Eternal Phoenix

Well, at least we know that 48 minute're isn't a Hida match. Also gonna show love to Croq and SF for believing in the Irish Canadian Connection and Made In Japan. Much appreciated, gentlemen.

Season Ten Mid Season Review & Predictions Alpha Division Predicted Top Group: Mastachas, O’Hallister Predicted Middle Group: Nuke, Mastodon, Brandy Predicted Bottom Group: Gross, De’siree, Simmons Actual Top Group: Mastachas (6-1), Mastodon (5-2), O’Hallister (4-3) Actual Middle Group: Nuke (4-3), Brandy (3-4), De’siree (3-4) Actual Bottom Group: Gross (2-5), Simmons (1-6) As it turns out, there hasn’t been that much swapping. Only De’sire and Mastodon bumped up a group due to performance. Though De’siree’s hanging on by her fingernails there with me. Nuke doesn’t make the top group because his three losses are to the people in it. Couldn’t be clearer than that. Mel’s win over Mastodon, however, allows him to stay in. Mastachas and Mastodon have remained the front runners, with the latter taking a step back due to his loss to Mel. Simmons is looking just like relegation bait, and Gross’s nightmare of being relegated a second time may well come true at this rate. With that said, let’s get to the character breakdowns. Brandy McDonald W vs. De’siree Mitchell (1-0 Season, 4-1 Lifetime) L vs. Reverend Johnny Gross (0-1 Season, 2-1 Lifetime) W vs. Daniel Simmons (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. George Mastachas (0-1 Season, 2-3 Lifetime) L vs. The Mastodon (0-1 Season, 2-3 Lifetime) W vs. Mel O’Hallister (1-0 Season, 2-1 Lifetime) L vs. Nuclear Templeton (0-1 Season, 3-2 Lifetime) Daniel Simmons L vs. George Mastachas (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Nuclear Templeton (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Brandy McDonald (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Mel O’Hallister (0-1 Season, 2-1 Lifetime) L vs. Reverend Johnny Gross (0-1 Season, 1-2 Lifetime) L vs. The Mastodon (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. De’siree Mitchell (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) De’siree Mitchell L vs. Brandy McDonald (0-1 Season, 1-4 Lifetime) W vs. The Mastodon (1-0 Season, 2-3 Lifetime) W vs. Reverend Johnny Gross (1-0 Season, 2-1 Lifetime) L vs. Nuclear Templeton (0-1 Season, 1-4 Lifetime) W vs. Mel O’Hallister (1-0 Season, 3-0 Lifetime) L vs. George Mastachas (0-1 Season, 2-3 Lifetime) L vs. Daniel Simmons (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) George Mastachas W vs. Daniel Simmons (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Mel O’Hallister (1-0 Season, 2-1 Lifetime) L vs. The Mastodon (1-0 Season, 4-1 Lifetime) W vs. Brandy McDonald (1-0 Season, 3-2 Lifetime) W vs. Nuclear Templeton (1-0 Season, 3-2 Lifetime) W vs. De’siree Mitchell (1-0 Season, 3-2 Lifetime) W vs. Reverend Johnny Gross (1-0 Season, 2-1 Lifetime) The Mastodon W vs. Nuclear Templeton (1-0 Season, 2-3 Lifetime) L vs. De’siree Mitchell (0-1 Season, 3-2 Lifetime) W vs. George Mastachas (1-0 Season, 1-4 Lifetime) W vs. Reverend Johnny Gross (1-0 Season, 2-1 Lifetime) W vs. Brandy McDonald (1-0 Season, 3-2 Lifetime) W vs. Daniel Simmons (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Mel O’Hallister (0-1 Season, 1-2 Lifetime) Mel O’Hallister W vs. Reverend Johnny Gross (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. George Mastachas (0-1 Season, 1-2 Lifetime) W vs. Nuclear Templeton (1-0 Season, 3-0 Lifetime) W vs. Daniel Simmons (1-0 Season, 1-2 Lifetime) L vs. De’siree Mitchell (0-1 Season, 0-3 Lifetime) L vs. Brandy McDonald (0-1 Season, 1-2 Lifetime) W vs. The Mastodon (1-0 Season, 2-1 Lifetime) Nuclear Templeton L vs. The Mastodon (0-1 Season, 3-2 Lifetime) W vs. Daniel Simmons (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Mel O’Hallister (0-1 Season, 0-3 Lifetime) W vs. De’siree Mitchell (1-0 Season, 4-1 Lifetime) L vs. George Mastachas (0-1 Season, 2-3 Lifetime) W vs. Reverend Johnny Gross (1-0 Season, 3-0 Lifetime) W vs. Brandy McDonald (1-0 Season, 2-3 Lifetime) Reverend Johnny Gross L vs. Mel O’Hallister (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Brandy McDonald (1-0 Season, 1-2 Lifetime) L vs. De’siree Mitchell (0-1 Season, 1-2 Lifetime) L vs. The Mastodon (0-1 Season, 1-2 Lifetime) W vs. Daniel Simmons (1-0 Season, 2-1 Lifetime L vs. Nuclear Templeton (0-1 Season, 0-3 Lifetime) L vs. George Mastachas (0-1 Season 1-2 Lifetime) Brandy McDonald is, in fact, on the outside looking in. With Mastachas at 6-1 and her at 3-4, she’s realistically out of contention of this season’s championship. Going forward, she just has to put together enough wins not to get relegated and try again next year. She could go on a run, but from what I’ve seen of her she’s not really the type. Plus the Alpha’s gotten tougher over the past two seasons. She needs a new trick or some special training. The old ways just aren’t cutting it anymore. So, how will she respond to her decent from champion to contender to member of the pack? Time will tell. There’s a whole half season left. Daniel Simmons is, unfortunately, likely going right back to Beta. He’s had some good showings in the first half of the season, but he’s been basically exposed as not ready for Alpha level competition. This does not means he’s some kind of jobber. He had Mastodon beat except for shenanigans, and last season ought to speak for itself. But, unfortunately enough, he doesn’t seem to be ready. The second half ought to bear this out. De’siree Mitchell is probably staying in Alpha, but that’s about the only good thing to say about her season thus far. She’s realistically out of title contention, just like Brandy. Unlike Brandy, she’s going to have to fight to avoid relegation. I think she can do it. Simmons isn’t ready and Gross ain’t doing well either. But we shall see. I don’t have a lot of respect for her at this level. She may well dominate Beta if relegated, but she’s an also ran in Alpha. George Mastachas is still on top of the world. More so now, that Mastodon has stumbled and he’s in sole possession of the division lead. Only Mastodon has been able to beat him. Only Mastodon has even looked capable of it. As I said at the start of the season, without Pulsar to slow him down he will be functionally unstoppable. So far, he’s lived up to that. I have no doubt he will continue to do in the second half. The Mastodon may have just be dealt a staggering blow in his quest for the championship (because lord knows Mastachas doesn’t look like he’s stumbling anytime soon), but he’s legitimately impressed me this season. Coming in, I thought he’d be relegation bait. Instead he’s a top contender. It’s a remarkable turnaround from last season and even if he doesn’t manage to beat Mastachas again while losing to nobody else and wins the championship, this season has to be regarded as a win for him. As far as I’m concerned, he’s proved himself as the real deal. Mel O’Hallister needed to make a stand, and as he always does when he needs it most, he did. With his season on the line after two straight losses, he came through. Will he win the championship? Looks a little unlikely. Mastachas looks unstoppable and Mastodon is still a win ahead of him. Plus rematches with De’siree and Brandy loom. I believe in him, but the odds don’t look good. Good thing he’s got the luck of the Irish on his side, eh? Nuclear Templeton’s got to be a little frustrated. He hasn’t had a bad first half, per se, but he’s still found himself clinging on the edges of contention for HIS belt. All three guys ahead of him in the standings on the ones who beat him. Including Mel, who he’s never beaten in three tries now. But this is Nuke we’re talking about. The guy who went on a 6-1 run in the second half last season to capture the title he proudly wears to the ring. So you know. Never count him out. He’s beaten everyone in this division but Mel before, and by God he can do it again. Can is not the same as will, mind you. Let’s just wait and see. Reverend Johnny Gross is still living his nightmare scenario. Still only not at the bottom of the division standings by virtue of the guy he promoted with having one less win than he does. Relegation bait. Again. After how he dominated in Beta. One of his two wins was AGAINST Simmons, curse it. He’s lost to everybody but Brandy. He’s arguably worse off than he was before getting relegated the first time. That was a 5-9 season, and this one’s on track to be worse. He’s got to be losing his mind. With that said, I think he can do better. I have faith in him to just enough to pass De’siree and stay in Alpha. It may not happen. But I believe it can. At least, so he doesn’t have to be the first guy in the restored League to relegated out of Alpha TWICE. So, continued predictions! Top Group: Mastachas, O’Hallister, Mastodon, Middle Group: Nuke, Brandy, Bottom Group: Gross, De’siree, Simmons It’s Mastachas’s season to lose. I don’t think Mastodon can go 7-0 in the second half, which would probably be what he’d need to do (or close enough) to overcome Mastachas. I think he’ll regress a little. He’s got a couple of relatively lucky wins under his belt, and luck can’t be counted on. He’s not beating Nuke without a finisher or getting a convenient ref bump against Simmons again. Do not, however, count out Nuke here. Brandy and everyone lower will be more than happy to play spoiler if anyone above drops their guard. Alpha is still a very competitive division, even if the records don’t entirely show it. I’ll probably see you all here again at the 3/4 mark, with 3 matches to go. ---------- Beta Division Predicted Top Group: Blackfield, Ouilette, Nakamatsu Predicted Middle Group: Blood River, Norris, Wasserman Predicted Bottom Group: Weathers, Pulsar Actual Top Group: Blackfield (7-0), Blood River (4-3), Nakamatsu (4-3) Actual Middle Group: Wasserman (4-3), Norris (3-4), Ouilette (3-4) Actual Bottom Group: Pulsar (2-5), Weathers (1-6) The one thing that makes this different from what I thought it would be is Wasserman’s win over Ouilette. Everything else more or less fell into place. Pulsar and Weathers are the jobbers. Norris came back a little. Nakamatsu’s doing fine. Blackfield’s dominating. Even Blood River has slipped a bit from his hot start with two straight losses going into the break. So I’m still doing pretty well, as far as predicting this division is going. With that said, let’s get to the character breakdowns. Angela Wasserman W vs. Big Scott Weathers (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Billy Norris (1-0 Season, 1-4 Lifetime) L vs. Blood River (0-1 Season, 1-2 Lifetime) L vs. Brian Blackfield (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Jean-Paul Ouilette (1-0 Season, 2-3 Lifetime) L vs. Yoshii Nakamatsu (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Pulsar (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) Big Scott Weathers L vs. Angela Wasserman (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Blood River (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Pulsar (1-0 Season, 3-2 Lifetime) L vs. Jean-Paul Ouillette (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Yoshii Nakamatsu (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Brian Blackfield (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Billy Norris (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) Billy Norris W vs. Yoshii Nakamatsu (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Angela Wasserman (0-1 Season, 4-1 Lifetime) L vs. Brian Blackfield (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Pulsar (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Blood River (0-1 Season, 1-2 Lifetime) W vs. Jean-Paul Ouillette (1-0 Season, 3-2 Lifetime) W vs. Big Scott Weathers (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) Blood River L vs. Brian Blackfield (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Big Scott Weathers (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Angela Wasserman (1-0 Season, 2-1 Lifetime) W vs. Yoshii Nakamatsu (1-0 Season, 3-0 Lifetime) W vs. Billy Norris (1-0 Season, 2-1 Lifetime) L vs. Pulsar (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Jean-Paul Ouillette (0-1 Season, 0-3 Season) Brian Blackfield W vs. Blood River (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Jean-Paul Ouillete (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Billy Norris (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Angela Wasserman (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Pulsar (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Big Scott Weathers (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Yoshii Nakamatsu (1-0 Season, 3-0 Lifetime) Jean-Paul Ouillette W vs. Pulsar (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Brian Blackfield (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Yoshii Nakamatsu (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Big Scott Weathers (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Angela Wasserman (0-1 Season, 3-2 Lifetime) L vs. Billy Norris (0-1 Season, 2-3 Lifetime) W vs. Blood River (1-0 Season, 3-0 Lifetime) Pulsar L vs. Jean-Paul Ouillete (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Yoshii Nakamatsu (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Big Scott Weathers (0-1 Season, 2-3 Lifetime) W vs. Billy Norris (1-0 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Brian Blackfield (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Blood River (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Angela Wasserman (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) Yoshii Nakamatsu L vs. Billy Norris (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Pulsar (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Jean-Paul Ouillette (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Blood River (0-1 Season, 0-3 Lifetime) W vs. Big Scott Weathers (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Angela Wasserman (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Brian Blackfield (0-1 Season, 0-3 Lifetime) Angela Wasserman is having the season most expected her to, with the notable exception of finally getting over the hump with Norris. Her first win in an astounding FIVE tries. That’s got to feel good. As does making her record against Ouilette more even with her second win ever over him. Aside from that, she’s doing Wasserman things. Beating jobbers and losing to contenders. Honestly, I’m starting to see her as Beta’s gatekeeper. The ones who can consistently beat her are promotion candidates. The ones who consistently lose are relegation bait. The ones who can’t find consistency one way or the other are stuck in Beta with her until they do. She’s proving to be an excellent litmus test, in my opinion. Kudos to her after being on the relegation bubble last season. Big Scott Weathers is just jobbing his way down to Gamma. Don’t mind him. 1-6 is ugly, and most of these weren’t close. He’s all but gone. Billy Norris, on the other hand, has rallied after four straight losses for two straight wins. That’s our mercurial Billy, yes indeed. He actually still has a promotion shot in the second slot, but I think he’s just too erratic to pull it off. He’ll be in Beta next season, barring anything unexpected. Gatekeeping just like Wasserman, only without the consistency in who he wins and loses to. Blood River is also quite erratic, with a weekly record that literally mirrors that of Norris. Seriously, look at that. Norris wins that week, River loses. River wins, Norris loses. It’s uncanny. He too can contend, if he corrals his erratic nature. But I’m still not all in on him. So I think he’ll put up a respectable record but fall short and remain in Beta. Brian Blackfield has looked totally unstoppable. Not invincible by any means, but he’s the sole remaining undefeated person in the League at the season break. He’s winning the Beta divison title and going on to Alpha. Where he’ll probably finally hit the wall, just like Gross and Simmons did. There’s nothing else to be said. Jean-Paul Ouilette just saved his season. 3-4 is on the outside of the promotion candidate bubble, admittedly, but 2-5 is entirely outside of it. He’s just not doing great. 2 of those 3 wins were over the division jobbers. He’s capable of rebounding, but promotion is probably out of his reach at this point. I think he’ll manage to avoid relegation (Pulsar and Weathers are just too poor), but really this season’s probably a wash for him. Speaking of Pulsar, here he is merrily jobbing his way down to Gamma. The wins over Norris and River simply add to how erratic they are, not how good Pulsar is. He ought to be the other guy relegated with Weathers. But I suppose we’ll see. Yoshii Nakamatsu had to have come into this season knowing he wasn’t winning the division title. He promoted with Blackfield. He knows him well. With that said, he probably wants at least one of the matches with Norris and River back. He takes one of them, he’s the unquestioned number two contender. But that’s the past. There’s seven more matches to be run this season, and the way things are going, 8-6/9-5 is probably enough to promote to Alpha behind Blackfield. He’s not stupid. He knows this will probably go really badly. He’s seen what’s happened to Simmons and Gross. But the alternative is taking losses he doesn’t need to, and he has his pride. All a man can do is his best, and Yoshii will continue to do his. So, continued predictions! Top Group: Blackfield, Nakamatsu, Blood River Middle Group: Ouilette, Wasserman, Norris Bottom Group: Weathers, Pulsar I’m still all in on Blackfield and Nakamatsu only sticking around for a cup of coffee in Beta. Ouilette had a chance to spoil that, but he’s fallen behind and Nakamatu’s too consistent. Blood River and Billy Norris could still make a move, but they’re too erratic to properly predict where they’ll land. Wasserman’s going nowhere. Weathers and Pulsar are getting relegated. Join me again at the 3/4 mark, with three matches to go. It’ll be time for a reassessment. ---------- Gamma Division Predicted Top Group: Priest, Molina, Rodriguez Predicted Middle Group: Diamond, Rose Predicted Bottom Group: Gibson, Stevens, Clay Actual Top Group: Priest (6-1), Stevens (4-3), Molina (4-3), Rodriguez (4-3) Actual Middle Group: Rose (3-4), Gibson (3-4), Diamond (3-4) Actual Bottom Group: Clay (1-6) The big story here is Terrance Stevens, who has completely refused to be a jobber. He’s got more wins here at the halfway point than he did all last season. He’s worked his way past Molina and Diego into promotion contention. It is genuinely remarkable. The other story is Gibson rallying his way out of being total relegation bait. Now, the second relegation slot is entirely up in the air. As is the second promotion spot, with Priest dominating the division for the top spot. Gamma’s been arguable as competitive as Alpha, which is saying something. With that said, let’s get to the character breakdowns. Christian Priest W vs. Diego Rodriguez (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Erick Gibson (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Diamond (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Markus Clay (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Terrance Stevens (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Indigo Rose (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Lucas Molina (1-0 Season, 2-1 Lifetime) Diamond L vs. Indigo Rose (0-1 Season, 0-3 Lifetime) W vs. Markus Clay (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Christian Priest (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Diego Rodriguez (1-0 Season, 3-2 Lifetime) L vs. Erick Gibson (1-0 Season, 2-3 Lifetime) W vs. Lucas Molina (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Terrance Stevens (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) Diego Rodriguez L vs. Christian Priest (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs Terrance Stevens (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Erick Gibson (1-0 Season, 3-2 Lifetime) L vs. Diamond (0-1 Season, 2-3 Lifetime) L vs. Lucas Molina (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Markus Clay (1-0 Season, 0-0 Lifetime) W vs. Indigo Rose (1-0 Season, 2-1 Lifetime) Erick Gibson L vs. Lucas Molina (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Christian Priest (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Diego Rodriguez (0-1 Season, 2-3 Lifetime) L vs. Indigo Rose (0-1 Season, 2-1 Lifetime) W vs. Diamond (1-0 Season, 3-2 Lifetime) W vs. Terrance Stevens (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Markus Clay (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) Indigo Rose W vs. Diamond (1-0 Season, 3-0 Lifetime) L vs. Lucas Molina (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Terrance Stevens (0-1 Season, 1-2 Lifetime) W vs. Erick Gibson (0-1 Season, 1-2 Lifetime) W vs. Markus Clay (0-1 Season, 2-1 Lifetime) L vs. Christian Priest (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Diego Rodriguez (0-1 Season, 1-2 Lifetime) Lucas Molina W vs. Erick Gibson (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Indigo Rose (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Markus Clay (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Terrance Stevens (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Diego Rodriguez (1-0 Season, 1-0 Season) L vs. Diamond (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Christian Priest (0-1 Season, 1-2 Lifetime) Markus Clay W vs. Terrence Stevens (1-0 Season, 4-1 Lifetime) L vs. Diamond (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Lucas Molina (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Christian Priest (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Indigo Rose (0-1 Season, 1-2 Lifetime) L vs. Diego Rodriguez (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Erick Gibson (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) Terrence Stevens L vs. Markus Clay (0-1 Season, 1-4 Lifetime) L vs. Diego Rodriguez (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Indigo Rose (1-0 Season, 2-1 Lifetime) W vs. Lucas Molina (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Christian Priest (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Erick Gibson (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Diamond (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) Christian Priest is Gamma’s big boss man. Only a loss to Stevens mars the first half of his campaign. So yeah, he’s gonna promote. He’ll probably dominate in Beta, too. There’s nothing else to be said here, really, except look forward to Week 13, where he and Molina meet again and tear the house down. Depending on how things go, this could be for the division title or merely whether Molina gets promoted again with Priest or not. Either way, European Rules matches never disappoint. If the season ended right now, Diamond would be relegated. That can’t feel good. But it’s her own erratic fault. The wins against Diego and Molina? Great work. The losses against Gibson and Stevens? Not so much. She’s fallen into that Norris/River zone. Too inconsistent to promote or get relegated. Until she can find some consistency one way or the other, she’s stuck in Gamma. At least, I think so. With how tight Gamma is right now, actual relegation is a threat on the table. Diego Rodriguez is more or less where I expected him to be. The loss to Diamond has to sting, but other than that he’s having a good season and is a threat to promote. Basically, he’s matching expectations perfectly. The key for him in the second half is to find a way to step it up just a bit so he can edge out Molina and the surprising Stevens. We will see if he can do it. Erick Gibson has probably saved his season. Four straight losses to start is damn hard to overcome, but three straight wins is a good start. Though it is important to remember that three of those losses are to guys who are basically better than him. He got the strong half of his schedule first, and predictably got his ass handed to him. Then the second half came up, and he pulled out some good ones. Honestly? I’m starting to see him as Gamma’s Wasserman. Their gatekeeper. Promotion is perpetually out of his reach, but he’s just good enough not to get relegated. And he’s remarkably consistent in what he can actually do. Indigo Rose is also in that position, as I said last time. Honestly, nothing’s changed with her. She beat this year’s bottom basement jobber and lost to two contenders. She’s in the groove, and ought to be just fine. Lucas Molina is perhaps reeling a bit. A shock loss to Diamond led to a loss to Priest as their rivalry continues. But I think he’ll be okay. I don’t think he’ll drop matches to Stevens and Diamond a second time. But we’ll have to see how it goes. He’s in good shape, being still among the strong contenders for the number two promotion spot. He’s honestly where I thought he’d be, barring the loss to Stevens. The loss to Diamond I expected to come from either Rose or Diego, but it’s there nonetheless. I still think he can promote. He just has to step it up a level. Back to Delta form with you, Lucas. I know you can do it. Markus Clay is the bottom basement jobber of Gamma. He’s on a one way trip to Delta. Nothing else needs to be said. Terrance Stevens, on the other hand, is Gamma’s shock of the season. He was run out of Beta like a huge loser, and he’s now 4-3. If the season ended now, he’d be promoted back up to Beta with Priest. It’s a shocking development that honestly doesn’t make a lot of sense. He’s not this good. Maybe he’s not a total hopeless jobber, but he’s not this good. And his resurgence has thrown both the promotion and relegation pictures into total disarray. I underestimated you, Terrance. Show me what you’re made of. So, continued predictions! Top Group: Priest, Molina, Rodriguez Middle Group: Stevens, Diamond, Rose, Gibson Bottom Group: Clay Yes, that is correct. I currently do not have a pick for the second relegation spot. Gamma got wildly competitive out of nowhere. I had that spot picked out for Stevens, but he’s defied it. Which puts Rose, Gibson, and Diamond in the frame at the break. Not that even Molina & Rodriguez are out of it. I do think Stevens will regress, but I also think he’s fought his way out of being relegation bait barring a truly horrific second half. We will return to reassess things at the 3/4 mark, and there ought to be one or two fighting over that second relegation spot, as well as a clearer picture on the second promotion spot. --------- Delta Division Predicted Top Group: Heartilly, Dhillon, Hida Predicted Middle Group: Stevens, Nocturne Predicted Bottom Group: Onoo, Delight, Tornado Actual Top Group: Heartilly (6-1), Dhillon (5-2), Hida (5-2) Actual Middle Group: Tornado (3-4), Stevens (3-4), Nocturne (3-4), Onoo (3-4) Actual Bottom Group: Delight (0-7) So! Promotion candidates have no surprises in them. Delight is winless and departing for Omega division. However, the middle of the pack and second relegation spot is completely up in the air. I expected Tornado and Onoo to be fighting over it, but a shock win from both of them have brought them on par with Stevens and Nocturne. It’s a whole mess. With that said, let’s get to the character breakdowns. Devil’s Delight L vs. Lance Heartilly (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Scott Stevens (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Kichi Hida (0-1 Season, 0-3 Lifetime) L vs. Jun Onoo (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Nocturne (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. El Tornado (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Monty Dhillon (0-1 Season, 0-3 Lifetime) El Tornado L vs. Monty Dhillon (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Jun Onoo (0-1 Season, 1-4 Lifetime) L vs. Lance Heartilly (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Nocturne (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Kichi Hida (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Devil’s Delight (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Scott Stevens (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) Jun Onoo L vs. Scott Stevens (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. El Tornado (1-0 Season, 4-1 Lifetime) L vs. Nocturne (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Devil’s Delight (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Monty Dhillon (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Lance Heartilly (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Kichi Hida (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) Kichi Hida W vs. Nocturne (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Lance Heartilly (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Devil’s Delight (1-0 Season, 3-0 Lifetime) W vs. Scott Stevens (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. El Tornado (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Monty Dhillon (0-1 Season, 2-1 Lifetime) W vs. Jun Onoo (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) Lance Heartilly W vs. Devil’s Delight (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Kichi Hida (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. El Tornado (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Monty Dhillon (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Scott Stevens (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Jun Onoo (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Nocturne (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) Monty Dhillon W vs. El Tornado (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Nocturne (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Scott Stevens (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Lance Heartilly (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Jun Onoo (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Kichi Hida (1-0 Season, 1-2 Lifetime) W vs. Devil’s Delight (1-0 Season, 3-0 Lifetime) Nocturne L vs. Kichi Hida (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Monty Dhillon (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Jun Onoo (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. El Tornado (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Devil’s Delight (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Scott Stevens (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Lance Heartilly (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) Scott Stevens W vs. Jun Onoo (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Devil’s Delight (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Monty Dhillon (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Kichi Hida (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Lance Heartilly (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Nocturne (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. El Tornado (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) Devil’s Delight is winless. I don’t believe any of her matches have even been close. So, she’s Delta’s designated whipping girl this season. Jobbing her way down to Omega and obscurity. Kind of a shame. I like her. But hey, you never know. She could be back someday. El Tornado was performing more or less as expected. Jobbing away. He caught a break with a match type against Nocturne, but quickly lost again. Then he proved to be better than Delight, who I thought would beat him, and then scored a shock win over Stevens. Is he about to make a play and try to become a promotion candidate? Haha, no. He won’t get the match type advantage over Nocturne a second time, and all three promotion contenders have soundly thrashed him. He does, however, have an opportunity to avoid being relegated to Delta. This is not something I’d have said at the start of the season or three matches ago. Whether or not he can make it happen, I genuinely don’t know. He had one win last season, guys. One. Three at the half is uncharted territory. Jun Onoo is in a similar position. Soundly thrashed by Stevens, Heartilly, and Hida. But a shock win over Monty. Will that happen twice? Press X to Doubt. But he’ll probably beat Tornado again, and he has a chance against Stevens and Nocturne. I thought he’d avoid relegation, and he still may. We’ll see how it goes. Kichi Hida is doing Kichi Hida things. Like massacring most of her opponents in six minutes or less. Seriously, her average time of win in her profile is down to 7:35. I’m reasonably certain it’s the only sub-ten minute one on the whole roster. It’s glorious violence. Her only losses are to her fellow contenders in Heartilly and Dhillon. And post Tag Team Turmoil, Heartilly’s first up to face the buzzsaw again. She may not promote, but I doubt she’ll fall off like she did last season. Lance Heartilly looked unstoppable. Until Nocturne stopped him. Still, that’s one loss out of seven. The newcomer to Delta but not League competition has been dominant thus far. The trouble with that is that he’s got rematches with fellow contenders Hida and Dhillon coming his way, in addition to Nocturne and the rest of Delta. 6-1 is a promotion winning start, but he can’t take his foot off the gas just yet if he wants the division title in addition to promoting. Monty Dhillon looked like he was in trouble for a second there. A loss to Heartilly followed by a shock loss to Onoo had him in third behind Heartilly and Hida. Then he flattened Hida in under five minutes and reminded everyone of the pecking order. Heartilly ought to consider himself on notice, and Hida (being my PC) is thrilled to her toes. Far from being in trouble, the monster who’s dominated Delta for three seasons now (and cut that promo, you know the one) is here to stay. It’s a three horse race for two promotion slots, and if any of the three can get one it’s good ol’ Monty. Good luck, big guy. Kichi believes in you. She’ll still beat the piss out of you, but she believes in you. Nocturne is the 1 in Heartilly’s 6-1. And she saved her season doing it. 1-3 is a bad start, even with an excuse for losing to Tornado like a bad match type. But she’s rallied and now has a chance to fight for the midtable position I expected for her at the start of the season. She can beat Onoo, Tornado, and Delight, and that ought to be enough. But wouldn’t it be a feather in her cap if she swept ol’ Lance? You know she’s thinking about it. Scott Stevens in basically in the same position as Nocturne without the bad start. Beat weaker opponents, lost to stronger ones. And then Tornado upset the piss out of him. Goes to show. Got to be on your toes even against alleged jobbers. But he’s still in a decent position. All he has to do is replicate his first half aside from the shock loss, and he’ll be just fine. Nothing but to do it, as the saying goes. So, continued predictions! Predicted Top Group: Heartilly, Dhillon, Hida Predicted Middle Group: Stevens, Nocturne, Onoo, Tornado Predicted Bottom Group: Delight Truthfully, I think this is just a hope spot for Onoo and Tornado, and they’ll end up fighting over who’s getting the second relegation spot with Delight. Stevens has, for now, proven himself better than Nocturne one on one. And the top three might as well be interchangeable at this point. However, this is as it sits right now. Those four in the middle all have tied records and seven matches remaining with which to surprise me or not. So right now I don’t actually have a pick for the second relegation slot. Please tune in at the 3/4 mark, with three matches remaining. I ought to have one then.

The number of PCs you're allowed is 4, in case anyone was wondering. I know this because otherwise I'd have more. It's listed in one of the two threads, but a reminder here is also good.

Match 1 Brandy On The Rocks (Brandy McDonald and Diamond) vs. Beef Captains (George Mastachas and Jun Onoo) It’s hard to bet against a team that’s done so well in the past, so let’s just not do that. Onoo is the weak link here, and I think he’ll be exploited for the win. Match 2 Divine Juggernaut (Brian Blackfield and Reverend Johnny Gross) vs. Billy And The Cult (Billy Norris and Blood River) Despite his performance in Alpha this season, Johnny Gross is frighteningly good at what he does. Blackfield’s dominance across two and a half seasons speaks for itself. Norris and River are erratic at best. They take an L here. Match 3 Eternal Rivals (Monty Dhillon and Christian Priest) vs. Four Fists No Waiting (Big Scott Weathers and Jean-Paul Ouilette) Dhillion and Priest are both large, dominant forces. Big Scotty is a jobber and Ouilette is not having the best season. Yeah, they’re going down. Match 4 Irish Canadian Connection (Lucas Molina and Mel O’Hallister) vs. Team Friendship (Terrance Stevens and Lance Heartilly) Stevens and Heartilly are actually capable of taking this. Heartilly is Molina 2.0, apparently, and Stevens has already beaten the Gamma division star this season. The difference here is an Irish Buzzsaw who stalks Alpha division despite being the smallest man there. So my guys have got this. Probably. Match 5 Sky High (Markus Clay and El Tornado) vs. Aria of Thorns (Indigo Rose and Nocturne) Here we have the first high seed going down in my bracket. Clay and Tornado will be better than their regular season has shown with the ability to tag out and take a breather, but Rose and Nocturne are too good here. Match 6 Money And Power (The Mastodon and Erick Gibson) vs. Zodiac Blitz (De’siree Mitchell and Pulsar) This seems to be more about Mastodon vs. De’siree than Gibson or Pulsar’s contributions. This is incorrect. The two Alpha division members are more or less a wash. De’siree’s beaten Mastodon in the first half, but the big fella is having the better season overall. So it actually comes down to who can perform better in a tag environment. Gibson, whose stamina issues will be eased? Or Pulsar, who will undoubtedly be better with the ability to tag in and out? Just for fun, I think I’ll take the upset. I could be wrong, though. Match 7 Nuclear BBQ (Nuclear Templeton and Scott Stevens) vs. ARM. BAR. (Angela Wassermann and Devil’s Delight) Delight is a walking disaster Wasserman cannot compensate for while dealing the monstrous Nuke. Sorry, ladies. Bad match up for you. Match 8 Made In Japan (Yoshii Nakamatsu and Kichi Hida) vs. Just Two Guys (Daniel Simmons and Diego Rodriguez) Am I a homer? Yes. But Yoshii’s beaten Diego in the past, and what Kichi did in the last tournament and over the first half of the season ought to speak for itself. I like Simmons and Diego, but they’re not ready for the buzzsaw that is Kichi Hida with Yoshii backing her up. Match 9 Brandy On The Rocks (Brandy McDonald and Diamond) vs. Made In Japan (Yoshii Nakamatsu and Kichi Hida) I want to believe in Yoshii and Kichi here, I really do. But the track record of Brandy and Diamond is undeniable. So it’s easily the hardest call of the second round. Basically a coin flip. So I’ll just be a homer and probably be wrong. Bah. Match 10 Irish Canadian Connection (Lucas Molina and Mel O’Hallister) vs. Aria of Thorns (Indigo Rose and Nocturne) It’s the same story as Molina and O’Hallister’s prelim match. Rose and Nocturne could technically beat Molina individually, but they’re no match for the Irish Buzzsaw. Match 11 Divine Juggernaut (Brian Blackfield and Reverend Johnny Gross) vs. Nuclear BBQ (Nuclear Templeton and Scott Stevens) A tough call here, but ultimately I gotta give it to the duo with a history of being absolute juggernauts. Keep an eye on Blackfield vs. Nuke. The former is promoting at the end of the season, so this’ll be a next season preview of Alpha division Blackfield. Match 12 Eternal Rivals (Monty Dhillon and Christian Priest) vs. Zodiac Blitz (De’siree Mitchell and Pulsar) Yeah, no. Dhillon and Priest are going to run them over. Especially Pulsar. Match 13 Made In Japan (Yoshii Nakamatsu and Kichi Hida) vs. Irish Canadian Connection (Lucas Molina and Mel O’Hallister) Yoshi and Kichi may have struggled past the legends of the tournament, but their run ends here. Molina’s had Kichi’s number last season, and there’s the Irish Buzzsaw to worry about besides. Match 14 Divine Juggernaut (Brian Blackfield and Reverend Johnny Gross) vs. Eternal Rivals (Monty Dhillon and Christian Priest) Look guys, I just wanna see Dhillon and Priest win. Maybe it’ll happen. Maybe it won’t. But it’s my bracket, so whatever. Tag Team Turmoil Championship Match Irish Canadian Connection (Lucas Molina and Mel O’Hallister) vs. Eternal Rivals (Monty Dhillon and Christian Priest) Total homer pick, as like hell either team is going to be here. Might as well have a little fun with it. Yeah?

All right let’s have an unofficial pick off, eh? Winner gets nothing but bragging rights. Engage the bracketology side of your brain let’s go. Pick the winners from round to round. Let’s have some fun with it. I’ll do mine in the next post; this is just a format for y’all to use. Match 1 Brandy On The Rocks (Brandy McDonald and Diamond) vs. Beef Captains (George Mastachas and Jun Onoo) Match 2 Divine Juggernaut (Brian Blackfield and Reverend Johnny Gross) vs. Billy And The Cult (Billy Norris and Blood River) Match 3 Eternal Rivals (Monty Dhillon and Christian Priest) vs. Four Fists No Waiting (Big Scott Weathers and Jean-Paul Ouilette) Match 4 Irish Canadian Connection (Lucas Molina and Mel O’Hallister) vs. Team Friendship (Terrance Stevens and Lance Heartilly) Match 5 Sky High (Markus Clay and El Tornado) vs. Aria of Thorns (Indigo Rose and Nocturne) Match 6 Money And Power (The Mastodon and Erick Gibson) vs. Zodiac Blitz (De’siree Mitchell and Pulsar) Match 7 Nuclear BBQ (Nuclear Templeton and Scott Stevens) vs. ARM. BAR. (Angela Wassermann and Devil’s Delight) Match 8 Made In Japan (Yoshii Nakamatsu and Kichi Hida) vs. Just Two Guys (Daniel Simmons and Diego Rodriguez) Match 9 Winner of Match 1 vs. Winner of Match 8 Match 10 Winner of Match 4 vs. Winner of Match 5 Match 11 Winner of Match 2 vs. Winner of Match 7 Match 12 Winner of Match 3 vs. Winner of Match 6 Match 13 Winner of Match 9 vs. Winner of Match 10 Match 14 Winner of Match 11 vs. Winner of Match 12 Tag Team Turmoil Championship Match Winner of Match 13 vs. Winner of Match 14

So, uh. I decided to give all the teams names. I don't claim that they're all good. Or funny to anyone but me. But uh...here you go? Brandy On The Rocks (Brandy McDonald and Diamond) Divine Juggernaut (Brian Blackfield and Reverend Johnny Gross) Eternal Rivals (Monty Dhillon and Christian Priest) Irish Canadian Connection (Lucas Molina and Mel O’Hallister) Sky High (Markus Clay and El Tornado) Money And Power (The Mastodon and Erick Gibson) Nuclear BBQ (Nuclear Templeton and Scott Stevens) Made In Japan (Yoshii Nakamatsu and Kichi Hida) Just Two Guys (Daniel Simmons and Diego Rodriguez) ARM. BAR. (Angela Wassermann and Devil’s Delight) Zodiac Blitz (De’siree Mitchell and Pulsar) Aria of Thorns (Indigo Rose and Nocturne) Team Friendship (Terrance Stevens and Lance Heartilly) Four Fists No Waiting (Big Scott Weathers and Jean-Paul Ouilette) Billy And The Cult (Billy Norris and Blood River) Beef Captains (George Mastachas and Jun Onoo)

It's perfectly functional, boss. It doesn't have to be pretty. It just has to get the job done. So it's a success in my view.

ALPHA DIVISION CAGE MATCH: (6) Mel O'Hallister (3-3, OVR 504) vs. (1) The Mastodon (5-1, OVR 499) [Career: Tied 1 – 1. Mastodon is 0 – 1 in Cage matches in The League.] . . This is functionally Mel's season on the line in this match. A Mastodon win has him at 6-1 while Mel would be 3-4. Game over, considering their forms thus far. So I'm gonna bet on Mel making a stand. (3) Nuclear Templeton (3-3, OVR 497) vs. (4) Brandy McDonald (3-3, OVR 502) [Career: Brandy McDonald, 3 - 1] . . Same deal, only it applies to both of them. Yeah, either could go on a run. But so far it hasn't seem likely. They're both fighting for their chance at the belt in this match. Brandy's got the better record. Nuke pulled it out last time, but he's failed three times before then. (2) George Mastachas (5-1, OVR 494) vs. (7) Reverend Johnny Gross (2-4, OVR 488) [Career: Tied 1 - 1] . . Gross's nightmare continues, as nobody seems capable of stopping Mastachas but The Mastodon. (5) De'siree Mitchell (3-3, OVR 482) vs. (8) Daniel Simmons (0-6, OVR 491) [First Career Meeting] . . I don't have the most respect for De'siree and Danny's got to win eventually, right? This is arguably the easiest match he's had so far, on paper. BETA DIVISION LAST ONE STANDING MATCH: (1) Brian Blackfield (6-0, OVR 545) vs. (3) Yoshii Nakamatsu (4-2, OVR 495) [Career: Brian Blackfield, 2 – 0. Both wrestlers are 1 – 0 in Last One Standing matches in The League.] . . Poor Yoshii. Well, 4-3 isn't a bad way to go into the break. (2) Blood River (4-2, OVR 492) vs. (5) Jean-Paul Ouilette (2-4, OVR 490) [Career: Jean-Paul Ouilette, 2 - 0] . . This is Jean-Paul's season on the line in this match. He's not coming back from 2-5, not with at least two above him at 5-2 and 4-3. (Blackfield goes without saying) He'd look like relegation fodder. He's got a good record against the erratic at best Blood River. So I think he'll respond here. (8) Big Scott Weathers (1-5, OVR 466) vs. (7) Billy Norris (2-4, OVR 488) [First Career Meeting] . . Scotty sucks. That's it. That's the tweet. (4) Angela Wassermann (3-3, OVR 458) vs. (6) Pulsar (2-4, OVR 460) [First Career Meeting] . . I lied. Pulsar also sucks. GAMMA DIVISION (2) Lucas Molina (4-2, OVR 458) vs. (1) Christian Priest (5-1, OVR 545) [Career: Tied 1 - 1] . . Yes, I'm a homer. Bias galore. But also Molina beat him the first time, and took him past 21 minutes in Delta of all divisions the second time before losing. He can do it. EUROPEAN RULES MATCH: (6) Indigo Rose (3-3, OVR 463) vs. (5) Diego Rodriguez (3-3, OVR 486) [Career: Tied 1 - 1] . . Whew. Narrow one. Diego's better, but not by nearly as much as I thought. HARDCORE MATCH: (4) Diamond (3-3, OVR 469) vs. (3) Terrance Stevens (3-3, OVR 461) [First Career Meeting. Both wresters are 0 – 1 in Hardcore matches in The League.] . . At this stage it's kind of a coin flip. Though I'll bet on the erratic track record of diamond rather than the awful one of Stevens. (8) Markus Clay (1-5, OVR 455) vs. (7) Erick Gibson (2-4, OVR 474) [First Career Meeting] . . Clay sucks. That is also the whole tweet. DELTA DIVISION (5) Jun Onoo (3-3, OVR 463) vs. (3) Kichi Hida (4-2, OVR 442) [First Career Meeting] . . Yes, again. I'm a homer. Biased af. But also Kichi's faster than he is good at striking or grappling. She has a pretty firm advantage statistically. Though it's possible that she'll finally use that adrenaline rush I gave her. 😅 (8) Devil's Delight (0-6, OVR 414) vs. (2) Monty Dhillon (4-2, OVR 500) [Career: Monty Dhillon, 2 - 0] . . Unfortunately, Delight is the fourth one to just suck. It's a shame because I think she're pretty neat, conceptually and her render is rad. (1) Lance Heartilly (6-0, OVR 428) vs. (7) Nocturne (2-4, OVR 408) [First Career Meeting] . . This one's not entirely based on logic. Nocture's season is on the line here. 2-5 is not conducive to avoiding relegation, even with Tornado and Delight behind her. A win here solves that problem, and as the boss man said she showed she was capable of it down in Omega. Will it happen? Well, I doubt it. But I want to believe. (4) Scott Stevens (3-3, OVR 413) vs. (6) El Tornado (2-4, OVR 436) [First Career Meeting] . . We've reached the fifth and final (this time) installment of X Just Sucks. Hi, Tornado. Get piledriven, loser. Next season Stevens should be a force to be reckoned with, especially with whoever the top two turn out to be promoted out. Oddly enough, I think he's in the position Kichi was last season. Probable clear number 4 in the rankings, maybe number 3 if things shake out his way. But promotion is still out of his reach this season. As a side note, I've been keeping up with my records, uh, keeping as far as wins and losses goes. So there'll be another report from me after this week's matches and before Tag Team Turmoil. Or maybe after? What do you think, boss?

This week I'm grabbing an upset pick in each division because why not. ALPHA DIVISION (4) Mel O'Hallister (3-2, OVR 504) vs. (7) Brandy McDonald (2-3, OVR 498) [Career: Tied 1 - 1] HARDCORE MATCH: (2) George Mastachas (4-1, OVR 490) vs. (3) De'siree Mitchell (3-2, OVR 482) [Career: Tied 2 - 2] (6) Reverend Johnny Gross (2-3, OVR 489) vs. (5) Nuclear Templeton (2-3, OVR 494) [Career: Nuclear Templeton, 2 - 0] (1) The Mastodon (4-1, OVR 492) vs. (8) Daniel Simmons (0-5, OVR 489) [First Career Meeting] (my upset pick) BETA DIVISION (1) Brian Blackfield (5-0, OVR 539) vs. (7) Big Scott Weathers (1-4, OVR 465) [First Career Meeting] SUBMISSION MATCH: (6) Billy Norris (1-4, OVR 481) vs. (5) Jean-Paul Ouilette (2-3, OVR 489) [Career: Tied 2 - 2] (3) Angela Wassermann (3-2, OVR 458) vs. (4) Yoshii Nakamatsu (3-2, OVR 491) [First Career Meeting] (2) Blood River (4-1, OVR 492) vs. (8) Pulsar (1-4, OVR 456) [First Career Meeting] (my upset pick, believe it or not) GAMMA DIVISION (1) Christian Priest (4-1, OVR 538) vs. (4) Indigo Rose (3-2, OVR 462) [First Career Meeting] (2) Lucas Molina (4-1, OVR 458) vs. (5) Diamond (2-3, OVR 467) [First Career Meeting] (6) Diego Rodriguez (2-3, OVR 482) vs. (7) Markus Clay (1-4, OVR 455) [First Career Meeting] FIRST BLOOD MATCH: (3) Terrance Stevens (3-2, OVR 460) vs. (8) Erick Gibson (1-4, OVR 469) [First Career Meeting. Gibson is 1-0 lifetime in First Blood matches.] (I feel like picking either is an upset pick here, weirdly) DELTA DIVISION (2) Kichi Hida (4-1, OVR 443) vs. (4) Monty Dhillon (3-2, OVR 498) [Career: Kichi Hida, 2 - 0] (1) Lance Heartilly (5-0, OVR 424) vs. (3) Jun Onoo (3-2, OVR 463) [First Career Meeting] (my upset pick) (8) Devil's Delight (0-5, OVR 414) vs. (7) El Tornado (1-4, OVR 431) [First Career Meeting] (5) Scott Stevens (2-3, OVR 409) vs. (6) Nocturne (2-3, OVR 408) [First Career Meeting]

Why do you think I picked it? Another loyal audience member for the Carnival of Violence? One of us, one of us, one of us...

Season Ten Quarter Mark Review & Predictions Alpha Division Predicted Top Half: Gross, Nuke, Brandy, & Mel Actual Top Half: Mastodon (3-1), Mastachas (3-1), Mel (3-1), & Nuke (2-2) Predicted Bottom Half: Simmons, Mastachas, Mastodon, De'siree. Actual Bottom Half: Brandy (2-2), De’siree (2-2), Gross (1-3), Simmons (0-4) Well…I did say it would be a competitive division, and four weeks in I’m not wrong. There’s no clear front runner so far, or even pair of front runners. The surprises are how badly Simmons is doing and Gross being in the back in favor of The Mastodon. Did not see that coming. It is still, however, quite early in the season. While Simmons’s performance leads me to believe he’s out of contention, everyone else is at worst (Gross) only two wins back from tying things up. So I’ll stand by my staying this division would be quite competitive. Again, no clear front runner for the League title so far. With that said, let’s get to the character breakdowns. Brandy McDonald W vs. De’siree Mitchell (1-0 Season, 4-1 Lifetime) L vs. Reverend Johnny Gross (0-1 Season, 2-1 Lifetime) W vs. Daniel Simmons (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. George Mastachas (0-1 Season, 2-3 Lifetime) Daniel Simmons L vs. George Mastachas (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Nuclear Templeton (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Brandy McDonald (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Mel O’Hallister (0-1 Season, 2-1 Lifetime) De’siree Mitchell L vs. Brandy McDonald (0-1 Season, 1-4 Lifetime) W vs. The Mastodon (1-0 Season, 2-3 Lifetime) W vs. Reverend Johnny Gross (1-0 Season, 2-1 Lifetime) L vs. Nuclear Templeton (0-1 Season, 1-4 Lifetime) George Mastachas W vs. Daniel Simmons (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Mel O’Hallister (1-0 Season, 2-1 Lifetime) L vs. The Mastodon (1-0 Season, 4-1 Lifetime) W vs. Brandy McDonald (1-0 Season, 3-2 Lifetime) The Mastodon W vs. Nuclear Templeton (1-0 Season, 2-3 Lifetime) L vs. De’siree Mitchell (0-1 Season, 3-2 Lifetime) W vs. George Mastachas (1-0 Season, 1-4 Lifetime) W vs. Reverend Johnny Gross (1-0 Season, 2-1 Lifetime) Mel O’Hallister W vs. Reverend Johnny Gross (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. George Mastachas (0-1 Season, 1-2 Lifetime) W vs. Nuclear Templeton (1-0 Season, 3-0 Lifetime) W vs. Daniel Simmons (1-0 Season, 1-2 Lifetime) Nuclear Templeton L vs. The Mastodon (0-1 Season, 3-2 Lifetime) W vs. Daniel Simmons (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Mel O’Hallister (0-1 Season, 0-3 Lifetime) W vs. De’siree Mitchell (1-0 Season, 4-1 Lifetime) Reverend Johnny Gross L vs. Mel O’Hallister (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Brandy McDonald (1-0 Season, 1-2 Lifetime) L vs. De’siree Mitchell (0-1 Season, 1-2 Lifetime) L vs. The Mastodon (0-1 Season, 1-2 Lifetime) Brandy McDonald, right now, is middle of the pack. Wins over De’siree and especially Simmons at this point don’t impress me. No shame in losing to Mastachas, but Gross? Eh. She’s a former League champion, and I have no doubt she can rebound nicely from this. How she performs against her next opponents (The Mastodon, Mel, and Nuke, respectively) is key. She doesn’t have to beat all three, but two would leave her in good shape heading into the season break. The trouble with that is all three have proven capable of beating her on their night. It’s entirely possible that we may see a season break where Brandy is on the outside looking in. Daniel Simmons is in trouble. He’s lost to George, Nuke, Brandy, and Mel. Gross (they split the season set last time), The Mastodon (who’s apparently angry at being underestimated), and De’siree are next up. This is…arguably an easier schedule than the two former League champions and two strong contenders he’s been up against. Which really, says everything one needs to know about his position, doesn’t it? I think he’ll come back in the second half, but this next three matches are key if he wants to avoid relegation. He needs two wins at least, or he’s in major trouble going into the break. Winning all three would be a statement that he actually can contend for the championship. Good luck to him. De’siree Mitchell I still feel is one of Alpha’s version of jobber. She doesn’t suck, let me be clear on that. Overcoming the Mastodon’s adrenaline rush proves that. But she still feels like she’s missing something that the strongest in Alpha have in spades. Her matches against Mel, Mastachas, and Simmons going into the break are her chance to prove the doubters wrong. I still think she’s going to botch it and have to fight off relegation by season’s end. But let’s see how these three matches go before I write her off entirely. George Mastachas is on top of the world. Well, almost. The Mastodon’s got a tiebreaker victory over him. That, however, was a Last Man Standing match. A match type in which ol’ George does not excel (to get a bit mechanical, I believe pinfall finishers like his Wrath of Zeus sit down powerbomb are ineffective in matches that cannot be won by pinfall). Another type of match and I believe he’d have won. Which, naturally, makes him one of my early front runners for League champion. He’s bested the other one in Mel and knocked off Season Eight champ Brandy already. The two freak losses he suffered to Pulsar will not happen again with Pulsar relegated. This could be his year. All he has to do, heading into the break, is perform well last season’s champ Nuke, De’siree, and last season’s Beta winner Gross. No pressure, big guy. The Mastodon, as I said earlier, is apparently upset that he’s been underestimated. And I admit that I had him marked down as relegation bait this season. Starting 3-1 with wins over Nuke and Mastachas is an excellent way to make me rewrite my expectations. Do I think he’ll be League champion? Haha, no. His next two opponents (Brandy and Simmons) have his Kryptonite in submission finishers and the third one is friggin’ Mel. Plus, as just discussed, the win over Mastachas was a little fraudulent due to the match type. So, he’s not gonna be League champion. But relegation bait? Doesn’t seem like it anymore. Let’s see if he can make me rewrite my expectations yet again, hmm? Mel O’Hallister I had pegged as the man to beat this season, and so far he’s lived up to him. Only loss is to the other front runner for League champion, Mastachas. With that said, although he’s continued his dominance over last season’s champ Nuke his other two wins are over Gross and Simmons. Neither of those looks particularly impressive at the moment. Going into the break he has De’siree, Brandy, and The Mastodon (in a Steel Cage). I firmly believe that he’ll do well against all three and be sitting pretty for the second half of the season. Good luck, Mel. You’re gonna need it. Defending champion Nuclear Templeton is not off to the best start. Not the worst, but not the best either. He took care of business against Simmons and De’siree, but fell short against The Mastodon and still hasn’t found a way to beat Mel. 2-2 isn’t a real problem. As last season showed, he can go on a run at any time. With that said, his next opponents are front runner Mastachas, Beta division winner Gross and his eternal rival in Brandy. Just in case anybody thought his life was getting easier. I don’t quite think he’ll repeat as League champion this season. Mastachas and Mel are too strong of contenders for that. Not that it couldn’t happen, of course. Nuke does seem to enjoy proving the doubters wrong. Reverend Johnny Gross, Beta divison winner, has to be living his worst nightmare right now. He’s been here before. Season Eight saw him relegated out of Alpha. Season Nine saw him dominate Beta to promote back. And here in Season Ten, he’s 1-3 at the quarter season mark. A whole season’s worth of triumph and victory, and his start is only better than the currently winless guy he promoted out of Beta with (Simmons) by a win. Pain. With that said, I believe in him. He’s got another round with Simmons, Nuke, and Mastachas on the slate before the season break. With this kind of start, I don’t believe he’ll be League champion, but I equally don’t believe he’ll have to suffer the horrific indignity of being relegated out of Alpha twice. Going forward, I’m going to turn my predictions from two groups to three each. So, starting here… Top Group: Mastachas, O’Hallister Middle Group: Nuke, Mastodon, Brandy Bottom Group: Gross, De’siree, Simmons Alpha is very competitive this season, and I would not be shocked to see multiple people change groups before the end. Tune in at the season break, when we do this again and some likely have swapped. --------- Beta Division Predicted Top Half: Blackfield, Nakamatsu, Ouillette, Norris Actual Top Half: Blackfield (4-0), Blood River (3-1), Ouillette (2-2), Nakamatsu (2-2) Predicted Bottom Half: Blood River, Pulsar, Weathers, Wasserman Actual Bottom Half: Wasserman (2-2), Norris (1-3), Weathers (1-3), Pulsar (1-3) I was pretty correct here, after four weeks. Blackfield is king of the mountain and the man to beat. Blood River has made that push I mentioned he could make. Even Billy Norris’s early woes aren’t that strange, as last season his first half was nothing to write home about. He caught fire in the second half to end up contending. So far, looks like things are on course. With that said, let’s get to the character breakdowns. Angela Wasserman W vs. Big Scott Weathers (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Billy Norris (1-0 Season, 1-4 Lifetime) L vs. Blood River (0-1 Season, 1-2 Lifetime) L vs. Brian Blackfield (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) Big Scott Weathers L vs. Angela Wasserman (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Blood River (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Pulsar (1-0 Season, 3-2 Lifetime) L vs. Jean-Paul Ouillette (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) Billy Norris W vs. Yoshii Nakamatsu (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Angela Wasserman (0-1 Season, 4-1 Lifetime) L vs. Brian Blackfield (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Pulsar (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) Blood River L vs. Brian Blackfield (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Big Scott Weathers (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Angela Wasserman (1-0 Season, 2-1 Lifetime) W vs. Yoshii Nakamatsu (1-0 Season, 3-0 Lifetime) Brian Blackfield W vs. Blood River (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Jean-Paul Ouillete (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Billy Norris (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Angela Wasserman (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) Jean-Paul Ouillette W vs. Pulsar (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Brian Blackfield (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Yoshii Nakamatsu (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Big Scott Weathers (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) Pulsar L vs. Jean-Paul Ouillete (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Yoshii Nakamatsu (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Big Scott Weathers (0-1 Season, 2-3 Lifetime) W vs. Billy Norris (1-0 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) Yoshii Nakamatsu L vs. Billy Norris (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Pulsar (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Jean-Paul Ouillette (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Blood River (0-1 Season, 0-3 Lifetime) Angela Wasserman is right where she should be. She’s no threat to promote with Blackfield, Ouillette, and a resurgent Blood River on the scene. But with Pular and Weathers on jobbing duties, neither is she at risk to relegate. Strangely enough, this seems to be her niche. Wins against Weathers and the weaker first half version of Norris. Losses again Blood River and Blackfield. I’d argue she’s in a good place, actually. Alpha’s monsters would decimate her. She’s got Ouilette, Nakamatsu, and Pulsar coming up before the break. I think she’ll do just well enough to stay in the middle the way she always seems to. Big Scott Weathers is a jobber who jobbed his way out of Alpha and is seemingly going to job his way out of Beta too. Losses to Wasserman, Blood River, and Ouillette seem to confirm his position, And his only win is against as big of a jobber in Pulsar. Relegation bait, barring something genuinely spectacular. I fully expect him to lose to Nakamatsu, Blackfield, and Norris before the break. Billy Norris is a conundrum. A mystery. Season Nine he was mediocre in the first half and brilliant in the second. Here in Season Ten this seems to be repeating. There’s no shame in losing to Blackfield, but Wasserman had never beaten him and Pulsar is jobber tier. Yet he can’t be written off because of his win against Nakamatsu. As I said, a conundrum. Is he really that good, or is he a fraud? The matches against Blood River, Ouillette, and Weathers before the break will hopefully help solve this one. Last season, you would be forgiven for wondering how on earth Blood River won Gamma division in Season Eight. He wasn’t bad, per se, but he certainly didn’t look like a division winner. This season appearances (including his ring gear) are different. Taking care of business against Weathers and Wasserman was well enough, but the win over Nakamatsu proved (to me at least) there’s something to him this season. Coming up he’s got Norris, Pulsar, and (before the break) Ouillette. It will be very interesting to see where he is after those three. If he does well enough, he can easily be considered promotion material. If he slips back into last season’s form, well…not so much. Who are you, Blood River? Let’s find out. Look, Brian Blackfield is doing Brian Blackfield things. He wins. Tartan Effect. Strangulation. Destroyer piledriver. Doesn’t matter. Who stands across the ring from him doesn’t matter. He dominates. He wins. The division crown is his to lose. Alpha won’t know what hit it. Pulsar and Weathers have no chance of stopping him. Nakamatsu couldn’t do it down in Gamma. ‘Nuff said. Jean-Paul Ouillette is having a very Jean-Paul Ouillette season, so far. Promotion contenders? Lost to ‘em (Blackfield Nakamatsu). Jobbers? Beat ‘em (Weathers & Pulsar). The key here is how he does against the middle of the pack…and the resurgent Blood River. Before that, however, he’s got Wasserman and Billy Norris to deal with. It’s this stretch of the season where he proves if he’s really a promotion contender this year…or just stuck leading the pack before there like last season. Pulsar is as much of a jobber as Weathers. He jobbed his way out of Alpha, and he’s gonna job his way out of Beta too. He lost to Weathers, of all people. Gamma will welcome a new jobber next season, I guarantee it. After all, he’s got Blackfield, Blood River, and Wasserman on his slate before the break. Automatic loss and two probable losses back to back. He’s boned. Relegation bait. Bye. Yoshii Nakamatsu, on the other hand, is a contender. Beta’s got stronger competition, so he’s not quite dominant the way he was in Gamma. His two losses come from the speedy conundrums of Norris and Blood River, with Ws over Pulsar the jobber and Ouillette the possible contender. Like I keep saying, his next three matches (vs. Weathers, Wasserman, and Blackfield) are critical. He can’t beat Blackfield. Probably. So winning the other two ought to set him up real nice for the second half. I think he can do. I believe in my man Yoshii. Going forward, I’m going to turn my predictions from two groups to three each. Top Group: Blackfield, Ouilette, Nakamatsu Middle Group: Blood River, Norris, Wasserman Bottom Group: Weathers, Pulsar Truthfully, while Blood River is doing well I’m not all in yet. It’s only the quarter mark. Also Nakamatsu is clinging on to his position with me by a narrow margin. He has to perform better. Norris seems like a jobber right now, but he’s pulled out miracles before. See you at the season break. ---------- Gamma Division Predicted Top Half: Priest, Molina, Diego, Diamond Actual Top Half: Priest (4-0), Molina (3-1), Stevens (2-2), Diamond (2-2) Predicted Bottom Half: Gibson, Rose, Clay, Stevens Actual Bottom Half: Diego (2-2), Rose (2-2), Clay (1-3), Gibson (0-4) Once again, I was mostly on target here. The big difference is Stevens’s Week 4 win over Molina, which shoved him into the top half over Diamond and Diego. The perils of using only 4 weeks of matches, I suppose. I do expect Stevens to falter after this. The main surprise here is Gibson being winless. I did say he felt like a fraud, but relegation bait? Seems excessive. Still, perhaps he can recover. With that said, let’s get to the character breakdowns. Christian Priest W vs. Diego Rodriguez (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Erick Gibson (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Diamond (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Markus Clay (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) Diamond L vs. Indigo Rose (0-1 Season, 0-3 Lifetime) W vs. Markus Clay (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Christian Priest (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Diego Rodriguez (1-0 Season, 3-2 Lifetime) Diego Rodriguez L vs. Christian Priest (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs Terrance Stevens (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Erick Gibson (1-0 Season, 3-2 Lifetime) L vs. Diamond (0-1 Season, 2-3 Lifetime) Erick Gibson L vs. Lucas Molina (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Christian Priest (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Diego Rodriguez (0-1 Season, 2-3 Lifetime) L vs. Indigo Rose (0-1 Season, 2-1 Lifetime) Indigo Rose W vs. Diamond (1-0 Season, 3-0 Lifetime) L vs. Lucas Molina (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Terrance Stevens (0-1 Season, 1-2 Lifetime) W vs. Erick Gibson (0-1 Season, 1-2 Lifetime) Lucas Molina W vs. Erick Gibson (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Indigo Rose (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Markus Clay (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Terrance Stevens (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) Markus Clay W vs. Terrence Stevens (1-0 Season, 4-1 Lifetime) L vs. Diamond (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Lucas Molina (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Christian Priest (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) Terrence Stevens L vs. Markus Clay (0-1 Season, 1-4 Lifetime) L vs. Diego Rodriguez (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Indigo Rose (1-0 Season, 2-1 Lifetime) W vs. Lucas Molina (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) There is nothing to be said about Christian Priest that his wins over Diego and Diamond don’t say. The only contender left he hasn’t faced and beaten is Molina. Priest is going to have a very lopsided won/loss record, and promote to Beta. That’s just. How it is. Incoming matches against Stevens and Rose will do nothing to change that. The final match before the break, however, is Molina himself, who is probably the only real threat to Priest in Gamma. So right before the break there’s gonna be a barnburner. Last time they went over 20 minutes, and that was using the faster Delta ruleset. Five star match, anyone? Diamond I believe in my heart is genuinely a contender, if only barely. She’s never managed to beat Rose, and there’s no shame in losing to the dominant Priest. A win over a jobber (Clay) and a fellow contender (Diego) have her in a better position than she was at this time last season. Coming up is the winless Erick Gibson, Lucas Molina, and Terrance Stevens. Two winnables, but Molina’s quality and Diamond’s weakness to technicians means that’s most likely a loss. Still, 4-3 is not a bad way to go into the season break. All she has to do is pull it off. Good luck to her. Diego Rodriguez once again finds himself the probably third man. Another Blackfield and Nakamatsu swooped in and here we are. He’s overcome Stevens and Gibson, as he should. As stated, there’s no shame in losing to Priest. Diamond…it’s not a shameful loss, but one he didn’t need. And next up is Molina, who he actually has a chance against. Much like he always had a chance against Nakamatsu. Followed up by Clay (jobber) and Indigo Rose (winnable, but potentially challenging). It will be very interesting to see where he is heading into the break. If he can overcome Molina and Rose (Clay is a given) he’ll be in a very good position to start the second half. Erick Gibson’s stamina problems may have finally caught up to him. I did think he was a fraud, but not this bad. 0-4 is ugly. With that said, the first three of those were Molina, Priest, and Diego. The murderer’s row of Gamma. The loss to Rose is less excusable, but understandable. While he may not find his feet against Diamond, he ought to against Stevens and Clay. Or he’s much more of a fraud than even I thought, and will have to fight to avoid being relegated to Delta. If you’ve read through my Beta division thoughts already, Indigo Rose is in the same position as Wasserman. She’s no promotion threat, but at the same time not at risk of relegation either. She’s arguably in a better position than Wasserman, as she can afford to promote if she could manage it. Beta wouldn’t slaughter Rose outright the way current Alpha would Wasserman. But she can’t afford to become complacent, either. She shouldn’t be losing to jobbers like Stevens. Not with dates against Priest and Diego on her calendar in September. Still, next up is Clay, and that’s winnable if she’s careful. Good luck, Rose. I believe you can stay in Gamma as long as you want to. Lucas Molina is the other major contender for promotion in Gamma (Priest is first, Diego third, and Diamond hanging on in fourth). He’s taken care of business against Gibson, Rose, and Clay, but managed to slip up and take an ugly loss to Stevens. Seriously, I’m disappointed in him for that one. The heck was that? Of course, his toughest challenges are still ahead. Diego. Diamond. And right before the break, Priest. Diamond is very winnable. She’s weak to technicians. Diego, on the other hand, is one, and the two big battles Priest and Molina had in Delta are well known. I’m expecting a match of the night come Week 7. I repeat, five stars anyone? Markus Clay and Terrance Stevens (yes I’m doing them together) are this season’s jobbers for Gamma. Though Stevens may be trying to break away from that label with his wins over Rose and Molina. There’s not a lot to be said here. They’re not good. They’re gonna lose a lot. Relegation bait, just like they were last season in Beta. Barring something genuinely spectacular, anyway. I don’t expect Clay to do well against Rose or Diego before the break, and Gibson may well beat him too. Stevens, meanwhile, is definitely getting destroyed by Priest before Gibson may beat him. With Diamond taking a run at him before the break. It’s dire, folks. They’re screwed. Assuming, of course, that Gibson can pull it together a bit. Going forward, I’m going to turn my predictions from two groups to three each. Top Group: Priest, Molina, Rodriguez Middle Group: Diamond, Rose Bottom Group: Gibson, Stevens, Clay This one’s much more straight forward. Rodriguez and Diamond are almost interchangeable in their positions, but Diego has the better track record which gives him the edge. Gibson could move to the middle if he rallies. Otherwise, check back at the season break. ---------- Delta Division Predicted Top Half: Heartilly, Dhillon, Hida, Nocturne Actual Top Half: Heartilly (4-0), Dhillon (3-1), Hida (3-1), Stevens (2-2) Predicted Bottom Half: Stevens, Delight, Onoo, Tornado Actual Bottom Half: Onoo (2-2), Tornado (1-3), Nocturne (1-3), Delight (0-4) Turns out I wasn’t being as biased as I thought, at least through 4 weeks. And again, I was mostly correct. I said that Hida, Stevens, and Nocturne could effectively swap any of their places with each other, and here we are where that’s kind of happened. Nocturne struggling, however, was a little unexpected, and Delight tanking is a bit odd. Thought she’d have managed a win in one of her four. But alas, it was not to be. With that said, let’s get to the character breakdowns. Devil’s Delight L vs. Lance Heartilly (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Scott Stevens (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Kichi Hida (0-1 Season, 0-3 Lifetime) L vs. Jun Onoo (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) El Tornado L vs. Monty Dhillon (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Jun Onoo (0-1 Season, 1-4 Lifetime) L vs. Lance Heartilly (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Nocturne (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) Jun Onoo L vs. Scott Stevens (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. El Tornado (1-0 Season, 4-1 Lifetime) L vs. Nocturne (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Devil’s Delight (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) Kichi Hida W vs. Nocturne (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Lance Heartilly (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Devil’s Delight (1-0 Season, 3-0 Lifetime) W vs. Scott Stevens (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) Lance Heartilly W vs. Devil’s Delight (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Kichi Hida (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. El Tornado (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Monty Dhillon (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) Monty Dhillon W vs. El Tornado (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Nocturne (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Scott Stevens (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Lance Heartilly (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) Nocturne L vs. Kichi Hida (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Monty Dhillon (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) W vs. Jun Onoo (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. El Tornado (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) Scott Stevens W vs. Jun Onoo (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) W vs. Devil’s Delight (1-0 Season, 1-0 Lifetime) L vs. Monty Dhillon (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) L vs. Kichi Hida (0-1 Season, 0-1 Lifetime) Devil’s Delight is only still in Delta because management wanted to give her a second chance. She’s uh, not using it well. Losses to Heartilly and Hida are to be expected. Even Stevens is acceptable. But she had a golden opportunity against Onoo in a submission match, and she blew it. She’s not getting that bright of an opportunity again. With that said, I still think she has a puncher’s chance against the likes of Nocturne and a better one against El Tornado (aka El Jobber). But Monty’s gonna wreck her again. She’s going to struggle to reach the 4 wins she got last season at this point, and is a strong contender to get booted down to Omega barring more managerial interference. Ah, well. Can’t say she wasn’t given a fair chance. El Tornado is the one person in Delta who may finish with a worse record than Delight. He has refined jobbing to high art. High Flier+Puny Human+Real Late Starter+Flabby Belly=Jobber Extraordinaire. Hida’s gonna beat him. Delight ought to beat him. Stevens will beat him too. In the second half this will repeat. Then he will be gone down to Omega, never to be seen again. ‘Nuff said. Jun Onoo, at first glance, looks like he’s trying to make a push not to be a jobber. But his two wins are against Delight and El Tornado (jobbers both) and his losses are against Stevens and Nocturne. Yeah. He may be 2-2, but his next three matches going into the break are all against the strongest in the division. First, Monty. Then Heartilly. Lastly Hida. If he goes into the break with anything other than a 2-5 record I will be utterly shocked. The real question is can he win enough to avoid being relegated? You know, in the second half. Remains to be seen. Kichi Hida seems to be back in the form that made her an early contender for promotion last season, until that five match losing streak happened. She’s overcome Nocturne, Delight, and Stevens. The only black mark is a loss to Heartilly, which as he’s still undefeated (and has beaten other contender Monty) isn’t much of one. She’s actually in real good shape so far, as her slate until the break features El Tornado (jobber), the first rematch with Monty (who she swept last season, I remind you), and lastly Onoo (also a jobber). So she could enter the break with a very good record indeed. Lance Heartilly, huh? We’re sure this isn’t Molina in a really good mask? Or that Molina isn't him in a really good mask? No? Okay then. Look, dominant Canadian technician, taps everybody out. He’s beat Hida. He’s beat Monty. Unless he slips up against Stevens, Onoo, or Nocturne he’ll go into the break undefeated. This is actually the outcome I believe is most likely. But I’ve been wrong before. Monty Dhillon. You’ve seen the promo. He wants out. Prior to Heartilly’s arrival, I was dead certain he was going to get it. Now, well…Hida’s doing better, and he’s never beaten her. Even if nobody else in the division beats him, losing to both of them twice may well sink him. 10-4 may, once again, not be enough to promote out of Delta. You know he’s thinking about it. Still, Hida is the match after next. He still has to handle his business with Onoo to beforehand. And destroy Delight again afterward. If he can find his way past Hida, at least faster than she can find her way past him if the split the matches, he can promote. Or if Hida slips up along the way and gets beaten enough. But I don’t think Monty wants to do this any other way than controlling his own destiny. Up to you, big guy. Good luck. Nocturne…isn’t doing as well as she was expected to. But I’m going to cut her some slack for that. Her first two losses were against Hida and Monty. No shame in those losses. She beat Onoo, and then got stuck with an unfavorable match type against Tornado. She just couldn’t manage it. But. She’s got Delight next, followed by Stevens and then Heartilly. She can beat Delight, and she has a chance against Stevens. Heartilly…well, no. But I think she’ll stave off relegation back to Omega quite easily. She’s not quite jobber tier, but no threat to promote. Oh. Hey. We’re in Wasserman/Rose territory again. Whaddya know? And with Scott Stevens, we don’t leave that territory. He got past Onoo and Delight easily enough, then ran into a brick wall in the forms of Monty and Hida. Again, no shame in losing to those two. Unfortunately, his next match is against Heartilly, which will make it three straight losses. Ouch. Then he’s got Nocturne and Tornado before the break. Tornado he ought to clobber. Nocturne, well…let’s just say this match will define where the two of them sit in the standings. Like I said, neither of them is in any danger of relegation. But neither are they going to promote this season. Not gonna happen. Wasserman/Rose territory. Going forward, I’m going to turn my predictions from two groups to three each. Top Group: Heartilly, Dhillon, Hida Middle Group: Stevens, Nocturne Bottom Group: Onoo, Delight, Tornado This one is even more straightforward. I don’t believe Stevens or Nocturne are contenders this year, but neither should they be relegated. Onoo, Delight, and Tornado are too weak for that, and Heartilly, Dhillon, and Hida are too strong. With that said, there are ten more weeks of matches to see how it all shakes out. Let’s check back in after the season break and see where everyone is, okay? ---------- Hey, if you've gotten down here...thanks for reading. I appreciate it. But it's over now. So we wait a week for the matches to begin again. Bye.

ALPHA DIVISION (1) The Mastodon (3-1, OVR 487) vs. (5) Brandy McDonald (2-2, OVR 498) [Career: Tied 2 - 2] (4) Nuclear Templeton (2-2, OVR 494) vs. (2) George Mastachas (3-1, OVR 486) [Career: Tied 2 - 2] (3) Mel O'Hallister (3-1, OVR 503) vs. (6) De'siree Mitchell (2-2, OVR 476) [Career: De'siree Mitchell, 2 - 0] (7) Reverend Johnny Gross (1-3, OVR 483) vs. (8) Daniel Simmons (0-4, OVR 489) [Career: Tied 1 - 1] BETA DIVISION (8) Pulsar (1-3, OVR 456) vs. (1) Brian Blackfield (4-0, OVR 535) [First Career Meeting] HARDCORE MATCH: (6) Billy Norris (1-3, OVR 482) vs. (2) Blood River (3-1, OVR 488) [Career: Tied 1 - 1] (7) Big Scott Weathers (1-3, OVR 465) vs. (4) Yoshii Nakamatsu (2-2, OVR 487) [First Career Meeting] (3) Jean-Paul Ouilette (2-2, OVR 490) vs. (5) Angela Wassermann (2-2, OVR 455) [Career: Jean-Paul Ouilette, 3 - 1] GAMMA DIVISION (3) Terrance Stevens (2-2, OVR 456) vs. (1) Christian Priest (4-0, OVR 539) [First Career Meeting] (5) Diego Rodriguez (2-2, OVR 483) vs. (2) Lucas Molina (3-1, OVR 455) [First Career Meeting] (8) Erick Gibson (0-4, OVR 465) vs. (4) Diamond (2-2, OVR 467) [Career: Tied 2 - 2] (6) Indigo Rose (2-2, OVR 456) vs. (7) Markus Clay (1-3, OVR 454) [Career: Tied 1 - 1] DELTA DIVISION (2) Monty Dhillon (3-1, OVR 498) vs. (5) Jun Onoo (2-2, OVR 459) [First Career Meeting] (6) El Tornado (1-3, OVR 431) vs. (3) Kichi Hida (3-1, OVR 439) [First Career Meeting] (1) Lance Heartilly (4-0, OVR 420) vs. (4) Scott Stevens (2-2, OVR 409) [First Career Meeting] (7) Nocturne (1-3, OVR 404) vs. (8) Devil's Delight (0-4, OVR 414) [First Career Meeting]

No, but it kind of writes itself. The last big match that the two had was for the titles. They lost. I don't believe Nana was ever Bill's manager, instead merely being Cage's. They could have kept it going, but Ricky Starks made a better offer and Cage's faction is involved in a different storyline with Darby, Nick Wayne, and Sting. The only reason the two were even teaming was a random draw tournament. It was fun enough, but life's taking them in different directions. It is what it is. 🤷‍♂️

I'm gonna put together a little something analytical for next Saturday, since we're not having any matches. It's roughly the quarter mark, so it'll be a cross between the big end of season thing I did last time and the predictions I did before week one. Please look forward to it.

*We fade into the big canvas tent that houses Carnival of Violence. It’s a chaotic place. Fights between people obscured in shadow are off to each side and in the background. It’s recognizable as sparring/training…if one was a violent psychopath, anyway. But in the center ring, as always, is our Ringmaster. Kichi Hida. She speaks in Japanese, so the following is subtitled.* Good grief. Everyone’s so grumpy here in Delta division. Monty’s right. It’s lonely. Just me, him, and Armbar-chan from Season 9. But…that’s no reason to be so grumpy, everyone. We’ve got lots of new friends to fight. Lots of new people to hit and hit us back. *She giggles excitedly. It’s almost cute. Except for, you know, the psychosis infecting it. Then her mood turns on a dime. She’s quite displeased about something, and start pacing back and forth.* I don’t like it. Everyone’s so boring. What’s a Nocturne? Texas-san? Sad Angry Jun-chan? A Tornado? Scary, scary. Boring, boring, boring. You want to go to Gamma? You want to be League champion? You are boring. I want you to show me your best violence. But none of you want to do that. So, I’ll stand in your way. If everyone in Delta wants to be boring, maybe I’ll go to Gamma instead and leave you all here. *Yes, this is one displeased Ringmaster, but then she stops pacing and smiles. Her eyes give it away behind her bandana. She’s had a lovely idea.* Yes yes! Kichi Hida-san, gate guard, reporting for duty! You boring people have no choice. You want a promotion at work? No more salaryman? Hello, manager-san? You come to Kichi’s gate. If you impress her, maybe she will let you past. Be careful! If you fail too much, she’ll kill you. Rest in peace, Anarchy-boy. *Somebody off camera speaker to her. It is not subtitled from Japanese. She claps her hands vigorously. Once. Twice. Thrice.* Okay! I have to go now. Things to do, people to see, cute girls’ noses to break. Barbed wire won’t wrap itself around their necks. This is your Ringmaster, signing off. See you tomorrow, Texas-san. And Monty…see you in September. Maybe I hit you so hard you won’t forget me this time, eh? *Kichi’s psychotic laughter seems to fill the whole tent, and we fade out.* (Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions of Kichi Hida are in no way representative of my own. She's a crazy chica, and I'm, uh, neither of those things. So you know.)

ALPHA DIVISION (3) Brandy McDonald (2-1, OVR 498) vs. (5) George Mastachas (2-1, OVR 481) [Career: Tied 2 - 2] (8) Daniel Simmons (0-3, OVR 489) vs. (2) Mel O'Hallister (2-1, OVR 499) [Career: Daniel Simmons, 2 - 0] (4) De'siree Mitchell (2-1, OVR 476) vs. (6) Nuclear Templeton (1-2, OVR 490) [Career: Nuclear Templeton, 3 - 1] (7) Reverend Johnny Gross (1-2, OVR 483) vs. (1) The Mastodon (2-1, OVR 483) [Career: Tied 1 - 1] BETA DIVISION (1) Brian Blackfield (3-0, OVR 531) vs. (4) Angela Wassermann (2-1, OVR 455) [First Career Meeting] (3) Yoshii Nakamatsu (2-1, OVR 487) vs. (2) Blood River (2-1, OVR 484) [Career: Blood River, 2 - 0] (5) Jean-Paul Ouilette (1-2, OVR 485) vs. (7) Big Scott Weathers (1-2, OVR 465) [First Career Meeting] (8) Pulsar (0-3, OVR 450) vs. (6) Billy Norris (1-2, OVR 481) [First Career Meeting] GAMMA DIVISION LAST ONE STANDING MATCH: (5) Markus Clay (1-2, OVR 454) vs. (1) Christian Priest (3-0, OVR 533) [First Career Meeting] (3) Diego Rodriguez (2-1, OVR 483) vs. (6) Diamond (1-2, OVR 464) [Career: Tied 2 - 2] (4) Terrance Stevens (1-2, OVR 452) vs. (2) Lucas Molina (3-0, OVR 455) [First Career Meeting] HARDCORE MATCH: (8) Erick Gibson (0-3, OVR 465) vs. (7) Indigo Rose (1-2, OVR 452) [Career: Erick Gibson, 2 - 0. Rose is 0 - 1 in Hardcore matches.] DELTA DIVISION (1) Monty Dhillon (3-0, OVR 496) vs. (2) Lance Heartilly (3-0, OVR 413) [First Career Meeting] SUBMISSION MATCH: (7) Devil's Delight (0-3, OVR 415) vs. (6) Jun Onoo (1-2, OVR 456) [First Career Meeting] (3) Kichi Hida (2-1, OVR 436) vs. (4) Scott Stevens (2-1, OVR 410) [First Career Meeting] TABLES MATCH: (8) El Tornado (0-3, OVR 429) vs. (5) Nocturne (1-2, OVR 405) [First Career Meeting. Tornado is 0 - 1 in Tables matches.]

ALPHA DIVISION (3) Mel O'Hallister (1-1, OVR 495) vs. (4) Nuclear Templeton (1-1, OVR 490) [Career: O'Hallister, 2 - 0] (5) Brandy McDonald (1-1, OVR 493) vs. (8) Daniel Simmons (0-2, OVR 489) [First Career Meeting] LAST ONE STANDING MATCH: (1) George Mastachas (2-0, OVR 481) vs. (2) The Mastodon (1-1, OVR 479) [Career: Mastachas, 4 - 0] (7) De'siree Mitchell (1-1, OVR 472) vs. (6) Reverend Johnny Gross (1-1, OVR 484) [Career: Tied 1 - 1] BETA DIVISION (6) Billy Norris (1-1, OVR 480) vs. (1) Brian Blackfield (2-0, OVR 525) [First Career Meeting] (4) Jean-Paul Ouilette (1-1, OVR 485) vs. (5) Yoshii Nakamatsu (1-1, OVR 481) [First Career Meeting] SUBMISSION MATCH: (3) Blood River (1-1, OVR 481) vs. (2) Angela Wassermann (2-0, OVR 456) [Career: Tied 1 - 1] (7) Big Scott Weathers (0-2, OVR 459) vs. (7) Pulsar (0-2, OVR 449) [Career: Tied 2 - 2] GAMMA DIVISION (4) Diamond (1-1, OVR 463) vs. (1) Christian Priest (2-0, OVR 527) [First Career Meeting] (7) Erick Gibson (0-2, OVR 465) vs. (5) Diego Rodriguez (1-1, OVR 479) [Career: Tied 2 - 2] (2) Lucas Molina (2-0, OVR 453) vs. (3) Markus Clay (1-1, OVR 454) [First Career Meeting] (6) Indigo Rose (1-1, OVR 453) vs. (8) Terrance Stevens (0-2, OVR 449) [Career: Tied 1 - 1] DELTA DIVISION FIRST BLOOD MATCH: (1) Monty Dhillon (2-0, OVR 491) vs. (2) Scott Stevens (2-0, OVR 408) [First Career Meeting] (4) Jun Onoo (1-1, OVR 456) vs. (6) Nocturne (0-2, OVR 400) [First Career Meeting] (5) Kichi Hida (1-1, OVR 433) vs. (6) Devil's Delight (0-2, OVR 415) [Career: Hida, 2 - 0] CAGE MATCH: (8) El Tornado (0-2, OVR 428) vs. (3) Lance Heartilly (2-0, OVR 409) [First Career Meeting]

To be fair (to be faaaaaair) Monty's opponent was El Tornado. I don't believe there's a bigger jobber in the League at present. I'm looking forward, still, to Priest & Molina colliding again. Especially the second one in Week 13. European Rules, bay bee. LFG. ALPHA DIVISION (4) George Mastachas (1-0, OVR 477) vs. (2) Mel O'Hallister (1-0, OVR 495) [Career: Even 1-1] (3) Brandy McDonald (1-0, OVR 493) vs. (6) Reverend Johnny Gross (0-1, OVR 479) [Career: Brandy 2-0] (6) Nuclear Templeton (0-1, OVR 486) vs. (5) Daniel Simmons (0-1, OVR 489) [First Career Meeting] (6) De'siree Mitchell (0-1, OVR 466) vs. (1) The Mastodon (1-0, OVR 478) [Career: Mastodon 3-1] BETA DIVISION (2) Jean-Paul Ouilette (1-0, OVR 485) vs. (1) Brian Blackfield (1-0, OVR 521) [First Career Meeting] (3) Billy Norris (1-0, OVR 479) vs. (4) Angela Wassermann (1-0, OVR 451) [Career: Norris 4-0] (7) Blood River (0-1, OVR 477) vs. (5) Big Scott Weathers (0-1, OVR 459) [First Career Meeting] (5) Pulsar (0-1, OVR 449) vs. (7) Yoshii Nakamatsu (0-1, OVR 477) [First Career Meeting] GAMMA DIVISION (2) Christian Priest (1-0, OVR 521) vs. (6) Erick Gibson (0-1, OVR 463) [First Career Meeting] (6) Terrance Stevens (0-1, OVR 449) vs. (5) Diego Rodriguez (0-1, OVR 475) [First Career Meeting] (1) Markus Clay (1-0, OVR 454) vs. (6) Diamond (0-1, OVR 457) [First Career Meeting] (3) Lucas Molina (1-0, OVR 448) vs. (4) Indigo Rose (1-0, OVR 453) [First Career Meeting] DELTA DIVISION (1) Monty Dhillon (1-0, OVR 487) vs. (5) Nocturne (0-1, OVR 400) [First Career Meeting] (5) Jun Onoo (0-1, OVR 452) vs. (8) El Tornado (0-1, OVR 428) [Career: Onoo 3-1] (4) Kichi Hida (1-0, OVR 432) vs. (3) Lance Heartilly (1-0, OVR 404) [First Career Meeting] (5) Devil's Delight (0-1, OVR 415) vs. (2) Scott Stevens (1-0, OVR 404) [First Career Meeting]

Or, if the rumors are true, WBD only permitting one women's match per Dynamite and/or show.

Season Predictions Please keep in mind this is broad strokes. Basically I'm gonna pick a top half and bottom half of each division. Short of that, it's tough to know with any certainty how most of the seasons are gonna go. Additionally, this is based on last season's performance and how the new folks look. Any upgrades are not being fully taken into account because who knows how well they'll work out? Alpha Division Top Half: Gross, Nuke, Brandy, & Mel Bottom Half: Simmons, Mastachas, Mastodon, De'siree. I feel reasonably confident that Mastodon and De'siree will be the ones relegated, but we'll check back at the half way point. Alpha is going to be extremely competitive this season, and any signs of weakness will be apparent then. The League champion, I haven't the faintest idea. Beta Division Top Half: Blackfield, Nakamatsu, Ouillette, Norris Bottom Half: Blood River, Pulsar, Weathers, Wasserman Noticeably less competitive here in Beta. Blood River could make a push to unseat Norris here, and Ouillette could technically end up the one unseated, but otherwise this is pretty set in stone. Ought to be between Blackfield and Yoshii for the division crown, just like last time, though the aforementioned three can and ought to play spoiler. The rest will be fighting off relegation. Wasserman probably has enough to avoid it, but we'll see. Gamma Division Top Half: Priest, Molina, Diego, Diamond Bottom Half: Gibson, Rose, Clay, Stevens The top trio of Priest, Molina, and Diego is probably set in stone. The division winner and both promotions ought to come from them. Diamond will have to fight off Gibson for her spot in the top half. Rose may make a push. Clay and Stevens will not, with latter being relegated. Clay and Rose will have to fight for the second relegation spot. I think she'll hold him off, but it remains to be seen. Delta Division Top Half: Heartilly, Dhillon, Hida, Nocture Bottom Half: Stevens, Delight, Onoo, Tornado Probably being a bit biased here, heh. But! Stevens and Nocturne could very easily swap places here. Hida could struggle like she did in the back half of last season. Delight ought to stave off traditional relegation, though she's boned if any new PCs want in. Heartilly ought to contend strongly for the division crown with Dhillion, and it ought to be those two who get promoted. With that said, Hida, Nocturne, and Stevens can easily play spoiler on that one. It'll be a pretty competitive division, so check back at the half way mark.

ALPHA DIVISION (1) Reverend Johnny Gross (0-0, OVR 479) vs. (1) Mel O'Hallister (0-0, OVR 490) [First Career Meeting] (1) Nuclear Templeton (0-0, OVR 486) vs. (1) The Mastodon (0-0, OVR 474) [Career: Nuclear 3-1] (1) Daniel Simmons (0-0, OVR 488) vs. (1) George Mastachas (0-0, OVR 471) [First Career Meeting] (1) Brandy McDonald (0-0, OVR 489) vs. (1) De'siree Mitchell (0-0, OVR 466) [Career: Brandy 3-1] BETA DIVISION (1) Brian Blackfield (0-0, OVR 518) vs. (1) Blood River (0-0, OVR 478) [First Career Meeting] (1) Yoshii Nakamatsu (0-0, OVR 478) vs. (1) Billy Norris (0-0, OVR 476) [First Career Meeting] (1) Pulsar (0-0, OVR 449) vs. (1) Jean-Paul Ouilette (0-0, OVR 480) [First Career Meeting] (1) Big Scott Weathers (0-0, OVR 459) vs. (1) Angela Wassermann (0-0, OVR 445) [First Career Meeting] GAMMA DIVISION (1) Diego Rodriguez (0-0, OVR 473) vs. (1) Christian Priest (0-0, OVR 514) [First Career Meeting] (1) Erick Gibson (0-0, OVR 463) vs. (1) Lucas Molina (0-0, OVR 444) [First Career Meeting] (1) Indigo Rose (0-0, OVR 448) vs. (1) Diamond (0-0, OVR 457) [Career: Rose 2-0] (1) Markus Clay (0-0, OVR 450) vs. (1) Terrance Stevens (0-0, OVR 449) [Career: Clay 3-1] DELTA DIVISION (1) El Tornado (0-0, OVR 429) vs. (1) Monty Dhillon (0-0, OVR 484) [First Career Meeting] (1) Jun Onoo (0-0, OVR 452) vs. (1) Scott Stevens (0-0, OVR 400) [First Career Meeting] HARDCORE MATCH: (1) Nocturne (0-0, OVR 400) vs. (1) Kichi Hida (0-0, OVR 428) [First Career Meeting] (1) Lance Heartilly (0-0, OVR 400) vs. (1) Devil's Delight (0-0, OVR 415) [First Career Meeting]

M&M's good stuff. It's meant for straight up superhero stuff, but that's broad enough to range from Golden Age patriotism to Silver Age silliness to Iron Age blood and grit to whatever the Modern Age is about idk. The Superteam Handbook even has a TMNT knockoff team. They're rabbits, IIRC.

I suppose "focuses on" takes out Mutants & Masterminds, doesn't it?

Woo! New PC for Kichi to beat up!

A breather episode before BLOOD AND GUTS. I can dig it.