thee Reverend Axl Future

I love thee Dusty Rhodes, but Capt. Lou is the real punk icon. Ms. Harry can do no wrong, and transcends all genres. Everybody wins.

You are right, I was in my 'rassling bubble. I think the WWF was a better product, however, to take nation(world)-wide, merchandising- & brand name-wise. I see it that the syndicated TV was a means to an end, to thee Big Takeover, if you will. It hurt the territories and help drive them down but it was the cable exposure that gave the WWF product the big time shine, and the ability to do the magazine, the merch in stores and the nationwide roadshow. The syndicated shows worked, but some were loss leaders. That market* was a short term deal that became secondary quickly. * The closed circuit market ended right quick, and eventually the PPV market became superfluous (Network) and even now the venerable house show market (Saudis and NBC and such). p.s. - I know we are veering off the Purge thread theme, but I really dig talking the details of this pivotal era. If anybody says that Mr. McMahon is/was not a genius at least once, their fanboy hatred has overtaken their reason. Is he a nice fellow? Well...

I disagree with this. Mr. McMahon had the NE advantage to be sure, but it was his foresight to understand the cable revolution (with the help of Joe Cohen), both as technology and how it eventually removed TV's regional character in place of a heterogeneous, nationwide and ma$$ive mono-identity. Accompanying this was the PPV cash cow. Even Ted Turner and certainly not the AWA, NWA, Crockett, Watts, et al, were not savvy enough to be the first (or as effective) in harnessing this new style of the medium. My question (and I have discussed this in the past with several workers) is: was the "change" in wrestling, as Mr. McMahon chose to do, necessary for the WWE's eventual domination or were the innovations proposed above (assuming it's truth) enough for that success? Meaning, could a WWWF or NWA style, brought up to speed for the times and new monetary streams, produce had the eventual dominating outcome? The available media (newsstand mags, the WON and lesser zines & sheets, really) were quite aflutter to put mildly (you hadda be there) - "clowns" and "circus" were frequently used words. Pro wrestling was not truly marketed towards children and families previous to this for the most part. It worked, but was the change to the product an evolution or was it so drastic as to alter the nature of the thing to make it something else now (sports entertainment?).

Tubi is now my fave streaming channel, supplanting Amazon Prime for crazy grindhouse exploitation genre obscurities and faves, as well as random old TV shows and whatnot. Those old Carol Burnett show are gold, my friends. The world is burning but I have my bread and circuses...

I am surrounding by square heathens.

I have this on pre-order already. The story of a pre-teen RAF and pal going to Times Square to watch this is a hoot. The "Dynasty" 3D release was good, but this has been a White Whale/Holy Grail of ownership of mine for some time, esp. since any bootlegs of it were rare and crappy.

I oh-so-rarely post outside of this here BBS's Pro Wrestling neighborhood but I must warn folks away from the horrid cartoon adaption of the venerable underground comic institution The (Fabulous Furry) Freak Brothers. This thing is wrong in both style/writing and execution/looks. The voice acting is terribly miscast, based apparently on the marijuana reefer consumption of the celebs involved, and sounding nothing like I have been hearing these comix icons in my head for the past 40+ years. The FFFB are one of my fave raves, and my ability to quotes passages by memory impresses a very tiny elite cadre of initiates. Perhaps it was all a misguided attempt to present this canon of humor to the kids, and maybe Gilbert Shelton gets a sweet payday. Nevertheless, this abomination only made me so so sad (posted here, because I fear my critique would be met with less derision and confusion than in the Comic Book thread, where the Big 2 still rule) Hallelujahgobble.

I guess the go to merchant is Highspots. I recall young'uns ordering from there. Did they not used to (still?) farm out some of their stuff to tailors in Mexico? I have never heard anything negative about their products.

A colleague informed me that apparently K&H has gone out of business. I would venture to say that 90% of the boots, and most of the ring gear, that was used in the Sixties, Seventies and early Eighties came from Karl and Hildegarde. It was a big deal in the indy lockerrooms if someone broke out a new pair of K&H boots, and many schools would not train you if you did not have wrestling boots at all. Their masks were quaint, but everything else was the highest quality. I remember calling up to order and Hildegarde answered, which I found out was the norm. They also had some of the last custom made shoe lasts for both rodeo boots and clown shoes, which were other sources of income and often overlapped design-wise with their wrestling customers. This news affects me much like the death of a favorite worker would, in the sense that it is the end of an era, and those that come after will never know about this facet of the biz. Well, let a thousand kick-pads bloom. (too important for the Merch Thread, too personal for the RIP thread)

I would/will surely watch that movie, but my expectations are low. Horror film fans, whether nerds or professionals, rarely make effective horror movies - rather they make horror movies about horror movies, flexing and showcasing their knowledge as homages and originality as over-the-top effects, to the sacrifice of story and elegance. See: Zombie, Rob. In fact, this post-modern/meta creator output is one of my dislikes of modern (for too much of indy) wrestling. Everything gets too precious and self-referential - leave something up to the audience instead of trying to get them involved. I DON"T WANT TO BE PART OF THE SHOW I WANT TO BE ENTERTAINED. Sorry, I get aggro and negative.

I attended thee MLW War Chamber card this past Saturday - it was festive, and as promised the show was much more streamlined and compact than their TV tapings in the past. A few impressions (and since the results are all over the place, it might be spoilery): Crowd was the usual Philly mutants and mental/spiritual defectives, with an under-current of ironically watching hipsters and interWeb-weaned marks wanting to get themselves and their chants over. I'll take the mutants any day. Busier than last month but still nowhere near as packed as that RF sponsored Battleground show with the old ECW geezers, which brought out all the old drunk ECW fans and their memories. Nostalgia sells. Enzo Amore worked ol' reliable Matt Cross. It was obvious "nZo" was out to prove he could run with the big boys and get over w/o the mic work since he didn't say a word except a "how ya doin'" whispered to the camera upon his win (nice). It worked. As is typical in this situation, folks mostly cheered the worker they have on their flatscreens. Possibly one of the greatest & most instructional things I have seen on any monitor ever, wrestling or not, was a Halloween PSA from Los Parkas --- ooh, I found it in Twitter form: I love it. The Top Dogs are a ladies tag team to watch for, with a nice 70s gaijin in Japan style. I am really stating to worry about how to explain the whole concept of The Blue Meanie and his amorphous gimmick to my future grandkids, as I expect him to still be getting booked in the Philly area for another couple decades to come. At least here, he was used properly as a ringside attraction that played into the finish of Holidead w/Dr. Dax v. Willow Nightingale. "Big Beef" Gnarls Garvin made a good impression with me, as I dig the "Southerner who is a heel because he hates Yankees" gimmick muchly. Arez is a gem, as is Cesar Duran. TJP is really really the MVP of this card (and maybe even MLW). It is shocking how he holds a lot of stuff together, and he actually has to slow down so some of the folks he works can keep up and look good, and how easily he can get heat. I only had half an eye on the main event, as I was chatting with an old co-worker worker chum. Two fun facts I learned: they practiced putting up the cage in the afternoon so as to made it speedy for the show, and that the match was originally to be held in Texas, then Chicago, and the move to Philly precluded any extreme brawling, violence or color, thanks to the PA Athletic Commission. That's who really needs to be defunded. Jacob Fatu will be over as hell very soon in a classic booking move as he battled his fellow CONTRA members post-loss. In my dreams I hope he turns back heel soon after capturing the hearts of all the fans for that doublecross long game screwjob heat. Another solid MLW card.

Then after he jobbed, he'd have to change his name again to Lucifer.

Such a great beatdown angle with three of my fave heels and cfrazy-ass ticket selling promo, but -UGH- AMJr. is inarticulate and rough and green and bowling shoe ugly in the ring, my word. I had forgotten just how far that apple rolled away from the tree - like, into the next area code. RIP King Kong.

Prepared? Plenty belts but I don't see any suspenders. Note to self: when I start my LottoWin fed, make one of the championships be on a pair of suspenders.

I like that finishing submission, apparently called La Cerebrina.

How is Sgt. Slaughter not in!?!?!?!?!?!? Maggots...

I worked for a young IN promoter who wanted his son to be named Hogan but his far-seeing all-knowing wife forced it to a middle name. My own daughter's middle name is Fabulous Moolah.

I want to talk about mummies some more. I love mummies, especially rasslin' mummies.

From a few pages ago: I do think this a great time to be a pro wrestling fan because of the easy access to live shows from almost anywhere in the US (others nations seem equally abundant) and the truly miraculous ability to see federations from anywhere else on TV & the interWeb, as well as so much historical, classic, vintage and childhood product just there for the watching. However, in this Rev's opinion, the percentage of great matches, standout cards, memorable feuds and great gimmicks is very very low. The moves, spots, production, aerial and mat work are so sophisticated and amazing but most folks know very little about psychology and story-telling (and most promoters know how to make dream matches but not compelling long term booking) and part of the reason for that is the fan origin of the workers*. Yes, ringwork needs to evolve, but this post-modern self referential undercurrent keeps rassling from hitting the memory making artistry that was there in the past. And now, back to surmising what happened backstage in the WWE... *Other reasons - lack of territories, death of kay fabe, no replacement for heel/face structure (all of which were inevitable), WWE's overexposure and shitty booking, spoiled fans, and more. Don't get me started.

The physique difference between "Axe Jr," AWA Curt Hennig and WWF's Mr. Perfect is quite pronounced, so I don't know if he would have been pushable during the trial. That HGH Neanderthal brow --- yow....

Any day now we will have that CSI Miami/Bladerunner "enhance, enhance, enhance" photo tech so I can find my own greasy face amongst that crowd. Not shown: Iron Sheik getting beaned by 1/3 a roll of SweeTarts hurled with incredible accuracy from on high, and the surly MSG security guards (note: mostly off duty cops) dragging out overly patriotic fans who hopped the rail post-victory.

Nevertheless, we must all pay homage to CJStrongbow for the singular fact that when Roddy Piper was planning to do his Pit with Superfly Jimmy Snuka, Strongbow tried to talk Piper into using an assortment of tropical fruits as a gimmick, and when Piper failed to see the genius of this, out Italian-FirstNation Hero went out to the bodega and got a bag of produce to use and forced it on the Scots-Canadian rulebreaker because he believed in this idea so much. He was right: Piper never paid him back but the event went on to make Television History*. *See the book "The History of Television, According to thee Reverend Axl Future", as of yet unpublished.

That is some text book AJPW stiff clobbering, with non-sequitur bleeding by AT. If it was music, it would be Rachmaninoff or Queen or Dave Brubeck - a classic choice for everyone, that can inspire new appreciation with careful attention. Also, speaking of cool jazz worth a listen, whilst watching this the YouTube algorithm recommended me a video titled "How Barney Miller's Gay Couple Defeated the Network Censors" so Ima give that a watch.

Mr. Dave McLane is a wrestling survivor. Screw Eric Bischoff, this is the man from whom we should be gleaning promotional advice - except that he is too smart to open his mouth. He's made money from every venture, just not necessarily from the wrestling end. Money marks? That's for the small fry...