Manual Clutch

Tyson the Hammer vs Austin Tyler, Match 621 - Bear Hug Match (UCW)

I read somewhere that digital communications is decreasing humans' ability to communicate by touch. I'm not sure Facebook and Twitter are entirely to blame because the culture - specifically American culture - has been suspicious of physical contact for some time. Soon the handshake will go the way of sharing a bottle and other physical expressions of animal connectivity. What I like about wrestling - which is what a lot of people dislike about it (including wrestling fans and promoters) - is the prolonged bodily contact.

The new Hammer vs Tyler match cuts against the grain in maximizing grappling over smack talk, posing, aerial attacks, and punching - each an evasion or abatement of full-body contact in pro wrestling. Austin and Tyson go beyond bear hugs to embrace chokes, scissors, arm bars, and other methods of interlocking the wrestlers' toned athletic bodies. The strain and pressure of controlling and exhausting an opponent's body with one's own body - and not chloroform or folding chairs - are what make wrestling inherently erotic. And despite being obsessed with sex, post-1976 America does not care for it all that much. 

The bodies here are in pointed contrast to each other - and I don't mean just in skin tone. Tyson's increasingly muscular body is almost armor. Austin's body is fleshy. Tyson's stretches towards the ceiling, while Austin's has a low center of gravity. These differences have implications for the wrestlers' tactics. Engaging with a different body type requires constant attention and flexibility and strong limbs, qualities both wrestlers possess.

The match is a showcase of both men's skills and stamina and may also be a step towards a title match with the current UCW champion. There is constant give and take (along with raunchy assaults - a UCW tradition!) all the way to an out-of-nowhere submission via groin claw.

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