As I expected AEW's ratings are collapsing. 795k NXT, 683k AEW. NXT had a loaded show this week with Ripley/Baszler and Cole/Balor, but even so I just don't think what AEW is doing is going to click with people. There's so much I'd change about their show right now. As I said in my previous post, at the moment it's like a weird mix of mid-90s WCW/WWF and mid-2000s TNA. People don't want that shit. They didn't want it at the time and don't want it now. Add to that their poor booking of the Elite, who are the primary draws for their core audience, weird gimmicks, lack of titles beyond the world and tag team belts, and their inability to build characters effectively and you're looking at a recipe for trouble. Where was Moxley this week? Where were Guevara, Santana and Ortiz? These are characters the show needs to be built around but they're nowhere to be seen with no obvious reason as to why they're absent. Weirdly I actually prefer AEW Dark at the moment. It actually does a great job of building characters and mixes promos with matches a lot better than Dynamite does.

Watching Dynamite - a bit confused by Omega and Hangman Page teaming up. They announced a few weeks ago that Hangman was no longer in the Elite, so why is he still tagging with Omega? Also Schaivone on commentary this week said Page and Omega were in the Elite, so I don't know if they've dropped the idea of Page leaving the Elite or if Schiavone just forgot that Hangman had left. Couldn't blame him if he did forget as it hasn't been referenced on Dynamite in any way other than a couple of brief throwaway commentary lines. The Omega/Page dissension would have been more interesting if Page was still a part of the Elite, as it would be a logical storyline for Hangman splitting from the group - but according to AEW canon he already left for reasons that were never really explained, so... just confusing all around. Even at the end of the show the commentary team were asking why Page wasn't out helping the Elite - well, in storyline he isn't a member so that would be why, unless you've retconned that already. The match itself between Page/Omega and the Lucha Bros was good, but Omega eating the pin again is questionable booking IMV. I really don't think they're booking Omega well at all - or Page for that matter. JR seems to have a real problem remembering Jungle Boy's name. It's been the case for a couple of weeks now - he keeps calling him "Jungle Jack" and "Jungle Jack Perry" - but to everybody else on AEW he is and always has just been Jungle Boy. Not sure why he is finding it so hard to remember! He also kept confusing Butcher & Blade, although it's not like they've been spotlighted nor have the fans been given any major reason to care about them so whatever. The match between Cody/Darby & Butcher/Blade was alright but a bit sloppy. The crowd were into it at least. The Jungle Boy sit down interview with JR was good. He comes across as really likable. Between him and Darby Allin AEW have a couple of potential young breakout stars imo. They've both got a ton of natural charisma and are solid in the ring. Jericho/Jungle Boy was really solid. Jungle Boy looked impressive and Jericho played his role of cocky champion perfectly, whilst selling well for the smaller guy. I'm sure Jericho remembers back in WCW when he was the smaller up and coming talent and the older/bigger wrestlers (Goldberg especially) refused to let him get over. Jericho letting Jungle Boy hold out in the Walls of Jericho that long was very generous. The match ending confused me though. I'm not sure if Jericho got the extra five minutes or not. The ref was counting pinfalls after that but when Jericho walked out didn't count him out, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ AEW being AEW I guess. I think they did clarify on commentary later in the show that the stuff that happened after the ten minutes were up didn't count - but then why was the ref counting pins and why did the bell ring? I still don't get Kris Statlander's alien gimmick. It's really hokey and stupid to me. Like 1995 WCW/WWF level of ridiculous. The Nightmare Collective and Dark Order are similarly hokey and dumb, although at least the Nightmare Collective gets Brandi on TV which I'm certainly OK with. Regardless they are clearly strapping a rocket to Statlander's back so we'll see how it goes. "Revolution" is an incredibly generic name for a PPV. NWA's "Hard Times" is better. Main event was a solid enough tag team match. Much like with Omega I really do question having the Bucks lose so often, but it is what it is. The Dark Order being involved in the main event scene is just nonsense imo. At best they're a lower-mid card act. I do not see the Dark Order in the main event scene as 'money' in any respect. Dynamite was OK at best this week. Right now the show feels like a weird mix of 1995 WCW/WWF and mid-2000s TNA. I don't think that's what fans want and I fear the ratings will continue to decline as a result. Meltzer said this week that NXT is what people were expecting AEW to be, and he's right. NXT is the sports-orientated wrestling show everybody assumed AEW would be.

All recent comments from Mowbray and Waggott lead me to think we're in for another dry January. Hope I'm wrong on that though.

An Everdrive is basically a cartridge that fits into the original hardware. It uses an SD card to play ROMs. Because it's utilising the original hardware you don't have to worry about emulation glitches.

I decided to treat myself to a Christmas present and ordered an N64 Everdrive. It's the only "classic" console (other than the Saturn) which I'm unable to play the majority of games on. I've got an Everdrive for the Mega Drive which has all of the Master System/MD library available to play, and modded NES/SNES/PS1 minis which have pretty much all the classic games available to play. N64 is a bit expensive to collect for, the games aren't that common and there's no mini on the horizon so I figured an Everdrive was the best option. I'm going to try and get on Shenmue shortly as well. I've got it on the Dreamcast but will probably play the PS4 port for simplicity's sake. Everyone says it's one of the best games ever so I'm looking forward to seeing what it has to offer.

In fairness Storm is a big name, which I think is why he's being pushed into the title picture at the moment. I agree that he's nothing special these days, although ten years ago in TNA he was decent. His feud with Chris Harris was awesome and the America's Most Wanted tag team was great, as was Beer Money. I think overall he's better as a tag team wrestler but for name value alone I can see why they are featuring him prominently for now. I agree on Allysin Kay/Sienna - I don't think she has a great look nor is she that good in the ring. I'd much rather they give the belt to Thunder Rosa or even Melina. I enjoyed Into the Fire, thought it was a good PPV and Stu Bennett is excellent as a replacement for Cornette. The Marty Scurll reveal was a nice surprise although I get the feeling he'll eventually end up in AEW. There's no rush though as AEW has a big enough roster as it is without adding more to the mix. Probably better for him to wait until things have settled down a bit in AEW before appearing there. Powerrr was back to being decent after a few dodgy weeks following the Cornette incident. Aron Stevens is a fantastic promo, and the eventual match between him and Question Mark should be a lot of fun. It's been ages since I've seen CW Anderson, I didn't even know he was still active tbh. Zicky Dice was... interesting. I'd never heard of him before seeing him this week on Powerrr. Storm's "keep messin' around with me and turn me back to the old me" line from his post-Into the Fire promo is lifted straight out of "Forgot About Dre" by Dr. Dre/Eminem which, uh... OK? Maybe it wasn't intentional, but it sure sounded like it was. Aldis being in the TV title tournament is a bit odd. I don't think the world champion should be concerned by a lower mid-card title, but whatever. He did a promo about it so they at least explained why and I assume he'll be out of the tournament quickly to move into a feud with Scurll. I thought Aldis' "team" felt a bit similar to Jericho creating the Inner Circle - or a retread of DX with Camille playing Chyna - but I guess we'll see where that goes. The main event was alright but I've never been huge fan of Ken Anderson so it wasn't that interesting to me. His gut is pretty big nowadays too. I'm a bit surprised they're doing another PPV so soon - even AEW are only doing them quarterly. I'm very curious to know how Into the Fire did, and what they needed to pull in viewers to break even.

I don't think the Wigan match thread is really the topic for discussion about our League 1 season guys. Probably best to continue that over on the Tony Mowbray thread:

It was a bizarre lineup, people commented accordingly. We won and played well, people commented accordingly. Simple as that really.

To be honest I think it's just an excuse to lower expectations of buying players. Cunningham came in and improved us straight away, so it's not impossible and I don't think our style of play is so complicated that a decent footballer couldn't adapt quickly.

Plenty of clubs bring in players who integrate quickly and have an instant impact. The fact we can't points to something being wrong with our setup, rather than there being an issue with new players arriving.

Agreed, I've been a little disappointed in all honestly as I was a big advocate for giving him more game time but he hasn't really delivered in the way I was hoping. Seems like for once I was being a bit too optimistic, although at the same time both times he's come into the team regularly (the end of last season and our most recent run) our form has upturned dramatically - so maybe there's something in that. I don't know. I'd like us to persist with him as I think the talent is there, but he really needs to start producing or nobody can have any complaints about him ending up on the bench again.

We've been here before so it's possible. We will see how far we've come when we eventually lose a game. If we come back from that to start winning again then we can be more confident a corner has been turned, if we go into another patented Mowbray death spiral then we'll know it's business as usual. Only time will tell!

We thought the same about Gladwin...

I'd take Reed over Bennett in terms of having a versatile player able to slot into multiple positions and play them well. Right now he wouldn't be able to oust Nyambe from RB or Evans/Johnson/Travis from CM - but when Evans purple patch inevitably ends that could easily change, especially with Johnson's form also being patchy to say the least.

If there's any time to make a push for half ST sales you'd have to say it's now.

If he's publicly admitted it as per your screenshot then it seems strange that he can claim libel, but I'm not a lawyer so I have no idea how it works in law.

If somebody was backing and defending Mowbray during our bad run then fair enough, crow away. If said person was silent or has had an about-face then it's pretty disingenous to start taking the high ground imo.

Yeah, I meant 1 win in their last 5 ... no idea why I put 10.

He lacks a brain.

First time in a while that he's looked like the player he was when he played for us. Incredible how his career has spiralled downwards since he left, although his bank balance certainly hasn't.

For the price I think his ability is about right - has it in him to score and assist, but inconsistent. Think he's best as a super sub but can't see him being happy with that role.

Definitely something not quite right with Johnson, didn't realise he wasn't even living in the area. Hopefully today was the start of a renaissance of sorts, although it would be harsh to drop Evans long-term considering his recent performances. Great to have genuine competition for those positions though - it's been a while.

Problem for Ipswich is that they started the season well but now only have 3 wins in 14, which is obviously very worrying. I think I read it's only 1 win in the last 10 matches. Lambert needs to sort out their form sharpish or they'll be looking at the playoff lottery at best.

Could happen but I doubt it this time. Obviously I hope so as Leeds post-Xmas collapses are one of the highlights of any season.

This time last year they were 6 points clear of 3rd, this season they're 10 points clear. There's no Sheffield Utd on their heels this year. As much as I'd love to believe they'll collapse and lose out again, I really don't see it this time. With that said they were 3-0 up against Cardiff today and conspired to draw 3-3, so who knows.