thee Reverend Axl Future

I attended that card, and it was great fun. First off, I was shocked that it was not sold out - I strolled up with tix a half hour early and there wasn't anyone outside as compared the Battleground show two weeks before, which was PACKED w/a 90 minute wait to enter. Philly loves it's randomly booked ECW nostalgia shows, I tell you what. Alex Kane was impressive and good on the mic. King Mo as his manager works to get him over as a heel, but Mr. Mo needs to learn how to work a live mic. TJP is so effective as a super-skilled heel who forces you to hate him. Tom Lawlor can't get a win - surely this is leading somewhere? The jean trunks are brilliant. The card lasted 5 hours and clicked right along. Taping the YouTube show and then the VICE stuff created some temporal dissonance but was a breeze if you ever survived one of those 80s WWF syndicated TV tapings. 5150 vs. Los Parks trio match was stiff and thrilling (like me). LA Park still being a top notch worker despite his age and size surprises me every time but it shouldn't, as the man is a Wrestling Golden Treasure. No color or in crowd brawling (2300 Arena dictates), controlled chaos constantly. Holidead works so stiff with those kicks, I could see that Nicole Savoy injury. Ribs? Chest? Sternum? Heart? She was crying but not paralyzed, stretchered out and sent to the hospital. Kills the crowd in the way that a real injury will. Holidead has a good look and works the gimmick but still kinda generic for me. Tajiri/Aramis/Arez/Reed four-way for the lightweight title was f'n off the hook with so much stuff I have never seen before and just the right amount of sloppiness so it wasn't some over-rehearsed move fest. Truly insprational and a must see. I was shocked that Tajiri (clearly the crowd favorite) won - does he live in the US? His look has softened, with fluffy hair and rounder face but he still can do the "dangerous menace" thing. MIST!!!!! Dario Cuerto is brilliant, I love that he grants everyone's match requests but monkey paws it up. King Mil Muertes is so good, fabulous entrance, in a casket match w/Lawlor - messy and violent. KMM is fits in with these great workers that MLW has, that all have great physical presence (JFatu, Hammerstone) but would be exposed size-wise if they were in WWE. 6 on 6 Elimination Match was well done, giving a bunch of lesser pushed guys a chance to show their gimmicks and moves. Kevin Ku is deliciously sleazy, I feel that he has definitely hung around places where fentanyl is stored in big blue barrels. EJ Nuduka looked like a million bucks and is vastly improved. The time off has improved Davey Richards ring work but Bobby Fish continues to underwhelm despite his boss facial hair. Sea Stars I remember from Chikara but they have not improved in my eyes. Even the ugly Philly crowd adored them tho'. "Cute" is les than "kawaii" for me, gimmick-wise. The standout for me here was Willow Nightengale. Jacob Fatu is my fave rave, and title vs. title with Alexander Hammerstone did not disappoint. Big beefy moves, good selling and intense 2 counts. These boys went 30+ minutes and turned it out. So sad for RAF to see Fatu lose the belt but it was the right thing to do. Fatu (and Samael) really were MVPs here. The only thing worse than half-wits trying to start chants because they never attended an ECW card back in the day is hipster beardos who watch too many PWG tapes starting chants. This is my bete noire, especially since I always sit next to these pencilnecks. I like sitting next to small children or handicapable folks who get into the action and know the show isn't all about them. Special mention goes to the fellow sitting in front of me, whose massive afro literally blocked out 1/3 of the ring for me at all times but it's cool because that afro was so impressive. This, despite the fact that he was filming on his phone the whole time (BN#2) - FOR WHAT, WHY?!?!?! Also, because I am a jagoff, my nemesis was there, this goony-bird who walks around with a custom "YOUTUBE CHAMP" belt and hangs out by the merch tables, trying to get people to do photos with him. He is always filming and narrating in a simpleminded manner. If I stop posting here it's because I was sent to lockup for assault, as he tries to interview folks and get them to play along. YOU ARE NOT IN THE BIZ I am not anymore but this gets my goat. It almost happened when I was waiting with my chum Jason for his Uber. South Philly is a wooly place but I walked home, smoking cigars as is my wont. Sorry so much negativity, welcome to my soul. MLW was fun and I learned alot. p.s. The Savoy injury was a bruised sternum, I was right. Happened to me once, brother it feels like you are having a grabber. Apparently, TJP was also injured, and there was a worked injury for Tankman. Hammerstone sprained his ankle early in the match and gutted it out, the kid is a trooper, best wishes for recovery to all.

Probably. It was a lot of chairshots ago. It was a small venue right between the trailer park with the strip club and the strip club in the trailer park - y'know where they start to speak with a southern accent? (Indiana joke, people, it's grim there). I can't even remember the indy fed - Lightning Rod Bell? John Osbourne? Don't tell me you were there?!?!?

I always marked out for The Texicans. The throwback gimmick, great sleazy look, the good names, the... mask? Solid workers able to get heat, so much more fun than just seeing some bland green babyface get an undeserved W. Southern Justice is a boss team name as well. The Attitude Era surely proved their gameness and sense of humor.

Frankly, it just makes me angry at my father that he is not a billionaire. - RAF

Kawaii Onita is going to be the name of my K-pop band that just does Crass covers, very pomo... - RAF

One of my saddest rasslin memories is being present for an argument in an Indiana lockerroom between Moose Cholak and Ian Rotten. Total generation gap and both guys were hot that the other did not know who they were. I had to mediate, there were no winners. - RAF

Little known fact: this match was the inspiration for me penning my Italian lensed 80s horror retro flick "Night of the Bloody MILFs". - RAF

I broke my COVID fear wrestling drought this past weekend, so in for a penny, in for a viral pound and the hankering is back sos I got tix for the 10/02 MLW show here. The last couple cards (a lifetime ago) were festive, and this one is loaded (Tajiri!!). CB is A-OK in my book. - RAF

Anybody else having a time posting pics? Imgur and Postimage aren't working for me here. There was a Chrome update too, so that may be it - all the urls are "https", so that used to not work here? Could be early onset senility, or long COVIDs... - RAF https://imgur.com/a/n8GkTiz

I just returned from a Battleground Championship Wrestling show at the 2300 (nee ECW) Arena. I post since it was mostly an ECW tribute show. Raven, Little Guido, RVD. Bill Alphonso, Bully Ray and Sandman were all there. A fairly solid & entertaining card but no amazing matches. No blood or plunder. Also appearing was Buddy Murphy (easily the worker of the night by far), Bobby Fish (disappointing), Enzo Amore facing Ricky Morton (most amusing match of the night), Matt Hardy, Gun Club v. Bear Country, Van Dam's stripper ladyfriend, Paul Ellering (accepting an award for the Road Warriors), Mark Henry (hosting). They are coming back in December with Rhino and Kevin Sullivan and some other folks I can't remember. Sabu was a no-show. It was a very very very very Philly show that would not have come off so well in any other venue. - RAF

"Doglegs" is streaming on PLEX (via Roku for me, free with many ads for deadly prescription meds and Coke products), highly recommended. It's a documentary on a niche Japanese wrestling federation that features handicapped and differently abled workers. As someone with very good carny-sense (it's like gaydar), the blurring of the lines between work and shoot is incredible, both on the part of the documentary and the workers and fed themselves. I have watched this (and the raw card footage as well) with both wrestling and non-wrestling fans and some folks can't handle it. It just up-ends peoples expectations that much. Not for workrate nerds but there are several puro and joshi cameos. - RAF

Cigars and Conversations is a informative and mellow podcast all about current and (mostly) classic wrestling by a couple of folks in the biz. - RAF

Review of thee Year. It's funny because it's all true; it's true and that's funny. thank you, RAF

Favorite/best tag cage match - Slaughter/Kernodle v. Steamboat/Youngblood, Greensboro NC 1983. In 1986, The Sheepherders and Fantastics worked 37 barbed wire cage matches in 45 days: I'll take any of those (I have seen 2 or 3 on tape). Then comes that '87 War Games match I saw in Chicago. There's gotta be some Chikara or Lucha shmozz that delighted me as well... Best/favorite singles cage match - Tully v. Magnum, no doubt. Easy #2 is Lawler v. Idol with all those magnificent stips - has no one dropped this yet?!?! And a slam dunk third is Mankind v. Undertaker HitC. Next for me would be some olde W/WWF cage - I say Muraco v. Snuka. - RAF

From a couple pages ago - for successful treatment of gay characters in a wrestling context, I submit lucha libre's exoticos. It is certainly not a modern approach, but it worked. I do not bring this up as an example of a blueprint for a WWE attempt, but if you look the history of exoticos it is quite interesting, illuminating and surprising. - RAF

Almost every new match I see Terry Gordy in, I "rate" him higher and higher in my imaginary Great Workers List, and he is already up there. Like Bobby Eaton, he does the small things so well, but as a big man (obviously). Poor Bam Bam... - RAF

it's hoagie, you jamoke. - Hostile City RAF

I was at this card and your assessment is very much spot on. The freakin' bleachers in that place were torture as well. My big takeaway was Raven "gets it". He sussed out this shonda shitstorm and decided to take down the biz, Shane and the crowd all together at once. He gathered a group of sub-Stern Show freakish mark and presented them to us all, a funhouse mirror of our own stunted memories. PitbullGW gave the Philly audience what they wanted and used Cripple Haitch (one of the funniest work names ever), all palsied and be-crutched, as a foreign object, swinging him like a frail fleshy kendo stick. We all gasped, but CHHH was made of stuff as resilient as the guarantee turning a profit on Extreme Nostalgia. Brilliant. The later shows were both duller and more embarrassing. I still went. - RAF

I love it, but what about The Reverse Vampires? - RAF

Secret fantasy history dream deepdive footage? So many workers, just off the top of my bean: Wild Red Berry (cruiserweight grappling stuff and managerial work), the Valiant Brothers (original WWWF cool heels), Joe Blanchard (3 hour Texas Death Matches), Killer Karl Krupp, Texas Outlaws (with interviews), Sputnick Monroe, Frankie Cain (Inferno/GMephisto), every single one of Dusty Rhodes' Florida matches, Johnny Valentine, Bobby Shane (note these workers that other vet workers speak so glowingly of), The Original Sheik (in his prime in hometown Detroit), El Santo, Dory Sr., Freddie Blassie (CA, Georgia and Japan stuff), Pampero Firpo... this is making me wistful, all that potential knowledge unobtainable, RAF

HOWEVER ---- If any of y’all actually really think that TAFKA Terra Ryzing will be fired and/or quit then you are working yourselves. He has been with Titan for 36 years, is a corporate officer and the head honcho’s son-in-law, fortheloveofDusty. He may be given yet another new title, but his place in the company will always be at the top. He has seen lots of shake-ups and knows to play the long game. If thee VKM steps down, and for whatever reason HHH is not placed in charge then, he’ll still be there waiting. There is a great chance he will eventually get the nod, whether or not it’s due to his tenure & record, nepotism/connections, or stockholder’s fiat. c’mon now, RAF

Here’s thee Rev’s flight of fancy: Mr. HHH takes a year sabbatical, and does a tour of the indys. He position in the WWE is currently untenable but a lot can happen in Mr. McMahon’s kooky kingdom in a mere year, so what does he have to lose? Two choices for him to approach this - he gets booked as Paul Levesque and goes toe-to-toe with the top workers in indy feds in the U.S. and elsewhere, making humble and keeping up. The other choice is to do this thing with the HHH gimmick and make his opponents look like a million bucks, if not put them over. His booking fee is low, with lots of facetime in the lockerroom and the autograph table. It will be a loss leader, he can afford it. Hell, do it for charity. Either way, he comes out with an infinite amount of street cred. More fans than ever are “smart” but a smartmark is still a mark. He’ll be golden. The corporation that he returns to will be different but his position would be stronger. It's HHH's Road to Redemption! (contact me for movie rights) just a whimsy but I’d like to see it happen, RAF

Here's as succinct as I can be: Bobby Eaton was thee worker's worker of his era. - RAF

That match must have been from Southern France, because that is so much a Mempho spot! - RAF

I got this for Father's Day, and, yes, when I wear them it does make me want to pull out my dick. woo, RAF