thee Reverend Axl Future

It's a working shoot! It's a shooty work!! It's a workyshootingworkityshootwork... (gets dizzy, turns, vomits gently into a wastecan) All works can have an element of shootiness to them. Ric Flair really did think the Magnum TA and Barry Windham needed to dress better. Big Mama really did save Jimmy Valiant from existential despair. Hogan did have lust in his eyes. nothing is true, everything is permitted, RAF

Get a load of college boy ovah here! You are so wrong. How can you foresee all that from that short clip when it it so clearly an updated, Version 2.0, rebooted, modernized and returning... I can hope, can't I?, RAF

What?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? The concept that some moves are more effective than others, and an elite few are devastating enough to end a match, is a basic concept and has it's aspect in combat sports like judo, MMA and boxing. In a kay fabe sense, a hierarchy of moves is an effective tool for story telling and character defining, and I believe an inherent element to pro rassling. If every move is equal, than every wrestler is equal and there goes your underdog dramas as well as other storylines. Not every match ends in a finisher (roll-ups, DQs, et al) just as sometimes a jab can end a boxing match. However, other combat sports have judges and point systems to replace the definitive endings that pro wrestling can book. I cannot conceive of rassling without finishers. Even the weirdos who want to eliminate gimmicks and the face/heel concept know better than to remove finishers... don't they? - RAF

I still like my idea of starting a feud with Zayn and Nakamura when SN (righteously) objects to SZ's lifestyle choice of third wave ska. Nakamura can dress like a UK 2 Tone rude boy, and maybe we can get third faction of an Original Jamaican ska NXT call-ups crew managed by Prince Buster. Horns as foreign weapons! Porkpie hats on a pole matches! Obscure cassette tape & 45 trading! - RAF

Sabre worked (the original) Chuck Taylor at the CHIKARA show I went to today, He showed a lot more charisma than he has in the CWC so far, in that he got over (well, he was over when he walked through the curtain) with his personality as well as his ringwork. He didn't have much to prove to the savvy crowd there but the match was kept competitive in the "oneupmanship" style rather than straight up comedy. This was the best I have seen him, and/but i am a CT mark. - RAF ps- It was a great show but the fat guy next to me stank of farts and Doritos and he tried to start every possible chant. I think he became un-nerved by my growled "just stop" that crawled out from between my clenched teeth by the end of the card. I can show restraint sometimes.

I lost a hair vs. mask match, and the electric clippers broke so scissors had to be used, and my hair was long. More color was to be had because of this. I discovered later a couple of petty luchadors sabotaged the clippers (heat with the promoter). Afterwards we shaved my head in the lockerroom completely and printed up pics to put in the program and on the website to authenticate the stips (pre-twitter/instagram/facebook) and maintain honor with the veteran lucha guys there. This is why it is best to hire a pro barber to put over the gimmick, a la Mid South, Mid Atlantic, Owens, WWA, UWF, et al. The more dedicated officials at ringside, the better, I say. - who knew there so many hair cuttings gone wrong tales. RAF

Mr. Fuji is a master ribber, and got along with everybody, as far as I have heard. - RAF

Well, he is still on his honeymoon... hiyo, RAF

WHOA NELLIE!!!!!!!!!! workin' blue, RAF

I am very happy that they are keeping a heel/face dynamic in some of the booking & match-ups, even if it involves little more than not shaking hands in place of outright "shortcuts" and cheating. Ugh, I can't stand that puresportsrespekt stuff. Gimme some pre rasslin'. I am intrigued to see if it amps up to angles or screwjobs or just maintains. - RAF

That turnbuckle knee gimmick was also used to great effectiveness by Ivan Koloff. Dis it ever have a name? - RAF

Off the top of me head, I would say the claw with the glove (as per Blackjacks or heel DiBiase) needs to be seen again. Also, I really really dig the sleeper where the applier of the move then has to use the secret technique to wake the victim up before the lack of blood/oxygen affects the brain. Such heel potential, traditionally a gimmick for a wily Japanese. Often the revival move is hidden with a towel but is later revealed to be a vicious throat choke. Babyfaces would use a precise chop to the appropriate vertebrae. - RAF

I would so buy a blu-ray comp of this feud and invite every stoner rassling fan I know over to watch it. duuuude, RAF

I really like when luchadores just say "ay, mierda" and shootify some move. It has a zippy casualness that lacks the anger & aggression of Amerikans or the seriousness & ambition of the Japanese. Just more panache, y'know? Mexico, where life is cheap (to misquote a famous movie tagline), RAF

True, but I can't imagine Ali putting Sammartino over here in the US. The clever finish of Ali hesitating when Inoki got color to set up the enzuigiri (that was foreshadowed in Ali's "practice" boxer v. wrestler matches in the US) would have to be changed. I imagine a draw that could be booked so as not to leave the fans feeling ripped off. Who was booking this, and could juggle those egos? I imagine Vince Sr., maybe Blassie? Who on the NJ /NWF side? Obviously the egos involved could not be corraled. I imagine Bruno would agree to do the (right kind of) job, or he would be smart enough to not to get involved at all. He made a good payday anyway. - RAF

Muraco's finisher also ruled because it was called the Hawaiian Hammer. - RAF

I adjusted that for y-- nay, for us all... - RAF

The announcers' explanation always was that it illegal to constrict the windpipe but not the blood going around. Thus good ol' Amerikan holds like the Weaver lock were kosher but dastardly Asiatic sleepers were often against the rules. The cobra clutch/dreaded shinninomake/kata hajime restricted the bloodflow from the brain, causing incredible pain and eventual blackout. The Asiatic spike was supposed to target the jugular vein but could crush a windpipe if the intent was diabolic, cf. Mr, Gordon Solie or Lance Russel. - RAF

Vdmt!, that was me. (patent pending, copyright, trademark, prior use, etc.) AJ as Lego minifig (EVEN THE BODY PROPORTIONS WORK) is truly my best idea in the FunnyBecauseItIsTrue department this year, Just imagine his little squinched up concentratin' face painted onto a rounded yellow brick: perfecto! - RAF, needs to monetize this somehow...

Again, thee Yano gif is thee gift that keeps on giving. - RAF

This show functioned as, and was srtructed like, a classic 'rassling program therefore I really dug it. Lots of background on the workers, promotion for upcoming events, good interplay of commentary & action, not giving away too much and it made everything seem special (past, present and future booking). It reminded me of a Watts UWF or classic ECW weekly show, really well done. - RAF

It's a tough place to be, but someone should have done something. Becky could have stepped into the ring to make an illegal tag, the ref pushes her back out and Charlotte could have dragged Nattie out of the corner. Nattie could have just played dead, or gotten up to charge Charlotte and get cut off again. Charlotte... well, she should havedone ANYTHING perhaps grabbed the ref. The best person to fix the situation was Dana, who is also the greenest so maybe she learned something here. The ref really should have taken over or whoever was in his earpiece should have called an audible. I hold Ms. Neidhart-Kidd the most responsible as the vet in the ring - she does make errors like this too often for her ring experience, in my opinion. hindsight = 20/20, yadda yadda, all my sympathies, rough spot to be in, it happens, ouch, RAF

I have never seen this before, That elbow is so ultra brilliant. - RAF

I am a sucker for thee worker who can pull off the slow contemplative stalking type of ring work. Muta was the first person that I noticed doing this, but then I realized that that Kabuki did it before him. Is this the programming of Playboy Gary Hart? Seriously, I think it is. Two more to think about: Bam Bam Bigelow and Terry Gordy. The moveset should help define the wrestler. In that sense, the MS of someone like Jimmy Snuka is superior to someone who has a more varied but less defined one, like say Chris Jericho. - RAF p.s.- I thought of a couple more today but did not write them down so these gemthoughts are lost to thee aether I am OLD OLD OLDOLDOLD!

When Austin could understand TIE-JIRI perfectly, and when Austin listened to his watch for advice, were two of my fave rave comedy rasslin gimmicks of all thee time, and they are very under-represented on the Network. - RAF