LOL, slush, I love your takes. And your positing of them. I feel like we're so similar in lots of ways, so I particularly enjoy it when I disagree with you. Well, in this case, it's not disagreement, per se, just that I reacted/responded differently to this Sasso - Lugo bout. And I, like you, am particularly vulnerable to feeling "annoyed." But Sasso's counterwrestling & the excitement it produced, to me, was far more enjoyable (and thus anti-annoying) than a Beckman/Karam one-knee performance, or a Mike Evans/Sam Stoll Pushfest performance, or a Daton Fix Supreme Offensive Talent Who Frustratingly Keeps It Holstered performance. Sasso's scrambles, and energy & movement, especially against a center-mat bull like Lugo, had me on the edge of my seat, like what is this guy gonna do next? For those reasons, the relative lack of initiated offensive attacks by the winner did not annoy me.
However (b/c, again, we're pretty similar here), I *was kinda annoyed by Brands holding Warner out against Kollin Moore. Just as I was annoyed at Gable holding Wes Hand out against Kerry McCoy in '97, quipping (via phone call to Zalesky & Brands, since Gable himself was getting his hip repaired and didn't attend the BJC dual then)(from Zavorall's Season on the Mat, of course) "he hasn't earned the right to face somebody that good."
Two things were different about how Brands handled this (from how Gable directed him to handle Hand & McCoy): first, notably, Brands didn't forfeit. At least Moore got to compete, unlike McCoy, and to Cash Wilcke's credit, he held the bout to a Decision. Second, check out how Brands handled informing Warner and the reason he gave:
What the heck is that? Gable at least gave a decent quotable, even if it was b.s. and not transparent in the real reason: to stick a thumb in the eye of an opponent you're already dominating in the dual. Seems to me Brands & Gable both had the same real reason (thumb in the eye of an opponent you're already dominating in the dual), but that extra piece about Warner not even knowing he was being denied the chance to battle Moore, until Wilcke walked out? Definitely annoying to this fan.