AVM

On 9/13/2019 at 11:06 PM, Richard said:

Unions worked in the 70s. Now it's vehemently anti-worker. The populace has redirected their concerns from wages to class warfare. The union culture has changed. If Brexiters thought they had a voice in unions we would still be in the EU.

That's the thing, though, we're speaking of a culture at the top of British unions - that doesn't make labour unions an irrelevance. I think Norway is a perfect example of how it can work - the average salary there is around 20% higher than it is here, something like 80% of the population are unionised and that's within an economy dominated by the service sector (much like our economy). Norway also has the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world and has the 2nd happiest population in the world. For me Norway are everything we should strive to be - their only mistake? Not taking full EU membership. 

RE Civil War - I wouldn't go that far, but there is going to be severe unrest regardless of the outcome. 

Despite the opportunity for the opposition to take advantage from any fallout of no deal, I'm still firmly of the belief that we must avoid or at least mitigate the impact of Brexit. There's really no point in being in politics if you don't believe in the betterment of society (regardless of perspective). The angle of 'let Boris wreck everything and we'll take advantage' is pointless for me. That's quite literally minimizing politics to a game - trouble is, we're playing with peoples lives.

I'm not one of those people that believes that domestic policy can reverse the impact of Brexit either. We live in a globalised world where the real megapowers are corporations whose influence transcends borders. Splitting from political unions with other countries is the total reverse of what we should be doing. It's really a macro version of labour unions - countries with high levels of unionisation and collective bargaining generally have better, more equal living standards than those that don't. We need to stand together to improve things. 

20 minutes ago, bigfoote said:

Genuinely believe that he will recommend to withhold Royal Assent if he doesn't get his election through Monday. Parliament get prorogued, Boris goes into hiding at Chequers til the conference and we crash out on the 31st. That is max cunt. One level below would be a quiet ear in one of the EU27 to get them to veto an extension, taking the decision away from everyone. That is max cunt - 1

Can see that. Can also see him try to blame it on remainers. He is a grade A, nuclear cunt.

I know there’s a lot turnover at Progress at the moment but am I missing some news? Is Jim calling it a day or something?

Not convinced on the photoshoot. As its TV Guide you'd think they're reaching out to an audience beyond their usual base, they need to engage and they need to introduce themselves properly as a wrestling organisation. As well done as the photo is it doesn't spell out what they do. The WWE one is perfect in this regard - all the mad outfits, the combative poses, the locker room environment - you know its wrestling. 

3 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

Amazing stuff @AVM That's some top work.

Thanks mate

Well, thought I'd join in here.

On 11th March I weighed in at 22 and a half stone. Always been a big lad, always been a huge source of low self-esteem, depression and anxiety. The arrival of my little one has given me a wake up call, I don't want to end up dead by 40 and I want to build up my confidence and be the best Dad possible.

So, since the 11th March I've been hitting the gym five or six times a week. Currently I'm doing four days HIIT (45 mins each) and one longer cardio routine and one session of resistance training every week. It's probably fairly basic stuff for you guys - just bike, cross trainer, stairs, arm bike, treadmill. Generally speaking I'm burning between 600 and 700 calories in my cardio sessions. Overall I'm running a calorie deficit in excess of 1000 calories a day with macros roughly standing at 40% carbs, 30% fats, 30% protein. 

Pretty chuffed to say I've lost just under 4 stone since the 11th March and I'm absolutely loving the routine and feel fantastic - given it's been three and a half months it feels like a proper routine and lifestyle change. My goal is to shift another 5 stone. 

If you guys have any general advice, it'd be extremely welcome.

On 6/19/2019 at 11:37 PM, Hannibal Scorch said:

Support if you want a company to survive, pirate if you don’t give a shit.

I'd agree with you if this were an indie.

This is a pet project for the son of a billionaire. I'm sure they'll be alright without the £9 earned from a show they're offering their biggest market for free. 

Rhyno in late 2000-early 2001 was so impressive in ECW. Wish he came into WWE with similar intensity. I personally believe he was a real missed opportunity. Huge fan of his work in ECW.

Test also had an awesome look. I wonder how he’d have done with a big push. Mohammed Hassan another one, but I can see why they called that one off!

Otherwise the usual suspects - Bulldog, Roddy, Perfect. Ted Dibiase etc. Loads of guys from that era that would have won the belt thirty years later when titles were being passed around more freely.

1 minute ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

So it was 20 years ago today.
Crazy.
I still have the VCR of the show gathering dust on a shelf somewhere.
Absolutely tragic. He was 34, which is stupidly young. An incredible talent and just an absolutely senseless, needless tragedy.

It is still difficult to fathom that they actually continued with the show almost as if nothing happened.

Fuck! Didn't realise he was that young. He could have feasibly gone on for another 10-15 years. Probably would have got the belt eventually too.

Wow, that is a fucking awful statement. For me it actually backs up the characterisation of Vince McMahon in the affidavit - he is callous, terrified of negative PR despite a total lack of self awareness and has absolutely zero concept of the gravity of sexual assault and the effect it might have on a victim. It just takes insensitivity to a whole new level. 

I've contacted a number of media outlets specifically about the allegations in the affidavit. I may be wasting my time, but I really think the pressure needs to be applied on WWE. Real double standards at play here.

Really excited about this.

A bit late to the party but SSS was quite fun in the end wasn't it? Nothing on 2017 - roster and venue were better, but it was fun. As Jim says its a festival of wrestling, so always good to make a weekend of it. 

The WWE influence seems to be greater and greater and I feel like it's gradually taking the edge away from Progress. I miss the unlicensed music and the prescence of folk like Scurrl, Ospreay, Sabre Jnr, Dunne, Bate, Keith Lee, Riddle, Cobb etc. All these contracts being handed out have hurt the product, though it's great for the talent. 

2 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

Genuinely, no. Got any examples?

The David Starr one for Progress' SSS 16 this year is really impressive. Very different tone to this one though, it's literally just him talking to camera so maybe not the best example but the quality is there for all to see.

Just now, Yakashi said:

I went to wrestlemania and I don’t watch any wwe TV. I’d assume I’m the minority though. 

I've been to three, going to a fourth and have probably watched about ten hours of new WWE TV in the past three or four years.

8 hours ago, bbabba said:

I'm hoping the venues of the various different indy shows will be a lot closer together than NYC this year.  While NYC public transport was good (meaning you could reach every show using it), the distance between the venues did mean long travel times.

 

What is the public transport going to be like in Tampa Bay Sonny?  Do you think it will be fine to be able to get across the city to all the various shows without a car?

Can't give anything like as expert advice as Sonny given I've only spent one day of my life in Tampa, however, as far as I'm aware you've got a tram system that basically runs in a straight line from Ybor to the area where the arena and convention center is and a network of buses - and they look very awkward to use. From my very basic research, our travel is basically going to be done by foot and via tram and uber. 

RE venues, here's what we know so far:

Wrestlemania - Raymond James Stadium

Smackdown, HOF, NXT, Raw - Amalie Arena

Axxess - Tampa Convention Center

Evolve (plus whoever else is on their schedule - possibly WXW and Progress) - Bryan Glazer Family JCC

Wrestlecon are struggling to find a venue so I can see them ending up in Clearwater or St Petersburg.

Already booked up an Airbnb in Ybor. £500 for five days (Thursday to Tuesday). Planning six days in Miami, five days in Tampa. Really excited. Did 28, 29 and 30 and have been dying to go back.

4 hours ago, Egg Shen said:

There'll be some kind of backlash to the production no matter how good it looks. People are so used to the top end production of the WWE that anything beneath usually comes off looking cheap. The WWE really are at the top end of the spectrum production wise. 

To be honest, and I may be alone in this, but I feel like WWE has reached a point where it's overproduced. The spectacle is nice, but there's so many pointless bells and whistles that it detracts from the product. Hopefully AEW find a sweet spot.

17 minutes ago, Egg Shen said:

i am quite interested to see how the MGM Grand looks on the night, ive only ever seen it in a boxing/ufc setting.

I believe WCW used to do Halloween Havoc there during their peak years.

11 hours ago, Accident Prone said:

It's a blanket statement used by those who still want to wolf whistle at the women and see no problem with wrestlers using homophobic slurs at shows.

ICW fans, basically.

Nah, that's not it. I'm not cool with any of the behaviours listed there - misogyny or bigotry of any kind has no place in wrestling (or society in general)

I've a few specific examples in mind that would open up a bit of a can of worms and send this thread way off topic, but they're more to do with squirmishes within the audience rather than something a wrestler does for instance.

I find the BritWres crowd to be especially sensitive at the moment, however, Will Ospreay is acting like a total cretin by anyone's standards.

Really, really hope this works out. WWE is crying out for a little bit of competition to keep them on their toes. It is, however, a very big ask and I wouldn't expect this to surpass TNA even. I do hope I'm wrong, though.

Not really sure what he can really do. There's nothing that even vaguely inspires me to watch Raw anymore, nor WWE at all really. Might catch the odd YouTube video but that's it.

It is funny how the 'smart fans' needs have changed. Back in the 90s it was blood, guts and baps, nowadays it's workrate and gender neutral bathrooms at venues.

Not saying either is wrong, just odd how it's evolved.