BomberPat

Andy "we would have made immediate action" Quildan.

6 minutes ago, TildeGuy~! said:

Andy put a statement out about it straight after the ref tweeted, the only reason Rev Pro didn’t make a statement was because they were unaware of the incident taking place as the ref only mentioned it yesterday. 

 

Which is bollocks. I knew about it the night of the show, and I wasn't even there. Andy knew about it for certain the following day, and I know this for a fact. I expect he knew on the night of the show as well.

So, again, you're choosing to believe the word of the people abusing their position, with a vested interest in covering their own arses, rather than the victim. Real classy.

He was also fucking devastated the night of the show, as you'd expect from someone being assaulted by colleagues. He hasn't "waited a week" to talk about it, he's waited a week to go public. 

I've no time for "they're wrong but...". There's no but for assaulting a coworker. There's no but for betraying the trust that is absolutely essential for anything in wrestling. So fuck your victim blaming.

1 hour ago, TildeGuy~! said:

 

Care to add any kind of narrative or opinion around this Tweet? Are you suggesting that you agree with Bodom, and that Aaren's lying?

There's video footage, and if anyone can point to where Aaren "shoots for a takedown", I'd love to see it. Is it before or after Bodom drags him to the floor and knees him in the side of the head?

It's been mentioned in the NJPW thread.

Aaren counted the three because Bodom didn't get his shoulder up. It wasn't the planned finish, but that's what you're taught to do as a ref - call it like it's a shoot, and trust the wrestler to kick out on time. The right team still went over, just not with the planned finish. So the two of them kicked off because they didn't get to do the finish they planned - but as I say to any wrestler who complains that they forgot, or didn't manage to fit in, a planned spot, "the audience don't know what you had planned".

Sha then gave Aaren a dangerous bodyslam, and Bodom kicked the shit out of him, in the ring, and at ringside, as a shoot. Aaren has been left injured and unable to referee again - and unsure if he'd still want to even if he could.

Andy Quildan has issued a public statement on Twitter, in which he gets Aaren's name wrong, doesn't apologise, claims that he knew nothing of the issue before Aaren Tweeted about it (I know for a fact this is bollocks), and that the "live edit" only shows the bodyslam and "no intent to injure". It's a real, "who you gonna believe, me, or your lying eyes?" defence.

It's not a work. Ref is trained, but doesn't help much when it's a guy the size of Sha slamming you out of frustration and not giving you enough scope to control your bump. Sha, Bodom and Quildan are all in the wrong.

I think, if they run with the Elite, Brandi and Cody as owners on TV (and, to some extent, you'd think they have to acknowledge it), there needs to be a clear delineation of roles. I don't want a TNA situation where there's six different authority figures and an impossibly labyrinthine power structure, or a mid-00s WWE situation where half the angles seem to be built around contract law, but if they're going to be bosses and wrestlers, give some clear definition of the extent of their authority, and stick to it.

There was a piece in Retro Gamer a few months back comparing the SNES and Mega Drive Aladdins, and explaining the difference.

The Mega Drive version had access to Disney animation cels, meaning that the artwork is all hand drawn, and looks much closer to the movie, whereas the SNES version looks a lot clunkier and more like a stock platformer.

As a kid, it never occurred to me that people might want video games to look photo-realistic - I thought they'd end up looking like cartoons you could control, so Aladdin was perfection.

9 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

It's also quite a difficult story to tell when audiences have almost been conditioned to see the owners (and company people) as the bad guys. I'm hoping that they mostly stay away from referencing Cody's role behind the scenes. Same with Omega and the Bucks. It's been done to death.

I hope they can as well - and so far, on the PPVs, they have done, but the YouTube stuff is a different story. So it remains to be seen which way their TV leads, but given how "informed" their core fanbase are, I don't think there's any way they can completely ignore it - so either they openly acknowledge it, or it's a bit nudge-nudge wink-wink.

I think for as long as AEW can keep up the sense of being the shiny new toy, the company itself is a babyface, so they're not risking the bosses being heels. It's only when they inevitably have to start making difficult decisions, or when the audience realise they can't be all things to all men, that they'll be turned on. The notion of a heel boss is, in the grand scheme of things, a recent development - historically, the promoter was generally a mostly benign, but always babyface, presence. 

Just now, HarmonicGenerator said:

I like Ohno's schtick in this regard, but it does annoy me that once the bell rings, he wrestles the same standard WWE-2019-style match as everyone else.

Well, he's the same guy who calls himself a "Knockout Artist" then proceeds to throw two dozen strikes, none of them knocking anyone out, so what do you expect?

Jesus, almost as dated as that "ironic" font choice.

No one's really sure what the backstory is, as far as I know. 

Act ended up with multiple fractures to her skull, and was never really the same, retiring only a few months later. She was already largely blind in one eye due to illness, and I think it only exacerbated issues around that.

Yoshiko vacated her title and left the company after a press conference apology, claimed to be retiring, but resurfaced in another promotion less than a year later.

Things appear to have been tidied up, but there does seem to be the sense of STARDOM as a real lawless shithole. I know of female wrestlers who refuse to work certain shows, or certain dates, because they don't even want to be around key people from that company because of how they were treated when working there, and there used to be stories of the "home" talent not catching foreign workers on dives, and basically working more recklessly with them on purpose.

There's an interesting story to be told with Cody as the suit-wearing, respectable face of AEW, the owner with the most skin in the game, taking exception to the way Jericho behaves - when Cody's putting his reputation on the line and risking everything to start up AEW, does he really want to see Jericho getting drunk and losing the title? It could be a fun dynamic, and makes for a compelling story with a lot of room to tread the hinterland between kayfabe and reality, which is often when wrestling's at its best.

But if the build to Dustin vs. Cody taught us anything, it's that Cody will climb a try to invent a story no one wanted rather than stand on the ground and stick to the basics.

3 minutes ago, Chest Rockwell said:

All of the things you've said are not things that are going to change so you just have to accept that that's the game, and try to understand that if framed in that context is it likely or possible that he could win an election and do the job required. It's shit and it sucks but using it as an excuse without making any attempt to work within the framework presented is just a stupid thing to do. 

This is the most important point - saying "the media are against him" feels like making excuses after the fact. We all know that's the case, so the question is what can Labour do to win despite all of that.

2 minutes ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

How old is Saint now? Would they allow him to work a match? 
I know he and Ohno/Hero had a match several years ago but, as has been pointed out, he was much lighter then.

Could another British vet step up instead? I know Regal's had neck surgery - reckon Brookside would be up for a match? 

Saint's 78. I can't see him wrestling for WWE but, in terms of whether he'd get cleared, I honestly don't know if there'd be any serious concerns - he still does significant cardio work every day, and has no history of head or neck issues, because he basically never bumped for most of his career, that's the boon of his style.

His last match was in 2015, but he's not worked even a light schedule since 2011. I spoke to someone who wrestled him a few years back, and they said he needs a few weeks to prep for a match, and is very selective about his opponents - style-wise, I think he'd be happy to work a largely mat-based match with someone like Ohno, but I think the size difference would make him wary about it.

Saying that, I honestly don't expect old man Saint to wrestle for them, just that stranger things have happened, and I would love for him to be able to round off his career with a WWE match! 

I don't know what the state of play with Brookside would be, or who else they'd have available to slot into that position - or if they would want to. Dave Taylor, at a push?

Would have been nice if Final Fantasy 8 Remaster could have remastered in some camera controls for the world map. I've only played as far as the Fire Cavern and feel nauseous already.

12 hours ago, WyattSheepMask said:

Sid Scala fighting on Saint’s behalf perhaps?

That's already happening. 

Ohno's schtick seems to be that he's a World of Sport hipster, trying to prove to the Brits that he knows the "British style" better than them. It does feel like a natural conclusion for someone like Saint to step up to face him, and would be delightfully odd for Johnny Saint to have his first match under the WWE umbrella in 2019, I just can't see Saint managing well with such a significant height and weight difference.

I've been saying this for the last couple of years, it's become such a WWE trope, to the extent that I don't remember it ever being so prominent.

It's probably just lazy shorthand to try and give a turn emotional gravitas by saying, "BUT THEY WERE BEST FRIENDS!", rather than actually investing time and effort in establishing a believable relationship between two people, and ties into how Vince books babyfaces traditionally as "me vs. the world".

As for Vince's best friend - Randy Savage. Savage walked out on him when Vince thought he could trust him, and went to WCW. Vince never forgave him enough to let him back into the fold the way he did everyone else.

taken too soon. rip wiv the angles now.

Jericho wears a scarf as a heel because it irritates Vince McMahon. He puffs up his chest and sucks in his gut when fans call him fat. He knows what he's doing, but is also an actual middle aged drunk mess.

1 minute ago, The Reverend said:

His Uncle - although I'm not sure if any of Dynamite's actual kids have got into the business.

Bronwyne wrestled and valeted as the Dynamite Doll, predominantly in Calgary, but I think she worked the UK a couple of times. Don't think she was ever any good.

Bagga was accused of sending lewd messages to teenage boys.

5 minutes ago, thescottishchamp87 said:

I think there more to this as Sean McMahon who was behind OWE UK is behind NothingElseOnTV.  

Well, then he's deleted their Twitter account too, by the looks of it.

He's also changed his Facebook profile and cover photos to all black, probably in the hope that no one will track him down.

None of this really feels like the actions of an honest promoter inconvenienced by visa issues, does it?

"OWE UK" did Tweet out an email address to use for refunds. Now that their account has been deleted (and the promoter's too, by the looks of it), that seems more dubious. "Delayed rather than cancelled" is like "you'll be able to use your ticket for a future event"; it's promoter-speak for "we can't afford to give you a refund".

I'm assuming none of the OWE lot are coming over now, but there's American talent booked on those shows - depending on if/when flights were booked, and who paid for them, they could be massively out of pocket if they can't get replacement bookings at such short notice. And it won't be easy, considering everyone else on the card will be after them too.

Absolutely have to mention Dustin Rhodes here. More "holy shit, he's still great" comebacks than anyone.