King Pitcos

7 minutes ago, Supremo said:

That’s not the case on here though. The UKFF is one of the best places online for chat about matches and storylines based on their merit, yet the way it forever devolves down the straw-man, “Vince ain’t my real dad,” route is absolutely tiresome and impossible to engage with because almost no-one on here has that perspective.

Even if that were true (and it’s definitely not as true as it used to be), it wouldn’t matter here for two reasons:

1) The UKFF would be the minority compared to the overall hivemind opinion found in most online fan discussion about wrestling (“Vince isn’t my real dad”).

2) like it WWE storylines and performers frequently play on those hivemind opinions (“Vince isn’t my real dad”).

Unless you’re disputing either of those points, then discussing the “Vince isn’t my real dad” angle on any developments/content is at least as relevant as the “Knowing Vince” type stuff that’s frequently used on here. Especially in this case, where Rousey is specifically winding up the “Vince isn’t my real dad” fans.

2 hours ago, UK Kat Von D said:

Charlotte was the one who got booed because she always wins and was the chosen one, not Ronda. That was because she was given the match that the fans wanted Becky to have.

Bit weird then that when Charlotte battered Ronda, people chanted “thank you, Charlotte.” 

On 4/11/2020 at 10:23 PM, Love-Wilcox said:

Fuck me. If I never hear a dig against AEW again it'll be too soon.

Fixed.

“Real sports feel" doesn't mean everything they do is a worked shoot MMA bout, it's just that the main focus is chasing drones or cult meetings etc. Such good shit.

John Cena explains his Instagram, four years ago. If the timestamp hasn't worked, it starts at 1:00 in the interview.

2 hours ago, Vamp said:

But RAW is 3 fucking hours long.

Exactly. People are suggesting things that entertain them, a hardcore wrestling fan, for ten minutes on YouTube or for the odd hour once or twice a month on the WWE Network. But they'd get sick of it stretched out to three hours every Monday night.

Why would the networks shut the wrestling down now, when they've been allowing it so far? USA, Fox and TNT have all been fine with it for the last month. I expect it would take public outcry to change their minds.

3 hours ago, Supremo said:

I want Iron Man to get his revenge on Thanos because Thanos turned Spiderman into dust. Not because Josh Brolin keeps saying in press interviews that he could beat up Robert Downey Jr in a real fight. Superheroes aren't real, mark.

That analogy only works if all discussion of Marvel films was along the lines of "I wish they'd stop shoving Iron Man down our throats, they don't know how to write top Avengers anymore, Spider-Man's fat mate from school should have been the one to beat Thanos." The stories and characters of Marvel films are judged on their own merit, rather than through stupid filters of burials and workrates. Josh Brolin still signs most of his autographs as Josh Brolin rather than Thanos. If Robert Downey Jr is on a talk show, he's probably billed as Robert Downey Jr. Wrestlers have such an identity crisis that it's only recently they've stopped getting upset at people knowing their real names.

From a Real Wrestling Fan perspective, the theme of the Becky Lynch vs Ronda Rousey feud was always Real Wrestler Who Vince Hates vs Celebrity Who Vince Loves. The caring about winning or losing isn't caring about the character winning or losing, it's about whether we've forced Vince to Change Plans so we can chant "you deserve it" and the performer can do a speech on Raw saying "I was never meant to be here, none of this would've been possible without you guys." That's the basis on which those marks now get worked, it's nu-kayfabe. And it's stupid shit, but we've all got blood on our hands in making it this way. If we'd complained to Snickers about the "this is Phil Brooks talking to Paul Levesque" promo, things would be different now.

"I don't even care to see the match" is a lie. You watch every match, regardless of whether you enjoy it. Whether they cater the show to you or not, they're getting the exact same money from you. When we cast ourselves as armchair bookers and unpaid Meltzers, we have to watch the show to see how we'd have done it better and tell them what they've done wrong.

35 minutes ago, GeronimoJacksBeard said:

Literally everything else in the world is forced to have found another way for now.

Well that’s not really true. Most similar things (sports, theatre) have just stopped, because the options are closed set or nothing. Wrestling has pretty much stopped besides WWE and AEW, but other promotions likely would still be doing shows if they had the resources and incentive (like TV contracts) to do so.

We can fantasy book all the insider, niche fan backstage documentaries in the world for them to broadcast instead, but it’s basically the same as demanding they put the belts on Cesaro and Paul London - not suitable content for prime time TV. Although anything would be better than last week’s Raw.

2 minutes ago, quote the raven said:

Wow this is a real kicking 

Like Dave Meltzer said when he fabricated a hostage situation: Live by the sword, die by the sword.

8 minutes ago, quote the raven said:

You have called me all the names under the sun for being a landlord

That one was fair enough though, it is a cuntish game that contributes significantly to working class suffering. Any buy-to-let landlords in here moaning about Tories should be ashamed of themselves.

1 hour ago, Supremo said:

Can’t be doing with everyone going, “LOL it’s obviously a work,” as if that automatically makes it good. I miss Ronda as much as anyone but if this shitty work-shoot stuff is what she plans to come back with then she might as well not bother. The only reason more wasn’t made her about her moronic work-shoot stuff the last time was because the on-screen stuff was equally as dreadful. It’s counterproductive dross that does nothing for anyone and makes Ronda look like a petty idiot. But hey, as long as you’re working the marks, eh? 

I am also angry at her for these tweets and now like her less! She better not come back and go over the women who don’t do stupid tweets like her. I don’t get worked though.

Pirate copies of PCW shows. Building to a Chris Masters WWE return.

There must have been a reason why neither company went for it, though. It might have been because he was such a head-the-ball. You could trust Hogan, Bret, Sting, Luger and Flair to go on a morning show and not end up raping Regis with their thumbs. Send Scotty instead and it's a gamble.

46 minutes ago, UK Kat Von D said:

Do you actually believe the nonsense you come out with?

What lies are you talking about and do you actually think that is the only reason they have rankings and win-loss records?

The various lies they told to appeal to your sort. "Real sports feel" and "Wins and losses matter" and all that bollocks that you lap up. And to be fair to them, those lies have worked on full morons - you're so deep in the ranks of the AEW Defence Force that you can't help yourself but get apoplectic any time someone isn't All In, which never fails to make me laugh. Their rankings and win-loss stuff is a load of bollocks, same as WWE's Power 25 shite. The only way they'd make sense is if you take a load of cool-dude drugs before looking at them, or maybe if Scott Steiner taught you maths. And the thing is, it doesn't matter that they're a load of bollocks. It's a wrestling TV show, not the 1994/95 Division One league table. 

On 4/10/2020 at 3:32 PM, andrew "the ref" coyne said:

I would argue that if he failed to compete in any matches prior to and after losing the belt whilst others were he would go down the rankings. Why else would you have the year to date record so much more prominent, and make a big deal of resetting the W/L record if they take the overall into account so heavily?

None of it matters. The rankings and win-loss records are just there to pay lip service to the lies they told before starting up. It's wrestling booking, it's never going to make sense statistically.

2 hours ago, Callum1993 said:

I could potentially see Vince liking Ryker as a singles guy down the line. 

Possibly, but it's yet another bloke with the Rollins/Reigns/Elias/McIntyre long dark hair and beard. You can't have half a dozen of them on the same poster without looking like clones.

Forgotten Sons just seem like another Sanity.

Sorry if this has already been posted, but I've only seen it just now. Jeff Hardy off his tits last summer, talking about his old entrance music and then doing a cover of it.

They were doomed once they had those injuries right after they debuted, weren't they? Had that not happened, things might have been different for them. But they're definitely more suited to the niche of NXT and AEW than to the major leagues. They were pretty worthless in WWE but could have absolute bangers against the Young Bucks, Page and Omega, the Lucha Bros and Jurassic Express. Definitely a good move.

6 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

I know what you mean. Apart from the Luchas though, who are being underutilised, none of those guys are nearly ready to be the big deal yet.

I know. The only one who was ready (in theory) is Kenny Omega. He's essentially to AEW what AJ Styles was to TNA.* And he's had three singles losses in AEW - all to WWE castoffs.

You might be right about Hardy and Harper falling down to more natural positions on the card for them, as happened with Dillinger - but his only 1v1 losses on TV/PPV are also to other WWE castoffs. I'd expect it'll be Jericho or Swagger who bumps Hardy down the card, and Ambrose or Cody who does the same to Harper, because those are the guys on that level.

Then when they hit the midcard is where they'll be taking TV time away from the "homegrown" roster. The main event scene is likely going to be Omega, Page and WWE wrestlers for the foreseeable future, so Matt Hardy as a midcard babyface will be in a spot that could've been Darby Allin or Jungle Boy. Harper as a midcard heel will be in a spot that could've been MJF or Sammy. 

Like you say, there's a tipping point where it becomes detrimental, but for me, bringing these two boys in like they have isn't a good sign. 

*In more than one way, actually. Like TNA AJ, Kenny's got the workrate going for him, but in terms of overall ability, he's not really on par with the lads who have experienced the big time wrestling. AJ wasn't able to carry himself or a promo as well as the likes of Booker T, Kurt Angle and Christian were. And we see that all the time in AEW with Kenny as compared to Cody, Jericho and Ambrose. Wrestlers that have the WWE experience are better than wrestlers that don't, but a company hoping to rival WWE shouldn't be spotlighting that. Omega was their best shot at presenting someone new as better than WWE guys, even if only in the match results.

7 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

I'm fine with him beating mid carders in competitive matches for the time being. Don't want him tagging with nobodies against comedy tag teams though. That's dragging him down.

Not sure what more you'd do with him at the moment though. It's clearly holding pattern because his team with Page and that build to Wargames is all on pause. No point putting him in with Jericho for no money. Not many other decent heels on the shows other than ones who shouldn't be losing - and Kenny shouldn't be losing right now.

It’s not so much about what he’s doing, it’s that the rest of the singles main event scene is just WWE guys. Aside from Page and Omega, every PPV so far has been headlined by someone from WWE. And now they’re at the stage where they bring in WWE midcarders to do the “Vince bad” promo and go straight to the top spots.

Shouldn’t judge too much on the current shows because of the restrictions, but I don’t get the impression that Hardy and Harper would have been radically different if there were crowds in. And it’s not so much the content, moreso the sense that every WWE release means one less spot on the next (+90 days) PPV for an MJF, Jungle Boy, Lucha Bro etc.

It’s all coming across too TNA at the moment. Using broken-down midcarder Matt Hardy as one of the top guys is not a good look, and hopefully short lived. Harper doing the Voodoo Kin Mafia thing isn’t as bad, but is also very TNA.

Increasingly I’m thinking it was a mistake to have Kenny Omega fucking about in the midcard the whole time. He’s pretty much the only one of their stars who isn’t a WWE has-been or reject, so he’d help the company establish its own identity somewhat. As much as Bubbly Jericho and Wacky Ambrose are a laugh and have star power, they’re WWE guys. 

I’m also hoping that MJF doing a grand total of fuck all since he beat Cody is just because of the lockdown circumstances messing stuff about. Cody has been all over the shows since, but the win hasn’t done anything for MJF.

1 hour ago, Pinc said:

What the fuck is the audience if not long-term fans of the Big Show like us?

Long-term fans of the Big Show who also like studio audience sitcoms about silly dads.

7 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

That's not the way they tell it though. Like that Cena promo where he calls him the most "overhyped, overvalued, overprivileged WWE superstar in existence" or something like it. It's insider nonsense.

They never talk about it in terms of Cena “putting him over” or “doing the job” or whatever. Without the surrealism of the Funhouse, it’s more or less the same “top babyface = bad” insider nonsense as Cena’s feuds with Punk, Bryan, Rock, Owens and others over the years.

33 minutes ago, simonworden said:

With it all being pre-taped as well there is no reason they couldn't have sent Drew for a shower and a cuppa, switched a few things to say RAW and had him film it as if it was part of Raw the next day.

The logic for that was probably for reactions like @Bellenda Carlisle above, where the “just faced Brock Lesnar” fatigue gave it a Money in the Bank-esque jeopardy that a standard Raw challenge from Big Show wouldn’t.

1 hour ago, tiger_rick said:

The whole thing is bollocks anyway if you break it down. Even in the build up, the whole thing centres around the fact Cena didn't put him over at Mania 30. What's that mean to anyone story line wise? It's all horseshit.

That part I don’t find that problematic, because Cena beating Bray and sending him on a downward spiral works if it was a real fight as well. John Cena was so hellbent on squashing new threats to his spot that he got in the way of Bray Wyatt’s Abigail-foretold destiny.

8 hours ago, Maikeru said:

Yeah seriously I've never been able to figure out how all the groups of mates I see at indie shows actually come to know each other - I'd be hard pressed to find someone who's into that in my entire electoral constituency let alone my own circle of acquaintances.

A lot of people don’t advertise it, they’re the wrestling equivalent of straight-acting gays. Unless you’re flamboyantly too-sweeting everything and making wrestling fan your entire personality rather than your sexual preference, people won’t know to approach you as a wrestling fan.

Fortunately, I used to go to work in garish wrestling t-shirts every day, so I was loud and proud. Two guys I worked with also turned out to be big fans, and I go to wrestling shows with them. Another girl at the same job introduced me to one of her best friends on a night out, who is also a huge fan. I’ve been to shows with him and his housemate as well.

There should be an app called GRAPPLR.