Review: #642 Austin Tyler vs. El Fuego (UCW)

This is officially the least UCW match I can remember from UCW. If that sounds like a criticism, it’s not. I enjoyed this quite a bit and it required two viewings to get through. The wrestling is hot, the guys have arguably UCW’s sexiest bodies and the whole thing it produced well. So, my opener is a provocative observation, meant to be somewhat intriguing but mostly informative.

It's a really good and really unique match from UCW.

Austin Tyler vs. El Fuego is a surprisingly simple 22-minute back-and-forth mostly-submission style battle. The ring does come into play a few times, but what I remember most are the exquisite arm holds, firmly flexing chokes, and body-bending entanglements (and a surprising number of leg drops). Seriously, who knew hammerlocks could be so hot? They are.

Now to the bigger point, why is this match so un-UCW? Well, for several reasons ...

Hammerlocks have a moment in this one.

Shoulders are tested repeatedly in interesting ways.

And they're combined with other holds, like this OTK,
an upside down bearhug and a slam.

The wrestlers are physically and attitudinally different from what I consider the UCW norm. Both are muscular with very little body ink. These guys could easily pass for a Muscleboy Wrestling or 88Wrestling pairing. Beyond his awesome body, El Fuego seems like a perfectly affable fellow. He’s soft-spoken and even his ‘trash talk’ sounds nice.

Austin Tyler has always been unique at UCW. A trained pro wrestler, he’s a grunter more than a trash talker, attractively confident more than cocky, a consummate professional and thickly powerful with the best legs in gay-oriented wrestling videos. No arguably qualifier. I’m just stating it as a fact. He confirms it for me again with a fantastic scissors and the claim that, "these legs can crush a watermelon." I bet they can.

El Fuego proves he's a major stud.

Austin's not holding back.

There's a little of that pro wrestling experience.

Not surprisingly, given the guys, the wrestling is different, too. Action-wise, there’s no brutality, low blows, ball grabs, dirty tricks, butts, or general wackiness. There’s minimal palpable animosity, trash talk, or sweat. I found it to be all quite civilized with both of them showing off a ton of skill.

I totally remember all the shoulder and arm work, which is unusual, but it’s true. They’re used frequently and with intensity. A couple of times, it seems like one fellow applies things a little too hard, earning a “whoa” from his opponent. Every arm hold shows of their selling, their sculpted pecs as they arch to ease the pain and the dominance of the applied. It made the video unique and hot as heck.

The only place where there’s obvious tension is at the end and that’s only obvious because it’s literally stated. After the winner gets a pin (surprising himself and me), he goes back in for a submission because the loser ‘pissed him off’ (surprising me). Really? I’m not sure why he’s pissed off, but I’m happy about it, because the final submission is yet another hot moment and, I admit, does make a better ending than a pin. Maybe from one of the too-firm shoulder submission holds.

El Fuego can't resist grabbing that hair and
there's nothing Austin can do about it.

El Fuego's ripped, but Austin's the Gorilla.

Can the Gorilla be tamed by the masked rookie?

In the end, this match was both surprising and super-hot. Both guys are great looking, skilled wrestlers and thoroughly enjoyable to watch. It wasn’t what I expected from UCW, but it was probably best as a simple stud vs. stud battle for dominance.

What are other bloggers saying?

RINGSIDE: SNAP!

So that’s my take. What’s yours?

Alex