo obviously couldn’t be dissected, so we’ll just say we’re looking forward to seeing what comes out of it. Lord knows pro wrestling needs another angry foreigner character.

– By far, the show’s best debut was Jeff Boom (who has wrestled for various promotions like Full Impact Pro), who took on Ethan HD in singles competition. Despite the general “Boom” name and copying Robbie E’s catchphrase, he had a great build and ability. Mic skills weren’t enthralling, but passable. This was a surpassingly fun match, where Boom developed his in-ring repertoire to outdo Ethan’s best efforts and Kate Carney and ringside. The finish was impressive, as Boom avoided a Blackout attempt and countered a springboard maneuver by Ethan into the “Boomerang” (cutter), so it was essentially a springboard RKO.

– The in-ring segment with “The Gentleman Brawler” Eric Right and WCWC Pacific Northwest Champion Caleb Konley was another decent interaction that put over Konley doing anything to avoid Right’s “illegal” sleeper hold and get out of the match to keep his Title, faking a month-long neck injury (dramatic brace included) from the sleeper trauma and Right was skeptical. Right told Konley that nothing was illegal about the sleeper and was passed down to him from his “grandpappy.” Low and behold, we ended up with Right proposing a 20-minute Iron Man match with his sleeper illegal. A confident Konley called Right “stupid” and took the deal. Set things up well, while also straying close to things that fit both guy’s characters.

– The last of the new talent was one Nick Bugatti, who played a stereotypical boisterous Italian, with his long brown hair and obnoxious big glasses. He had some independent notoriety, so it was cool to see what he could offer WCWC. This wouldn’t be his chance though, since he was mainly squash fodder for Gangrel to get back on the winning track. That said, Bugatti was decent at drawing heat and developed decent chemistry with Gangrel.

– The surprise of Marcus Malone being Mikey O’Shea’s tag partner would’ve had a better effect had the main event tag not been hyped throughout the show. Either way, it was handled well, as O’Shea made the announcement backstage once saying that Crash Test Cody was taking time off. Malone makes a perfect replacement and could definitely get over as a tag team specialist. As for the main event WCWC Tag Team Championship match between Champions Greg Romero/”The Rock God” Ricky Gibson and O’Shea/Malone, it did a good job developing their competitive dynamic but also not giving too much away. This was all about seeing O’Shea/Malone develop as a team and we think this could go places. At the same time, “G n’ R” stayed true to their dirty selves and just when it appeared they’d get another victory by way of the shirt-covered 8-ball, O’Shea ripped it from his hands and hit him this time. Only problem was this was in plain sight of the Referee, who awarded G n’ R the DQ victory. Our only gripe with this is that Romero has hit others with the shirt-covered ball in the Ref’s sight with no consequences in the past. Sure, they’ve developed it as a dirty tactic behind the Ref’s back since, but we think it would’ve been better to have Romero be the one DQ’d to cause another rematch. Either way, O’Shea/Malone gelled and that’s what it was all about. Perhaps they’ll be deemed “The Equalizers”?

Quick Results

• Special Tag Team Attraction – Grappler 3/Kassius Koonz (w/Jeremy Blanchard) def. The Midnight Marvels via pinfall
• Jeff Boom def. Ethan HD (w/Kate Carney) via pinfall
• Gangrel def. Nick Bugati via pinfall
• WCWC Tag Team Championships – Greg Romero/”The Rock God” Ricky Gibson (w/Mr. Tubbs) def. Mikey O’Shea/Marcus Malone via DQ to retain