Loki

1 hour ago, Frankie Crisp said:

Rock/Austin face-off

I'm hoping they didn't do that because a) it was too obvious and b) they've got that planned for Summerslam.  The fact is that both Rock and Austin are still healthy enough to do SOMETHING so please, let's not leave that on the table too long.

But yeah, great PPV again, loved the opener, loved the main event.  Sometimes predictable is good, sometimes you WANT your fantasy to come true.  And I'm not moaning about HHH getting his flowers, the man deserves it.  He has worked away for years, learning his craft as a booker, built NXT and then had it taken away from him, got the book for the big shows and then got it taken away, had a heart attack and nearly died.  He's stuck with it, and in the last 12 months since he's properly been in charge he's turned WWE round creatively and delivered one of the best Wrestlemanias of all time.  Why shouldn't people be licking his arse?

It was really touching seeing how emotional The Miz was for Ron Killings getting his first win at Wrestlemania.  Good old R Truth, he was possibly the most over person in the whole PPV and seems universally loved.

Let's hope he doesn't do anything stupid to undermine that.

Oh.

Hey @Rossman this is a good shout.  Just looked the label up on Juno, and they've released some nice albums, like Donald Byrd's Fancy Free and Miles Davis' Sorceror (of which I have a decent original press luckily).

Looks like they're limited numbers as you say so I've put an email alert on them for future releases.

Listening to The Rock at the post-WM conference, it really sounds like he's sticking around as a wrestler for a while, which is great news!  

Something that hasn't been mentioned much yet, but Cody was definitely getting booed.  Now, it's a Philly crowd but I presume they'll do it again tomorrow, which could spoil Cody's victory somewhat.

In the minority again around here, but I really like Samantha Irvin's announcing - I love the energy and drama she adds to everything and she looked stunning out there.  In the context of Wrestlemania and 74,000 people it made every event feel big.

And it felt HUGE didn't it - the production was outstanding, great stage, great entrances, loud and passionate crowd.  A company firing on all cylinders.

And it was a GOOD PPV, even if you forget it's only half of Wrestlemania.  Great women's championship match, fun tag scramble, I skipped the Usos, and Sammy Zayn v Gunther was extremely well done.  Pro wrestling 101 but it worked on the big stage.

If the idea was to make Jade Cargill look like the second coming of the Ultimate Warrior, they succeeded.  That was her first match in WWE, right?  She looked great, and her v Bianca Belair is an obvious main event for a PPV later this year.

As for the main event... amazing, had me jumping off the couch in places.  I think everyone was wondering how The Rock would fair in a full match, well he's answered all those questions and more.  He looked really good in places and seemed to get better as the match progressed.  The kip up from the Spinebuster into the People's Elbow looked like it shaved 15 years off his age.  

Loved the brawling through the crowd, loved the Rock threatening to fire the ref, loved the result as it keeps my dream of a full Attitude era schmoz tomorrow night.  For me, that match was everything pro wrestling should be - drama, big stars, chaos, unpredictability.  

Bring on the main event tomorrow.  I'm hoping for Austin, Moxley, Dustin Rhodes, fuck it bring out Undertaker and HHH.  After the last few months of build-up and tv, I'm willing to just let WWE cook (as the kids say).  Let's hope Rocky is sticking around for the next 6 months, there are so many permutations of matches if he's in this form and willing to work as hard as he did here.

Bron Brekker hitting the ropes so fast he shifted the ring makes me hard.  Can’t wait for him to move up to the main roster, he’s their most exciting prospect for me since Lesnar.

Trick Williams is the other guy who has World Champion potential.  He reminds me so much of Booker - tall, rangy and powerful with a real cred as a character.

Disgusting and petty behaviour by AEW.  I will definitely watch.

50 minutes ago, JimmyAnderson said:

This may be common knowledge to everyone else on here but it was a surprise to me; as I was watching RAW Homecoming from 2005 the other day on the network and there's a lad front and centre with a hatful of signs that he shows throughout the night and during the main event (John Cena v Eric Bischoff for the WWE Title) one of his many was CM Punk is the future.

During the Michaels/Angle Iron Man match there was "my myspace name is Nature Brad". That hit home how old the episode was because he was advertising myspace. Ian Rotter = king of hardcore. Matt Sydal of all fucking things. He had plenty of others as well.

Along with flashbulbs, random signage is something I really miss from that era of wrestling.  For a long time WWE has policed the signs people bring to shows, although they may have eased on that in the Renaissance Era.

MySpace looks like it's finally dropped its other bollock - it's still there but doesn't seem to have been updated since 2022.  No sign of Nature Brad!

2 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

Personally I think there absolutely is and should be a place for the "dream match" style of booking in AEW. The sheer depth of their roster and international partnerships means you have basically almost unlimited fresh potential matches but not all those matches require a story going into them, the matches are the story.

I completely agree, but i think in that case they should be made a big deal - put on a PPV, with plenty of advance notice, packages, promos, standoffs etc.  Make sure your more casual audience know who this person is, why it's a big deal, give them a little taste and give the match a pride of place.  IIRC they did that with Ospreay when he came over for a match, and it really helped the audience connect with them.

When they throw out the "old Japanese wrestler of the week" for a 20 minute loss to Moxley randomly on the next Dynamite, it's only ever going to appeal to a specific (and probably relatively small) tranche of wrestling fans.

Poor Roman.  Just another goon.

3 hours ago, Supremo said:

There’s something really entertaining about a rubbish troll, coming up with the lamest bait, desperate for a reaction. Pure screaming into the void energy.

He’d get Houchen’d on this forum for sure!  

38 minutes ago, air_raid said:

Nobody works babyface in peril anymore?

And it’s why he’s at the top of the card.  Ultimately wrestling is about good guys overcoming bad guys, not two shooters having an evenly matched back and forth contest and then shaking hands.  Or it should be, for me!

Cena’s first match in WWE was a cracking and shockingly balanced tv match with Angle, when he looked every bit the future of the company, certainly to me.  They then didn’t capitalise at all and nearly fired him before the infamous Thuganomics Halloween costume.

I am certainly hugely in the minority I know, but I still like the face-in-peril match style.  MJF has a few matches like that last (?) year which were great, and it’s one of the reasons I like LA Knight as mentioned above, he likes to pace his matches like that.

@Supremo’s cruisers may have taken over the business, but a whole card of that is diminishing returns, and there’s far too many shows/PLEs like that nowadays.

4 minutes ago, westlondonmist said:

As has been mentioned his move set was weird, it didn't suit a big bastard.

Hogan’s moveset was a clothesline, a back rake and a legdrop.  And he was huge.  The point was that they looked like greek gods but then got punished to the point that the kids in the audience start crying and then they come back and the power of the audience fills them and they get the win.

 The point being I guess that the style isn’t designed to appeal to smart wrestling fans, it’s designed to appeal to the kid in the nosebleeds whose Dad has just shelled out 100 dollars in merch.

And to be honest I always thought the AA looked amazing particularly against big opponents, Cena would power them up there and then a big gulp of air and wallop.  That’s a power move, especially when he went into it from a mid air catch.

For just listening to music (as opposed to mixing/scratching) the most important factors are the stylus and the weighted tone arm as @wordsfromlee said.  If you have a multimedia amp for your tv that might have a phono in (and therefore a preamp).  

Otherwise a trip to a second hand electrical store might find you a cheap hifi amp and speakers, and possibly a cheap record deck that you can just buy a new stylus for!

On 4/3/2024 at 1:50 PM, Dr. Alan Grant said:

I really like the sound of this, but I’m not familiar with ok.ru. A Google search turned up some dodgy looking Russian social media sites. 

It’s owned by an oligarch friend of Putin and brings considerable revenue into the Russian state.  It’s been banned by Ukraine as part of the ongoing sanctions against Russia.

 Whether or not you use it depends how much you care about the possibility of your ad revenue ending up propping up the war in Ukraine.

 Edit: in a similar vein I used to use StreamEast for dodgy sport streams but I figure I’d rather not potentially help the Russian economy circumvent sanctions through copyright theft.

6 hours ago, I Bent My Wookie said:

I watch NXT on the weekly but don't thknk show reviews from me would add any viewers from the forum to the show the way other much more articulate posters could. 

I think you’re very much over estimating the appeal of those who choose to leave detailed reviews of every single thing they watch 🙃

I for one would certainly read a brief precis of NXT from you every week if you’re passing.  I’ll definitely watch if there’s a particularly good episode, and you point it out!

Quite surprised to see so may people down on Cena’s work, especially after his glorious “workrate” US title run.

 As a heavyweight champ though he relied on having good heels to work with, and that’s where WWE really let him down.  Cena’s job (like Hogan before him) was to take a king beating with occasional mini shines before the big comeback and finisher.  It’s a style that has made more money and put more bums in seats than any other.

 He had some right old shit to work with though.  Forget André, Bundy, Macho, DiBiase, Piper - he had JBL, Khali, Big Show, Ryback, Henry (bless him) - all sorts of guys who really didn’t help with the matches.

 When he was in with really good heels, like Edge or Orto, Punk  or even  HHH things clicked better.

 Also… he was on top for DECADES and wrestled everyone.  There’s going to be as many bad matches as good.

I reckon Cena has another run in him in a few years, ala Rock, and I’m sure we’ll all be loving it when he does.

56 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

Curl Bill? Kill Bell? Rep-ervoir Dogs? Pulp HIIT-tion? 

Sorry, depression/manicness needs outlet tonight....

....wait....SAMUEL BELL JACKSON!

Jacked-up Brown?

Yeah agreed.  Some Insta twat filming himself doing reps and catching my balding spot in his video and my annoyed glare in the mirror.

I always enjoy that occasional treat  when one of them drops a weight on their £1000 phone.  Jog on Tarantino, you’ll have to finish your workout without completing your movie.

Jericho is on Dynamite tonight.

 Stolen from Reddit, but that will bring his total to 215 out of 236 Dynamites - 91% of them.

That’s the most appearances of any wrestler.  No wonder we’re sick of him!

I hate to bring this up but… Does anyone else think Roman doesn’t look that well at the moment?

I’m just wondering if some of the scrambling changes of plan over the last few months might be related to him not feeling that great and needing another extended period off.  I presume he’s on some fairly hefty drugs all the time for his leukaemia.

They really dropped the ball with Kennedy, he was very over, was a solid worker and had bags of charisma.  He was fun in TNA but I guess if Orton and Cena don’t like you, you’re never getting back into WWE.

Do you mean this isn’t a good look for AEW?  And if so, why?

 Any professional wrestler who signs a contract with either WWE or AEW must surely understand that it’s not a permanent job.  If you are a success they will extend and improve your contract.  If not then they will probably let you go at some point.

 If young wrestlers were signing up with Uncle Tony thinking it was a job for life that’s naive in the extreme.

 There have never been more opportunities for wrestlers than right now.  The worst thing you can do is be vocally upset about it in public where potential future employers can see it.

It feels like it’s not only fans that drank the AEW KoolAid but wrestlers too.

 Edit: caveat to this is releasing someone when they’re injured. I guess it’s possible Henry is off the injury list but if not, that does suck.

It was the whole Signature Pharmacy scandal wasn’t it, they were all getting steroids and HGH over the internet. Benoit was on huge doses of testosterone too from Dr Astin.

 Loads of them were implicated, including Edge, Rey Mysterio and other Smackdown guys plus Helms, Holly and many others.