Monday, December 31, 2018
Wednesday, December 19, 2018
From Bad to Worse
This is a continuation of my last post about Lorenzo's bad day at No Rules Wrestling, and as we see, his day goes from bad to worse His custom match with Sasha Samson has so much good stuff in it, I can probably do five or six posts if I wanted. The match really is a showcase for Sasha to display his power over the smaller Lorenzo, who as we saw in my last post suffers through many bodyslams and torture racks. Today we highlight Sasha's ability to dish out awesome over-the-knee backbreakers, which he does repeatedly on Lorenzo. Now, don't think that Lorenzo is nothing but a boytoy for the big new guy. NRW filmed several matches featuring the two wrestlers, and Lorenzo shows that he can be pretty bad ass, too, when he needs to be. Be sure to check those matches out at the NRW website.
After such a rough day, Lorenzo deserves to take a little break.
Friday, December 14, 2018
Lorenzo's Bad Day
For reasons I can't fully articulate, Lorenzo Smalls probably is my favorite wrestler at No Rules Wrestling, especially when he's wearing his white Under Armour shorts. I envy his job where he gets paid to appear in wrestling matches at NRW. At least I assume he gets paid. But as we all know, not every job is perfect all the time, and even our hero Lorenzo has a bad day now and then.
NRW has a feature where fans can order custom videos, and recently Lorenzo was available for these special wrestling matches. This was really a way for NRW to introduce a new wrestler on their roster, a guy named Sasha Samson. He's a pretty big muscle dude, especially compared to Lorenzo. One of the custom matches is a lift and carry session where Sasha bodyslams, torture racks, and backbreaks Lorenzo repeatedly. For a guy like me who loves lift and carry action, this video is pretty awesome. And from the looks of it, it's an easy challenge for Sasha since he outweighs Lorenzo by about forty pounds. But for Lorenzo, well . . . its a tough job, but someone has to do it. Thanks Lorenzo! We appreciate you being such a good sport about this.
Looks like there's a new Muscle Boy in town!
Friday, December 7, 2018
Odd Man Out
So, what happens to a lean, gawky, scrawny guy who finds himself in a wrestling ring with two beefy muscle guys? He discovers pretty fast that he's the odd man out.
It's a two-on-one wrestling match at Wrestler4Hire featuring Brad Barnes, Austin Cooper, and Ethan Andrews. Both Brad and Austin sport a lot of muscle on their bodies, but not so much for the lanky Ethan, who clearly looks like the odd man out. I love Brad Barnes! And I'm a big fan of Austin, too, because he loves bodyslams and other power moves. But as for Ethan . . . well, I have to admit that I always struggle with him. The set up for this match is that Ethan has long been a a bully to Brad, but he finally gets his due when Brad and Austin exact revenge on the smaller dude. In real life no one would ever believe an Ethan could be a bully to a Brad Barnes, but in the world of underground wrestling, Ethan often plays the bully, or rather the heel, to bigger muscle guys. And that's where I have struggled with Ethan. I like seeing the good looking, masculine muscle jocks delivering a beat down on a smaller jobber. But when I see Ethan giving a musclestud a beat down, it just doesn't appeal to me. That's especially the case at 88Wrestling, where Ethan clearly is the "odd man out" among all the fitness studs and physique models on the roster there, but those muscleboys always seem to play jobber to Ethan's heel. Of course, it's a matter of personal taste, and lots of guys obviously enjoy seeing Ethan in that type of match. Also, to be fair, I don't want to give the impression that I don't like Ethan at all. He's a talented and prolific wrestler, and I think he is awesome in the role of heel at UCW Wrestling. He really fits in there. But when he's wrestling a big, good-looking muscle jock, I want to see Ethan suffer. So, this really is just a long-winded way of saying that I liked this two-on-one match at W4H a lot because two of my favorite musclestuds dominate Ethan with tons of power moves like bodyslams, pile drivers, backbreakers, torture racks, and bearhugs. So there you go, Ethan! Take that, you damn bully!
Now that's how a muscleboy treats a jobber!
Friday, November 30, 2018
Play Time
Thunders Arena released some special matches for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, one of them being a match between Scrappy and Kasee. I've watched Scrappy wrestle many times, but this is my first look at Kasee. And boy, am I a big fan! At 5' 9" and 170 pounds, Kasee has the looks I like in a wrestler with his muscular, aesthetic physique. He's even wearing the type of trunks I like to see on wrestlers. Because TA generally features big bodybuilders, I fear Kasee is destined to be a smaller dude who gets thrown around a lot by the bigger guys. That's a problem Scrappy has at TA, too, so it's nice to see the two of them featured together in this match.
I have to admit, this is kind of a strange match, but I really enjoyed it, and Kasee in particular. The best word that describes him is "playful." It's like he doesn't see this as a serious wrestling match, but instead it's just an opportunity to have some fun. He sees Scrappy's body as something to play with. His own body is something for Scrappy to play with. The wrestling is play time instead of a contest. I love how Kasee is always grinning, like when he checks out Scrappy's thighs. Scrappy claws his pecs, and Kasee grins. Trapped in Scrappy's bearhug? No problem! It's just fun and games for Kasee.
Scrappy seems only to tolerate Kasee's playfulness to a point. TA bills this match as muscle worship, and you see a good bit of it, mostly with Kasee trying to play with Scrappy's muscles. Scrappy will let the playful Kasee do his thing for a few moments, but then Scrappy tries to get this back to a wrestling match. Yet even when Scrappy breaks Kasee's back over the knee, or when Scrappy gorilla presses him (and it's impressive how he does so), Kasee just takes it all in with a grin like you see on the face of a kid in the sandbox on the playground.
The wrestling action for much of the match has Scrappy controlling Kasee, but Kasee eventually decides to make some moves of his own. But even then, it's still all a game, like when he playfully gets Scrappy in an over the shoulder carry, or when he catches Scrappy in a sleeper. The innocent, happy grin rarely leaves Kasee's face. Wrestling in it's most primal form is just a game, something to be enjoyed, which Kasee understands. That's why I like Kasee and look forward to seeing much more of him at TA.
Now there's a wrestler who knows it's all about the fun!
Monday, November 19, 2018
Giving Thanks
For most you guys, you probably equate November with Thanksgiving, but for me each year it means I get to enjoy the November to Remember series at No Rules Wrestling. Every year, NRW posts a new match each day of the month, and often there's at least one dedicated to the glorious backbreaker. This year, it's a short match featuring NRW superstar Dave Calbrese breaking in a rookie wrestler named Arlo by dishing out some brutal back punishment. My favorite part is when Calbrese scoops Arlo up and then drops the rookie over the knee repeatedly for backbreakers. Few do it better than Dave Calbrese, and for that, I am truly thankful.
Another Backbreaker Monday brought to you by Dave Calbrese.
Happy Thanksgiving guys!
Friday, November 16, 2018
Singlet Season
I need to check out Underground Championship Wrestling more often, because when I do, I find an unexpected gem. The match here in today's post is definitely one of them. It caught my attention because the wrestlers are in singlets, which I find appropriate for this time of year with the college wrestling season just beginning. The starring wrestlers are Aron (red) and Malik (blue), and the two put on a great wrestling match. From my somewhat trained eye, Aron looks like he's a much more skilled wrestler than Malik, and if this were a true competition, I suspect he would have had Malik pinned and tied up like a pretzel repeatedly. But this match is also about the entertainment, and I was greatly entertained. Malik may not be as skillful of a mat wrestler as Aaron, but he knows enough to make a good show out of it. The wrestlers agree at the beginning to make it a best three out of five match, and it goes all five rounds before one of them finally claims victory. There's good back and forth action, and while much of it is mat wrestling, Aron and Malik produce some good pro-style lift and carry moves. That's important for me because it means I can feature this match in my blog. Aron in particular I liked. He has appeared in several matches at UCW, but now he's listed as "retired". That's too bad for us because I would love to see him star in more matches.
Malik says, "You gotta love wrestling in singlets!"
Sunday, November 4, 2018
Lumberjacked
In my Halloween post I confessed that I'm a real coward when it comes to horror movies. So when 88Wrestling recently promoted a new match by featuring Chase Lundquist brandishing an ax (axe?), I began to worry this would be another slasher-flick type contest, and I would need to keep my hands over my eyes for much of the match.
Sure, at first, Chase looks menacing as he waves the ax at his opponent, Tanner Hill. But luckily Chase is not some crazed serial killer. He's a lumberjack. And a jacked one at that. Hence the name of the match, "Lumberjacked." Of course, Tanner isn't going to be out-jacked by anyone, and he also gets his chance to swing the ax around a bit, teaching Chase a valuable lesson about bringing foreign objects into the ring. And that's about it for the ax, and this is not a blood and gore type horror match. And this is not a match where you want to cover your eyes. It's a wrestling match between Chase Lundquist and Tanner Hill. And you can't take your eyes off these guys.
Both Chase and Tanner are the type of wrestlers I love to see in the ring. They are young and cocky, boast powerful physiques, but not too big . . . the perfect specimens of aesthetic muscles. They represent why I like 88Wrestling so much (and its predecessor Rock Hard Wrestling). Not only do I like to see guys like these in the ring, I also like to see them dominate. So this actually creates a little dilemma for me here. Who do I pull for in this match? Eventually I decide it doesn't really matter. I'm a winner either way. I like the back and forth action. Plus there's a lot of sweat as the wrestlers punish each other, making their muscles glisten in the lights. Trust me, boys. You'll want to keep your eyes wide open throughout the entire match.
Blonds and biceps . . . a winning combination!
For more pics and commentary, check out Joe and Ringside.