The Salty Spots
Cliff Conlin vs Roy Hastings, Hollywood Muscleboy Wrestling 6 (BG Enterprise)
I miss Cliff Conlin. I miss this moment in underground wrestling, somewhere between 30 years ago and 25 years ago. I love the sheer reckless rawness of his performance - the pain, the animal urge to fight back, all that gorgeous sweat. I love the brutal way Roy Hastings manhandles Cliff and gets manhandled in return. This sort of physicality and exuberance is rare now. Maybe it was rare back then, too.
These GIFs are lifted from the third part of the match, about 59 minutes into the 116-minute video. For me they suggest Conlin's ferocity, but without the sound - yowls of rage and squeak of skin against vinyl - and without the exhausting wear and tear of twenty minutes of robust brawling, how much of what I see and feel in these images can be shared with those who never saw this guy in his prime?
Whatever wrestling skills these guys lacked they made up for by pitching themselves 100 percent into the fight. They didn't have Instagram or Twitter for self-promotion, so whatever it was they had to say to us fans, they put it all into the wrestling. I watched this stuff on VHS tape. I was sure to be transfixed by anything with Conlin in it, at some point hitting Pause and clenching my eyes shut to unpack a load. I couldn't friend Conlin and company on Facebook. I wish I had written fan letters to say how much they meant to me.
I hope these guys are still alive and well at 45 or 50 or 55. I hope they still dive into their inner reptilian darkness from time to time. Even if balding and out of shape, sometimes discouraged that life did not offer them more than it did, or in sorrow over real losses, I hope they know they are gods and heroes to guys like me.
I miss Cliff Conlin. I miss this moment in underground wrestling, somewhere between 30 years ago and 25 years ago. I love the sheer reckless rawness of his performance - the pain, the animal urge to fight back, all that gorgeous sweat. I love the brutal way Roy Hastings manhandles Cliff and gets manhandled in return. This sort of physicality and exuberance is rare now. Maybe it was rare back then, too.
These GIFs are lifted from the third part of the match, about 59 minutes into the 116-minute video. For me they suggest Conlin's ferocity, but without the sound - yowls of rage and squeak of skin against vinyl - and without the exhausting wear and tear of twenty minutes of robust brawling, how much of what I see and feel in these images can be shared with those who never saw this guy in his prime?
Whatever wrestling skills these guys lacked they made up for by pitching themselves 100 percent into the fight. They didn't have Instagram or Twitter for self-promotion, so whatever it was they had to say to us fans, they put it all into the wrestling. I watched this stuff on VHS tape. I was sure to be transfixed by anything with Conlin in it, at some point hitting Pause and clenching my eyes shut to unpack a load. I couldn't friend Conlin and company on Facebook. I wish I had written fan letters to say how much they meant to me.
I hope these guys are still alive and well at 45 or 50 or 55. I hope they still dive into their inner reptilian darkness from time to time. Even if balding and out of shape, sometimes discouraged that life did not offer them more than it did, or in sorrow over real losses, I hope they know they are gods and heroes to guys like me.
I miss him, too. He was really hot.
ReplyDeleteI miss him too. He was one of my favorites of all time.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone have any idea of the year this video was made? Rope Mall has all the dates behind in more than 10 years
ReplyDelete