A locally flavored Mae Young classic (we hope)



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It's unfortunate that the move to WWE from Crystal Local Wrestling Queen did not pass as it would have been historic

Published 17:00, 21 July 2018

Last Updated 17:00, 21 July 2018

  QUEEN. The best wrestler Crystal would have been the first Filipina to participate in the WWE. Photo of Crystal's Facebook account (@CrystalPWR)

QUEEN. The best wrestler Crystal would have been the first Filipina to participate in the WWE. Photo from Crystal's Facebook account (@CrystalPWR)

MANILA, Philippines – She was right there, and all of a sudden, she was not there.

Early this morning, Manila time, WWE.com released the last remaining participants of this year's Mae Young Classic, the women's tournament was inaugurated last year on the WWE network. Among those who were announced for the tournament's lineup, there was none other than the Philippine Wrestling Queen herself, PWR's Crystal. This followed a vague rumor that spread a few weeks ago placing it in alignment, and many Filipino fans were excited to discover that the rumor was true.

And then, a few hours later, all Crystal mentions were taken from the official WWE Twitter account for the Mae Young Classic, as well as the original WWE.com press release announcing it. . We do not know exactly what happened here, but a source close to her says she's not allowed to divulge details for the moment.

It's a shame if she did not want to go to the tournament, because even an appearance of a single loser – as is usually the case for names that do not are not big enough in these WWE world tournaments – is important enough for the local scene. This would show the rest of the world that there is a thriving pro wrestling scene here in the Philippines, and that Filipino wrestlers, regardless of promotion, deserve to be signed. Once again, Filipino wrestlers are recruited from abroad, the more they can establish links abroad and the more they can bring back experience to the home. In the end, the best would be for the local scene once this experience is applied to teaching the next generation of local superstars.

So, as a humble scribe documenting the fight in the Philippines, I only wish Crystal finds herself in the tournament – if not this year, then maybe the next one. True wrestling fans would see Crystal on the WWE radar as a win for the sport they love in their homeland. I know that I hope everything will be fine.

The extreme rules are not really extreme, they look more like an extremely crowded game

Since the WWE has returned to double-brand pay tournaments, I wondered how they will play scripts from both shows on VPPs. It turns out that the idea is really to stuff everything at once, to drown the fans in a deluge of half-cooked highlights and some rough diamonds somewhere out there.

The PPV certainly had its good times, especially in the last third of the show. But everything else was just an exercise in ticking items on a WWE tale list, or making the most of certain things given the limited time that the median card had to share. Stay for games like the main event of more than 30 minutes, the WWE Championship game, and Lashley vs. Reigns-the rest, you could just get through.

If I wrote the WWE shows, I would have everything that did not contribute to the substantial fight for the entire program relegated to weekly television programs. I've always thought of a PPV as a show where wrestlers bring out their best work, where TV-style segments and antics have been kept to a minimum. A big part of the extreme rules was like watching an extended episode of RAW. It was like the former RAW Supershow. That's honestly that.

Honestly, this would make TV even more special by keeping some great midcard moments out there. The list is already very stacked, and not everyone can get to the PPV card every month, so you might as well make something happen and VPPs mean something more. In this way, without the fat on the sides of each PPV, the matches on the special event have more time to work and be magical. That's what SmackDown Live used to do with their brand-exclusive PPVs, and I can not believe that they would rather sacrifice that quality just for that.

The G1 Climax began

More from the other Side of the world, the G1 Climax of New Japan Pro Wrestling officially started. For those who do not know it, it's a one-month round-robin tournament between two blocks of wrestlers, which ends with a final match between the winners of these two blocks. The ultimate price? A shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at the Wrestle Kingdom event next year at the Tokyo Dome, the biggest prize of the company.

The biggest stories of the tournament right now? Kazuchika Okada, IWGP's heavyweight champion, seems to have lost him, continuing his run of two consecutive defeats and a brutal tumble in which he seems to have changed. Since yesterday, however, it is starting to rebound, so it will not last long. Kota Ibushi, the current lover of IWGP Heavyweight Kenny Omega, is also in the tournament, so it could be an interesting choice to win the final and get the shot of Wrestle Kingdom. Last year's G1 winner, Tetsuya Naito, is also in the running and should not be ruled out to win as well.

Who is your choice to win the G1 Climax this year? Let's talk about it!

*****

Do you listen to podcasts? Would you like to listen to a local podcast about professional wrestling? If the answers to these questions – especially the last one – are yes, then you should take a look at the Smark Gilas-Pilipinas podcast, along with PWR general manager Stan Sy, wrestling editor and Wrestling God Romeo Moran , and multimedia person and former voice of PWR Raf Camus! In this week's episode, the boys talk to PWR champion Ralph Imabayashi and ex-best friend Nina before defending the title of the former PWR Live player: Way of the Champion this Sunday! Listen to it here or on Spotify! – Rappler.com

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