forameus

Hard to argue with any of that. I think there's a slightly better chance than with Kofi, as at least Big E is more of the body type they usually like. If it comes to him vs Lesnar in the same way it did with Kofi, I can't see them taking the same path. Lashley can feel more than a bit hard done by. Can only assume we'll get some kind of Triple Threat at Extreme Rules where E retains, then Lashley will be freed up just in time for Goldberg to come back for Crown Jewel (yes, that's coming around again in October). It also sets up Survivor Series nicely, as presumably Reigns will still be Champion on the other side and give you a nice heel vs face meat-slapping match there. Long term though...they seem to be booking themselves into corners on both shows now.

So Big Edward is WWE Champion. He deserves it, obviously, but it's hard to imagine there's much of a plan behind it all. It feels like an attempt to pop a rating without thinking about what else they could do.

Joe injured, or Joe being rushed out the back before Vince sees that he never actually got properly released? Shite timing for him, but probably works out well for Vince and Bruce's Big Rebuilding Adventure.

Having Lesnar involved does lead them down a certain path though. Whether it's something he himself has asked for by contract, or just the way they like to book him, there never seems to be much variation in the story. He doesn't have a title, then he gets a title, then he holds it, then he drops and goes away. It's hard to imagine him losing a match clean, despite it being a story I'd be very interested in them trying to tell. As well as Balor and Big E, there's also the potential wrinkle of big Dwayne. I think they've mentioned Survivor Series as being an anniversary for him, and if they do manage to persuade him to come back for WM, it would make sense to have him at least start planting the seeds. But that probably comes too early with everyone involved. Although if Reigns somehow manages to beat Lesnar clean in the main event of Survivor Series, and then Rock's music hits...oooooft.

Likely not, as they've done the WWE thing of putting every ingredient they can find into the recipe. It was always Balor vs Reigns announced for Extreme Rules. Now they've added Brock into the mix (kind of), and at the end of Smackdown Demon Finn comes out. So I assume Brock will just be...around, I guess until he's done with Finn. I know they wanted a big pop at Summerslam, but they really should have run two stories rather than mashing them into one.

From the two previous campaigns, it looks like 14 points (3 wins from the 4 games, with Moldova results dropped) would probably be enough to be seeded. Really hard to tell at this stage, but I'd expect if we drop anything outside of Denmark, at the very least being seeded is probably up in smoke, if not 2nd place entirely.

But is that really absolutely necessary now? With the Fiend character, they could have coasted for years on him coming in, doing matches like his first one, never coming near belts. A wrestling show is at its best when it's got a bit of everything. WWE have plenty of guys who are amazing workers but might not have the charisma, plenty of guys that can go and talk, plenty of guys who can be genuinely funny. I don't think it really mattered that Bray wasn't the best in the ring. Until they started the whole having him go for titles stuff.

Forwarding the email is fine. I did that for the Austria game, it keeps the attachments. Just make sure they don't scan your ticket by mistake.

We're favourites at the moment. Win at home against Israel and we have two games against lower seeds. Win those and we're in 2nd. The Israel result can switch that. A draw puts them as slight favourites, a win puts them as clear favourites. Really hard to plan it out, but 9 points from 12 (and hopefully a big win against whoever finishes 5th) puts us in a great position. Just need 4 groups to go worse than ours, and it looks like Ukraine ad Czech Republic might fall into that.

If we don't beat Israel, it swings around to them being favourites. We have pretty similar run-ins, but they have Austria when we have Denmark. A Denmark who are scudding everyone, and an Austria who will likely have absolutely nothing to play for. A draw isn't the end of the world, but it puts us in a really difficult position. Even if we sneak 2nd in those circumstances, we've probably fucked seeding.

With the old timers though, again it's like you say, it's the booking that's the problem. Goldberg would be fine if he was used properly. Having him come in and squash Wyatt was stupid, but having him come back for a 5 minute hoss fight every so often - that can still be great fun. His stuff with Lesnar was brilliantly done. His dismantling of Ziggler was entertaining (although more down to Ziggler's desperate need to sell). His overly long tussle with Lashley? Not so much. Michaels coming back should have been incredible, but they fucked it. Even though he looked like he could still go - especially given he was thrown into that position with HHH's pec going cheerio - he'll likely never come back again because of it. You could have had him build up to a WM match with someone, but noooooo. In terms of worst matches ever, I think the DX vs Taker/Kane one gets a pass given the circumstances. It wouldn't have been good, but the horrible injury fucked it. I think the worst goes to the Taker/Goldberg one for the sheer unprofessionalism and attempted murder that occurred. And to be fair, you could probably just put any match that happened at the Saudi shows on the list, they were all either outright terrible or so incredibly forgettable.

Thing is, where are these new stars coming from? Just a year or so ago, it was just a case of who from the indies is going to eventually come to WWE and be a success. Plenty would do it, and out of the big trawler net they cast out, they'd get a few they were happy with who ended up having decent enough careers. Now though, it seems like they're intent on picking up people who, with the best will in the world, can't wrestle, so they can teach them the WWE way. I don't doubt they'll get some stars out of that, but it's a very long game, and I'm not convinced that the likes of Cena/Lesnar/Batista are out there just waiting to be put through the WWE system. So they're then looking at their current roster to make stars, but with the way they're reportedly going, and their track record up to now, I can't see much changing. I think the most interesting question is whether they plan to sell. A McMahon owned WWE - at least if it's Vince owned and not Steph/HHH owned - is pretty easy to predict, but what does it look like if he punts it to someone else? Does it get worse? Does it turn around? Do we start to see WWE as this exciting prospect where you've no idea who is going to turn up to?

On Wyatt, and particularly the Fiend stuff, would AEW even be able to touch that? Wonder who owns that side of things. Doubt it would be beyond someone like him to come up with something completely different, could definitely see it working. Especially given their desire to work with other companies, maybe have him split between Impact/AEW. On Owens, I don't see WWE really thinking it's much of a loss, but that's another big name who could go out and put on a brilliant match leaving to do it elsewhere. You have to imagine there's at least one person inside WWE desperately shaking their head going "but...he's GOOD" as Khan cuts guy after guy.

That would definitely work later. The way it is now just makes it a bit rubbish at the changeover point and doesn't give entrants time to actually make an impression. Plus the 21st entrant always telegraphs a big deal entrant. I like your idea, nice wee speedy 30-60 seconds between entrants, decent time filler.

One thing I thought really didn't work was the Battle Royal thing. I get why they do the format, and it does offer something a bit different to a Royal Rumble or standard WWE style Battle Royal. But I thought it really suffered when the new entrants arrived. You get the entrance and they charge in, usually with history with someone in the ring, and then while you're trying to focus on that, someone else is coming in right after. Rinse and repeat 5 times per suit, 3 times in the match.

"Don't worry guys, there's no way Ireland will beat Germany!" I still remember the rumour going around our section that Germany had equalised that night, just as we were turning it round against Poland. Sad times.

Adams struck me (in the back row of the North Stand) as coming on feeling like he had a point to prove, that he'd watched us look like absolute diddies and not taking chances. He's definitely got a long shot on him, so he decided instead of having panicked build-up play, he'd just try and f**k them in from miles out. Unfortunately he didn't realise the shirt he was wearing, and his shots were just as diddy-like as his teammates.

Austin seems even more staunch about not coming back than Michaels was, to the point that not even a Saudi payday is likely to persuade him. Taker may make appearances, but I think he's finally done having any sort of match. I think the only realistic option they have left to play is Rock against Reigns. If they have him come out at Survivor Series and set up a long build to a WrestleMania match, that is something that will get a lot of eyes coming back. But does big Dwayne want to come back to wrestling at this stage? Does he feel like he can do it? Does he - or his team - think it's worth the risk? But outside of that, it's really slim pickings to imagine something really big they could lead into WrestleMania with. Maybe a big face run with Big E to try and create that Bryan/Kingston feeling. But beyond that? Goldberg coming back for another laboured match? Heatless singles matches just to get people on the card? Musical guest Kid Rock featuring Pitbull?

Presentation is a mixed bag for me. I've heard they had pretty big issues with it earlier, so it's clearly improved massively. It feels a bit "small", which I know won't really be the right way to describe it, and is probably just because you're putting it up against the "big" (and empty) of WWE. I think they could do better with video packages in the lead up to matches. WWE for all their faults do them very, very well, and AEW's felt a bit shit in comparison. I liked the talking heads part initially, but not for every match. When they did actually lean into the "here's why they're fighting" part, they were good but ultimately too short. But on the other side, whether it's "small" or not, everyone seems to be having a brilliant time at all times. It feels a whole lot less artificial which WWE can really suffer from. Entrance themes are getting used better than the shite, generic stuff we're getting on the other side. I could be completely wrong, but has there been a moment in the life of AEW where they feel like a bigger threat to WWE than they did last night? They've taken talent before, but with the best will in the world to some of them, they're really talented guys who WWE probably wouldn't miss too much. Miro, Andrade, Christian, Spears etc - all largely replacable no matter how good they are. Adam Cole was arguably the face of the best part of WWE for a long time, and obviously has huge upside if handled correctly. CM Punk would have made WWE a whole load of money. Daniel Bryan was at the centre of the best story they've told in a long, long time at WM30. He was a world champion and a huge part of one of their other great stories against Kingston just 3 years ago. He was in the main event of WM just a few months ago. Vince and co can point to the piles of money they'll continue to make, but privately they surely must realise that the past few weeks have not been good for them, and the next few might see it get worse. Roman Reigns can't save them on his own. I thought he sounded a bit tired, like his heart wasn't really in it. I agree the old names are totally harmless, and its what a lot of fans will know them as anyway (particularly the new fans in, who they were smart to mention a few times). I don't imagine Khan and co give us much of a shit as Vince likely would if it was the other side. I wonder if they'll get to a point where just being "good ol' JR" isn't going to be enough. As @djchapsticks says, I think someone like a Ranallo who can really lead a broadcast with a certain style might be a good fit for them. Particularly when he's not got JBL jawing in his ear every 2 minutes.

So first AEW show I've watched really, and it was...good. Really good. But I'm not sure if it was just me not really getting a lot of the characters with it bieng my first show, or just unrealistic expectations, but I expected slightly better. They definitely did a whole lot better than WWE do, and some things worse, but in all fairness it's different, and in a good way. It's nice that they're not just trying to ape all the good things WWE do to try and compete. They're definitely their own thing, and while that won't always work, it was a really good show they put on. But then the end. I said when Punk came back that I'd have rather they kept it as a secret (although completely understand why they didn't) and things like that are why. When Omega won I looked to see still 12 minutes left, so clearly something big happening. When Cole comes out it's a big pop. Guy deserves all the success that he clearly isn't going to get in WWE the way they're going, and a nice swerve not to have the usual trope of "the next guy up comes out". And then of course there's no way you're going to get another one, are you? Bryan Fucking Danielson. I will never, ever tire of seeing that guy happy. As long as he can stay healthy, I hope he has a fucking brilliant time. Definitely going to make a habit of watching AEW now I think. Fite TV was seamless in the end. EDIT: Also, fairly sure it wasn't intentional, because he was fairly poor all night, but I imagine JR uttering "The Game has changed" as they were going off the air was probably the point HHH finally kicked a hole in the TV.

Well that puts it into a depressing perspective. I don't remember the last time we worked a good opportunity that led to a player having time to execute a finish. Any chance is snatched at, and a lot of the time in the final third we don't ever look like we're fully in control of a ball. We manage to be hilariously ponderous at times everywhere else on the pitch that it's so incredibly frustrating that we always seem to rush things so badly, leading to the sort of shite finishing we've had for what seems like ages.

I see our esteemed, brave captain has put his neck on the line about the performance. According to him we're improving, because "3 or 4 years ago, it would have been 4 or 5 nil". Jesus fucking wept.

Qualification, as in for the World Cup itself, is now a massive longshot. If you don't win your group, you're facing a play-off at best, and unless we turn it around massively it'll likely be unseeded. The playoffs are still realistic, and would probably represent a decent campaign even if we got put out, but getting there is barely even half the battle in the new format.

Away from "we're shite/naw we're no", has anyone had issues with tickets? I bought for a few of us (one SSC member, one who used to be but now not) and in my account it talks about them being "printed" and that a mail was sent. Can't find that, and asking for it to be resent has yielded nothing. Am I being thick? EDIT: Not thick, just impatient. Arrived now, so all good

Unlike the Euro qualifying, goal difference is the tie-breaker, so handing out an absolute hiding becomes a lot more important. However, as another wrinkle, we could pip Austria on goal difference, but then results against Moldova will then be stricken from the record for the 2nd placed rankings. We could be in the position where we pip Austria because we pumped Moldova more roundly, but end up unseeded in the playoffs because we didn't pump anyone else (fortunately no-one misses out on playoffs, unlike previous years). Ultimately none of this is likely to matter, as we'll likely finish 3rd, but in our position we can't really afford not to treat Saturday's game like a chance to rack up goals. Take 6 off them, then go to Vienna with confidence.