NXT Level #348 - Deathrow Takeover
POP OF THE NIGHT: (What was the moment, in segment, that you enjoyed the most and why?)
BURNING QUESTIONS: (What questions does the show have you asking after reading?)
HAVE YOUR SAY: (How did you like your characters portrayal and what are your thoughts on your current storyline? What, if any, improvements could be made?)
POP OF THE NIGHT:
JOHNNY GOMEZ: SUPPLY & DEMAND! SPINNING HOOK KICK!
NICK DIAMOND: NO! DAHLIA GRABS HIM FOR A KISS! SHE DROPS HIM WITH THE SPINNING REVERSE STO! KISS OF DEATH!
BURNING QUESTIONS:
How will the pool boys hold onto their titles?
HAVE YOUR SAY:
I'm pleasantly surprised, wasn't expecting to get that big of a moment this early. The Raven better watch out. 😉
POP OF THE NIGHT: (What was the moment, in segment, that you enjoyed the most and why?)
In Funeral for a Friend, when the Blue Shark and Red Falcon returned from the grave I can imagine the pop that would have sounded in that place. It seemed like a great plan hatched by the Yellow Python. Black Panther got away, but I think his standing is not as strong as it was going into the night. You also know that the trio are unified by the loss of their friend. I haven’t been here long enough to know how this began, but I think the payoff will be good.
BURNING QUESTIONS: (What questions does the show have you asking after reading?)
Who was giving Attano orders from the shadows?
What is the vision going to do to Tombstone? What has El Mariachi Muerte unleashed on OSW?
HAVE YOUR SAY: (How did you like your characters portrayal and what are your thoughts on your current storyline? What, if any, improvements could be made?)
I thought the portrayal of Raven was great. The mystery of appearing/disappearing was right on. I am still not convinced on why Mud Mouth was watching Raven. There’s got to be more to the story, as it was a weak reason given. 😀 It will be interesting to see if there’s more to it. I think we’re on the right track.
POP OF THE NIGHT: (What was the moment, in segment, that you enjoyed the most and why?)
THE CURE FOR MADNESS
I love Nox so much. His noxious mind games are on fine display here. But the part I love the most is where he gets the desperation and fear out of Troy to the point where he lets slip his true priorities.
The tithes, the credits.
He wants his congregation to be of sound mind to keep lining his pockets.
I love the chemistry between these two.
BURNING QUESTIONS: (What questions does the show have you asking after reading?)
How the hell did Blue Shark and Red Falcon survive? What is with the vow of silence from Panther? This should be an amazing climax.
Who was the one with Attano and what is his motives? This can't be good for Thorpe.
HAVE YOUR SAY: (How did you like your characters portrayal and what are your thoughts on your current storyline? What, if any, improvements could be made?)
First, I wanted to say how much I'm liking Ken and Jash Khan... Especially Khan. I have an Indian friend who calls everyone bruddah like that so I'm just picturing him haha. Loving him.
EMM
Really awesome segments this week, some amazing storytelling. As if Tombstone wasn't hard enough to go up against at the best of times, now I've gone pissed him off.
I love the depth being added to the story and more here, the history created here is amazing.
V1SION
I wasn't expecting the return here, lesssgo! I'm excited to see all the chaos unfold here! The returning to Deathrow, that'll be intense for him... I bet he can't wait to see his old cell, oh wait. Nevermind.
POP OF THE NIGHT: (What was the moment, in segment, that you enjoyed the most and why?)
FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND - I'm so pleased to see that some of the Kingdom survived. I honestly thought they'd all died. The White Bear made a huge sacrifice and I think as the story progresses, his sacrifice is going to be massive. I still don't understand what's happened in the mind of The Black Panther, post shooting, that he's going after his former team. The Yellow Python is coming out of the ordeal a star, though. Super underdog and we all love a super underdog. Me especially.
BURNING QUESTIONS: (What questions does the show have you asking after reading?)
Who was the man with Attano?
HAVE YOUR SAY: (How did you like your characters portrayal and what are your thoughts on your current storyline? What, if any, improvements could be made?)
A good show but I really really dislike my storyline this week. I'm so sorry to the writer but there's four teams for a total of eight wrestlers and the storyline just has no back-bone. I bet it's hard to write an angle like this, so I don't want to be harsh but as myself and Frank sit down to use our storyline to write a promo each for the event, we've got nothing. Bupkiss. There's no meat on this story.
Two weeks ago we saw Momma Foley and the beginning of a really cool development and this week... a brawl? There's the Pool Boys and The Uprising for a start, not to mention Apokalypsis and the door. One segment brawl doesn't a storyline make. I just felt let down by the lack of real storyline here.
POP OF THE NIGHT:
Funeral for a Friend. I really thought everyone had died. I think its more powerful to just have White Bear make the sacrifice last week, though. It leaves a lot of story open, and gives Python allies against this brutal Black Panther. There are so many questions in this story that I have to think we've got some good shit coming. Just a brilliant segment here.
BURNING QUESTIONS:
How much of Death Row is going to be destroyed during Sweet Dreams?
What does Troy intend for his children to do when they find Nox?
Can Master Ken withstand the wrath of Khan?
HAVE YOUR SAY:
Thorpe - Great interplay with Attano and Thorpe here. Thorpe hammered home the fact that Harry doesn't have clean hands either. Who is CJ being sent off with, though? Calling him a boy suggests its an older man, a contemporary of Attano perhaps? Wouldn't it be a motherfucker if it was George Cade? Other than that, I think the big thing to see here is that Redgrave hasn't made one attempt to get Thorpe. I think that may strain the relationship of those two.
Gemini - I have to agree with Mel on this one. This week's segment didn't give much for any of us to work with for the PPV, and felt like a climactic moment to get SSE to make the match, but like we missed interior segments. Maybe it's the two week cycle to the PPV, but this feud could have benefited from a second segment each week to flesh some stories out. There's a logic to how it all came together, but its a skeleton that needs some flesh draped over it.
POP OF THE NIGHT:
Not so much a pop as a Ron Simmon's 'DAMN!', but the closing segment had me up on my feet this week. I loved how EMM's musical note heralded the shift in scene from the present to the past. Rarely do we see Tombstone vulnerable, but Muerte's power may yet prove to be the Ferryman's Achilles heel in the weeks and months to follow, whilst the flashback to Tomb's confrontation with Fernicus Lamplight painted quite the vivid picture of a man all-consumed by vengeance.
Before his revelation was cut short, it was insinuated by Fernicus that Tombstone had paid him a visit once before, stating that he 'took the boat willingly'... Just what he meant by that remains to be seen at this stage, but given what we know of Illumination Antiques which not only offers its customers what they want but what they need, you have to wonder what the Ferryman's initial reason was for being there the day he left the store with the boat.
BURNING QUESTIONS:
- Who is behind the mystery voice in the segment entitled My Daughter, Michela? It eluded to sounding like Jasper Redgrave, but the face wasn't revealed. Are we about to see a character shift from the Artist?
- Mud Mouth divulging that he always 'checks above' has me asking questions... What's all that about?
- How did the Red Falcon and the Blue Shark survive last week's shenanigans?
HAVE YOUR SAY:
Fly me - Zion's child is really feeling the heat at the moment. Nox has got into his head in a big way and you can really sense his desperation to maintain control over his followers. There's a tangible power struggle unveiling, fuelled by manipulation and deceit, and Nox's revelation about the temporary nature of Liontamer, a seemingly mind-altering substance, really highlights the current fragility of the Reverend's hold over his flock.
By portraying Nox as a masterful puppeteer, Lionel is still doing his utmost to exploit their loyalty for personal gain. The very fact the Children of Zion ran to his aid still illustrates the dark consequences of Troy's influence and the lengths he will go to maintain his authority - even if it amounted to nothing on this occasion - although you have to wonder when the Church's numerical strength when pay dividends. Nox will continue to do his damnedest to ringfence that, of course, but Troy is defiant as he is wily and will stop at nothing to keep his secret safe.
POP OF THE NIGHT: (What was the moment, in segment, that you enjoyed the most and why?)
After reading the final segment and then Tombstone's promo for this week, how could I not choose the show close? The way the show ended and was continued by Tombstone in his promo as a collective reminded me of Old School roleplays in a way.
A shout out should be given to the surviving members of the Kingdom, which did make me say wow.
BURNING QUESTIONS: (What questions does the show have you asking after reading?)
- Who is behind the mystery voice?
HAVE YOUR SAY: (How did you like your characters portrayal and what are your thoughts on your current storyline? What, if any, improvements could be made?)
Uhhh.. the dialogue for Jash Khan is great. It's a lot more simple than mine, which makes me realize I need to tone it back slightly. I'm hyper focused on trying to sound a specific way and it's effecting my ideas. I think the story has been okay, if not a little tame? We head into our match this week and there's very little fire for either character to use, so it hasn't been powerful. I suppose that's also the difference between the top storylines like Tombstone and the low card storylines like mine, in a sense. I wouldn't expect to out shine that by any means, but something with a little more than talking would've been cool. Some kind of angle, yuh know?
The show itself was a very exciting and entertaining read post one hell of a live show. I'm excited for the Pandemonium topic I read and what comes after Attitude.
POP OF THE NIGHT: Funeral for a Friend
SPEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAR! The Blue Shark and The Red Falcon fucking live! It's a shame that we've lost The White Bear but this time last week, we thought we lost majority of The Kingdom! This was a pleasant surprise and actually got me to pop.
BURNING QUESTIONS:
- Who will the other three members of Team OSW be?
- Who's talking to Attano?
- Hand in hand with the last one, what's to happen of CJ Thorpe now that he's in the care of the mystery man?
- What's Troy's plan with Nox if his children can catch Nox?
- Will we see how Red Falcon and Blue Shark survived?
HAVE YOUR SAY: A very intriguing twist has entered the story this week. Who exactly was talking to Harold Attano from the shadows? Why would they be so willing to offer such a common courtesy? And what do they plan to do with Thorpe?
On the other side of the coin, what will happen between Jasper and Harold come Attitude now that Jasper has accepted his request? Things are about to hit a boiling point here at Attitude I think and I'm looking forward to it.
POP OF THE NIGHT: (What was the moment, in segment, that you enjoyed the most and why?)
The Kingdom Members as the cavalry to back up TYP was fucking spectacular! Over the last few weeks I've been pulling for the group and it was awesome to see them come in for the save here. Sad to see the White Bear may have fallen. I cannot wait to see where how this plays out with The Black Panther and if we will see any potential unmasking of the Kingdom members.
BURNING QUESTIONS: (What questions does the show have you asking after reading?)
Will we see any of the Kingdom's identities exposed during this feud?
Who's the mystery man working with Harold? (I have some ideas but I will save that for the my say portion.)
What will the Ramifications be from Tombstone after the video EMM showed?
HAVE YOUR SAY: (How did you like your characters portrayal and what are your thoughts on your current storyline? What, if any, improvements could be made?)
Attano - I loved the back-and-forth between CJ and Attano. Also, the mystery mand here was awesome and it has me wondering who the familiar voice is, is it Jackson Cade or maybe even Papa Cade trying to make sure his son doesn't follow in Redgrave's footsteps? So much intrigue here, I cannot wait to see how all of this unfolds.
Nox - Fantastic, I love the idea of the man of science "killing" a God. You transpose that with the hold that Lionel retains over his congregation even after Nox Gas. I like the juxtaposition of mental manipulation on a chemical level and mental manipulation on a psychological level. This is all so intriguing to see how this struggle plays out.