unfitfinlay

It's a fucking shame. I've always loved her, complete beast and looks the part. WWE need a few more non-model types in its lady roster just to mix it up a bit.

 

If she had been a dick and WWE couldn't work with her, fair play, but seeing as it's based around the fact she was pregnant and lost the child, it's ever so slightly harsh as fuck. The whole 'she shouldn't have got knocked up, she knew what WWE would be like' I have read elsewhere is the biggest pile of shite I have ever heard.

We don't know that though.

TNA thought she was a high emotional risk (and they had a point) and that was before she lost her child. It's a bit harsh to immediately jump to the conclusion that "WWE fired her for getting pregnant" when we've got no idea what has actually gone on behind the scenes. Personally, I thought something was up when Layla returned and took the Bella's out when everybody and their dog was reporting that it'd be Kharma, including Kharma herself on Twitter.

It is a shame though. I'm a fan of her in the ring and she could've added a different element to WWE, at least for a little while.

Have they really ignored him though? Because when I watched wrestling as a kid, long after him and his son had left, and also long before the internet I knew of him as the longest reigning (and possibly greatest) WWF Champion of all time. I can't remember why or how I knew that, but surely WWF put him over as the longest reigning champ, didn't they? Maybe WWF Magazine are the ones that put him over? I can't see why I'd have been of that opinion otherwise and my memory is a tad hazy.

I remember them at least strongly implying that Backlund was the longest reigning Champion when he first returned. I definitely thought that until I started buying one of the Apter Mags that published old results. I really don't remember WWE mentioning him much at all.

2) Stringing out the ridiculous Leonard & Penny relationship. It was just about possible to suspend disbelief to the point you could just about accept she might give him a sympathy shag, but the idea a lass who looks like that couldn't find a half decent bloke who didn't dress like a paedophile or speak in a whiny nasal drone anywhere in California is beyond silly, even for a sitcom.

I think that's the biggest problem really. Any show where the main storyline is "Will this Guy get this Girl" is going to have a limited shelf life because once you put them together, the story is over and everything you do after that is just treading water. Friends was the same in that respect: The main focal point was Ross and Rachel and once they were together the show just got louder and wackier in an attempt to hide the fact that they didn't really have anywhere else to go with it.

It's one positive about the British sitcom model of only doing a few, short, seasons so you don't burn through the story too quickly and overstay your welcome. Well GOOD British Sitcoms anyway, I am aware that Last of The Summer Wine was on for about a hundred years.

The whole show seems to be built around a wanky little smart-arse character that from what I've seen has no redeeming features (Sheldon). It's perfectly aimed at fanboy-types that have similar traits, who you normally find posting shit comments on IGN about why everything sucks.

I'd say most of the jokes are about Sheldon displaying symptoms of aspergers syndrome, which they don't/can't acknowledge because then the rest of the characters and the show creators themselves would come across as unbelievable bastards.

It's cliche to say but I liked the Big Bang Theory in the early seasons but it's become a bit of a parody of itself now. How I Met Your Mother is the same. I'm still happy to kill half an hour watching them but I can't see either of them going on much longer.

I'm up to Season 7 of Red Dwarf now. The drop off in quality after around Season Five is really quite astounding.

Is it new for the Forum to only be able to see one post on a subject. All the rest are in links at the bottom of the page.

Click on Options at the top right corner of the thread and select Standard Display mode. That should sort it.

Thanks to a liberal use of the fast-forward button and skipping some episodes entirely, I'm midway through season 4 of Heroes. I think I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown to be honest. How did this show last for so long? Season 3 - especially the latter half - seemed like it was never going to end. Around and around and around in circles with characters doing increasingly stupid things, turning heel/babyface often several times throughout the same episode and the overall plot moving at the pace of a dead snail.

I genuinely think that Tim Kring didn't have a clue what he was doing. As in he lucked into the job as show runner and went to work every day terrified that someone was going to figure it out.

From what I've read about the writing process every character in an episode was written by a different writer, which is why it's all a bit of a clusterfuck with no real direction and nothing makes the slightest bit of sense.

I think my favourite parts are: (Season 3/4 Spoilers if anyone still cares)

Weird.

I suppose it depends on the exact wording of the contract but surely that clause expired when the rest of the contract did? Even if it doesn't. I can't imagine that a contract forcing someone to give up their freedom of speech forever would hold up in court anyway.

TNA legal really are coming across like a bunch of shite arses. They might very well have fucked the entire lawsuit against WWE by knowingly lying about it (saying Flair was an employee after he'd been fired) so it wouldn't shock me if they've made a tit of this as well.

Anyone know what's going on with PWTorrents? It's either down or changed it's ULR. Just in time for No Way Out

It's down.

If you go to special.pwtorrents.net there's a message saying that they can't afford their hosting bills and have taken the site down while they raise funds.

Netflix don't have series two. Damn. Do I dare delve back into the world of Heroes? I gave up after season two because it was fucking wretched and I've heard it just gets worse from here. Admittedly, I'm curious to see just how bad it could possibly get.

It gets so bad that it becomes genuinely hilarious. It's almost like the writers were having a competition to see who could get the most ridiculous storylines approved.

Watch it but don't ever try and take it seriously. Just switch off and enjoy the stupid.

Mean Gene saying "Fuck it" at Summerslam '89.

http://youtu.be/AxfeHHJa4J4

I'd replace Del Rio with Miz. He's got world title credentials, he hasn't fought Sheamus a million times this month like Ziggler has, and he's doing fuck all else on Raw. If Del Rio's out, then an episode of Raw and an episode of Smackdown is enough for Miz to get people into that match at least as much as they're into Sheamus-Del Rio anyway.

 

Agreed. I'd throw the belt on him too, in an "I'm back, bitches!" kind of way, and move him to Smackdown. It gets them out of a hole, and rehabilitates The Miz.

 

WWE have historically produced some interesting stuff when painted into a corner by injuries/departures. While I don't mind the current product, it's always more fun when they're that little bit less "safe".

You know what I'd like to see? That scenario but with Miz winning with some help from A.W and his mates. It would make a lot of sense given their characters, would give a logical explanation as to why Miz GOT the shot and protect Sheamus a bit more than simply dropping the belt to a guy that can't beat Brodus Clay.

It would also give that lot a bit of credibility and a reason to be on TV, which I'm all for.

These were guys who'd worked in other promotions and didn't get over. Even ignoring that because I'm being rather flippant there, who did they bring in that looked that good a prospect? I doubt they originally intended to push RVD much but when he got over with the crowds they gave him a pretty decent push really. I've already agreed that they should have done better with DDP. Booker T's nothing special, and they had him attack Austin, Mr. McMahon and feud with The Rock. And they tried to make Booker something other than a rip off Rock, which is what he was before they got him, and made him a bit of a chikenshit heel. They gave him the right push for that too. Do you want him to be who he was in WCW, or do you want him not to come off as a bargain basement Rock? You're also talking about the WWF taking wrestlers who were mainly jobbers in WCW (Lance Storm wasn't, but Lance Storm's pretty boring) and having their top stars put them over as equals. That's some big egos you're asking to put Shannon Moore over there. Plus you haven't got the extra show and you've got masses of your own stars already over with your fanbase, you can't rid of them and you can't just completely get rid of them, and you don't really want to demote them by having them enter an equal footing with Chavo Guerrero Jr.

I really don't want to turn this into "unfitfinlay rebooks decade old storyline" so I'll try and be as brief as possible.

The WCW Invasion itself was strong enough that it could've gotten pretty much everybody over as long as they were presented as a threat, which they never were. Instead of being portrayed as a unified WCW (or even WCW/ECW) taking advantage of a divided WWF, the WWF guys immediately got their shit together and united against the Invaders, and pretty much abandoning all the storylines that had been going on previously. Seriously THIS happened THREE DAYS after Shane announced the Invasion. The NWO B team never even got that kind of treatment.

As for Booker, my problem was that he was booked with less credibility than Santino Marella is now. Sure, he ripped The Rock off in WCW but building the storyline around Booker calling himself The Book, dubbing the Spinaroonie "The Most Electric Move in Sports Entertainment" and claiming that the Rock had ripped him off was just fucking dumb, and if the World Champion is booked as a comedy character then what does it say about everybody else?

That was the original point of the Invasion angle though: To use WWF TV to repair the damage to the WCW brand name so that they could eventually restart it as a going concern with TV shows, Pay Per Views etc, of it's own.

 

Incidentally, I'd also question whether networks would've been so quick to turn it down if they'd the big stars involved.

 

Yeah, and I doubt it would have ever worked. You don't rebuild a TV brand by having it on your TV show. No one wanted WCW, that was the problem. They would have had a hell of a repair job to do without damaging their own brand. That and they had to re-establish WCW in front of WWF fans. And yeah, they'd have still turned it down even with the big stars. The brand was shit. They wouldn't have cared. It's a hard job selling a wrestling show as it is, let alone one that most of the viewers had left.

The WCW brand name was damaged but it wasn't completely destroyed until the WWF destroyed it. At their worst they were still doing some of the highest ratings on TBS and TNT and, at the risk of harping on about it, the Invasion buy rate proves that there was still substantial interest there amongst fans.

We'll never know if they could've repaired the damage but I think it could've worked. After all, UPN didn't tell them to fuck right off when they told them they'd be paying the same amount of money for half the company did they?

Everybody there (except maybe Sting) would've came if the money was right, and it easily could've been. Sure, they were getting paid loads from Time Warner but could've made a lot more from Pay Per View bonuses alone. As mentioned before, if the Invasion Pay Per View could draw 770,000 buys without the genuine WCW stars (and The Rock, for that matter) then how much could they have drawn with them?

 

Why? Would you? I wouldn't. I'd sit at home. And you're way oversimplying it when it comes to Goldberg, Nash and Hogan love the business, Goldberg supposedly doesn't care one way or the other. And isn't he one of the intelligent ones who makes money elsewhere? Even with the big stars and even if the Invasion angle was a massive cash cow, the momentum would have died eventually and then you'd be left with ridiculous contracts for your main eventers.

I don't think I'm over simplifying at all. Goldberg might not like wrestling but he really likes money. Goldberg vs Austin or Goldberg vs Rock as part of a WCW vs WWF feud in 2001 would've been amongst the biggest Pay Per View matches of all time and he'd have made far more money than he would've staying at home.

You're also forgetting that Goldberg did eventually take a buy out and join the WWF on a massive contract with a limited amount of dates. Christ, they gave Hogan a contract that said that he'd be the highest paid person on any Pay Per View he worked, regardless of his position on the card. They gave into their demands anyway, just at the wrong time.

For what it's worth, I don't think buying the WCW guys out would've been the best option, just better than what they did do. Ian's right, they could've made it work without the big names just by protecting the people they did have, instead of burying them. DDP for example got a massive reaction when he debuted, and then got fed to the Undertaker and his missus for no apparent reason. If they'd protected the bulk of them and made a concentrated effort to get them over as legitimate stars, they'd easily have been able to keep it going until the likes of Nash, Steiner, Goldberg etc, were available.

 

What? You've just tried to argue that it was. And yes, that fantasy scenario where everyone comes in is obviously better than what they did. Jeesh. That's the most redundant statement imaginable. Although you're right about the DDP thing, which I'd competely forgotten about when I was thinking about the booking earlier, that's probably the other big thing to change.

No I haven't. What I originally said was:

Going in they had three choices: Stump up to buy the big names out of their Time Warner contracts, book the WCW guys they DID have as strongly as possible to get them over as stars, or just bury lot of them after a month, pissing away hundreds of millions of dollars in the process. They went with the stupidest option.

You picked out the first part and said it wasn't a viable option and I disagree. It was one of only two options they had to actually make big money from the storyline. The best way would've been turning the guys they did have into legit draws (which would've given them massive leverage when negotiating with your Goldberg's, Nash's later on.) If they didn't have the confidence in their ability to do that then there was no alternative but to shell out and bring in people that would. Instead they went with the third option and just killed the storyline for a bizarre ego boost.

DDP wasn't the only WCW guy to be buried by the booking either. Booker was portrayed as a Rock rip off who couldn't beat him even with a two on one advantage. In fact the only "Invader" who was given any credibility at all was RVD.

Regarding the invasion, what about TEMPORAILY turning Austin heel getting him back as Stunning Steve, Jericho as Lioneheart and maybe a couple others, Farooq as Ron Simmons, Big Show as The Giant, etc. evening up the odds and telling a story that made WCW important? Once WCW had been acquired, as a brand, it would have made sense to make it look as important as possible. Obviously you would still have all the real WCW guys, but it would have helped immensely IMO.

 

Now all of a sudden the star power is not an issue any longer.

Well, it's better than how Cornette would've booked it anyway.

Hell, they could have kept WCW going as a separate entity with its own TV show (Smackdown) and done the brand split properly

 

They couldn't. They tried shopping a WCW product around to other networks and they got told to get fucked. The brand was pretty much dead in the water by that point. If they went to network executives and said "we're thinking about ditching the WWF branded show you've paid for and giving you a WCW one instead" they'd probably think you were taking the piss.

That was the original point of the Invasion angle though: To use WWF TV to repair the damage to the WCW brand name so that they could eventually restart it as a going concern with TV shows, Pay Per Views etc, of it's own.

Incidentally, I'd also question whether networks would've been so quick to turn it down if they'd the big stars involved.

They tried to bring in Sting after his contract ended, he still wasn't interested. I should imagine Sting doesn't want to make the jump because of the schedule more than anything. That's probably what appeals to him about TNA. Sting wasn't and seemingly still isn't interested. He's out. Do you expect Nash to be interested in coming in when he's getting free money? Maybe Hogan would have brought people in, although his nostalgic run relatively near to that point didn't exactly do killer business anyway, but could you imagine trying to keep him branded as a WCW guy anyway? Not going to happen. He'd have jumped to the WWF side. Would Goldberg have made the jump earlier? I'm not sure. He's on record as not really having much of a love for pro wrestling and seeing it more as a job, he's getting paid a fair bit to sit at home and he was seemingly always a little reluctant (quite rightly too) to trust the WWE when it came to handling his character.

Everybody there (except maybe Sting) would've came if the money was right, and it easily could've been. Sure, they were getting paid loads from Time Warner but could've made a lot more from Pay Per View bonuses alone. As mentioned before, if the Invasion Pay Per View could draw 770,000 buys without the genuine WCW stars (and The Rock, for that matter) then how much could they have drawn with them?

For what it's worth, I don't think buying the WCW guys out would've been the best option, just better than what they did do. Ian's right, they could've made it work without the big names just by protecting the people they did have, instead of burying them. DDP for example got a massive reaction when he debuted, and then got fed to the Undertaker and his missus for no apparent reason. If they'd protected the bulk of them and made a concentrated effort to get them over as legitimate stars, they'd easily have been able to keep it going until the likes of Nash, Steiner, Goldberg etc, were available.

Going in they had three choices: Stump up to buy the big names out of their Time Warner contracts,

 

Why does everyone oversimplify that to present it as a viable option? For a start you're going to have to offer considerably more than the Time Warner contracts, which were already stupid, because you're asking them to actually work ,what was to them at that point, a mental schedule. Many of them were pretty used to other benefits in their contracts too. But the bigger issue is that it's not just paying them more, it's paying your own roster more. IF these new guys come in on mental contracts than the likes of Austin, Rock and 'Taker are goign to get pissed and want more money so you're going to have to pay them as well, and keep on paying them. Adn heaven forbid you offer the WCW guys the other benefits they had to their contracts. Maybe they could have brought in one guy. But I always find it moronic how people never being up the flip side, it's not just a case of WWE wantign to brign them in, it's a case of these wrestlers wanting to actually go out on the road again for less money. DDP did and look his WWE career went. Even if the WWE did decide to be tits and dramatically increase the wages of their headliners for ever, over one angle that would always have only lasted about a year anyway, would you agree to go fron being able to relax at home for a massive wage to working five nights a week? Adn even if you decide to argue that the WWE could have offered them contracts without house show dates you're being an even bigger idiot, because than the otherh eadliners could ask for the same kind of cushy deal. Then no one of any worth is working house shows.

 

It just wasn't that great of an option for the company, nor the wrestlers involved.

Seriously? I'm pretty sure that, done properly, a WCW vs WWF war could've lasted for years.

There were obvious drawbacks to buying WCW guys out of their contracts but also a lot of incentives to do it. The WWF made something like $8 Million dollars from the Invasion Pay Per View, and that was a "B" Pay Per View with fucking Rhyno and the Dudleys in the Main Event. How much more money would they have drawn with a Goldberg or a Sting involved? More than enough to offset the increased costs of bringing them in surely. Politics might've been a problem, but then, they brought everybody but Sting in later on anyway and it didn't cause any major problems. Come to think of it, they actually bought Flair out of his contract the DAY AFTER the storyline ended, which is so dumb I might I blocked it from my mind.

It may not have been perfect but it would've been far better and far more profitible than what they ended up doing, which was bury the Invaders after a month and put the entire focus on Vince vs Shane and Stephanie. As Air Raid said, by the end the Alliance could've just been any other heel faction.

Just a couple of quick ones:

 

Age old question, and plenty of needless threads I'm sure - but what is the actual gripe people have with the Invasion angle? Is it just not hanging on til Flair/Hogan/Goldberg etc showed up? Not looking for debate, just wondered what the accepted consensus was.

It was shite.

Going in they had three choices: Stump up to buy the big names out of their Time Warner contracts, book the WCW guys they DID have as strongly as possible to get them over as stars, or just bury lot of them after a month, pissing away hundreds of millions of dollars in the process. They went with the stupidest option.

This is probably one of the most common questions asked on here, but a search for any of the key words brings up loads of topics, and I couldn't see an answer:

 

What is the best way to get tickets to see TNA at Universal Studios?

 

I'd appreciate any advice from anyone who has been before. For example if queueing up for hours on the off-chance is the only way I probably wouldn't bother, whereas if there is a sure-fire way of guaranteeing admission in advance I would want to do that.

 

Thanks.

From: http://www.universalorlando.com/Shows/Impact-Wrestling.aspx

To receive priority entrance, please contact TVaudience@tnawrestling.com no sooner than one week prior to your select taping, once the show dates & times have been confirmed. You will receive an email confirmation which will allow you to enter the soundstage prior to those in the Stand-by line. Please note: Entrance to IMPACT WRESTLING does not include free entrance to Universal Studios Florida.

Vince McMahon hates him, and was really pissed off when he was even re-hired. His card was marked from the second Vince noticed him backstage.

It wasn't just Vince either, according to Raven anyway. He said in Power Slam that he came up with a storyline involving him, Tommy Dreamer and some people from OVW that Vince totally loved but Brian Gewirtz just flat out refused to book.

Vince loved him at one point though didn't he? He seemed to be doing everything when he was Johnny Polo.

Raven had a cracking 2003. He turned up in TNA unannounced, stole the World title and had a great little feud with Jeff Jarrett. He lost momentum when they didn't put the belt on him and fell down the card.

If remember right, the original plan was to put the belt on him but his contract was expiring and they didn't want to risk him either fucking off with belt or holding them up for more money. It was a pity though because

When's the last time TNA did a rag finish? I'm guessing they've done it recently as well.

Gabes sapolsky facebook statusWhen the ownership and management of a company doesn't care or have enough respect for its employees and more importantly paying customers to spend enough money to have adequate equipment they can fuck off. When a company decides to go on the cheap and take a risk that something like a website will work instead of doing everything in their power to guarantee it will work they can fuck off. If the ownership and management doesn't care or respect it's fans enough to do this they don't deserve your support.

Have the WWE ever publicly acknowledged TNA on-screen at any point? Is there any examples? There's got to be at least one.Also, what's the deal with the Dudley Boyz name? I know it was trademarked behind their backs by WWE, so they had to use alternate names, but TNA have referred to them as the Dudleys on many occasions and Bully Ray has been referred to as Bubba numerous times. So, is it just a case of TNA doing it for the sake of it and to hell with the consequences?

I just don't get how Evolve, Dragon Gate USA, Chikara, a shite promotion like Awesome Wrestling Revolution (remember them?) and Juggalo Championship Wrestling can pull off 3 or 4 hour PPVs with either no cock ups or maybe just minor ones and Ring of Honor cant even seem to stream the promotion. Some are saying its a bandwidth issue because the 60 year old blokes running it like its 1974 cant grasp the concept of streaming live via the internet, so when everyone tries to log it, its a massive failure.This is a big one for ROH. This could be their David Arquette moment. Why would anyone pay another penny on them after the third royal fucking they've had off them. Its all well and good saying "well, they are going to give us them for free now", but they can't even do that right. The Bryan vs Punk match midweek was supposed to be free, but they couldn't upload it. You can have all the good wrestling you want, but if you can't produce a forum for people to watch it and watch it in an atmosphere when you aren't shitting yourself that it isn't going to cut off or the words aren't going to sound like Fukani and Taka cutting and "Indeed" style promo, it means nothing. This promotion is cursed.Must say, for years people said "Cornette's past it, his wrestling will be boring, he's out of touch with the current world" etc. and his supporters defended him. He's a donkey. He's a bitter angry man, and ROH is a vanity project for him to pretend its late 70s NWA again. Bastard. He should have shut his fat gob and tried to get rehired by WWE and TNA again.

What a pillock. Not you, Bryan. He must have thought he could get the fans to care about the mask gimmick.

Given everything I've read about Bryan and his attitude to wrestling, I'd say it's more likely that he wanted the experience of wrestling under a mask regularly so that he wouldn't do a Super Liger if a big company called. He WAS working for All Star to learn the British style after all, despite having had a WWE contract offer on the table for years.

Or he figured it'd be fun.

Whatever happened to ECW's "911"? He seemed to be very popular in the early days of Extreme Championship Wrestling. He left quite sudden.

He went to WCW for more money.

He was a big guy that could do a good chokeslam but not much else so that's pretty much all ECW booked him to do. He got really over, started to believe he was a superstar and demanded more money which ECW refused.

WCW signed him, named him "Big Al" and just used him to put other people over, which is really all he was good for.

McGann's flip-flopped, saying he'd love to get involved but also that he feels the show's way above his station these days. Either way, if there's a multi-Doctor episode, this won't be it. It'll be the start of series 8, near the anniversary, if at all. I reckon we're more likely to get some revelations about the Doctor's origins than we are to get a multi-Doctor episode, especially as Smith's Doctor didn't recognise Prisoner Zero's impersonation of him just after he regenerated (suggesting he hadn't seen himself looking like that before).

 

I don't understand, why would he have seen himself looking like that before? I'm not sure there's many more revelations to be had about his origins. There's not really much mystery left there. I actually wouldn't be surprised if the 'doctor who?' question is more about where he's meant to be at a certain stage, what he becomes to the universe rather than a reveal about his origins. Unless they just chuck us his name from the classic series again, although I'd much rather if he revealed his name only we never hear it because humans can't comprehend it even with the TARDIS translating.

 

To be honest the 'doctor who' hook doesn't really interest me much. It was a neat line but I'm more interested in Moffat's promise of more stand alone stories.

If Matt Smith's Doctor bumps into the earlier versions of himself then those past versions would've met his new self.

Of course they could always do the "This isn't what is supposed to happen! Some external force is messing with time!" bit that they've done before to explain it.

I suppose I thought it was really good for what it was. It's an adventure story for teenage girls. I wasn't expecting Cormac McCarthy.

 

There is nothing really original in it at all but it moves along at a quick pace and keeps you interested and you can read the whole thing in about 3 hours.

Aye. I can't really argue with that in all fairness.

It was sort of an impulse buy for me after seeing the Trailer for the film. Was quite surprised when I realised it was in the children's section of the Kindle Store.

I've gone a bit mad recently and taken advantage of WH SMiths 3 for 2 offer and spent a shit load on books.

 

What I've read in the past few weeks (all have been really really good):

 

Breakfast At Tiffanys

A Clockwork Orange

Brighton Rock

The Hunger Games

Really? I was quite disappointed with The Hunger Games. I liked the concept and there was nothing offensively bad in there but the characters were just a bit shit and some of the plot points really contrived. Just not as good as I was expecting.

It was also really really short. I got through all three books in just a few days and that was largely from reading when I was on the bus etc.

Is Jake Roberts clean these days? I notice on his Wiki that he entered into the rehab programme WWE started offering in 2007 but was curious to see if he was still sober/drug-free.

I could be wrong but I think he came out of rehab and immediately fell into his old habits. There was definitely one show right after it where he got so fucked up that his opponent ended up just forcing him down and pinning him really early into the match. Another wrestler ran out to try and get Jake to DDT him and send the fans home happy but Jake was too fucked up to do that as well.

If I remember right Jake claimed he'd been spiked before the show but other people said, that at a previous show, he was asking every black person he met if they could get him some crack.

Found a link to a more detailed report/