Rotherham v Fulham Review: Too Close for Comfort

It's Fulham, anyone who thought we'd get two straightforward wins in a row was lying to themselves. That said we got the Win which given how we've started the season was an absolute must, however comfortable or otherwise it may have been. It's actually turned into quite a good day for us between our Win and Brentford going down to Reading and Orlando Sa and some of the off the pitch stuff that's come out Today on the Transfer Front. I won't say I'm "happy" going into the International Break, but if we'd have gone into the Internationals after blowing a 2 Goal Lead Away to Rotherham I'd have been next level angry.

The big off the pitch stuff from today is that Richard Stearman appears to be on his way to us. I'm all for it, while I'd have preferred Mancienne it really is just that- preference. Stearman is still without a doubt an improvement on the Centre-Back options we've currently got, and as I'm writing this I've just seen that Kenny Jackett has confirmed they've accepted a bid from us for him. Today's actually turned into quite a good day, which is a good thing- because I can tell I'm coming down with something and I'll be ill for the next week.

Onto the on the pitch antics, and the goals. It was written that Ben Pringle would score today, and he won't have had many easier goals to score in his whole career. It was great work from Dembele to direct the Header and after the Save it was just a simple goal for Pringle to put home. The Penalty was a definite Penalty, and as I'll get onto a bit later on with Husband it's already looking like Husband has been a quality get for us down the Left-Hand side. I think I made this point at some point during last season as well, we always seem to have a player who can score Penalties with ease. Just going back recently we've had Murphy, Berbatov and now McCormack. The Rotherham goal was just so stupid on our part, it was a complete gift from Burn and Clarke-Harris left Lonergan with no chance. The Third Goal for us should have come a lot sooner, but when it did it was a good one. O'Hara was great in the build-up and it was a good finish from Woodrow.

I thought Lonergan was good today, he didn't really deserve to concede- and I thought it would be his day after the great Penalty Save. That said, it wasn't to be when it comes to Clean Sheets but on the whole Lonergan was good when called upon and that Penalty Save may well have saved us the 3 Points.

I'm not going to get massively worked up on the Dan Burn front because the seemingly imminent arrivals of Stearman and Kone on top of Ream will at least hopefully mean I won't have to talk about him that much from the Blackburn Preview and beyond. It's not even that Burn overall was bad, but his role in the Rotherham goal can't go unnoticed. Also, my point about Burn playing against Strikers that aren't Championship quality- see Matt Derbyshire today. I thought Ream was generally solid today, I still have my reservations when it comes to his aerial ability and that impacting his ability to play Centre-Back. However, considering he's a naturally Left-Sided player being asked to play as the Right Centre-Back he was fine today. On the Centre-Back front with the seemingly imminent arrivals of Stearman and Kone I think it's pretty safe to assume at least 1 of our current Centre-Backs are off. I think Burn will- or at least he should get Loaned Out, Bodurov will most likely be sold now given he's 5th or 6th Choice if both Stearman and Kone come in. On the Centre-Back front if we head into September with Stearman, Ream, Kone and Hutchinson as our four Centre-Backs then I'm happy.

Jazz Richards was generally fine, it was such a stupid and unnecessary foul for the Penalty- but Lonergan bailed him out on that front. I don't know if James Husband looked so good today because we're comparing him to Voser, or that Husband was actually just amazing today. Out of the Three for the MOTM voting thing I'm torn between Husband and Lonergan, but I'd lean towards Lonergan just because his Penalty Save- at least in my opinion saved us the Three Points today. Although the MOTM was Tunnicliffe for me. However, Husband was just all around quality today- and in one game he's proven that he was worth the Loan move however short it may be. Also, and I may well be wrong- but I think we're going to be signing a Right-Back fairly soon. The Ryan Fredericks news that he's leaving Bristol City and going to a "London Team" has obviously left us as an option. As I said, I don't know- but it's something to keep an eye on.

It seems judging from the reaction to his performances today and on Tuesday people are finally realising, Tunnicliffe is needed in the team! It's not a coincidence that we've had a marked improvement in performances since Tunnicliffe's came into the team. It's not just what Tunnicliffe does on the ball, he knows his role perfectly and it allows the players around him to play to their fullest. As already said he was MOTM today for me (again), and it's weird and annoying that he wasn't on the Voting thing. I thought O'Hara was good today, it wasn't his best game in a Fulham shirt- but he was still good and he most definitely showed his quality in the build to Woodrow's goal. Overall I thought this was Pringle's best game in a Fulham shirt, First-Half in particular where we hardly gave Rotherham a sniff I thought Pringle was outstanding. Pringle was always going to score, and the sub with a Minute left was a nice touch from Kit. Cairney was quite wasteful today, it wasn't his best game for us by a long way- but it doesn't really matter because we got the win.

I'm not saying McCormack was amazing today, but he without a doubt looked infinitely more dangerous today than he has done so far in the League. He of course scored the Penalty, but just his overall play was better today- and on another day his shot that hit the Bar in the 2nd Half would have gone in. Dembele as said/predicted yesterday was an absolute handful for the Defenders today. If we hadn't have tried to play the "Smith Tactic" against Huddersfield we probably would have been going into this International Break with 7 Points and not 5. His energy and just overall play was good today. This isn't necessarily a criticism of Smith, but Dembele is by far the more mobile and it shows in how we play as a team.

The Subs were good for different reasons, as already said the Pringle sub in the last Minute was a nice touch. Woodrow's sub was clearly a good move because he popped up with a goal. In the space of about 2-3 Minutes we saw why Woodrow is getting called-up into the England U21s and is clearly rated by people at the club, and also why Woodrow isn't quite ready yet and is unbelievably frustrating at times when he should have buried another one. The Christensen sub for McCormack was smart on Kit's part given McCormack was booked- as shown when Christensen "took one for the team" with his yellow card in the later stages it was definitely needed so credit to Kit on that front.

Overall today's game was a weird one. First-Half we looked about as consistently dangerous as I can remember since the First-Half of the Forest Home Game in Mid-January- and then much like that Forest game we either got complacent or just ran out of steam because our performance levels completely went off a cliff. We're still quite a naive team at the moment, we should have killed this game by Half-Time and then Second Half we let Rotherham get back into the game when we really shouldn't have. That said there's definitely some promising signs on the pitch now, and with the Stearman and Kone signings we're finally shaping up to look like a complete squad- although I still want another Striker in, whether that's Vydra or someone of a similar style.

That's where we turn our attentions to now, with the Window and specifically Deadline Day. As said in my Preview I'll be doing an All-Day Deadline Day Live Blog (which isn't actually all-day), so I hope you stay tuned for that. Without knowing I think it's going to be a pretty busy few days for us both on the Incoming and Outgoing fronts. Let's face it, it can't be any deader than the Winter Window one.

Thanks for reading as always, obviously after the Deadline Day stuff these Fulham posts will be on the International Break as well- so I hope you stay tuned for that one at various points during Deadline Day. Then we'll be back with the Blackburn Preview where we get to do it all over again, I'm actually optimistic at this stage heading into the Blackburn game- and with some of the games we've got in September a win to kick off the Month really is a must. Thanks again for reading, WE ACTUALLY WON IN THE LEAGUE! IT'S A MIRACLE!

Rotherham v Fulham Preview: An Interesting Test

We're nearly at the International Break! The only thing between us and a much needed break to regroup is a trip to the New York Stadium and Rotherham. This is actually going to be a really interesting test for us, I was happy we beat Sheffield United- but it was Sheffield United's Reserves so I haven't gotten carried away. We're now heading to Rotherham to face one of the teams that are actually doing worse than we are in the League, and for Kit it really is a must win- or at least it is from my point of view.

On the Transfers Front things are at least seemingly looking up on the Centre-Back front. The name that's been thrown around today is Bakary Kone, with him apparently having a Medical and being on the verge of signing. On the one hand, I haven't seen him play as such I'll reserve judgement on him- but on the other Lyon Fans are over the moon with him going which isn't exactly a good sign. The sad thing is he'll probably still be an improvement on every Centre-Back we've got. I'm hoping it's a case of both and not one or the other when it comes to Kone and the Michael Mancienne link. Mancienne would have actually been a perfect player to have for these early stages of the season given his general versatility and ability. The thing about Forest holding off on a decision until after their game tomorrow was interesting and it'll be interesting to see how it develops between now and 6pm on Tuesday. I'd be all for it, Mancienne is without a doubt an improvement on the Centre-Back options we've currently got- including Ream.

The Defender category seems well covered, especially when there's some links with Stearman as well. Out of the Three Centre-Backs we've been linked with, all Three with the exception of Kone- who I'm not sure of one way or the other are improvements on what we've currently got. If it was a choice of 1 out of the 3 I'd take Mancienne. No proper reasoning, just gauging the reaction to the rumours from Wolves, Lyon and Forest fans.

I'll also look at a few other areas where we need to strengthen, specifically a proper Right-Winger and a Striker. I suppose it all depends on the level of investment we can expect, because there are some players who are supposedly available who would instantly lift the team and make us proper Playoff Contenders. Specifically Albert Adomah and Matej Vydra.

I saw a tweet yesterday saying that Adomah wanted a move back to London and he was open to a move to QPR, if that thing about London is true then we should be all over him- the worst thing that can happen is he turns us down. I wanted Adomah last summer- and now he's apparently handed in a Transfer Request I'm desperate for us to at least try and sign him. The Vydra thing is weird, and seemingly half the Championship is after him. I may well be deluded, but I think Vydra is actually quite a realistic option for us. He presumably wouldn't have to re-locate to move to us, and depending on how much weight there was to the Gayle rumours we've got the money to spend.

There isn't much to talk about on the Goalkeeper front now, Lonergan will of course continue in goal. The Clean Sheet on Wednesday can only have been a good thing for Lonergan regardless of how little he had to do during the game. The Bettinelli stuff will seemingly be more clear come his surgery on Tuesday, but given we got Joe Lewis on Loan for the season I think that's a pretty good indicator for the estimated time-frame.

I don't know if you can call it big news, but the news on the Defensive front that's come out today is James Husband's returned on Loan for a Month with Amorebieta going the other way for the season. I'm perfectly happy with this, Husband was one of our better players at the back-end of the season- so until Garbutt's fit at least we've finally got good cover for him. Then with Amorebieta going the other way we've gotten presumably one of our larger wage packets off of our Books for the season, and with the rumoured incident with Amorebieta and a Youth Player it was best for everyone that he moved on. It's a bit annoying that we waited until a few days before the Window closed and just before an International Break to sign Husband on Loan for a month- but we've got him and it looks like we'll finally see Voser out of the team again.

Quick thing, some people are talking about a tackle Husband did on Cairney that put him out with an injury. Does anyone really think that Kit/Rigg wouldn't know that? It's a non-issue to me.

Husband signing and presumably starting tomorrow given what Kit was saying in his interview earlier actually makes for an interesting Centre-Back debate now. As you'll know if you've read my last few Previews I thought Ream would be coming in at Left-Back until Garbutt's fit but obviously with Husband that's not necessary now. Tim Ream's a guarantee- it's just a case of who's going to partner him and it all depends on how fit Hutchinson is. If Hutchinson is fit enough to start then it's a no-brainer and he comes back into the team- but if he isn't then I've got no massive issue with Dan Burn continuing in the team. Jazz Richards might actually have some traffic coming down his side of the pitch now we've got Husband in- so that'll be something to look forward to for tomorrow. There's obviously a chance Husband might not be quite ready for tomorrow, but if that is the case the selection is even more simple with Ream going to Left-Back and Burn and Hutchinson playing Centre-Back.

The Midfield selection will be interesting and a test of Kit. After Wednesday if Kit doesn't start Tunnicliffe instead of Christensen then I'll be pissed. I get having patience and faith in Young Players, but we need points at the moment. With O'Hara available for tomorrow and Tunnicliffe's performance on Wednesday it's surely a given that they'll be the Centre-Mid selection for tomorrow. This isn't me giving up on Christensen, I'm still a big fan of his- but the simple fact is he hasn't been good enough this season. The Wings will be interesting tomorrow given we'll have pretty good cover down both sides now, I'm a lot more happy to say Pringle should come back in the team now Husband's here because while it's not ideal- it won't be leaving Voser on his own bad. It's Pringle instead of Kacaniklic for me tomorrow, if nothing else than for the "Former-Club Curse" which would mean Pringle has the game of his life and scores tomorrow. Then of course Tom Cairney will come back in at Right-Mid and hopefully he can really get into the game tomorrow, because he without a doubt can be a player who makes a difference tomorrow.

Tomorrows game will be interesting, specifically when it comes to Ross McCormack and his performance. I'm not necessarily expecting a goal but his overall performance level and play in the game will be interesting after he got off the mark for the season on Tuesday. The Interview with Kit where he told us basically that McCormack came in and asked to be played as a Striker was interesting, but if it means McCormack higher up the pitch I don't care how it came about. As I've said for the whole Month, in my opinion McCormack just needed a goal- and while it looked like a good shout on Tuesday I'll be interested to see if he carries it through to tomorrow. Who plays next to/in-front of McCormack is definitely still an open debate- which will hopefully be closed by us getting someone like Vydra in. Dembele as I said on Tuesday did everything right against Sheffield United, it just wouldn't go in for him with a large chunk of that being down to bad finishing on his part. I'd still start him because as I said he did do everything right apart from score for the large part of the game and if nothing else he can cause a lot of problems for the Rotherham defence and create space and scoring opportunities for other people.

Team for Rotherham

Tomorrows game will not be easy, just because we beat a second-string Sheffield United team doesn't mean we're suddenly a good team. Rotherham's start is really a moot point despite them doing worse than we are so far- especially given the Huddersfield game we may well go to Rotherham and make them look good. But, as always we've got to go into the game with some optimism- if nothing else than to make it all the worse when we do lose to a 90th Minute Winner from Matt Derbyshire. I said Kit needed a minimum of 4 Points from the Huddersfield and Rotherham games and I stand by that, so anything less than a win tomorrow really just isn't good enough. 5 Points from 5 Games while far from ideal isn't the end of the world heading into the International Break, but 2 or 3 from 5 simply isn't good enough- and the Sheffield United game will be looking more like a Stay of Execution than a Turning Point for Kit. 

Thanks for reading as always, tomorrows game is of course the last before the International Break- but first we've got Deadline Day. I'll be doing my second All-Day Deadline Day Live-Blog thing that I did for the Winter Window- except it won't be all-day this time because the Window shuts at 6. Either way, I hope you check-in at various points during Deadline Day for that where hopefully there'll be more to talk about. Thanks again for reading, and let's just hope we go into Deadline Day and the Internationals with a win. 

Destination Impact Review: 26th August

That's right. I'm back for more. After last weeks debacle my expectations for this show were pretty much rock bottom- so all they had to do was not do something monumentally stupid and I'd have been happy. This is Impact guys, I think we know the answer to that.

The Hardys & EC3 Opening Promo
EC3 is in fact very good. I won't say this segment was great, it wasn't- but it did the job it needed to do and it was simple and effective. I was beyond caring months ago when it came to Spoilers, so if you want to avoid them this is your warning. The stuff with EC3 and Jeff as his PA looks pretty fucking stupid, it seems as though Jeff's still in TNA basically to make himself laugh between Willow and some of the stuff he did with EC3 at the Tapings. But, I'm willing to give them some leeway because I vastly underestimated how good the Hardy/EC3 stuff would be heading into Full Metal Mayhem match.

Eric Young v Chris Melendez
This fucking feud. I hate this feud. It's just tasteless. I was genuinely trying to work out where this angle ranks in terms of tasteless TNA moments, and for me it falls on about the same level as Pacman Jones "making it rain". With it leaning slightly towards a bit less than the Pacman thing, solely because Melendez is still alive. The match was quite iffy, Melendez isn't a good worker yet- so fuck knows what the Rematch is going to be like when he's wrestling on one leg.

This is what really annoyed me. I don't know who was running the TNA Twitter account last night, but whoever it was should be sacked on the spot. With this horrific angle, with a man losing his leg- the guy/girl running the account decided it was a perfect time TO MAKE A PUN. It was something along the lines of "Hey Melendez, leg-go", not just are they making fun of the guy losing his leg- even within the angle HE'S THE FUCKING BABYFACE. WHY ARE YOU MAKING FUN OF HIM FOR LOSING HIS FUCKING LEG TO A DASTARDLY HEEL?! I hate this company.

Tigre Uno v DJ Z v Sonjay Dutt
Whoever writes the recaps for these things on WrestlingINC is a fucking idiot. They're being paid to write this shit and they've billed Zema as "DGZ". I know where they say who's wrote them now- Sharon Glencross, YOU'RE NOT EVEN A REAL JOURNALISM.

This match was really fun, I don't know how many times I've said it now- Zema would be quality down in NXT with a "clean slate". With his ability and charisma he WOULD have been Aries level in the Company were it not for the Jesse Sorensen incident. Overall this match was good, I'm not that high on Tigre Uno at the moment because of the Trump stuff which just soured me to everyone involved even though he clearly didn't give a fuck about it.

James Storm Backstage Promo
This was a bit weird, but in general it was fine. I've got no clue how The Revolution earned the Tag Title shot, maybe that weird dance thing that Shera got Manik to do last week made them worthy.

The Wolves v The Revolution
This match was really good. The Wolves in terms of pure Wrestling are the best team going at the minute, factor in Manik and you're almost guaranteed to have a really fun match. This segment again, simple! You have the match, the "main" Heel comes out to give the other Heels an advantage and the Babyface who's feuding with the Heel evens the odds. No bullshit dancing.

Jeff & Matt make their Decision
I'd rather this closed the show in all honesty, but it didn't. It set-up the angle for next week and it was all fine. You know why? IT WAS SIMPLE.

Velvet Sky v Brooke
So the Babyfaces BROKE A CRYING, HANDCUFFED WOMAN'S FINGER LAST WEEK IN A 2-on-1 ATTACK. What Bitches. This match was, well a Velvet Sky v Brooke match. Not only was it a Velvet Sky v Brooke match- they didn't even get many big spots in because they had a fucked finish.

The Rebel stuff is just stupid. I'm happy to be proven wrong, but NOTHING I've seen from Rebel suggests to me that she belongs in a Wrestling Ring. I'm not 100% sure which one of my Reviews it was, but in one of them I was convinced Rebel was getting written off TV and being future endeavoured because of how insignificant she was. The best and most hilarious bit, the crowd either saw it coming- which everyone did, forgot who Rebel was or simply couldn't give a fuck because wow was it quiet.

So this is basically just stupid. They've brought Rebel in seemingly solely to reunite the Beautiful People AGAIN. This goes back to my theory with Vince Russo being back- it's the only way to explain it because he's OBSESSED with the Beautiful People. The problem being, every time they've reunited they've gotten less Beautiful and more Plastic.

Bobby Roode v James Storm v Mr. Anderson v Lashley
As far as TV matches go this was real quality. There were some really fun spots, specifically things like the Beer Money Suplex spot which was just great. Although it REALLY made me miss the Machine Guns. What a great feud that was. Overall this was just a real quality match, all Four guys looked great in it- and Roode got the win to set-up the angle with PJ Black and what's to follow on the GFW front with Roode. So this segment was a big win. You know why? IT WAS FUCKING SIMPLE.

Dixie & Jeff Shenanigans
Dixie got the Mic- which instantly made this segment a negative one. Not only was it a negative segment when Dixie got the Mic. She was bullshitting everyone. Among other things she said TNA was a success- and with Jarrett the Product had been "on fire". NO. STOP IT. The first bit of this Promo was just stupid, and them just blatantly lying to us. Then Galloway came out aaaaaaaannnnnddddd THEY WENT TO A FUCKING AD BREAK. It was so urgent for Galloway to do what he needed to do that he was happy for the Advertisers to get their air-time.

Then we got back from the Ad Break and it all went to shit. The one thing that actually made sense was Galloway saying he had a Criminology Degree- he actually does. I don't even know how I knew that. I think Striker might have put it over on Smackdown one week or something. The rest of this segment was just a complete mess. So Galloway somehow got Security Footage and with no proof of who was actually driving them he accused Jarrett of attacking him. I don't know why they couldn't claim the cars were stolen SEEING AS THEY HAD JUST ATTACKED SOMEONE AND WANTED TO MAKE A QUICK GETAWAY.

So let's take that out of the equation. KAREN FUCKING JARRETT came out. It wasn't even Jeff, it was Karen who was the criminal mastermind behind the invasion. Then it all came to a head and the Invasion officially started with Jeff attacking Drew and the GFW guys coming in. I found this brawl absolutely great, pretty much everyone was wearing a T-Shirt that was predominantly black- so on my Stream I was watching on which was at a push 240p it looked like everyone was attacking everyone, apart from Hawkins who was in all blue. So this was basically a big "whodunnit" Soap Opera moment and I hated it. WRESTLING SHOULDN'T BE THIS COMPLICATED. Oh Yeah, Dixie's been hoodwinked again- shocker.

Apart from a few REALLY stupid angles this Episode was actually really good- we had some good Wrestling and when it comes to EC3 and the angle with Matt & Jeff it was good. So overall this episode was INFINITELY better than last week, but ended on such a shit note- pretty much the exact reverse of last week.

Thanks for reading as always, as said this Episode was quite fun all things considered- apart from the fucking Leg angle I wasn't pissed with anything on the show today. So, we're going to be here this time next week to do it all again! With this being my last Wrestling Post of August thanks to all of you lot who've been reading this month and especially across Summerslam weekend when they were coming thick and fast. Thanks again for reading, and let's all pretend the Leg angle just hasn't happened- what a better place the world would be.

Tough Enough: The Burial, Episode 3

IT'S OVER! I can't believe it's finally over. These 10 weeks have just been completely awful, it's without a doubt been the worst incarnation of Tough Enough- that isn't even in doubt. It's also down there in terms of just all time bad programming produced by WWE. I'd honestly have rather watch all 4 of the Marine films than re-watch this series of Tough Enough, it really was that bad.

As with the other two incarnation's of these posts I think it's only fair I re-re-breakdown the characters being portrayed on the show.
Sara Lee- Vanellope from Wreck-It Ralph 
Josh- A Yeti with shit gear
Amanda- Slut Shamer and a Complete Bitch
ZZ- FAT ASS, Also the arch-nemesis of the RSPCA after his gimmick last night
Tanner- Can't sell anything with his face, May or may not still be a Virgin
Giorgia- Athletic One- but a bitch
Chelsea- Wrestler
Mada- The guy who I thought had the most outdated idea for a gimmick until ZZ came out with an Alligator on his head. Still Yugi though. A proper "Yugi" gimmick would be cool in WWE actually. It'd be a better entrance than Josh.
Patrick- Proof that democracy doesn't work
Gabi- Clueless Brazilian who's clearly married her Husband for the Money
Daria- Lesbian MMA Girl
Dianna- #1 Bitch
Alex- Philosopher

I ACTUALLY REMEMBERED SOMETHING ABOUT HANK!

Hank- Guy who "always wins" who went out first

Right then, down to business. Winning Tough Enough means absolutely nothing. That's not my opinion- that's just a fact, so to see a load of people actually caring about who wins and especially bitching about Sara Lee winning is just hilarious. Let's break down all of the reasons why winning Tough Enough means absolutely nothing.

The Contract. Yes, Josh and Sara Lee winning has given them a contract (more later). It's not like that means nobody else on the series can get one, in fact I think it's a pretty safe bet that at least half the people on this series will get one. This is where I found the reactions to people like Amanda and Giorgia going out hilarious. Especially in the case of Amanda, I'd happily put money on her getting a contract. All the stuff with Amanda and Miz saving her and the thing about him putting her in the Bottom Three before not doing it- ALL OF THAT WAS A WORK. They wanted to protect her as much as humanly possible, BECAUSE THEY SEE SOMETHING IN HER. The week Miz saved her when she was about to go out was a test for her Public Support because as I've said repeatedly someone "upstairs" sees something in her.

Again, this is not an opinion this is a FACT (I feel like Kidd)- WWE will give Contracts to everyone they saw something in during the show, and if they get 1 or 2 people who develop into something then they'll see it as a win. Sara Lee and Josh winning was just giving them a guaranteed shot at "going for it" down in the Performance Centre.

The 250k Prize, it's not like they handed Josh/Sara Lee a 250k cheque. They spread the money over 10 Billion Payments across 50 Years- AND it's not actually 250k. Without knowing, I'd say at least 65-70k of it is their actual contract which obviously won't all be paid up-front and they'll get taxed on it. Even in the hypothetical world where it was 250k, IT'S WWE! VINCE IS A BILLIONAIRE AGAIN- 250k MEANS NOTHING TO HIM.

Last Night's episode was actually quite interesting, or at least it was to me- and given the fact I was in a good mood for once from a Fulham game it might have played a part. EVERYONE was bitching about Sara Lee going into the Finale saying Amanda was clearly better in every way. Guess what fuckers, SARA LEE WAS BETTER THAN AMANDA LAST NIGHT.

I've been saying this the whole time- Sara Lee isn't as bad as she's been portrayed on the show. Her Promo (by Tough Enough standards) was quality, she got the crowd involved- although I think I could have popped the crowd in there last night and SHE SOLD THE MATCH WITH FOX. Nobody else did that last night- ZZ, Josh and Amanda all used their promo to put themselves over- and in Amanda's case weakly call out Miz. ZZ tried to do it, but I don't know if he went over his time allotted- but Cesaro's music completely cut him off which I found hilarious. Both matches were bad, I'm not saying they weren't- but the Sara Lee/Fox match was just a fundamentally better story. So if you're basing it off last night- Sara Lee actually deserved to win.

As soon as the reports of Vince loving Josh came out this whole competition was a write off on the guys side- the same can be said for Sara Lee in all honesty when the report came out they wanted her to win. Which by the way I was saying for the whole time- especially when it came to the Sara Lee/Paige stuff which I was calling an angle all along. Back to Josh, he is fine. He was by far and a way not the best guy on the show- but what Vince wants Vince gets. People may say the stuff about ZZ, but I CALLED IT. ZZ was the novelty vote that you get in every talent contest who everyone votes for when it's all fun- but when it get's down to business they NEVER win.

The Tough Talk last night pissed me off. Sara Lee had just been voted winner, fair enough if they wanted Amanda to win. BUT LET HER HAVE HER MOMENT. She'd just been voted to win a 10 week long contest and EVERYONE apart from Triple H proceeded to bury her- THAT'S SOMETHING I THOUGHT I'D NEVER SAY. That annoyed me, especially given as already said Sara Lee was better than Amanda last night. But credit to Triple H, he may well have wanted Amanda to win- but he "got it" when it comes to Sara Lee and he praised her for it. The complete burial of Sara Lee was just unnecessary last night.

The thing is, if the Coaches wanted Amanda to win- THEY SHOULD HAVE TOLD HER TO NOT BE A FUCKING IDIOT. The "Ring-Rat" stuff was absolutely hilarious- mostly because there was an audible "Fucking Hell, She said that" gasp when she called Sara Lee a ring-rat. It was her basically acknowledging she has fuck all chance of winning- which was correct because she's barely got a personality unless you count shit-stirring and paranoia AND she didn't have the connection with the crowd that Sara Lee just does. OR, she thought that slut-shaming someone live on TV would somehow make people like her.

Overall this series of Tough Enough has just been absolutely awful. When they were previewing new shows on the Network during Summerslam they showed something called "Breaking Ground" which without knowing judging from the Preview it's going to be like the Tough Enough Prequel/Network Special they did BUT WITH PEOPLE WITH CHARISMA. That might actually be my new favourite show on the Network when it comes out- especially with Swerved being cancelled (although I've got a weird feeling them cancelling it is a work so people aren't on guard).

Vince McMahon is desperate to not be seen as "just" a Promoter like his Dad was. Whether it's the XFL, the weird Bodybuilding League, WWE Films and especially Tough Enough- all of these are attempts from Vince to "branch out". All of them have failed, it's for the same reason I hated Billy Corgan coming in to TNA's Creative Team- entertainment is such a broad spectrum just because you're successful in one aspect of it doesn't mean you'll succeed in the other. It would be like Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers coming over and playing for Fulham, they're both ball sports- it doesn't mean either guy is any good at another one.

Without saying for definite, especially with how bad the ratings and just generally atrocious the show's been I don't think USA will renew it any time soon. So we're either going to be waiting another 4 years- or it's going on the Network. Either way, this series was just horrendously bad- and as of this sentence I'm drawing a line under it and we're moving on.

Thanks for reading as always, I hope you enjoyed this- and if you haven't already I'd recommend going back to read the other two Burials where I really got into it when it comes to the format, host and all the awfulness of the show. We're moving on now, and I hope you stay tuned for the Impact Review tomorrow- given my recent track record with Impact Reviews there might be another burial tomorrow. Thanks again for reading, hey- these three episodes were better than the Star Wars Prequels.

Fulham v Sheffield United Review: Kit Got It Right!

I'm not getting carried away. I'm happy we won without a shadow of a doubt, I understand you can only beat what's put in front of you- but it was Sheffield United's Reserves. So forgive me if I'm still very doubtful of Kit. However, credit to Kit- he did get it right tonight in pretty much all areas. The selection was generally good, we were pretty consistently pressing the Sheff. Utd team and on any other day we'd have had 6 or 7 with the number of chances we created- especially second half.

Right then, down to business and looking ahead. Stoke, Mark Hughes is coming back for his usual warm reception down at the Cottage. It'll definitely be an interesting game, provided we take it seriously we're always in with a shot- especially if Stoke rest players as they did tonight. Them resting players will also hopefully mean Steve Sidwell coming back, so overall it could have been a better draw- but the dream for Carlisle away isn't dead yet.

The goals were all good in one way or another tonight. As I'll talk about in a lot more depth later on the first McCormack goal was exactly what he needed. It was a definite penalty, the Sheff. Utd player was doing his best to rip the shirt off McCormack's back for it and it was a good finish. The second was the first goal of the season for us that's come from a really good move- all of the others have either been top-draw goals or come from someone switching off/making a mistake and on that front it was a massive plus for us, and it was a great finish by McCormack. The third one was a bit iffy, my first impression was Dembele was offside and it had just hit him- but looking at a Vine for it he did actually mean it and was on. Hey, a goals a goal- and Dembele definitely needed one with how he played tonight.

It's definitely safe to say it wasn't the busiest Lonergan's ever had. I think, but I'm not 100% certain on this that he did in fact have to make a save at some point. But Clean Sheets, as I'll get onto later like goals breed confidence however they come so it's all good on that front.

I don't like dwelling on negatives, and I wouldn't even really call this a big negative- but it's still something that needs to be said. Tim Ream is not the answer when it comes to our Centre-Back problem. He was fine tonight, he didn't do anything "wrong" but you can definitely see why he was playing Left-Back at Bolton last season. He simply isn't good enough in the air, and when we come up against powerful Championship strikers he'll be exposed.  I saw the link with Angella today, which I'd be all for- as said in my hastily edited all over the place Preview yesterday we're desperate for Centre-Backs, so a Loan as rumoured for Angella may stop us massively overpaying for someone. As already said though, this wasn't a massive test for the Defence today- but on the whole they dealt with everything that came their way and that's that.

I saw the MOTM voting options. Anyone who doesn't vote for Tunnicliffe is simply wrong after his performance tonight. He was just sublime, I'll direct you to something I said after the Norwich game at the back end of last season on Tunnicliffe...

"I come down on the side of he is valuable to us- his work rate and team ethic is needed in any team and I think people will only realise how key he is to the balance of the team if he gets injured."

We're simply a better team when Tunnicliffe is playing, he knows his role and he plays it perfectly- in turn allowing the players around him to play their games and play them well. He was just great tonight. On the flip side, Christensen. I honestly don't know what's happened to Christensen since the turn of the year. I don't know whether his confidence got knocked, because even before the Derby game that put him out for the season he wasn't really good enough. I could attribute that to him not being fully-fit, but since this season's started he's got no excuses- and provided O'Hara isn't still ill for Saturday given how Tunnicliffe performed it's a no-brainer with the Central-Midfield selection.

Pringle and Kacaniklic were quite iffy, you can see that there is the ability there with both of them- they both just looked really unsure of themselves. But, like I say I don't really want to dwell on the negatives because this type of win for us has been a real rarity in recent years.

Onto my second "Hey, I was right" point of the evening. Ross McCormack. I've said in literally every single on of these Previews/Reviews with I think the exception of the Cardiff Preview that McCormack just needed to get a goal to spark him into life and get going regardless of how it came. What do you know? As soon as he put that penalty in he instantly went up a gear, he was chasing everything and just looked infinitely better- capped off with the second goal.

I was ready to write Dembele's performance off as "one of those games" before he got the goal. It just wouldn't go in for him for the majority of the game. He was doing everything right, he was making all of the right runs- he was creating chances for himself (and others) it just simply wouldn't go in for him through a combination of bad luck. bad finishing and one save almost identical to the one that stopped a goal from him on Saturday. It's safe to say Dembele isn't clinical, but he was still a massive handful for the Sheff. Utd defenders summed up perfectly late on when he got in behind and forced the Sheff. Utd defender into getting a Red Card.

Speaking of Red Cards, The first of which came from a horrific tackle on Tom Cairney who was great when he came on. This goes back to my praise for Kit today in-terms of "getting it right" he didn't "have" to make the Cairney switch, especially coming off the heels of a goal but he did and it helped us force through our advantage. Bodurov didn't have much time, but everything he did was fine- he had a few problems up against their massive Striker- but he can't grow so it's a non-issue.

I'm not going to say the Woodrow equaliser and this game have been a "turning point" for us, at least not yet. The real test will be Rotherham on Saturday, but hopefully this game will have given confidence to the team- and in the case of McCormack in particular really woken him up. But as I said in my Huddersfield Review, I just want us to win games- so on that front I'm happy and when it comes to the Cup it's roll on Stoke.

Thanks for reading as always, we're nearly at the International Break now. The Rotherham Preview will be up at Friday as usual and then of course the Review will be up at 8 O'Clock Saturday so stay tuned for those. Thanks again for reading, winning just puts you in a better mood doesn't it?

RAW Review: 24th August

Before we get into the festivities, I'd like to dedicate this Review to Taylor Michael Rotunda a.k.a Bo Dallas. He Bolieves on in everyone's hearts.

Hello! It's the last Review of the long weekend of Wrestling. There's been ups, downs and then there was some of the shit they had on last night. There's a lot of talking points so I won't waste any of your time with some aimless rambling.

Actually, here's some aimless rambling. I don't expect the world from every episode of RAW and from the people involved. Believe it or not, seeing as I sit down and watch whether it's RAW, NXT, Impact at any time between 1 & 4am I actually want to be entertained. If you've been reading my Reviews for a while now you'll know- or at least I hope that I'm a pretty balanced reviewer. This stuff is especially relevant with the Divas segment later. I want them to succeed, I do.

Seth Rollins & Triple H Pre-Tape
This was good in a "sets up the main angle" sort of way as were the various "statue video packages" they showed throughout the night.

Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman, Bo Dallas Segment
I loved this segment. Why on earth would Brock go back to the UFC when he just has to wrestle once every two or three months and the rest of the time do shit like this and have fun? It's never not fun to watch Brock kill someone, I just loved all of the Bo stuff and combine that with a truly shocking revelation that Paul Heyman is in fact a great promo just made this a great segment. One problem though, Heyman saying Santa isn't real. Of course he is, Del Rio nearly killed him.

New Day v Lucha Dragons
Speaking of segments that I loved. Given Brock's seemingly gone for a bit now New Day are by far and a way the best thing on the show, nobody comes close- not even the various returns we had last night.

Firstly, I've come to the conclusion that there's nothing Xavier Woods can't do. He can Wrestle, He can Sing, He's got his own YouTube Gaming Channel, He's an amazing shit-talker, He's getting a PhD and now as established he can play the Trombone. Why isn't this guy getting all of the pushes? All of them.

The actual match was pretty dodgy, this same thing happened in another match a while ago where the Lucha Dragons were- well doing Lucha and New Day had no idea how to sell it. BUT, I don't care. They had Xavier Woods playing a fucking Trombone while the other two sang a Heel version of "New York, New York". Xavier Woods is an incredible shit-talker, we've established that- but him playing the funeral march on the Trombone while Kofi and Big E hit their finish- THAT IS ABSOLUTE GENIUS.

Just when I was about to tweet that was just a perfect the Rockets hit, and "The Dudley Boyz" flashed up. This whole segment was just amazing, and also surprising because I thought Bubba had been murdered by a yet to be discovered person. On the whole this was just a near perfect segment, and in two nights the Tag Division instantly became one of the main talking points in WWE again.

Triple H, Stephanie & Seth Rollins Backstage Promo
This segment actually annoyed me, it completely spoiled the end segment- because the whole thing here was them telling us the crowd there is indeed a statue of Rollins.

Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose v The Wyatts
The actual match was fine, it annoys me they're going to be stringing this out a bit of a while longer because Summerslam definitely felt like the blow-off- and it also means my Ambrose turning theory isn't dead yet so when it doesn't happen it'll re-annoy me.

With all that in mind, if they wanted to carry this on this was the best way to do it. It's very early days, but Strowman coming in seems like a perfect fit. He's a legitimate Strong-Man who's not billed- is 6'8. He's just a complete monster, his gimmick down in NXT for those of you that don't know was having freakishly large hands. I admit, this wasn't my first choice in terms of where these four guys go now- but I'm definitely intrigued. Especially when you consider Reigns & Ambrose will be getting a third member, and it won't be Sting as we discovered later.

Miz TV w/ PCB & Team Bella
Oh here we go. This segment completely 100% died. I'm not saying they set them up for failure, but with the exception of maybe Paige nobody in this segment (apart from Miz obviously) is good on the mic. When Charlotte started on Miz I knew exactly what was going to happen, and it did- Miz completely owned her. The only good line Charlotte had was calling Miz out for his shit figure-four. All of this after she said, and I went back today and re-watched it to confirm this. CHARLOTTE the DAUGHTER of RIC FLAIR said the FOUR HORSEMEN WERE THE GREATEST FACTION IN WWE HISTORY.

The thing is, I know exactly how they thought out the stuff when it was just PCB. They had Charlotte talk about her Dad because that's pretty much her gimmick, Paige talk about Womens Athletes because she's the Leader and Dunn and/or Vince heard Becky's accent and said "We'll make her the weird one" and she was talking about Dinosaurs and Cyborgs and it was all just awful.

Then it actually managed to get worse. The Bellas came out, and I genuinely don't remember one word they said. The only thing I remember from this bit of the segment was Miz ACTUALLY GOT A POP FOR TELLING 6 WOMEN- 3 OF WHICH WERE BABYFACES TO SHUT UP. I loved it immediately after because Miz was like, Oh you're cheering me gotta stop that and got his heat back immediately. So this could have gone better.

Team Bella v PCB
I'll preface what I'm about to say with this, I DO NOT in any way endorse a crowd going into business for themselves and putting themselves over.

Everything about this was Booty, Yeah I said Booty.

Why should I in any way have cared about this match? They kept the one "Diva" off the show that the crowd were desperate to see in Sasha and they thought it would go well? Don't tell me they kept her off because she'd worked the last two nights because Owens was on the show. I'm not going to say the "Divas Revolution" is dead, it's on life support- but it's not dead. The problem is, IT'S NOT A REVOLUTION.

revolution

rɛvəˈluːʃ(ə)n/

noun

1. 1.

   a forcible overthrow of a government or social order, in favour of a new system.

   "the country has had a socialist revolution"

   synonyms:

   rebellion, revolt, insurrection, mutiny, uprising, riot, rioting, rising,insurgence, insurgency, coup, overthrow, seizure of power, regime change; More

Nothing has changed. Not just the fact Nikki's still Champion, although she's the tyrannical leader that eventually gets assassinated if we're talking about "Revolutions". The Divas are still being booked exactly the same way, except now there's more of them and there's better workers. They're still booked to be as irrelevant as possible. That combined with the fact Stephanie endorses them, I was actually fine with the Stephanie angle on the first night- I thought it was the same as Vince announcing the Attitude Era. Then they branded it as a "Revolution" and I lost the plot. A REVOLUTION SHOULD NOT ENDORSED BY AN AUTHORITY FIGURE. 

In the last two nights we've had Brie pin Tamina, get Pinned by Becky and Alicia Fox pin Paige. You know who's not been mentioned? THE FUCKING CHAMPION OR SASHA BANKS! They're deliberately booking the Divas to make them as forgettable as possible, last night was just the result of nothing changing for two months (roughly) that the "New Girls" have been up. There's not one reason to invest in any of the 9, so why should the crowd give a fuck about their match? 

It was a pointless 6-Person after a pointless 9-Person after a string of pointless 6-Persons and Tag Matches. You know what hasn't happened? A FUCKING STORYLINE. I was half-serious about Charlotte turning on Paige because I knew it wouldn't happen, but at least that would have given the crowd a reason to get emotionally invested which there simply isn't at the moment. 

THEN, Oh this is where I did get annoyed. Nikki, NOT BRIE- NIKKI came on Twitter and started burying the fans CALLING THEM SEXIST and going off about how great her Title run's been. I can stomach Nikki getting the record, I'd resigned myself to that fact MONTHS ago, but don't try and tell me her run's been good- it's been the most forgettable and irrelevant run I can think of in at least 5 Years. At least with Ambrose's US run it became a running joke on TV that he'd never defend it. Then Paige came on and said something along the lines of how we "helped create change" and then we did our best to disrespect them. No, NXT and Triple H created a Womens Division with clear storylines and strong female characters. They were then called up and made totally irrelevant within the course of two months. 

This weekend was like the breaking point, we started it off with Bayley and Sasha who not only had a great fucking match- there was a proper emotional connection with the crowd and they reciprocated by being as loud as anything for them. Sunday was just such an irrelevant match, but they got time on a PPV so some people may have been trying to defend it. Last Night was where it all came crashing down. 

Stardust/Barrett/Neville Segment

I don't know if this means we're getting a Triple Threat at Night of Champions and Barrett's turning Babyface or they just killed Barrett and we're getting a singles with Stardust and Neville which'll just be stupid seeing as they wrestled multiple singles matches to build to the Amell stuff. Either way this segment was pretty forgettable. 

Jon Stewart/Ric Flair/John Cena Promo

I loved this segment. Stewart's explanation was exactly what I thought it would be- and as I said in the Summerslam Review, IT MADE PERFECT SENSE!  The Flair stuff was cool, and then Cena came out and was great. These last two nights are as close to Cena being a Heel that we're ever going to get, although given what happened in the last segment Cena may be stewing for a few weeks and on the verge of snapping. I'm not saying he will flip the switch, but given how he worked the last two nights he's definitely going to go close to the Middle. The AA to Stewart was presumably a way to write Stewart off TV and to get Cena "out of the building" for the last segment and it all worked and it was all great. 

Ryback, Randy Orton, Dolph Ziggler & Cesaro v Kevin Owen, Sheamus, Big Show & Rusev

It's almost become the gimmick of some of these guys involved to have the House Showiest, House Show match ever. But that doesn't mean the matches can't be fun. For the most part this was quite fun and we had at least two more Big Show turns. I'm pretty sure this is Big Show's gimmick now, and I actually quite like it. His gimmick is now that he gives no fucks and he turns every week. IT'S ENTERTAINING!

The aftermath was strange, I'm not sure if they did this to write Big Show off TV, or they're starting a feud of Big Show vs Everyone. Either way it was quite strange. 

Bray Wyatt Promo

This was a cool way to introduce Strowman and actually give him a name rather than the commentators referring him to "that guy" all night and it was cool in the usual Bray way. I'm also curious to see if they do anything with the Black Sheep stuff and Abigail was brought up again. 

Seth Rollins gets his Statue

It's like I said earlier, the fact they acknowledged the statue does exist to the audience before this segment meant there was no chance the statue was in the box. In that respect they completely blew the angle. However, THIS WAS SUCH A COOL MOMENT. STING WAS IN THE BOX! STING! I was expecting Kane- but this was better without a shadow of a doubt. I also don't think many people have mentioned this, the way Triple H sold the Sting reveal was just amazing. The way he slowly backed away all the while still keeping his arms up gesturing to where the Statue was meant to be was just great. I have an issue with Sting re-picking a fight with The Authority after he shook hands with Triple H at Mania, but it supports my theory that the Sledgehammer shot within storyline gave him a concussion and he didn't know what he was doing. 

This RAW if you'd condensed it into two hours and got rid of the Divas segment would have been top draw. Unfortunately we got a few really strung out segments and the Divas stuff just died, it was actually more entertaining when Paige and Nikki came on after and started burying the fans. 

Thanks for reading as always, this may not apply to you depending on when you've read this- but yes, it's up an Hour earlier because I'm off to Fulham this evening and won't be able to plug it for a few hours. I'm definitely interested to see where they go with everything now, I know Sting's got the Title Match where I think we'll get further evidence that Seth Rollins is in fact The Undertaker to save him yet again. On the whole I'm pretty happy with the show. Stay tuned tomorrow for Episode 3 and the Final Tough Enough Burial after we've found out who wins tonight, Thanks again for reading, STING WAS IN THE FUCKING BOX! 

Fulham v Sheffield United Preview: Fearing The Worst

Hello! That's right they're back already. It feels like we're in the line of fire at the minute and we can't get out of the firing line long enough to regroup. The International Break can't come soon enough for us, but between it and us are Sheffield United and Rotherham.

I don't think anyone who went to "that" FA Cup Replay will ever forget it, but tomorrows game can definitely go some way to exorcising the demons of the game. However, I'm fearing the worst- you only have to look at the circumstances surrounding this game to see the similarities. At least the Tube Strike's been called off, but it's still most likely going to be absolutely belting it down tomorrow as it has done pretty much all day today and the simple fact is given Sheff. Utd's Cup pedigree in recent years and our poor form we're most likely going to lose.

I'm not sure how legitimate these numbers are, but I've seen a number going round for the attendance tomorrow and it really isn't pretty. 3000 Tickets sold for the game tomorrow is horrendous, but it also doesn't surprise me one bit. The fact is under Kit we've got nothing to get excited about, so I can see a lot of people looking out the window tomorrow and seeing it tipping down and going "nah". Now that the Tube Strike's off I do expect to see quite a few more people at the game tomorrow though and with the Sheff. Utd fans I reckon we'll get to around 7-8k. Which is by no means good, but it's a lot better than 3k and Craven Cottage being pretty much deserted.

EDIT: Lewis Dunk's signed a new deal at Brighton pretty much making reading this next paragraph pointless, and it also being thoroughly depressing on our part. All I can say is I hope Rigg had back-ups lined up, because we still need a top draw Centre-Back without a shadow of a doubt. The problem with that being, it's pretty much a week until the Window closes now- Given our obvious need for a Centre-Back any Centre-Back worth buying will have a stupid price tag on them now. We're just a complete mess, we spent pretty much the whole Summer with our eggs firmly in one basket and now with a week to go in the Window we have to scramble to find an alternative. Oh the joys of supporting Fulham.

Before jumping into the team Team Selection as pretty much standard in these at the moment, Lewis Dunk. Firstly, I don't think we're going to get him- nor should we to be honest given the rumoured 5 Million bid Brighton rejected. However, the story surfaced on I believe Saturday that Dunk had been fined two weeks wages for refusing to play in I think their League Cup game against Southend. The first thing that needs to be said is that the Southend game was nearly two weeks ago now, and in the mean time Brighton are of course rumoured to have rejected a bid at their apparent asking price for him, so if Dunk was trying to force a move it clearly didn't work. The problem/worry we've got now is we're in desperate need for a Centre-Back and with timing rapidly running out prices will be sky-high across the board now- because everyone knows we're desperate. I'm also pretty sure that's why Brighton rejected the bid, because they know we're desperate and the longer they string it out the more likely we are to come back with a stupid bid for Dunk that will be too good to turn down or if we give up they'll still have him come September.

I said during my Wycombe Preview/Review two weeks ago that the Carling Cup was low on the priority list this season. However, I also said in my Review for the Wycombe game that now we played the team we did against Wycombe I'm expecting us to take the competition seriously- so if we rotate the whole team I'll be even more annoyed with Kit. It's with all that in mind that we get down to the Team Selection.

I don't see any reason why Andy Lonergan shouldn't continue in goal tomorrow. As I'm desperately going over this erasing any mention of a Tube Strike and it being Deja Vu in that sense we've announced Joe Lewis. Firstly, I'm not sure if we signed him in time for him to be available for tomorrow and even if we did I'd be making it an absolute priority to give Lonergan as much game time as possible at this stage to really settle him into the role. Joe Lewis is perfectly fine as a 2nd Choice Keeper, I'll go back to what I was saying about Lonergan over the Summer- as far as 2nd choices go, he's better than Kiraly.

The Defence is so thin at the moment and we have so little options in terms of rotation that the Defence pretty much picks itself. I suppose the one of the main talking points is Tim Ream, and this is where no midweek Press Conferences really annoy me. On the one hand you can make the argument that a game in the Cup can be a good way to ease him back in, and on the other you can make the argument that Tuesday may be too soon. As I've said repeatedly I think Ream will come in at Left-Back in the immediate term- and just because I'm desperate for someone to come in for Voser and seeing as Kit rates Voser above Kavanagh, I'm going to say Ream should come in tomorrow.

When it comes to the Centre-Backs, and again without a Press-Conference it's flying blind- I'm going to say Hutchinson should be fine tomorrow as such should be coming back in. As far as the Defence goes that means we're sorted because a combination of lack of options and the options we have available being bad just means we can't really take out Burn or Richards.

As I've already said, given we went pretty much full strength against Wycombe I'm expecting us to go for it in every round until we either go out or win the thing. However, that doesn't mean that minor rotation isn't an option- and given how we're performing it should be encouraged.

Taking out Christensen is something I'm sure the vast majority of Fulham Fans have at least contemplated after his generally anonymous start, and with it being a Cup Game now's as good a chance as any to take him out and look at a different option. Hyndman's pretty much being buried in the U21's because of his Contract situation- so while I'd like to see him coming in I highly doubt he will. So with that in mind and given Christensen is at least meant to be a Box-to-Box player I'd bring in Tunnicliffe for his first action of the season next to O'Hara. When it comes to the Wings (term used loosely) I did actually think of having Tunnicliffe out on the right in place of Cairney who I'll get onto- but in a repeat of the selection for the last round I'd have Pringle and Kacaniklic starting.

The reason I wouldn't have Cairney out on the right tomorrow is in fact because of McCormack. He just needs to be taken out of the firing line for a game as much as anything else. You never know, tomorrow night may well be the night McCormack finally gets a goal and gets back on track as a result- he after all got his 1st goal for us in the 2nd Round last season. However, as already said he just needs to be taken out of the firing line for a game and given Cairney is more than capable of playing centrally it's a no-brainer for me. Who plays in front of Cairney is an interesting question. Woodrow of course got the equaliser so that may well have got him a place in the team for tomorrow, however I'd still be going for Dembele because he's just the more complete player and if needed we can bring Woodrow off the bench and use his undoubted energy in the latter stages to do some damage.

Team for Sheffield United

Kit's made his bed when it comes to the League Cup and the selection for the Wycombe game- as I've said repeatedly now he went all in against Wycombe anything less than a full-strength, or near full-strength as the team I've laid out isn't good enough in my book. 

Tomorrows game isn't going to be pretty, we're a team on such a low ebb at the minute and we've got someone in Kit who either has no clue on how to pick the team up or is simply deluded enough to think we're fine. Especially with the how he's come across in his Press Conferences I think it's a mix of both. Either way I hope we go into the game tomorrow and exorcise the demons of the FA Cup Replay and we're in the 3rd Round Draw, I just have absolutely no faith in Kit to pick the team up and especially against a team like Sheff. Utd who while being League 1 definitely have players who can punish us I'm not at all confident we'll exorcise said demons.

Thanks for reading as always, now the Tube Strike's been called off barring Extra Time the Sheff. Utd Review will be up at Midnight tomorrow So stay tuned for the Review some time tomorrow, if you're not going pray for the hardened souls that are- although there won't be many of us seemingly. Thanks again for reading, and let's just hope it's a win- I just want a win- is that too much to ask for?

Summerslam Review

Hello! It's Day Two of the Reviews. Last Night was the "Main Event" of the long weekend of Wrestling in Summerslam. I've been saying throughout my expectations really were sky-high for the PPV- so there's only one question to answer, did it meet them?

Jon Stewart & Mick Foley Promo
This was just bizarre. This seriously felt like a dark segment to "warm up" the crowd before the cameras were turned on- only they were in fact turned on. I'm not saying it was bad, but it just felt really weird- and it all led to a pay-off later on in the night that they surely could have just done anyway without this segment.

Sheamus v Randy Orton
I actually didn't mind this. This match was never going to be a spot-fest, which is exactly why they were in the opening match. All of it was perfectly fine, from a Wrestling standpoint it was all quite good and Sheamus got the win which presumably (hopefully) means the end of their feud. It also set the rest of the night up perfectly because Sheamus had won, so he was in good enough shape to cash-in which I'm sure quite a lot of people were thinking was going to happen in Cena/Rollins.

New Day v Los Matadores v Primetime Players v Lucha Dragons- Tag Titles
Before I get onto the match, New Day singing was firstly surprisingly not bad- and just great in every conceivable way. The best bit was, they started off doing the usual Cheap Heat stuff, started singing to mock Jay-Z AND THEY GOT CHEERED! I just love these guys so, so much. If we can't get New Day Socks I at least want the New Day version of Empire State of Mind.

For a large portion of the night this was match of the night without a doubt. Depending on how the shenanigans finishes went down with you in the two "main" matches this might still be your match of the night. This was all just great, Xavier Woods is probably my favourite on-screen character at the moment- and that isn't even me joking. He's just so great in his role as the shit-talker/heckler and the thing is, with this being a 4 Team match- at one point Xavier was in fact working harder than the majority of the guys in the match. Luckily he'd had his Bacon, Eggs and Toast for Breakfast. Thankfully for the guys involved when the match broke down into all of the different "big" spots with all 4 Teams it was equally great, and New Day actually won the Belts back! I was astonished, but over the moon at the same time and we got the best celebrating for a Title win in history.

This is seriously the happiest I've been since I started doing these Predictions to have been wrong and to have my accumulator blown.

Dolph Ziggler v Rusev

For a large part of the night this was the worst match of the night. That's not in any way at the fault of Dolph or Rusev, the finish was awful- just awful. I can only assume they did this finish to get even more mileage out of the feud, which is fine on paper- but then you remember Rusev won't be doing weird comedy with a Fish and a Puppy between now and Night of Champions with Dolph back. We're just going to get more negative chemistry between Dolph and Lana- who by the way REALLY needs to learn to not telegraph spots, she looked around at least 3 times to see when Summer was going to attack her in the finishing sequence. 

Neville & Stephen Amell v Stardust & Cosmic King Barrett

Firstly, even though Amell is presumably gone I definitely want a run out of Stardust and Barrett as a team now after last night. I'm not going to say this was an anti-climax, because it really wasn't and in-terms of Celebrity Appearances in Wrestling Amell is very high on the list of the best ones. I just wanted it to be more "out there". It started with Amell's Entrance, I thought we'd get shenanigans and a load of different stuff- instead Amell just walked out with some pretty generic entrance music looking like a jobber. The match was actually quite fun, and in terms of Celebrity spots the Amell dive to the outside was one of the better ones. My all time favourite will be when Cena nearly killed Mr. Chow, but this was up there. Overall this was just a really fun match and something that surprised me in a good way was Neville getting the Pin, I was convinced it would be Amell pinning Stardust. 

Ryback v Miz v Big Show- IC Title

The only problem I've got with this match is the finish. I liked it, but because Big Show KO'd Miz and Ryback got the Pin that way it means we're getting Ryback v Big Show at Night of Champions. This directs me back to the finish I thought could happen- and it nearly did with Ryback Shellshocking Big Show and Miz stealing the win. Just in terms of the match following this I would have preferred it. But overall this match was quite fun, Miz played his role to absolute perfection, Ryback's actually becoming quite a fun to watch worker now- Big Show is, well Big Show but in general it was fine. It was nowhere near the worst thing on the card, let's put it that way. 

Jon Stewart & Paul Heyman Backstage Promo

The whole pay-off of the Mick Foley angle was to get Stewart & Heyman on screen together, and I won't say it was worth it- but it comes close. 

Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose v The Wyatts

I knew it. I fucking knew it. They had made Ambrose's turn so bloody obvious to swerve us and to have this match have a clean finish. The problem with that is, I've got absolutely no idea where any of these four go now. There's a very small chance Reigns & Ambrose start a feud with New Day, which would be great. But that's all it is, a very small chance. Given the Cena finish the US & WWE Titles aren't going to be anywhere near them, they've blown off the Wyatts angle and as already said it's going to be Ryback/Big Show for the IC Title. So for their swerve for the sake of a swerve all 4 guys are without a direction now. The actual match was quite fun, and that's all that can really be said about it. 

Seth Rollins v John Cena- WWE/US Title Match

I absolutely loved this. The finish was a take it or leave it type thing, and I took it. I said all the way back in March when Stewart first showed up I'd like to see him as a Manager, and without knowing for definite I think we're going to get Stewart aligned with Rollins- at least for the Cena rematch presumably at Night of Champions. Everything before that finish though was as golden as the trim on Rollins' gear. Cena was pretty much working as the Heel last night and I absolutely loved it, the Figure Four spot was just amazing- and it was where I thought Triple H was going to hit the ring given the tease on Monday. This match was just amazing, without a doubt this was Match of the Night and Cena's most likely got another entry in for Match of the Year. I just loved this, this match alone was worth 9.99. 

Also, I'm also expecting Stewart to say he did it protect Flair's record given he went on about The Streak ending earlier, which looking back was pretty good foreshadowing- so whoever thought that out deserves a pat on the back. 

Team PCB v Team Bella v Team BAD

If Cena/Rollins was a Match of the Year contender this was the opposite of Cena/Rollins. This isn't me making something up to suit my argument, I genuinely forgot who won/got pinned for the second fall. I woke up convinced it was Paige pinning Fox. This match was 100% forgettable, the only thing that provoked a reaction out of me one way or the other was Team PCB's insistence on getting a fucking slow to fast clap going, by the fifth time they'd tried to do it and failed I'd just lost hope. This match was just structured all wrong, perfectly exampled when everyone was doing their dives onto the outside spots and The Bellas doing a Suicide Dive AFTER Sasha and Naomi had done Plancha's. It's almost like they made a conscious effort to completely kill the crowd for this match, well they definitely succeeded- that seeming mentality summed up perfectly with Becky using a new finish which meant absolutely nobody popped for it. 

To top it all off, they had absolutely no storyline progression. There are no new directions/storylines coming off the back of this match. Brie pinned Tamina and Becky pinned Brie. Nikki wasn't involved in either, all of this coming after Sasha made Nikki tap on RAW! I can almost guarantee it's going to be a Triple Threat at Night of Champions, so why they'd do both angles for it on RAW rather than one on PPV and giving them a whole month to build it is completely beyond me. I want the Divas to succeed, but the "Divas Revolution" is dying a death at the minute. They had the perfect opportunity on a big stage to start at least 1 angle and start to get people invested in the characters of the Divas, but instead the picked the finish(es) that were guaranteed to have no impact on anything. 

Kevin Owens v Cesaro

As far as "death spot" matches go, this was on the very high end of them quality wise. Without knowing for definite I'd guess these two got roughly 15 Minutes and they definitely used them to the absolute best of their ability. This match wasn't a Million Star match that these two could no doubt do, similar to the Opener- they wrestled to the match they needed to Wrestle and it was the death spot match. Also, huge praise for Kevin Owens and he'll no doubt be wrestling tonight and most likely on Smackdown in some weird Tag Match so all of the praise for this weekend should go to him. 

Undertaker v Brock Lesnar

I'm not going to defend the finish, it came off horrendously bad- but I know exactly what they were trying to sell us. Kevin Dunn had a BAD night, he just kept missing stuff, I don't know whether nobody told him what they were going to do and he was flying blind- but it was just a bad night for him. Between missing Taker tapping, and to a lesser degree things like missing Amell's kip-up it was just a bad night for him. 

Firstly, Taker didn't "lose"- he wasn't tapping because of the absolute agony he was in. He tapped deliberately and as hidden from the ref as possible to get Brock to break the hold. It goes back to my RAW Review when I was explaining the dynamic because everyone was bitching about Taker being a heel. He's playing the "veteran" who knows how to win. Here's my exact quote from the RAW Review when I explained it best. 

"Taker is not a Heel, Jesus himself would have been booed if they were opposite Brock in Minnesota last night. Taker is simply playing the "veteran", the wise old-man who knows how to win a fight."

Like I say though, I'm not defending the finish- but the finish COULD have been absolutely great had they shot it right. Apart from the finish this was just an absolutely quality match, it was just great. They told their story perfectly and take away the Bell Spot the Hells Gate with Brock flipping Taker off with blood all down his face before passing out was just great. So in short, great match with a finish that could have worked- but sadly didn't. 

Also, I saw the thing about Taker passing out just before going through the curtain. While I won't say for definite I'd say there's about a 95% chance it was a work given how well publicised him legitimately passing out at Mania was and Heyman will bring up how Brock's nearly killed Taker in both of their matches. I may well be wrong, but that's just how I think it is. 

Overall I did like the show, I won't say I loved it- but we had 1 Match of the Year contender without a doubt and New Day won! What could be better!

Thanks for reading as always, this is of course Day Two- so I hope you'll come back for Day Three and the RAW Review tomorrow. I'm actually looking forward to RAW tonight, there's definitely a lot of potential angles- and of course there's the "big angle" rumour that's been making the rounds in the last few days. So as said I hope you come back for the RAW Review tomorrow and also tag along on Twitter tonight, if you haven't already feel free to go back and read the Takeover Review. Thanks again for reading. Let's all remember- when New Day win, we all win. 

NXT Takeover: Brooklyn Review

Hello! That's right- we're finally here for the Summerslam weekend, and that of course means three reviews in three days. We're kicking it all off with NXT, which judging from various polls and stuff I'd seen was the most anticipated event of the three days. So with that in mind, there's no point of me aimlessly rambling- let's just get straight into it.

Quick thing before we get into all the matches, the Triple H thing before it was cool. Also, his "THIS IS N-X-T" was his NXT version of the Paul Heyman "THIS IS E-C-W" that they show on pretty much every ECW related programme. It was just a really cool moment, and you knew this meant the world to him in terms of how far NXT's come. Without wanting to make it about me, as someone who was watching NXT before it was even called NXT this was just such a cool moment.

Jushin Thunder Liger v Tyler Breeze
This was the only one I predicted wrong on the card, so let me briefly explain myself. I thought they were going to open with the Womens match. With the "Co-Main Event" billing I thought they were going to open and close with them- and similar to the first Takeover when they opened with Zayn/Cesaro because this was such a big deal I thought they would have wanted to open with a massive bang. As soon as the Woman with the Empire State Building dress came out I knew I'd messed up. They opened the show to give us a Babyface win to put everyone in good spirits- and I'm fine with that, it's just slightly annoying.

Onto the match itself, and it was a really fun opener- as already said to put the crowd in good spirits for the rest of the show. I wasn't expecting miracles, the simple fact is that Liger is 50. He can't move as well as he used to- but what he did do is use his experience to maximise the impact of everything he did. I'll talk about this a lot more in another match later on, having guys like Liger wrestle matches with the NXT guys will only help them and teach them a lot. Oh Yeah, Jushin Liger was in a WWE Ring.

Nia Jax Vignette
This was cool, I'm not sure what she's like in-ring yet- but the vignette was cool and any Woman who looks like she does will always have the potential to be something special in Wrestling.

The Vaudevillains v Blake & Murphy- NXT Tag Titles
All of this was great. The Blue Pants angle was great, it was pretty obvious what was happening the minute we saw the Vaudevillains gear- but it was still a really cool moment (also my theory of it being Nia Jax went out the window with the vignette).

The actual match was great, all of the Wrestling was really good- they worked the match perfectly for the crowd and then the finish was great. Just before the finishing sequence we had English do a Swanton- and the one thing that would have annoyed me is if they'd have kept going for a little while after. There's always that thing of having on false finish too many and that killing the crowd. But to the credit of the guys who were working out the match they dived straight into the stuff with Alexa and Blue Pants- because we all knew anything that happened wasn't going to be the finish until we got a spot with those two. So basically this was great.

Apollo Crews v Tye Dillinger
Before I get into Crews, can I just say Dillinger is great with this "Perfect Ten" gimmick- I'm not saying he's going to main event Mania, but he plays his gimmick perfectly and I hope he gets a good run out of it.

This was a near perfect way to introduce Crews to the crowd. Anyone who's even seen the smallest clip of Uhaa Nation knows the guy is a complete freak, but being ridiculously athletic isn't always enough. What this match did was showcase Crews perfectly in a long(ish) match so that when he made his comeback it meant something. The only problem I had with this match was Crews didn't use the whole "Uhaa Combo" for the finish. If you're wondering what that is well;

William Regal announces the "Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic"

I thought this was quite a cool thing for them to do. I'm not exactly what it means yet in terms of what Teams will be competing because while the Tag Division in NXT has improved assuming the Vaudevillains won't be in it with them being the Tag Champs you've still only got 5 Teams. You've got Blake & Murphy, Gable & Jordan, The Mechanics, Hype Bros and then Enzo & Big Cass. Whether they draft in teams like The Ascension, I know Ciampa & Gargano worked as a team at the Tapings just before Takeover- either way it's a nice touch and something I'm looking forward to. It also legitimises it to an extent my putting Dusty's name on it, similar to the Andre Battle Royal (at least the 1st one). 

Samoa Joe v Baron Corbin

This isn't taking anything away from Baron Corbin, because he was really good last night- but what a worker Joe is. As with the Liger match, the "proper" NXT guys can only benefit from getting in the ring with Joe. Without knowing, I think it's 99% certain that Joe planned out the whole match and what we got was Corbin's best match by a mile- and the best he's looked. The finish confused me a bit because we had Joe choking out Corbin and then Corbin immediately waking up after it- presumably to protect him to an extent, but there were surely better ways to do it. 

Bayley v Sasha Banks- NXT Womens Title

This was just great. I'm not going to go as far as saying this was the best Womens Takeover match, some may well disagree- but for me Charlotte/Nattie and the 4-Way (and possibly even Becky/Sasha) was better. The emotion in this match and the occasion was without a doubt better, but in terms of the actual match it didn't quite reach the other two so it all depends on how you rate matches. However, just because it didn't reach those two matches that were simply outstanding doesn't mean this match wasn't also great. They worked the match near perfect, the one issue I had was the "Hand" angle because they were saying "She may have broken her hand" after the hand in the step spot- despite the fact she had her hand all taped up implying that it wasn't healed. Maybe Sasha re-broke it, or broke it in a different place, but that's really nitpicking. Everything about this match was great, it just had the emotional connection that a great match needs. Sasha played her Heel role to absolute perfection last night and it made Bayley even more over as the Babyface if that was even possible. Pretty much everyone knew Bayley was winning, but this match got everyone sucked in and as I've said so many times in this section- IT WAS GREAT!

One thing that has really annoyed me about the match- and it isn't even about the match. Seemingly everyone wanted to turn this match into a stick to beat The Bellas with. Yes, the match last night was better than any Bellas match, Yes The Bellas are in fact not as good as Sasha and Bayley. We all know why Nikki's got the Belt, that fact is not going to change- so stop finding ways to bitch about the Bellas and enjoy the fucking match. 

Also, the "Curtain Call" after the match was the perfect way to close the "Four Horsewomen" chapter of NXT, I know Becky and Charlotte worked a match that'll happen on Wednesday and without spoiling anything it may be leading to a Tag Match with them involved. But, between Bayley's win and presumably getting a run as "top dog" of NXT and then things like the Nia Jax vignettes these next few months should see the "next generation" of the NXT Womens Division come through to the forefront. Hi Eva.  

Finn Balor v Kevin Owens- NXT Title Ladder Match

This was great. This match was completely different to the Womens match in almost every conceivable way, which was a great thing because it helped to completely differentiate the two Main Events. This is a truly shocking revelation, Kevin Owens is in fact a great heel. He played his role to absolute perfection last night. Balor is, well Balor- he's just great and combine the two and you never won't get a great match. As with the Womens match I do have one nitpick, that being the Powerbomb on Apron spot from Owens. In terms of moves that was about as protected as you can get, it even killed Cena to a point he had to miss a RAW- but Balor got up after it in about 20 Seconds and practically ran up a Ladder completely no-selling it. I know that further establishes "The Demon" as an unstoppable force, but it did annoy me a bit. But overall this was just a brutal match and a perfect way to presumably end Owens' run in NXT. 

This wasn't the best event of the year, it wasn't even the best Takeover of the year- which for me was Rival. That's not to say this wasn't great, but Rival had a much better Undercard, through no fault of anyone, it's just a sad fact that with all of the injuries the NXT Roster has been quite thin. However, because of the size of this for a Takeover it was such a landmark event when it comes to NXT and it's progression that it may well be the most historic of any of the Takeover's we've had so far. 

Thanks for reading as always, as said right at the start- this was only Night One. If you haven't already check out my Predictions for Summerslam (http://t.co/AB7Y72DgrG) and of course I hope you come back tomorrow for the Summerslam Review tomorrow. In the mean time I hope you'll join me on Twitter tonight for the Summerslam coverage and let's hope we see a great show two nights in a row. Thanks again for reading, and let's all remember despite Finn Balor's "Demon" this is still Entrance of the Year by a clear margin.