Battle of Troy

Troy Baker, 5'10", 168#, and Ricky Martinez, 5'9", 167#, don't have a lot to say to each other in the third and final match of BG East's Wrestler Spotlight: Troy Baker, and that's just fine with me. Grunting, groaning, slapping of skin on skin, though, are always music to my ears. Both men are at their peaks in this contest, rolling with muscle, slick with sweat, having shed the boy-band downiness of their earliest BGE appearances to look ripe and manly for this battle. 

The match is immediately preceded by another fine fight, subjecting Troy to the sado-erotic attentions of Jarrett Cole, a man I've always enjoyed watching in action, mostly for his ferocity and unabashed sexualization of combat. I have no idea in what order the matches were actually shot, but their ordering here suggests that Jarrett's rough and sensuous handling of Troy in middle match triggers the tan blond's taste for aggression, just in time for this bout with Ricky.

Troy and Ricky appear to be caught in an undertow of escalating brutishness as the guys grapple intently at first and then move on to a raw slugfest, in which the body blows are not pulled and not playful. It seems less like a grudge match, though, than a testing of physical and emotional limits for both men. Each is ready to cross some lines and see just what he is capable of doing ... and taking. Both enter the claustrophobic toolshed at the BG compound ready to reinvent themselves--and this is one of those competitions in which the loser is left staggering, clutching for support just to stand, and even the victor limps away with a few scrapes on his gym-toned body.