Whoops

UCW-Wrestling needs a better filing system. The "Lost Video Collection" is growing at an astounding rate. The company's latest release (#207) is a case in point. It's a time capsule of what UCW used to be and what, at its core, it still is. The match features two former UCW champs, Axel and James, and the irrepressible mania/genius of Joker. In an unusual stroke of whimsy, UCW teams Axel and Joker against James, who, speaking of "unusual," displays a bit of trash-talk attitude, thus instigating the fight. Everybody looks a little younger here, and we're looking at the old mat (through the old soft-focus camera), but the energy is what makes this video worth a look-see. It was its energy and freshness that made the company what it is, and if it takes losing and then finding a video every now and then to remind wrestlers and fans that energy and intensity are the soul of wrestling, maybe the old filing system is fine as it is.

The whole broil starts because James butts in on Axel and Joker while they're training, complaining that they're doing a move wrong. Axel reminds James that "training" means "doing something wrong." Joker skips the discussion stage altogether and proceeds to "do something wrong" all over James's body. Then he invites Axel to join in, which he does enthusiastically, dropping an elbow to the man's abs with a flip and deadpan "whoops." James, one of UCW's finest wrestlers, used to be shy about revealing his thighs, always hiding them under baggy shorts. In time, the boys help him out of them. Whether this was a first for UCW and James, I do not know. Still, it's great to see James having to job for his less polished trainees in one of the funniest gangups in UCW history.

>Surprisingly, 

Joker and Axel make good tag partners. Axel's a droll foil for Joker's crazy shenanigans, and here we see an early propensity for his sadistic side. Joker is the force of nature that he has always been, incoherent and witty in equal parts, uninhibitedly and gleefully an agent of chaos and destruction. It would be awesome to see these two teamed up once again someday, perhaps against an equally improbable team of Aron and Twisted Torment.