The Bearded Captain

My thoughts on WWE

They say it’s fake, it’s not real, but the risks are real. World Wrestling Entertainment or WWE for short is a sport which despite its longevity still catches the public imagination.

If you ask Elias, WWE stands for! *chants in a passionate tone* “walk with Elias”. The storylines, subplots, daring moves and overall energy has made the WWE the pinnacle for any pro wrestler.

When we were kids, I don’t know anyone who would say they didn’t do any wrestling moves on their siblings, brother Malik and sister Malik’s teddy bear felt the full brunt of The Stone Cold Stunner.

I will not confirm or deny, I gave the last ride to my brother, an Attitude Adjustment, or did the five knuckle shuffle on both my niece and nephew, but the springs on a few beds were stretched let’s just say.

Let’s change the subject and talk about the pros who do this for the day job. WWE, despite the competition or rival AEW, amongst others have posed a viable threat.

The way WWE markets the brand and the fact that they have years upon years of more experience is a massive advantage.

In Shahid Khan, owner of AEW, they have a billionaire who will be able to help bankroll some top wrestling stars, Messers Ambrose and Jericho come to mind.

A fierce rival isn’t something new, in the 90’s WCW was arguably a more desirable brand than WWE, but wrestling fans remember how that ended.

Stone Cold Steve Austin, Booker T, the aforementioned Chris Jericho and Goldberg are just some of the wrestlers that comes to mind.

In my humble opinion, WWE it fluctuates, with how good the storylines are.

Sometimes the storylines are brilliant, others the storylines are a lot to be desired. .

Of course all wrestling circuits have the same issue, but WWE is the most established of all wrestling circuits out there.

I want to talk about some of the storylines at the moment and give my humble opinion on them.

The storyline between Reigns and Owens is a good one, but really creative WWE, putting the belt on him again? Why don’t you just rename his character to John Anoai Cena? Letting Rusev go, in my opinion, wasn’t the best decision either.

Love or loathe him, his Bulgarian Brute character suited him perfectly. To put him in these love story storylines, just wasted an undoubted talent, let’s hope AEW utilise his skills properly.

A storyline which I like is Seamus and Drew McIntyre, at least it’s not the usual Roman Reigns drivel.

The force-feeding of Reigns is frustrating. If you want to use The Big Dog, then the need to use to utilize him without gold around him is a must.

The Rock, Stone Cold and most recently The Fiend are still very able performers and they don’t need a title on him to be relevant, Roman’s character doesn’t seem to allow that.

I do like The Miz with The Money In The Bank briefcase. Not sounding like Michael Cole of old, I am a Miz fan.

Very good on the mic, good in a tag team even in a stable too, Michael Miznan is a WWE treasure.

I am merely just a fan, but us fans have our opinions too. Triple H, yeah my number ends in 455, and don’t forget the +44 dialling code, thank you!

Here at ayyazmalik.com, there will be plenty more wrestling articles. See you at the next one!

To help keep wonderful content coming through and help maintain project Bearded Captain , you can help fund me here;

https://www.paypal.me/AyyazMalik86

Just don’t be one of those people

Hello and good evening, it’s me your Bearded Captain, leader of all beards and flag-bearer of all beards on digital media. I am that beard who tries to make you laugh and I am that beard who tries to make you smile. Brothers, I want to talk about an important issue, it’s the topic of not being one of those people.

There’s always one, the odd one out. People who don’t spell their name right. “Hanna’, I am talking to you here and ‘Stephen’, yeah this is aimed at you. But brothers, what I am referring to here is the people who wear shorts in -2 degrees temperature or in any weather for that matter.

Dude, what’s wrong with you? Do you want Pneumonia? I am sorry, but I am gonna be blunt here, that’s like one of the hookers on a cold night. No matter the weather, she will always have the short skirt on, which is just weird, don’t be one of those people. Other people you shouldn’t be like are those who wear socks and sandals.

Are you a Geography teacher? No, didn’t think so …. but the people who do this (wear socks and sandals) well, let’s just say like Wethers Originals (you know what I mean). So more example of people that you shouldn’t be like are those who wear leather-strapped gentleman watches with a tracksuit.

Brothers, it just looks odd. This post borders on, my previous post of signs of a psychopath, which can be found here; https://ayyazmalik.com/2020/08/24/signs-of-psycho-satire/

My Bearded Soldiers, I am back after a little break, and that’s your list for now. It’s over and out from your Bearded Captain.

To help keep wonderful content coming through and help maintain project Bearded Captain , you can help fund me here;

https://www.paypal.me/AyyazMalik86

Klopp the unstoppable Jurgen-aught?

He came to English shores as something as a phenomenon. Touted for Manchester United, amongst other jobs and even earmarked by Sir Alex himself.

So when Jurgen Klopp agreed to come to Liverpool manager after he came out of a sabbatical, The Merseyside club celebrated this monumental coup of getting one of club footballs hottest managers.

A sharp whit, a charming personality, a whiter than white smile but a steely determination about him, made Jurgen the man Liverpool fans have come to love and adore.

Ever since he became Liverpool boss in 2015, 53-year old Klopp has only seen nothing but success at Anfield.
A Europa League final loss to Sevilla, which there’s no shame in as that tournament should almost be renamed the Sevilla League as they have such a stranglehold of that tournament.

Despite this setback, there were signs that Liverpool were improving. With back to back Champions League finals in 2018 and 2019, the latter of which they won their sixth in their history.

The Reds would enjoy a trophy-laden period thereafter. The club World Cup, the Super Cup and most satisfying of all for Liverpool fans, the Premier League all made their way into Anfield’s already bulging cabinet.

Nineteen League champions Liverpool were at the top of the world (literally) at this stage. There was one challenge left for manager Jurgen Klopp, who has enjoyed nothing but success since.
How to see through the transition of a great team? This has been a dilemma for many great sides, Manchester United and Barcelona come to mind.

Liverpool are in this same situation too arguably. After the unprecedented success in recent seasons, both star Firmino and Mane look to be in decline.

Injuries too have depleted Liverpool and the supporting cast too look to not be Oscar-winning worthy.
No Virgil Van Dijk, no Joe Gomez or Diogo Jotta too, that’s some serious talent in the treatment room.
One can’t argue it’s been a disappointing season this season. What people shouldn’t do is write Liverpool off.

The Reds have a tricky task when it comes to it to evolve this team. Now this team isn’t at the end of its cycle, but this great Liverpool team can’t last forever.

Jurgen Klopp has pretty much turned everything into gold that he’s touched so be he’s been in Merseyside.
This season has been unfortunate with the number of injuries that they have suffered. No matter how great the team, injuries come back to bite, just ask Pep at Man City.

At the time of writing, Liverpool are fifth. With the quality of the squad that they have, to qualify for Champions League football next season shouldn’t be an issue.

When (hopefully sooner rather than later) they get their star player Van Dijk back. When he does come back and the other injured players too, I want to raise the issue again of evolving this Liverpool team. Tottenham although they didn’t win a trophy, managed to turn into a consistent side.

But what they didn’t do is not evolve at the right time. As a result Tottenham who were consistently qualifying for the Champions League places, are no way near as a result. Liverpool are very well run and I have no doubt that they won’t make this mistake that Spurs did.

On that, as the saying goes Auf Wiedersehen Pet!

To help keep wonderful content coming through and help maintain project Bearded Captain , you can help fund me here;

https://www.paypal.me/AyyazMalik86

The toughest job interview (satire)

Hello and greetings, my Bearded Soldiers, it’s me your Bearded Captain, here I talk about an issue in the world of beards. Here, brothers, I talk about the toughest job interview known to man.

It’s over and out from The Bearded Captain.

To help keep wonderful content coming through and help maintain project Bearded Captain , you can help fund me here;

https://www.paypal.me/AyyazMalik86

Best Air Purifier For Cleaner & Fresher Air at Home

Getting an air purifier for home is essential. An air purifier is an appliance that improves the quality of air in a room by getting rid of …

Best Air Purifier For Cleaner & Fresher Air at Home

The second Album

Hello and Greetings My Bearded Soldiers, it’s me your Bearded Captain. Leader of all beards and flag bearer of all beards on digital media.

I am that beard who tries to make people laugh and I am that beard who tries to make people laugh.

My brothers, I pray you’re looking after yourselves and your beard! My beloved’s I want to talk about an important issue, the issue of what I called the Second Album.

The second album phrase is one which is commonly used. Some use the phrase for football teams in their second season after getting promoted to the Premier League or the music second album.

I want to use this analogy though for trying a takeaway for the second time, after liking it for the first time when you try it.

To be more specific with my example it’s the example of New York Crispy, a chicken Takeaway shop on Wilmslow road.

On my previous blog, which can be found here https://ayyazmalik.com/2021/01/16/the-theory-proved-wrong/, I declared my love for New York Crispy after trying them for the first time.

I am delighted to say, New York Crispy was just as good as the first time. The red salt chip goodness and the chicken burger oozing in curry sauce to perfection was just looooovely.

Warm soft burger, a lovely textured chicken that was not too crunchy and the curry sauce that didn’t get on my top.

This couldn’t have been said last time! So there you have it brothers. It’s over and out from your Bearded Captain.

To help keep wonderful content coming through and help maintain project Bearded Captain , you can help fund me here;

https://www.paypal.me/AyyazMalik86

Now available on people per hour for your sports writing needs

Hello and good afternoon,

Just a quick note to say I am offering my writing services through the people per hour platform. I am a writer of six years on all things sport.

Feel free to discuss having a article written for you.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ayyaz-malik-7b1b06a0_hire-ayyaz-m-on-peopleperhour-activity-6762357397513129984-Qk8h

The woes of Madrid explained

When you think of the two words Real and Madrid, whether you’re a football fan or not, you tend to to think of a footballing powerhouse and with good reason too. They’re the most successful team in Europe (13 Champions League wins).

Let’s not forget the 34 La Liga title wins in the history that they have won, meaning they’re the most successful team in Spain and the more than respectable 19 Copa Del Rey trophies too. As impressive as that trophy cabinet is, I paint a rather worrying tale.

Yes, they won the league title last year, and yes they’re second, but they’re seven points behind their neighbours and arch-rivals Atletico Madrid , but Diego Simeone’s side have two games in hand. Defeats to Levante at home (2-1) and a shock loss in the Copa Del Rey to Alcoyano too (2-1 after extra time) are signs of worrying times at the Bernabeu.

Alcoyano, are a third tier team and in that game despite manager Zinedine Zidane resting players, there were still full internationals on the pitch, which made this defeat against the Spanish minnows the more embarrassing.

So what’s the reason for this slump in form? Well, we must understand this isn’t a slump this season, this decline has been happening over the past few months. The main reason for this seems to be that Real manager Zidane, is struggling to replace several ageing stars.

Sergio Ramos, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Karim Benzema and Marcelo have been great players but Los Blancos have been too reliant on these players. As great as these players are, age waits for no one, and in the case of this quintet this is also the case.

To be fair to the Madrid board, Ferland Mendy has come in as a replacement for Marcelo and has performed well, but players like Militao have had limited playing time in central defence. Zizou’s preferred central defensive partnership tends to be Ramos and Rafael Varane.

As good as Madrid captain Ramos has been, there’s an over reliance on him, so much so that Real look half the side without him. Other signings such as Chelsea’s Eden Hazard, hasn’t been a good one, which is the same as Luka Jovic.

It can be argued, and I still argue, if Real would have given him more game time, then the young Serb would have come good. Real Madrid can’t rely on Benzema forever for goals and Jovic is a goal scorer. Yes it’s early days, but the former Eintracht man has returned to his former club on loan and has grabbed three goals in three games, which I feel proves my point.

So what’s the solution? It seems like an easy one, but Real really need to go back to basics and look to recruit from within. Their academy had been baring fruits, especially when players like Lucas Vazquez and Marco Asensio were coming out of the production line.

From the defensive side of things, two players have been produced from the Real academy in recent times, Dani Carvajal and Nacho being those two players. These are just two further examples that Real Madrid have the players that are good enough to come through the ranks and into the first team. The Spanish giants don’t have the financial clout as they once did, especially with the cost for the revamp of the stadium to consider too and the revelations of the extent of the debts that they’re in (approx €900 million)

Sometimes, things have to get worse to get better, this example I feel applies too, but Real will be coming back stronger, they always do.

To help keep wonderful content coming through and help maintain project Bearded Captain , you can help fund me here;

https://www.paypal.me/AyyazMalik86