forameus

Obligatory mention of John Tenta, who was 26 here

Didn't everyone back in a day look old? You saw it with footballers. Or maybe it's just because we're all old c***s now, and everyone looks depressingly young.

I'd say that's probably about right. Unfortunately for us, those tiers are only getting bigger. We've probably been mid-tier for ages, but as you go back in time there were several tiers below us, and we were maybe a bit closer to the top tier. Now you've got a fairly small top tier of nations that will always qualify and probably always do well in tournaments. Then a second tier where you get nations who will probably always qualify for a Euros, then get close to World Cups. Then a gap, and the mid-tier, which contains pretty much every nation who isn't a complete diddy. Ones that, with a bit of luck, could make a Euros, but probably stands little chance of a World Cup. We're in there.

World rankings really need to stop being used as any barometer of quality, particularly when it's along the lines of "x places above/below". When over 20 of those places are taken up by nations that the likes of us and Israel are never going to meet, it's flawed. If you look just at Europe it's slightly better (10 spots), but even then it's hard to draw much of a comparison given the sides between us. I don't agree that we're neck and neck or anything, I think we probably should be winning close games against them more often than not. But the gap has closed massively, just like it has with a lot of countries we used to deride as diddies.

Makes you wonder what HHH is going to do now. Saw someone mention that giving him one of the main shows would be a good idea, but surely they must have something in mind. I know they don't exactly like the way NXT was, but surely you must be able to see what he created and feel like that's worthwhile somewhere. But aye, NXT is fucked now. Such a shame. It lifted the big PPV weekends knowing that even if the main roster event was a bit meh, you'd always get a good show from the black and gold. Now you're just going to get a few more hours of the same, if you even get it at all.

So for All Out on Sunday, is there a way to purchase and then watch at a later time that isn't completely unsociable? I've not got it in me to stay up to 5am anymore, but if I could avoid spoilers and watch Monday night, that'd be great. Is that possible?

I wonder who'd win if the two of them properly went at it. It'd be thrilling to watch in an awful kind of way.

Just caught the short edit of the match on YouTube, and the "highlights" even looked awful and messy. If it wasn't a shoot, they looked like they were in different books, let alone different pages.

Cena is so fucking weird. He undoubtedly does incredible work with Make a Wish, far more than he has any need really to do, and I can't imagine the pain he must go through knowing that so many of these people he's trying to help are ultimately on a short journey. But everything else he just seems so robotic and...well, weird. Still though, it's a lovely video. Not quite Konnor the Krusher levels of absolutely crushing despair, but at least this one had a happy ending. I always think it must be brilliant to be in a position to have that power to make people feel better. By just giving away a piece of your gear that you've probably got millions of, that small gesture can be so powerful to someone. That must be great.

Apparently the biggest merch seller Summerslam weekend was the Lilly dolls. It would be a bit of a riddy if it was written well, but they can't even manage that, but it's clear it's working for them ultimately.

Also, unless something has changed, he's never really had any interest in moving to the US, so he's a weird one in the WWE hierarchy. He's obviously a massive get for them, as they know they can put him in against anyone and have a great match, but they're pretty limited in what they can do with him. Expect he's on a pretty comfortable wage with NXT UK, likely able to dot about Europe at will, good for him.

It's the seeming lack of pulling the moves in any way that I've got an uneasy respect for. I'm far too much of a shitebag to be in any kind of situation like that, and I'd imagine it takes an incredible mental strength to stand in a wrestling ring and go through a match knowing that if there's one slip, you could get very seriously injured. That match takes that a step further, as I'm not sure how tough (or deranged) you have to be to stand there knowing your opponent is about to chop the shit out of you to the point your chest looks like a pizza (or knee through your sternum, or just plain kick you in the head).

If that's the last time we see an NXT show like that, then that's a damn good way to go out. Think it slightly lost steam towards the end, but another show of just putting on a small amount of matches that have been built well. Starting to really like Cameron Grimes after not liking him at first. Especially when he broke a wee bit out of his yee-haw character after his win. Very talented and hopefully gets pushed as something a bit more than a comedy character. Dakota Kai is just lovely, put on a great match with Gonzalez. Right result, and now just can't wait to hear Raquel's lovely Spanish tinge going up against "HEREYOUYAFUCKINGCOWAHLLCHIBYOU" from Kay Lee Ray. WALTER/Dragunov. Just...wow. Wrestling isn't real, and it's often at its best when it pushes as close to the line without going over it. Those two saw the line, told it to get to f**k, and went beyond. You'd probably say they went a wee bit too far and shouldn't have to do so much damage to each other for entertainment, but by f**k is it thrilling. The ending was a little odd (a theme they stuck with for the rest of the show) but absolutely the right decision. Lovely moment seeing him completely perplexed and blowing out his arse, the ref telling him "he tapped", then bursting into tears. Echo the above, those two are far too good for the shallow UK pool. Then I think the show lost its way a wee bit. The 2-out-of-3 falls match was great, and an interesting swerve to have the first out of the way early, but think the finish felt a bit hollow. It didn't feel like the big culmination of a blood feud, or this kind of match. It's different certainly, but felt they missed a bit. Main event was just good, that's all. I'm not sure what Kross has done to piss people off, but they've now taken the lovely Scarlet off him on NXT too, and he didn't seem to be the unstoppable monster he has been since he started. Joe was obviously rusty, put on a good show, but again, the finish seemed to be rushed to. I think generally, although it was a great show, we're starting to see them reign in NXT. A few months ago, Cole and O'Reilly had a match that was what, near an hour? Full of the usual stupid kick-outs, but feeling suitably epic. The whole show felt like they wanted to get through it at a good clip, and think it clocked in at around 2.5 hours when they probably could have given a couple of matches a wee bit more. Maybe it's just because I'm so used to them taking their time over matches and this is just new, but not sure it worked on at least 2 of the matches.

Just got through watching Summerslam. It was....meh. Generally at least. Was interesting to see how they responded to what happened elsewhere in wrestling over the weekend, but in-ring wise, there was nothing that really stood out. Then Becky came back, and an even bigger pop than I imagined. Brilliant. Great stuff. But...aw for fu...terrible decision with squashing Belair. I'll reserve full judgement until you see just what it means going forward, but on the face of it it looks like a dreadful decision. Even more with having Belair basically shake her fist at her ruefully and grin. Edge/Rollins was good but not great. Roman Cena was a bit flat. Could tell the story they're trying to tell, but when it's so beaten over your head it becomes less effective. Roman's doing his best to turn the crowd against him and keep the heat, but all the match really was was 20 minutes of him slowly following Cena around the ring, punctuated by roll-up attempts, then a flat ending. Meh. But then...Brock the Fucking Redeemer. Jesus Christ on a John Deere tractor, here comes a gorilla in Dean Ambrose cosplay. I don't know what he's been doing since he went away, but it's working. When you compare early Lesnar to the one of the past few years, he might still be in shape, but he definitely looks noticably "doughier". Now he looks terrifying. I'm actually kind of a fan of him not attacking either, makes it all the more sinister. Special marks for Paul Heyman not really reacting until Lesnar turned the corner, then shitting himself. Only question is how they book from here. They can't just go on another Brock wins lol binge like with Kofi. I'd have Reigns go over, then let Lesnar actually do something story-based that isn't just "throw man for 5 minutes, retain". EDIT: Just read that apparently once they were off air, Lesnar obliterated Cena. Pleasing.

I think it purely depends on the kid to be honest. I don't think there's necessarily much wrong with the content in most of the games. Nothing that would really screw kids up or anything. It's about whether the kid can take the likes of the violence and just accept that it's a game. That's difficult to tell of course, and not like you'll really know until he's got a prostitute in his car and heading to the airport. I've got a 4 year old so a way off that kind of stuff yet, but it's hard to say personally when I'd do it. If his pals are playing those kinds of games, he'll likely either get to see them there or be left out. Difficult one. I remember asking my dear old Da for one of two games for a Christmas or Birthday. One of them was GTA, but having heard that it was full of questionable material, he baulked at that. The other one was The Getaway, which of course didn't have any bad stuff in it at all.

They've fucked it with Reigns saying he'll leave if he loses. If he hadn't said that I'd be with you, could see an outside shot of them letting Cena have it then booking themselves out of it. Can't see it now though. Just can't help themselves adding another layer when it was already good enough. I actually think it's more likely we get a Lesnar type situation with Reigns absolutely dismantling him. Probably most likely well get a competitive match but the way things are going, making Reigns look like the top guy emphatically is the way to go.

That's the famous Bryan segment isn't it? That was fucking brilliant stuff. How many in that ring are now punted and/or with AEW? Bryan, Punk, Christian, Show, Henry...

After Smackdown last night (apparently it wasn't just AEW on last night) that's looking very unlikely. Reigns says he'll leave if he loses, which is about as close to saying "They've told me I'm winning, lads" as you can get. I went all grumpy mark on the CM Punk stuff, but this is as bad. Is it really that hard to build intrigue in a match and make people believe there's a chance either way? I expect we'll still get near falls to bite on, but f**k sake guys.

Punk seems to be a bit of a p***kly dick in real life, and probably would be the sort of guy you wouldn't exactly want to go out for a pint with (pun kind of intended) but hard not to feel good for him. He seemed like he was done with wrestling, but maybe that was just done with it knowing that there was only really one place in town you could go back to. If he goes out in his return and doesn't look like he's missed a step, then that'd be great. You have to imagine Vince and Co are absolutely beeling right now. They haven't seen eye to eye in the past, but he sure loves making money. Particularly on the eve of, what, their 3rd biggest show of the year?

In turn though, that's a bit harsh as the Fox show seemingly had little to do with WWE. Doubt he would've even been there if it had. Agree I'm probably being a little harsh though. It's just a disappointment at missing out on a chance for one of the most joyous bits about wresting. Look back to the Hardy's coming back at WM. Sure it was heavily rumoured, but all parties did their best to try and draw people away, and that resulted in an incredible pop

Yeah, know what you mean. Just feels like they could have dropped hints without basically saying "Charles M Punk is going to be here tonight guys, honest" It'll still be a massive moment regardless.

I might be in a minority, but I think this is a bit shit. Granted it's easy for me to say, but I think they've done it wrong. Play it down, stay silent, don't hint anything, then have him come out as a complete surprise. Then if you want to run a show in Chicago for his big first proper appearance, fire in. You'll sell every seat. If WWE are in this position, I think they handle it better (got to do something better...). Am I being too harsh and this is just "different" rather than worse?

I know football fans sometimes get a bad rap for being absolute zoomers, but going by Squared Circle Reddit, an unrestricted wrestling phone in would be fucking brilliant.

Good to see that all sorted. Interesting they're offering a socially distanced alternative, but good for them. Hopefully no-one fucks it for those that are still a bit worried about that kind of stuff. Am dreading the cashless stuff though. Kiosks can't even be trusted not to give you drinks out an open and flat 2 litre bottle, f**k knows what contactless will look like. If it works well though, great.

Aye, but you'd likely find people getting ways around that to take the piss out of them. FIFA thought they were being dead smart in putting ways to unlock new content into the skill-based mode. People tanked their ranking to make it easier and made it a miserable experience for everyone but them. People are c***s. It would be good if they could work it though. I really enjoyed Warzone when I was playing it, as it felt different to the usual online fare where you just turned up and got repeatedly curb-stomped by better players. The format kind of hid that, at least most of the time. You did get those rounds where it was just miserable though. Drop in, get settled, but oh no, there's zzxzxWeeShiteNamezzxzx with his 8000 hours played and he's taken you out before you even saw him