I'm thrilled to see a surge in thicker, hairier macho animals at
BG East these days. Not that this is altogether a new thing for the company--Dom the Dominator was no shrinking violet.
I love fitness models and have a fondness for some of the prettier twinks, but my heart is mainly with the bruisers, burly, belligerent, and bright with perspiration, idealized versions of the golden era wrestlers of 1950s and 1960s television, few of whom were lookers, admittedly. But guys like Lane Hartley and Guido Genatto combine handsome profiles with body mass to staggering effect.
When I finally achieve my dream of becoming a villain arch enough to draw 007's attention (and not just a terror to college freshmen), it's good to know where to do my one-stop shopping for bad-ass henchmen who pack 200 pounds or more.
 |
| Flash LaCash |
 |
| Charlie Panther |
 |
| Mitch Colby |
 |
| Brute Baynard |
 |
| Kelly King (with Austin Cooper) |
 |
| Eddy Rey |
 |
| Lane Hartley |
 |
| Dick Rick |
 |
| Guido Genatto |
 |
| Big Barry Burke |
Joe, like yourself, I applaud the new beef working matches in BG East. I appreciate the animal physique and look forward to more of these men locking horns in the BG ring…
ReplyDeleteI gotta ask you though… As time passes and it becomes more and more “permissible” for these athletes to exist in the indy rings and “underground” rings… do you feel like some of these guys are in it as “gay for pay” (since BG’s majority audience is gay) or is this the new renaissance of forward thinking in the pro rings? (… and I dare say … America in general. I gotta wonder since you and I are both in/from “the South.”)
(and as much as the current Chris Dickinson and former Jesse Sorenson pique my interest… I just cant take my eyes off Lane Hartley… whew!)
"For pay" is certainly an inducement, and the athletes know who their audience is. I don't think any of them are pretending to be gay at BG East, but here they are willing to wear the gear and go for the holds and angles that most mainstream promoters now regard as "gay" (though the gear and holds have longstanding precedents in "straight" wrestling). That there is a renaissance in how the mainstream views man-for-man sexuality and what it regards as "permissible" is, I think, unmistakable, though the mainstream does not include everybody, and even the new acceptance varies in kind and degree from one person to the next. It's a good time to be a gay wrestling fan--and I suspect that in time, as "gay" becomes "mainstream," the current role of specifically gay wrestling sites and gay wrestling bloggers, etc., may become as superfluous as the gay bar, the gay bookstore, the gay coming-out story, and the underground gay newspaper of the past.
DeleteI think the fact that BG East has always had a direct connection to the professional side of the business, going all the way back to the first of our 36 years, has helped foster trust between us and the indy pros who have spiced up our roster from the start. It also helps that we've always paid more than any other producer and pros appreciate that sign of respect, as well as the decent payday. Now we have the advent of indy pros producing specifically for the gay market. I don't have a problem with this providing they are respectful. And we won't hesitate to call them out at the first sign of homophobia, overt or subtextual. I find this development more promising and progressive than the obviously gay producers pretending to be otherwise. Making money off of such internalized homophobia is anachronistic and reprehensible.
ReplyDeleteKL