Bodyslams and Bearhugs

There are a lot of wrestling moves that I like, not just bodyslams.  I just choose to use the bodyslam as the inspiration to blog about wrestling.  The list of awesome wrestling holds and moves is almost endless, but the bearhug has to be near the top.  A really great match is one that features both bodyslams and bearhugs.  The two go together very well, like beer and pizza, steak and potatoes, peanut butter and jelly . . . (and why am I suddenly hungry?).  So, I was super excited to come across this match at Wrestler4Hire between Zach Altovito and Ronnie Pearl called Bodyslams and Bearhugs.  The match is really all about 23 year old Zach, who is a 5' 10" and 245 pound bodybuilder.  Wow.  Those physical stats are staggering.  Zach appears in several matches at W4H, and it seems more often than not he's on the wrong end of a beat down.  But in this match, it's almost as if Cameron Matthews let the big guy loose and told him to do what comes natural.  And when you're a 23 year old, 5' 10" and 245 pound bodybuilder, power wrestling moves just comes naturally.  For fans of lift and carry wrestling, this is a fun match to check out.

Who wants to be bodyslammed and bearhugged by this muscleboy?!

Building Bridges

It's no secret I love a good bodyslam.  I also like when the slam is over, the wrestler who gets thrown to the mat bridges and arches his back in pain from the impact.  It's that little extra thing that makes a good bodyslam even better, kind of like the cherry on top.  And when you bodyslam a guy, you know you've executed a good one when you look down and see him writhing and groaning on the mat like that.  To be honest, it's kinda hot.  I guess I'm not the only one who appreciates this.  Spotland Scrappers out of the UK has produced a custom video (requested by a fan) with a "slam and bridge" theme called Building Bridges.  The starring wrestlers are Sam Smiler (in the yellow trunks) and LJ Silva.  As advertized, it features a ton of bodyslams, but the wrestlers dish out other forms of slams and back punishment, so if you're a fan of lift and carry wrestling, this is a fun match to watch.  Although there are good moves by both wrestlers, my post highlights Sam Smiler in action.  I've been watching Spotland Scrappers off and on for several years now, and Sam is one of my favorite wrestlers on their roster.

Now, if you don't mind me going off on a slight tangent here, as I was preparing this post, I realized that Sam Smiler kind of looks like Tim Tebow in these pictures.  To be clear, I am not a fan at all of Tim Tebow.  He was an overrated quarterback, especially when he arrived at the NFL, and all the hype about him was an undeserved media creation.  But the thought of Tim Tebow in a wrestling ring, scooping up another wrestler, carrying him around, then bodyslamming his ass . . . well, I don't really know how else to say this, but that's kinda . . . hot.

Is this what it feels like to be bodyslammed by Tim Tebow?!

Blonds Have More Fun

The blond stud featured in today's blog is Austin Tyler.  He sports a pretty good physique on the wrestling mat at 5' 10" and 175 pounds.  The pics here come from a recent match of his at Muscleboy Wrestling against Jesse Zane.  The over the knee backbreaker is one of my favorite wrestling moves, and during this match Austin shows the best way to deliver it, which is by cracking your opponent over your knee, holding him there to stretch him out, then lifting him back up so you can crack his back all over again.  Austin looks totally alpha in punishing Jesse Zane here.  (And I have to say that Jesse doesn't look so bad himself splayed out over Austin's knee.)  Austin is what I like to call a circuit wrestler because he travels the circuit of wrestling companies.  Not only can you see him at Muscleboy, he also appears at UCW and Wrestler4Hire.  You can also find him on the indy wrestling circuit as Ace Austin.  What a life he leads, going around from place to place pounding on guys in the wrestling ring and on the mat.  I guess it's true what they say.  Blond muscleboys do have more fun!

Muscle on Muscle

I always love a wrestling match that features two musclebound guys grappling with each other.  So, when I was browsing around Wrestler4Hire the other day, I was happy to find this match between Joey Nux and Christian Thorn.  Both wrestlers sport great physiques (stunning, I'd say, for Thorn).  From the muscle alone, you can tell it's going to be a fun match.  But there's a twist.  Despite both dudes being extremely muscular, there's a significant size discrepancy, so don't be fooled by the profile pics that W4H has for these guys.  Joey is 6' 3" and 225 pounds, while Christian is only 5' 6" and 145 pounds.  I think Christian's muscularity helps make him look bigger than he is, but when the wrestling starts, Nux easily overpowers the smaller Asian dude.  On the video, there's some argument going on between the two, something about cleaning a weapon versus peeling potatoes.  But to be honest, I didn't really understand what that was about because I was too distracted by all the muscle on the screen.  Christian's body in particular had me mesmerized (still does).  For fans of lift and carry action (like me), this is a fun match to watch.  Joey has big muscles and he loves to use them.  We get treated to bodyslams, racks, beahugs, even a gorilla press.  Joey looks great giving the moves, and Christian looks awesome receiving them.  I just hope one day Christian gets on the mat against a wrestler his size so he can deliver a similar beating of his own.

Ouch!  Somebody is going to be sore in the morning!

Tyler Reese

Tyler Reese was a wrestler at BG East.  He made a big impression on me years ago when I was in high school.  I had already discovered BG East at that point.  The internet was such a wonderful thing for a teen age boy at the time.  So, why the impression?  In his first few matches, he wrestled as "Tarzan" Tyler Reese, complete with the long hair and loin cloth.  Wow.  Even before I knew about BG East, as a kid I remember being drawn to Tarzan in the movies, taking pleasure in watching the jungle boy in action for reasons deep inside me that I did not then understand.  I staged fantasy wrestling matches in my mind, Tarzan in nothing but a loin cloth, wrestling other fictional characters (Tarzan wrestling Spider-Man especially was a favorite).  I even imagined myself wrestling in a loin cloth.  I was a wrestler at the time, so that seemed natural enough.  Then later Tyler Reese appeared on the scene at BG East, long hair and loin cloth and all.  He was a fantasy come to life (just too bad he never wrestled a guy in a Spider-Man costume).

Reese wrestled for a few years at BG East, and he eventually dropped his Tarzan persona.  But I remained a fan.  I actually like him better with the shorter hair anyway.  One match of Reese's that has stayed with me through the years is his match against Brendan Byers, which is featured above.  Byers is taller and bigger, but Reese is totally alpha, and he dishes out several bodyslams on his hapless opponent.  That in and of itself makes it a great match in my book.  But the cherry on top is Reese wrestling barefoot and wearing the mask.  That fucking mask!  It's awesome.  He's no longer Tarzan, but with the mask Reese is still a fantasy character come to life.

I have to admit, I like to imagine that's me being scooped up and bodyslammed in this match.  After all these years, the Tyler Reese fantasy still lives on in my mind.

Rex Bedford

This is my first post featuring a match from 88 Wrestling, and it is long overdue.  By way of background, I was inspired to start my blog several years ago by the action I saw in wrestling matches being produced on the internet.  Among the producers out there at the time, Rock Hard Wrestling was my favorite.  I liked the pro-style, ring-based action, and I loved the talent it featured.  RHW's wrestlers were the best fratboy cocky muscle jocks in the business.  They gave me some of my favorite wrestlers, such as Cody Nelson and Brodie Fisher.  RHW also gave us studs like Austin Cooper and Jake Jenkins who have gone on to wrestle for other companies and have become icons of the underground wrestling scene in their own right.  So I was disappointed when production at RHW began grinding to a halt a couple of years ago.  But lucky for us, RHW did not totally go away, but instead it is now re-branded as 88 Wrestling.  And also lucky for us, it still features the fratboy muscle jocks I love to see wrestle. 

At the moment, I have to say that my favorite wrestler at 88 is Rex Bedford.  He's got the looks of an All-American jock that I love to see in the ring.  Rex also has a confident, cocky attitude (which comes out in his interview with Joe at Ringside), and that just makes him even more likeable.  Above are some pics of a recent match at 88 Wrestling featuring Rex going up against Chase Lundquist.  At 5' 7" and 160 pounds, Rex looks to be at a disadvantage to the 5' 11" and 170 pound Chase.  But don't tell that to Rex.  Not only is he cocky, but Rex can back it up in the ring.  Chase is a stud in his own right, and I look forward to seeing more of his wrestling at 88, but in this match, Rex is all alpha.  If anything, Chase's size advantage is just a challenge to Rex to see how many times he can bodyslam him.

Beast wrestling stud . . . cocky muscleboy . . . Rex Bedford is the total package.