thee Reverend Axl Future

I could watch King Curtis Iaukea read the Melonville phone book. - RAF

The very idea of Jim Hellwig as Big Van Vader is... I cannot even conceive of it. I really think it would have affected the landscape of the evolution of Modern Rassling. I think it would have an effect on thee World as We Know It. It definitely would have made my life different (negatively). butterfly wings, RAF

mah eye, RAF

At the top of my list of people to second me at ringside: a huge roided out Minotaur. Towards the bottom of that same list: the Hamburger Kid. fun match, RAF

As far as I can tell, it was thee Gorgeous One. Was he able to do it on house shows frequently? However, I will give it to Hayes for coming out to a pop/popular/rock tune as a heel (before Hogan & "Eye of the Tiger" (which is a great entrance song (one of the biggest pops I ever heard))) AND most importantly , it resulted in one of my favorite stories ever ever when the Freebirds tried to talk Nick Gulas into letting them use LSkynyrd. Question: was Hayes the first wrestler to come out to his own (performed) song? Or was it Adrian Street or Beautiful Beauregard? - dirty and hot, RAF

Both MPSHayes and JGarvin had peaks and valleys, and while I would assert that Garvin had more peaks (more fun stuff to watch), I could not say for sure if they were higher (more enjoyable) than Hayes' best. WCCW Garvin is so so good, but the Freebirds were almost as important and influential as Hayes believes they are. MPSH as a cool heel, great promos, dirty heelin', ENTRANCE MUSIC*, got great heat - don't sell him short. However, that video when Jimmy Garvin and Sunshine were forced to work on the Von Erich ranch is one of my fave things from a brilliant heel run, it melding into the Chris Adams feud -- oy, so festivem(and there was more). stinky stinky gross dog, RAF *Yeah, I know he wasn't the first, I ain't on marijuana pills.

Question: (nice list, by the way) Do you not think that Lawler is as excellent at all that stuff you mentioned? I do. I see the comparison to the others, but is Lawler more of an emotional attachment for you than an analytical one? I look at factors like facials, body language, selling, and even moves and spots to be in service to telling a story and psychology, which are my big factors for digging a rassler, along with gimmick and aura (and blowing the deadly mist and good promos and entrance music and...) - giddy as a schoolgurl, RAF

Thank you Dolfan, for letting me (us) hijack your GREAT thread a whole bunch. The continuity and readability of your writing keeps it all together. Now --- get back on your bike. - RAF

(clipped from cagematch) 21.10.1995 Chicago, Illinois, USA Arena: International Amphitheatre Octagoncito defeats Jerrito Estrada Koji Kitao defeats Hideo No More Cactus Jack, Psicosis & Sabu vs. Rey Misterio Jr., Super Calo & Winners - No Contest Jerry Estrada, Pentagon & Reyna Atomico defeat La Parka, Super Muneco & Tinieblas Jr. by DQ Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge & Rocco Rock) & Tommy Dreamer defeat The Eliminators (John Kronus & Perry Saturn) & Too Cold Scorpio Konnan, Octagon & Perro Aguayo defeat Cien Caras, KGB & Killer This cannot even begin to describe the festiveness of this event. Exanple: Perro Aguayo gets an award at intermission, and thee brilliant Terry Funk of course smashes it over PA's skullbone, piercing the wafer-thin tissue that surrounds his forehead arteries. This triggers a real riot. And there were more stories. I met Mick Foley a couple years later and grilled him relentlessly about this card. Two important factors: it had thee best food concessions I have ever experienced at any event, and it appears that this does not exist on videotape on the planet Earth. I should do a big ol' write up of this before my memory morphs and mutates any more, if I can find out what thread to post it in... - RAF, gringo-at-large

This was me as well, for about a two year period, then later AWA, AWA and WCW in Chicago for a while. Officially & for the public, my claims to fame are WM1, the first couple Pro Wrestling USAs, SuperBrawl 2 (Pillman v. Liger, Sting wins belt) all come to mind. For me, the arcane AAA/ECW show at the Universal Amphitheatre, seeing Rude/Fernandez as tag champs in Florida as well as occultic Kevin Sullivan, Super Porky at a lucha spot show in the Chicago suburbs, various craptastic indies with great crowds. I worked some great cards as well. It is significant (odd) that my most memorable memories are the fun ones as opposed to the historical ones... - RAF

I recall developmental being folded into NXT and it never being expected to make a profit (even stated directly by HHH on a investor's call, again my faulty memory). Maybe that was when they were doing the interstate house shows to give everybody experience, as well as spending bucks to accumulate all those international and indie talents. Was there a time after I stopped watching when NXT was making a profit or alleged to make a profit? - RAF

Forget all your doll dramas, I want this, if only for the tiny bell and wooden mallet. I can't believe I watched this whole thing. Tabletop enthusiast AK is very scary. - RAF

Maybe it's my COVID19 brain, but how can something be aired live that was pre-taped (and not shot live anyway)? - RAF

RMjr's good stuff is so... so... good, esp. in Mexico, WCW and ECW - innovative for the time. Maybe a bit RFlair-like in that he does have "the same match" over and over, but it's a good match and he always (at least appears to) give 100% and be all there. The man has been going at top speed for a couple+ decades now. His wee underdog vs. giant monster heel matches are thee gold standard. That said, he never was one of my faves. The 619 is one of the most contrived finishers ever. He never needs a belt (he is his own attraction) but the outcomes of his bouts are usually predictable. Aside from the Eddie G family feud, he has never had a real WWE nemesis to spark a good program (but rarely had a terrible one). Great-yes. Overrated - ----- - ----- - maybe? I don't see him on to many Top 5 lists. It's more like he's still around, being Rey. - RAF & his dos centavos

“There they laugh: they do not understand me; I am not the mouth for these ears.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra "Whooooo mercy baby, my mama was a Gibson, my daddy was a Fender, you know Handsome Jimmy gonna be your mindbender! Lancer my brain has been gone, it’s been gone 5 or 6 weeks, it’s back it flew in special delivery, my brain and my body is back, Jack" — Handsome Jimmy Valiant you will learn (daddy), RAF

You are all slaves to the algorithm. - RAF

Please --- let's work together to stop the camo on camo violence. - RAF

Relatively sane babyface Terry Funk is delightful - I like to imagine I can see all the seething craziness a-burbulin' under the surface. A match like this is so full of great moves, sells, spots, mannerisms, stories, psychology and spots to learn from and/or swipe. In my imaginary virtual COVID-era on-line school of wrestling, this is part of the curriculum. Just watching this takes me back to going to Gem Spa (NYC corner candy/magazine/egg cream bodega) to look for The Monster Times and be entranced by the bloody rasslin magazine covers... - RAF

Andre not wanting to put Hogan over makes for a better story, and the possibility that he would not & get shooty has been repeated by the Original Orange Worker/Liar many many times, but I cannot believe that Mr. The Giant would hold VKM up for more $$$ or go back on his word AT ALL. Now, Orndorff may have been needed as a reserve in case the state athletic commission's doctor would not let Andre (man, what was hip BP really?) into the ring is far more realistic, albeit a sadder and more mundane tale. Time: the Ultimate Heel, RAF

This is a Got Dang fast moving face v, heel match, just textbook. Love it. The interview inserts look like something out of Ultima IX: Acension, facial-animation-wise, due to the ancient video quality (which I dig as well). - RAF

That's the Hawaiian Hammer (one of Muraco's finishers)! - RAF

Both, with increasing ferocity and conversely less selling as the match progresses, to the point of exhaustion and spent passion climax (and then a cigarette). I always noticed that Hansen, and Brody and Abdullah and Vader and TJSingh and Sheik and even Wiiliams/Gordy and Sapp, were revered by the Japanese for exactly what Matt D described - these gaijin are a force of nature, unstoppable and chaotic, and must be dealt with in sccordance to the warrior smarts of whoever is fated to face them, and thus were feared and respected. This gimmick was in the eyes of the audience, not necessarily adopted by the worker but the smart ones used this perception - making this either m,ore worked or slightly shooty, depending on how you look at it. I am a big Flair mark but with the big pic you can see his faults. That's true for everybody; he is #1, or at least the one to beat for that spot. He both suffers AND benefits from having so much footage of him available. Part of the context in this debate is one's age - who did you grow up with as champ, and/or who were you "smartened up" to a "real" champion? The kind of wreslting you emotionally and/or intellectually bond with affects your opinion evermore. The older guys suffer from lack of footage - do the newer one suffer from overexposure (or extant embarrassing backyard/indy botches)? I like how the CLUBBERIN Thread has temporarily become the intellectual analysis pulpit... - RAF

If Goto was presented as the real father of Beulah's child (one of my fave in-ring angles) instead of Dreamer, I would have truly lost my shit. - RAF

Mince. It's mince, my lad. - RAF

This is my favorite post of the year. Eleven words, THEE TRUTH IS ENORMOUS. Rat Pack > R.A,T, Patrol, BTW. - thank you, RAF