Redemption

I've been kind of critical about Brian Baker in a couple of posts recently for thinking that just because he's a big jock he can wrestle.  His lack of skills showed when he got tossed around by a couple of smaller wrestlers in a tag team match at Rock Hard Wrestling, and it seems he got his butt kicked by Austin Cooper in another match.  But to be fair, Baker had at least one successful contest against a much smaller wrestler named Luke Harrison.  Of course, it was probably his 65 pound advantage and not his wrestling skills that resulted in his win, but still, you gotta give credit to any dude who gorilla presses another guy.

Life of Brian

I want to revisit the theme of my recent post about the tag team match at Rock Hard Wrestling featuring Brian Baker and others.  The gist of my last post was that Baker may be a jock, but that doesn't make him a wrestler.  He really seemed out of place in the ring while he got owned by Brodie Fisher and Alex Waters.  The whole match is a fun one to watch, and there's one part in particular I liked.  Brodie Fisher (I think) scooped up the much larger Baker and parades him around the ring.  Baker's tag team partner is Josh Steel, who has a wrestling background according to his bio at RHW.  He just looks on and taunts Brodie, and the two of them exchange barbs (Alex in the background joins in, too).  All the while, Baker has this "what the fuck am I doing here" look on his face as he awaits the inevitable bodyslam.

Jocks and Wrestling

There's a new match at Rock Hard Wrestling that's worth checking out.  It's a tag team match with Alex Waters and Brodie Fisher going up against Brian Baker and Josh Steel.  Alex and Brodie appear in wrestling singlets.  A nice touch.  Brodie sets the tone early for the match by bodyslamming Brian Baker (at least I think it's Brodie - he and Alex look alike).  This is no small feat because Baker outweighs Brodie by over 30 pounds.  According to RHW, Baker has no wrestling experience, but he was a college athlete.  This made me think back to high school where a lot of dudes who played other sports wanted to wrestle me.  Maybe it's the muscles and testosterone that make most jocks think they can wrestle, but they usually learned pretty fast that a wresler is a different breed of jock.  My wrestling matches with these dudes who played football or baseball or ran track did not have the drama of a RHW match, but it never took too long before I put these guys on their back for a pin, which I then followed with some body crushing python hold just to let them know what wrestling was all about.  So, seeing "athlete" Brian Baker wrestling Brodie Fisher brought back these memories.  At least with the first bodyslam, Baker obviously is outmatched, despite his big size advantage.  I love that look of confusion on Baker's face as Brodie takes a hold of his crotch to lift him up.  If you're not a wrestler, then you're probably not going to react too well to being held like that.  And Baker has no idea what to do as Brodie carries him around the ring, clearly not expecting to be manhandled like this.  Brian Baker may know how to spike a volleyball and throw a javelin, but that doesn't make him a wrestler.