The Cast: Who's Who (May 2020)

Guys,

For the second year in a row, I used my May 1st post to share a story from a guest writer. You're all on notice that you have 11 months to write something and send it my way to keep the tradition going! Anyway, that means only one story with casting I know about this month. However, there were five hot hunks in this one, so it all balances it out in the end.

Rival Pro Wrestling 7

Ramsay = Nick Sandell (Model)

Review: Lane Hartley vs. Kelly King (BGEast)

It's interesting watching a BGEast "Pros in Private" match in the context of the current climate. It's on trend and relevant, given that the big guys are basically featuring "pros in private" matches on TV nowadays, making the guys adapt to working without crowds. Lane Hartley vs. Kelly King is a complete match that could easily be featured on TV and be one of the hottest matches on any show.

Kelly and Lane don't need a crowd
when they battle for top ... stud.

In Search of the Elusive Perfect GIF

So, I'm a little obsessive about silly things. Not so much that it derails my life but enough that it makes me waste time. Like creating "perfect" GIFs. I succeed very, very rarely, but when I do, I feel a sense of pride. Internal pride, that is. The only time I remember someone else actually mentioning it was the guy behind Bearhugger.net who featured my Derek Bolt elbow dropping Dax Carter GIF. Given pretty much no one actually cares about, why even mention it?

Well, I've actually created two recently that I consider "perfect", which made me decide to make this post. That and I didn't have a match to review. I'm still obsessed with Bull/Brendan (review here).

One person was enthralled with this GIF.

Review: Brendan Byers vs. Bull Barrett (MBW)

Full disclosure: This video was sent to me by Muscleboy Wrestling.

All of the quotes under the images come from Pat Benetar's "Sex as a Weapon" which is a pretty good title for this one. I admit that I got lost in Brendan Byers vs. Bull Barrett pretty fast. It might be the best thing I've watched all year, because it made me forget about everything but the video. I longed to be there and be part of it (alternating between wanting to be Brendan and Bull), the raw intensity is that strong.

You know you’re already my obsession,
Sex as a weapon.

Review: Scrappy vs. Jesse Zane (Muscleboy Wrestling)

I haven't reviewed a Scrappy match for three months. Remarkable. There's no wrestler I've blogged about more in my 5+ years of blogging. There's no wrestler who's won more Caveys, including being my Favorite Wrestler twice in the last three years. The gap wasn't deliberate, just a confluence of events that led me to not seeing the young stud in action. Shame on me.

Scrappy!

Review: Cameron vs. Graham Varnett (W4H)

Cameron: "I knew when I saw your picture that I was going to take you on today, I was going to stretch you out, beat you up, and make you scream, 'I quit, I quit'."

In my review of Cameron Matthews vs. Max Quivers, commenter Mbros83 wrote, "I think [Cameron] makes a better heel ... when he shows his dark side, it’s perfection." When I asked for suggestions, Mbros83 replied, "Absolute favorite is W4H Cameron vs Graham Varnett." Imagine my surprise to find it currently streaming on Wrestler4Hire! I'd obviously missed it, because I normally watch all Cameron matches (but it was still on page one, so it hasn't been up that long).

Cameron: "I want more than a vocal submission.
I want him to surrender it all."

Rival Pro Wrestling 7: Ramsay vs. Lance

Rival Pro Wrestling. Locker Room. Now.

My buddy rubs my left pec and steps into me, “Ramsay, we can fuck any time you want, but as your friend, I think you should clean up, grab a towel and head to Javi’s office for a chat.”

Review: Bobby Bryce vs. Zach Reno (W4H)

Bobby Bryce vs. Zach Reno from Wrestler4Hire is a match I've actually been sitting on for a while. I had it ready to go then I got distracted and didn't remember about it until I saw Bobby Bryce vs. DJ Beckham on streaming. I thought about doing both together, but I'd already pulled like 13 GIFs from this one alone. Plus, they're very different matches, so it would've been a really long post.

Is young Bobby Bryce ready to be a wrestler for hire?

Review: Cameron Matthews vs. Max Quivers (W4H)

Cameron Matthews in the catalogue description: "There’s something stimulating about seeing how much hurt and humiliation I can take, testing my survival instinct, exploring my pain threshold, especially against opponents who are way, way bigger than me. Max Quivers is way, WAY bigger than me ... and this time, he paid to bring the pain, and it’s my job to give a paying customer what he wants."

Not that I needed to be sold on Cameron Matthews vs. Max Quivers from Wrestler4Hire, but the video description definitely made me even more interested when this popped up on streaming. The opening quote is some great insight into Cameron's jobber mentality - he's a great wrestler, but he gets "stimulated" by offering him up to bigger men to test himself. Sounds like a plan to me.

Is Cameron about to shock the world!

Review: Brad Honeycutt vs. Gabe Steel (MBW)

Brad Honeycutt: "Steel has been known to bend. And in some cases, Steel has been broken. Today, I'm gonna bend you. And I'm gonna break you."

Brad Honeycutt vs. Gabe Steel is one of the three matches to which I was immediately drawn from this latest Muscleboy Wrestling catalogue, along with Bull vs. Greco (reviewed here) and Byers vs. Brody (reviewed here). They make a great set, actually. Each one leans more "muscle" than "boy" but they have very different vibes and they've all been really good in their own way.

The musclemen are all business in this one.
The asskicking business, that is.

Review: #703 El Fuego vs. Wolf Boy (UCW)

Conversations are weird these days because there's not really much new. At least in my life or the life of my family and friends. We're all dutifully staying sheltered and safe. However, there is some news in the blogosphere. Gym Dude has a new story on Mangler's blog (all you Gym Dude fans can thank me, since, by using transitive property, I am 100% responsible for this). And on Twitter in a reply to Ash DeLeon on 4/27, Bard teased a blog reboot (for which I am roughly 0% responsible).

So, some good news. And here's more good news, El Fuego is still a masked stud that I love watching in action.

All right, guys, let's get it on.

Fan Fiction: "When Are We Gonna Wrestle?"

I received this as a gift from two fans of the blog with permission to publish it.

They even supplied all the images.

“When are we gonna wrestle?”

Every time I was in Mike’s presence, I’d ask him that question. This went on for a few years. Finally, he relented – but with conditions: we would wrestle in our underwear. I insisted that we be shirtless (I actually wanted us to wrestle nude but I had to compromise.) He agreed to go shirtless but countered that we should also be barefoot. (I wanted to wear socks.) I suggested that we video the match so that we could watch it together later. He agreed, rather reluctantly, after I suggested that we wear black satin, full-face masks to remain anonymous. I also promised that I would disable the audio so that our voices wouldn’t be heard.

There was one more condition to the match but I’ll get to that later.