Phenomenon

Jonny Firestorm vs Joe Robbins, Ring Classics 1 (BG East)

Two unearthed early Jonny Firestorm classics within a month of each other are cause for celebration. (Here's the earlier one.) The more recent (coming soon to Catalog 139) is a big vs little match with a twist common to the Jonny Universe - the big guy beating the daylights out of Jonny for half the match until, gloriously, Jonny strikes back in a firestorm of comeuppance, twisting the sweaty big guy into one party balloon animal after another! 

Jonny is in top form here, giving 6'2" 240# Joe Robbins, at this point still a wet-behind-the-ears muscle-rookie, pure hell. Jonny discounts the new guy as a "meathead"; Joe, in turn, hardly acknowledges Jonny's existence, so captivated is he by his reflection in the mirror (a popular cliche at BGE to this day). Early on, Firestorm attempts some aerial assaults, only to get caught midflight and unceremoniously slammed to the mat. Joe executes a number of feats of strength of this sort, dispatching Jonny like a fly that must be swatted at.

By turns, Jonny wears Joe down, eventually reducing the strongboy to a manageable threat and then - minutes later - engaging him in strident give and take. It's top-level Firestorm magic, endlessly inventive and indefatigable. My only complaint is I didn't see this years ago. Who knows how much remains hidden in the BG East vault? Matches like this one predicted Jonny's eventual importance to BGE and its house style. Firestorm, now inextricably part of the company's history, is gradually assuming Kid Leopard's mantel. He is the morally ambiguous Everyman whose sudden transformations to superhero still catch me by surprise.

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