More Muscles

There's this terrific moment in Round 4 of this November 1981 World of Sport catch-weight bout, around the 21:00 mark of the YouTube video, in which Johnny England has Pat Patton in a figure-four headlock, and the rowdy crowd (who thoroughly detests muscular Johnny) goes suddenly quiet. Pretty much all you can hear is Patton squirming, trying to escape from England's steel-trap thighs, and England thrusting with his whole body to clamp down even tighter. This, for me, has got to be one of the dick-tingling-est moments in pro wrestling. It ends with England lifting Patton over his head and slamming him down just as the round closes. For a few seconds it looks like England has really injured his opponent's neck.

Six minutes later, in Round 5, there's another great moment as England bends Patton over his knee and presses the heel of his hand to Patton's chin and slowly grinds the man's skull into the canvas. Patton resists, peeling England's fingers back, refusing to submit. Then, in the final round, 6, Patton at last starts tugging on England's highly tug-worthy hair. I would have started on the hair a lot earlier, but I suppose it's more effective that Patton waits till late in the match, after suffering much abuse at England's hands. I also love the flurry of activity that precedes the sudden (and, for me, very satisfying) pinfall that decides the winner of the contest. 

Johnny England is the reason to watch this match. Even the ringside commentator can't hide his begrudging admiration for the guy. More than once he comments favorably on Johnny's striped trunks (which look like they might be hand-knitted--I certainly hope they are), while (as I see it) understatedly dissing Patton's pajama-ish outfit: "What he considers the pro-wrestling version of the judo gear." As in the match I wrote about yesterday, it's England's bumps that give life to this match, and on many levels his less vocal performance here is superior to his battle against Steve Grey. If yesterday's match got me hard, as I said, this match has me yearning to get my hands all over England's squat hard body ... and my fingers on that shaggy hair.

You also might pay attention to the rudeness of the audience--pretty funny, actually--especially the wolf whistle early on in the match when Patton (accidentally?) gropes England's crotch. The timing of the ring action is not always perfect, but it is perfect enough for me.

Oh, and here are two views of Johnny, aka John Holt, shredded for competition in 1971:

Mouth watering! But for wrestling I like him better with some body fat.