The "Three Way"

Rex Bedford looks at his two shirtless buddies and says with a smirk, "I've always kinda wanted to be in a three-way."  Now, before you let your imaginations get the better of you, remember that I run a family-friendly blog here, not a porn site.  That's not the kind of "three-way" we're talking about.  Rather, 88Wrestling brings us a three-way wrestling match featuring Rex Bedford, Chase Lundquist, and Ethan Andrews (which is much, much better than porn in my book).

The three-man match has been a standard feature in pro-style wrestling for a long time.  It can take different forms.  In one scenario, you get two guys who team up together and dish out punishment on the third (like we saw before with Brad Barnes and Austin Cooper beating up on Ethan).  Another scenario has the single guy (usually a big dude) instead beating up on the other two wrestlers who try to gang up on him (a la Braden Charron against Cameron Matthews and Chris Richards).  And then you get the three-way match in its purest form where all three dudes are figthing against each other.

This match from 88Wrestling falls into the last category with Rex, Chase, and Ethan battling it out to prove who the top dawg is.  But you still get a taste of the other scenarios, too.  As the match progresses, we eventually see Rex and Chase form an alliance to take Ethan out.  What then follows is a temporary two on one battle.  Two of my favorite wrestlers beating up on Ethan?  I can watch that all day.  Then, with punk Ethan thoroughly defeated and out of the way, the combat turns to a contest between Rex and Chase.  Two of my favorite wrestlers battling it out in the ring?  I can watch that all day, too.  This is one of several matches that 88Wrestling filmed where the conditions obviously are hot in the ring.  I don't know if that's intentional, or maybe the air contitioning was broken.  As a consequence, you get a lot of sweat from the wrestlers, which adds to the appeal of their combat.  But you also get a slippery ring, which probably makes the wrestlers hold back a little bit on the action.  I really like to see power wrestling moves, with lifts and carries and slams, yet we don't get as much of that in this match as I would like because the mat surface quickly turns into a slip-and-slide with all the sweat.  But that's my only critique, because overall it's another fun and entertaining production by 88Wrestling.  As the fight continues, the contest transitions into a boxing match.  Eventually this leads to the conclusion where one stud flexes his sweat covered body in triumph over the knocked-out cold body of his opponent, leaving no dispute in the end who the top dawg is in this three man fight.

It's a "Three-Way" . . .  88Wrestling-style.

For more photos and commentary about this match, check out Joe's Ringside blog.

Trent Novak Immortalized

A big reason why I like Rock Hard Wrestling (and its current reincarnation as 88Wrestling) is the quality of the talent on the roster.  There's no doubt most of the wrestlers are fitness models or budding bodybuilders, but clearly they are also athletes.  They are more than just pretty boys because most of them actually put on a good pro-style wrestling show in the ring.  I'm sure they receive training before filming their matches, but it takes athletic skill not only to execute the moves but to also sell the action.  I'm not saying it's WWE quality (and I don't expect that), but it's still a commendable performance by good looking jocks in a wrestling ring.  When it comes to these online wrestling productions, that's really what sells me on these matches.

One wrestler I really liked from the RHW days is Trent Novak.  I wish I knew the details of how he hooked up with RHW.  Around the time he was a wrestler there, he also appeared at All American Guys as a young model from Georgia named "Jason V".  It seems like All American Guys is a good source of wrestling talent for companies like RHW, 88Wrestling, Thunders Arena, and probably others.  Besides Trent, other wrestlers I've seen at AAG include Rex Bedford (Talon), Cody Nelson (Ray Santiesteban), Eagle (Quinn B.), and Jake Jenkins (Clayton), just to name a few.  I guess fitness models like these guys like to make the rounds with AAG and the wrestling companies, and for that, we can be thankful.

So, back to Trent Novak, a strapping young guy (21 years old according to AAG), standing in at 6 feet tall and 175 pounds.  Unfortunately, he appeared in only four matches at RHW, and this was back in 2012 or so.  Who knows what happened to "Jason V" or where he is today.  He'll be in his late twenties now, maybe back in Georgia.  Life moves on, and so did he.  But because of RHW, he'll live on forever as Trent Novak.

You're probably wondering why I'm suddenly so sentimental about Trent.  The two beers I drank tonight probably have something to do with it.  But I also have to give thanks to a recent blog post by W.R. Screencaps which tipped me off to a sale on Trent's matches at RHW, and I had to check out Trent's match against Cliff Johnson.  I think this was Trent's fourth and final match at RHW, and after losing his first three, he goes into this one determined to prove that he's no mere jobber.  Cliff Johnson apparently is in the same boat, and the two guys are wrestling for pride if nothing else.  It goes three rounds with back and forth action before one stud finally prevails, but my highlights here focus on Trent being the heel.  When you watch this and his other matches, you notice Trent can be a noisy little bastard in the ring.  He's verbal and expressive both when he's dishing out punishment and when he receives it.  But Trent does so in a way that exudes feistiness and cockiness on his part, a high level of energy that makes him fun and entertaining.  Trent comes across as all jock.  He's out there to compete and to win because he's an athlete, and that's what athletes do.  But I also get the impression that when Trent is done beating up on a guy like Cliff, he's ready to go to a bar to hang out and get drunk with him.  Trent is your competition, but if you're also a jock, he's your buddy when the competition is over.  This describes a lot of guys I knew in high school and college.  I'd like to think that Trent and I would have been friends, too.

You know I like to include a GIF in my post when I can, although I can't decide which GIF I like best for this one.  But it's my blog, so why do I have to decide?  Why not show all three of Trent Novak proving to Cliff Johnson who the real alpha wrestler is?

Thanks to RHW, Trent Novak lives on forever!

Scrappy is a Boytoy

I my blog post earlier this week, I made a comment about Scrappy being on the smaller side at Thunders Arena.  I received a lot of emails from fans of my blog asking what I meant by that.  Ha ha, just kidding!  My blog has no fans and I never get emails.  But anyway, just in case anyone was wondering about my comments, we see here several examples of the role Scrappy gets to play when he wrestles at TA.  Sure, at 5' 8" and 160 pounds, the muscular Scrappy is no pushover.  But look at his competition at TA, with the likes of Loki (5' 10" and 220#), Rhino (6' 3" and 230#), Eagle (5' 11" and 200#), Cason (6' 1" and 235#), and Viking (6' 6" and 260#).  While I like seeing Scrappy at a place like Muscleboy Wrestling where he can show off his wrestling skills and put up a good fight against similar-sized competition, it's also fun watching Scrappy being a boytoy at TA.  Our little Scrappy is a versatile wrestler.

Scrappy is a Muscleboy

Sorry, I've been out of pocket for a few weeks and haven't posted anything.  But lucky for me, I returned just in time to see the release of Muscleboy Wrestling's newest series of matches.  For me, the big news from Muscleboy is that our little hero Scrappy from Thunders Arena (and other wrestling promotions) is now at Muscleboy.  To be totally accurate, Scrappy appeared in his first match two months ago, so he's not completely brand new, but nonetheless I'm excited to see him at Muscleboy.  But there's more!  Dante is back at Muscleboy, too!  It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Dante as well.  And it gets even better because Scrappy and Dante appear in a wrestling match against each other!  There's no way I can miss this match!  I can't decide who I envy more.  Is it Scrappy because he gets to wrestle Dante?  Or is it Dante because he gets to wrestle Scrappy?

I like seeing Scrappy at Muscleboy because he's among wrestlers that are closer to his size.  At Thunders Arena, he tends to be on the smaller side when he goes up against all those huge bodybuilders.  The competition at Muscleboy should allow Scrappy to be more competitive in his matches.  Also, Scrappy fits right in at Muscleboy because he's . . . well, he's a muscleboy.  And he knows it.  This match begins with Scrappy performing a little show flexing his muscles.  That's worth the price of admission alone.  When Dante finally walks onto the mat, he can't help but look with admiration upon his jacked opponent.  "Oh, wow, I like your body!" the Latin stud says with a smile.  The cocky Scrappy flexes and observes, "The first words that come out of most people's mouths when they see me like this."  Scrappy tells Dante that he'll let him worship his muscles, but they have to wrestle first.  When the action begins, Dante learns that the wrestling itself is the muscle worship.  The Latin wrestler gets up close and personal with his opponent's muscles as the powerful Scrappy takes Dante for a wild ride.  To be fair, this is not a total one sided match, and Dante gets in some punishing moves that really make Scrappy suffer (and, boy, does Scrappy know how to suffer!).  But for me the beauty of this match is when our muscleboy Scrappy treats Dante as if he's nothing more than his personal boy toy.  So, the question remains open.  Who do I envy more?  Scrappy, because he gets to have Dante as his boy toy?  Or Dante, because he gets to be Scrappy's boy toy?

Scrappy shows he is all muscleboy!