Bullet

Jake Shears (of Scissor Sisters) wears his T-shirts. How cool is that? Prince Devitt is a mega-star in Japan, his face plastered on the trains in Tokyo. He's a respected luchador in Mexico and a staunch supporter of independent pro wrestling worldwide. Last year he turned heel in the most spectacular way possible--betraying his partner Ryusuke Taguchi of the tag team Apollo 55 (pronounced, in Japanese, "Apollo Go Go"). Then, talk about fabulous, he fucking died and resurrected (check out the video here). Although the evidence has vanished from the web site, the guy even wrestled for us at BG East (in Fantasymen 31 and Wrestler Spotlight: Jonny Firestorm--as well as at BGE's butch sister site NewPro). The man is living my fantasy life, as becomes clear in this match, where he nearly demolishes (with help from his evil minions, the Bullet Club) fellow BGE alumnus Kenny Omega (known there by another name, but why spoil the mystery? *).

This 9 June 2013 battle for NJPW is another example about what I find so compelling about the Japanese pro wrestling scene. Devitt, 5'11", 180#, and Omega, 6', 202#, are splendidly matched in size, build, and skills and starkly opposed in appearance (brunet versus blond--another big sub-kink of mine), style, and ethics. The fight promotes high-flying acrobatic moves without shortchanging the finer points of catch-wrestling tradition--mat grappling, corner tangles, working an opponent up close, even hair-pulling). The involvement of the crowd, ref, and evil minions is nearly perfect. The battle is well paced, escalating to a whirlwind finish that, while consistent with everything we see previous to it, still hits us with the shock of surprise. Go here to watch this nine-minute marvel in its entirety.

* Okay, a hint: the initials are MM.