41 minutes ago, zendragon said:

So what's the story with Rude and HTM?

Gemini says that HTM claimed:

Quote

Rick Rude suffered a severe genital infection after injecting Viagra directly into his penis, which allegedly led to depression and his death by suicide.

But

 

Quote

 

Fact Check and Reaction

• Dismissed as Nonsense: Wrestling peers and historians widely regard the story as a baseless tall tale or outright trolling by the Honky Tonk Man. 

• Actual Cause of Death: Rick Rude actually passed away from heart failure due to an accidental prescription medication overdose in April 1999, with no medical or factual backing to the Honky Tonk Man's graphic claims. 

 

• That's where I draw the line...not about to ask AI about Jimmy Valiant and glass coffee tables.

Styles' son should work a match where he teams with one or both Dudleys so they can do a spot where they say "AVERY!  GET THE TABLES!  And store them away in a sensible spot and maybe put away some chairs while you're at it.  Thanks!"

21 minutes ago, supremebve said:

This is one of those games where it kind of tricks you into thinking it's not that violent because you aren't running and gunning.  It replaces it with braining people with lead pipes, hammers, and all types of other blunt instruments that make Dolby Surround Sound-level skull-cracking sounds. 

"He's asleep!"

17 hours ago, odessasteps said:

No idea where to post this so why not here?

 

Goth audience crossover?  Maybe they need a place to sell all the shit that doesn't move in September and October?

Pretty weird that a company whose only business is two-month popup stores is buying a year-round business.

EDIT: ahhhh.  It's actually Spencer's who owns Spirit and is buying Hot Topic, which makes more sense.

24 minutes ago, tbarrie said:

The list was top All In moments, not top AEW moments in general. I don't think any of those three were at All In.

That makes more sense, because Danielson's gold watch win and subsequent two month, two defense reign was such a nothingburger and a real hallmark of AEW's post-Punk, aimless period.

8 hours ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

I've seen so much of Sting's NWA/WCW career and to this day I'm still amazed by him.  I don't know how some people didn't rate him as worker back then. He is a pure fiery babyface with elite power, speed and agility.  He had all the tools and plenty of classic matches that stand the test of time.  I still think he's underrated in some circles. 

Sting was amazing.  So was Luger, only slightly less so.  Both were done so dirty by those in power in WCW.  

9 hours ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

In today's social media era

This is it right here.  Arik and AJ are both assholes for participating in the "do everything in public for the dopamine hit that comes from getting the backing of total strangers" world that social media created.  Arik didn't need to call this kid out publicly and AJ didn't need to insult Cannon publicly, either.  Neither one is acting like a functioning adult.  I have no idea what this kid did or didn't do on this show, but everyone else here is a verifiable asshole.

4 hours ago, The Natural said:

I've never gotten Aleister Black/Malakai Black. I really don't want him back in AEW and I don't think we will with the bridge he stupidly burnt.

I liked him as Tommy End the times I saw him in PWG, because he was just an ass kicker and didn't do promos or anything.  The more "personality" that was added to his character, the worse it got.  

3 hours ago, Sex Machine Gun said:

In a rare medical case, Andrade managed to break his dick. Recovery time is determined by individual studliness.

Do you have to splint that?

And if this turns out to be a worked shoot to build to an Arik Cannon/Hijo de AJ match, everyone involved can fuck all the way off and anyone who buys tickets is dumb.

THE PAY (your dues) COMMUNITY!?

Long term, I can see WWE keeping a core handful of top guys and cycling out the longer term midcarders/forcing pay cuts, and rotating in lower-paid NXT people to occupy the midcard.  It’s short sighted, but that’s how corporations do it nowadays.

1 hour ago, HarryArchieGus said:

KOTFM

Every time I see this, my brain reads it as KMFDM and I wonder what Scorsese has to do with 80s industrial music.

Bishop Kaun has a Monkeypaw Productions tattoo on his leg.  Dude must really love Get Out.  I mean I do, too, but damn.

16 hours ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

Maybe Hollywood had the right idea all along and we just need more coked up producers and studio head money marks willing to let people and auteurs do their own thing.

Yes!  Fewer MBAs, more Jerry Bruckheimers!

10 hours ago, J.H. said:

The problem with Sly is he's always looking for franchises and doesn't try acting more. I loved him in Copland. My father went to Copland not knowing it was about cops because he thought it was a biopic about Aaron COPELAND. 

"I was expecting 'Fanfare For The Common Man" - Jay Harris

That reminds me of how I put off seeing The Lincoln Lawyer forever because I thought it was a historical piece about Abe’s attorney.

9 hours ago, Ramo2653 said:

I think I'm gonna actually complete Untitled Goose Game.

It’s a fun one but as a guy who despises timed levels, the extra challenges where you have to do all the tasks over again in a certain time limit sucked.  Aside from that, though, awesome game!  Fun with a second player, too.  My daughter and I played through it and had a blast.

The “which luchador does Roman get to squash in Mexico?” tournament!

El Fiscal?  Is he El Hilo de Irwin R. Shyster?

55 minutes ago, porksweats said:

He got hurt immediately after launching the Hounds of Hell.  Hounds formed January 25th, Buddy was hurt after Feb 15th.

Add that to the list of the most fortuitous injuries in wrestling history.  We ended up with Brody King's awesome babyface run and Julia in the Triangle of Madness, instead of the House of Black's reheated nachos.

There was a spot where Ciampa argues a bit with Aubrey, and then she completely goes insane on him, which set up Andrade's comeback.  Was he supposed to have shoved her or something?  Because all he did was get in her face a little, which made her reaction incongruous and weird.  And then Andrade sprinted past her with the double knees and she did this silent movie quality "whew!  I'm okay!  I'm okay" pantomime that was so over the top..  I swear to god I'm not one of these anti-Aubrey incels, but she's really a bit much a lot of the time.

40 minutes ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

Current internal timeline for Rhea Ripley's return is Royal Rumble '27. 

Triple H style return, denim vest over leather jacket

37 minutes ago, supremebve said:

This is where the game lost me.  I love Uncharted 2 and Uncharted 4.  Uncharted 3 was everything you said above.  This section made me decide, "OK, I think I'm ready to play something else."

I damn near rage quit when I was running away from a wall of water and dying over and over when I suddenly realized I, after multiple camera switches, that I was supposed to run toward the camera.  There was no indicator that this was an L-shaped hallway, you just needed to figure it out.  All these fleeing character sections are so maddening because there's only one way to succeed and you have a split second to figure out what that way is.  It feels less like Uncharted and more like Dragon's Lair in that regard.

Finished Uncharted 3 earlier in the week.  Good but flawed.  From all accounts, it was a rushed and somewhat troubled production.  

The good:

• Even better gunplay and shooting controls than the second one.  Not excellent, but a step up.
• Much better melee combat.
• A non-maddening final boss fight (but see below), which was an improvement after part 2's fight, where you're just fleeing an invincible enemy and shooting trees
• Mostly cool puzzles
• Some really incredible setpieces and levels (the ship graveyard and subsequent sinking ship levels were amazing)

The bad:

• Two great main characters are written out halfway through (one actor had to leave the production for a film role)
• One of the main enemies was clearly set up to be supernatural (a djinn, probably), but then he just...wasn't
• Final boss fight was just a simple melee combat section
• Final level was too similar to Uncharted 2's finale.  Another magical city, sudden addition of supernatural enemies (just a hallucination this time, though), magical city is destroyed as Drake and friends flee the destruction and the city falls apart around them
• Awful escape sections (flaming building, mutant spiders, water, crumbling city) where the camera is fixed on a weird, "cinematic" angle and you're forced to die and retry repeatedly to figure out the one exact way you need to run
• Sections where it's totally unclear what you're supposed to do and then you realize (or are told) there's a hidden RPG over there you need to use (boat chase, wooden gate, tanks)
• The "wandering through the desert" section.  I hate "gameplay" that should have been a cutscene.  And Drake is near death after being stuck in the desert, but then discovers some enemies and turns back into John Wick.  He doesn't even get a drink of water first!

I read that the writers of this one came up with setpieces first, then wrote the story around them as a way to get from one setpiece to the next.  That makes a ton of sense, especially when you realize the whole shipyard/sinking ship sequence, while awesome, was 100% unnecessary.  Sully was never really kidnapped and Drake washes up in the same place he was before those chapters started.

I still recommend this game despite the problems.  It's very fun overall.  I'd rank the original trilogy 2, 3, 1.  If you've never played them but want to, maybe just skip 1 and watch a YouTube playthrough.  4 was excellent but I played it so long ago I can't remember it well enough to rank it.

 

 

 

 

Quote

"these franchise investments contributed to value creation beyond their theatrical releases."

I thought I was picking up too much corporate bullshit speak at my job, but it turns out I'm just a rookie.  This is amazing.  

Quote

"The theatrical window in a lot of ways is just one data point," says Chief Moving the Goalposts Officer Hugh Johnston.

Title fixed

2 hours ago, RIPPA said:

Arthouse alert

We Are All Strangers

Written and Directed by Anthony Chen

Weird pivot for the horror series The Strangers

23 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

Looks like Lola Vice is getting the call up.   

WWE has filed a trademark for Vice City.   Which is famously not owned by any other company, nor would it cause confusion between products. 

 

Her tag team partner is Samantha Andreas, Sam for short.

2 hours ago, AxB said:

 They could get dozens of interviews for a Chikara, because of how many people broke in with/ passed through that promotion over the years. Get Edith Surreal on there, to talk about how she broke in as Still Life With Apricots and Pears, and then had to change her name after Chikara died because Quackenbush said "Well I own the Stll Life name and I say you can't use it". And when she asked if she could buy the name off him, he said yes and quoted her a price you would buy a brand new car for.

 Get John Silver on there, to talk about how he was Silver Ant and then became Green Ant, and then he asked for an extra $10 per match and instead his character was written out of the next season. Get Orange Cassidy on, to talk about how he already was using the Orange Cassidy name and character, and Quack thought that was a stupid gimmick that would never get over, and Fire Ant was much better. Get Eddie Kingston on... just sort of in general, really. But especially get Eddie Kingston on to talk about Larry Sweeney.

Damn, that's a lot and, I'm guessing, just the beginning.  Wasn't Quackenbush wrapped up in some sexual improprieties with one of his workers as well?  Nothing crazy, just that he cheated on his wife with her or something?  Anyway, yeah, that guy is so skeevy they would need a two-parter.