Page 294 – Victory!
Sun wins! Just like clockwork, even. Damage Inc had a plan with their new member and it worked. Everyone seems happy, at least about the victory! Okay, maybe not the York girls. But now its on for some partying for Damage Inc! More on that next update as well as setting the groundwork for the next match. And as for Sabrina, looks like she’s got some strategizing to do with her mentor, Marina (finally) for her upcoming semi-final match with Xtina Carpenter.
New interview! Kelly Melcher over at Fandomania.com checked out Rival Angels and liked it so much that we did an interview! Check out one of the coolest Rival Angels interviews yet!
The WCRA Awards are wrapping up on Saturday the 14th. Have you voted? It only takes a minute and there’s some great Rival Angels nominations like Best Supporting Character (Sun), Best Antagonist (Brooke/Chloe) but there’s also some other great nominations that deserve some love like Scott Sava of Dreamland Chronicles (Author Congeniality), The Dreamer (Design, Art, Supporting Character-Nathan Hale) or Xylia (Best Antagonist-Tychia). Good stuff. Participate!! You’ll be glad you did.
Discussion (31) ¬
Sabrina just might want to get her head back in the game or she will have a quick and bad night ahead of her. Grats for Sun, I wonder if the “Queen Damager” is gonna allow Sun cheer let alone watch the match, being a offical Damage Inc member now, especially after that plan locker tweak that was intended for both Sabrina and Sun.
Great finish for Sun, but an uphill battle for Sabrina. She’ll have to really bring it against Carpenter, who had a great match against Sara Valentine. I can’t wait! Great work!
Ahh, Marina… Trainer, manager, and part-time den mother. Thank goodness you’re well-paid for the fluff-headed silliness you put up with. 🙂 Yes, Sabrina, it’s time to focus on Xtina Carpenter, and not on questions like “is she really the secret love-child of Professor X?” ::sends Sun and the Dincs some snickerdoodles in honor of a jobber well done-unto::
Cocky pin, but Sun’s earned it! I doubt she’d need more than a pinky there in all honesty.
Albone, aside from the page on Sabrina/Sun/Kristin/Brooke and the TV tournament bios, is there a roster list for the talent of Rival Angels?
Sabrina twiddling her fingers like that in the last panel? Priceless. Suuuuuure you’re focussed.
I don’t think there’s an issue of ‘allowing’ Sun to cheer here. Sun has repeatedly shown that she does as she pleases (recall how she was *standing on the table* in DI’s private room when she was cheering a previous Sabrina match). However….
…she has also shown a bad habit of assuming the worst of things and people, and when Sabrina isn’t there to congratulate her, she may take it personally. Something I don’t doubt that the other Damagers would encourage if she doesn’t consider that initially. She also tends not to recognize her own culpability in things until later… like the idea that Sabrina would see her as having abandonned her since she didn’t come out swinging to her defense in the locker room earlier. Sun definitely tends to channel her guilt as anger, only to feel more genuinely remorseful after when she realizes she’s made things worse. That’s beside the fact that Sabrina likely wouldn’t get a warm reception from the other Damagers in the first place, and her own tendency to avoid personal confrontations. Sure, she’s fearless in the ring, but she seems to go out of her way to avoid ruffling feathers outside of it.
They really NEED to sit down and talk this out, but I’m not sure that’s going to happen. Fate (cough… Albone… cough) seems to conspire to cut any attempts at reconcilliation short.
Real nice interview, boss. Congrats!
I’m not TOO worried about Sabrina’s focus. She’s got a good sports background so she knows what that’s about and (in theory) how to put other things behind her. But can she? Don’t change that channel!
Congrats to Sun and DI for working the plan! And I liked the team pic in panel 3. It says a lot!
A face vs. face match up will be interesting.
Sun for the win, and Sabrina seems anything but focused. Let’s hope that she can get her head in the game before the tourney tonight!
Sun wins and Sabrina’s distressed about the current status of their friendship. Can I call them or what? Haha.
You don’t see enough of the shooting star elbow drop, I think Teddy Hart is the only who I’ve really seen do it, off the top of my head. Well, Teddy Hart and Sun, that is. But I’m also just a huge mark for shooting star moves.
Sun’s first win with Damage Inc! But I believe this one is gonna leave bruises…
Sabrina should start focusing on her own match because now she has to catch up with Sun’s success! I still believe both will get through their hardship and finally find each other. These girls are made to tag team! 😉
Jabberwocky, you bring up some very good questions and my only answer is ‘wait and see.’ XD We’re going to find out how Damage Inc likes to party and maybe show a different side of them as well.
Thanks CAIMARU! Man, I’m really looking forward to posting Sabrina vs Xtina and I hope to throw a few surprises in the mix as well. 😉
Cookie Ogre, snickerdoodles are a fine cookie. :yum: Oh yeah, Marina has many hats and wait til you see how she tries to motivate Sabrina.
Stygimoloch, I’m so glad that you caught the ‘cocky’ pin. That was actually what I named that panel when I was drawing it. XD I don’t have a proper roster page (yet) and the best I really have is from the Bonus Life Battle Royal.
Hehe, Adon, yeah Sabrina really isn’t focused, is she? You’re not buying it? As to Sun, if she wants to see Sabrina’s match, she’ll find a way. A very good question you posed is what will Sun think when Sabrina’s not there to congratulate her? Maybe something to explore on Monday? As to Sun and Sabrina talking things out, I think they just need the right timing. 😉
Thanks Champ, the interview was way cool. In addition to all of the things that Sabrina has going for her in terms of getting her focus on, she does have Marina. And way to pick up on the team photo! It was definitely meant to make a statement.
Picky, I really hope you enjoy it. 😀
Trevor, the one thing that Sabrina definitely has going for her is Marina and the manner in which she’ll try to motivate Sabrina.
Nice call, Chris. XD And I completely agree with you about the shooting star anything. It’s a great move and I think its what adds in making Sun so unique. An Upstart girl may be changing her finisher but it won’t be Sun.
Jul, they do make a good team, don’ they? Every time they seem to want to make up, something gets in the way. Will the third time be the charm for them (whenever that is)?
sorry for the late comment..
it’s like Sabrina said “Busy!”
Love the panel 1 -2 : Well Done in the art! Love it…
Panel 1-2.. the crowd cheer yaaaah! to Sun? does it mean that Damage Inc are face now! because of Sun?
Panel 3: Jeff commented “The rest of the rival angels better watch out!” is that includes the Hell’s Belles?
I’m thinking York Sisters and Damage Inc fued isn’t over.. not by a long shot!
Panel 4: Marina is being rough to Sabrina there! I think Sabrina have the right to congratulate her..
Sabrina VS Xtina..
I have a bad feeling that Xtina will be a heel! if I remember that Sabrina won’t the heel! so I’m just guesting that Xtina will turn..
Even though Damage Inc is technically a heel stable, I kinda wanted to see the York sisters win. I just don’t think Sun or in other cases Sabrina especially don’t lose enough to leave any doubt in our minds when they are in a match which way its going to go. That’s just me though…*shrugs* lol
Sabrina is obviously not on her game judging by her facial expressions in the last panel. Will this finally be the match she loses? Probably not…But It would be nice to see her show that she isn’t the female John Cena and can actually lose a match once in a while.
Hey MGC! I was wondering where you were at. XD Glad you liked the art! Damage Inc are not faces what so ever. Sun isn’t either, the crowd just happen to like her until she does something to change their mind. As you saw, some of them didn’t like what she did to Sabrina. Jeff was making a blanket statement and if he had to explain his comments, he’d avoid the topic. As for the York/Damage Inc rivalry, I’m not sure that there’s more to prove here, but there is the PPV coming up. As for Sabrina and Marina, there’s so much time for surprises before their match starts. 😉
Hey RAWF! Sorry the Yorks didn’t win but the match was, at least in part, Yvonne versus Josephine and Sun with her new stable more than ‘just’ a match. With Sabrina. It’s not all about her win-loss, it’s about the challenges that she’s in which usually she puts herself in. And we have seen Sabrina lose! Just not in the TV tournament. In comparison, we’ve NEVER seen Kat Smith lose and she’s already in the finals of the tournament, ahead of Sabrina. The comparison of Sabrina and John Cena are apples and oranges. Sabrina’s never been a champ. She doesn’t hang out with any champions and she’s not a main eventer. And is a five match winning streak really that Cena-esque, especially when two were tag matches and two wins were from countout/DQ? We know that she was barely .500 in developmental and we saw her lose to Mistress Dark. I think I do know where you’re coming from and it’s the problem with doing a webcomic that comes out three times a week. It’s not as fast as we’d like. Seriously, Sabrina can’t win forever, that’s just crazy. But I gotta keep you guessing as to when that will happen, and hopefully you’ll care about what happens after she does lose, considering she went from a pretty loser to being pushed to the moon.
Oy, that was a lot.
hey Al… you said that you saw Lacey las sunday…. you went to a Shimmer Tapping?? How was it?
BEST. DRAWINGS. OF. SUN. EVER!!! Panel 1! heh /puts fanboy away. *clears throat*
Ok that out of the way, wonderful win for Sun. She’s going to go far now we get to see Sabrina and REALLY see if her minds in the game… match… I’m hopeful, but doubtful at the same time.
A couple random comments in reaction to other comments and whatnot:
While it’s true that Sabrina hasn’t lost in RA yet, in reality she has only had a handful of matches to date, and several of her wins were either by DQ or ‘barely won’ down to the wire finishes. I’m pretty sure that she will lose sooner or later — I’m still thinking she will lose in her match with Chloe, who at this point is the ‘big bad’, showing that while she’s a talented newcomer with a big upside, she’s not yet in the league of the company’s top heel. Not to mention that it would *really* build anticipation for the rematch when she finds she has to up her game to hang with the main eventers. She’s been both good and lucky, but it’s already pretty evident that she’s not invincible, and eventually her luck will run out. I just don’t think it’ll be in a random match without a big emotional investment, and honestly, there hasn’t been much emotional build for the one with Xtina (how do you pronounce that, anyway?) When she does lose, it’ll be against someone we’re more likely to actually care about the result against, and Xtina definitely isn’t that — she has very little screen time, and pretty much everything we know about her is second hand.
I’m predicting that the story of the match will be more a case of it being one where the fans aren’t clearly behind one or the other. While Sabrina’s wildly popular, Xtina likely also has a good following who aren’t going to stop supporting their gal. So it’ll be her first RA match where the crowd is not firmly behind her.
I’m almost tempted to say it’s similar to the initial stuff between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart, but Sabrina doesn’t share HBK’s less charming personality quirks from that era (he’s mellowed a lot since then, but back then, HBK was at the height of his backstage jerkassery) and Sabrina hasn’t been actively politicking or trying to sabotage the push of anyone else — something that Michaels was at that point infamous for. But there IS a parallel with the young, flashy pretty girl and the perhaps lower key but very technically sound veteran who consistently puts on good matches, at least.
On the discussion of faces and heals, pertaining to the main characters, i have always had issue with that ID system. Sun is obviously not a face with her cheat to win tactics, but when that system intersects with individuals she has a personal connection (Sabrina or her morther) we have seen remorse on display in indifferent ways. Sun personality reminds me a little bit of Deadpool, not really a bad guy but not really a good guy who ultimately wants to be accepted as something more than a merc. As stated many times by others, Sabrina’s temper can be her darker side as a face, look at the current story involing Batista vs Rey Mysterio or Mat and Jeff Hardy. Thats why the RPG nerd in me prefers the Lawful,neutral, and evil identification system. Of course alot of blending of identities is partly due to great character development and progression by the author too.
Hey man, thanks for the long reply. Didn’t mean to strike a nerve or anything. I was just stating that she’s been undefeated since being called up. And the common wrestling fan that watches the product has no idea what so and so did in developmental so technically, she’s undefeated. I know she’s not technically a “main eventer” but since she is the in the spotlight of the story she comes across as if she is.
I don’t know if I’m making any sense but please know I didn’t mean any offense by it. I love the comic and I bought the graphic novel. I’m in the minority that actually enjoys women’s wrestling and I am looking forward to the day Sabrina gets her first loss in the national promotion. That will make for some good drama.
Well, I liked the win for Sun and the Infantino-like strobe effect on the first panel. I’d forgotten that Sabrina had a match of her own. Have a feeling that Sun just might play a part in it. Spa fon.
Eh? Oh, sorry, the wall of text seems to be my usual method of reply. Not taking any offense at all! 🙂
Just stating my opinion that Sabrina WILL suffer a loss, but I doubt it will be against ‘random opponent X’, which it would nearly be in her upcoming match, since there’s been little build up and her opponent hasn’t had much panel time one way or the other. Rather, her first loss will be at the hands of someone we’ve come to know. If it’s from someone who barely qualifies as a background character, it would make me think “WHAT A SHOCKING SWERVE!” And not in the good way, if you know what I mean and I think you do. 😉
jabberwocky, imo, ‘face’ just means the one getting more cheers and ‘heel’ just means the one getting more boos, and there’s not actually much more to it than that. Look at Eddy Guerrero. Insanely over as a face for significant parts of his career, at least in part <i>because</i> he cheated so much. One can say “faces should do this” or “a heel shouldn’t do that” and they’re fine for general guidelines, but shouldn’t dictate every situation as far as I’m concerned. Personally I mark out for people based on their character’s personality, wrestling ability and history, not because of who’s being shown in a positive light in a given feud. With regards to alignment, D&D 4th Ed’s alignment system saddened me. Why can’t I be chaotic good or lawful evil anymore? 🙁 That said, I never enjoyed the moral absolutism of an alignment system that much anyway. I prefer shades of grey, as you may have guessed XD.
I completely agree with you on the subject of Brina and Xtina (hey that rhymes! :D). Sabrina’s definitely a rising underdog, kind of a fairytale story, but Xtina’s got a large, established fanbase. Despite the tension between them I hope that they’ll respect each other on an athletic level and fight honourably. Although everyone seems to have forgotten about a person whose first name is the same as a certain wrestling promotion, and whose surname is the same as a crime TV show…
RAWF, I’m another proud member of that minority. My own personal ‘golden age of wrestling’ would be the early and mid 90s joshi scene with AJW, JPW and FMW. Kong, Kudo, Kansai, the Inoues, Toyota, Ozaki, Toyoda, Nakamura and Suzuki… has there ever been another field as strong as that in any country, at any time?
Random thing Albone! I was going through the archives trying to find out all the roster members’ names, and noticed in the comments section for issue #100 that there was a discussion of a name for the rope aided corner dropkick. Thought this might interest you… obviously Jeff Hardy’s probably the most famous user of that move in the real world right now; when he does it, he calls it the Hardiac Arrest.
The early 90s were definitely the high point of women’s wrestling (at least if you’re familiar with the stuff in Japan). Though I would argue the best ever came from the period before that in Jaguar Yokata – in her prime, she was considered one of the best wrestlers in the world, period, male or female, and was a pioneer of the workrate and athleticism based matches that Japan has become known for. Seriously, she was THAT good and if you watch Manami Toyota’s matches, you’ll see a lot of her mannerisms came from Yokata (the signature bridge out of the pin being perhaps the most notable) — which makes sense as it was Jaguar who trained her and is apparently very close to her to this day. Overall, though, no question. There were just so many great matches from that period with such a deep amount of talent to keep things competetive. One of those brief and glorious renaissance periods in rasslin’.
Svan, it was the best! I took HUNDREDS of pictures. 😉 Now that my main computer is back (repairs) I can start thinking about which ones to post.
Kurt! That’s so cool about the first panel and I’m glad it impressed. Sun is definitely on a high, which we’ll see on Monday’s update. As for Sabrina, she’s a pro now and is going to have to get it together but she also has Marina in her corner. 😉
Hey Adon! Some great observations and commentary. The other thing with doing a webcomic that updates three times a week is that I have to be careful with what I say so I don’t ruin anything. However, I think you and hopefully everyone else will enjoy what’s coming up. I do try to include a theme or some extra drama with Sabrina’s matches and let me just say that there will be some extra ‘oomph’ in Xtina/Sabrina’s match. Great comparison with them and the HBK/Hart feud. Personally, I was really torn during that (especially when Piper was moderating a debate with them) because I loved Hart’s in-ring work but got caught up in HBK’s charisma. I’m sad to say that I missed out on a lot of 90’s joshi wrestling but love the greats including Akira Hokoto and Toyota(!!!). Thankfully, we have YouTube to help me catch some of those really great matches. Nowadays, I’m really liking the work of Cherry.
Jabberwocky, I hear you about the alignment system in wrestling. Lance Storm once wrote that heels are meant to get faces over and faces are meant to energize the crowd. In black and white terms, it makes sense but remember the early nWo and DX? Kind of broke that rule so when it comes to girls like Sun and Sabrina, I don’t mind playing with the ‘rules’ a little bit, especially if I think it’ll make a more entertaining read for you. I also love having readers that are familiar with wrestling, comics and RPG. XD If Sun were more yappy in the ring, she’d totally be like Deadpool. LOL
RAWF, it’s all good!! Like I said, I understand where you’re coming from and believe me that the very last thing in my life I want to do is make another Goldberg so I appreciate your comments. I don’t know if this will help your take on Sabrina, but expect a slightly different side of her to emerge for her next match. (shhhhhh!) 😉
Darkmark, glad you liked the Sun win! Sabrina has a big match, but another Upstart girl has a big match of her own to come too. 😉
Stygimoloch, thanks for the name of the rope assisted dropkick! It was killing me not to have a the ‘name’ of it. And really, we haven’t seen it in a while so, it should probably make a comeback. 😉 Did I say who much I love that readers know about wrestling and RPG? XD (and for the record, I still play 3.0 because not really down with 4.0 or having to buy all new books) And lots of love for the golden age of women’s wrestling! Y’know, Xtina and Sabrina DO rhyme and then put in Marina…! As to the answer to your trivia question… MWAHAHAHA! (loved that crime show too, BTW)
No worries on the move name 🙂 Admittedly the only time I’ve ever seen it named was when Matt and Jeff were doing a video interview, and Jeff used it as an example of how they both name all their signature moves, even if you never hear those names used on TV!
Deadpool as a wrestler would be pretty sweet. We once had a character on my e-fed whose gimmick was thinking that he was an e-fed character… that got a bit nuts sometimes XD
The build to that first WWF title match with HBK and Bret actually frustrated me tremendously as a Hart fan. I could not deny Michaels’ ability in the ring… he was able to perform, bump, and sell like crazy. But it became pretty apparent to me that the company had hitched their horses to his wagon. In the period up to the match, HBK was being pushed to the moon and back, winning left and right, with the announcers gushing about his charisma and his childhood dream. Bret, on the other hand, was being booked as a weak champ… he couldn’t seem to get a clean win if his life depended on it. They weren’t being particularly subtle about it, even by wrestling standards. When Wrestlemania came, and Bret came out first (as the champ, who traditionally comes out second), and Michaels had that zipline ring entrance, I knew then and there that he was going to win the title though a part of me hoped otherwise. Back then I didn’t actually know about what was going on backstage, or the real-life antipathy between them, or the politics that were going on. I’ve mostly forgiven Shawn for his excesses now, as he really does appear to have mellowed a lot due to age, marriage, finding religion, and whatnot, but then? I was hoping against hope that the evidence before me was wrong and Bret would somehow walk out with the belt.
Ah, my memories as an unrepentant mark. 😀
Stygimoloch, that’s interesting that the Hardy’s name their moves, even if they don’t acknowledge it on TV. It shows that the Hardys care about their move set. Deadpool as a wrestler would be insane! It would be bedlam. XD
Adon, we would’ve had fun watching wrestling together! I saw that WrestleMania and I remember being entranced by the whole thing. I also remember most of my friends siding with Brett when he objected to the Sudden Death overtime rules. But that’s the real drama and entertainment in wrestling. I look forward to when I can write a similarly dramatic match and storyline in Rival Angels. 🙂 Come to think of it, I do remember now that Shawn was the benefit of a monster push.
As usual Al you have managed to intrigue me. Can’t wait to see what’s to come. 🙂
I guess it got me as kind of a wasted opportunity. This was when fan favorites weren’t wrestling against each other that often, and to me it would have actually built the drama due to anticipation if they’d given each an equal push — do what they did with Shawn, sure, but without undercutting Bret in the process. It was also an interesting thing that in *spite* of the push he got, or maybe even because of it due to the odd sense that Bret was coming off as the underdog due to the one-sided push, the fans were still split down the middle before, during, and after. But 20/20 hindsight, you know?