Grapple Max

Summer is really heating up, but unfortunately my blog has been stone cold of late.  Sorry about that.  Maybe we can warm things up a bit by making a visit to tropical Singapore.  A group of fitness entrepreneurs have opened a gym down there called Grapple Max that (so they claim) makes pro wrestling available to new audiences.  They do this by turning pro wrestling training into a fitness class.  It sounds freaking awesome to me.  Let's hope their business model finds success and they open up a new gym near me.

Backbreaker Monday

It's (almost) Monday and time to prepare ourselves for the drudgery of the work week.  This Backbreaker Monday is brought to you by No Rules Wrestling, featuring Matt Meadlock breaking in new wrestler Luca Rossi.  Luca seems to be suffering through a day at the office about as well can be expected for any Monday.  But hey, we all got to make a living somehow.

Vegas Baby!

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas . . . unless it's a wrestling match at Thunders Arena.  If that's the case, then everybody gets to see what happens.  For a year or so now TA has been producing a series of matches called Vegas Battles which take place in . . . you guessed it . . . Las Vegas.  It looks like the boss man Mike at TA secures a penthouse room on the Strip and then sends in his boys for some hand to hand combat.  A recent match features a "new" wrestler Karl, but if you've been following this blog for a while, Karl is not new to us.  I've featured this Romanian muscle stud before, and am totally excited to see this dude now wrestling at Thunders Arena.  Karl is looking awesome.  You ever wonder what it's like to wrestle a 5' 11" and 240 pound bodybuilder?  Just watch Scrappy wrestle Karl to find out.  It's not like Scrappy is a scrawny dude, but he does give up some serious poundage to the Romanian wrestler.  Karl has muscles, and he knows how to use them.

Is there any better way for a muscleboy to show off his power than with a series of over-the-knee backbreakers?  I don't think so.  Dude, that's got to hurt!

Squash Job

My last post talked about a match between a big, muscular wrestler (Marco) and a smaller, skinny dude (Flaco).  It's a squash job, which is a classic theme in the world of pro wrestling.  Who doesn't enjoy a good squash match?  Well, I guess I can't speak for everyone, but I for one enjoy watching a musclebound dude taking apart an overmatched smaller guy.  In previous posts I have mentioned my fictional wrestling league called Muscle Beach Wrestling.  It's like Rock Hard Wrestling or Thunders Arena and features wrestlers who are jocks, fitness athletes, and underwear models.  I put two dudes in the ring together and write up a scenario on how the match goes.  Some of the matches have good back and forth action, but others are total squash jobs.  Take this wrestling match between Tom Farago and Hui Liao.  Tom is 5' 10" and 160 pounds.  He's a 21 year old fitness model from Britain, so of course he doesn't know shit about wrestling.  Hui, his opponent from China, is 25 years old, 5' 9" and 170 pounds, and an Olympic gold medal weightlifter.  Sure, Hui isn't a wrestler either, but he's a world class Olympic athlete.  This match has "squash job" written all over it.  Hui can lift 400 pounds over his head, so it really requires little effort on his part to carry and toss Tom repeatedly all throughout the match.  

Hui's training comes in handy when he easily lifts Tom over his head during the match.  It's natural for an Olympic weightlifter to gorilla press his opponent in the ring.  The transition for Hui to go from weightlifter to pro-style wrestler is a natural one.  Both sports require strength and muscles.  Hui really enjoys being the alpha male in the ring during this match (and to be honest, Tom enjoys the jobber role a little more than he should, too).  But all wrestling matches must come to an end, and Hui achieves a complete and total victory when he piledrives Tom into oblivion.

So, there you have it.  It's a classic squash job match brought to you by Muscle Beach Wrestling.  And many thanks to 09tuf of Deviant Art for providing the artwork to make this match come to life.

Marco's Thunder

My last post about Marco featured an awesome match of his at Wrestler 4 Hire.  It's great that Marco gets to showcase his talent on different websites, and it all goes back to Marco getting his start at Thunders Arena, where he's still going strong (and even stronger).  Just this week he appeared in a new TA match against a little dude called Flaco (that's Spanish for skinny in case you don't speak the language).  The difference in muscle size between the two wrestlers is noticeable.  Early on Marco comments that this is a great set up for a lift and carry match, and he does not disappoint.  Here are just a few scenes where muscleman Marco has the little guy Flaco up in the air.  One thing I have noticed about Marco in watching his wrestling matches is that while he's confident and assertive, he's not overly cocky and arrogant.  He's pretty low key as he goes about dominating Flaco.  It's almost like you don't mind him beating you up.  Marco seems to take a liking to Flaco, calling the little guy adorable for challenging the much larger beast.  I have to agree with Marco on this.  Flaco does look pretty adorable as he's nothing more than a play thing in the hands of a muscleboy like Marco.

Big Bad Bruce

The other day I received an email from Bruce Ballard of Rock Hard Wrestling, and he threatened to kick my ass if I didn't do more posts about him.  I thought, what a prima donna!  How many posts does this dude need?  Then going over my blog, I realized I've only featured Bruce once.  So, I have to agree with him.  I really do need my ass kicked!  That made me go back through my library of matches to see what I had on the big guy, and I came across a beauty featuring Bruce wrestling fellow RHW alpha stud Alex Waters.  This match has been out for a while.  Why did it take me so long to do a post about it?  Alex has long been a superstar at RHW, and he even earned the highly coveted Wrestler of the Year honors from my blog (Bruce also bitched me out about that, but that's another story).  At 5' 8" and 165 pounds, blond hair and blue eyes, Alex is the golden boy of RHW.  But he's got his hands full with Big Bruce in this match.  At 5' 11" and 190 pounds, Bruce has a definite size advantage here, which he uses to his benefit in the ring.  As the golden boy is being tossed about, Alex repeatedly complains that Bruce is at least two weight classes bigger than he is.  As if that matters in professional wrestling . . .

But don't count Alex out.  Bruce may be larger in size, but Alex has the bigger ego.  Of course, that's not always such a good thing, especially when Alex mouths off and ridicules Bruce for having "thunder thighs."  Bruce respond by calling down the thunder on Alex:

You can actually see the precise moment when the last bit of breath escapes Alex's body.  For more match photos and much better commentary than I can provide, be sure to check out Alex Miller in the Cave.

Marco for Hire

I have mentioned before that Cameron Mathews has started his own online wrestling production called Wrestler 4 Hire.  After taking some time to get up and running, W4H is now putting out a decent amount of matches featuring some pretty respectable talent and entertaining action.  I just came across an AWESOME match featuring our good friend Marco (known as Marco Thunder at W4H) facing Nick Sparx in a "Bro Battle."  The match takes place in a pro-style ring, which I think opens up more possibilities for wrestling action as compared to just mat wrestling (which, don't get me wrong, has a lot of merit to it, too).  We saw in my last post how Eagle at Thunders Arena showed the advantages of ring wrestling, and we see the same thing with Marco here at W4H.  In his match against Nick Sparx, Marco is total Alpha, which is how I like my wrestlers.  He also proves that he's very skilled at the sport, not just in pro-style wrestling, but also in submission and amateur.  Marco is wrestler through and through.  And obviously he loves the sport, taking advantage now of wrestling for multiple companies.  The more Marco, the better for all of us.

But I do have one complaint about this match.  We don't really get a good show of Marco flexing those big biceps of his.  You're a certified muscleboy, Marco!  What are you waiting for?  But I guess Marco knows there is more than one way to enjoy being a muscleboy:

Eagle Uncaged

I was glad when Thunders Arena began filming matches in a real wrestling ring.  Being in a ring opens up possibilities for the wrestlers to try more high flying and pro-style moves that they can't really do on the small wrestling mat where most of TA's matches are filmed.  And some wrestlers in particular I REALLY want to see go pro-style, with Eagle being one of them.  Lucky for us, TA gives Eagle some ring time, including in a recent match where he goes head to head (hand to hand?) with Blayne.  He does not disappoint.  Over a year ago when Eagle made his debut at Thunders Arena, I hoped we would get to see this muscle stud gorilla press other dudes, and we get our wish granted in this match.  Eagle also delivers other awesome wrestling moves and holds, too.  I would make a comment about a soaring Eagle, but in this match it looks like Blayne is the one who gets the most air time. But to be fair here, Blayne is no pushover.  He's got some great wrestling moves and techniques himself.  Both Eagle and Blayne perform really well in the ring.  All in all, it's a fun match to watch (if only the camera man could learn how to film around the ropes . . . a hazard of staging matches in a ring, I guess).

This is one certified Grade A muscleboy here!  You can see more match photos and excellent commentary from Joe at Ringside and Alex in the Cave.

Brad Barnes

While sorting through my fan email this week, I came across one message asking me to name a favorite wrestler who has not yet been featured in my blog.  Ha ha, just kidding!  I never get any fan emails.  But if someone ever did ask me this question, Brad Barnes would be a good answer.  Sure, he's made appearances here and there in my blog, but I've never actually done a post to celebrate the wrestler.  I like Brad Barnes, and there's a lot about him to celebrate.  He's got good masculine features and a muscular physique, especially when he's in bodybuilder mode.  You expect a wrestler at 5' 9" and 200 pounds to be a powerful dude, and in the ring Brad can deliver power.  There are plenty of places to see him in action because Brad has made the rounds to several different wrestling websites, including BG East, Thunders Arena, Muscle Domination Wrestling, and recently he's been wrestling with Cameron Mathews' group at Wrestler 4 Hire.  It looks like Brad serves as a jobber more often than not, but in some matches he shows a heel side.  And even when he's a jobber, Brad still gets in several good alpha wrestling moves.  Brad's got muscles, and he knows how to use them.  I guess that's why I like him so much as a wrestler.

I certainly haven't come close to watching all of Brad's matches, but I have to admit that one of my favorite all time wrestling matches features Brad, and it's his match at Thunders Arena against Tak.  The main reason this one is a favorite is because Brad delivers one of the best over the knee backbreakers I have seen.  The whole sequence lasts almost two minutes and begins with Brad flat on his back on the mat.  It's a testament to his strength and power that from a prone position he takes hold of Tak, scoops him into the air, brings him down across the knee for backbreakers, and ultimately ends with a bodyslam.   It's hard to describe in words, but you can check the match out at Thunders Arena.  If you do, you'll be treated to awesome scenes like this:

Fucking killer!  Hey Brad, sorry for taking so long to do a feature on you in my blog!  You're a certified muscleboy of wrestling!