Infinity #2 Feedback

Hello everyone The Copycat Kid here, Infinity founder and current COO. Second week of Infinity has been another huge success and right now your very own King of Character will be doing his fortnightly feedback on the submitted promos from Infinity #2 which took place on August 19^th 2013. Based on the feedback on the feedback from Infinity #1 I thank everyone for their input and ideas, let’s hope this edition keeps the standard of the first week.

Also a big thank you to Roderick Blackmore (Robbo) for producing the new graphics to the feedback upon my request, I think it livens up the place quite nicely. Now, shall we get the ball rolling?

If you want to re-read the promos from Infinity #1 & Infinity #2 here is the link:

http://www.infinitywrestling.net/#!promo-archives/cejt

I think by having a useful promo archive we can keep track of the living story, and also people’s progress. No doubt that even in a few weeks you will notice subtle or major improvements in your promo’s this week. We will have PPV Promo Archives as well, I have one already waiting to be filled for Immortalis, the first Infinity PPV.

We got nearly every promo submitted this week, all except from Lucian Shannon…which was a shame as we would have like to congratulate the entire roster for a week’s hard work. People redeemed themselves by submitting work when they last missed last week so to all of you this applies to thank you and well done!

For now though let us plot hypothetical revenge against Lucian and hope next week we can have a one hundred percent victory.

Management split the matches right down the middle this week, just so you know this is who write whose match this week. But to make it perfectly clear we read and judge every promo together so that it removes the possibility of bias.

Michaels vs. Matt Young vs. Craig Anderson – Blackmore

Starkiss vs. Jamo – Blackmore

Tierney vs. Smith – TCK

Team Over Rated vs. Casanova & Jameson – TCK

Flynn vs. Muir – TCK

Shannon vs. Westfall – Blackmore

Rydell vs. Power – Blackmore

This week’s promo length was a massive improvement; however some people again fell short because they gambled with a shorter promo. An A4 page worth of material can only be match winning material if it truly convinces me why you should win a match, the secret is that shorter promo’s need to be more relevant and direct to have any chance of winning.

Here at Infinity we are not asking for mammoth 6000+ word promos for every show, we only want for each promo to hit the nail on the head to do well in your match. Longer promo’s like Adrian Flynn’s work because of the way they are written and immerse you, so shorter ones need to pack a punch. Well done to everyone though, another solid week of promo’s.

Infinity #2 was an improvement in this respect, but some people still refuse to caps-lock the I’s and use commas, but still grammar is all about impressions, and the point of writing more is to improve it gradually over the time. Promos made me aware about how bad my grammar was and how it led to me writing novels as I felt confident the skills I learned in my promos had improved my written English quality which is also important for real life jobs. I would remind everyone about the greatest thing ever invented for any writing software: spellcheck.

The wrestling language of Walkerian may be a mainstay for the forum, Facebook, and social media…but inside a promo is sloppy work. Never less an improvement on this, let’s hope Taylor Westfall checks his spelling ahead of a world title match.

 

As ever the basis of how Infinity management judge promo scripts is based off a system, if this is your first week in Infinity then let me into how we do it. Instead of judging peoples work solely based off of one person’s ‘preferences’ which is an awful way of judging promos because they are unpredictable and quite frankly idiotic, we have a system in place to make the best choice. Here is how we judge promos, some factors are more important than others, i.e. relevance to the match being most important, and fun to read too.

Good Promos:

·         Grabs the reader’s attention and imagination

·         Direct, relevant to the match you are in

·         Written well, with good grammar and fitting writing style for your character

·         Interesting to read, original, innovative

·         Adds a new piece of story that improves Infinity City

·         Shows your knowledge of the Infinity City, whilst also interlinking with its living story

·         Complements your character/gimmick, and puts them over

·         Keeps to your alignment (Heel/Face/Tweener etc.)

·         Dialogue used well

·         Balanced in regards to length of promo

Bad Promos:

·         Copied or heavily plagiarised (cheaters will face consequences)

·         Indirect, not relevant to the match you are in

·         Poor use of grammar and chosen writing style for your character

·         Boring and unoriginal

·         Adds little or degrades the story of the Infinity City

·         Shows poor knowledge of the Infinity City, nor does it link to the living story

·         Contradicts your character/gimmick, doesn’t put them over

·         Does not keep to your alignment (Heel/Face/Tweener etc.)

·         Dialogue badly used, large unbroken chucks of solid text

·         Unbalanced in regards to the length of the promo

You can check out the Infinity Developmental page here where you can learn how to build amazing promos, characters, and more! http://www.infinitywrestling.net/#!infinitydevelopmental/c1a4e

Now, what you have all been waiting for. I will be discussing all seven matches that took place on Infinity #2. I hope you find this feedback useful for making improvements in the future. Please try to read all the match comments, being the King of Character I learnt by reading over peoples feedback and haunted my opponents strengths and weaknesses, maybe you can learn something too by reading everyone else’s feedback.

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Jason Smith vs. Joey Tierney

Singularis division Tables Match

The match between Smith and Tierney was one hell of a debut for both participants. We shall start with Joey’s promo first. I loved the angle that Joey hated the City, it was a short and sweet rendition which was direct and relevant to the match, but the promo could have benefited more with the theme of the match where they would have to sacrifice something if they lost. Considering Joey’s character as a rock star losing anything in his life would be quite dramatic and meaningful for him as he is a man who likes possessions, and image.

Joey’s character has good flair and it didn’t take me long to know what kind of character he was, one that in the future if I was to copy myself I wouldn’t have a problem with. Additionally he incorporated the City and kept to his alignment well, he also had a really good moment where he broke the fourth wall in a subtle way which made it the moment of his promo. Another great thing about his promo that Smith lacked was a little humour, I can’t remember why but he made reference to a dying giraffe which made me laugh when I read his promo. One thing that really stood Joey apart is why he didn’t want to be involved with the world championship tournament…how he is above it and hates the city. Combining all of these factors with no detectable grammar problems and a good sense of scenery what Joey did well was good reading.

With that said there are some little chinks in the chain to address. I wanted to read more of the promo and felt that it could have benefited with additional length. The match also wasn’t referenced as much as I’d like, and the Singularis was not even mentioned. Also Nikki was a backdrop I didn’t know much about, she could have been used to put over Tierney in the right light. I think as long as there is future character development with the challenges of his lifestyle and ego which will amount to a face turn that will be good, and branching out and spending some times on enhancing his promos I am sure Tierney will go places.

Jason Smith’s promo had a good sense of realism and real world family issues; it was a slow and dramatic burn promo that got more intense over time. This highly imagined promo I imagined perfectly in my head like a movie when I was reading it and it complimented his character to the core about why Jason was so messed up. In future promos I would like to see more of that story implemented as he grew up so we get a better sense about what the child Jason did to end up as the monster he is now. Personally, I felt more fulfilled with reading his promo and he added some cool easter eggs about the pamphlets we made to promote Infinity, the only major downside was the relevance was a bit off-key as Jason really didn’t address the match but his past.

Things to look out for Jason Smith in his future promos are as I already said, match relevance, when a promo is indirect I have granted decisions before where the other promo was more relevant to the match and it burns because some of the times the losing promo may be better. Another thing to note ahead the match at Immortalis is that Jason didn’t talk about sacrifice much, and the point of the Singularis division…what would Smith sacrifice? Wha would a man sacrifice that had no remorse? Implementing the theme of sacrifice better will drastically improve the next promo. Aside from the few grammar mistakes that needs to be looked over it was a very good and balanced promo in regards to length, but my advice is to read Murray Muir and Adrian Flynn’s promos so far, they are good at fusing together story and match relevance.

Two opposite promo styles, Tierney displayed flair and Smith wrote a piece of drama, this was a bitch to judge, but we will use the food analogy from last week. Tierney’s was a bacon roll, sweet, and epic, but not enough of anything else. Smith’s was the whole baguette but no edge; you look back and think what am I eating this for? Both had their cliché. Each story had been done before. One had one thing the other didn’t; which is what made it difficult to judge in the first place.

We have to talk about this for more than other matches; over 20 minutes of talk in trying to decide…it was hard to penalize either of you. We didn’t feel that we didn’t feel that justice would be served with two people; we would penalize people for different styles. If we pick Smith we go against our judgement call of our relevance and we didn’t want to be hypocritical. There was a big plus and downside to each, we would be wrong on either decision we made, and the draw is the best reflection of the match and Infinity’s first. We were making very clear cut decisions last week, and in this instance we favoured different approaches, I favoured Smith, Robbo picked Tierney, after we deliberated it and had a huge debate that went on longer that it should be…last week we had the same issue with the main event and it came to one issue and who made the best case…in this instance there was no answer, we believe it is a fair judgement overall and we can’t wait to see what they can do an improve upon for their match at Immortalis as they both battle for the IWF Singularis Championship.

Adrian Flynn vs. Murray Muir

IWF World Tournament Semi-Finals Match

The world championship tournament really heated up this week as Flynn faced Muir. Both were deserving of merit after their submissions. I will start with the match winner Adrian Flynn’s promo.

Once again Adrian pulled out a superb promo that I was excited to read. His storyline was a continuation of last week’s promo and written in the same beautiful book style I adore in Flynn. I love how he uses the real world issues surrounding a professional wrestler, if you haven’t watched Total Diva’s then you may not know the hiccups and setbacks that being a professional wrestler can endure…even sometimes having a relationship broken. I am of course referring to the Alexis storyline in which Adrian is getting divorced; and her dialogue is the best of any character in Infinity at the moment, as are all of his other characters. Jaden’s character was also an improvement on last week, having his inclusion really sharpens the edges of his promo and it made me sympathise with Adrian’s character…it will put into focus what it takes to become a hero. The transitioning of the segments was flawless and not disjointed in any way, it seems that Adrian is running Adrian Flynn is running on full steam and only picking up steam, it was a continuation and is high standard. He matched what he did last week. That is why Adrian is so dangerous right now.

We don’t have to go back to the points last week; it’s all about the story, adds story, shows knowledge, keeps to his alignment and builds his characters. I could copy and paste it last week, the difference is his story is different and he has added to it which is high quality material which is massive boost for him as it shows he is not a fluke and a true competitor here in IWF. Only some grammar mistakes I could pick out to make this a balanced review, but never less well done Adrian.

Murray Muir may have not won the match but he has won the respect of promo writers everywhere, the loudmouth gang member may not be moving into the finals of the world title tournament but I will commend him on the promo. Getting beaten by Adrian right now isn’t to be ashamed of. Muir’s promo was very funny, written well, and expanded onto the epic story he told last week. The best part of the promo was his shoot on Adrian Flynn which made the match very relevant and personal between them. There was less story and more direct action but you could tell he did his homework on Flynn…including the DDT reference from the match Adrian had last week. What Muir does better than anyone (maybe tied with Matt Rydell?) is using stuff from the Infinity City to build his character. The Joan Adams segment…which was amazing as I pictured it as Adam Jones throughout…really sold Muir’s character and ambition well. In the future it is possible that Murray Muir’s promos may be well translated into a book form one day. His promo was amazing quality as ever with an good style.

Some grammar mistakes were seen, but they there few and far between. The one thing that help back Muir is plaguing me…I Couldn’t put finger on it, but it seems to be missing something, the first part about the death of Barney was good but it kind of led nowhere because he wanted to vent his pain, and he kind of did it at the end, I was expecting him to say that there better people dead like Barney, he needed his cronies near the stage reminding him of the imminent threat in the gang. Murray needed the threat of his group influence over which is what made his first promo really good. Having the nightmare in his head of Barney during the interview would have been amazing I expected it but it didn’t happen, that would have rounded it up nicely.

At end of the day because they write similar style promo’s it was down to who had the better motivation to win, and this time Flynn edged it, but only just.

Matt Young vs. Chris Michaels vs. Craig Anderson

Singularis division Triple Threat Ladder Match

The triple threat match between these three men was a good contest that was won by Chris Michaels. I shall start with the two people he had been able to defeat in this week’s Infinity.

I am big on Matt Young in Infinity; it is clear that he has worked hard in online wrestling and really stepped it up. That is why it is hard to see him lose two matches against two of the top guys in the circuit. Matt once again surprised everyone with his second promo; he had a strong case for beating both of his opponents…his motivation is solid, direct, and very relevant. His promo was good at putting across the fact that he has the best state of mind having not retired from OW, Matt Young says his time is now and he might be right. Robbo described his work as a “traditional promo-promo that I use to write” which you don’t see much nowadays where there is description followed by shoot. I agree, it is a very suitable and classic style. The first thing you see in his promo which is a nice graphical touch is his signature photo which sets the tone for his promo. The written stuff was Very direct and relevant, but could have been expanded on…having the stip to say that he was going RISE the ladder is a great metaphor to be used in the future. Descriptive parts were really good; fell short in the shoot, not a great level of intensity which could have been used to add some much needed tension to how badly Matt Young wants to reach the next level. Suited to his character: meant to be level headed and calm and everything, keeps to his character very well. Moreover I wanted to read more about the description parts, the plot is simple, and the grabbing of the attention is really good, not something dramatic or edgy (credit where credit is due his reasons were rock solid, rollercoaster of description), but the story kind of just ended with no justice done to it. Also, Matt Young...if you are reading, I want you to re-read both promos you did and ask yourself which promo had a better case for the world championship, your first or second? Me and Robbo agree the second. Other little things that were nice was the use of dialogue, but looking over your grammar is important as some lines made no sense, and secondly the length of the promo was good but if you need another part to finish up stories and further sell yourself we advise you to do just that. We love reading promos and you have some room to really add to your work in a positive way…ironically we care nothing for length of a promo but sometimes it is needed to add detail to parts where it can radically improve one’s work.

“My upcoming match is a contender ship match, for the IWF Singulars Championship”. Doesn’t need comer, not a bad thing, just worth noting, try read it aloud before you do anything as it can disrupt the flow if not proofread. There was some minor grammar, but mostly well written, really well written. Such a shame this couldn’t have been the promo for the first week which is where Young failed to win the match because there is no reference or real case about the Singularis and what Matt could have sacrificed, him being the one and only could have really made a strong promo a very strong promo because the title of the belt and his nickname go hand in hand.

The final promo was for the man pinned in the match, and one that management have a lot to say about in a really positive light for the reasons other than the actual promo. Opening part of Craig’s promo references about Singularis and value of belt as risk and reward nature and is better than his opponents, from there he talks about risk and reward, Craig grabs attention in aspect of the match, above the three others he was making the best call about ‘losing’ something. Then, it was cut off. The promo had ended because Craig didn’t have the time and had writers block. Other feds would call Craig a waste of time, but management here don’t deliberately hinder stars. We have seen Craig compete before and he has been majorly successful. What Craig Anderson needs is a revamp, because from where I am looking it is clear the writer does not feel comfortable with this rendition of Mr C Anderson, so sit back and read some critical advice to move forward and find your footing. Infinity is about starting from scratch, we knew some would take some time to settle and that is why I write this.

You didn’t need to add the writer’s block bit, for the sake of writing this I’ll say that it radically reduced his chances of winning because it felt very unprofessional. Craig is a great asset, it was half a promo and then it was just complete cut off. We understand with Anderson why. Me and Robbo are here, and we are aware that you are struggling with character atm. Speaking may help. Having lost a good thing to lose is your gimmick if you want to start fresh, me and Robbo speak to everyone who comes to us we ALWAYS help, we love conversation over it…its refreshing, it builds both stories, and he needs some perspective in his character…another dimension, the “catch”. Craig has a good basis, but he needs the IT factor based off what we are reading: needs the first step on the ladder. Add a few dimensions; it’s the subtle things people play off: #FuckRydell, JC not being over, Lucian living underground, Hooligan from the rival city, Jameson being a TV star, me being a copycat, Mack being a movie star. Craig Anderson can become anything what he wants and when he finds it I am sure he will want to promo more. Also pay homage to the promo guide and have a read of it, and the character guide, and the key question here is: are you interested in your character? Write about something you like. What about if your character plays in the Infinity FC league or manages a team in his day-to-day job? Incorporate what you write about. He doesn’t need to spend all the time on it, read what is good and bad…what can you learn from them? If you want a good sense of story read Jason Smith/Muir, read Matt Young’s for shoot (also Rydell), he could be a manager of team he could create or play on it, and he could aid the football career with his wrestling thing: he could intertwine it and play off angle he is consequential.

And lastly the winner of the match, Chris Michaels, who wrote a starkly different piece in comparison to Young’s promo as it was a story driven with Michaels, which suites his style. Chris gave a convincing story that he is the man despite his loss to Adrian last week, and that he will rise up again. Speaking about it without having to actually come out and say it. The prologue was short and sweet and really set a positive tone from the get-go, it instantly grabbed my attention and each part following was different in its own way. Like last week it was a personal piece and had lots of imagination and thought going into it, unlike his opponents he fully utilised his background and story to good effect. Chris’s work could be described as a slow burner but there was lots happening which made it fun to read, especially the story he fleshes out for Sammy Kinghan who drives to Michaels house for an interview. The story was so good with Kinghan we are rolling with that as his actual background. What Chris does best is creating deep, meaningful characters to support him; most of the time Chris’s character does not to do any of the heavy lifting which allows you see Chris in a different and more realistic tone. Another thing I enjoyed was the scenery he described, another important staple to his promos, I imagined everything perfectly…and in my own way I imagined a sit down interview with Batman and Ghost Rider which made me enjoy it even more. Michaels reference to Adrian’s DDT from last week on the outside of the ring was an amazing easter egg and did the promo justice. Chris has no superficial BS, he is a real man’s man and doesn’t hide from who he is, in his promo Kinghan was expecting him to interview in-character, the real point was is that he was acting in-character which frustrated Kinghan…he is who he is, and he doesn’t mince his words with it.

This was a promo with a very good example of a longer promo that didn’t drag, but I think it was really good length which was a plus. Chris’s madness is that he has to work against it, he thinks he shouldn’t be in this match as he shouldn’t put people over…it isn’t his duty, he plays veteran role very good. Very good subtlety is good…all of it directed at Anderson and Young, about how the youth of the industry are arrogant.

In the future expect Adrian and Chris to step back into the ring together. Chris is amazing at long-term feuds; we hope that many of the memorable moments involve the Master of Execution and Adrian Flynn. Until then Michaels is strong going into his match at Immortalis, and the tag match next week with James Jameson against Over Rated.

Young, well done, you are in a championship match next week and if you make these improvements there is no reason you can’t win the title. Chris did such a good promo it would be an injustice to the match if he didn’t win, Michaels is a very strong writer and phenomenal promo writer and Young should be proud of it, and it’s such a shame that Craig didn’t deliver like we expected him to. But in respect to all three people it is up for everyone, because Young has shot at belt, Anderson can improve his character and Michaels goes from strength to strength on his path to Immortalis.

Starkiss vs. Jamo

Singularis division Submission Match

This was an interesting match, it is rare that you now have gimmick vs. gimmick matches but in Infinity #2 we had one. In this contest the Grimm Reaper Jamo went against Starkiss, the kiss-tastic new addition that was formerly Steve Davids. As usual I will start with man unfortunate enough to have lost the match.

Starkiss had his IWF debut this week, and it was an interesting promo to say the least considering the nature of his gimmick being all about kisses. From the promo I love the fact he mentions the city of infinite possibilities and the characters of infinite personalities that Starkiss represents (being a mesh of everything the handler has done since). Good reference about the match, but then again he wants something on the line and the submission he and Jamo share. The two people have sacrificed something before they do their promo’s, and much different from opening match between Smith & Tierney. I was looking forward to this as I love gimmick characters, but it was slow burner and shorter than I expected, this suffers from the Young Syndrome: introduction promos. Nobody wants to start slow and losing, so I don’t see why people don’t hit the ground running with a full length promo. Albeit the introduction was good it was not enough to beat Jamo who put a little extra detail and character into his effort. However the promo was well written as a whole and the novelty of Starkiss is a good thing to have on the roster.

Well written as a whole: Novelty is a good thing; Jamo has an extremely good novelty to have: good attraction on the roster. Over the course here Starkiss will be morphed into a very good novelty character, if he had given us more to work with, Starkiss wouldn’t have fallen flat on his face. Jamo is the master of not mincing his words as he quite rightfully said he was going to squash you.

Other things I would like to have seen would be about Starkiss being a mystery yet to be solves. Furthermore the length of the of the promo could have been used more effectively to add more detail which would have increased your chances of beating Jamo. Also a worthy note, Starkiss is the first person to get the name of the fed wrong! XWF is not IWF, and quite confusing because I and X are quite literally the opposite side of a QWERTY keyboard.

I can’t believe I am about to say this, but Starkiss has achieved a gimmick with the same opportunity as my own. Starkiss can be anyone he wants to be, touché. When approaching a novelty gimmick you need a list of things your character will do: take it full measures, for example he should approach people or kiss them on the cheek, or in the ring do it afterwards. Or draw it on lipstick, or you know ask for a kiss at the end of an interview. Novelty gimmicks are great as you do things that others can’t. Don’t be scared to play around with it because Starkiss will be noticed for his actions.

Ps. I picked up on your Elijah Fortune gimmick, influenced by yours truly.

For the second week in a row Jamo has made someone tap out, he is undefeated in Infinity and next week he teams with Starkiss in Harmony week. But let us take a look at why the Grimm Reaper picked up his second victory in Infinity. Because of the no-mess way he writes he has a unique attribute that makes him strong when it comes to promos. There is a certain entertaining aspect, Jamo promos are great because he always entertains, and me and Robbo know what we are expecting in terms of his character, there is a lot of fun in it and people play up on his mythic status. Jamo never disappoints in his promo’s as he is on his own pedestal as his character has unique ability to smile when we are reading it which is important, his promo’s explain why he has a mythical status…we don’t hear much of Jamo in the Infinity camp but when he turns up it is always a rollercoaster ride.

For both of 2.0 it grabbed our interest and imagination, he has a distinct uniqueness, which he translated perfectly fine. Jamo likes having fun with his character. It also appears he has obviously read the feedback and taken in board like a real champ and I appreciate that, and he has shown development, even if it was a bone throne chair, it’s still development and it suited his character.

Apart from hitting the nail on the head with the sacrifice theme he had a good shoot against Starkiss, despite the grammar, but the novelty of Jamo’s character is amazing. We were both in stitches reading “using all the makeup to feel like a girl”. On par with reading with a legible Scott Steiner. Jamo also called this a squash match, I nearly coughed blood. Jamo has related it to the stipulation of losing something, and lastly I loved the sentiment about his reference about the Bebo Wrestling Network, Jamo wanting to be the saviour of a dying breed, and in retrospect a subtle theme is that death is crucial to the circle of life.

Like always some things Jamo needs to improve upon are his grammar, it is important as you don’t want your reader second guessing what they just read. Never change the way you talk, just the cleaning up of sentences that make little grammatical sense.

I really enjoyed this match this week, and both people if they continue with future developments can go further and only get better. Also a last message to Starkiss, and Jamo too, because of the gimmicked characters you both have it gives you the opportunity to be in unique situations in the City and the show. Doing things that others refuse to do because of their serious characters is something both Jamo and Starkiss can take advantage of…and seeing as your tagging in the next show it can create some really cool situational comedy.

Over Rated vs. Casanova & Jameson

Harmony Tag-Team Match

One of my favourite matches of the night, two teams battled it out in a match where I was the special guest referee. Team Over Rated defeated the combined effort of Jordan Casanova and James Jameson, their performance ended in a DQ which best reflected the outcome of the match. This time we will start with the winners, John Charismatic & Blair Holmes.

John’s promo was in good taste for the match, the one thing I didn’t get which I expected was “Is Harmony Over?” (laughs). John put across his team and the Harmony division very well, including his story involving the failing Charismatic Coliseum and its new members. In all honesty I was surprised by his submission, I was expecting something shorter, but when I read it I was content with his work. The one thing that made his promo stand out was the additions to the City; this was the deal breaker with his promo. John has given Infinity its first radio station and developmental wrestling school and a cast of characters to support.

John and Blair had a really good interlinking promo, not quite the joint promo of the future I envision, but in time they will no doubtably get there. Kayfabe Alert: During the judging my gut instinct told me to bury John Charismatic, he even thinks his promos are going to go over? Over my dead body will Over Rated hold tag team gold. I should have sent in Jamo to make this a squash match. Thank god for Roderick bringing me to my senses and showing me the light.

Blair Holmes wrote the other solid half of their match winning effort, it was a true compliment to his work and even included the classic Bebo text coding symbols within which was a really cool throwback and made his promo very unique to read. His promo was the shorter of the two but that was not a bad thing, however additional length and detail could have solidified the victory to full pinfall status. The setting of the promo added a nice piece of story to the Infinity City with his nightclub Electric. After reading both of Over Rated submissions I was comfortable with giving them the victory as they had both worked hard to show their harmony. They didn’t quite get to the clean win because their opponents made it tough for them to achieve it

Jordan Casanova had another fantastic promo against Over Rated, this time round it was direct and relevant and written really well with no grammar mistakes. It builds a firm case why he should be one half of the Harmony Champions with Jameson. For all that it was worth it was again a very short promo and I was expecting more, what was there was a good read but this time not enough to clinch a victory with his partner. Also, I wanted to see more of the punk attitude shine through that nearly won Jordan the Purity Championship last week; this seemed a step down from what made his promo great last week. Casanova is all about rebellion and with Jameson he had a chance to stick it to the Infinity City and explain why together they had a good team dynamic. Furthermore I wanted to see more interlinking of their promos, as JBL said a great team always beats great individuals and in this scenario it was proven true. Moving into Infinity #3 I hope to see a stronger more outlandish Casanova team with Matt Rydell which should be one hell of a match.

Finally in this hectic tag team match is James Jameson. All that I have to say about his promo was that it resembled last week’s in so many ways. That said it meant it was a really good promo, short and sweet, the bacon of a hypothetical sandwich. There was lots of humour and was more direct and relevant than last week’s promo. Mr Entertainment makes a good case for him and Casanova teaming together, but I must bring into perspective the JBL theory of great teams always beat great individuals. I knew what I was getting from a Jameson promo, I kind of like it, sometimes I wish he surprised me a bit more, I hope he does. The promo complimented his character and was another good piece but for the second time he tasted defeat.

Overall it came down to Over Rated wanting it more, they put in the effort to really shine as a team and build a strong case for why they should be in the match at Immortalis for the IWF Harmony Championships. I hope that if Jameson and Casanova improve and produce a match winning promo in their individual tag matches at Harmony week then we might be seeing them join Over Rated at the showcase of immortal champions.

Taylor Westfall vs. Lucian Shannon

IWF World Tournament Semi-Finals Match

In this world championship tournament bout Taylor Westfall is getting the same treatment as he did last week, to paraphrase myself I said that he got a free ticket into the next round, and due to a fault not his own he progresses again in the tournament…this time straight to the finals at Immortalis to face Adrian Flynn for the coveted world championship.

Lucian Shannon did not promo, disappointing considering I was actually looking forward to what the Honey Monster could do with his character this week. Blame Bobby indeed.

Westfall’s promo submission was good this week, and considering we all thought Lucian was going to promo gave Taylor even more reason to hit it out of the ball park like I have seen him done time and time again during the Bebo days. That said, there was no home run pitch. Albeit his promo was a drastic improvement from last week’s one minute promo he did to ensure a victory of Jack Anderson, his promo if judged against another solid promo may have not been good enough to clinch him a victory, again, the same story as last week.

What was good about his promo was that instead of addressing the fourth wall with Roderick Blackmore’s character (Robbo), Taylor actually used the right canon…I’d like to think this means the feedback is doing wonders. In his promo it shows his locality and origin as a Scottish born and raised wrestler, the scene in the bar really did put across his character better than his first promo did. A good sense of identity was built for him that I didn’t otherwise know, and having been out of the game for so many years I only go off what I have in front of me or anything Infinity related to guide me so in this regard Taylor did well.

Now, I don’t know if this is a good or a bad thing, but I’ll be honest…when we were reading promos I read it in reverse by mistake. Upon correcting myself I found that the reverse option made so much more sense than the normal way of interpreting your promo. Leaving Blackmore hanging would have been a much better way of ending your story as Taylor is meant to be a character that is difficult when communicating with management.

Moving onto the not so positive news the main thing I find irritating with the promo is the grammar, I don’t know if it rebellion but when an I is not in capitals on its own it leaves a very bad impression as it used so many times in your promos. The many uses of I can also be a limit to your writing skill, try mixing it up with more descriptive words that imply it is you, and trust me every other sentence in your promo begins with the letter I. There were small technical inconsistencies like not bolding people’s names for speech, and using number symbols and not the English word for them also need to be looked at but no major problem. Also I would advise Taylor in the future to really think about the character he is writing about, especially management, I am more of a blank slate whereas Roderick is more of a bad-ass management type, and the overuse of him swearing in your promo is so off key because in canonical terms Roderick does not swear, me and him never swear in our work. Roderick is very regal and a professional character, treating him like a boss not like a friend would have been better. If I was to copy this character, I would struggle. Also because I only know a fraction of Taylor’s character it would be hard to not ruin the gimmick before it really picked up and changed as he improves.

For the sake of saying, Westfall has got a free pass into the world title match, and considering the best matches so far have been on the other half of the tournament that he really needs to step it up to be a fighting contender for the belt at Immortalis, and having known him for a long time and seen his work before I know he is more than capable of doing it. Play on the underdog angle in the final, the match was written before the no-show, if we didn’t do that we would have Lucian no-show through attack and have same angle played we had with Jack Anderson. Robbo didn’t want to waste the match so we didn’t remove it; we contemplated doing it but chose not to.

I have a feeling Taylor may be holding back on something great, and if you underestimated Lucian’s abilities that is fair, but…knowing my luck he will going to go into Immortalis and write something amazing, and I hope that is the case as I want that to be the match it can be.

Matt Rydell vs. Neal Powers

IWF Purity Championship Match

The final match of the show is always exciting as it involved the Purity Championship, this time Neal Powers got the better of Matt Rydell to be the new champion. Let’s take a look at Matt Rydell first, the man who is the first man to win and lose a championship in Infinity Wrestling.

#FuckRydell kept to a winning formula this time round, the same case as last week. He implemented all of the City stories and further added to his own story. His promo was an ok length but both of us believed if he’d had given us about more content/detail the result may have been better and worth his time in writing the second part of the #FuckRydell anthology. The second part to his promo was stronger than his first as he got into it more, and I liked the trivial description of his anger over little things…the transition between losing on Fifa and facing Neal Powers was actually really well written. Matt’s shoot on Neal Powers was in line with his character, he did well to deconstruct his opponent.

When you judge matches and you think a promo is really good, match winning or not, it is horrible to pick flaws in a person’s writing as I understand better than anyone it is a labour of love. #FuckRydell’s promo was good, and I could poke holes in few grammar mistakes, or the fact he uses number symbols, things like 9 should be written nine. I could talk about all that but I won’t as I didn’t care for it, what we thought Rydell lost the match for was because he we believed he was selling himself short of his true potential and that is it. Matt will bounce back as Michaels did last week, that’s for sure, and I am sure he will be heading into Immortalis with a renewed sense of purpose. We have a plan for him; it may even involve whoever may still be the Purity champion…who knows?

Neal Powers won the Purity Championship, being the first man to take a championship away from another competitor here in Infinity. In terms of the story he told it was really good, and mixed with an amazing shoot on #FuckRydell. Neal kept it relevant and to the point, he talks about the belt and meaning of Purity and what it brings to the Blood Family. Before I say the next point, know that when I opened the promo I saw a giant block of text, where it not for the fact I had to read it I did sigh before doing so, but the promo itself grabbed my attention and Neal’s words are on fire, quite literally. If anyone wants to read a good shoot promo then head over to the promo archives and read Neal’s submission for this week. The block of text was also written well within, and for its entirety free of grammar mistakes. Personally, I was hooked by the promo and it was good to see Panik fully utilised when he sent a direct message to #FuckRydell.

Believe it or not the segment he had with Rydell in his promo was the first one to be done inside the Infinity ring. It made me think that the traditional approach can sometimes be the best as the point was is that he exposed Matt Rydell in the ring and more importantly he didn’t need to do or say anything with Rydell that comprised his own character…it was a good old fashioned beat-down. Traditional is good, as long as it is done well like in this case…Powers has a strong main event promo. Power’s screams main event, it screams quality.

Main event or not the hard part of picking holes, because ya’ know it’s my fictional job as the COO. As already mentioned the solid block of text should be avoided and broken up unless it is as good quality as last time. Because there was so little actual dialogue some of it could have been used differently with a better effect. Also Neal could have better used the stuff created in the City to compare to #FuckRydell. Neal talked about labelling Rydell as sell-out with his branded t-shirts and his football team, and his materialistic things that make him a ‘brand’ personality. I wanted to read so much more about that beautiful bit of writing. With everything said Neal has the chance to go from strength to strength, it should be an interesting and hard fought contest at Infinity #3 when he goes against Matt Young.

When it came down to it, it was the case for the belt again. The Purity is made to be defended every week, there is risk involved and nobody is safe if your Purity champion. Both had really good strong cases, Neal Powers worked hard to really put over the belt and his ability to beat Rydell convincingly. Management butted heads over the issues and we took a step back and after reading again, and considering the cases for the championship it was small margin that allowed Neal Powers to win. Matt Incorporated the City well, he ticked all the boxes we are looking for, Powers may have not included City stuff but sometimes that may not matter when his shoot was really strong. It felt like Rydell sold himself short of the victory, if Rydell gave us a little more content of equal or greater value he would have still been the Purity Champion still.

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I am proud to announce that promo of Infinity #2 goes to…Adrian Flynn!

Adrian submitted another fascinating and match winning performance, Murray should not feel downhearted with the result as his promo was also an amazing read. Adrian’s promo talked about the aftermath of Infinity #1 and how it impacted the most recent show Infinity #2. His compelling story of tragedy amidst his aim to become the world champion, mixed with his wife leaving him, and his mounting sacrifices he had to make as he transition into a fully-fledged professional wrestler really stood out this week. For the second time in a row Adrian Flynn is awarded my promo of the week. Adrian looks like a favourite heading into Immortalis to capture the IWF World Championship, his opponent Taylor Wesftall has a lot of work to do to best Adrian right now who is on the form of his life.

Condolences to our runners up who also impressed me with their promos this week, Chris Michaels put up another amazing promo as he bested Matt Young and Craig Anderson; Chris now looks strong going into his match for the Singularis Championship at Immortalis. The debuting Neal Powers also had a really strong promo, specifically his convincing shoot against the former Purity Champion Matt Rydell.

I am proud to announce that Infinity #2’s Match of the Week goes to…Adrian Flynn vs. Murray Muir!

Because of the strength of both of the participants promo’s the match of the week goes to the world tournament semi-finalists Muir and Flynn. A hard fought contest no doubt, this match had only shaved this victory over the Michaels, Young, and Anderson triple threat and the main event featuring Matt Rydell and the new Purity Champion Neal Powers. The match between Murray and Adrian was tense, and culminated in Adrian resisting the urge to give into Muir’s demands to expose he is not a hero…after the match Adrian extended his hand and Muir accepted, but not before spitting in his own. I hope to see another bout between these two in the near future. Copy That.

There were some pretty cool things people said in their promo’s this week, and here are the three I think are worthy of some merit:

Jamo

“Starkiss I read all your twitters and when I saw it, it made me laugh and prove that you are not a very good wrestler to face me cause this will be an easy one for me to make it a squash match.”

Neal Powers

“Normally though, I am a calm spirited man, it's just some people are fully deserving of having their ego chopped in half and dragged back down to earth. You Matt, you deserve that very treatment. For a multitude of reasons. The labelling, the branding, the fact you wear it like armour.”

Adrian Flynn

“I can’t believe this,” Alexis begins to cry and head for the door, not bothering to stay around and get anything. She turns back slowly, and painfully, you could tell she was hesitant, “I want a divorce Adrian. I am through dealing with this, and with you.”

Again, excuse the awful Ryback pun, but in all seriousness if you wish to discuss more about your individual promos or anything else related to anything like your character or promos do not hesitate to contact Infinity Management. We’ll always respond to emails, or if you have either of the 2.0 Initiative on Facebook send us a private message or post in the Infinity group and I’m sure a conversation will break out.

TCK’s Email: infinitycopycat@gmail.com

Infinity Email: wrestlinginfinity@gmail.com

No way is better than the imitative way.

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@TheCopycatKid

@infinityIWF

www.infinitywrestling.net

Infinity #1 Feedback

Infinity Mondays

Feedback – Infinity #1

Hello everyone The Copycat Kid here, Infinity founder and current COO. I welcome you all to the first edition of my Copy Room; the first installment discusses the feedback from the first Infinity Wrestling Federation show that happened August 5^th 2013 and there is no better person to do it than the King of Character himself. I will even announce my first promo of the week once I am done with analysing the matches.

My congratulations to all the winners and condolences to those who were unfortunate in their first endeavor but do not feel disheartened this is only the start of your journey. By now most or all of you have asked about the feedback, and I am happy to say there will be feedback from every show. Not wasting any more time let’s get down to some serious business with this week’s show.

For the purposes of this segment I will be breaking my kayfabe gimmick, this feedback is directly concerned with character promos/scripts/role-plays the roster had submitted for their matches and how the show writers (and consequential) judges came to decide on the winners of the matches. But before I get into each match, I will refresh you with the promo criteria that I had written for the Promo Guide in the Developmental page of the Infinity website. I use this as a reference point to consider when I am judging promos, some points are more important than others but a well-rounded promo has all or most of these things.

Good Promos:

·         Grabs the reader’s attention and imagination

·         Direct, relevant to the match you are in

·         Written well, with good grammar and fitting writing style for your character

·         Interesting to read, original, innovative

·         Adds a new piece of story that improves Infinity City

·         Shows your knowledge of the Infinity City, whilst also interlinking with its living story

·         Complements your character/gimmick, and puts them over

·         Keeps to your alignment (Heel/Face/Tweener etc.)

·         Dialogue used well

·         Balanced in regards to length of promo

Bad Promos:

·         Copied or heavily plagiarised (cheaters will face consequences)

·         Indirect, not relevant to the match you are in

·         Poor use of grammar and chosen writing style for your character

·         Boring and unoriginal

·         Adds little or degrades the story of the Infinity City

·         Shows poor knowledge of the Infinity City, nor does it link to the living story

·         Contradicts your character/gimmick, doesn't put them over

·         Does not keep to your alignment (Heel/Face/Tweener etc.)

·         Dialogue badly used, large unbroken chucks of solid text

·         Unbalanced in regards to the length of the promo

You can check out the Infinity Developmental page here where you can learn how to build amazing promos, characters, and more! http://www.infinitywrestling.net/#!infinitydevelopmental/c1a4e

There are some other things that I also take into consideration when reading a promo, and that is after the reading the promo I ask myself what I can remember of the promo.

Promo Length

There have been issues with the submitted promos when management were judging them that I thought I’d bring up, and in many cases has hindered people’s chances of winning their respective matches. Many people did introductory short promos, I won’t namedrop but one thing I mentioned in my Promo Guide was that in order for a promo to be short enough it needed to be relevant, interesting, and possessing many of the good criteria stated above. Anything short of that and it was just a waste of time as there will be most likely no chance of a match being won.

Finding balance between what is long or short enough or what defines quality is what I mean by promo length. Make your promos as long as they need to be, just don’t deliberately underplay yourself with a super short promo that has no chance of winning and which doesn’t include barely any content to be actually judged on, by this I mean about a paragraph and a half that has no real value to your match or your chances of winning. Matt Rydell, Adrian Flynn, and Chris Michaels had a really good promo length if you want to check out theirs on the Promo Scripts page…all were long enough to include everything I was looking for in a really good promo, they were long enough to feel satisfied after reading, they were just right. What I liked about their promos was that there was no excessive waste and they got straight into the reason for promoing/roleplaying in the first place: to win matches. A shorter style promo also frees up your time, gives you some structure, and if you are writing just for the sake of writing a  tonne of words then what does it really achieve at the end of the day?

We don’t expect hefty or huge essays, if I was to see a twenty page promo I might actually cry where I was sitting. Not because of the time I would waste, but because I know someone would have wasted their time constructing a promo which would quite frankly frustrate me and I would end up hating it. Super-long is very bad. If you are familiar with e-feds online currently, then you may know that there is a reputation for excessively long promos and at Infinity we think that is unnecessary as we don’t have strict expectations over the need to write ridiculously long submissions that dishearten people if they lose.

My advice would be to write a promo about 3-4 A4 pages long, when you get to writing it those pages will fill up in no time at all and you should feel confident that is enough to clinch a good result in your match. This template is short and long enough for the reader of your promo to feel satisfied and wanting more and not getting bored or frustrated. Alternatively 2-4 pages/entries/parts on the promo-scripts forum is roughly the same amount as 3-4 A4 pages.

Grammar Mistakes

It may not be the most important factor in the arsenal of promo judging but good grammar can go a long way to give good first impression, a well written piece can really make it easier for the judger to see that you took your time to seriously write your promo. One major pitfall of many people is not to use a spellcheck, some words if not corrected can have a whole new meaning and can actually a stop a really good read in its tracks. Just be careful people, it’s the little things that add up in a promo. Everyone had at least one grammar mistake so this is message to the entire roster for the future just to keep it classy.

Dirty Laundry – New Additions to the Infinity City website

Right peeps, before I move onto the match there is a quick announcement to be made: management is working to add a part to the website where you can view these things:

·         Promo Board: You’ll be able to view your current promo score and the performance and statistics of each Infinity show and PPV

·         Win-Loss Records: A basic rundown of individual win-loss-draw records, but only that…download the more comprehensive sheet and make your own record for your time in the Infinity City

·         Promo Compilation: After each show I am compiling all the promos that have been written, because promos are a part of the living story they are valuable and an excellent source of reference. The first one will be up ASAP!

Now, what you have all been waiting for. I will be discussing all seven matches that took place on Infinity #1. I hope you find this feedback useful for making improvements in the future. Please try to read all the match comments, being the King of Character I learnt by reading over peoples feedback and haunted my opponents strengths and weaknesses, maybe you can learn something too by reading everyone else’s feedback.

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Match One: Murray Muir vs. Matt Young

What a match to kick off Infinity #1 to, Murray Muir and Matt Young had a compelling match with two really good promos. Murray Muir won this match, and he moves onto the next stage of the world championship tournament. This match surprised me, as Matt Young’s prior reputation for promos had everyone assured of a Murray victory, that however was not the case. Management read Young’s, then Muir’s promo. After reading Matt Young’s promo I was asking myself if Damien had produced a great promo, because he would need it.

I will start with Matt Young’s promo as I read it first, and he had produced a well written promo with only a few grammar mistakes which I like to see. Young’s promo was a short and sweet read, and very enjoyable. The length of the promo was ok, but it could benefit from being a little bit longer to add some content that further elaborates the points he had made in his promo. Young does very well to state his case for winning the championship, why he is relevant compared to the rest of the Infinity roster, and why moving out of tag team wrestling and onto the next stage of his career is important, and it was nice to see it in his promo, having read his promos in UBW it is good to see he has advanced his writing skills. There were things though that could be done to improve what was already there, and things he could have done differently to make a good impact. One thing me and Robbo discussed was his breaking of the fourth wall, Matt…if you are reading you state in your promo that “but after reading your character profile” when addressing Murray Muir. We believe that this isn’t such a bad thing, but it could have been done differently, for example, “after I researched into Murray’s past” would be much better to use. Young has broken the fourth wall many times, as a kayfabe character this can be a sloppy technique, another case was when he referenced “Bebo wrestling” when he should have used the “Bebo Wrestling Network” instead to add some nice kayfabe in the mix of his promo, it may sound like I am picking holes but it took away from the focus of the character bubble by piercing through it to reference the ‘real world’. As long as Young pays attention to this matter his promos should read much better. Overall, Young had a direct and relevant submission, which kept to his alignment, displayed knowledge of the City to his advantage, but despite what I loved about his promo he would fall short this time round for a simpler reason. His first promo in Infinity was an introduction promo and lacked enough content to include everything I was looking for in a winning promo that Murray had achieved in his. There was nothing wrong with his promo, in fact it was a refreshing read, and got him into the Power Rankings as a result. My advice to Young would be to be more edgy, and infuse his promo with some good old fashion sizzle and spice to get to the next level that he desires to reach. There was no giant punch factor that every promo needs to have a reader remembering his promo. With a little bit more bite and content Matt Young could be the serious competitor contending for championships all year round.

Moving onto Muir’s promo there was little I could fault him on when I read it, he ticked all of the criteria I was looking for and made for a really thrilling promo as it got more into it. I could tell Muir was writing better as he went along, the latter parts were a much better quality. It was nicely broken up into readable sections with no massive blocks of texts and was a good length too which made me wanting more after I finished it. Like Young he states his case for winning the championship, and that his character is a novice looking to prove himself. I loved his character involvement and cast, which made it into a real story, but the one thing I loved about Muir’s promo was that he Uses profanity bizarrely well, beats the cliché and we read lots of promo’s where it is very cringe-worthy. This didn’t come off as cringe at all. Story was a rollercoaster ride, and very entertaining read. Even though there could be some improvements naturally, but there were many shocks and twists throughout the story, and it culminated in a really good finish and a really amazing finish to the promo that captivated my attention. Some of the mistakes to clean up on include:

-          Dialogue: Could make it more obvious who is talking, it is hard to follow when dialogue is used in places, like when the first speech used.

-          Grammar: Change all numbers such as‘50’ to ‘fifty’.

-          Many UBW PPV references

-          Thought Italics: When Muir is thinking in his head, it is easier for the reader to identity them when they are in italics.

Match Two: Chris Michaels vs. Adrian Flynn

This match had both judges pulling their hair out, we knew it was coming, but we read two fantastically written promos. Adrian Flynn won this match because of the finish to Chris Michaels promo, in which he had breached Adrian’s kayfabe character by having a story where he was sleeping with Jaden, which we learn after Flynn wakes up from his dream. We believed that if Chris did not include this, and instead included a piece where he woke up to his wife and family, realising he had everything Flynn didn’t…would have won him the match. Both of their promos were really good length, and included everything we were looking for in the criteria (which is why it won match of the week). Furthermore both promo’s had a very good style and were easy on the eyes to read.

Adrian Flynn used very good imagery used throughout, and absolutely no grammar mistakes.

There was a slow build up, but has lots of emphasis on the real issue at hand which kept it relevant and direct. Incorporates his creations in the City well (characters, locations, etc.).

And his dialogue is used well; he creates believable conversations and characters, a very grounded approach which gives Adrian authenticity. Mentions Bebo past, tournament, and Michaels being a big deal which was nice to read. Overall, it had a big fight feel…like boxing…what is important is one match at time; dilemmas of wrestling, injuries, families, responsibility, a realistic setting. Adrian doesn’t need to be out of this world. There is no mincing around with who he is. The highlight of this promo for me was the Alexis character, Adrian’s wife. Seeing a more desperate side to Adrian could really spice up his character, I know Kasey will be reading this so as the main point of critique on a character level I will say that when a hero is challenged with a moral dilemma or set of choices they’ll always cross paths with many dark moments and acts of desperation, a deeper inner conflict would make the Adrian character a very formidable man. The only other thing I would mention is that Adrian’s promo could do better with more reference to Chris, from the whole scouting out point of view.

Chris Michaels has a behind the scenes feel to his promo, this is stuff that wrestlers do together…there is a vivid scene about what is going on right now. Batman vs. Clark got the big match feel about it. Talks issues with the wrestlers injuries, his injuries, I could even recommend that Chris needed to say to Flynn that he was taking his life for granted. Bit about fans being selfish is really good…really deep character, on character he knows he is a work, and he doesn’t live up to his alter ego. The writer puts across Chris Michaels being a veteran very well, who can see through Flynn’s masquerade. Questions Adrian being a hero and he keeps Flynn in character for the most part, which is amazing to read.

Well written, Michaels personal dialogue is better than Flynn’s, however Flynn’s other character dialogue is better than Michaels other character dialogue. Dream bit of his promo was really good, but there was more reality of the situation in the dream than in the reality itself. From a reading point of view it is good, but also confusing, as he puts Flynn out of character…if on the other foot that was Chris waking next to his wife realising that he had everything Flynn didn’t have at the moment. Ending made it easier for us to make a decision that we before reading were going to struggle to make. Chris wrote a solid promo, and as already said only an improvement to the ending would have secured him victory.

Match Three: Jack Anderson vs. Taylor Westfall

There is not a lot to say about this match really, Jack Anderson failed to submit a promo which was disappointing, which left Taylor Westfall with the easy task of doing something, anything…to win the match.

But for the sake of commenting on what I read, I will be honest, I knew that this was a minute long botch promo…the writer even told us himself. It may have been enough to win Taylor the match, but because I don’t know the true extent of either of these people’s abilities my judgement on their character will be misleading. I am intrigued though what Taylor will do against Lucian Shannon on the next Infinity though. A word of warning though…Taylor’s promo was easily forgettable, short, had plenty of grammar mistakes, and if, just if Jack Anderson were to promo last second with a better piece of work then there is a no shadow of a doubt that this promo would have not been enough to see Taylor through to the next round.

Match Four: Lucian Shannon vs. Craig Anderson

The final match in the IWF World Championship tournament bracket for the first show and another close match to call, but it was ultimately Lucian Shannon was victorious in this bout between the two superstars. Close match…but Lucian shaded it. Both men had written good pieces, both need better understanding of their character which is what will drive their promo skills up and through the roof. It will come in time as we get into the running of shows more. Both wrestlers need just subtle improvements more than anything at this stage, things like fixing grammar and improving their dialogue. When I write anything I read it aloud, trust me it makes a world of difference in the long run as it allows you to read it how a story is told.

The winning promo from Lucian was an entertaining read and grabbed my attention; it did however lose momentum quickly in the middle, but picked it up again at the end. I loved his affixation on Craig’s wife Jess which really drove home some of Lucian’s intentions. Lucian hit most of the points on the promo criteria, including saying that he intends to win and what the world tournament meant to him which makes it relevant and direct to the match.

It was a very good introduction promo…gives a slither, short and sweet, gives a bit to go on, makes you want know more about him in a way which was written well with little grammatical error. He is the ultimate loner gimmick, and we expect him to feed us more. Overall, the promo complimented his character but there are steps to be taken to advance it further, who know at this point it is a thing or trial and error so we are here to help any character. There were some editorial things Lucian should stray from, for example:

“I foretell I am going to do. And that is a) Command and b) Conquer. I will command this ring and I will conquer the IWF World Heavyweight Championship.”

This if written a different way and without the “a)” and “b)” would have really made this a easier read, but these are just the small things and ways to make incremental changes that really do go a long way to mastering promos.

Furthermore Lucian if he were to play off the angle nobody has confidence in his abilities, as he has not been voted once on either of the opinion polls could give him a good edge in his next promo. Everyone loves a good old fashioned and controversial comeback story.

Underground home wasn’t mentioned at all which was surprising, seeing as it is a unique aspect of the character. I would recommend Lucian incorporate his City involvement, very much like the advice I gave to Matt Young. One additional comment on the character side of things involves the whole ‘coming from the dark’ angle, Lucian needs a unique selling point, that extra flare and reason why his gimmick is distinguished from the all so many ‘dark & mysterious’ characters out there. I believe the gimmick will get better with age, and as he gets more acquainted with the City it will only get better. I have high hopes for Shannon if he promos every match he is in, and he must step up against Taylor Westfall for Infinity #2.

Craig Anderson’s promo was an ok read with a decent length and style, it didn’t need to be longer or it risked dragging out the same points he was making. We understand Craig had minimal to work with in regards to Lucian’s character, for future I recommend in these situations to stick to a person’s strengths in overcoming any odds and the unknown rather than make blind assumptions. Alternatively Craig could have focused on overcoming the unknown, rather than saying he has everything Lucian doesn’t. Craig’s character kept to his alignment and he also stated his case for winning the championship convincingly. There is a lot of potential with Craig, but in this instance we know, and felt, like he had rushed his promo to meet the deadline. If he took a step back and figured out where his character was heading, and how to get there he is going to be a strong force in the Infinity City.

One thing that this promo made me aware of is interpreting another person’s character, I don’t myself if Lucian Shannon is also the same kayfabe man as Bobby Hogan, but Craig made many references to Lucian as Bobby which I found confusing as I didn’t know quite who he was talking or directing his fight and efforts against. From the viewpoint of Lucian, he will be asking: why is he talking about this Bobby Hogan character? Lastly with a better involvement of the Infinity City will benefit his promos in the future, with some moderate changes and a considerate amount of time into his promos Craig Anderson will go the distance.

Match Five: Jamo vs. Kaos

In this match, there was a no-show from Typhon Kaos which meant that all that Jamo had to do was promo to win the match, which he did. Jamo now moves into his second submission match against Starkiss on the second Infinity on the route find out who will be the first IWF Singularis Champion.

What can I say about Jamo’s promo? It was clear the type of Jamo is immediately; he didn’t mince his words and cut to the chase which made it very direct and relevant. A bad-ass who knows exactly how he is going to dismantle his opponents, it was a short, brief, but very entertaining piece which made me laugh in some parts. This shoot-style promo was a refreshing read admittedly, and did win him the match. As Jamo continues his path of destruction in Infinity then he will need to brush up on a few things, such as adding some more content to each promo submission, fixing the many grammar mistakes within, and incorporating more City fiction such as places and people. If he was to do these things for his match against Starkiss I am sure the Grimm Reaper will have no problem competing effectively and putting his name around some future gold.

Match Six: Charismatic vs. Holmes

This was the third match in Infinity #1 where only one of the contestants did a promo which was a great shame as I was really interested in seeing what Blair Holmes and John Charismatic would do against one another, despite them being in the same team. John Charismatic won after Blair Holmes did not submit a promo. Hopefully both can show up and put up a strong offense against Casanova & Jameson on the next show.

Charismatic’s promo was a very interesting and entertaining read, it has been quite a long time since I had read any of his work and it is safe to say the structure and style of his writing has dramatically improved! Dialogue is used very well and convincingly, it is direct and relevant, keeps to his face alignment, and supports his character which does not contradict him. Overall, a very well rounded promo. What I loved about it was the story, about the tragedy of his wife and it was a good twist and fun to read, also Charismatic hits the nail on the head about real wrestler issues such as financial hardship which was really compelling. Additionally his addition of the Charismatic Coliseum really sold him in his promo.  I even get a special mention in his promo which was good as he got my character spot on, he could see through his mentor and the plan he had devised…it also did well to give him a veteran feel. I wanted to read more of his promo, especially as it included the point of Harmony in the tag division. Having said all that his future promos could really benefit with additional length and content to really push up the quality…still, is he even over? Probably not. But hey, what would I know about the man I trained?

Match Seven: Casanova vs. Rydell vs. Jameson

The main event was a tough call, mostly because we had to consider if any of three promos was good enough to win the first championship in IWF, the Purity shield. Robbo made it clear to me when judging the match about a concept he use to use in UBW when judging promos for FnF. He asked me what did I want to read more of? If there was three taster books I had just sampled and I could only buy one, which would it be?

When it comes down to it due to the similar styles of promo it comes down to the question: Who made the best case for the championship. Rydell was the one who gave us more substance…Rydell gave us the full sandwich; there was more ingredients in his promo for me to feel happy we’d made the right choice. Jameson had given us the sweet bacon, but no real sustenance to feel content with the decision. Casanova would have won if he made reference to why the Purity belt meant to him…about shaping the Purity belt in the Fair City way.

Final match made me want to read more of their promos and they were all really imaginative, it was a really good main event that should be benchmarked for the coming years.

Casanova’s was a really enjoyable read and accessible on a really cool format, having an individual blog made it so much more personal for him which sold him really well. He keeps to his character and has lots of reference to the Infinity City fiction which is really nice to see mentioned. Speaking of mentions, he was the only superstar to mention our TV-14 rating and the BZN network. As I already stated Casanova fell short because of his lack of incorporation of the Purity Championship being the focus which is why Rydell got the edge in the match.

Also, I wanted to read more and more of Fair City’s hooligan, the promo itself was a tad shorter than I expected and could have really benefited with some additional length to discuss why he the Purity championship deserves to be in the hands of someone not in the City.

The match winner Matt Rydell’s promo was the most direct and relevant to the Purity Championship, as well as being written well, in character, interesting to read, and complimenting to everything Matt Rydell stands for. He had a perfectly balanced promo in terms of length and additions, filling every criterion we look for in a championship winning promo. He could have improved his promo with more reference to the City that the other two had made in their submissions but the strength of his promo was so good it didn’t matter this time round as it was a really good read. Congratulations to the first Purity champion, let’s hope for more of the same for your defense next week against the Blood Family’s Neal Powers.

Jameson was so close to winning, which is why the decision was a debate between management over who and why the winner should walk away with the belt. Jameson’s submission really sold me on his character and instantly grabbed my attention, what I love most about it is the style of the promo it is written in, you know when you are reading a Jameson/Harding promo. The promo had some relevance to the match, but very shoot-based, written well and enlightening to the points he was making, such as the role of media and television in questioning what is normal and mainstream. In stating that Purity is something away from the ordinary was something I didn’t expect and enjoyed reading about. I wanted to read more of it, and I wish it was longer, as I said Jameson had everything sweet I was looking for but not enough to clinch a full victory. Having said that I commend his promo, and all of the competitors in this match…good luck to both Casanova and Jameson in their upcoming match against Team Over Rated on Infinity #2.

TCK’s Promo of the Week

I am proud to announce that promo of Infinity #1 goes to…Adrian Flynn!

He has shown promise in the first outing of Infinity; his promo was compelling and really gave a grounded, realistic character that is full of challenging dilemmas in his life whilst incorporating aspects of the Infinity City fiction. His promo put him through to the semi-finals of the IWF World Championship tournament against Murray Muir, and with an expectation of tough competition from Damien Muir’s nephew it will only get tougher in the next round. Can Adrian Flynn keep this top spot for next week? Who knows, but based off the beautiful promo he constructed for the first week of Infinity we may already be looking at the new champion.  

Feedback Me More?

Excuse the awful Ryback pun, but in all seriousness if you wish to discuss more about your individual promos or anything else related to anything like your character or promos do not hesitate to contact Infinity Management. We’ll always respond to emails, or if you have either of the 2.0 Initiative on Facebook send us a private message or post in the Infinity group and I’m sure a conversation will break out.

TCK’s Email: infinitycopycat@gmail.com

Infinity Email: wrestlinginfinity@gmail.com

  

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