BRM Reviews Style Battle S1, E1
Posted: Jan 14th, '17, 16:34
Style Battle S1 E1 (1/7/2017)- Ybor City, FL
I think Gabe is one of the greatest bookers of all time (if not the single greatest, and, from an artistic standpoint, I think he’s the single greatest), but he is WAY too attacked to this stupid “Style Battle” name.
FIRST ROUND MATCH: Darby Allin vs. Dave Crist- 4.75/10
Crist worked the head and neck and got the win. After the match he was nice enough to put Darby Allin over on the mic. There was a fan sitting someone near them who clearly didn’t like Crist very much and kept booing him. Crist ignore her the whole time, but when Crist said that Darby Allin is “something special,” and she immediately shouted “HE’S BETTER THAN YOU!” I laughed my ass off.
FIRST ROUND MATCH: Sammy Guevara vs. Dezmond Xavier- 4/10
This was one of those matches that had a lot of flippy counters back and forth, but they didn’t look particularly smooth or natural, and when you’ve spent the past two years watching the likes of Will Ospreay, Matt Sydal, Ricochet, Dragon Lee, Kamaitachi, and KUSHIDA doing this so much better, it really didn’t come off well here. They did some other stuff that looked good, though.
Dezmond Xavier won and cut a promo remarkably similar to Crist’s post-match promo where he called his opponent “something special” and said that he was confident in his ability to win the tournament.
FIRST ROUND MATCH: A.R. Fox vs. Austin Theory- 4/10
“Austin Theory” is a REALLY stupid name. This was another match where most of the “cool” athletic spots did not look smooth or natural at all. It also felt very disjointed, and that forearm exchange from their knees with both guys bridging back each time looked very stupid (and the fans reaction to it didn’t make it any easier to take it seriously). A.R. Fox won and then cut a standard “I’m going to win it” promo. Notably, he didn’t say his opponent was “something special” which was a little odd because the announcers spent the whole match drilling it into us that Fox trained Austin Theory.
FIRST ROUND MATCH: Anthony Henry vs. Fred Yehi- 7.5/10
They went to the full thirty-minute time-limit, meaning that both of them were eliminated from the tournament. The match was good at times, great at others, dragged at some, and other parts of it had WAY too much fighting spirit. The finish was pretty darn strong, though.
SEMIFINAL MATCH: Dave Crist vs. Dezmond Xavier- 4.75/10
A short match, but they went all-out for the time they had. Crist won, and then cut the same promo he did before but substituting Dezmond Xavier for Darby Allin.
THIRTEEN-WAY ELIMIATION FRAY: Wheeler Yuta vs. Jason Kincaid vs. DJ Talamantez vs. Chris Henry vs. Chris Silvio vs. Dante Caballero vs. Drew Bronson vs. Hunter Law vs. Jake Omen vs. Matthew Palmer vs. Rob Barnes vs. Mitch Mitchell vs. Trevor Aeon- 5.5/10
The way this worked was that we started with two people and then had Royal Rumble-style entrances every sixty seconds. Eliminations are via pinfalls, submissions, or knockouts.
I liked to think that Mitch Mitchell and Eddie Edwards are cousins. This was a fun diversion. Kincaid won.
DAVE CRIST PROMO- he thinks he’s going to win.
A.R. FOX PROMO- he, too, says he will win, but he said it better than Crist did.
STYLE BATTLE 1 FINALS: Dave Crist vs. A.R. Fox- 7.5/10
This was not a particularly enjoyable show. I found it very hard to sit through, and I think there are two interconnected reasons for that. First, and most importantly, I didn’t really understand what was on the line. If you win this tournament you get entered into another eight-man tournament, and if you win that tournament you get… what, exactly?
This sort of format was a tough sell as it is, but it’s even harder when you don’t have much of a connection to most of the wrestlers. I’m familiar with Fox and Yehi, and I’ve seen some of Crist’s stuff (though mostly his tag team stuff). I know Darby Allin only as Evolve’s resident Mikey Whiprwreck. Of the rest of the field, the only one I had even heard of before was Anthony Henry. In a situation where a lot of the wrestlers will likely be unknown to the viewing audience, you need to do something- usually in-depth video packages- to tell us who these people are and why we should care about seeing them win (the Cruiserweight Classic did a phenomenal job at this). We didn’t get that, so I found it extremely hard to care about most of these matches. Then add in that the work wasn’t particularly smooth, and this comes off as a tournament full of second-rate nobodies, making it almost impossible to care.
I think Gabe is one of the greatest bookers of all time (if not the single greatest, and, from an artistic standpoint, I think he’s the single greatest), but he is WAY too attacked to this stupid “Style Battle” name.
FIRST ROUND MATCH: Darby Allin vs. Dave Crist- 4.75/10
Crist worked the head and neck and got the win. After the match he was nice enough to put Darby Allin over on the mic. There was a fan sitting someone near them who clearly didn’t like Crist very much and kept booing him. Crist ignore her the whole time, but when Crist said that Darby Allin is “something special,” and she immediately shouted “HE’S BETTER THAN YOU!” I laughed my ass off.
FIRST ROUND MATCH: Sammy Guevara vs. Dezmond Xavier- 4/10
This was one of those matches that had a lot of flippy counters back and forth, but they didn’t look particularly smooth or natural, and when you’ve spent the past two years watching the likes of Will Ospreay, Matt Sydal, Ricochet, Dragon Lee, Kamaitachi, and KUSHIDA doing this so much better, it really didn’t come off well here. They did some other stuff that looked good, though.
Dezmond Xavier won and cut a promo remarkably similar to Crist’s post-match promo where he called his opponent “something special” and said that he was confident in his ability to win the tournament.
FIRST ROUND MATCH: A.R. Fox vs. Austin Theory- 4/10
“Austin Theory” is a REALLY stupid name. This was another match where most of the “cool” athletic spots did not look smooth or natural at all. It also felt very disjointed, and that forearm exchange from their knees with both guys bridging back each time looked very stupid (and the fans reaction to it didn’t make it any easier to take it seriously). A.R. Fox won and then cut a standard “I’m going to win it” promo. Notably, he didn’t say his opponent was “something special” which was a little odd because the announcers spent the whole match drilling it into us that Fox trained Austin Theory.
FIRST ROUND MATCH: Anthony Henry vs. Fred Yehi- 7.5/10
They went to the full thirty-minute time-limit, meaning that both of them were eliminated from the tournament. The match was good at times, great at others, dragged at some, and other parts of it had WAY too much fighting spirit. The finish was pretty darn strong, though.
SEMIFINAL MATCH: Dave Crist vs. Dezmond Xavier- 4.75/10
A short match, but they went all-out for the time they had. Crist won, and then cut the same promo he did before but substituting Dezmond Xavier for Darby Allin.
THIRTEEN-WAY ELIMIATION FRAY: Wheeler Yuta vs. Jason Kincaid vs. DJ Talamantez vs. Chris Henry vs. Chris Silvio vs. Dante Caballero vs. Drew Bronson vs. Hunter Law vs. Jake Omen vs. Matthew Palmer vs. Rob Barnes vs. Mitch Mitchell vs. Trevor Aeon- 5.5/10
The way this worked was that we started with two people and then had Royal Rumble-style entrances every sixty seconds. Eliminations are via pinfalls, submissions, or knockouts.
I liked to think that Mitch Mitchell and Eddie Edwards are cousins. This was a fun diversion. Kincaid won.
DAVE CRIST PROMO- he thinks he’s going to win.
A.R. FOX PROMO- he, too, says he will win, but he said it better than Crist did.
STYLE BATTLE 1 FINALS: Dave Crist vs. A.R. Fox- 7.5/10
This was not a particularly enjoyable show. I found it very hard to sit through, and I think there are two interconnected reasons for that. First, and most importantly, I didn’t really understand what was on the line. If you win this tournament you get entered into another eight-man tournament, and if you win that tournament you get… what, exactly?
This sort of format was a tough sell as it is, but it’s even harder when you don’t have much of a connection to most of the wrestlers. I’m familiar with Fox and Yehi, and I’ve seen some of Crist’s stuff (though mostly his tag team stuff). I know Darby Allin only as Evolve’s resident Mikey Whiprwreck. Of the rest of the field, the only one I had even heard of before was Anthony Henry. In a situation where a lot of the wrestlers will likely be unknown to the viewing audience, you need to do something- usually in-depth video packages- to tell us who these people are and why we should care about seeing them win (the Cruiserweight Classic did a phenomenal job at this). We didn’t get that, so I found it extremely hard to care about most of these matches. Then add in that the work wasn’t particularly smooth, and this comes off as a tournament full of second-rate nobodies, making it almost impossible to care.