#claudio or jun will deal with that

[tomato-fendo-writes]

(for the akuma thing) at first it felt stupid but negligible since he had no effect on the story besides beating up heihachi and kazuya. but the more i revisit T7, the more bitter i get about it, especially as it got more spotlight than the demon-banishing deal heihachi had with claudio. my biggest gripe with it though is the whole "waiting for them to get stronger before fulfilling the promise to kazumi." i feel like it could be easily fixed by doing something along the line of kazumi's spirit appearing to him prior to the game to request him to do it (we already had something like that with jun's father appearing to her as a spirit so why not). it's a cool concept but executed terribly in canon.

OKAY GOOD i was p sure it was widely agreed upon that akuma's involvement is ridiculous, and i think it would have been even if it had been "done right." the concept of a new character with a debt to kazumi being introduced and facilitating the "plot" of tk7 (cause its such a MESS) isnt a bad idea or crazy in of itself. the fact that its AKUMA, FROM STREET FIGHTER, is what makes it so freaking bonkers. like. why do this, what is the point 😭 just make a new character or figure out your freaking story mode without throwing guest characters in and ignoring half of the established plot

the whole thing with claudio, heihachi needing jin in the beginning, the public opinion plot....... gosh it makes my head spin, not even including the retconning and extra confusion brought on by kazumi's involvement in the plot. most of the story beats introduced in the story mode DONT EVEN MATTER, legit we could shave out half of it and have things make 10x more sense. but alas. i work with pieces, and luckily for me, i can work with the pieces that will be kept when i finally get to that point hsdfjk

[finishwhatyoustarted-event]

Final Works: Writing part 1

(link to stats and masterlist)

some works NSFW/18+; some text in summaries and tags will also be NSFW.

AO3 collection: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/FinishWhatYouStarted2023 

A PWYW itchio book about blood-desperate monsters "This NBxNB/A4A story contains pathetic monsters, monster romance, childhood friends, blood letting, slight body worship, and somewhat suggestive themes." https://fourandmoreeyes.itch.io/sanguineous-salvation 

Cooking with Liu-shishu by Ilthit

Dreamwidth post - NSFW - 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù - Liǔ Qīnggē/Luò Bīnghé - Smut, Dom/sub, Object Penetration, Food Kink, pain play, Sadomasochism, Bondage, Consent Play - Rated E “Binghe really cannot have people coming into his kitchen and interrupting his cooking. A lesson will have to be given from shizhi to shishu in both politeness and in--relaxation.”

Fix Your Collar by Ilthit

Dreamwidth post - NSFW - 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù - Bites & Bruises, Daydreaming, Post-Canon, background Bingqiu - Rated E “Shang Qinghua's imagination runs away with him a little at a meeting of the peak lords.”

One Basket by Ilthit

Dreamwidth post - NSFW - 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòběi-jūn/Shàng Qīnghuá - Oviposition, Smut, Temperature Play, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Size Difference - Rated E “Mobei-jun needs to lay his eggs. Airplane wrote this porny plot device himself, so he will take responsibility.”

Shizun and Shizun and Their Little Kitten Bingmei by Ilthit

Dreamwidth post - NSFW - 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Luò Bīnghé/Shěn Jiǔ | Original Shěn Qīngqiū, Luò Bīnghé/Shěn Yuán | Shěn Qīngqiū - Gags, Crossdressing Kink, Cock & Ball Torture, Master/Disciple Relationship, Established Relationship, Face Slapping, Feminization, foreground Bingjiu, Background Bingqiu - Rated E “There is no context or explanation, only giving Binghe everything his heart desires.”

Escape Clause by Ilthit

Dreamwidth post - NSFW - 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Shàng Qīnghuá/Shěn Yuán | Shěn Qīngqiū - Alternate Universe, No transmigration, Drunk Sex, Internalized Homophobia, Casual Sex, Lingerie, Denial - Rated M “Just bros being bros, gunning shots and going down.”

In ictu oculi by heysaintjude (86V50_vc)

Ristorante Paradiso - Gabriella/Santo Claudio Paradiso - Free Verse, Coffee, Canon - Anime, Poetry - Rated T ““Time only stops for the dead, Claudio.””

A Little Gift by tacky_tramp

Twitter post - NSFW cw: rape, noncon somno - Magnus Archives - Jon/Martin - Explicit Sex, sedatives - Rated E “Martin's hand trembled, knowing he'd already gone too far – and knowing, down to his bones, that he wasn't going to stop.”

break up with your boyfriend, i'm bored by oitobivo

Twitter post - NSFW - Haikyuu!! - Kageyama Tobio/Oikawa Tooru, Kageyama Tobio/Original Male Character(s) - Infidelity, Explicit Sex, Sex Tapes, Degredation - Rated E ““What do you tell him, hm, when you come here? I'd love to know your boyfriend's reaction when he sees you crying on my cock instead of studying with your 'friend' like you told him. Wouldn't that be a sight to see?" aka oikage cheat with each other”

Under moonlight, we change our futures yet again by silver_sun

Twitter post - NSFW, CW: Drug and Alcohol Use (aphrodisiacs in wine) -  莲花楼 | Mysterious Lotus Casebook (TV) - Di Feisheng/Li Lianhua - Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Consenting Sex Under the Influence, Happy/Hopeful Ending - Rated E “Hiding out in the wedding room, Di Feisheng and Li Lianhua drink the wine. Yet this is a room that has been planned by Jiao Liqiao for her marriage to a decidedly unconsenting groom. The wine has an added extra - an aphrodisiac. They could take matters into their own hands, so speak, and deal with it. However, with the memories of the anniversary of their fight and the barely concealed, but never yet acknowledged attraction between them they finally act upon it.”

Recognition by Etienne Telling (tellingetienne)

Twitter post - NSFW, CW: rape/non-con, gang rape, non-graphic emeto, Blood and Injury, panic attack - 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī, 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) - Lán Huàn | Lán Xīchén/Mèng Yáo | Jīn Guāngyáo - Modern with Magic, Soul Bond, BDSM, Fake Relationship - Rated E “Meng Yao rescues the first Jade of Lan and takes him into his home, becoming far more involved than ever anticipated. The guards are getting closer; the man, likely Lan Xichen, tries not to curl in on himself. Meng Yao gives himself five seconds to consider the implications of getting involved before he swings his work bag off his shoulder and drops it rudely in the First Jade of Lan's lap. "I told you not to slouch," he says, a firm note of displeasure in his voice. / Stands alone from the prequel fic.”

Working Overtime by Mystrana, mythosfreeze

Twitter post - NSFW - Haikyuu!! - Hinata Shouyou/Oikawa Tooru - Office AU, Semi Public Sex, Voyerism, Exhibitionism, PWP - Rated E “Hinata's first office job doesn't turn out exactly how he imagined, but with a boss like Oikawa? Look. He's not exactly complaining.”

you are my present, you are my future by jalpari

Twitter post - 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) RPF - Wang Yi Bo/Xiao Zhan | Sean - Childhood Friends to Lovers, No Underage Sex, Tooth-Rotting Fluff - Rated T “The story of how Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo met as little babies and embarked on a sweet journey of friendship, love, and life. (This fic is a collection of glimpses into this journey and each chapter is a short, independent, and complete story in itself.)”

hand held tight by ushijimasbrow (stankrhodes)

Twitter post - Haikyuu!! - Azumane Asahi/Sugawara Koushi - Pining, Unrequited Love, or so he thinks, Domestic Fluff - Rated T “When Asahi invites Suga to Tokyo for the weekend, he's not planning on confessing. Suga knows him, however. Knows him well enough to see when Asahi has been omitting the truth for years.”

Weird Science by tacky_tramp

Twitter post - NSFW - Spider-Man: Spider-Verse (Sony Animated Movies) - Lyla | LYrate Lifeform Approximation (Earth-928)/Miguel O'Hara - Masturbation, Anal Fingering, Dom/sub - Rated E “"… Or me? Do you think about me?" She says this like it just occurred to her, but of course that's not how she works. Lyla's got a supercomputer for a brain; she can game out millions of possibilities in an instant. She's also got an innate sense of drama, and so she tailors her delivery for maximum effect. He says no, obviously. But before he does, he hesitates a fraction of a second – and that's all it takes. She knows his every idiosyncrasy by now. "You do?" she gasps, hand to her chest in mock horror but unadulterated glee in her tone. "You sicko!””

A Future Bright As Gold, Warm As Flame by InsanitysxCreation

Twitter post - 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù - Jīn Zixuān & Mèng Yáo | Jīn Guāngyáo & Mò Xuányǔ & Qín Sù - Family Feels, Fluff, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Polyamory, Genderqueer Character, Gender Identity Exploration - Rated G “A moment in a different future of the Jin Sect, where Sect Leader Jin Zixuan, his family by marriage, and all his half-siblings prepare for the one hundred day celebration of his second child.”

love is a four-letter word by la_muerta

Twitter post - NSFW - Shadowhunters (TV) - Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Simon Lewis/Jace Wayland - Alternate Universe - Human, Fluff and Smut, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Office Romance - Rated E “Magnus knows he's one of the best editors in the business. So when the bigoted director of the publishing house he works for gives their grandson's best friend the promotion Magnus deserved to get, he decides that it's the last straw. Magnus intends to go out with a bang and take his new boss down with him — but he didn't mean for it to happen quite so literally. (Written for the ao3 tag prompt: "when u try to resign and accidentally have sex with ur boss")”

Before by tacky_tramp

Twitter post - NSFW CW: rape/noncon elements - The Magnus Archives (Podcast) - Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist - Canon Asexual character, gaslighting, unable to give meaningful consent, Dark Martin - Rated E “He shouldn't enjoy it this much. Martin knows that. He isn't so far gone that he's forgotten what his morals are. What they were before, anyway. Nevertheless, every time Jon opens his eyes slowly, blinking in the sunlight that streams through the Upton House’s open curtains, blinking in confusion, Martin's heart leaps. His heart, and his dick.”

Warm by Edai

Twitter post, tumblr post- NSFW CW: Cigarette smoking. Non-graphic discussion of past dubious consent. Mention of depression and alcohol abuse. - Naruto - Kankurou/Nara Shikamaru - Modern AU, mostly plot with a little bit of porn, masturbation - Rated E ““I think I just- really like pleasing you. And I feel ashamed of wanting anything that you don’t.” “That’s stupid.” “I know.” — Shikamaru tops, for once.”

Proxy by murcielag0

Twitter post - NSFW cw: sibling incest, underage - Haikyuu!! - Hinata Natsu/Hinata Shouyou/Miya Atsumu/Miya Osamu, Hinata Natsu/Miya Osamu, Hinata Shouyou/Miya Atsumu - Birthday sex, twincest, sexting, anal sex, vaginal sex, polyamory - Rated E “This year, for the first time since Atsumu and Osamu were born, they won't be in the same location to celebrate their birthday. In order to renew his license to open and run a business in Japan, Osamu's required to attend a conference up north in Miyagi for three days. The effect this impending separation has on both twins is unexpectedly dramatic.”

to have and to hold by postcanons

Twitter post - 約束のネバーランド | Yakusoku no Neverland | The Promised Neverland - Emma/Norman/Ray (The Promised Neverland), Emma/Norman - Post-Canon, Future Fic, Non-Linear Narrative, Polyamory, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Weddings - Rated G ““A wedding,” Ray announces, when Norman has put the dish down, so he does not break it when he inevitably jumps. He knows Norman has not considered this possibility, for all his tactical genius. The man remained a bit of an idiot, when it came to Emma. “Propose to Emma.” Norman doesn’t meet his eyes for a good while. Ray knows he is turning over the options in his head. Trusts that he will come to the same conclusion as Ray. (But whenever has Norman done that, and stopped there?) A chess game for the history books. Two weddings; three sets of rings. This is the start of the rest of their lives”

ripple back to me by OverthinkingThis

Twitter post - 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) RPF, Chinese Actor RPF - Wang Yi Bo/Xiao Zhan | Sean - Getting Back Together, Angst with a Happy Ending, Second Chances, Famous Wang Yi Bo, Non-Famous Xiao Zhan | Sean - Rated T ““Just because we haven’t talked doesn’t mean I don’t know anything about Wang Yibo,” Xiao Zhan says with a little laugh. “Or rather, ‘Wang Yibo,’” he amends, making little air quotes with his fingers. “The version of you that you share publicly, I mean.” “You follow me?” Yibo says in a surprised kind of tone, and Xiao Zhan bites down on his lips as he feels his face goes hot. He’d never unfollowed Yibo, it wasn’t that kind of breakup, not really. And what would have been the point, when your boyfriend leaves you to become one of the country’s most famous faces? Or Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo meet up again, years after Yibo left to chase stardom.”

Cottage Cornered by katiemariie

Tumblr post - Good Omens - Aziraphale/Crowley - Getting Together, Misunderstandings- Rated M "Crowley buys them a cottage on the South Downs. Aziraphale hates it. A fic for anyone who's thought, "Maybe a Soho snob *wouldn't* go for cottagecore.""

Changing Hearts by Star_Fang

Tumblr post - イケメンヴァンパイア | Ikemen Vampire (Visual Novel) - Jean d'Arc/Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Ikemen Vampire)/Original Female Charater(s) - Getting Together, Mutual Pining, Polyamory - Rated G "Mozart was satisfied with being best friends with his girlfriend's other boyfriend, after all, he and Jean had been friends before Amy even came into their lives, so why would it change? He couldn't imagine that a simple action like a dance would make him face the fact that feelings do indeed change."

Beautiful As The Sunset by TheStarGayzingEtherian

Avatar: Legend of Korra - Korra/Asami Sato - Cuddling, Sunsets - Rated G "At the end of another long day, Korra and Asami find themselves watching another beautiful sunset… though if Korra is honest, she can think of one thing even more beautiful than that. (Korrasami, Canon, Fluff)"

Checkmate by TheStarGayzingEtherian

Avatar: Legend of Korra - Korra/Asami Sato - Post-Canon, Game Night, Kissing - Rated G "While she and Korra are at Bolin and Opal’s place, Asami and Bolin get into quite a competitive game of Pai Cho. (Korrasami, Canon, Fluff)"

The Taller One by TheStarGayzingEtherian

Avatar: Legend of Korra - Korra/Asami Sato - Post-Canon, Kissing - Rated G "Korra is a little annoyed that Asami is taller than her. (Korrasami, Canon, Fluff)"

The Cold Embrace Of Love by TheStarGayzingEtherian

Avatar: Legend of Korra - Korra/Asami Sato - Post-Canon, Family - Rated G "After staying down at the south pole for a while with Korra’s parents, Korra and Asami embrace each other on a beautiful night in the snow. (Korrasami, Canon, Fluff)"

Our Future Together by TheStarGayzingEtherian

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018) - Adora/Catra - Post-Canon, Engaged, Future Fic - Rated G "On yet another peaceful Etherian day, Catra and Adora take a stroll through the castle together. (Catradora, Canon, Fluff)"

She/Her-Ra by TheStarGayzingEtherian

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018) - Adora/Catra - Post-Canon, t4t, Trans Female Character(s) - Rated T "Catra and Adora weren’t always girls… and getting there was quite different for each of them. (Catradora, Canon, Fluff)

A Distance Measured In Stars by TheStarGayzingEtherian

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018) - Adora/Catra - Canon Period, Long-Distance Relationship, videocalls - Rated G "While Adora deals with Horde Clones on the star siblings homeworld and Catra aids Huntara in cleaning up the Crimson Waste, both saviours of Etheria find themselves very far apart for the first time in months. (Catradora, Canon, Fluff)"

You Wanna Know How I Got These Scars? by TheStarGayzingEtherian

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018) - Adora/Catra - Canon Period, Pre-Relationship, Scars, Non-Explicit Nudity - Rated T "While getting settled into the rebel camp with Adora, Catra discovers a horrific sight on the blonde’s back. (Catradora, Canon, Angst)"

(part 2)

[naritaren]

Full Gear Predictions! Here we go. These are my predictions and not necessarily what I want to see happen. - Ricky Starks vs Brian Cage - Ricky. TK needs to strap a fucking ROCKET on Ricky and this is how you do it. - Best Friends/Horrorhausen vs The Factory - Best Friends and we FINALLY GET A TEETH SPOT - Eddie Kingston vs Jun Akiyama - Eddie gets another win over a legend. If they're not going to have big stories for him at PPVs, I say just let him wrestle old Japanese legends and make his dreams come true. - Sting/Darby vs Jeff Jarrett/Jay Leathal - Sting/Darby. It's a piss break match. No further comments. - Jungle Boy vs Luchasaurus - AEW likes using cages to prove you can keep people out. This favors Jungle Boy so he takes it. - Saraya vs Britt Baker - Saraya wins her return to the ring. Britt can eat a pin easily. - Jade Cargill vs Nyla Rose - Nyla should win this. The story is too perfect and I hate when something like this is so predictable. You can have another match between these two later, but I think it's time the belt changes hands. - Wardlow vs Samoa Joe vs Powerhouse Hobbs - Samoa Joe and we get two strap Joe out of it. That being said, I can also see Hobbs winning it. I don't see Wardlow winning at all. - Death Triangle vs The Elite - The Elite will probably win this because PAC gets caught cheating, which furthers the rift between him and Lucha Bros. Probably will be the best match on the card if we're honest. - The Acclaimed vs Swerve in our Glory - The Acclaimed are going to get it and SIOG is going to split. Swerve is acting a bit too slimy these days. - Toni Storm vs Jamie Hayter - I can see Jamie winning this after seeing the reaction at All Out and how TK probably should have called an audible then. - Jericho vs Sammy G vs Claudio vs Bryan Danielson - Jericho wins it. He was just on a major tv show and has eyes on him, which is what ROH needs for the upcoming TV deal. Sorry :/ - Mox vs MJF - MJF wins Bonus thoughts: I think House of Black returns and challenges whomever wins the trios titles. Which would be MORE FUN if it's Death Triangle (grumble grumble).

[wrestlingisfake]

AEW Fake Rankings, 12/17/2022

Men's singles division - babyfaces

Jon Moxley

Bryan Danielson

Claudio Castagnoli (ROH men's world champion)

Orange Cassidy (AEW all-Atlantic champion)

Wardlow

Ricky Starks

Jack Perry

Keith Lee

Wheeler YUTA (ROH pure champion)

HOOK (FTW champion)

Men's singles division - heels

MJF (AEW men's world champion)

Chris Jericho

Samoa Joe (AEW TNT champion, ROH television champion)

Sammy Guevara (AAA mixed tag team champion)

Daniel Garcia

Ethan Page

Swerve Strickland

Luchasaurus

Powerhouse Hobbs

Lance Archer

Unranked: Aaron Solo, Action Andretti*, Anthony Henry*, Ari Daivari, Clayton Bloodstone*, Cole Karter, Danhausen, Dralistico*, Dustin Rhodes, Exodus Prime*, Izzy James*, Jake Hager, Jeff Cobb*, JD Griffey*, Juice Robinson*, Jun Akiyama*, Kip Sabian, Konosuke Takeshita, Lee Johnson, Mascara Dorada*, Nick Comoroto, Preston Vance, QT Marshall, Rocky Romero*, Rush, Shane Taylor*, Shawn Dean, Trent Seven*, Tomohiro Ishii*

*Not listed on AEW's official roster webpage

The top programs right now look to be Moxley vs. Adam Page, MJF vs. Danielson, Wardlow vs. Joe, and Lee vs. Strickland. I don't know if Jericho will keep targetting Andretti after that shocking upset, but obviously Jericho will get something big to do. Hobbs seems to be getting a push but doesn't have a clear opponent for a feud yet. Cassidy is clearly headed for a title match with Sabian, but I don't expect that story to take up much time.

The babyface side is noticeably stronger than the heel side. That works out, though, since MJF needs a steady supply of good guy opponents who already have credibility, so they won't look so bad when he beats them. After Danielson you can easily get months of booking out of MJF vs. Wardlow, MJF vs. Perry, MJF vs. Castagnoli, MJF vs. Keith Lee, MJF vs. Hook, etc., etc. I assume a rematch with Moxley will happen but it might take a while to get around to it.

While MJF is on top, AEW would do well to figure out what they're doing with lesser heels like Ethan Page, Luchasaurus, Daniel Garcia, and Lance Archer. I'm not worried about Strickland, who will be moving on up now that he's a singles guy again, but the others have rarely felt like they have a clear direction.

Men's tag team division - babyfaces

The Acclaimed - Max Caster & Anthony Bowens (AEW tag team champions)

FTR - Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler (IWGP tag team champions, AAA tag team champions)

Darby Allin & Sting

The Briscoes - Jay Briscoe* & Mark Briscoe* (ROH tag team champions)

Eddie Kingston & Ortiz

Top Flight - Dante Martin & Darius Martin

Best Friends - Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta

John Silver & Alex Reynolds

Blake Christian & AR Fox

Shinobi Shadow Squad - Cheeseburger* & Eli Isom*

Men's tag team division - heels

The Butcher & The Blade

Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal

The Kingdom - Matt Taven & Mike Bennett

Matt Menard & Angelo Parker

Lee Moriarty & Big Bill

*Not listed on AEW's official roster webpage

The big feuds here are the Acclaimed vs. Lethal's dumb faction, FTR vs. Austin and Colten Gunn, Moriarty/Bill vs. Jack Perry & Hook, and the Best Friends vs. Butcher and Blade. Silver and Reynolds have business with Rush and Preston Vance, but that may end up being a trios deal or something. Kingston and Ortiz have a score to settle with the House of Black but they probably need a third guy.

The heel side is awfully thin right now. It wasn't a big deal when FTR was mostly fighting other face teams, but they need to balance things out somehow. It would help to get the Gunns and the Varsity Athletes (Josh Woods & Tony Nese) back on TV.

Men's trios division - babyfaces

The Elite - Kenny Omega & Nick Jackson & Matt Jackson

Dalton Castle* & Brandon Tate* & Brent Tate*

Hardy Party - Matt Hardy & Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy

Men's trios division - heels

Death Triangle - PAC & Penta El 0M & Rey Fenix (AEW trios champions)

The Embassy - Brian Cage & Toa Liona* & Bishop Kaun* (ROH trios champions)

The House of Black - Malakai Black & Brody King & Buddy Matthews

*Not listed on AEW's official roster webpage

AEW managed to put together eight trios for the championship tournament this summer, and then by September virtually all eight teams were off the board. So it's good to see they've rebuilt the division somewhat. Personally I'd rather see 8-10 trios here, which should be doable without cannibalizing the singles and tag divisions.

The most notable absences here are QT Marshall's Factory, the Jericho Appreciation Society, and Ari Daivari's Trustbusters--all those groups could focus three of their guys on a trios run. I always assumed if AEW got a trios division going that the Dark Order would be a fixture in it; now that there's only three guys left in the group (Silver, Reynolds, and Evil Uno) it seems even more natural.

Women's singles division - babyfaces

Saraya

Toni Storm

Hikaru Shida (Regina di WAVE champion)

Ruby Soho

Mercedes Martinez

Willow Nightingale

Skye Blue*

Kiera Hogan

Madison Rayne

Women's singles division - heels

Jade Cargill (AEW TBS champion)

Britt Baker

Jamie Hayter (AEW women's world champion)

Athena (ROH women's world champion)

Nyla Rose

Tay Melo (AAA mixed tag team champion)

Anna Jay

The Bunny

Red Velvet

Leila Grey

Unranked: Dani Mo*, Queen Aminata*

*Not listed on AEW's official roster webpage

AEW has always struggled to present the women's division well, but I have to give them credit for actually getting 21 women on TV in the past 30 days. The storylines feel a little fuzzy right now, but maybe that'll clear up in a few weeks when we get closer to the next pay-per-view.

I feel like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football whenever I think this, but it seems like AEW is pairing the women off for a potential tag division. Of late we've seen Baker & Hayter, Cargill/Velvet/Grey, Anna & Tay, Bunny & Penelope Ford, Nyla & Marina Shafir, and a few makeshift babyface teams to oppose them. My dream scenario would be for this to build to Sasha Banks and Naomi coming in to finish what they started in WWE, but I shouldn't get ahead of myself.

No TV or PPV matches in 30 days: Angelico, Brandon Cutler, Emi Sakura, Evil Uno, Hagane Shinno*, Josh Woods, Leva Bates, Luther, Marina Shafir*, Peter Avalon, Satnam Singh, Serpentico, Sonny Kiss, Tony Nese, Zack Clayton*

*Not listed on AEW's official roster webpage

There are way too many wrestlers on Dark and Elevation for me to keep track of, so I'm only including the ones who wrestled in the last month and either a) won a match or b) are listed on the official roster. This rule is particularly tough on the Wingmen and the Trustbusters, but I had to draw the line somewhere.

No AEW/ROH matches in 30 days: Adam Page, Anthony Ogogo, AQA, Austin Gunn, Bandido, Brian Pillman Jr., Brock Anderson, Christopher Daniels, Colten Gunn, Frankie Kazarian, Fuego Del Sol, Matt Sydal, Michael Nakazawa, Miro, Parker Boudreaux, Penelope Ford, Riho, Scorpio Sky, Serena Deeb, Shawn Spears, Sonjay Dutt, Yuka Sakazaki

I'm not sure what's going on with these names. Adam Page is obviously medically cleared or they wouldn't even fly him in to do interviews about how he's not medically cleared. Miro and Scorp are reportedly ready to go and just don't have anything planned for them. Bandido literally just got signed a month ago and hasn't been seen since. Pillman is probably in limbo until they decide what to do with him while Griff Garrison is sidelined. I keep thinking Daniels, Nakazawa, and Dutt have retired or something, but as soon as I assume that they'll be in a match next week.

As for the rest, for all I know any of them could have an injury that didn't make the news, and we'll never know until they show up again. Four years ago it was WWE that always had a dozen or more wrestlers on ice, and I never expected AEW to end up being as bad (if not worse) with that same issue.

Part-time/semi-retired: Billy Gunn, Mark Henry, Mark Sterling, Paige VanZant, Paul Wight, Rebel, Stokely Hathaway

Inactive

Abadon (shoulder - collarbone fracture)

Adam Cole (unspecified injury - possible concussion)

Andrade El Idolo (right arm - pectoralis tear)

Christian Cage (right arm - triceps tear)

CM Punk (left arm - triceps tear; negotiating release)

Colt Cabana (unspecified injury)

Griff Garrison (unspecified injury)

Jeff Hardy (suspension; awaiting DUI trial)

Kris Statlander (right knee - ACL/meniscus tear)

Kyle O'Reilly (neck - fusion surgery)

Leyla Hirsch (right knee - ACL tear)

Santana (left knee - unspecified injury)

Thunder Rosa (back - unspecified injury)

Even if the backstage fight hadn't happened, Punk would be out with his triceps injury until at least March or April. It's been reported that Punk and AEW are negotiating a buyout of his contract, which suggests one or both sides don't want him to return. I suppose there's a slim possibility they could mend fences for a shocking comeback, but if it happened it would naturally be top super-duper maxi-extreme ultra secret.

[dailynewswebsite]

Brian Ortega dominates Korean Zombie at UFC Fight Island 6 to land title shot

Within the fourth of its five-event stint on Battle Island, the UFC noticed Brian Ortega dominate Korean Zombie (Chan Sung Jung) to earn a featherweight title shot.

Jessica Andrade could very effectively have punched her personal ticket to a championship problem within the flyweight division along with her win over Katlyn Chookagian within the co-main occasion.

Brian Ortega places on putting show to finest Korean Zombie

After a brief feeling out course of, it was clear that Ortega was trying to make use of his improved putting in opposition to Jung. He regularly landed leg kicks from the opening bell, as Jung was extra intent on hanging again, in search of highly effective counter pictures.

Ortega stepped it up within the latter half of the primary spherical, cracking Jung with onerous punches and even sending him to the canvas at one level. Jung began swinging more durable, however acquired caught with a head kick.

Spherical one was positively a robust opener for Ortega.

Jung began shortly within the second body, touchdown numerous punch combos. The injury he was stealthily doing to Ortega’s lead leg with low kicks was additionally starting to point out.

However simply because the momentum appeared to be in Jung’s favor, Ortega blasted him with a spinning elbow. Ortega stormed him, touchdown a number of extra punches and put him on the canvas however couldn’t discover the end earlier than the second spherical horn, though he stole the spherical.

Going into the third body seemingly having gained the primary two, Ortega stayed at distance all through the spherical, including to his benefit. He remained out of Jung’s energy vary, slowly chipping away with an ever-more-effective jab and kicks that had been conserving Jung from discovering a rhythm.

Realizing he needed to be down on the scorecards, Jung began urgent extra within the fourth spherical. Ortega, nevertheless, didn’t let himself get overwhelmed, remained calm, and fended off the higher a part of Jung’s assaults.

Avoiding most of Jung’s punches, Ortega caught a kick and landed a punch as he drove Jung throughout the cage and to the canvas. He opened a minimize over Jung’s left eye, although it wasn’t clear if it was the punch or an unintended conflict of heads, however Jung shortly acquired up, consuming one other shot as he did. 

Ortega continued to look sharp, stinging Jung together with his jab. Jung tried to discover a solution to land, however Ortega was so fluid at this level, Jung couldn’t discover any openings.

Jung wanted to overwhelm Ortega within the ultimate body, however he couldn’t. Ortega merely stored beating him to the punch and giving him completely different seems that stored Jung off kilter. Any time Jung moved ahead to assault, Ortega nullified him with stinging punches, his jab specifically consuming him alive.

Not one to surrender, Jung stored transferring ahead, stored looking for a house for that highly effective blow that may steal the battle, nevertheless it wasn’t to be. Ortega was too elusive, his putting rather more fluent than he’d ever proven earlier than. 

Ortega fought the right battle in opposition to Jung, incomes unanimous scores of 50-45 from the judges, concurrently incomes a shot at UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.

It had been almost two years since Ortega final fought, dropping his bid to take the belt from then-champion Max Holloway.

“I wanted to grow to be a brand new man. In the present day, I attempted to do the most effective I may to combine all of it up and present everybody that I’m again,” Ortega stated after the battle.

“We’re gonna discover out if I’m prepared (to face Volkanovski). On this recreation, you are taking possibilities. You don’t develop within the consolation zone. Alexander Volkanovski, you’re the champ, the considered combating you is thrilling.”

https://twitter.com/ufc/standing/1317637278408298499?s=20

Jessica Andrade takes out prime contender in UFC flyweight debut

Jessica Andrade wasted no time making her presence identified within the UFC flyweight division. With one battle at 125 kilos, the previous UFC strawweight champion put the division on discover.

Andrade stormed Chookagian from the opening bell, utilizing her energy and energy to negate her opponent’s dramatic attain benefit. She took Chookagian down early, however ended up keeping off varied submission assaults.

After regularly urgent her to the cage and dealing Chookagian with punches and knees to the physique all through the spherical, Andrade scooped Chookagian up and slammed her to the canvas within the ultimate minute of the body.

They regained their footing, however a short while later, Andrade blasted her opponent with a punch to the midsection. Chookagian turned away and yelped in ache. Andrade, realizing she was damage, stormed after Chookagian and landed a pair extra pictures to the physique that despatched her to the canvas. The referee instantly stepped in and stopped the battle.

Story continues

And similar to that, Andrade catapulted to the highest of her new division.

“Now I’m No. 1 and let’s see if I can get an opportunity at combating Valentina (Shevchenko),” she declared after the battle.

Shevchenko, the present UFC flyweight champion, is presently slated to defend in opposition to Jennifer Maia at UFC 255 on Nov. 21 in Las Vegas.

https://twitter.com/ufc/standing/1317629730665992194?s=20

Jimmy Crute lays out Modestas Bukauskas

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Jimmy Crute continues to impress within the Octagon. In his 5 UFC bouts, all however one have ended within the first spherical.

Crute completed Modestas Bukauskas in spectacular trend at UFC Battle Island 6, leaving him laying on the canvas. Crute blasted Bukauskas with a proper hand, sending him down, after which adopted with a pair extra pictures to shut it out simply over two minutes into the battle.

https://twitter.com/ufc/standing/1317623074976600066

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UFC Battle Island 6: Ortega vs. Korean Zombie outcomes

UFC Battle Island 6 Primary Card

Brian Ortega def Chan Sung Jung by unanimous choice (50-45, 50-45, 50-45)Jessica Andrade def Katlyn Chookagian by TKO (physique punches) at 4:57, R1Jim Crute def Modestas Bukauskas by KO (punches) at 2:01, R1James Krause def Claudio Silva by unanimous choice (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)Jonathan Martinez def Thomas Almeida by unanimous choice (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

UFC Battle Island 6 Preliminary Card

Guram Kutateladze def Mateusz Gamrot by break up choice (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)Gillian Robertson def Poliana Botelho by unanimous choice (29-28, 29-27, 29-27)Jun Yong Park def John Phillips by unanimous choice (30-25, 30-25, 30-25)Fares Ziam def Jamie Mullarkey by unanimous choice (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)Maxim Grishin def Gadzhimurad Antigulov by TKO (punches) at 4:58, R2Mentioned Nurmagomedov def Mark Striegl by KO (punches) at 0:51, R1

from Growth News https://growthnews.in/brian-ortega-dominates-korean-zombie-at-ufc-fight-island-6-to-land-title-shot/ via https://growthnews.in

[brain-garden-blog]

In 2011, Claudio Aspesi, a senior investment analyst at Bernstein Research in London, made a bet that the dominant firm in one of the most lucrative industries in the world was headed for a crash. Reed-Elsevier, a multinational publishing giant with annual revenues exceeding £6bn, was an investor’s darling. It was one of the few publishers that had successfully managed the transition to the internet, and a recent company report was predicting yet another year of growth. Aspesi, though, had reason to believe that that prediction – along with those of every other major financial analyst – was wrong.                    

The core of Elsevier’s operation is in scientific journals, the weekly or monthly publications in which scientists share their results. Despite the narrow audience, scientific publishing is a remarkably big business. With total global revenues of more than £19bn, it weighs in somewhere between the recording and the film industries in size, but it is far more profitable. In 2010, Elsevier’s scientific publishing arm reported profits of £724m on just over £2bn in revenue. It was a 36% margin – higher than Apple, Google, or Amazon posted that year.

But Elsevier’s business model seemed a truly puzzling thing. In order to make money, a traditional publisher – say, a magazine – first has to cover a multitude of costs: it pays writers for the articles; it employs editors to commission, shape and check the articles; and it pays to distribute the finished product to subscribers and retailers. All of this is expensive, and successful magazines typically make profits of around 12-15%.

The way to make money from a scientific article looks very similar, except that scientific publishers manage to duck most of the actual costs. Scientists create work under their own direction – funded largely by governments – and give it to publishers for free; the publisher pays scientific editors who judge whether the work is worth publishing and check its grammar, but the bulk of the editorial burden – checking the scientific validity and evaluating the experiments, a process known as peer review – is done by working scientists on a volunteer basis. The publishers then sell the product back to government-funded institutional and university libraries, to be read by scientists – who, in a collective sense, created the product in the first place.

It is as if the New Yorker or the Economist demanded that journalists write and edit each other’s work for free, and asked the government to foot the bill. Outside observers tend to fall into a sort of stunned disbelief when describing this setup. A 2004 parliamentary science and technology committee report on the industry drily observed that “in a traditional market suppliers are paid for the goods they provide”. A 2005 Deutsche Bank report referred to it as a “bizarre” “triple-pay” system, in which “the state funds most research, pays the salaries of most of those checking the quality of research, and then buys most of the published product”.

Scientists are well aware that they seem to be getting a bad deal. The publishing business is “perverse and needless”, the Berkeley biologist Michael Eisen wrote in a 2003 article for the Guardian, declaring that it “should be a public scandal”. Adrian Sutton, a physicist at Imperial College, told me that scientists “are all slaves to publishers. What other industry receives its raw materials from its customers, gets those same customers to carry out the quality control of those materials, and then sells the same materials back to the customers at a vastly inflated price?” (A representative of RELX Group, the official name of Elsevier since 2015, told me that it and other publishers “serve the research community by doing things that they need that they either cannot, or do not do on their own, and charge a fair price for that service”.)

Many scientists also believe that the publishing industry exerts too much influence over what scientists choose to study, which is ultimately bad for science itself. Journals prize new and spectacular results – after all, they are in the business of selling subscriptions – and scientists, knowing exactly what kind of work gets published, align their submissions accordingly. This produces a steady stream of papers, the importance of which is immediately apparent. But it also means that scientists do not have an accurate map of their field of inquiry. Researchers may end up inadvertently exploring dead ends that their fellow scientists have already run up against, solely because the information about previous failures has never been given space in the pages of the relevant scientific publications. A 2013 study, for example, reported that half of all clinical trials in the US are never published in a journal.

According to critics, the journal system actually holds back scientific progress. In a 2008 essay, Dr Neal Young of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which funds and conducts medical research for the US government, argued that, given the importance of scientific innovation to society, “there is a moral imperative to reconsider how scientific data are judged and disseminated”.

Aspesi, after talking to a network of more than 25 prominent scientists and activists, had come to believe the tide was about to turn against the industry that Elsevier led. More and more research libraries, which purchase journals for universities, were claiming that their budgets were exhausted by decades of price increases, and were threatening to cancel their multi-million-pound subscription packages unless Elsevier dropped its prices. State organisations such as the American NIH and the German Research Foundation (DFG) had recently committed to making their research available through free online journals, and Aspesi believed that governments might step in and ensure that all publicly funded research would be available for free, to anyone. Elsevier and its competitors would be caught in a perfect storm, with their customers revolting from below, and government regulation looming above.

In March 2011, Aspesi published a report recommending that his clients sell Elsevier stock. A few months later, in a conference call between Elsevier management and investment firms, he pressed the CEO of Elsevier, Erik Engstrom, about the deteriorating relationship with the libraries. He asked what was wrong with the business if “your customers are so desperate”. Engstrom dodged the question. Over the next two weeks, Elsevier stock tumbled by more than 20%, losing £1bn in value. The problems Aspesi saw were deep and structural, and he believed they would play out over the next half-decade – but things already seemed to be moving in the direction he had predicted.

Over the next year, however, most libraries backed down and committed to Elsevier’s contracts, and governments largely failed to push an alternative model for disseminating research. In 2012 and 2013, Elsevier posted profit margins of more than 40%. The following year, Aspesi reversed his recommendation to sell. “He listened to us too closely, and he got a bit burned,” David Prosser, the head of Research Libraries UK, and a prominent voice for reforming the publishing industry, told me recently. Elsevier was here to stay.

Aspesi was not the first person to incorrectly predict the end of the scientific publishing boom, and he is unlikely to be the last. It is hard to believe that what is essentially a for-profit oligopoly functioning within an otherwise heavily regulated, government-funded enterprise can avoid extinction in the long run. But publishing has been deeply enmeshed in the science profession for decades. Today, every scientist knows that their career depends on being published, and professional success is especially determined by getting work into the most prestigious journals. The long, slow, nearly directionless work pursued by some of the most influential scientists of the 20th century is no longer a viable career option. Under today’s system, the father of genetic sequencing, Fred Sanger, who published very little in the two decades between his 1958 and 1980 Nobel prizes, may well have found himself out of a job.

Even scientists who are fighting for reform are often not aware of the roots of the system: how, in the boom years after the second world war, entrepreneurs built fortunes by taking publishing out of the hands of scientists and expanding the business on a previously unimaginable scale. And no one was more transformative and ingenious than Robert Maxwell, who turned scientific journals into a spectacular money-making machine that bankrolled his rise in British society. Maxwell would go on to become an MP, a press baron who challenged Rupert Murdoch, and one of the most notorious figures in British life. But his true importance was far larger than most of us realise. Improbable as it might sound, few people in the last century have done more to shape the way science is conducted today than Maxwell.

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