I can't remember the last time I watched a full wrestling event - two or three years ago I imagine. So I was very disappointed that no part of this year's WM was notably surprising or exciting to me. What has happened to the ability to deliver the unexpected? The clusterf*ck of unsuccessful finishers in end-sequences of main events is beyond a joke. I get that they're trying to put across that people have more extraordinary desire (or something along those lines) at WM, but it's just farcical. Nobody even remotely believes in them any more. The one guy who has impressed me whenever I've seen him is CM Punk. He gets put in an interesting (if distasteful) angle with the Undertaker and then they shove them on third to last. Bang goes ANY doubt as to how it will end. Not only that, but it killed the crowd for the rest of the event - where was the "pissbreak" match to allow them to switch off for 15 minutes? There were 10 of us in the room watching this and I lost count of the times when we started talking about how good events like WM17 were in comparison. I know there's an element of nostalgia involved, but that involved workers in their primes, at the height of their popularities, working good matches. From my perspective, there is a real need to dial things back. Finishers should finish matches. They've become devalued to the point of acting as transitions. I struggle to see how anyone can find that entertaining. The point of professional wrestling isn't to make people think that it's "real" (which is the criticism that people who don't like it level at it) - it's to surprise and entertain. Without the former, they're onto a loser with the latter.

Christ, that's a terrifying sentence. I imagine Chyna initially tore it for him years ago.

A mate of mine is trying to coerce me to prolong my stay in Blackburn next weekend so that I can watch WM at his. Probably seen about five events in the past 7 or 8 years so I've no idea what's going on at the moment, but I'm reasonably familiar with the names (half of them seem to be guys who were slumming it in the Indies/Japan back when I was a tape trader). Is the general consensus that it's going to be a decent event?

I wish ABBEY would pipe up tell us what he thinks about professional wrestling

Probably a reasonable assumption.

I never realised until Saturday night that the entire reason I have been saving my wages is to purchase a suit made of flashing lights.

My tickets for Wembley have not come, but my tickets for LCCC came a week or two ago.

I like Lily Allen. While I wouldn't have thought that Muse was a natural support gig for her (a bit like The Streets last time Muse played Wembley) I suppose it does cater to the fact that Muse are liked by a lot of 16 year old girls now. Certainly I'm more concerned that they're churning out s**t like Neutron Star Collision for Twilight films than I am that Allen is supporting them. Will be nice to see Biffy again though. Was supposed to see them support Muse in Barcelona but had to get a refund on tickets when the gig was moved for the Davis Cup.

Anybody got any opinions on the new MGMT album? First time I heard it I was disgusted at how self-indulgent and deliberately alienating it sounded. They've been kind of nausiating trying to emphasize how uncommercial they consider themselves to be, like they're embarassed at how uncool it has made them. However, I've listened to it a lot more in the past month and it has really grown on me. Not all of it works, for sure, but there are some very good songs on there. I'm especially a fan of "Flash Delirium" and "Brian Eno" is a lot of fun. "Siberian Breaks" is ambitious in that it's 13 minutes long right in the middle of the album and is effectively split into about four songs - I don't think it completely pulls it off but it's a little different. I was far too late onto the first album so the likes of "Time to Pretend" and "Kids" were never anthems of my summer or anything. So I suppose it was a lot easier for me to make the transition. I imagine the new album will have really put a few people off though.

Saw Four Lions tonight, and really enjoyed it. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting as a couple of the previews I read a while back suggested that the comedy was very disjointed but I think it balanced the comedy and serious elements very well. I won't give too much away in case people are going to see it but the last twenty minutes or so are very surprising and pretty poignant. It's really well acted and I don't think it will offend 99% of people, muslim or otherwise. On a scale of Morris's ability to shock it was relatively tame and it probably won't receive the cult acclaim that the likes of Brass Eye and The Day Today get but I'd definitely recommend if if you're a fan of his.

We Are Scientists present the rules of partying

Love his first LP but has been getting progressively worse since then as he's run out of things to be legitimately angry about. Marshall Mathers LP had its moments too, but very little since then has been up to the standard he's capable of. Disappointed because I used to feel that he has one genuinely brilliant album in him, but it looks unlikely that it'll ever happen. What's the new track like? What kind of stuff of his is it similar to?

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/arts-%26-entertainment/bbc-angers-fans-of-the-idea-of-6-music-201003032520/

It's true apparently. I was with a friend of his who got a phone call an hour or two ago

Old Trafford and Wembley ahoy!

Muse have just announced they're playing LCCC on Sept 4th and Wembley Stadium Sept 11th next year. Tickets on sale next Friday. Obviously they aren't paying any attention to your concerns, shillito!

The early start in Liverpool must have been due to restrictions on finishing time. At almost every other gig the starting time has been circa 8.45. There's no way there was a substancial difference in gig length between the two. It's certainly unlikely that Dublin came in at more than 2 hours. Off the top of my head, the setlist in Dublin was virtually identical to some of the earlier gigs of the tour. Liverpool was a bit different in that they dropped Map of the Problematique entirely, although closing the first part of the set on Stockholm Syndrome will have added a few minutes because they p*ss about a lot at the end of that song if there's nothing directly afterwards. In Liverpool they also played the jazzy version of Cave in place of Feeling Good and/or Unintended (which was good as I was worried about not seeing that one live). Aside from some mixing up of the order (they've usually been finishing the first part with Unnatural Selection but at Liverpool it was about 4th, and Plug In Baby was played in the encore) the setlist was almost identical - as it has been across the whole tour. On a rubbish note, myself, cn174 and another mate had tickets to see them in Barcelona on the 27th. However, Spain's appearance in the Davis Cup Final has forced it to be shifted to the 24th, which we can't make. That's cost us in the region of £250 in useless air tickets, which is a bit crap.

Yeah, I reckon it's the best intro they've done. Try to avoid watching it on Youtube etc - will make it better to watch next Thursday if you don't know exactly what's coming. I'm standing on Wednesday but sitting on Thursday (12th gig, thought we'd do something a little different) so I'll be trying to get a load of good videos.

The pillars themselves are stationary but the platforms of these can be raised and lowered to stage level (basically so they aren't stuck in the air for the entire gig). Dom's platform also rotates through 360 degrees, though that's only for when he's jamming with Chris halfway through.

Saw Muse at the Spektrum Arena in Oslo on Sunday night as part of my European stalker tour. For those who are going to see them - it was a really good gig so you should love it. The stage design is pretty amazing, they clearly spend a load of time (and money) ensuring that they put on as spectacular a show as possible. The new material sounds pretty good, though tbh the Norwegian crowd was a little tame (lots of tiny Norwegian girls) so the biggest reaction was for the radio hits from the last couple of years. With a bit of luck, the UK shows (where people know them better) will contain a few more old favourites rather than a 'greatest hits' setlist.

Well...a penalty which was won when Ronaldo made three of their players look like idiots by dribbling round them at pace! (Though to be fair I'm not totally convinced it was a penny.) The third was a beauty with link-up play between Kaka, Benzema and Ronaldo. Scary stuff. Suppose that's what £180m buys you!

Not really defending the song because it has yet to grow on me (and the "Queen" parts of it completely make me cringe), but how is having two minutes of Chopin on the end of it "music that aims to please as many people as possible"?

Sorry I should have made that a bit clearer - he has said he is a changed person on far more than one occasion, including before he had to be sent to prison. I don't think this is a leopard that can change his spots.

Joey Barton said he had changed long before the incident which saw him sent to prison.

Him too