d-d-d-dAz

I could have lived without seeing 'Handsome Steve' doing his best to become 'Forgetful... Steve?'. Mate, the only way you'd look a billion dollars is if you got uglier. You've got the whole world at your feet. Absolutely no need for you to be doing silly bollocks. Someone get prime Orton to give him a ring, and have him point out that the beauty of looking like God's attempt at drawing a wrestler is you can do the absolute bare minimum and still be a star. Bumps are for normal mortals.

It's exceptional that all the 'journalists' and pundits reporting this, with an often completely un-subtle anti-Matchroom position, are the usual bought-and-paid-for suspects. Coppinger is never a phone call away from Turki (and formerly Bob), Glaser never more than a whatsapp away from Queensberry. It's a little bit harder to defend Eddie now the fight has been moved, but fuck it. A contract is a contract, and a Dana is a dickhead. War Hearn (never thought i'd say that).

Eddie and Matchroom look to have won. It's being reported that Joshua v Fury will take place at the Principality in Cardiff on Friday December 4, with a 1am-2am ring walk time for US broadcast. Not Wembley, but Cardiff has a roof which will come in handy in December. Friday fights aren't for me though..

The issue i'm having with this season is, it's got a bit of every element that can make Taskmaster occasionally difficult to watch. It's got people I don't particularly like (Lucas for being awful, Nina Conti for being rubbish, Ayoade for being a letdown); it's got too many convoluted tasks with little payoff and, the thing that can save it isn't there; there doesn't seem to be much warmth between the contestants as a group. Actually, i'd go a step further and say too many of them aren't naturally funny in an off the cuff setting. Only Chloe is a panel show regular stand up, and I think it shows. They're great, and I think it's a shame they're not on with a better group. If I was trying to be objective, i'd say Ayoade is maybe the funniest so far, as an individual, but a) meh and b) his act might have laughs, but it sort of fucks this format when you need the awkward hermit Moss character to be part of a group. Like I say i'd love to see Chloe on with other stand-ups they could bounce off.

I suspect you'd just brandish a crumpled, faded copy of Seth Rollins' headshot and you'd just have time to yell 'BEWARE THE ARCHITECT...' before fading back into your own timeline.

🎶 CITY 'TIL I CHOOSE! I'M CITY 'TIL I CHOOSE! I THINK I AM, I'M FAIRLY CONFIDENT I AM... I'M CITY 'TIL I CHOOSE! 🎶

Considering the largesse of the millionaire and billionaire class, it feels mad to begrudge ordinary people a couple of hundred quid on singing along to their favourite britpop anthems. There are a lot of reasons to hate the Oasis reunion, but i'm not sure one is it being an emblem of a bourgeois upper class moving ever further from the starving lower classes. They're just shit.

He's about the right age, to be fair.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdXuWEzsMvC/?stkn=MWkxbXQ1eWNzbmo0Yg== The year is 2026, and I'd be quite happy with a World Title main event scene that featured Penta and Ludwig Kaiser. Wonders never cease.

Rey Fenix must wretch into his cheerios every morning. He must have thought he and his brother had signed for the same company, but Penta has signed for the company that makes you a star and gives you a horse and sets you up for life... Rey Fenix has signed for the bigger bit of the company that makes you look a tit, crushes your soul and fucks you off. Heart wrenching for the lad.

Went into Camden tonight as there was a tech death metal double header on. I vaguely knew Allegaeon, but had never heard of Gorod. Allegaeon were excellent, but Gorod were a full 10/10. Absolutely superb. I've seen a lot of bands this year as I try and go to as many gigs as possible before turning 40 (including supports and festivals i've seen 113 bands - yes, i'm keeping a spreadsheet), but i've only got a handful of 10/10s; Dragged Into Sunlight, Earthless, Goose, Blood Incantation, Death to All and now Gorod. As always when I get a 10, I buy a t-shirt from the merch stand... and then on the journey home, as the post gig clarity sets in, I realise band shirts are always horrible and the only place i'll ever wear it will be at home or other gigs. Worth it.

My barber advised me how to arrange my hair to 'obscure' the 'thinning areas' around my crown. No. I was not aware I had thinning areas to obscure.

For all my ups and downs with CM Punk, I have never empathised with anyone more than I have watching CM Punk gasping for air in the altitude of Mexico City. The man looks half dead wrestling at sea level, for Christ's sake.

It's funny they've gone from clearly airbrushing Punk's images to make him look younger, to seemingly editing them to make him look older. Looks like an actual pensioner.

I haven't watched, but the Bleacher Report 'grades' article said that a) Baron Corbin was the show MVP, b) he's been consistently brilliant since he returned, c) he's been historically undervalued by the audience but is proving the office right and c) now WWE will presumably be now looking to move him into the world title picture where he belongs. I can't have my finger THAT far off the pulse, can I? It's Baron Corbin, for christ sake.