marc2j

Lovely thread idea and thanks for posting this. Convinced me to make my once a year or so post.

• First WrestleMania watched?

Was sitting there trying to work this one out. WrestleMania 11 was the first I watched on tape I think. My uncle had come round with a bin bag of VHS tapes that had stuff from 1991 through to about 1995. No way of working out what order they were in and I'm pretty sure the first WWE I consciously watched was Macho Man getting bitten by the snake. But 11 was certainly the first one I watched. I do recall it being out of the correct order though as I saw Shawn Michaels as a face then as a heel at Mania and my brain couldn't compute what was going on. I recall watching WMX after watching 11 and it was just much better. I am also aware I've bounced between numerals and numbers. 

• Favourite WrestleMania?

Spoilers for below, as I went to 24 and 34, but ignoring the ones I went to, which I'll mention in brief below, 17 is the first one I stayed up live to watch. I went to bed absolutely fuming that Austin had turned heel. Bunkbeds with my little brother who was 14 and stayed up with me. We were both completely shocked he'd sided with McMahon. 

30 has a soft spot for me. Not even because of the Streak madness, but the Daniel Bryan stuff was glorious and the opening promo with Austin/Hogan/Rock had me smiling from ear to ear. Also the first WrestleMania that I streamed. Seems stupid as thats old hat now, but there was significant tension wondering whether the rigours of the system would break the PPV for me. 

• Have you ever been to WrestleMania?

Yep. WrestleMania 24 in Orlando was our 'once in a lifetime' thing. I maxed out my credit cards and FAXED my travel package request from my work to Stamford, Connecticut which thinking back, I marked out about. I desperately waited for the fax confirmation thing so no one could see what I was up to. These young'ns these days with their instant package approvals. Unreal. 

Booked the flights through e-bookers but couldn't afford direct flights to Orlando. So got a connection in Minneapolis there and Chicago on the way back. I'd actually been on my first family holiday to the US a few months before, but this was my brother and I's first break away - and for a very good reason.

We were so poor, everything was on a massive budget. But I'd got a payrise between the Royal Rumble and Mania, so we had more spending cash, but I couldn't afford an extra night to see Flair get his flowers on RAW. I did however purchase the commemorative WWE spinner title for $100 and the WHC for $150 from the merch stand at the event. They were on my wall with my Big Eagle for a long time until I got married and told to grow the F up. 

Highlights of WM24 for me were the Umaga/Batista match which no one cared about really, but our whole section went banana for Umaga. Some fans in front of me stood up and chanted his name repeatedly, only for a very prudish woman to shout 'sit down you horrible drunks!'. They weren't drunk. Or horrible. Bless.

Meeting Matt Morgan and Johnny Stamboli at our hotel after the Hall of Fame was fun. Except I didn't recognise Stamboli, so when Matt asked me to ask him for his signature and I inevitably said 'why?', he got pissed off and swore at me. 

We got a polaroid with Edge and Chavo with the WHC and ECW titles at the Brunch thing they did which was very cool. We also met William Regal. My brother gleefully said 'we're English too'. He didn't give a shit.

We left five minutes before the end as we knew Taker was winning and we were lucky to wander straight into a taxi. No travel issues in Orlando, but we did also go to TNA that weekend and that was pretty cool. 

=

WrestleMania 34 was a very different animal. New Orleans and whilst I had money, brother B did NOT. So we balanced our 'twice in a lifetime' trip. We didn't do the package. I bought all the tickets seperately, using my colleagues Amex to get pre-sale seats to guarantee everything. We woke up at 4am to a text saying our flight was cancelled. Having booked legroom seats, we laid on the charm to a desk person at the airport and got a free upgrade to premium economy. We also got the full cost of our flights refunded too as it was a 5hr delay in arrival.

We missed the Hall of Fame because of this, but we caught it on telly in the room. 

Our hotel was shared by some of the WrestleCon guests, so we sat having breakfast with Road Warrior Animal. Having seen him the night before telling stories for money, we avoided eye contact with him at the all you can eat buffet. Its fair to say I've never seen a man eat as much as Animal did that first morning. 

The hotel was directly opposite a warehouse with an indy show in it too. No idea what one, I'm not an indy wrestling guy, but the wrestlers were all having cigarettes outside in their gear as we walked past. 

We went to Axxess, which I think I saw called 'The World' now. It was awesome. We met Goldust who was just so utterly nice. We're both big lads, so he asked if we were ever a tag team and whilst its champion level schmooze, we went away glowing from that encounter. We met a few others who were signing that day but no one particularly memorable.

We did however got to WrestleCon. I had no idea what to expect, but I wasn't a huge fan. The idea of walking past wrestlers just trying to get money was awkward AF for me. It's one thing paying for a show where someone speaks, but seeing someones eyes lock on to you in the hope you'll pay for an autograph. Not for me Clive.

I did however pay for a meet and greet with Hardcore Holly. A running joke with my brother was that he was his favourite wrestler of all time, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity. I'd read his book on the plane. My brother, who I introduced as a 'big fan of his' had NOT. He then started slagging off Triple H. Almost without hesitation or prompt.

We went to NXT Takeover but we left early as the aircon was blowing straight into our eyes and was making us unwell. It was then I realised how old I was. We did see the crazy ladder match for the North American title, which was the first time I saw Ricochet live. He was something else and he's amazing to watch live.

The actual event was perhaps a tad underwhelming. Daniel Bryan's big return was magnificent but the injury angle in the match was pointless. The tag team match with Triple H/Steph vs Rousey and Angle was phenomenal live and Triple H taking the Rousey offence got the pop of the night. Taker coming back for Cena was predictable but fun. The rest was a damp squib but didn't dampen our mood. Neither of us gave a shit about Lesnar/Reigns and we left as the entrances started. I imagined Reigns was going over. I was wrong. I was mid-pizza in a bar when I saw the results and I was glad I was too. 

• Best/Worst WrestleMania matches.

Triple H/Steph vs. Rousey/Angle was just as enjoyable during the rewatch. I was always a huge fan of McMahon vs. Hogan which had no business being as enjoyable as it was.  Stone Cold vs Rock at 17 is right up there in terms of stuff I'd rewatch. 

Worst for me - Reigns/Taker. A pointless dud of a match that shone a light on how knackered Taker was, that garnered huge heat for Reigns that they did absolutely not one thing with. Special bonus for the WM34 Andre battle royal which Matt 'Fell out of the ring getting in it' Hardy won. Bray Wyatt returned but no one in the crowd really knew that he'd won, so the music, reactions were all shit. Also Matt Hardy is shit.

• Best/Worst WrestleMania moments.

Daniel Bryan winning at 30. Daniel Bryans entrance at 34. Rock/Hogan/Austin at 30. Linda standing up. Hogan/Rock and the crowd turning on Rocky. Austin still having it against KO the the other year.  I loved the Sting/Triple H match by the way. 

Worst? Taker vs Bray which should have been a big deal but wasn't after being twatted by Brock the year before. Bret vs. McMahon. Reigns and the 'plan'. 

• Favourite WrestleMania theme and/or intro?

Big Time by Peter Gabriel for WrestleMania 22. The hype we had around that match convinced us to go to Mania, but we only got enough money to book for two years later. The late 20's ones where it was all Puff Daddy and Flo Rida can fuck all the way off.

• Favourite WrestleMania announcer call? ("The boyhood dream has come true" etc etc)

'Stone Cold is shaking hands with the devil himself!' Jim Ross, WM17!

On 2/21/2024 at 3:12 PM, Gus Mears said:

Anyone tried this? Moretti with salt in. It sounds well shit and I have no intention of purchasing it, but am interested if anyone can confirm it's as bad as I imagine.

Messina do a version with salt that they sell in Sicily. Its awesome, but not actually from Sicily, despite them selling it there as 'home grown'.

Its not. Very nice though.

I too experienced a similar thing with the antiobiotics and what not. The first time occurred whilst I was on holiday, panicked and got seen really quickly by the NHS. Couldn't fault them.

They said 'oh you have calcification on your chaps and you'll need to get checked every now and then'. Fair one.

Last time I went, as the ultrasound was occurring, he genuinely pulled back a curtain as I was 'tackle out' and said 'you don't mind if all these trainees watch do you?'.

'Of course, but hopefully they aren't as cold in here as I obviously am....'

I haven't been to a dentist in some time, but from the ages of 11 through to probably 22, I was there almost once a week. Very spacky teeth, from a hereditary condition, so ended up having implants, bridgework and all sorts. Even had bone taken from my hip for a bone graft as my bone wasnt thick enough for implants.

I genuinely recall one time one of my dentists actually came to my house because my teeth were proper weird and I was his coursework. My parents were there and he still wore a white coat. 

Yeah, not a huge fan, but I've still not had pain after the jabs like...

20 hours ago, Statto said:

 

2. All my younger colleagues send emails beginning "Please may you". This is quite possibly grammatically correct, but it just winds me up irrationally. Smacks of superiority. What's wrong with "Please can you"?

Theres a fairly senior lawyer at my place who says this. It chips away at her integrity every time she does it. Raaaaaaaaaage!

My current one is playing Fortnite with the wife. She got into it at the insistence of our 11 year old about 8 months back and now we are hooked and play most nights. Shes actually got pretty good too, but refuses to wear glasses so ends up not spotting obvious enemies and getting us killed.

But I get to play my xbox with her and its awesome.

I too suffer the same YouTube link issues using Safari on my iPad. Just scrolled past the Star Wars saga video and woke up my wife,

My 11yr old daughter got into Fuller House on Netflix and I ended up watching that. We then ploughed through the whole of Full House. Wholesome nonsense, but it allowed me and my ever getting older to watch something together, so I was very upset about this news when I read it this morning.

That he was also genuinely funny away from the show as well and that everyone seemed to love him makes it harder. Boo-urns I say.

'Enjoy Bob Sagat', chief.

'No, its Bob Seeger!? Aww, crap'.

I've been fairly up to date with it and now the story is less Discovery-centric and more 'Fed-centric;' it's certainly an easier watch. That said, I think the initial arguments around Burnham were 'why is she the focus' but that was the point perhaps, that it wasn't about her being in the chair. That's changed now obviously but it's still an enjoyable show. Lower Decks is still the best Trek to come out since DS9 mind.

I fucking love this place. A plethora of lovely and brilliant people and the background to every workday i've ever had for the past ten or so years. You lot are brilliant,

Skipped a few minutes in and listened to about 40 seconds of it. I need to have a wash I think.

Davidson is an utter twat.

Got the booster last night, as my eldest daughter decided after umming and ah-ing that it was a good idea to get hers.

So she drove me in her car and we both got the booster. Hilariously, the Nazi lady on the exit desk was going by the community centre clock, which was 10 minutes slow, so we had to wait 25 minutes instead of the regulation 15.

We then smashed up a massive Dominos.

We have a new girl whose name is Wing Kei, but in her welcome email put and I quote 'You can call me Winky'.

I see...

Eugh. Minor annoyance that is COVID related, but not necessarily COVID thread worthy. (And inspired by the milk bottle). The latest Lateral Flow Tests we get are non-NHS branded now, so some other company. They come with the genuinely useful little tubes that have the liquid in it already but its sealed with a silver seal, much like the milk bottle above. Can I open them? Can I fuck? My wife cant either. So basically, I'm forced to stab into them with a sharp knife. I them noticed a small piece of silver foil got into the liquid. So whilst I'm negative for COVID, I'm now positive for silver foil. 

I don't have a picture, but I've recently become devastated to find that my local chippies saveloys have become rank. Three times on the trot they have been dry, odd and just plain bad.

Luckily, I'm a proper fat bastard and ordered loads of other stuff. But what do I do? Write to the council or something?

On 8/13/2021 at 1:49 PM, Tommy! said:

Forced fun at work.

Ah yes.  A year into my current job, we were forced to endure an Escape Room experience. I have nothing against them if you are with people you can communicate well with, but this version of my team were awful at it. Also - we got split into two teams and I ended up with our gung-ho, Head of Department who was just desperate to have a good time.

It would have been easier for us to escape our actual office and saved the firm £500.

Played the FIFA22 beta this weekend. Most of the games play the same but theyve added new animations so that players are always moving with the ball when you pass to them, so it feels a bit more natural. Really enjoyed the movement of players into the box. Some of the graphics on a Series X are lovely, but Kane's face can't be done justice by any computer.

Further, the game is massively glitched at this beta stage as my son beat me twice...

I bumped into Una Stubbs in Tesco in Piccadilly Circus just before lockdown. Aside from that pointless and unnecessary update, she as a great actress. Mentioned this on my team call just now and one person went 'oh from Sherlock'. Not Worzel. So yeah. I'm old.

Another one from the record shop days. We used to work with a relatively prim older lady called Ivy. She must have been in her sixties then. (Mad she was working with a load of 20 year olds to be honest).

Our manager, who was a bit of a tit, made a racy comment one day in front of her, which gave us the glorious 'Ray.....don't'. Which, for context, is said in a very old lady, bashful voice. 

But naturally, it got bigger and more grandiose, to the point in ended up becoming 'Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, doooooooooooooon't'.

Then finally, it became 'Ray, Do', based on the complete nonsense notion that her and Ray were having it away with each other.

I'll still get texts saying 'Ray, Don't'.

Quality. 

My Dad is a a bloody nightmare with no self awareness. He hasn't worked in years, doesn't want to work, never puts any effort in yet wonders why he's skint. I'm doing alright money wise, so I paid for his new little venture to get off the ground. This resulted in me receiving a text saying 'now I've got a fighting chance at least' - as if everything has gone against him. My brother and I now exclusively use this phrase for anything and everything. 

I met my best mate on the first day of my employment at a record shop in 2005. After about three days, we were thick as thieves and we have been since. This was around the same time I discovered (well, had shown to me), Goatse.CX, so his nickname henceforth was Goatse. Which, as we worked in a shop, I called him it at the counter all the time. Old women always used to ask 'why is he called Goatse', to which someone inevitably would say 'we'll have to look into it',

Twitter seems to suggest the only thing of note was Randy Orton's moustache. 

YouTube is available to use at work, so I listen to glorious synth 80s pop. However, in between these, I either get that annoying NZ bint telling me how HelloFresh is cheaper than she thought, or some FX trade bloke who just had shoulder surgery.

Get in the bin. 

Managed to squeeze in about ten games on the Halo Infinite testing flight this weekend which was very enjoyable. Jumped for joy winning my first three games until I realised I was playing against AI bots and they were 'easy'. When they improved the difficulty I went back to being shit.

Started The Ascent and whilst it looks pretty, it reminds me to Crusader on PSOne. Which isnt a bad thing, its just a bit samey. Will keep trying to see if it hooks me in.

1 hour ago, scratchdj said:

I could spend all day moaning about email etiquette, but since when did writing a simple email become “reaching out”? 

Hey Matt

Thanks for reaching out…

Top level fuckery that seems to have infiltrated our working lives. 'Circling back' is one that makes my teeth itch. Equally frustating is 'taking things offline'. Makes more sense on Zoom calls, but when people are saying that in an 'in-person' meeting? Get in the bin!

Surely, the UKFF thing to do would be to combine bowls with pyjamas and make some kind of bedtime related game. Perhaps with a vaccination and a Maccies at half time. (Bowls probably doesn't have half time, I'm well aware).