Statto

HP Fruity is an absolute staple in my house! Can't have an egg, bacon or sausage (or combo) sarnie without the Fruity!

Been toying with doing this thread for a few weeks (since the titular quote from @BomberPat and some follow-up discussion around WrestleDream) and have decided to go for it based on @RedTwoster's comments about ditching the National Championship in the Full Gear thread. I'd be inclined to agree we're probably a bit heavy in terms of the number of championships in AEW (I'm not touching RoH with a bargepole) but as much of a problem for me is that there's a real mush of "secondary" men's titles that don't have a clear hierarchy, or anything particular to distinguish one from the other. So that said, here's what I'd do... Men's Singles Division I think this division can probably reasonably sustain 3 regularly-defended championships - a top one, an upper-midcard one and a lower-midcard one. I'd therefore go: Main Event - AEW Men's World Championship: Pretty obvious here, except I'd officially/permanently add the "Men's" distinction used in Hangman's reigns. Upper Midcard - TNT Championship: The OG 'secondary' title in the company, keeps its place based on that and the fact I don't like there being a "World" and an "International" championship at the same time. Lower Midcard - AEW National Championship: The newest championship, but the naming convention works in the hierarchy so it sticks around on that basis (more on this in a bit...) This gets a slot on PPVs if the match warrants it, but I wouldn't shoehorn it on for the sake of having every belt on every PPV. So what happens to the International and the Continental...? Well, the Continental Championship can continue to exist, but only a visual representation that this bloke won the premier tournament in professional wrestling, the Continental Classic. Win that tournament, you get the belt and get to carry it around for the year - and a slot to try to retain it in the next tourney. The International... I toyed with the idea of folding it into the TNT (and renaming as "TNT International Championship" but what I'd probably do is keep it on Okada long enough (and strong enough( that he/Callis can start somewhat justifiably claiming it's as/more prestigious than the World Championship, then do an Okada vs Ospreay unification match in the main event of a major PPV. Ospreay wins and the Men's World Championship stays as THE gold standard. Men's Tag Team Division Primary - AEW Men's World Tag Team Championship: Much like the singles, this is pretty obvious but again I'd officially add the "Men's" distinction Secondary - [NAME TBD] Tag Team Championship: One thing I thought during the "look at all our great tag teams" parade at All In was I think AEW could sustain a secondary tag team title. I just don't know what I'd call it. I thought about some sort of angle where the National Championship became the National Tag Team Championships, but I want to keep National as the 3rd singles title. "United States" and "North American" are taken by WWE. Maybe follow the TNT/TBS model and go with HBO Max Tag Team Champions...? I dunno about a name, but I'd like to see another set of tag belts. This would be another one you could put on PPV if the match warranted it, but I wouldn't shoehorn it onto a 15-match card just to get it on there. Men's Trios Division AEW Men's Trios Championship: I really like Trios wrestling, and these belts have really proven their worth over the last few months. Once again - a title I'd put on PPV sometimes, but not necessarily every time. And I'd get them onto the Rascalz and let let them have a sold 6-month reign. FWIW - I think the current Women's model (World, TBS, Tag Team) is just perfect, save for something of a lack of proper tag teams right now!

She's just signed a contract with TNA last week. Her and Zoey Not-Stark-Anymore won the tag titles at Bound for Glory.

The Alabama Slammer is indeed a cocktail (Southern Comfort, amaretto, sloe gin, orange juice). It's only the 2nd best cocktail to come out of the University of Alabama though, the Yellow Hammer clears (as the kids say). #RollTide My buddy Beau works for the Alabama Dept of Corrections and my received wisdom is those Alabama slammers ain't nice. And yes, Bobcore's finish was the Alabama Slam.

Tempted to remain in the city of Atlanta for this week's recommendation, with this year's edition of #17 Florida vs #3 Georgia (AKA the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party) being staged in Mercedes-Benz Stadium due to the renovations in the usual neutral site of Jacksonville. But in a continued quest for variety, my official recommendation is for another of the sport's oldest rivalries, as #5 Notre Dame meet Navy in Foxborough (it's a Navy home game this year but they never play this one on campus as their own stadium is relatively small). We're in that week where the clocks are off-sync so this one kicks at 4pm UK time. Primary reasons for the recommendation are: - Notre Dame are one of the true blue blood programmes of the sport, and are definitely a contender this year, but due to their home games being on NBC there's been limited opportunity to included them in a Disney+ recommendation - Despite the often lopsided history (Notre Dame won very nearly 50 years in a row once) it's one of the most storied rivalries in college football - the military academies play a run-heavy style of football unlike anything you'll see on the NFL (these days) as the height/weight requirements for military enrolment limit the kind of player they can recruit. No 390lb linemen here! They've all modernised a bit over the last decade but still a lot of old Triple Option/Wing-T type stuff going on here.

Ah that's awful. I was a massive TNG fan in my teens, and greatly enjoyed reading his autobiography last year (my major takeaway from which was that his love for the stage shone through throughout, and most anything he did on screen was "the day job")

Similarly... If this isn't AI... how the fuck have they managed to make to look so much like AI??

A million times this (or these, I guess). War Games matches are inherently flawed and generally suck. AEW doing it when it was Cody resurrecting his father's creation was OK, I guess. Now WWE also do it... please sack it off. And I've said this every year at this time for several years now but yeah - if WWE don't want the far superior traditional Survivor Series concept, nick it. Do it over a special week of TV - All Elimination Week. RE: bringing back Dark/Rampage - I'd definitely favour Dark coming back as a "for the sickos" show you can watch if you want but won't miss anything crucial (except possibly the genesis of a future top act) if you don't. Standalone tapings in a studio setting. And if TK's too busy between booking the rest of AEW/RoH/Jaguars/Fulham/posting here... surely the ideal opportunity to test something else out and let Danielson or Omega or Jarrett or Dutt or Chuck Taylor or someone book it?

But do you like Rachel Stevens?

Agreed - although I do wonder if we'll see the Continental Cup again? It was obviously geared towards a "cup final at Wembley" and facilitated getting to McGuinness vs Moxley. If they don't do a Wembley show, does the Continental Cup make sense?

Not to re-open a debate from a couple of weeks ago, but it's just the phrasing that annoys me. "Everyone barred from ringside" = fine, makes sense as a special condition for a particular (set of) match(es) without it being no holds barred. "No outside interference" = well, duh. Outside interference is illegal all the time. Even if it were "No outside interference with punishment for both parties more severe than the DQ in this one match" it'd be better. And yeah - I hate that the only prize for this gruelling annual tournament (that's usually at least 75% top guys) is a mid-card belt that is then defended in singles matches throughout the year. I'd keep the belt, but only as a visual symbol that this guy won the premier tournament in wrestling today (which is what you should be selling it as, and probably also add a main event World Title shot at the next major PPV (which I guess would be Revolution if we're sticking to the classics.)

I'm guessing the perceived need for a name change to begin with is a desire to entirely separate from anything in any way derivative of a NJPW trademark/creation? Else you'd have just stuck with Bang Bang Gang, right? It's not like that name is so entranced in "babyface" you couldn't stick with it? And whilst I don't think I'd have said this about Switchblade until a few months ago, yeah... it's a shame they've turned that lot heel in the first place as every one of them is better as a babyface.

Two of my favourite films of my teens back-to-back there. Haven't seen either in a long time, I suspect the latter has aged a little better... We did a bowling event for work about a month ago and one of my colleagues commented on my unusual bowling style. It's because the only bowing influence I've ever had is Ernie McCraken.

Similarly, whilst watching Dynamite I mused whether a "Which wrestler do you most associate with this colour?" thread would die on it's arse? And ironically - it was because my answer in my head for green was Ospreay...

CBS Sports betting analyst Mackenzie Brooks: With a special mention to glasses Kenz: