This week on Amor Prohibito...

Pre-show notes:

- If you’re unaware, I’m helping Best and Worst of Impact columnist Danielle with her new wrestling site, The Mandible Claw. There’s a new post up every weekday, and so far we’ve done a pretty rad podcast (which I’ll help host every week) and an incredible piece on Vickie Guerrero by Ari Amaru. This is seriously worth your time. Go read it, and keep reading it.

- Comments, shares, likes, and what-have-you are appreciated. Showing this column to wrestling types you know is the only way to keep it moving forward. Otherwise I’m stuck writing WrestleCrap entries in 2013 like some kind of weirdo.

- Follow us on Twitter @withleather, follow me personally @MrBrandonStroud and like us on Facebook.

- GIFS courtesy of Jerusalem at Punchsport Pagoda.

And now, Raw goes OLD SCHOOL! I bet you aren’t tired of hearing that yet. The Best and Worst of Old School Raw is after the jump.

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YOU MADE ME BLEED MY OWN FEELS

Pre-show notes:

- Comments, shares, likes, and what-have-you are appreciated. Do me a solid. I’m writing a lot of words for your enjoyment.

- Follow us on Twitter @withleather, follow me personally @MrBrandonStroud and like us on Facebook.

- If you’re going to WrestleMania this year … hey, so are we! Me, Best and Worst of Impact’s Danielle, GIFmaster General THESTINGER and pretty much everyone else from the online wrestling world will be there, so if you will be too, let one of us know. We’ll do a thing. Even if that thing is “make sure we all sit together at Chikara.”

Please click through to enjoy the Best and Worst of WWE Raw for February 25, 2013.

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"Wrestling."

Tonight, on the WWE Raw open discussion thread:

The WWE Universe has itself a new WWE Championship, but the big question now is: Who will challenge for the fresh-faced prize at WrestleMania 29? On the one hand, you have John Cena, the current No. 1 contender following his Royal Rumble Match victory in January. On the other is CM Punk, who goaded Cena into putting his WrestleMania WWE Title opportunity up for grabs in a one-on-one renewal of their long-running rivalry. While Cena and Punk settle their score, however, trouble is brewing in Team Hell No’s shaky friendship, and Paul Heyman gets ready for the fight of his life against an injured — but eager — Mr. McMahon. Here are five things to look forward to on Monday’s Raw.

Also, the WWE Universe eagerly awaits Glenn Beck’s reply to the formal invitation from WWE officials to address his criticisms of Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter. Will the famous politico show? (via WWE.com)

Five-point preview:

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Pre-show notes:

- Comments, shares, likes, and especially Reddit submissions/up votes are appreciated.

- Deepest apologies for the delay on this report. The short version of the story is this: I spent the beginning of the week in New Orleans. The intention was to go to Elimination Chamber on Sunday, a Hornets game on Tuesday and come back in a rental car on Wednesday night. What that turned into was “go to Elimination Chamber on Sunday, go to the impromptu WrestleMania XXX press conference on Monday, go to class on Monday night, watch Raw in the middle of the night, go to a Hornets game on Tuesday, then ride the MegaBus back at the butt crack of dawn.” Their advertised WiFi works for 30 seconds, goes out for 2 hours, comes back on for 30 seconds. It made updating impossible, and I’m sorry this wasn’t more timely. I’ll make it up to you with retro Mania posts in March. Deal?

- If you’re interested in hearing my thoughts on the Chamber, you can check out my podcast about it here. Be nice. If you want to hear part 2 about the WrestleMania XXX presser, you can listen to that here.

- Follow us on Twitter @withleather, follow me personally @MrBrandonStroud and like us on Facebook.

So, enough delay. Please click through to enjoy the Best and Worst of WWE Raw for February 18, 2013.

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"Pull mah fingah!"

I’ll start by prefacing this post with the standard reminder that I am not a political person and I do not ever intend to express my political or religious beliefs to you, the reader. I believe that we only have a short time here on this crazy little planet called Earth, and we should spend our time focused on more important things like making Brittney Palmer fall in love with me. That said, I’m worried the WWE may be responsible for our next Civil War.

As you wrasslin’ fans are all well aware, Jack Swagger is back with his “Real American” gimmick, and he has been joined by a manager named Zeb Colter. They are clearly playing on the idea that people who belong to the Tea Party are a wee bit eccentric. It also certainly doesn’t help that immigration is an endlessly hot topic and Swagger is wrestling Mexican star Alberto Del Rio at Wrestlemania.

Despite the fact that the WWE has famously mocked many races, religions, genders and politics in the past, this gimmick is apparently the straw that broke the horse’s back. Why a horse? Ain’t no camels in the Constitution, that’s why.

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WWE Elimination Chamber has come and gone. I rode from Austin, TX, to New Orleans on Sunday for the show, stayed Monday for the epic WrestleMania XXX announcement press conference, got my picture taken with Mark Henry and … well, I’m still here. I don’t get back into Austin until Wednesday night.

That said, I don’t want to leave you without a Best and Worst of Elimination Chamber report, so I’ve organized something special. BEHOLD, for the first time in Best and Worst history, a report comes to you in the form of a podcast!

The lovely folks at Trew To The Game were nice enough to have me on, and if you wanted to know what I thought of the show, holy shit this is everything I thought about the show. We cover the matches, the booking, the botched bucket spots, the crazy people in the audience around us and more. I’m really proud of it, and I hope you’ll take some time to download it, subscribe, listen, whatever.

Please click on this moving image of Mark Henry splitting Randy Orton’s wig to listen.

(Or, I don’t know, click here if you don’t trust a GIFlink)