wrestling / Columns

411’s Buy or Sell 4.30.10: EVOLVE Teaming with MMA, CHIKARA Pushing the Brotherhood too Hard, Steen and Generico’s Feud Explodes, and More!!!

April 30, 2010 | Posted by Michael Bauer

Welcome everyone to Week 155 of BUY or SELL. For those of you who haven’t been with us since the beginning, here’s the Reader’s Digest version of what this column is all about. BUY or SELL is very much like 411’s long-running Fact or Fiction column. The main difference is that BUY or SELL focuses on topics like the U.S. Independent scene, Lucha Libre, Japanese Wrestling and pretty much anything else that isn’t mainstream wrestling, WWE and or TNA. This allows for these areas to get a bit more press and for you, our loyal readers, to learn even more about the sport of professional wrestling.

Questions are sent out on Monday Night.


(Special thanks to Jasper Gerretsen)

  • CHIKARA’s new video game deal will open up the door for other independents to license video games.

    Steve Cook: SELL. How many independent wrestling promotions lend themselves to video games as well as CHIKARA? Their eclectic characters and outside-the-box storytelling makes them fit right in the gaming world. PWG could make for an interesting video game, but I don’t know what kind of talent they could get for it. I could see Dragon Gate USA considering a video game, possibly ROH, but I don’t think it would be economically feasible for either of those promotions at the moment. The smartest thing for them to do would be to wait and see how CHIKARA’s game develops, as well as the performance of the AAA video game that will be coming out later this year. That will let them know if there’s a market out there for wrestling video games other than WWE’s.

    But how many video game companies are willing to make wrestling games anyway? That’s the main reason I don’t see a plethora of indy wrestling video games coming anytime soon. Maybe if AAA sells well the doors will open, but it’s too soon to tell.

    Kevin Ford : SELL. I guess by the very nature of the fact that CHIKARA was able to snag to video game deal would make this a buy. However, if you watch the trailer, I seriously doubt this is going to be a “wrestling” game. This seems more like a story intensive game that will likely be a side-scroller, or something of that nature. CHIKARA’s really the only independent company where they have such lavish characters and back story to make a game of this nature work. If any other company wishes to make a game, it would very likely be a wrestling style game much like the Smackdown vs. RAW game series. Plus, we don’t know the connections and whatnot CHIKARA had to make something like this come to a realization.

    1for 1.

  • Given their style, Eddie Kingston vs. Tommy Dreamer will not be a good match for CHIKARA.

    Kevin Ford : SELL. CHIKARA’s had plenty of matches that don’t necessarily fit their “style”. How bout that Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brodie Lee feud? While CHIKARA is very much influenced by Lucha Libre, it also includes a multitude of other styles. I think it’s a nice match for Kingston to have to go over a wrestler who’s had very recent mainstream credibility and comes off as sincerely loving the wrestling business.

    Steve Cook: SELL. It might be a better match somewhere else, but I don’t see why Kingston vs. Dreamer won’t fit in on a CHIKARA card. One of the strengths CHIKARA has as a promotion is that not every match is the same. Kingston is always over with the CHIKARA crowd, and I’m sure they’ll receive Dreamer warmly as well. I guess the one downside is that Kingston’s promos on Dreamer won’t be as colorful as they could be in other promotions.

    Wouldn’t Dreamer & Kingston make better tag team partners than opponents? Similar personalities at times, similar physiques…I’m just sayin’.

    2 for 2.

  • CHIKARA has booked the Brotherhood of the Cross to be way too strong for the first four months of their existence.

    Steve Cook: SELL. If you want a heel faction to appear dominant and unstoppable, you need to book them that way from the start. Eventually they start to wear down and the tecnicos should carry the day at the end, but if the antagonists don’t have a period of dominance nobody will care about the protagonists beating them. The Bruderschaft has been kicking ass and taking names, but I doubt that CHIKARA will repeat the mistakes of WCW with the New World Order and forget the part where the bad guys get their comeuppance.

    Kevin Ford : BUY. There’s been an DQ, and the kinks in the armor began to show at King of Trios, but the finals of King of Trios made a lot of fans throw up their arms in anger and disappointment. I personally believe that when people watch Night 3 of King of Trios they won’t be as angry as they are reading the results, but many fans are so fed up with the BDK that they aren’t willing to even give these shows a chance. Reading the amount of fans who have all but quit on CHIKARA due to the BDK’s overbearing havoc on CHIKARA makes me believe that CHIKARA needs to pull the trigger on CHIKARA’s comeback sooner rather than later.

    2 for 3.

    TWITTER

    http://www.twitter.com/411mania
    http://www.twitter.com/411wrestling
    http://www.twitter.com/411moviestv
    http://www.twitter.com/411music
    http://www.twitter.com/411games
    http://www.twitter.com/411mma

  • EVOLVE mixing in MMA demonstrations and an Extreme Hotties competition for this weekend’s show is a horrible marketing tool.

    Kevin Ford : SELL. First off, I haven’t any idea of what the specifics of this arrangement are. Who contacted who? Who paid what money? We’ll also have to see the day of the show if this brought in more ticket buyers or not. I certainly don’t believe that anyone who already purchased a ticket to EVOLVE, or was planning to buy a ticket to EVOLVE is put off by this decision. Unless EVOLVE dropped a ton of money to bring these groups in, I don’t see any huge detriment to partnering up with those organizations.

    Steve Cook: BUY. EVOLVE’s been marketing themseles as a super-serial wrestling promotion that’s a sport instead of entertainment and their athletes should conduct themselves as professionals. It’s different…not really my cup of tea but the first two shows have gotten rave reviews from folks like Mr. Ford & Mike Campbell so there’s an audience for it. It’s not a large one though, if their attendance numbers are any indication. The MMA stuff doesn’t surprise me too much, Gabe’s a mark for the dirt sheets and the dirt sheets love them some MMA and constantly mix it up with wrestling. I consider myself a casual MMA fan and enjoy the sport, but I don’t want it in my wrestling and I don’t feel the need to compare Urijah Faber with Kerry Von Erich because somebody thinks he looks like Kerry without the steroids. Yes, there are people who enjoy both MMA and wrestling, but there are a lot of MMA fans that hate wrestling, and vice versa. So I don’t really see this cross-promotion working. I guess with the attendance numbers being what they are they feel like they need something, I just don’t see board-breaking and brazilian ju-jitsu demonstrations as the answer.

    As for this Extreme Hotties business, I don’t see the connection between EVOLVE’s presentation of SERIOUS WRESTLING and a T & A show at all. (There’s also little connection between serious wrestling & TNA, but that’s another story) This pretty much goes against everything they’ve been selling so far, the only thing that might kind of make it make sense is if they do some kind of an angle out of it. I guess they’re hoping to grab some of the pervert demographic, but how happy will Mercedes Martinez be when most of the crowd is chanting “show your tits” during her match? This makes no sense and I’m not really sure who this is going to appeal to because there are plenty of places in New Jersey with adult entertainment that won’t make you sit through a wrestling show. Is that a hint of desperation I smell in the air? I don’t think it’s coming from the girls…

    2 for 4.

  • Ring of Honor should jump on the opportunity to sign the recently released Shelton Benjamin and Jimmy Yang.

    Steve Cook: BUY. If they’ve got a shot at landing Benjamin or Yang, they should try and do it. I think both men will be looking to TNA for employment, but there’d be nothing wrong with ROH trying. Yang was a decent enough mid-card type guy in his first ROH stint and could serve the same purpose again. Shelton’s the kind of guy that I’d think ROH would love to feature in main events, as he’s got the athletic ability and the popularity with the “smart” crowd to do good things for their company’s bottom line. I’m not saying Shelton’s a super huge draw, but by ROH/indy standards he should be a bigger draw than 95% of the guys out there. After all, he has been on TV for most of the past decade.

    Kevin Ford : BUY. ROH has had the same faces for years and years now, and it would be nice to get some fresh blood. Daniels and Corino have proved that “what’s old is now new again”. Yang has been out of ROH since May of 2006 and has a bevy of fresh match-ups to compete in if he were to return. Benjamin has always been considered a severely underrated talent, and also has many potential fresh and exciting match-ups ahead of him if ROH decides to sign him. On top of that, he and Haas could team up and have even more fresh matches. I think these two joining ROH has nothing but upside and I hope they strike while the iron is hot.

    3 for 5.

  • After the Chicago Street Fight, Ring of Honor has no choice but to do a Fight Without Honor between Steen and Generico and end the feud too early.

    Kevin Ford : SELL. I think one of the reasons why Cabana and Corino were thrown into this feud was to allow for it to be carried out for a significant period of time without repeating matches ad nauseam. I think there’s still plenty Ring of Honor can do without pulling the trigger too early. The feud SHOULD still end with these two in a Fight Without Honor match, but who says they can’t have a straight forward singles match that goes to a DQ (or something of that nature) before hand?

    Steve Cook: SELL. I think the phrase “no choice” is a bit much. They did kick things up a notch over the weekend, but there’s no reason Steen & Generico can’t draw things out with a Dog Collar match or a Cage match, both matches that ROH likes to use in their epic feuds. There’s also Colt Cabana & Steve Corino right there to involve in any way that the company sees fit. I guess it depends on how soon is too soon…by today’s standards in wrestling this feud has already been pretty long. But no, I think the Steen/Generico issue has a long way to go before it’s properly settled.

    4 for 6!!

    The 155th edition of BUY or SELL finishes at 4 for 6 as these two tend to agree more than disagree! Stay tuned for next week as two new people step up to the plate on Buy or Sell!

  • NULL

    article topics

    Michael Bauer

    Comments are closed.