Rad Radford vs Jobber Jerry Flynn WWF Wrestling Challenge 06-11-1995
I don't care for grunge music.
God I sound like my parents, except my parents weren't old in the 90s so I probably sound more like my grandparents. Eisenhower is being a real crumb-bum. I know music is subjective, but I just never got into grunge. I was born in 88, so even as a kid MTV was on all the time in our household. There are songs like Metallica's Until it Sleeps and Green Day's Longview that I can tell you the first time I ever saw them,for whatever reason they left an imprint. Grunge, not so much. The only grunge song I have fond memories of was Heart Shaped Box by Nirvana. The only reason I know that is because the chorus goes "Hey, Wait I got a a new complaint". Well as a child I thought it was "Hey, Wayne...I got a new complaint".
I don't know who Wayne is, but Kurt Cobain is really Karening out on him right now.
As I get older I've softened on grunge music, but as a teenager I despised it. A lot of that is because of the kids who listened to it. By that point grunge was dead, but there was still a lot of kids who seemed to want to be cool and different by loving Nirvana. I didn't get that, why be so anti-everything else and listen to something angry and outdated. Anyways, I was listening to the Sex Pistols. I hope everyone saw the joke there and don't think I'm some giant asshole. I feel like so many things I hate or hated are because of just disliking people who liked it. I'm sure Tool is a fine band, but most Tool fans I've met are Tools. Someone's done the Tool Time/ Maynard James Keenan mashup right?
So maybe that grunge music bias is why I didn't have fond memories of Rad Radford. Played by Louie Spicolli, Rad Radford's gimmick was that of a grunge rocker who's come to WWF to...I don't know slam dance the competition or something. Rad Radford debuted in April of 1995, a year after Kurt Cobain committed suicide, so WWF had its thumb on the pulse of pop culture as usual. There's no way that's the saying. Louie is one of those guys I've heard nothing but good things about and it'll be interesting to see how Rad was. The only Rad Radford info I retained was his attempt to join The BodyDonnas, but they thought was too fat. I don't know how to put together anything from Ikea, but I do remember WWF syndicated television angles from 18 years ago.
Rad Radford's opponent tonight is the return of Jerry Flynn. This time he doesn't smile like he shit himself because he's a jobber and they aren't allowed to feel joy. Jerry is in trunks, and it is disconcerting to look at. He's got them pale legs. In his past life as Louie Spicolli, Rad was a consistent WWF jobber so it'll be interesting to see how he handles this squash
Before we start we get THE CREATURES OF THE NIGHT. They were Undertaker fans who would sit with a wreath at shows and get involved in angles. I need an oral history on that whole deal. Flynn and Radford lock up and man Rad Radford is built like a brick shithouse. Rad isn't a tall man, but he's compact as hell. Travel sized muscle man. Like all grunge performers he wore a singlet , but kept one strap down because fuck the system I guess. Match starts off simple enough, a nice bodyslam, some stomps and tosses Jerry to the outside. Then without any warning, Rad Radford with a running cross body block off the apron to Jerry Flynn. Oh man that was awesome. He bodyslams Flynn and then goes back into the ring to mosh. The problem is....his moshing was Skanking. That's Ska dude. How have we never gotten the Ska Wrestler yet. They can hit someone with a trombone. When he's done Skanking not moshing, Radford with a Middle Rope Suicide Dive with some punches at the end. It's awesome. It's like Austin Aries' heat seeker missile about ten years earlier and not performed by a shithead. This squash is pretty good so far, but after that it loses steam. Rad hits some suplexes and some other offense like a legdrop but the pace slows way down. After an ok spinebuster Rad hits a Northern Lights Suplex for the win.
Started off really fun, but lost steam halfway through. Rad had a lot of cool offense, but unfortunately it fell into the boring, repetitive territory. Maybe he had too much sympathy for the wimpys and didn't want to hurt someone. Cowardice. It does make me want to check out more of the Rad Radford stuff to see if he figured out how to pace the squash match
Or if he figured out what Skanking is
TLDR Review
Rad Radford was kinda rad. Jerry Flynn's legs are kinda sad. I just wrote the perfect limerick
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