SGW RIVALS Chapter Six: Raven versus Matt Hardy
Sept 27, 2022 12:41:54 GMT -6
josh, jared, and 3 more like this
Post by Scott on Sept 27, 2022 12:41:54 GMT -6
CHAPTER SIX: Raven (Dev) versus Matt Hardy (Archie)
Timeframe: May-June 2006
Feud Facts:
-Intense feud between two relatively unknown writers at the time.
-Elevated both to main event status.
-Unified the Intercontinental and United States Championships.
-2006 SGW Match of the Year
Top Matches
June 25, 2006 (Raven defeated Matt Hardy)
..And they fall.
It's one of the most iconic lines in SGW results. Josh probably didn't think much about it when it was written in their match, but it's a dramatic moment that still resonates with me to this day. If you haven't, go back and read their match at the excellent 2006 Total Destruction show here. I've borrowed that sentence a few times in fantasy bookings of my own and tried recreating the magic, but it still lives on after the tens of thousands of words Josh has written for SGW.
In the 2006 run of SGW, we had a lot of heavy hitters. We had some 'dudes.' Myself, Dustin, Matt G, Brett, Kotarski, Chalmers, Emerson, Corey Rich, the list goes on, and the pecking order was pretty well established. That is, until Archie Caplin and Dev Rightsell came into the picture. Those guys were lightning in a bottle for SGW, immediately climbing the ranks with their writing talents. They wanted to win, they cooperated with the storylines going on, and they just clicked in their feud. All in all, it's probably the defining feud in SGW. It's silly, but it's basically a 1996-1997 WWF Rock/Austin situation where these two blossoming stars linked up in a feud and exploded, quickly becoming unbeatable forces in their own right.
Archie quickly captured the United States title while Dev captured the Intercontinental title. Josh started unifying belts to consolidate things back then, and it was time to unify the two top singles titles and it led to a legendary match, their one and only encounter. What started as a feud of SGW versus Golden Rule blossomed to a crazed Matt Hardy and a motivated Raven clashing for all of the marbles.
Archie was a consistent writer, always a threat to beat anyone. Dev is easily one of the top ten, maybe higher, overall writers in SGW history. I'm not even being facetious. Dev won WrestleBrawl and never got to cash it in against my Edge, which is a blessing for me, because I would absolutely gotten smoked.
This feud and their blow off match is one of the greatest matches in SGW and one of the best written feuds in SGW history as well. Josh made the right decision putting these two newcomers against one another because it paid dividends and lit a fire on the rest of the roster. Very rarely do newcomers come in and make an impact immediately, but these two guys did and they will live in SGW lore forever for those who were around to see it.
Thoughts From Josh: "Dev and Archie were two complete unknowns to SGW when they showed up in 2006. I have no idea if they knew each other before SGW or what, but I ended up matching them against each other and it was kind of magical. It was probably the earliest example of truly immersive cooperation between myself and two handlers. I let them give me some ideas of what they wanted to do and I applied that to results. We all had really similar ideas for how far to take the angle and it's responsible for some of my very favorite segments, particularly the one where Raven challenges Vince Russo to a match with both hands tied behind his back. The blow-off match at Total Destruction was disgusting, as it was written like an all-out war and the finish is still an all-timer. It's kind of a shame that they were fighting to unify the United States and Intercontinental titles because the feud didn't need it and the belts were an afterthought. Either way, I guess it's kind of cool to have the feud immortalized in the title history.
Dev is one of the best writers from that era of SGW. Easily top three. I'd love to have him back in the fold today. Archie was solid. He'd give some of the guys on top a run for their money today. I've completely lost track of him and have no idea where to even begin to find him, but I wish I could. In the grand scheme of things, neither of them were around for long but they made a huge impact in their short time with SGW. In our circle, their Total Destruction match is spoken of highly, maybe only second to the Taz Memorial Show."
Feud Facts:
-Intense feud between two relatively unknown writers at the time.
-Elevated both to main event status.
-Unified the Intercontinental and United States Championships.
-2006 SGW Match of the Year
Top Matches
June 25, 2006 (Raven defeated Matt Hardy)
..And they fall.
It's one of the most iconic lines in SGW results. Josh probably didn't think much about it when it was written in their match, but it's a dramatic moment that still resonates with me to this day. If you haven't, go back and read their match at the excellent 2006 Total Destruction show here. I've borrowed that sentence a few times in fantasy bookings of my own and tried recreating the magic, but it still lives on after the tens of thousands of words Josh has written for SGW.
In the 2006 run of SGW, we had a lot of heavy hitters. We had some 'dudes.' Myself, Dustin, Matt G, Brett, Kotarski, Chalmers, Emerson, Corey Rich, the list goes on, and the pecking order was pretty well established. That is, until Archie Caplin and Dev Rightsell came into the picture. Those guys were lightning in a bottle for SGW, immediately climbing the ranks with their writing talents. They wanted to win, they cooperated with the storylines going on, and they just clicked in their feud. All in all, it's probably the defining feud in SGW. It's silly, but it's basically a 1996-1997 WWF Rock/Austin situation where these two blossoming stars linked up in a feud and exploded, quickly becoming unbeatable forces in their own right.
Archie quickly captured the United States title while Dev captured the Intercontinental title. Josh started unifying belts to consolidate things back then, and it was time to unify the two top singles titles and it led to a legendary match, their one and only encounter. What started as a feud of SGW versus Golden Rule blossomed to a crazed Matt Hardy and a motivated Raven clashing for all of the marbles.
Archie was a consistent writer, always a threat to beat anyone. Dev is easily one of the top ten, maybe higher, overall writers in SGW history. I'm not even being facetious. Dev won WrestleBrawl and never got to cash it in against my Edge, which is a blessing for me, because I would absolutely gotten smoked.
This feud and their blow off match is one of the greatest matches in SGW and one of the best written feuds in SGW history as well. Josh made the right decision putting these two newcomers against one another because it paid dividends and lit a fire on the rest of the roster. Very rarely do newcomers come in and make an impact immediately, but these two guys did and they will live in SGW lore forever for those who were around to see it.
Thoughts From Josh: "Dev and Archie were two complete unknowns to SGW when they showed up in 2006. I have no idea if they knew each other before SGW or what, but I ended up matching them against each other and it was kind of magical. It was probably the earliest example of truly immersive cooperation between myself and two handlers. I let them give me some ideas of what they wanted to do and I applied that to results. We all had really similar ideas for how far to take the angle and it's responsible for some of my very favorite segments, particularly the one where Raven challenges Vince Russo to a match with both hands tied behind his back. The blow-off match at Total Destruction was disgusting, as it was written like an all-out war and the finish is still an all-timer. It's kind of a shame that they were fighting to unify the United States and Intercontinental titles because the feud didn't need it and the belts were an afterthought. Either way, I guess it's kind of cool to have the feud immortalized in the title history.
Dev is one of the best writers from that era of SGW. Easily top three. I'd love to have him back in the fold today. Archie was solid. He'd give some of the guys on top a run for their money today. I've completely lost track of him and have no idea where to even begin to find him, but I wish I could. In the grand scheme of things, neither of them were around for long but they made a huge impact in their short time with SGW. In our circle, their Total Destruction match is spoken of highly, maybe only second to the Taz Memorial Show."