Review: The Bigger They Are (Can-Am)

This video is a good reminder for me that we all have different tastes and perspectives. Certainly there are any number of wrestlers and videos that I see praised by others, but I don't enjoy. And I'm sure it's the same with things I like. We already see it in the comment section sometimes and I welcome (politely-stated) differing opinions.

I bring this up, because I'm not very positive towards Can-Am's "The Bigger They Are". I found it to be bland and lackluster. However, Jose at LaSustanciaP didn't review this, but he did give it a blue square in his September wrap-up post, which means he liked it. So I'll try to explain what I think this video is all about then leave it to you to decide.

Two tall guys facing off

I'm deliberately calling it a video as opposed to a match. This isn't a match so much as three stretches of domination where one guy acts like a wrestling dummy, offering no real resistance while the other stud applies one of the small handful of moves these two guys were taught.

Now, the guys are both attractive. They've got nice bodies and their gear is tight and tiny. They're both tall and lean. Zeke West (blue) is listed as 6'4"/220-lbs, looking like a water polo or volleyball player. Niko Knight (red) is 6'3"/227-lbs. He's more ripped, with chiseled abs and tattoos for a more typical muscle guy look these days. The studs were the big selling point for me and I wasn't disappointed in their looks.

The big drawbacks for me are the limited moves and unconvincing transition from round one and two where one guy goes from completing dominating for 15 minutes to then being a wet dishrag for the next 15. I'm all for suspension of disbelief, but this stretched mine a little too far.

Limited moves repeated over and over is not uncommon. It's also not necessarily a bad thing. It bugged me here because Can-Am has a bad practice of making their videos too long, in my opinion. This is a 50-minute video, but it should've been maybe 25-30. With nearly every move repeated then held for minutes, it got boring for me. I love a long-held hold, but these seem too long.

The second fall is pretty much a repeat of the first fall, only with the guys reversing position in the same holds. The third fall only offers two new elements (a brief pec claw and a finishing sleeper), otherwise it's a replay of earlier moves.

 There's a limit on how long I can watch guys stand like this

It's deja vu ...

all over again

The video name (The Bigger They Are) is also a little deceptive, because the guys are tall, but not "big". And even then, their height never even comes into play. There are no lifts, presses, slams, bearhugs, racks or any other typical big guy moves where size would matter. And because these two are comparable in height, you don't really even feel like they're that tall. Two 5'4" twinks could've made the same video.

One other thing that bugged me, but might not bug you, is that Knight (red) has an annoying way of narrating the match when he's suffering. He'll say things like "oh, your legs are too strong!", "I can't feel my abs!", but it's over-the-top compared to the action and it all rings false. I almost shut the volume off.

In the end, I'd say that if you're more into watching hot guys suffering than the actual wrestling action, you might like this more than I did. It wasn't terrible so much as just 'blah' to me. It would've been perfect for a "Quick Hit", except that I wrote this before I thought of that category and I'm not deleting all this hard work!

There's not much hard-hitting action in this video

I had to search for anything GIF-worthy

If you're a Can-Am TV user like me, you know it's a pay-per-minute service with a cost of anywhere between 20-cents and 67-cents a minute, depending on how many you buy. I'm in the lowest price bracket, but it still makes me more sensitive to unnecessarily long videos.

If you have a preference for seeing one particular guy dominate and one suffer, I've listed in the paragraph below when those breaks happen. This might help you manage your minutes since this is like three squashes in one.

SPOILER ... If you want to see West (blue) dominate and Knight (red) suffer, watch the first and third fall. The first two minutes are Knight stretching. The first fall runs from around 2 minutes through 18 minutes. If you like knockouts more than submissions, the third fall does end with a sleeper by West. The third fall is pure West domination and runs from 35 minutes to 50 minutes (the end). On the other hand, if you want to see Knight dominate and West suffer, just watch the second fall from 18 minutes to 35 minutes. END SPOILER

Have any thoughts on this match? Let everyone know what you think in the comment section!

Alex