Flashback: Cody Nelson

  

Back in July I passed a major milestone, marking ten years since starting this blog.  It came and went without me even realizing it, but I'm confident the loyal followers of my blog (all 17 of them) took notice.  I have to admit I'm surprised I've been doing this for so many years.  I'm not really sure why I keep at it, other than it's a nice little creative outlet.  To be honest, I do this blog primarily for my own benefit, but rest assured I get satisfaction in knowing that my loyal followers (all 17 of them) enjoy it almost as much as I do.

To commemorate over ten years of this blog, I decided to highlight Cody Nelson, who was one of my favorite wrestlers from the early days.  Heck, Cody remains one of my favorites even to this day.  Rock Hard Wrestling introduced us to the awesomeness that is Cody, and the stud appeared in several matches there.  Highlights in this post are from his matches against Troy Nelson (his brother), Travis Storm, Brody Hancock, Jeff Hollister, and Max Powers.  For me, Cody's appeal was his confidence, masculinity, and good looks, which are all the things I want to see in my perfect heel.  Plus, he was great at delivering bodyslams and backbreakers.  In the ring, Cody always delivered.  If the new generation of underground wrestlers want to see how it's done, then they should look no further than Cody Nelson.

This is how a real muscleboy flexes!

Z-Man the Heel

I have decided to do something a little different with today's post and use only gifs.  It's probably not something I will do regularly.  Joe at Ringside has been doing it for a while now, but as much as I enjoy his blog, the gifs don't run well at all on my computer, and it can get frustrating.  We'll see how it works here.  These are some highlights from an old match at Rock Hard Wrestling between the Z-Man (Zack Vazquez) and Kyle Carter.  For this post, the use of these gifs seems appropriate. My blog pays tribute to the bodyslam, and as you can see here, the Z-Man bodyslams the fuck out of Kyle Carter in this match.

I'm pretty sure this is Kyle Carter's first appearance at RHW.  The match set up here is a popular one for all the underground wrestling productions.  The rookie wrestler gets put in the ring to get tested by the veteran.  The Z-Man plays the veteran well and delivers a big beat down on the newbie.  You know, a few years ago I saw a "behind the scenes" clip from Thunders Arena, and in it Zack Vazquez was laughing at how lots of fans love to see him lose.  He even said they would receive angry emails if he won a match.  My tastes must be different from most of the followers of underground wrestling, because I enjoy watching the good looking hunk like Zack play the heel.  And it's even better when the good looking hunk of a heel crushes another good looking hunk.  That's what we get in this match, because both the Z-Man and Kyle Carter look magnificient.

To be fair to Kyle, this match is not a total squash, so for those of you who love to see the Z-Man suffer, here's a little something for you:

For a rookie wrestler, Kyle Carter does a pretty decent job against Zack.  He only appears a limited number of times at RHW, which is too bad, but after watching him here, Kyle may be worth checking out some more.  Yet in the end (and in the beginning and the middle), the Z-Man is the star of this match.  And as much as I love all the bodyslams and other moves, his victory pose at the end may be my favorite part of all in this video.  Just look at those arms!  Holy fuck!

 Once a muscleboy, always a muscleboy!

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!

Big Bad Bruce

The other day I received an email from Bruce Ballard of Rock Hard Wrestling, and he threatened to kick my ass if I didn't do more posts about him.  I thought, what a prima donna!  How many posts does this dude need?  Then going over my blog, I realized I've only featured Bruce once.  So, I have to agree with him.  I really do need my ass kicked!  That made me go back through my library of matches to see what I had on the big guy, and I came across a beauty featuring Bruce wrestling fellow RHW alpha stud Alex Waters.  This match has been out for a while.  Why did it take me so long to do a post about it?  Alex has long been a superstar at RHW, and he even earned the highly coveted Wrestler of the Year honors from my blog (Bruce also bitched me out about that, but that's another story).  At 5' 8" and 165 pounds, blond hair and blue eyes, Alex is the golden boy of RHW.  But he's got his hands full with Big Bruce in this match.  At 5' 11" and 190 pounds, Bruce has a definite size advantage here, which he uses to his benefit in the ring.  As the golden boy is being tossed about, Alex repeatedly complains that Bruce is at least two weight classes bigger than he is.  As if that matters in professional wrestling . . .

But don't count Alex out.  Bruce may be larger in size, but Alex has the bigger ego.  Of course, that's not always such a good thing, especially when Alex mouths off and ridicules Bruce for having "thunder thighs."  Bruce respond by calling down the thunder on Alex:

You can actually see the precise moment when the last bit of breath escapes Alex's body.  For more match photos and much better commentary than I can provide, be sure to check out Alex Miller in the Cave.

Tanner Hill

Tanner Hill is a new wrestler at Rock Hard Wrestling, and by the looks of him I'd say he's got a good future in the ring ahead of him.  He understands where the money is in this industry, and it's in muscle.  RHW obviously realizes this, too, as they tout the new guy as an up and coming teen bodybuilder.  In a recent match against Wes Richards, Tanner doesn't hesitate to share his thoughts on how to build muscle.  He mocks Wes for jumping around doing his crossfit exercises, and he points out that lifting weights is the way to build those biceps.  And like the good muscleboy that he is, Tanner does more than just talk.  He first demonstrates by pumping some iron, and then later in the match he works out those biceps by lifting Wes.  "I can carry you around all day like this!" Tanner gloats.  Oh, if only he did.  Opinions may differ on whether crossfit or simple weight lifting is the better road to a muscled physique.  You may even disagree with Tanner's own view on the subject, but you can't argue with his results:

Super Bowl of Wrestling

It's Super Bowl Sunday, a day for a battle of champions!  The Super Bowl is a pretty big deal, but champions battle it out in other sports all the time.  Rock Hard Wrestling has created a series of matches called King of the Ring where champion caliber wrestlers meet in the squared circle.  About a year ago the second in the KOTR series featured Alex Waters against Dash Decker.  Alex Waters has a lot of ring experience with RHW, while at the time of the match Dash was a relative newcomer.  But Dash's size, power, and skill are not to be overlooked.  Both wrestlers fight hard and liberally use bodyslams and other high powered moves in the struggle to establish their Alpha dominance.

Can Alex's experience overcome Dash's strength and power?  Or is it time for a new king to ascend the throne at RHW?

UPDATE: And speaking of the Super Bowl, Thunders Arena is offering a free download today with $50 in purchases in honor of Super Bowl 50.  Check it out!

Alex and Matt

I began the year with a tribute to Alex Waters in naming him Wrestler of the Year, so what better way to bring 2015 to a close than with another tribute to this wrestling stud?  About a year ago the cocky frat boy faced off in the ring against Matt Engel, the young aspiring bodybuilder.  Well, I don't know how well Matt's bodybuilding career is going, but hopefully it's better than his wrestling career.  This was his last match at Rock Hard Wrestling.  The young dude does have some good muscle on him, but from the first pic, I'd say that Alex boasts the more mature, masculine physique.  And the rest of these photos suggest that Alex is the more masculine and mature wrestler in the ring.

Alex Waters was a great pick for the Wrestler of the Year award, but time marches on and a new Wrestler of the Year will soon be named.  Who it will be is anyone's guess at the moment, but all ballots have been submitted and the accounting firm of Ernst & Young is tabulating the vote.  In just a few days we will have our answer, but until then, let's end 2015 like we began it with a spectacular muscleboy flex by Alex Waters.

Happy New Years and see you in 2016!