TNA Wrestling: British Boot Camp II: Episode 6 Review

Another week of British Boot Camp, and another half-hour of filler. Instead of showing us the six-man match between the contestants as advertised, we saw the hopefuls attempting to learn the ropes in TNA’s six-sided ring, to varying degrees of success.

It wasn’t particularly action-packed, but episode six was still a marked improvement on the last outing. Whilst it was chock full of Grado flavoured filler, they also remembered to show some wrestling too, as the hopefuls were put through their paces by TNA’s Magnus, Austin Aries and DJ Z.

Al Snow was quick to stress that they were constantly being evaluated, so the pressure was on as each contestant stepped into the six-sided ring, some for the very first time.

The six-sided ring itself can be contentious, as the ropes are incredibly stiff, and there’s also the issue of injuries. The decision to use six-sides instead of four was actually a decision put to a fan vote by TNA’s management, and Aries himself took to twitter to lament the change saying:

“For those curious, I find #6sides to be far less forgiving on the body and harder to manoeuver around, especially on the top rope. #4sides”

It was somewhat ironic that he would be the one to ‘show the contestants the ropes’, but it was a lesson that they needed to understand for their own safety. Noam Dar looked like he suffered whiplash a few times as he came off the ropes at speed, but it was better than a serious injury during a live event.

Ethan Carter III was in attendance to bait Grado, but he also commented on the ring situation at the time, again on twitter:

“This is why democracy doesn’t work. You people should not have a choice when it comes to my well-being and safety. #Traditional #4sides”

Anyway, back to the wrestling. Kay Lee Ray, Rampage and Noam put in a good shift during their training, and Dave Mastiff was made to prove his conditioning, (successfully) once again against Aries.

Mark Andrews was called a little timid, (though he was the first of the contestants to go) while Grado impressed DJ Z for showing his personality and charisma during his bout.

All of a sudden, it was over. The runtime for the last two shows has been roughly 23 minutes each, compared to the “hour-long” 45 minute offerings for the first four shows. It’s a little jarring that they changed the runtime halfway through the season, as I was just settling down for the third part when it abruptly ended.

If I’m honest, it feels like they cut a normal episode in half, but I don’t think I could have actually taken the full hour of RV antics and throwing Grado in the showers that would have entailed, so I’m pretty thankful.

For now, it’s still a wrestling competition that needs more actual wrestling.

TNA Wrestling: British Boot Camp II: Episode 5 Review

After five long weeks, British Boot Camp has finally left the grey shores of the UK, moving on to the land of opportunity. And opportunity knocks for the six hopefuls, as they aimed to impress TNA owner Dixie Carter during lunch, and tried to get used to their new surroundings. (Yes, there was no wrestling.) Ho-hum.

It was never going to match last week’s high-octane live show, but this week’s episode was slower than the Great Khali. If I wanted to watch an old woman eat lunch, I could watch the Real Housewives, but perhaps I'm being facetious.

After all, the lunch meeting did contain the highlight of the show, which was the prospective matches for the six finalists if they make it through the next round. Each was paired off against a professional TNA wrestler, with Kay Lee Ray v Gail Kim and Dave Mastiff v Samoa Joe probably the pick of the bunch.

Before that though, the finalists will be pitched against each other in a six-man face-off, with only three moving forward to the 1v1 matches against the TNA pros.

I could continue for the sake of the word count, but there was literally nothing more of importance or relevance within the entire episode. Instead, there were painful scenes with Spud taking the guys out on a tour of DC, as well as ‘scenes from the RV’, but instead I’ll leave you with the words of Dave Mastiff, as he described Grado perfectly:

“He walks round in his wrestling gear 24/7, shuffling his little fat arse.”

Indeed, Mr Mastiff. I only wish the show didn’t have to shuffle through filler like this.

Advanced Warfare Multiplayer review

Advanced Warfare released a week ago as the latest iteration in the never-ending CoD franchise, promising a new take on the series’ worn-out formula. When it comes to CoD, it’s always going to be about the multiplayer, but does AW right the wrongs of the mediocre Ghosts?

I’ve played every game religiously since CoD4 on the PS3, so I thought I’d take the plunge once again, but I was still wary. COD: Ghosts was a mess, plagued with far too many issues to mention, but worst of all, it just wasn’t fun any more. Despite my misgivings, Advanced Warfare is definitely a massive improvement on Ghosts, but it still has issues of its own.

First off, the guns lack power. It regularly takes half of an AK12 clip to take an enemy down, and most guns suffer the same fate, which can be highly frustrating when there’s more than one target. 

The killstreaks are incredibly uninspired and they can take some getting to, as most take a large amount of points to get. CoD: World at War had a simple 3, 5 and 7 killstreak system. Getting a simple UAV without hardline can take four kills in team deathmatch, and there’s a noticeable lack of streaks throughout a lot of games. 

Infected only has a 12-man limit instead of the usual 18 which pretty much stops me playing, the spawn points for Ground War are a mess, and the exo perk system is near useless, apart from the stealth, which hardly ever works anyway.

Grenades of all varieties are weaker than wet tissue, the throwing knife, (throwing ball?) is pathetic and the tactical insertion takes an age to set. The new loot system is okay, (far better than Ghosts which wanted you to pay to customise your soldier) but it seems to be completely random. (At least you can trade unwanted junk for extra xp.)

Despite all of this, the game is still great fun, and the boost-jumping is much more than just a gimmick. It changes the entire landscape of the game, as you’re now forced to keep an eye on every rooftop, with the level design complementing the new changes with plenty of vantage points. The jumping also helps to curb camping, as it’s so easy to cross and flank at speed. Every location usually has 2-3 points of entry, so you can never be entirely safe if you’re trying to hide. It makes the game more exciting, with less of the corner-hugging seen in prior releases.

The class system is decent, as it keeps the point-based system first used by Black Ops II. You’re supposed to be one point away from having everything you need, and it’s very adaptable depending on your style of play.

Most importantly, for the first time in years, they seem to have sorted out the connection issues that plagued the series on the PS3, as the PS4 edition allows me to connect to all of my friends without a single error so far. Of course it should always have been this way, but it’s better late than never.

Overall, this is probably the strongest COD experience since MW2, but beneath all the hype it’s pretty much the same old game as before with a better range of movement and jumping. If you can get your friends together, it can be great fun, but it was never going to be as ground-breaking as they promised. They were going to have to tinker with the stale formula at some point, I’m just thankful that they haven’t broken it.

Overall 6/10

(This was written after the recent update.)

TNA Wrestling: British Boot Camp II: Episode 4 Review

TNA Wrestling: British Boot Camp II: Episode 4 Review

York Hall was the location as the last 16 contestants were whittled down to just six. It was time for the first of the live shows, but who would make it through? (Apart from Grado, obviously.)

Like many men across the country, I’m forced to watch the X-Factor with my better half if I’m home over the weekend. This means that over the years, I’ve come to truly appreciate the idiosyncrasies of the televised reality talent show, but that it’s also left me jaded and cynical of the format. Here’s what I thought…

16 contestants, and only six places. It was always going to be heartbreak for some. Luckily, years of reality TV has desensitised me to televised despair, but it was harsh on the ones left behind, as most were pretty talented.

Here’s a brief rundown of the matches:

The first pitted Noam Dar against El Ligero in a solid, if unspectacular encounter, with a few moments that were surprisingly sloppy. Both were promptly sent home at the end of the show, highlighting just how high the bar is.

I was really looking forward to the second, a tag-team bout featuring Joel Redman and Martin Stone v Richard Parliament and R J Singh. It didn’t disappoint, with R J Singh the pick of the bunch, showing his technical abilities with a sublime moonsault. Nonetheless, they were all sent home by the judges.

Then came the fatal four-way featuring the Owens twins, Kay Lee Ray and Nikki Storm. This was by far the best match of the first three. It had humour and hard-hitting moves, but Kay Lee stole the show with her aerial ability. She was the only one put through, after the twins were (strangely) separated, only to be sent home individually.

Mark Andrews vs Chris Travis was the one I wasn’t too sure about, but they definitely proved me wrong, as both showed their skills during this match. Andrews standing shooting-star press was very impressive, and they sold each other’s moves professionally throughout. Both were put through, but Travis later pulled out, so Noam Dar was drafted in as his replacement to go to the US.

Rampage Brown v Dave Mastiff. Mastiff is probably my favourite of the last 16, but Rampage also worked hard as both men put on a great display. Rampage also managed to get through a mic segment in the ring. It wasn’t the best, but it was passable, and far better than his mutterings from the first round. Both were duly put through, both deserved it.

The final bout pitched Grado against the East End’s Sha Samuels in a grudge match, but despite the hype, (and feeling like the main card) it wasn’t too different from their mini-bout from last week. With one spot up for grabs, it was only going to go one way, and Samuels was sent packing.

Sure, Grado might’ve had an easy ride along the way, but he still deserves to be in the final six. His intro, (to Madonna’s Like a Prayer) was probably the most entertaining part of the entire show).

The final six are a talented bunch representing some of the best that Britain has to offer, and the competition is really starting to heat up. Mastiff is my early pick to win, but it’s still too early too call.

All in all, it was great to see them finally wrestle. 

Making people rage quit at FIFA

Making people rage quit at FIFA 


Is there anything better than making people rage at FIFA? Well, of course there is, but for these purposes, let's pretend that there isn't. For many, FIFA Ultimate team is seriously addictive, and when you can pick from nearly any professional player in the world, it means that you come up against some incredible teams. 

Surprisingly, they always seem to quit when they come up against my sweaty BPL team:

Let's be fair. If I had the chance to use Hazard and Ibra in FUT they would play every game. Ashley Young and Benteke/Welbeck seem to do the job though.

TNA Wrestling: British Boot Camp II: Episode 3 Review

TNA Wrestling: British Boot Camp II: Episode 3 Review

With the format firmly established, it was time for the last round of preliminary qualifiers in TNA’s British Boot Camp II. This time, the judges took to London’s York Hall, to see what the Capital’s wrestlers had to offer.

Like many men across the country, I’m forced to watch the X-Factor with my better half if I’m home over the weekend. This means that over the years, I’ve come to truly appreciate the idiosyncrasies of the televised reality talent show, but that it’s also left me jaded and cynical of the format. Here’s what I thought…

I’ll be honest. The first three weeks of British Boot Camp have been boring and repetitive, but it was necessary. It was almost like checking in before a holiday in the sun, as the show trudged along toward a supposed promised land of wrestling goodness. It was just going to take a while to get there. (Roughly three hours with adverts.)

As the card rundown of the 16 hopefuls was shown at the end, it all came together with a real moment of magic. Every match looks interesting, but that’s for next week…

The London edition had a strong showing from start to finish, adding nine wrestlers to the final roster for the next round. Each had something different to offer. Dave Mastiff moves with a grace that belies his size, Martin Stone was good enough to be picked up by the WWE developmental team, and the Owens (identical) twins were willing to split up to give one of the sisters a chance to go through, though both eventually qualified.

R J Singh is a British Asian deputy head, Richard Parliament is basically a knockoff William Regal (but entertaining nonetheless), Joel Redman looks like an Olympic swimmer, and Sha Samuels represented the East End well, with a menacing performance throughout.

Grado also returned (I would’ve never guessed) and he soon became the focal point of the show, with a decent matchup against Samuels during the second round of testing. He showed an in-ring ability that matched his character, with a decent burst of speed at the end after he seemed tanked (he’s a natural actor), while Samuels played the role of the bully well.

It was an easy decision for Al Snow in the end as he put all of them through to the live matches, shown next week. Interestingly, Al seems to have morphed into the head judge over the past few weeks, and he used Grado to continue his hot-streak of putdowns, but it mostly felt like filler as time started to drag on towards the end.

Thankfully, they announced the matches for the live shows, and every one should be an entertaining contest:

·         El Ligero v Noam Dar

·         Joel Redman & Martin Stone v Richard Parliament & R J Singh

·         Mark Andrews v Chris Travis

·         Nikki Storm v Kay Lee Ray v Owens Twins (Four-way match)

·         Dave Mastiff v Rampage Brown

·         Sha Samuels v Grado

If I didn’t sit through the first three weeks, then the matches wouldn’t matter as much, if at all, so they really were necessary. Hopefully they’ll live up to the hype.