Archive for the ‘wrestling’ Category

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Back from Wrestlemania 26

Saturday, April 10th, 2010

I spend 9 great days in the US to see Wrestlemania in Phoenix, plus a side trip to Las Vegas. A very eventuful week which included

  • Meeting and getting autographs of several of the wrestlers
  • Pure luck of being sat next to a kind gentleman who works for WWE who got our nosebleed seats upgraded for free
  • Meeting Jack Swagger at Skyharbor airport, en route to his first championship later that night at Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas
  • Lots and lots of eating

That last point is a killer – I’ve put on 7 pounds in 9 days, when I was a bit of a porker to begin with. I think fate is having a laugh with me since one of my most recent clients offers gastric balloon treatment. For now, I’ll stick with the eating healthy and maybe even leaving my desk once in a while

Posted in holidays, travel, wrestling | No Comments »

WWE Raw at the O2 Arena

Tuesday, April 15th, 2008

…was pretty good

Yesterday marked the 10th time I’ve seen WWE wrestling live. Pro wrestling is my guilty pleasure, though at least I’m not convinced it’s real unlike the moron sat behind me last night. Also, I noted a surprising amount of suited-and-booted Wharfers enjoying the show sans children.

In case you’re wondering, which you probably aren’t, these are the shows I’ve seen. Note that there is no Wrestlemania on this list. One day…

29 September 1992 – NEC, Birmingham (house show)
5 December 1993 – Cardiff International Arena (house show)
27 November 1996 – London Arena (house show)
6 December 1998 – London Arena (Capital Carnage pay-per-view)
8 October 2004 – Wembley Arena (Raw house show)
11 October 2004 – Manchester Evening News Arena (Raw taping)
25 April 2005 – NEC, Birmingham (Raw taping)
21 April 2006 – Wembley Arena (Raw taping)
22 April 2006 – Wembley Arena (Smackdown taping)
14 April 2008 – O2 Arena, London (Raw taping)

Posted in wrestling | 3 Comments »

Those Were The Days

Monday, January 29th, 2007

As I write this, it’s gone 2 in the morning and I’m watching the WWE Royal Rumble live. (The first wrestling pay per view I’ve managed to see live in 5 years*)

Suddenly I’m a teenager again. I’m getting the feeling of “shit, I really shouldn’t watch this show until the end, I have school tomorrow”.

* Yes I know I saw Survivor Series 2003 on the night at Reef’s house, but with the constant Sky+ pausing of the action for fag breaks, bog breaks, munchies breaks, the cumulative effect was that I was watching the show on a 2 hours delay, so it doesn’t count :p

Posted in tv, wrestling | No Comments »

Something that pisses me off

Tuesday, October 3rd, 2006

“You watch WWF wrestling? You do realise it’s fake, right?”

Oh no, my world is crumbling around me. All that I held true and dear is a fraud!

But seriously…

I really can’t stand the condescending stock response that certain people have when they discover that I enjoy watching wrestling on TV. Do they actually think I believe it’s real? If someone tells you they watch Coronation Street, you wouldn’t say to them “You do realise that it’s fake, right? Yeah, filmed in Manchester. Just a TV show.” So, why is it acceptable to be such a prick about pro wrestling?

At this point someone launches the second stock response, which is “It’s just a load of greased-up men in their underwear. Are you gay?” or words to that effect. Yeah, I’m a raving homo. Just ask my fiancee.

Gah! I’ll stop ranting now as this really makes my blood boil. Makes me want to grab a steel chair and hit them over the head, such that they bleed everywhere. (Because, you know, all the blood in wrestling is fake. Blood capsules, yeah. And the chairs are made of rubber.)

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WWE Raw was quality

Saturday, April 22nd, 2006

Been busy recently with various websites, visits to the in-laws and pressing deadlines at work.

WWE Raw last night at Wembley was fucking SWEET! Managed to get 3rd row tickets right next to the aisle where the performers entered the arena. Everyone, even the seemingly small guys, are enormous. The women, by comparison, seem diddy. Apart from their surgically augmented chests. Which were appropriately massive and static. Sadly, I was busted by my Missus for shamelessly ogling the girls. This behaviour usually passes under the radar, but unfortunately for me my slack-jawed staring was projected onto a massive screen behind me, much to the amusement of the women in attendance who weren’t fixated on the totty in the ring.

Going to see WWE Smackdown tonight, but having checked the seats out last night I know they aren’t as good. They’re still excellent, mind you.

Full report soon.

Posted in london, wrestling | No Comments »

Wrestlemania wasn’t worth the wait

Friday, April 7th, 2006

Edge v Mick FoleyI managed to escape April Fool’s Day without being pranked, thankfully. I was, however, amused to hear that a radio station near my parents (and by “a radio station”, you know I really mean “the radio station”) had broadcast an announcement that people were panning for gold in a stream behind a pub in Llangennech. Brilliant.

The open day on Monday was an exhausting affair. Rather than doing anything particularly noteworthy, I had to lug tables, chairs and assorted equipment up and down stairs and in lifts. In the process, I nearly tipped over several hundred grands-worth of scanning machine. Close call. I got home at about 9 and slept for nearly half a day…

I had restrained myself and did not read the Wrestlemania results in anticipation of watching the event on Tuesday evening. I shouldn’t have bothered – some shoddy (and not at all crowd-pleasing) outcomes really ruined the experience, and helped me easily knock on the head any notion of flying to Detroit next year to watch Wrestlemania 23 at Ford Field…

For the record, Louise and I scored evenly when it came to our predictions. 6 out of 12.

All of this isn’t to say that the show didn’t have it’s moments, particularly the over-the-top entrances and the stuntwork. In fact, the Edge-Mick Foley match made for uncomfortable viewing, given the obvious real pain that their stunts were inflicting. The accompanying photo is of Edge rugby tackling Mick Foley through a flaming table to seal his victory. Edge (the one not wearing a layer of clothes for protection, no less) had been dropped in a pile of drawing pins moments before. Other highlights of the match included both men visibly drawing blood on camera, and Edge’s missus getting twatted in the lip with a stray coil of barbed wire (then bleeding all over herself). Clearly, they are all pussies and just know how to fall.

Posted in fun, work, wrestling | No Comments »

Weekend plans buggered up

Thursday, March 30th, 2006

Quality Guaranteed (or something)I had been very much looking forward to Sunday evening, where I was supposed to watching Wrestlemania at Belushi’s in Camden. Unfortunately, Sky are being rubbish and not letting pubs show it. Very embarrassing, having only just managed to convince some of my friends to tag along.

My missus is getting very smug that recently she has been able to predict the outcomes of all the matches and storylines better than me – a lifelong wrestling fan. (Yes, we know it’s scripted, but we don’t script it.)

Therefore, there are a wealth of domestic bragging rights riding on our respective predictions for Wrestlemania. She is going with: HHH, Rey Mysterio, Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, Ric Flair, Trish Stratus, Torrie Wilson, Mick Foley, Chris Benoit, Kane & Big Show, Boogeyman. I must concede that she has made some wise choices. However, I go with: HHH, Rey Mysterio, Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, Ric Flair, Mickie James, Candice, Edge, Chris Benoit, Chris Masters & Carlito, Boogeyman. And I will be right.

Monday is going to be a 9am – 8pm extravaganza at work schmoozing with various important persons at the official opening of the Centre for Medical Image Computing. I have to dress nice and show people around. At least now I won’t be doing it having only had about an hours sleep. And have (comparatively) ample time to shoehorn myself into my ill-fitting smart clothes, now I’ve become a fat bastard.

So, I’ve been telling anyone who’ll listen about the marvels of Filmnight’s Easter sale. They’ve been selling single DVDs at £2.95 and box sets for £9.95. Nothing to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ than a DVD sale. I ordered a few DVDs. Which explains why my postman delivered 29 parcels today. And likely another 29 tomorrow. And the day after that.

Oh, and my golf clubs arrived yesterday. Yeah.

I believe it was Marek who once ranted how he despises sites / sales pages which have those shitty gold “100% satisfaction guaranteed” icons. I thought I’d share one with you here (above…) God knows I saw enough of them over the weekend… I was working for a client who insisted on having one of those awful single sales pages cuttered with too many H1 tags and prices ending in 7. Didn’t listen to a single word of design advice I had to offer, but at least he paid.

Posted in design, london, web design, wrestling | No Comments »

Yeah, but they know how to fall…

Tuesday, March 21st, 2006

check out photo 6 in particular. Ouch.

Posted in wrestling | No Comments »

Clever, puntastic title goes here

Thursday, February 23rd, 2006

I have to give a presentation tomorrow, which I am not looking forward to. It’s all about this database I’m supposed to be implementing. Except I haven’t yet. So I’m hastily throwing together some mock-ups in preparation, then making a powerpoint (and working out just what I’m going to say) this evening.

Guns N’ Roses (my favourite band ever, if you’ve never noticed) are going back on tour this summer. I notice that they’re currently scheduled to be playing in Dublin on June 9th, and at the Download festival in Derby on June 11th. I’m crossing my fingers and hoping that they schedule a London gig in-between, which would also happen to be my birthday. ROCK!

My tickets for the WWE Smackdown taping at Wembley Arena arrived yesterday – 11th row! Woooo! (Tumbleweed rolls by). Speaking of Wembley, just how fucking stupid are Paddy Power (the bookmakers)? They start taking bets on whether or not Wembley Stadium will be finished in time for the FA Cup, and what happens? A steady stream of men in hard-hats in the Wembley area place huge sums of money against it. Oh, and they don’t receive a SINGLE BET on it being completed on time. And they’re paying up! Excellent job, Paddy Power. By the way, I have some magic beans for sale, if you’re interested…

Can’t wait for the weekend. 48 hours free of work and stress. Looking forward to the boxing on Saturday, though I fear the Skelton-Williams match will descend into a shitty hold-and-grab contest. On Sunday my friend Tom is visiting to watch the Wales-Ireland game. Should be a good’un.

Posted in boxing, music, rugby, wales, work, wrestling | No Comments »

Bret Hart

Monday, January 30th, 2006

Words fail me. Bret Hart

Posted in london, wrestling | No Comments »

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