BrodyGraham

And they've had 2 weeks to edit it! Fair enough, don't over produce but you could at least, you know, produce at least a little bit in post.

They'd do it occasionally at the Marble Arch on cask. The one I had recently was canned and labelled just as 'Ginger'. I haven't been in any of their pubs or tap rooms in years so I dunno if both are still going but yeah, from a retail perspective, 'Ginger 6' is the new 'Ginger'.

Me neither. I also suspect that me PS4 is about to give up the ghost on me, ensuring I never do! Lots of growling and beeping last couple of times it's been on.

I reached my tipping point just before last year's Mania. The nonsense surrounding the Saudi arrangement, Ashley Massaro, the gutting of the UK scene and a consistently rubbish product basically became too much shit to bare. I basically only had network for NXT anyway, which I'd been trying to square away as 'Not Really WWE', largely on account of me liking it, but yeah I just reached a point where I didn't want to give them any money anymore. That extends to their affiliated Indies, so no Progress shows or ICW either whom I'd enjoyed seeing live. I was fortunate that it was tournament season in Japan and AEW was just starting out, so I didn't need them for a regular wrestling fix. I'd like to say that it was all based solely on righteous indignation, and it largely was, but having viable alternatives made it an easy decision.

Two or 3 years ago that would have been a more apt question, hell 3 months ago that would have been a more apt question, certainly on the UK scene. Personally, if it's mandatory I'm not looking forward to 4 hours in a sweaty venue, with sweaty dudes in a facemask. From the perspective of promoters can they afford to run venues at 30% capacity? We also still don't know how much damage Speaking Out has done to people's confidence in indie wrestling and their regular promotions. Obviously Progress absolutely shit the bed on a bunch of stuff and EVE haven't exactly come out of this smelling of roses with the Pollyanna/Ospreay/ResGal situation. Hopefully British promoters have their ducks in a row, but the situation with WWE, Speaking Out and Covid could represent a perfect storm that they can't recover from.

That's definitely bit harsh on Stewart Donald, but still yeah, I suppose there's worse than Ashley.

Apparently, even according to the buying side, Ashley wasn't the problem. They agreed to the extra, the issue is the Premier League refusing to commit either way to green or red lighting the sale. One of the major points coming out of the Staveley interview is that apparently moves were made by the top 6 clubs to block the sale, Liverpool and Spurs being most prominently reported/rumoured elsewhere. They would have got the deposit back if the league had blocked it, but the Premier League kicking their heels until the Saudi's pulled out has basically cost Stavely and her backers the £17m. All signs point to Ashley wanting rid. Still the extra £17m probably won't hurt him.

£17 million. Here's an interview with Amanda Staveley. Turns out the Saudi's just lost patience with the Premier League.

Apparently another deal has basically been agreed with an American group who want to replicate what FSG have done at Liverpool. I think this collapse has basically coincided with the exclusivity running out on the deal. There's also the feeling that we've been used as pawns in the Saudi's dick swinging contest with it's neighbours. Personally I'd be happier with owners who realistically invest in the club, but also don't flatten the Yemen and have a horrific human rights record. Edit. Reports are coming out that Ashley apparently upped his price to the Saudi's when the exclusivity ran out, basically making the initial purchase agreement void. Along with all the other shite surrounding the deal it was apparently enough to convince them to call the whole thing off.

The general consensus seems to be that Kento Miyahara is always worth watching.

So Cyber Agent, the parent company of NOAH, DDT and Tokyo Joshi Pro have merged all it's separate promotions under one banner which they're calling CyberFight. They're apparently intent on going head to head with New Japan. This is super interesting to me for a couple of reasons. Firstly, is there a way they can coalesce these promotions into a coherent identity? Noah, from the little I've watched recently still seems to be comparitively staid in next to to the more left field bits of DDT and Tokyo Joshi Pro. Secondly, does this mean anything to AEW? Does the working relationship DDT had with Omega still hold and does that affect the status of the guys who are going back and forth between AEW and NJPW, once the pandemic lifts?

Just had the latest iteration of the beer that got me into the ale scene, Ginger by Marble Arch. When I first had it, it was a mid strength bitter flavoured with ginger coming in around 4.1% or there abouts. They've since upped it to 6.1% and upped the spice with cayenne and Szechuan peppers. I hadn't had it in about 7 years, but it remains a lovely beer which manages to both taste like it's flavours and still taste like a bloody good ale. Strong recommend although I have an inherent bias in that I lived next door to Marble's home, The Marble Arch in Ancoats, Manchester, for 7 years.

They recently added a new Gigatrack free DLC for Trials Rising. I'm gonna clock a lot of hours on this one.

My main bug bear with Cage is that he himself isn't presented as the focus of anything he does, Taz is. Even down to the way they film in ring promo's or vignettes. Tazz is always front and centre, Cage usually hanging behind his shoulder. It makes Cage look secondary to Taz and crucially, smaller than he is. If you say the nearest analog in WWE is Heyman and Lesnar, Lesnar very rarely, if ever stands behind Heyman. They're usually side by side so Lesnar rightly looks like a monster and not a henchman. Even storyline wise, Darby Allin's beef with Cage is because he's Taz's proxy. Moxley didn't beat Cage, Taz protected HIS investment. Now he's in a stable with Ricky Starks and whoever else is to come, with Taz having said on Dark that he's always looking at talent. If they want Cage to feel special they're not going the right way about it.

Didn't initially look at the accessories and was genuinely confused/angry at the kind of person who would want a Conrad Thompson figure.