The Cast: Who's Who (May 2016)

Guys,

Here are this month's base models for my characters. Three new guys and I think they're great. In fact, one wrestles again this year and the other two will wrestle again next year.

Route 69: Bad Boys S106

Dylan = Evan Wadle (Model)

Review: #468 LS Powerhouse vs. Kenny Star (UCW)

As promised, I'm back with another review of a LS Powerhouse UCW match. Everything I said on Thursday holds true. Powerhouse is back with his big personality and bulging muscles, all wrapped in stunning purple pro trunks.

LS Powerhouse is back (buy it here)

In this match, Powerhouse faces off against Kenny Star, perhaps the hottest of the new pool of guys, which includes studs like Max Ryder, Nero Angelo and Derrick Cole. Star is tall, trim and scruffy with hair on his chest and a killer smile. He reminds me of someone famous, but I just can't pinpoint who it is.

Review: #449 LS Powerhouse vs. Victor (UCW)

As usual, I'm late to the game on UCW. The fact is LS Powerhouse vs. Victor came out months and months ago, but it sat on my iPad for awhile. Why? Who knows? But here we are. I've watched it. I liked it. I'm finally posting about it.

It's LS Powerhouse vs. Victor

You get used to certain things being a certain way. Outside of BGEast, most wrestling video producers have a look. It's like fraternities ... most of the time you can tell a Thunders man or a Rock Hard man. Same goes for UCW. For the most part, UCW guys aren't models, they're regular looking guys who are young with wiry bodies and some rough edges.

Review: Jake Jenkins vs. Austin Cooper (BGEast)

So all month, I've been doing some match pairs, like Demolition 19, Eagle/Brute, Duke/CT and now Jake/Austin. It's not surprising that these two wrestled each other more than once. They are, after all, friends and superstars who appeared at the same time in the same companies.

So today I'll cover their BGEast match, released almost exactly 5 years ago (June 2011).

Two superstars undeniably linked in greatness

Normally, I'm not a fan of buying the same pairings from different companies, but Jake Jenkins is clearly worth it. And Austin Cooper is no slouch, either. He makes up a large part of my collection, too. Fortunately, this Jake Jenkins vs. Austin Cooper video is a mat match and the action is different than the RHW 1.0 version of their battle. It doesn't feel duplicative or repetitive with what I reviewed on Sunday at all.

Review: Jake Jenkins vs. Austin Cooper (RHW 1.0)

It's time to look back at some of my favorite RHW 1.0 matches again.

To me, Jake Jenkins vs. Austin Cooper is another must-have classic from Rock Hard Wrestling's library. It's only three falls and you'll wish it was five, but we didn't know any better back then. This was a KOTR-level match before there was a KOTR.

Jake looks and sounds his best here. Decked out in dark red squarecuts, the smaller muscleman is stacked, his smooth pecs looking especially plump. His quiet charm is endearing and his moans will stick in your brain for a long time. Of course he also gets his fair share of dominant moments, showcasing his sexy confidence.

Yeah, I could've watched two more falls from these two

This isn't even the end of the match
if you're worried about spoilage

Review: Lazlo Kohl vs. Masked Menace (BGE)

Another BGEast catalog 113 match review today. This time, it's a match I VOD'ed from Masked Destroyers. From the first preview on the Arena, I knew I wanted Lazlo Kohl vs. Masked Menace. Now, both these guys are rookies, but one of them stood out for reasons I'll explain and the images really sold me that this could be very cool.

It's Lazlo Kohl vs. Masked Menace

Inspiration: Crossface

A good submission hold is a joy to behold. I use the crossface in my matches, but I don't think that it's particularly well-known. My computer keeps auto-correcting it to crossfire, so it can't be that big, right? Of course it also insists that suplex should be duplex and Movimus should be movies, so what does it know?

For me, this hold is most associated with the late Chris Benoit as his Crippler Crossface finisher. I know that he is an extremely sensitive and disturbing topic for obvious reasons. However, let's focus on this hold. The reason the crossface worked so well for him is that a smaller wrestler can effectively apply this on a bigger one.

Benoit takes down Cena

Smaller Jonny on bigger Guido (find it here)

The Cave: The Adventures of SuperStar 9

"Yes! Yes! Yes! I'll wrestle Thor anytime. Fuck, that's awesome!"

I just smile as I sit on the sofa, listening to my 22-year old boyfriend Jae. He's on the phone with Ryan, my best friend and business partner. We're the 29-year old co-owners of The Cave, a gay-oriented, superhero-themed wrestling video company.

Happy Jae

From the mention of Thor, I can guess what's being arranged. Jae sounds like a kid, bouncing in front of me as he works out the details. I'm amused by his enthusiasm at the chance to step into the wrestling ring with a bigger, older, more experienced muscleman.

Review: Duke Russo vs. CT Rematch (Movimus)

And I'm back. Yesterday, I covered the first Duke Russo vs. Case 'CT' Thornton encounter. Today, it's rematch time. I specifically made sure to write my review for the first match before watching this to ensure I wasn't influenced by anything that happened here. It turned out to be the right approach, because things change up a little, including a couple of my points from the first match.

Duke and CT are back at it

Review: Duke Russo vs. CT (Movimus)

In a recent blog post, Joe at Ringside at Skull Island said, "Either you like submission wrestling or you don't." I suppose that's true for some, but I think there are a lot of people who could like submission given the right wrestlers and the right action. I'm actually kind of like that, for example when Mikey Hanlon's working with his charming and cocky chatter.

Now, I'm really into Duke Russo with his wrestler's physique and steely determination. He's certainly another guy who has broken through for me, so I was definitely interested in picking up Duke Russo vs. Case 'CT' Thornton.

Now that's a genuine superhero pose right there

Review: Eagle vs. Brute 1+2 (Thunders Arena)

Thunders Arena released two Eagle vs. Brute videos. They’re one story, but they’re split with a “To be continuted [sic]” title card at the end of Part 1. I’m not sure why, but they did, so I decided to cover them together.

This pairing evokes a Beauty and the Beast ideal, if Beauty was a stunning lantern-jawed male model and Beast was a powerful 260-lbs pro wrestler who wanted to beat on Beauty. So maybe the analogy doesn’t hold together 100%, but I'm sticking with it.

Beauty hanging onto the Beast?

Review: Chace LaChance vs. Jayden Mayne (BGEast)

I'm back to discuss the third Demolition 19 match from BGEast. No controversy this time, but maybe that would’ve helped. Overall, this is a fairly lackluster entry that's light on action and heavy on boasting, standing/lying around and repetitive flexing.

Chace LaChance is probably a familiar face for most of you. He's a great looking, popular stud who's wrestled for almost everyone it seems. In this video, Chace's character is arrogant, vain and narcissistic. He's young, smooth and sporting tight orange briefs. I prefer his hairier look, but he's still hot here. You get lots of time to check him out, because he stands around a lot, striking the same 3-4 flexes multiple times as he checks himself out in the mirror.

Chace admires himself a lot in this video

Quick Hit: Alex Waters vs. Chad Daniels (RHW 2.0)

Joe at Ringside has said that he no longer calls his wrestling match posts reviews because the term 'review' connotes both expertise and objectivity on the part of the writer and he makes a claim to neither.

I feel a little like Elle Woods disagreeing with Aristotle when I say, "no offense to Joe, but I disagree on both points". In this "wisdom of crowds" age where anyone shares their opinion on everything, expertise should no longer be an expectation. And I think subjectivity is the essence of modern reviews. I do tend to follow a formula in my posts - personal tidbit, talent, gear, action, production (if there's something especially great or poor about it), summary then call for comments. But the opinions I express are extremely subjective. What I find attractive, interesting or valuable is obviously personal to me as it is to all of us.

I say all this because today's review of Alex Waters vs. Chad Daniels lacks both objectivity and expertise. There's simply no way I can review the return of Alex Waters objectively or on its technical merits. I was pre-disposed to enjoy this and I did. It's not the best Alex match, but it's a welcome addition to my collection.

Alex is back and he's bigger than ever

Review: Lon Dumont vs. Nicholas Rush (BGEast)

I got this BGEast match as part of Demolition 19 with Ty/Guido and Chace/Jayden. I figure it's like a bonus match. I had no expectations for it at all for a couple of reasons. I've never seen either of these guys in action before. In fact, I don't know much about either of them, in terms of personalities or wrestling ability.

Lon Dumont has been around awhile. I've mostly seen him featured on Bard's blog, as well as a few catalogue descriptions. I have nothing against the guy, he's just never really inspired me to plunk down my hard-earned money to watch him in action. Still, that's more than I can say about his opponent. I'd actually never even seen Nicholas Rush before. If you told me he was making his first appearance, I would've believed you.

Lon wants to outshine his former tag partner

Commentary: Gear Philosophy

I have a philosophy on wrestling gear. After there was a little discussion on the topic last month, I thought I'd share my point of view. After all, I have a blog. I have opinions. And not only was April my biggest month ever for views and comments, I was lucky enough to have the leaders of both BGEast and Thunders Arena post in my comment section, so I'm feeling cocky enough to tackle this controversial and very personal topic.

I do believe that gear matters. However, as Mr. Mike has apparently learned to his chagrin, there is no pleasing everyone. Tastes and preferences on the right attire are as personal as our feelings about eye color, smiles, tattoos, hair styles, body hair and any other element of personal appearance. We all have our thing and we should accept that other guys have their things.

Do clothes make the man? Or the match? Let's discuss ...
(Image: Bucky vs. Talon - Thunders Arena)

Route 69: Bad Boys S106

"Wow, we're really here, Hawk. We're trying out for THE Ring of Wrestling. I can't fucking believe it. Like, I just can't fucking believe it."

"Aw fuck yeah, Ryker. We're really here. It's totally happening, bro."

I smile at their awe, "Believe it. Impress me in the ring today and you'll be wrestling in ROW as our newest rising star."

Hawk grabs his tag team partner's shoulders from behind. The two of them are practically skipping to the ring I've secured for today's 'tryout'. These two have a ton of potential to become the hottest young tag team in indie pro wrestling, but they're still young and inexperienced. This opportunity I'm offering them is years ahead of schedule, so they're really eager to please.