unfitfinlay

1 hour ago, simonworden said:

Yeah like I said I'd love to see it but it's not going to happen. Final countdown was above the song budget so Stones is out of the question unless Jagger is an MJF fan

Wasn't it because Europe fucking hate the song and don't want it played? I'm sure Khan said that the biggest issue was that they'd only be able to play it a few times a year, which wouldn't be worth it.

I can't imagine the Rolling Stones have a similar feeling about Sympathy For The Devil 

2 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

I'm not sure that's completely true; recently it's become apparent that they flounder a bit when they have to veer off whatever it is they had planned - and given that the direction of travel seemed to be a major feud between CM Punk and MJF, their main programme is once again in tatters. Hopefully we'll end up with something exciting that fills you with enthusiasm, and not another version of Jon Moxley vs Kyle O'Reilly. 

Well O’Reilly is injured so, thankfully, that idea is out. Cole too.

I agree things have been crap lately but I’d still say that they ALWAYS deliver when people think they are done. Whether it was when they ended the show with Uno and Stu beating down all the babyfaces, Matt Hardy teleporting or Kingston selling a few sparklers like they killed him. Even Forbidden Door, the build was shite and they lost their World Champion, but still put on a belter of a show.

This is bigger than all those things like but watching Punk at the media scrum, all I can think of is how many of the OTHER folk in the back must’ve been like “Oh fuck you”.

I can’t think of anything that’s going to light a fire under the rest of the roster than hearing Punk big league and try and take credit for all their success. Especially with all the doom and gloom on social media now. 

Call me crazy but does anyone else have a feeling that we’re going to have an amazing Dynamite this week?

It’s rumoured that none of the people involved in the fight are going to be there: So no Punk, Kenny or the Bucks. That sounds like a negative, and it is really, but it’s also opens up a bunch of spots and air time for people who have something to prove. There’s a LOT of them on the roster.

AEW always manages to step up and/or pivot when things look shit. This might be the most important time but I honestly think they’ll manage it.

I'd say Punk is pretty clearly in the wrong.

He's kicked off over perceived slights - He's heard the rumours that he got Cabana pulled from shows and just assumed the Bucks were responsible for the story. He took Page's promo as a dig over Cabana, when it might not have been and was forgettable anyway.

Instead of having a quiet word about it, he's went nuclear and publicly too. Threatening to no show, that daft shite with Hangman, freaking out because one fan chanted "Colt Cabana" and now this? It's a mess. We should be talking about the Pay Per View and upcoming matches but instead we're talking about Ace Steel and Colt Cabana.

I don't know what really happened between Punk and Cabana and, honestly, I don't care. It does feel that Punk has got so paranoid about being painted as "The Bad Guy" in the situation that it's become self-fulfilling. It'll be interesting to hear the crowd reaction to him on Wednesday and, also how he handles it.

15 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

Oh come on, what is anyone supposed to do in that situation? Bollocking him in public would be a bad idea, and in itself would have been inappropriate, particularly if The Bucks really had leaked false stories about Punk. It's the kind of thing that needed to be managed in private, unfortunately it boiled over before that could happen. And let's not give Vince more credit than he's due here. Yes, he was good at keeping that kind of thing out of the public eye - but he didn't do press conferences. But we know that kind of thing happened - Jericho fighting Goldberg, Booker T and Batista, the plane ride from hell. In addition, Vince was a known bully who thrived on the humiliation of others. WWE hasn't been immune from this. 

They didn't though. What was reported was that people backstage assumed Cabana's status was down to Punk but that that feeling had changed after Grayson and Angels left. I genuinely think Punk's taken that, and the reports that the Bucks fought for Cabana's job and confused the two.

Really Khan's biggest mistake is letting things even reach this point. He should've sorted things out after Punk's stupid comments about Hangman a few weeks ago, and made it clear that that sort of shite isn't acceptable. Letting it go meant that this kind of thing was inevitable. He's obviously worried Punk will quit, and Punk even implied that he's considered it, but you can't run a company around the ego of one guy.

I'm interested in what happens with Ace Steel. Khan HAS to fire him and, really, should've done it already. You can't knock anyone out with a chair, much less management, and expect to keep your job. If Khan shits out, for fear of upsetting Punk, it'll destroy the morale in the dressing room.

16 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

I wouldn't say Shawn/Bret in 97 brought out the best in pro wrestling. Austin/Hart in 97 brought out the best in wrestling for sure and they were good mates behind the scenes and the whole feud was fictional. Fiction is always better than shoots.

Absolutely. Wrestling simply shouldn't need to be real in any sense. If the performers are good enough then you'll believe it. It also gives you the ability to tell better stories. Bret and Shawn's heat created a lot of intrigue but it also robbed us of some great matches between two of the all time best. I mean, all that build up and we never actually got a proper pay off?

The real life issues in AEW don't make me want to see anyone wrestle. They just make me sad that the positive atmosphere backstage appears to have become toxic all of a sudden. I don't think it's a coincidence that's it's all happening at the same time as they've hit a wall creatively too.

2 hours ago, garynysmon said:

I pay for the Youtube sub out of pure convenience and the fact that the Impact Plus app is glitchy as hell. For £5 a month I get a PPV quality card and weekly eps of Impact, which is more than enough wrestling content for me every week.

All the old PPVs are also on the Youtube version, but not old Impact eps (hence being a bit cheaper than an Impact Plus sub).

It really is. The firestick version anyway. I have to keep killing the app, emptying the cache etc, to get it to start. It has some of the worst advert breaks I've ever seen as well. Normally just the same ad repeated over and over again, including the PatPat one, which is definitely someone's Super Villain origin story. I only get ads from watching the new episodes from the home screen too, which suggests that it's another bug.

With that said, I personally find that it's worth it for all the old content. I've started watching it from the beginning and while it is mad as fuck, it's still incredibly watchable and it's cool seeing wrestlers and the promotion itself evolve and find their feet. I'm only paying about £6.50 now, though it's charged in dollars so will probably go up in the next couple of months.

5 hours ago, poetofthedeed said:

I wonder if the dark order get squashed in the first round, and then give hangman permission to be the bucks partner. Depends on the order of the matches I suppose.

That's what I'm thinking. Either that or the Bucks reluctantly pick Brandon, he gets taken out by Cole, O'Reilly and Fish, and Hangman runs into save the Bucks from getting their heads kicked in in a handicap match.

As much as I love the friendship between Hangman and the Dark Order, Him spending the tournament as their manager would be a total waste. I'd much rather see him feeling bad about breaking his word to his friends and having to destroy their dreams. Nobody in wrestling does angst like Adam Page.

7 minutes ago, Tommy! said:

Your quite right, how stupid of me. I'd forgotten everyone upholds the law both to the letter and in the spirit it is written, especially mad old bastards who think they are above it like Vince. 

Again you are quite right, the share holders ultimately have the power. Out of interest does WWE have a single majority shareholder at all? 

I’m not talking about Vince though am I? I specifically named HHH, Steph and Nick Khan as folk who would have to commit fraud in order to do what you are suggesting. Not to mention all the others in that massive company who would have to go along with it.

And, yes, Vince is the majority shareholder. He’s not the only one though is he? As I said, they are already being sued by shareholders because of these allegations. The share price will almost certainly take a dive because of his retirement and investors will lose money. They aren’t simply going to take that if it turns out he was faking it.

9 hours ago, Tommy! said:

Is he still a majority share holder? 

Does his daughter and son in law still hold senior positions? 

Is he still a mad ego driven mental case? 

 

He has a precedent for "go away until it's gone quiet and we'll bring you back in" with a number of people on his books over the years with sexual misconduct allegations so I stand by my cynicism even if I do it in the hope I'm proven wrong. 

WWE is a publicly traded company though. If they lie about who is in charge then they’d be defrauding the stock market. I can’t imagine HHH and Steph are willing to do time for Vince. Nick Khan definitely won’t.

Even him coming back might be sketchy. They’ve already got one lawsuit from shareholders because of these allegations. If it looks for a second that he’s faked his retirement then they are opening themselves up for more. 

Of course, this is speculating that the new story is something that Vince can ever come back from. He was shrugging off all the horrible stuff he was accused of before. I don’t want to imagine what could be so bad to make him retire so hurriedly.

It’s got to be bad hasn’t it?

Hardcore Diaries was my first red flag with Foley as well. As was his weird insistence that his feud with Flair, based on real life issues, should revolve around Melina.

The thing that really makes me uncomfortable though? Angel Amoroso’s allegations about him. Sure, she has a lot of problems and some of her story was certainly hard to believe (Meltzer?!) but, if that’s the case, why didn’t Foley at least SAY something? 

Instead all he did was ignore her until she went away and, worse, everybody else in wrestling did the same. The only person I can think of who didn’t was Shelly Martinez, who said she asked Foley about it, and he told her never to contact him again and blocked her on everything. That’s just a fucking weird reaction.

58 minutes ago, Tommy! said:

I'd be amazed if he did resign; he doesn't believe he's done anything wrong, he's still getting paid and as long as he's in charge he can continue to get a semi off being in power. 

 

Same.

A big flaw with our political system is that so much of it is based on honour, which Johnson simply doesn't have. I think he'll have to be dragged out of Number 10, even if he loses a General Election.

56 minutes ago, Big'Olympic_Hero'Pete said:

Can't see Truss staying around if she's been made to feel untrusted by Number 10. No great loss, but even so its another big name walking (if she goes), and further pressure on BoJo

Dunno. I can see Truss, and Dorries as well, remaining Johnson loyalists solely because they know that no other Prime Minister will give them any sort of power. They are both hilariously incompetent but I think they've got that much self-awareness at least. 

I'll be voting yes again.

Nothing has really changed for me since 2014. My vote then had nothing to do with the SNP, who I thought were cunts, but the weakness of the Better Together campaign, which never addressed any of my concerns about staying in the Union. In fact, that concern has got much worse. The UK is heading down a really dark road right now and I can't see how it's going to change. The combination of Boris Johnson and the sheer weakness of Labour as opposition has really laid bare the flaws in Westminster's political system. We're in a cost of living crisis, have lost the right to protest and are scrapping the human rights act. We're also going to break our agreement with the EU and breach international law, which will make things even worse. Why would anybody want to trade with us after that?

Would an Independent Scotland be worse than that? I genuinely can't imagine it would be. Maybe in the short term but at least we'd be building something rather than tearing it up.

Will it actually happen? I think it's inevitable in the long term, because the current situation just isn't sustainable. Now though, it's anyone guess. I feel like the Tories strategy has been to force the SNP into a Catalonia-style situation. They'll boycott the vote, refuse to recognise the result and likely use it as an excuse to try and rollback devolution, if not disbanding Holyrood all together. It might come down to whether the International Community recognise the result and, as toxic as the UK has been in recent years, I'm not sure that they'll be arsed.

6 hours ago, FUM said:

It’s a pretty significant change though. It’s not just saying you’ll do something then not being too arsed when the time comes as most politicians do. It’s a total shift of stance on a major issue. It’s proper Trump which I suppose shouldn’t be a surprise from a McMahon.

Dunno. Looking at the way things are going and then pretending you supported it all along is exactly what a politician does. It's why they all have focus groups, so they can parrot what they think voters want to hear, even when it's stupid as fuck.

Even Kane, to get back on topic, I have to wonder whether he actually believes the stuff he's tweeting or if he's doing it because he's a Republican Mayor in Tennessee and this is what is expected of him. The reaction of people in the business who know him definitely suggests he wasn't always such a massive bell-end.

It changed my opinion not only on him, obviously, but on wrestling over all. I was a full on “Push the Cruisers!” wanker up until that point.

It gave me a whole new appreciation for the guys I had previously dismissed as “lazy” and “in it for the money”. If you can get bigger reaction doing a promo and three moves than giving yourself brain damage then fair fucking play to you. That’s what wrestling should be after all: A show. 

It’s also made me more conscious of the bias in wrestling journalism. From all accounts now, Benoit was a violent bully backstage but that never got reported at the time. Instead he was simply a “locker room leader” while all the bad shit got blamed on JBL and Bob Holly. 

1 hour ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

So would I. He's clearly been doing some good promo work recently, but it was the comment i took issue with. AEW's biggest misstep with this is not doing more stuff on YouTube and directing people there. You cannot in 3 hours of TV a week really get over how big and important some of these guys are, so use other tools at your disposal. 

Missed this in my last post somehow.

I’ve got to disagree. They absolutely should be able to get people over with three hours of TV, and they have done up until now.

The problem is they’ve brought so many NJPW guys in at once and, aside from Jay White, haven’t let them actually DO anything to set themselves apart. They also haven’t given them near enough time. Why are they announcing matches now with only a few days to go? 

ZSJ is so good and has such a unique style that he’d be able to get over quickly IF they let him actually do something. Chucking him out there to do nothing with a few days to go just seems like such a waste. He just looked like any other guy. 

22 minutes ago, gmoney said:

I think his point still stands. He's a fun promo, would have loved 40 seconds of him calling Bryan a dickhead and dragon bollocks with a mic.

Exactly.

I’m a fan but that’s because I’ve seen him elsewhere and I know what he’s capable of. Having THAT be his introduction was just crap. Especially when you’re trying to sell a match between him and a mystery opponent in a few days and there’s so many other NJPW guys on the show.

They’d have been as well just doing a video package.

On another note, did Danielson’s promo set off major alarm bells for anyone else? It felt like he was saying “I’m not cleared to wrestle but I feel fine”. As much as I like him, he does have a history of lying to Doctor’s etc. I really hope he’s not going to push himself to come back at the expense of his health.

I thought that was better but still not great.

I really don't get why they are cramming so many people onto the card. One of AEW's biggest strengths has been their ability to make people feel important, even with very little TV time. Now they are making people feel like after-thoughts. What's the point of flying ZSJ in just to have him walk out and shout stuff we can't even hear? What's the point booking Hiromu Takahashi, if it's just a meaningless multi-man match and Darby can't even pronounce his name right? Plus do they not realise that announcing matches just days away from the PPV makes the people in them look like shit?

This could well be the first AEW PPV I haven't watched since All Out in 2019.

I really got into TNA in 2005/06. I'd read about Eric Young's paranoid gimmick, thought it sounded funny and then got hooked on the rest of the show. There was definitely some shite there but it did feel like it was going somewhere. You had the ex-WWE guys but it felt like the spotlight was on the younger guys who were doing stuff you couldn't see in WWE at the time, and the stories were generally logical.

Then Russo came back and killed my interest within the first week. I went from watching it every week to only watching it if there was nothing else on. I think the most entertaining thing was that Jim Cornette was the on air authority figure and must've been going crazy having to sell all the overbooked, non-sensical bollocks. I'm pretty sure I quit completely during the Aces and Eights storyline, which was fine at first, but then somehow became a vehicle for Brooke Hogan.

In general, TNA must be the only major wrestling promotion to bury itself at any opportunity. It was mad how many times they'd sign a big star and just.....reboot the company and build it all around them. Until, of course, a bigger star was available and they'd just repeat the same process. It made storylines impossible to follow.

I started watching again during the AEW crossover and I am enjoying it. It's just a simple, straight forward wrestling promotion. I do feel a bit bad for Scott D'Amore. He's done a great job both times he's been booking and it's a shame he got pushed out when they had the Spike deal.

On 6/18/2022 at 4:09 AM, Supremo said:

I take back eveything I said about this year's Double or Nothing being the least exciting PPV in AEW history. Forbidden Door has it beaten by miles and has given me a whole new appreciation for Double or Nothing! Excalibur going through Forbidden Door's card was embarassing. Whole show looks rubbish. Crap matches, with crap build. Not a dream match in sight! Considering what a hot ticket this show was when it was first announced, I'd be bitterly disappointed if I was going live.

They need a miracle this coming Wednesday to make this show worth watching.

I'm sure the matches will deliver but, yep, I agree. The build has been horrendous. It's just been one random New Japan guy turning up after another. There's no real conflict and it doesn't feel like any of the matches matter. Largely because we know that none of the NJPW guys are going to be sticking around long term,

I hope this is the first last show because it feels like it's dragged the whole company down. What message does it send that Hangman and Cole are begging for an IWGP Title shot, but couldn't be arsed to even try and win the interim AEW Title? Even worse, Jay White shrugged them both off and said he's going to pick his own opponent, which is fucking shit in itself.

It's all very WCW Invasion to me. I just want it all over with.

So that was just a dick waving exercise then? I can’t see any other reason for it than to show the board that he isn’t arsed, will still get cheered and isn’t planning to go anywhere.

Making any public appearance while the investigation is going on is an odd choice but doing it in character is insane. So the Mr McMahon character is going to address the allegations made against Vince McMahon the person? The character who made Trish bark like a dog and pimped out his own daughter is going to address ACTUAL allegations of sexual misconduct?!!

It's also unbelievably crass that they are hyping this up like it's part of the show.

6 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

I would imagine a company like WWE would have made them all sign NDAs. Where this story broke was because it was a friend of the woman who contacted WWE about it. So, if that is the case, as long as the people behind the NDA's don't speak out publicly, there is (probably) nothing legally wrong with someone close to them speaking out.

Oh sure for the ones where something significant happened, certainly. Would they go that far for the women who didn't sleep with them though? Would they have considered it worth it to pay off someone who just felt their career stall after turning someone in management down? Something that, looked at individually would be impossible to prove but, in this context, is fucking damning.

Thinking about it, the main thing that will fuck them up is that the NDAs are with WWE, not Vince McMahon. They surely can't prevent victims from talking to *WWE* about it and they won't prevent the WWE board from taking it public if they so choose.

After all, it isn't a criminal case, WWE are investigating it themselves and have chosen to make it public. Someone there wants Vince gone.

1 hour ago, Factotum said:

I have finished reading SHE SAID the story about the NYT reporter's exposing Weinstein. It started off very similar to this and one of the main things was the company money being used to pay women off. NDAs are a really hot issue at the moment, and I would say this will lead (if it hasn't already) to someone looking into the company.

One of the things they mention about the HW stuff was that a lot of people kept saying 'Does anyone really care about this stuff in the mainstream?' it seemed so, and if it is another powerful man abusing his power, it is a huge story.

Aye and a key thing with Weinstein (amongst others) is that once the initial story broke, it opened the floodgates and countless others came forward.

Does anyone believe that this woman was the only person that this happened to? Or that no woman has a story about being punished after turning them down? Have they made EVERY woman who has ever been harassed sign an NDA?

Even the stuff that's already public knowledge would look damning for them if it gets brought up. If the mainstream media (finally) picks up on Ashley Massaro's story then I don't see Vince's surviving.

Another big factor is that WWE isn't the same company as it used to be. They got through scandals in the past by uniting and having an "Us Against Them" mentality. Can't do that now. I'd imagine a fair portion of the board are desperate to get rid of the old psycho.

They need more titles and/or debuts where the lights go off and back on again!

Seriously though, I suspect Tony Khan is just over-worked. Vince McMahon is famous for being a workaholic but even he isn't booking every show and negotiating every deal. He's not running multiple companies either. In fact, WWE's traditionally gone on a downturn when Vince HAS turned his attention elsewhere hasn't it?

At the moment, everything in AEW feels reactive. Whether it's because of new talent, the purchase of ROH or the deal with NJPW, it feels like *AEW* has been put on the backburner to promote new stuff and new people. I appreciate the business reasons for it but that doesn't help my enjoyment of shows or get me excited about watching. Since AEW started, this is the first point where I really haven't been particularly arsed about watching and/or avoiding spoilers. Because they aren't giving me a lot of reasons to.

Hopefully things will improve when Forbidden Door is done and (big if) ROH is up and running as it's own company again. Of course that could well make it worse.