Jiji

My buddy picked up Space Cadets... What a learning curve and the instructions leave a lot to be desired but even with that in mind it has a tonne of potential for fun. I'm going to watch some tutorial videos that hopefully do a better job explaining how to play that sum'bitch than the manual does.

The way he talks down to people, manipulates his guests, takes over interviews, and his deep rooted cynicism concerning most things make him sound like a miserable human being.

I had forgotten that Jardine trained 'Taker. It certainly shows. I could scan some chapters at work. They're all pretty short. I'd post the index, but I don't have a scanner at home and I'm not in the mood to type up 63 chapter titles. The Australia story is the one that is etched into my mind.

He doesn't have to be the guy at LFC, which is nice. The media will say he's replacing Suarez but in reality it's Mario and Lallana, Markovic, and Lambert.

He also thinks he's way smarter than he is with the "it's only logic" sarcasm. The few booking ideas he's put forth (the best one: have the Undertaker, who hadn't yet lost to Brock, beat a heel Cena - FOR THE GOLD - at WM and retire the next night, vacating the belt in the process) are just hilariously bad. I wanted to like the guy and his show but, nah, I'm good. He actually seems to be getting progressively worse. I thought the AJ interview was his worst then I listened to Sting part one and was rolling my eyes half of the time. Somebody said Stinger's a super nice guy so he let JR's shit fly but I felt like there was some frustration in his voice at times but that may be me projecting. Anyway, to make an effort to balance things out, 75% of his complaints (that are repeated every.single.episode) are pretty accurate. He's just a joyless so and so in voicing them the way and amount of times he does. The worst interviewer as well.

Aren't one of the clones him playing nice?

The good: He adopted a stray cat that continually showed up at City's training ground, the money story, the fireworks story, "why always me?", and the other goofy shenanigans. At least when he's an idiot, it's not of the bite another human being variety that leads to months gone. The price, too. We're getting him for what is a song in modern football (saddening) and could recoup much of it if we sell Fabio flippin' Borini. It's low risk for us and Marcotti's right in stating it's a hell of a deal from Liverpool's perspective. The Bad: Replacing one talented distraction with another but one that scores at a fraction of the pace from open play. Brendan needs to play Mario and play him often to assuage that ego. He doesn't have a great work rate unlike Suarez and Liverpool relies on a frantic pressing game from their strikers, the second thing we'll miss most from Luis after the goals. Neither Sturridge or Mario do this well. *shrug* That's about it. I'm on board for this price. I've always loved the guy and we have enough games that he can play central when Sturridge is either crocked or fatigued and wide or... in the hole when Sturridge is healthy. Rodgers has had success with getting the most from perceived (and in at least one case: real) headcases in Suarez and Sturridge. We could sell him at a slight loss if he should be a disaster but from what I've read and seen he's more of an "Oh, that's our Mario" problem for teammates than the cancer SolidGoldBomb depicted. Now, get a proper backup keeper, ship a few players out, and perhaps bring in another midfielder and we're sitting very pretty.

Savio was pushed very strongly when he joined the WWF. He was Razor's friend, had good babyface fire, and had a strong push. No shame in liking him. The day before the IYH: International Incident, I got Shawn Michaels' autograph. He mumbled something as he was signing the WWF promo deal, so I said "pardon me?" ... "*scoff noise* Hah, I'm not talking to you," he gave me my autograph and I was on my way. Disheartened but still a mark, I bought a pair of his awful heart-shaped glasses at the event but never wore them because they were hideous and even a 9-year-old dumbass knew that. Bret was better, btw. I thought Rikishi's sultan gimmick was better than 'Kishi. He scared the shit out of me at the time and I have always loved me a monster heel. Furnas and Lafon were my favourite temporary WWF tag team back in the day.

That military press drop down move on the other hand...

Man, I've been plowing through the Ross Report and was ready to come in here and rip it apart for his repetitive, often times contradicting and hypocritical bullshit ("HEELS NEED TO BE HEELS! NO FLASHY STUFF!" five minutes later: "Bobby Eaton was one of the most underrated wrestlers of all time." Eaton was rad but let's not kid that he wrestled like a heel other than stooging. Or, how about "we need a focus on matches, cut out the backstage skits and comedy stuff" only then to go on to say "fans pay too much attention to wins and losses." What?) opening monologues and just how fucking terrible an interviewer he is (leading questions, cutting off guests to get his shit in, making it more about him than his guests, asking about five same questions to every guess - I don't need to know what Michelle Beadle thinks of Chris Benoit, man) but you all have covered my complaints well enough. Christ, I'm only listening now just to hear the three or four minutes of good stuff that sneaks its way into the shows. I knew Jim Ross was a cynical jerk from the snippets here and there and that the whole "Good ol' JR" stuff was a gimmick, but fuck is he a miserable human being. Anyway, AJ Styles, when given a chance to speak his mind, impressed me. I always thought of him as the spotmachine, athletic indy movez guy but he's really turned into a good pro wrestler.

1-1. This is going to be good.

$30 for shipping to Canada?

Oh man, I want to see RVD win a #1 contender's match and get absolutely fucking destroyed by Brock at Night of Champions never to be seen again.

It's not done until it's really done. Surprised by the lack of post free agency trades this summer.

Requesting Ambrose throwing the bucket in Seth's face, please. I was surprised the WWE gif guy didn't have that one up and only had Dean's "what?" reaction.

That is choice. It is also sold out on their website.

Agreed. Dean will make Brock look like a bigger killer than he already is because he will keep coming at him, hopelessly, until Brock ends him. The Rumble is the perfect time for that match unless they are putting the strap on Dean as Brock will be at his zenith following that. The main event was fantastic and both guys are so good in their roles. Interested to see where they go with Rollins to kill time in-between now and Hell in a Cell. Obvious set up is for Dean to cost Rollins a big match at Night of Champions to set-up the HiaC blow off match. When JBL (and then later Cole and King) started to cheer on Mark Henry (whose "boy" line was tremendous!), I had a flashback to the days when Dusty would lose his shit cheering on the face against the nWo ("go get 'em kid!") and even Bobby would join him and Tony cheerleading. If done sparingly, it can be a really wonderful storytelling tool. They haven't done it in WWE since JR was taken off TV. Anyway, between the Ambrose/Rollins stuff (the bucket to the mouth and charity line were both so, so good) and Heyman's wonderful promo this was a great show. Despite inconsistent, start-stop booking, and missing the point booking at times with guys like Bray, it is such a fun time to be a fan of WWE. We get a great match every week, the storytelling in ring hasn't been this good in well over a decade since Bret, Shawn, Cold Stone, and company were busting ass to win back viewers, and there are more than a handful of young guys really coming into their own in front of our eyes.

But back in the day, they were a minor indy fed. I haven't been paying attention much to Japan since '06 or so. What happened? Is it guys like Ibushi that allowed them to make the jump to running Sumo Hall?

Yeah, it'd be nice to have the option of having the Network on cable but without the library it's a weak deal knowing the yankees have that incredible vault of awesomeness. Once they do the HBO Go thing with the digital library and Rogers sells rights of coverage to other providers, things will be gravy. In the meantime, I just reupped for another 6 months and will continue to use unblock us.

Yeah, dude is out to lunch. The camel clutch not only looks fantastic but hurts like a motherfucker.

Something something blood, urine, and vomit.

That happened and it was weird, as Dolph sold his injured leg so it was like he didn't quite hit it which allowed the delayed sell. Strange sequence as we weren't entirely sure what happened.

I guess this is what happens when you book a bad ass, maniacal cult leader as just another dude that loses a bunch of big PPV matches. He's not great in singles matches yet but they've done a really piss poor job booking him since the Cena feud. He needed to steamroll guys after losing control of Bryan. Not lose one, win one, lose one shyit. And don't book him or Reigns in long fucking matches yet! They're not ready. Can you imagine if they booked The Undertaker like this in 1991? They've got something special, very special in Bray and need to protect him in order for him to flourish. There's a growing apathy towards him because he's been booked so weakly. I get that not everybody loves his promos, and I admit he peaked with Cena and hasn't been at his best with Jericho, but I think he's a great mouthpiece and has done a brilliant job taking on the gimmick.

I still think of DDT as that weird, WWE-influenced indy that drew 500 people and had a dude with a snake gimmick years before Santino. So strange. How'd they get so popular?

Yep, had some issues at a buddy's house. Think the added international viewers and Total Diva fans caused the problems. Nothing major, though.