Long Live the BUSHWACKERS!!!!! ARRRRRRRRGGGG

Aaaahh, Michael...

My little pumpkin.

I was wondering how long it might be before you made your way to to the WWE yarn, string, thread (whatever they call it) where I KNEW I'd find you, eventually.

I heard through my ultra sonic detectors that your computer's been down...

LOL Michael!!

Back to what Brad & Mitch were talking about, Craig is right, sometime the build up can be counterproductive. I'm thinking of the "mega-illusions" featured on magic specials. That sort of hype is quite different to the kind the WWE can generate on a good day.

For example, I just watched Fit Finlay & Bobby Lashley brawl uncontrollably again in Smackdown and, though the wrestling is virtually non-existent in their "tear apart" encounters, as a fan I really want to see these guys get the chance to "settle the score". There's LOTS of emotional hooks in that battle. Whereas Gregory Helms vs Chris Benoit... why are they fighting... no idea. Finlay & Lashley have a score to settle.

This sort of energy can be translated into magic.

I'm waiting for a magician rassler who revives the original shiek's flash paper flame to the face to immobilize his opponents....... ...

I am surprised how much I took away from this thread. I read it with suspicion, since I loathe "pro" wrestling. Just not my think. Not making judgments on those of you who do like it, but I just cannot get into it. I tried years ago.

That being said, the parallels in the theatrical devices you all are discussing is worthy food for thought with or without a love of the particular entertainment.

I can however, smell what the rock is cooking. It's curry chicken.

It's interesting you should mention that Joseph. I've been told that Vince McMahon really likes magic and the idea of a magician wrestler (or maybe even a magician manager) would be a big possibility in the WWE if someone pitched it to him.

Rev it's true, inspiration can be found in the most unlikely of places!

To paraphrase Siegfried's Roy: "Look for the magic that is around you in nature, flowers, and all the wrestlers that share this planet with us."

I was a fan of the AWA when they had "real" wrestlers back in the late 70's. Vern Gagne and his son Greg. Greg Gagne and his partner Jim Brunzell were the "High Flyers" and were considered "technical" wrestlers rather than the show biz kinds you find on television today. The AWA wasn't nearly as flamboyant (well, except for Lord Alfred Hayes) which is probably why they never transitioned to TV. I watched people like Nick Bockwinkle, the Iron Sheik and Oly Anderson (father of Arn Anderson?) I even got to see Andre the Giant wrestle when he was still around. And who can forget (you haven't forgotten, have you?) Ivan Putski and his nemesis Baron Von Raschke.

I think we all need a good nemesis in magic.


Who can forget URI GELLER vs JAMES RANDI for the Inter-Lectual Championship of the World!

OK then, David Blaine vs Criss Angel in a steel cage match.

David comes down the concourse, making girls cry with rising card decks.

Criss Angel is dropped into the ring suspended my meat hooks. MINDFREAK blasts through the speakers. Korn is live in the stadium.

Blaine's manager Leo DiCaprio is in a 3 piece suit, yelling at Angel's t-shirted brother who just can't BELIEVE he's doing another dangerous stunt.

The cage is lowered. Blaine levitates 6 inches or so to get to the bottom rope. Angel flies straight up and clings to the top of the cage like Spiderman.

David steps into a block of ice and disappears while Criss blows himself up.

David bites the heads of quarters, half dollars, and then live bats. Ozzy Osbourne shows up out of nowhere and throws a chair at Blaine for stealing his act.

Banacheck and Todd Robbins step in and declare the fight a win for Angel, who, at the last second, plunges his hand into a spectator's drink cup and pulls out the keys to the Dodge Viper that he was supposed to find on Blaine.

Everyone exits the stadium, complaining that they "have" the same "tricks" and could be famous too with a TV contract. Older magicians complain about lack of style. Who spells "corn" with a "K" anyway?

Blaine is left in the ice for 48 more hours. The janitorial staff finds him later.

Match goes to Angel. He gives the car to his mom, and flexes his rock hard abs one last time surrounded by 10 women with the same rock hard abs.

And in the lobby, Tim Ellis is freaking out the whole lot of em eating razorblades.

Now THAT'S magic!!!!

I Love It

Interesting thread.

I grew up watching N.W.A. matches on t.v. I remember I used to scream and yell at the t.v. if one of My favorite wrestlers (Pat Patterson, Rocky Johnson, Peter Mavia) were not winning in the match and the ref was being stupid by not seeing what was going on. Went to several matches in Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Conventon center.

I still watch wrestling now from time to time. But miss the old days of N.W.A. A.W.A. Too much nonsence going on most of the time in the W.W.E I feel.

Good wrestling is not neccessarily about the physical and technical ability of the wrestlers themselves (though that does help), it's about their ability to tell an engaging story.

That's what we, as magicians, need to learn.

Get the audience involved, get them interested, get them excited!

Tim, and for others intrested, I made a post in the not very magic section of the forum about having a podcast of one of my matches available directly from me. Sorry, shameless plug to the wrestling fans here..lol

I'll have to head over and check it out!

Have you ever throw in any magical content in any of your matches?

No, I havent. I thought about it while I was manager right after my injury. I was going to use an appearing can and whack people with it. But I didn't have the funds to have to replace the cane every show..lol.