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.

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.

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.