The Pure Joy of a Good Fight











Chace LaChance vs Mason Brooks, The Great Outdoors 2 (BG East)

Wrestling Chace LaChance in the BGE Wrestleshack ... let me tell you, that right there is material for a slew of grade-A fantasies. Mason Brooks is living the fantasy--and I can't be the only guy who'd like to trade places with him. The catalog description tantalizes with talk of a battle of muscle vs knowhow, with emphasis on the idea that these two are locked in a struggle, isolated from the rest of the world. I'm not springing any spoilers when I say that, win or lose, everything about this match lights my fuse.

Chace and Mason share a rafter for a few pull-ups before the match, but the wrestling starts just seconds into the segment, Mason initiating and taking immediate control of the big guy. Of course, Chace soon muscles free and reverses, and within a minute the outline of this enjoyable give and take has taken shape. The submissions start stacking up immediately and in quick and fiery succession.

The style of wrestling here reminds me of dorm room tussles back in the day. The wrestling is unstructured but intensely competitive, with testosterone levels so high I expect the mats to sprout pubes. The tight quarters ensures the sort of intimacy unavailable in a 16x16 pro ring or on a 40x40 tournament mat. As usual in the 'shack, stretches, scissors, bear hugs, and show-offy arm and leg binds dominate, with smack talk streaming as constantly and matter-of-factly as the patter in a smalltown barbershop.

I didn't have to wait long to see sweat. The wrestling, even if it is just roughhouse, is rigorous. Each wrestler has multiple opportunities to put the other guy through the wringer--and the action is nonstop all the way to the schoolboy-pin finish. The holds and moves look natural and authentic, nothing overtly stagey about them. Mason and Chace are working their butts off. The two are more like bros than hero and heel, though there are hints of role-playing throughout. This is the kind of match that suits me best--no narrative but the reversals of fortune each man must face, fit bodies accustomed to grappling, no rules per se, no refs, no weapons but the body, no threat of outside interference, no real animosity, but no taking-it-easy either.

Heaven, or at least the only version that appeals to me.





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