simonworden

1 hour ago, Mr Butternut Squash said:

Becky/Charlotte has lost a little intrigue after reading the Smackdown write up.  Now a bent ref has been introduced, I can't see past Lynch getting the 'screw job' treatment for the HEAT.

Becky's interview with Ariel whatshisface was the most fascinating WWE related thing I've seen in ages though. They're clearly not friends anymore. But Becky's so good at blurring the lines it's hard to tell whether there's genuine animosity or not. I think it's legit. Lynch openly throwing Charlotte under the bus sounded like someone who's had enough and no longer gives a shit about the blowback. The highlight, though, was her casual evisceration of Dic Ric. Straight up calling him a sad, pathetic sex pest, clinging onto relevance, in the most cutting way.

This PPV is so dumb though. I can't be long before they scrap it. It has to be the most counterproductive show on the calendar. Walking back the brand split just weeks after the draft. Needlessly defining down your champions with pointless Champ vs Champ matches. No stakes. Stupid.

I hate that Big E vs Roman is happening already. Surely that's a non finish? Or a Big E win? He's The Guy. Who the fuck else is there? I don't think Drew ever recovered from Roman calling him a "stand in" champion before proving him right a year ago.

Drew/ Roman and Big E/ Roman could have been 2 years worth of Mania or Summerslam main events even a few years down the road from now. Spunked out because they want to have shiny thing Vs shiny thing graphics for Survivors. 

Feels intrguiging in the way you might pop along and buy a 15 dollar ticket if your were at a loose end mania weekend but 21 for a ppv bugger that

5 minutes ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

More than individuals, be it Triple H or Michael Cole, it feels like the big change Khan has brought with him is decision by algorithim.

Hit Row just isn't the sort of release they'd have ever made before, same with Wyatt and Strowman. 

Anyone close to the product, who may know the industry or have built relationships with the talent, seems to have been removed from making business decisions. Which I guess is a double edged sword in that you remove any jobs-for-the-ones-i-like/conflict of interest stuff, but you potentially cut people straight from TV who can walk in hot to other companies.

I bet they've got a piece of software that calculates long term financial value to the company (based on perceived talent ceiling) minus contractual outlay. I'd bet my life that it's some version of that and anyone that isn't 'worth' a profit is in danger.

Is Ziggler being paid in sandwiches then? I'm surprised he hasn't been let go at this point.

Is there anything we are missing with the releases, something like anyone who has dropped the slightest risque tweet or social media post. Could the algorithm be about the demographics of who is googling certain wrestlers? Trying to refocus the product on wrestlers kids and parents like?

Long, drawn out "epics" happening all through the card that are over 10 minutes long on TV and 15 on ppv. If I can squeeze out a shit that's been brewing for days in under the time your match takes then it's too long if you aren't a well built up main event. 

I smashed my phone screen a few weeks ago and knowing I had a manual payment to make from my HSBC bank account had to use my backup phone to try and log on to my internet banking to make the system. This was a faff and in the end after about 100 codes 50 emails and god knows how many detail resets I got on. Then trying to bring it back over to my repaired phone caused complete lockout as their system was cocked up. It kept sending emails with codes that started with the wrong number and telling me things had been sent on days/ times that didn't exist. In the end I got through to a girl who as helpful as she tried to be didn't seem to have a clue how to deal with my situation and was clearly going through the set list of solutions to every problem even though I told her to simply reset everything possible.  She then reset everything but before I could get the final access code got cut off.  In the end I got it posted to my mum and waited a week to get back in, luckily I didn't need the account in that time period. 

I know security is important and thieves are getting more and more sophisticated but as I get older I'm finding it harder and harder to remember all these different passwords, codes, memorable words. Not to mention this having to have codes sent to phone numbers I don't have anymore. Most will let me use a foreign number but not HSBC nope! 

I've been using Transferwise more and more over the last 2 years. I originally got it as a debit card for travel around Asia but it's come in amazingly handy for UK and Vietnam use especially when other cards have expired or got locked out. Post essentially doesn't get through to here anymore so having a debit card with full details on my phone that verifies through their app is fantastic. I'm actually considering moving all my direct debits and alike over to the account at some point but I know a few things like my brokerage accounts don't like them so I can't fully give up my current bank account. 

On 11/14/2021 at 6:54 PM, Carbomb said:

Was one of the best bits of booking I've ever seen, that - a jobber with no wins in singles or tag winning the big belt in his first win, just because the heel was arrogant enough to constantly pick on him. And he even got a jobber catchphrase over: "...and the Streak. Starts. Here!"

I'm sure it's been done in Smoky Mountain or Memphis or Mid-South or something, but I've never seen or heard of anything like that in wrestling before.

This is the first UK one into my mind too. It came towards the end of the Orpington days of IPW:UK. The story had seen JC Thunder go from comedy jobber with his entertaining 'style' matches into being picked on by Simmons and his cronies who had were thoroughly detested by the fans.JC didn't win the rumble but eliminated Simmons which got him a title shot. 

That match was so tense and I don't think a single butt cheek was parked properly on the rubbish plastic chairs in the last 5 minutes. After the 3 count the fans ran Into the ring including a fairly inebriated Benny looking very pleased. 

For me that wa memorable as being my last visit to Orpington and bar a couple of other shows I found time for the last IPW:UK show as I moved back to Bournemouth and couldn't afford the travel. It's also a shame that other things come to light about the prev promoter have scarred a few of these memories but less said the better. 

Got to be guerrilla marketing for another shit ITV or Netflix UK crime drama. After 8 episodes they'll have just both fallen down an open manhole of something.

7 hours ago, Big'Olympic_Hero'Pete said:

Who will have Paige in their corner?

 

And will it be a match for p/c-ages?

But that might stop Nick Gage running in to defend the honor of the age wrestlers starting with G! 

Surely this ppv is it for ATT? Feels like they are done for a while after this. MOTY could have Sammy join them or Hager as a bodyguard and then feud with p&p possibly. Sami seems better to fit with them and await a Jericho return for a feud that I'm certain will happen eventually.

Speaking of MOTY I realised we also have Leo Rush as man of the hour. Admittedly WWE/ Vince are mental not allowing two surnames or even first names be remotely similar but having two men/man of the.. teams seems a little too much. 

Oh and was FTRs music always so retro 70s Miami vice like?

Great little video for the typical time frame. I think over the years the content discussed on here about TWC has probably been more in depth but would bore anyone who wasn't around the time to death as well. 

7 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

“What is Scarborough Fair doing in the Impact Zone?”

Personally, I’d love her to show up in Mexico or NWA so I won’t be forced into watching her.

There was a time when I'd be worried Dixie would see a post like this and we'd see her turn up in a stable with Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.

20 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

Doe this mean they're going to rename the belts? Because surely it would be a piece of piss to avoid this by either not putting them on people you are going to draft, not drafting the champions or switching the belts between the draft and tonight? Surely the only reason you end up in this scenario is that you want to?

I've convinced myself that's what's going to happen now. Having New Day/ Street profits swap belts for lolz is one thing and makes sense but two arrogant heels who detest each other shouldn't be trying to help each other out. So unless they are going to have them drop the belts suddenly like they used to in the days of the first split or do a winner take all/loser vacates match, renaming would make sense although which one becomes which I don't know due to the colours . 

11 hours ago, Infinity Land said:

There's no way they would be this misleading in their advertising would they?

They would, there is no parking for ticket holders. Its an exta 25 bucks.

I cant see why these guys wouldnt pop down to tape a match at dark. Perhaps Bryan will make it a family vacation. All expenses paid trip  and all you have to do is film a 5 min match. 

I enjoyed Dynamite a lot more than Rampage this week (I have yet to watch the Buy in). I'm not a big Bobby Fish fan so I skimmed that to save some time as well. The rest of the show was good fun. The audience seemed empty/ dead at Rampage but were much hotter for Dynamite to the point I wondered if they changed the sound settings overnight. 

I thought Punk calling out FTR was a little annoying at first but with how the match went it was brilliant, as was having them unmasked half way through rather than the typical "ah ha!" moment after they win.  The post match stairwell segment was a brilliant throwback and the MJF/Andrade confrontation reminded me of old school heel/ heel tension, I hope they build on this and have Andrade take over The Pinnacle at some point as I see him fitting better than MJF.

The Hangman promo was brilliant acknowledging that he had to take a step back and has been getting in his way. Ignoring Omega will probably lead to him being pissed off and a face to face confrontation next week.

I'm bored of typing and nowhere near done with my thoughts but I'll end saying how much I enjoyed Jungle Boy getting the one up in the ring  over The Elite and having the crowd react to him like a star without him having any buddies out there. 

That's the problem with these mental massive Trina but then I guess after almost 25 years of getting bigger and brighter with their set up they would be seen as doing badly if they reduced things back down. 

Also it's only one raw, not as bad as that PPV a couple of years back where they curtained off half the building. 

That said if I go to a show and the building looks half empty it would actually affect my enjoyment. If I was there I would think twice about going again if the show was quiet and half empty. It's like the raw/SD tapings can be here when they use the same venue. The SD tapings was always a little emptier, quieter and generally deflating after a fun night at raw. 

Assuming Brit is keeping the top belt for a fair while longer then it makes sense to have the secondary belt on a face going by traditional wrestling logic and gives the face/ heel challenger something to gun for. So for me potential winners would be Ruby, Shida or Riho although they might put it onto Jade which I'm all for as well. 

As for the Hangman situation Full Gear is about far enough away that I think Omega/ Hangman will main event. Omega/ Danielson will happen again on Dynamite before or after. It wouldn't surprise me at the PPV if they do a gimmicked multi man match with the Elite (Bucks, Cole, Gallows and Anderson) Vs Jurassic Express, Christian, Danielson and someone else but then things often swing around really quickly in AEW making it hard to guess. 

Mox heel turn would be great and he'd make an excellent first challenger for Hangman before he drops it to Miro later on in 2022 at which time the a 16 bit YOU WIN graphic comes up, screen goes to black and that is wrestling completed forever. 

1 minute ago, The Dart said:

Is there a reason, beyond a creative decision, they're calling it Queen's Crown rather than Queen of the Ring?

Possibly because Charlotte refers to herself as the queen? She'll claim the crown is hers and beat the winner withing a few weeks of the finale I imagine.

12 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

They just moved him over to Raw 2 days ago.

Are you trying to spoil the surprise over the Survivor Series main event?

8 hours ago, FUM said:

BIG E looks quite small lately since they’ve been putting him in with the likes of Roman and Drew.

I hope they go full Kurt Angle gold medal gimmick with Gable Steveson but with this companies history we’ll be looking at a match soon with Chad Gable where the loser has to go by Shorty G.

You don't think they will make them tag up as Gable n Gable, The Gable Boyz or G Squared?

6 hours ago, Joe Blog said:

It's all those Butlins shows he did over here. Just wait until he starts saying "Shall I?"

I am more and more convinced that he is turning heel soon. 

I want to see that so much. Let's go full Perry Saturn bump on the head and have him think he's back in 2002-4 wrestling for Dixon. He can have a foam hand as a best friend and flog backstage passes to kids that allow people to only meet Luther and other Dark fodder. 

10 hours ago, Factotum said:

I'm not saying he'll 'lose his spot' I'm saying that does Page's win have that impact that it would, and are people's wants now changing. Sometimes delays mean focus shifts onto other people. It feels like something has moved. I hope Im wrong

I've got faith that they planned this to some extent. I expect he has known he was going to be popping off for a bit of daddy duty around this time for a while. It's true when it was arranged that Punk/ Bryan was probably not on the cards but I think it's being managed well. As mentioned if they were going to have Bryan rip the belt of Omega, I think they would have waited for match 1. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Bryan feud pause while he heads into another direction for a bit now as well, plenty of Omegas feuds have gone on 'pause' and fired back up well even if we didn't realize there was more to come at the time (Jericho, Pac, Mox).

Genuinely the only thing that worries me is they are going to use the Dark Order for Wyatt's debut and have him feud with Page for months which probably would kill everything off. Hopefully I am wrong and something else occurs though. 

1 hour ago, Healy52003 said:

Reckon there could be an official travel package by wwe but very possible it could be over priced and DIYing it might be best esp coming from Ireland (quick Ryanair flight across and back)

Be nice if this was announced soon as it gives time to plan and save 

I hope the travel package is a seat on the Megabus (if it still exists) a room in an F1 hotel and bag of Gregs sausage rolls so any fans coming over here get the full Britwres trip experience. Any Axxess type event needs to have a stall where you can get your photo taken in front of Gangrel eating crisps.

30 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Is that the case? Or they just felt like the WWE deal wasn't working out as it once was? I'm not completely sure of the ins and outs of why all of that fell apart in the end, but if they've got their finger on the pulse then they've got to be aware of AEW's current momentum. If they could put a good deal together for everyone involved then I'd be very surprised if they didn't give it a go.

Sky were quite a big part of WWE becoming popular and popular again in the UK during the 90s weren't they through the support, promotion,  TV specials and UK PPVs? Having Sky doing that for AEW could do wonders. What's the equivilant of live and kicking these days? I could see a lot of the roster doing well and having fun on a show like that while Cody and Brandi talk shit on the grown up shows.

On another note, I echo the sentiment the arena was far too dark. Was it sold out? Felt like they tried to create a NJPW in the Tokyo Dome type feel with everything being darker but having the smoke and neon lights. Thought it looked great but not the place to do it. The acoustics were fantastic, it actually sounded different to a normal arena as the sound echoed around a lot more

Holidays were a massive mixed bag depending on how well my Dad was earning. We never flew anywhere because he was terrified of flying and he only got on a place to go to my wedding (and one small practice flight a few months in advance).

In the 'poorer' years we stayed in the UK and enjoyment was related to weather, some of the shitter ones included a cottage in Derbyshire where it rained constantly and we had nothing to do and a caravan in Tenby which was ruined by me breaking my arm 2 days before and all of us getting the flu during the holiday. Actually we've always got sick as a family when staying in Caravans. That said we had some great holidays like camping in Devon with beautiful Sun and my parents letting me and my brother just mess around in the outdoor pool for half the day each day.

As I got older my family had a bit more cash so we took a couple of road trips to Europe in 2000 and 2001 which made up for about 5 years of bad UK holidays. The first one was fantastic with us travelling to different regions of France every few days. We were staying in the Eurocamp tents and each place had a pool or beach. Apart from the weather, food and being allowed a couple of beers with my dad. My strongest memory was being astounded by all the European girls/ladies happily parading around the pool in bikinis and even less at the beach. Quite a step away from what we saw back home. Quite overwhelming for teenage me back then.  The year after we had a wedding to go to and we took a trip to Paris afterwards.

While staying in a caravan around Compiegne, the whole family suffered from 2 way release food poisoning. This resulted in one of my more embarrassing moments as a kid. My parents went off to the supermarket and let me stay on the camp ground but didn't give me a key. So I was left mooching around with a still dodgy stomach  when my internal warning system went off. Dashing to the nearest shitter and completing a round of croissant filled destruction it became apparent there was no toilet paper. Without surveying the damage I pulled up my kecks to look for something to wipe with. Luckily I swiftly found some unused tissues another camper must have left behind in a another stall. Sadly my khaki trousers had not weathered the stains well and around the crevice. There was no a deep brown line of shit stain. Panicking I managed to stealth over by crab walking to the shower block and wash my trousers before putting them back on and lying in the midday sun arse up until they dried. Not my finest moment. 

I genuinely feel lucky that my parents took me to some pretty interesting places at home and abroad though as even being dragged around some museums or other places I considered boring at the time. I think the trips helped shape some of my interests and passions as an adult especially road trips and long distance travel overland. I actually can't wait until I move my new family back to the UK in a few years and we can do holidays there and in Europe. Hauling my wife, unborn son and dog around Europe in a tiny car overloaded with camping gear is one of my main future goals. 

Interesting topic, shame about the opening story. If you go to a big gig and want to be within 5 meters of the stage then really you have to expect a lot of pushing, shoving, sweatiness as people have said. When I started going to gigs in my teens I used to try and be at the front because that was the place to be apparently. By age 19 i'd realised I would come out sweaty, deaf, tired and having no enjoyment of the gig. From then on I've been at least half way back with a pint in my hand enjoying the show. I like the space.

I did once go to a Motorhead gig where some huge men had helped get their friend in a wheel chair to the front and formed a protective circle. Halfway through Slayer (the support) a floppy haired skinny teen was running and jumping into the people in front trying to push in. These gents gave him one warning that they had their friend in front and that he should piss off.  Seemingly unable to understand this kid decided to go for another running jump and ran into an elbow following which someone scooped him away and dragged him off.