Carbomb

The only thing about this that could be positive is that he's not signing with Bellator or again with the UFC - it's ACB, so the standard of competition is likely to be lower, and he may therefore do better as a big fish in a small pond, perhaps enduring less punishment on the way.

Hmmmm, don't know what to think of that. I love me some Brad Pickett, enjoy his style, but at 39 with a lot of mileage, it's the sort of thing a fan could be uncomfortable watching, especially if it goes badly.

I really hope you don't mean they'll run on to the pitch doing Chinese eyes and wearing lampshades on their heads

One thing strikes me: it's not like pro-wrestlers are slouches when it comes to fitness. You have to have excellent cardio just to pretend to be fighting, especially the spotty style of RoH. Punk must have really hit the brakes when he left wrestling, and only really resumed when he joined the UFC.

Yeah, I remember being a bit flummoxed by that, because the stars definitely stood out more over the stripes (although the stripe kit was quite nice), so I thought that was the home strip too. EDIT: In reply to @PunkStep - initially I thought the red and white stripes was a bit crap, but changed my mind - the wavy flag effect made it look a bit more than a generic English S-named team's strip. As to the US set colour, the ones that threw me were the deep blue ones with either a white line across the middle, or diagonally, and also that red and blue one that everyone said made them look like Russia. USA almost always have gorgeous kits though. Favourite Russian one was always the USSR's deep red. The one at 1990 was very nice - I posted about it in the kit thread, but it shared the same stylish geometric designs as the Netherlands home and the German away green.

On the same site, though, an article a year later says that the killjoy judge presiding over that case decided that it couldn't be used as evidence, in the end. Boooooo. https://www.pcworld.com/article/260307/2001_a_space_odyssey_nixed_as_samsung_evidence_in_suit_against_apple.html

That '94 USA kit was an inspired bit of work. Which one did you get? The stars or the stripes? BTW have I misunderstood, or do the USA not have a set colour for their home strip? Obviously, England are white, Netherlands orange, etc., but it seems like the USA has never settled on one.

1986 was my very first World Cup, but 1990 was the one which really drew me in. As I've mentioned on here before, it was the last time until 2014 that a World Cup felt like an absolutely massive deal to me (1994 was great, and felt big, but didn't feel as epic). That said, while Nessun Dorma will always feel like THE international football anthem to me, the one below comes a close second (especially as it was used for domestic football later on - was it Saint & Greavesie?):

I'm looking forward to seeing Martin Freeman in the remake of Argo.

Saw Road To Perdition back when it was released in the cinemas. Agreed, very good film indeed. Can't believe it's already sixteen years since then, it felt a lot more recent than that.

You shot who in the what now?

And from what I hear, Joe's better at it than Reigns is.

I remember us chatting about gimmicks before (I forget the thread, think it was the entrance theme one), and how that certainly needs to be the case when you're starting out, or if you work indies that don't have much in the way of TV viewership, because people need to know who you are and what you're about. That said, regular, well-watched TV affords the luxury of having evolved and more complex, textured gimmicks once the wrestler in question has been on screen long enough, and has (if they're good) managed to get over with the crowd. Triple H, for me, is the prime example: you couldn't sum him up in 2-3 words now, because he's got so much history that everyone's familiar with. He's the COO, but that's clearly not enough, because he still wrestles and is good enough to face the elites; he's not a degenerate, a snob, or a gang leader any more. Cerebral assassin? Yeah, but that's more a character trait now.

I don't spend anywhere near enough time in the Barbican, it's such an awesome place; their theatre is stunning (and really comfortable too). I didn't know they had a library. Will have to go down there and check out membership, I think.

It seems to me that the problem with calling a rematch, especially if it's not an instant one, is that we don't know how much either fighter will have evolved. I get the impression that Romero won't have sat still in the intervening time, and that he's been analysing how he lost, like most elite fighters. As to Whittaker, he strikes me as a canny customer who probably knows how much he needs to catch up since falling ill. As it is, it feels like things are up in the air as to who'll win this one. Very tricky to call, even without the evolution variable.