Review: Austin Cooper vs. Mark Muscle (Wrestler4Hire)

Mark Muscle is a big man. He's got a freakishly amazing physique for a guy his size. It's easy to see why he's showing up all over the place, including Thunders Arena, Muscle Domination Wrestling and Wrestler4Hire. And yet, I haven't been compelled to jump on the bandwagon. I did buy Mark Muscle vs. Scrappy a while back, but I haven't actually watched it yet.

Mark Muscle dwarfs Austin Cooper.

In our wrestling world, being 6' tall often makes you a giant. So at 6'4"/265-lbs, Mark is really massive and impressive, but not necessarily interesting to me. When you've got a guy like this, the first thought is one-sided squashes. And there's a big audience for that. However, suddenly I'm seeing the guy getting beat up all over the place.

A superman brought to his knees?

Could the mighty Mark Muscle be turned into a massive muscle jobber? Is he suddenly the squashee instead of the squasher? It sure looks like Thunders' Mark Muscle vs. Jake video has him losing decisively to the smaller newbie, while MDW is featuring Mark Muscle vs. Mountain using a wrestling trope that Wrestling Arsenal calls "fat > muscle".

Hm, interesting. I know from my comments there are guys that will hate this shift, but those other squash matches still exist. I think of it as variety.

As luck would have it, Wrestler4Hire uploaded muscle-monster Mark in a ring against Austin Cooper from Wrestler4Hire. In spite of the size difference, it looked back-and-forth, skewing to Coop. As a paying subscriber, this match is freely available to me, so I decided to check it out to see how the big man jobs before shelling out any more dough then finding out he sucks at selling.

It's all fun and games at the start.

The challenge with any of these "small > big" is believability. I mean, there's always a level of disbelief suspension that's necessary, but the idea of Mark Muscle being the jobber to a much smaller man could test anyone's limits. It needs to be done right, otherwise it can really lose you as a viewer.

This match has mostly excellent shifts to Austin-dominance with only a couple of real disbelief testing ones. It's not a complete "squash", but Austin dominates more. And the biggest loser is Mark Muscle's black trunks. They lose the battle with his ass, unable to control the smooth mounds.

Poor black trunks. They never stood a chance.

It only takes 3 minutes for things to really get going, but it felt longer to me with flexing and arm wrestling. The remaining 17 minutes are solid action with some pauses for flexing by the dominant wrestler thrown in.

Mark Muscle helps sell Austin's control by being more interested in flexing and posing than winning. Typical big man arrogance creates opportunity. It also helps that Austin Cooper is no amateur. He knows enough to make any match a fight.

It's great that you love your muscles. We all do.

But maybe you should love them before
and after the match, not during?

To me, the easiest ways to take down a big man both involve going low. Attack the legs or the bulge. Austin agrees, using both in this match to control big Mark. He also adeptly uses chokes, an eye gouge and neck work. Austin also exploits Mark's lack of flexibility, a result of his over-sized muscles and perhaps a proper stretching routine.

Austin's experience comes through.

Bring the beast down to your level.

Even muscle monsters need to breathe.

So all those moments are great. The only things on the opposite side are Austin's assault on the core and shoulders. Not sure I buy them, but give Mark credit here. He is a surprisingly vocal, expressive and eager seller. His gasps of pain and the agony on his handsome face help you immerse yourself in this match. And fortunately Austin's core work does set up a later move so you can more likely buy that an ab stretch is really painful for Mark.

See, it's not a 100% squash.

Mark gets to show some real power.

But watch this to see Austin exploit Mark's
weaknesses, like not being very bendy.

In the end, I enjoyed seeing Mark and Austin go back and forth before Austin takes control for good. It wasn't perfect, with Mark coming across a little weak at times, but the vast majority of it really works. I'd say that if you like the scenario of a little muscleman taking down a big muscleman, you should check it out.

I haven't seen the Thunders or MDW versions of Mark Muscle-jobber, so I can't compare, but this worked for me. And thanks to Mark's selling, I am kind of tempted to plunk down some cash on one of his other jobber outings.

What are other bloggers saying?

SIDELINELAND: MUSCLE AND CLASS

So that’s my take. What’s yours?

Alex