Monday, April 11, 2016

UPDATED! Review: Ty Alexander vs. Guido Genatto (BGEast)

GUYS, SEE THE COMMENTS SECTION FOR AN UPDATE FROM KID LEOPARD HIMSELF! THE AUDIO HAS APPARENTLY BEEN EDITED TO REMOVE THE CONTROVERSIAL SLURS.

I'm going to be potentially controversial here, so be warned!

Demolition 19 from BGEast's upcoming catalogue 113 became my first-ever "Own-to-Arena" purchase. I haven't used the service before this because frankly I think it's clearly designed from a BGEast perspective rather than a customer perspective. The name is misleading, because you never really 'own' the matches. You're paying full price for an extended streaming rental that's only available while you pay for the Arena. Good for BGEast, but not good for you if anything changes with your circumstances (or theirs).

Anyway, I still did it. Why? Well, mainly for this match, but there's also Chace LaChance in a dominant role, which is a match I'll be interested in. I figured that's $20 in VOD's, so I’d go the extra mile and see them now rather than wait until they're released on VOD.

My 2015 Cavey Award winners for "Heel of the Year"
and "Jobber of the Year" in one match? SOLD!


Ty Alexander and Guido Genatto are my two most popular review subjects, so putting them together should be an automatic winner, right? Money well spent and all that. Well, yes and no.

How could this not be great?
Well, let me tell you ...

Here's where I might be a little controversial.

The 'no' entirely stems from the language used in this match. I’m so disappointed that Guido uses 'queen' as a pejorative on multiple occasions. That kind of shit bugs me. And I'm more disappointed that BGEast of all places is obviously okay with it since they released the match. Since it's not out in wide release, I don't know if there will be a mention of it in the catalogue description or not, but I think there should be.

Yeah, you can call me overly sensitive or part of the PC police. If this kind of thing doesn't bother you or maybe even turns you on, then enjoy. For me, it takes the video from a fun heel-jobber encounter to a dark place that shook me right out of the moment. I'll also point out that I don’t recall Guido mocking Jake Jenkins for being a queen.

Anyway, I'm not telling you how to feel about it, just how I feel about it.

The 'yes' is the guys and the action. The video is labeled 'Demolition', so you know what you're going to get. Much like Guido vs. Jake Jenkins, this is more than a squash, it's a brutal, non-stop ass-kicking.

This match was shot a while ago, because Ty looks smaller than his recent images. He's packed on more muscle lately, but here he is light and obviously no match for the big bad hairy heel. He's wearing tight pink speedos, which look great on him. He suffers beautifully and delivers an outstanding performance.

Pretty in pink as Ty is tied up (with tape)

Regardless of how he sounds, Guido looks great. He's his usual beefy, hairy self, showing off the goods in tiny and shiny red trunks that are basically painted on. The heel is wearing a scowl, full of contempt for his opponent from the minute he walks into the room.

"My hot sausage looks good in those red trunks!"

Ty is in full jobber mode against the all-mighty heel. He does start with a cocky “Bring it on, man”, but from then on, it’s all suffering. The young jobber is bent, slammed, twisted and mauled into multiple submissions. Ty can only moan, whimper and beg for the assault to stop. He really is a great performer.

"I said, 'Bring it on, man!'"

During the match, Guido does his usual sex god taunts. He admires his body and cock. He calls himself daddy. He orders Ty to look at his package and call him daddy. He derides Ty for his pink trunks and lack of muscle. The über-heel threatens to break, injure and even kill Ty. Normally I like his trash talk, but ‘queen’ and things like ‘now you're gonna fucking die’ escalated it too far for my tastes.

There are too many submission holds to mention, but highlights include the lengthy tree of woe, head scissors and torture rack.

The tree of woe goes from this ...

... to this ...

... and then this ...

... and it's still going.

For the foot fetishists, Guido stands on Ty multiple times and uses his foot to crush the jobber's face and bulge.

Ty's face becomes a foot rest

Guido applies the pressure

Choking Ty out with his shoe

Should we change his name to Matt?

So in the end, it's pure heel destruction of a young rookie, but the language put a huge damper on it for me.

I am left somewhat amused that a match that I never plan to watch again is the one that I’ve now got on permanent rental. Figures, right? Just goes to show you that there's no such thing as a sure thing. I mainly hope that Chace saves me with a hot performance or that Lon Dumont/Nicholas Rush is a surprise gem.

Agree or disagree with me, I want to hear what you think, but please remember that comments should be respectful of everyone and their opinions.

Alex

33 comments:

  1. So who's Chace's opponent in his match?

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    1. Good question. Chace is wrestling Jayden Mayne.

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  2. Thanks for the response. Not to be "that guy," but, from what I can tell, this upcoming BGE catalog doesn't have any hunks on the receiving end. It's not that I have anything against other types of matches, but that's traditionally been the main thing I look for at BGE. It's been that way for a while, in my opinion. Oh well.

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    1. You're welcome. It looks like 3-Way Thrash might be good for you, depending on your definition of hunk. Biff Farrell is sure to be on the receiving end and it looks like Jonny Firestorm dishes out some abuse to bigger guys. As well, Kieran Dunne is back. It's tough to tell what happens in that one, but Kieran should suffer, even if he wins in the end. To me, it looks like Kid Karisma suffers for a little bit, but dominates the vast majority of the match.

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    2. Hm, upon rereading that might have been misleading. The matches in referring to are ...

      Kid Karisma vs. Billy Lodi
      Kieran Dunne vs. Rafael Valmor
      Biff Farrell vs. Danner w/Moore
      Jonny Firestorm vs. Ferri vs. France

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    3. Ty has a body that can take and give to anyone

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    4. Thanks Ryan

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  3. Yeah Guido has lost me as a fan after this one. But I've now become a big Ty fan he's really good in this the selling the moaning. I've seen that this is an old one because he has gotten more muscular in his social media. But in this match it totally works. He's not afraid and can really take some punishment and I love squash matchs.

    As for Guido yeah I'm done he just comes off like an ass who obviously forgot who his audience is. The physical attraction is gone all I see now is a straight guy in it for the money and obvious has no want to be connected with us "queens". In any case Ty even in this matchs is no "queen" he's tough as nails. The match belongs to him and his selling only makes Guido look good you pair Guido with a great jobber he's great. If you don't kinda just stale.

    Kudos to Ty for putting up the verbal part of that too. I know I Probly would have told him something different. I like the action great squash and I think better then the Kip one personally and I liked that one. I will watch it again with the mute on to drown out Guidos dumbassery but quickly turn it back to hear Ty and his moaning.


    Loved it it's a must get if you can stomach what Guido says.

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    1. I completely agree about Guido. He's obviously very talented, and I have no doubt he isn't a bigot or a homophobe (in fact, just based on his facebook page, he seems very open-minded and pretty intelligent). But I think he's been told that being a "heel" in gay wrestling means boasting and bragging about how manly and Alpha he is, and how lacking his opponent is in contrast. The result is most of the trash talking is along the lines of "I'm a real man," and his opponents are "litle girls" or bitches to the point that it feels kind of like homophobia. It was so pronounced in his match with Kip Sorell that, even though the action and visuals were really good, it took me so out of the match that I had to turn the sound off (which was particularly unfortunate because Kip moans and grunts really well).

      This is a huge difference between gay wrestling now vs. then. Today you have a lot of "heels" who trash talk the same way (Morgan Cruise, "master" Kevin, Jonny Firestorm and even, to a lesser extent, Lon Dumont and Ethan Andrews). I can't help wondering if part of the reason the hunky jobbers seems to stick around far less than those of 10 years ago is that it's got to be annoying, no matter how professional a person is behind the scenes, to show up, work a match where you're already getting dominated physically, and have every second of dialogue revolve around how girly and bad and lazy and pathetic you are. I never got that feeling once from, say, Brad Rochelle's matches or guys like Beau Hopkins and Paul Perris. Now a lot of times when I watch matches like Hunkbash I can see the guys rolling their eyes and gritting their teeth just waiting for it to be over so they can get paid and get out.

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    2. Thanks for the responses guys. Mute was suggested to me as a solve, but the problem for me is that I know it's there.

      I didn't see the match vs Kip, so this was a huge shock to me. I didn't realize it had happened before. I actually don't infer anything about Guido from this at all, but it will make me pause before I buy another match featuring him at BGEast.

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    3. As an action and visual feast for those who enjoy Hunkbash type matches, Guido vs. Kip is easily one of the best I've seen in years. As I said, the verbal stuff utterly pulled it out of that realm, but, still, physically it's amazing. But much to my irritation, it wasn't even nominated in BGE's "Best Squash" in that year's fan poll.

      I think that reveals a lot of what's going on at BGE. "Quality," as MikeySB noted in his post is all over the place from BGE. And as we've noted, the verbal side of matches, the "spirit" of the matches, can be very odd to the point of taking away from the presumable point of some matches (meaning a squash job isn't for people who "hate" hot guys, but for those who love them--so depicting the jobber as nothing more than "a little bitch" doesn't really add to the fantasy). I think it all boils down to people participating in the process of making the matches who want fans to like their work but don't really have a personal connection to the fantasies they're trying to provide. The guys at BGE making and writing up the matches these days don't "hate" Kip Sorell; they just don't personally connect with why a hunky jobber like him is appealing. They just go, "OK, Kip's pretty. Fans like prettyboys getting squashed," which is a good start. But then they plug in their own sense of what that means from their point of view. As in, the next thought is, "A guy who gets squashed isn't very good, isn't as manly, or serious or dedicated to wrestling. Therefore, he's a loser, a pansy, a little girl. And the more I point it out, the more fans will pop." The irony is, the wrestlers who are more interested in working harder, to do better matches, tend to put more of that into their rolls.

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    4. Oops... I meant to add about Kip vs. Guido not being nominated for any awards in BGE's year end fan poll seemed to me less a question of it's physical qualities than that whoever designed the poll in the first place wasn't trying to gague or reward actual fan interest than rig the awards to draw attention to more names, specifically their own or the ones for wrestlers they think are more deserving. To put it more bluntly, I think they know wrestlers like Kip Sorell will do well, probably win in one of the looks or body categories, so they kind of omit him from the match categories to open up a "win" for someone like Firestorm or Drake Marcos who aren't likely to win based on looks.

      The point is, to an extent BGE seems less like it's trying to put out good individual matches than just desperately trying to get a handful of guys over no matter what, while also assuming the prettyboy types will just always have a following. And the result is the quality suffers because they do way to much with some guys and not nearly enough with others.

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  4. Hey Alex,
    Thanks as always for the review. I have not yet seen this match; I may or may not in the future, for three seemingly unrelated reasons I will post below.

    First, I have had a long-standing love/hate relationship with BG East. Their website- back in its infancy- was one of the first places I found to stimulate my budding homo-erotic wrestling fantasies. Despite many drool worthy matches and wrestlers over the years, I have found their matches to be less consistent in style and quality than any other of the "major" underground players. This has made for a number of regretted purchases. On the flip side, more than half of my all-time favorite matches from anywhere are produced by BG East. I just never know what I am going to be getting. Even the pics and preview videos do not reflect the finished product.

    The second strike against BG East is their method(s) of distributing their content. They have been slow to release videos online, still pushing hard for DVD sales. That is stunning, considering that most video sales of any genre are mostly digital now. Many older catalog offerings are not available at all digitally (including a few matches I have been pining to download for a decade or more). New matches are "staggered", so that you can only get a full slate of matches by ordering the DVD. The Arena has been a source of frustration the several times I have signed up. In a way, it reminds me of when a new football stadium opens, and they sell THE RIGHT to buy tickets, before any games are even on sale. It's insulting, clearly there to rip you off, and you are still a little tempted. Lastly, never being able to own the match, unless you shell out for a DVD or are in unbroken, permanent good standing at The Arena more or less defeats the advantages of the digital age. I am aware that not doing the standard downloads probably makes piracy more difficult; but at the same time the difficulty in obtaining your own copy of a match probably also encourages it. It seems weird to me that the two online underground/gay wrestling pioneers, Can-AM and BG East, are the 2 least customer friendly experiences in the field. Perhaps they are just very stuck in their old ways of doing business. In BG East's case, simple, straightforward single match downloads would cause me to spend money at their website; as it stands, I maybe spend money on them once a year or so.

    The issues of the "homophobic" stylings of Guido Genatto will require me to view to judge. Pro wrestling- of both the above and below ground variety- has a long history of devising despicable characters to lure the hate out of the crowd. And many people (myself sometimes included) can find a brutish taunting to be a real turn on. That having been said, it is always possible to cross a line. What I will say in defense of Guido, if not his language, is that I am certain that his character's general language and demeanor are what the director/producer are looking for. He is paid to do a job and play a character. They were clearly happy with his work, or they could have edited the match differently or skipped it altogether. Both the outcomes and the dramatic trajectory of the matches are predetermined. In no way would I say the wrestler/actor are to blame. I bet he received marching orders to the tune of "treat him like a pansy-boy" in the ring. Whether or not it crosses from entertainingly threatening to seriously insulting/abusive is in the eye of the beholder. I am not easily insultable, but when I truly am, there is not usually any going back. I guess I'll have to watch it myself to find out if it crosses the uncrossable line.

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    1. Mikey, thanks for the comment.

      The funny thing is that anyone interested in piracy can easily work around the system. And for less if you pay $10 enough to pay for the Arena membership.

      I wasn't insulted by the match. I was turned off, which is far worse!

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  5. Oh he wasn't told to. I can attest to that.

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    1. Ty! Thanks for weighing in. Hmmm.

      You were great and I hope you noticed that you gained a fan above thanks to your awesome selling. :)

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    2. Haha yeah I appriciate that too :)

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  6. Ty, don't spell any beans you aren't supposed to, but I have a question: If Guido wasn't told to use "slur" type language in character, what was the immediate reaction to his doing so? Why would they keep that in the video? Did you find him to be homophobic at all? I know of another pro wrestler who is, but nonetheless works the gay underground scene.

    And, by the way, thanks for your great wrestling (and beautiful, well crafted body!). Don't feel obligated to answer the questions, unless you want to!

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  7. Hey Alex!

    Its weird that somehow sometimes....two winners (in this case of Cavey Awards) doesn't really become a great pair when put together. Not because the match wasn't but because of "other" things. I'm with you 100% on the language issue. Maybe...in the future if it happens again, the one receiving the offensive language just delivers an ass kicking that has the bully crying.
    Hell...maybe that's a good storyline for the Cave at some point!
    I'm also surprised that it takes two years to post the videos. That could be a good thing, Maybe they have lots of material on the pipeline. They film a lot and it takes time to release it. Maybe something that other companies should learn. RHW comes into mind.

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    1. Thanks for the comment. See, now that's an idea. If Ty had come out on top, I might've been less offended.

      Yeah, I think BGE has the right idea on the filming a lot with guys when they're available and building up a big library backlog. I kind of do the same thing with my stories. I've done 23/26 stories for 2016 (through November 1st) and it feels pretty good.

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    2. That is right...you do it too. Its good planning!!! And yeah, isn't that another good fetish too explore? Smaller, but strong tough guy just delivering a beatdown to the bigger guy? Specially if the big guy is a total ass! Having the big guy beg for mercy!

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  8. Wow! Lots of comments these days! Very nice! And even with a little drama on them, lol.

    Anyway, I'm totally with you. And I do love trash talking and humiliation a lot. You can call me weak and pathetic and challenge me to fight back, it is hot! But when you infer being gay or a woman is equal to being inferior, maybe you crossed some line.

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    1. Yeah, I can't keep up now! It's great. Thanks for commenting!

      Since my stories are "sexy wrestling soap operas" (thanks Sean Pford), I guess I can't complain about drama too much.

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    2. Well, it actully measures the popularity of your site. I mean, do you know any big and famous site which has a peaceful comment section? lol

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    3. You're a real glass half full type aren't you? Thanks for the perspective!

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  9. while we are on this whole "Queen" thing have people noticed that Muscle Domination Wrestling Muscle Master Kevin does it as well? i know they use a disclaimer and all but still it always makes you wonder if its scripted like that or if it just comes out. he has to know who is watching these. ive actually stoped with that site all together because thats not what this should be about im all for pro and stories but sometimes even the stories need to be dialed back a bit.

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    1. Thanks for the comment.

      I read on Bard's site that Kevin does that. He said that he does it because his fans crave it and want him to do it. Here's the link to Bard's interview ... https://sidelineland.com/2013/05/17/filling-niches/

      It did make me cautious buying from them. While I don't even look at anything featuring Kevin, I have tried their superhero product, because, well, it's superhero content. I also bought two other matches featuring trusted wrestlers like Braden Charron, Damien Rush and Cal Bennett. Honestly, I wasn't enough of a fan of any of it to consider anything else.

      I'd say Bard is the expert on MDW if any reader wants more info. https://sidelineland.com

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  10. We thank everyone for their comments. We've made some adjustments and we ask that you give the match another look. The action, as most everyone here attests, is terrific. The audio, we hope, is now far less problematic.

    I can confirm Ty's comment that Guido most certainly was not directed to say anything offensive. It's de rigueur for BG directors, coaches and trainers to advise our workers, gay or straight, of the sensitivities of our very varied audience. We have never ever said or even implied that one of our workers should be treated as a "pansy boy". Nor was he or anyone else ever "told that being a heel in gay wrestling means boasting and bragging about how manly and Alpha he is, and how lacking his opponent is in contrast." And to suggest that we don't understand or appreciate the appeal of jobbers or that we consider them less virile or less talented is just ridiculous - as is the suggestion that we are "desperately trying to get a handful of guys over no matter what." To do so would fly in the face of smart business practice.

    We're a proudly gay business, the first and still virtually only such producer to proclaim so publicly. We know of no other company which has for over 25 years contributed a substantial amount of its profits to gay athletics and other LGBT causes. We take our responsibility to the LGBT community very seriously.

    This particular match was the 3rd or 4th and last of the day for Guido, and immediately followed a very tough, 'shoot' match which preceded it. Guido has an irrepressible personality, a mind and mouth of his own and given the context of the Demolition match, his comments at the time may not have seemed as bothersome as they did in the pre-edited version commented on here. We knew the action was terrific. This particular issue should have been noted in post-production but it wasn't. Nor did our writer for this product suggest it might be a problem. For this oversight, again, we apologize.

    I will also add that the BG Besties are nominated by a committee of our writers, customers who buy every product and staff, each choosing their 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices in each category which are then entered into numerical scoring system. We invite anyone qualified to serve on the nominating committee.

    Finally, there was a misunderstanding regarding how our'Own to Arena' service works. As one of the benefits of Arena membership, OTA is our newest way for members to purchase entire products for streaming, in addition to renting match VODs, but it does NOT require you to maintain an 'uninterrupted membership' in Arena. The 'ownership' is associated with a member account, for any time your membership is active. If you are a member one month and then not a member for a while, upon your return your owned-to-Arena product is still there, and can be viewed during any future membership period. We are building the infrastructure for many other options, and we think The Arena has many other amazing benefits.

    Thanks again to everyone for the input. We aim to please with the widest variety of wrestling product available and a customer service which has routinely and regularly won praise over our now 37 year history.

    Kid Leopard and the Staff at BG East

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    1. Kid Leopard, thank you for your swift action on this issue and for letting us know. Personally I am glad that this was caught before the video went out broadly.

      I haven't re-watched the video to confirm your post, but I have updated the review to reflect this comment, trusting that you've resolved the issue. The rest of the comments are for other commenters, so I'll leave it at that.

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  11. Kid! Thanks for the comment!

    I actually think Guido is awesome for part of the reason you guys seem to be drawing away from him. He kicks ass, talks shit, and doesn't care who doesn't like it. Dudes a bully, no if ands or buts about it. To me, if that's the character you're gonna play, commit to it and play it well. He does! That being said, I also defintiely PC radar hahaha. Ty's doing his thing here too. I've never been a big fan but he has been growing on me (that recent x fight match he had was a great showing, add a solid 15-20 lbs of muscle and I might be a true convert!)

    Great action, fun characters, I'll definitely give this another watch. With the sound on lol

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    1. Thanks man I've been working hard on doing that. Getting more defined each day. If you check out my Twitter and Facebook you can see the progress. :)

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