I’m gonna be serious with y’all, I was expecting to become even more of a deadbeat and couch-lazing neckbeard since the headset arrived. To my surprise, I’m more active than ever and I have VR games to thank. Not only fitness games but basically all ones that force me to stand and actually move. I’ve even begun taking my VR sessions into the garden at night to avoid exposing the lens to direct sunlight (good little boy that I am, I follow the instructions — but also, don’t want the next door neighboors looking at me like I’m insane).
But yeah, fitness games DO have a large part in making exercising so fun for me lately. I was never the one for gyms b/c of anxiety about my body, but VR is slowly, in like little baby steps but surely changing that. I’ve yet to scratch the surface of what it will still do for me and what games there are to discover, but these ones have been particularly good to me health-wise

• Audio Trip - As a long time trance enjoyer, this game has such a vibe of a rave that I couldn’t help but love it. In fact, going to raves where no one judges you was what helped me lose weight in the first place, and this game just fills that specific niche for me. No regrets buying it, even though it doesn’t seem as popular as some other games
• Mutant Boxing League - A recent release that’s provided me with hours of fun. It plays like a boxing game with each enemy requiring specific tactics to overcome. The learning curve is just right, progressing from light stretching of the arm to more demanding hooks and jabs. It’s also goofy in a really positive way that keeps you interested, while keeping the experience fun all the while :)
• Power Beats - I saw it suggested often enough that I bought in, plus the reviews were great. The custom soundtrack you can make is a pretty good addition and the tracking is excellent. It was the first one I bought though I play Audio Trip a bit more. Still boot this one up to keep my morning routine fresh

What games are you fitness folks playing, and would you recommend any of them to a newcomer to the VR scene? Give me the most original/interesting/one of a kind ones you can think of and don’t spare me, I’m not afraid of a little motion sickness hahahaha

Chapter 1: The Oddest Blue Ball
…Welcome to the Ai circus….
…Brains are breaking, systems nervous…
‘He’s been acting really odd recently…’ Murmured the said person’s self-proclaimed best friend as he shuffled his cards, eyeing the others for validation of his statement.
‘The Earth you mean? Umm…yeah I’ve been trying but-’ The Satellite was cut off by none other than the most hot tempered planet among the terrestrials.
‘Yeah, yeah whatever, can we ever talk about something else?’ Venus grumbled.
‘Calm down Venus, he’s our friend.’ Mars instructed firmly.
‘Whatever, isn’t this pipsqueak always with him? What are you doing anyways?’ Venus asked sharply, turning his attention to the quiet satellite.
‘He told me to give him some time, I didn’t want to but…’, Luna sighed deeply, ’-Here I am.’
‘You should go back, he can’t be alone for long’ Mars expressed his concerns.
‘Maybe’ Luna answered, his thoughts getting scattier as he drifted away, ignoring the confused stares of the planets, who resumed playing cards.
The Earth has been acting odd in the sense that he had stopped talking, almost to everyone, including but not limited to Luna. He’d put on acts after the revolution of joviality, but really the only mood he seemed to be in was apathetic. Like an actor on the stage, the only time he spoke up was to correct factual errors, much like Jupiter but more condescending and for the purpose of belittlement and personal jabs, which are frankly out of character, giving fits of sarcasm was another problem. Like the apology to everyone meant nothing to him.
The thoughts would remuniate through the satellite’s head multiple times, failing to provide any solution to the problem at hand.
It was a while before Luna reached his orbit near the Blue ball, who was facing towards the asteroid belt and muttering in an almost funny manner, holding stacks of papers in his hand.
‘Hey Earth…what’s that?’ The satellite peaked through his shoulder, making the planet jump and obscuring the sheets from Luna’s view, who only managed to catch the word,’revolution’.
‘Moon, how many times have I told you not to be so quiet?!’ The Earth picked up his usual cynical dripping with a touch of acerbic tone.
Luna rolled his eyes, already prepared for the acidic encounter, praying moons such as Ganymede and Europa don’t find out about these recent developments,’Ugh, right, what is that anyways?’
‘None of your business.’ The tone filled with intended venom.
‘Look Earth I know the revolution has been-’ Luna launched into the same speech he has given a thousand times in a matter of weeks.
‘It’s not about that revolution, so shut up.’
‘Can you not act like a jerk for two minutes?’Luna snapped, delivering his out of character statement, he knew it was a bad move as soon as the words escaped his mouth.
‘Ugh, whatever Moon, just leave me alone, I told you I don’t want to be your friend!’Luna flinched hearing the words, he still hasn’t gotten used to them.
‘You’ve changed Earth you weren’t always-’
‘What do you expect? Look…don’t make me say something I’ll regret, hang out with Titan or whatever.’ Earth avoided eye contact.
‘As you wish, Earth.’
Luna left the scene, unsure whether Earth saw the teardrop rolling down the said satellite’s cheek, his planet’s indifference was starting to affect the moon, Luna wandered around in the asteroid belt, he didn’t immediately react as he bumped into someone. He looked straight, it was a slightly smaller satellite curiously studying him as if he were…what did they call? An artifact in the paleontology department, somewhat.
‘I’m sorry, who are you again?’
‘Great question…’ The smaller celestial mumbled.
‘What did-’
‘Umm, Luma! Yes, Luma’s my name, I am not sure..I mean sure!’ The satellite stammered, acting like a total mess.
‘Uh okay, nice to meet you, I'm Luna.’
Luma is staring at the celestial awkwardly, possibly due to the unobscure similarity in the names, Luna stares right back, spacing out for a bit.
‘Sooooo Luna? Like Earth’s moon?’
Luna cringed at being referred to as an object but he didn’t not correct the newcomer, he was a little estranged out, Luma looked familiar…but unfamiliar…
Is he a Moon? Is he a planet?
But perhaps the oddest observation was perhaps Luma’s reaction, as if he didn’t know who the former satellite was, but weren’t all Moons in the revolution? Is he a dwarf-
‘Hello? Umm…Luma to Luna? Earth to Luna? Solar system to-’ Luma continued his rambling, the weird analogies, the former Moon could only think about the familiarity of the situation…that was so unfamiliar.
‘Right, sorry, hey are you a dwarf planet?’
‘I’m a Moon actually…’ Luma answered, unaware that he had opened a Pandora of questions.
‘I know it’s stupid but I think I’ve never seen you during the revolution.’ Luna smiled apologetically, expecting a yes and a possible hypothesis that he had missed the satellite in the 300 moons besides the other celestials.
Instead Luma stared at him blankly with an open mouth, it was only for a fraction of second but the doubt was planted in the delayed reaction.
‘Um, yes! I-I probably missed you too.’ The latter laughed nervously, Moon could tell there was a layer of superficiality and sense of lie…the same aura he gets around Earth these days.
But he ignored it.
‘Okay…bit odd you know, you’re so-’
‘Noticeable? I knowwww right..??! It’s so weird, um, gotta go!’
‘Wait I-’
But Luma was already rushing towards the other side, to the terrestrial side of the solar system, The Moon felt a weird excitement in his stomach that he couldn’t point out.
Was he the Moon of jupiter?
He’s almost as large as me…
What is he hiding?
Did he not know about the revolution?
Why is he so familiar?
Why is he going to the terrestrials?
What is the weird energy?
The questions haunted him but he shook his head, reassuring that it was a weird coincidence, but his face….
Luma’s face looked so nostalgic…The bright golden eyes, the silver-golden lining, the sun symbol in his hair…
Wait, a sun clipping?
All the other moons would only wear Lunar clippings…
Who was he?
(1000 words)
Chapter 1.5: Keeper
…You can run but you can’t hide…
A few days before:
‘Will you just ignore your friend?’ Sneered the sinister voice from nowhere.
‘No, no, no, I won’t do what you ask.’ He called out desperately.
‘Just keep an eye on him, won’t you? my dearest friend?’The voice replied.
‘No, no, no, I won’t hurt anyone!’
‘You’re not hurting anyone, but I will if you don’t obey me.’ The voice turned murderously melodic and sweet.
‘No…I am not your friend, i won’t-’
‘Won’t what?!’The voice boomed in his ears.
‘Won’t hurt…won’t spy…’ he whimpered.
‘I see, you won’t keep an eye on things?’
‘N-no.’
‘Well then…say goodbye to your precious friends…’
He didn’t flinch but fear rose in his chest as his heartbeat grew painfully faster and his stomach twisted tighter into a knot, he was ashamed…
Because he didn’t care about his friends.
‘Acting tough? Alright, what if I offer you freedom?’The voice was behind him now, it was charismatic in nature and soft in tone.
‘No…you won’t…’ He gasped, the words right on the tip of his tongue, burning.
‘A place you can call home…without him to bother?’
‘…I’ll do anything…to get out.’ The words vomited out before he could stop as a look of abhorrence rose on his face as he realized he had just made a deal with the devil, a sudden feeling of nausea hit him, dizziness took over him.
‘Good.’
(230 words)
Chapter 2: The Stranger
…I don’t control the words that I say with my mouth….
…They sent us a saint but then made him a clown…
‘Europa, babe, do you know who this Limmy-Luma guy is?’Ganymede frowned as he straightened his crooked baseball cap, looking at the dainty satellite in front of him.
‘Who?’ Europa grumbled, looking down, probably pondering about the revolution and the smaller moons.
‘I met this guy, he was weird babe.’ Ganymede shook his head, the machine in his head furiously working to place the stranger’s head, like an earworm, only for memory.
‘Could you be more specific, Ganymede?’ Europa scrunched her eyebrows in annoyance, which the former thought looked cute.
‘Didn’t pay much attention Europe, but he was kinda similar to Earth’s Moon.’ Ganymede whistled through the non-existent air.
‘You mean in size, Ganymede?’ Europa’s voice hit a condescending note, but Ganymede could tell she wasn’t really irritated.
‘Yea, he didn’t talk much.’ the latter shrugged but before he could stop himself he caught himself saying the following;
‘His face though, yea, it was really familiar, ‘Ope you listening?’ Ganymede looked up, snapping from his thoughts.
‘Oh right, I don’t think I’ve met him, Ganymede.’ Europa looked at her boyfriend thoughtfully.
‘wasn't really that small either.’ the latter frowned as suspicion aroused him.
‘Whatever, we should be focusing on our plan for equality, not some stupid stranger you just met.’ Europa snapped, probably her anger about the failed revolution.
‘Whatever Europe…’ Ganymede murmured as he toyed with his cap, something about the stranger not sitting right.
A smaller satellite nearly crashed into him, Ganymede looked at the crasher angrily, only to raise his eyebrow.
‘Earth’s Moon? What are you doing here, Earth didn’t tear into rings?’ Europa spoke up, vinegar dripping in her words, before Ganymede could interfere.
The Grey-silver moon stared at them not uttering the word, Ganymede didn’t need empathy to sense something was wrong, not that he cared.
‘You’re still not…out of commission?’ The latter looked bored.
‘Shut up…’ Earth’s Moon muttered and drifted off to Saturn’s orbit, most likely looking for Timmy.
‘What's up with him now?’
Chapter 2.5: The Stranger-2
…I don’t control the words that I say with my mouth….
…They sent us a saint but then made him a clown…
Luna ignored the piercing glares from Ganymede and Europa behind him as he drifted into the orbit of one of his friends, namely Titan. He didn’t have the time,, energy or confidence to deal with snarky comments about his home planets,
Mainly because he was starting to question his own faith.
He didn’t notice as the friendly Jovian Satellite greeted him,
‘Hey Earth’s moon- I mean Luna, how are you?’ Titan gave a sheepish smile, clearly embarrassed about the slip up.
‘Hey Titan…been a while huh?’ Luna smiled weakly, Titan must’ve sensed something wrong because,
‘What’s wrong? Is it about the Earth? Please don’t tell me he-’ Titan rambled, although he had forgiven Earth, obviously he couldn’t help but be suspicious of the planet, Luna hated how he was right.
‘It’s nothing…’
‘What did he say now?’ the former sighed.
‘Just been acting weird, alarmed all the time…As if someone was trying to hurt him.’ Luna frowned, the last part came out satisfactory in an odd manner, Titan raised an eyebrow, clearly worried.
‘I don’t know, like you know him better than I do.’ Titan shrugged, he didn’t seem to care much.
‘Hey Titan, do you know about this weird moon? Is he one of Saturn’s ?’
‘Huh?’ The jovian seemed a bit confused as to what Luna was talking about.
‘It's nothing…’ Luna sighed for the lack of answers. What was his name? Luma?
Titan blinked before answering, ’You mean Luma?’
‘YES! Do you know him??’ Excitement buzzed through the terrestrial satellite’s body.
‘Not really, I met him a while ago, claimed to be one of Saturn’s moon, but when asked about the revolution, he seemed at a loss of words.’ Titan answered, looking mildly disturbed.
‘Do you think he’s lying?’
‘Maybe, but everything is so strange these days, Saturn’s been acting freaked out, he’s barely letting me leave the orbit, talking in hushed tones with Jupiter, then you are talking about how Earth’s acting strange. I suppose Luma could be a new moon that has missed the announcement, because I’ve never met him before.’ Titan explained, he shuddered while saying the words, it might just be the chilly temperature but Luna wasn’t sure.
‘I see…thanks for your help.’ The latter couldn’t help but pout his disappointment.
‘But me and Titania talk sometimes, she’s really cool!’ Titan added cheerfully, discarding their previous conversation, Typical, Luna thought.
They chatted for maybe about 30 minutes before Luna thought about going back to his orbit before Earth went ballistic missile mode and refused to talk for another week. It's like dealing with a child , Luna thought to himself, before scoffing, Titan raised an eyebrow.
‘Thinking about Earth?’ he asked in a bored tone.
‘How did you-’
‘Because that’s all you do.’
‘No that's not true-’
‘Calm down, was just trying to point something out…maybe spend a little time away with him, you can hang out with me?’ Titan grinned like an idiot.
‘Whatever…’ Luna put his palm on his forehead as the knot in his stomach tightened.
Luna waved Titan goodbye as he made sure to avoid the moons of Jupiter while returning, out of nowhere a hand grabbed him and turned him around.
Luna grabbed an asteroid ready to attack the stranger…
It was Luma.
‘WHAT- why are you-?!’.
Not a wise decision to yell, Luma shoved his hand on the former satellite’s mouth and shushed him without uttering a word, he seemed tense, The Moon stopped struggling out of fear.
Luma had paled, ’Don’t turn around Earth’s Moon…or it’ll get you…’
The Moon took a chance and being stronger pushed the former aside, turning around to see…
Just asteroids.
Luma blinked, apparently confused, that slowly turned into his usual jumpy self as the satellite in front of him glared, anger blazing in his eyes.
‘I-I…don’t-’
‘What was that for?’The tone was steely.
‘I just thought-’, Luma stammered, clearly at a loss for words as he summoned his wild hand motions.
‘Though what you? We could’ve crashed.’ Luna glared at him.
‘Can’t explain…I have to go…’ Luma turned away again.
‘Wait you-’
He disappeared again, The Moon started mumbling in frustration as he started heading towards Earth, his day couldn’t get any better.
As he was about to drift away, something caught his eye, white, Luna grabbed it, it was paper, he frowned, something was written on it…typed?
“The Moon escape”
He began to read…
(1030 words)
Chapter 3: Rio Lee Heelshires
…the heelshire mansion, it’s a place you’ll learn to love…
…Welcome to my house, obey the rules….
It was a any mundane afternoon in the 1990s Chicago, a warm summer breeze blew right through Ophelia’s ash coloured, long hair as she swung her legs off the swings popping open a Stephan Hawking book titled, “The Brief history Of Time”, she turned a page as a familiar voice called out to her.
‘Ophie, quick! The new game is out!’ called out her twin Rio wearing a mask he usually does . “Ophie” jumped from the swing, leaving her book dangling in the seat, one step of carelessness and it might have fallen into the mud below, she didn’t care at the moment.
The two rushed to the other side of the Heelshire mansion to find their cousin, Enzo.
‘Zoh! Come quick.’ Ophelia called out as her younger cousin came rushing forward, dropping behind his puppets and the creepy ventriloquist dummy.
‘Is it out? Is it out?’
‘Come fast, Laurenzo just drop the dolls!’ Rio hissed at his siblings, clearly annoyed by his cousin’s obsession with dolls, typical, Ophie thought to herself as she followed her twin’s fast steps to the nearby arcade, struggling to keep up, by the looks of it so was Enzo.
Why did her older brother have to be so impatient?
It was the new pacman game, it had been released about a decade ago but the arcade only opened a few months ago so the games kept releasing one after another, needless to say Rio and Theo were obsessed so they kept dragging her into it, she didn’t care for the game but it was nice to see her twin not be overly cynical for a few moments in his life, as much as she loved him,
He was insufferable, although it might have to do something with his illness…
Needless to say they reached the arcade as monkeys would reach for a banana stall, even though Ophelia didn’t admit she loved some of the games, especially Q*Bert, she would toy with the game for hours.
The arcade was filled with heavy video game machines, each with Neon spray paint screaming for attention, the covers bright and colorful, and the consoles and controls worn out from being played so much by the locals, all connected to one port at the back, but the most noticeable detail about the video game arcade was the crowding around the new machine, Pacman.
Of course not, it was 5-10 people.
‘Aww, damn it, we are never going to get a turn.’ Rio slumped his shoulders, Enzo looked unfazed and maybe a little jaded.
‘We just might.’ Ophie remarked, as she pointed towards the line that got shorter with every furious nerd storming out.
‘Seems like a hard game.’ Commented Enzo, twirling his slightly curly hair.
‘Agreed.’
‘Oh my faint-hearted sloths for siblings, come on.’ He seized Enzo’s sleeve and dragged him into the line. Ophie wondered how he could afford to be so feisty with all the headaches, she followed nevertheless.
Turns out Ophelia was right, the newbie nerds lost pretty quick and in no time the line dropped to a quarter of its size, with more people crowding around the next player , who stormed through the crowd in a rage fit. Is this how I am like when I lose board games with my brothers? Ophie pondered over it, not for long as their turn came pretty quick.
‘I’ll go.’ Ophelia stated, both the boys looked astounded.
Ophie as she suspected was pretty bad, fortunately she had 3 quarters from saving up, which bought her brothers some time, she could hear them mumbling behind her as every kid in the arcade watched her screen intensely. Their conversation resembled somewhat this;
‘Look…the red ghost-’
‘Blinky.’
‘Yes, yes, it’s most aggressive, it comes directly for you.’
‘Mhm…’
‘And look, Inky tries to ambush you with Blinky, from the opposite side!’
The rest of the kids were turning their attention to the conversation.
‘Rio…look Clyde he almost stays in that corner and circles it.’
‘Pinky is trying to cut you off, Ophie what are you doing?!’ Rio sounded frustrated as his sister had somehow managed to get stuck in a T shaped spot, interestingly the ghosts didn’t attack her.
‘I think it’s a glitch…’, Enzo blinked and then grinned.
Ophie finally lost it, the game not her temper.
Rio pushed her aside with so much energy that she nearly crash landed on Enzo.
‘Rio! Seriously..?!’ Enzo looked more annoyed for some reason.
‘Oops, sorry.’, He didn’t seem sorry, all his attention invested in the game, the analysis seemed to have worked,
They were there for hours, okay one hour, Rio’s sister would’ve loved to tell you how many levels he crossed, except that she didn’t remember because she was playing Q*bert with her last quarter.
‘That was fun.’ Rio smirked at his siblings as he swung his legs on the swing.
‘For you, I didn't even get a turn!’ Enzo huffed, arms crossed.
‘Fine.’, Rio rolled his eyes,’You can have Ophie’s dessert tonight.’
‘HEY!’ the latter looked up from playing with the dummy in her lap.
‘Kidding, kidding, you can have mine.’
‘Seems like a good deal.’ Enzo smiled.
‘I still don’t understand why don’t you like Q*bert.’
Ophelia frowned as both the brothers exchanged a laugh, sometimes their word plays and jokes pass right over her head.
Chapter 3.5: Rio Lee Heelshires-Case
…the heelshire mansion, it’s a place you’ll learn to love…
…Welcome to my house, obey the rules….
‘Rio? C’mon your mother’s calling you!’ Enzo called out as he stepped outside the house and in the garden, which was beautifully maintained unlike the forest that was tucked right behind the house, Rio thought it was mystifying, Opheilia thought it was pest infested, there were two kinds of people in the world, Rio is in one category and the world in another, Enzo chuckled at his own thought.
‘Oye, Rio! I’ll eat your food if you don’t stop hiding.’ Enzo threatened, but he wasn’t sure it would work as he had enough trouble eating for one, plus he still had Rio’s desert.
He skipped around the garden, much to his disappointment he found no one, he wondered if he should check the forested area, as he strolled mindlessly.
‘Rio! This is not funny anymore…’ Enzo felt precipitation hit his face as his breath grew quicker and pace faster.
‘Big brother..?!’ The latter rarely referred to his cousin as “brother”, panic was settling in, fortunately his gaze landed in the right place,
On the other hand he would’ve preferred Rio to be missing…
‘W-what?’Enzo murmured softly, a look of horror settled on his face as his eyes burned with tears…
It was Rio alright and he wasn’t dead…he just seemed very close to being dead.
Countless bruises were present on his hands and legs as he leaned against a tree, collapsed on the soil of Earth, his eyes closed, Enzo hesitantly moved forward, he could sense his brother breathing, perhaps the most terrifying part of the scene was the black liquid drooling out of the corner of the former’s mouth,
He knew his cousin was sick,
He didn't know what sickness or how sick.
‘Rio…wake up…’ it seemed to have done the trick, the latter nearly jumped, smashing his head against his cousin’s, his pupils dilated, a psychology nerd like Enzo will know it was from fear due to the adrenal rush.
‘What- Y-you, don’t-’
‘I won’t tell anyone…’ Thankfully the darkness of night hid the crestfallen look on his face, besides he didn’t plan on sticking to his promise, Ophelia deserves to know. The situation felt too familiar.
Like what happened to his mother.
‘C’mon, we need to get out of here, it's not safe…I’ll help you clean up and tell everyone you are sick, alright?’
‘S-sure.’ Enzo helped his brother get up.
‘Damn it, you’re heavy…’
‘Shut your trap.’
Enzo wasn’t particularly happy about being told to shut up but he was relieved to see his brother going back to his normal self as he half dragged and half helped him to the house, making sure to take the back door and avoid Rio’s parents, Ophelia caught a glimpse as she was passing by but she didn’t speak a word and instead just avoided the two like a plague.
Thankfully the parents weren’t too worried about their children’s shenanigans as Enzo cooked up a convincing lie about Rio vomiting everywhere, nobody seemed particularly excited to go check up on the older twin so they ate dinner heartily, as much as they could muster that is, The Heelshires were infamous for being the most gloomy family around the block.
Ophelia didn’t utter a word the whole dinner, it wasn’t particularly unusual for her, she almost had an invisible, omniscient presence that allowed her to fade in white noise, but Enzo was certain it had something to do with the scene,
He met her after dinner in her room.
‘I know Lauren, he’s my twin and he’s not particularly good at hiding things.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me?!’ Enzo felt his voice rising both in pitch and decibels, he almost rushed immediately to tell his sister, who could barely bother to offer the same courtesy.
‘Why exactly?’ She had her intelligent gaze fixated upon Enzo.
‘What do you-’
‘I don’t know if you are aware of yourself, but I don’t feel offering to be everyone’s personal therapist is a particularly healthy option for you that takes everything home.’ She said,
‘He’s my brother Ophelia…’
‘And I am your older sister, I think I know better.’ She cut him short, as if purposely trying to piss him off as she toyed with Enzo’s dummy.
He snatched it from her, her pupils contracted but her breath grew sharper and she looked as if she would attack her cousin.
‘I deserve to know Ophelia…we have to tell someone, we have to help-’
‘You can’t fix everything Laurenzo. The faster you learn the better.’ Ophie wouldn’t meet his eyes, it usually meant she is furious and the fact she called him by his full name.
‘But…’
‘No. Rio said nobody can fix it and I have an intuition he is right.’
‘Maybe he’s wrong…I mean we aren’t verified experts are we?’
‘Maybe you are wrong, enlighten me, how many times have you heard of strange black substances coming from teenage boys and bruises out of nowhere?’
‘...How about trying the library-’,
‘I tried, I tried to find anything, anyone that would tell me, every illness in the book from the library, there’s nothing.’ she looked as if she would burst out crying, that is what usually happens when he fights with her.
‘...okay, let’s find ways to help him.’ Ophie looked up, bewildered at his words.
‘But how? I looked everywhere.’
‘Every problem has a solution, we can be the first ones to figure this out, besides I can sense that his problems aren’t purely physical, they are psychological too.’
‘I feel that this might not work out, but as you wish.’ Ophelia responded after seemingly deep in thought, she looked up and a puzzled expression began to form on her face, Enzo quickly tried to brush off his tears, his cousin didn’t seem very impressed.
‘Why are you crying?’
‘Isn’t it obvious?’
‘Not to me, it isn’t, you just said we’ll figure out a solution.’ Ophie said.
‘How can you be so optimistic? I mean you weren’t a few seconds ago but you weren’t crying like a damn b-’
‘Eh, we need one sibling that doesn’t have real problems right?’ she smiled bitterly.
‘You shouldn’t dismiss your problems…’
‘I think you should follow your own advice first.’
She was right.
***
Ophelia knocked at her twin’s door the next morning, not particularly enthusiastic to engage in a conversation, it was hard to relate, hard to understand Rio, but she never understood people anyways, the illness, it had been five years since she knew, since Rio’s obsession with mask began, the numbness had settled in after a week and never left.
She knocked again, no reply, her frustration rose, she banged the door so loud at the third knock, that Enzo threw a cricket ball at her from the nearby room, before joining in.
‘You think he went out again?’ Ophelia asked, bored out of her mind.
‘I’ll check if his shoes are missing or not.’ Enzo disappeared downstairs as Ophelia’s mother started questioning him.
Ophie creaked open the room, the bed was messed up and no signs of civilization were found in Rio’s room, she frowned, Enzo’s ventriloquist dummy? But didn’t the latter keep it in his room last night? Clothes were distorted all over the place, books about wildlife, possibly over due on his desk.
‘He went out alright.’ Enzo came back, Ophelia closed the door, a blush rose on her face, as if a child was caught stealing candy.
‘He’ll come back.’ Ophelia reassured her younger cousin,
Or herself she didn’t know.
~
He in fact didn’t come back and was declared missing.
One day, she and her cousin found Theodore (her father) murdered, poisoned apparently and her mother sobbing hysterically in another room.
She knew who did it, she was glad he did it.
The killer hanged himself 2 days later.
(2000 words)
​

Total test around 400, got my first jab today 200mg of Test C every 2 weeks, 37 years old, 85kg 6ft never really been able to get real gains in the gym, on this dosage can I expect to make better gains? Also never really could grow a proper beard and have a little cellulite, could could I expect try to help with the above mentioned? TIA

I used to be someone who got agitated very quickly.
Backhanded comments, subtle jabs, weird comments would all send me over the edge. I just ended up being the butt of the joke, but even worse, I looked like someone who couldn’t regulate his emotions. They held the power.
I got tired of looking like that. So I figured out a way to NEVER let anyone get to you. It’s pretty simple, some people already do this automatically, so this might be common sense for those some.
Before I go over the steps, it’s important to realize why people make backhanded comments, jabs and under the table insults.
It’s to get you emotional. It’s to get a rise out of you. It’s to get you to get flustered.
They do this to gain a sense of control.
Think of this way. Negative emotions and control are inverse.
The more the negative emotions you display, the less control you have. The more control you have, the less negative emotions are displayed.
But there’s a bigger problem.
If someone is able to get you flustered in a public setting, the snowball starts rolling down the hill.
You’ll realize you are flustered. You’ll recognize others see you flustered. You’ll become even more anxious and in your head.
Then…
You’ll become even more flustered. You’ll look even more flustered in front of others. You’ll become even more anxious than you were before.
Rinse and repeat. Now you’ve lost control of the situation.
It becomes a nasty cycle.
The trick is to never show that what was said bothered you. We are only humans, no one is ever 100% confident. It’s more pragmatic to learn how to get around unnecessary comments.
In order to do this, you must know exactly how to respond.
Here are the exact steps:

1. Catch when someone makes a backhanded comment.

Example A: “He’s so much better than you at pickle ball.” Example B: “You really think you are better looking than him?” Example C: “Why’d you wear that?”

1. Figure out which emotion or state of mind arises because of that comment.

Example A: Defensiveness Example B: Embarrassment Example C: Insecurity

1. Determine the opposite emotion or state of mind.

Example A: Receptiveness Example B: Indifference Example C: Confidence
(Example B is not exactly opposite but still works)

1. Respond as if you were feeling that opposite emotion.

Example A: “He really is! His serve is amazing, I need to work on that.” Example B: Nonchalantly “Ah yeah, he really is.” Example C: “I think I look great!”
This works because you responded in the exact opposite way they expected you to. Most of the times, they won’t know what to say next.
They’ll be at a loss for words. You’ll still be in control.
If anyone has any other cool methods or how this could be improved would love to hear about it.

I want to create a list of what the basics of SF6 is. By "basics" I mean whatever skill/mechanic you need to practice/master that is general to (at least almost) all characters. The idea being that if you know these "basics" you could play any character to a pretty high level without doing any of that characters "gimmicks".
EDIT: There are a lot of comments nitpicking my use of the word "basics". If I could I would change the title of the post to "General strategies" or "Mechanics that are common for all characters" or something similar. My point is not to have a list of a few "basic" things to know to climb the ladder, but a list of all the things that all characters have in common that you have to learn at some time or another. That is why things like "Shimmy" is included, even though you don't need to know how to Shimmy to reach Plat. In one way, shimmying, is "basic" because it is an integral part of the mechanics of the game. In another way it is not "basic" because you don't need to learn in to play the game.
So far I have this list:
* Knowing punishcounter combos for your character
* Knowing the characters "pokes"
* Spacing in general
* Knowing how to DRC from various buttons
* Knowing how to neutral DR into a button
* Stopping raw DR
* Hit-confirming (and what buttons for your character you can hit confirm)
* Buffering normal moves into special moves (like c.mk into fireball)
* Delay tech
* Meaty options for your character and various OKI situations
* Shimmy
* Safe jump situations
* Neutral jump as shimmy
* Wiff punish
* jump in combos
* AA
* Cross up combo
* Anti-cross up
* Combos into supers
* How to play "different" in the corner (different combos, etc)
* tick throw
* Throw loop
* Backrolling
* Parrying and perfect parrying
* Diffent pressure options when you are close (like jabs, c.lk into jab sto stop backwalk, etc)
* How to pressure when opponent is in burnout
Did I forget something? What are more of the basic skills that is important no matter what character you are playing?

*Throw-away account*
This might be pretty long winded, but I feel that for everyone to really understand the whole story, I have to share the WHOLE. STORY. Hoping to receive some good advice to clear my mind about the whole matter.

For some back story:
I have this friend, let’s call her Anna (23F). I met her 1.5 years ago when I moved in with her boyfriend and some of his friends. This was all very wholesome – I'm not that girl. I was in a tough spot trying to find somewhere to live, and they needed a roommate. I asked her before moving in if it was okay, and she was very cool with the idea.
At the time of me moving in I didn’t know her very well, but we very quickly became best friends. While I was living there, her boyfriend – let's call him Mark (23M) - emotionally cheated on Anna and broke up with her. This was a bit of a messy situation, since I was good friends with both of them. They got through it, I was able to support them both through it all without angering either one of them, and they were able to come out of it as friends.
One thing I also think is important to note as some background info is that Mark and Anna are totally fine in their friendship to this day, but this brings up some issues as well. They started sleeping together again pretty shortly after the break-up and it's been an ongoing thing since (to each their own, I'm not judging). The one thing I find slightly relevant is that whenever our friend group goes out to the bar, if Mark shows up, Anna's attention turns entirely to him, and vice versa with him to her. He flirts with her openly, and she flirts right back. After a night out, Anna would often bring up that Mark is quite flirty with her and that she wonders if he regrets messing things up with her. This kind of got on my nerves because it seemed as though she wasn't acknowledging that she was flirting back. I've brought this up to her and she insists that she's not flirting, she's just being nice. In these moments I've agreed with her, thinking that if she isn't intending to flirt, and is truly just being kind, then I guess it's not flirting (even though it seemed very much like flirting. Like, eyes on each other, no one else exists for the entire evening, just them type vibes).
Anna is a very kind person. She's very bubbly and outgoing. In the short time I’ve known her she’s never immediately judged a person based on appearances alone. She's the type of person who would accept a drink and a dance from a 3/10 at the bar, even though she's tall and gorgeous and a 12/10, to put it bluntly. Another thing I learned about Anna, at least from my perspective, is that she loves being the center of attention. She tends to be loud and very involved with everyone all at once. This is cute and charming most of the time, as she's always checking in on, vibing with, and involved with everyone at the function. It has started to get on my nerves here and there, but that’s my own problem, I know. I'm also quite bubbly and high-energy, but my social battery runs out from time to time, and the loud speaking and constant attention becomes a bit draining. Anna tends to be oblivious to social queues. She doesn’t seem to notice when someone is drained and doesn’t realize she should give them space. I should communicate this, I know, so I don't blame her for me being emotionally spent from time to time.

Now to the present.
Anna and I became very close with two other girls from our friend group, and we became a bit of a little “squad”, if you will. Our city's hockey team is in round 3 of the NHL play offs, and we've been attending "watch parties" that our city puts on. Nearly every watch party, it's been a blast.
Flash forward to last weekend. I matched with a guy on a dating app, let’s call him Gregg (24M), and we've been talking for nearly two months. Nothing super in depth, but we've been hitting it off it seems. I messaged him the other day while the girls and I were getting ready to head out to a watch party and asked if he was going. He said he was! One of my friends (can't recall who) asked if he was coming with any single friends. I asked and he said he had two friends who were "single and horny." Wonderful. There's three of us, three of them (our fourth friend moved to another city RIP). My two friends even went as far as to check out the snap he sent and pick between his two friends he took a selfie with. I will note here that both my friends commented on how HOT this guy that I'm talking to is, but they choose which of his friends they'll focus on for the evening either way.
We get to the watch party and grab a table and they meet us soon after. Things are going well at first. Gregg is laying the moves and I'm loving it. Then things start to turn. We all get a bit tipsy. He's a very loud and outgoing person, I'm learning quickly. I am too, so that's not too big of an issue. Then he starts making flirty comments to both of my friends, and I start realizing this guy is a player. But the liquor is flowing and I’m ignoring these red flags hardcore. This is when Anna starts warming up to these three strangers that have joined us, and is starting to become her usual, attention grabbing, high-energy happy self.
Where things turn is when Anna mentions that she has no gag reflex. She mentions this loudly, and Gregg turns all his attention to her, mentioning how that's hot. Gregg has commented multiple times at this point on how horny he is - usually directed to the group, but I have been taking this as a nudge at me, since we had had conversations that have gotten a bit hot and heavy over snapchat in the weeks prior. Yes, I did find it a bit obnoxious that he was shouting this to the group when he just met the three of us, and him and I had an online "thing" for weeks. I just brushed it off and decided to live in a fantasy land where these red flags don’t exist (I'm a dumb bitch I know). I'm bothered in the moment by Anna's gag reflex comment but play if off as her being oblivious or just seeking attention, and think to myself that she wouldn't openly flirt with the guy I like. Throughout the evening she proceeds being her usual chatty self, but it seems to me like her attention is turned mainly to Gregg. It's rubbing me the wrong way, but in her defense, he is being loud and outgoing and what is she supposed to do? Ignore him? Except I start thinking about how my other friend isn't entertaining Gregg's flirty comments and is still staying a part of the conversation all the same. So I am getting bothered by the way she’s acting. This isn’t to say he’s done nothing wrong. He’s being the worst, but I expect more from my best friend, y’know?
At one point during the evening Gregg bumps Anna's two-week-old piercing and she cries out that it hurt. For some reason he chooses to bump it again, and she yells at him (in an astonished, funny way, not an angry way). He apologizes and tries to convince her to hit him back. They go back and forth about how she won't hit him, and he insists she does. More flirting, me getting increasingly bothered.
Later Gregg asks the group about anal, and who's tried it. Anna replies (almost too eagerly) about how she's done a lot of anal. I make a joke about how I've never done it and how that's a husband privilege in my books. Gregg's attention is entirely on Anna at this point, as it has been for a lot of the evening, and she seems to be loving it. She replies eagerly to everything he says, and he does the same for her. I’m feeling very hurt at this point by the way Anna is entertaining Gregg when it's obvious that he's been flirting with her. I can't help but think that if the roles were reversed, I'd reply to her man's attempts at flirting very dryly, or not at all. But then I remember that in Anna's eyes, she's just being nice.
After the game we all go back to my friend's house. At this point I am quite frustrated by the lack of attention I'm receiving from Gregg, and hurt that Anna seems to be inviting his attention without hesitation. I'm stewing over the fact that Anna seems more interested in my man than she does in the one she said she though was cute from the photo. Throughout the evening she had mentioned how cute and funny Gregg's friend was, and yet seemed to give Gregg all her attention, and his friend the scraps.
I then decided to take matters into my own hands. I chose not to pull Anna aside and hash out how I'm feeling, as I believed there was a deeper conversation to be had. I could see her responding the same way she did when I mentioned that she was flirting with her ex, Mark. "I'm not flirting I'm just being nice." I didn't want to fight about it in the middle of a party, so instead I invite Gregg to the bathroom hoping to get a lil' makeout sesh (oooOOoo). We enter the bathroom and as I'm closing the door Anna busts in, despite me trying to close the door, and directs Gregg to leave the bathroom. I'm saying "No, Anna. No, Gregg, stay. Anna, out." But she proceeds to shove him out, close, and lock the door. At this point I boil over. I shout, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" and Anna looks startled. I yell about how I'm obviously trying to get a moment alone with the guy, what made you decide to bust in and push him out. She yells back "DON"T SHOUT AT ME!" A couple more words may have been spoken, I can't recall, but then she leaves, and Gregg comes back in. We do our thing, then he leaves, and Anna comes back in. I apologize for shouting, and we hug. She apologizes for busting in, and says "I can be so oblivious, you have to lay it out for me!" I'm still bothered, mind you, but did not want to get into it tonight. I'm stewing the rest of the night about why she came into the bathroom. Was she trying to get back in Gregg's eye? Was she trying to keep me from having alone time with him? Is she that in need of attention? Or was she truly just oblivious?
The night ends with Gregg and I sharing a bed in a private room. He tries to initiate s*x with me, but I tell him no, since I wasn't very impressed with him at that point (but I have not portrayed any signs of this to him). The next morning as I'm leaving for work, everyone is hanging out in the living room (part-timers). Gregg comes into the bathroom while I'm changing and gives my butt a slap. Seems like he's still into me.
At work that day I received a message from Anna in the girls group chat about how Gregg messaged her and apologized for hitting her piercing. She goes on about how it's so sweet that he apologized, and about how funny that was the night before. The second I see this I get this bad feeling in my gut. I've never brought a guy I wasn't already exclusive with around Anna before, so I had nothing to go off of, but my gut told me that he was going to keep messaging her. I couldn't blame her for this - it's blatantly clear at this point that this guy is a mega flirt. What I felt so uneasy about is that I knew deep down that Anna was going to reply and hold a conversation with the guy. I knew deep down that she would flirt with him, but then if I were to ever find out, she would backpedal and say she's just being nice. I vented to some other friends about my worries, and they confirmed to me that I wasn't crazy, and that this was not okay for a friend to do. I intended to call her up one of the days following and chat with her about my frustrations from that night, but she beat me to it.
She texted me today, three days after the watch party night, and asked if she could call me to “tell me a story.” I knew immediately that it probably had something to do with Gregg. We get on the phone, and she starts the conversation by asking where my head is at with this Gregg guy. I answer that he seems like a flirt, but that we're still talking, and I would like to see where it goes. She then proceeds to tell me that he made moves on her and asked her out.
I am obviously hurt at this point and trying to decide how to proceed. She was vocal at the watch party, and earlier when I'd show my friends photos of this guy, that she thought he was so hot.
She goes on over the phone about how Gregg played it like him and I weren't pursuing anything serious, and how she wasn't sure if he was telling the truth and she wanted to see where my head was at. She's begun playing if off like she's letting me know for my own good that this guy is a player and not good for me. I'm not sure at this point if I believe her. I feel like, based on the way she started the conversation, if I had told her he means nothing to me she would have asked if it would be okay if she went out with him. I feel like she's not being totally honest with me.
I decided to test the waters by asking her to send me screenshots of the conversation. The first time I ask she hesitates, then says she would read the convo to me. I can tell based on the way she's reading it that she's leaving things out. Our conversation continues, and she mentions that if I'm not serious about him, he would be fun to have around the friend group, and that we could introduce him to the guys. I tell her that he doesn't deserve to meet our friends.
I eventually ask a second time for her to send the screenshots to me. She expressed that she's hesitant to send me the screenshots, because last time a guy flirted with her and a friend of hers at the same time, she sent the screenshots and her friend sent them to the guy and there was a lot of unnecessary drama. She asks if I'll send them to him and I tell her that I don't know how I'm going to proceed yet. All I know is that I'm hurt. I did like this guy, and after the shit show of the weekend, he seemed like he liked me too (once again, I’m a dumb bitch). She moves on from the screenshots and we continue chatting.
I finally pull the trigger and mention that I was bothered by the way she was acting that evening. I mention that she's talking to the guy I like about how she has no gag reflex, and about how she loves anal. She counters by saying that she said the gag reflex thing to Gregg's friend, and that Gregg just happened to overhear. She defends the anal thing by saying that Gregg asked the whole group, so she just answered. I leave it at that because she was getting heated, and all I could focus on right now was making sure she was in the mood to send me those screenshots.
Finally, I ask for them a third time, "so that I can show my sister." I definitely know that something fishy is going on at this point. She finally says she'll send me the screen shots but asks me to "keep in mind that they may seem flirty, but I was trying to 'play detective' for you. I was trying to keep him replying so I could get evidence to show you later." I agree to keep that in mind and reassure her over and over again that I'm not mad at her, and that I'll read these screenshots with a grain of salt - lots of which wasn't true, I just HAD to get those screenshots (yes, I know, I gaslit her. Not a good look). She says she'll send them to me, and we get off the phone.
Then the screenshots get delivered. From the gate she is very friendly with the guy, even when his first couple messages include winky faces and flirtatious jabs. Then her messages start including winky faces and the flirty works. I'm reading these just completely bewildered that she would ever think this would pass as "playing detective on my part." I also started realizing that these messages are over Instagram, meaning that if someone were to delete a message from the chat, it leaves no indication of such. I'm beyond angry and hurt at this point, reading messages from him saying that he wished he could've been making the moves on her all evening over me. She asks Gregg what the deal is with him and I, he says we were just fooling around and that there's no future there. He asks what she's looking for, they agree that they're both not looking for a relationship, but if it happens it happens. Lots of smiley faces and winky faces exchanged.
The screenshots end and Anna texts me saying he asked to hang out this weekend, and she quotes what she said back. “(My Name)’s my girl and I don’t feel like you’re being honest in saying there’s nothing goin on between yall, or at least you haven’t had that conversation with her.” I'm wary of this because rather than sending me the screenshot, she chose to type out what she said. I don't reply as I'm processing everything, and she messages me again giving him the benefit of the doubt as a single guy, not tied down to anything, but admits it was scummy to go after two girls who are friends.
At this point I'm considering a couple things; (1.) how she started the conversation by asking me how I felt about him, (2.) how she wouldn't send the screenshots the first two times I asked, but finally did under the guise of "playing detective" for me, and (3.) how she was afraid I would send him the screenshots. I'm realizing as I consider these things that I believe she wasn't at all "playing detective" for me, because she would've started the whole entire phone call in a much different tune if the goal of her messaging him was to get proof that he was a bad guy, and I should leave him. Then I realize that she probably doesn't want me to send him the screenshots because she likes him, and might intend to keep chatting with him, and me sending the screenshots might sabotage that. So out of anger I message him "You couldn't f*ck me, so you turned to hitting on my friend instead hey?" He opens the message and right as he does, I send him the screenshot of Anna's message stating that she was "playing detective" for me, and just acting flirty to keep him messaging. I send this screenshot with the caption "just so you know." This was a c*nty move on my part for sure, but I was fueled by anger. In the process I realize that he might tell her that I sent that, then I realize that this is a good thing. If she gets angry at me for sending that, then I'll know what her true intentions are.
And she did. She did get mad.
I knew if I got into it with her right now, being as angry as I am, I would say some pretty nasty things. So, I tell her I need time. She asks if we're not okay, and I tell her "Not really, I just need time." She then tells me it's unfair to leave her hanging on the idea that we're not okay without telling her why. This is when she adds to the message "I also didn't realize our text conversations would be shared with others." And I know that Gregg has informed her of the screenshot I sent. I simply reply to that message with "so you're still talking to him hey?" She says she just told him that we spoke about things. She calls me out for disrespecting her by sending the screenshot of her message, and I tell her that if she was truly on my side through all this she wouldn't care if he knew that she was "playing detective" or not. She would be sending me screenshots with laughing emojis. She says that she's not upset about him knowing, she just thinks sending the screenshot is unnecessary. She proceeds to say she cares about our friendship more than any man and she's sorry if she's hurt me.
This is where I might be the asshole. Maybe it's the accumulation of me being bothered by her seeking attention in any social setting, maybe it's because I sat on my concerns about how she was acting around Gregg for a couple days too long, but I feel entirely uninterested in continuing this friendship. I had a friend who did the same thing a lot in high school. I would like a guy, she would begin messaging him, I would find out later and she would make excuses for being flirty. Maybe I have trust issues surrounding that. I know if we sat down, we could probably work this out, but I'm just so bothered at the idea that she's not being entirely truthful, and I feel like all trust has been lost in this relationship. Am I the asshole for not wanting to continue this even though a resolution could be reached? I need advice!!

Sorry for the huge story, and thanks for reading if you’ve made it this far!

Hello again everybody!
Before we get started on today's post I wanted to start off by saying thanks to a community suggestion on yesterday's post I've gone through all the previous votes and added a Weighted Average of all the votes next to each Pokemon. Essentially this just works by taking ALL of the votes and weighing each vote for each tier with a corresponding numerical value and then averaging them all out (except for Abstaining votes of course). This did produce some interesting data about each vote and as such I've decided to include these averages next to each Pokemon in the list below.
This won't change how tiering is done going forward, or retroactively change any past votes. Majority votes will still be the ruling factor for deciding the tiers, this was more of just some fun informative data about how strong or not each Pokemon was voted for including all of the votes outside of the tier that ended up winning for that Pokemon. (Interestingly enough some Pokemon did have higher averages than Pokemon in higher tiers and vice versa). I've included the numbers next to each Pokemon in the tier list below so it can be a bit of fun information and also give some insight to maybe separating the tiers even more precisely into like "High A" vs. "Low A" and whatnot. The main reason these averages won't supercede the majority vote is that there's no prerequisites for voting and obviously no way to know or account for trolling, biased or uninformed votes being cast. Because of this the majority vote still seems like the best way to actually decide the tiers and the Weighted Average is just some fun extra data to include :). (Weighted Average is a 1-5 scale so you can think of it as a 5-star system, however there is no 0 on the scale as having F tier be 0 would make the data harder to calculate and also make for an arbitrary 0-4 scale and 1-5 "stars" just seemed cleaner and a bit easier to understand for people who aren't super into analytics)
Also remember that this tier list is just for fun and so everyone can comment and give their own personal analysis on the Pokemon in the comments, it's in no way official or anything so take everything with a grain of salt and don't get too upset if your favorite Pokemon isn't voted as highly as you'd like it to be.
With all of that being said the voting for Emboar has officially ended, with votes for C tier being the winning vote in the end! As the vote has officially ended I've included the Weighted Average for Emboar in the tier list below as well!
Meanwhile, yesterday's vote for Unovan-Samurott still has plenty of time left in the vote but votes for B tier have taken a significant lead so I've tentatively put U-Samurott into the B tier and will have data on the Weighted Average on tomorrow's post when the vote officially ends, of course if the winning tier changes by then I will update it on the list as well :)
(Please note that this voting/tiering is centered around Classic as after a certain point in Endless only about 5 Pokemon and 2 abilities are truly viable.)
So current tiers are:
S tier - Garganacl (4.37), Cloyster (4.01), Skeledirge (4.48), Gholdengo (4.49), Tinkaton (4.64)
A tier - Gyarados/Mega (4.19), VenusauMega/Dyna (3.80), Aegislash (4.06), Corviknight/Dyna (3.91), Excadrill (4.32), GardevoiMega (3.99), Toxapex (3.50), ScizoMega (3.94), GengaMega/Dyna (3.90), Delphox (3.62), Blastoise/Mega/Dyna (3.51), Blaziken/Mega (3.76), Swampert/Mega (3.76), Empoleon (3.57)
B tier - Kanto-Persian/Dynamax Kanto-Meowth (3.25), Weavile (3.23), Starmie (2.92), Rhyperior (2.88), Quagsire (2.91), Mamoswine (3.25), Whimsicott (3.36), Aggron/Mega (3.48), Infernape (3.48), Alolan-Decidueye (2.89), Johto-Typhlosion (3.06), Torterra (3.03), Serperior (3.60), Unovan-Samurott
C tier - Linoone (2.97), Meganium (2.09), Emboar (2.39)
F tier - Dustox (1.47)
With ALL of that being said let's get to today's vote!
Today is day 44 of tier voting and we are officially on to the Generation 6 starters (although we have already done Delphox and one of Greninjas abilities isn't implemented yet and the other one doesn't seem to be working quite properly yet so we'll be waiting to vote on it, so this is actually a brief stop in Gen 6 and then we're on to Gen 7 tomorrow, we're really making some headway on these starter votes however!) Chesnaught has a unique typing among starters as the first and only Grass/Fighting type starter and one of only 5 Grass/Fighting type Pokemon in existence! This interesting type combo does have a notable 4x weakness to Flying (which doesn't set it up against Mega Ray very well), among a total of 6 weaknesses to match its 6 resistances, which isn't exactly ideal for a slower bulkier Pokemon. However, it is very bulky on the Physical side, but lacks on the Special side and has a very underwhelming Speed stat. It does have a pretty solid Attack stat and access to Bulk Up and Leech Seed by level up however allowing it to function as a solid Physical wall. It does have access to some good utility, coverage, boosting and recovery moves through TMs and its Egg Moves. It's Hidden Ability, Bulletproof, is somewhat situational but does help it avoid some common Special attacks such as Shadow Ball, Sludge Bomb and Pollen Puff. It's Passive Ability is really good for it as it gives it a free +1 to its Defense the first time it enters battle making it a very daunting Physical wall. It is notably missing any decent priority move (it's only one being Feint which is extremely situational at best) however which definitely limits it.
(Also here is the post with rules for voting/tiering posts and a little more explanation about them in general: https://www.reddit.com/pokerogue/s/0LNZhPPzR9 Links to past votes can all be found here as well in comments added to the OP with each new vote)
And here is a quick reminder of what each tier generally means:
S tier: Top tier, can make or break your entire run, essentially the cream of the crop
A tier: really strong but not quite top tier, maybe slightly outclassed or has a slight weakness holding it back
B tier: solid choices that can make it to your endgame team, might be reliant on team composition to truly function well or might just be outclassed as well
C tier: usually early-mid game Mons, ones you don't really want to take to end game if you can avoid it, usually pretty decently glaring weakness but something redeeming enough to keep from F tier
F tier: no reason to use in end game unless you're doing it for a meme/joke
Abstain/No Opinion: this will be a voting option mostly just for Pokemon people haven't unlocked/used to their full potential yet. If Abstaining votes outvote each individual tier then the Pokemon will be tabled for the time being and another vote will open up for it later (can mostly see this happening with Legendaries).
*
Chesnaught
Type: Grass/Fighting
Mega: No
Dynamax: No
Starter cost {Chespin}: 3
Possible Egg moves: Drain Punch, Synthesis, Ceaseless Edge, Sappy Seed
Biomes: Forest
Abilities: Overgrow
Hidden Ability: Bulletproof
Passive Ability: Dauntless Shield - boosts the Pokemon's Defense stat by 1 stage the first time it enters battle
Evolution: Chespin evolves into Quilladin at level 16. Quilladin evolves into Chesnaught at level 36.
Base stats:
HP - 88
Attack - 107
Defense - 122
Sp. Attack - 74
Sp. Defense - 75
Speed - 64
Learnset by level up: Feint, Growl, Hammer Arm, Rollout, Tackle, Vine Whip, Bite, Leech Seed, Pin Missile, Take Down, Seed Bomb, Mud Shot, Bulk Up, Body Slam, Pain Split, Wood Hammer, Giga Impact, Spiky Shield
Notable TMs: Mud-Slap, Protect, Low Kick, Trailblaze, Facade, Aerial Ace, Bulldoze, Metal Claw, Sunny Day, Rain Dance, Dig, Bullet Seed, Brick Break, Zen Headbutt, Shadow Claw, Thunder Punch, Rest, Sleep Talk, Reflect, Drain Punch, Dragon Claw, Poison Jab, Stomping Tantrum, Rock Slide, Swords Dance, Body Press, Spikes, Iron Head, Crunch, Giga Drain, Helping Hand, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Grassy Terrain, Close Combat, Toxic, Payback, Gyro Ball, Swagger, Flash, Power-Up Punch
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Tomorrow's vote: Incineroar!
Pokemon on the radar for voting very soon: Flygon, Leavanny, Wormadam-Trash, Gastrodon, Clodsire, Staraptor, Klefki, Kanto-Raichu, Gallade/Mega, Comfey, Araquanid, Crobat, Malamar, Ferrothorn, Walrein, Gliscor, Roserade, Vileplume, Minior, Hitmonchan, Bibarel, Chandelure, Archaludon/Dynamax Duraludon, Alakazam/Mega, Flamigo, Volcarona, Barbaracle, Butterfree/Dyna, Beedrill/Mega, Mawile/Mega, Drednaw/Dyna, Annihilape, Cramorant, Aerodactyl/Mega, Glimmora, Heatran, Phione, Ogerpon, Tapu Koko, Dialga/Primal, Galarian-Zapdos, Regieleki, Regidrago, Zacian, Zamazenta, Rayquaza/Mega, Latias/Mega, Latios/Mega, Ho-Oh, Volcanion, Toxtricity/Dyna, Carbink, Porygon-Z, Cinccino, Snorlax/Dyna, Wishiwashi
(Other requests will be added to this list and this list is not necessarily in order)
Happy voting!
View Poll

So if i land a HP jump in are the mixup options immidiatly after the blocked jumpin A: a throw B: cr.MP into hagigeki ( can you do this instead of jab?) C: overhead D: cr.MK into special(high risk donkey kick low risk hagigeki)
So the responses from the opponent are
Throw/> Block Jab/Cr.Mp -> throw Cr.mk -> standing block Overhead -> standing block
Thanks :)

I used to be someone who got agitated very quickly.
Backhanded comments, subtle jabs, weird comments would all send me over the edge. I just ended up being the butt of the joke, but even worse, I looked like someone who couldn’t regulate his emotions.
I got tired of looking like that. So I figured out a way to NEVER let anyone get to you. It’s pretty simple, some people already do this automatically, so this might be common sense for those some.
Before I go over the steps, it’s important to realize why people make backhanded comments, jabs and under the table insults.
It’s to get you emotional. It’s to get a rise out of you. It’s to get you to get flustered.
They do this to gain a sense of control.
Think of this way. Negative emotions and control are inverse.
The more the negative emotions you display, the less control you have. The more control you have, the less negative emotions are displayed.
But there’s a bigger problem.
If someone is able to get you flustered in a public setting, the snowball starts rolling down the hill.
You’ll realize you are flustered. You’ll recognize others see you flustered. You’ll become even more anxious and in your head.
Then…
You’ll become even more flustered. You’ll look even more flustered in front of others. You’ll become even more anxious than you were before.
Rinse and repeat. Now you’ve lost control of the situation.
It becomes a nasty cycle.
The trick is to never show that what was said bothered you. We are only humans, no one is ever 100% confident. It’s more pragmatic to learn how to get around unnecessary comments.
In order to do this, you must know exactly how to respond.
Here are the exact steps:

1. Catch when someone makes a backhanded comment.

Example A: “He’s so much better than you at pickle ball.” Example B: “You really think you are better looking than him?” Example C: “Why’d you wear that?”

1. Figure out which emotion or state of mind arises because of that comment.

Example A: Defensiveness Example B: Embarrassment Example C: Insecurity

1. Determine the opposite emotion or state of mind.

Example A: Receptiveness Example B: Indifference Example C: Confidence
(Example B is not exactly opposite but still works)

1. Respond as if you were feeling that opposite emotion.

Example A: “He really is! His serve is amazing, I need to work on that.” Example B: Nonchalantly “Ah yeah, he really is.” Example C: “I think I look great!”
This works because you responded in the exact opposite way they expected you to. Most of the times, they won’t know what to say next.
They’ll be at a loss for words. You’ll still be in control.
If anyone has any other cool methods or how this could be improved would love to hear about it.

I want to start this off by clarifying that this post is mostly so I can arrange my personal thoughts on the game; hopefully others find this interesting or helpful to discussion. I offer this as evidence of both my deep love for the game and faith in the dev team behind it. I have 10+ years of plat fighter experience and have seen countless games go and few ever stay. I am in no way an expert but I have been witness to many of the pitfalls new devs to the scene make and seeing PFG fall into several of these has been disheartening.
Overall, I don't like the new game. At all. To be honest, I played all day yesterday after waking up and playing from the moment it released. As someone who spent many late nights grinding till sunrise during the beta, I am first to say this crushed me. I wanted to like the game but in it's current mechanical state, I can't. It's a mess.
MOVEMENT: This is the central issue of the game that everyone is complaining about but I want to offer some nuance. We can all agree that the game is WAY...TOO...SLOW... I've seen discussion about how to improve this by simply increasing global speed by about 10% or 1.5x speed etc etc. However I don't think this will do much to actually fix the movement.
When looking back at the beta, the game felt fast because of the mechanics they completely stripped from the full release. Air dashes and attack cancels.
In the beta, these were prevalent to the point of being central to the games DNA. You couldn't get anywhere in the game rank wise without having a good grasp/execution of these two mechanics. Combos, kills, neutral, advantage, disadvantage (often this was the only thing enabling bad characters to keep up at all) everything required these mechanics to be used at all times, especially in high elo where I spent most of my time. I loved the speed it gave the game, but I recall showing friends footage of my gameplay and them remarking at how impossible to follow the game was.
Pulling back on these mechanics was the right thing to do, not remove them entirely. The issue with doing what they've done is that they took away the two tehcs that are central to the games DNA and replaced it with.....nothing. The movement is an empty husk of it's former self. You can air dash twice before the game punishes you and puts you into "burnout", leaving you feeling like you misplayed by trying to have any movement at all. This makes 1s boil down to two players jogging back and forth until one of them eventually full sends a big hitbox praying to whatever god they worship that it'll hit. If it hits, they kill at 50. If it doesn't they die at 50. Rinse repeat.
The worst part of the movement is not just how slow it is, it's how simple it is. There is absolutely zero ability to add any depth to the movement of the game because the devs didn't give you the ability to. If you try, the game actively punishes you for doing so by taking half of your dodge meter, threatening that if you get hit, you'll only have one chance to escape the combo that will kill you at 50 if it hits.
Well the way to compensate for the limited and slow movement would be to play slow right? *EXTREAMLY LOUD INCORRECT BUZZER* On top of the dodge meter being so limiting, if you try to play patient and swing second, the game literally puts a "stop camping" message on screen and begins to drain your dodge meter. In the game where meter is so punishing to use, the game also punishes you for not using it within it deems to be a reasonable timeframe.
Good movement is the single most important mechanic to a platform fighter. Period.
Without good movement you have a bad game. Good movement doesn't mean the game will be an instant hit, but it won't be a hit without it. You don't need wave dashing, L cancels, hit falling etc for the game to have good movement. But you need....something.
By removing the only movement techs in the game and offering no replacement, only punishment for trying to move faster, the game feels one speed and flat. It's mechanically One Dimensional game wearing the clothing of a Three Dimensional game.
It also makes the degenerate or simple game plans of mashing huge normals and projectiles far more effective. If you can't move, you can't avoid them. If you did avoid them, you can't punish them.
KILL POWER: The only way I can begin to understand kill power in this game being turned up so high was to compensate for the removal of movement. In beta, the kill threat percent was about the same. We are all too familiar with a Harley finding an advantageous up air and turning that into a kill at 40 off the top. While crazy, this was locked behind skillful use of air dashes and attack cancels, things that took some time to learn and implement. Besides these instances though, the game had a pretty late kill percent. Characters weren't killing you with a raw move until closer to 100+ usually. My main character Wonder Woman was a killing machine, however, without air dash/attack cancel combos, wouldn't kill you until around 100+ with a grounded charge attack. Now she kills at 70 on accident with, what used to be a combo tool, forward air. Don't get me started on what they did to her aerial side special. I think I've committed several war crimes in just the 10hrs I've played the game alone.
I'm sure in development they realized that as soon as they removed the movement from beta, characters could not kill. So, they juiced EVERYTHING to compensate. I get the decision and generally speaking I agree with it, but not to this degree. The insane kill power is a symptom if the core problem, the removal of movement. Nobody can link combos, get to a teammate to extend a hand off, react to an opponents move and get close enough to punish it. So how do you fix this? Well if you're not going to allow players to move fast enough to do any of these, jack up kill power to an 11. Why would I need my teammate to help extend a combo or be aware of when my teammate is comboing someone when they will die at 50 anyways?
Increasing the kill power in a game so built around 2s seems to do nothing beyond actively hurt it. It's funny at first and miserable soon after.
UI: This is the part I am the least knowledgeable on but I have seen many great threads, comments, and suggestions given to the dev team on ways to improve it. My main gripe is the weird decision to abandon the lovely 2D Illustrations for the fighter splash art. The new models are great but those are already front and center during the entire gameplay and pre/post match. Why replace the icons you already had with 3D renders that look like screenshots straight out of blender?
Another issue is the mobile game esque menu design. Not only are there multiple currencies now (I'll get to that in a minute) but there is now menu after menu after menu to go through just to accomplish simple tasks like changing your banner or profile icon. The game feels like a trashy gatcha game with 40 blinking red mission to complete, 20 events and 15 shop ad bumpers to navigate through just to get to the actual gameplay. In fairness, this is the nature of live service games typically but it's especially egregious in the full release compared to the beta.
CONTROLS: This is another head scratcher. The beta version was 98% of the way there with the controller settings, mostly lacking good native support for all controllers. There were issues plugging in multiple keyboards as well. As a smash player, I had to download a tertiary software (Delfinovin) to even get my controller to work. Though, I am willing to admit my old fashioned preferences for an bygone era are to blame there.
What we got in the full release, is the same but less. The screen is borderline identical to the beta but they removed several options that were some of the most common options. Namely the ability to switch grounded/aerial side and neutral attack. I had to constantly remind myself to input a forward strong to get jab and jab to get forward strong. It's a minor gripe but annoying nonetheless. I wouldn't care so much if the option had never existed to begin with.
This part of the beta should have been the most slam dunk since it should've been a literal copy paste of the beta. They already used the same assets so why not just copy the code too?
CURRENCY: This part of the game is most guilty of being like a mobile game. In the beta, we had two currencies: Gold & Gleamium. A free currency, and a real money currency. Simple.
Now we have 4 completely separate currencies on top of gleamium. Where as gold was a one size fits all to unlocking everything besides skins, now we have 4 currencies all earned in unique ways and all spent in unique ways. I've never felt my brain glaze over like a donut so fast when the game started explaining all of the currencies and how they worked. It's so much more to keep up with and for what? To force players to grind more? That doesn't quite fit because I already have like 100k perk tokens (or whatever they're called) after playing just two characters and only one of them up to level 5. I literally don't need any more for the rest of my life because of how few perks there are now and how cheap they are (1k apiece). So I have no reason to get more yet that's 90% of the mastery rewards I get for playing characters.
Gold was removed to make way for a complicated, less useful, and more confusing currency system.
PERKS: This is the part of the game I'm most bummed about. In the beta, there was a robust and complex collection of perks. Around 20+ for each category. Now, they are divided into three categories with about 5 perks in total in each. These vary between attack, movement, and defense perks; however none of them repeat. Meaning that the devs have pre determined which perks are allowed to be used.
In the beta, there was a problem of excess. There were so many perks that many, if not most, went entirely unused. Reducing the perk list was a good call. But restricting the perk selection options so dramatically was not. In beta you could run whatever perks you wanted. Want three attack perks to assist the kill power of your weaker character? Go for it! Want three defensive perks to help make you harder to kill or help deal with projectiles? Absolutely my man! Need three agility perks to help your slower character keep up with the faster characters? No problemo!
In this game however, the devs pick which perks are allowed to be picked for each of your three perk slots. Meaning you can only ever pick from a pre determined list that is universal. Perk Slot 1: Perk A, B, C, D, E Perk Slot 2: Perk L, M, N, O, P and so on.
I could understand this decision a little better if the pre selected perk options were related to your fighters class, but they aren't. Wonder Woman, Gizmo, and Velma all pick from the same perk pool in the same slots.
I appreciate the realization that the Beta perk system needed tweaking, but like everything in this game, they gave it a completely regressive overhaul.
END:
This is where I'm at currently with the game but might add more to the post if I think of anything else. To reiterate, I absolutely love this game and the team behind it and that's why I'm making this post at all. Hopefully this will spark some discussion and actual change in the game. I will be keeping an eye on the development direction in the coming weeks but for now, I have completely uninstalled the game. Not worth another 400+ hours in it's current state, barely worth the 10 I gave it yesterday.
TLDR: The game is overall a regressive mess that either removed old mechanics entirely or remixed them and replaced them with either nothing at all or left a regressed mess in it's place.

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*History is a beta feature, only goes back as far as I've been tracking this item, and may not be 100% accurate

I’ve finally made it through the first year of my first job. I should be happy and proud of myself but I’m simply exhausted and frustrated. I don’t really want to resign for the sake of my career, it’s my first job, I know na sayang kung Di manlang ako maka-two years, as I’ve been often told na important yun sa application sa iba, lalo na sa pag-abroad which I fully intend to do.
Kaso
My coworkers are all cnts. YES, literal cnts. Specifically -unethical- c*nts. In my one year working with them, on a DAILY basis, they have poked fun of my:
• Weight. I have been anorexic for a greater part of my life (they are aware of this) and am currently on birth control pills because my fiancé and I are simply not ready for kids yet. Almost on an hourly schedule I am the center of attention for being made fun of for being on the heavy side. This is the heaviest I’ve ever been but I never really even noticed because I’m relatively still healthy, I eat clean, and I’m still active. But being called and sometimes referred/yelled to as “taba or baboy” hurts t*ngina araw araw ba naman.
•Mental state. They know (because I had to tell my superior) about my clinically diagnosed depression and that I am on medication. So kung Hindi ako si taba or baboy ako si baliw. Who’s always blamed for literally anything and everything because “Baka Di nanaman uminom ng gamot” even though usually if not always things they pin on me aren’t even my fault/doing. I wouldn’t be surprised if one day ma-PDEA ako because they always call me an addict at kung Ano Ano tinitira na droga dahil lang sa anti depressive meds ko na they keep calling “anti psychotic”
•Skills. They know when they hired me that I am relatively new and still have a lot to learn but they frequently shame me even in front of or directly to customers at Kahit sa mga janitor na parang ang tanga tanga ko. Kaya Kahit Wala naman Alam sa trabaho namin minamaliit ako. Tapos magtataka sila kung Bakit Hindi ako confident or Bakit Walang May gusto sakin na customer.
•Past. Nung bago pa ko sakanila syempre dumating yung point na nag-open up ako sa mga tanong nila about sa life ko. So nalaman nila na galing ako sa abusive at traumatic na relationship to the very last detail, which is apparently so hilarious to them. They often take jabs at me regarding what happened to me.
•Present. My fiancé is considerably handsome and doesn’t look his age at all in part with his addiction to the gym he keeps a very fit body and has no vices. My future in-laws are just the best and most loving angels I could’ve prayed for. Both our families are on the good side financially. So coworkers always try to mess with my head that presumably because I look the way I do or because my head is not perfectly “stable” that my fiancé will eventually cheat on me or leave for someone better, and that my in laws are fakes who will show their true sides one day. Implying that I shouldn’t go through with my wedding.
I have never made fun of anything about them, never started nothing with nobody.
But at what point are jokes still jokes. I can’t recall a time I asked for their opinions or observations.
My superior told me kung maasar or mapikon ako problema ko na yun talo daw ako. I can’t address this with the boss kase mag best friends sila. Wala kaming HR.
It’s to the point where I cry everytime I wake up, in the shower, before getting out the car, and as soon as I get home.
I’m scared na masayang lahat ng pagtitiis ko kung Hindi maging enough ang 1 year experience sa resume ko. I’m scared na mahirapan ako makahanap ng bagong trabaho. I’m scared to pick the wrong decision.

Hello!
I hope you're all doing well!
This is a fantastic event, and I had such a fun time writing about it. Although, I gotta say, a break is nice here and there, but getting back into the writing groove is tough lol, so if my writing is subpar here, expect it to be a bit better next week as my brain slowly switches back to writing mode!
(c) - Champ
D/DWCS - Debut/Dana Whites' Contender Series
FLS - Fight Lose Streak
FWS - Fight Win Streak
NS - No Streak
(#x) - Rank in division
x/3 - Confidence Levels
Lets go!
Prelims
Flyweight
Andre Lima (8-0-0, 8 FWS) v Mitch Raposo (D) (9-1-0, 4 FWS)
Striking: Despite the power of Raposo being a bit of a threat, I do think from a technical standpoint that Lima should be able to see a lot of the predictable attacks from Raposo coming, since Raposo’s best attack, which he uses very often, is his wide right during a two to three punch sequence, so as long as Lima avoids that and retaliates accordingly with his own boxing, we should be able to see Lima be the more effective striker.
Wrestling/Grappling: I don’t think either fighter wrestles when they fight, I mean, the footage I have seen from Raposo has mostly been him using his striking, and the same could very much be said about Lima. So, I call it a tie here, maybe?
Cardio: Lima is the one who is coming into this fight off a full camp in preparation for two other opponents who dropped out, and whilst a sudden change in opponent sucks because gameplans change, that cardio and conditioning work that has been done will still shine.
Prediction: Lima via KO R2 (1/3)
Women’s Bantamweight
Joselyne Edwards (+210) (13-5-0, NS) v Ailin Perez (-265) (9-2-0, 2 FWS)
Striking: I mean, considering this fight is between a striker and a grappler, I have to give the striking advantage to Edwards here, she is the longer fighter, she does have the power and the technique to make this a little bit tricky for Perez to close in and get that takedown she very much needs, but I don’t exactly rate Edwards’ striking to be particularly high in any regard.
Wrestling/Grappling: This is Perez’ bread and butter, she uses her wrestling almost exclusively when she fights, and the moment she is in a very strong top position, that’s when you typically see her let her hands go and land some solid ground and pound.
Cardio: I have criticised Edwards’ cardio in my main write up, she is a 1.5 round fighter at best and I do think that if Perez is the one to execute her takedowns effectively and with vicious amounts of activity on top, we will only see that fatigue appear sooner. Perez probably has the default advantage also given her style is practically to wrestle, and you need to have a good gas tank to do all that.
Prediction: Perez via KO R3 (2/3)
Welterweight
Mickey Gall (+225) (7-5-0, 2 FLS) v Bassil Hafez (-290) (8-4-1, NS)
Striking: I mean, this is a contentious one because on one hand Hafez has the power advantage, he was wild but he made it gritty against JDM in his debut, but is wildness enough on the feet to deal with Gall who, despite being away for two years, could be coming back looking like a brand new fighter? I am leaning on Gall being the more effective striker here, but it’s a bit of an unclear one due to that time away.
Wrestling/Grappling: This is a clash between a good BJJ fighter in Gall and an excellent wrestler in Hafez… and since Gall has dreadful takedown defence, sitting pretty at 36%, I cannot help but think Hafez has the advantage here. There is a possibility that Gall, using his height and reach advantage, could lock in a guillotine submission as a counter to one of Hafez’s takedowns, so if you want to sprinkle something on Gall winning this one by submission, i wouldn’t blame you, but I think the wrestling output from Hafez is enough to nullify a lot of the submission threat, as long as that guillotine is not locked in tight.
Cardio: I know there is talk about Hafez having bad cardio when he fought JDM, but I think he was stylistically backed into a corner. His main style is wrestling yet he faced JDM on short notice, and I mean, JDM’s takedown defence is legit.
Prediction: Hafez via UD (1/3)
Welterweight
Niko Price (+210) (15-7-0, 2 FLS) v Alex Morono (-260) (24-9-0, NS)
Striking: This is an interesting one because both have their little tendencies… Morono is a bit unorthodox with the way he strikes, he has an awkward stance, he plods forward and his leg is often exposed which I can see Price attacking very often during this fight, but Morono’s quick one two is pretty fascinating to watch, it comes from a slightly higher angle, shoulder height instead of chest height almost, and that could make it hard for Price to get a read on things. It’s pretty even here to be honest.
Wrestling/Grappling: If we are talking about straight grappling, Morono has a massive advantage here, although we don’t normally see Morono control his opponent enough to wrestle them to the ground, so I think his grappling is situational for the most part, instead of an active style he uses, if that makes sense?
Cardio: Pretty even here to be honest, although Morono has shown to be fairly good in three round fights, fighting at a relatively high pace, although he does wilt from time to time, that could just be his style, conservation in the last rounds and such. Price has great cardio too, he has ridiculously good output but I just don’t know if that output is going to be there when that one-two from Morono is going to be a bit problematic. 50/50 here.
Prediction: Morono via UD (1/3)
Welterweight
Phil Rowe (+135) (10-4-0, NS) v Jake Matthews (-165) (19-7-0, NS)
Striking: Rowe has the clear reach advantage in this fight, he uses his reach well, using awesome straight one-two combinations and stance switches, but the thing that makes this most interesting is that Matthews has a boxing style of weaving into range, and it’s in the pocket where Rowe doesn’t strike as well as he normally does at range, and I just see Matthews landing his strongest punches from that pocket position, just off the weave and angle change. Both fighters have very, very good striking, but the one with the advantage depends on the position of the fighters.
Wrestling/Grappling: Matthews built his career off wrestling, he’s got a very strong wrestling base, and whilst he doesn’t use it as much as he should these days, it is still very much a skill that he could pull out and surprise Rowe with. Slight advantage goes to Matthews, and it’s only slight due to how little he wrestles these days.
Cardio: Man, both are really durable fighters who can take a fight to the distance and still look fresh, it’s a tough one to decide who is better, so it’s a tie here.
Prediction: Matthews via UD (1/3)
Lightweight
Grant Dawson (#15) (-320) (20-2-1, NS) v Joe Solecki (+250) (13-4-0, NS)
Striking: Dawson probably has the advantage here, but since both fighters have such a focus on wrestling and grappling, it’s a bit hard to be confident in saying that Dawson has the better striking. I do know that Solecki doesn’t strike that much, and Dawson has shown to have decent boxing, so there’s that at least.
Wrestling/Grappling: I like Solecki’s BJJ, he’s very, very good on the ground, but BJJ is only good if you can catch someone in a submission, its ineffective until it is effective and I don’t think Dawson is going to let Solecki set up Submissions without a lot of resistance. So, it’s a battle of wrestling versus grappling here in my opinion, and its pretty damn close, I still think Dawson is going to control Solecki for most of the fight, but Solecki could pull off a funky little sub off his back.
Cardio: I don’t think this one matters a whole lot here, Dawson usually thrives in long fights, he’s great at grinding out his opponents on the ground, and since he is probably going to be in top position for most of the fight, I do think he can wear Solecki down here. So, Dawson probably has the advantage here.
Prediction: Dawson via UD (2/3)
Middleweight
Roman Kopylov (-135) (12-3-0, NS) v Cesar Almeida (+115) (5-0-0, 5 FWS)
Striking: This is going to first and foremost be a fantastic stand up bout, Kopylov is insanely quick with his southpaw powerside attacks, his straight left is a danger to almost anyone, but the problem that I see him facing is the fact he tends to be too hittable at times, I mean, if Fremd can smack around Kopylov a bit, what can Almeida do? Almeida is a very high level kickboxer who has a brilliant left hook (as well as practically every other attack a kickboxer might use, including leg kicks), and I only highlight the left hook because Kopylov leaves that right hand a bit out from a proper shell position, so I can’t help but think that left hook is going to be a dangerous weapon for Kopylov to deal with. Almeida has the better striking here, only due to his credentials though.
Wrestling/Grappling: I mean, Kopylov is a multiple time Sambo champion, so I do think he has the ability to mix it up and make it interesting for Almeida, but Almeida himself has decent takedown defence and grappling defence, so it kind of almost negates each other, but still, the longer the fight takes place on the ground, the better it is for Kopylov here. Slight advantage to Kopylov.
Cardio: Tough one to decide, but Kopylov is pretty good at fighting in the second and third round, whereas Almeida might be good in the second or third, but there’s not quite enough fights to where I can say that comfortably. 50/50 here.
Prediction: Almeida via KO R2 (1/3)
Main Card
Welterweight
Randy Brown (-155) (18-5-0, 2 FWS) v Elizeu Zaleski (+130) (24-7-1, 1D/2FWS)
Striking: It’s a bit of a battle of range and power here, Brown has the reach advantage to glide on the outside and let his hands go a bit more comfortably, but he is also quite good at mixing in teeps and leg kicks, so he’s quite dynamic at range. Zaleski is very, very good at making this a gritty fight, if he can close the range he can certainly land cleanly against Brown because Browns best defence is his distance management, so Zaleski’s best chance at a clean punch is to enter the pocket and fire away. It’s a bit of a 50/50 but given the reach advantage of Brown I think he has the very slight advantage here.
Wrestling/Grappling: I know Brown doesn’t wrestle a lot, but it could really play into his favour in this fight, just to mix it up a bit. I haven’t exactly seen Zaleski look for takedowns a whole lot, he’s mostly a striker but quite adaptable on the ground, so the advantage here is also a 50/50 as its situational.
Cardio: I know that Zaleski is getting up there in age, but he still holds up well in distance fights. Brown has great cardio too and he’s good at maintaining a high pace of activity, especially at distance. My only concern is if he gets his legs chewed up by Zaleski’s kicks, that might seriously sap his tank a bit. Maybe a 50/50 here.
Prediction: Brown via UD (1/3)
Heavyweight
Jailton Almeida (#6) (-300) (20-3-0, NS) v Alexandr Romanov (#14) (+240) (17-2-0, NS)
Striking: Almeida probably has better striking than Romanov, but its only very slight since he focuses a lot on his wrestling pressure and grappling.
Wrestling/Grappling: I can go back and forth about this one for quite some time, but you’re here for the plain and simples, not the fluff, so to put it bluntly, Almeida has much better aggressive wrestling than Romanov has defensive wrestling (outwrestled by Espino), I believe that Almeida also has that BJJ that will help him control Romanov on the ground.
Cardio: Almeida has decent cardio, he might be a bit lay and pray-ish but he’s great at pressuring his opponent and sapping their cardio quicker than he saps his own cardio, so I got Almeida having the better gas tank here.
Prediction: Almeida via UD (1/3)
Middleweight
Kevin Holland (-250) (25-11-0, 2 FLS) v Michal Oleksiejczuk (+200) (19-7-0, NS)
Striking: Holland has a wide range of attacks that he uses, although he is mostly known for his sharp long boxing, and its that long striking which could be most problematic for Oleksiejczuk. Holland is also moving up to 185 again so we might see some more impactful shots since he will be less depleted during fight day.
Wrestling/Grappling: Holland used to be a grappler, he has quite a few submissions under his belt, and it is proven that Oleksiejczuk is not good at all on the ground, so if Holland was to wrestle in this fight, he would be the far superior grappler. I mean, most of Oleksiejczuks losses have been from submission, so it just makes sense to me that Holland would be a lot better than Oleksiejczuk on the ground.
Cardio: You cannot count out Hollands cardio here, the dudes a bundle of endless energy. He is built for durability, he took severe punishment when he fought Thompson and MVP and still stood tall and hung in there. That’s not just a show of “heart”, that’s a well conditioned fighter.
Prediction: Holland via KO R2 (2/3)
Co-Main Event
Middleweight
Sean Strickland (#2) (-205) (28-6-0, NS) v Paulo Costa (#8) (+170) (14-3-0, NS)
Striking: It’s a story of two styles here, Strickland has an excellent jab cross, his boxing fundamentals are his strongest assets as a striker, he doesn’t stray from the ordinary too much, everything is clean, maybe a bit repetitive, but that striking, alongside his forward pressure, has resulted in some slick victories on his behalf. Costa on the other hand is the exact opposite. Big movements, big actions, massive power, that’s Costa in a few words, he is chaotic and is able to disrupt the pattern of Strickland, and if he looks good enough to the judges despite the strikes being a bit ineffective, then he could very well get the nod.
Wrestling/Grappling: I don’t think i’ve ever seen Strickland wrestle. I mean, he trains out of Xtreme Couture so he certainly should have some wrestling under his belt, but he doesn’t exactly use it a lot. Same as Costa, Costa is mostly a striker so he tends to avoid a lot of grappling situations as much as possible. I don’t think either fighter has an advantage in grappling here.
Cardio: Strickland doesn’t look any different in the 5th than he does in the first, so I think Strickland has the far better cardio, and Costa tends to throw big attacks early which saps the gas tank a bit. So, Strickland has the better cardio here.
Prediction: Strickland via UD (1/3)
Main Event
Lightweight Championship Bout
Islam Makhachev (c) (-480) (25-1-0, 13 FWS) v Dustin Poirier (#5) (+360) (30-8-0, NS)
Striking: There is little doubt that when it comes to technique and timing, Poirier is at a ridiculously high level. He holds all the cards when the fight takes place on the feet, all he needs to contend with is the wild power and speed of Makhachev, but Makhachev mostly uses his power and speed to close the distance and raise the guard of his opponents, making those takedowns a bit easier. I cannot wait to see if Poirier lands that fight ending left or right hook.
Wrestling/Grappling: This is all Makhachev, and whilst you might argue that Poirier has great grappling, I think it’s a bit basic in comparison to Makhachevs, and if you know Makhachev, he prepares for the best his opponent can ever do, I think he trains to overestimate everything his opponent has to offer, so as soon as the fight hits the ground, expect Makhachev to thrive.
Cardio: Both have reasonably good cardio to be honest, but there’s something special about Makhachev, he is so full on and fights at such a nasty pace throughout all 3-5 rounds that his opponent can barely keep up with him… He only wilted once before, and that was against Volkanovski, late into the 5th round, in that very first fight, that’s stupendously impressive.
Prediction: Makhachev via Sub R2 (2/3)
Primary Parlay - Price/Morono o2.5 or GTD + Dawson/Solecki o2.5 or GTD + Almeida/Kopylov ITD + Makhachev/Poirier ITD
Secondary Parlay - Price/Morono o2.5 or GTD + Almeida/Romanov R3 Starts Yes + Strickland/Costa o2.5 + Makhachev/Poirier u3.5 or ITD
Locks: Perez (optional), Dawson, Almeida, Holland and Makhachev.
Alt Bets: Kopylov Points, Zaleski KO/Points, Costa KO/Points, Poirier KO R1 2 or 3 (combo rounds)
Prediction Accuracy for 2024: 64.3%
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Lets have a fun and friendly discussion down below about this weekends card!
I hope you all have an amazing day, look after yourselves, and enjoy this awesome event!

Hello!
I hope you're all doing well!
Gonna try to keep this under 40k characters... so, the main event is going to be a bit shorter than usual, so if you have questions about that particular fight (or any, really), let me know and i can expand on thoughts and answer those questions!
Also, if you have feedback about the slightly new format, let me know!
(c) - Champ
D/DWCS - Debut/Dana Whites' Contender Series
FLS - Fight Lose Streak
FWS - Fight Win Streak
NS - No Streak
(#x) - Rank in division
x/3 - Confidence Levels
Lets go!
Prelims
Flyweight
Andre Lima (8-0-0, 8 FWS) v Mitch Raposo (D) (9-1-0, 4 FWS) - I feel for Lima here, three changes in opponent during this entire camp, that can’t be easy for the mental stress, but I do think that this last minute change gives Lima that advantage in preparation and cardio and such.
Lima is coming off quite an interesting debut result, in which his opponent straight up chomped on Lima’s arm. For the most part prior to that unique moment, Lima was doing relatively well on the feet, his boxing was crisp and whilst Severino was being pretty effective with his wrestling and pressure, you can almost see Lima settle in the longer the fight went on, and in the second round, he was finding his punches fairly easily, landing at a 66% rate in that second round. That has always been Lima’s main attribute as a boxer, his accuracy is oftentimes high when he fights, never wasting many shots as he sets his own pace and finds his timing, and it’s going to be relatively effective against Raposo who has a slight disadvantage in reach, and has a rather funky style himself, and sometimes funk is fun, but not when you have a sharp boxer opposite you.
Raposo is someone who tried to get into the UFC a while ago via Dana Whites’ Contender Series, but didn’t quite succeed due to a loss against Jake Hadley. Raposo is a fairly well rounded fighter but from the footage that I have seen, he is mostly a stand up fighter who utilises variations of a two to three punch combination, with a bit of an emphasis on his wide right that he tends to swing from a somewhat loaded up position. Now, I do want to point out in a positive light that he does come from the New England Cartel, and that gym generally produces outstanding strikers, but I just think Raposo is a few steps (or leaps) behind the stars of the gym in Kattar and Font. Now, there are positives for Raposo, he shells up relatively well and he doesn’t stay in firing range the whole time, especially when shelling up, he circles away whilst keeping his guard up. The one thing I cannot help but notice though is how exposed his body is to attacks, he isn’t that adaptable when it comes to his defences, and whilst he has a very typical high shell, I can just see Lima exposing the body with strong punches, and given that Raposo isn’t quite prepared properly for a fight against Lima, those body punches could shut him down. Now, Raposo does have a strong right hand, the one he tends to wind up and throw from the same angle at the same speed and such, but once it lands it could certainly cause trouble for Lima.
Lima has incredible potential in the UFC, his boxing is very sharp and I do think that the fact he has been preparing for a fight for quite some time now shows that he has the cardio and the durability to perhaps outlast Raposo, especially if those body shots that I predict will be there, land effectively. I almost want to make him a 2/3 confidence pick, but since he’s new to the UFC, and Raposo does have a bit of danger himself, I don’t feel comfortable putting him that high of a confidence pick. This is a fun first fight of the night.
Lima via KO R2 - (1/3)
Women’s Bantamweight
Joselyne Edwards (+210) (13-5-0, NS) v Ailin Perez (-265) (9-2-0, 2 FWS)
Edwards has had an interesting time in the UFC, she has had rather lacklustre performances against some of the more lower skilled fighters in the division. Edwards was introduced to us fans as a kickboxer from Panama, and for the most part her performances have echoed that style of kickboxing, but she walks into two metaphorical brick walls which hinder her performances. First, her cardio tends to fall apart relatively quickly, she does look fatigued after the second round, heck, even during it, and I do think considering Perez’s skillset is heavily wrestling based, that the fatigue problems will be a bit more prevalent, but that also tends to lead to a different issue that Edwards walks into, and that’s her weight. See, Edwards missed weight a few times in the UFC so far, and whilst those issues on the scales are perhaps anomalous to those two incidences, it does somewhat connect with her fatigue problems, she carries a lot of weight on fight day and that’s all a major contributor to exhaustion and fatigue. As for her record, it’s been stated many times, but she’s been gifted quite a few scorecards… She arguably lost to Pascual, Pudilova and even went to a split decision against Kim Ji-yeon. To say her record is pretty sketchy is putting it lightly. Her style is pretty standard for a boxer or kickboxer, she often strings together decent combinations with a fair bit of power given her size, but her major weakness is defending takedowns, and given that Perez is perhaps the first major wrestler that she is going to face, I suspect she’s going to be struggling to defend those takedowns, especially the longer the fight goes on, when that fatigue problem kicks in (if it kicks in).
Perez on the other hand is slightly more newer to the UFC, having had her debut at 145 against Egger before moving back down to 135 to take on Ashlee Evans-Smith and Pudilova, and it was in those two fights that we truly saw what Perez is capable of. Perez is very dependent on her takedowns, she does not strike a whole lot on her feet, she often uses some strikes to close the distance then level changes for a takedown or a judo throw, in which she then unleashes a lot of ground strikes, and it’s a bit obvious to me that she is going to utilise that exact style against the much taller and longer Edwards. Now, the longer this fight remains on the feet, the more chance Edwards has of pulling away with a win, but I only say that because I know that Edwards is going to have a striking advantage, but her kicks perhaps would be shut down by the wrestling threat of Perez.
This is very much a wrestler versus striker bout, and whilst you might argue that Edwards has shown some wrestling in her last fight against Cornolle, it’s important to know that Cornolle most definitely was not a wrestler so those takedowns would have been relatively easy, and there’s no doubt that Edwards has worked on her wrestling just so she is a more well rounded individual. I still firmly believe that Perez is going to get a win here through her wrestling, and the longer the fight goes on, the more Edwards is most likely to feel that fatigue. I am predicting a KO here, but it is going to be one of those ground and pound TKO’s. It’s also very possible this fight goes the distance so if you want to place a bet, either double chance this one or just have it go o2.5 or something.
Perez via KO R3 - (2/3)
Welterweight
Mickey Gall (+225) (7-5-0, 2 FLS) v Bassil Hafez (-290) (8-4-1, NS) - There is honestly not a lot to say about this one, Gall is severely overrated and a bit of a failed product of the Lookin’ for a fight show, and Hafez still has quite a lot to show us given he went three rounds against future contender Jack Della Maddalena.
Gall is coming off back to back losses over two years ago, so not only is he coming into this fight with a tough losing streak on his record, but those two years away are certainly muddying the waters a bit here. Anyway, Gall is mostly a submission artist, he somewhat thrives on the ground, although that would be a major gamble given the fact that Hafez is very wrestling oriented, and I mean, let's be honest, as long as a wrestler is in top control, it’s very rarely that they get submitted, and it’s not like Gall is some high level BJJ fighter with an impeccable record, he is just someone who has been given somewhat name-worthy opponents and that’s practically it. Gall's best chance to win this fight is on the ground, he needs to stick to his guns in this fight and be incredibly active on the ground or Hafez is going to shut down all of the submission attempts and just smother Gall in pressure. There is a possibility of Gall being somewhat effective on the feet, but a lot of his striking is fairly standard, often really using his grappling over anything else to get a win. One thing I don’t particularly like seeing when it comes to Gall’s striking is he is very still and perhaps too calm when he’s standing in front of someone, he doesn’t move his head a lot and his lead leg is often very out there and exposed, and whilst he does have quite a bit of power in his hands, I just don’t think he’s that capable of being a strong striker, his best skillset really is his BJJ. He is often quick to tie up his opponent or at least grab for a guillotine, and that guillotine will be there for him the more Hafez looks for takedowns, that will probably be the main threat coming from Gall for Hafez in my opinion.
Hafez has only one fight in the UFC but it was against one of the toughest opponents one can possibly debut against in Jack Della Maddalena, and whilst Hafez was simply outmatched on the feet, he persevered and still looked for those takedowns that he very much needed. It is the style of Hafez that will test Gall in this fight, because if Hafez attempted 20 takedowns against JDM who has exceptional takedown defence, I just think Hafez is going to have a bit of an easier time against Gall who is mostly a BJJ fighter who typically has terrible takedown defence, and I mean, this is something i’ve gone on and on about many times before, a good wrestler is a lot better than a good BJJ fighter, and whilst this is not exactly a case of Gall being a good BJJ fighter and Hafez being a good wrestler, that style clash is basically the same. Even if Gall does put up a good defence/offence on the ground, I do think Hafez and his grappling skillset is more than enough to deal with it. Hafez has gorgeous double leg takedowns, I mean, look at this beautiful takedown he used just seconds into his debut against JDM, he can do this over and over again, and realistically, he just needs to do this for the first two rounds, then he pretty much gets a win, but I think it’s going to be a relatively one sided wrestling attack by Hafez, and a few defensive submission attempts by Gall like guillotines or arm triangles off his back.
This is a great fight to be honest, I was rather impressed by the grit and determination of Hafez, he was getting torn up on the feet by JDM but still was willing to try and wrestle, resulting in a split decision loss, but an immeasurable amount of experience gained. I think Hafez gets a win here, but I only say that because I just don’t know how Gall is going to look coming off of a two year hiatus. We have sometimes seen insane improvements from fighters who take a few years off, so it’s possible Gall could look incredibly good, but based on what I know for “certain”, I think Hafez has this one.
Hafez via UD - (1/3)
Welterweight
Niko Price (+210) (15-7-0, 2 FLS) v Alex Morono (-260) (24-9-0, NS)
Morono is coming off a fairly competitive back and forth fight against McGee, and whilst he got the win, he didn’t look too great in there in all honesty. Morono does quite a few things with his striking that looks very funky and silly, he plods around a lot, his open elbow stance leaves him very open to being attacked, which often plays into his speed advantage in his fights as he can easily retaliate very quickly and land some thunderous punches. Morono is a very powerful boxer and he often uses a very quick left body or inside/outside leg kick with his boxing combinations just to add more sting to the sequence. However, as much as I find his striking style to be very unorthodox, what I do love about him is his grappling. Morono has ridiculously good BJJ, and whilst he doesn’t have the best takedown defence to take full control of his grappling ability, he is very, very good off his back. During his fight against Court McGee, he jumped the Guillotine, and whilst he didn’t successfully submit McGee, he was proactive in chasing an armbar off his back instead… It is the activity off the bottom that makes him a dangerous grappler and it’s always great to see. Now, Morono most likely has a fairly big power advantage here, and given that Price is coming off back to back KO losses, there is some question about whether or not his chin is durable enough to handle the right hand of Morono, and boy that right hand is a tough one to deal with.
Price is indeed coming off a KO loss against Robbie Lawler, and whilst it’s a tough loss for anyone, I do think that he still offers a great deal of threat for Morono, and whilst one might imagine the threat is going to be mostly his punching power, volume and other delicious words, I firmly believe that Price is going to chew up the legs of Morono very early and very often. Price is a fantastic leg kicker, he lands about one third of his strikes to the legs most of the time, and given that Morono is a very “plodding” stance fighter, I just cannot help but imagine that Price is going to land phenomenal leg kicks throughout this fight. However, the counter for leg kicks is, as we all should know by now, a power side attack, and if Price gets hit by that right hand, the momentum could shift very quickly. Now, if the fight ends up on the ground, I do think that Morono is going to swarm Price with overwhelming pressure and activity, given that Morono has excellent BJJ, and Price isn’t exactly that well versed on the ground.
As long as Price avoids the grappling and wrestling of Morono, he has a solid chance to win this fight, but I do think if he attacks the legs early and slows down the forward aggression of Morono, he could pull out an upset here, but that’s a bit of a big order given the threat of Morono’s quick one-two and his ability to utilise a wide range of attacks throughout all three rounds. This is very much a 50/50 fight though, I don’t feel confident at all in either fighter to win, and whilst I think Morono has more tools and more pathways to victory, Price could indeed surprise us this weekend.
Morono via UD - (1/3)
Welterweight
Phil Rowe (+135) (10-4-0, NS) v Jake Matthews (-165) (19-7-0, NS) - This is certainly a fascinating fight, but the first thing that screams at me is the size difference between Rowe and Matthews.
Rowe is coming off a back and forth, relatively slow and unimpressive fight against Magny, and whilst the fight took place in the clinch for the large majority of the fight, I did enjoy watching him use his reach by throwing that quick one-two down the pipe, and its that one-two that is going to be fairly problematic for Matthews given the fact that Rowe has an 8 inch reach advantage. I do believe that if Rowe keeps this fight clean, he has a major advantage here, but there is a glaring problem that I can see Matthews expose, and that’s the lack of defence that Rowe has. Whilst his ranged attacks are relatively effective, I do not like how hittable he is because he does not use footwork a lot, he just stands in front of his opponents target zone, kind of eating punches whilst trying to maintain his range. This is a problem for Rowe in this fight because Matthews is the type to push forward at a strong pace and let his own hands go effectively. Rowe has a phenomenal right hand, it is very accurate and thanks to the reach advantage, I don’t think he needs to show it off too much for it to be effective, he would just need to pop it out there in order to have it land. Now, Magny did make the fight gritty in the third round when they fought, and I did notice that whenever a pocket exchange is initiated, Rowe is on the receiving end of the harder shots, and that is primarily due to his lack of footwork and evasive movement in that particular bout, and whilst he did underperform during his fight against Magny, I do think he has the sharper, straighter punches that could be problematic for Matthews if Matthews is unable to close the distance and enter the pocket effectively.
Matthews is coming off a tough loss against Michael Morales, and it was in that fight that we saw Matthews get hit the most in his UFC career, receiving 84 significant strikes, although I think it’s fair to say that Matthews’ incredible defence allowed him to absorb those significant strikes without much serious damage. Matthews’ defence is actually one of the most impressive things I have seen, he shells up so effectively whilst leaving his stance open enough for aggressive retaliation. Everything Matthews throws comes with him immediately shelling up and moving off the centre line, he is impeccable with his defensive timing, and whilst he has been stumbled and rocked before, he has never really been in dire trouble. I do see Matthews using his overhand left followed by a quick duck followed by a straight right, that is his best entrance for the pocket and it is something he has used incredibly well against Morales. It is this exact style which makes his fight against Rowe a phenomenal match up because we have seen Rowe struggle when an opponent enters range, and I think Matthews is a lot more quick and explosive with forward momentum than Magny is. Plus, it helps that Matthews is such a gritty fighter, constantly moving forward and putting on strong pressure even if he gets hit, and that’s mostly due to his defence, he is just so good at absorbing and blocking damage whilst moving forward.
It honestly is a bit of a story between who can initiate their gameplan a bit better. For Rowe, he needs to be active at range, on the feet, he needs to use that quick one-two to freeze up Matthews and just eventually find the chin, because the chin is there, especially if feints are involved because Matthews does instinctively shell up a lot when something is coming his way, feint or otherwise. However, I do see Matthews making this a chaotic fight, especially since he loves to enter the range by weaving into the pocket, where Rowe is perhaps at his most uncomfortable. I got Matthews winning this one, I think his experience is going to shine here, as well as the fact that his defensive habits are going to be pivotal in mitigating a lot of the dangerous shots coming his way. I am not very confident in Matthews, I do see Rowe being dangerous at range still, but I just think Matthews ability to enter the pocket here is going to be the main story here.
Matthews via UD - (1/3)
Lightweight
Grant Dawson (#15) (-320) (20-2-1, NS) v Joe Solecki (+250) (13-4-0, NS)
Dawson is coming off a rough KO loss against Bobby Green, and that was always going to be one of the main outcomes for that fight since Green has excellent boxing, and thankfully for Dawson, that boxing or striking threat will be mostly gone here since Solecki isn’t at all a striker. Dawson is a very well rounded fighter who is incredibly effective on the ground, he is someone who is able to keep up a high pace of activity and still have enough cardio to be explosive, and I do think that the UFC is kind of making this fight a “comeback” fight for Dawson because I honestly don’t think Solecki has enough of an all round threat to make this interesting for Dawson. Dawson is going to employ the same strategy he has done in almost all of his fights, and that’s wrestle and control, he is so good at maintaining advantageous positions on the ground and the longer he is in top control, the worse it is for Solecki whose only chance to win this fight is to find a submission off his back, but since Dawson has ridiculously good wrestling and grappling himself, I think he can see any set up that Solecki attempts coming. On the feet I could say Dawson has the advantage here, but I don’t think a lot of the fight is going to take place on the feet, I think there’s going to be a lot of wrestling involved with Dawson being in the better positions.
Solecki is a sneaky fighter though, and whilst he has had some underwhelming fights, I do think the threat of his submissions are going to be fairly prevalent. I don’t think those submissions are going to land. Now, I will put a major disclaimer here saying I have struggled to find a lot of “working” tape for Solecki, and I have been unable to find what submission attempts he used against Alex Da Silva when they fought two years ago, I only bring this up because I believe Solecki is active off his back and if he is lucky he could at least make Dawson’s control time a bit more difficult, but I still don’t think Solecki has that kind of threat to catch Dawson in anything, so whilst he might be active off his back and in the guard, it’s going to be the kind of activity that results in Dawson just adjusting over and over.
I don’t really have much else to say about this one, Dawson is the better all round fighter and a much better wrestler, and I do think that whilst both fighters have outstanding BJJ, Solecki’s submission output could make it a bit gritty for Dawson, but this isn’t new for Dawson, Dawsons faced excellent grapplers before (Ismagulov, Madsen and Gordon to name his recent wins). Dawson should win this one in my opinion.
Dawson via UD - (2/3)
Middleweight
Roman Kopylov (-135) (12-3-0, NS) v Cesar Almeida (+115) (5-0-0, 5 FWS)
Kopylov is coming off a tough submission loss against Alexander Hernandez, and it was a competitive fight up until that point. One thing that I like about Kopylov is his diversity with striking, he is ridiculously quick on the feet for a Middleweight and that allows him to simply flick out anything and there’s some certainty that it’s going to land. He has a very quick and sneaky lead leg kick that he often uses to change target very quickly, usually kicking the leg then following up with a left straight, instead of what we see in typical combinations where the leg kick is the final attack in a sequence. Kopylov does get hit a lot, and he does leave his right hand a bit far from his face, which makes me think that Almeida and his fantastic left hook is going to be a major problem for Kopylov. However, Kopylov does have some grappling in his arsenal, although we have yet to see it in the UFC, but since he is a multiple time sambo champion, I can’t help but think that he is going to be using his wrestling a fair bit in this fight, especially since he is facing one hell of a dangerous kickboxer, it would only make some sense, right? Now, on the feet, there are two attacks that Kopylov is going to put a major emphasis on, that is the liver body kick (left roundhouse) and the left straight, those two attacks are going to be his most damaging and I do wonder how effective it will be in slowing down Almeida.
Almeida is coming off a strong debut win against Budka, and whilst Budka isn’t exactly a tough debut, he still managed to test Almeida a little bit on the ground. However, as I highlighted in my last write up about Almeida, his defensive grappling is very, very good, he has adapted exceptionally well to MMA. Now, Almeida is one hell of a dangerous kickboxer, he is stupendously sharp on the feet and he is tight with his combinations, and it is for that reason alone that I think Kopylov needs to wrestle in this fight, use his Sambo to mix it up and make it frustrating for Almeida. Now, Almeida is outstanding at all ranges, but I think he excels in the pocket where he can land his tight left hook, a left hook that’s eerily similar to Pereira, it’s just a clean left hook that has no read and a lot of power behind it, and I think Kopylov is going to have to be the first one to start the action in order to not let Almeida settle in to throw that hook.
This is going to be a fantastic fight though, and honestly a fascinating match up for Kopylov who, up until this moment, only faced standard MMA strikers who throw big power with not that much technique, so this is going to be fascinating. Going with the underdog here, but it will absolutely not be a high confidence pick.
Almeida via KO R2 - (1/3)
Main Card
Welterweight
Randy Brown (-155) (18-5-0, 2 FWS) v Elizeu Zaleski (+130) (24-7-1, 1D/2FWS) - This is going to be absolutely awesome.
Brown is coming off a fantastic KO over highly touted kickboxing veteran Muslim Salikhov, and despite the fact that Brown did defeat Salikhov, it did not come without a lot of damage coming his way. Brown suffers a little bit from what a lot of longer and taller fighters suffer from, and that's a lack of fundamental striking defence, his range and reach is his defence, if someone can penetrate that reach difference and enter the pocket, then Brown is a vulnerable target in that moment. However, when Brown is at range and he’s in the zone, he is incredible. His long jab is his best weapon, he uses it to both damage his opponent and to set up subsequent punches, and these shots aren’t always the same, there are so many permutations of that same set up, as soon as you see Brown throw more than one jab, you know he is setting up a clean combination. However, he has shown a bit of a weakness and that’s his legs, he is so easy to leg kick due to his height and size, his lead leg is ripe for the taking and there is little doubt in my mind that Zaleski is going to chew up those legs early, as that was the game plan for Salikhov before that one-one-two combination came his way at ridiculous speeds.
Zaleski is coming off a draw against Rinat Fakhretdinov, and very early on we saw Zaleski struggle with the pressure and power of Fakhretdinov. That pressure and power is not exactly the style of fighting that Brown utilises, Brown is a lot more patient and systematic with his approach, never pressuring his opponent but keeping a constant pace of a wide sort of attacks. Zaleski has ridiculous power in his hands though and he has the speed and explosiveness to enter the pocket and land those dangerous punches that are going to land whenever he is going to enter the pocket during this bout. However, Zaleski does not have the best defence, he often leaves his hands a bit low, and whilst that’s great for an explosive overhand or a quick burst of action that’s hard to read, I don’t think that’s a good kind of defence when you’re fighting someone who has a 5 inch reach advantage and a 4 inch height advantage. Zaleski is not a safe fighter, he is here to perform and look for highlights, he is an incredible finisher, but he is also reckless, he is also susceptible to getting hurt, and whilst he did exceptionally well against Fakhretdinov, that was mostly due to Fakhretdinov’s predictable attacks. Now, Fakhretdinov threw the same attacks over and over, and since that same attack was the one that dropped Zaleski, he kept using that same thing. In order to be effective in any combat sport, especially against a veteran, you need to have different combinations, and that’s exactly what Brown has, he has such a wide range of attacks, including his very snappy front and head kicks, so there is little doubt that Zaleski is going to be somewhat overwhelmed on the feet if Brown finds his groove early on.
This is a fantastic fight, perhaps one of the best fights on this card, I expect there to be fireworks and a lot of adjustments as the rounds go on, but I do think that Brown is going to get a win here, his reach and height advantage gives him a lot of additional set ups and effective strikes, those front kicks up the middle could be effective given the loose shell of Zaleski, and those long one-two punches that Brown uses are just beautiful to watch. This is going to be awesome. Now, before I get to the prediction… Zaleski has the right tools to make this messy enough to get a win here, so there will be an alt bet here for a Zaleski Points/KO Double Chance.
Brown via UD - (1/3)
Heavyweight
Jailton Almeida (#6) (-300) (20-3-0, NS) v Alexandr Romanov (#14) (+240) (17-2-0, NS)
Almeida is coming off a KO loss against Blaydes just a few months ago, and I mean, losing to someone like Blaydes isn’t too big of a deal since Blaydes is a genuine talent in the division, but I do wonder how Almeida has improved since that loss. Almeida is a very grapple heavy fighter who has torn through a division full of unathletic brawlers, and now he is facing fighters who have a very similar style and skill set that he has, which makes this fight all that more interesting because I have been very high on Romanov in recent years, mostly due to his style being unique in the heavyweight division. Almeida has ridiculous cardio for someone at heavyweight, and whilst you could argue that his lay and pray style does not really reflect great cardio… how often are we going to see Blaydes get taken down 9 of 13 times. 13 fucking attempts against someone who has one of the best wrestling backgrounds in the UFC at heavyweight? Almeida’s wrestling is going to be a problem for a lot of people, even as we move up the division, but it comes at a cost. Almeida is very one dimensional, he has a heavy reliance on those takedowns, and if he doesn’t get them, you get a repeat of what Blaydes did to him. On the feet I don’t see a lot happening, Almeida has shown to be a bit more free with his boxing, only to open up his opponent to takedowns, and that could very well be the gameplan for Almeida this weekend, box a little then shoot for a takedown, and it could be effective against Romanov who is a bit more one dimensional than Almeida.
Romanov has somewhat stagnated a tiny bit in his career, with a not-very-recent win over Blagoy Ivanov, and for the most part it was a strong showing of his wrestling ability and strength, however I do question the quality of opponent that Romanov has defeated in comparison to Almeida’s… It seems that Almeida has been given the more star-power names whereas Romanov has been climbing the ranks in a more natural way. Anyway, I like Romanov, but I genuinely don’t think he is going to fare well against someone like Almeida. If an old 40+ year old in Espino can out wrestle Romanov, there is no doubt that a younger and perhaps more athletic fighter in Almeida can replicate that same kind of style and just overwhelm Romanov. Romanov is a strong competitor though so I think there might be enough resistance in the wrestling department to make this fight a long, gruelling one.
A very fun clash of similar styles here, which I find pretty important since Almeida is a very impressive fighter, and I think the more we see him take on opponents with a similar style to himself, the more we get to see what he is truly capable of. I got Almeida winning this one, it should be a fun fight!
Almeida via UD - (2/3)
Middleweight
Kevin Holland (-250) (25-11-0, 2 FLS) v Michal Oleksiejczuk (+200) (19-7-0, NS) - Oh man do I love this fight.
Holland is coming off back to back losses against JDM and MVP (Jack Della Maddalena and Michael “Venom” Page”), and whilst back to back losses could easily make people dismiss Holland, I do want to bring up how competitive his fight against JDM was, and how durable and tough he was when MVP was taking his soul in what was such a brilliant display of unorthodox kickboxing. Holland has always been a game fighter, he has a chin that allows him to hang in there with the hardest hitters, and he is genuinely a very skilled fighter who has outstanding boxing and such an expert at range and luring his opponent into an angle that gives him an advantage. Holland is coming back up to 185 after a fun stint at 170, and since Oleksiejczuk has very little wrestling threat, I am excited to see if we witness Holland be himself once again, because prior to his losses against Brunson and Vettori at 185, he was a dangerous fighter. Holland has a substantial reach advantage coming into this fight which is only going to shine even more when Oleksiejczuk tries to box him in a typical boxing range. Holland is also a fairly experienced grappler, he has quite a few submissions on his record and I do think that if he wants the path of least resistance when fighting Oleksiejczuk, he is going to look for that takedown and find a submission. However, that’s not how Holland fights, he is a crowd pleaser and is most likely going to want to keep this fight standing so he can land his quick combinations at range and just put away Oleksiejczuk that way.
Oleksiejczuk is coming off a tough sub loss against Pereira, and I honestly learnt nothing else about him during that fight, he was still looking for those heavy punches, and he still had somewhat bad takedown defence. I do think that Oleksiejczuk’s best chance to win this fight is to put Holland away, but it’s just a bit of a tall order because if Holland couldn’t get knocked out by the ridiculous power of MVP, I don’t think Oleksiejczuk is going to achieve that success that MVP tried to chase. The reach disadvantage is going to be fairly prominent here too, it’s going to make Oleksiejczuk rush in a little bit with some explosive forward movement in order to cover the distance, but Holland is so good at crowding punches and being hard to hit that I just don’t think Oleksiejczuk is going to land too cleanly on Holland.
With that said, I’ve always been a fan of Holland so maybe there is a bit of bias here, but I think Holland wins this one, i’m just mostly curious to see how he looks when he returns to 185 this weekend.
Holland via KO R2 - (2/3)
Co-Main Event
Middleweight
Sean Strickland (#2) (-205) (28-6-0, NS) v Paulo Costa (#8) (+170) (14-3-0, NS)
Strickland is coming off a very competitive fight against Dricus Du Plessis, and whilst he arguably won that fight, what I was most impressed with was the little amount of damage he absorbed, even by one of the most powerful punchers in DDP, and if Strickland could absorb that little amount of damage from DDP, I can only think that he is going to be relatively fine against Costa. Strickland does struggle a little bit in turning up the pressure when pressure is needed, he does have a bit of a predictable style which has been talked about for ages, but it’s a style that works, and if he sets a high pace of steady volume and walks Costa back throughout the fight, he can easily win this fight. The only thing that Strickland needs to be careful of is the power of Costa coming back his way.
Costa is coming off a tough loss against Whittaker, and whilst he did display that power late into the first round, he struggled to keep up with the speed and footwork of Whittaker. Now, the good news for Costa is that Stricklands footwork only involves walking forward, and occasionally taking a step back, there is no tricky blitzes or anything, so the striking success rate for Costa should be at least more stable numerically in the second and third if he doesn’t succumb to the pressure and slow down in those two rounds. However, I don’t trust Costa’s gas tank that much, he may be a physical specimen but the power he throws with is unsustainable for a three round back and forth, and it’s certainly not the first time Strickland has fought a powerhouse. My main concern however is the judges scorecards, and I know its a bit weird to talk about judging, but when you have big action fighters throwing things that aren’t super effective, the visuals reflect effectiveness, regardless of the supposed damage received, will the judges this fight see Costa throw heavy, despite not landing cleanly (which is hard to do against Strickland) and give the rounds to Costa? If that is the case, then a Costa Decision certainly should be in your books, but I just think that Strickland and his 4 inch reach advantage is going to be too effective in stifling the aggression of Costa.
I ultimately have Strickland winning this fight, I never really have been big on Costa, he’s a fun fighter to watch, but when you have Strickland taking away a lot of that fun by marching down a lot of his opponents, you get a Costa that struggles to keep up a bit. This is going to be a low confidence pick due to the judging factor, I have a weird feeling about this one lol.
Strickland via UD - (1/3)
Main Event
Lightweight Championship Bout
Islam Makhachev (c) (-480) (25-1-0, 13 FWS) v Dustin Poirier (#5) (+360) (30-8-0, NS)
Makhachev is one of the most well rounded fighters in the UFC at the moment. Everything he does is with clean technique and outstanding timing, and he has the cardio to keep up a ridiculously high pace for 5 rounds. There is no doubt in my mind that he is going to be using his brilliant wrestling and grappling to slowly dismantle Poirier, because Poirier’s grappling is rudimentary at best, it does not hold a candle to Makhachevs wrestling. There is a lot of discussion about Poirier landing a guillotine on Makhachev, but it’s all hype and hope at this rate because if he could not land a guillotine on BSD, he probably isn’t going to land one against a high level wrestler in Makhachev. Makhachev is a few steps behind when it comes to boxing though, I do not see him being successful against Poirier on the feet, Poirier’s striking is sublime, it is the most brilliant close range striking that you’ll probably ever see in the LW division, those tight hooks he uses is something nasty.
Poirier is on his last legs career wise, there is quite a lot weighing on him for this one as it is his final chance to get a belt, so that’s already a lot of pressure, but I guess he thrives in this kind of environment. Poirier is going to have to contend with the almost instant wrestling pressure and pace of Makhachev, and given that Poirier is not at all a wrestler, he is going to get taken down, he got taken down quite a few times when he fought a very depleted BSD, and now he’s coming up against a very physically ready Makhachev, I just don’t see Poirier doing too well in the wrestling department against Makhachev. However, when it comes to the striking, Poirier holds all the cards here, he has incredible timing with his lead hook and if he times it right, that uppercut could be disastrous for Makhachev. It’s going to be the hook and the uppercut that catch Makhachev, but if Makhachev can survive those attacks and get his hands wrapped around Poirier, it’s not going to matter if Poirier rocks Makhachev in the process, Makhachev is insane in top position.
That’s the story here, Poirier’s boxing versus Makhachevs wrestling and grappling. I got Makhachev winning this one, but it is always a good idea to sprinkle a bit of money on a Poirier KO, especially since he’s such a big underdog here.
Makhachev via Sub R2 - (2/3)
And that's it!
Primary Parlay - Price/Morono o2.5 or GTD + Dawson/Solecki o2.5 or GTD + Almeida/Kopylov ITD + Makhachev/Poirier ITD
Secondary Parlay - Price/Morono o2.5 or GTD + Almeida/Romanov R3 Starts Yes + Strickland/Costa o2.5 + Makhachev/Poirier u3.5 or ITD
Locks: Perez (optional), Dawson, Almeida, Holland and Makhachev.
Prediction Accuracy for 2024: 64.3%
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Hello again everybody!
Before we get started on today's post the current voting for Serperior is the closest vote yet! Votes for A tier and for B tier are currently deadlocked! With plenty of time left to vote on that one it's way too close to call yet. (Reminder that if you haven't voted on that one yet you can click the link below and scroll down the comments to find a link to the vote or sort the Sub by Daily Tiering/Voting Posts to find it as well)
So with that being said Serperior is certainly headed to either A or B tier but we can't really be sure of which one yet. If by some miraculous coincidence the voting time ends and it's a straight up tie the number of votes for S tier vs the number of votes for C and F tier will be the deciding tiebreaker as opposed to doing a whole second tiebreaker vote.
(Please note that this voting/tiering is centered around Classic as after a certain point in Endless only about 5 Pokemon and 2 abilities are truly viable.)
So current tiers are:
S tier - Garganacl, Cloyster, Skeledirge, Gholdengo, Tinkaton
A tier - Gyarados/Mega, VenusauMega/Dyna, Aegislash, Corviknight/Dyna, Excadrill, GardevoiMega, Toxapex, ScizoMega, GengaMega/Dyna, Delphox, Blastoise/Mega/Dyna, Blaziken/Mega, Swampert/Mega, Empoleon
B tier - Kanto-Persian/Dynamax Kanto-Meowth, Weavile, Starmie, Rhyperior, Quagsire, Mamoswine, Whimsicott, Aggron/Mega, Infernape, Alolan-Decidueye, Johto-Typhlosion, Torterra
C tier - Linoone, Meganium
F tier - Dustox
With that being said let's get to today's vote!
Today is day 42 of tier voting (6 straight weeks of tier voting!) and today we are on to the last of the Fire/Fighting type starters. Emboar is an interesting Pokemon, it's clear GameFreak wanted to distinguish it from the other 2 Fire/Fighting starters by giving it a different function and stat spread, however this didn't necessarily do it any favors. Emboar's stats are arguably the most infamous part about it aside from its redundant typing after 3 straight generations of Fire/Fighting type starters. Its stat spread kinda looks like someone just rolled some dice and went with whatever they landed on as it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It has a pretty good HP stat for a starter, but awful defenses, meaning it isn't actually very bulky. It has a good Attack stat, but an equally terrible Speed stat meaning it isn't going to outspeed much of anything to get its attacks off first either. Its movepool certainly favors physical attacks but for some reason they put a bunch of unnecessary points towards its Special Attack which would've helped a lot more in its Defenses or Speed. Its Hidden Ability does synergize with its movepool (both natural and egg moves) to strengthen its strongest moves but it needs its Passive Ability unlocked to not simultaneously hurt itself from these moves. Even with its Passive, Rock Head, to prevent it from taking recoil damage it still suffers from its really rough Speed stat meaning it doesn't have much longevity, also Rock Head doesn't prevent crash damage, meaning it can still take half its max HP of recoil damage if it misses with its Egg move Axe Kick. Its Egg Moves overall certainly help it as well with another coverage option to utilize its Hidden Ability and Passive Ability synergizing as well as one of the best boosting moves in the game in Victory Dance, and Drain Punch as a way to try to increase its survivability since it lacks any other way to heal itself. Without egg moves it struggles greatly with no recovery, only a few utility options and the strange choice to not give it Swords Dance to boost itself (which may actually have helped it more than Victory Dance as an egg move to give it a real glass cannon feel). Put it all together and this is certainly one of the Pokemon of all time.
(Also here is the post with rules for voting/tiering posts and a little more explanation about them in general: https://www.reddit.com/pokerogue/s/0LNZhPPzR9 Links to past votes can all be found here as well in comments added to the OP with each new vote)
And here is a quick reminder of what each tier generally means:
S tier: Top tier, can make or break your entire run, essentially the cream of the crop
A tier: really strong but not quite top tier, maybe slightly outclassed or has a slight weakness holding it back
B tier: solid choices that can make it to your endgame team, might be reliant on team composition to truly function well or might just be outclassed as well
C tier: usually early-mid game Mons, ones you don't really want to take to end game if you can avoid it, usually pretty decently glaring weakness but something redeeming enough to keep from F tier
F tier: no reason to use in end game unless you're doing it for a meme/joke
Abstain/No Opinion: this will be a voting option mostly just for Pokemon people haven't unlocked/used to their full potential yet. If Abstaining votes outvote each individual tier then the Pokemon will be tabled for the time being and another vote will open up for it later (can mostly see this happening with Legendaries).
*
Emboar
Type: Fire/Fighting
Mega: No
Dynamax: No
Starter cost {Tepig}: 3
Possible Egg moves: Axe Kick, Volt Tackle, Drain Punch, Victory Dance
Biomes: Volcano
Abilities: Blaze
Hidden Ability: Reckless
Passive Ability: Rock Head - prevents this Pokemon from taking recoil damage (does not prevent crash damage from moves such as Axe Kick missing)
Evolution: Tepig evolves into Pignite at level 17. Pignite evolves into Emboar at level 36.
Base stats:
HP - 110
Attack - 123
Defense - 65
Sp. Attack - 100
Sp. Defense - 65
Speed - 65
Learnset by level up: Arm Thrust, Ember, Tackle, Tail Whip, Defense Curl, Flame Charge, Smog, Rollout, Take Down, Heat Crash, Assurance, Flamethrower, Head Smash, Roar, Flare Blitz
Notable TMs: Mud-Slap, Protect, Trailblaze, Fire Spin, Facade, Sunny Day, Dig, Brick Break, Zen Headbutt, Bulk Up, Body Slam, Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, Rest, Sleep Talk, Grass Knot, Poison Jab, Stomping Tantrum, Rock Slide, Body Press, Iron Head, Will-O-Wisp, Heat Wave, Heavy Slam, Fire Blast, Wild Charge, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Overheat, Close Combat, Solar Beam, Gyro Ball, Knock Off, Scald, Double-Edge, Temper Flare, Curse, Hard Press, Work Up, Swagger, Double Team
*
Tomorrow's vote: Unovan-Samurott!
Pokemon on the radar for voting very soon: Flygon, Leavanny, Wormadam-Trash, Gastrodon, Clodsire, Staraptor, Klefki, Kanto-Raichu, Gallade/Mega, Comfey, Araquanid, Crobat, Malamar, Ferrothorn, Walrein, Gliscor, Roserade, Vileplume, Minior, Hitmonchan, Bibarel, Chandelure, Archaludon/Dynamax Duraludon, Alakazam/Mega, Flamigo, Volcarona, Barbaracle, Butterfree/Dyna, Beedrill/Mega, Mawile/Mega, Drednaw/Dyna, Annihilape, Cramorant, Aerodactyl/Mega, Glimmora, Heatran, Phione, Ogerpon, Tapu Koko, Dialga/Primal, Galarian-Zapdos, Regieleki, Regidrago, Zacian, Zamazenta, Rayquaza/Mega, Latias/Mega, Latios/Mega, Ho-Oh, Volcanion, Toxtricity/Dyna, Carbink, Porygon-Z, Cinccino, Snorlax/Dyna, Wishiwashi
(Other requests will be added to this list and this list is not necessarily in order)
Happy voting!
View Poll

Kurt Angle, often regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers in history and with good reason. The man who won an Olympic gold medal with a broken neck came onto the scene in WWE between late 1999 and early 2000.
He went on to carve out an incredible career for himself, winning world titles the world over. Whether it was WWE, TNA or even NJPW - Angle made sure to leave an impact everywhere he went.
What if things were different though? What if Kurt Angle never debuted in the attitude era and instead, at the prime age of 32, Kurt Angle debuted in the wrestling world we know today?
Who would he cross paths with? Would he reach the same heights he did in his day? I intend to explore this topic and find out for myself.
Can The Wrestling Machine thrive in the Renaissance Era? Only time will tell...
The year is 2023 and Kurt Angle arrives on the scene, he's well known as is from his historic feat in 2021, when he won a gold medal with a broken neck at the Summer Olympics.
Many would expect Kurt to chase this success into something significant, but many are surprised and intrigued when it's made clear what his future goals are.
To transition into the world of sports entertainment and become a professional wrestler.
He spends his first year working the independent scene, making appearances in GCW specifically. There, he ends up having standout matches with the likes of Brian Cage and Powerhouse Hobbs who make special guest appearances to lock up with the hot commodity. He even has a half-decent match with Jake Hager, in a bout that seems like it could've been something special if Hager was about a decade younger and still The All American American.
By the time June 2024 rolls around, dirt sheets are speculating that most of the major professional wrestling companies are showing great interest in Kurt, but it's likely he will turn up in WWE due to their extensive track record transitioning athletes from various walks of life and countless different sports.
Imagine everyones surprise then, when Hiroshi Tanahashi announces NJPW has signed Kurt Angle, not to a full time contract but for a very exciting purpose indeed.
The G1 Climax.
Along with him in B Block are seven other supremely talented athletes, some of NJPW's finest along with a couple of freelancers from other promotions.
NJPW, G1 Climax 34 - Night 1, July 15, 2024:
Eddie Kingston vs Kurt Angle
[Kurt's first match of the G1 comes in the form of the Mad King, Eddie Kingston. Eddie's striking and submission based aggression pairs well with Kurt's grappling and limb targeting. Angle is able to rattle Eddie throughout the match with throws and suplexes, as well as his ability to outmaneuver Eddie's submission attempts.
The match comes to a close as Eddie comes out of the corner with a Uraken to a wobbly Angle. Kurt ducks and latches on for a German Suplex, maintaining waist control, a second German Suplex, yet again. Kurt pulls Kingston up to complete the trio, but Eddie hooks onto the top turnbuckle. Kurt shows his strength, suplexing Kingston as the padding goes flying.
Kurt tries for an Angle Slam, but Kingston finds his footing behind Kurt, and grips hold of the neck, cinching a bulldog choke. Kurt struggles up before marching towards the corner and diving downwards, thus driving Eddie skull first into the exposed turnbuckle.
An Angle Slam follows, and Kurt secures a win in his NJPW debut.]
Kurt Angle (2) def Eddie Kingston (0)
NJPW G1 Climax 34 - Night 3, July 18, 2024:
Jeff Cobb vs Kurt Angle
[Kurt's second match of the G1 proves to be a very interesting one indeed. Jeff Cobb, a former olympian himself, is perhaps one of the only wrestlers on the planet who can match Angle regarding his knowledge of suplexes, throws, power maneuvers and grapples.
The match begins to near the end as Cobb has Angle up top in a deadlift stalling superplex, Angle is able to land on his feet behind Cobb and German Suplex Cobb off the middle turnbuckle.
Angle looks for an Angle Slam, but Cobb lands on his feet and tries for Tour Of The Islands, but Kurt scrambles free and lands a German Suplex, maintains waist control, Cobb breaks free and steps behind Angle, German Suplex, Angle does the same thing, Cobb gets fed up and hits a German Suplex that lands Angle flat on his face as Cobb releases the waist.
Cobb signals for the end and looks for a standing moonsault, Kurt avoids and hits a throwing German Suplex of his own. Angle scales the turnbuckles, moonsault! At the ref's count of two, Cobb sits up with Angle in his arms. Tour Of The Islands connects! Near-fall!
Cobb gets Angle up on his shoulder, Angle escapes and locks on to the ankle, Jeff rolls forward and sends Angle into the corner. Angle steps backwards into the arms of Cobb, Tour Of The Isl- Angle on his feet! Angle Slam!
Kurt begins to scale the ropes and lands another moonsault. With that, Cobb finally stays down and Angle is able to outlast his counterpart.]
Kurt Angle (4) def Jeff Cobb (0)
NJPW G1 Climax 34 - Night 5, July 21, 2024:
Kurt Angle vs Kushida
[Taking into consideration Kushida's rather successful MMA background, this matchup seems like a no brainer. Both men are grappling gods well regarded as being submission experts. It's on full display when they finally face off in the G1.
Kushida has been vocal about his displeasure competing only in the Junior division and when put in the premier tournament of NJPW's year, he's eager to prove he belongs in the main event scene.
The story told here is Angle's non stop assault on the legs and ankles of Kushida, and in return Kushida relentlessly damaging the arms and wrists of Angle.
Kushida, despite the quickly deteriorating bones in his legs, is leech like with how determined he is to stay attached to the arm of Kurt. Angle Slam? Denied and turned into a Kimura Lock. Ankle Lock? Kushida rolls forward driving Angle shoulder first into the steel post, and then Kimura Lock. German Suplex? That's what you think, it's actually a Kimura Lock.
As Kushida continuously dissects the arm, Angle begins getting increasingly desperate. He dunks Kushida into the turnbuckles harshly. Onto the apron. Into the barricade. Taking more and more drastic measures to free himself and becoming less and less successful.
Eventually Kurt is in agony and nothing seems to shake Kushida, he climbs to the top rope, hoping a drop from that height will force release. Kushida lets go without Kurt even having to drop only to reapply and look for an arm drag variation off the top.
As Kushida goes to drop, Kurt grips to the ropes and Kushida lands in a tree of woe position. Kurt grabs hold of the ears of Kushida, pulling him up slightly, before shoving him down and forcing him to collide with the turnbuckles.
He drags Kushida up to the top rope, clearly looking for something big, but Kushida goes back in with the Kimura, Kurt begins driving Kushida into the top of the steel post before actually picking Kushida up with his bad arm only and slamming Kushida into the metal.
Kurt positions himself for one last gasp effort to thwart the colorfast Kushida. Angle Slam from the top turnbuckle! An exhausted Angle crawls to cover, and is at last able to defeat Kushida.
The question quickly becomes though, as the referee is refused the chance to even raise the arm of Angle, how much damage was done?]
Kurt Angle (6) def Kushida (2)
NJPW G1 Climax 34 - Night 7, July 25, 2024:
Kurt Angle vs Matt Riddle
[Four nights after having his arm near surgically dissected by Kushida, Angle locks up against another skilled fighter endowed with MMA experience.
Riddle gives the challenge Cobb gave being able to match Angle on power, while also giving the challenge Kushida did with limb targeting and joint manipulation.
Riddle, entering his first G1 has arguably his biggest opportunity since joining NJPW earlier in the year. He spends the duration of the match peppering Angle with strikes to the arm, salting with submissions.
As the match nears it's own climax, Angle goes for a high risk moonsault only for Riddle to avoid. A final flash knee follows from the ever opportunistic Riddle. Kurt is able to kick-out, inspiring Riddle to try for a RainTrigger. Kurt blocks with his arm to avoid getting struck in the face. He winces and Riddle capitalizes with rapid palm strikes to the chest before kicking Kurt into the ropes.
As Angle rebounds, Riddle goes under the arm and tries for a falling pele kick, Kurt catches the leg and gets an Ankle Lock. Riddle is able to get back to his free foot, so Angle hits a leg trapped German Suplex to discourage a comeback.
Kurt tries for an Angle Slam, but Riddle maneuvers into a pinning predicament, Kurt reverses the pressure pinning Riddle's shoulders. They go back and forth until Kurt traps Matt in a sleeper hold. Riddle fires up to his feet and begins snapping Kurt's elbow over his shoulder to escape.
Riddle gets Kurt up for Bro To Sleep, Angle catches the leg and clings with an Ankle Lock. Riddle gets back to his feet and lands a surprise roundhouse with his free foot. A V-Trigger to the shoulder follows, before Riddle gets Angle in Tombstone position. Angle slithers down, and like a snake, latches onto the ankle.
Riddle crumples under the unexpected pressure as Kurt gets a knee baankle lock hybrid applied. He wrenches away on the Achilles tendon, as Riddle writhes in pain.
Matt nearly gets to the ropes, but Angle is able to roll with him back into the center of the ring. Eventually, Riddle has to think of the big picture and consider the matches he still has left in the tournament, and he submits to Kurt Angle.
Kurt is able to conquer another worthy adversary and remains undefeated in the tournament, but his arm is clearly bothering him and that is shown as Kurt takes time to nurse the injury after the bout.]
Kurt Angle (8) def Matt Riddle (4)
NJPW G1 Climax 34 - Night 9, July 27, 2024:
Kurt Angle vs Minoru Suzuki:
[It's more bad news for Angle, as his next foe is regarded as arguably one of the most sadistic pro wrestlers of all time. Suzuki, known for his methodical approach and willingness to lay in with strikes, has him salivating at the prospect of getting his hands on the already wounded Kurt.
Angle is donning circulation tape as he locks up with the Murder Grandpa. Suzuki wastes little time in tearing at the tape, exposing the flesh beneath. Digging his elbow into the shoulder blade, he continues his attack on Kurt.
Knee drops and stiff chops leave a stinging sensation rippling through the arm of Angle. Kurt wants to execute his power maneuvers, but a lack of grip prevents him as he begins losing strength and ability with every blow to the shoulder.
Suzuki tucks Kurt's fragmented arm behind him, connecting with Russian Leg Sweeps and suplexes, landing Angle's weight harshly onto his own arm.
Kurt begins mounting something of a comeback against the relentless Suzuki. He keeps his arm close to his body, but is able to surprise Minoru with his explosiveness. He knows he can't lift Suzuki, and so turns to the aerial side of his arsenal.
A swan dive off the apron has Suzuki reeling and Angle is able to follow up with a moonsault into the ring. Angle tries to strike with his feet, connecting with dropkicks and enziguris.
Suzuki weathers the storm, however, and positions Angle for a Gotch-Style Piledriver. Angle is able to grasp onto the leg and sink down, refusing to let Suzuki power him up.
Angle goes under, maintaining his leg control, and gets an Ankle Lock applied. He struggles to keep it in for as long as possible, but the strength in his arm isn't present. Suzuki is able to kick Angle off of him, and Kurt goes into desperation mode. A wounded animal faced with an angry Minoru Suzuki.
Angle goes for a risky strategy, considering his lack of practice in this department, but he decides to use a leg oriented submission, given that his arms are unable to grip for long. He is able to reverse a Gotch-Style into a triangle choke, tightening his legs vice grip around the neck and applying pressure to the carotid.
Angle tries his damnedest, withstanding even a deadlift powerbomb and continuing his choke, to maintain his attack on Suzuki. It pays off as slowly, but surely, Suzuki loses the ability to breathe and is forced to tap out to Kurt Angle.]
Kurt Angle (10) def Minoru Suzuki (2)
NJPW G1 Climax 34 - Night 11, Aug 1, 2024:
Kurt Angle vs Shingo Takagi
[It's out of the frying pan and into the fire as Angle survives Suzuki, but is now faced with arguably more aggressive competition, in the form of Shingo Takagi.
Angle is on the defensive for most of the bout, wanting to keep his perfect record intact, and knowing the danger of letting Shingo get ahold of his arm.
This also means Angle is less assertive, however, and Shingo is more willing to take risks to do damage to Kurt. Takagi gives Angle a taste of his own medicine as he begins repeatedly suplexing Angle, multiple Germans, landing Kurt on his bad shoulder. He mixes in other variations as well, optimizing the damage he can do to the arm.
Takagi also drives Angle, shoulder first into the steel post. When Angle slumps down, Takagi closes in with a running knee strike, popping Angle's shoulder into the turnbuckle.
Shingo dominates the course of the match, letting Angle get in little offense. Angle stirs, sitting up as he tries to catch his bearings on the canvas. Shingo spots Angle in position for a PUMPING BOMBER, Angle ducks, Angle Slam, Shingo on his feet to avoid, Made In Japan! Angle locks to the waist and reverses with a roll-up, Shingo rolls backwards to kick out, Shingo behind Angle, gets him up, Last Of The Dragons!
Angle planted right on his bad shoulder with authority by Takagi. Shingo gets rewarded for his effort with a very close near fall. Shingo pulls Angle up by his hair, forearm, after forearm, after forearm. Angle spits in the face of Takagi, refusing to go quietly for The Dragon. Shingo wipes his face calmly, before running the ropes, PUMPING BOMBER.
With that, Takagi has handed Angle his first singles career loss, and overtaken him in the G1 rankings.]
Shingo Takagi (11) def Kurt Angle (10)
NJPW G1 Climax 34 - Night 13, Aug 5, 2024:
Kurt Angle vs Zack Sabre Jr.
[Finally, we arrive at Kurt's final test of this grueling tournament. The tournament that has left him clutching his arm in peril every night, the tournament that has left him blistered and bruised in the biggest tests of his young career, but most importantly, the tournament that put him on the map.
Angle, well regarded as a fantastic submission worker and grappler, takes aim at arguably the greatest submission based wrestler of all time, Zack Sabre Jr.
Angle's Olympian background makes for an intriguing contrast against Zack's more strike heavy, frenzied submission approach. Sabre Jr., one of the most shark like opponents you could have, rips at the arm of Angle in various ways.
Bending the arm back as he stands on the fingers before stamping the elbow sideways, penalty kicks to the forearm, palm strikes to the shoulder blade, using every opportunity to hang the arm over the ropes before being forced to release.
Zack has Angle in a pool of pain as he ascends for a diving knee drop to the arm, Angle avoids, catching Zack in mid air with an Ankle Lock. Zack scrambles, and rolls forward, sending Angle out of the ring.
Sabre goes to the apron, and attempts a diving uppercut, Angle catches him and flips him forward before getting him up for a powerbomb. Zack quickly shifts into an arm triangle, tearing at the arm. Angle drops Zack onto the barricade to no avail, but a firm drop onto the apron forces Zack to let Angle go.
Sabre Jr. is positioned against the stairs and Kurt charges in, Zack slips into the ring and Angle collides with the steel stairs. Baseball slide by Zack follows before he guides Angle to the steel barricade. He pops Angle's arm through the bars and uses his feet on the other side to pull Angle further in, trying to pull Angle through the fence.
Zack gets cocky, standing atop the barricade as he keeps his paws on Angle. Angle sweeps the legs and Sabre takes a nasty spill on top of the steel. An impromptu Angle Slam into the barricade follows before Angle sends Sabre Jr. back in.
Angle climbs, looking to put the finishing touches on Sabre Jr. A Moonsault by Angle caught with a triangle! Sabre Jr. wraps his legs around the neck of Angle, strangling The Wrestling Machine. Kurt powers up Sabre with his last bit of strength. He collapses Zack into the turnbuckles, shifting the ring with the force.
Angle recovers and rips Zack out of the corner into an Ankle Lock. He knows he can't maintain good grip with his arm, so he cinches down into a knee bar. Zack struggles for a while before finally finding the bottom rope. Zack gets an arm triangle over the ropes for a few seconds, before connecting with a kick from the apron.
Sabre dives back in, but Angle blocks the slingshot with an Ankle Lock. Zack swiftly rolls forward, and as Angle tries to roll backwards, Zack pins him down. Angle rolls backwards anyway with Zack and gets a German Suplex. Angle sits up and lets out a roar, before Zack stands up and kicks him in the back of the head. Both men collapse as the playing field is evened.
Angle and Sabre Jr. find themselves crawling back up in opposite corners. The crowd breaks into a clap building up to both men meeting in the center of the ring, unloading with strikes. Zack goes cheap with a falling kick to the bad arm. Zack steps on the knee of Angle before maneuvering over him and onto his arm where he then rolls into a cross armbreaker.
Angle fires up, and twists away at the ankle to turn into an Ankle Lock. Sabre rolls forward and turns it back into a cross armbreaker. Angle rolls backwards and pops out, into an Ankle Lock. Sabre rolls Angle into the turnbuckles to break the cycle. Step-up knee strike by Zack, avoided by Angle, Angle hops to the bottom turnbuckle to greet Zack. Angle Slam from the middle turnbuckle!
Kurt desperately covers, but Zack kicks out, locking a Kimura as he does. Angle yelps out in agony, and tries to roll out of it. Zack stops Angle with a cross armbreaker, Angle powers Zack up, Zack clings to Kurt, connecting with a rana before mounting into a triangle choke.
No matter what Kurt does, Zack won't let go of the arm. Angle, the pain unbearable, the breath leaving his body at an alarming rate. As Zack tightens like a snake across the arm and neck of Angle, Kurt begins to fade and eventually, perhaps inevitably, passes out in the jaws of Zack Sabre Jr.
Kurt's G1 proves to be incredibly impressive as he is ranked third in his block, and his undeniable grit was on full display, as The Olympic Hero refused to tap out, opting to lose consciousness instead.]
Zack Sabre Jr. (13) def Kurt Angle (10)
It's not long after this that Kurt surprises by opting not to sign a full time contract with NJPW, drowning out the offers from AEW and WWE, and instead decides to visit a promotion that he feels oddly at home in. Total Nonstop Action.
TNA Victory Road 2024, Sep 21, 2024:
Jonathan Gresham (c) vs Kurt Angle, TNA World Heavyweight Championship
[Kurt, being the genetic freak that he is, catapults to the main event scene, especially given his matches in the G1 Climax boosting his resume. Gresham, having dethroned Moose a few months back, has been confidently seated as face of the company. Angle looks to challenge that throne.
Gresham and Angle have a heated contract signing prior to the event, with Angle, in response to being called a rookie stating "Well, this rookie is going to kick your fucking ass." before busting Gresham's nose into the table, dragging Jonathan across the table and powerbombing him through it.
The bout is a technical masterclass with Gresham challenging Angle on the technical front. Gresham manages to get Angle in an octopus lock, Angle shifts Gresham out of it and cinches an Ankle Lock. Gresham hooks onto Angle's ankle and throws Kurt off balance, collapsing him into a knee bar. Angle manages to kick Gresham away before locking a figure four.
Gresham rolls over to reverse the pressure, before both men make their way onto their heads, slapping and swatting at each other. Angle throws the first closed fist and it dazes Gresham who breaks free of the predicament. Angle begins his repeated germans, Gresham lands on his feet with the third attempt. Octopus Lock by Gresham, Angle reverses into a third and final German Suplex.
Gresham stumbles up, Angle Slam, Gresham on his feet, big knee to the nose of Angle, Octopus Hold, a look of annoyed disbelief crosses the face of Angle due to Jonathan's insistence on this move, powerbomb reversal by Angle. Gresham pulls himself up using the ropes and is caught from behind with a definitive Angle Slam.
The referee counts the pin and Kurt Angle has secured his first pro wrestling title, the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, after a barn burner to dethrone Jon Gresham.]
Kurt Angle def Jonathan Gresham (c) to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship
TNA Bound For Glory 2024, Oct 13, 2024:
Kurt Angle (c) vs Kushida, TNA World Heavyweight Championship
[A few short months following their classic in the G1, Angle is hungry for revenge on the man he claims cost him the biggest opportunity of his career. After all, Angle suffered his arm injury during his match with Kushida, and there's an argument to be made his losses to Shingo and Sabre Jr. wouldn't have occured if not for the target Kushida put on him.
Kushida wins a fatal four way over Laredo Kid, Mike Bailey and Rich Swann to punch his ticket to Bound For Glory and the rematch is set. Angle/Kushida II
Angle shows more of his aggressive side in this bout, given that this match is probably the most personal of Angle's young career. Kushida attempts to wear away at the arm, but Kurt has him scouted, sharply reversing any arm oriented attacks.
Angle dizzies Kushida with a series of throws and suplex, making Kushida feel like he's trapped in the spin cycle. Following Angle's several minutes of control time, he attempts to finalize his revenge on Kushida with an Angle Slam. Kushida shifts off the shoulders and into a Kimura Lock.
Angle is forced to tough it out for a minute as Kushida relentlessly latches on. Angle finally takes Kushida to the ground, gets a hand around the ankle and rolls out of the Kimura, taking the ankle with him.
Ankle Lock is in, Kushida though, rolls forward to escape. A nasty jab by Kushida connects, before he attempts his handspring back elbow. Angle catches him and lands a German Suplex. Angle rolls over into an Ankle Lock. A, so far, unseen intensity donning his expression.
Kushida is gutsy and resilient, but is eventually forced to submit to Angle. Kurt relishes his victory, getting what he perceives as his vengeance over Kushida.
Angle, ever the good sport, offers Kushida a hand and pulls him up into a handshake, squashing the beef between them.]
Kurt Angle (c) def Kushida to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship
TNA Turning Point 2024, Nov 3, 2024:
Josh Alexander vs Kurt Angle (c), TNA World Heavyweight Championship
[Having effectively vanquished Kushida, Angle turns his attention towards his next challenger. Josh Alexander, having been forced to vacate the World Championship after becoming the longest reigning TNA World Champion in company history, is still seeking to gain back the title that he never lost.
He just so happens to have to go through the man who made his debut to rescue Alexander a couple short months ago to do so. Alexander and Angle, both of similar backgrounds, are excited and respectful in their pursuit to do battle.
The match runs fairly similarly to Jeff Cobb's clash with Angle, a game of one upmanship based around suplex variants. Angle gets the better of Josh with one of these exchanges, getting his trio of German Suplexes to connect and throwing Josh across the ring with the third.
Alexander pops up and comes barreling out of the corner with a spear, he then rolls with Angle, maintaining grip on the waist and lifts him into a deadlift gutwrench suplex creating a beautiful fusion move. Angle barely gets the shoulder up and both men lay exhausted.
They find their footing in the center of the ring, and Alexander begins to lay in with uppercuts. Angle gets a read on him, and catches an uppercut attempt into a backslide, Josh kicks out and Kurt gets him up in powerbomb position. Josh escapes onto his feet and gets Kurt up for a fireman's carry landing a cutter from that position.
Kurt kicks out and Alexander adapts, getting a torture rack applied, bending Angle over his traps. Kurt escapes and gets an emphatic German Suplex. Angle scales the turnbuckles, moonsault! Alexander avoids. Josh gets Angle up and lands a spinning tombstone for a near fall.
For the first time since Angle transitioned to professional wrestling, his neck begins to bother him after the nasty spike on the head. The commentators make point of mentioning Angle's background of neck issues. Alexander decides to make a statement at the expense of Angle, trapping him in an Ankle Lock.
Kurt is able to roll free and as Josh rebounds off the ropes, he is caught with an Angle Slam. Kurt, clutching his neck, goes up top. Moonsault connects. The referee begins the count, but Kurt stops him. Ankle Lock by Kurt.
Kurt wants to make Josh submit, but Alexander breaks out. He gets a double underhook, but Kurt lifts Josh with his bad neck and falls backwards to escape. Kurt immediately goes back on attacking the ankle. Josh scrambles to kick Kurt away and succeeds. Kurt charges back, right into the grips of Alexander. Double Underhook, Tiger Driver! Angle bounces off his skull, and Josh quickly covers. Kurt somehow kicks out!
Josh drags Angle up by his singlet straps, a second spinning tombstone! One, Two Three. Alexander, after several months on the shelf, having to give up his record breaking reign, has reclaimed his spot at the top of the TNA food chain and he's done it by defeating Kurt Angle.
After the bout, Alexander is forced to cut his celebrating short as Kurt struggles to move. He's eventually carted off with a stretcher, putting a damper on Alexander's cathartic title victory.]
Josh Alexander def Kurt Angle (c) to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship
Following his harrowing loss of the TNA World Title, it's reported by PWI that Angle has a bad concussion and will be out of action for the remainder of November and likely all of Winter. This is due to precautionary measures being taken since Angle has a history of neck problems.
Death, Taxes and Dirt Sheets Being Wrong.
AEW Collision, Nov 9, 2024:
Motor City Machine Guns vs Konosuke Takeshita & Powerhouse Hobbs
[Meanwhile, in AEW, MCMG arrived a little under six months ago and in doing so have become one of the premier tag teams in the company. They've recently been embroiled in a mini-feud with The Don Callis Family, and it comes to a head here.
After various points of control for each competitor, MCMG are able to take the hard earned victory, pinning Hobbs with Takeshita failing to break it up.
After the bout, Hobbs takes a microphone and makes it clear that The Don Callis Family has been on a downhill slide lately. He states that he can make The Don Callis Family better, and bring them back to their former relevance. That he can inspire Takeshita and earn tag team gold with him.
"I just don't want to."
He turns to Takeshita and Callis, taking a predatory stance now.
"Why should I stay and save this family." He scoffs. "A family of failures...is no family of mine."
He headbutts Takeshita and stands over the fallen warrior. Blood begins to trickle down the nose, as Hobbs capitalizes with the World's Strongest Slam. He kneels over the broken body of Takeshita when the star spangled banner coats the titantron and just six days after it was reported he would be out of action for months, Kurt Angle debuts in AEW.
He brawls with his GCW rival, taking Hobbs out of the ring. He stands his ground, staring down Hobbszilla. The Olympic Hero is All Elite!]
AEW Dynamite, Nov 13, 2024:
Kurt Angle vs Powerhouse Hobbs
[It's announced that on Dynamite, ten short days after Kurt Angle's TNA World Title loss, that he will lock horns with Powerhouse Hobbs on Dynamite in his official debut.
Hobbs is able to do what few have truly been able to, and that is overpower Kurt Angle. Angle is a stout, strong guy but when greeted with the powerlifter Hobbs, he finds himself manhandled.
Hobbs blocks suplex attempts and tosses Angle around with slams and throws. Hobbs begins to work on the back, getting Kurt in a torture rack submission. Kurt slips out the back door and gets a surprise German on Hobbs, he maintains waist control and attempts another, but Hobbs escapes and sends Kurt spiraling off the ropes.
A spinebuster from Hobbs follows for a two count. Hobbs gets frustrated throwing Angle out of the ring and using his environment to his advantage. He throws Kurt across the announce desk, into the steel stairs, smashes him against the barricade. Once he feels enough damage has been done, he sends Kurt back in and gets him up for Town Business, Angle escapes off the shoulders and lands an Angle Slam.
Clutching his back, Kurt is able to get the pinfall victory over the ever-menacing Hobbs. A successful debut for The Olympic Hero in the land of The Elite.]
Kurt Angle def Powerhouse Hobbs
AEW Dynamite, Nov 20, 2024:
Kurt Angle vs Powerhouse Hobbs
[One week after their titanic clash, it is announced that Hobbs and Angle will clash once more ahead of Takeshita/Hobbs at Full Gear.
Angle makes his entrance, a new shade of intensity painting his face. Everyone believes Angle is going to express that intensity by giving Hobbs a proper beating.
Instead, as the two men stand across each other and the bell rings, the two come face to face, center of the ring.
Hobbs snatches the ref. World's Strongest Slam.
Angle simply snickers to himself as he backs into the corner.
As the crowd sits in stunned silence, Angle climbs to the top turnbuckle, landing a bone-rattling moonsault on the defenseless Rick Knox, making clear he is in on this sick plan.
Security begins to rush the ring, and Hobbs & Angle begin to get to work. They demolish every guard that enters the ring in quick succession.
After clearing the twenty-some security guards, Angle and Hobbs stand together, proud of the carnage they've inflicted. That is, until, Konosuke Takeshita's theme sounds.
Takeshita storms the ring, fighting both men at once. To everyone's amazement, Takeshita is able to clear the ring, chasing off the two newly united heels. Takeshita stands tall ahead of Full Gear, sending a brief but loud message to Hobbs.]
AEW Full Gear, Nov 23, 2024:
Konosuke Takeshita vs Kurt Angle
[Tony Khan makes the announcement that the behavior shown on Dynamite was unacceptable, and reprimands are in order. Kurt Angle is a newcomer to the company, so Tony will let him off with a one and only warning, but Hobbs has been here for years and he knows better. Powerhouse Hobbs has been suspended for thirty days and will miss Full Gear, in his place, his new running mate Kurt Angle will be forced to sub in against Takeshita.
In one of the biggest tests of both men's young careers, two of the hottest rising stars in AEW collide, with deep personal roots fueling the bout. Takeshita wanted Powerhouse Hobbs, the man who backstabbed him, tonight but settles for directing all of that anger towards Kurt Angle instead.
Angle enters with his signature mouth-piece finally making it's first appearance, he probably could have used that before, but hindsight. It adds a distinct edge to his grizzled 'real' fighter look.
In Kurt's second proper match in the company, he is put through the wringer in one of the most physically intense matches of his career. Takeshita's blistering strikes leave Angle cornered and forced to rely on pockets of offense to try to limit the damage done to him.
Angle finally gets an opening late and attempts an Angle Slam, Takeshita on his feet lands behind Angle and sinks him with a Blue Thunder Bomb for a near fall. Takeshita sizing up Kurt from the corner, closes the distance with a Pegasus Knee Strike, Angle catches the leg, and rolls into a knee bar. He focuses his assault on the ankle, hoping to soften Takeshita up.
Takeshita writhes in pain before finally reaching the bottom rope, forcing separation. Angle uses every bit of the five count to continue torturing the ankle. Takeshita kicks Kurt away as Angle looks to pounce, and Konosuke begins running the ropes, picking up steam. He avoids multiple clothesline attempts, dizzying Angle.
He finally closes the gap with a massive lariat. Takeshita scouts Angle from the corner now, and the Pegasus Knee gets ducked by Angle. Kurt begins his trio of German Suplexes. On the third attempt, Takeshita escapes, Blue Thunder Bo- Angle escapes, a third German Suplex! It lands Konosuke flat on his face and Takeshita seeks refuge on the outside.
Angle scales the turnbuckles, catching Konosuke at ringside with a moonsault! He sends Konosuke back in and climbs once more. A final moonsault, but Takeshita rolls out of the way. Angle eats the canvas. Pegasus Knee Strike connects knocking the mouthpiece out! Takeshita pulling Angle up, Blue Thunder Bomb!
It is sweet victory for Takeshita, as he is able to get a measure of revenge on Kurt Angle, translated via the glare in his eyes and the expression on his face though, it is evident that Takeshita still wants Hobbs.]
Konosuke Takeshita def Kurt Angle
AEW Worlds End, Dec 29, 2024:
Kurt Angle vs Kyle O'Reilly, Submission Match
[We arrive at Worlds End and these two grappling gods are chomping at the bit to finally cross paths. Hobbs is busy with Takeshita which gives Angle ample opportunity to put O'Reilly to the test.
Kurt's been getting more braggadocios following his victories, including in two five minute challenges in which he was able to tap both Lee Moriarty and Daniel Garcia in under five minutes.
O'Reilly is able to meet Angle tit for tat, much like Kushida and Sabre Jr. before him. Kurt finally starts to feel some of that pressure he's been applying to his recent opponents.
Late in the contest, O'Reilly begins to pummel Angle with various strikes taking toll on every part of the body. He caps off the sequence with a stomp to the back of the head and a spinning forearm. Angle is left dazed when Kyle leaps on to the back for a sleeper.
Kurt fumbles momentarily with the hands of O'Reilly, but as loss of consciousness rears it's head, Angle dives forward slamming O'Reilly against the turnbuckles, nearly driving both men through them. O'Reilly stumbles up into a trio of Germans, O'Reilly locks onto the waist with his legs on the third attempt, rolling Angle forward and applying a cross armbreaker.
Angle finds his way out with a grasp on the ankle. Ankle Lock is in, O'Reilly kicks and kicks, but Angle refuses to release the grip. O'Reilly shifts himself onto his back and is able to get Angle within reach to apply a Guillotine. Angle gives up the Ankle Lock to focus on the newfound predicament.
He solves it with a northern lights suplex to escape. Angle sets his sights on O'Reilly and closes in for an Angle Slam, Kyle on his feet, Russian Leg Sweep by O'Reilly who then finds the arm and reattaches. Angle shows his strength getting a deadlift powerbomb and forcing O'Reilly to forgo his grip.
Angle climbs to the top for a moonsault, O'Reilly avoids, Kyle comes in hot, stepping up on Angle's leg to then knee him in the face. O'Reilly follows up with a roundhouse, Angle ducks, leg sweep, Angle jumps and then Angle rolls forward and snatches the ankle.
The Ankle Lock is firmly applied, O'Reilly struggles, trying to grab the ropes, kick free, roll out, but Angle has seen it all before and has an answer for everything O'Reilly attempts. After agonizing minutes in the Ankle Lock, O'Reilly finally submits to Kurt Angle.
Yet another feather in the cap of the seemingly unstoppable wrestling machine.]
Kurt Angle def Kyle O'Reilly
AEW Dynamite, Jan 22, 2025:
[On the Dynamite after Angle and Hobbs score a tag team victory over Hook and RVD, Hook is in the ring and calls out Angle. He claims that he is the match Angle has been waiting for and that he knows he can submit Kurt.
Angle comes out and tells Hook that he's a very talented man, and that one day Hook could be a World Champion. Angle's a fan of Hook, he's a hooker.
The only thing Angle can't stand about Hook is his stupid hair. A Champion shouldn't look like they rolled out of a sleeping bag on Skid Row twenty minutes ago, and Angle damn sure ain't tapping to no hobo.
Angle agrees to a match with Hook under the stipulation that when Hook loses he shave his head, Angle is so confident even that he'll put his own hair on the line too.
Once the match is made, Hobbs lambasts Hook from behind, beating on the defenseless up and comer. This leads Taz to rise from the announce table and try to come to the ring, Angle stops him and blocks his way.
As the two face off, Angle gets that feeling again. It's impossible, but...he's been here before, seen this man before. Angle gets a ringing in his ears and abruptly headbutts Taz. Excalibur rises from the table before Taz is ripped up by his suit and Angle carrys him over to the announce desk.
A brutal Angle Slam through the desk connects. Hobbs even backs Angle up and is able to somewhat corral the unhinged Angle. Taz is carted off and suddenly the fight between Hook and Angle just got personal.]
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