2018 Post of the Year Thread

[Carbomb]

Agreed. Obviously now it's been seconded, it doesn't need any more for nominations, but just for the hell of it: +1.

[chokeout]

i'll chuck another +1 on that. Superb post

[PunkStep]

Outstanding. I read through two of his earlier entries and he knocked it out of the park with them, but that one is on another level. Genuinely superb.

[Accident Prone]

This had me cracking up at my desk this morning. Brilliant! +1

[WeeAl]

Fantastic stuff by Supremo, another +1 from me.

[wandshogun09]

I’ve just been reading that thread, loads of great entries in there but that ‘Who Killed Vince?’ one by Supremo was just brilliant. It’s going to take something special to beat that for POTY for me now. The Regal as private investigator is something I wish we really got to see now after reading that and the video with The Bill theme is one of the best things I’ve ever seen on this forum. 

If I could upvote it 100 times I would.

[Gus Mears]

I laughed heartily at Ian's 'review' of Crown Jewel.

18 minutes ago, IANdrewDiceClay said:

Never watched it, so going purely off pictures from twitter, he [Shane McMahon] looks pretty stupid these days. They all do. Shawn Michaels looks like my nob after a long bath. And the Undertaker ruined his body putting all that effort in during the Streak only to continue on to wrestle like a Scott Conway import. He's a mess.

 

[HarmonicGenerator]

31 minutes ago, Accident Prone said:

Survivor Series is a weird'un for me. It shows up frequently at pivotal points in my wrestling fandom.

I was first introduced to WWF and wrestling in general through Survivor Series 1989. I got it on VHS for Christmas when I was about 6 and that was my gateway drug. All the colorful characters and big teams and Hulk fucking Hogan really hooked me. From the opening video montage;

To the cocaine-fueled interviews and the McMahon-tastic match run-down, I fucking loved every second.

Despite me having very negative opinions now for some the talent on this show (racists, homophobes, abusers, murderers, etc) it's still the only show I can watch with rose tinted glasses. Just magical stuff.

Some years later, around late '96, I borrowed it to my mate at school because I raved about Andre The Giant and he gave it back to me the very next morning, looking very disappointed, as he thought I was talking about WCW's Paul 'Son of Andre The Giant' Wight.

Fast-forward to January 1997. I kinda fell out of the wrestling loop for a while. I got stuff like Mega Matches '95 and another early 90's comp which escapes me, but the characters and action really did nothing for me. Street Sharks, Biker Mice From Mars and Mighty Max were way cooler than Lex Luger, Tatanka and Doink The Clown. Out of nowhere, my little brother got Rumble '96 for his birthday and I was addicted once again, converting me into a Shawn Michaels mega fan in the process.

Despite not really following month-to-month, I knew enough through WWF and WCW annuals, the random tape rental from Blockbusters and the occasional glance at WWF magazine at the local shop to have a rough idea what was going on. I also knew that Shawn Michaels was the best wrestler ever and my absolute fave, so I was crushed to find out through Royal Rumble '97 (which my Grandad had taped for me the night prior) that he had lost the title two months ago to Psycho Sid at Survivor Series 1996. WWF magazine was three months behind, so in January 1997 it was still October 1996 for me.

I was heart broken.

Shawn winning back the title at the Rumble wasn't good enough, despite the poetic nature of becoming a HBK fan at the previous years Rumble. Survivor Series '96 had ruined me without me even seeing it and, twenty two years later, I still haven't even watched the show for fear of breaking down into tears and throwing myself into an oven.

I kept up with the WWF though, even through that trauma. I bought the WWF magazines(despite all the news and coverage being 12 weeks old) and Powerslam too (which I think was outdated by a couple of months as well). My Grandad would tape the shows when he could. Shawn left and came back, wrestling was a bit good.

Around the summer though, Grandad dropped the Sky Sports package and I was back in the dark for a while again. The next time I saw a current WWF show was, you fucking guessed it, Survivor Series 1997. I was behind on everything and, last I knew, Shawn accidentally had twatted 'Taker with a chair at Summerslam.

It was an accident, mate! Surely 'Taker would understand or, at least, he'll become a bad guy going after good guy Shawn. So colour me fuckless when Shawn was a fucking baddie and I almost threw myself into an oven. Not you, Shawn! Beacon of light, man of hope and wisdom. A fucking bad guy! I was devastated. Again.

Fast forward a few more years. I was an avid fan throughout '98 and all the way until late 2001. had dropped out of wrestling almost completely by the later months of 2002. The drab and disappointing Invasion angle left a very sour taste in my mouth and there seemed to be no other alternative. I was out of the pool completely when I saw No Way Out 2002. Christ, was a sad state of affairs that was. I was done....until I moved school and one of the guys I hung out with copped onto to my previous fandom when I mentioned Smackdown 2 in a conversation. He borrowed me Survivor Series 2002 which had only taken place a couple of days prior. Well fuck me, what a show and what a difference a year makes. 

HBK was back! Mysterio turned up! Some beast called Brock Lesnar was tearing shit up! RVD looked amazing! Jeff Hardy had turned into an alien! The Dudleys reunited even though I never knew they broke up in the first place! Bischoff! New cage match! Bald Kurt Angle! Bad ass Eddie! Kane with a non-burnt chin!

Also, it was at Madison Square Garden and therefore looked fucking fantastic.

It's one of my favourite WWE shows. A really easy watch with loads going on and a great atmosphere. It also led me to dive into WWE's post-brand split catalog and thus really enjoying the vastly underated May 2002 - July 2003 period. It also became my real jumping off point at exploring other promotions as I wanted more and more wrestling than I could handle.

And now, take step back into last year for Survivor Series 2017. I had been a happy subscriber of the WWE Network since the UK launch in January 2015. If a WWE PPV was a bit shite, there was always other content but, most of the time, the shows were usually quite good to average. Bang on the money, lovely stuff.

There was a steep decline in quality though in 2017. Smackdown, a brilliant little show that had me clamoring for more every week, had gone to shit. RAW was the usual turgid bollocks that I had been actively avoiding for years. 205 Live was performed in front of dead crowds and total indifference. NXT Takeover was the only shining point left as the week-to-week show had gotten bland at this point. 

Well, as long as I can watch a 3-4 hour WWE PPV or two for my 9.99, along with the occasional Takeover (which were and are always great) I'd be happy with the service. Yeah, I wasn't bothering with the other content and I stopped watching Smackdown and I skipped through NXT like my finger was plastered to the FF button, but it seemed worth it. After all, I liked keeping in touch with WWE programming on a regular basis like having a child I had lost in a custody battle pop over every other weekend (but a child I was relieved to be away from when they fucked off back to his mum and Nigel's house).

This show though. Jesus fucking Christ. It finished me. Done.

A wankfest that left me so dissatisfied with the current product that I cancelled very soon after. I actually waited to see where it was going for a week before declaring it all worthless, so I even gave WWE yet another chance after the PPV faded to black. A total shitshow but the journey was over. Just to think that the 2016 edition was so bloody well received, especially the 5-on-5 main event and Lesnar/Goldberg, that I thought WWE had found a happy medium for it's product. Yeah, it was always going to crud but at least the PPVs would deliver. The 2017 edition of Survivor Series, as a climax to a year that got steadily worse and worse, was the fork to my turkey.

Ashes to ashes, Survivor Series 1989 to Survivor Series 2017.

Le fin.

 

The story of @Accident Prone‘s fandom, from Survivor Series to Survivor Series. The lovely sort of On Topic read we don’t get often enough these days.

[Carbomb]

Yep. Accident Prone is good po-lis. +1

[wordsfromlee]

I'd give it a solid 5 snowflakes if it wasn't for the line "He borrowed me Survivor Series 2002". I think thats something for me to be talking about in the Things That Annoy You thread though really. Still an absolute cracking read +1

[cobra_gordo]

This from HarmonicGenerator in Random Thoughts is wonderful

26 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

March 26

"I'm pleased to announce the expansion of my pub empire. After years of war, I've taken over the Rovers Return and tonight, you'll see me on BBC and ITV."

"''old on, mum. You're too late. I'm the new owner of the Rovers!"

"Phil, how could you, my own flesh and blood."

 

Everything goes quiet for a few months.

 

June

Dot: "I've been here on Albert Square my whole career, for decades of dotstruction. But my husband Jim is being stalked! I demand to know who's doing this!"

The following week, the culprit unmasks, in the middle of the Square...

"It's me, it's me, it's H-A-ley! This invasion begins now!"

 

July 9

"Right mum, I'm here with the best, most affordable midcarders my new street has to offer. Bring it on!"

"Don't make me laugh Phil. We've got Stone Cold Pat Butcher, we'll destroy you like the jobbers you'll mostly turn out to be"

But wait... who's this?!

BAH GAWD! THE DINGLES ARE HERE! AND THEY'RE TEAMING UP WITH PHIL! WHAT AN UNHOLY ALLIANCE!

"IT'S THE ITV ALLIANCE, MUM, AND WE'RE HERE TO TAKE OVER WALFORD.

And that's not all. Allow me to present the NEW owner of The Woolpack..."

BAH GAWD BAH GAWD! Peggy's other child! Her children have teamed up to end Peggy Mitchell and Eastenders once and for all!

But as long as she gets the old Stone Cold Pat back, everything will be...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! STONE COLD PAT BUTCHER HAS DEFECTED TO THE ALLIANCE! WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE QUEEN VIC, FOR PEGGY MITCHELL, FOR ALBERT SQUARE?!?!?!

 

November

Everything's fine, turns out Eastenders was the number one the whole time. ITV lot, bunch of midcard nobodies.

"Welcome back, lads. Now that's out of the way, time to bring in Curly Watts, Ken Barlow and Mike Baldwin."

"Shouldn't we have used them during the Inva-"

"No."

[Jazzy G]

I was in hysterics reading that while somebody was trying to have a serious conversation with me. 

[Keith Houchen]

Oscar bait, that. 

[PJ Power]

Hallicks for this one in the "It's today then" thread.

 

 

[Chilly McFreeze]

+1 for Hallicks.