garynysmon

To be fair t’was always thus. Remember in the 90’s they were trying to convince us that Fred Blassie, Ernie Ladd and Gorilla Monsoon were the legends because Bruno and all the proper stars of the 80s were all with WCW or had pissed Vince off in some way.

I watched most of this as I’m a sucker for nostalgia. 

Paul Heyman is fucking incredible isn’t he?

The best thing I can say is that I didn’t find the production anywhere near as grating and overproduced as I have in the past.

Not sure there’s much there that would keep me watching on the regular though.

They’re so unimaginative with their use of legends though, which are always the same old faces too. DX? Fuck right off. They couldn’t even be bothered making the current crop look like shite.

I doubt that Tatanka regrets missing his son’s wrestling event to skulk in the background of a card game.

2 hours ago, RIDDUM_N_STYLE said:

I don’t if it was said for a gag during the DX/Imperium segment on Raw but if he hasn’t got a hip problem, I’d love to see XPac as a surprise entrant in the Rumble match

That's a bit unfair surely? You could cherry pick any roster and say the same. Johnny Swinger is a comedy act jobber, Tommy Dreamer a very occasional wrestler, and the MCMG can still go with anyone. (Rhyno's shite these days though, I'll give you that).

AEW: Billy Gunn, Chris Jericho, Christian Cage, Christopher Daniels, Dustin Rhodes, Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal, the Hardys, Samoa Joe, Sting.

WWE: AJ Styles, Bobby Lashley, Brock Lesnar, Edge, Randy Orton, R-Truth, Rey Mysterio, Bobby Roode, Shelton Benjamin.

1 hour ago, LaGoosh said:

The commentary is very good. Overall though the show feels quite low budget which couldn't help putting me off a bit. 

The production is what lets it down. The number of times I read online "There were 50 people in the crowd" when you know for a fact that's far from being the case.

I'm not expecting an AEW level production budget, but when you have a crowd in then show it! No need to have the hard cam facing the rampway when you've sold out Center Stage which is a 1,000 seater venue!

Having read the last set of tapings spoilers I’m pretty certain that Scott D’amore is trying to pop the UKFF…

Bloody hell, he was only my age.

I must confess to never watching ROH back in the day and my only exposure to the Briscoes being that 2 month run in Impact last year, but they were a breath of fresh air and I was gutted to see them leave.

His poor family.

Just coming here to vote for Josh Alexander......oh.

Voted for @Nick James but they're all good sorts.

Hard to Kill...

Was a little surprised that two of the potentially best matches were on the pre-show and also questioned starting with the match that received the biggest build, but I suppose it all made sense given the ending. Kushida is always great to see, as is Mike Jackson.

Black Taurus was really impressive in his match with Trey Miguel, the latter needed a heel turn though as there are too many babyface X-division guys atm. Nice touch opening the PPV with the whole roster coming out for a ten bell salute for Don West too.

Bully Ray has been receiving some stick from people who never watch the show, well mainly Impact for using him in a main event feud, but no one plays the role of a genuine cunt like he does these days. I was expecting a short run but I'd be happy to see him stick around, he'd be an asset for sure.

Not sure that Josh Alexander needs to be taking bumps like he did off the ladder onto drawing pins and I groaned when Tommy Dreamer came out, but it didn't overshadow the match nor story to the degree that I feared. Real hard hitting stuff, a hardcore brawl, but the right guy went over. (How good is the commentary team btw?)

The tag title match was never going to follow that up but a fun little scramble, glad the MCMG retained though. There are plenty of great straight tag matches that can go ahead on the back of that too. 

Kazarian is back home. YESSS!!

Both Moose and Joe Hendry are among my favourite acts in wrestling today and loved their feud leading up to this. Enjoyable little match and Santino Marella as a temporary authority figure.... well I don't hate it.

More decent spots in the women's four way and it looks like Masha Slamovich v Mickey James at the next PPV. Should be good.

Street fights aren'y my type of matches and I switched off a bit for the next one but glad glad that Maclin went over. He's a genuine star.

Was surprised to see Gresham lose in his hometown but I reckon its as much to do, given recent events, with proving that he's willing to do business. Eddie Edwards has always been solid but a bit meh to me.

The main event was the big one. Loved Mickie James' Native American entrance and having her family out there made you think she was retiring. But I'm glad she's not, she can clearly still go and enjoys what she's doing. Real feel good stuff.

Let her take the title and defend in wherever she wants. Everyone likes Mickie James, let her spread the Impact gospel.

More full decent sized venues like this please Impact, makes such a difference imo. This week's TV should look and sound just as good.

It was Kazarian that asked for his release.

https://www.sportskeeda.com/amp/aew/rumor-tony-khan-reportedly-granted-release-former-world-champion-aew

They've had their fun now but basically the wrestling world in general needs to drop its tired anti-TNA gimmick now because this is an excellent product that deserves more eyeballs and respect. Hard to Kill was another really good show.

A solid show with a decent attendance and hot crowd at Center Stage, I'd suggest it as a great starting point to anyone wanting to give Impact a chance.

Have written a mini review but the spoiler tags don't seem to be working so will save it for now!

1 hour ago, Jonny Vegas said:

I think WWE has never had less casual fans either, even at the last two UK house shows I've been to in Newcastle and Glasgow they were 65% full AT BEST for shows usually you'd struggle to get a ticket for at all.

I think the hardcore fans have probably never been more aware and consciencious (sp) and Tony Khan must be rubbing his hands together right now.

That's what I've struggled to reconcile over recent years tbh. The WWE has found a way to monetise its content and rake in mega money, but absolutely nothing suggests that wrestling is popular outside of its hardcore fanbase.

I took my nephew to a house show in Liverpool last year and it was 2/3 full at best. OK you can argue that Clash in the Castle was a huge success but that drew in people from across the UK and western Europe. I know of some who went, living in Cardiff, who hadn't watched a wrestling show before and hadn't since, it was like going to a monster truck rally in the Millennium Stadium or something, just an evening's entertainment.

You never see many WWE toys in shops and I can't remember the last wrestling t-shirt I saw while out and about.

Just now, Hannibal Scorch said:

Is it yes, is it no? Find out sometime in the future.

For more call Mean Gene's WCW Hotline.

I stumbled across an emulator for the firestick recently, having not used one for a decade or so previously.

As a kid I had a NES but not a SNES, having milked the NES to death until the N64 arrived. So other than playing it at my cousin's house the SNES doesn't spark the same nostalgia as the NES did.

That said, having gone back to playing these old games I find the NES to be a little *too* retro in terms of the graphics and the "music" being incredibly grating, while the SNES represents a massive jump forward in terms of both.

Been playing a lot of Super Mario World over Christmas and it really is unbelievable that such a game, graphics and colour wise, was on the market in 1990/91.

9 minutes ago, Gay as FOOK said:

Even when it's been occasionally good over the last few years, WWE has represented to me my past fandom. They've even largely booked themselves and delivered their content that way for years now. A sort of interactive museum of your memories of when it was great. So I really don't feel like I'm losing out on anything. It's also not the same as the takeover of a football club, where you actually develop loyalties directly to the badge. 

I'd agree with that really.

Whenever I watch a few minutes of WWE these days it just represents sterile nothingness, I'm too far lapsed to have any attachment to (or usually awareness of) the current roster and the whole production is overproduced to the point of being unwatchable to me.

That said, a glimpse of the block 80's/90's (pre-attitude) WWF logo never fails to stir a massive and overwhelming pang of nostalgia and gravitas.   

In all seriousness this move can't be a positive for the company's long term future in any way can it? 

This isn't like Newcastle being bought by the Saudis, thus giving them a massive financial injection and helping them compete in a highly competitive sporting environment. Newcastle don't have to negotiate their own TV rights and there are more than enough sponsorship opportunities etc in the Middle East for any negative press over here to bypass their bottom line.

 What WWE is doing is making itself more unattractive to sponsors and TV rights holders in the western world. Its not going to bring them any more fans is it, and they were already in a dominant position when it came to offering the highest salaries and the biggest platform to any wrestlers.

The prestige of owning a fake fighting company is also nothing compared to a top European Football club so though they could sustain losses year after year, is it going to come out in a better position the other side? I doubt it.

I'll piss myself if TNA Impact outlives WWE.

Nah, either 99p a month on Youtube (or £5 a month for the monthly specials too), £7 a month via Impact Plus or on DAZN but not sure how much that is a month.

Aye, brilliant wasn’t it?

Watched last week’s episode for the first time in a while and thought it whizzed by, which is a good sign.

There was clearly some clipping as some entrances were cut out, I assume to allow for the Don West tribute video.

Surprised to see Masha Slamovich lose, but I suppose they’re trying to put over Taylor Wilde in her new gimmick. 

Scott D’amore is involved in too many angles for my liking, despite liking the Bully Ray table segment on the whole. Fair play to Bully, he looks great for 51 and can play the cunt as well as anyone today. I wouldn’t mind him sticking around after putting Josh Alexander over at HTK.

Btw, what a hidden gem Joe Hendry is? 

Tessa Blanchard doing Tessa Blanchard things, it seems.

Over the past month I went back and listened to their Montreal screwjob stuff. It must have been 12 hours in total, listening on my daily commute and any other long drives I had.

The Lapsed Fan is very thorough but I need to be interested in the timeframe/subject they’re talking about to be able to invest that much time on a podcast.

They’re very witty and clearly do their homework though, you come out knowing stuff you weren’t aware of before. 

47 minutes ago, Nick James said:

Thats not to say people wont be up for AEW either, but without disrespecting AEW, their tour would be more like when NXT toured a few years ago. The buzz was there, but it was mainly internet fans. 

I’m far from being an AEW megafan, but they have a show that airs late night on ITV1 and otherwise on free TV while WWE is tucked away on BT Sport. The Raw and Smackdown highlight shows were so poorly rated that they were dropped by Channel 5.

While WWE undoubtedly has the biggest name recognition, built over decades, week to week viewership and awareness of current storylines/roster can never have been lower on this side of the pond.

You can’t compare NXT and AEW in terms of visibility.

Its funny, a few years ago this would have felt way bigger. Yet now it feels there’ll be  more buzz for AEW’s first tour outside of North America.