DE.

New Japan isn't what it used to be, but the Japanese style is very different to the American style. Much more focused on the in ring action as opposed to pseudo soap opera storylines.

We know at least part of it is covered by the BOI. There were rumours that the JR money came from Balaji's personal stash, though I don't know if that was ever confirmed. He's right. Grant really seems to have matured this season into a much more reliable, level-headed player. Long may that continue.

Unfortunately this season in particular has seen our team at a real low point in terms of creativity and strikers with the ability to score goals. We started the season arguably without a creative player anywhere in the team, whilst aside from JR the rest of our strikers were better known for not scoring goals. In Gomez, Graham and Watt we have probably brought in enough to get us over the line for this season. Some major surgery will be required in the summer to correct the glaring creative and goal scoring deficiencies across the squad (especially if you exclude those currently on loan).

They didn't go on a 9 game run without a win!

It's a result we all needed. Our winless run is over, and hopefully we can carry some of this momentum into Sunday's match.

I hope somebody takes the bar and slams it across his bald head.

WCW was a sinking ship long before Russo came in, WWF/E became so hot in 1999 that there probably wasn't much WCW could do. They hadn't built any new stars and people were tired of seeing Hogan, Nash, Sting, etc in the main event every week. WWF/E was giving the fans something fresh and exciting, whilst WCW was giving people practically the same thing they'd been offering in 1997, especially when the Wolfpac/B&W nWo joined forces again after the 'fingerpoke of doom'. Russo didn't help, but by that time the horse had bolted anyway. WCW could never have competed with the likes of Austin and the Rock at that point. The company itself died because of the mergers and Ted Turner's weakened position. Once the network had decided it didn't want WCW any more, it was game over regardless of anything they attempted.

That was hilarious, though I remember being pretty angry at the time. We switched to Sky Digital in '99 and WCW wasn't on there, so the only way I could watch it was through Channel 5 and it @#/? sucked. The segments were weeks if not months old and often spliced together with no cohesion at all. If I remember correctly the show was called WCW Worldwide. By the time WCW came to Bravo (2000, 2001?) I'd already migrated to the WWF/E. I did go through all of the WCW eps recently on the Network, from around mid-96 to the beginning of 1998. Really great stuff - WCW in its prime was a fantastic show. A shame that they had no ideas once the nWo idea became stale.

Stop cursing us ffs.

Yes.

Anything less than wins from our next two home games at the very least is unacceptable at this point. We need to try and limp on to the end of this pathetic season and rebuild in the summer, though Lambert's first few months in the job have dampened my expectations somewhat.

It's all about how they're packaged chief. Mick Foley was an overweight, ugly dude whose claim to fame was having half his ear ripped off. The Hardy Boyz were just two scrawny kids with southern drawls. The Dudleyz were/are just a black guy and a fat dude from New York. Hell, even Stone Cold was just a bald guy in black trunks. I bet there weren't many people pegging him as a star when he was "the Ringmaster". It's all about marketing and having the right gimmick. I have no doubt that the majority of the roster could be much more entertaining if they were let off the leash, but they never will be. WWE doesn't need to do that any more. What you've described doesn't sound like NXT to me pal, sorry. It sounds like ROH or TNA. It's funny you mention JR, one of the biggest problems WWE has is their announce team. Annoying, fake, boring and extremely uncool. JBL has his moments, but Saxton is bland and Cole is Cole. These guys really struggle to make anything seem important, and it's hard to take any of them particularly seriously.

I agree that the corporate stuff gets tiresome. WWE seems kind of soulless these days, which is a shame because there is legitimate talent across the brand. The likes of Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Bray Wyatt, Kevin Owens, CM Punk and Daniel Bryan could easily have fit into the Attitude Era and become every bit as successful as the guys Phil listed in the post above mine. It sucks in some ways that these guys are wrestling in such a stale era, but worth noting WWE and wrestling in general is probably as good as it's ever been when it comes to overall safety and workers' health. In that regard these guys have got it a lot better than those that came before them. I wouldn't call NXT like the independents. It's very much story based, with the big matches being saved for the PPV's. WWE use NXT to prepare their talent for Raw and Smackdown, so it would make no sense for the show to mirror the Independent scene and for matches to be spotfests. If that is what you think NXT is then I have to assume you haven't watched it much if at all. The women's division in NXT alone is absolutely phenomenal. They bring in a lot of independent workers to see if they're able to adapt to the WWE style. It is probably best likened to the popular times before the Attitude Era - simpler stories which still managed to get people interested, with big blowoff matches at the PPV events.

I'd rather he scored a winner for them. What a time to start losing their bottle.

It's a fair summation of some of the problems that exist. The biggest issue is the lack of competition. As soon as WCW folded, that was the beginning of the end. TNA put up a little bit of a fight (they even went head to head with Raw on Mondays for a few months in 2010) but ultimately WWE is simply too big to compete against. To most fans WWE is wrestling, and nothing else matters. The internet is where WWE is focusing now, so of course NXT being popular there is relevant. The Network is where WWE is placing a massive part of their future hopes, and there's no doubt NXT is a big draw to that. I read an article about six months ago which said NXT was either the most popular or second most popular feature on the WWE Network. It sounds like you haven't really given NXT a chance chief. Or perhaps you're more into the Attitude Era than pro wrestling itself? You wouldn't be alone, the 3-4 million missing viewers in the US alone from that time period were certainly more Attitude Era fans than wrestling fans.

WWE has its moments, but by and large it's a pretty poor product these days. I rarely watch it unless something big happens. NXT is the show to watch. Top talent and storylines that are much more grounded in the basics of what made pro wrestling worth watching. It's just a shame that when NXT talent get called up to the "big leagues" of Raw and Smackdown they inevitably get saddled with bad gimmicks or get jobbed out to the regulars.

There's a lot of fantastic talent coming through, some of whom will hopefully take Bryan's place. I still can't get over seeing AJ Styles in WWE. I watched TNA for a long time during their better years, so it's a little off putting seeing AJ on Raw. I hope they give him the respect he deserves.

Never really got the whole YES movement, but sad for DB nonetheless. Haven't seen somebody as over as he was since the days of Austin and The Rock. Thought his WWE career was patchy with some crazy highs but also long periods of lows. Pre-WWE he was one of if not the best performer out there.

Yes, I don't really count that as the modern game though! I mean more in the last twenty five years or so, after the influx of money and the massive advantage it's given the likes of Man United, and later Chelsea, Man City, etc.

Without question. We were considered genuine title challengers in 94/95, Leicester were being pegged for the drop and Ranieri as the first manager to get the sack at the start of the season. Not sure there's a precedent anywhere in the modern game.

Another loss for G Nev at Valencia. Deary me.

I didn't want Graham either, but as always hopes he proves me wrong. Get the feeling he's a busted flush but if so then we simply don't sign him in the summer I suppose.

Yet we always manage to concede, which is a problem. 7 league games without a clean sheet now.

The last half of this season was going to be a struggle with or without Jordan. Our pitiful performances have never been down to one man, the team as a collective are very poor and Lambert has not been able to improve the players Bowyer left for him. We have to trust that Graham, Watt, Bennett, Jackson, Gomez and Ward will bring a completely different element to the overall squad and improve the sad nature of our displays up until this point. I'm not sure we can expect too much from them, though. Most of them will have been sold to us because they weren't good enough for their previous clubs - though at least we can say a few of them have come from the league above, rather than teams around us.

Indeed. Has there been a transfer in recent times where part of the clause has been "but they can't play against us?" ... loans aside. It just doesn't happen. Rhodes will probably be on the bench today anyway.