#laura bailey why was that the thing the left your mouth

[ria-the-camel]

just a normal thing to ask to your good goat pal

[suffering-and-happy-about-it]

Nicole's Rambling: The Avengers Problem (for PS4)

Let's start with the usual chanting: ❗this is my opinion, it's biased as hell (since I grew up with Marvel comic books and movies) and you don't have to agree❗

I was wondering why Avengers game gets so hated... So I took a look and I played it myself. Let’s have a look.

SPOILERS AHEAD

First off: the game isn't in any way horribly bad. It's just a button smasher with a story that has its good and bad beats. It's not memorable at all, but it could've gone way more downhill in my opinion.

At the start of the game, you meet the mighty Avengers through child fan's eyes - it's pure fanservice and let's be honest, it's dope. It was sweet, but pretty dragged, to be honest. I really didn't need to play as all five Avengers (HAWKEYE IS MISSING, AGAIN) in the first hour of the game, but sure, why not?

For the most part, you see the squad through Kamala Khan's eyes. For those who might have not a clue who the hell Kamala is; I am not wondering about why you don't know who the hell she is. She's a Marvel heroine who outed in 2013 and who will have her own spinoff on Disney+.

And again, Ms Marvel is fine, but not memorable at all. I've never, until this day, met anyone who would say that 'Ms Marvel is my favourite superhero'. I was halfway through the game before I even realized it's Ms Marvel - AFTER SHE PULLED HER DAMN COSTUME OUT. That can be due to my utter ignorance or because I heard of her so little that I can count it on my fingers. In all honesty, I loved Kamala as the story progressed, the gal's not bad at all - but as the whole game, she had good and bad beats. There were times where I wished to play as Iron Man and the game forced me to play as her... Whatever.

Let's look at the three problems I have with this game and three positives I found in the game:

0. (Technically zero since it's a personal problem of mine) The soundtrack and the voice actors:

By any means, I am not trying to say they should hire RDJ for the role of Iron Man and Mark Ruffalo for the role of Banner... But it was so hard to distinguish the voice of Nolan North (For example: Nathan Drake x Iron Man) and Troy Baker (Samuel Drake x Bruce Banner). For me, as for a PS4 gamer, it's annoying to hear the same voices again and again in every game I am genuinely excited about (Idk how Xbox players are familiar with them). Of course, there's even Laura Bailey as the Black Widow; I feel like these are the three only people who do voice acting for games these days and sure, I should've seen that coming.

Side note: Nolan North is not a good fit for Iron Man in the slightest in my opinion, but if you like his Iron Man, that's cool as well!

The soundtrack... M A N, the soundtrack. When I heard Marvel gave a green light to the Avengers game, I expected to hear at least the iconic Alan Silvestri's 'The Avengers'. Problem with this is simple: Marvel had spoiled its consumers with good and memorable soundtracks (don't you tell me you don't remember as they all gathered for the first time). Since it was Marvel itself who gave the green light for this project, which was supposed to be based loosely on the movies' and comic book success, I hoped to get all of it.

It's not Iron Man when AC/DC song isn't playing in the background as he flies through a canyon for his life. I mean, Iron Maiden are fine; but come on. COME ON. It's not the same. It's not the Avengers (WITHOUT HAWKEYE) without their significant theme.

1. IT. BUGS. ALL. THE. TIME and the combat is incredibly repetitive:

When I was little, I was a rage gamer. I could barely play Crash Bandicoot or Rayman without losing my cool. Since then, I grew up, skilled and etc. I try not to rage when playing games since it's simply not worth it.

But when you're replaying a boring mission for the tenth part and you're almost over and SUDDENLY, the game bugs out and you lose control over the character (it starts running in circles, etc.) it sucks shit. And don't let me start on the minor bugs. Like when you don't cross the platform by one pixel and the game doesn't let you make combos when you're in the air and bug into a tree when you bug into a wall, a rock, fucking nothing... Bruh. It was released in August, shouldn't these bugs be fixed by now? The game is fucking broken, hoes. It barely feels like a game ready to launch at times.

When you're so lucky that you don't bug out in the middle of doing something, the combat... It isn't bad. It's not terrible, but the Avengers deserved something better. It didn't deserve mediocre combat that repeats itself in every level. Once you find yourself good combo, you're done for. You can use it to finish the game if you will.

2. There's too many missions, too much information and too much things player has to understand if he wants to play the game properly:

Okay, this might seem to be a little confusing; I didn't understand the game system at all when I first ran it on my PS4. There's story missions, HARM training sessions, daily missions for particular heroes, faction missions (SHIELD, Pym, Stark, etc.) and character-side-story missions, and a lot more.

Trust me, it doesn't sound that hard, but once you open the map menu for yourself... Oh boy, that's a different story. And if it only was the map menu. The inventory and such aren't too collected all together either. Before you can safely tell what is what, it will take you at least a whole afternoon. Also, the fact that game just spills it on you just like that, one thing after another, it doesn't help the overall feel.

On top of that, there are MULTIPLE currencies in the game; some even involve microtransaction. It mostly is involving the customization of the Avengers, so it's not THAT big of a deal; you can get one currency by collecting boxes and stuff, but it takes ages before you can buy one single thingy.

Also, if you would like to get stuff (very useful stuff) from factions (SHIELD and Pym mainly), you have to do in-factions daily quests, which usually require to do a certain amount of things as a particular hero (you can do some quests with Ms Marvel only, some with Black Widow, it usually involves the damage dealt while playing as a character etc.). And if you forget to fetch these minies? Well, no faction points for you, bucko.

The system feels overall too complicated in the begging and even after finishing the game, I am not certain by some.

3. The gameplay of the one and only... Natasha Romanov, and the entirety of Steve Rogers:

Right off the bat: IT. SUCKS. SHIT.

This was your shot in opening our mouths and showing why Black Widow BELONGS to the Avengers in the first place. Like, sure, storywise you proved the point, but gameplaywise... That's a different story.

Out of the bunch, Natasha feels the slowest, most clumsy and overall not too pleasant to play as. Mainly is because her attacks do... Nothing. The gun reloading is basically constant when I have to put it simply and it takes about 3-5 seconds for her to even reload; which can be a matter of life and death inside the game. Sure, she can make herself invisible; but that's like... It. It's not that it would be suffering when you are forced to play as Nat... But not a pleasant experience either.

On the other hand, maybe it's just me. I have friends who told me the same about her gameplay, but maybe there's someone who enjoys the Black Widow. It's my personal with the entirety of the gameplay.

Steve, on the other hand, isn't hard to play as. It's just fucking boring. At the start of the game, I couldn't wait to play as Steve's character. He seemed to be awesome - Jesus fuck, how could I be so wrong? As I said, he's incredibly boring and dry, his skills would do the same amount of work if they even weren't there. I think that Rogers is there just for the shock value (as a value that doesn't even work in the slightest) and nothing more.

As you learn to do the tricks and combos with them, it gets slightly better and skill tree and equipment upgrades can help almost unnoticeable... But really, Steve and Natasha are the absolute worst.

Now the reasons why the game convinced me it isn't a hot mess as I initially thought:

1. The characters, dynamics, chemistry and the overall story:

Sure, it is mainly a basic plotline, a cookie-cutter one, full of cliché - Avengers have to regroup after a traumatic event and you're the one who has to find them and bring them together.

Yet it is quite interesting; the game leads you to believe that Steve Rogers is dead after an event called the 'A-Day' (which you won't believe even if the game does the hardest to make you to, constantly remaining you that 'Oh boy, Cap died, did you know that?') and the Avengers had left to exile because they were considered as big bad for the people and the country. They have their emotional baggage and the banter between Banner and Stark (though it ends too soon), is just the thing that makes them human and relatable.

Even the villains are quite compelling; not like ultra super convincing, but the game can turn around when you least expect it to; which is definitely a huge plus.

The characters were done GOOD. The dialogues are full of personality and jokes you'd expect from each one of them; Banner is a wallflower cutie, Tony fishes for compliments all the time, Natasha is the big independent woman she always was and Thor? CHEF'S KISS, I swear. It hits the Shakespearean vibe perfectly and at the same time, he still is charming and quite funny to hang around.

Every time you can listen to a chit-chat between two characters, it is a great pleasure for you as a Marvel fan. Also, I need to say that regardless of my personal issue with the dub (regarding Tony and Bruce; since they're the people you spend most of your time with), the dialogues for these two characters are on point without a doubt. And I kinda grew fond of the in-game Bruce Banner throughout the course of the game, to be honest.

There are references, jokes, inside jokes, one-liners... The dialogue was done amazingly and that's a huge   T H A N K   Y O U  to the developers.

2. The mind-blowing gameplay of... Tony Stark and Thor and AI, while not being too bright, getting stronger as you do:

In what the Natasha gameplay lacks, these two give you exactly what would you expect and way, way more than you'd ask for. Again, it mainly reflects the personal gameplay preferences of the player; let me tell you why I think these gameplays are, in my opinion, the best.

a) Tony's gadgets and weaponry: The suit itself is bloody brilliant. Once you master the ability to attack and fly at the same time, you have the moments when you can not only feel like Iron Man - but really be Iron Man. It's not even that your gameplay would suddenly become 10x easier; it significantly becomes funnier.

b) Thor's heavy fist-to-fist and Mjolnir preferences: the Mjolnir is bloody brilliant as well. Thor's combat is mainly physically based, but when you want to throw the hammer around like the madman you are, you can suit yourself. You can use the lightning if you please and you can fly if this style of combat suits you. It's all in your hands. Thor can take quite a bit of damage, which is significantly supporting you in this style. If you accidentally drop Mjolnir? Well, call it back and smash them!

Also, regarding the AI... As I said, they're certainly not the brightest sparks in the flame; yet thanks to the power getting bigger as you level up and continue with your story and a huge variety of enemies - from turrets to flying men with flamethrowers. It is just button smasher, but a pleasing one in this regard, I must say.

3. The fanservice to comic book fans, movie fans and loyalty to the property:

As one IGN review once said... "This game makes you feel like Batman." And this game more or less accomplished it as well, but diluted and stripped down. Of course, in no way I can compare this to the masterpiece to the Arkham saga; these games are brilliant.

But there are moments when the game can just drag you inside the story and tell you: "You're Iron Man now, boss. It's in your hands." And it's there. I think the only issue was that the team of devs just took too big of a bite. I wouldn't mind stand-alone titles emerging into one and big Avengers game. That would be fun as well and I would spend my time with it gladly.

To end it: it's a mess, but a good mess you might like. If I was to rate it, would be 5.1/10 Wait until it is on sale, don't rush it. I'm overall disappointed and I most likely will forget I have ever played it.

[just-dreaming-marvel]

CHAPTER EIGHT - SAFE HOUSE

LEGACY: A Tony Stark Daughter Story

MASTERLIST

< previous

Word Length: 900ish

Summary: Clint takes the Team to a safe house that holds a surprise no one saw coming. Well, except one.

~~~

I was confused when we landed and the ramp lowered. We were in some country side, in front of the only house that appeared to be around for miles. We followed Clint towards the house. 

“What is this place?” Thor asked.

“A safe house?” Tony questioned. He kept a hand on my back, keeping me near him just in case.

“Let’s hope,” I whispered.

Clint opened the door and him and Nat walked inside. The rest of us carefully followed.

“Honey?” Clint called. “I’m home.” Honey? A pregnant woman came out of the kitchen. She was a bit surprised, but who wouldn’t be? The Avengers just walked through her front door. Plus, we were just as surprised as she was. “Hi. Company. Sorry I didn’t call ahead.” They walked towards each other and wrapped their arms around each other.

“Hey,” The woman greeted before they kissed. We all watched with confused expressions. 

“This is an agent of some kind,” Tony said, looking at Thor. 

“Gentlemen, Bailey, this is Laura,” Clint introduced. He left out Nat. Did Nat already known about this? What a minute, of course she did. It’s Nat, a super spy, for one and, for another, they’re best friends.

“I know all of your names.” She stated. We all looked at each other and then back at her awkwardly. I turned to the stairs when I heard footsteps. 

“Ooh, incoming,” Clint sounded excited.

“Dad!” The little girl squealed and Clint ran and picked her up. 

“Hi sweetheart!” He kissed the top of the little boys forehead who had soon up just after the little girl. “Hey, buddy! How you guys doing?” We watched in surprise.

“These are… smaller agents,” Tony stated.

“Oh my goodness!” Clint exclaimed.

“Did you bring Auntie Nat?” The girl asked. 

“Why don’t you hug her and find out?” Nat said. The little girl rushed over to Nat who picked her up.

“Sorry for barging in on you,” Steve apologized. Oh Steve, ever the gentleman. 

“Yeah,” Tony started. “We would have called ahead, but we were busy having no idea that you existed.” I gently shoved Tony. He stared at me wide eyed and mouthed ‘what’. 

“Yeah, well, Fury helped me set this up when I joined. He kept it off of SHIELD’s files, I’d like to keep it that way. I figure it’s a good place to lay low.” Clint explained.

“Honey,” Laura said, “I missed you.”

Nat walked up to Laura and gently put her hand on her pregnant stomach. “How’s little Natasha, huh?”

“She’s… Nathaniel.” Laura said.

Nat leans in to the stomach. “Traitor.” 

I smirked. A shooting pain entered my head and I squeezed my eyes closed. I saw women dancing together. The room and the clothes of the people looked similar to Asgard, or from what Thor had told me about it. I grabbed my head and let a little whimper escape through my lips. I felt a hand on my back and heard footsteps exiting the room. I opened my eyes to see Thor walking out of the house. I took slow, deep breaths in and out. 

“Thor.” Steve called, following after him.

“What’s wrong?” Tony whispered to me. 

“It’s nothing,” I whispered back. “I’m fine.” 

Tony gave me a look. The look that he gives me when he knows that I’m lying and he’s waiting for the truth. Before he or I could say anything else, Laura began talking.

“You guys should get cleaned up. There’s showers upstairs,” she informed us, “And I’ll lay out some clothes for you.”

We nodded and all walked off. I quickly slipped passed Tony and went outside onto the porch. I walked over to the railing, grabbed ahold of it, and leaned into it. What was happening? Am I seeing visions? Reading minds? Is this a part of what Ultron was talking about? I heard the door open and close behind me.

“Bailey, right?” Laura’s voice wondered from behind me. I nodded. She came up next to me and glanced at me from the side. “What are you doing all alone out here?”

“I just needed to clear my head. A lot’s happened the past few days… Just trying to think it all through.”

“I understand. Clint has to do that a lot too.”

I let out a little chuckle. “You know, I knew he was hiding something from the team. I just didn’t want to bug him about it, turns out that was a good call.”

“Yeah. I kind of feel bad about it. He told me about you, you should have known about us.”

“Clint doesn’t owe me anything. He’s lucky to be able to separate his family life from his superhero life.”

“It’s not as easy as it sounds. But I think you know that.” I nodded in response and stared off into the fields. “If you need something to take your mind off everything, Bailey, there’s plenty of broken things to fix in the barn.” I followed her finger as she pointed to the old barn a little ways from the house.

“Okay,” I nodded. “Thanks.” I started making my way to the barn.

“I’ll tell Tony that you’re showering and taking a nap.”

“Thanks Laura.”

“Let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you, Bailey.”

“I will.” 

next >

[whalohs]

i’ve put the entire conversation off for long enough. we’re going to talk about nott, her humor, and episode 50. i’ve seen a lot of really good posts the last few weeks that put it in ways i never could!! but this episode was a little new in terms of what sam did at the table, and i want to yell somewhere. so here we go. warning for length.

as always, my ask box & messages are wide open if you wanna talk about nonsense.

preface: a theory i like to subscribe to is something laura bailey taught me: no one can really be ‘out of character’ in fiction -- no person can always act according to expectations, so who’s to say that characters should? half the fun of fiction, especially in d&d, is exploring character traits and plots that you don’t normally see in reality. and if your character can be a little more human while doing so, then that makes your story that much better!

( what’s important is providing justification for why they acted the way they did; things start getting muddy when you do whatever you want without being able to explain yourself after word, imo!! )

“j weren’t you going to talk about nott” look this was important

so, here are some ways nott was hilarious this ep: 

@ fjord: “... but my husband. we spent 3 months searching for your backstory”

@ caleb: “shut up” / “fuck you” / [ jokingly ] “your people did this”

@ spurt: “YES, MOMMY”

i’m still not sure if this episode was real, i’m forgetting half of it.

but while sam’s good at making light of heavy, tense situations with some really pointed humor that still manages to get us to laugh ( which i think helped all the jokes land ), nott’s humor is different.

her humor plays up how much of a goblin she is, how strange she is, how much she likes stealing or doesn’t like water or how “out of touch” she is with society in exandria ( eating babies, her relationship advice, etc ). these are quintessential nott the brave humor material, and while it’s still funny because there’s a new twist on it each episode, there’s definitely a pattern to it.

this isn’t to say that she lies back and takes every insult hurled at her, but how she tends to joke about herself, ftr!

also note how self-deprecating her humor is. i didn’t really notice until i started throwing this post together, but oh boy.

and then, episode 50 happened. take a second to read my list of nott jokes this episode, then come back.

her jokes were still made her at her expense / their current situation. but ( starting with “your people did this” to caleb ) this episode her jokes... stopped blaming herself? she started calling people out in ways that weren’t insulting, but were still much more bold than nott normally is. 

like she made a mother joke literally after telling the entire party that she had a son. 

i don’t know about you but i was absolutely appalled and losing it when she used “your people did this” on caleb again, or when she pretty much called fjord out the moment he jokingly asked to turn back. like holy shit nott?! you’re fuckin savage?!

she really lightened what could have been a tense mood instead of actively worrying about yeza ( having jester send a message every night probably helped! ). but her humor wasn’t about how much of a goblin she was, but instead it started pointing at the people in her party. 

like, guys, she told caleb to shut up. she thinks caleb is the leader. but she told him to shut his mouth!!! 

i love it, i love this.

was sam suddenly shitposting a lot more often? i mean, sure that could be it, but again i subscribe to the theory that being “out of character” isn’t... really a thing. the beauty of d&d is that everyone has to be constantly “on”, all the time! and while no one can do that perfectly for 4-5 hours straight every week without a script, i do love linking those grey areas back to big character moments.

so why did she do this?

i don’t think this is a sudden boost in nott’s confidence. it’s no secret she’s particularly happy with who she is now. she hasn’t suddenly accepted her goblin body over the course of 3 episodes. 

so, what is it? 

think about how much nott has had to tell the party. in tal’s words - the riegel shoe has dropped. the biggest part of nott’s backstory has been revealed to us, and nott doesn’t have much left to hide anymore. this is it. this is her big secret, the reason she needs caleb, why she hates goblins. 

this isn’t to say everything is out there, because that’s something only sam and matt would know! but i do think her big picture is out there.

and with so little left to lose around the mighty nein, she almost has ... no choice but to get comfortable? she’s stuck with these people, who know why she’s a goblin, in a tunnel that goes straight into “enemy territory” in a couple of weeks. to rescue her husband. they’ve made it extremely clear they’re not leaving her despite all that’s on the line. 

i don’t know if i’d go as far as to say this is nott’s “real” humor? but i do think it is a result of her becoming more comfortable with everyone else.

good old physical proximity coupled with some serious heart-to-heart, y’all.

for the record, i think there’s a difference between caring for the people around you ( which nott is good at ) and being comfortable around them ( which nott really started leaning into this episode ). it’s like how the closer you get with someone, the more you can push your boundaries on humor. 

tl;dr what i’m trying to say is if nott wasn’t ride or die before, she’s definitely ride or die now. she trusts these people with the biggest secret she’s carried with her, and she really would want no one else to rescue her husband with her. she’s more comfortable with the mighty nein than she ever has been, and i’m so happy!!!

am i reading way too much into stupid jokes, i sure fuckin am.

[circuslollipop]

Jester and Molly

send me a character:

Mollymauk:

favorite thing about them:

oooh, that’s difficult. he’s one of those characters i love so much but it can be difficult to pinpoint exactly why? i do love his attitude, though--definitely leaves an impression on people. certainly left an impression on me! i always find myself smiling or laughing when watching his (lighthearted) scenes. the salty pete moment from episode 21 is underrated tbh.

least favorite thing about them:

the fact that we lost him so early like??? i always say i’d like to get him back and you can find me reblogging ‘molly is fine’ posts but in reality, i know we’re probably not gonna get him back, which is sad to me bc all that character development we could’ve had, all the growth...man, i really really wish he could’ve stuck around (altho no, i do NOT want caduceus to leave!).

favorite line:

 “Mollymauk Tealeaf, Molly to my friends, and we are friends now, aren’t we?”

brOTP:

JESTER. also Beau. kinda have a taz-esque au going where the party is just the three of them. haven’t developed it much but i know it’s gonna be chaotic af. also Yasha how could i forget Yasha???

OTP:

i ship him w a few characters, but none of those ships are particularly strong in my mind so i’ll just go with Molly/going on adventures and getting into hijinks with his friends whom he loves

nOTP:

ig Molly/any of the lesbian characters?

random headcanon:

he’s allergic to citrus but doesn’t know and thinks your mouth is supposed to feel all tingly like that when you eat an orange (and he enjoys it). also modern!Molly and good omens!Molly can’t drive

unpopular opinion:

i actually kind of really enjoy his petty streak? he can be a lil shit sometimes and i love him. hell, if he were perfectly kind all the time i might not love him so much

song i associate with them:

a lot?? mostly nightwish and danny elfman songs (my music taste is just Like That honestly), but my favorite would probably be Dead Man’s Party by oingo boingo

favorite picture of them:

probably this art i drew recently (heck; ive got it as my icon pretty much everywhere)

Jester:

favorite thing about them:

also hard to pinpoint? what an absolute CUTIE though--i love how she’s an adorable, sweet ball of pure joy but at the same time, an absolute trickster who WILL play a prank on you at some point. but also she’s super strong and she loves her friends so goddamn much!!! honestly, laura bailey crafted a legend.

least favorite thing about them:

i have nothing??? at all?? to say???? honestly there’s nothing i don’t like about her

favorite line:

 “Oh, you know, I’m just a little blue tiefling, that’s all!”

brOTP:

MOLLY.

OTP:

tbh i ship her with p much everyone in the m9 except for Nott and Caduceus, but my favorite Jester ship is definitely with Beau.

nOTP:

don’t think i have any?? Jester is honestly the most shippable character in the show

random headcanon:

modern!Jester has lots of social media and has a good amount of followers on all of her accounts

unpopular opinion:

this isn’t really unpopular but i have seen people push back against it so i will say this: JESTER LIKES LADIES!!!!!

song i associate with them:

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. tbh, i wanna make an entire 80′s playlist for Jester

favorite picture of them:

this sketch i made of her

thanks for sending!!

[grapsandclaps]

GRAPS AND CLAPS REVIEWS - PROGRESS WRESTLING CHAPTER 77 "PUMPKIN SPICE PROGRESS".

Hello and welcome everyone to this edition of Graps and Claps, this time taking me to Camden for PROGRESS Wrestling's Chapter 77 'Pumpkin Spice Progress with the huge main event between PROGRESS champion Walter and the SSS16 Winner for 2018 - Zack Sabre Jr. which was a mouth watering prospect on paper and one I personally couldn't wait for as in a surprise I have never seen this match live or on the box which is rare as rocking horse shit in this day and age.

As ever with a trip to London it was a 9 am bus journey to Manchester to catch the 1035 am train to London Euston, thankfully unlike last week's journey to Leeds this went without a hitch and also the happiness of finding a stray £1 coin on a seat on the top deck of the bus - rich beyond my wildest dreams folks. A distinct lack of people from up north made the trip to London for this show, meaning I was drinking on my own in The Black Heart until London friend Steve came in, so I had a good chin wag about the action upcoming and what other stuff had been going on in the world in the past week. Only two pints in here for me both from Amundsen Brewery with the following - 6.5% Apocalyptic Thunder Juice IPA (£6.60) which was really juicy in taste, another winner in the book was a Lorita Pale Ale (£5.40), if you spot any drinks from this brewery make sure you check them out.

Drinks done, it was time to get into the Ballroom and take my position up on the raised perch with Athers for the first time (a great viewing spot if you can get up there early enough). The Ballroom in the time since I last came for the 1978 show has grown a big screen where the sound booth once resided, another happening is a change in the beer lines available with a Sharp's Brewery IPA, Spaten and Franziker Weissbier taking pride of place on the bar which is a welcome move away from the usual Camden Pale. So with that all said let's get into what went down on this cold Sunday afternoon!

First up we had pre-show action with the lesser seen Kyle Ashmore taking on JJ Lynch who I found out ply's his trade in Battle Pro Wrestling down south. Opening part of this contest was the audience shouting out that Ashmore had a resemblance for some reason to Uncle Albert of Only Fools and Horses fame, plus yes it was me who started the 'Baldy Baldy' chant to absolute silence as ever from the London crowd who don't do singing like they used to (Thanks to the Taffs for trying to join in). JJ Lynch impressed me in this first look at him as he hit a headbutt to Ashmore to stun him but Ashmore rolled out of the ring. Back in the ring Lynch hit a Superkick for a 2 count but that was as good as it got for Lynch as Ashmore hit a big JOHN WOO! and then a elevated back cracker to Lynch for the 3 count to end a tidy pre-show match and maybe the best Pre-show match in ages.

After the opening messages from Jim Smallman, we started off with the main card and a change to the advertised match up as Tyler Bate wasn't fit to compete after picking up an injury at Fight Club Pro at the weekend. Instead we had one half of the fearsome Ringkampf duo, Timothy Thatcher taking on a repackaged version of Pastor William Eaver who is now going by the name of 'Present' William Eaver - the basis of this character is that of a upmarket street preacher (A touch of the Bray Wyatt's here) coming out saying that 'Today is the Day' which I initially thought of a great song Eaver should come out to - go and check on Youtube for the Sean Maguire hit 'Today's the Day' which was a popular tune in the 90's.

Anyways on to the match, Timo hit a big T-Bone Suplex and followed up with a Judo throw slam for a 2 to Eaver. Eaver though eventually got the grasps of things as he beatdown Thatcher in the corner leading to Timo to hulk up by slapping the taste out of Eaver's mouth but Eaver retaliated with a Uranage Backbreaker to stun Tim. Tim though came back to hit an enziguri to the back of Eaver's head and then following up with an arm submission to get the tapout victory in around 10 minutes. Was what it was for an opener, even though it is early days Eaver's gimmick I can't say I was sold on it but time will tell for the Former PROGRESS Champion!

Second up was yes you guessed it PROGRESS Women's Division action with Isla Dawn taking on Millie McKenzie with the latter trying to build momentum after not being able to capture the title in the 3-way at Wembley, Even though this match was 6 minutes long, this was a really good match between two women who you will be certain to hear much more from in the future, Isla at one stage locked in a Dragon Sleeper to Millie that was until Millie managed to reach the ropes to break the hold, Millie though made a fightback hitting a couple of crazy back German suplexes to Dawn but as it looked like Millie was on her way to victory, Jinny and Laura Di Matteo made an unwelcome appearance to lay the boots to Dawn and Millie, that was until her Jinny's former House of Couture mates Nina Samuels and Charlie Morgan came down to fend them away making both Jinny and LDM to fall in the arms of Isla and Millie who hit stereo Germans to send them packing to the back.

Sadly no explanation yet to why the House of Couture split up but it will at least be good to see both Nina and Charlie Morgan at least get some wrestling time in PROGRESS instead of mooching around on the ring apron watching Jinny.

Third match was a PROGRESS Atlas Title Open Challenge match with the Champion Trent Seven offering anyone in the back the opportunity to take him on in his first defence of his newly won belt when he defeated Doug Williams at Wembley Arena. The person to take this opportunity was none other than the MCW Heavyweight Champion - Gino " Mr. Juicy" Gambino. Gambino was on the upside of things early on as he hit a couple of running splashes in the corner to Trent, but all that running left Gino with no juice in the tank which led to Trent passing Gino an inhaler only for Gambino to spray this in Trent's eyes (a really good inventive spot).

This temporary blindness for Trent led to Gino being on top for the next couple of minutes but Trent managed to fight Gino off with knife edge chops and a DDT for the two count. At a vertical base Gino flattened Trent and followed up with a big splash to get a two count, as it looked like Trent's reign was in trouble Trent somehow managed to hit a massive suplex to Gino - Christ Almighty! The big spots didn't end there as Juicy hit a Piledriver for a 2 count but that only awoke Trent who managed of all things hit a Burning Hammer to the 330 pound monster from Australia to get the 3 count to retain the Atlas Title - Excellent big lads action that I didn't have much expectation for but this was a BIG thumbs up from me.

Your first half Main Event was for the PROGRESS Tag Team titles with the first defence for Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher) taking on the Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson) and also the 17:35pm 198 bus service from Cardiff to London in the form of 'Flash Morgan Webster' and Bill Bailey doppelganger Wild Boar. Lots of green material on show here as the action got underway in the early feeling out process as the match built to a great crescendo with all three teams coming close on a number of occasions to winning the match. 

The Aussies hit a fidget spinner at one stage only to be dragged out of the ring by Gibson, but as teamwork was much needed in this match Gibson who had grabbed a stray chair he accidentally hit his own tag team partner James Drake to possibly plant the seeds for a break up which was hinted at on the USA tour a month or two ago. With the GYV's out of the way Webster was in the ring to hit headbutts to Aussie Open but this had no effect on them as Davis hit the 'Close Your Eyes and Count To Fuck' Piledriver of Doom and then Fletcher joined hit to hit the fidget spinner with Davis t0 end the 198's hopes of winning to end an all action tag match and end a really fun first half of action.

Back from the break we had Eddie Dennis interrupting an entrance by one of the people who pledged money to the Progress Documentary. Eddie who has some valid points, was unhappy at being left off the card despite beating Mark Andrews at Wembley and that he would cash in his No.1 contenders opportunity when he see fit. The crowd even though Eddie in hindsight is supposed to be a baddie, cheered a lot of what he was saying and in a way can you blame them, out of the current No.1 contenders I am certainly more intrigued to see how Eddie's story ends.

Talking of people from Eddie's past we came to a match between two wrestlers who both ended up on the losing side at Wembley Arena with the terrifying Paul Robinson taking on what seems perennial loser at the moment and in need of a freshen up Mark Andrews. In what was a rematch from Chapter 10 and the first Natural Progression Series, we got off to a great start in this match with both Andrews and Robbo hitting dives to the outside with the fans scrambling out of the way whenever Robbo was in the vicinity.

Back in the ring Andrews hit a reverse rana to Robinson for a two count, but as Andrews went up top to hit the Shooting Star Press he was unfortunately straddled by Robinson on the top rope leaving Robinson to hit a Huaracarana sending Andrews crashing to the mat leaving him prone for a Curb stomp from Robinson who duly pinned Andrews in around 10 minutes to get the win. Onwards and upwards for Robinson for now, for Andrews it is back to the drawing board once again to figure out - Who the real Mark Andrews is??

Semi Main time with a No.1 contenders match to the PROGRESS title with the usual faces in these No.1 contenders matches taking part in the form of Jimmy Havoc and Mark Haskins who both gained big wins at the Wembley Arena show, joining them in this three way was #CCK himself - Chris Brookes who last had an opportunity at the big belt at the turn of the year coming close to beating then Champion Chris Brookes (I'm not counting the 3 minutes Walter no contest in Hamburg). On reflection this was a good match, but for me a downgrade from what had followed before it, Jimmy Havoc was on his way to victory that was until Drew Parker came from out of nowhere to attack Jimmy from behind to take him out of the running by dragging his lifeless body up the ramp and through the curtain. With the odds drastically reduced for the remaining two folks in the ring, it was Mark Haskins who was the one get the victory on Brookes as he locked in the Sharpshooter Submission before leaning back to tap out Brookes in 14 minutes.

After the match Haskins got on the mic to proclaim that after all of the setbacks he was back on top of his game once again to hopefully take the PROGRESS World Title in the future, but I have a bad feeling that if he came up against Walter he would end up on the short end of things but we shall see if that materialises.

With the clock striking 7 p.m it was now time for your Main Event with the unstoppable force of WALTER taking on Zack Sabre Jr with the latter coming out to the Idles tune 'Mother' which was welcome relief away from the Casio Keyboard music which is around once again. My god what can be said about this match - duelling chants from the crowd with a 50/50 split in terms of who people wanted to win here, we had chop battles where at times Zack was trying to wind up Walter by saying that the chops were not having that great an effect on his body - at one stages ZSJ gave Walter the middle fingers which would be a death wish for anyone else but this is Zack Sabre Jr. we are talking about here.

Reversals galore by both men, as Zack tried to grab any stray body parts when Walter was on the floor or at a vertical base - Zack is just smooth as silk in this situation. At one stage though as the match reached fever pitch it looked like Walter was ready to tap to another deadly submission from the Technical Wizard but alas the Austrian managed to escape Zack's clutches when at coming up to 30 minutes in the contest Walter hit the 'Fire Thunder Driver' to Zack to end a breathless and enthralling contest to retain the PROGRESS World Title to send the Camden faithful excited at what they had just seen. In closing though on this match, in terms of PROGRESS matches of the year I would put this slightly above Bate vs Walter at Wembley so make sure you go and check this out once it hits the On Demand service in 5-7 Working Days *Terms and Conditions apply.

Wrestling done, it was time to get back on my way to Rochdale getting back in the 'Dale for Midnight to end another long weekend of japes on my travels. So with that said, I hope you have enjoyed reading this review and as ever any comments and feedback are welcome! Until then I will bid you farewell - BYE!!

@oggypart3

#grapsandclaps