Jazzy G

That's an expensive round down the local.

I'm trying to remember where I read that he'd allegedly been told to drop a chapter of his biography because it was about the relationship he had with his sister. Allegedly.

He might have to hold his nose and go to Bem Brasil if they're still open.

That sounds like a very interesting cryptic crossword clue

Knights Of Cydonia?

That Batista match was better than it had any right to be.

Remember when WWE Films wanted to make an Undertaker origin movie set in the old west? That's why they had that brief spell of calling him The Last Outlaw, wasn't it?

It's those sharp intakes of air Matt Bellamy takes before every line he sings. Once you know it's there it's really hard to ignore.

Why not just do a triangle choke? I remember him having a match against somebody, I want to say Albert on an episode of Smackers, and while Taker's on the mat on his back Albert goes to grab him, but does it in the most unnatural way with his arm right up above his head practically feeding him for it. It was dreadful. Albert was a much better opponent for Kane.

I think with the Yes movement etc he was already over and Tripper saw a chance to insert himself into it and try to claim some of the credit.

Of course. It worked wonders for all those nonces and wrong 'uns at the BBC on the 70s and ű0s. Allegedly. Granted, following the MeToo and speaking out movements women have been rightly empowered to speak out about these things, but it's still going to be a long time before we can overcome the stigma surrounding victims speaking out as well as the protected status these kinds of hight profile offenders have and have had for drcades. These things aren't going to magically change overnight, but hopefully this is another turning point and step in the right direction so people are able to voice these concerns in a safer environment.

The first time I saw an Undertaker match was against Kamala at Summerslam 92, then again in the coffin match at Survivor Series. It always felt like they were using him to deal with the monster of the moment like they used to do with Hogan while Bret, Shawn, Owen etc did all the technical wrestling stuff during the steroid scandal stuff. He was given some proper suffers during that time. Kamala, Giant Gonzales, Yokozuna. Him sitting up was nowhere near as explosive as Hogan hulking up was, and arguably his repertoire of moves was even more limited. The Taker Vs Fake Taker stuff made for an interesting time but again the "methodical" pace he wrestled at was never going to make for a fiery exciting PPV main event which is why he was usually stuck in the middle of the card but front and centre on the poster. He was arguably the face of the WWF through the 90s while other stars came and went around him. Vince built the company around him to an extent as a reward for his loyalty and, more likely, to try and avoid losing him to WCW and us seeing Mean Mark in the nWo week in, week out. When Foley came in and the Mankind feud started it breathed much needed fresh life into him. He had to change things up to hang with Foley, but the bells and whistles helped, and this allowed him to be out into matches with Bret, Shawn, Austin etc which were very different, and he even worked differently against big men like Lane. Him coming back as Biker Taker was a much needed change as I think he would have looked ridiculous doing his dead man schtick around the likes of Angle, Jericho, Rock, DDP. and the much more realistic style that was coming through at the turn of the millennium. I got excited when he came back at the end of the iron man match and was fascinated by the idea that he had a new gimmick. It was laughable though, the facial expressions, the bright ginger hair, the snakeskin pants, the Jim Johnston music. It was really bad, but it was so fun. It felt like a massive joke that he wasn't in on as he played this role as seriously as he could. He looked like he loved finally getting to inject a bit of his own personality into his character, but all the punch kick, that dreadful "choke hold", the elbow to the leg, which my mates and I would react to by saying "shit move, brother" while he's convinced that he's a great technical wrestler. Did he try and get the dragon sleeper over at one point? He did have some great brawls with Lesnar during this time including a Hell In A Cell if I remember? The match against Tripper at Mania X7 was good, his match against Flair at 18 wasn't great, but it was two very incompatible styles and Taker's no Barry Windham when it comes to Flair wrestling taller guys. A couple of my friends were at MSG when the dead man came back at Mania 20 and said it was a spectacle, but it felt a bit like after the return of that gimmick there was a bit of a regression to the "monster if the month" format just to try and keep him on TV, but as he blended more of his biker moves and character in he did end up in different feuds and getting carried to some decent performances. He seemed to be capable of telling a story in the ring, but he needs somebody to do the rest of the work around him. His Mania matches were mostly great. I do wonder how differently the Lesnar match would have been if he didn't get the concussion he said he got early doors. The matched with Shawn and Tripper were great performances, and after the second match against Trips when he was getting stretchered out I honestly thought that may have been it. In my eyes he's the face of the WWF/WWE as he was the one who was there most consistently. Others came and went for their various reasons, but he was always there unless he was injured. Never jumped ship. None of his matches are going to be in my facourites list, he's not going to be carved into my mount rushnore, and I don't think his podcast is ever going to be a regular listen of mine, but like Hogan I have respect for what he's done with his career in the ring.

Loved American Badass Taker for how absolutely terrible it was. The whole thing smacked of a mid life crisis, especially those snakeskin pants. Got ever better when he had that Jim Johnston "You're Gonna Pay" entrance song. More "real" fighting style, that Hell's Gate submission finisher. I loved the aura and spectacle of the Dead Man, but he was undoubtedly most entertaining when he was trying to be less of a cartoon character during the invasion and the ruthless aggression era. For another against the grain opinion I really enjoyed JBL's chickenshit heel run as champion. It was pure 1990s bollocks in 2004. If Ted Dibiase had won the tournament at Mania 4 he'd have had the exact same title run into Mania 5. Did they do one of those "if JBL is counted out he will lose the title" spots during one of his matches? It absolutely sounds like the kind of thing they'd have done for him.

I've got Warhammer Survivors installed on my Switch ready to go tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing what that has in store.

It's a great bunch at my local Geek Retreat. They have a box of 10p cards, and I keep suggesting we head down there with a fiver each and see what decks we can make from the stuff in there. Then I see the state the box is in and it turns into my friends saying "do you really want to try and organise it all by colour?" and stopping me from taking part in what would ultimately be a thankless task. I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure TAFKA Dave Rayne (Dave Rayne!) from off of out of PCW works at Element Games, or used to?