#Anime on @Tubi: "Wicked City" - A Great Prototype for @StarWars Porn

*This blog post was started on October 22, 2021.

An exciting weekend has lead into a stressful work week.

Of course when the manager gets exposed to COVID 19, vaccinated or not, everything goes wrong. A fraudulent check ring has emerged. There is a new person to train. I actually had to figure out how to place holds on check without ever being trained how to. We are frankly all impressed that everything seems hunky dory.

It is fair to complain about the lack of expertise and managerial structure, but for us to come out on the other side in some degree of working order, the team is solid. We may lose the neighbor next to my station, but we know how I feel about them. There is optimism all around, especially when the comic con they went to was in Indianapolis and not Rosemont.

Optimism is a good thing coming off of a fun weekend. I remember placing the staff at OSF's Partial Hospitalization Psych ward on alert when I would return from an AAW weekend. Fun was had when I was in Berwyn. Upon returning to Morton, my mind was in the state that it shall not get better than that.

And, has it? Well, I can say things outside of Captain N cosplay have been better. Today's difficulty will be getting nourishment. There is no reason to complain because I have a podcast recording scheduled. With Fite TV allowing me to watch AEW Rampage anytime I would like, this should not be a problem. The trouble arises because I did not have to go into work today until noon.

Do you think I took an extra hour of preparation to have a meal before a shift without lunch? How much time will I have to eat before the recording when I need to make an alcohol run? On top of all this, I need to open the bank tomorrow. Will I survive the drive to Peoria for the Rivermen's opening weekend?

I guess there being so many questions leaves me with a bit of excitement? Life is not mundane for the moment, and perhaps that is what keeps me going. The moment I know things are going to get dull, I am fucked.

With that said, I am back at the retailer starting November 6.

Until that day, I have the upbeat attitude for a bunch of double features. The podcast I am recording this week with Kodiak Thompson will be about "Event Horizon". To get myself more material, the "Hellraiser" franchise seemed to run parallel to Paul W.S. Anderson's classic from 1997. Shudder allowed me to watch the first two for free.

October 26's episode of "NinetyForChill.com - The #Podcast" has the padding with those two features, but I was still in the mood for "the sights" Pinhead suggested showing me. Signing up for a free trial to AMC+ to see the other eight features in his franchise seemed like a hassle, so I turned to Tubi for Barker-like material. This lead me to revisiting "Wicked City", a feature I did not particularly care for back when I saw it on Starz a decade prior.

I guess giving this feature a second chance comes from my time buying anime on VHS. Renting was rarely an option, so if you dropped $25-30 on a tape, you got to justify the purchase. In other words, desensitizing one self allows for enjoyment of even the most blatant softcore porn that distracts from the narrative. With Yoshiaki Kawajiri film (TV movies in many cases), this is a common practice.

Wicked City (1987)

Taki Renzaburo is a member of the "Black Guard". He serves the interest of all humanity because there is a demon world that exists and needs to be monitored. For millennia there have been peace treaties between the world, but since demons have monstrous powers, a minority of them are not so keen on the idea of live and let live. The Black Guard keeps those radicals in check.

It is time to negotiate another treaty, so both sides are on edge to make sure no one sabotages the proceedings. The most important representative for humanity is the 200+ year old Giuseppe Myart, so the radicals will obviously target him with nearly all the assets at their disposal. With this increased pressure, Taki has been assigned a partner for this guard duty. She is Makie, a Black Guard who not only uses a modeling profession to cover for her real job, but to cover that she is from the Black World.

Myart is obsessed with pointing out Makie's beauty and sexuality to Taki. It may be a challenge for Taki to avoid getting his feeling and passion involved with this mission. Can he keep a clear head to secure the safety of the human race? When Myart is determined to run from his security detail to indulge in the seedier side of Tokyo, there maybe too many variable to succeed.

If your first exposure to a film of Yoshiaki Kawajiri is not an edited for basic cable version, it will be difficult to get past how sexually explicit his features can be. Thanks Syfy for making "Demon City Shinjuku" and "Vampire Hunter D" so accessible. I think they may have shown "Wicked City" a few times on the Saturday morning anime time slot, but I never caught it in that form. Which is probably a good thing because I would imagine the screen would be blurrier than a Barbara Walters's interview.

Needless to say, when I first saw this feature (and when I had rented "Ninja Scroll" from Morton's Movies America) the explicit nature was a turn off. If I wanted hentai, I know where to find that. This took me away from the narrative and just left me being judgmental about the excuses to warrant the director's decision. With this viewing, knowing what to expect allowed me to look past most of this and find an easily accessible narrative.

This feature comes across as knock off fan fiction. "Wicked City" is just pure pulp. Knowing this, Kawajiri plays it up very well. It has the feel of a manga and the action sequences thrive with a minimalist approach. Like Dario Argento's "Suspiria", the color choices make everything pop out at you. Regardless of how you feel about making every moment of this fairy tale revolve around sex, you cannot help but appreciate the art.

As for the dependence on objectifying our heroine, it is far too great. There are some clever scenes with other female beings where you can appreciate the implication of something nonsexual being totally sexual, but these antagonists are not spending 15 minutes being raped. This makes the feature come off as a grindhouse era revenge feature, but only a man can provide it to the victim. Perhaps, this is a cultural issue. I would need to look up the Japanese box office for 1978's "I Spit on Your Grave" to see if that is the case.

The only other way to interpret the story is to think of it as some pervert writing fan fiction where it is about the man showing his dominance while displaying the woman's frailty. You can easily see this as what the Proud Boys (and a lot of downstate men) would have wanted "Rise of Skywalker" to be. It is all about the misunderstood Kylo rescuing an abused Rey. If I was not looking for something with demons it it, I would not have had a reason to give this another chance.

"Wicked City" has moments of looking beautiful, but the immediate need for the story to make that beauty its bitch makes it too insulting to recommend. I will say the other Kawajiri works I have seen get away from being insulting, but the sexualization of elements is something that still gets in the way of appreciating his art. There is a way to tell its story without being so sexualized, and you watch this wishing for that feature.

This time around, "Wicked City's" narrative got old fast. Even if you love the character design and direction, his repetitive nature of wanting to let us know it is hot results in near immediate burn out. A feature should not leave the male audience wondering if they need Blue Chew to get into it.

The Behemoth Post Evangelion 3.0 Pixiv Prime: CrunchyRoll

 

How to Smark - AAW "Savages and Kings" and the Unified Gnarly Men's Doubles World Championship

 

 *Blog post was started on August 10, 2021.

How to Smark - AAW "Savages and Kings"

It was an eventful weekend for me. I got to my first indie show in over two years with AAW "Savages and Kings". The show impressed the date who claims the knowledge I have of the business and that I did not seem to be a stranger to the boys was admirable (She stopped returning my texts three days later.).

There could have been a few more masks for my taste, but Chicagoland is a better place in terms of vaccinations. If there was anything for me to complain about, it was the lonely mark who took up a third of the row we sat in. He must have been known. This makes me think about the need to adopt a mark program or charity. Or, we may just need to educate on how to be a smark instead of a goit that Eddie Kingston wishes a car crash upon when he is sending the audience home happy.

If you are just going to trash Colt Cabana, the most versatile wrestler in the world, for not being the sociopath who owes him legal fees, you do not do it by saying, "You're nothing without Punk." Do you even listen to podcasts man? If so, give NinetyForChill - The Podcast a try. I am presuming since the Bullet Club shirt he was wearing seems to be the only shirt that he has worn on the weekends since 2013, the inability to pick up on how Cabana was relevant on his own would not surprise me.

Anyhow, shouting mean shit just to draw attention to yourself is how one obtains X-Pac heat. Sean Waltman has educated feet, so attepting to deck him would not be wise. A skinny punk who looks to be in his late thirties, but more likely mid twenties, not so much. We know what you are trying to do? You want everyone to recognize your perceived cleverness.

I guess that is alright, but I do appreciate wearing a mask since it discourages the spewing of bullshit. To this kid's credit, he was constantly at the concession stand, so he did not come off as a total twat for having a chin diaper. The odds are, he does not take the time to cook at home so nachos and hot dogs are a luxury to him. This may justify the lack of mass on him. We would feel just awful to destroy this little punk to teach him a lesson. Perhaps he has some degree of awareness. Maybe he is just shouting too much to realize he is but a pimple on the ass of the crowd.

It is not like I am innocent of being a lousy mark. Everyone was giving Mike Rotundo "Irwin" chants to get under his skin when he was part of Money, Inc. I thought I would be clever by trying to start Theodore and Teddy chants. Thankfully, I took note of my dad rolling his eyes at me and I concluded my attempts at being a trendsetter. This was an important victory for dad that night. He needed one since the car ride home would be him trying to explain why the disqualification of a banned briefcase did not reward the Steiner Brothers with the World Tag Team Championship (Mike McGuirk declared the referee would recognize a title change in the event of this occurrence.).

Please pardon that long-winded tale when all that needed to be stated as an explanation for being obnoxious is, "I was 12." When I got to 17, I figured that shit out. That was when Bret Hart reformed the Hart Foundation at the Peoria Civic Center. There is obviously no way I was going to boo the Hitman. So I applauded and gave responses like "thank you" and "he is doing this for you." The fans behind me seemed to enjoy shouting at me to sit down. At least they were smiling when I responded.

Cheer the other guy on and praise them. That is the start to being a smark. Just hold off on insulting them. I for one know to try and avoid anything that could be considered a backhanded compliment (Does anyone know what a compliment sandwich is? Grow up a little Internet.). So calling Larry D "Fat Axel Rose" as you beg for him to batter Cabana, just shows you are more about popping yourself than the action.

There were only two matches left. The concessions were closing up. I think the mask should have been on by that point. How I am appreciating Japanese wrestling crowds more and more. Scream in your heart. With that said, what happened to the, "You Fucked Up" chants. Those are easy enough to roll with. Woke softies. Are we not doing "phrasing"?

Thankfully, Eddie Kingston closed out the card, so you best ear muff that little bastard in the front row. There was an old school feeling to that, so let me transition us back to the mid-90's and determine whether the Gnarly or the Too Legit Men's Doubles Champions will reign supreme.

The Gnarly Men's Doubles World and Most Legit Men's Doubles World Championship Unification

Where we left off last week, the Gnarly Men's Doubles World Championship lineage had ran uninterrupted from Starrcade 83 to the 1994 New Japan January 4th Show ("Battlefield" which would eventually become Wrestle Kingdom). Since this was a course correction, my goal was to unify it with the Most Legit Men's Doubles World Championship. Unfortunately, NJPW's Road Warriors knock off held the championship until November of that year and my attempt to start up the Most Legit championship was May with Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan. Unlike the Legit and Two Legit Doubles reboots, I could no longer connect the dots. Here is to hoping I can do that by renaming the Most Legit Men's Doubles World Championship to the Gnarly Interim Men's Double's World Championship.

1st Gnarly Interim Men's Doubles World Champions: 

WCW World Tag Team Champions

Cactus Jack (Mick Foley) and Kevin Sullivan (May 22, 1994 to July 17, 1994)

2nd Gnarly Interim Men's Double's World Champions:

WCW World Tag Team Champions

Paul Orndorff and Paul Roma (7/17/94 to 9/25/94)

3rd Gnarly Interim Men's Doubles World Champions:

WWF World Tag Team Champions

Shawn Michaels and Diesel (Kevin Nash) (9/25/94 to 11/23/94)

So I guess this makes the Most Legit Men's Doubles World Championship its own entity. The Dudes with Attitudes pretty much made the WWF tag team championship a prop, so they are not going to be the Disgruntled's Real World Tag Team Champions. By making this decision, I may be suggesting that Buff Bagwell should not be a title holder as well. My primary motivation for this change is that Orndorff and Roma and Cactus Jack and Mikey Whipwreck are the reasons why I called this the Most Legit title. I could not avoid having two duel champs in a row. This corrects that.

 

FighterFans.com - WWE Untold on Shawn Michaels and Kevin Nash

 

The 1st Unified Gnarly Men's Double's World Champions:

WCW World Tag Team Champions

Marcus Alexander (Buff) Bagwell and The Patriot 

(11/23/94 to 12/8/94)

 

As it turns out, Roma and Orndorff's second WCW reign was not long enough to stomp out Buff. Now to unify this championship with the Too Legit Men's Doubles World Championship.

 

The 2nd Unified Gnarly Men's Double's World Champions:

IWGP Tag Team Champions

Hiroshi Hase and Keiji Mutoh (The Great Muta)

(December 8, 1994 to May 6, 1995)

And we are back to shutting out the first few Too Legit Champions from this lineage. That title started with 1-2-3 Kid and Bob "Hardcore" Holly. It also featured USWA's Tommy Rich and Doug Gilbert and the ECW pairing of Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko. After that...

The 3rd Unified Gnarly Men's Double's World Champions:

WWF World Tag Team Champions

Owen Hart, Yokozuna, and Davey Boy Smith

(6/8/95 to 9/25/95)

 

So we now have a title lineage that should at least make it to 2006. With access to the two biggest Japanese championships, perhaps this title lineage can make it to 2021. Here is to hoping that Pro-Wrestling Noah can offer up similar tandems. 

Bad Taste: Peter Jackson, The WWE Intercontinental Championship, and Billy Corgan

 *Blog post started on October 16, 2020.

My three day weekend cannot come soon enough. The Staley blog network (NinetyForChill.com, MainEventOfTheDead.com, Russ's Remnants of Anime, and Disgruntled Real Championship Wrestling) are scheduled out to early November, so it will be a nice change of pace to not keep stockpiling content. The biggest problem for my blogs right now is a dependence upon wrestling content.

And with that said, I may as well address recent championship title changes in pro wrestling. "Bad Taste" is in the title of this blog post, and that is the general consensus of what people think the fans of that industry have. My personal taste says we fans should lean into that more, but when I suggest the Katie Vick was a fun angle, that opinion maybe disqualified.

As a horror and occasional raunchy comedy fan, I respect when the creators take something further than what the audience considers far enough. If Triple H did not toss the brains at the end of the funeral parlor segment, my thoughts about the angle would be that it was in poor taste. Once that poor taste has been taken to the bad realm, the imagination of the audience has been destroyed. To gain that kind of control is something I admire.

Perhaps my opinion is not valid from a content creator stand point. I had met Billy Corgan once after an AAW show in 2011. My alcohol consumption was enough for me to stick my nose into a conversation in regards to a performer's height he was having with Scarlett (now with NXT). If anything, my in was trying to say she was tall enough at 5'6" if I was able to shit the bed in that night's dark match at 5'5".

Somehow it all devolved into a conversation between him and I about whether or not "The Hangover Part II" was superior than its predecessor. His opinion was that it was not. Mine was that because it took a bad movie to the furthest extreme, it was. I guess that means the reason he is or was (Running a wrestling promotion is usually a financial drain) making millions and I am struggling to get my B-Movie screenplay, "Main Event of the Dead" produced.

If you have any suggestions on how to get my pro-wrestling zom-com out of development hell or would like a treatment of the script to see if it worth any attention, email russthebus07@gmail.com.

Why is the Intercontinental Championship a part of the blog title? Because the recent Sami Zayn angle behind it was done in bad taste. How do you end up stripping a champion because of COVID-19, but Brock Lesnar was never rushed to defend his championships over the past six years?

It is great that Zayn won the title in the most despicable way. It is also great that he wiped out any meaning the Jeff Hardy and AJ Style's reign had. With Brodie Lee losing the TNT Championship, these two reasons suggest that the Intercontinental Championship is the most important part of the DRCW's Ocho Championship (Intercontinental, IWGP United States, WWE United States, Television, X Division, National, North American, TNT)

The 148th Disgruntled's Real Ocho Champion

AEW TNT Champion Mr. Brodie Lee (8/24/20 to 10/7/20)

Is the Intercontinental Championship greater than the TNT Championship? See why it is not be visiting DRCWwrestling.blogspot.com.

Bad Taste

Check out the rest of review at "Ninety For Chill: A More Acceptable Runtimes

 

Tribalism and The Disgruntled's Original Poser Championship

*Blog post started on August 31, 2020.

I suppose I could have just gone to The AV Club to kill the last 25 minutes of my shift, but we did have a title change over the weekend when Bobby Lashley defeated Apollo Crews. The pressing question for my readers is, "Did he win the DRCW Ocho Championship?" It is a chance for me to bring in AEW to the title lineage of the secondary championship. Hence the question becomes, do I want to expose myself as an All Elite mark?

Tribalism in professional wrestling is something that the Internet Wrestling Community has been trying to discourage. I suppose you cannot have that on the indies. When my career started in Peoria with Next Generation Wrestling, us performers ended up thinking competition was bad, but that was probably because no one on the scene had a trainer worth noting. Springfield was a similar scene if I recall correctly. What I am saying is, when you are playing pro wrestling, you do not want anyone telling you that you are doing it wrong. If you would like a summation of what downstate indies are like, read "What is there to Hurrah about?".

Those with any aspirations to be successful in the business would try to work anywhere they could. Exposure was as good as a hot dog and a handshake. In the end, promotions in great wrestling cities would not care about where you worked, as long as you would be available to still be booked by them. If you were not, chances are that you were in such high demand, you could start your own promotion. Eventually the great could work wherever and whenever they wanted. Until the pandemic of course.

As for wrestling fans, tribalism is the only real sport element we are allowed. I think we would get over that if NXT was on Monday or Friday, but WWE would probably just overload Wednesday with draws from Raw and Smackdown. Then again, based on WWE house show numbers, does either show have a draw? Seth Rollins is no Kenny Omega.

The actual way to end tribalism is for WWE to just run NXT on Tuesday, like tomorrow, since numbers indicate there is an audience that just wants wrestling and still wonders what/where AXS TV is. But it is not about WWE's survival, it is about WWE's domination. Vince McMahon is determined to be the only wrestling on TV. In response, you bet your left one that I am going to be cheering on AEW.

Book me Vince, and I will be professional and give your products a try. I could write off my cable bill for research. Otherwise, do not go putting on too many heavyweights on Wednesday. My motivation to take advantage of a non-picture-in-picture ad break to watch your product will be gone.

The 148th Disgruntled's Real OCHO Champion:

(WWE Intercontinental/WWE United States/IWGP United States/

NWA National/ROH Television/ECW Television/

Impact X Division/NXT North American)

AEW TNT Champion Mr. Brodie Lee (8/30/2020)

Check out the rest of this blog and the indie/correct view on wrestling at The "Disgruntled's Real Championship Wrestling"

UWC 102: Wrestling with Name Tags

When the major metropolitan area (Champaign/Urbana is the only growing urban area in the state of Illinois, thanks Governor Rauner) is 30 minutes away from you, a wrestling promotion has to offer stories or exceptional matches that entice fans of the genre to come out to you. Unfortunately, United Wrestling Coalition has only seen that its current audience seems to be just Homer, IL, and is basing the product around amusing them. If you want live wrestling in East Central Illinois, they just assume that audience will scour and put in the work to find them.

As I wrote in my review for UWC 101, there is a lot of potential in the booking and a handful of talent, but all that UWC 102 was was more of the same. The guys who came back seemed to be dependent on this promotion to provide them a career, and the new guys were again hindered by the horrid audio presentation. If they did not have their name’s typed on the back of their gear, you would have no idea who they were. It is bad enough that you have no idea why they were there.

Outside of Homer, I think my promotion of their UWC 101 on Twitter (@maineventzombie) and Tumblr was the most they had received. You would figure that a small town fed trying to emulate WWE might follow the social media and the McMahon’s hashtags. Or if they were a true Indie, they would at least follow the Indy Power Rankings or at least tag them in their own posts. Either way, it would take less time to see that I was writing about them than it took for me to find their social media presence.

This is being stated because UWC had a better opportunity to know how to work around their audio shortcomings than I did about hearing that UWC 103 on July 8, 2017 had become an evening show. If only the announcer would have told the audience to follow them on Facebook or Twitter instead of leaving us with “same bat bell time, same bat venue.” The audio was not that bad.

When it came to the presentation otherwise, you have to appreciate that they were trying to integrate a projector. Hopefully at 103, they will have tried a new place to put it instead of awkwardly against one of the dozen support beams at the Opera House that left the projection tilted (maybe try to work on rear projection). It will take practice to get the smooth transitions from live to tape perfected. If they want to perfect this, the promoter (who must have Saturday nights off) might want to head up to an AAW show to see how it is done.

The biggest issue with the attempt of video integration was that they did not recap the previous card to set the stage before the first match, a bout between “Xander” and “Dante” (you can only get so much readable text on your butt when you use a Gothic font [keep it to one line like Orton]), two newcomers who were trying to steal the show while maintaining a face/heel dynamic. At least I now know that I’m not the only guy watching “205 Live.” This match was way too long, and fans completely forgot about it after the context-free video package for the only angle that is running there.

UWC made the mistake of trying to have spontaneous fan interaction. This buried the opening match. When Sean the referee decided to take the microphone to interview youngsters, all they could talk about was Jimmy Karryt and how he had the best match to that point.

There are two issues here:

1. Referees only speak when explanations are needed. I have never seen Tiger Hatori or Red Shoes cut a promo. They are over because of their talent/experience (Hatori) or their talent/look (Red Shoes). Mic use is a way to compensate for ineptitude.
2. A smart wrestling fan would know that Karryt’s prematch promo made his match worthless. He buried his debuting opponent, Uriah, which is a heel tactic (Cena would put the guy over and apologize for their fate). Instead of destroying Uriah like he said, he was relying on rope breaks after taking big bumps (which you should never have been taking if you told the fans to ignore your opponent). And his promo was about chasing the UWC Internet Championship (a title for a promotion that seems to have nothing to do with the Net), instead of seeking vengeance over FKA Konrad (you definitely cannot shout in to the mics in Homer) and presenting a second angle for the promotion.

This demonstrates that UWC is only about the fans in Homer. Perhaps changing the bell time from 2 pm to 7 pm will accommodate these fans, but if you are in the CU, you need to be catered to to draw you out off The Blind Pig on a Saturday. The main angle in UWC is being well told, but who cares about the title being on the Phantom of the Homer Opera House because the township says so.

My apologies for burying Homer, but it leads me to a creative resolution to get the promotion and the angle over everywhere. UWC has just gotta reach out to me for it. But if they want the shows to be enjoyable for those in Homer to tell people outside of the city (since a search for their Facebook page to web professional two-months to find), they need to get new talent immediately involved in this angle, 102 had a lot of guys who were busting their asses (if only there were agents), but when they do not wrestle the people who were on the card last month, they’ll be forgotten.

Matt Cage versus Eye Candy Eliot and the Phabian Barbosa title win made me want to drive to 102. UWC’s 102’s outside talent on this card is still developing, so 102 could not give you a classic match and a good angle. If I want to consider getting out of work for UWC 104, that show will need to have the promise of both. UWC better follow me @maineventzombie on Twitter to let me know that is what they will bring.

xombiedirge.com/

AAW presents Never Say Die 2019...A New Slogan for Impact

I suppose it should just be my manta after failing to request the following Saturday morning off. I just have to make it till 2 pm tomorrow, and I can breathe and...watch more wrestling. At least it feels like I am sticking it to WWE by catching up on AEW: Fyter Fest.

Then again, seeing a lack of standing room occupancy at 115 Bourbon Street in Merrionette Park makes one fear for the indies. It maybe a great time for wrestling since a lot of the former/current AAW stars were involved with Ring of Honor's "Best in the World" pay-per-view and other mid majors were probably involved in counter programming. Still, we are Americans, and with so much stuff that is beamed into our homes, why watch Sami Callahan, The Rascals, and LAX in person for $20 (girlfriend of a wrestler discount) when they can stream Impact steams at $7.99?

My response is, "that Impact needs to die," but why would I want to limit the boys? Because Danny Daniels and Arik Cannon know how to use them and probably pay them better. If we do not attend indies, Impact will probably further abuse our favorites. They would benefit by having fewer places for talent to work. With Anthem never seeming to have their feet under them, you know they will not help the overall business.

The crowd was not as big as AAW's shows since their expansion renascence (when they started frequenting Logan Square in Chicago and moved away from the Berwyn Eagles Club), but the action was solid. Nothing that topped the low-end of four stars, so not necessarily memorable. For me, the biggest disappointment was failing to grab a $30 WWE 1997 Owen Hart shirt from a vendor. What made matters worse was my girlfriend (whose ticket I paid for) said, "Well, I would have bought it for you."

When it comes to personal victories, just getting to attend my old training grounds and see some familiar faces was great. And it is cool that tape traders have all but moved away from DVD. There is hope that I can get my girlfriend and parents to catch up with the times. If wrestling is about DVD production, so should you. I know my mom hates the thought of being associated with the marks.

Paco and Ace Romero defeated Ace Austin and Clayton Gainz

This was a solid opener. I am not a fan of how tag matches seem to abandon getting both babyfaces in before the heels lay in the heat, but Acey Baby needed to have a bit in the gas tank. Austin and Gainz had difficulty with rope-based attacks, but I think that may have been on them more that the ropes. It may not be my place to say, it has been four years since my last bump. Austin and Gainz were still able to keep the match moving in spite of those issues and they kept to few false finishes to not spoil the night for everyone else.

"Galaxy's Greatest Alien" Kris Statlander defeated "Hell's Favorite Harlot" Priscilla Kelly

It was kind of a pity for their to be only this much female talent involved on the card. Both performers were good, but seemed slow in their movements at points. Props to Kelly preventing a wardrobe malfunction from hurting or her pride or the match. Finish was solid, so the "Please come back chants" were earned.

Jake Something retains "The Heritage Championship" over Trey Miguel

This was one of the most solid matches of the night. It was great cruiserweight versus heavy action. Miguel announcing that his father just beat cancer made sure both guys walked out with a pop, and I admired Something for securing his with a knockout forearm from a handshake. Do not trust anyone who shakes with the left hand or does not drink.

Jacob Fatu defeated Kongo Kong

Fatu is as solid as anyone from the Tongan/Samoan line and the sky seems to be the limit for him, especially with Armando Estrada as his mouthpiece. It makes me wonder why Roman does not have a Jimmy Hart or Lou Albano descendant (may I suggest "Wrestling with Wregret's" Brian Zane). Too bad the luster from the attraction that is Kongo Kong seems to be lost with this pinfall. It is just my bad for not getting around Chicago enough to see him versus Callahan.

Loser Leave AAW: Jimmy Jacobs with the assistance of Josh Briggs forces Mance Warner out.

By no means a technical masterpiece, but I love it whenever guys give everything to entertain the crowd. The only problem with the match is that a brawl like this make Sami's brawl seem redundant.

Josh Briggs defeats Spider Nate Webb.

With Nate Webb, you are guaranteed a fun match.

Myron Reed defeats Curt Stallion via an inadvertent assist by Eddie Kingston.

I think the show finally felt long by this point and having the bout depend on an angle took away from what could have been a great showcase of sport. On the flip side, Kingston came through in showing his dedication to the craft when Stallion joining Jake Something in choke slamming him through the back of two, back-to-back, unfolded chairs.

Sami Callahan retains the Heavyweight Championship over Ace Romero.

Nice and hard hitting, but I think three years is too long for the Death Machine to be on top.

LAX retains the Tag Team Championship over The Besties in the the World and The Rascalz.

Once the match broke down into a tornado situation, the action made you forget all the lapses in logic. The Rascalz should not have laid their hands on LAX as they isolate Davey Vega from Mat Fitchet. When the Desmond Xavier was pinned by Fitchett, Zachary Wentz was pinning a member of LAX. An ECW referee would have counted both falls leaving the Besties winners by default. At least it looks like they are on the path back to the belts, so it all worked out in the end.

AAW: Art, Wisdom and Other Things Randy Doesn't Understand

I think it is difficult to argue the statement that All American Wrestling provides Chicago with the best wrestling. It does not have the perceived outlaw persona of Freelance Wrestling or Resistance Pro, and that is because it does not need it. You buy a ticket, and you are rewarded with the best wrestling showcase the region has to offer.

AAW currently seems to have an over abundance of riches. It may sound foolish to say there is a downside to showing off the best, but the promotion seems to lack identity. The best wrestlers will inevitably get signed to exclusive deals. When that happens, the most talented members of the undercard should be expected to step up to fill the vacant roles. Unless you can just find main eventers from other territories which is what the promotion that developed Tyler Black is ironically doing.

AAW feels like a YouTube Wormhole that you can check out in person, instead of a team you come to cheer on. As pro-wrestling’s premier Cubs fan, I loved cheering on the team for 36 years as they developed into world champions. There were times that I wished ownership would just buy a title, but if that occurred, I would then be bitching about any time they did not win a title. That would make me a Yankee fan who is not from the five boroughs. To those fans, they are not your team.

Who can stand someone who does not think you need to work to win? As a jaded Gen-Xer, that may come across as a implied question about the younger generation, but the wrestling audience right now is millennials. AAW seems to have their fingers on the pulse of the audience, and the dollar makes anything tolerable.

Art is either a luxury or a gamble, and taste determines what you want. I am always trying to create, and the money I spent on failing to produce my motion picture “Main Event of the Dead (I am willing to send out treatments of the zom-com pro-wrestling screenplay. Send me an email at russthebus07@gmail.com)” shows that I like to gamble. This may leave me predisposed to be frustrated at the lack of AAW creative direction. But, the less work you put into make money, the wiser you are. So perhaps you can argue that RPW and FLW may provide better wrestling, but Danny Daniels and AAW demonstrate the wisest wrestling.

The Card:

Paco defeated Connor Braxton.

Jake Crist picks up the win from Myron Reed, Laredo Kid and Joey Janella. With all of the dives, did the AAW faithful catch all at least four Ace Crushers.

Trevor Lee steals one from Colt Cabana. I feel when you face Cabana, you should not focus on your own comedy style. Lee should have been bringing out his X-Division stuff for his opponent to work against. That brings out the best in Cabana.

Davey Vega & Alex Daniels score the fall against Detective Dan Barry & Lt. Bill Carr, and Trey Miguel & Stephen Wolf. This is where the show started to feel redundant. The crowd may have been thinking the same since “…Dive” was the only chant they brought to this match.

Keith Lee earns the hard fought win over Donovan Dijak. This match completed the Rip Roger’s Indy Equation. If “Both These Guys” and “Fight Forever” were not shouted in the first four match were expressed here. It is just proof that AAW’s booking is superb. Lee vs. Dijak was 20 minutes of showing how bumps are overrated. I need to rewatch Lance Storm and Jerry Lynn. Did Dijak have to suffer so many chops to get away from flat backs?

Michael Elgin teaches Former World Champion FKA Jack Swagger what the indies are all about. This match shows why all Indie shows need an intermission. Elgin is awesome which makes up for Swagger being behind the Indy curve. Better placement of the bout could have hid this better from the audience. If Swagger goes to NJPW and catches up with the style, WWE will regret how they let a wrestler with a football player structure leave the company.

AR Fox and Rey Fenix retain the AAW Tag Team Championship from Lio Rush and Shane Strickland’s challenge. I think this could have been the main event instead of another one of Sami Callahan’s brawls. If I was able to get away from the hospitality business more often, I might see that Callahan fighting a challenger all over the venue is not the only main event AAW has to offer.

This was Rush’s debut, so I understand his team not getting the win, but I am getting worn out seeing how the luchadors from Lucha Underground will not take falls. Bringing in a gearless Juventud Guerrera to do the favor for the holder of the “Bestest in the World” does not shake this vibe. But the money that Penta and Fenix bring to the promotion may be why every AAW show is otherwise loaded. I do not think I can win an argument of wisdom versus art.

January 2016: For Your Consideration: Wrestling not the Oscars

I left my journal/“Pokemon X” notebook in the car, so hopefully I’ll have some interesting to blog about because otherwise I’ll just look like a twat who can’t take his eyes off their phone at a wrestling show.

I doubt anyone wants to hear about what I can definitely define as a midlife crisis (both my grandfathers passed away at mean age 76, so I suppose we can call this my 39), and because my elbow is tensing up from overly aggressive lab work, sticking to overdone and ill ideas in wrestling seems like the wise thing to write about. This seems like a premise I can finish up with just quick quips between matches.

Bodily Fluids to Avoid:

This one isn’t really overdone, but you have to pick the right crowd to do it in. Chicago’s indie crowd allows you to get away with it thanks to Shimmer. The January 16th, 2016, AAW show had a crowd that liked to make the show about them, but had enough respect for wrestling being wrestling regardless of gender. If this was a WWE crowd, I would advise that woman not spit at each other. You’re just asking for obscene chants.

Respect the Green Street Elite:

I have determined I’m not a fan of The Hooligans’ gimmick. The athletic ability and talent can’t be denied, but rednecks do not come across to me as hooligans. Just because you play Hank 3 as entrance music doesn’t mean your name should be associated with English football fans or the crime Pussy Riot served time for. At least not a Hank 3 country track.

Then there’s the bare feet. Samoans usually only hit their opponents with a kick. Headbutts were their counters. When you decide to kick your way out of stuff with dirty feet, it disgusts me. And again, rioters (hooligans) aren’t dim enough to go into a battle without a pair of Doc Martins.

So I guess I just want covered feet and a different name for the Cutter Bros. If your brothers, isn’t that a good enough name? It’s not like there is a family of pop musicians from Gary, IN who have already become synonymous with that surname.

Wrestling Sidelines:

If a promotion has guard rails, follow the ECW taping rule of going out beyond them. You can knock them over the rail and follow up with a flying attack, but only one match should brawl into the crowd. The one ECW card I attended, only one match went over into the crowd, and that was the main event. Also, in that case, the rule wouldn’t apply because it was a New Jack match.

And when it comes to flying to the floor, if there are guard rails, skip the suicide dive*. A flying shove is just a shove. An elbow or a fist is associated with damage.

*After seeing a dive in the Trevor Lee vs Eddie Kingston main event that was closer to my seat, as long as the barricades aren’t padded, the flying shove can look effective. If WWE wants to seem both more realistic and more compassionate about the safety of their independent contractors perhaps they should ban the dive. No more head first dives directed at the barricades and no more pushing for the fans to endure.

Remembering the Rules:

Perhaps Davey Vega asked for a count out victory in his Heritage Championship defense to remind or educate the fans of No Disqualifications in the promotion, just in case the no stipulation bout between Ryan Boz and Abyss didn’t imply it when they used tacs, kendo sticks and chairs.

Vega could have retained if he would have laid down and hope he and AR Fox wouldn’t answer the count. Maybe it’s more about remembering the tactics of Eddie Guerrero than it is the rules.

Some Finer Points:

Maybe this is only in my mind, but I think I’ve seen a lot of people spiking the top of their heads when taking a DDT. That is kind of an insult to Jake Roberts if you remember how The Snake took out Ricky Steamboat. I applaud AAW because everyone who was hit with “The End” landed forehead first.

And Eddie Kingston demonstrated something that I wondered if it was never done before. If someone puts your arm over their head for a suplex, why not beat them to the suplex. Your in position for it. It’s those little details that make a champ.