H _ N G M _ N

Nick Diesel and his rope tricks are back at UCW-Wrestling. It's been too long. And somebody came up with the great idea of giving him Johnny Deep to play with. What's genius about this idea is that Johnny himself has dungeon-master tendencies, though perhaps not yet up to Nick's high, cruel standards. When Johnny turns the tables on Nick and gives the ever-flexible, ever-ingenius heel a taste of his own polypropylene, my face cracks open with a big smile. This is the good stuff.

Think what you want, but I was a mere boy when I discovered the erotic pull of strangulation. Some cowboy movie with a near-naked Apache straddling the hero's stomach, hands clamped around the white man's adam's apple, was all it took to shake the kink up in preadolescent me. I prefer a handmade choke to rope, but Diesel's prowess with ropes and knots has its charms, too. Also, early in the match, Nick delivers a standing leg choke (seen in the top screen shot) that must not be missed.

Diesel is not your average heel. He's neither a noisy blowhard nor a primping playboy. He carries himself with quiet reserve. His interest in paralyzing his opponents with rope and causing them to shudder and wince in pain is scientific. I've said before that concentration on an opponent is part of wrestling's allure for me, and Nick Diesel never fails to deliver good concentration. Deep is also much more than he appears to be, the still waters of his babyface cuteness running (indeed) deep. It's hard not to notice the flicker of perverse joy in his innocent smile.

This 31-minute release [#340] is something else. It offers the ball-grabs and sharp, stiff ab-punches that UCW fans demand, but with an added jigger of Diesel's cool menace. Diesel-versus-Deep is one of the most exciting pairings offered up at UCW or anywhere so far this year.