Chris B

16 hours ago, air_raid said:

"I'd been wrestling for ten years and kind of gone as far as I wanted to go. I didn't want to work on the American independent circuit and wait for WWE to come along, pat me on the head and give me another go. So I thought I would be my own boss. I've done some acting in commercials, small film roles and appeared on Days of Our Lives, and I run a head-shot photography business as a sideline. I have my own flat in LA, I'm 20 minutes from the beach, the sun is always shining and you can't beat the women in California. I'm living the American Dream!"

Fair play to him - he's had credited roles in Mission Impossible, Sons of Anarchy and Zack Snyder's Justice League.

Double-post wanker, because different point.

But now it's all in the rear-view mirror and Jack Perry is back (to a huge reaction too), I think the decision to show the Punk video makes more sense in hindsight.

They needed to align Perry with the Bucks going forward, and give a reason for him to be against FTR. Either they need to create something for that, or they use the convenient real-life situation that's right there. But that's all behind-the-scenes bullshit, and dirt-sheet stuff, so they need to explain it into the reality of the show itself, otherwise they're just hinting at stuff. And it probably made sense to do this before the return rather than after, because everyone would have jumped the gun and been talking about the Punk stuff anyway.

In terms of efficiency, they actually got quite a lot out of it - so I can actually imagine that it was the plan to show for this reason, rather than just to get back at Punk. Like, story-telling-wise, it makes more sense than it appeared at first.

I don't love it, still. But I can see that it all makes more sense than I thought it did originally.

1 hour ago, BomberPat said:

Bryan Danielson vs. Will Ospreay was fantastic, and still might not be the best Bryan Danielson match I've seen this month. What a run he's on. Over Wrestlemania weekend, while Bryan was in CMLL to face Blue Panther, there were idiots on Twitter talking about how he probably wished he were still with WWE and wrestling real big names, as if he's not having the run of his life, wrestling all his dream matches. Imagine what a "Daniel Bryan's final year as a full-time wrestler" story would look like in WWE compared to what he's been allowed to do in AEW. Probably whatever the 2024 equivalent is of wrestling Baron Corbin in your retirement match. And there's still the prospect of a match with Nigel McGuinness, he's still not had a triumphant return to Ring of Honor, and he's still not had my personal AEW dream match against Jeff Jarrett. 

I want a Danielson/Pac match so much. Ideally at Wembley.

People finding and sharing her details online was always going to happen, but it's still a dick move. As was writing it in such a way that she could be identified this quickly. It's a shame because it's such a good piece of work, but that's just not on.

I thought it looked fun. Glad they're doing something different with it. Might get in some new fans.

I mean, I've got my perfect movie already - it came out when I was seven. And with Lost Light and the like, I think there's the potential for a Transformers movie that's absolutely aimed towards me. But this one doesn't have to be.

I can easily believe there are multiple backup plans discussed, that get taken to various levels of 'confirmed'. The Borga thing doesn't sound likely, but the idea that - if Yoko got injured, or they thought they may have problems with Taker's back - the plan was 'Luger wins from Yoko, but if Yoko doesn't get/stay over as champ, or if someone's injured, we'll take a punt on Borga'. They didn't seem to believe in Razor at that time, and who else did they have? Crush? It wouldn't be a surprise to me that Borga's name was in the mix at that point. But I doubt it was ever 'the plan'.

Few things recently.

Robot Dreams (cinema)

Lovely little mostly-silent animation about a world of animals, and a dog who buys a robot friend. All about joy and bittersweet sadness, etc. Beautifully made. My partner and I did a rare Everyman for this one, which made it feel like a treat.

Immaculate (cinema)

Liked it rather than loved it. I liked that they went there for the ending, but it faltered in places for me. Sydney Sweeney was good, but I wanted the whole thing to be more Suspiria-style lurid. The few flashes of colour and abstract stuff really worked, and I'd have loved more of that.

The Last Omen

The Omen is one of my favourite horror films (and the first proper grown-up one I watched). And while it's not in the same league, I really liked it. Ralph Ineson is, once again, brilliant in a horror film, and it just overall worked better for me than Immaculate. It's surreal that two such similar films came out a week apart though.

Mute Witness (shudder)

Odd little film, about a woman with total speech impairment - she's working in a horror film in Russia, and starts being stalked after she witnesses a murder. It's not great, but it has a whole bunch of really good bits. And an odd cast - Fay Ripley plays the best friend, and Alec Guinness has a cameo (filmed separately, years before) and it's his last credited film role. Has a great scene involving a type-talk phone, and a genuinely funny bit of exploitative nudity. 

.

Late Night with the Devil

AI-nonsense aside, this was really fun. Could have been more subtle by the end, and it would have been better going back to the documentary-style... but when it works, it really works, and has some cracking moments in it. And it's funny too. "He died." "You mean he bombed?" "No."

I know nothing has been set up for it, but my partner suggested Pac would make a great opponent for Danielson at Wembley and I now very much want that.

At least she only did that kind of lazy trope for fantasy characters and not human characters of other ethnicities like Cho Chang, Kingsley Shacklebolt or Anthony Goldstein.

Worth noting that Rowling has threatened a lawsuit against a (Jewish) writer who accused her of holocaust denial after she claimed trans people weren't targeted - so the writer issued a denial. As a result of what's been perceived as a SLAPP, a lot of people are angry, and the accusations have been all over twitter since yesterday. Very much a case of the Streisand Effect in action. But it could also turn it into a much bigger story, not least since there's precedent for exactly this being classed as denial in Germany.

13 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

What's the last significant thing Moxley or Penta did in AEW; and what's the last significant storyline that Kingston was involved in that didn't involve ROH? And why would losing them be damaging to AEW? I'd wager that most people, sadly, wouldn't even notice if Penta disappeared. 

Kingston just blew off a really good feud with Brian Danielson. I'd say that's pretty significant.

With Penta, the biggest issue is that they don't give him some big feuds or wins. The Copeland match was excellent, but it was never in question who was winning, because Penta's not presented as that kind of threat. Which is frustrating, because he's so good.

Mox would be a huge loss - he's stepped into the main event so many times and always delivered. Sure, he's been lower this year, but with him just winning the NJPW title, I'd expect we'll be getting Mox/Okada in the near future (although probably after he drops the title).

Looks like a really nice mixed audience. You getting good returners?

1 hour ago, Carbomb said:

One of the things that low-key boils my piss is how that fucker Brandreth has managed to rehab his image from Tory MP to (still Tory) jolly, jumper-wearing uncle. Fucking snake. Prototype Boris Johnson.

I was horrified when I realised he wrote the Wide Awake Club joke books. It was like he'd travelled back in time since I'd become aware of him, and infected my childhood with Brandrethness.

4 minutes ago, Mr_Danger said:

So what’s this Okada fella all about then? He has a great face, one of those people who are pleasing to look at faces but having no previous experience of him he doesn’t instantly strike me as the superstar I’m being sold. Is he one of those guys that takes a bit of time investment to get the full package or am I missing it? 

Yes, he's one of those guys that takes a bit of time investment. I didn't get him at first and wasn't that impressed, and I now think he's one of the greatest wrestlers alive.

Phenomenal post by @Devon Malcolm.

16 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

And quite frankly I find it rank for people to use this as point scoring for themselves, in terms of "oh you're happy about Cody but what about the rapes??????"

While I disagree with a fair amount of what you're saying, I think there's a world of difference between having and (even loudly) expressing that opinion, and searching out people who are enjoying a show (or posting in threads where people are doing so) in order to make that point. Especially repeatedly. I think that's where a lot of it becomes bad faith. Like, have the discussion, make the point, whatever - but there's a point where it becomes point scoring and trolling.

8 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

I still hear people's arguments that two nights is too much. It is a lot. But the way I see it is that it's WrestleMania. It's the biggest wrestling show of the year and one of the biggest live events of any kind of the year. It *should* be a weekend of stuff, with a Hall of Fame and an NXT show and a Smackdown. I think next year they just need to work a bit harder on the matches across the card, they were bailed out a bit by almost every match and angle delivering something good.

Even without watching, it sounds so, so much easier than the 6/7 hours the one-nighters were feeling like before they went this way.

1 hour ago, RedRooster said:

I also think AEW’s problems make their way on to television far too often, and it’s not fun to watch. WWE doesn’t do that. If you simply want to enjoy the mad wrestling world and forget about the politics of it all; AEW can make that difficult.

I tend to see it more as a social media thing than a TV thing. The Copeland thing felt unusual, even as a mission statement. The thing this week may be different (and the Bucks being involved makes me think it's not going to be quite as on-the-level as it's being made out to be), but I can't think of that many time the problems have made their way onto the show itself.

Not meaning to be contrary here - if you come at me with receipts, no problem, because I tend to be a little more switched-off on AEW these days while I'm watching. But I don't feel like I'm seeing that much in the way of politics on the show itself.

3 hours ago, BomberPat said:

The only one I can remember is Punk's fans (and maybe him, I don't recall) freaking out at a skit where Omega drank "Pepsi" and then said it tasted like shit. When it was actually him doing a Terry Funk bit, where Terry drank some of Mr. Pogo's kerosene and when Pogo tried to tell him what it was, he just kept repeating, "no, I said it tastes like shit". 

It was last September, and the BTE guys got a legal letter saying they'd broken the NDA from Punk's lawyer in that episode. The Pepsi bottle was the only possible reference that anyone could find.

Going back to Regal, I think he lacked a main event style. He's great, don't get me wrong, but it's only as I've understood wrestling better that I've understood how good he was. But I can't think of a spot or match he did, outside of comedy, that got people out of their seats. He's an art house movie, not a blockbuster.

48 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

Sounds like a Tory MP.

 

 

Cody's advertising vodka, is married to Brandi - hope he doesn't start a stable with Bailey in it.

The many sips of Cody Rhodes.

8 hours ago, Jazzy G said:

I saw this month's comics bundle is an ass load of Spawn and other image comics for £15.77. There are 43 books there? It's pretty spanking good value. 

It includes the Sam and Twitch stuff by Bendis, which is really fun.

Holy shit, that poster. That's one of the best I've ever seen.

10 hours ago, BrodyGraham said:

As someone who left the North East 25 years ago and hasn't lost the accent, Pac's commitment to being absolutely as Geordie as possible in promo's is one of the main reasons that he remains my favourite character in wrestling.

I loved him yelling 'D'yunnerstan me?' to Okada, and everything about Okada's facial expression clearly conveying that he did not.

Taskmaster is brilliant - and I was expecting to hate it. But it's so good.