Chili

Well, deep breath... here we go.

Posting here instead of the AEW thread as, well you know.

I barely remember this band beyond how I thought this song would be perfect for a Shawn Michaels/The Brian Kendrick swaggering dickhead character. 

He had an IC Title run absolutely YEARS ago because I was watching it. Didn't he have some deal with the weightlifting powder in his entrance. Think this is when they dropped the surname too.

That's all I remember of it, who he won or lost it to or actually when it's a mist to me.

I like Big E loads, the guy was always top bollocks to watch in the ring and out of the clutches of the pyramid of how WWE produce their humour he is so damn brilliant and naturally hilarious.

Which is why I have no faith in watching him because he's never gonna be a big thing. They're incapable of it. They fucked it up with their BEST option from the New Day, why would I have any faith in them doing anything with Big E.

Anyway, someone has hoofed together a supercut of all the Mr. Brodie Lee stuff from BTE which might bring a smile because his work in these is absolutely stellar.

As a performer, I'm only really familiar with his recent work in AEW. When the Wyatt's came into WWE, I was cycling out of really watching it much but when I did I noticed he was always there and loved his look.

His recent AEW work really won me over on him, the brilliant destruction of Cody and then having that outstanding dog collar match were some great performances. He had a great terrifying presence, backed up with his really funny BTE bits as the sociopath cult leader crossed with like some frustrated headmaster as his class dicked about.

As a performer his career is always going to be a What If? But from all the tweets I've read from everyone who actually knew him, it seems as an actual human being he more than fulfilled his potential.

Personally to be able to perform live again. Up until March I had the biggest work of my career so far lined-up and everything just stopped. It's played fucking havoc with my mental health issues, so doing something I did originally to literally get me out of the house and the income would be really mentally beneficial for me...

...and being able to sit and read in the corner of an old pub again.

Seen so many fantastic complaints about The Acclaimed about their material, but more because of how apparently poor Castor is as a rapper and how cheap the video looked.

That's how it's meant to be isn't it. Heels with dis gimmicks who are crap or average at something they think they're good at? If he was good, they'd all start turning him. Or am I just out of the loop and fans complain about a lot more now?

Personally I don't reckon the Acclaimed are ready for full weekly TV yet, but its the dead TV period so you might as well get some eyes on new stars and rotate them out and back in at another point and also not waste a bigger match on a slot that got pegged by real sports.

@Nick James re the MJF bit, Santana lost his dad last year and his step-dad very recently. I assume the genuine moment from MJF is him acting the prick and planting seeds in PNP's head, especially with Santana being kinda cool with him joining anyway and Ortiz veering still to Sammy Guevera being certain MJF is a snake in the grass. Helps make Sammy's case look worse and him eventually getting the boot, plus now you have the Hagar/Wardlow match next week where if Wardlow wins MJF is gonna maybe a make a case that Hagar isn't all that, or he'll 'boast' about his guy beating Jericho's.

I tend to skip the Bucks stuff because I don't really find them much cop out of the ring, and any of the Kip Sabian bits, seems cool but again, Young Bucks stigma for me.

The Kazarian stuff was like, average, but paid off with that Scrooge parody. Really enjoyed that, I find all the Best Friends/OC weird anti-humour actually really good. The BTE Title stuff has been great too. The Spanglish stuff is very hit and miss but it has an audience probably not aimed at me.

Always expected the Jurassic Express to be used more on it but their skits always end up dying on their arse. It's missing more Eddie Kingston doing series promos on random props... and Trent's mum.

43 minutes ago, Louch said:

This weeks BTE has the happiest ending they have done in a long while. 

Yeah this is absolutely skill.

1 hour ago, Big Benny HG said:

The version of that story I heard was that one of the trainees/helpers was sent out to collect all the food (burgers etc.), came back and set it out on a table backstage to the point some of the wrestlers thought Fludder was putting food on for them; Vader walked backstage and the helper said "Um, Mr. Vader, your food's ready", to which the big guy went over, sat down and worked his way through the whole lot as, well, everyone watched on.

 

And yeah, the Wetherspoons story was that he had a large breakfast, finished that and ordered another, finished that and went to order another, only to be told they'd stopped serving breakfast, so ordered a large mixed grill instead.

 

That first PCW visit, he'd been miserable when I went to get my photo/autograph with him (grunting and swearing) that we sacked-off the post-show "An Evening with Vader" Q&A/speaking session with him that I'd already bought a ticket for and just went to the pub instead.  The second time, he was seemingly in a better mood as he was hanging around with Rikishi and Terry Funk, but still supposedly made sure to make a point of telling all the British and indie wrestlers on the show to be clear on who the real stars were and who the crowd were there to see and, yes, who should and should not be joining in with the Too Cool dance at the end of the show.

 

Most of my interactions with 'famous' wrestlers have been brief but, aside from Vader and a hungover Scott Steiner, they were all really pleasant, polite and friendly...

Yeah I can confirm that's how the Vader thing went Benny.

Scott Steiner was pretty laid back, but also he was Scott Steiner so I wasn't planning on being a smart arse with him. Bloke is genuinely massive even though he must have lost some  height as we were the same height when speaking.

Rick Steiner was very much like when I worked with Bob Holly. Heard/Seen the horror stories, turns out to be an absolute gem.

38 minutes ago, cobystag said:

I believe Fludder also posted a story about taking Vader to Wetherspoons where he polished off two large English breakfasts and then two sausage sandwiches and Fludder was bemoaning not booking him into a hotel with an all you can eat due to what it cost him at Spoons.

Absolutely no idea, I just remember catching him in a quiet corner of the backstage area just scranning down and all I could think was that was too much food even for him.

I was of course greatly mistaken.

If this is around the 2013/2014 when me and @chokeout were working for the Preston Paul Heyman, they had Vader over and I watched him destroy four Styrofoam containers of takeaways. Proper Henry VIII stuff, Butch is correct in that he also absolutely ponged. 

Yeah for tag 'car crash' in wrestling, while it had a lot going on, at least it made sense. They juggle maybe a arc too much week to week but at least it still has some logic. It's nowhere near what you'd classically associate with it. 

Oh god I'm not saying anyone on here outright says it (or elsewhere) but I can't not read some of the criticism about Brandi Rhodes and feel it's a bit off sometimes. Kinda like some of the strange characters who don't like Nyla Rose. 

I think the division is fine now. It had a tough period with the pandemic/injuries and other big stories took over so the division got iced while they got Thunder Rosa in. Since then I think it's been a fun division. I don't see a problem with it, but I don't know how any other promotions are booking them these days. Do WWE still do the progressive PR angle with them? 

I quite enjoyed it to be honest. Seems everyone is having a bit or nark about it, though at least its a different criticism to the women being booked and the 'when are we gonna get to the fireworks factory' reaction every week to it. 

Because I don't really read about WWE so I can't judge and it's a tightrope to bring up. But the acts in AEW I see getting the most stick online besides Matt Hardy and his fucking penguin knees are Brandi, Swole and when Jade Cargill made her debut you couldn't help but feel how uncomfortable it made so people. 'Well she suckssss, they need to abort that angle, she's so not ready' and then reel off a load of green women you'd get on DARK who should get the spot etc. Bit unnerving occasionally. It's extremely noticible with Brandi though. 

If Tony Khan remains in this position as a very very occasionally appearing CEO who it's acknowledged can book the matches then that's as good as it should be.

This weeks BTE is truly wonderful.

Just now, gmoney said:

What do we reckon Sting's new look should be? 

We'll start with his chin and work from there.

I wouldn't eat a sandwich from Sami Callihan. 

Yeah that is a good point, Rebel was for me 'oh god that woman from that Mike Knox thing' in TNA but a few vignettes cleared that away. I guess she is doing a different character so I can see how this works against say Vickie, again I think it's because as a performer Vickie is great as the wrestling Karen act. I'd have gone La Familia and her paired with Diamante and Ivelesse at least, they've been featured more in general than Nyla Rose but then I know this also a big roster/waiting for the new show to be added deal as well.

Random thing to add in here, but as utter dogshit as she is an in-ring performer, it's mad that Rebel feels more apart of a company and fits in than an established performer like Vickie Guerrero. I'd compare Matt Cardona in that too but he proved to be a complete write-off. I absolutely love Rebel in her role as Britt Baker's Ed McMahon sidekick on these Waiting Room segments on DARK. Sends herself up as a bit of a goof/awkward white woman. Her mom bopping to the Acclaimed free-styling was absolutely piss funny.

Britt Baker is a bit of an interesting character actually. Super successful, two high profile professions, and yet such an arrogant heel, she evidently has absolutely no real friends and hangs around with an interviewer she gaslights and her milfy paid for assistant. I still don't quite get the Schiavone/Britt thing but they have absolutely superb chemistry and all of them hit their comic beats brilliantly.

So what was Sting's deal at the time. Problems with the pills? I've never heard a word about this.