Shane O' Mac Version 2

One of the most demoralising aspects of being part of WWE production has to be choosing the right camera angles so it doesn't look that bad on TV. The job is literally to hide how shit they're doing.

I can see Hangman, but Punk and Dax? Really?

Orton and Reigns are at the top, I reckon. Of the other AEW guys, maybe Adam Cole? A lot of them (Sammy, Hook, Darby, Jungle Boy) look too baby-faced for my (err, totally hetero) tastes.

3 hours ago, RIDDUM_N_STYLE said:

So Survivor Series is 2 weeks tomorrow and WWE, even by their lazy standards, have barely promoted the show. In fact they’ve been that lazy that they’ve announced the teams for the men’s and women’s matches on social media

The rest of the card is expected to be Champion v Champion matches meaning we get

Big E v Roman Reigns

Damian Priest v Shinsuke Nakamura

Becky Lynch v Charlotte Flair

RK-Bro v The Usos 

On paper, this looks like one of those cards where the actual show will far out-deliver compared to the hype, maybe that's why WWE haven't bothered. If all those matches deliver, people will forget that they did a piss-poor job promoting it. Also looking like a somewhat rare occurance for Survivor Series- I can't see the world championship swapping right before the PPV to give us a better match- Big E vs. Roman is about as good as the full time roster can do right now.

Still makes me sad that Survivor Series is very clearly not a major PPV anymore.

15 minutes ago, Liam O'Rourke said:

Isn't this exactly what they did when Hangman lost the five on five?

9 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

AEW doesn't always give the people what they want. Everyone wanted Page and the Dark Order to beat the The Elite a while back but they lost.

Yeah, I know. Was speaking more to the general point that was being made, that "ain't AEW great? They just give us what we want" isn't necessarily a positive. And Hangman losing that 5 on 5 was a good example of the point I was making too- that occasional letdown helps the story along rather than the more straight-forward path of "Hangman gets no. 1 contendership, Hangman faces Kenny, Hangman wins". The reaction for Hangman was massive, BECAUSE he had the wind taken out of his sails and everyone knew this ladder match was his path to get it back.

I mean, Hangman was definitely over before, but who could have seen him getting that kind of monster pop as a top guy when guys like CM Punk and Bryan Danielson are in that tier? Or Moxley getting booed for beating him up- in Philly!

12 minutes ago, Louch said:

At some point they need to Fuck us so we don’t always just expect exactly what we want. But I’m sure they will do it on the right thing, than just spoil something really feel good 

I agree with this. Giving people what they want every single time makes them spoilt. Sure, YOU GOT TO GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT! most of the time, but for the sake of a little unpredictability in storytelling it needs to be done. Also- not that it's happened yet in AEW- but being crowd-pleasing at every single point could lead to over the top kickoffs when something doesn't quite go their way. As loyal and passionate as the AEW fanbase is, it wouldn't take much for that passion to turn into something toxic. We saw shades of it at Revolution when they fucked up on the explosion stunt.

To use a little anecdote, I babysat my friend's kid last year. She spoills him rotten, and he can be a right little shit sometimes. When he stayed over, he was asking to play with things on my shelves. I said no, because he might break them. It'd be very unlikely that he would have, but I wanted him to understand immediately that no was an option. Throughout the night, he'd ask to do things- some I'd say yes, some I'd say no. When it came down to it, he was better behaved that night than I'd ever seen him be with his mum.

Don't spoil kids. Or wrestling fans.

1 hour ago, WyattSheepMask said:

Something getting “dropped” is a major annoyance for our Keith (and anybody over the age of 14). It’s a proper case of someone trying to sound hip and down with the kids.

Anyway, SEND FOR THE @Keith Houchen!

Of all the modern slang to be annoyed by, "dropped" would be way down my list. It's been around so long, especially in music- "the album/mixtape just dropped"- that I didn't even consider it an attempt at sounding down with the kids.

Then again, had he described Escape The Undertaker as "lit, fam", then I'd be right there carrying the pitchforks.

Swag.

Best thing about the Edge/Seth segment was a sly nod to FTR, when Edge said "David & Daniel" were on their way (Dax & Cash's real names). Always enjoy when those little things sneak their way in. Like Daniel Bryan sneaking in a "List of Jericho" reference earlier in the year.

Main event has to be the FOTY surely? Insane how Volko escaped the subs in R3, amazing that he came back to batter Ortega, and it was bat shit crazy that Ortega seemed to catch a second wind in R5- after Herb and the doctor looked close to calling it in between rounds a couple of times- and come back to arguably win that round- I think he got it on one judges' scorecard. Funny how it started as a good, technical fight in the first 2 frames, to where the round Ortega won could have also been one of those, all the way to the mental 3rd round and the battering that followed. I know it wasn't a finish, but Volko can't be accused of being a point fighter in this one. He was out for blood. Credit to Ortega for the toughness, but people have to start giving Volkanovski respect and stop holding controversial judging in the second Max fight against him. I think it was Ariel Helwani who pointed out after the show- Alex didn't score that fight himself.

And I thought Moraes vs. Dvalishvili had FOTN or even a FOTY contender sown up in the featured prelim. That was wild! Referee might have let it go on too long at points, but both fighters showed incredible toughness and heart.

Other stuff:

-They might as well shut down the women's divisions in the UFC down and just put Shevchenko vs. Nunes in a 3 Stages of Hell match or something. Seriously, it doesn't seem like anyone has anything of substance to trouble them with. So many levels above it almost doesn't seem fair.

-Everything about Nick Diaz was sad here. His pre-fight, the way the fight ended, and his complete disinterest post-fight. Does someone have a gun to his head making him accept a fight? Is he in major debt or something? He clearly didn't want to be there in any shape or form. At least Lawler looked in shape and up for it, looks to have renewed his confidence.

-Great seeing Dan Hooker not only get the win after the hassles he's had, but continue to work on his ground skills to complement his vicious striking. Super classy post-fight interview as well giving props to Haqparast.

I know it's trendy to hate on Chris Jericho and his dad bod these days, but I thought his match with MJF at All Out was really pretty great. Lost in amongst the Punk/Cole/Danielson craziness obviously, but that was a high quality, dramatic match. Best straight up singles match Jericho's had in a good while- before that was probably Jericho vs. Mox, which happened when Jericho was 49.

14 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

There’s definitely truth to that but even still, I’ve never known a card like this be met with silence on here. I guess people have got so used to fights falling through that it seems almost pointless discussing them which is a shame.

Exactly where my head's been at with this card- and most cards lately. This one in particular though because Volko was on the doorstep of the fight earlier this year, only for COVID to swoop in at the last moment. Should it all go ahead, it's a night of fantastic fights that I can't wait to watch. But I can't let myself get excited until after weigh-ins go down... and even then, it's not totally guaranteed.

I think Volko is motivated to make a statement here. He knows all the negative chatter around his last defence, plus COVID forcing a longer lay-off. I think he'll be more aggressive than he's been in recent fights, plus it seemed like Ortega's cockiness did get under his skin a bit on TUF.

Not fussed on Shevchenko vs. Murphy. Feels like Murphy is there just because Valentina already battered everyone else.

So, Diaz vs. Lawler is at middleweight. A little odd that triathlete Nick Diaz didn't want to cut the weight, but I suppose it's been 6 years or so since he's had to do it. Hopefully, the fact that Diaz and Lawler aren't depleting their bodies will lead to a wilder fight on the weekend.

Should be fantastic, provided everyone makes it to the cage.

It's been said, but worth reiterating- Bryan openly praising WWE like he is, but STILL going to AEW, is 1000X the endorsement of the All Elite crew that any anti-WWE rhetoric would ever be. It's like, "yeah, WWE is an awesome place, but AEW is even better."

Bryan is a total class act.

I joined in 2003 after reading an article about the UKFF in some magazine, I think it may have been called Fighting Spirit? (EDIT- looked into it, wasn't that. Possibly Total Wrestling? Can't for the life of it find the article though.) Part of the article mentioned that although it was the UK Fan Forum, anyone around the world was welcome, and that was good enough for this Aussie.

Although I don't post all the time, I essentially grew up in this place. I was 13, in my first year of high school, and I was bullied very badly due to my disability. So at school every lunch time, I retreated to the library and would come here, posting at times that worked out terribly in relation to the UK time zone. I said some stupid shit over the years, but would like to think having this place as an outlet for my wrestling fandom helped me mature as I sit here at 31.

So thanks UKFF, and happy anniversary! 

Dunne will probably get the nod, being the youngest midget. That, or Dunne is found knocked out backstage before the match, allowing Ridge Holland to take his place.

I think when it comes to swearing, a lot of it is to do with the delivery. As good as Jericho is on the mic, since joining AEW and having that freedom on TNT, he tends to drop the curse word and either look to the crowd or down the camera in that pro wrestling way for dramatic effect. But if they're saying off-colour words, they should just let them fly, like a normal person speaking would. The words and the frequency of them aren't a problem, it's dropping it then pausing for the pop of "ooo he said something naughty!"

Schiavone got it perfect the other week when he dropped a "bullshit" about something on commentary, might have been about Don Callis or something, but it felt like a genuine reaction. Excalibur tried it with the false finish of the Jericho/MJF match, but it felt a little more forced and didn't work as well.

The spectrum of good to bad swearing in AEW goes:

Schiavone........................................................................... Excalibur..................................................................Jericho

The likes of Christian and MJF can fall anywhere in there depending on the day.

The Nikki Bella feud is actually the most interested I've ever been in Natalya's matches. She does things well, but she's just.. there. Really struggle to care when they give Natalya pushes.

The Bellas are so hated that being anything better than Khali level in the ring makes them underrated by definition. Not their biggest fans, they're not great and I think they're some of the least deserving HOFers in there (yeah, I know). But Brie was competent before she came back and concussed Liv Morgan, she held up her end of the Summerslam match with Steph and didn't completely embarrass herself in the Divas division in the late 2000s/early 2010s. Nikki was better in-ring, having some pretty good matches with the likes of Paige, Charlotte, Natalya & Ronda, but most were determined to hate the Bellas by that point. Nikki could have become the women's answer to Ricky Steamboat and she still would have been shat on.

Been catching up on all this over the weekend. I have to admit they've fully sucked me in. I've never liked Tyron Woodley, always thought he came across as a massive twat, but in this case he's the lesser of two evils. Jake Paul could make anyone seem likeable by comparison. I hope Woodley knocks him the fuck out. It's one thing for Paul to destroy Ben Askren. Askren was one of the worst strikers to ever step into the Octagon. But Woodley has legit skills, and despite how his UFC run ended, I actually thought he looked pretty damn great in his last UFC fight, sharp and aggressive before he got caught in the sub. Rightly got FOTN, and Jake Paul won't be pulling out any D'Arce chokes in this one.

Plus, I can't root against a man who loves his mama as much as Tyron Woodley does.

Here in Aus, we're in lockdown for at least another month plus. Gives me just enough time to watch back the first 20 minutes of Rampage again and again and again.

I like CM Punk a lot and was looking forward to all of this, but he wasn't my favourite wrestler or anything. But dammit, everything about this was sublime. I got teary when Punk literally launched himself into the crowd. His happiness and emotion, as well as that of the crowd, really got to me.

56 minutes ago, Perry said:

Everytime someone is released from WWE they assume that they're AEW bound.  Just like the old days with WCW

When it comes to anyone with name value though- and Bray is that, love him or hate him- AEW would be mad to pass him up.

What's the alternative? AEW leaves him alone and he works the indies for $50 in front of 30 people?

I remember Sasha punking out Bianca a lot for being a "rookie" after their half assed partnership earlier in the year. And I wouldn't count the ESPYs stuff as canon- sure, WWE will take the clout of it but it doesn't have actual bearing on the characters.

But yeah, glad we have clear cut sides now. Should be plenty heated by Summerslam. 

Gotta be among the quickest face/heel switches of all time for Sasha too. Was she not a heel at Wrestlemania? Meaning she effectively turned face on Smackdown returning to save Bianca, and turned back heel about an hour later.

He said in one of his IG posts or something before he left WWE that he'd never wrestle anywhere but WWE.

Wouldn't take that literally though, expect he just said that to come across as the ultimate company guy.

6 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

I'm basing this off of absolutely nothing, and I'm sure he has a fantastic fitness regime, but him coming back would be like watching him at 0.5x speed. 

He'll be slow as shit, and it'll be massively exposed against the talent.

That being said, I would absolutely love to see it happen though.

It's not like Punk was ever a super-athlete though. He had the indy cred, but never really the athleticism/explosiveness of someone like Bryan. I can't think of anything in his act that age would compromise, save for maybe the springboard clothesline, which I don't think he did a ton of towards the end of his run anyway.

McAfee is a millionaire from his NFL work, both as a player and analyst, and does really well with the Pat McAfee show that he hosts as well. He doesn't need WWE at all, he's doing it for funsies.

Since McAfee is both a legit athlete and a media personality, WWE are happy to latch onto him for the perception of relevance, but I think he'd happily pack it in if they tried to mold him in any particular way. I'm sure I heard him say he was willing to just walk off Mania over the shorts thing.

EDIT- yeah, that vid above haha, Watching it back now. God he tells good stories. 

Don't follow Impact closely, but tuning in tonight. Think it was last year's Slammiversary I enjoyed quite a bit, buoyed by the hype of the WWE releases, and here we are again. Enjoyed the Impact product independent of that hype, but there's only so many hours in the day, and I already follow WWE, AEW, a bit of New Japan, and the Aussie independent scene.

Glad that Impact has fans back. Biggest drawback for me in watching last year's show was the empty studio. Killed the vibe that the otherwise great wrestling provided.