Lorne Malvo

Has anything been said yet about Collision the night before All In? I'm wondering if it will be held in the UK, or if it will be a B-team crew taking care of it in the States.

45 minutes ago, Loki said:

 

It’s the big perspective issue that the new Mandalorian tech has solved.  Now you can stage fights in small spaces with tables and props and the Volume can put a room or complex city around you seamlessly.  It’s a transformative leap forward.

 

I've usually got a high tolerance for shite CGI, but I'm currently watching Obi-Wan Kenobi (it's crap, btw) and I'm finding the Volume really distracting. There's a big chase scene in Episode 2 which takes place in the type of complex city you mentioned, but it just looks absolutely terrible. The show has never convinced me at all that these characters are actually in a desert/city/etc.

It might be less of a Volume issue and more of a time/personnel issue though, because I didn't have the same problem with Mando/Fett.

This week was quite hit and miss, I thought. Some really good matches, but jesus christ there was a LOT of filler. 

The opener was a cracker, and this new ROH/AEW lucha division they're establishing is giving me serious WCW Crusierweight vibes. 

Willow vs Madi was good even if it was quite short, but I'm quite biased as I love Wrenkowski solely based on her being a pandemic-era Dark mainstay. It's the same reason I always keep an eye out for guys like M'Badu to show up. God I miss pandemic-era Dark.

ZSJ vs AR Fox was a nice change of pace, and I'm well up for Zack's technical prowess taking on Joe's monster in the near future. The less said about Sydal's involvement, the better.

I'm quite enjoying this Dalton Castle/Embassy storyline over the past few weeks. Dalton really knows how to get that crowd behind him. I actually think he might benefit from a slight gimmick change and dumping the Boys going forwards.

Fucking hell, that main event was much more mental than I expected. Starting off with Mike Bennett lashing a chair into Darius's face and didn't really let up from there. Bennett popping Maria with the forearm got a legitimate 'fucking hell!' out of me. I feel like it was the wrong result as I reckon the Kingdom have much more mileage as a tagteam in ROH than Top Flight 2.0 do, but other than that it was a really good main event.

The problem with this week's show is that in addition to all of the above, there was about another 8 matches that were just... there. If they can tighten the show up a little and give matches like Lady Frost vs Alize a storyline reason for happening then I'd be a very happy customer (not that I pay...)

Lastly, the Iron Savages and their shite manager are tragic. Numerous moments in their match where they're playing to the crowd and it's just silent. I feel sorry for them but the act has been tweaked and changed so much over the past few years I think they've just lost the crowd.

I know Russell Brand is an absolute dickhead, but Ponderland had one of the all-time best examples of this:

CM Punk's Rampage debut gets watched about once a month.

William Regal doing the best promo ever also gets a reguar outing;

6 minutes ago, Fatty Facesitter said:

 

👍 Also, I’m not sure what Ian Riccaboni and Caprice had for breakfast that day but it was probably a fry up - they were absolutely full of beans and made several matches a seriously fun experience by adding a huge amount of passion, excitement, energy and also urgency. 

 

I actually think Nigel McGuinness is a hindrance to their commentary team. The past 30+ years of US pro wrestling has reinforced the idea that one of your commentators has got to be a knob, so Caprice and Riccaboni being such great friends who just seem to have a huge amount of love and respect for each other was such a refreshing change. Nigel McGuinness coming in now with his sub-Corey Graves shtick just isn't neccesary. 

Riccaboni and Caprice rapping over Willows theme always gets a smile out of me.

@Tommy! 'The Best American...' is a decent anthology, released yearly.

https://www.johnjosephadams.com/series/best-american-science-fiction-fantasy/

Obviously with each anthology being made up of different authors, not everything will be a hit or to your tastes, but I find it to be a good jumping off point to find new authors.

Nobody will ever convince me that Lost World isn't the worst Jurassic Park film. A load of shite. 

Most of them other than the original are crap to be fair, but 3 has a bit of a B-movie charm to it, Fallen Kingdom has some fun horror-movie esque visuals and Dominion is entertainingly daft in a 'throw everything but the kitchen sink at it' kind of way. Lost World has that one good scene with the van hanging over the cliff but other than that it's so dull.

I'm very much the opposite when it comes to work. I really need that divide between work life and my own time and space so I choose to come into the office everytime (although it does help that the office is a 15 minute walk so I'm not out of pocket). I tried working from home when we were coming off furlough, and doing work emails and quotes etc while sitting in my scruffs in my gaming chair really fucked my head up. It was like I could never be fully switched on or off.

20 minutes ago, Chris B said:

Have battered chips been a regular thing and I've just not seen them before? I'm dangerously intrigued.

They're really common in West Midlands (especially the Black Country) but I've never seen them in any other part of the UK.

3 hours ago, air_raid said:

I thought of @Keith Houchen Saturday morning.

 

My thoughts are with you during this difficult time.

Return To Seoul - A strong drama about identity and finding your place in a world where you feel like an outsider. The general story is about a Korean woman raised in France who decides to track down her biological parents on a whim. The character work and lead performances are really strong, but there are a few too many 'really?' moments of incredulity for it to land as well as it should've. Still worth a watch, though.

Harka - I thought this was tremendous. A story about injustice, corruption and living on the poverty line in Tunisia, the whole film just has this really uncomfortable sense of dread just bubbling under the surface. It could almost be a horror film in some scenes. Adam Bessa is brilliant in the lead role, really getting across the feeling of someone who could just self-destruct at any moment.

The Laureate - Some poets shag around then get pissed off at each other for shagging around. I never believed any of the relationships or performances. I'm a sucker for a literary drama too so it should be right in my wheelhouse, but it's a bit crap.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3 - MCU back on form. Easily their best since Endgame. If they are insisting on releasing 8 films a year, more of this and less of Love And Thunder please.

A decent enough Rampage let down by another terrible Hardys segment. Both of them are pretty unwatchable at this point. 'Matt Hardy vs contracts' seems like it's been going on for longer than AEWs existence and is always shit. 

It really is just Heat at this point though. Absolutely nothing of note happens on Rampage anymore.

2 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

The lovely Chloe Bennet is in this series.

Sold.

I thought this weeks show was a massive improvement. Not as many matches for matches sake, everything either furthered a storyline or was there to keep guys momentum up. 

The only exceptions were the Renegades/Vertvixen match (Khan obviously sees something in the Renegades as they get featured fairly often on ROH and Dark/Elevation (RIP) but I've got no idea what it is that he sees) and Hendry vs AR Fox (I don't mind repeated kickouts from big moves as much as some, but kicking out of numerous piledrivers/brainbusters then hitting spanish flys a minute later during a mid-card match on a ROH weekly show is a bit much). Some shoddy editing also robbed us of a Eddie Kingston promo which is unforgiveable really. 

Athena is just the best. Gave Skye Blue her best outing by a country mile, always comes across as a killer, shes the complete package right now. Whens Statlander back? Athena vs Statlander would be an absolute banger.

Samoa Joe vs Blake Christian was a masterclass in how to make your opponent shine while still coming across as a dominant champion. Joe gave Christian just the right amount of offence, then shuts him down with the Muscle Buster as soon as he can. The perfect way to book this kind of match. I mention it everytime I see him, but as good as Blake Christian is I still can't fully get behind someone who looks like George Costanza's dad.

Hopefully the good shows continue and are more coherent week to week from now on.

1 hour ago, SuperBacon said:

I love Toby. I've gone back and forth over him a lot on rewatches but I've decided I really love him and the performance by Paul Lieberstein is so underrated.

Considering how intentionally boring his personality is, he's one of the most interesting characters in it for me. His backstory that's hinted at throughout the show is quite tragic. It's really sad when he refuses to go into the church then asks God 'why you gotta be so mean to me?'

@Fatty Facesitter I actually checked out their big Royal Rumble-esque show after your review the other week. Raven was my biggest turn-off, to be honest. Still doing the cult leader thing but obviously he can't do much physically, so they just had him sit in the corner for an age. The idea of a cult leader doing nothing in a match like this because he's got his followers to protect him is good in theory, but in execution it just looked like somebodies grandad had fallen asleep in the corner.

I don't think I'll be watching much more.

8 hours ago, JLM said:

I think we’re the only two people watching ROH haha.

I'm watching! Ive just found the past couple of weeks really dull. It's essentially replaced Dark/Elevation but while it has more going on than those shows in terms of angles and storylines, it lacks the charm of them.

I think what is hindering the show is that there isn't a ROH PPV/big show on the horizon so everything just feels like it is trudging on with no endgame in sight. They could do with having a Takeover-esque event every 6 weeks or so, not only to give the product some direction but also to make HonorClub members feel like they're getting a bit more value for money.

Hopefully the Willow squashes are just to keep her warm until they do Athena/Willow again. One of my matches of the year so far and I still think Willow is the right choice to dethrone the champ.

I read an interview with Jericho in character as Moongoose McQueen when I was younger and being too young or thick to understand satire (I was about 10 at the time), proceeded to tell my uncle and all his rocker mates that Ozzy Osbourne was a fraud who had nicked the idea of Ozzfest from Fozzfest. They must've thought I was a fucking idiot.

7 minutes ago, deathrey said:

Ryan?! Fucking Ryan?!

He's a massive prick obviously but a very funny prick. 

3 hours ago, Nick James said:

Each time I watch the show through, I hate Jim and Pam more, to the point that Jim is quite the cunt throughout. 

He's one of my most hated TV characters of all time to the extent that I struggle to watch the show now because I spend it obsessing over what an absolute twat he is. It's not healthy how much I loathe him.

I also think Andy is a terrible character from a writing standpoint. His personality changes from season to season depending on whether we're meant to root for him or dislike him. I don't think the writers ever really got a handle on who he is supposed to be.

Creed and Ryan are the best anyway (other than Michael obviously).

Every franchise ever should be watched in release date order. I've never been one for this 'watch the prequels first' stuff, prequels are made with the expectation that you've seen the original. 

'I'll Be Your Hero' on repeat for the whole journey.

25 minutes ago, JLM said:

Man the Adam Cole entrance is going to be thunderous isn’t it? Whatever anyone’s opinions on him that is going to be a spine tingler. 

I'm looking forward to the entrances just as much as the actual matches, if not more. 'Judas', 'Jane' and that absolute banger Jamie Hayter theme are gonna be incredible.

Wrestling Observer reporting that Dark and Elevation have both ended.

As a massive fan of C and D shows, I'm gutted. A lot of the undercard guys and particularly the Womens division won't be getting much of a look-in now. I know ROH is essentially Dark with titles, but I'll still miss Taz/Excalibur pissing about, Matt Menard on commentary and QT Marshall/Emi Sakura having bangers every week.