Review: Joey King vs. Ludwig (Thunders Arena)

Full disclosure: This match was provided to me by Thunders Arena.

I'm pretty much at the end of the Thunders matches that were sent to me. For now, at least. There are a few more I haven't watched, so maybe one day. There were a few that were neither good enough nor bad enough to inspire a review. Joey King v Ludwig was in the former category, but a commenter asked about it, so I decided to take a look.

Joey and Ludwig go for a spin.

Joey King is back. The hairy pro wrestling hunk is always hot as hell. He's self-effacing, putting other guys over and using his skills to elevate their videos. I find him charming and very watchable with a high success rate for entertaining me. He's one of the best choices to pair with a young, inexperienced bodybuilder as he can keep the sound and action going. He is winded throughout the video, but no surprise given the amount of beef he's moving.

Joey is his usual charming, talented self.

Ludwig is young and mighty, the kind of stud Thunders specializes in. I imagine he appeals to the classic Thunders fan. At least he should. He's in those amazing blue posers that always look awesome on smaller men. On a beast like Ludwig, they're practically microscopic, completely unable to handle his mountainous ass or prominent bulge.

So he's a very impressive-looking big man. Probably one of the best. The young bodybuilder is also German, a fact of which Joey King often reminds us. It really comes across in language and trash talking, but also leads Joey to call him Terminator. This fact gives him something unique to stand out from the other similar guys.

If I called W4H's Blake Starr "Slim McSmiley", should
I call Ludwig "Muscles McSmiley"?

Those posers never stood a chance.

So the guys are hot, but how's the match? This is another revenge story. Joey was apparently humiliated in their first encounter, which was part of Ludwig's debut. This time, the pro wrestler swears he's ready and he's going to take the big German Terminator down. The hairy hunk is dwarfed by the massive muscleman, but he's going to give it his all.

Yeah, Joey, that was a bad plan.

A big body needs a big pair of scissors.

Ludwig's a big man with a big bearhug.

They made the smart choice, having Joey control the moves and tempo, as it looks like Ludwig has limited skills. He has only a couple of offensive moves - the bearhug and suspended choke - otherwise he's mostly just powering out of Joey's moves. This gives Ludwig an undeserved air of confidence and invincibility. The hairy pro wrestler does a good job with his various holds, but I really wished they had all worked.

If I used a personal scale of 1-10 for young bodybuilder characters where Steel is a 10 and Travis is a 1, I'd give Ludwig a 6 or 7. He doesn't really do anything wrong, but he doesn't show me anything, either. I will give Ludwig credit for losing the smiles and selling near the end of the video as Joey puts him into a hot series of holds. So that and the fact that he's so spectacular looking is what bumped him up from a 5 for me.

A good move for a novice powerhouse -
grab around the neck and lift.

Joey does put Ludwig in fun positions.

This long-held camel is probably the best moment.

In the end, this would probably not have motivated a review from me. It was good, but not great and I didn't really remember any part of it after viewing. When I was pulling stuff, the camel was pretty good. I might re-watch that. Anyway, I expect that this will really appeal to guys wowed by big bodies. Joey does a good job leading the action, but overall it just never really clicked with me.

What are other bloggers saying? I can tell you that Joe liked this video and Ludwig much more than me, so check out his review for a different opinion.

RINGSIDE: TERMINATOR

So that's my take. What's yours?

Alex