Tall Drink of Water

In UCW-Wrestling's latest video, Axel tangles with lanky Butch Steel, 6'2", 180#, who made his Freestyle Combat League debut late last month. The poker-faced, deep-voiced Texan takes some gentle ribbing for his accent, which is like flypaper for vowels. Slow moving at first, the match gains momentum when Butch yanks at Axel's hair and gets the former champ's juices rolling--two points in Butch's favor. His experience in wrestling is mainly private underground matches back in his home state, so it's understandable why he might seem a bit rusty at selling moves and performing for an audience, though I'd be sorry to see him lose his natural reticence and start pandering to the camera. His tight-lipped reserve might even work in his favor eventually, especially given his propensity for fighting dirty. And it's a fit for UCW's typically laid-back manner. In an introductory promo with BodySlam, Butch confesses, "I love having no rules," but in his first outing we don't get any of the promised eye-poking. Just as well, I suppose. Axel needs his eyes. We do get UCW's old reliable arsenal of chokes, gut punches, crotch grabs, and flashes of butt crack, however. So even with a new face from a different neck of the woods, we know we're still in UCW country.