thee Reverend Axl Future

But when the Superstar was really the Superstar, he burned so brightly and greatly. He was a very very influential worker, looks and interview-wise and especially the muscles and "cool heel" archetype. I do dig the crazy Florida stuff with Kevin Sullivan and BJHaynes as well, but its campy as heck. - RAF

My kid, with Uncle Shlak, CZW ToD 2017 - And Mad Man Pondo , CPF of tRAF questionable parenting --- or the best? Time will tell, RAF

I think we all need to add a little chaos into our cards/lives. Plans can be overrated. Let the rest of the matches/day on the card/week go as planned. The one that goes south can make everything else better. - cf. Norman Spinrad, RAF

And not for nothin', this thread filled up quickly, like you sickies had these wonderful matches right in your red red hands all along. Nice... hello my name is thee Reverend Axl Future and I am---- A BLOOD SUCKING FREAK and this ain't my first VA meeting, RAF

That original IWA King of the Death Match has to be among my most viewed rassling tapes and I have written about it a couple times in the past. I stuck stuff from that on many video comps, wrestling or otherwise, showed it to many workers and curious-but-uninitiated new fans, and subjected so many club goers to it when I had access to the VHS players. The event itself is very interesting, and it became more significant due to the great dissemination of the tape because of it's high degree of bootlegging. Not only was it heavily traded and sold, there were "legit" copies of it everywhere in many versions. I upgraded mine a couple times, and then hunted down better and better versions on DVD (has anyone blu-ray'ed it yet?). I love the chapter about it in MFoley's book - I think there is a good documentary to be made about the card, the tape and its' influences. Anyway, love this match, and the backstories, kay fabe and back stage, add to it if you care to learn. CJ has lost so much blood already and is so dehydrated that his plasma comes out all syrupy. To quote an a clever dick (namely myself), by the end of the bout "it looks like Mr. Jack has a raspberry Fruit Roll-Up (tm) on his face". I'm a dracula who has hit a gusher or two in his time, RAF

"Not all crimson comes in the form of a mask, my son." - RAF - RAF

I like those not-so-swinging neckbreakers at 24:10. As the decades passed the move got bigger and bigger. Darnell and Atlas stood out for me here. - RAF

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/d55db733-dafc-49e1-b6fa-0aa63c41e382 stoopid embedding, RAF

Women's wrestling from the late 70s was so basic (in a positive way), My exposure to it was an occasional match live and on TV. There were no storylines or feuds, and few consistent players. Usually the matches were in the first half of the cards, often in the death spots. No color, top rope moves & out of the ring brawling were rare and no one had a gimmick past face/heel. Therefore, the ladies had to try harder and they usually did. This was why I often looked to these matches for inspiration, structure and finishes when I layed out on a random match on an indy card in front of a crowd that had never seen me before (often with an opponent I had never worked before). Keep it basic, strong essentials and psychology, get over with the crowd, less is more. I tried to push this on others workers but studying Lelani Kai tapes paled in comparison (vicarious thrill=wise) to imitating/being the next Rob Van Dam. I did discover that while it's easy'n'fun to watch ECW tapes with most of the boys (and there's a lot of gold there as well), much of time the smartest workers (often the promoters or bookers) could appreciate the less dynamic but more subtle and eminently watchable/copyable/educational vintage stuff. Not all of it stands up to this day, but the best workers were always great. You could swipe a 10 year old Fabulous Moolah spot and it would still get over (and few would know where you, uh, acquired it from). No wonder the Jumping Bomb Angels blew everybody's minds. - outside of time, RAF

One of the things I always admired about the Undertaker was how he he allocated his screentime and exposure, on the weekly shows and for the big cards. He wasn't there every time, sometimes just an appearance or a promo. He left you wanting more, made himself special and sold PPVs, thereby elevating the shows & opponents and making his brand special. But for me, he has been on severe diminishing returns for a long while now. HHH is in this boat as well, but his situation is different. Cactus Jack was one of my favorites, but the last years of his career really took him down for me. I appreciate how hard it is to retire, mentally financially and contract-wise, but it makes you respect the folks that can do it cleanly and with dignity.. Anyway, my point is, all this drawn out Undertaker stuff and the attendant on-line fan speculation (not his fault) really spoils it for me a bit, especially since there was more than one planned "final" match for the man, but it just keeps going... - RAF

Never enough clawholds. Never. - RAF

By the matted beard of Saturn, the debut of the Ding Dongs was such a clusterfudge of wrongness, it transcends itself and then implodes back into a total embarrassment. Bumping on those loose bells has gotta be worse than a thumbtack. I would have popped bigly for T,he Hunchbacks, though. Thank you for these two things and nothing else, Mr. Herd. - in an hour back GET IT, RAF

After the fact, but I did have a good time and there was much feedback and a return invite. Watch my manly visage smoke and rehash my classic (hoary) stories about how rassling has intersected my lifeline and brainpan. Dig it (05/04/20). - RAF

This match always seemed to me to be the last instance of the blowoff match being taken around the horn (at least by WWF, probably by WCW as well but I am sure that Mempho practiced this for a while longer). The Slaughter/Sheik Bootcamp Death Match was done in all the major markets as the end of this feud, with each one promoted locally as the "last one" with similar match layout & finish and (obviously) the same winner. Is this correct? I don't remember how the Apter mags handled it. Anyway, it is a really nice brawl, with both guys selling from the getgo, red red krovvy, rare ref bump by my man Dick Woerhle and lots of boot loading.and expectoration. It did always bother me a bit when wrestlers would wear their ring gear in a match with a "come as you are" stip. We have not yet evolved to the Shopping Cart of Plunder/Under the Ring Trash Source era of hardcore yet. Forgive them. Young RAF was at the MSG iteration. Such amazing heat, lotsa trash thrown ringward (IS got beaned by a 1/3 roll of Sweetarts hurled from the balcony and shoot sold it) and there was a min-riot/celebration afterwards as fans swarmed SSlaughter and the ring. Such shenanigans did not occur often as half of MSG security were surly moonlighting NYPD. This card was the first MSG show after the death of VJMcMahon. - older RAF

It is an upper abdominal business. - RAF

You really see the blueprint of Ric Flair in RtCS, and that post match promo is brilliant. - RAF

The Hardy Boyz definitely popularized that mallpunk look, if not pioneered it. The took a (suburban) street look to the ring as an integral part of thier gimmick and lo, a thousand ballchain choker/baggy pants/fishnet forearm sleeves were bought and worn in rings from VFW halls to The Big Two. - RAF

Iconic & influential - Nature Boy Buddy Rogers. The originator of the arrogant preening egotistical well dressed but effective heel. Gorgeous George and Yugi Nagata (both already mentioned) are important, too. - RAF

I don't believe a definitive answer about how much money WCW made/lost can ever be found, due to the institutional creative bookkeeping (ex. Hogan's hidden salaries, merch payouts} and the contradictory (depending on who or what is paying them to say it) lies told by those involved over the years ( hello, Mr. Bischoff).. Related, for years people argues about how successful ECW was in money terms, and it seems apparent decades later that it mever truly generated a profit. money changes everything, RAF

Oh my, I remember that as well. I dug the AWA's Bertha Von Raschke as well. I like to imagine that wrestlers made resumes, and under skills one (cf. Ronnie Garvin) could list "will crossdress for angles". - just curious, RAF

How many times did Paul Jones turn heel? Did he babyface after the above tape's timeframe and then turn heel again for his Hitlerish Paul Jones Army v. BWMJValiant endless program? Did he retire a heel or get a last face run? - RAF

No lie, the loudest chairshot I have ever heard in my life was "King Kong" Brody vs. Jerry Blackwell circa 1984 (see results below thank you interwebhey it was a couple weeks before the clip). This is counting the ECW-era and even the ones that were given to me in that halcyon era of macho unprotection and concussion ignoring. "KK" Brody hit the artist formerly known as Sheikh Blackwell square on the noggin whilst brawling outside the ring and it must have been during a lull in the crowdnoise because the metal on fleshybone smack reverberated throughout the arena causing all of us to sharply intake our breaths. That chair crumpled like wet cardboard and Jerry went down dry and came up wet & crimson. yowza, RAF 10/7/84 – Rosemont, IL @ the Rosemont Horizon Dick The Bruiser & The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke defeated Road Warriors & Paul Ellering King Kong Brody drew Jerry Blackwell Nick Bockwinkel defeated Tony Atlas via DQ Fabulous Ones defeated Mr. Saito & Billy Robinson Jim Brunzell defeated Larry Zbyszko Brad Rheingans defeated Chris Markoff Curt Hennig defeated Steve Regal Reported Attendance: 8,300 (including a young Rev who went by himself which is sad to go to rassling by oneself and late era AWA is wistful anyway what with all the old folks going over)

I agree with you all the way SMcU, I in no way was saying that because the missteps may have driven away customers (at worst) that is not worthy of watching, let alone enjoying. I was trying to put it into context what the mindset was for the newsletter crowd who were being influenced by Mr. Meltzer's opinions (of which I usually agree with) and to a lesser extent, your less smartened up fans. As I said, it was frustrating at the time but with the passage of time it is far easier to appreciate the mess. Now, although there was much gold amidst the garbage of Bischoff-era WCW, I still cannot bring myself to enjoy it, as all I see is the utter needless destruction of a promotion.The earlier stuff we were referencing is fun, though. J-Tex Corporation! Once Hogan got there, WCW was dead to me... - tragedy + time, RAF

My criteria for doling out a like is if it makes me smile inside then I click, and mist pics always make me happy so these all are loved by me. a simple man w/simple tastes who loves rasslin", RAF

I agree, but there was a definite feeling of squandered potential when WCW would make these un-fan friendly booking goofs (Black Scorpion, excessive Dusty finishes, dumb marketing tie-ins, et al). This was fostered by the WON crowd who saw every misstep (as I did) as losing ground in the competition with the WWF, whose cartoony-ness could nabsorb such silliness, and who frankly made less stupid money- & fan-losing decisions. Maybe it was the new increased behind the curtain narrative the smart fans were getting in real time for the first time in that pre-internet era, but the sense of WCW as the last bastion of "real"/"old school"/"serious"/"adult" (all constructs but all true in a way) US pro wrestling vs. McMahon's sports entertainment juggernaut made these missteps tragic. Of course now, as with all things, nostalgia make them warm and fuzzy, but there was plenty of vitriol directed at Herd, Watts, Rhodes, Anderson, Sullivan and such in the WON letter column. yes there was a WON letter column, kids, RAF