Polish Dad

Don't know what the seating plan will be for Insomnia, but Fight Club ran a night there in Spring that looked like it had sold out, so could see it doing well.

They're doing some on the Dome shows, and they've got the America tour. Plenty of shows between now & then.

They have an earnings report coming up, which'll be interesting. I believe they've actually lost users in the US for the first time since their inception, and I could see things like the GDPR & this public furore having a knock-on effect on their value.

They're obviously not going to die, but if the Western market starts to diminish for them they really have nowhere to go. China and the like are already absolutely dominated in their social market so it's unlikely that they'll see major inroads there. 

Wow. I've definitely been Mandela'd on this. For ages I've thought the Steve Justice thing was sitting backwards on the bog.

Was that someone else in the thread, or is this a shared hallucination?

I think they're http://www.welshwrestling.com/. The Ravenhill Promotions guy used to post on here, iirc.

Looks like a decent family-friendly type of show. Grab a foam finger, boo the villains, have a laugh for the night.

Not having seen it outside of as a GIF, the way I heard it spoken about was that she went on to claim that because they had kissed that he couldn't be gay. I can imagine many bi/pansexual people not being comfortable with that, given that their sexuality is often dismissed within both gay & hetero communities (referred to as 'bi-erasure').

Also, forcing yourself on someone without their consent like this is definitely a form of assault, so they're not wrong there either.

Nah, I'm not saying you're wrong on that, I was specifically bugged about the idea that all heels should act the same towards fans. Not even necessarily at anyone in this thread, it's just a thought that has consumed me night & day for the last 15 years, from back when it seemed very much like 'being a heel' was an excuse for acting like a twat to fans among a portion of BritWres, 

It's not like they were asking him to go for a Five Guys with them, he's signing an autograph and then moving on. Feel like there's a difference between playing a heel & just being a twat.

I've never really understood the "All heels have to hate fans" thing in the first place.

Like, yeah, Baron Corbin's a 'lone wolf' dickhead and probably despises all social interaction, but Kevin Owens' whole thing is that his in-ring actions are justified because he's here to make money for his family & kids. Winning is more important to him than being liked, but that doesn't mean he hates being liked.

The Miz, recently, was a great example of this. He was in one of our stores up in Glasgow, being nice to the fans, really engaging, happy, and looked to be having a great time and it never feels incongruous because he's a heel who wants to be admired. Why wouldn't he be ecstatic to be surrounded by people who are giving him the movie star adoration he believes he deserves?
 

Well excited for this. Your others books have ended up becoming some of my most frequent recommendations, looking forward to this one.

The character bio from this: https://wrestlepressive.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/g1-climax-2017-preview.html is a fantastic round-up on him (and everyone else in the G1).

 

Quote

Leader of Los Ingobernables de Japon, destroyer of belts, and my favorite wrestler, in the past few years Tetsuya Naito has transformed himself from a fairly bland babyface into one of the best acts in the world. For years Naito was known as the Stardust Genius and was portrayed as worse lucha-influenced Tanahashi. Initial attempts to push him as Tanahashi's successor were widely rejected. In fact after his G1 win in 2013 was poorly received, his match-up with Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight title at Wrestle Kingdom 8 was demoted to semi-main event so that Tanahashi vs. Nakamura for the Intercontinental title could main event the show after fans voted for Tanahashi vs. Nakamura by a two to one margin in an online poll. A bit over a year later in May of 2015 Naito returned to Mexico (where he had done his excursion as a young wrestler) and reunited with La Sombra who he had previously teamed with in Two World Tag leagues and who was now a member of a stable in Mexico called Los Ingobernables. When Naito returned shortly before the 2015 G1 it was with a new shaggier look, the 'ungovernable' attitude he picked up in Mexico, and a new finisher. A modified standing shiranui he calls, Destino. He quickly began to earn the ire of the other wrestlers and the crowd with his obvious apathy towards the multi-man tags he was being placed in, but they had seen nothing yet. For every single match in 2015 G1 he sauntered to the ring in a full suit (no tie; ties are not ingobernable) which he did not even begin to slowly remove until his opponent was prepared to wrestle and that does not even begin to cover his time wasting and taunting during the match. Using tactics like this and his relaxed, but defiant attitude Naito built up huge amounts of heat with the fans and used this heat to build up three wrestlers returning from excursion and one from injury into the hottest stable in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Ironically, in the ensuing two years Naito's attitude, confidence, and just plain cool as well as great out of the ring moments like pretending he does not speak Japanese and insisting that he be questioned in“Español” have brought much of the fan adoration (not to mention the IWGP Heavyweight title run) that his initial main event push failed to generate and it is not uncommon to hear fans alternate between raucous cheers and loud boos in a present day Naito match (and even a Naito entrance).

That's incredibly weird.

I am disgusted that you've left off Okada vs Yano, which is easily match of the tournament (of the two shows I've watched so far).

That's not been true for me, and I turn 30 next month. If anything, I see more of my friends than I did five years ago.
What's changed is what we do. We don't go out drinking anymore, now we go round each other's houses and play boardgames, or Mario Kart.

I think that's the key though. He only works when you treat him as something special. He should have interrupted a Roman Reigns or AJ Styles segment, and took the belt like it was his. You can de-escalate him afterwards, when everyone gets him, but for the character to work he needs to feel big time to everyone. Not fucking around with Ziggler & Corbin.

It was the original Targaryen throne, afaik. Dragonstone was the ancestral home of the Targaryens.

First FutureShock show I've attended in over three years, and I had an absolute blast. Kenny Williams was an absolute riot, and was great to see Cyanide get the chance to wrestle him; not someone you'd normally see against the arriving outsiders.

James Drake just gets better every time I see him, had the crowd in the palm of his hand through the night. Slowly getting them behind him to the point they wanted to see him turn on Gibson, only to cement his position alongside him and set up what will be a cracking match against Soner.

Gibson is bloody brilliant as well, but it feels like everyone's known that for years now. Actually preferred watching him here to PROGRESS, simply because as the #1 heel holding the belt he shines even more than in the midcard. 

The lads lower down shine as well, with Danny having a ton of fun, and Joey putting in a good shift against Drake. Tom Wolfe is someone I can see getting really good very quickly with his pre-injury background, and Damon Leigh is so very underrated, especially here as a comedy heel. "I'm not a chicken, I'm a majestic eagle" had me howling.

Absolutely fantastic night, was great seeing old friends and making a few more. OnDemand for only £4 a month is worth a look, or the Soner vs The World series on YouTube if you're considering checking them out.

I went to the Lucha Forever show in Southampton and it was great fun. Very old-style UK indy where they're not too bothered with storyline or taking things seriously, but the whole thing feels like a party with 100 or so people in attendance. Really enjoyed it, better after a few drinks.

FutureShock in Stockport used to have 'Raynaldo', a football-themes wrestler who would do 'dives' to get managers sent to the back, or their opponent given a warning. Also tag-teamed with Damon Leigh as 'Wristlock Rovers'.

2 hours ago, sj5522 said:

I thought Progress getting rid of licensed music was a sign it was going to happen 

Same, but Jim has spoken in the past about the cost per user of what they were doing, and how it wouldn't be sustainable if they grew their audience much more. It might just be that with the association & their forays into America that their audience has grown past what is affordable in terms of the PRS licence. 

Just caved and ordered a fan off Prime Now. Otherwise, I'm fairly certain I'll melt today.

They have an On Demand service via Vimeo, but it's a per show basis, rather than a monthly sub, which has priced me out currently. Woudl love to watch the latest shows, but at £15 a show I can't really justify it right now.

Appreciate the advice. I've got a week off coming up, so I'll sit down and tan through some historical stuff to try to get up to scratch.

I've been intrigued by ICW for a while, and enjoyed the off-shoot Jimmy Havoc tournament that happened last year.

If I'm looking to get into their On Demand service, is there a solid jumping on point, or recommended just go from the start to follow characters etc?

New suit looks better, but Serafinowicz still has the face of Arthur rather than a Golden Age superhero.