The Dart

Clash at the Castle.

May 20th tickets go on sale.

I got to see him wrestle live twice over Mania weekend.   Once at MLW and once at AAA.   He was lots of fun.

I think that is the case as when One Night Only was first put on the Network it was the USA version with a couple of matches missing.   Eventually they replaced it with the full version.

The VHS I had was certainly complete, even had the Free For All on it.

2 hours ago, air_raid said:

For reasons unknown when I went to One Night Only I left a tape running on Box Office so when I got home I could "watch" the snow and try and remember the matches and imagine what was happening while listening to the commentary.

At least you could do that.   I had cable in 1997 and even though my Dad was willing to pay for ONO, our cable company weren't showing it, I don't think they had PPV technology in place.  I remember my Dad saying we could get Sky Movies for a month to make up for it.

I have a memory of the TV listing mag saying that One Night Only was going to be shown on Sky Sports around 2 months later, which I'd still not seen by that point, but it never was.   I did get the VHS soon after that though.

Some wrestling fans are odd balls aren’t they?  On the train after Raw, overheard a guy saying this to someone: “well they would do Wrestlemania here at the arena, but they do it at the stadium because there’s 50,000 more seats”

No shit pal.

Well I’ve arrived in Dallas.  When the passport inspector asked me who I’m looking forward to seeing most I said Brock Lesnar before thinking about it, which was interesting.  His response was “everyone always says Lesnar”

https://www.wwe.com/article/shad-gaspard-to-receive-2022-warrior-award-at-wwe-hall-of-fame-induction-ceremony

1 hour ago, Chris B said:

Yeah - I'm finding it interesting hearing about local marketing like this which isn't limited to a poster in local chippies and a Facebook page. 100 tickets shifted with 6 weeks to go isn't sounding bad at all - and I'm willing to bet that it'll be a first time for a lot of them.

How many more now with one week to go though?   Good luck, I went to the first show and yes it wasn't brilliant, but it certainly wasn't terrible.

I suspect part of it might be to get as many people on the show as possible as it's their first show outside of the PC in front of a proper crowd in 2 years.

1 hour ago, Infinity Land said:

Most of the roster are meant to be free agents by now. There were very few that went past the April(?) cut off. Don't think any were picked up as part of the sale.

I don't think Gresham's appearance will be that big an issue. He's been on a couple of shows now and they've put the title on him.

Bit more curious if Swerve Strickland will appear on the network. Unless it's already been uplodaded before becoming #AllElite.

Swerve's last Progress match was on the WWE Network, but that was a few days before he signed with AEW.   His next appearance for Progress most likely won't be on the Network.

1 hour ago, WeeAl said:

Casket is another one. Never in my life have I heard someone over here use the word casket unless it's in reference to wrestling. Coffin reverts to being the norm whenever wrestling is not a topic of discussion. 

Caskets and coffins are different things though.   Whereas thumbtacks and trash cans are just Americanisms.

I'm not sure what people are expecting of Cody Rhodes returning.   It might be quite fun the night it happens, and he'll have the occasional decent match, but within 2 weeks we'll be bored of him like we were bored of him before he became Stardust.

1 hour ago, air_raid said:

Forgive me if you didn’t need this explaining, but it used to be very common, especially pre-Internet, for the main event to go on before intermission, because they’d announce next months main event or biggest star competing, and the best time for the box office to sell tickets for next month is when thousands of fans are already at the building.

Yeh I know all that.  It’s just a very 1993 contrast in quality from one match to the next.

Someone just posted this on Reddit and I didn't know where else to comment on it, but it's kind of Mania related.

The first Money in the Bank (at Mania) was the same amount of time to today as it was the first Royal Rumble.

1988 to 2005 seem like different lifetimes.  2005 to 2022 - not so much.

Mini Macho Man!

I love that the first half main event of that show is Bret vs Yoko in a cage match and then come back after the break and it's Brooklyn Brawler vs. Bastion Booger.  Classic 1993.

But how can they, not us, look at it and think it's bad?   Over the two nights it'll be the biggest Mania crowd ever and one night will still be in the top 10 crowds ever probably.  It will probably be the most watched Mania ever thanks to Peacock and with it being the first proper full crowded Wrestlemania since Fox/Peacock.   It will probably be the highest money making Mania ever.   A few hundred fans will complain about it afterwards, but why would they care about that?   How can they, not us, look at it and think they're doing anything wrong and it should be like it was 20 years ago, when the show will be equally as succesful as any Mania from "when it was good" ?

2 hours ago, air_raid said:

That’s February. I’ve got untidy drafts done up to October already but obviously it’s only fun to keep posting them if anyone is still reading them.

People might not always reply, but that doesn't mean they're not reading.   Keep doing them !

1 hour ago, wordsfromlee said:

Surely if Austin was having a match they'd be promoting the fuck out of it as it's the only thing that will actual sell a decent amount of tickets, and they know it.

You'd think so, but perhaps the tease is enough.   And don't call me Shirley.

.

MLW have sold 900 seats (plus however many standing tickets) so far for their show taking place in the same building at the same time.   It will be very funny if this ends up only getting 50 people or whatever  (it's only set up for 250 seats, but also has a standing area).

1 hour ago, Healy52003 said:

Maybe a signal that the PPV is not happening 

A SD house show on a Friday is odd timing unless there taping a SD episode before they go etc 

Guessing they're doing a double recording the week before, like they recently did before the Elimination Chamber.

I only watched the pre show (buy in?), but even that was a great show.

Kris Statlander is just really good.   My first time seeing Hook and he is incredibly good - Hook is a great name too.   I am guessing he's pretty young, so, he's got a very bright future I imagine.   Pentagon - how can you not be amazed by him everytime.  Erick Redbeard is such a great wrestling name.   The House of Black's entrance was great.

It’s just gonna be Drew McIntyre or Seth Rollins I would have thought.

Rollins vs. Owens is seeming likely for Mania isn't it?   After the match Owens gets on the mic, blames Texas for him losing, out comes Austin, a couple of stunners and some beer.