David

1 hour ago, Dai said:

Nah, its MMA, just without gloves.

Not to sound like a dick, but it's kinda all right there in the title of the promotion.

Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA.

It is real bareknuckle fights. In fact, it could be claimed that it's more real than bareknuckle boxing, because in a "real" fight there is no ref to lay a count on you when you get dropped.

Look at the state of Werdum. Fucking hell. There has to be easier ways for a former multi-time MMA champion to earn money than this?

6 hours ago, unfitfinlay said:

It seems to have flown under the radar but Meltzer said that Cabana’s fall out with Punk - which caused all of this - happened after Cabana had pizza with Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens and Punk had expected him to cut ties with anyone WWE-related.

Punk really is a proper weirdo eh? I can’t imagine being THAT controlling.

The underlined above has been responsible for a lot of shit in the wrestling industry. How someone who's so inept can wield so much influence and actually convince otherwise sensible wrestling fans to believe certain things is insane.

FOX News? Unreliable. Mainstream media? Always to be taken with a pinch of salt. Meltzer? Well, if he said it there has to be something to it, right?

1 hour ago, wandshogun09 said:

But as much as I dislike him, I’ve got to give the credit to Strickland for that. He fought out of his skin last night and I honestly never thought he had a performance like that in him.

Strickland has always been a very good fighter. He's by no means a great, but he's very good at what he does. His defence is vastly underrated, and I'm sure I've said before that his footwork is something else. He's a good MMA boxer. Couple that with his work ethic, cardio, and his decent chin, and he's always going to be a tough night for most fighters.

He probably faces Adesanya in the rematch going by Uncle Dana's excuses, and to be honest, that's probably the most winnable fight for him. He's going to come unglued against a world-class wrestler, but he could implement the same game plan against Adesanya and win again. His pressure game clearly isn't something Adesanya could cope with.

Izzy will experience the same issues that other fighters with his skillset do. Basically, he'll slow down with age. It happened to Anderson as well. And at 34, he's not a young man anymore. He's being caught by shots that he'd have evaded a few years ago.

I'm certain that Izzy gets the rematch because we all know that you need to beat Izzy twice to be the Middleweight champion. That's how it is when you're fighting someone who's so important to the companies earning power on a continent. 

But, I don't for a second believe Dana's right in making excuses for Adesanya. Dana saying he looked slow, that he didn't look himself? Nope. He looked sharp as always in that first round. As most opponents of Strickland's do. But, as the fight progresses, his style wears on guys, which is why Izzy looked fucked by the end. 

Watch for Izzy to win the rematch and then declare he can now move on afterward, as he did with Periera. 

Man, have we ever seen such an amazing character turn as Sean "Apex Predator" Strickland? Who would have thought he'd be getting cheered to victory in his opponents back yard and ending the fight with a Rocky-esque speech?

He's the best thing in UFC right now. Such a feel-good story. From an abusive childhood, a racist grandpa, to a champion, a man of the people. 

I'm actually wiping away tears as I type this.

#AndNew #ApexPredator

1 minute ago, ReturnOfTheMack said:

In fairness they said the same about Wilder.

Yeah, but Fury took Wilder very seriously. As I said, Fury tends to box to the level of the opponent. If he takes Ngannou lightly (and lets be honest, if this was AJ or Usyk Fury was fighting, he wouldn't be in the shape he's in) he could end up getting cracked. Unlikely, yes, but more possible with every less fuck that Fury gives.

1 hour ago, wandshogun09 said:

I’m under no illusions that it won’t actually happen but I’d love to see Ngannou somehow pull off the upset and spark him. Heavyweight boxing is arse at the minute and it doesn’t seem like we’re ever gonna see Fury against Usyk anyway so fuck it.

The thing is, if Ngannou is going to beat any top-ranked heavyweight, it would be Fury, weirdly. As I said, he's notorious for fighting to the level of his opposition. That's why he can absolutely spank Wilder, yet go the distance with Otto Wallin and take ten rounds to get rid of Chisora.

If he comes in respecting the power of Ngannou, then he'll win easily. If he half-arses his training camp and treats the fight as a joke? He probably still wins but runs a greater risk of getting clobbered by a man who is capable of sparking any human on the planet if he connects with their chin.

I'm hoping with a month or so still to go that Fury will come into the fight in better shape. Because looking at him at that face-off, he's not looking like a man who's taking this seriously.

And we all know that for as good as Fury is, when he comes in not at 100% mentally and not focused he can be caught.

43 minutes ago, Egg Shen said:

It's hooked me. Fight week has been quite fun to follow, and its weird to see Strickland become a bit of a fan favorite out there in Australia, they've taken to him out there. Izzy definitely wont have the whole crowd in his pocket which is pretty surprising.

It's not really. Izzy is thoroughly unlikeable. 

Renan Barao in the co-main as well.

Worth a watch for anyone interested in seeing how it all unfolded...

Fuck me, that's a KO!

16 hours ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

Obviously Toni Storm is great, but…

Samoa Joe in a World Title feud with MJF?

A Swerve Strickland singles push?

If I didn’t know better, I’d say Tony Khan was flirting with me.

While little Tone' is recovering from fearing for his very life, Danielson has got the book. So, you can actually thank CM Punk for all of that.

14 hours ago, RedRooster said:

It's only a push if he actually wins a match...

That promo was rough, though - he seemed to lose his train of thought more than once, and on top of that there's still no chemistry at all between the members of the Mogul Embassy. I'm not even sure what Prince Nana is all about, is he their manager? A wrestler? It's never been made clear. 

Swerve oozes star quality, but this wasn't his finest showing. 

Really? I enjoyed it and was actually quite glad to see Swerve in there with someone who matters. Anything that moves him away from the Nick Wayne/Darby nonsense is a good thing.

On 9/6/2023 at 4:31 AM, BomberPat said:

Nigel McGuinness has definitely come into his own, though, he was better on this show than I've heard him in years. 

I don't know why, but his comment about someone (I can't recall who) being so cheap that instead of buying their mum flowers for mothers day, they just buy her seeds absolutely cracked me up. Great stuff. 

1 hour ago, TheScarlettChad said:

Honestly think this is likely. He went there, keep in mind as early as last year, he was pitching ideas to come back to WWE. Triple H for all his faults, is willing to do business if it means making money. 

Triple H, for all his faults, isn't one to hold a grudge I don't think. WWE as a company tends to be willing to do business where there's money to be made, so I could see him coming back if he made the right noises in any discussions with Triple H.

26 minutes ago, Jonny Vegas said:

The Tony Khan announcement on Collision seemed so weird and out of place. Would a promoter/owner really come and say such things openly on TV about being "scared for their life" over a private matter such as a firing someone. Surely that leaves them wide open to beind sued?

All of CM Punk's merchandise still seems to be available directly from AEW where he was by all accounts their top seller. He hasn't made any comment whatsoever so far to my knowledge.

Is it beyond the realms of possibility that this is a really shitty work?

If it is a work, it would be one of the most notable in wrestling history. An angle drawn out over that long? Even to the point where it's had the dirt sheets and their sources all buying in?

I can't see it, but if it was, it would be astounding.

5 hours ago, DavidB6937 said:

Problem with Punk is you just don't really know what mood he'll be in. He can be a vindictive bastard but does that mean he'll deliberately go to WWE to piss off TK/AEW? Or does that mean he'll still hold a grudge with those in WWE and refuse to go there? Honestly could go either way. I'm sure he doesn't have a fucking clue what he's going to do either really.

There's every chance he's went to AEW and quickly realised that the grass isn't always greener. Maybe having to deal with the younger guys in AEW while he's old, tired and sore will give him a newfound appreciation as to what Triple H and others had to put up with when he was acting the prick in WWE years back.

4 hours ago, BomberPat said:

If he wants to stay in wrestling, I honestly wonder if the best thing for him would be an out-of-ring creative role - he's obviously a creative guy, with a lot of love for the history of wrestling, and could have something to offer once that work is removed from his own ego and his own performance. I have no idea if he'd be interested in that, but stranger things have happened in wrestling than Phil Brooks putting on a suit to go and work in the office. 

I could honestly see him getting some sort of part-time deal with WWE for both sides to see if it's a good fit before he eventually finds himself working backstage for the company after a year or so.

I'd be very surprised if he rocks up in Impact or any other smaller company. I think if WWE doesn't want him, he'll not wrestle again.

#ApexPredator

5 hours ago, jazzygeofferz said:

I see the sheets are already making with the "CM Punk's WWE return plans and Wrestlemania opponents" click bait headlines. 

That's because he's the hottest name in wrestling, for some reason. He's always had the ability to draw the interest of people despite being a moaning-faced, thin-skinned prat. His merch sales are always high, and if we're honest, Meltzer and Alavarez have probably paid off their mortgages because of interest in their CM Punk related chit chat.

2 hours ago, Tommy! said:

Man, don't you find people like that really annoying.

It's even worse when that surface information is usually still more than the people he's talking to, though. So there is that.

I don't understand why everyone is upset about his star ratings when he and Alvarez use the "thumbs up, thumbs down, thumbs in the middle" nonsense. That has to be one of the most annoying things ever. 

What the fuck even is "thumbs in the middle"?

2 hours ago, Keith Houchen said:

This is the bloke who recently wore a T shirt in support of striking workers, then produced a T shirt with all money going to union busting scab cunts with a history of bullying and toxicity after all. He’s always the victim.

Not to defend poor old Phil, but I'd wager that he didn't (and likely still doesn't) have a clue about the situation with the Trevor Project workers. He seems like the type who knows just enough surface information about various subjects to sound informed in a debate but isn't really all that clued up.

On the trans t-shirt, I'm guessing he thought it would be a worthwhile and cool idea and either quickly Googled a prominent charity to link it to or had someone do it for him. 

5 hours ago, Chest Rockwell said:

Even then though you don't know if that's true or something Taker decided to 'confirm' because it makes him sound tough. 

Taker was one of those guys who lived on his rep as a tough guy. Did he actually ever rough anyone up? Or is it all Emperors New Clothes type shit? I still remember the time he went to a UFC event and was eyeballing Brock Lesnar when Lesnar was fighting, and some fans were like "I wonder if Undertaker would go into UFC for one match and fight Brock?"

As if that would happen. Although, Taker is "the best striker in the game."