FOUR CORNERS 1.24.15 (Moline, IL)

COME ON AND RIDE IT (THE TRAIN OF LIES)  

What kind of twisted, screwed up world do we live in when the Quad City DJ’s aren’t even from the Quad Cities?  Jacksonville?  Who’s fucking from Jacksonville?  Nobody!  FFW doesn’t even go there!  Think on that!  We went to the goddamn Quad Cities before we went to Jacksonville! 

I deleted my Space Jam mp3 file last night.  It was #5 on my “most played list”.  Out of 957 songs.  This is what happens when you find out your life is nothing but a cruel charade.

Four corners… not that it matters anymore.

#1: I WARNED YOU

Fourteen days ago, I said it, bold font, right here on this very website.  KATE STEELE WILL BE THE EVOLUTION CHAMPION IN 2015.  All of you looked at me like I was crazy.  #5 in the X-Travaganza?  The Game Changer?  HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND, DANIEL?

And then she went out and beat my predictions by a couple months.

I didn’t think she was going to beat Aimee Easter.  I thought she was going to put up a good showing, get a few pats on the back, everyone says “she belongs!”, and then Kate would actually win the title in some huge ass clusterfuck later in the year because that’s what Kate Steele does.

Nope, instead she just walked right into Moline and spiked Aimee fucking Easter on her head.  Un, deux, trois, ding ding ding.  And now the party’s crashed.  Kate Steele’s going to Chaos Theory to face Aimee again for the Evolution Championship.  How’s that for a turnaround of events?

Oh, and her sister, Samara Steele’s in the match as well.  You know, the woman who’s practically disowned her ever since the Game Changer stunt?  Yeah, that’s now going to happen.  With those two in the ring, Aimee might just pull a Colleen and head straight to the back.  I’m not sure I’d be up for dealing with that too.

So props to Kate, who’s just had one of the biggest weeks anyone’s had in FFW history, starting off on Tuesday by winning the Future Shock Amnesty card in a match where the deck was stacked against her (by circumstance, not design).  And then she just went out and terminated Easter’s four match Evolution domination just like that.

Kate’s gotta maintain momentum, and that’s not going to be easy over the next month.  But if she can, and she shows up at Chaos Theory the same way she showed up last night, that belt is hers.

#2: STILL NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME

Jodie Gray just lost to Alysson Gardner.

That’s nothing to be ashamed of really, Alysson’s one of the best wrestlers in the company, a longstanding Ultraviolence Champion, a Trios Champion, and one of the frontrunners in the Unity Division, as well as someone who poses a serious threat to the Evolution Championship.  And this win gives her a much needed jolt- a shot in the arm that she badly needed to get back on track. 

But that’s just it- Gardner is an Evolution-level wrestler.  So’s Kinsey DeCaro and Lightning.  Jo McFarlane’s the No Surrender Champion.  Syren’s more TV level at this point.  And all of them have decisively defeated Jodie Gray in the past year.

So apparently Jodie’s not only out to be the first ever Future Shock graduate to be the FFW Championship, but also be the first woman to lose to an entire lower division on her way up to being FFW Champion.  You have to admit… that’s quite a history making goal.

You might think this is harping, and perhaps it is.  But when someone tries the same broken record schlock over and over again, and does nothing to back it up, what else can you do?   And the sad thing of it all is that this is turning what’s actually a very good wrestler into a punch-line.  Jodie’s gone on winning streaks before.  She’d be a threat to the Future Shock, Television, heck, maybe even Evolution Championships.   But the top belt?

The evidence doesn’t just suggest no, it screams no from the roof of the FFW headquarters.  And even if (big if) she beats Valerie Lamb at Chaos Theory… it won’t matter, not in my eyes, and not in the fan’s eyes, not in anyone’s eyes. FFW Championship runs aren’t built in a single match, and this one’s not going to be either.  Especially when there’s too much evidence counting against it.

If Jodie were smart, she’d shut up about this “my year” crap, and start chopping wood in a division where she’s not going to look like a total jackass every time she opens her mouth and loses.  Aiming for the stars when you don’t have the rocket to get you there just gets you plastered into the side of a mountain.

#3: WHERE.  THE.  HELL.  HAS.  THAT.  BEEN?

Speaking of Evolution level wrestlers that needed a jolt in the arm, how about the performance of Kasey Summers last night?  Summer entered that match a shell of her former self- loser of five of the last seven, and three in a row, including a physical and psychological dismantling at the hands of Aimee Easter at Anarchy. 

But in beating Kaylee Clarke, we saw glimpses- not perhaps the entire image, but definite glimpses, of the Summer who won eight straight in route to setting new records for TV title longevity.  She looked crisp, alert, and most importantly- victorious in coming out and knocking off some stiff competiton in Kaylee.

It’s not a complete turnaround, but you have to start somewhere, and where Summer’s starting, 2015 is on pace to look a lot sunnier than 2014 ever did.

#4: IT REALLY DOESN’T MATTER HOW MANY WOMEN ARE IN THAT SHOW

The Season 16 Champions made their official debut last night against a revamped Heafy squad- the same team they beat in the finals, and they just- well, there’s really no nice way of putting this- literally ran them out of the company.

Shaw thinks herself the star of the show- and honestly, there is a bit of merit to that.  She does manage to get the bulk of the attention.  But Charlotte Harker is a damn workhorse.  Without even a word of complaint (or of anything else for that matter), she gets in that ring, gives as good as she gets, but takes a ton of abuse, all seemingly in the name of making O’Neil look good.

It’s the weirdest tag team chemistry we’ve seen since Team Adonis (except, Team Adonis actually acknowledged each other’s existence… they just despised each other).  But somehow, someway, it’s working, at least so far.  We’ll see what happens when they get to the upper reaches of the division with more experienced cohesivet teams.  But for now… the OWS is getting rave reviews.

On a separate Unity note… The Burning Star Express vs. Rudo Galactica?   I haven’t even seen the BSX compete yet, and I can already tell that this is going to be the Shane Sanders of tag matches- one very, very, beautiful car crash.  Can’t wait.

UP NEXT: Oh, gee, I don’t know… ONLY THE BIGGEST FUCKING VELOCITY IN THE HISTORY OF FOREVER?!  Valerie Lamb tries to ruin everything!  Four women!  One Shot!  No Waiting!  Well, okay, waiting for the three that don’t win.  The most British Trios Match Ever!  Wait Season 17 just started why are we rolling out Season 18 OH MY GOD STOP THE MADNESS.