The Two

Can someone give us a vote count?

Astil, do you think the section about appointments in the write up might involve you also, being a doctor and all? Does any of that fit with your reading?

Shit. Best of luck, man. Be well.

I don't know Outlaw, but the write-up isn't exactly perfect for grammar. That's a reach.

Exciting start to Day 2! This whole Derek/Astil situation is very odd and it's tough to know who to believe. For either of them to straight up lying would be a super bold scum play, and at best would result in a 1-for-1 for them by the end of Day 3. Both are strong players, so that doesn't ring true at all. Derek's too smart to claim an action if he's been blocked. However, I don't know if I'd expect a result PM for a non-information gathering role. But maybe I'm wrong, maybe you'd still get a "couldn't locate target" PM. It's been too long since I played this game, I don't remember what the standard procedures were anymore. I'm not going to vote on anyone just now, but I would definitely like to hear Anti's thoughts on the whole thing still. Does he see himself anywhere? Were his activities successful? Thoughts and opinions? Two other things: Isn't doctor a common alternate for protector? I might be wrong, but that's all that comes to mind for me. The underlined group is who I’m most suspicious of right now. I’m having trouble getting reads on them (ring rust, anyone?). The later in the list, the more suspicious I am. Remember, these are the ones who dropped votes within a span of the last 8 hours when Mach was at a “safe” distance for a D1 push that normally doesn’t go anywhere (unless the meta changed since I last played here.) Since I saw my name mentioned (I'm honoured). I know my vote came fairly late in the phase, I wasn't at all sure about joining the wagon on Mach, and I can admit that it was probably fairly reckless, but that seemed to be the collective will of the town and I was content to go with them and take a chance on achieving something (anything) on Day 1. You know the old joke about the politician who looks out the window, sees people marching and declares, "These are my people, I must find out where they're going so I can lead them"? That was the way people were going, I got on board. I still find MLT's last second unformatted vote to be pretty suspect, but that only means something if they're both scum. Not something I have any interest in pushing right now, but if one of them turns up red...

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Wrestling Century" data-cite="Wrestling Century" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="46026" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I pronounce it Machine X.E., like .exe. Who knows for sure though. <img alt=":p" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Presumably, he does. Maybe he'll pop in and tell us. <img alt=":cool:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/cool.png.f00d2562b2c1d873a09323753efdb041.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p>

<p>Day One is always weird. It's pretty much a shot in the dark to try lynching anyone, short of a colossal cock up on the part of Team Scum.</p><p> </p><p> I've been weighing whether to add weight to the push on Mach, and while I'm still not certain, his one-and-done did look a bit dodgy. Crychon is probably right that he'll show up as soon as darkness falls.</p><p> </p><p> On balance, I'll add some extra leverage to the wagon. <strong>Vote: Machinesxe</strong></p><p> </p><p> I pronounce it Machinezee, like a mechanical chimpanzee. Is that just me?</p>

If anything, Derek's gone backwards. You should see his new haircut.

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Destiny" data-cite="Destiny" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="46026" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Ha it's possible. Getting me lynched shouldn't have been too difficult. I can see looking back I strung myself up sometimes.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I like this new, more mature Destiny. I went back to look and see what happened in SIN. You <em>were</em> one of the people that I needed to kill, but you got yourself Mod-Killed before we could lynch you for making an "I'll never play again if..." role bet. Amazingly, that was February 2009, almost a decade ago!</p><p> </p><p> So, do we actually want to get a wagon rolling on Mach to wake him up, or are we just playing?</p><p> </p><p> <strong>Vote: JMan</strong></p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Destiny" data-cite="Destiny" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="46026" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I remember the SIN game. For some reason I think I was scum in that one. It's hard to remember the details.</div></blockquote><p> I think you were actually one of the people I had to kill to win my mission, but I don't remember whether I killed you myself or got you lynched.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Destiny" data-cite="Destiny" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="46026" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>A one person faction? Do you mean like an "independent" or am I misunderstanding you? We had Indies here.</div></blockquote><p> I always loved being an independent. Some of my best games and victories were from getting to fly solo, like in Anti's original SIN game and in Game of Thrones.</p>

I mean, lynching Destiny for old time's sake has a certain nostalgic appeal...

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Antithesis" data-cite="Antithesis" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="46026" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>All good, and its better than having small hands and a shakey keyboard...</div></blockquote><p> Satire?</p>

Anybody here good with Photoshop? Because, I don't know why, but it feel like the title card for this new cooking show in the UK is just crying out to be changed somehow. http://s32.postimg.org/tji07kq2t/Hemsley.jpg

The Fandango segment on Raw was painful. After hyping his appearance, then playing a long hype video to show how much of a thing "Fandangoing" is (essentially telling the crowd what to do), Fandango made his entrance to... Deafening Silence. He came out, spoke to King (*silence*), gave a lesson on pronouncing his name (*crickets*), encouraged the crowd to Fandango - a small group participated, the rest didn't care, then he went away again. Pointless. Fandango is not over. His music got over with last week's insane crowd, but I'm pretty sure they were being ironic. Fandango himself is not over. I doubt that's going to change if they're going to continue trying to push the Fandangoing thing. You'd probably get it over more, given he's a heel, if you had him hate it and order the crowd not to sing his music. If they force it, it's not going to catch on and we're going to be forced to sit through more terrible segments like that one.

Yes, that was better in so far as it made HHH look like he might win. DJ, that promo was terrible! I have no idea how you can think this looks like a Punk victory. He's being a dickish heel who's gonna get his comeuppance. He's not posing a threat to Taker, he's being a petulant teenager who's getting to get the crap beaten out of him. The idea of Taker retiring when he loses at Mania has been set up over the past couple of years. If you're going to end the streak, you need to have that be central to the plot. You have to build to it. This is not doing that. Look, Punk being a heel is great. Having a heel against Taker is great, but this is such a pathetic, weak heel character they're giving Punk. There's a brilliant angle he could be running on the basis of, "I'm destroying all your dreams, I'm killing all your heroes, I'm shattering your illusions. I'll prove I'm better than everybody Taker's faced, I'm the Best in the World, the real living legend, and I'm going to kill the Undertaker forever by beating him at Mania." I say again, the idea of finishing Taker by ending the streak should be at the core. Because that's how you retire Taker: the streak ends, and then he's just gone. Being a dick, doesn't make him look like a threat. Using Paul Bearer's death is the worst kind of cheap heat! It makes the babyface getting his revenge his punishing the heel all the more inevitable. This could be such a good build, but it's just not. And that saddens me.

Is it just me, or is the build for Punk - Taker awful? First, Punk is playing dickish heel against Undertaker, he may as well wearing a sign round his neck saying, "I'm gonna lose," as that character doesn't make him look like any kind of threat and just telegraphs his inevitable defeat. Second, they've decided to make the angle all about Paul Bearer's death which is just the worst kind of cheap heat. It's incredibly tasteless, regardless of whether his family signed off (same way the Lawler stuff was tasteless even if he was okay with it). Third, the execution is terrible! It's so lifeless! Look at Raw: Taker promo, Punk promo, Ad break. No interaction, no tension, no heat. Promo, promo, ad break. Punk's promo had no connection to what Taker had just said, and Taker had no response to Punk. They may as well have showed the promos at different points in the show! They had nothing to do with each other! They didn't interact at all. For the last several years, Taker's Mania angle has been one of the highlights and the big selling points of the card. This year, I don't care about this match at all because they're not even trying to make it interesting. I want to care, but it's just so BAD! Here's another thing to think about: As they're clearly making this angle up as they go, what was the plan before Paul Bearer died? As I see it, there are three options... A) They had something better planned but scrapped it to do this shit instead. B) They had no plan and were intending to just wing it, making it up as they went along. C) They had an even worse plan and this is actually an improvement on their original idea. I honestly don't know which I'd most hate to be true.

I wanted to get a better look at Kane's new mask, the red lighting on Raw made it hard to tell its exact colour but it looked to me like it lacked the black markings of old. After checking WWE.com, it seems I was right. http://www.wwe.com/f/imagecache/686x384_scale_plain/talent/bio/2011/09/bio-kane2.jpg Oh, and it's totally Glen Jacobs.

Evening, all. Just a quick announcement for any fans of The Wire, we're currently signing up a Wire themed Mafia Game down in the Mafia Forums Right Here. If you'd be interested, come join up. If you're interested but have no idea what a mafia game is, there's plenty of information in the mafia forum explaining it, or you can send me a PM and I'll try to answer any questions you may have. Announcement ends.

<p>I'm no expert at lip reading, but I'm pretty sure the last thing she said before the break was, "I just want you all to like me. Please."</p><p> </p><p> That segment had so much potential, Kong vs 8 Divas (inc. Gail Kim), but what happened was a complete letdown. After all that build, they may just have ruined Kong. This makes me a sad panda.</p>

So I watched the PPV last night and I've been turning the whole thing over in my head most of the day, and I've come to one simple conclusion: Jeff Hardy got high during the show; probably in the last half hour before he stepped through the curtain. Quite simply, I don't believe TNA would knowingly allow Jeff to go out to the ring stoned. If he showed up wasted that afternoon, they would have pulled him from the card. If he got high at the start of the show, I still think they could have worked it and pulled him. That leaves the final half hour or so, after the agents have made their final checks and left the guy to get into character and psyched up for the match. At that point, Jeff decided to get wasted. Even if you have less faith than I do, if you believe that they actually would allow Jeff to go to the ring high, if that were the case, you wouldn't need Bischoff to go out and "call an audible". They would just have told Sting before he went out there what to do. They'd have told him Jeff wasn't fit to work and to squash him. The fact that Bischoff had to go out, change the plans and give new instructions on camera is enough to tell you they had no warning. If you watch the footage back, you can see during Sting's entrance the moment the referee speaks to Jeff and realises he's not fit to work, you see him throw up the X, you see him relay a message to the back via So Cal Val, you see him telling Sting that Jeff is away with the fairies and Sting's response ("Are you kidding me?"), you see the frustration on Sting's face, you see the look of disdain that Borash gives Jeff during his intro, it's all there. You've actually got to give HUGE credit to Brian Hebner, he took charge of that situation, he made the call. He saw the look in Jeff's eyes, knew he wasn't good to go, and alerted the backstage area that something had to be done. It takes balls to do that, so kudos to him. You also have to respect Sting's professionalism in ending the match quick while still protecting Jeff. With the exception of a very forceful hair pull to get him to do what needed to be done, he pulled his punches. I can't help feeling that if you pulled that crap against Undertaker, he would legitimately beat the hell out of you before ending it. Taker's not the only one who would, but he's the first that comes to mind. He wouldn't have been wrong to do that either. So yeah, that's my take on it. Jeff really should be fired for what he did, or at the very least given an ultimatum - long spell in rehab, or there's the door.

I won't deny I enjoyed Cena's opening promo, and it really made me want to see Rock beat the living hell out of him, but that just makes it worse knowing there's no chance Rock will wrestle a match. During HHH's entrance and posing it did occur to me, "Hey, it would be cool if they managed this without a single word," but after seeing it happen I now wish something had been said. The biggest problem is that both have just returned from a long absence, and while I get the match has been made, you got no indication of why it's going to happen. Why does Hunter want to face Taker? Just watching Taker's reaction when Hunter started staring at the Mania logo, it felt like he was thinking about The Streak. He looks at the Mania logo, looks at Hunter, "You want me at Mania?", smirks, shakes his head, "No, you're not worth it." Taker starts to walk away, the crowd boos, he stops, thinks about it, turns back to HHH, "Fine, but I'm gonna kill you", gives the cutthroat gesture. You don't know whether Hunter just wants a crack at breaking The Streak, whether he wants a rematch for WM17, whether he's looking to avenge HBK, or if it's something else entirely. You also don't know whether one or the other will take up a heelish position or if it's face vs face. I know we've got 6 weeks, and that can all be drawn out over time, but it would have been nice at the start of the feud to have some idea of the motivation behind it. That said, I'm still psyched about the match, so I'm not gonna complain. I'm also way happier than I should be about seeing Lawler beating the hell out of Cole. The double tag title change was entirely pointless, there's no reason Miz couldn't have laid out Cena for the first fall. To be honest, I'm just relieved we're not gonna be forced to suffer through the "Oh no! The World Title opponents are Tag Champs! How ever will they co-exist as partners while feuding over the World Title?" Feud... again.

An obvious photoshop, but I'm sure you'll enjoy it anyway. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v143/marcel2/9766mw.jpg

I'm still wondering what the hell a "Chair Match" is.

So, just to clarify, John Cena was "Fired" for a grand total of 3 weeks and appeared on TV every single one of them. Well, that was a worthwhile and meaningful angle.