RedTwoster

Yup. It’s frustrating rather than tense or fun and takes away from an otherwise excellent game.

I nearly posted that earlier, but they’ve kind of got the balance right with their tribute shows in that they feel celebratory as opposed to mournful. The Brodie Lee tribute show was, at times, heartbreaking but at the same time it celebrated who he was and his legacy - his family. Their tribute shows have been touching rather than upsetting, and I suspect this will be the same.

I’m not entirely sure where else to put this, but I’ve just learned that Eric Bischoff took his Real American Freestyle company to Moscow, potentially even violating US sanctions on Russia (link to ESPN). I know he’s right wing and almost certainly pro-Trump, I know he’s a grifter, I know he’s been to North Korea in the past but in spite of all this, flying in the face of all logic, I still can’t help but feel disappointed every time he and his type willingly throw all morals aside just to make a few extra dollars.

Shamelessly paging @gmoney

100% this. There will absolutely be an approvals process for something like this, and a set procedure - and that may well be that tributes to external figures come from high ranking officials (ie. Triple H) with an additional tribute on their TV shows. I hope they pay tribute to their sign guy on air too. For far too long, WWE almost seemed embarrassed by its most hardcore of fans and his story, in which he became a super fan after the death of his wife through cancer, was really touching and sad. I'm glad Triple H has acknowledged him at least.

Crime writer Peter May has died (link to The Herald). I imagine a lot of you will be unfamiliar with him, but he meant a lot to me as he was one of the few authors who wrote about (fictional) crime in rural Scotland; a part of the world I grew up in and a part of the world that very rarely makes its way into fiction. The best tribute I can pay to him, I think, is this: you should read his books.

I think what you've both perhaps seen is this, a Facebook post that went viral from a fake account pretending to be the official WWE account. As far as I know, they've not issued any sort of tribute on their socials. I would hope they'd have a graphic before RAW and NXT at the very least - but even if they don't, I imagine the wrestlers themselves and perhaps also the announcers will acknowledge it. I can't imagine Corey Graves going through the broadcast without paying tribute to his former partner.

I'm glad PAC's death is being acknowledged by the main UK press, with pretty much every major outlet running a story about him. In the US, the likes of CNN and the New York Times are reporting on it. He really deserves that level of recognition, and although it's not exactly a consolation I imagine that many people will be discovering just how wonderful a performer he was for the first time today.

I absolutely love this idea. Hangman was a tremendous heel, and they only scratched the surface for what he could achieve in that role. Also, Ospreay/Darby for the title on PPV, fuck me that's an appealing prospect.

I don't think it's even possible that there will be a solution to this that feels satisfactory to anyone given the scale and complexity of it. I also think the appeal process and next steps will take years, as Man City take every legal avenue available to them to prevent punishment. The most interesting part will be whether or not other clubs take legal action. Even with the money City have, this strikes me as the kind of thing that could wipe the club from existence. The length of time this was happening and the number of clubs who could make a claim has me wondering if they will even survive this.

Although there have been some high-profile wrestler deaths in recent years, it's happened significantly less with this generation of wrestlers, I think. It's become surprising again, but this one has absolutely shocked me. PAC had achieved so much and influenced so many, yet it still feels like there is a whole brilliant chapter of his story that will go unwritten. @Supremo sharing his incredible match with Darby kind of shows why. A character like that probably shouldn't have worked as well as he did in quirky or even comedic circumstances. It could have taken away his menacing aura but it never did, he still felt like he had it in him to absolutely destroy you without warning. He was one of the most terrifying heels in wrestling because he played the character so well. I'm finding myself wanting to talk lots about him this morning. It's probably in part because I don't want to think about the finality of this, but as devastating as this is, I feel like it's so important to celebrate him. He's been part of some of the most memorable and creative matches that have ever taken place in wrestling, but because his body of work is so strong, it's so easy to forget about any one great match when it's so swiftly followed by another.

I mentioned this in my original post, but since then I rewatched PAC vs. Orange Cassidy from Revolution 2020, and it's just as good as I remembered. I can't think of a better tribute to him than showing him at his best. I'm sure there will be plenty of journalists and people unfamiliar with PAC today trying to find out what he was all about. It's tragic that his death would be what introduces them to him, but he was one of the most influential British wrestlers of the past decade - and was capable of magic in ring like this: I'm finding myself wanting to talk about PAC this morning, and I wanted to celebrate just how brilliant he was a little bit more than I did in my previous post. If you've googled PAC and found this thread, I'd only have to direct you to the All Out thread on this board to get an idea as to how genuine the thoughts expressed in this thread are - he was one of the most believable and effective heel characters in recent memory, a tremendous wrestler and, by all accounts, a tremendous human being. And I'm not sure he ever had a bad wrestling match - the one I've just shared is my personal favourite, but it's hard to pick a standout from such an incredible body of work.

@Dr. Alan Grant - it’s not that bit. I won’t be too specific but there’s an enemy that can kill you in one hit, and the way you have to escape them is so badly structured that I could see it having a lot of players give up in frustration. You can also find yourself respawning basically right in front of them, causing another instant death. It’s one of the most infuriating sections I’ve played in any game in quite some time. I really enjoyed the game on the whole and its portrayal of Scotland is incredibly accurate (aside from the fact you barely encounter any Scottish people) but that part…fucking hell.

I woke up early and went online to see if there was any update on Steven Borden, and I am absolutely stunned to have found this news instead. PAC redefined himself in AEW, becoming one of the most effective heels in the company - believable, sinister and genuinely terrifying. His match with Orange Cassidy will go down as one of the best in the company’s history. And as I mentioned in the All Out thread before his passing, he was interviewed by Colt Cabana in 2014 and was the complete opposite to the character he would go on to play. He was quietly spoken, he discussed his battles with anxiety and mental health in a way that was far less common even then. He was fucking brave to do that, particularly in an industry packed with toxic masculinity. It’s so easy to inflate someone’s importance after they pass away, but I don’t think his impact on the British wrestling scene or on AEW can be understated. He was such an important wrestler. I can’t believe I’m speaking about him in the past tense. Honestly, this is devastating.

I’m wary of spoiling anything for anyone but there’s a part of this game that is absolutely infuriating and I’m pretty sure you’ll know what I’m talking about. On the whole though, I really enjoyed it, I just hope they patch those particular bits to make them slightly more tolerable.