Ironic Indie Lad

In my opinion he was a relentlessly over pushed guy and I cant imagine anyone except the most loyal diehard WWE weirdo genuinely considering him to be one of the best all time.

He had his high points but for me he only ever truly excelled in gimmick matches (Cactus Jack feud) or if he was in with super workers like Michaels, B3noit and Danielson.

When I think of HHH, the first place my mind goes to is his absolutely cringe inducing WrestleMania entrances and the second thing is his long list of incredibly long and indulgent promos and matches. 

9 minutes ago, neil said:

I'm looking forward to Joe Rogan's breakdown of how you can't make jokes anymore, Chris Rock is one of the nicest guys around, and then a detailed breakdown into the slap touching on it being Bas Rutten's style, and how Smith should adjust his mechanics to make the slap more effective.

The open palm strike is more effective on the ground because opening up the fist gives you more room to generate force across a very short distance.

I think thats why Chris Rock didnt just jump guard tbh. He is dangerous off his back but this isn't sport jiu-jitsu, its real fighting. His submissions go out the window if Will can get some ground and pound off. 

I know its got fairly mid reviews but I started Ghostwire Tokyo on PS5 over the weekend and I have really, really enjoyed it so far. Really enjoy the art style, tone and design of the game. Coming off of Elden Ring I actually really appreciate that its not fucking enormous and challenging. Its just fun to play and I dont really need games to be anything more than that most of the time.

Speaking of, I also have played the first few levels of Kirby and the Forgotten Land and its just first class 3D platforming. Absolutely lovely stuff. 

Unrelated note - it's being widely reported that Playstation are revealing their Game Pass competitor (currently codenamed Spartacus) this week. Sounds like they are going to amalgamate PS+ and PSNow but with additional tiers and a suite of current games as well as PS1, 2, 3 and 4 games and maybe PSP and Vita?

I've started the questline but not finished it. 

Might do this tonight before I go back to finish the Volcano Manor stuff.

I've watched every 'Mania since 27 (except the empty arena covid one) with the same group of lads. Most of us dip in and out of WWE but always get together for WrestleMania.

I sent the card as it stands to our group chat last night...

THE STREAK...IS OVER etc.

40ish hours in now and I am level 67.

Almost all of those levels are intelligence and I also have some armour, physick flask ingredients and a spell that give some delicious intelligence buffs.

As I keep telling my deeply uninterested girlfriend, I am a powerful mage. 

Regardless of what this ends up being, Austin is coming in great shape.

He keeps himself in good cosmetic nick most of the time anyway. He's been posting his meal prep on IG and the big man is for sure trying to lean the fuck out. Obviously this isn't going to stop his neck being dust and his knees being like ritz crackers though. 

Theres a Sony State of Play tonight at 10pm. Only about 20 mins long apparently and focusing on 3rd party releases from Japanese developers.

No idea what to expect but most of the rumours I am seeing seem to think its going to be heavily focused on Final Fantasy 16.

Does anyone have any tips for this boss?

He's put a scarf hold on my heart

2 hours ago, BomberPat said:

This is the sort of thing that comes up every few years - when Kurt Angle started doing the Anklelock, it led to a spate of playground rumours that it was leading to Ken Shamrock coming back.

This was 100% a rumour in my high school 

*glory days by Bruce Springsteen plays softly*

1 minute ago, Matthew said:

Is Rock/Roman “rumoured” for next years Mania then? Like it has been for the past 5 I think

From what I understand, it was earmarked for SoFi stadium in LA but the pandemic fucked the original plans for WrestleMania in that stadium.

That's where next years show is. In classic WWE fashion they will announce attendance insanely higher than the Superbowl in the same building. 

WWE dont really care about quality right now and it shows. They are presenting arguably their worst product ever and making more money than ever before.

They will get through this 'Mania, present another forgettable year of cycling up mid-carders for one month main event runs (remember the Cesaro, Balor and Mysterio mini-pushes?) and then it will be time for Rock vs Roman and Becky v Rousey.

Bryce Mitchell v Edson Barboza was excruciating to watch and not because of the fighters. I honestly don't think there is anything more tedious than a fight where Rogan gets on something and absolutely will not let it go. All he wanted to talk about was the 145 cut destroying Edson. SHUT THE FUCK UP WE GET YOUR POINT.

Didn't expect this to be so dominant. I agreed with whatever judge game 2 x 10-8 rounds. As someone who has done a lot of grappling, my experience is that sometimes you just get guys who are freaky strong despite their physique. Mitchell strikes me as one of those guys. Farm boy strength. Edson probably felt like he had a 205er on top of him.

Mitchell seems to have potential to be some sort of weird cult hero figure. The farming, the rapping, the utterly insane comments on podcasts. He's a maniac. Not to mention the odd spiritual rituals he was getting up to if you watched the embedded shows. 

Overall this felt like quite a weird show to me.

I couldn't really shake the feeling that it was doomed from the off while watching it, certainly in the main events. Firstly as they were selling a grudge match. Realistically, most people who understand fighting knew deep down it was never going to be anything Jorge getting drowned and frustrated. The chances of any real fireworks were quite slim. Secondly throwing Moicano into a 5 rounder with virtually no notice just made that feel like a violent but pointless spar. 

Still, Kevin Holland got back on track with a fairly nice little win. He's a guy I really thought had star potential when he was on that win streak.

Regal being the coach of a Danielson and Moxley led stable of hard cases would potentially be some lovely stuff. Chuck Claudio in with them and you have just secured months of guaranteed awesome tag and six man tag TV matches. Stick someone like Garcia in as well for a nice little rub.

I thought Punk really showed his value and his strengths over the last few weeks and on this show. He has always been at his best when he's got a program he can really get stuck into and tell his story. This whole thing played out perfectly and sits up there with the absolute top tier stuff in his career. Interesting that he motioned for the belt when he stood up on the ropes after his match. I cant really imagine him sliding into a program with either Sammy or Page right now. Hopefully he gets taken on a few little side quests first. 

I challenge you to appear (in this very ring) in front of the WWE universe on my talk show...specifically on night one of the most stupendous WrestleMania!!!!!!

Terrible stuff. Don't even talk to Austin about having a match if slagging off Texas is the best you can come up with.

This card is looking incredibly bad to me. I know Rousey, Lynch and Logan Paul are the big names here but all three have the worst kind of cringe / go away heat with me. If this show was happening in my garden I think I would just shut the curtains.

SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair defends against Ronda Rousey

Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch defends against Bianca Belair

Rey & Dominik Mysterio vs. The Miz & Logan Paul

Drew McIntyre vs. Happy Corbin

KO Show with 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin

2 hours ago, Merzbow said:

I think I'm level 96 or something now but only just now have enough Intelligence to run with the best staff in the game (a boss hat added some points), a few more levels and I'll be busting out moon magic which is enhanced by it.

I could probably play with just my rapier tbh, it does decent damage just from using magic ashes of war. I love how you can basically infuse any weapon on the fly so if I wanted I could easily try others.

I was absolutely baffled by your level there until I remembered I started playing this game a week after it came out. 

Can anyone see themselves doing multiple runs through this game? Its obviously not as concise as Demon's Souls for example but I quite fancy trying out different builds at some point.

Put an embarrassing amount of time into Elden Ring over the weekend. Currently 24 hours in and my character is Level 53. Almost all of my runes have been spent on intelligence as I have a sword and a staff that both scale with that stat and some pretty sweet long range spells.

Even with all that, I found the fight with the Red Wolf of Radagon (in the Lakes dungeon) to be an UTTER BASTARD. Its been the only time in the whole game where I was just walking into a room, getting instantly fucked up and questioning what the fuck I am even doing. Had to go online and call in some back up for that one. Was very amused afterwards to find out that it wasnt even the boss of the area.

First time I have ever played any Souls game online and I was having such a laugh with it. Ended up being summoned into other games for hours.

I don't think the beef is contrived. If it was, they would have come up with a better press conference.

What a shambles (but weirdly entertaining)

Definitely true as he is clearly absolutely delusional about his recent losses.

He remains absolutely convinced that he was fucking Khabib up. That round by round breakdown he posted was insane stuff. 

He's 100% good for the UFC's business. I don't think anyone can deny that. He has been linked to so much bad press over the years and it doesn't seem to have made a dent in his drawing power. I think the Cowboy fight was around 1 million buys and then both the Poirier fights were well north of that number too.

The site fees, live gates, media coverage and impact to the local economy is at a level so far above fighters a tier down in terms of star power (Jones, Diaz, Masvidal etc.)

Personally, If I was promoting him I would imagine I could get more fights and more money out of him over a longer term if it was away from title contention at 155 and 170. I'm talking about the likes of Diaz, Lawler, Ferguson, Masvidal, Chandler. Guys with name value who are past their best days (being fair, Conor fits that description at this stage). To me those are still marketable fights but ones he actually has a chance of winning. Surely that's better than him getting absolutely ruined by the likes of Makachev and Usman?

Who knows though. He doesnt fight often and he obviously doesnt need the money. Maybe its best to just get him in the biggest fights possible while you can and hope his opponent gets a bit of a rub off his star power. 

44 minutes ago, TheBurningRed said:

Reminded me of Eric Bristows “sorry meant paedo not poof” tweet. 

GOAT tweets

Darts players tough guys footballers wimps

I wonder if ESPN / businesses in Vegas put any pressure on Dana about PPV headliners.

As far as I was aware, the beauty of UFC's deal with ESPN is that they get a flat fee for the exclusive PPV rights and it doesnt move up or down depending on the performance of each individual event. People have speculated that this is why Dana has been reluctant to shell out the money to put together things like Jones v Ngannou. Although it would be a bigger event, it wouldnt mean as much to UFC's bottom line as it would have in the old days if Lewis v Gane is going to get them the same cheque regardless.

That said, the difference between 500k and >1m PPV buys is obviously enormous financially. I could totally see why ESPN would want McGregor in the biggest fights possible. 

Similarly, I have to imagine a McGregor title fight at the T-Mobile is going to be phenomenal for the hotels, bars, restaurants, casinos etc. 

Personally I would rather see how 155 played out with the likes of Makachev, Dariush, Oliveira, Gaethje etc. If we must keep promoting big McGregor main events then just give him winnable fights on the same level as the Cerrone fights to keep the suits and the casuals happy.

Been enjoying the hype videos for the main event as its just a huge, stupid, over the top high-school level beef between two absolute wallies.

I cant see the fight delivering, unfortunately. It's difficult to imagine anything else but Colby just overwhelming Masvidal with volume and pressure. 

Its a strange one though because I dont think a win from Covington is enough to get him back for a 3rd crack at Usman but I also cant really imagine him fighting the likes of Burns, Belal, Luque etc. If he wins I would try and go with Covington v Edwards as an eliminator. As much as Edwards has 'earned' a title shot with his streak, the inactivity, no contest and almost getting stopped by Diaz has fucked it for him a bit.

As soon as Punk came out in a plain white t-shirt, you just knew it was time for a blade job.

This feud has been absolutely TREMENDOUS stuff.