WCPW Saturday Night Live (10/01/15)

[steve]

WCPW Saturday Night Live

10/01/15; Chicago, IL; Center Stage Theatre (500 Capacity)
60-minute Live Web Exclusive: Available to stream live & on-demand from the Windy City website, Mobile & Tablet Apps, the Internet Wrestling Network & Hulu Plus

Tonight Windy City Pro Wrestling presented their new secondary show, "WCPW Saturday Night Live", a 60 minute internet only program available to stream live and on-demand from several sources. The show had no commercial breaks and was ad-free with time between matches spent with the commentators discussing the matches and storylines, and interviews with the talent at ringside.

Featured Michael Cole and Rene Young on commentary, and included Rockstar Spud performing interviews, with the beautiful So Cal Val introducing the competitors once all competing are in the ring.

The major concept of this show and how it was mainly different to the flagship "Fight Night" being that no match could go longer than 5 minutes, all matches had a 5 minute time-limits apart from the main-event or Cyber-TV Title matches which both will always have 10 minute time periods. There will be no elaborate ring entrances participants will off camera make their way to the ring and be introduced in-ring by So Cal Val once all competitors are in the ring.

Also, a major difference being that if a bout goes the distance, the match won't be declared a draw as per normal wrestling rules. Instead, three judges was sat at ringside and scored the contests on various criteria, including effective striking, grappling, control, aggression and damage. There was no rounds though, with the whole bout scored as a whole. One caveat being, that although winning on points is a legitimate win and better than a count-out or DQ win in terms of prestige, only the Cyber TV Title can change hands by points decision.

The idea being the new concept will create fast, exciting match-ups in which the competitors go full pedal to the metal from the get-go. It will cut down on time wasting, stalling and other such annoyances like ring entrances have been removed to cram as much action as possible into the 60 minutes.

Tonight's judges was Carlito, Goldust and Kevin Nash.

WCPW Woman's Champion Paige submitted Christina Von Eerie at 1:44 when she trapped Von Eerie in her deadly Scorpion Crosslock; during the bout Paige cut an insert promo on NWA World Womens Champion AJ Lee who she will face for the title at StarrCade.
Adrian Neville the Zero Gravity Cup winner beat ACH and Delirious in triple threat action at 3:39 when he pinned ACH following a corkscrew shooting star press.
Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose went to the judges scorecards with The Miz & Alex Riley after 5:00 when the time-limit expired; the team of Reigns & Ambrose being given the majority judges decision in what was a close bout with both teams looking good. [debuts for both teams]
Tag Team champions The Gaydar, Dick Ryder & Jeffery Flockhart (w/Jimmy Hart) went to the judges cards with The Usos (Jimmy & Jey) after a competitive bout during which Jimmy Hart was hit with a Samoan Spike from Jimmy Uso when he tried to get his team DQ'd in this non-title match; The scorecards went in favor of The Usos who won via split-decision; during the match The Briscoe Brothers briefly came down to the ringside area to scout the match, and although they stalked around they did not get involved before leaving.
Bully Ray defeated Doc Gallows at 4:01 when he pinned Gallows after a battle of the big men following the Bully Cutter; afterwards Ray smashed Gallows with his thick chain knocking him out cold;post-match Rockstar Spud did a ringside interview with Bully Ray, in which he spoke directly to NWA North American champion John Cena telling him what he saw tonight was tame compared to the extreme brutality he will face at StarrCade.
In the main-event, Cyber TV Champion Bray Wyatt (w/Luke Harper & The Briscoes) downed Solomon Crowe at 7:24 to retain the title when he pinned Crowe after a Sister Abigail, Crowe was close to winning on several occasions giving Wyatt a scare; after the match Wyatt was interviewed by Rockstar Spud at ringside. Wyatt said that Kevin Steen got lucky on Fight Night and he will be looking for a rematch for the Heavyweight Title. Wyatt also told Spud that he is the eater of worlds, so it was no surprise that he engulfed Crowe tonight, but Solomon Crowe showed him he might have potential. Wyatt said he wants Crowe to face Jay Briscoe on the next WCPW Saturday Night Live. If he wins he has a choice, he can either accept an offer to join him in the 'The Family', a very prestigious, exclusive and advantageous group to be apart of or he can have a Cyber TV Title shot. Wyatt asks Crowe if he's as smart as he thinks he is? Crowe was listening to the interview in the ring and accepted the match against Jay Briscoe saying he will find out his choice once he wins.

[jp1985]

This is a good concept if you do it weekly. 5 minutes seems a bit short that it risks killing off a lot of talent where they either lose fast or enter draws, like ACH losing in 3:39 is really fast for a non squash 3 way, and then Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose debuting into a 5 minute draw with The Miz & Alex Riley and winning with judges, rather than just have them win outright if it could go longer. I think 10 minutes is a good idea with this format as it gives matches time for wins and losses, and fewer time limit draws, while still making them possible if necessary.

Hulu Plus is really making a big play for wrestling content here lol.

[steve]

I was going to go with 10 minutes, but the TV title is traditionally 10 minutes so it doesn't differentiate it from the normal standard matches as I wanted this show to be mostly centered around the Cyber TV Title, and a show mostly for the lower and mid-card. Also I wanted the concept to be more "rapid wrestling" to give it a bad term. Just like you see 20/20 cricket as a faster form of Test Cricket has increased excitement for the fans and Speed Snooker etc.

Alot can be done in a 5 minute match when you think about it, especially when the drive is for faster action than you would see on the normal shows. Also I wanted it to be a 60-minute show and have 5-6 matches, if I go 10 mins it would mean around 4 matches. Having the extra match or two helps my lower card.

But you know it's a pilot so I might change things up and see how it goes. I was actually considering 8mins but that just sounded odd. I intend it to be bi-weekly, ideally weekly would be better but I don't have the time to write 4 SNL's and 1-2 Fight Night's as well.

Also there won't be many time-limit draws which you seem to think there will be, people don't like draws they want to see a winner, people will win on the judges cards mostly the only times it will be a draw if all 3 judges call it a draw or it is a majority draw (2 draws and 1 judge for one guy) and these will be rarer than outright unanimous or split decisions. Think UFC. Just because Jon Jones beat Daniel Cormier on points recently in the UFC does not mean that his victory was tainted. Jones won 4 of the 5 rounds soundly probably and took a very solid points win which ended his feud with Cormier. A points loss is still a loss (worth alot more than a DQ or countout) -> I'm trying to put over that a points win is a solid legitimate win that you can be proud of, 2nd only to pinfall or submission. Just like in UFC it is 2nd only to KO or tap-out. Also a points loss can be something that a wrestler can still show that he put a good showing in too.

[jp1985]

Sorry. When I say a time limit draw, I just mean going the distance. Either way, whether the judges declare a winner or not, it's the same dead in the tracks conclusion to the action to me.

As for the UFC reference, it might not taint the victory in that instance of Jones vs Cormier, but that's also a real sport. If it was booked, they would not be doing finishes like that as seen by the encouragement to get a knockout or submission through added bonus. They know that an actual finish is far more exciting and it's why the "don't leave it in the judges hands" reference exists because it can in fact lead to tainted and undeserved victories. I'm not saying it's necessarily a bad idea for pro wrestling, neither of us have any idea yet so we can't weigh the pluses and minuses of it as an overall concept in relation to wrestling off of it being used on one show. I just think the 5 minutes here cut off the matches just as they would be getting good when another 30 seconds might be all that's needed for a real finish. For somebody like Roman Reigns, if WWE did what you did, they might as well steal your Kevin Steen nickname except call the guy "no balls" cause that basically castrated the guy out of the gate when that's how his debut match goes lol. But it's not like just because the limit would be extended to 10 minutes, you have to actually do matches that are closer to 10 minutes long.

As for a points win being worth more than a DQ or countout, or being a solid legitimate win, that's not really up to the booker but fan reaction. That's the type of thing you can say all you want, but if the audience doesn't buy it despite Vince McMahon just deciding it is in WWE, then it's not no matters what he says. Again though, it's too early to make a judgment. I will say at least you didn't do a rounds format as any attempt at that as a fixture in North America has been a failure in pro wrestling. I can't recall any doing points and judges, although it used to get done pre the WWF expansion enough where the draw would go to the judges and usually the first went one way, second another, third was generally a draw to make it a draw. At some point they took away judges and announced it as a draw which is why late 80s WWF still had some suspense when the time limit expired because it previously sometimes led to a decision, and then eventually it just became a flat out draw to give a break even finish. But those were also 20 minute or longer matches which explains why they never do it now, rather than it necessarily being a bad idea.