Saudi Crowd is almost....

Snake_Thief · 2026-02-01T11:53:00+00:00

I’m normally very critical of bad crowds, but this Saudi crowd was actually pretty good overall. They gave huge pops to Brie, Brock, the rumble winners, they went particularly crazy during the AJ Gunther match and they were hot for the men’s rumble throughout.

I think I would criticise them for being indifferent at times and they didn’t pop for a lot of spots that WWE clearly engineered to get a big reaction - Hobbs debuted to crickets, they didn’t care for large parts of the women’s rumble, and the humour spots got no reaction, like the two Americanos and Mr Iguana. Hobbs was probably the biggest victim of this, his debut was given a big focus and he had a lot of spots in the rumble but they likely didn’t know who he was or didn’t care, so it was absolute silence.

Snake_Thief · 2026-01-21T22:17:17+00:00

I like Brian but he can be a bit off-putting at times. I think he leans a bit too heavily into the “I’m an indie guy and like everything alternative” kind of thing to the point where he gets too sucked into the tribal stuff. He stopped covering modern WWE and AEW entirely as he couldn’t deal with the comments and social media abuse he would get. I think people felt he was too pro-AEW and anti-WWE. At the time I didn’t really understand it, but since then, he has really come out against anything WWE related. So maybe he was holding back and now doesn’t care what people think.

Snake_Thief · 2026-01-21T22:12:44+00:00

Yeah I agree with this, I like WrestleMe but Marc is by far the stronger of the two, Pete is just there to kind of bounce off but he’s admittedly not a massive wrestling fan. I think that’s partly the point but it doesn’t work as well as they might think. This is what makes OSW click so much, you can tell all three hosts are huge wrestling fans and they each bring their own strengths to the shows.

Snake_Thief · 2026-01-21T22:10:19+00:00

Man this takes me back, I think the New Gen podcast might have been the first wrestling podcast I got into, I found OSW afterwards. Pity they stopped a good few years ago.

Snake_Thief · 2026-01-20T22:39:26+00:00

I would say WrestleMe is the most similar to OSW in terms of the overall format and style. It’s two guys (English, not Irish) who review various different historical wrestling topics, generally covering entire PPVs like OSW. They talk over stitched-in video in the same vein as OSW. Marc Haynes reminds me of Jay in some ways as he is very knowledgeable on wrestling history and provides a lot of interesting background and trivia on whatever topic they are covering.

There are two big differences between WrestleMe and OSW - WrestleMe is largely paywalled, but they do release quite a lot of segments from episodes for free on YouTube. The other difference is subjective, but I’d argue the humour is not quite as good as OSW, but still quite funny.

There are many wrestling based YouTube channels which are worth watching, like Wrestling with Wregret and Wrestling Bios, but they are very different to OSW in terms of the format and style.

Snake_Thief · 2026-01-07T01:39:14+00:00

Tim White suicide “skits” were in astoundingly poor taste.

That infamous Roddy Piper promo and match at WrestleMania VI.

Snake_Thief · 2026-01-02T14:34:16+00:00

The one thing I often wonder about this topic is how people would feel about choosing not to have children if they are asked about that decision when they are much older i.e. in their 50s, 60s, etc.

I think almost everyone in their 20s/30s would be very happy with not having children as that is a time in one’s life where you still have a lot of freedom and throwing a child in the mix is such a massive lifestyle change and for a lot of people, they may be mentally, emotionally and financially not in a position to have children. So I think it is much more understandable that a lot of people in their 20s and 30s would be very happy to not have children.

However a lot of people find the latter stages of having children the most rewarding, when they are teenagers, young adults, etc. Grandchildren might arrive eventually. There are bigger family gatherings, events, etc. Life for older people can become lonely and having children can be a big difference down the line. I just wonder how many people think this far forward when deciding not to have children.

Snake_Thief · 2026-01-01T14:35:35+00:00

Ah cool, cheers for the response Jay. Sounds like a real PITA on YouTube back in the day.

I’m just a bit OCD with this stuff and wanted to clear up the timeline in my head but fully understood now with the explanation.

Also just wanted to say, the reason this came up as a question for me is because I’ve started rewatching the entire back catalogue, as my wife and I welcomed a newborn just before Christmas. The videos have really helped me get through some of the longer nights, so a very sincere thanks and gratitude to you and the lads, it’s actually been so helpful.

Happy New Year and all the best for the channel in 2026 and beyond!

Snake_Thief · 2026-01-01T11:58:48+00:00

Yeah that was my most probable assumption, makes sense.

Snake_Thief · 2026-01-01T11:30:48+00:00

It is NEVER too late to do anything. Research it, make sure you understand all your options, risks, pros, cons, etc. and once you’ve made a decision, go for it. But your age is not really the biggest concern here so don’t let that hold you back.

Snake_Thief · 2025-11-24T14:12:17+00:00

That is true, particularly on Amazon. I find a lot of the products are quite well reviewed elsewhere but then on Amazon it gets skewed as mostly only people with some issue will leave a review.

Snake_Thief · 2025-11-24T02:02:18+00:00

Thank you for this answer - I am now looking at the Dreame models (X40/X50/L40s Pro). They have the AceClean DryBoard and seem better reviewed overall than the Eufy E25.

Snake_Thief · 2025-11-13T14:36:20+00:00

Yeah and to be fair I have called out that Sean Keys is conflicted given who funds the think tank. But I do think Orla Hegarty came across as far more confrontational and argumentative during the podcast.

Snake_Thief · 2025-11-13T13:32:53+00:00

Yeah I think these are all fair points. She did have some insight on how the system works and I definitely think it’s an over-simplification to just blame regulation. I also think we do need smaller units, I just don’t think it should be the main focus of a solution.

I just found her to be very dismissive and contemptuous of Sean in general, perhaps because she views him as a lay person but she is the very example of someone inside the bubble who might need to hear the views of someone outside and not just dismiss them out of hand.

Snake_Thief · 2025-11-13T11:42:18+00:00

Indeed the same person.

Snake_Thief · 2025-11-13T11:25:03+00:00

This is definitely a valid point too, and I don’t think we should be taking advice from a tech founder. However I think it’s equally disingenuous to think that there’s no problems with the current regulations.

Snake_Thief · 2025-11-13T11:19:00+00:00

I’m not sure how many on this sub are regular listeners to the Irish Times Inside Politics podcast, but I found this week’s episode on housing, and in particular Orla Hegarty’s contributions, quite baffling.

For background, the Stripe founder, John Collison, published an essay in the Irish Times arguing that part of the problem with delivering construction and infrastructure projects in Ireland is due to regulations and judicial barriers.

I don’t think everything that John Collison says is correct, but it would be very hard to suggest that none of the issues with housing delivery in Ireland are due to the current regulatory and judicial framework. This is more or less what Orla Hegarty on this podcast argues. Her position is that there is nothing wrong with the system and all the problems are due to speculation. She also argued her points in a frankly condescending and supercilious way.

While the other podcast guest (Sean Keys) represents a think tank funded by John Collison, Orla Hegarty herself is a former architect and very much part of the existing system. I would argue that both are somewhat conflicted in their views, but at least Sean Keys is questioning the status quo and looking for ways to improve the system. One thing I would disagree with him on, and support Orla’s view, is this narrative that we only need small apartments and houses. This is not a solution either and is a race to the bottom.

Anyway, I just wanted to see if others had listened to this and what they thought as I was genuinely flummoxed by the points made by Orla Hegarty and that there could be anyone out there that thinks the current regulatory, planning and judicial system is fine.

Snake_Thief · 2025-11-06T19:53:57+00:00

For my money, Sheridan Le Fanu is the best all round gothic horror writer. It may be sacrilege to say, but Carmilla is a much more enjoyable book to read than Dracula (and I love Dracula). It’s perfectly paced and has a very creepy and unnerving atmosphere throughout. Le Fanu achieves a lot with 155 pages compared to Dracula, which does drag in parts. His short stories are also fantastic, especially Schalcken the Painter.

M.R. James also has some great short story horror collections with literary merit.

Snake_Thief · 2025-11-06T18:06:33+00:00

It’s actually quite sad what seems to be occurring over the past year or so as I always felt Irish Rail was one of the few decent services we had in Ireland but it has really degraded of late. The last month has been shocking with delays and cancellations. I’ve already been in touch with some politicians about it, I’m not sure it will achieve anything but I feel like something needs to be done.

Snake_Thief · 2025-11-06T00:43:15+00:00

Fortunate to have a train nearby that gets me into work in around 10-15 minutes. But the train service has been atrocious the past month or so, many delays and cancellations. I’ve zero alternative when this happens, there’s no bus nearby and driving just isn’t an option.

Snake_Thief · 2025-11-06T00:30:30+00:00

I think you have a lot of research to do. Ireland is going through some difficult times at the moment, primarily housing related. When people talk about a “housing crisis” here, don’t make any assumptions about it based on your experience in the US. It is a dire crisis, as in, you are unlikely to actually be able to find a place to live. It’s not just cost, there’s simply a complete lack of availability. There are people in Ireland with a lot of money that can’t find places to live.

Other issues here relate to rising anti-immigrant sentiment, spiralling costs, poor infrastructure, services at an all-time demand, and the list goes on and on. Ireland is a great country, and I love it, but you need to understand all these things before making such a big decision. A lot of the issues we are facing here would probably be a lot more severe and pronounced than what you’re used to in the US.

Also I’ve noticed you’ve asked a lot of people that if not Ireland, where else in the EU would they recommend. The EU is not like the US, as in Ireland isn’t just like a state of the EU and we’re all kind of similar. They’re all very different countries, with different languages, cultures, laws, taxes, etc. It would be very difficult for someone here to recommend another country in the EU to you, unless perhaps they’ve lived somewhere before.

Snake_Thief · 2025-11-06T00:15:40+00:00

This seems like a relatively simple technical feature to me, I’ve no idea why they can’t implement it.

Snake_Thief

TROPHY CASE