Miller11

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.

I think it’s more that he hasn’t realised the limitations yet. He came after HSH brought in Mowbray.

Make no mistake, none of the so called directors who work at the club on a day to day basis would have any say on any managerial appointment. The last three have all come from the same ‘Trusted Advisors’ that inflicted Kean on us

You could swap Kalinic with Chris Brown, Nathan Delfouneso, David Goodwillie, Corrado Grabbi, Luke Varney or Maceo Rigters and that comment is still valid.

Like Mowbray, and Coyle and Lambert before him, Smallwood is with HSH. HSH stands for Honeyman, Sheron and Horner... all three are ex SEM employees or directors. Quick google search of “Gavin McCann agent” gives a good bit of background on these fellas, and some insight into who still has their grubby snout in the trough at Ewood.

Walton - downgrade on Raya, Has improved recently but should’ve done better with their second. Exposed today. Bennett - Gave away an obligatory penalty. Poor fullback, far less worrying in more advanced positions. Too reliant on him due to our severely unbalanced squad. Nyambe - plays centre half and is still expected to maraud down the right wing on his own. Hardly surprising he got caught out of position on occasion. Best right back in the league, took a third of the season for Bennett to be dropped and now he’s moved from there due to our ludicrous transfer policy. Adarabioyo - linked with a £20 million move in this mornings rags. Halve that fee after that display. Not at the races, but in a makeshift defence, hardly surprising. Bell - poor defensively when 1 on 1, but at least he tried to make things happen. Confused as to who was playing where did that side at times. Travis - off day, but I’d have preferred a blind, one legged Travis to some of the other jokers on that pitch today. Downing - Covered several positions, but didn’t influence the game like he can. Rothwell - Mostly anonymous, otherwise ineffective. Can’t see him kicking on. Not good enough to be starting games. On at least two occasions he went and hid behind a defender rather than look for the ball off a throw. Gallagher - huffed and puffed less than usual today. He’s not a kid any more, he was the 4th oldest player in our starting 11. At his best he’s bang average, and he was some way off that today. Armstrong - I was happily eating my words regarding him as he looked unstoppable a few weeks ago. Recent changes in personnel and therefore his position have nullified him better than any opponent managed to. Brereton - Joke of a performance. Halfarsed, braindead, pitiful. At one point he “challenged” for a header... I swear if his shorts had had pockets his hands would’ve been in them. Waste of space, shouldn’t play again. He is a hindrance to the team. A zero out of 10 performance as I can’t think of a single good thing he did. Subs: Half time was too late for changes, never mind 70 minutes. Johnson - should’ve started Graham - May be well past his best, but still far superior to Gallagher and Brereton. Never gonna be an impact sub. Buckley - not seen the challenge back, thought a red may have been somewhat harsh, but a rash and daft tackle. Annoyed he will now face a ban as that increases the likelihood of some of those who played today retaining their shirt.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised. To be honest I’ll be unlikely to watch it even if it is on the network. Totally unenthused by Wrestlemania right now. For me the tape library is far more appealing than any of the current product and well worth the subscription. I’m currently watching early 80s mid-south.

He’s certainly polarising. I’m a big fan, and from my point of view a lot of the criticism he gets is blind faux outrage based on the fact he is very critical of people that a lot of people are passionately in to. I see people say he is “toxic” and has “dangerous” views. Politically he’s massively liberal, and the same people have no issues with Darby Allin paying homage to one of the most disgusting individuals to ever walk the planet. That’s just one example of the many inconsistencies of his detractors. I really enjoyed him on NWA and MLW. He wouldn’t be a good fit anywhere else, and has no desire to work anything like a full time schedule. He has said he struggled to call Jimmy Havoc matches, and made his feelings on him and Sami Callaghan clear on commentary. As a manager I’d put him at number 2 of all time right behind Heenan and just ahead of Heyman. It’s a shame that AEW or WWE can’t find a way to get him involved on some level, because his mind is absolutely fascinating, and his passion unreal. I try to view his podcasts as a stand alone entity, rather than part of my wrestling viewing experience, if that makes sense. I have to watch a show before he reviews it. The depth he goes into is brilliant - talks about things you wouldn’t necessarily consider. Spot on with all of that. I’ve got four main gripes with most wrestling matches I’ve seen in the last 5 years, in every promotion... Pathetic/no punches, people standing round waiting to be dived on, “in jokes” (see dickflip, invisible men, hands in pockets) and moves seemingly having no impact. I know what the deal is, but a massive part of any match should be making it logical and believable. Once you start admitting it’s a work in the match itself, it looses all point for me.

No, I get you. Ironic that the biggest complaint he has is generally the disregard for kayfabe!

I’d definitely recommend taking the time to listen to listen to the episode of Jim Cornette Experience from last week, even if you just skip to where he reviews Raw and Dynamite back to back. Some absolutely brilliant insight at a level I don’t think you find on any other podcast. Sure, there is a fair bit of vitriol in there, but the critique is fascinating. Cornette and Prichard are the podcasts I listen to religiously. And a couple of BritWres ones, Bischoff’s and Sean Mooney regularly too. edit - this is the show I was talking about

Believe it or not, Cornette actually liked it! Something along the lines of “As an athletic spectacle, and as modern wrestling goes, this was very good. But it had flaws that would stop it being considered a classic” His main issue was the loose application of the rules and Matt Jackson’s selling, or lack of. He also mentioned a lot of back and forth rather than building heat.

Basically helping them put matches together. Working with the talent to figure out the flow of the match and story they want to tell. For me there is too much focus in AEW on everyone getting their stuff in, and more of a focus on spectacle rather than story.

I think he’s going to be managing Luke Harper. This just made his impending debut a million times more exciting! I hope to god they don’t purely use him as a talent. Him agenting some of there matches is exactly what they need (in my humble opinion). He’s THE master of making everything mean something.

Maybe Tony Khan reads this board ? Seriously though, this has really peaked my interest!

I thought Royal Rumble was the best thing I’ve seen in ages. That aside I can’t remember the last WWE event I enjoyed. I barely watch it either, although I do like NXT UK, mainly due to the fact I’ve followed a lot of those wrestlers on the UK scene for years. I really want to be converted by AEW! I think my personal preferences are too far removed from the direction they will go though. I’m enjoying revisiting (and discovering) a lot of old stuff at the minute. That’s typical of me generally though. I love music, and own thousands of albums... maybe only a couple of dozen of which were released this millennium!

I don’t find his gimmick amusing or entertaining in the slightest. I don’t understand why anyone would... actually that’s not completely true. It’s just like any number of other indie level spots and gimmicks that have been done for years that gain a bit of traction on the internet. Like a dickflip, invisible man, hand grenade, whatever. These things have always appealed to small niche audiences at an indie level. AEW is just enabling all of them to see it with a bigger platform. For me it’s illogical and stupid. I know the cat is out of the bag in terms of kayfabe, but these things are so far removed from the whole idea of what wrestling is. I think you’ve got the nail on the head there. Their core fan base is there, and they are rabidly loyal. Having said that, I noticed MJF getting a lot of heat for going “too far” on Twitter last week. Some skewed moral compasses amongst some of them, but that’s another story! I know Meltzer lives to bang on about the demographics, and AEW are absolutely killing it with theirs. I’m guessing the 20-30 year old males are a huge proportion of their audience. Certainly seems that way on live shows. I don’t think they have any real interest in doing so, but I can’t see them doing anything to take the WWE’s kids viewership away. I worry that the core audience is so into AEW, to the extent they won’t entertain even the most minor criticism, that any appetite for change/growth will be stifled. They are riding a hell of a wave at the minute, but I don’t know how long it can last. Mind you, WWE shows no sign of doing anything to win back their lost viewers who are utterly fed up of their product. Me included. I think we are reaching the point where many people have picked a side and nailed their colours to the mast. Either AEW or WWE. I’m not enamoured enough with either at the moment, but I think AEW’s “issues” (or what I perceive the issues to be) are far more easily fixed.c

Caught up with Revolution. Thoughts... Most I’ve enjoyed a Bucks match yet. Don’t think it was worthy of the hype, and plenty of things in this match were over the top, but some psychology in a bucks and Omega match for a change. Decent. Cody and MJF was brilliant. Women's title match was not good. Darby Allin grows on me every time I see him. I think Jericho should’ve retained. Don’t see Moxley as being near his level. Inner circle losing 2/3 is not smart. I hate Orange Cassidy. Hated that match more than I can describe. I thought I made PAC look ridiculous. The only way to make that match anything other than a disaster for everyone involved, except the people in the crowd in on the joke, is for Cassidy to do his schtick (if he must) and PAC to absolutely brutalise and demolish him. Leave him bloody and injured. I will have to just fast forward any of his nonsense in future. In short, so much potential for AEW to be brilliant. It needs some direction from someone more removed, more experienced, and less emotionally invested. The lunatics running the asylum are holding it back.