Toxxic

Seconded. I did a double-take on that one.

Yeah, congrats to Rando. And good to see that Raynor has launched into this comeback with the sort of dignity and decorum befitting a man in his position.

"Right, we're bringing the nWo back!" "Uh Vince, Nash is with TNA right now." "Well damn it, put Glenn Jacobs in a long black wig!" "Uh, Nash has short grey hair now, Vince." "...are you sure you're not talking about Bischoff?"

My first thought was the nWo as well. How awesome* would that idea be? *(...ly bad)

I remember Jarrett's 'execution' of Sting, or his career or something. It was the first time I remember them piping in heat because I was thinking "wow, Jarrett's actually getting a reaction for once". Then I caught on to the fact it was looped, and just laughed at them.

I'll give you that, but i for one had forgotten that it was Tomko involved.

Now, it's obvious that Tomko is fairly limited in the ring. I won't argue with that. However, I'd venture that he's still an interesting character. I think he's got a certain vibe to indicate that he's more than just the thug he was brought in as. For example, his lack of trust and respect for Scott Steiner because Steiner's put over as not very intelligent - in fact, the musclebound thug that Tomko is thought to be. For me, they've managed to indicate that Tomko might be just as intelligent as Christian, but isn't quite ready yet to make his play in the same way as Christian has. I do get a Batista-like vibe from him though, back in the Evolution days - "I'm big and strong, but I'm not as dumb as you think and although I'm on your side at the moment, it won't always be this way". Anyone else see where I'm coming from here?

Shelley was never bland. Sorry. He's always been gold in the ring.

For what it's worth, I'd completely forgotten that. Besides, didn't he kick Stevie's arse anyway?

You really think they care?

Bandaras?

I've said it before. It's Thomas Motherfucking Flesher. Bitch.

That's Thomas M. Flesher, Rando. And this makes my request for an extension from Raynor look better, so that's cool.

At this rate, you shouldn't be sure if I'm showing or not.

...who are you?

Steiner busted out the freakin' Frankensteiner, even if it was from the top rope instead of to a running opponent. He looks like he's actually putting effort in and shows some pride in his work, and as a result is coming off much better than his WCW World Title time and the WWE run abortion.

The very idea of a whole involved 'wedding' was horrendous to both of us, plus there's separated parents to deal with and that sort of thing... we felt it best to do it first and tell everyone later, when they couldn't turn up unexpectedly.

Yesterday, to my girlfriend of seven-and-a-half years. Small civil ceremony. Very small, it was us, the registrar, the assistant registrar (who happens to be a friend of ours) and two witnesses (who also happen to be friends of ours). Decamped afterwards to the pub owned by one of the witnesses, then eventually home to watch the UEFA Champion's League Final (which was a waste of time, it was a bad match and Liverpool lost anyway). Now going on holiday to Manchester for a few days. It's NOT a honeymoon.

We're having the PPV on the Sunday? Well, that makes matter easier for me, anyway. I vote we set Kibs up against someone. Give him some enhancement talent or something, maybe.

Ha ha - Kibs ftw.

Be fair, Sly wrote half of that tag match he and I were in a couple of shows ago.

That depends who's doing the writing. I tend to just look at things as I write it and work out how long each sequence of moves would take if it was occurring live.

Right, but by that logic Tomko in TNA was new, as was Christian, as are the Bashams, as were the Dudleys (mainly), etc etc. Although of course as the trend continues they get less and less new because more and more of their opponents are people they faced before in the 'other place'. If you're saying (and I'm not sure if you are, or intend to) that other people's 'newness' isn't as important due to the fact that they don't have the same name value then we come back to Angle's name value, name value that can only have been accrued by his previous place of employment, the WWE... at which he was washed up. You also said that what ruined Angle wasn't being washed up in the WWE... which I suppose is technically true, because what has REALLY ruined Angle is that HE is washed up, himself, physically and, given the complete lack of anything new in his repertoire since being released from 'WWE style', in his wrestling mentality. I see your point about him being given new opponents, but when you're booked as strong as Angle is (match-wise, at least - he's booked badly, but strong in the actual matches) and when you call your own matches as he does, everyone else's contribution is secondary. He was given or assumed a new character, depending on how much creative control you think he has, a character that he has apparently wanted to play before but that he had no experience at playing. And he did nothing to signify the change of the character except shout a lot, hoarsely. Towards the end of his WWE run he'd fallen back onto relying on a few repetitive spots to carry himself through a match, and nothing has changed. If he was playing a 'real wrestler' character I'd venture he should just largely ignore the 'sportz entertainment' moves and take them down with real wrestling, at least if he's facing jobberish opponents. Completely own them on the mat or something, and save the Germans etc for the big name opponents. But from what I've seen he hasn't got the ability to do that anymore - ergo, he's washed up. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that the crowd was familiar with Angle, and new opponents weren't going to change that when he wasn't changing anything about himself. What he brought to TNA was nothing more than a little more WWE, and it was a side of the WWE that the WWE themselves had serious doubts about.

Oh, come on. Anyone saying that Angle was 'new again' in TNA needs their head examined. Granted the booking hasn't helped him, but the man's a visible wreck. His arms look like pipe cleaners compared to his body mass, he sounds like someone on 60 cigarettes a day and his matches are the same old tired routine that he was churning out in the WWE, with even less invention despite the fact that he's got a new roster of opponents. Let's take a look at an average Kurt Angle singles PPV-length match, shall we? -If you're lucky, we might get some pseudo-mat wrestling. And not the great catch-as-catch-can stuff that you got out of him against Benoit in the Gold Medals match, but some slow, half-assed shit. And given Regal managed to lead Goldberg through a mat wrestling sequence without Goldberg knowing what was going on, you can't blame the opposition. -He'll probably bleed early, to give him an excuse for blowing up ten minutes in. -A few suplexes, including ripping off Benoit's rolling Germans AGAIN. -The first three attempts at the anklelock are ALWAYS countered. -"I'm going to put the anklelock on you! I'm going to put the anklelock on you! I'm going to put th-shit, you've reversed it into your own submission finisher. How did I not see that coming, despite the fact that every opponent of mine for the last five years has done the same thing?" -Spins around with his arms out, shouts "Wooo!" and takes his straps up/down at intervals, without much reaction from the crowd (so the booking hasn't been good. Alex Shelley has been made to look an absolute bitch, until his recent wins with Sabin I don't think he'd won a match in 9 months, and he's still about as over as Angle is, who beat Samoa Fucking Joe). -The Olympic Slam never gets the three count the first time. Now, nearfalls and so on are a way of life these days, but I can't name another wrestler right now who is THAT predictable in the ring. I could watch a Kurt Angle match and know that it's not in danger of ending until we've had at least two or three anklelock attempts countered, at least once with it on and the opponent reaches the ropes or reverses it into their own submission move, and the Olympic Slam either being countered or just not getting the pin. After all those things have happened, we might have a winner. I'd disagree that Tomko lacks charisma. In recent weeks I think we've seen that he does have charisma. He's about the only wrestler on the roster (or anywhere, really) who doesn't seem to shout all the time, and that makes him stand out.

Well, what he really comes across as to me is a giant version of the guitarist from System Of A Down, but that's besides the point.