Lorne Malvo

I've enjoyed it a lot more since the reboot, but at the moment everyone has a purpose and every match has some importance. They're obviously presenting it as a full-on 'wrestling' show, which is fine for now, but I'm not sure how they're going to sustain interest after this title tournament. Mustafa Ali vs Ariya Daivari in a 15-minute wrestling match with no stakes or purpose doesn't sound great.

I still think the tournament final will be Cedric Alexander vs Mustafa Ali, but I hope I'm wrong. It just seems like they've bookended the tournament with those two guys who they perceive to be the 'fan-favourites'.

My main hope is that the tournament can rehabilitate Jack Gallagher. He went from a hightlight of the division to a completely missable afterthought in no time at all.

@Dead Mike I used to be a big fan of The Loved Ones and really liked Dave Hause's first solo album, but haven't really checked him out since. Will definitely listen to his recent albums before Tuesday.

Painkillers was definitely a grower for me too, but Sleepwalkers hit me from the first listen. Either way, he's got to be my favourite artist working today, he hardly ever puts a foot wrong.

Anybody caught up with the new Brian Fallon album yet? It blows Painkillers out of the water. Come Wander With Me, Etta James, Little Nightmares and Sleepwalkers are especially great songs. I'd go as far to say it's his best work since The Horrible Crowes, and lyrically probably his best ever.

Seeing him next Tuesday, I was looking forwards to it anyway but after listening to Sleepwalkers I'm beyond excited.

I don't have an issue with them at all. Having the guys name show up all in caps before the promo is pretty goofy and pointless, but they're essentially an updated version of the inset promos wrestlers used to cut while making their entrance. Except better, because those inset promos were always always terrible.

Plus Snapchat/selfies are still incredibly relevant to the yoof generation. It's not like they've started using dubstep theme music eight years after it was popular, or whatever. 

The other alternative is they carry on with the Renee Young 'my guest joining me at this time' shit for every single interview.

50 Shades of Grey (2015)

50 Shades Darker (2017)

Much like the trumpet and the cereal, no real explanation has ever been given. Just another part of their 'zany' act.

I can't see it. WWE are stubborn enough to keep on with it for a while longer.

It really is a show that needs to be put out of its misery though. I've never known a more consistently bored crowd than the 205 Live crowd. The NXT Divas season got more of a reaction. Main Event is taped before Raw so has a better atmosphere. Even pre-taped TNA crowds arn't this bad!

Putting it on before Smackdown would probably make for a more lively crowd but even so, that wouldn't solve the fact that the division is a complete afterthought. Bring a few decent hands up onto the main roster (mostly Gulak) and bin the rest off. Rotten.

I'l still watch it every week though.

Completely forgot TM61 are even a thing. Hopefully Nick Miller has grown a personality in his time away.

Balor actually looked like he was really enjoying himself out there on Raw. I reckon he'd love a heel run with the Club.

I wouldn't be at all surprised for Joe to cost Reigns the title against Miz next week actually. Gets the IC belt off Reigns in time for Mania season plus could set up a Reigns vs Joe blow-off before the Rumble.

Pretty nothing show, but that Reigns/Joe match was a cracker. Would happily watch a few more from them between now and the Rumble.

I listen to it. It's not great, but Kermode isn't as annoying as he used to be. He's turned down the whole 'forced rant' thing which I found really tiresome. Although it's laughably easy to predict what his opinions on certain films will be. Case in point, if directed by a woman, he will sing its praises much more than necessary. It's as though he's constantly trying to prove how PC and 21st-century his opinions are. Which obviously is no bad thing, but just tone it down.

Can anybody recommend any decent film podcasts? Kermode/Mayo is okay, the Empire Magazine podcast is decent but don't spend enough time discussing new releases for me, and the Little White Lies 'Truth & Movies' podcast started off fantastic but as it's gone on, the reviewers seem to be increasingly contrarian and miserable. They sound annoyed even when they're celebrating a film.

That Fatal 4-Way was terrific stuff. NXT really does do the simple stuff much better than WWE, don't they? I know they only have one hour, niche audience, etc etc, but coming out of that match you have ready-made feuds in Black/Cole and Gargano/Almas that make sense and people will care about.

Gargano hasn't beaten Almas in their 2 televised matches, has he? That's some impressive long-term storytelling, if this was always the plan. Almas wins the belt a few months after the previous Almas/Gargano feud, Gargano wins the #1 Contenders tournament and has to face the guy he can't beat to complete his Cinderella story. I know pretty much everyone thinks Ciampa is costing Gargano the match, but I'd like to see Gargano finally win the big one only for Ciampa to attack him during his celebration. Gargano vs Ciampa for the belt during WrestleMania weekend sounds mouth-watering.

Undisputed Era are finally clicking for me as chicken-shit heels. Cole especially has the character work nailed down.

On the negative side, as good as Montez Ford is, Angelo Dawkins has always been a bit shit and never seems to get any better. 

Great write-up, HG. Really enjoyed reading that. 

This is my list of films seen this year, along with one-line reviews; still a lot I need to catch up on. I've taken out films that really arn't worth mentioning. Spoilered cos it's massive.

3 hours ago, Ambulance Chaser said:

Tell you what, I enjoyed that main event, fair play Jinder sold well and AJ got a good, back and forth type match out of him. If I paypal someone say £15 who's up for nutting that scrubby Jesus cunt who goes to all the shows on the front row, you know he'll be at Mania.

I've been raging about Marilyn Manson cunt for a few years now. I'm at the point where I find I'm watching him more than the actual show at times. I noticed during Clash of Champions that he's suddenly become a big Jinder fan. Prick. He claps his hands in a really stiff manner too which winds me up no end. 

Anyway, I enjoyed the show more than I expected. Triple threat and the tag title match were fun and AJ/Jinder was really good. I was a little disappointed in Zayn/Owens vs Nakamura/Orton but I expected it to end in a fuck finish that doesn't really establish whose heel or face between the two referees. 

I'm interested in who will face AJ at the Rumble. Everybody whose high enough up the card to challenge for the title seems to be tied up in the Bryan/Shane stuff. Really hope they don't try and get another month out of Jinder.

I disagree about Balor's offence looking strong. The dropkick on the outside, the running kick on the apron and the reverse DDT all look decent enough but the dropkick into the turnbuckle always looks fucking horrendous (other than the one time he did it to Itami), his Slingblade isn't as good as Rollins and the Coup de Grace usually looks weak. Plus his punches are generally horrible.

I do like Balor and think he's a perfect World Title contender for the Rumble where they don't need a huge title match, but next to Brock he'll look ridiculous. He doesn't have the authenticity with me that an AJ or Punk did when going against Lesnar.

Also, his aura has diminshed greatly recently, due to fannying around with Wyatt and being made to look like a chump by Kane everytime they interact. May aswell complete the jabroni trifecta and put him in a program with Ziggler.

They couldn't find a better promotional picture than that? Looks fucking rank.

Wasn't even aware Runaways was out yet, will definitely catch up on that after I'm done with The Punisher. Struggling to keep up with these MCU shows lately. Not long got done finishing Inhumans, which was absolutely dreadful and I only persevered with because I'm an MCU completist.

@Devon Malcolm I really enjoyed The Young Offenders too. I'd recommend Handsome Devil if you haven't seen it - another Irish coming-of-age story available on Netflix (although it's closer to Sing Street than Young Offenders). Pretty cliched in parts and hits all the usual beats you'd expect, but it's still charming enough to be worth a watch.

I can't be doing with this WarGames match at all. I like my pro-wrestling nice and simple; I like to cheers for the faces and boo the heels. Who am I supposed to root for in this match? Roderick Strong is the only real face involved in all of this and he's teaming with the main heel tag team of the past 18 months. As mentioned, it should be so easy to book a 4 vs 4 / 5 vs 5 face vs heels WarGames match and they've somehow fucked it up. 

I would've much preferred Sanity, Strong and McIntyre (who doesn't seem to give a fuck UE ruined his NXT title win) vs Undisputed Era & AOP (teaming with UE just to get back at Sanity for their tag title loss). It's hardly perfect, but much better than the shit they've served up. 

Between this and Raw versus Smackdown, I'm really struggling to enjoy WWE this month.

I've only ever had one paranormal experience too, but it scared the shit out of me at the time and has been with me ever since. I was around 15/16 and was the only person in our house at the time, with just our dog for company. It was around midday and I was in the living room watching TV - actually think it may have been an episode of Smackdown. We used to have an old biscuit tin in the shape of an alligator which, when opened, would play a recording along the lines of 'Yum, those are some tasty cookies!'. Fuck knows why my mam thought this would be a good purchase in the first place. Anyway, we heard the recording play, clear as day, from the kitchen.  I would've said I'd imagined it, except the sound of it woke the dog up and even that poor fucker looked scared. Me and the dog just stared at each other for a while, shitting it. It took me around 10 minutes to work up the bollocks to go into the kitchen and when I did, the biscuit jar was open. I slammed it shut and ran into the living room, where I stayed until my parents got back home, and they pissed themselves laughing once I told them. Cruel fuckers didn't even get rid of it for another couple of months despite my pleas.

I've since convinced myself that the jar was previously left open, and that somehow set the recording off again a while later, but fucking hell it had me on edge for days.

8 hours ago, Sergio Mendacious said:

The Jags — Back of My Hand

Great tune, this. Jeremy Vine plays it quite often on Radio 2. He probably thinks it's Elvis Costello though.

Yeah, he definitely phones it in a lot. Outside of that Sami Zayn match, I've not yet been blown away by him in-ring during his WWE stint.

Absolutely creased the first time Sister Abigail showed up. The fucking state of it. Tubbs feuding with Papa Lazarou. Surely this is it for the Bray character now? There's no way back from this shit show.

A film has to be spectacularly bad to make Tom Cruise dull, but The Mummy achieves it.