forameus

Finn Balor put up a close-up photo of what looks like a Balor Club T-shirt, with just one word. Monday. Maybe he just really likes Mondays, or maybe we're getting Balor Club on RAW? Seems unlikely, and if it was true, seems like a waste of a huge surprise.

Probably because of games like Saturday. On a high after beating an admittedly poor St Johnstone side, and we probably should be getting a result there too. And we get cuffed. With how tight the league is, Dundee United picking up points, and given two of our games in hand are against Hearts and Aberdeen, I can see why some are nervous. We should be fine though. Hopefully Saturday was just a blip

Yeah, a whole three weeks later or something I more meant that immediately after the match where the stipulation had been hyped on one side, did it ever get effectively canned post-match? I can't think of any.

At this stage it doesn't make sense, but I bet this time next week, post-RAW, it'll make more. There's plenty of ways they could make it believable and have the match take place as planned (because they kind of have to now unless they want to really make a lot of work for themselves). I think the important thing is to not paint Taker as the heel who wants to do the authority's bidding, but the guy who has to do it or else. Have Taker come out and refuse the match, and as he's leaving, Vince threatens him with something. Maybe he says that if he doesn't wrestle, he's done in WWE, and that he will never be given a spot in the hall of fame. I know that seems like small fry, but in kayfabe terms, that's the ultimate honour surely? If he wrestles for the authority, then he carries on as normal, win or lose, no questions asked. You could then have the match play out as a professional deadman spending portions of the match reluctantly dominating. Destroying Shane before the inevitable comeback. Because that's the thing - I can't really see Shane losing this one if it stays as is. It's such a huge angle, with such a big change to the product, that it would almost feel like a massive cop-out if Shane just loses. Whenever they announce matches like this, where there's a huge stipulation on one of the wrestlers, how often does it go against that stipulation? Genuine question, as I can't remember any. Ric Flair had to beat Shawn Michaels, and didn't. Shawn had to beat Taker and didn't. Authority had to win at Survivor Series to stay in power, and didn't.

Could well end up being host. Would make the most sense. He's not going to wrestle, and being in someone's corner would either lead to him just being a cheerleader, or stealing the spotlight. Have him open the show, maybe do a segment with someone later on. Job done. In fact, if Vince is at ringside (cellside) for the Taker/Shane match, have him come down at the moment that Vince is threatening to derail the match, stunner him, and then leave. Pop would be enormous. Of course it would make absolutely no sense, but who cares.

Surprised at that, but then I suppose it was supposed to be on BT wasn't it? They're hardly going to be raging they can't show us when they have Champions League on. Nae class. After Motherwell and Saints, that's three games we're unlikely to get much from. After that though, four very winnable fixtures. Then we'll have five tough fixtures, cos we'll be pure top 6.

And of course, by saying Austin, I meant HHH, and was just testing...aye Yes, Rock vs HHH was pretty good, not Austin. That was around the time he was "hit by a car" and went for surgery, wasn't it?

I watched that not that long ago. The Stone Cold vs the Rock part was actually a pretty good match I thought, the Triple Threat once Big Show was out was OK too. Far too over-booked in the end. The idea was alright, execution was dreadful. Maybe Sting isn't as fucked up as initially thought, and Shane will bring him up to play the face to Undertakers "heel". I don't think its the Undertaker as a heel that's the big issue - he could play it, and very effectively. It's the fact that by doing that, he's aligning with the authority effectively. Why would he do that? Sure they could have him come out next week and spin a line about how McMahon has promised him something if he wins, but would it be believable?

I still think Taker will flip and end up representing Shane, with a heel going up against him for the Authority. Only problem is that there's not really any really good heels out there for him to go up against. Their top ones are probably Owens (he'll be defending the IC) and Lesnar (already done, and he's facing Ambrose). Like Jamie says, he's advertised for RAW now, so should become clearer next week. It'd be a repeat, but this is where having HHH free would've been good. Not the most original, but the story would write itself, and it'd be a Wrestlemania worthy match.

I have no idea how they'd make it happen - let's say, shenanigans - but what if Undertaker switches sides? What's effectively happened is that Undertaker has been put in a match without being involved in any way. Shane gets taken out next week on RAW by an unidentified heel, and is declared out of WM. It's pretty obvious that Vince was behind it, but no-one can prove it. The week after, Undertaker returns and confronts Vince, saying that he wants no part in fighting to keep the authority in power (because really, why would he suddenly fight for them?). Instead, he wants to fight in place of Shane, against the man who took him out. Then we get a face Taker against a monster heel in Hell in a Cell. Taker wins, Shane is in power, which builds up a program towards Summerslam of Shane vs Authority. Even though none of that will happen, the list of prospects for him to up against is dreadful, heels and faces. They must be absolutely desperate for Cena to come back.

Well Wrestlemania escalated quickly. I had a notification when I woke up of a Youtube channel I subscribe to with a video entitled "Undertaker vs Shane O'Mac for WM?!?!!", and I assumed the dirtsheets were having a field day and just making shit up. But no, went to look at the RAW write-ups, and the crazy b*****ds have actually done it. First thoughts, I actually like it. IF it happens, then we're not going to get a technical masterpiece, but it has that unknown factor. It's hell in a cell, Undertaker isn't going to be stretched to lengths he can't quite reach anymore (Lesnar especially) and it can be a slow-paced bah-gawd slobberknocker of a match. It's one I'd actually like to see right now, although that opinion can change if they ruin the build. Then you think about it a bit more. Shane has come back as the face GM kind of role (or potential at least), the spot I h oped they'd give to Daniel Bryan. I think it's something that they could bring in to breathe some life into a product that badly needs something new for the authority to do, or just to go away for a bit. So in that sense, it's a decent move. BUT, that essentially means that they're trying to paint Undertaker as a heel. I know they teased that with Lesnar and the rampant dick kicking, but is anyone really going to treat Undertaker as a heel at Wrestlemania? Not a chance. What would have made more sense would be for Shane to go after a heel with the same stipulation, then he turns up injured with a few weeks to go. Who replaces him to fight for control of RAW? Undertaker. Which takes me to the last point - the video I watched made a good point that they couldn't really see this match actually happening. Something will happen, Shane will drop out, and then we get a representative against Undertaker instead. Maybe Cena, given he is making vaguer and vaguer comments about working hard to get back. Well they've certainly got people talking, and they needed that post Fastlane.

I know it's totally not what the article is about, but just noticed that Takeover Dallas starts at 10pm Eastern Time, so 3am here? Seems extremely late - are we getting NXT: Too Hot for TV? Be interesting to see how they treat Nakamura. Are they going to change anything, or do similar to what they did with Styles?

Just put a picture of a greeting Mark "Warbz" Warburton in the artificial column. Job done. Seriously though, I don't really care if it would get other teams backs up. I don't particularly care if it displeases our own players. Surely a good quality artificial surface is the way forward. I'd also imagine it would be cheaper long term than doing what clearly needs done to our existing surface. If it's so fucked that we can't deal with one day of bad weather now, then it's clearly in a very, very bad way. Or put down an ash pitch. That'd be brilliant.

You know what'd be pure brilliant? If we actually got to play a game at home. That'd be braw.

And on the fourth day, God sent ice, sleet and a wee bit more rain. Wait til you see what the big yin is planning for the fifth day!

The Undertaker would be a weird one. Would he want to do something like that where he truly leaves Kayfabe? Seems to be one of the last dedicated old school ones. Would love to see it though - he'd be a really interesting interview.

I was going to ask what that was. Looks like the beams from a gymnastics competition - are we working on Pogs agility? The cushion idea...meh, I'm not bothered. Would rather have got one of the scarves if they hadn't run out. Is our next one a nice pipe and smoking jacket combo?

Sounds good. Does well enough for NXT - give them enough time for matches and let them show their skills and they'll be golden.

They're making great strides with the network, and with a few more additions they could make it even better. Will be interesting to see what format they use for the Cruiserweight stuff, but it should be absolute gold. Have it like a house show, stripped down a little, and then let everyone involved just go out and have decent length matches and show what they can do. Bring 16 in, have two matches an episode, give them 20-30 minutes from entrance to bell, gives you eight episodes to a final.

The third one looks very promising - I'm a sucker for completely new areas, makes it feel like a new game. The first one is interesting - hopefully they've taken the feedback on the crafting system so far and build something with a few improvements for that one. Second one...meh, will be a nice addition, but seems pretty small for a title DLC. EDIT: Just noticed that the second one will be priced a lot lower, so a bit more onside with that now. Same with the first, and it gives them time to build up for the main one in May.

I might be being dense, but I see Nisbet coming on at half-time for German, and that's it. Nothing about 17 minutes.

The final 17? Or did he get injured?

Injuries mainly. The one constant throughout the year - apart from general poor storytelling - is injuries. Rollins, Cena, Bryan, Cesaro, Kidd, Sting, Orton, Nikki Bella...all out for long spells. I don't really watch RAW, just read the recaps and the watch the snippets WWE upload, but I can count on one hand the number of times I've thought "that'd be a good watch" the day after. RAW seems to generally be a bit shit. They've picked it up largely for PPVs with a few exceptions.

Yeah, probably. Can but hope. They like the route of going down the worst possible avenue for a number of their talents.

Anyone else think they might actually go through with Ambrose in the main event of WM? I know it's still massively unlikely, but with him dropping the IC title, the booking is pointing to it being a cheap way of getting it off him. Put it this way, if they don't have Ambrose win, and Reigns does the predictable, then they have made a very questionable decision. Why have him lose the title on the go-home episode? I suppose it could be just a way of getting the title on Owens, rather than away from Ambrose, which is even worse. Could be a triple threat at Mania with Reigns and Ambrose?