No Fear, No Limits, No Mercy

I can't say why most gay wrestling fans like squash jobs and I don't. I understand the appeal of seeing a beautiful young body stretched out in taut, glistening display, but I don't get how beauty and youth alone warrant total demolition in the end. (It's sexually symbolic--I get that much--it's just not a symbol that often reverberates with me.) I prefer to watch two equals fight each other, with no predestined outcome. If this means I have the tastes of a straight wrestling fan, so be it. I kinda doubt a straight fan gets the wood I get off an evenly matched fight, but I have never contended that my finger is on the pulse of what gay men like (or "ought to" like). 

I've also got something of a thing for payback--call it a "justice fetish"--that likes the big mean heel to get his by the end of the match, by a spectacular (even if implausible) reversal of fortune. I like the ultimate triumph (after prolonged and strenuous ordeal) of beauty over beast, youth over age, virtue over vice, skill over connivery. My favorite wrestlers are the heels, which may partly account for my opposite response to hunk bashes. I don't know. It doesn't make sense. As I said, "I can't say why." None of this is meant to imply that I disapprove of fantasies of squashing pretty boys--or that I can't enjoy a good "bash" (though, admittedly, in my mind I usually "rewrite" the ending).

BG East's Hunkbash series often mitigates my dilemma by providing heels who are themselves hunky. This is the case in this summer's Hunkbash 12, in which Donnie Drake, Dick Rick, and Kid Karisma, all certified capital-S Studs, as well as capital-D Dicks, dispose of three pretty victims with long, grueling, moan-enriched holds that effectively punish the boys for muscle, youth, and beauty not all that significantly greater than the heels' own. The set on sale now, either as a combo package or as individual matches, marks a high point for the Hunkbash series, I think, because of the remarkable physiques, wrestling abilities, and (there's that word again) "beauty" of the hunks--and of the hunk-bashers too. These fights provide few and hardly countable breathers for Braden Charron, Austin Cooper, and Jake Jenkins. For all intents and purposes, their suffering is nonstop--and as delectable as you might hope for. In each case there's a point where the victim rallies and gets in a few good licks, but don't blink or you may miss it. This is good news for gay wrestling fans in general.

Hunkbash 12 is peak BG East. The holds are as stunning as you'll see anywhere. Over the top, even. Drake and Rick are at the top of their games in the pro-wrestling world right now, and so simply their presence here is (to risk hyperbole--which, after all, is the soul of wrestling's carny tradition) historic. Charron is huge now--physically one gigantic knot of titanium that is almost indestructible. Karisma's gift for surprising cruelties appears to be limitless. And Cooper and Jenkins will get your juices flowing (or nothing will) not just for their adorableness but also for the robustness and spectacle of their struggle against insurmountable force. This release (this whole series) is a must for squash lovers--but for the quality of the wrestling and the virility of the competitors, it's also a must for those, like me, less dependably gung-ho for the angle.

Comments

  1. Yep, I love squash matches but BG's heels are way too pretty. They need a vicious Brooklyn Bodywrecker back in the fold. Or maybe an Asian madman: Mr. Krushito or something.

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  2. Just checked out the entire DVD write up on BGEast and looks like an order from me! Love how they put 2 of the 3 beautiful jobbers in those patriotic teeny weeny speedos. Love the theme - BG East is getting back to it's glory days it looks like, rather than 2 athletic guys just having an afternoon work-out (Austin vs. Jake, their only other work so far for both, is a no-go for me). I used to enjoy in the EARLIEST days of BG how they almost borrowed from wrestling TV shows with the heel rising through the ranks and the goody two-shoes rising and taunting each other and then the big show-down.

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  3. @Mark: On the notion of "rising through the ranks," I think I could really get into a series of squash jobs in which two brawny heels dispense with a series of beautiful jobbers just to get a crack at each other--the climactic heel-vs-heel bout being the even match I tend to prefer anyway, but built upon the fallen bodies of pretty muscle boys that have been chewed up and spit out by the two rising silverbacks.

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  4. I also love a through-story, and I'd love to see a rising through the ranks scenario as two heels charge inevitably toward a put-up-or-shut-up showdown!

    Jake Jenkins is bringing tears to my eyes in the pics from Hunkbash 12. I'm instantly transported to the 1980s, with my pulse pounding in my ears as Kevin Von Erich climbs barefoot into the ring against a nasty bad boy.

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  5. @Bard: I know, I know. I was close to making a KVE analogy too. It has to be deliberate, right? But it works. Jake looks fantastic in white trunks. You really should see the matches, Bard. This is a no-bullshit recommendation.

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  6. Joe... totally agree on the even "back and forth" match. A match like that really gets my juices flowing. Like not knowing the outcome the first time I view the match. Usually like you've said before I can forcast the outcome of the match during the ring intros... sometimes during the walk to the ring... sometimes when I hear the names announced. Watching a couple of built, clean cut, scientific and aggressive wrestlers going at it is a total turn on. Still I know many more gay wrestling fans like the squash match or the heel totally annilating the hero. I can get into a hunky heel working over the "prettyboy", but even then I want to see some attempt at a rally by the hero. The outcome really depends on how I feel about the two wrestlers... do I want the hero or the heel to win. One of my personal favorites is when two fan favs go against one another and one of them gets frustrated and gets a little rough... that's the best. BTW... I just found your site a while ago and I find myself in agreement with many of your views and opinions. Keep it up. Thanks. Also a Joe

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  7. i got the VOD for Jake's match. i wish the other two would become VOD too, i'd grab them in a heartbeat...

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  8. Jake Jenkins is one of the best barefoot wrestlers I've ever seen, if not the best, wrestling for any company. I'd rate him ahead of most of my previous favorites: Roy Montana and Luiz Rivera from the Tennyson series; Ben Quest from the JPWA; Drake and Flash from NRW; and the best of the BGEast barefooters: Tarzan Reese, Alexi Adamov, Chace, PJ, Andy Hammer. Jake's dark hair wlooks great with the white speedos and knee pads, and he sells pretty well too. Hope to see more of him.

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  9. The Karisma/Jenkins match is pure gold! Haven't seen a squash like that in years! For someone relatively young, he has the finesse, looks and attitude of a Brad Rochelle, a Paul Perris, a Rio Garza, and is talented and actually knows wrestling! The match is outstanding--the bending around the ring post, the over the knee stretch, holding him upside down pre-Boston crab, and those tight, painful reverse bear hugs at the end are extraorinary! The squash of the year in my opinion!

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  10. Right there with you on seeing a hard-fought, even match.

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  11. "Hunkbash 12 is peak BG East."

    Totally agree! This is one set where all three matches are smoking hot and definitely worth buying. "Bashers" Kid Karisma, Dick Rick and Donnie Drake are in top form and who can resist "hunks" like Jake Jenkins, Austin Cooper and muscle stud Braden Charron. All six guys show great wrestling ability and, whether punishing or suffering, really know how to sell a match. Excellent work from all involved.

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