forameus

Aye, not quite the role model you want in that regard. Something darkly comic about Darby taking the guy under his wing when his dad died. "I'll take care of him," shouts Darby, as he gets into his battered car to roll it down a hill. I'm always impressed by Darby's dives to the outside because he seems to be moving about a million times faster than anyone I've seen do it before. But it's gone beyond the Big E fear that you got from him doing them, as at that pace, you're surely going to run out of luck eventually. Almost did last night, didn't look like the aftermath was planned, so hopefully nothing too serious or long-term.

I think of all the developers left at that kind of tier, one of the safest you can probably bank on for delivering a good product is Rockstar. I expect GTA6 will be very, very good and have a relatively high level of polish (admittedly by the really low bar most people other than Nintendo seem to manage). I'm not sure I buy the expectation that it taking so long means it'll be a disappointment. Games this big should take this long. If it comes out and is polished and near faultless, then the cycle has done its job. If it comes out and its Bethesda levels of buggy nonsense, then yeah, there'll be disappointment. Can't see that happening though. What I can see them doing is allying it with a big money-printing machine like GTAO and completely undoing all the praise they get. It always amazes me how the likes of EA get absolutely hammered for their predatory tactics, yet Rockstar continue to get an easier ride comparitively. Some of their decisions with the online have been absolutely dreadful.

Think we're probably bound to see it being absolute open-season on shite like this coming out. You'll get 10 stories, probably a couple having any basis, the rest being either Chinese whispers of something pretty innocuous or flat-out lies that no-one will call out. I doubt anyone on the AEW side is ever going to come out and give the warts-and-all truth, so the only person you've got a chance of is if Punk goes on record. And even then, you'll be getting Punk's truth, which is part of the problem in the first place. Is amusing to imagine him stepping to Regal though. Calling him a real toerag whilst he rearranges most of his organs through his skin.

Definitely the weakest PPV they've put on in a long time, even though it was still pretty good. It should show why having All in and All Out so close to each other is a bad idea, but suspect they won't.. Granted they were dealt a shitty card with the whole Punk situation, but all that really affected card-wise was subbing in Danielson against Starks, which was probably an upgrade. A lot of the stuff on there didn't feel like it really mattered in a way it usually does, like your standard WWE B-show. Interesting to see them putting on another show in 4 weeks - wonder if they'll move further towards a WWE calendar with more and more shows. Would be a bit of a shame if it dilutes the quality. Feels a shame to finally take the title off OC. He was someone I just never really got when he was in the full throes of his gimmick, but he's definitely on the top tier of important personnel for the company. In a week where Punk has attempted to completely set fire to the whole thing, looking at people like OC should show that they'll be just fine.

If we are playing the fantasy game, I'd bring him in for a very short term deal, leading up to a WM. Even if he's lost a step in the ring, he can still tell a story and sell a program. Get him to do a short Survivor Series to WM story, give him main event of night 1, and have that story just end. Don't give him long enough to properly piss anyone off and a set end date, get him paid, then let him go. Of course problem with that is there isn't really a nice ready-made story there. It would be absolutely chef's kiss if HHH was still healthy. I could absolutely see them telling that story, maybe even leading up to a double retirement or something at WM, and that would immediately be a really, really hot angle. Unfortunately, never going to happen. Maybe Cena in some kind of double retirement? Outside of that, it's hard to pick a ready-made story, unless you go down the lines of Owens being pals with the Young Bucks from the old days. Ultimately it's all pointless, as I expect we'll hear nothing from him, then some shoot interviews where he comes across badly, then that'll be it.

Invite him back in and tell him he gets to main event WM. Reigns has just about run out of people to f**k about with. In all seriousness though, if you're playing fantasy booking, where does current-era Punk really sit in current-era WWE? Obviously if you have him, you find a space, and they would, but his hair-trigger temper, crotchety old-man act just doesn't seem to fit with the largely safe personalities they currently have. I guess into the World Heavyweight side of things? Him and Rollins would probably do something good. But couldn't see him getting chucked into the Bloodline stuff without completely derailing it and throwing a chair at Reigns or something. Would be a good laugh watching Gunther murder him though.

Fucking hell... Honestly, I didn't think it would ever happen. I really want to know what really happened in gorilla at Wembley now, because surely it has to be something pretty serious for this to happen so quickly. Only other thing I can think is that Tony knows he's coming across as a bit of a wet-wipe, and he had to do something, anything to show some authority. I can't imagine the way he treated Punk last year did much for morale, and it would be hard to argue (and to prove to be fair) that it didn't lead people like Jack Perry to believe that they could get away with being wee dicks. This is at least strike number 2 for Punk, and you could probably argue the rest of the niggly wee things he's done make it up to close to a 3. He hasn't been worth the hassle in a long time, and has been injured near enough half the time he's been signed. To protect the brand, sometimes you need that wee bit of hurt to the drawing (emphasis on wee, in my personal opinion) to protect it long term. As for Punk himself, surely that's him well and truly done now. And, to be fair to him, that's no real issue. He's got other avenues to go into, can probably get fairly decent acting gigs to tide him over. He was writing and drawing comics. He's married to AJ Mendez. He's got ties to MMA commentary. He could probably do years of the shoot interview circuit. I don't think Phil Brooks is really going to have trouble getting work, and he's probably already pretty wealthy. If he wanted to still wrestle, he could probably do sporadic stuff on the indies I suppose, he'd still be a draw there. I think there's a tiny chance WWE would take a shot, but it's incredibly small, and would involve him eating a whole lot of shit and basically grovelling, and even then, why would WWE want him? They wouldn't push the boat out for Jay White, and in a few months have a (again, fucking tiny) chance of Will Ospreay. MJF doing his whole bidding war shtick, and probably countless other big names starting to think that AEW to WWE is a valid path. I don't really ever see them being interested in bringing back an ageing Punk who has essentially just been fired for being more trouble than he's worth. Some boy...pisses off the only wrestling name in town, finds out there's now a second big name and pisses them off too. Top work. As for AEW itself...well, at least they're not going to be in Chicago for a while.

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.