Hannibal Scorch

Why has WrestleMania week just been slights at AEW? Rent free indeed. Also just a reminder the champion has had 9 matches since April 2023 and Big Kev and Scott routinely didn’t want to work at WCW and just took time off. What a chump.

You know those football match posters they would make ripping off popular films, same energy. That was awful.

That sounds like a loaded question to me

@SuperBaconthe Heinz pizza seems to come around every 5-10 years. Definitely remember having them in my early teens and then in my late 20’s. Just regular cheapish frozen pizza but beans makes an interesting topping. I liked them back in the day.

I thought that was pretty obvious. Because you were using the point about not wanting a big house. And every promotion wants to get a venue filled. And WWE weren’t doing that. But no one cared because they just used the hard cam side of the arena to close off, making all the audience fill in the wide shots. It’s smart. But AEW do it and it’s hilarious, but it was what WWE did for years and no-one cared. Because why should WE care? Because it’s not us being financially affected. And what I do think is hilarious about Punk bringing it up is that his ego wants him to think he’s a needle. He sold tons of tickets for his return. He sold decent tickets in Chicago. But he didn’t pop the ratings outside of returns. HHH was right about him. He’ll shift lots of merch, he’ll pack a hometown arena. But in terms of a draw he’s no Roman, Cody or, especially, The Rock. Also I don’t think booking is an issue. I mean the Continental classic was great, the last few months of TV have also been mostly great. If that’s because you don’t think there’s been enough stories, well that’s what WWE are for. And outside of Cody/Bloodline, Bayley/Damage Control and Rhea/Becky, what storylines have they got? A look at Night 2 gives you an indication of the dullness. But if you have one over the top exciting angle, it’s all you need. And I’ll once again give props, the way they have managed to save WrestleMania this year after they botched The Rock’s return should be studied in future years. Truly remarkable. @DavidB6937 also you make a great point. Kids want to see WWE. All the talk of the PG era but there’s a reason the arenas are full and every toy shop has WWE toys and not AEW ones. So when your choosing where to spend your money are doing it on the product the kids want or the one you’ll drag them to? And tickets are expensive so you have to make a choice.

Raw was filmed in some tiny venues in the early days. Pre-pandemic they were half filling 15,000 arenas at best. The talk of how great WWE are on a weekly basis is a new phenomenon mainly born from the tribal discourse on social media. That’s not a knock at the success, getting 15k for a regular TV taping (as they did last night) is phenomenal knowing how boring it is to watch a TV taping over a house show or PPV/PLE. AEW shot themselves in the foot by being successful from the get go and then booking larger arenas than they actually needed when the momentum of novelty wore off. But they already sold more tickets within their first few shows than TNA ever have for a live event. The booking of the venues is done normally far in advance and usually they will have multiple dates locked in. We’re also in a climate where AEW can’t run the same venues WWE do (in certain markets due to exclusivity), and Tony K has said before the cost of a large arena compared to mid is fairly similar so they probably banked on go big and hope you sell more. I hope they are already planning to move to smaller venues for TV, but I don’t believe for a second they don’t want to fill the venues, I think they haven’t appealed to the fair weather wrestling fan in the way WWE can.

That’s because Helwani is as real a journalist as Clark Kent! The fact Punk had the gall to refer to him as a real journalist 30 minutes or so before Rhea Ripley and Becky Lynch did an angle on the same show is testament to that. (Though fair play, it got Ariel on Raw I guess). Whether you think it was justified (it wasn’t) for Punk to put Perry in a chokehold, it sounds like he did it because of who he was friends with and his paranoia justified doing it. I have a work colleague who is a knob, I’ll just ask my boss what he’s going to do about it. If I don’t like the answer I’ll just choke the guy out and let you know how I get on.

At this stage I can only imagine Kross and Scarlet have some information on Vince because what else could there be for keeping them employed?

Yeah choking someone a little bit not being provoked is hilarious behaviour and not at all insane. Although believing he can kill various wrestlers if Tony Khan didn’t sort things out is hilarious What was it Mox said about him again?

I’ve watched half of it. If you thought he was an egotistical cunt before, you’re not going to change your mind. Same if you think the sun shines out his arse. Him saying he thought he was acting professional is hysterical though. If there’s any take away it’s the man needs therapy and Tony needs to be a boss (hardly a revelation though).

Monkey Man felt like a combination of Oldboy, Drive and John Wick. Certainly felt like a decent take on the revenge action genre.

Yep these have been launched in the UK before. I first remember them in the late 90’s. But in more recent times 3D Doritos and I think Wotsits may have tried a version (or maybe that was just wafflers not tube shaped)

Don’t Worry Darling feels like a Black Mirror episode with a huge budget. It’s not awful, but yeah. Completely agree on Astroid City, my biggest disappointment of last year.

Godzilla x Kong contains And that’s the only positives I have. Woeful.

So I open this thread and what do I see? ”Wankfest” Anyway, Dude (Self)Love

So I’m not allowed to write words in an Italian accent no more? Racist.

Trying to save money, I recently bought a big old bag of Asda own brand crisps (Meat selection, although one of those selections is ready salted, go figure). I have to say they were more enjoyable then Walkers to me in the like for like stakes, and at £3.60 for 36 bags, value for money.

You're not wrong. But those guys know what sells and what doesn't. So you print up a load of the top selling merch, throw in whoever is booked on that episode, and boom, you're mustard. It shouldn't be difficult, and they seemed to do an OK job at Wembley in comparison to their usual, but this is what happens when you work with companies like PWT and Jazwares over Fanatics and Mattel, you get second rate returns. If I was in charge I would allow PWT to run the online operations but get an events company to run live events merchandise.

I didn’t prefer it to the cannon sequels, but I’m a defender of GhostBusters (2016) / GhostBusters Answer the Call as well. It’s got a better joke landing ratio than most modern comedies and Chris Hemsworth had a great turn in it. Unfairly criticised. That said, how it cost double what GhostBusters: Afterlife did I’ll never know.

Which one of those wrestlers is at the top of the card, and which one is the company being built around? Ricochet is another good example, historically with Ospreay, who is in the mid card shuffle. I think Ospreay is a better all round asset, and those other wrestlers are great examples, but I think my point stands. @SuperBaconthats kind of my point. It’s not he wouldn’t fit in, it’s just he’s a big fish in a smaller pond (the pond is also full of a load of guppies but I digress) in AEW. He also gets to headline Wembley Stadium! But he also has always spoken of his love of TNA and NJPW, he never had his eyes set on WWE, and whilst those thoughts may change as you get older, he’s stuck to his gun

No luck in my eyes. Ospreay had no interest in the WWE lifestyle. Knock him for his faults, but one thing TK does well, especially with non US talent, is allows them flexibility. Becky Lynch was only moaning the other day about wanting to see her brother in Ireland and not being able to, and I read it was one of the reasons PAC left WWE (and we know from his AEW run he spends plenty of time back in the Toon). Ospreay is able to live the life he wants and get paid handsomely to do so. Ospreay doesn’t fit the in ring style, they also wouldn’t have given him the mic time AEW have afforded him. WWE would have been lucky to have him, but I don’t think he’d be getting anywhere near the reactions he’s had in AEW. Besides, WWE have talent to build their company round, let Cody have his time.

Well no one wanted to see a half arsed tribute act. They also didn’t want to see the man who just won the Royal Rumble give his match, the reason he HAD to win the Rumble to Hollywood Dwayne Johnson, just because he had enough clear time in his diary to wrestle for a few months. And we were right. All I’m saying is while this is clearly the role The Rock should have had, it’s at the expense of your world champ. The man who has broken records. The face of the company for over 2 years. And now he’s demoted to guest role in the story. I wish this feud could have started post Mania, because there’s clearly more interest there, than with Cody/Roman now2.

Whoever said that the person who could come out of WrestleMania the weakest would be Roman could be on to something. Who wants to see Cody/Roman now over Cody/Rock? That said, and as great as that segment was, it does feel that The Rock has decided he needs to be the top guy in WWE and that’s pushed people out the way and I’ll be honest, not keen on that aspect of it. Makes for great TV I know, but I just don’t like collateral left in his wake.

Not at all, I assume his version wasn’t publicly released until the 90’s, but it’s one of those interesting music facts. Regardless as much as I do actually enjoy both versions, they are really creepy. Let’s not bring up Céline Dions version (forgetting her whole creepy marriage). Back on topic, I’ve seen a lot of people defending SBC as that’s just how it is. And I don’t accept that because he plays dubious characters gives him a free pass to behave that way. I’m pretty disappointed because I thought he was a pretty sound person with strong morals, other than his Zionist views.