tiger_rick

Would never have happened when wrestlers were as tough as Chavo

A tiny fan attacked Seth Rollins. 

5 hours ago, air_raid said:

They could still make it interesting depending on how long it had been since the previous draft. If they’d managed to go from Mania through to Survivors without any cross-brand matches (yes, including SummerSlam) then revive what they did in 2006 where people pick their teams from all brands so you have some crossed-over teams with Raw and SmackDown feuds crossed over in the same matches as both a pre-cursor to the Rumble and also a chance to ignite the touchpaper for some new Raw v SmackDown enmity that you want to continue through the Rumble and into matches for Mania. But that requires both forewarn planning and restraint. Something akin to booking wrestling, as opposed to writing episodic weekly TV, producing content, or whatever the fuck they think they’re doing with their Superstars to produce the right Entertainment for their Universe.

No, I don’t blame the wording used. But it’s effective in underlining the disconnect between what most of us want the company to be, and what it is.

Anything that relies on a fundamental change in the way they book is doomed. It could have been more valuable in the past if they'd booked towards Survivor Series in the same way WCW would with Wargames but they've never had any intention of doing so. The death knell for it was in 2010 when they ran the perfect angle for a Survivors blow off and never considered using it for a second.

It suits them down to the ground in it's current guise. It books itself, doesn't need any storylines or feuds writing and doesn't matter a jot once it's finished. It's like a month off for them. Gives them time to write riveting stories about stolen eggs.

2 minutes ago, PunkStep said:

Excellent defender, no doubt about that.

There fucking is! That's been the big defence of him for the last few years but he's really average. I've seen him have some wingers in his pocket but he's often all over the place, his decision making is sketchy and he gets pulled inside too easily leaving space wide. Some of it might be the way they are set up but a lot of it is overhype to try and justify the fact he cost £50m.

As an aside, when did the United academy last produce a top defender or defensive midfielder? For all the talk about Class of '92, blah, blah, they produced Brown, Evans, O'Shea and Fletcher long after that. Who since? McTominay is it isn't he?

They produced a few belters for us in James Chester, Robbie Brady and Corry Evans but we're not exactly the same level. Plus we polished them, so we get all the credit.

4 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

(which I have never seen them do for any other superstar, unless they did the same for Taker?)

They've done it multiple times for Taker. There was a lot of hype around his decade of destruction or whatever they labelled it at the time and then a couple of times since, his 30th anniversary last year being hyped too.

2 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Survivor Series itself isn't a broken concept.

I don't agree. Nor do they. They first tweaked the concept in 1990. They abandoned it altogether in 1992. They nearly scrapped it as a PPV over a decade ago. The brand shit gave it a brief stay of execution but it's a dead horse they continue to flog.

I don't think it is staged. I think as someone, maybe @BomberPatmentioned, we're all on alert for it now so he gets away with being this fucking useless at his job. I'm sure it will suit them that he gets more grief for this than the awful things they do but I think he is just this shit.

Why don't you just reply to the posts you have a problem with instead of being snide? Given that nearly every post is from people who didn't watch it, It's not hard.

20 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

No I'm not. They only finished second last year because everyone else was so largely abject. It wasn't because United had a great season in the league or anything. But that season, and this season so far, has been the ultimate proof that a great attack line can only take you so far. They're also not a team.

Chelsea and Liverpool have clearly improved this season. I still think 4th is the bare minimum for that squad to achieve.

20 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

United have added one of the greatest players in the history of the game to their frontline and gone backwards. Because the midfield has been exposed further by teams packing that area. Sure, the defence aren't coping either but with some protection, they may do better. United's midfield is demonstrably worse than not just the top three, but Tottenham's, Leicester's, Arsenal's, West Ham's and maybe even Brighton's. Fucking Brighton! It's obvious why United are doing so crap.

United's midfield does look worse than those teams at times but I don't think overall any of them have better options in that area. One or two players who would improve United like Rice, Bissouma and Ndidi but no whole midfield. I still think the approach of always having two of Fred, McTominay and Matic is wrong. Van Der Beek and Lingard never play. Pogba's all over the place. A better coach gets way more out of that bunch. Do you add Varane and then still need two players protecting? I can't see that. Given it doesn't work anyway, you should have switched to playing more aggressively long ago.

Also, surely the manager is complicit in those being the midfield options? He's been there three years. I know it's a problem and I'm an idiot. How does he not bang someone's door down to sign a proper midfielder three summers in a row? £150m outlay this summer, plus 3 billion a week on Ronaldo's contract and they don't have a holding midfielder who is any good.

13 minutes ago, 69MeDon said:

Hey, maybe wrestling really is cyclical? If it is, given the egg-based content, we're only six or seven short years from a product we might actually enjoy.

Nah, the original egg came at one of the heights of my fandom and off the back of 4-5 of the best years they ever had. We're currently somewhere that makes 1995 look like 2000.

21 minutes ago, Nick James said:

The fact that people still watch this shit and post how shit it is every week baffles me more than the booking decisions. Its been shit for a few years now so its not even like there is a bit of hope to cling to. WWE are laughing, record profits, worst product they have ever had and people are still watching enough to post about them or interact all over their social media. 

That is an interesting point. I watched a YouTuber discussing some of those horrendous craft or cooking channels that spam content with ridiculous fake shit like chucking skittles and corn kernals into a pan and magically ending up with Rainbow Popcorn or something and how even if they get masses of dislikes and comments, it's a huge success because it helps YouTube promote the videos.

I never tweet about WWE, don't follow them anywhere and don't comment anywhere but here but I do check out the trending stuff after their shows to see what people are saying and it's at least 50% negative. But as said, they spin all these interactions, trending, etc in their company profile and when TV is all about live buzz these days rather than just viewership, which is generally down, it does help them massively attracting TV deals and sponsorship despite the garbage they're serving up.

Will any of us ever break the habit of being at least interested in how bad it is? I dunno. I saw #SurvivorSeries trending this morning, read the results and checked the hashtag, also the trending topic for "The Rock" which is where I dragged that earlier tweet from. I didn't really need to, I could have predicted 90% of the booking on the show and 99% of the reactions but I was interested just in case The Rock did show up. Will that ever not be a thing? I'm not sure.

16 hours ago, Devon Malcolm said:

For a team that has no midfield, they're exactly where they should be.

It's definitely the weakest area of the squad, no argument there but I think you're being unnecessarily dismissive. They finished 2nd last year and made the Europa League final. Then added to that squad Sancho, Varane and Ronaldo. To end up significantly worse is mismanagement. It's not all on him, recruitment is all over the place, I've said that for ages. But some players are going backwards, they play the same players over and over when they're not having a good time (remember when United fans all over Twitter used to claim Wan-Bisakka should have been England's right-back?) and look a shadow of the team from just a few months ago. 4th is the minimum that squad and team should be, Fred and McTominay or not.

3 hours ago, TildeGuy~! said:

Tease The Rock all night and then nothing.  Brilliant

To be fair though I don’t think he would have even saved that terrible show

Impact FTW.

1 hour ago, SuperBacon said:

Nice.

The hot dogs from Sainsbury's as well? Gonna try these.

Aldi. Frozen section. Will try Sainsburys. 

Tried these tonight. Made a chilli dog with a home made veggie chilli using Sainsburys plant pioneer "mince". Would have been vegan but I had cheese on.

As a chilli dog, it was really nice. The "hot dogs" on their own aren't brilliant. Didn't have the texture or flavour right. 93 cals though and no ears, eyes or arseholes swept off a factory floor!

2 minutes ago, Tsurutagun said:

Do we really need to see the Ass Man and the Ass Boys carry on their feud with Sting and Darby. 

Perfect match to get Sting a wrestling appearance and a win isn't it? Them Gunn lads will bump around for him like mad.

December 15th will be "Winter Is Coming". Obviously was a huge deal last year. Wonder if they've anything big planned for it this year? Surely too early for Page/Danielson?

Darby/Gunn was really good. Completely different pace to AEW matches in general, commentary was excellent at getting both guys across and they didn't lose the crowd. I just don't know why he's kicking out of Darby's finish at 1. If he was Will Hobbs, I'd get it but he's 87 years old and isn't going anywhere. A mad decision. 

Jade and Velvet was good enough. I like Jade. There's plenty there and she's come on a bundle.

QT Marshall promo was fine. He's another guy people shit on for god knows what reason? He's a good low card heel. Skiavone always bounces off him well. Punk's retort was short and sweet. No problem with any of this.

Was a bit distracted for the main but honestly, all that mattered from that was that they didn't make JB eat another bloody loss. Him getting a good win was perfect. His promo work was better again. Not as good as Christian's but up on what he had been doing.

This is what it was like watching Royal Rumble 1993!

1 hour ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Stephen Graham is great, isn't he.

Not after that fucking wrestling thing he isn't. 

49 minutes ago, Infinity Land said:

World Title: Trevor Murdoch (c) v. Mike Knox

2006 called. It wants it's TNM7 save back.

Being fair to Flair (ho ho), his behaviour has been the stuff of legend for years. Serial womaniser, legendary drinker, beloved flasher. 15-20 years ago, this stuff all made him a hero on the shoot interview circuit. We were all complicit. There's no amount of plane crashes, back bumps or head injuries excusing this stuff, or everyone else enabling him.

That was quality banter. Shit banter would be calling it a farmer's league like the dregs of football Twitter. 

Every six months there's a load of chat about the Lucha Bros. Then they get their teeth into something, look like stars for a while and then float and we go round in the circle again. 

Drake gone. Has anyone checked on @Supremo? Are the dogs locked in the pool house?