#undercard and more"

[jupiterjunebug]

Theres something incredibly funny about TJP going "its fine that im not in the g1 because now I can focus all my energy on supporting my factionmates, especially Callum" and then he like. Went home and is the only member of his faction not present. Like, did you mean sending them motivational texts, kapitan?

[danwhobrowses]

AEW/ROH - Predicting the Next Champions

Okay so Collision is in the books and I totally didn't forget to do one of these after Jade dropped the title at DoN XD

Including ROH but unlike my past ones just gonna make it more brief, also no FTW title because it's not official, just a small bit of fun too. Also just to not go too into fan booking I'm only using people currently hired by AEW, so no Kota Ibushi.

Spoilers for AEW Collision's debut just in case (18th June 23)

AEW World Championship (MJF) Next Champion: Eddie Kingston Alternatives: Adam Cole, Darby Allin, CM Punk Reason: He is the perfect people's champion AEW needs, I don't expect him to do it first time but he's the antithesis of MJF's young prodigy character.

ROH World Championship (Claudio Castagnoli) Next Champion: Mark Briscoe Alternatives: Eddie Kingston, Bandido, Hangman Page Reason: I know people have him set on the TV title but I feel like this is the better destination.

AEW Women's World Championship (Toni Storm) Next Champion: Jamie Hayter Alternatives: Hikaru Shida, Willow Nightingale, Thunder Rosa Reason: Because she only lost it to injury, and AEW would be foolish not to put it back on her during or in time for Wembley.

ROH Women's World Championship (Athena) Next Champion: Mercedes Martinez Alternatives: Red Velvet, Leyla Hirsch, Willow Nightingale Reason: You need someone who can match her aggression as well as her technique, but you also want to pass over that honour to someone who can use it as a launch pad. Honestly this was the toughest one to figure out because of how great Athena's been, so I went back to her more storied opponent.

TNT Championship (Luchasaurus) Next Champion: Ricky Starks Alternatives: Keith Lee, Roderick Strong, Ethan Page (face) Reason: One is hoping that Christian and Dino hold for a long time through shenaniganry to keep the heat, which is why you'd need a babyface to finally wipe the smug grin off of Cage's face, Ricky needs gold too so he's the best for the job.

ROH Television Championship (Samoa Joe) Next Champion: Dalton Castle Alternatives: AR Fox, Shane Taylor, Bandido Reason: It's no easy feat to defeat Joe, so I went with the man who oozes enough charisma (and can throw a Boy or two at him) to carry on the entertainment value.

TBS Championship (Kris Statlander) Next Champion: Serena Deeb (BCC) Alternatives: Emi Sakura, Ruby Soho, Athena Reason: Whoever takes the title off of Kris will have to be able to handle the heat they'll get because of how beloved she is, this is why you'd need a physical kind of heel who can carry that level, plus Deeb is overdue her plaudits and I want her in the BCC.

AEW International Championship (Orange Cassidy) Next Champion: Miro Alternatives: Konosuke Takeshita, Jay White, Kip Sabian Reason: Whoever takes it off of OC needs to either be brutally dominant or a sly opportunist, I picked the former since we all want to Belt the Redeemer, Champion of All Nations, plus the man really needs to see his hot flexible wife.

ROH PURE Championship (Katsuyori Shibata) Next Champion: Bryan Danielson Alternatives: Daniel Garcia (BCC) Reason: It's a dream match and you need a person of pedigree or endorsement to beat Shibata's legend status, since Pure rules prevents heel shenaniganry. I don't have much other options since Moriarty has already been beaten but if Garcia were to beat Shibata it'd have to be under Bryan's wing, not Jericho's.

AEW World Tag Championship (FTR) Next Champion: Aussie Open Alternatives: 2point0, The Hardys, Bullet Club Gold Reason: It feels like this was the intent before Davis' injury and if they waited months for Statlander they'll wait for Dunkzilla. 2point0 is an option only because I want them to get a taste of da titles! Plus I want them used more.

ROH World Tag Championship (Lucha Bros) Next Champion: The Butcher & The Blade Alternatives: The Kingdom, Iron Savages, BCC Reason: The duo are due a title run, and with shared history of 'Eddie's friends' ROH is a good place for them to finally string some dominant wins together.

AEW Trios Championship (House of Black) Next Champion: Blackpool Combat Club Alternatives: Death Triangle, Best Friends, CMFTR Reason: They are the most dominant trio for a reason and I think they're the only trio who can match the House for their aggression and brutality.

ROH Six-Man Tag Championship (Mogul Embassy) Next Champion: The Righteous Alternatives: Dark Order, Iron Savages (& Jacked Jameson), Mack Attack (plus one other ally) Reason: There's not a lot of trios in ROH outside of whoever AR Fox or Blake Christian is teaming with, but I went with the Righteous mainly since they have stolen Stu from the Dark Order, and thus need to profit from it.

[glass-needles-and-futurisms]

Woodstock was great fun, but it was immensely hot there, I got sunburnt. The festival was badly laid out in my opinion, the stages were 2 miles apart and there was no atmosphere like you get at Glastonbury. I think the riots started because people were getting treated like cattle... We saw something brewing while we were there i.e. lots of people crowding together and chanting and banging drums, it was like a football crowd.

-- Matt Bellamy on Muse playing at Woodstock '99

watching the woodstock ’99 documentary and they picked the wrong generation for all of that. of course a mass gathering of gen x ended in destruction and chaos lmao like okay to be fair elder millennials would have been so SO annoying about it but also nobody would have died

[theanticool]

So you watched #PaulTyson, saw Amanda Serrano vs Katie Taylor, and now you want to watch more women's boxing? Here's a quick guide!

I have been beating the drum of women's boxing for over a decade at this point, so I feel uniquely qualified to help people who might want to get deeper into their women's boxing bag. So here are a handful of fights to help you jump into the sport!

(I've kept it to recent examples because these fighters are still active)

Katie Taylor vs Amanda Serrano 1 - April 30, 2022

I'm sure most people who saw Taylor-Serrano 2 on the undercard of the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul card did not get to see the first fight. And they should. The 2nd fight picked up right where the first one left off, with these two getting in the phonebooth and getting to work at a torrent pace. Absolutely fantastic fight. Worthy of the Fight of the Year honors it got from Sports Illustrated. Was lucky enough to be there in person and it is one of my favorite memories as a combat sports fan.

2. Claressa Shields vs Savannah Marshall - October 15, 2022

If there is any woman who has claim to the title of best ever outside of Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano, it is the 'GWOAT' Claressa Shields. She is a 5 division champion who was also the undisputed champion at 154lbs. She's a two time Olympic gold medalist, winning her first one at the age of 16 year old. And through her pro and amateur career, only one woman had ever beat her (on the amateur circuit) - knockout artist Savannah Marshall. Marshall has a claim to being the biggest puncher women's boxing has ever seen and has a style unlike any ever seen in women's pro boxing. So a professional meeting between the two was always going to make for a fun clash.

3. Alycia Baumgardner vs Mikaela Mayer - October 15, 2022

Of the fights on the list, this is probably the least exciting but it carried significant weight and I still found it incredibly entertaining. Mayer is a former Olympian who was on her way to unifying all the belts at 130lbs to become undisputed champion. She had marched her way through the pros, earning a 17-0 record at the time and taking out former champions like Maïva Hamadouche, Erica Farias, and Jennifer Han. Alycia Baumgardner was not that. She was a pro boxer who was in the wilds, trying to cut her teeth at a time when no American promoter was investing in women's boxing. It wasn't until Matchroom (UK promotion) gave her a shot against a different super featherweight champion Terri Harper did Baumgardner finally breakthrough, knocking the champ out in an upset victory. That set these two on a collision course for unification

4. Gabriela Fundora vs Celeste Alaniz - November 2, 2024

This one is a little different. It was less a great, competitive fight than the ascension of the next great women's boxer. Gabriela Fundora comes from a boxing family. Her brother Sebastian is a world champion up at 154lbs. So her winning a world title at only 22 years old isn't too crazy. But fighting for the undisputed (all four belts) kind of is. Celeste Alaniz is a fellow young up and coming boxer who had just knocked off former two division champion and Olympic bronze medalist Marlen Esparza. The fight between these two was fun, while it lasted. Keep an eye out on the winner here. They're going places. Like the top of the P4P list.

5. Yesica Nery Plata vs Kim Clavel - January 13, 2023

Felt wrong not putting any Mexican boxers on this one so I'm going with the light flyweight champion, Yesica Nery Plata. At 30-2, Plata has built up an impressive run as a pro. She is the WBA and WBC light flyweight champion. Sadly, the fight I most want to see from her is a rematch with Kenia Enriquez and with Enriquez up a weight class, that ship has sailed. That said, would love to see her in there with a Yokasta Valle.

[lambmakesbacon]

A SHOCKING UPSET! THE 250TH TITANOMACHIA ENDS IN TRAGEDY!

The masses of the Tripartite Privateers' Union were shocked last tenday, as mysterious Union-affiliated newcomers with no prior tournament experience eliminated our beloved local champions PLANETARY GO, ending their five year streak of victories ever since their explosive debut.

Questions also swirl regarding the interference of an as-of-yet unnamed fifth party during the finals. An official statement from Undercard League Pankrati that the interruption was initiated only after the tag team duo of PLANETARY GO and their mysterious partners from the Cradle-First Front had conceded the victory, and that the interruption ties into an upcoming storyline on their 2/3rds scale scripted league has done little to quell a muted and even negative public response.

"Like, the stunt work was impressive, man, but you can't just mix the scripted stuff with real competitions... people were panicking and shit! We thought that we'd literally just seen some people get smushed!" Local confectionary enthusiast, Jim Speckler (26M), had to say on the shocking conclusion.

In other news, Omnitube smash hit series Finger Woman comes to the Long Rim with a new bakery collaboration and gacha game tie-in, but do the swirling rumours that the production company is wrapped up in a cyber-terrorist scandal have any truth to them? For more on this...

(Been a while since the last one, so I'm hopefully gonna catch up on the backlog of hostage notes I owe the campaign 💀

Wonderful sprites from the assets done by the amazing folks over at Retrograde Minis, do check them out!)

[bang-bang-gang]

salt unrelated to the show im watching under the read more

ok like (kayfabe hat on) obvs mina should become aew champion and mariah should beat her for the title with a supprotive toni by her side in wembley but . (kayfabe hat off) obvs mina is gonna lose to toni but people are still speculating about her going to aew full time and i dont. want that.

she’d be booked Really Solidly for a good couple months and then get the same treatment as the other joshis. maybe she gets a proper feud with mariah and/or toni, maybe she gets to build up another star like anna jay or show us a new side of (spins wheel) kiera hogan in a good program. maybe she will be taking on some of the greener but promising girlies like anna and skye and aminata and maybe she’d give tay melo a really good return feud, to help get all these women get their reps in.

but by then tk will get distracted and find another woman to focus on and the evil network or whatever still wont allow them to book the women’s matches for 50% of the screentime so mina gets forgotten. best hope for her is she gets put in a stable with mariah or saraya so she gets to look pretty and dance when she walks them out on the ring (and god she would be GREAT at that dont get me wrong) but she won’t be booked in matches consistently enough for my personal liking.

i just fucking love mina man. i havent kept up on stardom lately so i dont understand why shes in a seemingly random tag match on the conversion (maybe this is why the main champ shouldnt also have a trios belt cause when is maika ever gonna defend that on a ppv?) but she fucking steals the show man. she will put her entire fighting h-cup gravure pussy into whatever match shes in and she never comes across as bored or like she's aware she's on the undercard of a show. aew just doesnt DO enough womens matches to allow for them to put on women that arent in an active storyline (though roh is great for that if you want to see more american womens wrestling!!) and i dont trust tk to book her into good storylines like, a year from now.

[spacey-jazz]

Alright here’s the post up!! You can send the asks over there OR over here, whichever is fastest/more comfortable for you (I know a couple people already sent me some asks over here)

INBOX OPEN!!!! JXBSJSBSN! - SPINDRAX

(This is for a quick QnA that’ll last until I think I’ve had enough, here’s some guidelines;

- there will be oc x canon themes (not with Spindrax and undercard though) please be respectful of it, and I’ll ignore any questions that are being rude

- this is based in an au I’ll be making a fanfic for, this is to get to know the settings and the characters so you can ask them anything you want as long as it’s appropriate (keep it PG)

- THERE MAYBE BE MENTIONS OF SPIDER DEATH!!! I will be tagging the posts that mention these accordingly, as I know a lot of people are uncomfortable with that

- this takes place after S4 of LMK, and may be a bit canon Divergent because of it

- SilkTea will be a thing in this universe

- this won’t be the only time I’ll hold a QnA maybe but I can’t guarantee I’ll get to every question)

[under-lore]

The absolute state of Undercards

This isn't the kind of post i usually make, but well, theorists can make call out posts too. And regarding this topic, it seems that no one else is going to do it if i don't so...

I need to talk about Undercards. And particularly what's been going on behind the scenes in this fangame & its community and that it seems no one wants to speak up about. I've been thinking of doing this for a while and at this point i think i should just go ahead and explain it.

Okay, before we get into the controversy, i'll present the game a little bit for those who haven't heard of it. (And for those who don't care about this part, just scroll down a little bit until the next bold text.)

Undercards is an online multiplayer Undertale/Deltarune fangame which is basically just Yu-gi-oh or Hearthstone, except that cards, spells and such are all Undertale & Deltarune themed. It was popularised a few years ago mostly by youtuber Merg.

The gameplay looks something like this :

This game has a bit of a Gacha side, but it is entirely possible for any new FTP player to climb the ranks quite quickly or to obtain anything a P2W player could obtain somewhat easily, making it not unfair in that regard.

The game has an entertaining mastery curve and progress in ranked leagues (the main part of the game) is primarly decided by improvements in one's strategy regarding synergy of your deck, artifacts & soul, which are all to be chosen by the player to get the best chance at victory.

So, this all sounds like a pretty neat fangame, doesn't it ? So what's wrong ? What is the point of this post about ?

The issues

Whilst the game itself can indeed be quite fun, there exists a very serious problem regarding its community, and particularly its moderation team which sabotages its own game.

I'll start with some of the more minor issues before moving on to more important ones. I will also mention that i will not cover personal experiences (as much as i want to) and rather focus on larger trends to avoid biases or fallacious generalisations of individual cases.

The balance bias

The game has a very severe balance issue, which is nearly entirely caused by the moderators serving their own interests over that of the game.

Because here is the thing :

Many of the moderators (and by that i mean, the ones who's opinions seriously count for the balancing, really) are also the game's top players.

This game not only has greater rewards for achieving higher ranks every month, but even beyond the highest rank, it also has a live public leaderboard of the top players of each month.

However, if you check the monthly rankings of the game in any given season, the top spots are practically entirely monopolised by the moderators and by the alternative accounts of the moderators. (Some have had up to 5 accounts at once)

In other words, those who decide which cards should be buffed or nerfed are also the same people who will benefit or suffer from rebalancing their own cards, or know what tiny change to make to a card to suddenly make it very valuable in their specific decks.

This leads to some pretty silly situations, such as moderators buffing cards that genuinely deserved to be nerfed to secure their own interests. Or, on the other side of the issue, there are regularly cases where 9 out of the top 10 players all use the same clearly overpowered card in all of their decks, but the moderators will continue to deny that the card needs to be nerfed, because they do not want to have to nerf their own decks.

These things are all still happening, and they have been for years.

Because, well, they are the moderators, they have the authority and some of them have been here for up to 7 years, who is going to monitor them ?

After all, moderators are the law, they can do no wrong, right ?

Moderator incompetence and toxicity.

See, the team isn't just biased, they are also frankly incompetent at handling their own game in a facepalm-inducing manner.

For instance, remember how the main entertaining thing about this game was the strategy aspect of how to select your cards, artifacts and soul in order to get the best possible deck you can create and use it to make progress ?

Well, the game also has a spectating function. Which isn't a bad idea at all in itself. But it does have some major issues, like deck copying.

It is extremely easy for anyone to spectate the games of a very high rated player, and simply note down all the cards they play until you have their whole deck figured out. After this, you can easily copy it, and just play with this stronger person's deck and rank up that way, skipping what is quite literally the main interest of Undercards.

Not only does this ruin a large portion of the point of the game for the person that does it, but the more people do it, the more everyone everywhere starts running around using copies of the same few decks and making the game incredibly blend for everyone else overall as the thousands of possible way to make interesting decks slowly get reduced to no more than a dozen considered "viable" possible decks as you climb up the ranks.

...So what did the Undercards team do about this ?

...They created a hub menu where you can publish and downloads decks.

Yes, this is completely counter-productive.

Yes, this means that anyone can publish any deck for any player to find and use, they don't even need to copy the deck, it does that for them automatically.

Yes, this means that someone else can spectate your games, note down your deck, and publish it online for everyone to see, copy, or specifically prepare counters for. And they do.

Not only has the team not fixed those issues, but they have added features to make things more convenient for the perpetrators. They are actively encouraging people to be copycats and anti-fairplay, severely damaging their game's main strength on the way.

Oh, talking about stalking people and anti-fairplay...

The spectate feature has another massive problem : Sniping.

See, a game in Undercards lasts around 5 minutes & involves just two players, and there is rarely more than a couple dozen games going on at the same time. The game also has a very large matchmaking pool, meaning that you can pretty easily be paired against somebody considerably higher rated than yourself.

What this all means is that, by spectating somebody and then entering the playing queue right after this person's game ends, it is very easy to purposely stalk somebody in order to have a match against this particular person.

So, not only can someone stalk you and post your decks and/or strategies online, but anyone even much lower rated than you can look at it, build a counter deck that exists specifically to crush your particular deck, and then stalk you to repeatedly beat you and leech off your rank points.

And there is absolutely nothing that you can do about this.

The only solution is to log off and come back online when the sniper won't be present, or stalk the person back yourself to make sure you only launch games when you know they are already playing and can't be waiting for you, which is quite tiring.

Okay, well what did the team so about that one, then ? Surely even they wouldn't like the idea of being sniped, right ?

Heh... Well, its a bit trickier.

Officially, the practice is not allowed and a couple of them are actually against it. But in practice, most of them actually do not care, for the simple reason that part of them are guilty of doing such things themselves, and simply only take action when someones tries to do it back against them.

In fact, while i actually do not actually have proof for that one, i do also suspect that at least part of the moderators who have several accounts decide on which account they're going to play at a given time by checking which other players are online right now, and picking a deck/account accordingly for easier wins.

Their crappy behavior does not stop at only in-game things, though.

For instance, one person brought up to me that members of the staff have called his religion "garbage". Which needless to say, is extremely inappropriate and disrespectful.

Beyond being scummy, the team also just doesn't know how to handle their player base in general. For example, not so long ago, they shot themselves in the foot by creating two new ranks despite the fact that their player base was already too low to fill up the many ranks they already had. This means stretching up the rank differences between the players, which makes rank gain/loss disproportionate compared to one's actual current level and renders progression even more frustrating for medium level players, as well as generalising higher differences between players for matchmaking, which thus makes all the previously mentioned problems like sniping even worse. (All of that just to make things feel a bit more comfortable for those at the very top like the mods, who won't have to match with lower rated players as much.)

There could still be a couple more things for me to say, but i think the picture is already fairly clear. The team is purposely throwing the quality of their own game under the bus for little more reason than to stroke their ego by seeing their own names at the top of their leaderboards and overall just don't make very good decisions for their game even outside of all that.

Okay, but that was a whole lot of speaking, now how about i give an actual direct example of what the situation is currently like ?

Consider the existence of a user named "Sktima".

Skitma plays the game every day, but practically only ever uses the public chat to either :

Trash talk his opponents either during a game or after a loss.

Complain about the game's RNG, calling it "rigged" or "scripted".

Condescendingly mock and talk down on players rated below 2200 ELO (that is, over 98% of players) for being bad at the game.

If ever called out on this behavior, Sktima will infantilise the whistleblower, calling them a "whining little kid" or similar term before painting them as the bad guy instead, and attempting to bully them into leaving the chat. (and holding grudges against them later on, too.)

All the while, of course, being arrogantly mocking and acting like he considers himself as superior to others.

The question is : How long do you think it took for this player to be banned ?

I encourage you to think about this for a second, before continuing to read.

...

...Okay, have you made your guess yet ?

Well, it was a trick question..

Sktima was never banned at all, for the very simple reason that Sktima is a part of the moderation team.

He even has a YT, too. And it kinda speaks for itself, honestly.

For those interested, here are a couple extracts from a conversation he had in the comments with somebody pointing out that with the size of that community, issues like sniping or hand peeking (another big problem i didn't bring up caused by another bad feature that allows you to directly see the opponent's hand with another tab via the in-game friend option) were bound to happen with the way the mod team handled some features.

Be warned, a good amount of rudeness as well as lying & manipulating to try and turn the situation backwards...

Im not going to analyse or detail more any of that nor point out some of the blatant irony in this conversation, but what i will bring up is that throughout all this, they've made their stance rather clear :

None of this is the fault of the moderator team, they consider that only the player base itself is to blame for the current state of the game, not them.

The underground status.

The thing is, a lot of players aren't oblivious to this, but won't speak a word when staff is present.

In just a couple weeks for instance, at least three separate users have admitted in the chats they thought Sktima was insufferable, including one which claimed he was "the most toxic person on the site." But all this was only at low activity times when the team members were offline.

This was even more obvious on discord, where the only results you could find when searching for "Undercards" in the history of other Undertale/Deltarune related discord servers were people complaining about how toxic the Undercards staff was.

People frequently complain about a lot of the previously mentioned gameplay issues like sniping, but it seems nobody dares to speak up about the actual responsibles, likely due to their position of power and because they consider it as a fait accompli.

Undercards is a great game with has the potential to be very fun, but it and its community are practically being held hostage by the game's staff, and yet it seems the community has just given up on itself and mostly accepted this unfair status quo. This kind of thing shouldn't be allowed to continue.

[kopw]

i feel like people (and by people i also mean myself about a year ago) have this misconception that it's hard to get into new japan. or, not even that, more so that it's harder to get into new japan than any other promotion out there. which is just not true

part of it is definitely because of a preconceived notion that if you were to start watching you wouldn't understand what's going on because of a language barrier. which, again, not true. there is consistent english commentary and translations for even smaller tour shows nowadays. it's easier than ever to get started!

speaking of tours, i think another thing is the formatting. it's definitely not for everyone, and it takes a bit of time getting used to if all you've been watching is american tv wrestling. but you have to remember that just like with any other promotion, you can pick and choose which storylines or people you want to focus on. you don't necessarily have to watch upwards of three hours of wrestling a day, just like how you don't have to watch entire episodes of, say, dynamite—unless, of course, you decide to tune in live. but, even then, new japan typically has really solid undercard tag matches, squash matches are replaced by much more entertaining young lion matches, and it doesn't even have a dead spot

the njpwworld site itself can be difficult to navigate at times but there is a schedule that you can check out that includes all upcoming events, their start times and links to the cards

another complaint i hear at times is that the roster is too large and there are too many belts to keep track of. excluding njpw strong (american tv sub-brand), cmll (mexican sort-of-sister company) and wrestlers over on impact, roh and aew, there are currently about 60 active performers. however! all of these guys are in distinct factions that makes it very easy to keep track of who does what and where. like, factions actually have a meaning and a purpose in new japan. a portion of these wrestlers are also older talent who only really perform undercard matches nowadays and aren't involved in major storylines. and, as i said earlier, you can literally pick one guy or faction and stick to them to start with. whichever guy catches your attention. i think that's the most organic way of getting into a new promotion

it's not hard! stop saying it's hard! if you have the motivation to get into it you will find that it's not hard at all

[wrestlingfaves]

Royal Rumble Marathon: 1996

We’re rumbling into 1996.

Spoilers for past Rumbles.

Sunny, from her bathtub, warns us viewer indiscretion is advised. The Attitude Era doesn’t officially begin until 1997 but hints of it began way back in 1995 with the Pamela Anderson skit and continues with Sunny’s vignettes.

The undercard:

Jeff Jarrett vs Ahmed Johnson. Meh.

The Bodydonnas (Chris Candido/Tom Prichard, accompanied by Sunny) vs the Smoking Guns (Billy & Bart) for the WWF Tag Team titles. More meh.

Billionaire Ted skit with a fake Hogan, Savage, and Mean Gene. We’re wasting pay per view time on this?

Recap of the Razor Ramon – Goldust feud. Mr Machismo doesn’t appreciate Golddust’s flirtations.

Golddust (accompanied by Marlena) vs Razor Ramon for the Intercontinental title. Was this Terri Runnel’s debut for the WWF? The commentators refer to Marlena as an “unknown woman”. Golddust and Marlena’s gimmicks are forerunners to the Attitude Era. Marlena causes a distraction as the 1-2-3 Kid attacks Razor, allowing Dustin to pin Ramon and become the new Intercontinental champion.

Hype vignettes for Royal Rumble participants: Owen, Jake Roberts, Jerry Lawler, Vader, Shawn,

For the first time the Rumble does not end the pay per view – we still have a Bret/Taker match for the World championship. I never like when the Rumble itself doesn’t end the pay per view.

The entrants, in order of appearance:

Hunter Hearst Helmsley

Henry Godwin

Bob Backlund

Jerry Lawler

Bob “Spark Plug” Holly

Mabel (accompanied by Mo) Mo remains at ringside – there doesn’t seem to be year to year consistency on whether seconds are allowed to remain at ringside.

Jake “the Snake” Roberts

Dory Funk Jr (Vince notes Terry was also invited but is watching the ppv from Germany)

Yokozuna

1-2-3 Kid (spends his first few minutes in the Rumble attempting to avoid an angry Razor)

Takao Omori (Vince actually mentions All-Japan by name!)

Savio Vega (formerly known as Kwang)

Vader (accompanied by Jim Cornette)

Doug Gilbert (Henning & Vince mention both USWA and Eddie Gilbert, Doug won a tournament in Memphis to qualify for the tournament)

Squat Team Member #1 (1/2 of the Headshrinkers)

Squat Team Member #2 (1/2 of the Headshrinkers)

Owen Hart

Shawn Michaels

Hakushi

Tatanka

Aldo Montoya

Diesel

Kama

“The Ringmaster” Steve Austin

Barry Horowitz

Fatu

Isaac Yankem, DDS

Marty Janetty

Davey Boy Smith

Duke Droese

 Winner: Shawn Michaels

Longest performance: Hunter Hearst Helmsley

First-time Rumblers: Hunter, Dory Funk Jr, 1-2-3 Kid, Omori, Vader, Doug Gilbert, the Headshrinkers, Hakushi, Aldo Montoya, Steve Austin, Barry Horowitz, Isaac Yankem

Surprise Entrants: Dory Funk, Omori, Doug Gilbert, the Headshrinkers

We have two “clear the ring without eliminating everyone” spots: Henry Godwin with his slop bucket (Backlund and Lawler are the recipients) and Jake Roberts using Damian (his snake) – Lawler gets covered with Damian. Was Lawler on someone’s shit list?

Vader does the “eliminate everyone” spot but as he was previously eliminated none of his eliminations count.

Lawler is the first participant in a Rumble to hide under the ring.

1996 is the first year all participants receive entrance music. Finally! A small thing but it adds to the presentation.

The pay-per-view ends with Bret Hart vs the Undertaker (accompanied by Paul Bearer).   Diesel causes a disqualification, costing Taker the match. The match was fine but I’m not a fan of Taker.

Interviews with Gorilla Monsoon, Shawn, Diesel, Vader, and Jim Cornette.

Rating: 4 out of 10

Wrestlers and others who have passed on: Howard Finkel, Curt Hennig, Chris Candido, Razor Ramon, Mable (Visera), Yokozuna, Vader, Owen, Paul Bearer, Gorilla Monsoon

Total number of deceased individuals: 10 (down 5 from the previous Rumble).

[thistledropkick]

Thistle how is it going in Japan?

How is different watching NJPW live in person vs watching it on NJPW word?

Hello! I'm back in America now, but Japan was great! Thanks for asking!

I think the biggest difference between watching NJPW on World and watching it live in Japan is that the undercard is a lot more fun to watch live. The types of matches that might have only half held my attention on TV were much more engaging when watching them in-person with an energetic and focused crowd. We could always see something fun going on during these matches that I think the cameras don't always catch.

In general, the pace of the shows also feels much faster and breezier when watching in person. Watching NJPW live in Japan made me realize just how much the shows are designed primarily to be watched in-person, and how well the pacing and card structure works when they're seen live.

Also, the Japanese wrestling audiences really are much better to watch a show with than American wrestling fans. There weren't any "open mic comedian" types trying to draw attention to themselves at any of the shows we saw in Japan like there are in American wrestling crowds. Also, people also don't stand up for no reason and block everyone else's view like they constantly do in American wrestling crowds. (I did see one guy get in trouble for filming videos with his phone at one of the NJPW shows we went to though.)

Korakuen Hall is an especially great venue to watch wrestling at. We sat in a couple very different areas but both were amazing, and I get the feeling that almost every seat in the venue is a great one.

[lover-girl-estxx]

Interview

(B26)

not my gif

"who's next?" I asked "Nate Diaz" the guy said "what? I thought I was only doing the undercard?" I've only done this two weekends "the other interviewer fell out" "oh um okay". I sat on the chair my leg going up and down "Hi!" Nate said coming in "hi" I lightly smiled standing up shaking his hand "nice to meet you" he smiled "likewise". "shes just gonna ask you a few things shouldn't take long" he nodded sitting down "okay ready go?" I nodded and the camera man hit play "hi i'm..um Y/n and i'm- i'm sorry can we do that again?" I asked "I'm sorry this is like my first real interview interview" he smiled and put his hand on my shaking knee "take as many times as you need" "thanks" I blushed.

"why are you vegan?" I asked "um I got beef burritos like everyday till Nick told me I was too fat," he laughed "wasn't really my choice" I giggled. "do you get more nervous for yourself or your brother more?" "my brother really any of my teammates cause I know what I sighed up for so I don't get very nervous" "how do you not get nervous? i'd be nervous to get punched in the face" "I get realllyy high" he laughed making me join in. "there's a lot of really good fighters in your weight class who do you want to fight next?" "anybody they can all get they're ass beat" I giggled "okay".

"sorry I didn't have that many questions I didn't know I was interviewing you today" I said standing up "oh no don't worry about it you did great!" he smiled "thank you!" "um are you going to the fights tomorrow?" "yeah i'll be there" I smiled "could I get your number for the after party tomorrow?" he pulled his phone "yeah!" I smiled he handed me his phone.

| Next Night |

"hi!" I smiled as Nate walked up after his fight "hey" he slightly smiled. "hey I'm Y/n and I'm here with Nate Diaz who beat Cowboy by unanimous decision tonight..How are you feeling after your fight?" "I'm great glad I won" He nodded "would you have liked for it to not go to the judges?" "was hoping for a sub but I liked beating his ass too" he laughed me too. "where do you live?" he asked "Vegas" "that's not far from Stockton you should come by" "maybe I will" I blushed "we gotta get to the after party right now" he wrapped his arm around my shoulders making me smile "yes we do" .

[thatonearchivist]

Hi, so apparently my last Clover skin kinda blew up??? Tysm guys

Just giving you a fair warning and being upfront about this, I'm very inconsistent with my posting and I *will* forget that tumblr exists often, but!! I'm glad that you all really seem to like my art :3

Anyways have a more spooky Alphys skin that I did a little while back, and as always: Please try out Undercards! You can actually go buy and use my skins in the game, and the game is pretty fun :333

[undercardsofficial]

Season 92!

Yes, it has been a little while. That said,

Yes, people spotted that right, actual QoL changes.

elytrafae, or rather known as the creator of the quality of life ⁠prettycards fan mod, is now working on Undercards officially! Talking about the ins and outs of that cooperation took a bit of time, but it's finally here. The changes that we will able to do because of this are not limited to Prettycards features, and not all Prettycards features will be ported.

Well, maybe the more important news here would be.

WE ARE ALSO MOVING ON TO ACTIVE DEVELOPMENT OF UNDERTALE YELLOW UPDATE!

It will be done over the next few seasons, maybe with a special surprise for April Fools..... But when UTY cards are fully ready, it will be added to the game as a major update to the game.

The team wishes everyone the best of luck on this.

[theanticool]

Trying to make this a more consistent thing so here is me talking about my 10 most anticipated fights of the week (7/19/2024-7/21/2024). No particular order.

Chantelle Cameron vs Elhem Mekhaled - Less about it being a competitive match up and more about liking both fighters. I feel a bit for Chantelle Cameron. Beat the P4P best boxer in the sport in her own backyard. Took a rematch for big money and basically got jobbed by the referee (and herself). For Mekhaled, she jumps up two weight classes after the loss to Baumgardner. She's won two since and is now fighting for the interim super lightweight championship. Mekhaled is a fun fighter and I can't imagine she doesn't turn this into a firefight.

Junto Nakatani vs Vincent Astrolabio - Junto Nakatani is now a P4P fighter in the sport. And rightfully so. Fantastic talent. Fun style and one of the more skilled finishers below the featherweight division. Vincent Astrolabio isn't a straight walkover, he fought Jason Moloney to a tight decision, but with some of the talent at the top end of bantamweight atm (and them all being in Japan) you'd hope Nakatani was getting those fights. I believe this is a mandatory though, so what can you do but hope for a good fight. If Nakatani really wants to fight Inoue, the fight he should be chasing is against Takuma Inoue.

Kosei Tanaka vs Jonathan Rodriguez - One of the big fights on the undercard of that Nakatani card. Kosei Tanaka was a hot shot super flyweight prospect that got turned away by grizzled vet and champion Kazuto Ioka. Tanaka has won 5 straight since the loss, capturing the WBO super flyweight title in the process. He is now set to face off with Jonathan Rodriguez, a Mexican boxer that failed to win a world title a while back. Tanaka is a fun fighter and Mexico vs Japan fights tend to be absolute head. Looking forward to it.

Tenshin Nasukawa vs Jonathan Rodriguez - A different Jonathan Rodriguez btw. P4P kickboxing great Tenshin Nasukawa continues on his quick ascent up the rankings in boxing. While Jonathan Rodriguez is coming off a loss to Antonio Vargas, he also had knocked out Khalid Yafai in his previous fight in the 1st round. He's not an easy fight for anyone to have in their 4th professional boxing match. Will be interesting to see how Tenshin manages.

Losene Keita vs Predrag Bogdanović - OKTAGON 59 - Losene Keita is possibly the most interesting prospect in Oktagon MMA atm. Fighting out of Belgium, he's got all the physical tools to be a real killer at featherweight. But he's competing up at lightweight for this big Oktagon LW tournament. He did not look great in his previous fight, getting badly hurt by Sardari in the process. So he'll be looking to reaffirm himself. I haven't seen a anything from Predrag Bogdanović outside of his loss to Will Brooks, but he's apparently a strong grappler. Should be interesting.

Doo Ho Choi vs Bill Algeo - UFC on ESPN 60 - This fight will be good for exactly 4 minutes. Either one of them, probably Choi, scores a KO in that time or Algeo will beat the hell out of Choi as he fades and stops him in the 2nd or 3rd. Choi just isn't a very durable fighter, despite his athletic gifts and I don't trust those gifts to still be there at this point. But it does have me invested. So it's on the list.

Amanda Lemos vs Virna Jandiroba - UFC on ESPN 60 - Of the fights on the list, this is the one I could see sucking. Lemos is a strong fighter but not a strong anti-wrestler. Jandiroba is a small grappler who's extremely skilled on the mat but can be scared off wrestling. Could end up being a tepid kickboxing match or a boring, one sided grappling match.

Petchpanomrung Kiatmoo9 vs Kento Haraguchi 3 - Glory 93 - 2023 was a rough year for Petchpanomrung. He went 2-2. He defended his Glory featherweight title twice but lost his two bouts up at lightweight. First he got stopped by Tyjani Beztati. Then he lost a 5 rounder in December to Chad Collins for the RISE title. So now he's defending that Glory featherweight title again. And against a guy he's 2-0 against - Kento Haraguchi. Kento has won 4 straight since losing to Petchpanomrung in 2022, including 3 stoppage wins.

Tyjani Beztati vs Endy Semeleer - Glory 93 - Endy Semeleer is no longer Glory welterweight champion. His reign cut short by a TKO stoppage where Chico Kwasi dropped him 3 times. Tyjani Beztati is also no longer Glory Lightweight champion. But because Glory decided they no longer wanted the division and cut it loose. So now Beztati is moving up to welterweight, possibly in anticipation of a yet to be announced upcoming Glory Welterweight Grand Prix. A very good fighter. Two former champions squaring off, with a possible shot at the welterweight title on the line.

I was really tempted to pick a random fight off the KSW card or Oktagon card but it felt inauthentic. Just did not have a 10th fight that felt super noteworthy. Maybe Jeong Yeong Lee vs Hyder Amil. So imagine an amazing fight that is happening this weekend and put it here. Maybe the start of the Olympics. Go watch some amateur wrestling or boxing or judo. I'm sure there's some great Muay Thai that I'm missing. IDK. Let me know.

[stardomtrash]

Stardom 2024 predictions a la "3 Count"

If you guys haven't seen the WrestleTalk series "3 Count" I highly recommend it. Basically, it's predicting something, or looking back on something, and describing it in three words or less. I wanted to use that format to give my Stardom predictions for 2024. I can look back on these next year and see how many I got right :) Feel free to comment your own or give your thoughts!

Some of these are a little more lacklustre than others. For example, I had nothing for Ruaka to do XD You'll see that a bunch, ones that have the vibe of "creative has nothing for you".

Some of these might be '''controversial'''??? I don't know, but it's all meant in good humour, so please don't @ me with slander cos you disagree with me XD I don't think the Stardom/wrestling community is like that at all honestly, it should go without saying, but nevertheless :)

2023 was a tricky year for Stardom, so I'm hoping for some great improvements and more awesome content in 2024!

Overall unit

Oedo Tai: Never taken seriously

STARS: Consistently consistent wrestling

Cosmic Angels: Reabsorbs Club Venus

DDM: Dissolves/is rebranded

Gods Eye: Gets slightly goofier

Queen’s Quest: Reliable workhorse faction

Club Venus: The experiment failed

Queen’s Quest

Utami Hayashishita: Grows hair long :(

AZM: Kid match - showstopper

Saya Kamitani: Challenges Maika. Loses

Hina: 2023’s most improved?

Lady C: Gets better gear

Miyu Amasaki: DDTs for everyone!

STARS

Mayu Iwatani: Drops IWGP belt

Hanan: Unsuccessful Artists challenge

Saya Iida: Fun multiman spots

Hazuki: Grand Prix winner

Koguma: Stuck in midcard

Momo Kohgo: Joins Cosmic Angels

Oedo Tai

Natsuko Tora: Cuts amazing promos

Ruaka: Bonks with box

Rina: Loses title - Hanako

Fukigen Death: Multiple rumble entries

Starlight Kid: Still not pushed

Momo Watanabe: Reliable heel workhorse

DDM

Giulia: Leaves for America

Maika: Creates own faction

Thekla: Stays in undercard :(

Mai Sakurai: Character continues improving

Cosmic Angels

Tam Nakano: Returns. Retirement road…

Natsupoi: Returns. Wins Cinderella

Saori Anou: Holds belt ages

Yuna Mizumori: Does pineapple things?

Gods Eye

Syuri: Kisses more girls

Saki Kashima: Consistently funniest wrestler

Mirai: Learns promo skills

Ami Sohrei: Thanks for coming

Konami: Returns full time

Club Venus

Mina Shirakawa: Reignites Tam feud

Waka Tsukiyama: 1 singular win

Independent

Suzu Suzuki: Faction with Maika

Hanako: Joins Gods Eye

Mei Seira: Joins Stars maybe?

Aya Sakura: Joins Stars too?

Yuzuki: More pro matches