Boo Hiss

The angular face of sandy-haired heel Stoney Hooker is a goldmine of expressiveness, as captured here in these fresh pictures by photographer Blake Arledge. The scene is a match against Jeff Connelly last Saturday at Union, South Carolina, for Trans-South Wrestling. Hooker's puss, handsomely degenerate from a certain angle these days, conveys haughty contempt, wretched agony, maniac rage, and dogged determination by turns. Late last year, a personal high point for me was to meet Arledge and his pals Alex Avgerinos, Tommy Too Much, and Stoney, who, in person, is as laid-back, warm, and polite as, in the ring, he acts the opposite. Sometimes I worry that meeting wrestlers I admire face to face will diminish them for me. So far, in my very limited experience, the opposite has been true.