Otto Dem Wanz

Awesome, awesome segment.

Reminded me of the Tyson/Austin one back in '98.

The set for Summerslam 98 is the best one they've ever done in my opinion, its such a shame MSG has been refurbished.

Thick white bread, butter and crunchy breadcrumb coated chicken pieces, no sauce, no battered 'dippers', no nonsense. 

Chicken nugget sandwiches, the school summer holiday special. 

I fancied sausages and gravy tonight but couldn't be arsed to make mash so grilled a couple of Bird's Eye Potato Waffles to go with my bangers and peas.

Smothered in beef gravy the waffles were divine, I guess its just mash in a lattice shape with some crunch so I shouldn't be surprised but I couldn't believe how good they were.

I saw it at Mania during Roman's entrance.

Different tack but my favourite sign was from a Smackdown taping in 2001 that said "Today is Tuesday", simple but funny.

Biggest surprise of the night - Cole said "wrestling" during that Divas bit!

I'm starting to turn against Rollins as champion, he really is boring and not even in the "annoying chickenshit heel" way, maybe his bit on Swerved and his recent Twitter and Instagram posts talking about how great he is are an act but he's not even making up for it with any memorable promos or work outside PPV matches which I'll give him he is delivering in.

That said, I can't wait for Brock to win the belt for the second Summerslam in a row (I don't see them having a conclusive finish at Battleground).

I didn't want to bump the "Wrestlers that look like they stink" thread, but I'm watching Invasion 2001 and with his braids, piercing and cut off t-shirt Raven looks like he absolutely pongs:

The show has held up well I think, even though Austin turning heel for the second time in three months is so unnecessary and further dilutes the actual concept of the WWF being "invaded".

Shellsuit couple are very prominent at Survivor Series 97, noticeably when Bret is destroying the AV equipment after being screwed they seem like they're trying to console him.

Watched Benoit vs Angle from 2001 (the cage match) the other day for the first time in years. Angle takes a German suplex off the top rope, which looks so dangerous. Benoit does a diving headbutt off the cage and Angle does a moonsault. It was quite a stunning stunt show from two blokes who seemed to have a death wish. They're both lucky to be still alive and healthy all these years later. Matches like that could have done them a lot of damage.

EDIT - I'm 99% sure you aren't serious, hard to tell with this internet lark!

I'd encourage everyone to check out that bonkers Smackdown "Xtreme" episode from February 2001, the tag titles are defended in a tables match amongst an Angle title defence against The Rock and a first blood match with Haku and Rikishi teaming up against Taker and Kane.

With regards to the tag titles match, it was really entertaining but what I noticed in particular was a spot where Jeff Hardy is about to be superplexed through a table by Bubba Ray, but Matt saves the match by putting himself through the table as by the time the superplex is hit on Jeff the table was already broken.

Has this spot been done since? I can't remember it happening before or after and in a match where so many things get recycled its interesting that I don't think that one has been used at all apart from this random Smackdown match.

If Brets book is anything to go by there's a very good chance he's stuck one up her.

Its probably been mentioned here, but is Rusev coming across as the face in all of this?

 

I saw his promo the other week "I have lost my title, my women and my career, but I will get it all back". I was thinking, good for you Rusev. Then all of a sudden Dolph is out there kissing Rusev's Mrs being a proper bastard.

 

I know there is more to it than that, but they should flip it around once Rusev is back.

I could be giving them too much credit here, but if the long term aim is to turn Rusev face then they've done the right thing to plant a babyface seed and gain sympathy for him for his bird to shack up with someone else immediately rather than after a longer period of time. Its something a lot of us blokes have been through.

Actually I'm definitely giving them too much credit aren't I?

Just come back from 5 Guys after a post-work pub session. Paid 14 quid for a double bacon and cheese boo with a "little" fries (there's a fuckton of them) and a refillable soft drink (Fanta Zero Orange of course, two refills). Greasy and stodgy enough to make it a nice one off treat, although as I type this I'm loading Sainsbiurys white chocolate and raspberry cookies into my mouth washing them down with milk, so I can't be sure it filled me up.

Why did Mark Zuckerberg even bother?

Squared Circle Gazette you've got yourselves another subscriber now I've worked out this Podcast for iPhone thing, looking forward to listening.

What's the general consensus on Dominos? Their meatballs cannot be made from something that had ever lived.

What did "two tears in a bucket" mean anyway?

This one is very poignant seeing as 2/3 are dead:

I've been looking on Youtube and Dailymotion for ages through crappy, pixelated copies of Davey Boy v Bret at Summerslam 92 that cut the ending off, then I remembered I have the whole thing in pristine quality just a few clicks away on the Network.

Edit - just watched it all the way through again, and the hairs never fail to stand up when Davey comes through that curtain or gets the pinfall. The boy from "Leeds, England" done good.

Do we think this is the greatest moment in British wrestling history?

Anyone else burn toast to fuck? For me it has to be black in the centre and dark brown on the edges, smother it with spread and enjoy the oily crunch.

I'm having a lazy weekend so I've decided to watch every WWF PPV from 2000 over the course of the next two days.

I can't wait.

Wyatt's asking if anyone knows when the question was first raised "Is Luger really up for this" which prompted the company to put the people of Rhode Island on the spot in that manner in the first place.

 

For the most blatant example ever at the time of literally asking your live audience "who do you like" then the people attending the Royal Rumble, the event that shapes WrestleMania, are the right people to ask. But don't forget, on TV they ran a phone vote for fans to ring in and vote for who they thought deserved the title shot at Mania X, ahead of old scapegoat Tunney deciding both should get one, and the coin toss. They'll have used the (actual) results of that vote to judge the Mania plans on too, not just the noise in Providence that night.

I wasn't aware of that as I was only 2 at the time! I suppose it does make sense, and in some ways nothing's changed to this today if you consider the fans rejection of Batista and Roman Reigns leading to Wrestlemania plans being changed in the past two years.

Small things that irritate me in wrestling:

1. Commentators talking over ring announcers, you can't hear a damn word of Howard Finkel's (lengthy) introduction of Yokozuna at the 1994 Royal Rumble for example thanks to Vince McMahon.

If the decision to go with Bret Hart at Wrestlemania 10 was based solely that one match (Bret's book seems to suggest it does) it seems cray to think that Vince let the reaction of the one finish to one match in front of one crowd define his plan for the biggest event of the year and in many ways the direction of his product into the future.

Its like the crowd in (quickly Googles...) Providence, Rhode Island that night were unknowingly charged with electing the WWF's figurehead for the 'New Generation' era at the precise moment when they were prompted to (the end of the Rumble match when the referees raised each man's hand).

Butterfly Effect anyone?