Pushing the Limits
John Wolfboy vs Scrappy (NHB Fights)
Cameron, a former combatant at the now-defunct NHB-Battle, revives the spirit of the original site in the newly launched NHB Fights, populating it with familiar faces from all over. The high-profile roster guarantees a certain level of drama that was only sporadic in the site's predecessor. Part of the charm of NHB-Battle and its heir, Movimus, was their roster of camera-shy college and basement wrestlers. However, charismatic personality is a badge that NHB Fights can wear proudly - though I hope plans are in the works to add more new, never-before-seen faces to the mix.
I chose the company's most popular match to start with - though the truth is I would have gone with Scrappy vs Wolfboy even if it weren't an early fan favorite. Wolfboy and Scrappy do not disappoint, throwing all they've got into this fight, providing a lot of give and take, heaving, sweating, groin-busting fun. By the midpoint, it's fairly clear (or so I thought) who would win. Past that point, the wrestlers are wearing down, exhausted by the hurly-burly up front. As I have noted before on this blog, the grit of two dog-tired grapplers intertwined and grunting is my aphrodisiac of choice - and on this point Scrappy and Wolfboy do not disappoint.
Bone and muscle crunching bone and muscle is, for me, the height of entertainment. Submission wrestling requires no ref, and it's always engrossing - the way chess is for some people but has never been for me. No other sport comes close to it. Wolfboy and Scrappy are well equipped with tactics, and both - but especially Scrappy - are naturally expressive. This is a match that is certain to draw me to five or six further viewings before the week is out.
Visit NHB Fights here.
Thanks for talking about this. I’ve been curious but waiting for someone else to weigh in. I could stand some drama with some mat action, so that’s cool.
ReplyDeleteHey Joe, I am excited about this site. I've always liked several different kinds of wrestling. I like the character-based badass struggles seen at UCW, the sweaty college boys of the late Fightgarage-UIW, the joy jujitsu-mosque stylings of the inactive French Wrestlers-and-Lutteurs. But I really, really miss the days of active NHB-Battle/Movimus. That site featured real* unadorned mat submission wrestling. They mostly had fighters who were not seen on other sites (several notable exceptions), who were generally athletic, even if not always martial artists. The action seemed intense, unscripted and real. Also, unlike many sites, there were lots of rematches. I hope this site revives that list genre.
ReplyDeleteI purchased one match, Austin Cooper vs Calvin Rogers. It is okay, but the action is a little slow and by the numbers. I hope that these fighters and the site develop into a home for more fierce, fast and unpredictable wrestling. Joe, did this match seem genuinely unscripted, with real submissions?
Thanks to Cameron for starting this up, and I hope it becomes a big success for him (and thus us).
*If NHB-BATTLE's matches were scripted or the submissions fake, I could never tell. And I watched a ton of them back in the day.
I think you (we) have good reason to be excited about this site. To my eyes the submissions appear real and unscripted. The "drama," as I see it, rests entirely on Scrappy's lively facial expressions.
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