Are you thinking about going to their May event Tom? Some pretty big names there.

Sounds interesting, I may have to give it another chance.

i haven't watched NXT since its earlier series, which I thought were a joke. The stuff with Low-ki in particular was just horrendous and made a great wrestler look like a total dud. One of the few occasions where TNA actually did a better job than WWE with a wrestler (Ki wrestled as Senshi in TNA and was pretty good). I remember it having a ton of stupid gimmicks and dumb "challenges". Has it changed? I've seen that they've taken Generico's mask off, so I guess he'll have a totally new name and gimmick. A shame.

Triple H definitely seems to have a more old-school approach to the business which one hopes will translate into future generations of wrestlers. It would be great if WWE could strike up a deal with Japan or Mexico, though Japan especially isn't what it used to be. I'd love to see some different styles on WWE programming. One of the best things about WCW was the mix of styles, from the luchadores, to the Japanese wrestlers, the mixed-martial artists and the shooters. You then had the heavyweight grapplers with charisma main eventing. For a few years WCW was a fantastic showcase for various styles of wrestling. Nowadays you have very little in the way of variety.

It's a double-edged sword. The disappearance of the territories reduced the ability for talent in the states to perform in front of vastly different crowds and hone their in-ring skills and promo abilities. It led to what we see now as the standard, cookie-cutter WWE wrestler - by and large, pretty boring. Guys like Jericho still managed to get their education abroad in Mexico, Germany and Japan... but the problem is these styles don't translate so well in the US. Jericho struggled to get anywhere in WCW and his early run in the WWE (then WWF) was difficult for him because he wasn't working the style the other talent were used to. If the territories still existed Jericho would have been able to fit in easier. On the other hand, the dissolution of the territories heralded Wrestlemania, the birth of WCW as a single entity and arguably brought American wrestling to a more global audience. McMahon used the money gained from dissolving the territories to take the WWF and wrestling in general to the global stage in a way that hadn't been done before. Ted Turner followed suit with WCW and this eventually led to the Monday Night Wars from 95-01, when wrestling was as popular and mainstream as it is ever likely to be. It's hard to argue that the industry isn't stale these days, though. I have little to no interest in the current WWE product and only a passing interest in TNA, who are only a contender to WWE on the basis there is nobody else credible to challenge. In truth TNA is a very distant second and probably always will be. The removal of the territories has undoubtedly contributed to the current state of affairs in regards to the wrestling landscape, but I doubt McMahon much cares.

Bearer played his role very well, and by all accounts he was a very nice guy. He was a big fella though and sadly this probably contributed to his early passing (I believe a blood clot is the official cause). He was supposedly very cut up over his wife dying fairly recently, so maybe it's merciful that he's with her now.

Poor girl. Thoughts with the family of course.

Probably not many lostprophets fans on here, but their vocalist is in court for conspiring to rape a 1 year old. Words fail me.

Can we terminate his contract for fraud? Dickson may be a lot of things, but footballer is not one of them.

I'll agree with that. Am not really defending the fan as such. If I had a go at somebody on twitter, regardless of who they were, I'd expect an angry response back. But at the same time I find it amusing when footballers whine about being harrassed on twitter. Set your account to private, only accept people you know or trust to follow you. Job done.

Most footballers don't reply to fans tweet anyway. They only tend to reply to the abusive ones so it's irrelevant anyway. If they still want to interact then they can accept a fan's follow request if they wish to. Surely setting it to private is a much easier option than leaving themselves open to public "abuse"? And let's face it, a lot of people are going to feel entitled to throw angry comments at somebody earning obscene amounts of money for kicking a ball of air around for 90 minutes a week.

If footballers are so unhappy about being "harassed" perhaps they should set their accounts to private. It's very easy to do.

Footballers should really just stay off twitter. The real pros just don't rise to the bait.

One of many players at the club with disdain for the fans, there were many more loyal to Kean than we'd all like to think. Does Dickson ever come over and applaud the fans, or run off down the tunnel after every match with his partner in crime Murphy?

A 4 year contract for a 30 year old? Seems a bit excessive. Decent signing nonetheless.

Sorry to hear about this pal.

That web page badly needs to be redesigned, if they want to get the truth out there then fine, but most people aren't going to read through that mess to find out what's happened. Also a harsh lesson for them but one that should be obvious - don't lend your entire retirement savings to a bloke who has no money and no means of income. It was never going to end well. Sad to see all that stuff if it's true. I lost a lot of respect for Hendry when he had a pop at the fans regarding Steve Kean, though, so I'm not massively impacted.

Very sad, especially at that age. RIP.

I believe he was actually a qualified doctor

Before my time but by all accounts a fantastic player and a good person. I regret not being born a decade or so earlier so that I could have watched the Brazil '82 team play at that world cup.

Would also like to add I'm available to talk to if anybody feels the need... somebody very close to me has suffered with bouts of depression and I've learned the hard way how to best advise and deal with it as an outsider. She's on the mend now but went through some very dark times, she's said before that if she hadn't confided in me she isn't sure she'd be here now. It's always worth talking and there is always someone willing to listen... it's a good place, this, so plenty of fantastic people to get in contact with. Nobody has to suffer alone.

It's just so strange that there were literally NO outward signs of ANY depression whatsoever... or at least, the impression I get from those close to him certainly suggests that. If he did have depression, it must have taken some seriously incredible mental strength not to let any outward signs surface. It's frightening that somebody could seem so normal, and hide the type of turmoil that leads to suicide.

I just cannot understand this... he had two young kids, a well-paid job, by all accounts a decent lad... what in the world could have driven him to this? RIP

Blatter is a total moron, but these comments have been blown out of proportion somewhat. I would say i'm surprised an organisation the size of FIFA doesn't employ a few PR guys to ensure Blatter and other high-profile officials don't say anything that could be seen to be stupid or inconsiderate... but it is FIFA we're talking about.

Well, why not? My name's Daniel, 24 years old from Ipswich and I've been following Rovers since 1992 or so. I had two uncles who lived up in t'north and were massive Rovers supporters. They got me to a Rovers game in 1993 before my dad got me to an Ipswich game, so Rovers became the team I supported. Originally as a kid I was called a 'glory hunter', but that quickly died down as we slid further and further down but my support for the Rovers became stronger and stronger! Due to my location I don't get to anywhere near as many games as I'd like to. I usually go to the away games at London clubs and generally make it to Ewood two or three times a season for various matches. It's one hell of a trek, more so now as I'm living independently and not exactly rolling in it. I've also watched Rovers at Old Trafford a couple of times (lost both times). My uncles no longer live in the north, if they did I'd probably be up a lot more... but nevermind! I studied English Lit at University and gained a Masters... in the real world it means very little, but I love literature and studied it for the sake of loving the subject and not neccessarily job prospects (slim to none in a dying industry). As a result, I work in household insurance underwriting (booo). That's about it.... oh, also, Kean Out!