Test-Driving the New Guy













Matt Miller vs Ethan Andrews, Lights Out (88Wrestling)

Ethan Andrews, 6', 170#, adopts his punisher persona to break in new hire Matt Miller, 5'11" and 180# of prime beef. Fresh from years of experience in academic wrestling, Matt is new to the squared circle, yet he dares suggest that Andrews is getting too old for the game. You have to admire the young man's audacity, but you don't need a crystal ball to know where this fight is heading. Ethan's not somebody who needs to be provoked into a hard, sweaty no-prisoners-taken battle.

Matt's sturdy build is a huge plus. I want more wrestlers like him in underground wrestling. He takes the few opportunities Ethan allows him to strike back, abandoning his academic training for old-fashioned ab punches and stretches. I'd like to see him grow his streak of sadism with more punishment moves. The bulgy tautness of his upper body and his powerful haunches mark him as a wrestler to be reckoned with, once the new wears off.

Ethan does his best to scrape the new completely off Miller in this initiation fight. He doesn't want Matt to submit. He wants to knock the lippy newcomer out, and he approaches that goal on numerous occasions, chiefly through chokes, taking the form of scissors, sleeper holds, and no-bones-about-it thumbs-to-the-adam's-apple strangulation. He keeps the action grueling. Midway through the second round, we see the first glimmer of sweat on both men's foreheads and shoulders.

Miller makes a strong enough debut here to whet my appetite for more of him - against Tanner, against Chase, against Rex, against Dash. The potential is there, but he needs to sharpen his ring skills and fight face. I would happily watch him straight-up grapple with somebody in his weight class - he has the physique for mat wrestling and apparently the background, too. Fellow recruit Brock has a similar build and would be fitting competition for Matt.


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