thee Reverend Axl Future

That is an awesome card. Rick McGraw was way over at MSG, and I am a big Killer Khan (and American Dream) mark too. Muraco/Martel is a consummate heel vs. a prettyboy babyface (that did not irk me) dream match. KKM probably brought out the best in Backlund. Here's how it played out: WWF @ New York City, NY - Madison Square Garden - June 8, 1981 (near capacity)Televised on the MSG Network and USA Network - featured Vince McMahon on commentary; included McMahon conducting a ringside interview with Andre the Giant regarding Killer Khan and Andre's broken ankle:Larry Sharpe pinned Rick McGraw at 9:06 after falling on top when both men collided with a double shoulderblockCurt Hennig pinned Johnny Rodz at 9:45 with a running forearm smash followed by an elbow drop (Hennig's MSG debut)Don Muraco (w/ the Grand Wizard) defeated Rick Martel via count-out at 10:27 after crotching Martel on the top rope (Muraco's MSG debut)SD Jones pinned Frank Savage at 6:17 with a swinging neckbreakerDusty Rhodes defeated Killer Khan via disqualification at 11:45 when Khan kept attacking Rhodes against the ropes for longer than the referee's 5-count; prior to the bout, Khan was escorted to the ring by Freddie BlassieTony Garea pinned Man Mountain Cannon (King Kong Bundy) at 6:23 with a powerslam; prior to the bout, Howard Finkel introduced Andre the Giant, who came ringside on crutches and was interviewed by Vince McMahon and remained ringside for this and the next match where McMahon continued to interview himWWF World Champion Bob Backlund (w/ Arnold Skaaland) pinned Angelo Mosca at 10:31 with a crossbody when guest referee Pat Patterson made a fast count while Mosca's foot was also on the bottom rope during the cover after Mosca had shoved Patterson moments earlier; prior to the bout, Capt. Lou Albano escorted Mosca to ringside; after the bout, Mosca attacked Patterson and kicked him out of the ringYoshiaki Yatsu & WWF Jr. Heavyweight Champion Tatsumi Fujinami defeated WWF Tag Team Champions the Moondogs in a Best 2 out of 3 falls match at 22:15, 2-0; fall #1: the champions were disqualified at 15:44 when Spot used his rope belt to choke out Fujinami; fall #2: Fujinami pinned Spot after Rex accidentally hit an elbow drop on his partner; prior to the bout, Strong Kobyashi was introduced alongside the challengers; after the bout, Fujinami announced that he was engaged and his fiancee, Miss Kayori, was escorted to the ringWWF IC Champion Pedro Morales defeated Sgt. Slaughter via disqualification at 6:53 after the challenger punched referee Dick Kroll in the face after Morales repeatedly punched the challenger; prior to the match, the Grand Wizard escorted Slaughter to the ring; after the bout, Morales and Slaughter continued to fight until Morales knocked Slaughter to the floor; moments later, Slaughter came up behind Kroll and put him in the Cobra Clutch while on the apron until Morales fought him off and stalked him backstage Brilliant. Violence and romance. - RAF

A pic and a RIP for SJS in a front page blurb in the Philadelphia Inquirer, always a Capitol Sports towne... - RAF

He's no Chuckie Smooth. - RAF

The Russian Nightmare is totally sabotaging Sting's field sobriety test, The Stinger could lose his driving privileges! - RAF

I imagine that all the time. - RAF

The booking problem with the WWE is just that: a booking problem. It's not about booking (merely) what the fans want or even getting them to do/like what/who management wants, it's about booking in an interesting surprising satisfying long-term logical manner. All the interWeb exposing of the biz - who is signed, who is suspended, who sells merch - can be easily woven into the storylines. This is what every armchair IWC pinhead has harped on, but it comes down to this: GET A GOOD BOOKER. A small booking committee with authority and autonomy would suffice. Put PPatterson on it, please, and Heyman. DBryan would quickly get up to speed alongside those two. Screw these "writers". You can teach the crowd the beauty of long term booking just like you get over the idea of top guys tapping to submissions. hurm, RAF

Is there anything Ms. Bliss cannot do?!?!?!?! She is so wonderful! --oops, did those words jump from my mind to my keyboard to the interWebs? How revealing-- Anyway, thee Funkster is so great, the gift that keeps on giving to us peasants. I would love to be able to hear the phone call when he ordered it. - RAF

Hey, I worked that show. Still have a T-shirt, poster, flyer, etc... Buster Bloodvessel is good, but WINSTON BAZOOMIES rules hard. - RAF

I don't think that any of New Day could turn heel effectively to split, too funny too cool. To break them up, they can lose a stip, thereby making whoever did that really get heat (The Revival?).Even better, I think they could try something new, maybe an internal squabble that divides them but no one turns heel (over a video game tournament or who invented Booty-Os). Their friends could try to get them back together, but stretch the tease for a year or so, as in "we know they really are still friends, why is pride keeping them apart" soap opera gimmick. When Big E needs help the most, they reunite. - RAF

Man, AJ did great there (of course) -real star quality- but I am a little shocked at AJ's presence and poise. AJ did his usual great job. I'd like to see the outtakes because I am sure AJ really was cracking AJ up! Happy b'day Jeebus! sorry, RAF (backwards baseball cap indoors, ugh)

Lance Russel And Dave Brown is my main duo. LR just was the best established institution, "objective" and "untouchable", he really never tried to get himself over and that added to the value of the product. Solie & Piper for the conservative/anarchic combo, and Ventura/Monsoon/McMahon was a classic team as well. - RAF

Outstanding effort, gentlemen. I say that NOT ONLY because there wuz a lot matches/rasslers/territories that I know/have seen/dig. Dean, I am hurt that you were in Hostile City & we did not meet up. I would have given you Buzzcocks bootlegs and free stuff to get over. Don Muraco is thee bestest, do more digging (babyface Muroco!!!?!!!). Cheri magazine>Club. - RAF

I would have chosen something from The Young Gods, because I dig them and they are the only industrial Swiss band I know of. - RAF

CZW - where original ideas come to die. - RAF

That pic of the RAW ladies appears to have some creepy filter on it that reminds me of the art of Guy Peellaert, his book with Nik Cohn Rock Dreams specifically as well as various album covers, such as--- Halloween Jack forever, RAF p.s. - I bought a turquoise 4HM sweatshirt via that ad, proudly and with a clear soul.

Superstar Billy Graham was a huge disappointment for me, adding nothing and besmirching the use of the word "daddy" and destroying his legacy as a talker. To be honest however, fitting with the theme of the thread, I cannot recall if any of the matches he did color on were worthwhile anyway, with or without his blathering (steroids apparently do not enhance one's creativity). - daddy, RAF

Okada/Milla as a couple could birth the next race of supermen. I had hopes for the Grace Jones/Dolph Lundgren pairing in the '80s but it was not to be. Xanta Klaus is legit one of my favorite gimmicky gimmicks. I was delighted when I worked on a card with Balls Mahoney (RIP) and he was more than happy to discuss XK in detail with me. The gimmick was one of his favorites as well: "I did it three times and got paid for a year". He was from thee South Pole, GET IT?!?!?! - RAF

The "Rooster Wing" was a lifting hammerlock, sirrah, nothing as magnificent or shooty as Mr. George Steele's Flying Hammerlock which did not even need an animal related nickname. The poultry-man was doomed from the start... - RAF Behold the brilliance:

I watched the latest ECW special, and I really enjoyed it. It was close in format to the old roundtable discussions, which I also dug. Less about the revelations, more about the interaction and spontaneous debate. Overall it was nicely in between the "they drunk the Fla-Vor-Ade and were marks for themselves, ECW never made money, Heyman's a chiseler" and the "ECW & Paul E. were ahead of thier time innovators, they was screwed and conspired against, no one knows the TRUE story" poles, surprisingly so since it was from WWE and PH was right there. If you like thee ECW, highly recommended. - RAF p.s. - it made me watch the "OMG Pt. III - 50 Top OMG Moments From ECW History", which was fun, lotsa old footage. No surprises, but nicely edited. The music changes, as always, are maddening. The Network saves me money just not have to buy WWE DVDs anymore.

i luv u, lumbernerd steph

Y'all are sleeping on this genius piece of hater reversal. - RAF

"Shindy"????!????? - que es eso?, RAF

I always assumed Sabu's Lebanese heritage causes his scars to keloid up more. I remember reading a long ago interview in which he mentioned they were from an early Japan tour, and he regretted not getting them treated properly. He was too mindful of impressing his uncle, who scolded him anyway about it. - RAF

I would go see this in a heartbeat. The promos alone would be genius. - RAF

And that was a GLOW-level bump by Ms. Jax there. Yeesh... - RAF