reminds me of HE Pennypacker--one of Kramer's assumed identities in Seinfeld.

Watching another stream and this alarmingly seems to still be the case. Guys are handedly beating the CPU in 2-3 minutes on the hardest setting. So much for it being "easy to pick up and play but difficult to master"

Matches in general against the CPU are all short, which is because it's supposed to resemble a fighting game more than a wrestling game. But that means you need to get an actual challenge. Try playing the hardest setting on No Mercy, it's fucking near impossible.

Makes me wonder if they tweaked difficulty from the creator event at DON, because NewLegacy, Chris Denker and others said even Normal difficulty was a legit challenge. That or they were all just lying because they didn't want to rock the boat/not get invited to do cool shit like that again.

Again I think you can play with friends and have a great time fucking around but if you're a strict single player guy this game looks like it's gonna have next to no replayability. Like the game you'd get bored with in a week. Road to the Elite looks like a big nothing from the stream I saw. Repetitive and boring.

Doesn't mean any of this stuff can't be improved upon in future updates. Shit like difficulty is easy to change.

But you can't expect people to pay full price on the hope that they actually do update it with the regularity they say they will.

I dont know if Twitter has been more of detriment to my perception of a wrestler I used to like than FTR Bald. He is such a turd, I wish he would go away forever.

Fight Forevor's saving grace will be how it plays as a party game with friends, which again, will all depend on how the gameplay feels.

They're going to lose their ass financially either way. Releasing a questionably priced wrestling game in the same window as Diablo 4, Street Fighter 6, and Final Fantasy 16? They'll be lucky to get back half of what they spent to make it.

It's still real to that "top star" DAMMIT!!!!

Why is Dax Harwood like this? :nono:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Remember the last time that happened? <a href="https://t.co/sCYnrGoEbP">https://t.co/sCYnrGoEbP</a></p>&mdash; Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) <a href="https://twitter.com/davemeltzerWON/status/1672288353583263750?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 23, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

CTEFTR

Sir

Dave Meltzer to debut at Forbidden Door during Punk/Kojima where he hits Punk with a LARIATOOOOO

Tiny Khan admitted he booked a Dynamite using AI ChatGPT, but he didnt like it because it booked the show like it was 2021 still :rofl:

Jungle Boy coming out and saying he has never watched a Sanada match, doesn’t know anything about the title and who had it and doesn’t pay any attention to NJPW since the Omega left. What a build! Why are these AEW guys so precious?

Won’t listen to vets in the business to improve their piss-poor psychology and story telling. Won’t take advantage of actual heat because they are too busy crying. Look like shit because they can’t be bothered to go to the gym.


All they have is athleticism, but there seems to be no desire to respect and learn from superior performers while they jump around and superkick the night away to a niche fanbase.

If Tony wants the company to grow, he needs to be a boss and get a handle on things. Make stories that generate interest, force his workers to learn from guys that have done it far better and inject some discipline into their presentation and professionalism.

It’s really frustrating to see money and production values that could provide an alternative to the dross WWE puts out, only to see them making wrong turn after wrong turn on the whim of guys that aren’t even stars anyway!

Lol exactly.

AEW seem to be doing a really good job of muddying the water with whats real and whats not. Modern day Kayfabe.

Jungle Boy: says he’s never watched a SANADA match

Also Jungle Boy: uses one of SANADA’s moves to win his match on Rampage

I don’t really care for Jungle Boy but “who the fuck is this loser? This is the guy who accepted my challenge?” makes sense for the build especially since Jungle Boy is being perpetually underestimated and is teetering on the brink of going heel

If NJPW didn’t think Jungle Boy was an acceptable opponent for SANADA they would’ve demanded AEW put up Cole or Hangman or someone else. Think right now NJPW wants SANADA trucking through a bunch of young guys which is why his G1 block is set up the way it is.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada<br><br>TOMORROW at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ForbiddenDoor?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ForbiddenDoor</a> LIVE on PPV<br> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEWxNJPW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AEWxNJPW</a> <br><br> Order it now:<br>🔗 <a href="https://t.co/SWp7bcLK64">https://t.co/SWp7bcLK64</a> <a href="https://t.co/QFxq1IsoV7">pic.twitter.com/QFxq1IsoV7</a></p>&mdash; All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) <a href="https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1672616855561707521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 24, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

This is one of the better wrestling posters I’ve ever seen. So hyped.

Punk/Kojima could be good.

The BCC vs. The Elite will suck.

Toni Storm/Willow will be fine.

The four-way will be trash.

Jericho’s tag could be okay.

Sanada/Jungle Boy should be a fun slaughter.

Cole/Lawlor could surprise people. I hope Lawlor wins.

Tanahashi/MJF should be “really good.”

Omega/Ospreay will be amazing to some people, white noise to others.

Okada/Danielson should be legitimately great.

That should be the card order, imo.

* Punk opens the show and has a solid 10-min match with Kojima, which would probably be an honor for each guy.

* The Elite come out and have a moment with Punk on the ramp. I’d personally put The BCC over, but it doesn’t matter. Claudio with the Sharpshooter on…let’s say Matt Jackson.

* The Women’s Title goes next. It doesn’t really matter who wins, but I guess Toni retains so…

* You can at least get something out of the four-way if the title switches hands. ZSJ to take it, I hope.

* Miro should be Sting & Darby’s partner and the faces should go over. Earlier you saw Claudio beat the most useless member of the opposing team, this time Miro gets Jericho and actually forces a star to submit.

* Sanada beats Jungle Boy around like a sack of shit for about 10 mins. Maybe some hope spots for Jungle Boy. Sanada over.

* Lawlor defeats Cole. I think that would be the surprise of the night. Lawlor can talk trash about Cole, Tanahashi, CM Punk and even MJF at the press scrum. Cole might actually be interesting if he loses. Lawlor should beat Cole in under 30 mins so he can brag about doing what MJF couldn’t.

* MJF defeats Tanahashi in 36 mins. You want Tanahashi to go the distance Cole did, but even longer than the 5 extra Cole wanted.

* Omega defeats Ospreay to set up a third match in the UK.

* Okada to defeat Danielson.

Kevin Kelly & Nigel McGuinness should handle the bulk of commentary for the night. Kevin Kelly is the New Japan guy anyway. Nigel is his Collision partner, so it just makes sense to give it to them here. I’d have Excalibur join them for The BCC/Elite and the silly four-way. That way he can make the announcing worse and some people who haven’t already clued on that he sucks might realize it. Schiavone can join for the Jericho/Sting stuff. He might be interesting if he’s only got one job. Taz can join for Sanada/Jungle Boy.

Referee for Danielson/Okada is Red Shoes by virtue of a coin toss. He also calls the IWGP World Title match (because why wouldn’t a New Japan ref call that?). Paul Turner calls MJF/Tanahashi and Punk/Kojima. Bryce Remsburg calls Cole/Lawlor and LIJ vs. House of Black, if it happens. I’d slip that in between MJF/Tanahashi and Cole/Lawlor. Audrey Edwards calls the women’s matches. Rick Knox calls the bullshit matches.

Is that Golobulus?

lol no one is going to know who that is.

Except me, I guess.

That makes it look like Okada has been drinking Ken Griffey Jrs. Brain and Nerve Tonic but its otherwise really fn sweet.

Weird no Jay White on the Forbidden Door card. Maybe they get involved in the Punk match?

He lost a "loser leaves NJPW" match so it makes sense story wise not to have him.

He lost a match to Hikuleo in Japan where the loser would be banned from competing in Japan, and then a match to Eddie Kingston where the loser would be banished from competing in an NJPW ring.

Since this is a co-branded show, it makes sense to me he wouldn’t be booked to wrestle so as to not step on the stipulation. Doesn’t mean they won’t eventually walk it back but I get not doing it only a couple months after his banishment.

Had White been written off in another way there would’ve probably been some semblance of Bullet Club vs Bullet Club Gold going on since David Finlay has openly said anything other than his Bullet Club is bullshit.

But alas.

Damn they really don’t want him wrestling in that company.

Remember when “non-sanctioned” matches were a big thing in wrestling to push a blood feud?

Some guy banned from working for a company should just constantly challenge guys to non-sanctioned matches.

“But why would the company even air the matches?”

Because wrestling.

It's kinda weird that in Fight Forever Cody cuts the same promo he did on RAW on May 15th. Like...verbatim.

It must have tested well with the focus group.

It’s so surreal AEW is releasing a video game that still has Cody Rhodes in it.

Of the Collision main event, 2 of the 8 people involved are in the game. So that’s something.

Didn’t Eddie Kingston quit AEW? Yet he’s on Forbidden Door?

Yeah, he quit then changed his mind. Long-term storytelling.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Datamine Pipe Bomb Leak.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEWFightForever?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AEWFightForever</a> Stadium Stampede is a 30-player, online Battle Royale mode. This is what the Battle Pass is for.<br><br>Loadouts, chests, VEHICLES (horse! golf cart!), shrinking circle, the WHOLE NINE YARDS.<br><br>Absolutely baffling why THQ hasnt revealed it. <a href="https://t.co/6qiRTQpZpp">pic.twitter.com/6qiRTQpZpp</a></p>&mdash; Lynch ���� ���� || #AEWFightForever | June 29 (@LynchReborn) <a href="https://twitter.com/LynchReborn/status/1673417786456932352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 26, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

An honest to god battle royal mode in a wrestling game is either going to be crazy stuipd fun or the worst thing ever. No inbetween.

sounds like rumbleverse.

Ive spoken with a few people who have played it early. General consensus is this is a great party game. Exists in the same space of a mario party. Get the gang together and have dumb good fun. Its def rough around the edges though. Granted we will have a day 1 patch that they dont have so im hesitant to comment on any that since the release product isnt technically in existence yet.

That said i wish they had chosen to have 0 CAW aspects in the game altogether so it doesnt detract from dev resources. That time wouldve been better spent refining the core systems and i think from what im hearing what will be offered will be so content shallow that it will be a big detractor for a lot of people. Whereas if it simply werent there it would just be something they wished for instead of something they lament.

But from what im hearing it's fun and the more choas you add the more fun it is.

I think they should have stuck to next gen consoles as well. To this day, I still believe a large part of what fucked cyberpunk 2077's launch was the sheer amount of platforms it was developed for. Fight Forever is coming out for eveything but the N-Gage.

I'm not going to buy it at launch as I'm deep into Street Fighter 6's guts right now. Plus it will give me time to see how moddable the pc version is and what people do with it.

Can you do the party stuff online? Do people get together like they used to to play video games?

Servers arent live yet to my knowledge so i didnt ask about online and they didnt mention it so either it was inoffensive or unavailable

Watching the new legacy stream right now. Looks janky but fun. Some cool details here and there.

If the 30-player battle royal mode is as fun as it can be and the servers aren't broken, it'll be worth an eventual purchase for me on its own. Feels like the kind of thing I'd play for sessions on end, without even touching the base game.

I'd guess that would be a Septemberish rollout based on the All Out-themed battlepack associated with it.

Get ready for that cheese. Whoever ends up with the fastest, easiest over the top rope KO is gonna be what you're up against, which sounds like Malakai Black at this time.


I dunno, No Mercy was really fun with those modes, so maybe?

Well I should've said battle royale, it's not a literal battle royal but a 30-person brawl in a huge stadium.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Not officially announced yet but apparently AEW: Fight Forever <br>has an online Stadium Stampede match type using the Battle Pass!<br><br>&quot;A Battle Royale style mode pitting together up to 30 players at once. Fight within a massive stadium and aim to be the last wrestler standing!&quot; <a href="https://t.co/25FfrSN1Ql">pic.twitter.com/25FfrSN1Ql</a></p>&mdash; Drainmaker ��️ �� (@DrainBamager) <a href="https://twitter.com/DrainBamager/status/1673631326560452608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 27, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I'm sure someone will find a way to cheese it anyway but if this is basically Rumbleverse with good servers it'll be fun as hell.

Still very much a game I'm waiting several months and probably a price drop to get, though.

I mean there's people playing early access now claiming it's gotten samey/boring after an hour. All the more reason to wait and see if these online modes present the fun, chaotic kind of game it's trying to be. Single player itself will get old exceedingly fast.

IGN gave it a 6. That’s not a Meltzer 6/5. That’s 6/10.

lolIGN

And I say that strictly from a gamer's perspective. They've been so damn unreliable, there have been self-owned memes they publish later in retro.


Reviewers, most of them, cannot be trusted unless you know who is paying them to do so. I will forever stand by demo releases as being the best way to gauge something. Even that, today, has it's caveats with day 1 patches, but is better than anything else.

What platform y'all thinking? I'm still leaning Switch

https://www.nintendolife.com/reviews...-fight-forever

Maybe not. Frame rate is to be expected but freezing ehh

Everybody says it's going to work best as a party game/online game. But if you're a 1P who either has no friends interested in playing and you, for whatever reason, are averse to playing online (due to cheesing etc) it's just like, what are you even getting here? Some of the reviewers who have had the game for 1-2 weeks have beaten every single possible RTE path already. What is left?

So yeah, absolutely don't blame any single player who wants to wait and see if any of their promised "regular updates" actually add longevity to the 1P experience. I'm not talking just adding new wrestlers to a barebones game. I'm talking new match types, new RTE stories, a Universe-esque sandbox mode, tons of new CAW options, etc.

Or will the updates they put out largely be like EA Sports, aka putting everything into monetizing the online experience, aka not giving a single flying fuck about offline players.

Not everyone is saying it is a good party game. Some people are saying that and some people are saying it is janky and not that fun at all.

The new No Mercy, ladies and gentlemen.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">AEW named the F-5 after an illness Brock Lesnar had in their video game.<br><br>That's umm yeah, that's pretty bad. <a href="https://t.co/BNKlW43yjO">pic.twitter.com/BNKlW43yjO</a></p>&mdash; SlappadaBRO.Wrestling (@SlappadaBRO_WWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/SlappadaBRO_WWE/status/1673817656745668608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 27, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

LOL

fuck. it getting it for ps5 right meow

i think

even got the elite edition.

downloading. i'm gonna go take a poo

then i'ma play

Just did an exhibition of Sting versus Malakai Black at Double or Nothing.

Thoughts so far?

No full entrances (at least that I've figured out how to toggle on) lame.

Did a DoN Casino Battle Royale. When my character finally came out, I couldn't control them. They just laid limp dick and took all the damages and thrown out the ring. WTF?

No play by play and the refs are slow as shit to get on the pin.

Other than that...fun!

mini games are hilarious

Orange Cassidy doesn't have Pixies - Where is my Mind or Jefferson Starship - Jane. :|

Punk and Jungle Jack get their licensed themes. I can understand JB getting his since Tony made a big deal about buying the rights.

No Moxley's Wild Thing.

I get it. Music royalties suck but funny they got Cult of Personality.

Danielson has Flight

Holy fuck they’re pieces of shit.

https://cdn.fanbyte.com/wp-content/u...996.jpg?x72092

Sting! Come on, man. Your old biceps can't look any worse than Funk or Flair's. Drop the long sleeved shirt.

Metacritic is about as predicted. Mid 60s. I thought high 60s but pretty close all in all. Slate had a good review but the reviewer there is very in tune with this specific niche audience. Most reviews noting the foundation is present but it needed more dev time.

i think from a playing it aspect the only thing that needs immediate attention is the ref. She is way too slow to get into position. Completely kills the momentum of the moment waiting on her to come over. Its not a massive wait but we're talking it feels like an 8 count instead of 3 count. Its not insignificant.

The real gripes are the presentation and the features. Its not content rich at all and the content outside of the matches isnt of note.

Unfortunately none of this matters. This issues occurring at Embracer Group (the owners of publisher THQ Nordic) means that low performing and risky IPs will not be coming out from their web.

They just had a 2billion dollar deal, of which we know nothing else about, fall through and they spent nearly $400 million on LotR. Theres going to be a lot of studios go under in the wake of this and a lot less experimenting.

Unless this moves some serious units we wont be seeing the potential realized. A moderate seller isnt going to do it. And thats a shame. It would be like if World Tour released and we never got Revenge.

You can switch the ref and it's still bad

I didnt mean literally that the female ref was specifically doing anything. She's just the default so i used "her."

I'm gonna give it a 5/10 so far. That can be improved upon to like a 7.

I'll pick it up if friends get it, as multiplayer looks genuinely fun, but that probably won't be for a while. Too many better games out right now taking up our time.

And I've got fire pro for my single player wrestling fix.

Absolutely. I passed on SF6 once they announced MK for this year. Just too many massive time sinks to fit in smaller titles. Ive picked this up but more for the sales data for AKI's/yukes' sake than anything. Theyve earned some consumer good will. At the moment it looks like the rest of my year is locked game wise. Totk->FF16->Trails to Reverie->MK1->Spider-man. Theres just not time. That said im having a gathering on the 4th and we'll def pop this in a bit.

LOL TNA 2.0





Seriously, how does this happen?

Hahahaha! That’s got to be a Yukes thing, where they just decided to slip in a little rib at these assholes.

It’s eerie how similar Dixie Carter and Tony Khan are too. Was just listening to The Lapsed Fan’s TNA journey and they played clips of Bruce Prichard saying he couldn’t get Dixie on the phone when he got fired. They both only want to talk to people when they’ve got something positive to talk about.

Their only hope is that Lesnar has no clue who these clowns are. I mean, they could theoretically take Punk 3 on 1 (they didn't, but...), but Brock would grab one of the Bucks and beat the rest of them to death with him.

Pretty sure thats a kevin steen reference

Yeah Steen used the F5 in PWG and it was called the Deep Sea Diverticulitis. Excalibur named the move.

Of course, it would've been in the early 2010s and always a reference to Brock but nobody cared then and it's funny to see people pretending to be offended now.

There isn't anything even slightly offensive about it.

Vastardikai hates AEW so much that he's decided Brock Lesnar is somehow super precious and easily gets his feelings hurt by innocuous ribs.

That's funny coming from one of the guys who activates defensive positions when someone disparages the great CM Phil.

Add Bret Hart to that list.

Arthur Ashe officially announced for September 20th which is the date I figured it would be given the last 2 years

Wonder how this will wind up doing. While the 2022 attendance (just under 14k) is still way more than your average AEW TV taping, it was a significant drop from the 20k they pulled for the first one.

Plenty of reasons for it. The product in September 2021 is overwhelmingly considered the hottest period in AEW history. You had the extra boost from hitting the town for the first time, and people wanting to be a part of a landmark event for the company. For many fans it was the first wrestling show, if not first major public gathering, they've been to since COVID so obviously there was a lot of pent up energy there too which kept the crowd red hot even through the entire 4+ hours of tapings.

Last year had none of these things going for it. The product was generally considered to be coming off of a weak summer. The novelty factor wasn't there anymore. A lot of people thought the first show, while fun, was just too damn long and also Arthur Ashe did a terrible job of anticipating the crowd, anyone who went to concession lines would miss 30+ minutes of the show. So experiences like that made it a "that was fun but never again" deal for some. And most of all, the ticket prices went up considerably.

Its almost like they did something about a month before that really ended up screwing up their company. Wonder what that was and how unforseen that result could have been....:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rof l::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::r ofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl: :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rof l::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::r ofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl: :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rof l::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::r ofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl: :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

<marquee>https://i.imgur.com/L9vR15u.gif<marquee>

Ya'll heathens need to wash your feet and asses.

I am part of the washed masses

I don’t live and breath AEW like you xrod so I’m not aware of what you’re referring to. Please enlighten me.

Have you NEVER read any of my posts???? CM Phil bro!

No one is “offended.” It’s just fucking childish to drop illnesses people deal with into your business. It’s why I wouldn’t walk into a shopping center and start yelling “Cancer!” at everyone I saw.

Fuck me, wrestlers and wrestling fans are the worst.

I mean....come on Noid. People are offended, and it's a nothing rib. You just hate AEW, and they can do no right. Brock's a big boy, and he's got his own list of transgressions that vastly outweigh diverticulitis 5. If he can't take it, he can fuck off.

I’m sure Brock doesn’t give a shit. But let’s not act like it’s not childish. The whole concept of the video game offends me way more than an insult mocking someone’s illness. Lol, mocking someone’s illness. Like we should even be discussing whether or not it’s called for.

You know what? Carlito should call his Lungblower the Lung CANCER! That would be so fucking cool! :rofl: