METAL ON METAL

After last weeks great episode it felt like a paint by numbers kinda episode to me, the only interesting scenes were with Jon Snow and also Bran.

 

The bit with Samwell was insufferable as ever.

 

They need to hurry up and bring Bronn back!

El Torito gone too.

"The Red Panty thread".

I think Goldberg occationally does 'guest' commentary on some very minor league ice hockey games.

 

I don't really notice his commentary/cliches that much anymore, which is both a good and bad thing.

Still, at least he's not as annoying as Jon Anik. I couldn't do with Anik handling the big shows, comes across as a swarmy prick but without the years of goodwill that Goldberg has.

Fighter weighs in at 155.5 lbs, "he weighed in at 155lbs and change". Ugh, fuck off Anik!

Of course the promo schedule is gruelling, other fighters always mention it and there's is not to the same degree as he has to do.. In the past couple of days even Jones & Cormier have both said they can see where McGregor is coming from and wouldn't like to do the amount he has to do.

 

Well, yeah, this appearance is alright considering he's not exactly training for anything now and has free time to do so since he isn't fighting. You're trying to make something out of nothing there.

What negotiations? It wasn't about money, that's already been established. Kavanagh said on the MMA Hour that Conor was told about the press conference(s) by UFC only about a week before they wanted him to fly over, it wasn't planned months ahead.

 

Something has got to give someday with the promotion UFC asks fighters to do, don't get me wrong promotion is needed but not to over do it where the fighter ends up affected by it.

Take UFC 197 this past weekend for example. On fight week just days before he took on Barboza, instead of flying straight to Vegas he was made to fly from Milwakee up to Toronto to do a full day of pointless media interviews and then fly to Vegas after that. What purpose does that serve? Even Wai Ting from the LAW (who was one of those that interviewed him) said it was a really unnecessary media day. I'm not saying it affected his poor performance on the night but it's not out of the question.

 

 

Conor's latest tweet though, I agree it's a dick move on his part trying to pressure Dana to change his mind. More of that behaviour will definitely have people losing sympathy with him.

An employment contract and a bout agreement contract are two completely separate things, just because it's not in one doesn't necessarily mean it's not in the other. They probably have a shitload of getout clauses written in the bout agreement to give the promoter extra security.

Surprised it hasn't been mentioned here but it wasn't just one press conference he was asked to do, Dana even said it himself in an interview with Cormier and Stann on UFC Tonight (video on FS1 Facebook page). He said Conor was asked to fly to Vegas, New York AND Stockton to do press conferences.

 

Now that does seem excessive to do two & a half months before the fight, when fighters are typically already in camp.

 

 

Total guesswork, but I reckon one was planned which Conor was going to go to and then they decided on adding more after it was all agreed to - leaving McGregor pissed off. Wouldn't surprise me.

Dana is claiming they pulled McGregor because he wouldn't attend a press conference. Given his opponent, that doesn't seem a very credible story.

They pulled Nick Diaz from the original GSP fight (which Condit replaced him in) for missing the press conference, so they do have previous for it - no matter how stupid. I think I'm more inclined to believe that than the $10m rumour, tbh.

 

If this is indeed the case, and who the fuck knows if it is given Dana talks 98% utter shit, then fair play to Conor for sticking to his morals. You're talking about a guy that is already well into his training camp, to have him jet around the world for a press conference and promo stuff a couple of months before a big fight is daft. With flights, actual time doing the promo shit and jet lag, he'd be losing at least a full week of training - compare that to Diaz (or anyone else really on the card) who are an hour or two flight from Vegas and the same time zone.

 

Luke Thomas brought up a good point of how this is a similar behavioural instance of Dana throwing his toys out of the pram as like when they released the AKA guys, including Velasquez, over pretty much forcing them to sign over video game rights.

 

Sucks for the Irish contingent who have already booked flights and accommodation (and I know there's quite a few already) in order to support Conor.

Such a crazy situation. I'm sure we'll find out more in the coming days but it's just mental with the timing of all of it, as Wand said, he'd been posting about training and how motivated he was just days ago.

 

It has to be some sort of contract/general dispute with UFC, you'd imagine. If he was injured we'd have found out already and I don't for a second buy that he was afraid/quit. This is a guy that has never shyed away from any challenges in the UFC - mere months ago we all would comment how much guts he had, be it from continually taking short notice fights or moving up two weight classes!

Someone said on Twitter that UFC 200 tickets go on sale next week, so perhaps he's just trying to force their hand to get more money out of them.

The Bella's have gotten their own Total Divas spinoff show called Total Bella's.

 

The description actually sounds really entertaining. They say after Nikki had her surgery, Brie & Bryan moved in with Nikki and Cena - and drama follows.

 

Imagine someone telling you 10 years ago that John Cena & Bryan Danielson are going to be living together on a TV show.

Titus O'Neil (obviously non substance related).

But as far as failed tests go, hilariously, it was Hornswoggle.

A new thriller film called Temple starts shooting this week, made by WWE Studios and Gene Simmons' movie company. It's starring Wesley Snipes and has Seth Rollins in some role.

 

Sounds like total 90's goodness. Sign me up (no matter how shit it likely turns out to be).

Just saw the trailer, looks like it was made on a £10 budget. Total B-movie cheesiness.

 

Basically; Ziggler is some kind of renegade cop and Kane is his boss (with his best Steve McClaren hair island on display). Ziggler has to stop a detonation attempt, which coincidentally is at a WWE show. Backstage action mixed with in-ring house show footage.

 

I'll watch it out of total curiosity. This would've been an excellent idea back in the early 90's with that roster, Hogan as lead and Sheik/Slaughter as the villain.

Jerry Lawler & X-Pac wrestled each other at half-time of a Memphis Grizzlies NBA match on Friday. Even had Lance Russell and Dave Brown commentating.

http://www.nba.com/grizzlies/video/channel/in_arena_highlights

Pretty sure that was from the Q&A part of WWE Magazine.

It's worth noting the R-rating is for the States, over here it'd be a 15. Tim Burton's 1989 'Batman' was also a 15 at the time.

An MSG house show in March has been changed to "Daniel Bryan night" :

 

http://www.thegarden.com/events/2016/march/wwe-live.html

 

House show or not, this sounds like a tidy card a week before WrestleMania. Ambrose v Owens iron man? Yes please.

 

Get in! Already had tickets for that due to my holiday coinciding with it, looked forward to the card beforehand but Bryan there is the icing on the cake.

Much appreciated. We're at the front of 122, so shouldn't be too bad of a view.

Stone Cold Podcast after Raw tonight with Big Show. Should be decent, he's bound to have a few stories.

 

Seems to be live in the arena this time rather than pretaped.

I took this photo at SummerSlam last year to show how steep the upper level of the Barclays Center is, and it shows how large the bloke sat a few rows in front of me was.

Fair play to him for getting an aisle seat, smart thinking.

 

Off-topic, but what section were you in there?

 

I only ask as I'm going to the last Raw before WM at the Barclays Center and that looks similar to where I am.

Here's hoping he's wearing a salmon coloured blazer.

Don't get the complaint about Reigns smiling on this of all shows, that's petty as fuck. If he can't smile after winning the title and fucking over the Authority, when can he? Pretty sure Austin used to smile after slapping Vince about.

There's no 'best of Raw', it'll be a normal live episode as usual.

 

They don't have a week off, hence the traditional MSG show on Boxing Day.