Craig Ballantyne

@universalcynic

Be more skeptical

2.702 Folgt975 Follower1.831 Posts

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Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· 6d

Stewart Lee's really let himself go...

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· 7d

Just saw that Tiger Mask wrestled twice after his official retirement and retired again, officially officially. That's the most wrestling thing ever 😂 Beat Mick Foley's first retirement by a few weeks too #njpw #WrestleSky 🤼 www.fightful.com/wrestling/ka...

Screenshot from Cagematch.net showing Tiger Mask IV wrestling in ABC 10 days after his official retirement, and PRODUCE a few weeks after that

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· 9d

Aye, ok then. Reality is Busted Open's compromised itself to a permanent end as a credible show #WrestleSky 🤼

Bully: “Has any other wrestling company ever put us on the front row and identified us?”

LaGreca: “No.”

Bully: “Should they have?”

LaGreca: “Yes.”

Bully: “The WWE did so thank you to the WWE for the great, great treatment. Shout out to Nick Khan, who got up out of his front row seat to walk halfway around the stadium to come up to us, say hello, tell us how great he thought the partnership was going so far, asked us if we need anything, were we comfortable. Thank you Nick Khan for being a complete gentleman.”

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· 9d

The boyhood dream, a submission victory on a Gears of War logo followed by a title celebration with a man in an ill-fitting dog mask 🥹 #SummerSlam #WrestleSky 🤼

Chad Gable celebrating his Intercontinental Championship victory with a furry

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· 12d

Ibushi went to the NJPW offices, wonder if it's part of his venue project or something more. The fact he's even willing to talk to them after the way he left is huge! The change in owner and management probably helps a lot #njpw #WrestleSky 🤼

Ibushi standing in front of the NJPW Lionmark with caption: "So, back to New Japan"

Ibushi tells a fan in the comments that he didn't go "home" to NJPW as he's still injured, but went to meet with them

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· 13d

Yuto-Ice is my favourite NJPW wrestler right now (Tsuji a very close second). He's like Ishii crossed with Eddie Kingston. The punishment he can absorb is unreal and he's got charisma for days. Man could be the top babyface in Japan in a few years #G1CLIMAX36 #WrestleSky 🤼

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· 16d

Only three matches official for All In and it looks like it's being tailor-made for me! #AEW #WrestleSky 🤼

Kenny Omega vs Will Ospreay match graphic

Cage & Cope Vs Young Bucks match graphic

Willow Nightingale Vs Mercedes Mone match graphic

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· 16d

Actually...

Big Damo tweet edited to say: "Some voters are just fuckin stupid I don't know what to tell you"

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· 16d

Labour finally have a lead over Reform, 28%-24%. Hopefully they can increase and sustain it. If ( it's a big if) they do, I think it'll be a General Election next year. #ukpolitics #Labour

Poll shows Labour ahead of Reform UK for first time since Burnham became PM
Labour has regained its lead over Reform UK in More in Common polling, Luke Tryl, its director, says

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· 17d

And here's another kind of reflection

Ornate mirror in the National Gallery of Ireland. The reflection shows a man checking his phone in the bottom corner.

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· 17d

Something I've been wanting to do for a while, took these at opposite ends of a corridor at the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin. Not sure if I prefer the blue and red or red and blue @nationalgalleryirl.bsky.social #photography 📸

Collage of two images at different ends of a series of doorways, the left hand side is painted blue, the right painted red. You can see the opposite colours slightly in the distance.

Collage of two images at different ends of a series of doorways, the left hand side is painted red, the right painted blue. You can see the opposite colours slightly in the distance.

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· 17d

Oh, hey, there's an AEW ppv later, and I just remembered some people became free agents 👀 Dynamite's also in Detroit this week... #AEW #WrestleSky 🤼

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· 19d

Instead, he's hiring a bus and taking a group of fans on a day trip to Mother Farm, like a school field trip! The man's insane, but one of the best humans in pro-wrestling 😂 2/2 #WrestleSky 🤼 www.instagram.com/reel/DbLFHsm...

Ibushi: Well be departing from Tokyo Station

Ibushi: and making a day trip to Mother Farm!

Ibushi: It'll feel like we're all going on a school trip together

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· 19d

Latest Ibushi project update. He's doing a Premium lecture and fan tour! It might not be what you think... He's doing a lecture on "How great matches are born" and then it's the fan tour a couple of weeks later. But, no, he's not going city-to-city for meet & greets, this is Ibushi! 1/2

Kota Ibushi announcing the premium lecture and fan tour

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· 19d

Final obviously features Knockout Bros, but against who?? #AEW #njpw 🤼

The Knockout Bros, Oskar and Yuto-Iccccce

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· 20d

Price was a bit steeper than I expected, but got a ticket for the Welcome to Wembley thing. Sounds like they're trying to plan things better than the previous All In fan things in the UK (although I did enjoy the Box one)

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· 23d

This is a bit worrying, mainly because people don't think NJPW's doing particularly well as it is. The product feels like an improvement on last year though, so hopefully that'll translate to the business side too #njpw #WrestleSky 🤼 www.fightful.com/wrestling/aj...

“So what you’re saying is, I just want to understand you clearly, that New Japan it’s not doing as well as everybody thinks it is. … This is also what I’ve heard, through other people, not on the internet. That’s why I even said what I said because I heard it from, you know firsthand information. But whatever. Internet knows everything. I’ll just keep it at that.”

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· 25d

Oscar's been great on commentary, but I don't like being reminded of Great-O-Khan and Tanga Loa's gyoza eating contest (it was meant to be eel, might've been more entertainin? Probably not). My god, the KOPW turned to shit so quickly, GOK too unfortunately. #G1CLIMAX36

Tanga Loa looking on as Great-O-Khan eats a lot of eel to retain the KOPW Title

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· 26d

Fun fact: Kenny Omega's been in AEW for almost twice as long as his full-time run in NJPW, that's crazy #njpw #AEW 🤼

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· Jul 13

Go on Clacton, do the funniest thing that could happen to the UK far-right, and make your vote Count! #VoteBinface

Head-to-head IPSOS poll gives Count Binface a 12-point lead over Nigel Farage

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· Jul 12

SANADA today, and his outfit if he reaches the G1 final #G1CLIMAX36 🤼

SANADA wearing a gold suit, sunglasses, and sombrero because he's a motherfucking cold blooded snake

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· Jul 12

This is a bit sad to see coming from someone like Styles. No, WWE shouldn't just buy its way into Japan. It isn't even using the NOAH partnership in anyway whatsoever as far as I can see. #WrestleSky 🤼

AJ Styles wants WWE to purchase a Japanese wrestling company

“I would love WWE to find a way to be in Japan, kind of like the way AAA is. We’re not changing what they’re doing. We’re not trying to change the culture. We’re just putting our spin on it.

It’s not them coming to WWE, but WWE has purchased a company in Japan. And now, we have Japan, we have Mexico… I don’t want them to come to RAW or SmackDown. I want them to be a WWE whatever in Japan.

It’s endless things that we could do. And I believe that with the help of WWE, we would be able to revive Japanese wrestling to where it was. I would love to see it back where it’s the Tokyo Dome. I’m talking about not like a WrestleMania over there. I’m just saying it’s the company selling out the Tokyo Dome like it did in the early 90s. That’s what I would want to see.”

@thep1podcast

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· Jul 10

Maple Leaf Pro is on MyAEW. Brilliant news, I was hoping this would happen! #AEW #WrestleSky 🤼 www.allelitewrestling.com/post/maple-l...

MyAEW 🤝
@MapleLeafPW

We are excited to announce that MLP's new weekly program, MLP Mayhem, begins streaming for free in the United States and more than 100 countries around the world exclusively on http://MyAEW.com this Thursday!

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· Jul 7

As it stands, Nigel Farage is now going to have to campaign in a by-election against a man with a bin for a head, and he's paying for the privilege. It's amazing. Not that a Binface win is impossible, Farage was, after all, once beaten into third place by a dolphin. #VoteBinface #Clacton

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· Jul 7

Arguing it's just a vanity project for Farage and a deflection from his scandals. However, there is one person who's decided to run, a veteran of many elections, this man, Count Binface! So...

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· Jul 7

50% off AEW All In tickets for the next week! That means there's are tickets as low as £16.50 Bit gutted since I've already bought mine, but that's always a risk. #AEW #WrestleSky 🤼

Important Info
50% off AEW: ALL IN London with code SUMMER26
Get 50% off tickets for All Elite Wrestling at the following dates/venues:

AEW: ALL IN London At Wembley Stadium - Sun 30 Aug 2026

This offer is valid on the listed show only. This offer runs from Monday 6 July - Tuesday 14 July. Please select the special offer tickets on the event page when selecting your ticket from the ticket type listing. Please note, a processing, delivery, venue and / or venue restoration fee may apply per transaction. This online offer is subject to availability, cannot be used in conjunction with any other discount and does not apply to tickets already booked.

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· Jul 7

Congratulations to Tiger Mask IV on one last victory over Black Tiger and a legendary career! #njpw #WrestleSky 🤼

The NJPW roster throwing Tiger Mask in the air to celebrate

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· Jul 6

At the risk of showing my age... Did anyone tell Outkast?!

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· Jul 6

Gabe Kidd won the Global Title, and slapped and spat on Tanahashi today. Him turning heel on the whole of NJPW out of sheer bitterness at his treatment by the company has been brilliantly done. He should be getting nuclear heat by the end of the G1! #njpw #WrestleSky 🤼

Gabe Kidd giving NJPW fans the middle finger

Gabe Kidd throwing away the Global Championship belt

Craig Ballantyne@universalcynic· Jul 3

In Ibushi's latest blog, he spoke about the period (I think) after leaving NJPW and drinking a lot. But also using dating sites, including: "I used to use dating sites a lot. In one week, about 14 women...that's the number of women if you include both day and night" #WrestleSky #AEW 🤼