PRESIDENT Duterte may have opted not to face retired Supreme Court associate justice Antonio Carpio in a debate about the West Philippine Sea. But in a WWE 2K19 stream, at least, the two got to have their showdown — but this time, with suplexes and clotheslines.
As streamer Testa Gaming said in his color commentary, "Debate sa wrestling ring, ibang bagay yan. Kasado rito yan!"
Billed as the “Antonio Carpio vs. Rodrigo Duterte | Debate sa West Phil. Sea Wrestling” event, the WWE 2K streamer matched two custom-created characters against each other in the squared circle.
It was a parody fight for the ages: Carpio in his judge robes and his Justice Slam, versus the Philippine president in barong and his Kamay na Bakal. In their first faceoff, Judge Carpio took the easy win at just 14 minutes into the stream. But after slapping away the ladder the former associate justice had pulled out from under the ring, Duterte rallied back in the second match, sending Carpio to the ground with a fierce Kamay na Bakal before pinning him for the three-count.
But there were more main events to come. Also in the 11-hour stream was an elimination tag team fight: Duterte teamed up with Harry Roque and Bong Go, while Carpio called in Noynoy Aquino and Mar Roxas. More famous faces showed up — Debold Sinas, Sara Duterte, Antonio Trillanes, Leila de Lima — in a video that gathered over 552,000 views, 9,000 reactions, and 7,000 comments.
In an interview with SPIN Life near the end of the stream, Testa Gaming explained that these celebrity deathmatch style fights, particularly involving trending news figures, were what his channel was all about.
“More on politics yung sa akin. Mas kinakagat ng tao yung politics, kasi syempre, alam natin na maraming galit sa — hindi naman biased — kumbaga, maraming galit kay Duterte, sa [mga] Dilawan, o sa Marcoses, etcetera,” he said.
He’s been playing wrestling games since the PlayStation 1 era, and is very much familiar with the character creation options in the WWE franchise.
“Ako mismo nagke-create ng characters. Kumukuha lang ako ng mismong mukha na kailangan kong [gayahin], halimbawa si Duterte nga. As much as possible, hangga’t kaya ko, mas similar yung mukha [sa totoong buhay], yun ang gagawin ko,” Testa Gaming said.
He added, “Mas na-a-appreciate ng tao. Mas kamukha, mas better.”
While Duterte has long been a staple of Testa Gaming’s streams, Carpio was a much newer character. “Si Carpio, ginawa ko lang siya kahapon. Kasi nga, [sa channel ko], kung [sino] yung trending, sila yung ginagawa ko.”
“Yung creation ng character mismo, siguro it will take one hour. Sa character pa lang yun a. Kung isasama mo lahat — research ng music, tapos ipa-patch mo pa music niya, kasi bawat entrance unique e, tapos entrance na galaw nila, binabagay ko rin sa galaw ng tao… overall, isang character, it will take around two hours,” he explained.
Unfortunately, he can’t recall which wrestler he based Carpio’s moveset on, since he’s created so many characters it’s all long been mixed up. But he’s proud of the judge’s two finishers, which he dubbed the Justice Slam and Order in the Kick.
After creating the characters, he lets the AI take control, letting his creations duke it out on the ring while he chimes in with non-stop commentary. He doesn’t take charge of the matches themselves, preferring to let the computer settle the fights.
After all, as Testa Gaming insists to SPIN Life, his stream is not meant to be political.
“Lagi ko silang nire-remind na unang-una, sabi ko nga, for entertainment purposes lang ‘to. Lahat naman tayo gustong sumaya. Yun talaga yung punto ng streaming natin. Hindi ko naman maiiwasan na iba’t ibang panig yung manonood,” he explained.
“So nire-remind ko sila lagi, ‘Mga lods, dito wala tayong pakialam kung dilawan ka, Duterte ka, Marcoses ka, etcetera. Ang importante dito, lahat tayo, nag-e-enjoy.'”
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