Statto

Interesting that the 3 heaviest Rumbles are 3 of the last 4 years, during a period when I'd have guessed the average size of a WWE superstar was at its smallest.

My standard "non-standard" answers to this are a couple of Zappa sidemen, Robert Martin:

and Ray White:

And then there's my man Leroy Virgil, who unquestionably has the best voice I've ever heard in the upstairs room of an ex-servicemen's club in east London:

1 hour ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

The Supreme Court should rule on something sensible, like how did Alabama get into the final 4 ahead of Florida State. That's some corruption that needs some investigating. 

Strength of schedule.

4 hours ago, David said:

But yes, he is too old. They need to get away from having people in their 70's and 80's running the country. 

This is the thing I never get about US politics. I get things like respecting your elders and valuing experience, but it makes no sense to me to have two blokes who would have been forced out of executive positions for being too old battling for the most important role in the country. Probably the world.

Beyond that, I'm not really bothered by US politics as long as college football doesn't get interrupted. Wrestling carrying on would be a bonus.

5 hours ago, unfitfinlay said:

As daft as it sounds my ideal scenario would be Britt Baker. She watched Cole come back from a devastating injury (caused by Switchblade, who was targeted first) and come very close to achieving his dream, only to have it snatched away by MJF. 

The main thing is that it’s a logical way to split up Adam Cole and MJF without undoing the excellent character work they’ve done. Cole turning reluctantly to protect his girlfriend from MJF is far better than if he was pretending all along. 

This has seemed the most likely reveal to me for a while. Britt on behalf of Adam Cole, whether with his knowledge/consent or not.

2 hours ago, simonworden said:

Mentioning Chris Harris, I think you could add James Storm as a brief odd one. Showed up in NXT and could have been part of the early group to come through in the WWE does Indy days but after two appearances went back for some brief Impact stints and faffing around in the indys since which has really made his stock fall in my opinion. I know his wife was pregnant and he went for what would work for him but always seemed like he missed his last opportunity to be on a bigger stage. 

Billy Gunn getting called sacked (for testing positive for roids at a bodybuilding contest) was what did for the Cowboy in NXT/WWE, apparently.

Lots of people were skeptical (or at least m'eh) about Storm coming in, but Billy was the one pushing for him. Once Billy was gone, so was Storm's advocate in the camp and that was that.

At the risk of adding yet more info that people likely already know, there were definitely plans for Storm to come in as the entrance theme that is now famously AJ Styles' was made for Storm. Although I thought the stock theme Storm used on his 2 NXT appearances was a banger anyway:

This might be 30+ years of WWEification talking, but - why on earth would you have your champion on the red carpet of a Hollywood movie and NOT flaunting his belt??

Particularly when it's a movie about wrestling.

Ok, the ending stretch to the Iron Survivor match is absolutely cracking, and perfectly executed: 

1 hour ago, Big'Olympic_Hero'Pete said:

This might seem a basic one, but keeping the match in the ring. No using the barriers, announce table, throwing into the crowd, steps are out, ring post is out. Just a simple two wrestlers in the ring and it's purely down to who will win inside the ring.

Souled Out 2000, WCW did Kidman vs Dean Malenko in a "catch as catch can" match where you'd get DQd for leaving the ring.

2mins into the match Dean "forgot" the rules (or knew he was on the way out very shortly thereafter) and rolled to the outside to cut off Kidman's momentum, and that was that.

That match itself was thrown together at the last minute as the PPV was supposed to feature Benoit vs Jarrett in a "triple threat theatre" of 3 different gimmick matches (none of which was this one) but Jarrett was hurt & Benoit moved into the main event to replace an injured Bret Hart so the triple threat theatre became Kidman vs 3 different guys.

I attended Extreme & Living Colour at o2 Kentish Town on Monday night.

Living Colour were a cracking support, the highlight probably being a 50th anniversary of hip hop medley in the middle of the set (their bass player Doug Wimbish was a session musician on a bunch of the Sugarhill/Grandmaster Flash etc recordings). They predictably closed with Cult of Personality, which being a die hard Hangman fan I booed mercilessly (not really, obviously).

Extreme were great too, but if I were to nitpick it very much felt like I was at a Nuno Bettencourt Band gig. He's obviously a great guitar player but there's more to the band than that for me, whereas here it felt like he was unquestionably the main focus. 

52 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

Great article by @WrestleMe!’s Marc on the Von Erichs.

https://m.independent.ie/entertainment/movies/the-iron-claw-how-a-wrestling-familys-triumph-turned-to-tragedy/a1233100182.html 

Imagine a family history so tragic that a movie gets made about how a bunch of the brothers took their own lives in quick succession, and there were so many of them that did so one gets completely cut for time. Fucking hell.

Saw suggestion yesterday that MJF's role as Lance von Erich has been left entirely on the cutting room floor. Now a blink and you'll miss it 10 second cameo.

45 minutes ago, westlondonmist said:

curious to prices as the AEW shop presale is open.

I don't think I'll go still to be honest.

That's the range of prices in the pre-sale.

On 11/24/2023 at 8:37 PM, Dr. Alan Grant said:

Wrestlers covered in that black gaffer tape stuff for injuries. Cesaro, Orange Cassidy, etc. Just put a shirt on.

I have no problem with KT tape use in wrestling, be it legit or as a modern version of how wrapping some bandages around your lower stomach somehow indicates you have injured ribs.

I do get annoyed with the shoddy application in AEW though - applied properly that stuff sticks like shit to a blanket for days, there's no reason it should be half peeled off by the end of your entrance, even if it's only been put on for storyline purposes.

10 hours ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

I hope he gets that big Wembley match next year. It will be awesome to see. 

I reckon you can basically pencil him into the Wembley main event, and I'm sure it'll be a hell of a match whomever it is with.

I just hope they don't put him on the morning show circuit to promote the show, though. Imagine him on the BBC Breakfast sofa, bruv.

I can't evidence the existence of this person beyond a skeleton of a LinkedIn profile with 16 connections so I have a suspicion it may be some kind of pseudonym, but if it's not - there is a broker in the Lloyd's market called Dickie Manhood.

TBF if you were gonna find Dickie Manhood anywhere, Lloyd's would be a good place to look.

He was a snake initially, named Vibora. Which in TNA El Leon fashion, is Spanish for snake.

I like "Nicholas Wayne Cage" as a name for the kid. Sounds like the sort of name a snotty little brat should have and avoids just directly naming him after a Hollywood star.

Today I learned that the former Curtis Axel has sold his Twitter account to an onlyfans girl.

I know this because I've just had to explain to my wife why I follow said onlyfans girl.

Two for one brother special...

The elder brother was christened Joseph Always Wright but goes by his middle name (as quite a few Americans do). I assume similar is true of All Wright but can't find anything to confirm that.

Well there's a blast from the past. 

Thank the wonderful world of collegiate athletics!

Well this proved a proper treat.

I owned (still own, actually...) all the FWA MyTV shows on video, then attended the majority of shows that fed into the Wrestling Channel run, so very much looking forward to the rest.

Few random thoughts on what I found to be the most enjoyable Dynamite in some while:

- the opener was predictably good. When it's time to take the belt off MJF, Swerve is the man to do it.

- genuinely surprised Jericho put Hobbs over, especially when it started to look like it'd be a Hobbs squash with the 3 quick spinebusters. Hobbs' first match under that tutelage of Callis, new gear, at the start of what looks like a push - smacked to me of Jericho hitting a Judas Effect out of nowhere and sneaking a win.

- I like Don Callis having a Family a la Heenan, but it's odd/unfortunate it's coming at exactly the same time Christian is also assembling a stable and claiming a familial connection to each of his charges.

- I'm glad Orange (the real wrestler of the year) has got his belt back, but it felt to me a bit like the magic of the reign has gone with how things went off the rails with Mox & Fenix. But with the "oh shit, here we go again" element, I have faith he can recover it.

- Although it was really just extra picture in picture filler, I very much enjoyed that after Toni Storm bigged up not needing dialogue because of top notch acting, the silent film turned out to be utter unintelligible nonsense.

- Wardlow vs Sydal in a battle of questionable barbering choices

- Hanger & Switch are two of my absolute favourites so I loved the hell out of that. But yeah, It'd be nice if Jay wasn't gobbing everywhere so much.

- As much as I love Hangman, I don't want him to get his win back off Swerve. Elevate Swerve.

- Copeland running out furious after the Christian promo made logical sense, and obviously it left him susceptible to the sneak attack that played heavily into the match that followed, but to me not having him do his full on entrance with the pyro & posing & music etc for his debut match felt like an odd choice. It's been such a massive part of his act for a long time, and you've been able to just port it over from WWE basically as is.

2 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Her big reveal was during the bloody pre-show. Yeah they repeated it on the card but why not, you know, DO IT DURING THE FUCKING SHOW IF YOUR GOING TO REPEAT THE FOOTAGE ANYWAY?!!

For "Jade Cargill is in the building, she might do something (i.e. make her actual debut) during the main show, you'd better buy it in case" reasons I guess.

Same reason AEW first showed Mercedes in the Wembley crowd on the pre-show.

19 hours ago, Wretch said:

Howling at this

 

Then brace yourself for this: