Gut Check

A big thank-you to Dale for pointing me in the direction of this YouTube video, featuring Australian Mikey Nicholls, 6'1", 227#, versus Japanese Genba Hirayanagi, 5'7", 190#, for Pro Wrestling Noah (10 June 2012). Mikey, wrestling since 2001, works singles competition and as part of the team TMDK (The Mighty Don't Kneel) with partners Shane Haste and Jonah Rock. (Genba is part of another team, No Mercy, with KENTA and Takashi Sugiura. No Mercy and TMDK have butted heads five times in the past year.)

Mikey has been more successful with TMDK than when flying solo, though he's victorious here against Genba and has beat Zack Sabre Jr three times ... no small feat, even given his size advantage. He and Haste may be more familiar to US fans through their appearances for NWA, Ohio Valley Wrestling, and Ring of Honor, late winter and early spring of last year.

There must be something about the name "Mike" or "Mikey." Some of my favorite wrestlers are Mikes: Angelosetti, Bennett, Columbo, Dennis, Martin, and Vee. Many of them are cocky and funny, often heels who are lovable in spite of their cheating ways. Nichols is a big, meaty lug, with a hot buzzcut and manly scruff. He has a way with Japanese fans too. His battle with Genba contains a lot of the kind of close work and physical wrestling (arm bars and corner slug-outs, especially) I like, along with Japanese style stiff chops and some comic relief.