Blackout

I still feel nothing but unbounded hatred for the creep who stole some of my prize VHS tapes of underground wrestling from BG East, Can-Am, and Old Reliable. Now, about ten years later, and I could still slit that cumbucket's throat with no more conscience than I would feel over boning a chicken. I exaggerate, of course, so if the guy is found floating face down in Jordan Lake anytime soon, don't come looking my way--but don't expect me to shed a tear either. Happily, some of these tapes have been replaced with DVDs over the intervening years, but some, like my subject today, have been irreplaceable. 

You can still buy a DVD of BG East's Paradise 4, featuring BGE-sponsored oil-wrestling matches at the Paradise night club in the Boston area, but it no longer features one of my favorite matches, Marky Mark challenging the evening's emcee Cruze. Marky Mark's contributions to Fantasymen 9 and Fantasymen 10 have likewise vanished, why and when I cannot say. What dark lords of underground wrestling did he offend? Or, worse, as far as I am concerned, did he eventually find Jesus and kink-free wholesomeness and demand his matches' removal from the BGE web site? Glimpses of him can still be found on BGE's Arena, and his contests survive in the memories of his fans, including Bard who mentioned him fondly in a blog posting some three years ago and who even made Paradise a station in his pilgrimage last summer to the BG East facilities. Just last night my pal and fantasy wrestling partner GB pitted Marky against another BGE favorite, Beau Nasty, in a vicious and titillating heel-versus-heel match. That's what inspired this reminiscence. And I'm pretty sure Marky featured in our first or one of our first fantasy wrestling adventures several years ago.

Marky exuded carnal heat in a way few wrestlers in underground wrestling have. He boldly exploited the sensuality of wrestling, never more so than in this now lost oil-wrestling bout with Cruze. He was muscular and strong, but not sculpted and manscaped like most of today's crop of wrestlers. Marky looked like the roughneck next door, with a leering arrogance that won me over immediately, that and his patch of unwaxed hair surrounding his navel. I know from good authority that safety and insurance concerns brought BG East's live audience shows to an end. I'm not sure why oil wrestling was abandoned, perhaps because Can-Am had done almost everything that could be done with oil wrestling. I wish I still had my hands on the Marky Mark matches. For now, some stills in the Arena and these captures from a trailer are all I have left to remember him by.