Two Out of Three












Axel vs Zack Reno, Match 776 - Two Out of Three (UCW)

This is the big one. After being held at bay for two years, Axel is intent on winning his championship belt back ... again. Champion Zack Reno calls for a two-out-of-three match, no holds barred. Axel agrees to the terms. Whichever way this match turns out, it's a historic event for UCW and its multitudes of fans.

Championship is what distinguishes UCW from other underground wrestling sites. No other site in the USA has a reigning champion. It's a distinction but also a burden. The long, undefended reign of Joker was an example of the angle's weakness for an independent promotion that draws competitors from across America and at times around the world. Speaking personally, I was enthusiastic about the UCW belt for years, especially the years before the company had a ring, but my enthusiasm is sagging. I'm not sure why.

The question of whether Axel, co-owner of UCW, would be an appropriate champion is another sticky subject. He's a fine mat wrestler and a pretty okay ring wrestler, a role that usually demands bravura and either a silver tongue or a beastly roar. His partial ownership of the company is not an issue, not for me. There's no real conflict of interest in letting him fight for or even win the UCW belt a thousand times.

Zack Reno is a fine champion. He has always seemed rather amused by the honor. Sometimes he can't hide the occasional smirk, either a failed attempt to hide his excitement or an expression of self-consciousness over the position he's found himself in. Yet for wrestling ability and ring psychology, no other champion measures up to him. Nobody has yet been better than Reno in defending the belt in the squared circle.  Now he faces a wrestler who has held his title ... twice.

Of course, the outcome overshadows everything else, which is too bad because there's some tastily savage behavior on display that leads the contest to its climax. Without spoiling anything, I can assure you it's not a tie or a DQ. There is a clear winner. I'm torn between the two antagonists. I consider Axel a friend, albeit a long-distance one, among many friends this blog has brought to me. Zack, at his best, is a turn-on in a big way. Yet if I'm honest, I don't much care who wins or loses; I enjoy the wrestling for its own sake. I don't think this video is either man's best work, but both have such exceptional histories that it hardly matters that this one is merely good.



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