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| Guest Columns | Matt Wilson |
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SHOOTING TNM World Tournament This is a tribute or rip-off (either way you look at it) of Mark Coale's TNM tournament idea. With a difference. I read the article, and I thought, "Hey, that'll be a good idea. It's such a good idea, that surely it can't be contained to be used to just one person. Plus, I can turn it into a column and have some real fun with it." There are four regions (like Coale's version): northeast, far east, south east and south. I've included some unused or unsigned ECW talent in the south east (or WCW) region. Unlike the Wrestleline one, I've decided to include injured wrestlers. Now I can include Kenta Kobashi. My version is mainly centered around wrestlers with the best work-rate in each region, but, as you can see, there are some exceptions. This week I'll be siming the northeast (or WWF) region using TNM. Naturally, I'll be siming the whole tournament with TNM (probably the best wrestling sim around). So, without further ado, let's kick this shiznit and start the tournament off. First, the seeding for the northeast region: 1. Steve Austin 2. The Rock 3. Hunter Hearst Helmsley 4. Kurt Angle 5. Chris Benoit 6. Chris Jericho 7. Eddie Guerrero 8. Steve Regal 9. Jeff Hardy 10. Edge 11. Matt Hardy 12. Christian 13. Dean Malenko 14. Test 15. Taka Michinoku 16. Tajiri Introduction to northeast region All eyes are focused on the top five seeds to see whether they can succeed in a tournament which commends work-rate. Austin, coming back from his neck injury has a lot to prove against some of the younger, and arguably more capable, athletes. The Rock will also have his work cut out against wrestlers seeded lower than him, but it's wins that count, so anything could happen. It's a great opportunity for some of the less recognised names to pick up wins against the more established stars, and this tournament should produce some great matches. The Tournament Round One Tajiri pinned Chris Benoit with the Dragon Suplex in 0:14:18. Rating: *** 1/4 Tajiri, seeded 16th, takes a shock win against Chris Benoit. Rocky Maivia pinned Steve Regal with the Rock Bottom in 0:10:25. Rating: * 3/4 This match was all right, but the lack of sports entertainment spots (which Rock survives on) drained this one down to *3/4. Sports entertainment spots aren't encouraged in this tournament. Edge pinned Steve Austin with the Downward Spiral in 0:14:59. Rating: * 1/2 This was another upset, as Edge sneaked a win against Austin in a pretty boring match. Matt Hardy pinned Chris Jericho with the Twist of Fate in 0:05:43. Rating: ** 1/2 These two youngsters went at in impressive fashion. Good stuff. Taka Michinoku pinned Hunter Hearst Helmsley with the Michinoku Driver in 0:07:50. Rating: *** In one of the best matches of the northeast region tournament, Taka beat Triple H in another shock match. Christian pinned Eddie Guerrero with the Reverse Double Underhook Faceslam in 0:11:48. Rating: ** Christian advanced here, but this one should have been better than the star rating shows it to be. Jeff Hardy pinned Dean Malenko after a Frankensteiner in 0:08:54. Rating: ** 3/4 Good match between these two proved workers. Kurt Angle pinned Test with the Fallaway Slam in 0:22:40. Rating: 3/4* This one went way too long for the star rating which it received. Nothing much happened, but it's still good to see Angle advancing (notably the only top 5 seed to advance). Quarter Finals Rocky Maivia pinned Tajiri after a bodyslam in 0:00:53. Rating: * Cut short for whatever reason. Could have been better, showcasing both guy's offences, and testing The Rock. Matt Hardy pinned Edge with the Twist of Fate in 0:15:00. Rating: ** 3/4 Another good Matt Hardy match, here against a Edge who he's worked a lot with during the last couple of years. Christian pinned Taka Michinoku after a vertical facebuster in 0:11:10. Rating: ** 1/4 Good stuff once again. Both guys got in a lot of offence, but Christian grabbed the win in the end. Kurt Angle pinned Jeff Hardy with the Fallaway Slam in 0:13:55. Rating: ** 1/4 Angle advances after another good performance. These two didn't click as well as most thought they would (as they haven't worked together all that much) given the time that the match went to. Semi-Finals Matt Hardy pinned Rocky Maivia with the Twist of Fate in 0:08:45. Rating: *** 1/4 This one turned out to be Match of the Night. Matt Hardy once again show cased his great work rate, but it was The Rock who shocked everyone by pulling off a great performance. Christian pinned Kurt Angle with the Reverse Double Underhook Faceslam in 0:10:28. Rating: 3/4* These two didn't click very well, either. It was a disappointing match taking into account the match time, and the guys involved. Final Matt Hardy pinned Christian with the Twist of Fate in 0:13:35. Rating: * 1/4 Matt Hardy wins the tournament in an all right match. This one had real potential, but it just never really kicked started like it should have done. Tournament Aftermath Matt Hardy, who wrestled impressively throughout, wins the tournament, and, thus, advances through to the World Tournament semi-finals. He wrestled good matches against Chris Jericho and Edge, and a great one against The Rock. His match against Angle wasn't as good as it should have been, but was still entertaining. Matt Hardy winning the tournment after being ranked as number 11 seed proves that anything can happen in this tourament. Matt Hardy will face the winner of the far east tournament in the World Tournament semi-finals. That's all for this week. Next week, the far east region of the tournament kicks off. I Get Letter (s) So, I'm sitting before this very computer screen (no, not your's, the very one I'm typing at right now), and I go about the usual almost religious checking of the e-mail. It seems that the first batch of negative feedback has been rolling in. Let's see what I got: From: Zachary"Death"Rearick Essa Rios' Number One Fan Okay,a comment on your HHH column.He was freaking pinned in the 2/3 falls match at No Way Out!Pinned!The match didn't end,but he was freaking pinned just the same! Okay, it's my fault. I obviously didn't make myself clear enough in the Triple H column. Whilst writing, I was talking about Triple H being pinned and losing in a PPV match. I thought everyone would know I meant that, but it *is* my fault for not making that clear enough. All apologises. Here's e-mail number two from same guy, which is a slight variation on the first one. I dunno, it looks like he missed something out the first time he e-mailed me. From: Zachary"Death"Rearick Essa Rios' Number One Fan Another thought just occurred to me about your HHH column.He was freaking pinned in the 2/3 falls match at Fully Loaded too!Pinned I say!Pinned!1!2!3!Pinned! Okay, again I apologise, looks like I over looked this one. So I thought... From: Bucs792 what do you mean hhh hasnt been pinned since '96? he was pinned at backlash, summerslam, and judgementday last year just to name a few. there was also survivor series '99. Yep, you're right in saying he was pinned at Judgment Day (I assume you mean 2000?), but, once again, the match didn't end. He wasn't pinned for a *win*. This is where I make up excuses (not to be taken seriously): Backlash 2000 wasn't a clean win. Shane was special guest referee. SummerSlam 2000 wasn't clean enough for me, either. Neither was Surviver Series 1999, for that matter. Yes, you are right. I was stupid to over look those facts. I could have sworn I heard it on a Meltzer show, so I took it to my head, but maybe that Meltzer show was before Triple H started losing. But that theory doesn't work, as he also lost at SummerSlam 1997, to Mankind. Maybe I'd fair better if I wrote a column all about Triple H's PPV loses. It'd be short, but sweet. But you liked my other opinions about Triple H, didn't you? Huh? Huh? Well, I did get some positive feedback from the column before last. It's in relation to Ganso Bombs, so, thus, it must rule. From: longsnapper Just wanted to add to your ganzo/ganso bomb thoughts ... as you point out, Austin/Owen was indeed not a GB. I seem to remember Owen landing on his backside after executing what looked like a jumping tombstone piledriver a la the Rikishi Driver. I've even seen the move referred to as an "Owendriver," which (you would think) would have made a distinction between the moves. Whatever. Nice column; keep up the good work. As always, any comments about this column (and idea) will be much appreciated. Matthew Wilson ShootAngle.com Mail the Author Visit shootangle.com Comment about this article on the EZBoard |
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