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!

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!

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!"

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.

Fright Night

It's Halloween, and Thunders Arena was nice enough to give me a look at their Halloween Havoc series.  This year it features four matches.  The first one I checked out has Blayne against a Mystery Man.  The two begin wrestling wearing colorful carnival style maskes.  You'd think that would not be scary at all, but you'd be wrong.  Or at least for me.  I was surprised to find the masks kind of creepy, but in a good way, you know.  The kind of creepy you want to have for Halloween.

Then I moved on to another match that features our All-American Eagle being ambushed by a guy wearing a Ghostface mask (from the Scream movies).  Holy shit!  Those movies really scared the crap out of me when I was a kid, and even today seeing Eagle getting attacked by Ghostface has the potential to give me nightmares tonight.  As much as I hate to admit it, I have always been a wuss when it comes to horror movies.  Luckily, in this match Eagle eventually removes the mask to reveal his good buddy Cason.  The video then progresses into a good old fashioned wrestling match between two muscleboys in the pool at night.  That's guaranteed to give just about any guy sweet dreams at bed time.

There are two more matches that are part of this year's Halloween Havoc, but I did not have time to review them.  But you can check all four matches out at the TA website.

Tsunami Warning

You may have gotten the impression from my recent post about Scrappy and Christian Thorn at Hero Hunks that their match was a real squash job by Scrappy.  But don't be so fooled!  Both wrestlers had their moments as heel and jobber.  The last post highlighted "White Wolf" Scrappy.  This one looks at Christian, who appears in the match as his superhero alter-ego Tsunami.  I'm not quite sure what his powers are, other than being strong as fuck.  With the yellow gloves on his hands, maybe he's super fast at washing dishes, too.  Who knows.  It doesn't really matter so long as he wrestles.  Christian is one of those wrestlers who comes across as a small guy, especially in the world of pro-style wrestling, but at the same time he also looks like a big guy.  It's those arms of his.  Those muscles are huge!  I think Scrappy looks much bigger than Christian in this match because Scrappy is layered in thick muscles.  But Christian shows that he's no pushover, and he uses those big muscled arms of his to toss Scrappy around a good bit.  Overall, the match has good back and forth action with each wrestler showing off his skill, power, and muscles.  I look forward to seeing both Christian and Scrappy as superheroes in future matches at Hero Hunks.

By the way, it's time for another Backbreaker Monday, this time brought to you by "Tsunami" Christian Thorn.  Thanks Christian!

WARNING:  Tsunami may be hazardous to your health!

All American Jobber

In some of my other posts about Taylor Reign of Muscleboy Wrestling, I joke about the possibility of Taylor being the boss at Muscleboy.  Afterall, he's got a few good matches out there being a Grade A heel.  But to be honest, Taylor is a versatile wrestler, and he does great playing jobber, too.  We saw that in his match against Nick Flex.  Don't get me wrong.  I love Taylor the heel, but you can't ignore the appeal of Taylor the jobber.  Taylor is smooth and lean, he's clean cut, has boyish good looks . . . he's the All-American jobber we love to see suffer.

And suffer he does!  What makes a wrestler a good jobber is his ability to endure the punishment, and Taylor does a great job of enduring.  We see that in another match of his at Muscleboy where Taylor faces off against Chris Cannon.  A great jobber needs a great heel, and that's exactly what we get in Cannon who really manhandles Taylor with multiple power moves, like suplexes, racks, and bodyslams.  And if you are a fan of the tombstone piledriver (and who isn't?), Cannon does not disappoint.  It's one of his specialties.  Meanwhile, Taylor endures throughout.  All in all, it's a fun jobber vs heel match where each wrestler compliments the other.  Taylor's performance as jobber makes Cannon shine as the heel, and Cannon's performance as the heel makes Taylor shine as the All American jobber.

Taylor the jobber . . . the boy knows how to suffer!

PS - To see more pics and commentary about this match, be sure to check out Joe's always insightful thoughts at his Ringside blog.