HarmonicGenerator

52 minutes ago, Lorne Malvo said:

If anyone listens to the Empire/Pilot podcasts, I always find James Dyers voice weirdly soothing and comforting. Beth Webb from the old Pilot TV podcasts too, although a big part of that could be that I fancy her.

Definitely with you on Beth Webb. I miss her being on Pilot, she was lovely to listen to.

I zoned out after the Golden Jets segment and couldn’t get back into the rest of the show. I can’t remember anything about the Rush-Lethal or Switchblade-Briscoe matches. Zoned back in just enough to see Swerve lose* and zoned out again just in time to avoid having to pay attention to the Devil. Not a vintage Dynamite.

*I hate that this happened because Swerve has to be the next champion and therefore needs to be beating the big names, but maybe maybe they’ll save a win over Moxley for when it means slightly more than Just Another CC Match? I guess?

Most of this show was nothing memorable, but it’s very much worth watching Danielson vs. Garcia. Excellent match that had me really rooting for Garcia to get the upset win.

Great article by @WrestleMe!’s Marc on the Von Erichs.

https://m.independent.ie/entertainment/movies/the-iron-claw-how-a-wrestling-familys-triumph-turned-to-tragedy/a1233100182.html 

The last time I bought a ticket to a WWE show was to see Nakamura (well, his entrance) in person. He was wrestling Ziggler but still.

I get why they put Dolph with him as his first main roster opponent but it didn’t half kill my interest in him. It’s like when the new champion had to feud with Kane after Mania.

That, and when they mucked about with his entrance so the moves didn’t time up to the right bits anymore.

His entrance though. I’d never seen Nakamura before Takeover Dallas and by the time he got to the ring for the match with Sami he was already the most exciting wrestler I’d ever seen. It was incredible. Incredible. And then they had what’s still one of my favourite ever matches. Maybe it was impossible to keep that momentum, but what an all-time great first night he had.

Timeless Toni Storm being announced as being from “Stage Seven at Warner Studios” was my highlight of the night. Good match with Skye Blue too.

Not sure I agree with @Supremo about the big hot crowd, it felt really, really obvious this week that there was nobody on the hard cam side of the building. Though I did enjoy all the Jay/Jay chants. 

Saw the trailer on the big screen yesterday, really looking forward to this film. Efron has really got into 80s wrestler shape.

I also read the EW cover story and the three of them all say they’d be up for doing actual wrestling and now I want them in a Trios match in AEW.

The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik would be my choice. Napoleonic Wars + dragons = yes please. Peter Jackson bought the rights ages and ages ago but nothing’s ever come of it.

My filler phrase used to be “sort of” until someone pointed it out and I had to train myself out of it. I thought I’d been fairly good at not using them (I can generally speak to groups of people without using “er” much) but while editing myself for podcasts it’s very clear I’ve just replaced it with “and”

”Aaaand” I’ll start my sentences with that while I’m thinking of what I’m going to say, “aaaand” when I’ve thought of a point partway through, or if I’m trying an open question “and…”

It’s fucking dreadful and I know I must do it all the time when I’m just talking. Just shut up and don’t talk, is what I need to do.

Surprising that the Universal Champion is losing matches so soon after the creation of the belt, and the unfortunate vacating of the first champion. You’d have thought if any title would be kept strong it’d be that one.

We're planning on going, payday was last week and I haven't started Christmas shopping yet, so I might as well grab them now. Looking at those prices, I think we were second-lowest price last time and I might go up one price point, but I'm not doing three figures. The wrestlers weren't as small dots as I expected them to be from up at the top, so I don't mind going cheap again, but Mrs HG (who I expected to have left Wembley bored out of her mind by the time FTR came out) wants to be closer to it this time so she can see more!

Edit: Done! Zero wait/queue time on this occasion. Lower tier seats, block 108, so at the back but opposite ring and stage.

I watched this show - first WWE one since Mania - to see whether Punk might actually turn up. I didn’t really expect it. But he did!

There’s still enough about the presentation of WWE at the moment that it’s not really for me, though. The shouting out every inner thought and storyline beat just in case we didn’t pick up on it, how blatant  the sponsors are (“War Games, brought to you by Ruffles!”) and whoever their ring announcer is - she’s atrocious.

I’m interested to see what they have planned for Punk, and it’s nice seeing everyone so excited, but I got my big happy CM Punk return moment in 2021 so it’s not enough to keep me watching. I’ll dip back in for the Rumble.

36 minutes ago, air_raid said:

It was supposed to be a full blown talent grabbing exercise. They wanted to sign a ton of new lads that represented the best guys in the world they could get who happened to be in that weight class to make a new show they knew serious wrestling fans would want to watch. The centrepieces they wanted were Sabre and especially Ibushi - who had given them every indication he’d be interested in signing, so they pencilled him in to win, to showcase their new star. Of course, Kota being Kota, he ummed and ahhhed about actually signing and his attitude was “maybe a bit later” because he was having characteristic second thoughts about schedule and exclusivity I.e lack of freedom to explore other things in wrestling as a whole. Plans changed for the CWC when they realised he wasn’t signing soon, he never did, 205 Live ended up what it was.

205 Live had some great short runs all the same - the period where PAC was first trying out the Bastard character, and a couple of months where Buddy Murphy was having bangers every week - but fascinating to think what it could have been if they’d been able to stick to this original plan.

The Cruiserweight Classic was something wasn’t it? Mad to think they had the likes of Sabre and Ibushi popping over for a match or two at Full Sail.

Thanks for the heads-up @BomberPat, Kindle edition preordered and looking forward to reading it!

Swerve vs Hangman was a grim, barbaric spectacle that I couldn’t look away from and had my head in my hands shouting “fucking HELL” at multiple times. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it. Impossible for anything to follow that.

Rush was another highlight of the show, and I really enjoyed the TBS Title three way, thought that was a great match. Pleased Julia Hart won, it’s the right time for her right now. Also, two women’s matches on an AEW show! That almost feels like it could be progress.

The Texas death match though… fucking HELL. Once MJF’s got past Samoa Joe, Wardlow, and Roderick Strong, have Swerve just destroy him and win the title. He’s the best.

If anyone could, genuinely, DM me the YouTube link to the Zero Hour tomorrow that’d be great. I want to see the matches on it, but last time I had Adam Copeland’s debut spoiled for me by having to go through the YouTube search to get to the countdown show.

4 hours ago, Chris B said:

Definitely that from my side. I know who Ms Marvel is (loved the comics), but I feel out of the loop on this one. I watched Wandavision (and pretty much stopped watching any of the series there), so I get how Monica became Photon (if she's called that), but now she's connected with Ms Marvel and so is Captain Marvel? I'm assuming there's been set-up that I've missed.

The set-up for how the three of them end up connected sort of happens in the film. They only explain it briefly but that does happen. 

I’d forgotten we were meant to get Danhausen this week! Unless he was under the devil mask this is a big disappointment!

I enjoyed, amongst the G1 thing, them announcing Danielson will be at Wembley next year. It’s 90% certain he’ll be injured again by then, so I’m not counting on it. Glad they’ve not forgotten that PAC and Jamie Hayter missed out on Wembley too - wrap the three of them in cotton wool til August please.

On the show, Julia vs Willow lived up to my expectations, good match and let’s get that title onto Hart at Full Gear. I didn’t get much Copeland vs Archer, but a fun main event and it’s still surreal to see Edge in an AEW ring.

7 hours ago, The King Of Swing said:

My problem with Batman, is once I realised he's just a nepo-bady,

I misread the typo here as “nepo-baddie” and thought, “is that a thing now? You act like a villain because your parents were-“ and then realised

I really enjoyed The Marvels.

A few spoiler free thoughts and I’ll put more spoilery ones in a box.

- Iman Vellani is excellent in the film. She’s got her character absolutely nailed down. Her family are a brilliant addition, like they were in the Ms Marvel series - they’re just great.
- The film is so much lighter and more fun than I expected. It’s genuinely funny in quite a few places which is really nice.
- Superb cat content. Superb cat content. It’s worth repeating. CATS.
- I had a few issues - I didn’t think Zawe Ashton was the best fit, and while the movie wasn’t about the villain so it didn’t matter, she just didn’t work for me - but overall it was just loads of fun!
 

36 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

I'm going to sound old and grumpy but I'm not really enjoying Vikingo when I see him. Most of his stuff looks incredibly sloppy or unbelievable in context. I assume he's still fairly early on in his career but yeah he's just a walking GIF machine at the moment.

There were a few times where I felt FTR were waiting around for ages and ages to catch him and Komander on their dives, long enough for me to notice how long it had been, which isn’t great. With Vikingo though, the moves are at least spectacular enough he can just about get away with it.

Couple of things to look forward to on this week’s show. Adam Copeland and Lance Archer facing off in their six man tag could be great, and Willow Nightingale vs Julia Hart has a lot of potential. Julia has improved so much this year, in the ring and as a character, and she’s becoming one of my favourites in the women’s division. Make Brody King her full time backup and give her the TBS title.

5 hours ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

The world champ shouldn’t give the slightest shit about the tinpot ROH tag titles, and Samoa Joe shouldn’t have any interested in carrying about the TV title.

I take the MJF bit as him not caring about the ROH tag titles, rather him caring about the thing he and his one friend won together. 

Doesn’t change the fact they don’t need to be ROH titles to tell that story, especially when the actual AEW tag belts have become totally forgettable since they’re stuck in Collision limbo. But I can justify that one in my head - granted in a similar way to “MJF doesn’t know how to act like a genuine babyface so he just acts like he thinks he’s meant to”. Which I do think he’s doing as well.

We just finished rewatching Andor. Fuck, what a series. I love it so much. The first three episodes get accused of being slow but I find them so propulsive and engaging - the building of Ferrix as a living, breathing community that gives the finale so much extra weight, the jobsworthiness of the Pre-Mor employees, Trevor from Eastenders shouting “shiiiit!” when it all goes wrong… Then you get Aldhani, which I’d love love love to see in a cinema, because the Eye when it happens is magnificent, also to fully appreciate Stanley Townsend giving it full RSC. Especially liked rewatching Ebon Moss-Bachrach after seeing him in The Bear. Then you get Narkina 5 and MY GOD ANDY SERKIS is the absolute best. The show just casually drops in lines like “I’d rather die trying to take them down than die giving them what they want”, amazing. Then you get Fiona Shaw inciting revolution in the last episode and when I die please turn me into a brick and use me to smash a fascist’s head in. Andor is bloody brilliant. Rogue One this weekend.

Best rewatched in small blocks.

Episodes 1-3 (the setup)

Episodes 4-6 (the heist)

Episode 7 (breather)

Episodes 8-10 (the prison)

Episodes 11-12 (the conclusion)

Looking forward to season 2 so much, but at the same time kind of worried because they can’t possibly maintain the same level of quality.