Travis Storm

Another good match to check out at Rock Hard Wrestling is Travis Storm against Chris Cox. Storm ultimately gets Cox to submit with an otk backbreaker. It's late in the match. Both wrestlers are covered in sweat. No doubt they are exhausted, but they have to fight on. Storm takes control when he picks Cox up and parades him around the ring. As he does this, Storm lets out several gutteral, "woof"-like barks. He's tapped into some primal energy deep within him that allows him to keep fighting on, and it gets him the win. This is classic wrestling. Awesome.

Lucas Payne

It's hard to beat Austin Cooper-dominating-muscle-wrestling action, but Lucas Payne-dominating-muscle-wrestling action comes pretty close. Cooper may have gotten in the first bodyslam, but that doesn't end the match. When you're a teen bodybuilder wrestler, you don't give up so easily, so Payne returns the favor by scooping Cooper up and delivering a nice otk backbreaker. That's the thing about wrestling. Even though your opponent may get the better of you at one point, you always keep fighting until the match is over.

Muscle Dominates Muscle

A nice example of muscle dominating muscle is another Rock Hard Wrestling match featuring Austin Cooper where he wrestles Lucas Payne. RHW describes Payne as "an award winning, nationally recognized teen bodybuilder who is massively built and packs a lot of pure muscle onto his young body." It's not a one-sided match, but Cooper gets to dish out some punishment on this bodybuilder wrestler. In my last post I noted how unhappy Jason Kane looked as he was being manhandled by Cooper. But here, Payne looks like he's kind of mesmerized that Cooper can crotchlift and carry around his muscled body. I'm kind of mesmerized by it, too.

Austin Cooper

From reading this blog, you probably realize that I like seeing muscle dominate muscle. Rock Hard Wrestling usually offers a good dose of this in its wrestling matches, including in a recent tag team match that has Austin Cooper facing Jason Kane. Cooper has got the upper hand in the pictures here, and he looks pretty muscled up as he carries Kane around the ring. I've been on both ends of this, and being the lifter or liftee each has its merits. But Kane looks none too happy being Cooper's bitch. I guess not all muscle dudes can appreciate being dominated like I can.

Cameron Matthews

Thunders Arena just released a new wrestling match featuring Cameron Matthews going up against Lex. I've only looked at the preview, but it seems like a good one. Even though Matthews has been wrestling for many years, he's got this boyish innocence about him, like he's just a kid who wants to play with the real men of wrestling. Perhaps to promote this image, Thunders Arena bills him as 5'11" and only 165 pounds, but he looks a lot beefier than that to me. In fact, he looks like a mean muscle stud here when he bodyslams Lex. I have to say I really like this bodyslam because Matthews shows excellent technique. He's got a great hold of Lex's body and lifts him up high. Matthews keeps Lex up for several seconds, which is what you want to do when you bodyslam another dude. You want him to think about what's coming before it happens. Lex kicks his legs a bit as Matthews holds him up, which is a nice touch. You love to see your opponent helpless like that. In the video preview, Matthews taunts Lex by saying, "Oh, look how strong I am!" I love it. Wrestling is about showing how strong you are by dominating another dude. And a nice bodyslam is about the best way to do it.

Crunch Time

In high school wrestling, February is crunch time. It's time for district and region tournaments, and then the holy grail, the state tournament. This is what your goal is after several months of constant training, brutal workouts, endless practices, tons of sweat. And don't forget the restricted diets. At night you dream more often about the foods you can't eat than about the girls you can't have. On the flip side, you are in the best shape of your life. You're lean and strong, and you feel like you can conquer anything life throws at you. You're also spending most of your "free" time with the best bunch of buddies you will ever have. So, here's to all the high school wrestlers out there. Good luck in reaching your goals.

Hammer Time

Let's make one last stop in Europe before heading back to the good ol' USA. I've featured British wrestler Shaun "The Hammer" Davis before, and he's worth keeping an eye on. This guy loves to gorilla press other dudes, and it looks like he's got several pale, scrawny looking (by comparison) English wrestlers at his disposal. The lad being humiliated here is Zack Gibson. Check out the Beefcakes of Wrestling blog to see more of Davis in action.

Return to Austria

Continuing with my European tour, I decided to see what's going on in Austria. It's more than just the land of edelweiss and wienerschnitzel. That little country boasts some studly wrestlers, including two of my favorites. The first wrestler above is Maximilian Bajlitz (aka Mexxberg). It looks like he makes some extra money on the side by working as a bouncer at a bar. The dude overhead looks like he's enjoying being manhandled like this, but the fun will end as soon as Mexxberg sends his body flying through the door and into the street. The second wrestler is Sexy Peter White, who I consider to be the king of Austrian wrestlers. It's usually my preference to play heel, but there are a few guys I would readily job for. SPW is one of the them. I would have no problem being bearhugged, bodyslammed, torture racked, and gorilla pressed by this guy. Unfortunately, it's hard to find good wrestling photos of Mexxberg or SPW. If anyone knows where to find good ones of either of these wrestlers, please let us know.

Athletik Club Wrestling

Athletik Club Wrestling is a promotion in the Baden-Wuerttemberg state of Germany. If you check out their roster, it looks like most of the wrestlers fall into one of two categories. The wrestlers in the first category are older big, burley guys. Those that fall into the second category are the younger, blond hair, blue-eyed dudes (this is Germany, after all). Many of these younger guys look like they are fresh out of high school. Chris Flaig of my last post falls into this second category. Here are some photos of Flaig and his fellow buddies in action.

Chris Flaig

Let's leave France and check out what's going on in Germany. There's a wrestler there named Chris Flaig, who performs for promotions like Athletik Club Wrestling and BWA Harz Wrestling. He's 5'9" and about 178 pounds. Unless he gets bigger, we probably will never see Flaig over here in the US in any major wrestling league, but it puts him pretty close to my size, and I'd love to get into the ring or onto a mat to wrestle around with this guy. From the action photos here, it looks like he loves to pick up other dudes and toss them around. He's just my kind of buddy, perfect for a bodyslam competition.