Shane O' Mac Version 2

I think the thing that makes that tidbit seem more incredible is that the first gap between matches saw Rock completely distance himself from WWE. Between 2004 and 2011, he came back to induct his dad into the HOF, did a tiny pre-tape for Battle of the Billionaires, and another short thing for Smackdown's 10th Anniversary. He went by Dwayne Johnson, lost a ton of muscle, and it seemed like he was totally out the door chasing Hollywood stardom.

In the last 10 years, Rock has been far more tied to WWE, with cameo appearances on TV and PPVs (I believe the last proper one was 2019 when Smackdown went to FOX?), plenty of talking head spots on video packages and documentaries, and he's made a sitcom based around his early life and beginnings in pro wrestling. The biggest thing is that he completely embraces his wrestling past now, so he doesn't seem as far removed from it all as he did after WrestleMania XX.

8 hours ago, Supremo said:

I hate it. It’s such unnecessary, carny bollocks. Any company deserves both barrels whenever they resort to it. What’s worse is that AEW proved the last few years that pro-wrestling doesn’t have to be like this. It can be fun escapism where nice things happen and you have a good time. You don’t need to be reminded of all the dark, horrible shit happening behind the scenes, or be made to feel pissed off in the wrong assumption that it leads to HEAT. Has anyone ever actually wanted to see a heel lose when they use material like this? It just takes me out of it completely.

I totally get the escapism point, but on it taking you out of it, I find that curious, because for me it does the opposite.

Whenever they go to the reality/shooty lines, it locks me in more, because if we're meant to believe Christian is this slimy bastard, why wouldn't he go for that low-hanging fruit? Especially in this age when we're clued in on so much, it makes complete sense for Christian to piss off Jungle Boy by invoking the name of his dead dad, or for him to needle Matt Hardy by bringing up Jeff and his sobriety issues. To NOT mention those things that everyone knows about, it's like "oh, Christian's towing the line, that's right, it's a show." Having him say the worst things makes me suspend that disbelief.

Yep. Also Daniel Bryan Danielson and Big Show.

He was apparently spotted at a casino though. I know he's a mega-heel and all, but deliberately giving people COVID?

Biggest thing is how loaded all their shows are, and it's a problem across the board. From Dark being 2 hours of squash matches, to the warp speed pace of Dynamites, to Double Or Nothing this weekend- at present there's 11 matches, with 10 of them on the main card. 

You can definitely have too much of a good thing in AEW's case. We saw it at Revolution a couple of months ago. Hangman Page and Adam Cole had a cracking title match, but it barely got a reaction because the crowd was spent from the 4 hours of epics before it. Panama Sunrise on the floor, crickets.

What exactly did Will Ospreay do? I'm a bit out of the loop. I heard something about him getting a wrestler blackballed from a promotion, which while shitty, doesn't seem on the same level of horribleness as Marty Scrull and Travis Banks. Or is there some nonce element involved as well?

I hope Omega is able to wrestle on this show. He's been out for several months and has a couple more until this Forbidden Door thing. Getting him involved in a match with either Okada or Ibushi seems like a no brainer, even if it's a tag deal where he doesn't have to carry the workload. 

Odd phrasing. It was all scripted when Big Bazza did it, too.

Great time to get back into UFC for me. Missed a few recent cards but had to get into it for the hometown boy. Had the family around, got together some snacks and drinks, made a little party out of it.

Wasn't too far off with my picks. Volko was outstanding, and got the finish. Standing TKO on the Zombie, nuts. Alex showed he's a good man by asking Zombie at the start of the 4th, "are you sure?" before putting the nail in the coffin. Liked that he showed a bit more confidence in his words in the post-fight too- he's always been a humble fella, but he's earnt the right to talk a little shit with the run he's on.

Even though the sub wasn't gained, I feel like I was close to the mark with Aljo/Yan. Yan was looking to knock Sterling's head off, and left openings for Sterling to take the back and stay there. Very close fight with Yan maybe seeming to edge 1, 4 and 5, but didn't really put together a lot himself, it wasn't definitive by any means. Close but didn't feel it was a robbery either.

I was off on saying Khamzat vs Burns would be boring. Jesus. They threw down, I thought there'd be a lot more grappling, but they basically swung for the fences for 15 minutes. Brilliant.

Looking at the results on paper, the show comes across far more dull than it actually was. Lots of decisions, and one of the few finishes was a standing TKO- might not count as a "proper" finish for the Just Bleed crowd. But there was a ton of fun to be had through most of it, from the prelims to the main event. Sterling vs. Yan wasn't a barnburner, but it was high stakes with the championship at stake. The only slight dud of the lot for me was Pichel vs. Madsen, and even that wasn't terrible. Just not the kind of action you want from a PPV opener.

EDIT: double post

8 hours ago, Egg Shen said:

that's a strange old pick

A few strange picks for me with this one. My uncle is beside himself that I've picked Aljo as well.

I think Khamzat is legit. Regardless of where the fighters are in the rankings, you don't look THAT dominant in the Octagon over several fights unless you've got something special about you. I don't think Khamzat steamrolls Burns in the same way, he's too good, I think Burns is good enough on the ground that we get a bit of a stalemate action-wise with Khamzat in top control.

Or maybe someone lands a looping overhand in the first 10 seconds. Fuck knows. It's MMA.

8 hours away, I think I can finally get excited for this card! I'll post this and get some shut-eye, get my arse up right before the prelims.

Looking at the above facts, Volko deserves way more respect than he does. Even after the insane Ortega fight, so many fans STILL won't give him credit. I get it, he won a fight he maybe shouldn't have won against Max, and I love Holloway as well. But you get a lot of people taking it too far, especially a strange bunch that also claim that Holloway won the first fight. Old mate Alex kicked Max's leg out of his leg in that title winning performance.

It's for that reason, and that reason only, that I hope Volko stops Zombie. The champ is aggressive, but does have a bunch of decisions on his record, outside of sparking Mendes. The Ortega fight wasn't for lack of trying. But maybe if the champ gets a finish of someone as durable as Zombie, it'll wake the haters up.

Rest of the card is full of fun shit too. I'm picking Aljo in the co-main. So much was made of the knee and the way Sterling won the title. But underneath that, there's a hell of a fighter, one that was giving Yan some problems, and one that choked out Cory Sandhagen in a minute and change. I think Yan comes in overconfident/cocky and leaves an opening to get submitted himself.

Khamzat will blanket his way to victory against Burns. It won't be fun to watch but it will be a statement against a top contender.

I'm also Team Mackenzie Dern's Bum. I think she loses to Tecia Torres though.

5 hours ago, RedRooster said:

Garcia's involvement, to me, feels very forced so far. 

Garcia's involvement being forced is kinda the point, I think. Of course he'd fit better with Danielson, Mox & Regal, but having him dis-regard all that to say, "I'm a sports-entertainer" with a shit-eating grin, when it clearly doesn't fit what he's about at all, is designed to piss people off.

On 3/29/2022 at 9:06 PM, Carbomb said:

Have you given up on the MMA? I noticed you haven't posted much recently on it like you used to.

Still watch, but I've had a major increase in work over the past 6 months or so. Only manage to catch the major events these days.

But yeah, MMA is probably my exception to the "no real sport" thing.

I don't like much real sport. Half a game of football would probably be my limit. But my leisure time just about every day involves watching a couple hours of wrestling or wrestling-adjacent content.

I'd like it if the teases that occured through 2011 actually paid off, and we got Stone Cold vs. CM Punk at WM28. The sit-down promo they did with JR to promote WWE 12 was amazing, as was their confrontations on a few Raws through the year.

Austin returns to co-main event with Rock vs. Cena, has a banger of a match and realises he can still go to a high standard, locking him in as a Undertaker/HHH esque special attraction over the following decade. As for Punk, the marquee spot keeps him happier for longer, due to his fandom of Stone Cold and the critical acclaim the match gets. As a result, he isn't presented as second fiddle through the remainder of his WWE Championshp reign, and has more respect within the company. Therefore, he's allowed breaks and a lighter schedule when he needs it, and doesn't walk out in 2014.

Has he not called out Austin... for the KO Show?

"I CHALLENGE YOU... to an interview" was always going to fall flat. If they can't deliver the match, they should have stayed away from cock-teasing it.

My fandom started in 1998, but I didn't get to attend a live show until 2005, so I missed seeing Austin and Rock in person. Being in Australia, I could have ticked off Rock if I'd managed to get to Global Warning Tour, but my family didn't have that kind of money back then. When I became an adult, I ponied up the cash to go to WrestleMania, and of course WM33 was the first event in years that neither Austin or Rock were at.

I've also never seen Hogan, but I'm not fussed about that. Could have virtually crossed the road to meet him at his Beach Shop when I was in Orlando, but chose not to. Almost saw the Hulkster as he was set to act as GM for a Sydney house show I was going to in 2015, but he was replaced last minute with Shawn Michaels, so I got to tick him off my list. Massive upgrade IMO.

Between the impressive 2005 roster on my first Raw house show, and the ridiculous amount of talent on WM33, I've seen a ton of wrestlers spanning generations now. Main event of my first show was Triple H & Ric Flair vs. Batista & Chris Benoit, with the likes of Chris Jericho, Kane, Edge & Christian on the undercard. And with AEW becoming a big thing now, I've seen several of the All Elite guys on various tours- The Bucks, Cody, Omega, Orange Cassidy, SCU, Lance Archer, Brian Cage.

Got excited when I was tagged in this, dammit!

At least my men's Rumble score was decent enough to drag me away from overall wooden spoon.

1 hour ago, Kfogg1991 said:

Surely this can't be right. They have the elimination chamber PPV in 3 weeks. They can't push how important and sadistic this match is then rehash it for the blood money ppv weeks later.

If that is true honestly there isn't 1 single element of this company that makes sense or has something they can make feel special and unique 

The Elimination Chamber IS the blood money PPV this year. No Crown Jewel or Super Showdown, at least at this point in the year.

Ronda already seems put off that it wasn't 100% cheers from the audience. I thought she got a great reaction, with around 90% cheering her, but she's focused on the 10% booing. Her post-match interview came across incredibly irritable. I know she does the "bad bitch" mean mug, but she seemed shitty from her entrance to when she was almost in the back celebrating her win. She allowed herself the smallest smile when they gave her a pop in the entrance way.

Slaughter and JYD both went in in 2004, I'm pretty sure.

1 hour ago, ReturnOfTheMack said:

I enjoyed the show. It wasn't mind blowing, and I'd have probably reversed the match order - Britt and Riho were always going to have an enjoyable match, but one with very, very little doubt to the victor. 

Also, first US wrestling I have watched live since about 2005ish. 

I agree about the match order. For the most part, I love AEW, but a consistently frustrating thing is them always starting the show with the biggest/best match. I understand wanting to start off hot, but it means the show peaks in the first 20 minutes and goes downhill from there- not by a lot, usually, but I feel like it's better to finish on your highest note.

I think there was a year where I was a close second or third in one of the Rumbles, so this thing is the highlight of my UKFF career. No matter where I am in my WWE fandom- and it's not especially high at the moment- this game always does a great job injecting a little fun into Rumble season, so thanks for running it.

My picks:

2, 3, 13, 21, 29

Met Waller quite a few times, pretty good dude but the "cocky athlete" part of his persona is definitely him. Like most good wrestling characters, Grayson Waller is Matt Farrelly with the volume turned way up.

Planning to get NJPW World back on at the start of January for Wrestle Kingdom. I've largely been out of the loop for the last couple of years, what are some must-see matches from 2020/2021?