RedTwoster

Honestly, I expected a Celtic win. I didn’t expect them to score seven. And frankly, it could have been more if not for the goalkeeper. The most alarming part after was Vrancken’s interview, where he seemed completely unwilling to acknowledge or understand that his tactics may have been an issue here. Also, why the fuck is he so unwilling to play Stuart Findlay given how sloppy his defence has been at times this season?

I n light of recent events, I take my previous post back. Fuck.

I think I’d have liked it more if it wasn’t a World title match? Maybe if it was to crown a number one contender or something I’d have liked it, but it didn’t really feel like a main event concept - maybe something that would have worked better as a spot-heavy opener. I didn’t think the wrestling was bad or anything, I just didn’t buy the execution or placement.

So, Wrestledream… Firstly, Andrade is the worst talented wrestler on AEW’s roster. He’s a WWE gimmick. The repetitive trouser and selfie spots in every fucking match. The stupid catchphrase shoehorned into every promo. An announcer fawning over how ‘cool’ he is as if forced to at gunpoint (for the record, I think Schiavone is saying this because he actually believes it, but it feels like the kind of thing Michael Cole would have said because Vince was screaming it in is ear - ‘REMIND THEM THAT HE’S COOL, GODDAMMIT!’) The match was good, but I hated it, especially the trouser spot. If Ciampa had followed the ‘kick-out’ up with telling the trousers ‘Andrade wouldn’t have done that’ or something like that it might have worked, but as it was, it was a very odd thing for him to do in the context of his character - and it being a title match; albeit one for a belt no one gives a shit about. On the other hand, the undisputed highlight of the show was Okada flipping off Takeshita after pinning him, as if he was Eric Cartman. Grinning like a Cheshire Cat, looking like the arsehole character he’s supposed to be - I loved it. He’s fantastic. I really want to see him interact with MJF, putting the two of them in a tag team for a little bit could be heaps of fun. I’d have liked to have seen Mercedes/Thekla get a bit more time. It was excellent, but for a match between two of the biggest acts on the roster right now, it felt a bit short. Wayne/Jericho was good, and it’s a rare situation for me in which Jericho putting someone over is actually working. The tag title match was great, and Kevin Knight’s star couldn’t be shining brighter right now. Like Okada, he’s very good at making you believe the way he behaves is just how he is. He IS an asshole, and he DOES believe he’s better than Kyle Fletcher, and probably anyone else on that roster. FTR/MCMG was good, but the Machine Guns still reek of WWE-stink to me. I don't buy them as a top level act, which FTR absolutely are at this point. Dragunov felt like a star, well done to whoever came up with his presentation here. I’m looking forward to seeing how he fits in on that stacked roster. The trios match was OK, but I didn’t really like having a best of three falls match and Clockwork Carnage on the same show, it felt repetitive to me. Still, here’s hoping we’ll get The Bucks vs New Level next, that’s something I really want to see, although I could absolutely see them saving that for All In next year. Please don’t, Tony! Clockwork Carnage didn’t really work for me as a concept. Given how many kick-outs there usually are in AEW main event matches, having that many pinfalls in one bout actually took me out of the match. Maybe if it had happened over two 30 mon halves I’d have bought it, I don’t know…but as it was, it felt a bit too gimmicky. The match wasn’t bad as such, I just found it hard to believe or get into.

Great write-ups as ever Richie, but fuck me, I never want to watch those matches. Even reading about some/most of these spots makes my stomach churn. Damn you for being such a compelling writer though, I stuck with these long past my normal point of tolerance!

100% this. People like Eric Bischoff calling for someone to look into the death (and that of Andy Williams) before the cause was even known was the kind of reactionary nonsense that could only have caused pain for the family if they were aware of it, hopefully they were not. I imagine the ‘all these young people have been dying since 2020, WHAT IS GOING ON?’ types won’t give in though, sadly.

This has the potential to be one of those B-level PPVs that absolutely knocks it out of the park, it’s a superb card. I don’t think it’ll happen since they have a new gimmick match to showcase, but I’d love to see Mercedes/Thekla close the show.

I can’t pretend to have found the Brawling Birds anything less than insufferable, but you have to feel for her. She’s someone that has, at various points, been very over but hasn’t been able to capitalise on that much because of injury.

It certainly seemed that way, but the road from ‘not sure what to do’ to ‘erm, shall we have him feud with Danhausen, then?’ is so unbelievably confusing. I mean, heck, use him to put someone over if you really need to - Trick Williams is on the rise, have them feud rather than run with Trick/Corbin. Or move him back to Raw and have him wrestle Oba Femi. If he’s the ‘career killer’ have him vow to end someone else’s career - Kevin Owens is back from a lengthy absence, while you can barely hear CM Punk’s promos these days over the creaking of his bones. The thought that Gunther might put a stop to either of them is believable enough, probably more so with Punk. When they overcome him, it could feel like a moment. Nice to see that AI is fine-tuned enough to the WWE ways that even it has learned the importance to drawing a creative blank, though.

Those photos really got me. I still don’t think his death has fully sunk in yet, but that post hit harder than I expected. I couldn’t stop thinking about how hard it must have been for his wife, going through all of her photos and selecting them for this post. All those amazing memories, knowing you’re never going to make new ones with him. Just awful.

How on earth has Gunther gone, in the space of a year, from retiring John Cena and AJ Styles to feuding with Danhausen? Also, 5 matches, 2 non-finishes and a DQ. Good going, Triple H.

On one hand, I’m delighted they’ve made a documentary about this, on the other I’d rather eat a tablespoon of dog shit than relive any of that final match. I can’t remember ever feeling more crushed at a football result.

Other than the Moxley match, I think he's been really good. If you took his current run and had it play out in WWE, it would be leagues apart from most other things they've been doing in that time. His whole storyline with Christian right down to the tag title win has been really fun. His character has been, admittedly, a bit bland compared to the likes of Swerve, MJF, Darby, Willow, Toni Storm, Hangman, Moxley and Thekla but I don't think he's been bad. He's just had to compete with people who are doing career best work in a company that has, for the bulk of Copeland's time there, been going through a real purple patch.

There are probably loads of logistical reasons as to why they wouldn't do this, but as much as I've soured on the Forbidden Door concept, I'd quite like to see them run a Forbidden Door: Tokyo show before they retire that show completely.

Ideally I'd like to see him face Christian in his final match, but giving MJF the accolade of ending Copeland's career with a loss would give him something to brag about going forward, same goes for Swerve assuming he remains heel. I'd like to see Copeland wrestle a lot of the names he's yet to interact with during his final run - that would include MJF and Swerve, but also the likes of Hangman Page, Kenny Omega, Okada and Will Ospreay. Edge is still one of my all-time favourites, so watching him hang up his boots on his own terms is something that'll mean a lot to me as a fan.

Danny Doring was similar, although he had a handful of additional matches. The last one before he left was with Punk, though. Roadkill and Tony Mamaluke also stopped by the relaunched ECW brand for a few appearances, but I don't think either did anything of any real note.

I'm surprised at just how far-removed Jericho has been from the World title scene since dropping the belt. I vaguely remember him facing Moxley for the interim belt at one point, but outside of that I'm surprised that they've not even dipped into that well for a TV match. For all his faults, it seems like an obvious thing to do at some point. Maybe his next World title match will come in his retirement run, who knows?

I totally agree - unlike Danielson, I don't need to see him win the World Title again before he retires. I would, however, be perfectly fine with seeing him challenge for the belt one last time unsuccessfully. For that to work as effectively as it can, it would need to be a strong heel like MJF rather than Ospreay - although I suppose there's value in him putting Ospreay over. I don't want them to retire together - I'd like a bit more of Christian before he hangs up his boots - but there isn't a more appropriate final opponent for him than Christian Cage; with Christian going full heel on him heading into that final bout, wanting end Edge's wrestling career by proving he's always been the better of the two of them. I think you're probably right. I'm not sure Copeland would see it that way, though.

Like @westlondonmist, I loved Wonder and I thought the consensus was that it was the best 2D Mario platformer since World on the SNES, but perhaps I've missed some division between fans on social media. One game that is definitely divisive is Mario Kart World and I think most people prefer 8. I'm not one of them. I really loved World and have put hours into it. The open world could have had a bit more to do - or at least a way of logging your progress, but I still enjoyed farting around in it and doing challenges. In terms of recommendations - Splatoon Raiders is a very enjoyable game, and I say that as someone who has not given much love to the Splatoon series in general. Donkey Kong Bananza is my favourite Nintendo platformer - 2D or 3D - in years, and it's so creative and clever that I can't imagine you would not have fun playing your way through it. Pokopia is something you could easily sink hours/days/weeks into. If you're into tactical RPGs, you can't go wrong with the new Fire Emblem. Althought it's available on other systems, I loved playing Pragmata on the Switch and almost every AAA port I've played so far has worked incredibly well, with the portability more than outweighing the graphical downgrade. The Elden Ring port has given me another excuse to play through that game again and the port of Oblivion has been my favourite way to play that particular game. The Indiana Jones and Cyberpunk ports are also fantastic - and both on the cartridge, rather than being Game Keycards. So yeah, you've a lot of great gaming ahead of you.

I wonder if it'll be held in Canada, with Copeland having his final World title match there as you're suggesting. I know not everyone here has been a fan of Copeland's AEW run, but what a fantastic ambassador for the company he's been. In every interview he talks glowingly about the company and how much he's enjoying himself and he really makes it sound like a company you'd want to work for if you were a wrestler, or watch if you're a fan. I imagine Tony Khan has viewed him as a very worthwhile investment. I wouldn't be shocked if Christian Cage decided to retire alongside him, but I hope we have a little bit more of him before he calls it a day. The Patriarch character is one of the best AEW creations of all, and he's had the run of his career in that company. The show on the whole was a little mediocre, but I can't do anything other than give them a pass considering the horrific circumstances they had do deal with in between All Out and Wrestledream. It's perfectly understandable why the build to the show has been so rushed. I still don't think there was any need to run with the predictable qualifying matches, though. Why on earth should Myron Reed, Lee Moriarty or Ace Austin be in contention for a World Title match? If they want to run a series of qualifiers like that, frame it as a themed set - an 'opportunity of a lifetime' in which younger wrestlers are being given the chance to prove themselves against the best, and have one of them actually succeed. The New Level segment was painful. Fair enough, they were probably obliged to give that guy the chance to promote whatever he was promoting but fucking hell, that was the opposite of promotion, it made me never want to see that guy ever again. It was definitely the worst segment AEW has run this year. Talking of painful, that segment with Andrade, Ospreay and The Brawling Birds...my goodness. It was very WWE, wrestlers uttering the same tired lines and the same old catchphrases. I can do without hearing Alex Windsor saying "slags" and Andrade asking "How you know?" ever again. And the selfie spot? Bin it. Stop. It's shit and adds nothing to his matches. First time round it was fun, now it's the wrestling equivalent of a Little Britain catchphrase. Wrestledream should be a fun show and although I hope they're able to move on to their next big storyline as soon as it's done, whatever it may be.

I’ll add another AEW one to the list…Trench. I’m not even joking when I say I’m more intrigued about this man’s story than almost any other AEW wrestler ever. I’m not even sure I can call him a wrestler, as he doesn’t seem to have ever been in a match. How did he even end up on television, in a company that prioritises ring work over anything else? Why was he released so quickly? What is he doing now?

He had a few other matches, including one against Umaga and another against Khali where he did...this beforehand: Harley Cameron, eat your heart out.

I didn't really care about the Ocarina of Time remake, but today the previews have been published (link to a VGC preview by the excellent Chris Scullion...who is also a wrestling fan, so may well be a poster on here...) and they're absolutely glowing. It seems it's not, as it first appeared, a 1:1 remake and the gameplay is sensational. You can fuck your GTA VI, this is the November game I'm most excited about (assuming I'm finished with Final Fantasy Resonance by that point, which I'm also buzzing for) I'd been a bit down on the most recent Nintendo Direct, but goodness me, I've had a great year of gaming with my Switch 2. My PS5 has been gathering dust.

And fair play to him too, he quit when Vince McMahon made his return as he didn't want to work for him. I can't imagine he's someone who is sitting on a particularly sizeable bank balance, so I can't but respect the fact he seemingly stuck to his morals. There are plenty of people with much less to lose who've been unable to do the same. Huh, how did that get there?

On the subject of ECW, there was the BWO's short-lived run on Smackdown, on the back of JBL legitimately assaulting Blue Meanie on the ECW One Night Stand show for calling him a bully (perfect way to prove an allegation like that wrong - well done, Bradshaw) It resulted in Meanie getting a win over JBL on Smackdown - presumably to discourage him from suing the company: Then the BWO briefly reformed on Smackdown, taking on the Mexicools in a match before the gimmick was dumped and Meanie was never seen on WWE television again. As far as announcers go, whatever happened to Goldenboy with AEW? He announced a show, was genuinely excellent, the company gave him the All Elite graphic... And then he completely disappeared.