Private

Jonny Firestorm vs Kirby Stone, Pros in Private 11 (BG East)

The names of BG East's early series Private Bouts and, somewhat later, Pros in Private have a pulp quality that has always worked for me. There's the echoic tie-in with private eyes and, from there, a short hop to the hard-boiled noir of Mickey Spillane. There is also something adult and weighty in the names - serious business gets taken care of in private and behind closed doors. Private  is a no-nonsense word - to my ears, anyway - so much less frivolous than Jobberpaloozer, another stellar series, but the name is something of a spoiler* and jokey, not that I mind spoilers or jokes. Beyond the semantics, the private matches have more grit than usual - these are matches with actual wrestlers, not bodybuilders, not gamesome wannabes, not acrobats, but real wrestlers with backbone and bruises like Kid Leopard, Bass Wallace, Caleb Brand, and so on.

And Jonny Firestorm.

Jonny appears in the soon-to-be-released Pros in Private 11  facing boy next door but 100% pro Kirby Stone. I lucked into seeing this release early, and the 38-minute opening match is absolutely the one not to miss. The fight starts before the two are in the ring - nearby in a white claustrophobic changing room - confirming my theory that fights in tight spaces are extra intense. The catalyst is that Jonny doubts Kirby has the makings of a good heel. Quickly, the battle spills to ringside, where Jonny slams Kirby's head to the steel lockers and throws him into the ring. Stone and Firestorm sell each other's rock-em punches, elbow jabs, and stomps so well I start to feel guilty for enjoying them as much as I do.

Jonny is a wonder - the man of a thousand lumbar misalignments - and Kirby repeatedly staggers me with how smoothly he swaps from babyface to heel and back again. I'm especially enamored of the savage corner beatdowns these pros perform on each other. There is far more give and take here than I am used to in a Jonny Firestorm match - and it's continuous from beginning to end (which arrives suddenly in the form of a devastating piledriver). These guys make it look so easy that I forget how much training and conditioning it takes to pull these holds off (giving or receiving) - or even how much Sophoclean drama can be milked out of a "simple" eye-gouging.

Visit BG East here.

* Understandably, because our kink has its niche communities, including fans who can get off only on squash jobs.