I went to UPW’s Rough Cut the other night, and while it was a average show there is one thing I think UPW can really improve on. That is putting their title over.
Samoa Joe is a good wrestler, and he has what I think is the longest current title reign in any of SoCal’s major promotions (promotions that run on a regular basis).
But UPW doesn’t build the title to mean anything. They just put Joe up against guys with no build up, they don’t put the title in the main event, they hardly ever allow Joe to cut promos to put the title over.
Samoe Joe defeated Masato Tanaka, a former ECW and FMW World champion, while he was on his last Zero-One tour. Was that mentioned at the last show? Did they try to put that over at all? No. Why?
The UPW Heavyweight Title is supposed to be UPW’s number one title. The most prestigous title in the entire promotion. So why on the last show was the Shoot Title and the Lightweight Title put over more? B-Boy was able to cut a promo. They built up a match at the next show for B-Boy to defend his title. Not Joe. Rick Bassman came out to put over Tom Howard. Tom Howard was able to get mic time to challenge Hoshimoto and build up a match for the next show. Not Joe.
Why not build up an opponent for Joe? Put him in a feud. A title can be a very effective storyline tool if it is made to actually mean something. Put over the fact Joe beat Tanaka, put over the fact he is the longest reigning champion in SoCal, build up opponents for Joe to beat making his wins seem more important.
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Speaking of UPW, like mentioned before Tom Howard challenged Shinya Hashimoto to a match at the next UPW show. The match they had in Zero-One was good, and now that they have worked together before, I think the rematch can be better. Hopefully this match will happen at UPW’s October 17th show.
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Revolution J is this Friday night. This is Revolution Pro’s biggest show ever and it looks like it may be the biggest show in SoCal this year (MPW’s next show looks like it will be right up there). It will be interesting how Revolution Pro deals with the number of matches on the show. The two matches I’m most hoping that happen is B-Boy vs. NOSAWA and Super Dragon vs. Messiah. I have a feeling GAMI vs. Michiko Ohmukai might steal the show.
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XPW has announced an exploding ring deathmatch between Supreme and Vic Grimes at their October 13th show, “Halloween in Hell II”. The show will be at the Pico Rivera Sports Arena.
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MPW has announced the lineup for their next show on November 3rd, “Shock to the System”. The four announced matches are:
MPW World Title Match
Tech IX v. Big Hardcore Red (c)
“A Battle for Respect”
B-Boy v. Super Dragon
MPW Tag Team Title Match
Lost Boys v. Los Cubanitos
“An Extreme Re-Match”
Adam Pearce v. Messiah
For more info check out mpwwrestling.com.
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We are thinking about getting rid of the Top 5 Promotions ranking. If we do get rid of it, what should replace it? Should it stay? Make the Top 15 a Top 20? Top 5 Women? Tag-Teams? If anyone has any ideas let me know. We will most likely run a poll before we make any changes so that everyone can help us decide.
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The final episode of Tough Enough is on tonight. I will go on record now and say my two picks are Taylor and Maven.
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SoCal UNCENSORED is always looking for a fresh voice to liven things up. If you want to submit a column, interview, review, or anything to us, email it to either Me, Scrub, or Franco for review.
