Duke

1 hour ago, PunkStep said:

Could've said that for the past few seasons too. I don't think he's given enough opportunities, which is surprising given how much Chelsea wanted to keep him when Bayern were sniffing him out. Since then, a few players have leapfrogged him into England contention so it's no wonder he's looking to switch to Ghana. 

Definitely. I actually meant to say that saying that is contractually obliged for Chelsea fans at this point.

Gonna disagree with Cleets on some of these

Player of the season:  Kovacic, I think. The rest of the team hasn't been consistent but I recall him having a load of good performances. I think there's an argument for Rudiger too. Leave the memories alone

Goal of the season: that Kovacic goal. Made all the sweeter by the fact that he's less likely to score than anyone on the pitch, including Mendy.

Best performance: Second leg of the Real Madrid game.

Worst performance: first leg of the real Madrid game. Decent argument could be made for losing 4-1 to Brentford too, I reckon.

Worst player: Ross Barkley. It's probably actually Saul but I feel like he made a more measurable positive impact in a game or two. I regularly forget Barkley plays for Chelsea.

One to watch: Trevor Chalobah could well be set to have an even bigger season next season what with half the team being off. Colwill looks like he'll be looked strongly at too. I'm hoping to see more of CHO next season too, especially if Werner is off.

Highlight: Repeatedly going toe to toe with Liverpool and having some absolute crackers. 4 draws and two sudden death penalty losses. As Tuchel says, the difference is that Liverpool can do it on the regular. Chelsea can't.

I really hope Werner doesn't leave. He's better than we're getting out of him and Chelsea are generally a better team when he's playing on the left.

I agree with Wuertz. Punks shirt would've been fine if he was a conservative atheist.

16 minutes ago, Accident Prone said:

It's 2022 and people are still spending their free time by playing an internet troll on a wrestling message board. It would be funny if it wasn't so tragic.

If you've got something to say to Houchen, say it directly to him.

22 hours ago, kieranjennings said:

Isn't that the same for all entertainment though. The more exposure you have then the more doors will be opened for advertising contracts, other TV gigs or movies.  I can see why wrestlers were more protective of their image in the 70s/80s when you'd make a living going from territory to territory and your drawing power could be hit if you were made to look a fool/wimp on the way out of your last place.

It doesn't work like that though now does it. They are basically TV performers and sure, you may discuss the direction of your character, but you still have to deliver what you are contracted for surely else it's the wild west. 

They're TV performers that risk injury performing and get more money depending on their place on the card and how popular they are with the fans. Ken Barlow wasn't getting a cut of merch depending on how many tshirts with him punching Mike Baldwin they were selling.

Also, wrestlers are expected to be a lot more invested in their characters than actors. It's really reductive to say "they're basically just TV actors, get over it", because they're "in character" a lot more than actors and have to travel the country where they're expected to be in character (or at least near it) and then they have to go hurt themselves for the cheering crowd. It's really not the same.

1 hour ago, RedRooster said:

I'll caveat this by saying that I know you're just repeating what someone else has said, FUM. This genuinely isn't aimed at you. 

However, it's really interesting to note the language used when talking about Sasha and Naomi. "Tantrum", "hissy fit" etc. While I'm not saying these phrases aren't - and haven't been - used while talking about male wrestlers, it's pretty telling that almost every time a female wrestler is reported to have an issue with management, these words rear their ugly heads. It's disproportionately prominent. 

It's worth saying that I don't think Alvarez used the word tantrum, and FUM is just using shorthand. You're right more generally though

2 hours ago, BomberPat said:

At the end of the day, it's a job, and if you're not happy in your job, you're well within your rights to complain to your boss.

And to take it further, you're well within your rights to quit if the boss doesn't listen to you. And most of our jobs don't involve you risking injury every time you do the job.

24 minutes ago, simonworden said:

Perhaps I just said something a bit too frivolously as a fan there. My instinct would always be professionally though to come to the guys in charge with a counter idea eg: Hey this doesn't work for me because A,B,C but I was thinking D, E,F then add in some conviction and pester power to get what you want. It might not work in the mental WWE world but I know professionally it worked for me and was respected to some extent when I've been in management. 

I get that, but assuming the story that's come out is true, I think it's fair to assume that over the months/years they've already done that and it's not worked, right? I know we've not heard about it, but the various books and stuff that have been released after the fact seem to suggest that it happens a lot. I seriously doubt this is their first reaction, but rather the straw that broke the camel's back. In that instance, I don't know what else they can do.

22 minutes ago, simonworden said:

If I recall correctly there was a rumor that post match Mania 35 her and Bailey were lying on the floor screaming backstage in response to losing their tag titles. 

 

If this is all booking related then I can't sympathise with her really. There's a way to protest booking and this isn't it.

Can I ask, sincerely, what that way is? WWE's contracts are incredibly one sided. If they protest the booking and are dismissed by Vince, then what? They can't complain, because he's the boss. They can't quit, because WWE will just not release them from their contract and freeze it. The only escalation they have is this. If they feel this strongly then this is exactly what they should do, because it's all they can do. 

12 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

 Should need to do a test before being able to get your voting paper.

Everyone who suggests this would fail such a test.

4 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Or skin colour

Yeah...I think that may have been Devon's point.

Quote

The problem with this whole debate is no one actually knows what’s happened. People are basing their opinion on what their opinion of WWE was before this even happened.

It could be both a principled stand against a dysfunctional office, or it could be the petulant act of immature, entitled eejit’s. There’s literally no way to know with the information we have, so it’s pointless.

While Daz is absolutely right here, I do feel obliged to point out that everything about the UKFF has been pointless for at least 10 years.

9 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

What was stopping McMahon from demanding whoever was commentating on the next WWE show after that to call Flair and Lynch unprofessional? 

His attention span.

2 hours ago, Loki said:

This is quite a familiar story with AEW signings, in some respect.  When WWE was the only gig in town, everyone who wasn't making it to the top in the company could claim they were being held back by the writers/Vince/HHH and then spend some time on the Indies.

Now they get snapped up by Money Tony and given all the freedom they wanted.  Some definitely swim, like Moxley.  But look at Malakai Black - turns out he is basically quite dull.  Ironically, the most interesting he's ever been to me was the odd serial killer promos they started running for him before he left WWE.

Same with Keith Lee, Tony Nese, Matt Hardy, (tbf he's knackered out), Shawn Spears...  And I know he's popular here but strictly in my opinion, I find Andrade to have been really disappointing as well.

One of ECW's real strengths was taking WCW or WWE rejects and rehabilitating or in fact creating their careers.  But they had Heyman working on people's characters.  I do sometimes think AEW just signs wrestlers and says "crack on then", which certainly separates the truly held back from the plain average.

I'm...mostly with you, but some of these specifics I'd argue

Malakai Black was brilliant in his early days against Cody, and was good for a bit since. His problem has been that he's not really going anywhere and his feuds have dragged out way too long. The focal point of his recent career has been Julia Hart, so I hardly think that's his fault. 

Keith Lee seems to still be recovering from his illness, so sticking him in a tag team is a good idea. Like Black (and Andrade), he was super over and great value in NXT. In all cases the reason people complained about htem on the main roster is because NXT was the blueprint to get all of them over.

Totally with you on Andrade, he's done nothing so far, but again he's not had a huge amount of opportunity to. He's been in rubbish feuds that have dragged.

Honestly, this is a problem of the entire AEW singles mid card. The tag teams get good focus but outside of MJF, Jericho and the BCC, there's a lot of stagnancy in the feuds there. It's like they're waiting for an opportunity to do a big pay off that won't come. I assume it's a side effect of Tony doing the lion's share of the booking, he hasn't got time for all these feuds so he's just focussing on a few, leaving the rest on auto pilot until he can get to them.

1 hour ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

Why isn’t Tony Nese more interesting?

I genuinely don’t get it. I find him utterly dull but can’t really pinpoint why… he looks the part, his wrestling is fine and he can seemingly cut a promo.

But… nothing clicks, does it?

He's incredibly generic and absolutely nothing stands out about him. He's a good worker but not spectacular, he's capable of a mediocre promo and his character is absolutely nothing. He has an opportunity in AEW to be a bit more creative, but he's not taking it and just seems to be showing that WWE were right to let him go.

He's helpful for exactly this kind of feud, where he can be second fiddle and lose to a guy that needs to be made to look good, but no more.

2 hours ago, PunkStep said:

Not even close for me. Let's not forget, he was also rumoured to sign for Arsenal until Chelsea and United realised we could be getting a gem on our hands and intervened. 

He was rumoured on signing for everyone. That's the point I'm making.

I'm in no way saying he's a level of potential comparable to Haaland, but that's what I mean about how wide we're talking. If we're just talking "will win the ballon d'Or in the next few years" it's tough because that pool is only a couple of men big and neither of them moved much. The only other one who could have been in that category in that window really is Neymar, right? Or Lewa? 

It's not like those guys have been moving a lot and English teams have been missing out, is I guess what I'm trying to say.

2 hours ago, air_raid said:

This is definitely the first time in ages a player that could command a start absolutely ANYWHERE (e.g. Barcelona and Real both wanted him) has come to the Premier League.

Hazard? He's on the younger end but he was very highly courted at the time.

Plus, I know how it turned out but I think Lukaku was being looked at by some of the top (top) teams when Chelsea bought him this year. No one thought he was on a par with Messi and Ronaldo, but he was being touted as "top 5 strikers in the world" .

It depends how wide you're going. If you just mean the messis and ronaldos, well yeah, there are only two of them and one was a one club man.

5 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

Rollins used his MITB at Mania 31, didn't he?

Yes, but in the middle of the match already happening. He didn't say "I'm using this for the main event at wrestlemania!!!!" And cash in then. The only.person I can think of who did that is Daniel Bryan, but he then used it as a surprise as part of his heel turn.

23 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

I want to think your right. Whilst it’s true that you could use it to main event mania, it was always stated you could cash your title shot anytime anywhere. The emphasis on both will win a Wrestlemania Main Event rather then a title shot cash in is a very weird change to that narrative they have never done before.

Heres what I think the thought process is:

"We need to beef up MITB"

"Rumble always does well and it's basically the same gimmick"

"Rumble's a mania main event. This is just a shot"

"Well this could be used at Mania, so let's just say that's what it could be for"

"Has anyone ever done that?"

"No"

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

Winning Money In The Bank has always given you the chance to main event Wrestlemania. It’s up to you whether you take that chance.

I can’t imagine they’re getting rid of the any time, any place gimmick as that’s basically the gimmick. No need for a briefcase if it’s ‘win a match at a set time and place’.

I think they’ve just found a way of scripting it to sound grand as they’ve got a stadium to fill.

 

Agreed. I think it's very unlikely that A) they're booking one of the mania main events (on tv) now and B) that they're completely ruining the rumble like that.

On 5/3/2022 at 12:59 AM, TildeGuy~! said:

The one below Taker is The Ringmaster

I honestly didn't even see Taker until this post made me go look for him.

2 hours ago, simonworden said:

I'm convinced they would like to see up and coming acts who look great like Page, Wardlow, Jade Cargill that look like action figures than big names form the past few years who they probably don't know anyway

That's part of the overall AEW package, sure, but none of those guys are worth the eyeballs and dollars Punk is right now as champion.

Punk does feel like as good a time as any for Hangman to lose the belt. That he has already started stories with some guys only helps that. You've also got to imagine that maximising the money that he'll cost would be making him the main man in the company.

So, I've only tenuously kept up, but I thought Nakamura came out and got slapped around by bloodline to set him up for this show, and now I see Mcintyre is back in. Has Nakamura just been dropped and possibly damaged?

Came here to post about the Julia Hart thing. Yeah, it was really bad, and pretty uncomfortable, especially when you consider that Varsity Blonds are lower on the totem pole and are never going to win. 

Also that Derby promo was absolutely terrible. Yikes.

1 hour ago, PunkStep said:

In a heartbeat. 

You won't be so smug when the Denver Nuggets invade Nebraska.

1 hour ago, air_raid said:

 

For me, Arsenal I want to take 6 points off every year. Chelsea I want relegated to division 12 of the Sunday paperboys league.

How about being tied up in owner/government games of chicken that may well lead to the remaining buyers deciding they've had enough of this crap and pulling out, possibly leading to the whole club being liquidated? Would you take that?

1 hour ago, LaGoosh said:

Fenix vs Dante Martin announced for this week. Hopefully it turns into a who can jump the highest competition. 

Can't say I'm that bothered about Stu Grayson leaving. He's a decent hand but there's plenty of them about these days. Doesn't really add much to the Dark Order that Alan Angels couldn't fill in for. Also he's got one of the most unpleasant to listen to voices I've ever heard in wrestling. Dark Order as a whole feel a bit past it. Probably time to wind it down and start that big Johnny HUNGEE singles push which is way overdue. 

Yeah, this I think. The loveable losers thing worked for a bit but it's kind of done now and I think they need to find their own way, which is probably bad news for some of them.  They can still unite around Hangman if the story calls for it, but I think the time for them to break up is when they were all teasing dissension months ago.