Miller11

To me that sounds like Sky pundits trying to make a story where there isn’t one. One of the many issues that comes from over analysis. From the initial angle, it looked late and clumsy. From the replay where the angle was face on (the angle both managers and the ref saw it at) it looked like he booted his ankles out from under him with no attempt to play the ball. Remember the one Bothroyd did against Norwich years ago? Brereton’s suspension is no loss whatsoever. No doubt when he’s completed it he will come back and score his customary single goal of the season in a dead rubber game. Luton on the final day seems most likely as they will likely be relegated by that point... then everyone can tell the doubters how wrong they were and how at £7 million he is an absolute bargain!

Been having a bit of a break on here... had some tough times over the last few months, but I feel the need for a bit of a vent after that shambles. Big difference today was the managers for me. We were having the best of it so Struber made pretty drastic personnel and tactical changes. Immediately pockets of space opened up for them all over the pitch and they promptly scored. We stuck with the same over complicated and ineffectual system and looked completely overwhelmed and shell shocked. Not for the first time, our changes were reactive and came too late. There was a hint of desperation about them. Samuel was poor And should have scored, but at least he got into positions and created opportunities unlike Gallagher and Brereton (who we just need to write off as a very costly mistake). Really concerning when a 34 year old player who has been practically released, completely frozen out and not played for us in nearly a year looks far less out of place than at least 6 or 7 others who turned out for us tonight.

Anyone calling for Mowbray to go, please just remember one thing... Any replacement will come from HSH (the reincarnation of SEM). Venkys have always and continue to only appoint managers from their “trusted advisors” HSH represent Mowbray, Coyle and Lambert HSH = Honeyman, Sheron, Horner One former SEM director, 2 former SEM employees. Do a quick google search on Sheron... see who he has worked with and what they got up to. Lessons learned? Bollocks.

Busy couple of days for WWE. Political donations to the tune of $18.5 million, WWE being declared essential business in Florida, producers furloughed and dozens of wrestlers released... all coming hot on the heels of the Snuka episode of dark side of the ring, which paints Vince in a terrible light.

Newest episode of Dark Side of the Ring is on the Brawl For All. Well worth a watch!

There were definitely some interesting elements that could have been built into a long running programme between the two. Wyatt getting into Cena’s head would make for great build up, but using this as part of a ‘wrestling match’ is so stupid.

Charlotte Flair v Rhea Ripley Brilliant. Best match of the weekend. Seen some people moaning that “Flair wouldn’t put Ripley over”... absolute nonsense. She’s elevated her massively here, as well as the entire NXT women’s division. The internet loves to make a noise about creating new stars, well, having a bonafide megastar lose frequently isn’t the way to do it. Flair is to Women’s wrestling what her Dad is to men’s. Black v Lashley This was a match. Adequate. Otis v Ziggler Surprisingly good. Basic story done pretty well. Pay off at the end. Otis has carved himself a nice little niche and offers some good light relief. Ziggler was Ziggler, which is a definite compliment. Edge v Orton Far too long. Went for epic but hit boring. Commentary really poor. I liked when Orton kept saying ‘no no no no no no no’. Any potential drama towards the end had evaporated as I was just willing someone to stay down for the 10. Street Profits v Gaza & Theory Took a break and missed this. No desire to catch up. 5 Way This was ok filler. Saw a potential twist in the tale rather than any culmination of anything. Firefly Funhouse Where to start with this. Presenting this as a match was a bad choice. This was like a modern day Hogan v Dungeon of Doom, an angle that has been unanimously shit on for 25 years. This will get widespread plaudits and absolutely panned... maybe not in equal measure. I hated it. In a different setting, presented differently some of this could be interesting and work. As it was it’s ridiculous rubbish. Bizarre how a fortnight after Matt Hardy leaves they decide to go all Matt Hardy. The GCSE coursework presentation was back too. McIntyre v Lesnar Typical Lesnar match. This format is getting old now, so I’m happy to see a title change. Very pleased for McIntyre too. Played out exactly as expected. Overall verdict for Wrestlemania: Should. Have. Postponed.

Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley with an absolute belter to start things off tonight!

Funny you should say that, last time I saw Drew McIntyre (or Galloway as he was at the time) live was at Preston Guild Hall against ASHA Samuels for the PCW title. He was literally crashing over the row of chairs behind me. Absolutely brilliant to see how he has turned his career round. I thought 2 had some good moments, but was massively hampered by the multiple venues. Those matches you highlighted being the pick. To be honest I prefer a lot of older wrestling to the modern product. While the athleticism is on a different level today, I think a lot of the psychology has been lost nowadays. This is amplified by a lack of crowd to feed off and play to. As I mentioned before as well, I find it really difficult to get interested in a lot of matches these days, due to the over saturation and the lack of build. I concede I might be being harsh on some of the matches last night, but (mostly due to circumstances beyond the wrestlers control) these were mostly bog standard at best, and there just isn’t a Wrestlemania feel to it. I really wish they had cancelled and done a two day super Wrestlemania around Summerslam time... none of the matches would’ve been hurt with a slower build. I think the whole lockdown product needs a massive rethink in all honesty.

The original Boneyard

I think IX gets a bit of a bad rap (largely thanks to Hogan), but Tatanka v Michaels and the Steiners v Headshrinkers were both miles better than anything on show last night. I always had 2 down as the worst ever until now. Different times I know, but I think that the repetitive nature of the modern product really doesn’t help... so few of the matches feel like a culmination of a well built feud. If we haven’t seen them a dozen times already, we will see them on TV again within a fortnight. The lack of a crowd hurts the matches immensely for me personally. I thought they may have found a way around it with the Boneyard, but they failed. So much of it was standard WWE fare, unsurprisingly I thought Zayn and Bryan made the best of it. They have varied experience. Bryan worked the holiday camp circuit over here, both well travelled and paid their dues on the indies... they are able to adapt unlike Corbin and Elias, for example. The two matches that could salvage things somewhat tonight are, in my opinion, Edge and Orton and Cena v Wyatt. Unfortunately after last night I’m not holding out much hope.

Kabuki Warriors v Bliss & Cross Got the night off to a really bad start for me, I’ve seen others express their annoyance with Nikki Cross... but if you multiply that by a million you wouldn’t get close to how much Asuka gets on my nerves. Had to mute almost immediately due to the constant screeching, and had to fight a strong urge to switch off. Went far too long. Was just glad when it was finally over and glad of the result. Corbyn v Elias Boring. Was always going to be filler even with a crowd. Lynch v Baszler Didn’t work. The attempts to look hard hitting didn’t come off. Inventive ending. Was never going to live up to the hype, but due to the circumstances of the show they didn’t have chance to get anywhere near. Both struggled to adapt. Bryan v Zayn Match of the night for me. Enjoyed this. The use of the corner men was smart. With no crowd to play off they used them to build some decent psychology. The only match that didn’t suffer drastically with having no crowd. Ladder match Decent. Thought everyone worked hard, and they managed to come up with some unique spots which becomes more difficult with every passing ladder match. Owens v Rollins Wasn't overly Invested in this. It was ok. Bit of an odd one that initially wouldn’t have seemed out of place on Raw. Tried to make it mean something. Goldberg v Strowman Predicatble, but I don’t think that was a bad thing. Fine for what it was under the circumstances. Met the very limited expectations it set. Taker v Styles I was looking forward to this for a break from the painful empty arena format. It started off as a brilliant brawl, largely due to the fact Undertaker is one of about 3 still active wrestlers who can throw a decent looking punch... such a nice change from shitty forearms! Unfortunately it quickly descended into farce. The fact that the production looked like an overzealous GCSE media studies students coursework became more problematic as it wore on. It will take an absolute miracle tonight for this not to go down in history as the worst Wrestlemania of all time. Why oh why did this go ahead?!?

Interview in the Telegraph the other day. Just before the accounts were released. Obviously loads of people are using this as an excuse to trot out the old ‘they are investing’, ‘we’d be another Bury without them’, and ‘They were badly advised’ lines. Waggott isn’t stupid, his timing is spot on in keeping that pretence alive.

The new series of Dark Side of the Ring seems to be available on Dailymotion. Watched the New Jack one last night. Some good insight into things I already knew. Absolute lunacy.

Exactly. And he can’t wait to tell us how he can’t comment on what went on before whenever he’s asked anything about their multitude of wrongdoings. Different story when he wants to kiss their arses.

Waggott with some disgraceful comments today... “I have been in discussions with Tony every day on player welfare as well as the business side, and my view is that the owners have been very good to the club over the last nine years since they took over the ownership of the club and it’s now time for us to play a part and look after them a little bit as we go through a turbulent time. I’m looking across the board how we can pay all the people we can for as long as possible.”

I watched the new double episode of Dark Side of the Ring on Benoit last night... it was definitely the most comprehensive review of the entire incident I’ve ever seen. Not an easy watch, but recommended.

Oh I’d love them to do that on the next season! I’ve watched a pretty good YouTube video that was a compilation of a few shoot interviews speaking about the incident. 2 Cold Scorpio And Vader amongst others... Blackburn didn’t get a mention as far as I remember!

I’d been wanting to see them since I first heard about it. Pretty glad I remained blissfully unaware until now! For me Wrestling with Wregret has gone down hill a bit lately. That was a belter though, more like that please Brian!

Just finished watching the first series of Dark Side of the Ring. It’s a series of documentaries by Vice. I’d been hoping to see them for ages and never had a clue they were on All 4 until someone said on Twitter the other day. The episodes are: Murder of Bruiser Brody, Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth, Fabulous Moolah, Death of Gino Hernandez, Montreal Screwjob and the Von Erich family. They were all really good! If you are stuck for something to watch while confined to the house I definitely recommend them. New series starts in the states on Tuesday, so hopefully it’s not too far behind on All 4. Some absolute belters to look forward to by the looks of things with Episodes on Owen Hart, Chris Benoit, New Jack, Dr D David Schultz, Jimmy Snuka, Dino Bravo, The Road Warriors, Herb Abrams and the UWF, and the Brawl for All!

Probably right after America the Beautiful!

This has actually peaked my interest. Wasn’t planning on watching, but I will now.

I thought it stood for Chaddy’s Secret Alias

"Some people compare it to seasonal flu, alas that is not right. Owing to the lack of immunity, this disease is more dangerous. "It is going to spread further and I must level with you, I must level with the British public, many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time." Thats the key points I’m taking from what Johnson has to say. On first view it seems quite blasé, but it’s realistic. It’s spreading at a phenomenal rate, and while there might not be any confirmed cases in the Blackburn area yet it is an absolute certainty there will be before very long. I fully expect at some point I will have to cut social contact completely in the not too distant future (I’m on heavy duty immunosuppressants). In the meantime I will be giving football, gigs I have tickets to, gyms, pubs and restaurants a swerve. The big worry I have is that even when the “Government and science based” do decide to implement stronger preventative measures, plenty of people will suddenly decide not to pay any attention to them due to their own selfish sense of self importance.

I’d go with Walton Nyambe Adarabioyo Lenihan Bell Bennett Travis Johnson Downing Rankin-Costello Armstrong Subs: Leutweiler, Mulgrew (haha), Davenport, Smallwood, Rothwell, Graham, Gallagher After his last dismal outing, Brereton doesn’t deserve to make the bench. Gallagher is lucky to. At least Smallwood grafts and we need defensive cover and Mulgrew is it. Obviously there is no chance of this.