Shift One

1996 had a couple of big moments which shifted the direction of professional wrestling towards where we are now. 

Hulk Hogan's heel turn, and formation of the New World Order, at WCW Bash at the Beach 1996 will have its thirtieth in a fortnight from now.

First, we must celebrate the moment 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin ascended to his throne as the biggest star in wrestling history.

Kinda.

Thirty years ago tonight,  Austin won the 1996 WWE King of the Ring tournament by beating Jake 'the Snake' Roberts in the finals. Earlier in the evening, he had done away with 'Wildman' Marc Mero.

The bouts were eclipsed by Austin's excellent coronation speech. After mentioning the born-again Roberts' turn to religion, the new King of the Ring uttered words that ended up making him millions.

Talk about your psalms, talk about John 3:16... Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass

The promo, as I stated already, was excellent. However, revisionist history would lead you to believe that WWE jumped on the Austin bandwagon immediately afterwards. That's far from the truth.

The company was still being built around Shawn Michaels, who was - at that time - feuding with the British Bulldog. Vader and Sid were queued up after Davey Boy.

King of the Ring winners were prominently giving spotlights on the SummerSlam cards following their wins. 

In 1993, Bret 'Hitman' Hart wrestled Jerry 'The King' Lawler in a grudge match. A year after that, Bret's brother - Owen - winner of the '94 tournament, challenged Bret for the WWF Championship inside a steel cage. SummerSlam 1995 had King Mabel up against the WWF Champ - Diesel.

Who did Austin wrestle at SummerSlam 1996? Yokozuna in a dark match. He wasn't even booked on the main card.

What saved Austin from floundering in WWF's booking was Bret Hart's autumn '96 return. Hart picked Austin as his first opponent following his post-WrestleMania XII hiatus.

That, added to the King of the Ring promo, is what led to Austin's star rising. 

Sure, you can pinpoint thirty years today as being when the business began its shift. However, don't kid yourself into believing it happened overnight.

I shudder to think what could have happened had Bret Hart chose somebody else.

Starmer Resigns

It happened.

Keir Starmer has resigned as British Prime Minister.

I try not to write much about politics, but - browsing through social media this morning - I couldn't help but notice a lot of people sharing the sentiment that Stamer was 'the worst PM'. 

He wasn't. In my opinion, of course.

One of the things I'll remember about Starmer's premiership concerns how he led his country in a time of worldwide unrest. From my limited view, I believe he fared well in that facet of his job. 

''In The Can'

While browsing through TAFKA Twitter this morning, I came across a post about the term 'in the can'. The user mentioned that people should learn what it means, in regards to the movie industry.

The reaction was due to a writer incorrectly using the phrase in an article.

Anyway, upon seeing the post, I had a flashback. 

I know what 'in the can' means. It relates to the end of filming with the finished reel being packed away into a cannister.

I suppose, with everything being digital nowadays, it's an archaic term. But, it's evidently still used to this day.

Returning to the flashback. 

I recall the day I first learned of 'in the can'. It was on Children's ITV either before, but likely after, an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures. Tommy Boyd explained to his viewers what 'that's a wrap' and 'in the can' meant in Hollywood.

Thinking back, I believe the 'it's a wrap' thing was brought up because that's what is shouted at the end of the closing theme tune of the Warner Bros. cartoon.

The funny thing about all this is I legit don't remember ever watching the series. I only recall Boyd's lesson.

I remember playing the Tiny Toon Adventures Nintendo game, though.

Missing Brazil (For The First Time Since '94)

I did some working out as I ate breakfast this morning. 

Last night This morning was the first time since 1994 that I missed a Brazil World Cup match.

The 1:30am kick off was too late for me. I was too tired, struggling even to watch Scotland's 0-1 loss to Morocco. 

With that said, I left the muted TV on overnight. I woke up and saw Brazil were one-nil up before closing my eyes again. Then, I caught the score at 3-0 before dropping back off.

The final score was Brazil 3 Haiti 0.

Some might say dropping in and out isn't 'missing' the game, but I would. 

Their next game is against Scotland on Wednesday. It has an 11pm kick off. I can make it. Yes, I can.

A MARVELlous 80s Cast

I saw an AI video doing the rounds on TAFKA Twitter yesterday. I must admit, I loved it.

The video was of, and I'll quote the poster (I don't know if they originated the idea) 'Avengers - if it was made in the 80s'.

Then it has a trailer, with Survivor's Eye of the Tiger as its soundtrack, showing major stars from that period portraying the Marvel Comics characters.

Here's who they had:

Sylvester Stallone as Iron Man/Tony Stark

Kurt Russell as Captain America/Steve Rogers

Michelle Pfeiffer as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow

Clint Eastwood as Nick Fury

Dolph Lundgren as Thor

Pierce Brosnan as Stephen Strange/Dr. Strange

Carl Weathers as T'Challa/Black Panther

Demi Moore as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch

Gary Oldman as Loki

Michael J. Fox as Peter Parker/Spider-Man

After each reveal, I kept thinking 'perfect' or 'yes, that'll work' to myself. To pardon the pun, it would was the best cast ever assembled.

Season Handicap Betting 2025/26: The Results

Even though the 2026 World Cup is in full swing, that hasn't stopped me from reminding myself that the 2026-27 season is on the horizon.

One of the things that means - for me - is it'll soon be time to prepare for the season handicap betting post.

As usual, it'll be out there in the days leading up to the leagues' kick offs. 

For now, I'll share with you how last year's handicapping went.

I believe it would be fair to say it did... 'close to okay'. It wasn't profitable, but two of the four teams placed.

The each-way Lucky 15 had Aston Villa (+22) in the Premier League, Southampton (+6) in the Championship, Cardiff City (+5) for League 1 and Notts County (+10) for League 2.

Cardiff and Notts County were the two teams which placed for my bet.

The Bluebirds finished in third place of the handicap table. Their five points, added to their actual number of 91, gave them 96. It put them behind only Lincoln City (123) and Stevenage (97).

In real world league action, Lincoln topped the table with Cardiff finishing second.

Looking at the final handicap table for League 2, it's clear to see that my Notts County selection benefited from having two teams tied for second. Had that not occurred, I could very well have only had the Cardiff City 'win'.

As you can see, County accumulated a total of 90 points - 80 from their actual league performance as well as the ten-point head start.

Cambridge and Colchester, both tied with 96 points apiece, are sandwiched in-between the table-topping Bromley (109 total points) and third-placed Grimsby Town (94 points).

The other tables saw Millwall and Coventry have a dead-heat for the Championship while Sunderland sat at the peak of the Premier League handicap table with 106 total with 52 points coming from the bookies.

Check back for the 2026-27 season handicap selections in a month or so.

I Try Out Tesco Whoosh

A few weeks ago, Tesco emailed me to say they've given me three free Whoosh deliveries to try out the service.

To be fair, I ignored the mail at first because I didn't envision needing a rapid grocery delivery. Plus, I have a full week Asda delivery pass. 

Anyway, I was sat here yesterday morning and noticed the bread was close to gone. We also needed to top up the milk.

'May as well try Tesco Whoosh,' was the conclusion I reached. I searched for the email, and logged in.

I went over the threshold I needed to spend in order to get the free delivery (usually £2.99). I also realised I was given a fiver off the order as part of the coupon (something I didn't take note of initially!).

To cut a long story short, the order was placed at 9:44am. It arrived at my door fourteen minutes later. Astounding.

The staff must rush around like a Formula One pit crew to get everything picked, packed and delivered in that amount of time. I was very impressed with the service. I still am over a day later.

It's definitely something I would recommend for anyone looking to top up their essentials. Granted I was enticed because I was given a free trial. With that said, I have done top ups like that with Co Op in the past and I paid whatever delivery charges were applied to those orders.