DE.

Yeah it's pretty ridiculous, but agree that the topic of the argument should definitely not be discussed here. It's easy enough to find on Twitter for the genuinely curious.

That's the thing, if they hadn't built up the Fiend as this unstoppable force then fine... but they made him horror-movie-villain style indestructible. Unless you hit a few spears and a suplex/"jackhammer", apparently. I think Seth actually tweeted something like "should have pulled out a jackhammer" afterwards - the people who got beat by the Fiend can't be thrilled, as it makes them all look weak as fuck by proxy. Although I guess Balor won't care much as he's far away from that nonsense in NXT. As for who is the heel in Goldberg/Reigns... neither technically, but as per the crowd it's Goldberg as he was getting more boos than Reigns. WWE thinks they've played a masterstroke there but it wouldn't surprise me if the reverse happens at WM with a super smarky crowd. The Undertaker thing would have been fine if it was a SA house show - nobody would have cared. The problem is that it was televised as part of a much hyped event, which comes off really badly.

Also factor in that they don't even make any money off PPV anymore. Now that the Pay Per Views are all on the Network they aren't the money-spinners they once were, making it even less important to put any real effort into anything other than the Rumble and Wrestlemania. You do get the odd excellent PPV event, but most of them are fucking boring nowadays. They don't even make an effort changing up the sets anymore, whereas you know you'll get something different every time with AEW - who sometimes even change up the Dynamite set depending on the venue. Yeah I don't think I've ever heard anybody say "I wish I could see Goldberg Vs Reigns". Or, for that matter, "I wish Goldberg was champion". They could have done Goldberg Vs Reigns without the title - in fact it probably would have been better without. If WWE were smart they would have been building someone up to finally take down the Fiend at WM for the title. Instead they seemed to have no real idea where they were going with the storyline and so had Rollins, Balor, Miz and Bryan lose to the Fiend pretty decisively before feeding the Fiend to Goldberg to build up a WM match nobody cares about. LOLWWE logic which just makes me appreciate having AEW as an alternative even more. God bless the Khans and good luck to Fulham, I say.

Honestly I had the same concern going in, but the match definitely didn't do anything to hurt PAC's credibility. It showed off some of his personality whilst still making him look sadistic and brutal. OC's schtick is a bit marmite, but the crowds love it! I enjoyed the tag match a lot but I wouldn't go as far as to call it 'the best ever' or anything like that. It was just very good with a strong storyline backbone carrying it throughout. The nearfalls did get annoying towards the end though. Yeah this was a good match and creative has been superb in the build up. IMO this is why it's better to space out PPV's, as it gives much more time for storyline development leading up to the match therefore making it feel special. It's hard to consistently do that with only 3-4 weeks build max as is the case in WWE (and sometimes they get less than that!). Yes Statlander is still doing this dopey alien gimmick and it still sucks. The announcers just make fun of her for it and nobody seems to take her nonsense seriously, so I'm not sure what the point is. With the company so heavily focused on 'reality' based stories and characters, the alien gimmick just makes Statlander come off as weird to me. Other than maybe the Dark Order nobody has such an outlandish gimmick, and even the Dark Order's characters are based on genuine cults. I haven't heard anything about Jericho leaving tbf. I'd be surprised if he does. I imagine he and Mox will build to a rematch at the next PPV. I love Moxley as a character, but his matches are never that good imo. He does well in a hardcore type environment but in standard matches I find him a bit... bland? I dunno. It never fully clicks with me.

Really enjoyed Revolution. Fantastic PPV. Night and day compared to Super Shitshow. Dustin Rhodes/Jake Hager to start off was a solid brawl. Nothing too special but it had been built well as a storyline, and that carried the parts of the match that were a little sluggish. A good way to start the show and Hager going over was the obvious and logical choice, although Dustin got plenty of offence in to make him look good in defeat. The build to Guevara/Allin was a bit weak but the actual match was very entertaining. Only slight problem I have is that Guevara loses so often that beating him doesn't really mean much. He's still good enough in the ring that the crowd can see past it for now though, I think. I absolutely loved Page/Omega Vs The Bucks. The match itself was incredible (and I believe went half an hour) but more importantly the storyline elevated it to being genuinely captivating. The tension between the Bucks and Hangman was played on really well, adding into the uncertainty surrounding Omega and Page as a team. My only complaint in this match was that there were one too many nearfalls. They need to scale back a little on this or it'll become NJPW levels of nonsense. I felt the match should have ended with Page's One Winged Angel on one of the Bucks (can't remember which one it was), but overall an amazing performance by all involved. I genuinely thought they were going to have Page turn on Omega at the end, but I'm glad they aren't pulling the trigger just yet. I think this story still has some juice in it. Page is crazy over at the moment. One thing I have to note is that I really appreciate AEW's consistency when it comes to storylines. I've mentioned before that it bothered me that Page said he'd left the Elite a few months ago and yet he seemed to now be a part of it again with no explanation. However on last week's Dynamite they did a sit down interview where Page actually referenced this and basically said he wanted to leave but they dragged him back in. If it was WWE they would have totally forgotten/ignored this, but AEW are paying attention to the little details and I very much respect this after years of WWE treating us like idiots who can't remember anything that happened the week before, let alone months ago. Rose/Statlander was pretty disappointing imo. AEW's women's division isn't quite there at the moment. The match wasn't bad but it wasn't particularly good either. They were in a tough spot after the incredible match previous though. So, Cody... what the fuck is up with that awful tattoo? The actual design is fine but on the side of the neck? Just wtf. It looks awful. Also I thought Downstait sounded pretty terrible live and made Cody's entrance worse rather than better. The match itself was good, and again the strong storyline really helped keep me engaged. MJF going over was the right call, although I'm not sure whether this is the end of the program between these two for now or whether they keep it going to the next PPV. I wasn't sure what to expect from PAC/Orange Cassidy but it was actually really, really fun and entertaining. Cassidy's style isn't for everyone but I dig it in small doses like this. It's very different and stands out - comedic with enough seriousness that it doesn't completely detract from the match or Cassidy's opponent. WWE could never write this kind of character. He's ridiculously over too. Minor nitpick is that I didn't feel the Lucha Bros needed to get involved here. It just seemed to be a way to get them on the show. Mox/Jericho was a decent brawl but imo not a great match and I was a tad disappointed. Admittedly it's hard for these guys to follow some of the amazing matches that had come before them, but that's going to be a consistent theme going forward so main event matches are going to need to find ways to stand out. I still enjoyed the match and think it was the right time to take the belt off Jericho for a while, although I expect he'll get it back before too long. A grade show for me and well worth watching, as all AEW PPV's have been so far. I love that this company exists.

https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/sport/ipswich-town/report-ipswich-line-up-warnock-as-lambert-replacement-1-6539394 Ipswich reportedly lining up Warnock should Lambo continue tanking them. Apparently his five year deal has performance-related break clauses capping his payoff.

Part of the problem is that we needed an incredible run of good form (especially considering our injuries) to just get within touching distance of the playoffs - then that vein of form would essentially need to continue on for another month or two to actually get us there. I don't think it was or is realistic to expect that to happen. It could, but I would class our chances as highly unlikely.

Think from memory that's his first league assist since we got promoted. Hopefully the first of many.

Just noticed that Wigan's win today has dropped Boro into the relegation zone. Hell of a run Wigan are on at the moment, fair play to them. If Barnsley keep picking up points then the likes of Hull, Charlton and Stoke will be sweating big time as well. Huddersfield not safe yet either, but think the teams above them should be okay.

Embarrassing for the bloke, but you do wonder if something else is going on there. A repeated compulsion to put others down is not usually a sign of a contented person.

I don't think we'll get there in the end, but considering the players we've lost we're doing a lot better than I would have anticipated at the start of January. A shame we didn't bring in a couple of solid additions during the Jan window as I think that could have been the difference.

Dunny's Blackpool with an injury time winner today against Ipswich scored by Joe Nuttall (assisted by Liam Feeney). Ipswich are now 5 points off 6th. Lambo sitting pretty with his 5 year deal though!

I think that lineup is capable of beating Swansea, but I don't like it very much. Clearly something very wrong with the Mulgrew situation. Either a serious rift between him and the manager or a contractual obstacle like Salgado, but either way what a horrendous waste of a wage.

On the plus side it's AEW Revolution tonight. Very much looking forward to watching that tomorrow.

I could seriously see them having Goldberg Vs Corbin on the SD before WM for the title, with Corbin beating Goldberg clean and then changing the stipulation to a one hour iron man match at WM. Then after one hour it'd be tied, so an extra 30 minutes with Roman winning right at the end and both the Fiend and Goldberg coming out to raise his arms in victory at the end.

Yeah I wouldn't go out of your way to watch SS, it was a bit of a joke. What's worse is that young/newer talent got buried by old/part-time talent three times in one night. Styles squashed by the Undertaker, Ricochet squashed by Lesnar and the Fiend squashed by Goldberg. I'm also an old school WCW fan so I love seeing Goldberg around, but using him like this is just wrong and detrimental to the future of the WWE product on multiple levels. It would be a bit like Hulk Hogan coming into WWE in 1999 and beating Kane in three minutes after no-selling a tombstone. It's not quite the same as Hogan was still an active wrestler at that time and was still one of WCW's top guys, but it would still have destroyed Kane's mystique at least 3 years before WWE did that themselves. I'm not sure there's a historical comparison for what happened to the Fiend at SS, it might be a first. What made it even worse was at the end of the match the Fiend got back up and was behind Goldberg as he celebrated on the ring posts, but rather than attack him the Fiend just gave a childish "arrghhh!" and then the lights went off and he vanished. Very sad. I didn't watch SD last night but from what I read Goldberg was booed a fair bit and Reigns got cheered, so I guess WWE will get what they want at WM with Roman cheered winning the title. Fuck everyone else as long as Roman gets over, I guess. Can't believe they're still doing that after, what, six years of it not working? I like Roman but the whole reason people hated him in the first place was because he was being forced down everybody's throat at the expense of other popular wrestlers on the roster. If they start doing that again it won't be long before Roman is being booed again, which is going to be horrible given Roman's battles with cancer.

Problem is, how does what happened at SS make anybody want to watch Styles Vs Undertaker at WM? The guy squashed him in 20 seconds with a single chokeslam. Didn't even need a tombstone. If Styles had been in the gauntlet match right from the start then OK, but he'd barely done anything. Also not sure how Undertaker can win the match when he wasn't even officially in it, but whatever, it's wrestling so that part doesn't necessarily bother me. It's more how it happened than what happened.

Rich Sharpe holds no blame here whatsoever. If anything he's been remarkably restrained waiting until now to question Gallagher's signing and the way Mowbray is utilising him. Most of us were asking these questions months ago.

I just watched Super Showdown. Oh boy. Where to begin. It's funny they are still using "When Legends Rise" as the theme song for these shows - I swear it's been the same song for the last 3 or 4 Saudi shows. I actually quite like the song, but a new one wouldn't go amiss. Anyway... Firstly, the gauntlet match. Comedy fodder R-Truth going through the likes of Lashley and Andrade - I don't get it. What does this achieve other than make both of the latter look bad? Especially Lashley who was beaten by R-Truth in 5 minutes in a genuinely competitive match. At least you can chalk Andrade's loss up to a fluke with the clash of heads, but either way it was silly. Undertaker returning was fine, I guess, but beating Styles with a single chokeslam? Come on now. He didn't even take his hat or coat off. I think his entrance lasted longer than the time he was in the ring with AJ. Great work if you can get it. The New Day/Miz & Morrison tag match was fine. I think Kofi looks ridiculous with his blond dye-job to be honest, but that aside it was a somewhat entertaining match. Can't say I give much of a shit about Miz and Morrison winning the titles as it feels like they've time travelled from the previous decade with all growth in between forgotten, but whatever. I don't watch Smackdown anyway so I don't care. Garza/Carillo was okay. Garza winning repeatedly makes the rivalry seem pretty one-sided though. Maybe they have a plan going forward, but Carillo can't cut a promo to save his life so I'm not sure how far you can go with him. Garza definitely has a lot more upside. Seth & Murphy Vs The Street Profits was again alright, but the problem is when you have AEW and NXT putting on consistantly great matches just being 'alright' isn't enough, not for me anyway. Standard matches don't really hold my interest and that's exactly what this was. The only other comment I have is that this stupid, bizarre practice of removing first names is one of the dumbest things I've ever seen. Buddy Murphy is now just Murphy. OK. Am sure that will help. Love how Mansoor gets the Roman Reigns treatment in Saudi Arabia, and the Al Snow treatment everywhere else. The first time they had Mansoor win the rumble or whatever it was cute, but now it's so laughably transparent that it's embarrassing. Ricochet is such a dork. I don't know if he's like that in real life, but in WWE he just comes across as a massive geek. I didn't follow him pre-WWE so I have no idea if he can cut a promo, but every promo I've seen from him in WWE has been cringeworthy. With that said, banging theme music and a great wrestler. As far as the match is concerned, again, I don't get it. Why bother even trying to build up Ricochet as a threat when he literally just got tossed around like a child and squashed. It absolutely ruins Ricochet's credibility as a contender for the belt. They fucking destroyed him, he didn't get a single piece of offence in and was beaten with a single F5 in, what, a couple of minutes? It's so stupid and self-destructive. You would never see this kind of nonsense in AEW. Reigns and Corbin... please fuck off with this. I don't care if it's in a cage, on a scaffold, in the missisippi river or on mount everest these two fighting is BORING AS SHIT. Just stop it already. I forgot Bayley was champion, and I'm happy to forget again. Boring. The Fiend Vs Goldberg. Ohhhhh man. What the fuck did they do here? Seriously, what the fuck did they do? Poor Bray Wyatt. Now for the record I feel the Fiend was given the belt much too quickly and it severly limited his character and those he was feuding with. I knew WWE would screw up Wyatt's new persona once he got to the main roster. With that said, the Fiend is still over and has been built up as a ridiculously powerful, practically unstoppable force. He's smashed through huge stars like Seth Rollins and Daniel Bryan, he's also easily beaten the Miz. The scope is there, with the right storyline, for somebody to get over big by beating the Fiend. That first loss should have theoretically meant something huge. It seemed obvious to have it happen at Wrestlemania. Then suddenly Goldberg challenges the Fiend for a match at Super Showdown. OK, cool. It's an interesting match, Goldberg still has star power left, looks incredible for his age and is enough of a badass that the Fiend still gains a lot by beating him. Or if WWE really wants to protect Goldberg then have the Fiend do something crazy to get DQ'd or brutalise Goldberg to the point where any normal human being would be knocked out or incapacitated. Plenty of options. Goldberg wins. What. Goldberg wins? Are you fucking kidding me? I can't even... I'm not sure I can really articulate the levels of ineptitude involved in this booking. It blows my mind. Not just Goldberg winning, but the way it was done. Keep in mind the Fiend's history, particularly with Seth Rollins. The guy survived about ten thousand stomps and got back up after Seth literally tried to murder him at Hell in a Cell. He's been shown to be practically immortal. Then a semi-retired 50+ year old wrestler shows up and annihilates him in a few moves after easily breaking out of the Fiend's finishing move, finishing the Fiend off with one of the shittiest looking jackhammers ever? Just... what? How utterly shit does that make the wrestlers who got destroyed by Wyatt look, for a start? I know that squash matches are Goldberg's MO and it's what he does, but not like this. It's so, so damaging to Bray Wyatt and IMO the WWE brand as a whole. It cheapens and tarnishes over a year's worth of work on the Fiend's character and storyline. It turns everything into a joke. For the record I'm not angry. I don't care enough about modern WWE to be angry at their shitty booking decisions. My heart is very much with AEW now, and to a lesser extent NXT, so WWE fucking everything up on the main roster is irrelevent to me. I just can't help but marvel at their utter stupidity, and feel really bad for Bray Wyatt, who deserves so much better after putting this much effort into reinventing himself. WWE just shits on him over and over again and it's just sad. As an aside the announcers are idiots who apparently have forgotten Goldberg's history, talking about how he's put 'everyone down with the spear'. No, you idiots, his finisher is the jackhammer. The spear has always been the setup move. I imagine he's pinned no more than a handful of people with the spear alone. Imbeciles. 2020 and WWE's two world champions are Brock Lesnar and Goldberg. No wonder their younger viewership is disappearing in droves.

If you're going to comment on an interview please try to link it as well, otherwise remarks are lost in a vacuum of non-context. I assume you're referring to this interview: https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/18269866.no-points-target-set-mowbray-wants-continual-improvement/ Can't say there's much I disagree with there in all honesty, particularly the comment on form tables being largely nonsense.

It was a bit bizarre for the Ministry of Truth to suddenly produce an actual criticism of the manager and one of his signings. Rich has probably been sent for re-education.

If Gallagher starts 0-1, if he doesn't 1-1.

Salary caps always tread rocky legal ground in this part of the world, but something has to be done to stem the financial losses incurred by practically every club in the Championship. The league itself is completely unsustainable as a business model, relying almost entirely on owners bailing out clubs to the tune of tens of millions of pounds season upon season.

I tend to take a dim view on attempts to silence balanced criticism, which Sharpe's was. IMV it's emblematic of a fragile and entitled mindset. Mowbray has taken a similar stance when he suggested a couple of months ago that he shouldn't be questioned over his decisions. If you can't take constructive criticism and look to gain from it then you'll never get anywhere, and maybe that's part of the reason we bottle it every time we get near the playoffs.

In fairness to SG he often does, the problem is it never leads to anything because we aren't set up to take advantage of that. It's like the old meme... Hit diagonals to Gallagher Gallagher wins header ???? GOAL If we're going to persist with this stupidity then at least fill in the question marks so that it means something when he wins a header. rather than it leading to nothing more than the opposition collecting the ball.