World Domination

The world of Muscle Domination Wrestling is 100% heel. That doesn't mean everybody wins. It just means that everybody's mean. Bigger, stronger meanies feed on the smaller, weaker meanies. It's a cold, cruel world devoid of honor, loyalty, fair play, kindness, and mercy. No babyfaces allowed. Nobody here seems to be motivated by anything other than love of money and unregulated power. A social darwinist utopia, it could also be called an Ayn Rand wet dream (that is, supposing Ms. Rand's pussy was not in fact as cold, chapped, and cramped as I suspect it was). This leather-and-latex world, however, is sexy. Over half the population is brutally handsome. They are strong, hairy-chested, square-jawed, and masterful. They are the alphas, they rule this world, and they call the shots.

I refer to MDW's recently released epic Ultimate Mastodon Tournament, a four-hour omnibus of four previously released matches and four brand-new, never-before-seen beatdowns, strung together as episodes in an overarching narrative. The online catalog describes it like this:

What happens when galaxy sized egos become contained in one house in a battle for alpha supremacy? Seven of MDW's finest pumped up studs have entered themselves into the Mastodon's wrestling tournament to test these questions and experience the thrill of natural selection through the medium of hard, full bodied contact, sweaty shit talking altercations, and a whole slew of other cocky collisions. [....] Pervading throughout the house is a jockish pulse and a need to be top dog. There can be no question as to the temperament hanging in the air--ruthless aggression.

We are far, far away from Care Bear territory here.

As the title suggests, Morgan Cruise aka "The Mastodon" rules over this house with an iron fist. Unrelentingly. He is not just the creator and overlord of the wrestling tournament but also its star contestant, almost as if Donald Trump competed in All-Star Celebrity Apprentice along with judging the other contestants' performances and handing out the prizes. Sound unfair to you? Well, fuck you, pussy boy! This is Survivor: Abu Ghraib Meets Shark Week.

What works best in these matches is the trinity of monster egos that are the main reason we're ineluctably drawn to MDW: Morgan, Muscle Master Kevin, and Damien Rush. Smolderingly handsome, they demand not just respect but abject obedience. Two contestants are barely through the door before Morgan tosses them in the ring for "rip-and-strip stakes" matches and reduces them to quivering jelly before he's finished with them. Damien and Bryce Barrigan get in a fist fight in the weight room over which one of them will get to throttle what's left of The Justin after Morgan has already throttled him within an inch of his life. Damien wins. But later Bryce demands and gets some quality alone time with Damien in the ring. Kevin, not even officially a participant in the tournament, gets into the act too, pushing Tony Law to a fight in the ring at knifepoint. (At knifepoint!)

Except for the climactic showdown between Damien and Morgan at the end, the wrestling in Ultimate Mastodon Tournament is not the give-and-take wrestling I usually prefer, but its bondage-and-discipline-themed scenario is nevertheless something I enjoy when in the right frame of mind. Who hasn't, at some point or other, yearned for a strong big brother, confident and sure of himself, with big muscles to worship even as they crush the spirit? Who hasn't, at times, wanted to have absolute control over another being, one whose deepest undeclared desire is to be controlled absolutely--by you and by you alone? The strong fantasy of this new video taps into some pretty dark places in the human psyche (especially the male psyche) and reveals a sexuality that is 100% a power game, an acknowledgment of the fact that desire is always, on some level, the desire to possess, control, and assert the power to save or destroy at one's will. It's got some good wrestling too. And muscles.