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RedRooster

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Posts posted by RedRooster

  1. rap-snacks-all-in-hot-2.5oz.png

    I picked these up in a local American sweet shop, and I have to say, they were pretty tasty. While you can kind of detect some of the other flavours, it's almost like a spicy salt and vinegar crisp, which works really well. The crisp itself is thin but crispy. As far as the level of heat goes, it's very, very mild; but pleasant.Ā 

  2. 42 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

    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.

    To be clear, that wasn't a dig at AEW, or a suggestion that I'm surprised that he ended up there. Khan is clearly willing to pay wrestlers well and offer flexibility as you say. Hopefully this will lead to a similar approach from WWE, as contract negotiations arise. Would it really hurt the on air productĀ to offer all talent mandatory annual leave, for example?

    46 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

    Ospreay doesnā€™t fit the in ring style, they also wouldnā€™t have given him the mic time AEW have afforded him. WWE would have been lucky to have him, but I donā€™t think heā€™d be getting anywhere near the reactions heā€™s had in AEW. Besides, WWE have talent to build their company round, let Cody have his time.

    You're doing Ospreay a bit of a disservice here, I think. As far as ring style goes, Triple H has demonstrated a degree of flexibility that McMahon did not - he'd fit in just fine as fas as that is concerned. Your point about the reactions - The reaction that Jade Cargill got at the Royal Rumble suggests to me that Ospreay would have been just fine. There are plenty of WWE viewers who are aware of what's going on outside of the company. But initial reactions don't matter much - even if he debuted to crickets, he'd have quickly won people over.Ā 

    16 minutes ago, Loki said:

    It will be VERY interesting to see what happens when Becky Lynch is out of contract after Wrestlemania. Ā At the very least she can get a lot more money post-MonĆ© but I wonder if a lighter schedule and more regular trips home might tempt her too.

    The fact she's married to Seth Rollins might encourage her to stay put; it would surely be a nightmare having to work a different schedule from your wife for a different touring company. But if AEW did manage to land her, that would be a real statement of intent as far as women's wrestling is concerned. I'd love to see a women's match main event an AEW PPV this year, and feel like it belongs.Ā 

  3. Rick fucking Knox...if they need a referee to look incompetent, he seems to be the go-to person to roll out. At this stage, I just brace myself for a screwy finish if he's standing in the ring. He's right up there with TNA's Mark Johnson as far as irritating referees go.Ā 

    Overall, it was a decent Dynamite, with a bit too little in the way of variety for my tastes - I typically prefer the format they'd run with over the previous few weeks, with a mix of promo segments and matches. Hopefully they'll go back to that.Ā 

    AEW was incredibly lucky to land Ospreay - he feels like a megastar, to the point that if WWE had signed him, I suspect he'd be viewed as a potential successor to Roman Reigns as far as 'face of the company' potential goes. AEW should build around him.Ā 

    I'm curious about the decision to give Swerve another title shot - I honestly thought Takeshita would win, simply because it seems too soon for Joe to lose the title, and too early to bring Strickland's journey towards being World Champion to an end. My guess is that Hangman interferes to cost him the match for those very reasons.Ā 

  4. 1 hour ago, Merzbow said:

    Yeah Mox is more like a Terry Funk than someone who actually hates the fed, he appreciates his freedom.

    I imagine it's only a matter of time, in the post-McMahon era, where someone high profile negotiates a deal with WWE that gives them a level of freedom to perform elsewhere, if only to poach them from AEW or from under AEW's noses if they're a high profile free agent.Ā 

    Personally, I'd love to see Moxley return to WWE, to find out how this version of the Moxley character would fare in the WWE landscape. While I wouldn't be totally shocked if that happened, I think it's more likely that he won't sign with anyone at all once his AEW contract expires; simply choosing to wrestle for fun in smaller organisations.Ā 

  5. Canā€™t really justify this one, but Richard Madeley (and Judy Finnegan too, for that matter).

    I think it stems from watching Richard & Judy on Channel 4 when I was younger. It was easy viewing and, to an extent, comfort viewing - familiar faces for. When I was a very young child, and my mum would watch this morning.

    Heā€™s clearly a Tory, and excruciating on a number of levels, but I canā€™t help but feel a certain fondness for the guy.Ā 

  6. 44 minutes ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

    I'm more interested by the fact that Seth Rollins is in 2 featured matches at Wrestlemania, and a featured part of 0 feuds. Absolute waffle.

    I like how theyā€™ve built it into the story, with McIntyre accusing Rollins of not paying enough attention to him - I reckon McIntyre will win, and Rollins will have to come to terms with the fact McIntyre was correct. I do think thereā€™s a worryingly decent chance this will eventually lead to a heel turn, and Rollins feuding with Cody over the WWE Universal belt, but weā€™ll see.Ā 
    Ā 

  7. That was fantastic, and it surely kills any suggestions that Rock is secretly on Codyā€™s side. That said, it doesnā€™t necessarily mean heā€™s with Roman either. Iā€™m pretty convinced at this point that heā€™s staying heel, while Roman is going face - giving us a Rock/Cody match in the near future, and maybe even a Rock World title run.Ā 

    The closing angle was just fantastic, and even though Reigns/Cody on night two has taken a backseat, Iā€™ve enjoyed the build-up to the point I donā€™t really care. Cody winning the belt will still be special, and the lack of focus on the likely end of his title reign wonā€™t take away from how Romanā€™s run with the belt is viewed.

    Punk essentially daring McIntyre to say ā€˜Vince McMahonā€™ was one of those times where, in the moment, I wondered if he was actually supposed to say that - but that whole segment had a brilliant sense of danger to it. Itā€™s such a shame that Punk is injured, because McIntyre/Punk is a match I really want to see. I hope they can continue the momentum when the match actually is feasible, and I also hope it gets to close the show on a PPV, not play second fiddle to whatever is happening with the other World title.

    The Rhea/Becky/Dom stuff was great too. Rhea/Becky is the biggest womenā€™s match they can do right now, and I canā€™t wait to see it - this is my favourite Wrestlemania card in years on paper, and the fact thereā€™s so little reliance on names from the past is a huge compliment to the job Triple H has done in rebuilding the roster. Yes, Rock is on there - but we have Rhea/Becky, Sami/Gunther, Seth/McIntyre and Reigns/Rollins - I honestly canā€™t wait.Ā 

    Oh, andĀ @SupremoĀ is totally right about Rockā€™s entrance, that was cool as fuck.

  8. 10 minutes ago, Vegeta said:

    Owen Hart

    In todays generation Owen Hart is world champion and having match of night every night.

    I think, in todayā€™s generation, Owen Hart is more likely to be Sami Zayn. Definitely not a bad place to be, but I think heā€™d be a notch down from World Champion, but very prominent. Owen Hart vs Johnny Knoxville at Wrestlemania doesnā€™t seem like an implausible outcome. Or a bad one, for that matter.

  9. 1 minute ago, air_raid said:

    Likewise if someone with Smithers' attributes circa late 80s came along today, he'd be top of the food chain immediately. Not when he got too big and was smoking crack, but when he could still break out into a bit of a sprint doing the running powerslam to a big lad. I know he wasn't always much in the way of promo but neither was Drew McIntyre with his weird AmericAyrn accent, and it didn't stop him winning the big belt twice.

    On the subject of British wrestlers, William Regal would be a huge star if he debuted in 2024; with Japan, AEW and WWE all viable options for the guy. He has the potential to be incredibly menacing, comedic and generally likeable - his style of wrestling would fit in well; although given how influential he's been in wrestling, it's interesting to consider what wrestling might look like in terms of style and personnel if he hadn't been around.Ā 

    I also thinkĀ Layla ElĀ (my first wrestling crush, but this suggestion is not from a place of bias...!) had the potential to have become a big star if she debuted today. In spite of wrestling in a weaker women's division - one that prioritised Vince McMahon's personal tastes over talent - she managed to become a decent in ring talent. If you surround her with better wrestlers and a greater focus on women's matches, I think she'd have become pretty damn good. She also had a charisma to her that would have worked in her favour.Ā 

    Moving away from Brits, I don't quite understand why he didn't rise to World Champion status in his own era, but ifĀ MVPĀ came along now, he could certainly reach that status. Like Regal, Japan, AEW and WWE would all be viable options, and his ring style would work well in any of these companies. He's also excellent on the mic, giving him an obvious advantage.Ā 

    Finally, Bam Bam BigelowĀ - introduce him in WWE in 2024, and you almost certainly have a main event level heel. I'd be surprised if he didn't get his hands on a world title at some point. I'm not sure how he'd do in AEW though, given the company's track record with big man wrestlers - Tony Khan doesn't seem particularly arsed about pushing even the good ones.Ā 

  10. 15 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

    Shane "Hurricane" Helms -Ā A cross between Kanyon and AJ Styles, innovative, dynamic and a hell of a finishing move. I thought he had it. Certainly more than just being a (successful) comedy act.

    Primetime Elix Skipper -Ā Another one who seemed to me ahead of the curve, never really got a big push

    Mark Jindrak -Ā One of wrestlings greatest What If's with him and Evolution, but he had a look which would probably put him in the upper mid card in my opinion.

    Ā 

    Interesting choices - particularly the first two. I wonder if they would stand out as much as they did back then in the modern era, given how many spectacular wrestlers are active right now, or if there's a case to be made that they might have ended up being less of a big deal?Ā 

    Shane Helms had a bit of a bland look and his promo ability was middling; and while he was good in ring, the competition is fierce in that respect. I need to rewatch his matches I think, but it would be a challenge for him to stand out over the competition in both AEW and WWE.Ā 

    Outside of (the admittedly amazing) walking the cage moment, I can't think of many stand out matches for Elix Skipper in TNA, at a time when they really were letting the X Division go balls-to-the-wall. Again, I think I'd have to go back and watch his stuff. He'd face the same problem as Helms though in that the wrestling talent around him is so good, he'd find it harder to stand out.Ā 

    To be clear, I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you - they're choices that got me thinking.Ā 

  11. We're in an era where size is much less of an obstacle when it comes to becoming a star in wrestling; and equally, gender is much less of a barrier than it once was.Ā 

    With that in mind, which wrestlers from times gone by do you think would have been bigger stars if they debuted in the modern era?

    Some suggestions from my side:Ā 

    • Mickie James - She's not completely inactive; and she's obviously wrestled in recent years - but if Mickie James came on to the scene today, I imagine she'd have been one of the biggest stars in wrestling; rather than the butt of nasty fat jokes to amuse Vince McMahon. She's good in ring, but where she really shines is on the mic - something some (but obviously not all)Ā of the bigger names in the WWE and AEW women's division struggle with slightly. She also has a great look - and in an era where companies rightly try harder to push diversity, it would send a really positive message to have a top female star of Native American origin.Ā 
    • Jazz - I thought Jazz was bloody brilliant when I started watching wrestling. She was great in ring, and incredibly intimidating. Like Mickie, she had a decent career - but if she debuted today, I think she'd end up being one of the biggest stars in the industry; with scope for a tremendous heel run and a money making babyface run. Her promo skills were never standout, but her strengths were so notable that I don't think it would matter.Ā 
    • Jamie NobleĀ - When I started watching wrestling, Jamie Noble is one of the characters I enjoyed the most. He played the role so well, and backed it up in the ring. He'd be a cult favourite if he debuted in AEW today, and even in WWE I imagine he'd have a much higher profile; as opposed to being framed as a joke cruiserweight act.Ā 
    • Perry SaturnĀ - One thing that struck me from watching back old episodes of WCW is how goodĀ Perry Saturn was. He looked terrifying, and had the in-ring style to match. The prospect of Saturn at his peak facing Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson or Kevin Owens is pretty appealing (for me, at least...) and I imagine he'd quickly becomeĀ a top level wrestler if he debuted today. Again, mic skills are a problem - but given that managers have made a comeback, it wouldn't have to be a stumbling block.Ā 
  12. 59 minutes ago, Supremo said:

    I hope Roman sticks around. It took him so long to find a character that actually clicked with the audience, Iā€™d like him to go long enough that we forget the blue contact lenses and dreadful Wrestlemania main events where the production crew had to turn the crowd volume down. The dark days.

    The idea of continuing the Bloodline saga though? Fuck that. Itā€™s already about six months to a year past its sell by date. nWo territory. Weā€™ve already had the Bloodline Wolfpack vs. Bloodline Hollywood.Ā Give it a natural, satisfying conclusion already.

    It would be a shame if we didn't get to see a 'proper' Roman Reigns babyface run - one in which he's not immediately handicapped by Vince McMahon. I love the idea of The Rock remaining 'the final boss', and a babyface Reigns vs. heel Rock match at some point in the future.Ā 

    As far as The Bloodline goes, I'm OK with them prolonging it slightly; with Rock leading the group after ditching Reigns. Maybe they introduce a few new members to freshen it up - people like Tama Tonga. I don't mind the conclusion to this saga being Rock/Reigns, but I can completely understand why people might be against the idea of keeping even a refreshed version of that stable alive.Ā 

  13. 12 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

    Cheers. As to Cody not being a face, what I meant was heā€™s not a traditional face. Cody does things in his own way (itā€™s why the Codyverse became such a millstone). The guy even called out the Homelander comparison of himself for Christs sake. For every few face traits there are underlying heel ones. Now, Iā€™m not saying you need to be straight face or straight heel, gray has been a popular wrestling colour for years. But if you want to be the white meat baby face, you canā€™t do the heel bits.

    Ā 

    Such as? I'm genuinely perplexed at your assessment here. Outsmarting the heels as he did on Friday doesn't really cut it. In both WWE and AEW you see situations arise far too often in which heel groups attack babyface after babyface, and the wrestlers in question never think to bring back-up (aside from The Bloodline, look at the Social Outcasts) - being a sucker shouldn't be a 'babyface trait'...(not that I'm suggesting you're saying that)

    1 hour ago, air_raid said:

    Forgive me if Iā€™m repeating myself but I wonder how much longer Roman really wants to go on. The length of his title(s) run has been very much ā€œWell, we said weā€™d make you top dog. We know we made you wait too long and jerked you around on the way first time roundā€¦ and second timeā€¦. and third time. Well - here it is, youā€™re the guy.ā€ We know heā€™s fought cancer twice. We know heā€™s been working limited dates already for a couple of years. Some online mutterings a couple of months ago suggested heā€™s been saying how tired he is, that it takes him longer and longer to recover after each match. It wouldnā€™t surprise me if heā€™s got one more of the ā€œBig 3ā€ left in him before riding off into the sunset after Mania 41.

    I could definitely see his schedule becoming even more limited. It'll be interesting to see what approach WWE takes going forward, once Roman does wrap things up. I suspect they'll transition into more of an ensemble approach, rather than having one 'central star' (as with Reigns and Cena) - but if they do go for a 'central star', I think there's every chance the 'face of the company' could be female - the wrestlers with 'megastar' potential are pretty much all women - Rhea, Cargill, Belair and Stratton. I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting - but it'll be interesting to see what they do.Ā 

  14. 1 hour ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

    I think weā€™re singing from the same bed sheet. Because I can see why for some itā€™s the biggest match they could put on, but itā€™s not what I wanted to see. But as I still donā€™t see Cody finishing the story at Mania, Rock v Roman would have been fine, had they not ballsed it up in the set up.

    If Rock had won the Rumble, Iā€™m not sure ā€˜We want Codyā€™ would have happened. I donā€™t agree with most of your takes on this feud (such as Cody ā€˜not being a faceā€™ā€¦Iā€™m not sure how youā€™d back that statement up, but I think youā€™d struggle to make the case for it) - but I think youā€™re probably correct as far as that is concerned.Ā 

  15. Another on the reverse front - Miz, going from a tag match that lasted slightly over 3 minutes at Wrestlemania 26, to main eventing 27. Then, as mentioned earlier in the thread, he plummeted down the card the year following. Best of both worlds, as far as this thread is concerned.

  16. 11 hours ago, Supremo said:

    Other than that though, I thought the final segment massively underdelivered. Weird, understated promo that never got out of first gear. With a week off from The Rock, I was hoping for a wild, electric segment that elevated Roman and Cody, refocusing their rivalry and getting the magic back. It didnā€™t really happen. Cody in particular was lifeless out there. That female fan slagging off Roman had more babyface fire than the Wrestlemania Main Event Title Challenger!Ā 

    I didnā€™t m think it was bad, but I canā€™t disagree with your assessment. It didnā€™t feel like anything that hadnā€™t already been done by them both, and I canā€™t help but feel the best of the build-up has been for the night one main event. Itā€™ll still be one hell of a moment when Cody beats Roman, but the build-up to that portion of the event has been underwhelming so far.Ā 

    In spite of that it does feel like Wrestlemania season, and the overall build-up has been excellent from my perspective. Theyā€™ve done a great job of building up compelling characters who are in matches I want to see - Zayn and Gunther and McIntyre challenging for a title, Rhea/Becky (which absolutely should main event night one). Theyā€™ve even won me over for Knight/Styles.Ā 

    As far as my tastes go, this is the best run of wrestling and booking Iā€™ve seen since becoming a fan. WWE has been remarkably consistent ever since they stopped booking to satisfy the tastes of an aging predator.Ā 

  17. 7 minutes ago, Daaaaaad! said:

    I loved it. Played 1 and 3 to 100% in the PSone era and the remake does it total justice. It even has the option to switch to the original music which Crash lacked. Definitely worth playing.Ā 

    It does?! Was this added in a later update, or did I totally miss this when I played it on launch?

  18. 9 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

    I'd go with an Eddie Kingston vs Christian Cage feud next. Both have just lost their titles so I feel like that could be the genesis of a story between them. Also they are such diametrically opposed characters I think they would really spark. Imagine the promos!Ā 

    You know, Iā€™d not even considered that - itā€™s a great idea! Honestly, Iā€™m all in for Christian to take the title from Joe. Joe smacking the shit out of Christian only to lose in dodgy circumstances? Christian vs Kingston with a title on the line? Swerve rising up the ranks again to take the title from the biggest bastard in AEW; with Christian ā€˜as a fatherā€™ drafting in support from a deranged Hangman, referencing the home invasion? The ingredients are there for a sensational title run.

  19. 1 hour ago, LaGoosh said:

    It's been a fun feud but I'm also excited for the future now that Copeland has closed the Christian chapter and can have a fresh start and really start engaging with the rest of the AEW roster.Ā Ā 

    And it opens a new chapter for Christian too. Heā€™s still arguably the hottest heel in wrestling, and taking him away from the TNT titles opens up a world of possibilities for him, in which he plays an even more important role. Samoa Joe is doing a great job as champion, and his natural connection with the crowd would mean a Joe/Christian match or feud would absolutely work; with Christian cheating Swerve out of another title shot somehow.

    Or perhaps the Don Callis ā€˜familyā€™ needs a ā€˜fatherā€™ - and we could transition to Ospreay/Christian?Ā 

    What about Moxley/Christian, or Christian inviting Jack Perry back into his mentorship and seeing how that unfolds? How about a mini-feud with Mark Briscoe?

    Christian isnā€™t going anywhere (I hope) and the next chapter in his AEW story has the potential to be loads ofĀ fun. I canā€™t wait to see how he responds to this defeat.

  20. 1 hour ago, air_raid said:

    Or even if they do. Nakamura vs Zayn (here he goes again) was note perfect because they had 19 minutes to structure a match against a guy he should beat but its not implausible that he might lose, where all of Shinsuke's stuff could be done precisely when it needed to be, in front of a crowd already willing to accept that he was one of the biggest stars on the planet. He never quite reached that peak again.

    The problem with Nakamura is that he never really followed that impactful debut up with anything even close to being as good. I'd go as far as to say that it's his only memorable match in WWE. It's not that the rest have been bad (although some matches have been) it's that they've been no better than OK. I think Nakamura is to blame for his very average career in WWE. They showed willingness to push him - having him defeat Cena and Orton, and win the Rumble - but all of the matches he had were very average, even against AJ Styles; who we were told he enjoyed legendary chemistry with.Ā 

    As far as Okada goes, I'm yet to see the qualities in him that set him apart; but it's early days. I'm obviously willing to give him a chance.Ā 

  21. 13 hours ago, Abe_Knuckleball_Schwartz said:

    Honestly, I do not remember this game being so annoying? The jumps and hit boxes are awful - Iā€™ll be amazed if I manage to complete this.

    As @Daaaaaad!Ā says, they made the hitboxes/physics consistent across all three games, and for me that makes CB1 much more difficult. I couldn't complete the first game in the trilogy, but I was able to 100% 2 and 3.Ā 

    Still, the remake of CB1 is much easier than Crash Bandicoot 4, which is so difficult that it stripped the fun out of the game for me. They seemed to think that difficulty is what made the original games beloved; or that extreme difficulty was what needed to make this game beloved. I massively disagree with that, it's one of the most disappointing games I've ever played.Ā 

  22. The Fite TV stream cut off before the end of a match again? That's really fucking annoying. I found out after the fact it picked up on their Rampage feed, not that you'd know that from watching this.Ā 

    I thought the show was decent, but the number of title belts continues to be a huge problem for me, killing my investment in certain portions of the show. You have four AEW men's singles titles; and then you have the ROH titles on top of that. They're undercutting their own title belts. Christian Cage was a phenomenal TNT champion, and Orange Cassidy did a great job with the International belt. But now that they've lost it? For me, they've gone back to being meaningless trinkets. Perhaps Copeland can do something to change that perception; but it's going to be a challenge for him. They've not really defined what the difference is between the TNT, Continental and International belts, or why someone might choose to go for one over the other.Ā 

    If there was only one secondary singles title, it would mean much more. Imagine if Cassidy had had his run with the TNT belt, before dropping it to Luchasaurus or Christian; exhausted after defending it to regularly. Things could play out exactly the same as they did for Christian from there, and Copeland winning this title would mean so much more.Ā 

    Drop the trios titles, and the tag division gets stronger. Drop the ROH tag titles from AEW TV, and it's the same story.Ā 

    Subtraction would strengthen AEW, in my opinion. Drop some of the title belts, drop some of the TV shows, burn ROH to the ground and cut some of the wrestlers. A main event scene/upper card built around Swerve, Ospreay, MJF, Joe, Christian, Darby, Moxley, Hangman, Takeshita, Okada, Kingston and Jay White feels fresh, deep and exciting. They're so close to having something legendary as opposed to just plain 'good'. I really hope they get there.Ā 

    Ā 

  23. 1 minute ago, Tim Healys Chutney Spoon said:

    Bray Wyatt & Papa Shango w/Alexa Bliss vĀ  House of Black w/Julia HartĀ 

    Do you really want to see that under the criteria of the thread?

    18 hours ago, air_raid said:

    So, Iā€™ve been thinking about the post from Ian about this for a couple of days now, and reading Pats passion for Park (LA) has tipped me over the edge. I did a thread not long ago called ā€œUnderwhelming dream matchesā€ but hereā€™s an extension of that - youā€™re the money mark, and you can put on whatever you want. Not ā€œin their primesā€ but TODAY and regardless of who theyā€™re contracted too. As long as they can still walk, book it, even if itā€™s going to be shite. What tickles your fancy even if nobody else on the planet would watch it?

    Ā 

    Ā 

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