FOUR CORNERS: Velocity 1.29.15 (New Orleans, LA)

WAIT... THEY HAD ANOTHER SONG BESIDES 'EPIC'? 

So how was your week?

I got to spend mine in New Orleans, which, despite being built by Frogs too stupid to understand the concept of “sea level”, is nonetheless a pretty cool place.  Lots of action to be had, mystique. 

And dear lord the beads.  I got 25 of em in three days.  A new personal best.

TO THE CORNERS!

#1: VALERIE LAMB RUINED EVERYTHING

FFW has seen a lot of upsets over the years, and some of the biggest ones have involved our FFW Champion, but in terms of sheer impact, Valerie Lamb beating FFW Champion Scarlett Kincaid in the Superdome has to rank up there, not just for the sheer improbability, but the impact of the fallout that is sure to come in the aftermath.

The XPuter gave Val a 31% chance of winning, and I thought THAT was generous, considering she was going into hostile territory against the best wrestler in the company on a five match losing streak that dated back to last August.  A loss last night would have pretty much been the last straw for Valerie Lamb’s FFW Championship hopes in the forseeable future. But the carrot was dangled, and Val responded by biting off not just the veggie, but the entire damn stick it was attached to.

So now the entire landscape that we thought FFW’s February would have now looks like a wasteland thanks to Val’s victory.  The FFW Championship, which came the length of Val’s big toe away from giving us the long-awaited one-on-one showdown between Scarlett Kincaid and Wendy Briese is now a triple threat match.  Which means the top three matches at Chaos Theory are all going to be three-way dances thanks to Kate Steele doing pretty much the exact same thing 5 days earlier. 

And of course, it’s the best thing that could have possibly happened to Jodie Gray, who, despite losing four of her last five, three of which are Evolution contenders, now stands one win over Lamb away from having a title shot of her own. 

It could (and should) be argued for a long time over whether or not these carrots should have even been dangled in the first place, but for Val, you can’t blame her for being hungry, and pulling off what 7 of the last 8 women Scar’s faced one-on-one couldn’t.  

And after all, with a PPV named Chaos Theory, we should have been prepared to expect the unexpected.

#2: EASY.  BRIESE-Y.  BEAUTIFUL.

While the main event was a technical classic that culminated in a colossal upset, the co-main was one of those beautiful train-wrecks.  A whirlwind of action that saw bodies and egos flying all over the place made it damn near impossible for the audience to breathe, much less the participants, all over a title shot that three of them were guaranteed to get anyways.

In the end though, it was Wendy Briese’s night, leveraging resilience, consistency, and one fortunate knock of the heads between Tara and Crystal into the monumental victory.  It was the first multi-way match Briese had won in three years, dating back to her initial No Surrender victory at Cold Blooded 2012.  And it cements- for now at least- the belief that many fans have had for a while- that Briese is, and remains, the best, and certainly most consistent, contender in the company.

But the night was clearly bittersweet for Wendy as well, as after doing her part to earn that one on one shot against Scarlett (of which she’s been the most vocal about wanting of everyone), it went away just as quickly.  And while she clearly attempted to be gracious about it, her disappointment was pretty evident as well.  It’s understandable- after all, she’d earned her shot by beating Valerie Lamb in the first place, and suddenly finds herself getting her reward at the exact same time her rival does.

But life isn’t fair, and wrestling less so, and Wendy’s come to understand that after nearly a decade in the business.  So don’t expect too much moping from the White Knight as we move through February- after all, she’s still that title shot she’s craved, even if it’s once again not coming in the way she wants it.

#3: JACKED
Just a couple weeks ago, I was talking about how the landscape of the Trios divison had changed, and that the Femme Fatales were the new “it” team.  Well, yet again the balance has shifted, and now, coming through the smoke with Lilly Sheffield teaming up with NHB and swatting the Femme Fatales aside to take over that role of top challenger in the trios division. 

It honestly is a testament of what a star Lilly Sheffield is starting to become.  After setting a mark that Future Shock Champions will be forced to measure up to for years to come, Lilly’s branched out, joining with NHB- a tag team that had gone absolutely nowhere in the Unity Division in a year and a half, and suddenly they’re on the forefront of the Trios contenders jumble.

This isn’t to say that Lilly’s been doing all the work while Ange and Jem simply ride on her coattails.  This is more pointing out that Lilly seems to be that special, rare kind of wrestler that not only looks great herself, but seems to manage to make everyone around her look better too.  To Ange and Jem’s credit, they’ve taken their new direction and have made the most of it, looking as crisp and strong as we’ve ever seen NHB. 

But the road’s not easy yet.  It’s doubtful the Femme Fatales is going to being nudged aside like that lying down, and will be back in contention soon enough.  And don’t rule out the New Social Elite- of which two of their members beat NHB a couple weeks ago. 

The pecking order’s shuffled a little bit, but don’t think the Trios division’s sorted itself out yet.  We’ve a long way to go.

#4: WAIT, AMANDA RICHARDSON?!

Sometimes the XPuter gets it right, like it did with Wendy and  Alysson.  Sometimes it gets it wrong, like with Kate and Val.  And sometimes… the XPuter gets it way wrong.  The odds had it 51%  in favor of Ithavol, Rose and Petrova, but that wasn’t the entire story.  

The fact of the matter is that the only reason Baker and Cross were the underdogs was because Richardson was their team mate, unsurprising considering what a trainwreck she was in SVW.  She was literally dead weight… some models actually had Vivian and Eve better without her.

So of course the Porn Princess goes and gives the best performance of the match, showing a hunger and focus that she’d never shown before.  It was something else to watch her outshine everyone else in the match en route to pinning Jeannie Rose and picking up a very important preseason victory.

So now comes the question that we all hate to ask.

1.    Is Season 18 the weakest Future Shock Ever? OR

2.    Has Amanda improved that much of the year or so?

For all our sakes, hopefully its option 2.  It’s not inconceivable, we’ve seen women go from horrible to hero before, just not as drastically from appearance to appearance as Amanda has.  But it is noticeable how much better she looked between then and now, and since how you look in wrestling tends to be relative to your opponent, it remains to be seen if she went up or the rest went down.

Either way, Amanda (and everyone else) has a hell of a road coming up for them.  Two more women will be joining the season right now, Clover, and the much better known Isis Morales, who’s already gained infamy as Valentina Lozano’s megapowerful bodyguard.  And while Richardson looked the best in the preview match, it’s tough not to see Isis as the overall favorite when the season officially kicks off.

UP NEXT: Enough freeloading, bitches!  Its time to pony up to watch some wrestling as we hit the Future Shock PPV!  Future Shock Cup- now too big for one night to handle!?  Does JoJo’s dream No Surrender match turn into a Killer  (C) Nightmare?  And Iggy and Gaby for the Future Shock Championship! All the night before the Super Bowl?   Open those wallets, boys!  I’ll go get the vacuum.