Pandemonium X
POP OF THE NIGHT:
Too many to properly list, imo. We had the returns of old handlers with new characters. We had Narcissa cashing in on Harold Attano, picking up a massive win in the process. We had CJ Thorpe doing the same thing in the Lambs match, giving us an Uprising main event that is sure to be a barn burner. There are also the not at all small reveals and betrayals that helped make the big match that much bigger. Really there were too many things that happened for me to list in one section.
However, since I have to pick something that happened on a segment, I'll choose Seeing Red. Did I expect Albert Lamplight to be murdered at this show? Honestly no, I expected him to kick the bucket at Ring of Dreams. Was I expecting Tombstone to kill him in front of Foley and his mother? No, I was expecting it to happen in front of a bigger crowd. Was I expecting the now former Lamplight to be revealed as Felix's brother? No again, but this time I should have. Put all three shocks together, and you have a great feud for Ring of Dreams coming up soon!
BURNING QUESTIONS:
Now that Herc knows what happened to the Elders, what will his next plan of action be? It was mentioned he lost any and all respect for his father, so I'm curious to know what will be the next step for them.
Who did we hear talking in the dark about wanting to bring in the darkest ones? They're apparently someone we should know, so I'm interested to find out which ones on the roster are the talkers and which ones they're going to bring to him at the show.
How did the fire start at Doom's laboratory and who started it? Was it a freak accident or was it an act of arson? How much was lost in the fire? So many questions that I'd like to know the answer to before RoD.
HAVE YOUR SAY:
First of all, I'm touched by the tribute at the beginning of the show. I'm still pretty dour over her passing, so for you guys to honor her memory the way you did makes me smile. Thanks again, guys.
Beck - Not too much to say here. Beck had a solid debut by targetting Tombstone for most of their time spent in the match and, even though they didn't put him out of the match, they gave the Ferryman a bit of trouble while they were there. I hope to do this character more justice at Vengeance.
Mr. Kleen - Oh man, Boswick was the one responsible for tearing the Kingdom apart from the inside out? Not only that, Kleen was the boss of the ACA the entire time? What a reveal! Python and Shark are gonna want revenge for what they've done to their comrades and friends over half a year. Can't wait to see what happens now that the ACA stepped out of the curtain and revealed themselves as the ones behind the grisly murders of White Bear and Red Falcon.
Blaze - Damn, Blaze went fucking off on his son. Wasn't expecting him to brutalize his son after listening to what Nox had to say about truly seeing who was responsible and what he saw. Makes me wonder just what happened that unfortunate day. Did Destructo Boy attack his father before setting their home on fire? Is it just the effects of the gas and the Chemist fucking with the Burning Man's mind by making him think his son was responsible? I'm excited to find out how this escalates or how Destructo Boy tries to diffuse the situation before Ring of Dreams!
Dahlia - Wow, what a night for Dahlia. First it was revealed that she and Victor were the Abominations we've been seeing in the lead up to the big PPV. Then she betrayed his trust and love by low blowing him and siding with his dad. That was such a brave move for her that it topples over into being stupid. Anyone that gets on a monster like Victor's bad side is just asking to die. I have to wonder why she did it in the first place, but I can hazard a guess when I write my piece against Zac whenever we meet up for the first time. I'm excited for the ensuing bloodbath that'll be coming up.
POP OF THE NIGHT:
Oh, I'm sorry, were you expecting me to actually narrow it down to one moment? Nah...but I'll give ya 3 for the sake of not saying "all of it" and being done lol:
- The very crucial ending to the Elders segments, seeing the death of Cronos and the rise of Zeus. I've said this nearly every time an Elders seg has been aired, but man has the lore fiend in me been enjoying this every step of the way! Was really eager to see how the Pantheon that we know came about, how Zeus came into power, and since The Classic I'd been wondering more specifically how this "purge" came about to keep people silent on what happened in the past...and this show gave us at least a taste of all of that at once haha.
- Speaking of rises, Malakai Midnight showing more of the extent of what he's capable of was cool as hell here. We got the big reveal about Mud Mouth, only for Midnight to essentially blot him out...and then we see Hayes join up with his Owls during the Lambs match. Boy howdy was this a lot of fun!
- Rounding out the main 3 pops for me is Tombstone murking Albert Lamplight...paired with the reveal that he was Felix Foley's brother. That those two men shared a father suddenly puts some really interesting puzzle pieces together for me regarding Albert and Felix's curious backgrounds and family histories established previously...so to see their paths actually cross, even with the demise of Lamplight, made that lore fiend in me VERY happy lol.
Ahhh hell, I lied...I got one more. I was gushing about this on the voice chat following the live show, but lemme tell it to ya one more time: Mr. Kleen being the actual leader of the ACA was a hell of a twist, as was Sebastian Boswick being the Black Panther...but it was also a twist that fits so well with not only the timeline of events but Kleen's history. Imagine, if you will...Kleen leaving the Kingdom and seeking to "clean up Arcadia" his own way. That's the ACA in a nutshell. Holy smokes, what an angle this was to see play out lol.
BURNING QUESTIONS:
- My big overarching question is "where do we go from here?" heading into Ring of Dreams, namely:
- How does Yellow Python respond to what happened to the rest of his Kingdom, and fight back Mr. Kleen for what he's done?
- What happens with Doom the Father and Doom the Son, after Dahlia's betrayal?
- What the hell happens with Uprising, now that we have Narcissa as the World Champion and CJ Thorpe as the #1 contender for winning Lambs?
HAVE YOUR SAY:
Ya know...when Colt first arrived at the Church of Zion, I remember having the thought of "what if Colt's just chasing a story here?"...but I'm very happy we saw how this story played out, because MAN did it make for a fun twist during Lambs lol. Great moment here, following the change in attitude from Troy toward his former Acolyte. I'm also very excited for the upcoming Troy/Ramsey feud and match coming off this, as the bond the two were making has been so shattered now that it'll make for some very interesting confrontations going into Ring of Dreams!
As for Pym, I'm curious to see what role if any he has going into Ring of Dreams as part of the Uprising. Happy to see both guys got to be a part of such a massive undertaking as this year's Lambs match...45 people, holy smokes lol.
Congrats again to Laner for taking the match as Thorpe, congrats to Robbie on winnin' the big one as Narcissa, and man is this coming PPV gonna be a banger to close the season out!
POP OF THE NIGHT:
Outside of winning the world title which will be touched on soon, I'm giving it to Seeing Red. With how the segments were done, I was not expecting the reveal of Lamplight being Foley's brother right after him being murdered. It was two holy shit moments packed within one segment and closed the show on a heavy note that made Tombstone become even scarier as the heel he's always wanted to be.
BURNING QUESTIONS:
What will Foley do next after what Tombstone did?
What did Destructo Boy do and how will he explain things to Blaze?
Why was on the photos Ramsay showed to Troy?
HAVE YOUR SAY:
Holy shit, what an amazing show but to become the new world champion after 7 years of being here is one of the highlights of my life. As I said in chat, I was legit about to cry. When I chose to cash in, I had no idea how things were going to turn out, I still thought I was going to cash in on Tombstone at the time when Dean and I talked about it. I'm ecstatic and have been riding this needed high of emotions for the last couple of days, thank you to everyone who helped me get here especially Dean, I will try to hold on to this as long as I cam because I have no idea when I will get to try for this again.
POP OF THE NIGHT:
Lambs to the Slaughter. Look, I'm so fucking down for the storyline between Foley and Tombstone and that epic reveal, but nothing tops this. A twenty person match that ended up a forty-five person match is unbelievable. It had so many massive revelations during it, from The Kingdom/ACA to the Doom's and everything in between. This show just took the ball and ran with it in every single area.
BURNING QUESTIONS:
- What will Foley do now?
- Does Tombstone know Foley is Albert's brother?
- What revenge with Lionel Troy seek?
- Will we see the Ramsey story?
- What will Python do about Kleen and the ACA?
- Are Dahlia and Doom an item?
- What did Zeus do after murdering his father?
- Who're the new stable that's coming?
HAVE YOUR SAY:
I've been crying out for a big angle for a while now and there was one on the horizon for many months. What I didn't expect was the outcome to be this. The story of Albert and Felix being related is a stroke of genius in the aftermath of Albert's handler leaving for pastures new like a pussy. Fuck you Joe. But thank you. Thank you for being a tool and bailing. Had you not, none of this would be possible. If you think about it, Tombstone being handled by Connor and this storyline coming my way is all because Joe is a giant piece of shit.
I'm so hyped for what the future might now hold for Felix and this war with Tombstone which seems inevitable. I thrive when my characters are the underdogs which is why I always tend to lean that way in their creation. Foley won't have an easy time with Tombstone and I'm here for every single second of it.