Getaway

Michael Hannigan has a cozy setup here. A multilevel suite in a plush hotel, with built-in whirlpool bath (heart-shaped), flatscreen TV, and a skyline view. The pay at UCW-Wrestling must be getting pretty damn good to cover a getaway like this one. Mike is living large until he gets blindsided by his old arch-enemy and inescapable stalker Twisted Torment. Mike and Twisted took an instant dislike to each other when they first crossed paths late last summer, and they've been gunning for each other ever since. But a four-star hotel, miles away from home, in the lap of luxury, is the last place Michael expected to encounter his nemesis again. "You can't go anywhere without me," Twis hisses menacingly. "You'll never get rid of me!" Suddenly Harrah's Resort is looking a lot like the Bates Motel!

Take away all the fancy trappings, and what we have here is a fairly typical UCW fight to the finish. Punching, ripping, stripping, whipping, biting, strangling, drowning (okay, not so typical, that one), ball-busting, gut-gripping action. It's a fierce give-and-take fight, featuring two guys who have been bent on mutual destruction for going on eight months now. Twis has the upper hand at first, thanks to the element of surprise, but Hannigan's a lot tougher and a whole lot savvier an opponent than he used to be. This is no walk in the park for Twisted, and when Mike turns the tables on him, he tries desperately to squirm away. But once you check in to this row, there is no checking out!

The climax of the battle lands the two combatants in a private plunge pool. It's UCW's first try at a pool fight, and despite the restrictions in space and camera angle, it's a good one. And just when it looks like Mike's going down for the third time, in struts Axel to help save the day--and, gentlemen, we are talking Axel with a buzzcut with sideburns, a few more pounds of muscle since last we saw him, and the tee-tiniest speedo in the world. One word, three letters: Yum. It's Axel's best look to date, in my opinion, pure tough guy, and he and Michael ply into the Twisted One with the intent of getting this freak out of both their lives once and for all!