2017 Year in Review + 2018 Preview

Well, 2017 is pretty much done. It's year-end retrospective time at The Cave. Obviously, there's a ton of craziness in the world, especially for those of us living in the US, but my Canadian passport and proximity to the border gives me some level of comfort. And it's even resulted in a few marriage proposals (at least until the guys find out I'm staying put). Yes, Canada is cool these days.

Being Canadian became
cool(er) this year.

Anyway, this post is about the blog and there's only room for happy stuff in a year-end post. Accomplishments? Things I'll remember about this year? Here's a few ...

The Cast: Who's Who (December 2017)

Guys,

Last casting post of the year! So many guys this year, but as the cast develops, there are more and more repeats that I have to use. Still, I did get in a few new guys, like this month's Porter and Travis. And I love Koke, so I'm glad to have gotten him in action again.

Encounters: Model Roommates

Porter = Pietro Boselli (Model)

Review: Taylor Reign vs. Travis Bennett (Muscleboy Wrestling)

Of course I like it when producers come out with a ton of videos, but with so many options, it's easy to miss things. I haven't even really looked at Muscleboy Wrestling's fifth catalogue, still mired in the earlier rounds. During their last sale, I went exploring and like Christopher Columbus, I discovered something a ton of people knew about before me.

In this case, what I discovered was Taylor Reign vs. Travis Bennett. It's quite different than my previous MBW videos, but it's also really good.

Young bucks make like bulls to start this gem.

The Bat + SuperStar in "Toying with Trouble"

Outside Toyboy's Lair

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Let's go.”

I take a step forward, but SuperStar grabs me by the bicep. I can't move against his yellow sun-enhanced alien strength. I scowl as he asks, “Don't you think I should go first?”

My eyebrow raises under my cowl. I simply reply, “No.”

Review: Brute vs. Viking (Thunders Arena)

Viking vs. Brute is the second Thunders Arena match I recently purchased with the gorgeous 6'6" Viking against another big man. I've already reviewed Viking vs. Mack (review here), but this one was worthy of its own post. I fell in love with Viking from the first match I watched with him and that continues to know. Does this break his winning streak? Nope. It's a winner, too.

Thunders brings more big boys to the ring.

Review: Kid Karisma vs. Jobe Zander (BGEast)

A few days ago, Kid Karisma won my Favorite Heel at the Caveys for the second year in a row. Now the BGEast superstar is already out with another winning performance, angling for Favorite Wrestler, perhaps. He's pretty much a must-buy at this point, so Kid Karisma vs. Jobe Zander is one of the matches I've been waiting to make it onto VOD.

It's a bad boy bulge battle from BGEast.

2017 Cavey Awards: Promotions

Welcome to the third and final day of the 2017 Cavey Awards.

I've given awards to my favorite wrestlers and matches. Now, I recognize my favorite producers. This year, I'm singling out three promotions with gold, silver and bronze awards. I judge this based on my overall experience, including quality of wrestling action and video, appeal of their talent, as well as customer experience, including value (what I get for what I pay) and ease of doing business with them (e.g., distribution model).

2017 Cavey Awards: Matches

It's day two of the 2017 Cavey Awards.

Today, we're focusing on the matches. Even pairing the best wrestlers doesn't mean the match will be a winner. So here are my favorites where hot studs combined to produce magic. I shared the rules yesterday, but as a reminder, matches are eligible if I watched them for the first time between December 1, 2016 and November 30, 2017.

2017 Cavey Awards: Wrestlers

Welcome to the third annual Cavey Awards.

I really appreciate every single man who puts himself out there and wrestles for us. And that includes the guys I rave about, the ones I don't and the ones I've never even watched. And I really appreciate every company that releases gay-oriented wrestling videos. All of the wrestlers and producers are amazing and I know that all have fans who would give them an award.

The Caveys are simply my way to recognize a few of MY personal favorite wrestlers, matches and promotions for the year. I use the word ‘favorite’ deliberately. I don't claim these are the ‘best’. That suggests some kind of objective standard and ranking. These are 100% subjective and 100% mine. And I doubt anyone will agree with me on all of these. And that's cool. These are simply my favorites based on my feelings about what I watch this year.

CLAW 3: Koke vs. Max ‘Big Daddy’ Dickens

This story is a reader commission

CLAW Ring: Practice Time

“Hey, I'm a big fan, Mr. Dickens.”

Ignoring my buddy’s hand, the masculine hunk sneers, “Of course you are. You got the ring all set up? I like the ropes real tight and you amateur crew usually leave 'em too loose.”

Koke looks back at the ring then at me then back at Max. He says, "I'm not crew. I'm a wrestler. Name's Koke."

Max lets out a snort, "A speedo and dreams don't make you a wrestler, kid." The indie pro star flexes his biceps, "Muscles, personality and talent makes you a wrestler. You don't have the first two, so I'm betting you don't have the skills either."

I grab Koke by the shoulder and squeeze before he responds, making sure he stays calm as he's insulted by Max “Big Daddy” Dickens. My name’s Kwame. My buddy and me are pro wrestlers for the Championship League of American Wrestling or CLAW for short. We're new to the game, but we're learning fast thanks to our boss, Ben.

My buddy Koke

Review: Myles Morales vs. Sam Reddy (Movimus)

We headed back to the mat. Myles Morales vs. Sam Reddy from Movimus caught my eye for a few reasons. Both these guys are new to me, but I was attracted to their contrasting looks and body types. So when I found myself in the mood for some simple, classic submission action with no gimmicks, this one scratched that itched.

It's a battle of the body types on the mats.

Review: Steel vs. Frey Custom Series (Thunders Arena)

Sometimes people hurt the ones they love, right? I'm pretty sure whoever commissioned this custom Steel vs. Frey match loves the stunning young muscle god, but what a way to show it. Not that I'm judging. I love Steel and bought this from Thunders Arena pretty much right away when I saw it was Frey relentlessly wrecking him. So I get it.

And it was the right decision.

It's all downhill for Steel as Frey dismantles him.

Review: Krush vs. Lionel (Krushco)

It's a crazy end to the year on the wrestling scene. Everyone is putting out incredibly hot stuff all at the same time. Like this season wasn't expensive enough already, now you could easily spend hundreds of dollars just buying all the great action. It might take me until March to catch up on it all.

With all the amazing options available, two things drew me to buy Krush vs. Lionel from Krushco: Krush's opponent and the premise.

Krush and Lionel make the most of a
simple, clear and exciting premise. 

Review: Jonny Firestorm vs. Kirby Stone (BGEast)

No sooner did I upload a review commenting that the matches I want are always last to be uploaded to VOD than I go to BGEast and see two of the matches I want are available. This happened a couple of weeks ago, so I could've changed Sunday's post, but I figured I'd leave it. It was true at the time I wrote it and the broader point stands.

Of the two, I decided to watch Jonny Firestorm vs. Kirby Stone second, but review it first. Why? Well, it's the far better one. More than that, it's great on its own merits. Yes, I expected it to be good, but it's even better than I thought it would be, so I was immediately motivated to pull clips and post.

Jonny and Kirby face off in a intense pro battle.

Review: Viking vs. Mack (Thunders Arena)

It's nice to see Thunders Arena taking preparedness to a new level after Hurricane Irma. They have one Viking, but still went out and got themselves a spare. Smart. Viking's new doppelgänger is called Mack, like the truck brand. It makes sense to avoid confusion, although I might've gone with Viking 2 or Bizarro Viking.

Anyway, I was intrigued by the idea of seeing OG Viking battle this new Viking 2 dude, so I jumped at Viking vs. Mack. How did it go? Is it possible to have too much Viking? And what of my love for contrasts between wrestlers? No worries. This one worked out very, very well.

You can never have too many Vikings.

Review: Ty Alexander vs. Steve Mason (BGEast)

It's been about a year since I've been interested in more than three matches from a new BGEast catalogue, but the new catalogue 123 has four that I'm quite interested in seeing and three more I'm semi-interested in. Naturally, the ones I want most aren't available on VOD, yet. BGEast always seems to know which matches I'm most interested in and puts them up last. Perhaps it's an illusory correlation, but this time it's true.

While I wait, I decided to check out Ty Alexander vs. Steve Mason from catalogue 122. This wasn't on my initial list as it feels like I haven't bought a Wrestleshack match in a decade or more, but I like Ty and Steve seems cute, so I decided to give it a try. So how'd it go?

Steve's a handful for a dominant Ty.

Encounters: Model Roommates 1

This story is a reader commission.

Porter and Travis' Apartment. Los Angeles CA.


>“Just another couple of days, Porter. Next week at the latest. I swear I've got the money coming. I just got this booking for an underwear gig. What do you think?”

Me. Travis.