Statto

4 hours worth of pre-show across the two nights yet still some guys have to make do with being on "Wrestlemania Smackdown". That's when you really know you're at the bottom of the barrel.

The name Nicole Whippy has just come across my desk at work, implying of course the existence of a Mr Whippy.

Edit: there appears to be an actress from New Zealand of that name, but I assume it's not her unless she's had a major career change since she was in Shortland Street.

1 hour ago, bAzTNM#1 said:

I don't know if its live or not but you got to think the WWE will spoof the Oscars somewhere and somebody will be getting a slapping and it might, again, be hilarious.

Graves is co-hosting and has been really heeling it up lately (since the relationship with Carmella became 100% TV official with the launch of their YouTube show) so that's a pretty good shout.

I can see it being one (or several) of the women facing Carmella at the weekend doing the slapping (which makes sense from a business perspective) but really it should be Saxton finally getting revenge for the years of cruel bullying he's recieved. He'd have to slap Cole too for full redemption.

18 minutes ago, Pinc said:

Michael Cole screaming about what a moment it is but never saying why

"Oh my! Seth Rollins' Wrestlemania dream has turned into a nightmare!"

1 hour ago, CL Punk said:

Is that why they're keeping him off tv to grow the Dashing Cody Rhodes moustache again?

How quickly can you get a tattoo removed...?

Personally, I can/do watch way more wrestling on TV than football.

I'm a football fan. I hold a season ticket at Norwich, and attend a couple of away games each year. I watch very little football on TV that isn't Norwich, though. If I'm not emotionally invested, I don't enjoy it.

People are different, though. It blows the mind of the guy I sit next to at work that I have BT Sport at home but don't watch a Champions League or Europa League game every Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday. I just don't care about it.

Like all the best angles (apparently) I think there's a bit of work & a bit of shoot in there.

The actual physical interaction seems worked with how Rock stands there with hands behind his back, leaning forward with a cheek offered to Smith for the shot (which he then basically no sells).

When it comes time for the promo though, Smith taps into some very real emotion like that time Mick Foley remembered fans chanting for Stone Cold whilst him & Terry Funk were handcuffed to a steel cage in order to find the necessary anger for a heel turn.

Fresh Prince = Dude Love, is what I'm saying.

Tell ya what AEW could do with a big old bloated extended roster - rip off the NCAA basketball March Madness tournament.

68 man seeded field (couple of "play in" matches to get to 64, those exclusively for indy guys making their AEW debut), first few rounds either on Dark/Elevation or uploaded to YouTube/FITE as individual matches in quick succession, the (All) Elite Eight over a week of Dynamite/Rampage, the Final Four on the following Dynamite then the final on PPV.

Could set up a title shot for the winner but why not just a good old (kayfabe) massive cash prize, it's professional wrestling after all.

Someone like Fuego making a Cinderella run to the Elite Eight could be a lot of fun.

2 hours ago, bAzTNM#1 said:

Who is "Commander Azeez"?

Apollo Crews' bodyguard/second. The big Polish/Nigerian fella Babatunde who was briefly "Dabba-Kato", Shane's top man in Raw Underground. 

17 minutes ago, 69MeDon said:

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is I guess Kris Statlander isn't an actual alien from Andromeda anymore?

This is a good thing IMO. I like her as a wrestler but it always felt like a half-arsed gimmick.

I wonder how much longer Best Friends are for the world as a stable. Statlander is "getting serious", Yuta is angling for a transfer to Regal's squad, and as @Rockbus2 suggested, Trent is looking out of place and (storyline) pissed off since he came back (and I'd also be pleased to see him spun off into something else/bigger, I've loved him since he was having bangers with Curt Hawkins on Superstars).

You could leave Orange, Chuck & Danhausen as a trio but I suspect they drift their own ways too, possibly into RoH for a couple of them?

The standout track of a very good new album (IMO). Two of my favourite artists from two different genres get together and explore their own influences.

Echo many sentiments here about Razor being a "second wave" favourite of mine as a kid, something that never left me. A top 10 all time favourite of mine for sure.

More recently I felt like I had some kind of weird personal connection with him as he went though a period where Norwich was almost a second home whilst he was a regular on WAW shows, often sticking around the city for 2 or 3 weeks at a time judging by his social media. I never had the fortune to bump into him around town, although I know a couple of people who did. I did get a Twitter reply when I told him he should move here though, which IIRC read "Dare me chico. I've already found a great gym with some fine women in it".

Here's me (with the hat) and my mate Steve reaching for a "2 sweet",  he obliged moments after this photo was taken:

Managed to shake his hand and say thanks for the memories one night too, as he wandered through the exiting crowd after the show. Thanks again & so long, Razor.

The thing I struggle to get my head around with these kind of name changes is the short-sightedness of it.

For the role he's playing right now, Butch isn't a terrible name (it's not great either). But he's a young man, who is clearly very good at a particular style of wresting. It'd take a bit more of a stylistic shift on/at the top of the main roster (one that looks less likely now than it did a year or two ago, granted) but it's not totally out of the realms that this is a guy you're looking at to be champ/main eventing Mania in 5 or 10 years time.

At that point, just "Butch" is an awful name.

This has made my day, genuinely. Fucking loved Big Drew.

29 minutes ago, Supremo said:

The amount of dross on those cards, it should be illegal for them to ever do the, “upper mid-carder has no clear path to Wrestlemania,” storyline ever again.

Yeah, that's one of my biggest pet hates in wresting currently. It's ludicrous to even consider that the likes of Owens & Rollins (who they've done it with this year) won't end up on the Mania card just because they didn't win the Rumble.

Newsflash - neither did all but two of the people who will end up on the card, so...

2 hours ago, The King Of Swing said:

I still think that they should have gone with Taz's idea and have Comoroto join Jurassic Express as a caveman. 

They should definitely cycle back to this when they want to push Jungle Boy on as a singles.

Do a good old fashioned amnesia angle, have Comoroto take a knock to the head and Luchasaurus is the first thing he sees when he wakes up, at which point he becomes convinced he is Ugg the Caveman or whatever. He & Luchasaurus can become a tag team who are kind of crap but look great & the kids love, while JB goes off to win singles belts.

Yeah, I love Buddy (he's definitely one of my Boys - I missed the surprise Edge return on the Summerslam 2019 preshow because I was back in the food queue I'd previously abandoned to rush back to my seat when Buddy unexpectedly came out to face Apollo Crews) but I was disappointed he turned up in his regular gear for this, it just doesn't fit.

Should have had him turn up in t-shirt* and jeans for this, then got himself some more fitting gear for when it's time to wrestle.

*On the subject of t-shirts, I like the "Dark Secret" slogan/nickname they've gone with on Buddy's as a House of Black play on his "Best Kept Secret" thing.

2 hours ago, Suplex Sinner said:

The Moss bump is horrible, proper Sabu efforts. Apparently Lesnar nearly killer Austin Theory as well but can't find the clip of it to see if it is as bad as described.

Absolutely ludicrous bump. No need.

I've never been a fan of that "reverse Alabama Slam" of Drew's. Hope this might be the last we see of it.

17 minutes ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

If they’ve managed to convince Cody Rhodes to join them AND managed to convince him that joining a tag team with the The Miz isn’t a sign of things to come, I’ll die laughing. It can’t be… can it? 

Coupled with he & Brandi becoming supporting characters on Miz & Mrs...

Jody Fleisch's Instagram handle is "kingofengland2002" and I love that fact so much.

1 hour ago, BomberPat said:

The Rumble rules have changed a few times over the years - at one point you couldn't be eliminated by someone not in the match, nor could you eliminate anyone else.

Yeah, always been something they have played with/made up on the fly to suit their needs at the time.

"With BOTH FEET hitting the floor" wasn't a thing (or at least a major point of emphasis) until they wanted Shawn to hold on with one foot on the floor.

"You can't eliminate yourself, you have to be propelled by someone else" was made up on the spot to explain Savage's brain fart in 92, despite the fact that Boss Man had effectively chucked himself out about 10 minutes earlier. Never been a rule since then, with people not just being eliminated regularly by missing opponents and falling over the top, but the likes of Drew Carey voluntarily climbing out.

My Rumble annoyance is when people spend ages outside the ring, the worst of which is when they choose not to go in like Sonya Deville going on commentary this year.

Not in the ring before the next buzzer goes = eliminated.

Actually, any period of more than 60 seconds outside the ring by choice = eliminated.

Do a Road Dogg & hug the bottom rope in the fetal position all you like. But don't hang about outside the ring and expect to still be considered a competitor.

2 hours ago, PunkStep said:

Is that Bulk and Little Legs on the left?

It is. Mariah May & Dan "I've seen things" Moloney too. I don't recognise the other guy.

It likely will be cramp, but I'll be watching. Partially because I think Jahannah James is gorgeous.

I'm pretty sure that was deliberate, in some sort of attempt to portray that we're not dealing with "good guy" vs "bad guy" here, but two "nuanced" human beings who happen to have beef with one another.

For all that is actually realistic, I just don't think it tends to work all that well in (relatively simplistic) fictional narratives, particularly in pro wrestling where a portion of your observers are there in person and you want them to vocally react positively or negatively (and the reactions of those observers can significantly effect the reactions of your television observers).

It particularly doesn't work well in pro wrestling where the rest of the same show is actually doing traditional good guy vs bad guy stuff for the most part, and especially where one of the featured players in your highly nuanced storyline is an outward bad guy in another one...

I'm not sure if they are actually doing the "the mist turns you evil/puts you into Malakai's power" thing that I've seen hinted at, but I'd not mind Penta being shifted into the House of Black.

Make him slow way down and wrestle like a nasty sadistic bastard, which he's very capable of. Then Fenix can come back as a solo face.