All we can do is see how it goes.  He's had a massive chunk of luck (which is what anyone needs), but he now has to show he's smart enough to take this brief opportunity and turn it into longevity.  All the successful guys end up being a version of themselves with certain attributes exaggerated (Austin / Rock / Flair / Hogan / Cena / Jericho), so he can't rely on playing something he's not for the long-term.  As I said earlier, at some point the dancer aspect will need to be reduced to allow the true persona to emerge.

Nope, still no sense.  I think it's more an indication of the guy's natural talent / charisma showing through, plus Jericho's ability to put someone over, than a successful persona.  The music going viral will be a massive help in the short term, but will it last? 

Zack Ryder had a similar thing with his YouTube show, got into main event storylines on Raw, but where is he now?  Last time I saw him, he was jobbing to someone in a 3 minute match.  Could have been Barrett.

Fandango will need to do something to make the switch from 'novelty' to serious.

I think I prefer this version:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGgvBfbohQ0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGgvBfbohQ0</a>

 


His theme song actually entered the UK iTunes charts this past week, I think it got up into the Top 10 at one point.   

Yeah, I'm just watching now, and they've got a JBL chant going for no reason whatsoever?!  

Good to see the reaction Ziggler got when he won the belt, I hope this is the start of something huge for him.  They need to dump that Big E guy though, he's not bringing anything to the party at the moment.

I've got no feeling on her passing, but the folks thinking she did more good than bad need to look a little further north than London.  She destroyed the solid manufacturing base we had in the UK.  We led the world in shipbuilding, using UK sourced steel.  We had iron mines all across the north of England supporting entire towns and villages.  And she shut them down. 

Go to the north-east, go to the Yorkshire pit villages, and see the affect she had on them.  Whole towns and villages ruined, because everyone worked at the pit, and now it's gone.  There's people over here who haven't been able to get a job since.  I'm sure some of you will say they should have retrained, moved home, got a job elsewhere.  Not so easy when your whole life was working in the mines, or the steel industry, or shipbuilding.  Suddenly there's 5000 of you, all with the same skillset, fighting for jobs that don't exist.  So you retrain, and have to compete with 1000 people for a single job position.  Or you move your whole family across the world because the only place your skills are worth anything is in the developing world.

What else?  Privatisation.  Things might not have worked perfectly when they were state-run, but give them away to big corporations and what do you get instead?  Monopolies.  And the public got screwed again, because they whacked the prices up to protect their investors. 

She did kick ass in the Falkland's though, so credit to her for that.  And some of her other policies were sound in theory. 

Tories in the South might have loved her, but for me, Thatcher's legacy in the north of England is desolation.  And the repercussions of it will last for a long time.

6 from 9 in the end, Miz/Swagger/Ryback let me down unfortunately.

4 for 7 now.  Does anyone know what happened to Clay/Albert vs Scholars?  Not even good enough for the pre-show?

3 from 5 for me, shame the IC title has been dumped down to the pre-show, yet Fandango gets a proper TV spot.

Best sign so far: "If Cena wins, we complain online..." 

- Rock v. Cena (WWE title) - Cena for this one, Rock's going back to Hollywood.  It's a waste having the title on a guy that never wrestles, better to have him lose and then he can come back for the odd promo leading up to Match III.

- Alberto Del Rio v. Jack Swagger (World title) - Swagger, they kept on with his push after the DUI, so there must be something planned for him.  Gives his gimmick distance for now.

- Wade Barrett v. Miz (Intercontinental title) - Not that fussed on this one, probably Barrett I think.

- Undertaker v. CM Punk - Taker, but not as sure as others think.  I still reckon there's a chance the streak will end one day, and Punk could be the guy to do it.  21-0 though...  

- Triple H v. Lesnar (No Holds Barred; Helmsley's career on the line) - HHH, they can't end his career cos then they'd have to come up with some nonsense way of bringing him back to work and devaluing the whole thing.  There'll be some interference, I reckon we'll have Michaels, Heyman, Steph and then Vince for the win.  Victory McMahons!

- Tell Hell No v. Ziggler & Langston (WWE tag titles) - Don't care really.  No point Ziggler having tag titles as well as the MITB, so Hell No for the win.

- Shield v. Orton, Sheamus, and Big Show - The Shield have had the upper hand for 90% of the feud, so I don't know.  I like Timmy's suggestion of an Orton heel turn though.  Or even Show, he's the dodgy member of the trio supposedly.  Might as well give it to the Shield to keep them going.

- Mark Henry v. Ryback - Ryback.  They've slowed him down recently, and a strong win over the WSM would get him right back on track.  I like Henry's work a lot, but I can't see him being back in any major pushes anymore.

- Chris Jericho v. Fandango - Fandango.  Surely they can't make him lose his debut after all the build?  It'd make no sense to bury him straight away, and Jericho is going walkabout again soon with his band isn't he?

- Team Rhodes Scholars v. "Tons of Funk" (Tensai and Brodus Clay) - Waste of time.  Rhodes is wasted in this, and I don't get why Albert is even around at all.  I did notice the other night that one of the Bella's might have had a boob job, so that's one reason to watch it.

I'm looking forward to the Taker / Punk match actually, I enjoy both their work, so it should be a good one.  The only concern is Taker hasn't been very active for a while now, and there will be a point where he can't do it anymore.  He's not averse to ending the streak from what I've read, so there's always the chance that someone could beat him.  It would certainly throw the cat among the pigeons, and would give him a storyline ending to his career if he wanted.

The Rock / Cena one isn't getting my hopes up though.  The one last year was pretty boring, neither one of them is fluent enough in the ring in my opinion, and the match seemed clunky at times.  They both rely on the 'hype' moves, getting their sequences in, getting the crowd going, but they can't seem to pull off the filler in and around those.

The rest of the card is so-so for me.  HHH / Brock will be a chair / sledgehammer / blood / smashed table-a-thon, and I don't really see the point in his career being on the line.  He doesn't wrestle enough for that to add any interest, and we all know he runs the company now, so his career is never going to be 'over' anyway.  It would have been more interesting if Steph had been on the line...    Imagine Brock dragging her back to his cave...

Surely he's only got a couple of PPV's to cash it in now, it feels like he's had that briefcase for ages.  The guy deserves a solid title run, him and Punk have been the most consistent performers for a couple of years now.

EDIT:  Just checked, he won it last July, so there's 3 months left to claim it. 

It's one of the worst gimmicks I've ever seen, no idea what they're supposed to be doing with him.  He was in one of the NXT seasons as himself, and had a pretty decent natural personality, bit of charisma, able to speak, etc.  This repackage makes no sense, and a match at WM against Jericho?  Someone must see something in Fandango...

Tell me about it!  I run a couple of businesses, so it's a lot of time at our premises, plus weekends away at conventions as well.  I've got a week off in June, can't wait to just sit in the sun for a few days.

Knocking about, but I don't get time to post much these days.  I'm doing 90+ hours a week at work these days, so when I'm not working I'm usually sleeping/eating/driving to work!

The snake biting Macho sticks in my mind, as well as Jannetty going through the window.  Both of those were pretty real to me at the time (that friggin' snake was crazy, I'm surprised Macho never fell on it when he was flailing about!)  Strangely Mountie vs Big Boss Man with one of them going to jail?  Not sure why I remember that one.

Yeah, to be accepted into Mensa it has to be an officially sat test, although I didn't realise it could only be done once?  I got accepted back in 2001 with an IQ of 146, but I didn't bother keeping up my membership fees.  £45 per year at the time, and all you get is a monthly/bi-monthly(?) magazine, not much value for money when you're a student and need beer money...    I've still got the little badge in the loft somewhere though!

As to the point of them, I've never seen any evidence of IQ scores being of any use in everyday life.  It doesn't win you any jobs, you don't get a payrise because of it.  You can stick it on your CV, but I always thought that would come across as big-headed, so didn't bother.

CM Punk
Dolph Ziggler
Daniel Bryan

...would be my first three, all have the necessary ring and mic skills to keep it interesting.

Can we class Rock as current?!     Purely for drawing power...

Wildcards would be Tyson Kidd, for a solid worker, Christian for experience, or maybe even Santino!

I don't watch enough TNA anymore to pick anyone from down there.

So, I don't really have 5 definites, but you've got 6 anyway, so it's OK... 

Cole just gave another update to say that his situation had stabilised, and that he was awaiting a CAT scan.

Some Twitter posts about this:

Jim Ross, WWE Hall of Famer and former Broadcast Partner of Lawler's

"I'm shaken by the news of my friend Jerry Lawler's medical emergency in Montreal. Hands shaking. Prayers for the King. I feel helpless."

The Iron Sheik, WWE Hall of Famer

"God bless the Jerry Lawler I love him forever."

Matt Hardy, Former WWE Superstar

"Just heard the news about Jerry Lawler's health scare, he's in my thoughts & my fingers are crossed for him."

Shawn Michaels, WWE Hall of Famer

"I've just heard about Jerry Lawler!! Time for prayer everybody!! We're here for you King, God Bless!!"

Diamond Dallas Page, Former WCW World Champion and WWE Superstar

"Stay Strong KING @JerryLawler my prayers are with you bro @RealDDP."

Todd Grisham, Former WWE Announcer and current ESPN Anchor

"Jerry Lawler was one of the nicest people I worked with @wwe.A great guy and good friend. I hope he pulls through ok.My prayers are with him."

Mick Foley, Former WWE Champion

"Hang in there King. Pulling and praying for @JerryLawler."

Jerry Lawler collapsed during commentary during the Kane & Daniel Bryan vs. Titus O'Neil & Darren Young match.

Michael Cole and Lawler both went silent on commentary and several fans at ringside looked concerned. Cole resumed commentary after a few minutes but it was clear he was shaken up. Paramedics were attending to Lawler at ringside before the commercial.

Michael Cole updated to say that Lawler was receiving CPR backstage, and then that he had been taken to a nearby medical facility where he was breathing on his own again.

 

Earlier in the night, Lawler had competed in a tag match.

Commentary was dropped for the rest of the RAW show.


I'll keep an eye out for further updates, but I sincerely hope he's OK.

They could do, but if they make it a bit of a screwjob, it could take him even higher.  Have Vicky interfere somehow so he loses the opportunity, he leaves her and turns face.  Him and Rhodes stood out in that match tonight, and are two of the brightest stars they've got coming up.

I missed getting my pics in for this unfortunately, I watching on a slight delay, so haven't got to the RAW ladder match yet.

Got to give props to Ziggler, his work has been exceptional for a long time now, and he's finally getting what he deserves.  Punk and Bryan are currently putting on a solid match as well.

Some obviously did.  And I'm fairly sure you're bright enough to realise that 'summarize' is an Americanised spelling of the English word.

 

I'm just gonna jump in here (and no doubt someone will take offense), but there's far too much uninformed nonsense about the UK going on in here.  Whether people want to listen or not, that's up to you.

First off, the original post was discussing the 7/7 attacks and their coverage in the UK media.  Whilst I agree that people should remember tragedies like this, at the same time endless coverage on the TV isn't acheiving anything at all.  I find the same with the US and the way that 9/11 is mentioned so often.  You can discuss it/cover it/remember it all you want, but it's not going to change the fact that it happened, and I doubt it's going to bring any comfort to anyone related to someone involved in the tragedy.  What most people don't seem to realise, is that none of these TV channels are showing the 9/11 or 7/7 remembrance footage because they give a shit about what happened.  They're doing it because it's the thing to do, it makes them look like they care, and more importantly, it makes them money because people tune in.  But that's another debate.

The underlying point in the OP was the way that the UK has lost any sense of patriotism, to the point where we aren't allowed to be ourselves now, for fear of being labelled racists.  You can't put a flag up on St George's day, otherwise people think you're some kind of extremist, wanting to kick out any non-white Brit/immigrant, etc.  And this is what pisses me off.

To understand the current state of the UK, you have to remember that 50-60 years ago, the Empire was still in full swing.  Anyone from within the Empire could come to Britain and get work, and they did.  The standard of living was higher, wages were better.  We couldn't just deny them entry, as that was against the whole ideal of the Empire.  Consider someone from Texas coming to NY to get work, there's no problem, cos they're still part of the whole.  As the Empire slowly broke down, we didn't change our immigration/asylum policies though, and people continued to come in.  So, over many decades, you've filled a country with people from so many different cultures, and more importantly, so many different religions, that there is bound to be some conflict.

Where the US differs in this, is the majority of your immigrants are from South America, mostly Hispanic, mostly Catholic or some Christian-based derivitive, so the religious conflicts are not as bad.  The other nationalities you have are such a minority that they don't register on the scale really.  So, you've got nowhere near the level of diversity you can find in the UK (or many other European countries for that matter).

Now, the important bit, the fact is that the majority of the immigrants are not the people causing any of the problems the UK is facing.  The Asians tend to be very family oriented, and can be very insular, which causes aggravation from those who don't understand them.  There is unfortunately a younger generation of Asians, who have fully grasped the Western culture of drink and drugs, and do seem to take advantage of the 'perks' being a minority carries (these being a general unwillingness on the part of the authorities/media to control them for fear of it becoming racially motivated).  The Eastern Europeans are all hard-working, skilled to a good level, and willing to work for lower pay than the Brits, so that of course causes no end of hassle.

The biggest problem in the UK is twofold.  Firstly, the media/government/authorities need to stop handling immigration and immigrants with kid gloves, not wanting to cause a scene.  If people don't qualify to be here, kick them out, if they're here on asylum and commit crimes, kick them out, if they don't play by the rules, kick them out.  It's fairly simple, but no-one's brave enough to tackle it.

Secondly, there is a lower class of people in Britain who are a complete waste of space.  They have been raised in families where they weren't wanted, with parents who didn't work, and are quite happy to collect benefits for doing nothing.  A lot of them will actively avoid work, by faking non-diagnosable illnesses like back problems, anxiety, stress, etc. so that they can be medically signed off.  These same people will then be down the local pub on a Fri/Sat night, smoking and drinking with everyone else.  They live on a mix of benefits, and high-repayment short-term loans, which they blow on flat-screen TV's, Xbox's and other fancy crap, whilst at the same time bemoaning the lack of opportunity in the UK.

So, to summarise what has become a rather long post, until the UK government puts proper border controls in place, and then forces these lazy bastards back into work, then things will continue to slowly crumble.  

As someone who owns my own business, and works 7 days a week to put food on the table and keep a roof over my head, it boils my piss seeing these shitbags being paid £10k's to do absolutely nothing for it.  But then, who's the sucker in that statement?

 

I think Monty's covered most of them, the only other ones I'd add would be Eddie, and Dean Malenko.  I've not seen a lot of Malenko, but the stuff I have seen was solid.