forameus

I heard your dad went into a restaurant, and ate everything in the restaurant, and they had to close the restaurant

I'm not sure that's entirely true, but hey, I've no real idea so you might be right. To me it doesn't seem like they're actively trying to force him out, but they aren't exactly trying to keep him in either. But would definitely agree that pretty much everyone comes across really badly in all this. Omega maybe comes out a little better I suppose. Hangman seems to just want to forget it all and stay quiet.

Aye, but...Punk is an arsehole though. I don't think you need to be a Bucks fan (which I'm definitely not) to realise that. Crazy that the weekend after probably one of the most important for all of wrestling, the two main companies in the industry are going to put out two properly B level PPVs. WWE have history of it, but they can kind of afford it with having monthly events, and if you're a paying customer of the Network, the shows aren't really that bad value for the most part. AEW are charging full whack for a card that looks more than a bit w**k. Don't doubt it'll be good, but I doubt it'll rise above that level, and that should be worrying for a company that almost exclusively puts on brilliant shows. Very interesting about Big Phil too. They definitely need the star power for a show like this, but if he is brought back early just for that, it isn't exactly going to quell the idea that Tony's just a big mark for him. Give him and Jungle Boy ten minutes to leather f**k out of each other, then fire the two of them when they get back through the curtain.

Agreed. Vince, and by extension HHH (although he's now in an era where there isn't much appetite from wrestlers to be absolute nightmare men), seemed to excel at knowing just how much leash to give each wrestler. Enough so that they probably will make mistakes, but never so much that they'll actively harm the company. If anything was brewing, it would get shut down pretty quickly, or just never happen in the first place because they knew what the reaction would be. And if it wasn't from Vince, it would be from the people Vince had put in place specifically to deal with talent. With Khan, the leash analogy is pretty pointless, because he's long since let them all off the lead, and they've fucked off. The time to put his foot down and set a marker was after All Out last year. Punk probably should've been punted then, but if not, at least given some actual punishment. Instead, he gets welcomed back once he's healthy and given his own show. Where's the incentive for anyone on the roster to behave now? And couple that with, like you say, everyone has the sheets now to air grievances. Likely back in the day they'd just have a fight, it'd get broken up, and on we go. Now it's just bitching and stories and counter-stories and fans eating it all up. I think at this point, you have to just let Punk go. By all means pay up his contract or whatever legal stuff you have to, but he shouldn't appear again. Probably even Jungle Boy too for being a tit. Actually show that there's consequences and get some authority. Won't hold my breath though. I wouldn't be surprised if Punk appears at All Out in a few days once they realise they've really fucked themselves.

It's rapidly approaching the point where Punk doesn't even need to be directly involved in any trouble, trouble seems to just arrive at his doorstep anyway. The Jungle Boy stuff seems so incredibly petty. He rightly told him not to do a certain spot - along with a lot of the roster and Schiavone apparently - but because it's Punk, suddenly it's this huge deal and there's almost a fight. You can't say that people who are a bit tetchy were looking at the complete lack of punishment Punk got and thinking "I can get away with this too". It's like a high school full of hormonal fannies in there, with a small minority causing trouble and the rest just wishing they'd all be quiet and let them get on with it. And Tony's at the head of it, the head teacher who is totally cool and totally on the kids' side, absolutely terrified of pissing them off so letting them do whatever they want (whilst absolutely off his tits on coke, but that's where the analogy possibly falls down). Seems quite on brand for Big Phil though. I get the feeling if he came to a bridge over a river, he'd just wade in instead so he could complain about it later. I doubt getting his ego rubbed by all the attention really hurt him either. Can only assume it's along those lines, because otherwise, yeah, really fucking odd. The way the London airports are set out, getting to whatever rail/tube links they have is often the hardest rather than taxi ranks, or pick up/drop off etc. If I was as powerful as Punk seems to be in AEW and simultaneously as grumpy as him, I'd be finding the plushest taxi I could and getting it to drive me on to the pitch at Wembley. There was quite a bit made in one of the reports (ironically the one that seems to basically be parroting whatever Punk says) that he stayed behind a lot later than the other talent because he wanted to spend more time with his wife and dog (hilariously, they named the dog, not his wife). So I expect there was logistical stuff in place for larger groups of them to arrive, but if you're arriving independently, I'm not sure they can always be expected to be on hand to hold their hands. It's not Pyongyang they're heading into, it's London. Punk's not daft. My wife's fucking dreadful with directions, but I think she'd still manage to navigate airports and the tube if she absolutely had to.

Went back and watched the main event to see if it held up, and it's even better getting to hear what's going on in the ring. MJF is just so fucking good at pretty much everything he does. It's melodramatic hokey shit, but when he's screaming in anguish at Cole about how he was wrong about him, you fucking believe it. Cole has to be the one that turns on him now, and it's going to be some moment when he does.

Just watching bits of it back now, the hard-cam shots look absolutely brilliant, hides any of the gaps you had at pitch level and makes everything look absolutely massive. But the audio mixing already seems very odd, sounds a lot quieter than it should have for 80k in there. And Jesus Backyard Wrestling Christ, they have no fucking idea how to film a multi-man match like Stadium Stampede. Every time they do one of these, they're constantly cutting away from the peak of spots, then quickly cutting back far too late.

The wrestlers can try all the "look over here" stuff around the backstage drama, but it's becoming really hard to ignore it even after not only the best show AEW have had, but probably one of the most important wrestling itself has had for a while. Maybe Jack Perry was entirely to blame, but in a way that's worse. Punk's p***kly nature now seems to be catching, and a touch under a year after Brawl Out, it seems like Punk's suspended again. Surely if you're Tony Khan you've got to grow a spine and punt him purely for risking a derailment of such a massive show. There's only so many times he can come out coked up to the gills and seem like just a great guy (which he does) when Punk continues to make him look like more and more of a dildo. Also finding the reports of Punk's dreeeeeeadful journey to Wembley highly amusing. Seems like he got the hump that no-one from AEW met him at Heathrow or sent a car, and the number he was given just rang out (talent relations, Christopher Daniels by any chance?) so he had to get the tube and "got lost". Definitely agree with this, I think the only "trouble" I saw the entire day was one guy trying to leap the fence at Wembley Way while in the queue, at which point the security rolled in and talked him down. Absolutely nothing else, and even my expectation that we'd end up getting your typical "wrestling fans" around was unfounded. Everyone was just there and absolutely loving it. My entire row seemed to be from Glasgow and the surrounding areas oddly.

Day after and opinion unchanged, that was brilliant. Will give it a watch back for anything I missed, but even not having the full on view you get on TV, I don't feel like I missed anything. Setup felt like they wanted people not to miss out on anything but the obvious. We were sat at the entrance bit where Jack Perry and the minivan came in, so got to see family, friends and select wrestlers wander around. Skye Blue was there and is absolutely tiny, and lovely. Powerhouse Hobbs spent pretty much the whole show there. He is fucking massive, but has tiny legs. He is also lovely. Show itself its hard to fault it. Would it have been good to have something like Ospreay vs Omega (or insert "big" match here)? Aye, of course, but what we get was consistently great and - what surprised me most - it absolutely flew in. We were sitting there since about 430, so 5 and a half hours really, and it felt like a lot less. I've been a lot more conscious of time at Firhill. I'm definitely there next year, and any following years they decide to do it. Absolutely brilliant.

I am thoroughly sports entertained. Critical of the card before, but that was incredibly enjoyable and absolutely flew by. Topped off with them coming next year. Yass.

Schiavone also came out for 2 mins with a mic and then fucked off

Surprisingly good seats in the end and fears unfounded, even stand a shot of seeing the entrances pretty unobstructed. Aye, excited now.

In Camden and about to head over, really looking forward to the show but fucking hell it's going to be long.

Having someone have a gimmick where they largely go after people whose Dads have died so they can cut promos on them is certainly a choice. Still think the Wembley card could have been better - and it really showed how they've brought both shows down when they ran down the current state of All Out and gave two matches you probably wouldn't glance at for Dynamite - but really looking forward to it now. Should be a great show.

Reports seem to be suggesting that FTR are still planned to participate in their match at Wembley. Guess that's wholly dependent on whether he gets stopped at the border for being a tit. Absolute scenes when Brawl Out 2 happens with Cash in the Ace Steel role.

The train strike stuff doesn't seem quite as bad as I thought. Stansted Express still seems to be running, and the train I need out to where my pal lives is too, albeit a "reduced service" (with more regular trains than a normal Scotrail service...hmm). But I guess with everything up in the air, could well turn up and everything's fucked. I only got my flights end of last month. Had to pay slightly more than I usually would for flights to London and could only get Stansted when Luton would have been better, but wasn't too bad. And not paying for accommodation obviously helps. Having only ever been to Wembley for either gigs (relatively short compared to All In, and standing) or football (much shorter) I've never been arsed getting refreshments or anything like that. Assume Wembley fare is just as shite as anything you'd get at any major stadium, only you can probably buy alcohol?

In an era where any old shite gets released in the knowledge that they can update to their heart's content later with no consequences, Nintendo seem to stand out for actually making sure their games are polished prior to release. I don't think I've played any first-party Switch game where I've noticed anything really serious in terms of bugs. Mario Odyssey was an absolute joy from start-to-finish, and even though I've not really got on with the Zelda games, both BOTW and TOTK are pretty much faultless from a technical standpoint.

I'll also be there, although just All In. Staying with a pal near enough to Luton, so really, really looking forward to making it out that way during the train strikes on Saturday. Hoping that everything's a bit better by the Sunday.

Sounds like all AEW have said is that they're "monitoring the situation". Surely at this point you just say he's suspended to head off the chat? Not to belittle what Enzo Amore supposedly did at the time, but the likes of sexual assault are often pretty difficult to prove either way and harder to unpick. Easy enough to suspend, let the justice system work through, and then hopefully everything ends up alright. This though? It's unlikely that that would ever happen, and maybe best case being a sort of stand-your-ground situation. He needs to be taken out of the firing (lol) line quickly, no matter what the truth ends up being.

Jesus... That's really not a good look for AEW with the timing of the thing. Unless it's something they're absolutely sure would be cleared, it's surely not a good idea to have him continue to appear on TV. Not guilty plea suggests maybe so, but...well, he would say that wouldn't he? Good time to be the Gunns though, imagine unless it gets cleared up really quickly, they're getting a spot against the Bucks at Wembley.

That was...certainly an episode. Some good stuff as always, but some really, really odd stuff. Khan clearly rattled by everyone rightly pointing out that he's a complete wet wipe by shoehorning himself into the MJF/Cole stuff giving them a bollocking (was it even him shouting?). That Texas match was only very, very slightly above that zombies match that WWE put on. But most of all, despite them now realising they probably need to play up that this is a really, really massive show they're doing, they still seem absolutely set on cutting it off at the legs with a pretty meh card. Stadium Stampede will likely be good nonsense, but it all seems a bit thrown together, and trying its best to wring out every last bit of juice from the "BCC are pure nasty by the way" story. Kingston will go down well of course, but given AEW's propensity for questionable production, I fully expect to miss most of the spots while in the stadium. Putting Ospreay with Jericho is pretty criminal. He's a legend obviously, but I'm not sure he's got it in him to rise to the levels that Ospreay can, and reminds me of him vs Vader but not quite as bad. When you could have had him vs Omega, it's a bit shit. Even him vs Guevara I'd rather have had, as at least the annoyingly beautiful wee c**t could get closer to the high-flying stuff and pick up the pace. Not sure Omega is really being used to his full potential either in a trios match, particularly if Ibushi is in similar shape to how he was at Blood and Guts. Having said all that though, at least they seem like they're now trying to build something. f**k knows what they're going to do for All Out with just one week.

Probably depends how the game goes. The atmosphere for a game like that will never be flat, but where it sits along the lines depends on the game. If they're pumping us, it'll likely be pretty flat. If we're pumping them, it'll be jumping. The moment that said it all in that one was at half time. They were winning, and up came an advert that invited fans to text in for "Lion of the Match" award or something similar, to vote for the best Ukrainian player. Now i know why they're doing it, but at half time in one of the biggest games we'd had in ages when we're already losing just seemed like we may as well have just done what some of the roasters were suggesting and forfeited. The approach was all wrong, and it wasn't for Wales. They just shitfested their way to a win anyway.

Aye, complete failure on their part, particularly the insistence to have All In so close behind. It's like they didn't fully plan having a Wembley show at all, and at some point it just became a thing they could do that they jumped on. All In was obviously booked in well in advance with their schedule, so they felt like there was no real way to cancel that one, and they felt like the opportunity to do Wembley either couldn't be moved to another date, or they couldn't countenance passing on it. Nothing else really makes sense, particularly as the card starts to take shape. Even All In seems like it's going to suffer, as they're struggling to build that one too. Ideal would have been to position All In so that it was THE show, and build accordingly. Instead, there seems this reticence to prioritise Wembley (which they should) which is leading to both All In and All Out being considerably worse than they should have been. There's a genuine chance that a show in front of near enough 80000 people in a "new" market could be the worst PPV they've ever put on. Obviously not going to be bad by any means, but the bar is high.

In that sense though, Punk went after arguably the most important people in the company with Brawl Out. He made the owner look like a complete dildo, then went on to start a fight with the people who basically made the company a thing. And not only did he basically get no punishment (his suspension was during his injury anyway), he was arguably rewarded on returning by giving him a safe space with his pals where he can seemingly bar anyone he wants. To be fair, Butterbean is doing pretty well these days, I'd happily see him knock f**k out of Punk. I mean, we'd be in uncharted waters in seeing how Phil gets on in actual fight, aren't we?

When I thought that bringing back Punk would all end in tears, I assumed he wouldn't find new and exciting ways to burn bridges, but here we are. We've now gone beyond him just having his own show created for him, and now have him sitting on the door like some crazed bouncer deciding who is allowed in. To have people be told to fly into town to do whatever, and then suddenly be asked not to go to the arena once they've already travelled, all (supposedly) because of one guy's fragile ego is wild. As Sheriff said, good fucking luck to anyone whose job it is to keep the peace when they're all supposed to be in the same arena for both All In and All Out. At least we've moved on from feuding wrestlers stabbing each other ala Arn and Sid when they get to the UK I suppose. All In is starting to look more and more like an absolutely epic missed opportunity for the company. They've built their brand to the point where they can come extremely close to selling out one of the most iconic stadiums in sport, and instead of taking that and building a show to fit the event, they're seemingly (it could change, of course) putting on a glorified house show. If that doesn't change, at best you're going to have a lot of very disappointed people, and at worst you could seriously damage how your product is seen to fans. Clash at the Castle was basically WWE holding you at gunpoint and shaking you until the coins came out, but at least they attempted to put on a show that felt big. Just asking for something untoward to happen. I can only assume they're putting it there to not really be a match, and be a much safer angle, but knowing the way AEW does things, I expect they're planning it to be some 30 minute gruelling work-rate match. Unless they are planning on swerving and changing the main event, but that would be stupid in so many other ways.