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3 hours ago, DA Baracus said:

Bleacher Report is good for reading catch ups. It usually has some short clips as well.

What Culture do Youtube reviews of each Raw and Smackdown. Be careful about their actual website though, as it's abysmal for adverts and trashy as f**k with tabloidy top 10 lists that read like they're written by a child.

Cultaholic do a similar Youtube review. 

Wrestling With Wregret also does a weekly Youtube video where he talks about Raw and Smackdown.

The WWE Youtube channel always has short video clips of incidents from each Raw and Smackdown.

In addition to all of these guys, also check out OSW Review of you fancy seeing them pick apart some of the right old school stuff. Three Irish guys who chronicle the old PPVs and are up to about 1995 just now. Each podcast is about 1.5-2 hours and some of their patter is absolutely tremendous. 

They also do reviews on some of the bigger recent shows as well as really shite films. Their review of The Room is a scream. 

Edited by djchapsticks
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9 hours ago, Central said:

I've not watched wrestling for about 10 years (was always WWE). Obviously I'm a bit behind in terms of the wrestlers, storylines etc but what's the best way these days to keep up to date? 

Are there any independent podcasts and websites which are suitable for newbies like myself? Any independent youtube channels which have good catch up shows?

POST Wrestling are good for recap podcasts.

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3 hours ago, DA Baracus said:

I'm loving the look of the AEW roster and am loving the stuff they're saying.

However I'm very disappointed that they've signed Earl Hebner.

I hope they sign Brian Hebner! Best count in all of wrestling. 

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Fight Club PRO added the first two nights of DTTI to their on demand service. Have been looking forward to watching this stuff back. Especially the Ospreay matches on these two nights.

Legion of Rot vs. Schadenfreude: This was a good taste of things to come for the weekend, with the tag teams taking centre stage with tournament action. I'm not a huge fan of Legion of Rot so I was pleasantly surprised at how good an outing they had here, and it actually comes across much better on VOD which is weird given that the crowd wasn't exactly dead for this.

Will Ospreay vs. Dan Moloney: Dan Moloney is HUGELY popular in FCP. Ospreay's either hated or loved depending on who you ask. So the heat for this one was absolutely nuclear. Mostly for Dan Moloney as the fans were rooting for him to have his big weekend here. If this match was taking place in the BOSJ that's going on just now, people would be raving about it the world over. As it is, it's probably worth subscribing to this service alone. It's an incredible performance from Moloney, and is exactly what you want from a big Ospreay match.

Gisele Shaw vs. Charli Evans: If memory serves me right, this is the one and only women's match on the weekend. Given the rise of popularity in women's wrestling just now, this seems a bit odd. It's not like there's not a lot of good female wrestlers on the UK scene to use. This match was... messy. It's actually not a bad match and does well to recover from the many awkward spells that happen. But it's hard to really recommend something that is so littered with problems.

Mark Davis vs. Jeff Cobb: Jeff Cobb was a surprise addition to nights 1 and 2. Incidentally, when he appeared for this match, I was completely unmoved, despite being quite a big fan of Cobb. This is a damn fine big man match, with plenty of striking and folk getting lobbed around the ring. To be fair, it was Cobb that was doing most of the lobbing about. Davis looked absolutely great here, which would go on to be a theme for the weekend. The objective was mainly to solidify Mark Davis as the FCP champ going forward. I think night 3 was the key one for that, but this was probably his best match of the weekend, and if not for Ospreay's outings, would probably have been a contender for match of the weekend. As it was, it wasn't even the best match of the night.

SIDENOTE: Before Cobb comes down, Davis absolutely fucking MURDERS some poor ring crew member off camera, and I'm gutted that we didn't get to see it on the VOD.

The Besties vs. LAX vs. oVe vs. The Hunter Brothers: Although it wasn't announced as such, this ended up being a scramble match. While I didn't respond to Cobb's appearance much, I DID respond to The Hunter Brothers' surprise appearance with glee. This was spot-spot-spot and was a LOAD of fun. There was also a couple of pretty spectacular moments in there, but this was mainly just a fun "throw loads of fun moves together" type match, and succeeded in it's goal.

Sami Callihan vs. Rey Horus, oVe Rules: I noted this naw long after the shows themselves, but I do not like Sami Callihan. If a match gets really violent, he's in his element. If not, he's not. This was No DQ but it was a fairly tame match nonetheless, and Callihan can't do tame, and this was a waste of a quality talent. More to come on that count later in the weekend. The match is also way too long for what it is. Which is a comedown match before the big main event.

R.E.D. vs. The Lucha Bros: There was a lot of anticipation going into this match. But I don't really think this lived up to them. It was a good match, and it's hard to put a finger on exactly why I wasn't as big a fan of the match as I thought I would be. Eita stood out brilliantly here. He's charismatic as f**k.

Definitely a really good show. A couple of matches didn't really work but it's a show worth checking out nonetheless.

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Onto night 2 of the DTTI. Remember a couple of disappointing matches, but largely it was a great show.

oVe vs. Besties in the World: Nothing takes me out of a match quicker than crowd brawling, and there is a LOT of crowd brawling in this match. It does lead to a mental dive which is something that we can all enjoy, but too much fucking about. The rest of the match is good viewing. Plenty of great double teams and the action is pretty non stop after the early going, but it's that middle crowd brawling that brings things down a notch. There's no need for it.

Hallowicked vs. Chris Brookes: Plenty of Schadenfreude shenanigans in this one. Which gives Hallowicked uber babyface credentials too which is a good thing for him in a match like this where he's not the most over guy going into it. The fans buy in and everything becomes great fun as a result. This is a cracking midcard match which was much better than I thought it was going to be, and sucks the crowd into it by the end. One of those times where loads of overbooking works.

LAX vs. Jonny Storm and Jody Fleisch: These two teams had a brilliant match for Impact in Birmingham when they were at the NIA for some convention. This match is also a damn fine tag team match. Basically a sprint after a bit of a slow start with Ortiz and Jonny Storm. After Fleisch and Santana hit the ring, the match goes 100mph for quite some time. Like the opener, all sorts of cool tag team shit and with Jonny and Jody you also get some really cool, and a couple of times innovative, high flying spots. Well worth a watch this.

Will Ospreay vs. Rey Fenix: The match that everyone at the weekend was talking about when all was said and done. And it really is a seriously, seriously, seriously good match. Made all the better by Ospreay clearly being pretty badly hurt for most of it. Wrestled with one arm for the majority of the match and still manages to reel out a cracker. Think it was better live because of the wild atmosphere, but this is still a total belter and well worth seeking out if you get the chance.

Kyle Fletcher vs. PAC: Due to PAC being fairly protective of himself on the indies at the moment, nobody was buying Fletcher as a winner for this match. But even at that, this match was still a bit of a disappointment. A lot of PAC's work on the indies has been disappointing to this point. It all felt very pedestrian. There was a couple of fun moments and Fletcher looked decent in the final stretch, but people expected so much better.

Chuck Mambo vs. Frightmare vs. Connor Mills vs. Dan Moloney vs. Rey Horus vs. Chief Deputy Dunne vs. Eita vs. El Phantasmo vs. Sami Callihan vs. Jeff Cobb: As you can probably tell, this is a scramble match. You could argue that some really good talent is wasted in a match like this, but I really couldn't care. This was immensly enjoyable. It was even better live. One of those matches that has you absolutely buzzing with excitement while it's on. The whole thing is fluid as f**k. It's easy for a match with that many people to break down into a total mess, and it doesn't happen here. If you enjpy spotfests, you will absolutely love this match as it's a top drawer example of one.

Mark Davis vs. Penta El Zero M: Title defence #2 for Mark Davis of the weekend, and another against a big international name. There was certainly no lack of effort here. I'd say it just fell short of being a great match and I'm not sure why. It was certainly a really good outing and a worthy main event for the show, but it just felt like there was something missing from it. There was even moments when the crowd bit on Penta winning the belt, so it wasn't a lack of belief in the challenger either. It's minor stuff really as it's good stuff.

Yeah, this is probably the 3rd best wrestling show I've seen in person, behind the first Dragon Gate UK show and the second PROGRESS show in Birmingham. Fletcher/PAC was probably the worst match on there which just goes to show the level of wrestling that we're talking about here.

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5 minutes ago, Principal Flutie said:

Maybe they underestimated how much he's protecting himself at the minute. I still don't think he's been pinned.

I don't think he has been. Certainly not in singles competition if he has. Genuinely could be that Enzo was the last to pin him....

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Wouldn't be surprised if others pull out of Double or Nothing + other events. This whole wins and losses matter thing is gonna cause up a bit of a stir I'd imagine. 

One thing's for sure, if Page vs PAC is off.... Y2J will go over Omega in the main event. 

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9 hours ago, JamieStevenson said:

Wouldn't be surprised if others pull out of Double or Nothing + other events. This whole wins and losses matter thing is gonna cause up a bit of a stir I'd imagine.

I think this is just PAC and who he is. He was happy enough to wait out his WWE deal to do what he wants.

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He's not going to lose a match while he holds a Dragon Gate belt. It's been obvious to everyone that he doesn't do losing, so it's either arrogance or ignorance from AEW that has led to this turn of events.

Worth noting that Hangman Page turned up at a UK show that PAC was on and they had their match there. So I imagine it's definitely not a work. AEW are going to show the match at some point apparently.

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2 minutes ago, Ludo*1 said:

Anyone that refuses to take a pin fall in wrestling is an absolute dick. Nevermind some non entity like PAC. 

Well no. Dragon Gate gave him a chance when absolutely nobody else was using him. For two years. He's showing them the same loyalty as they showed him. There's nothing wrong with this, and most places are booking him with that knowledge.

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