Boy Band



Some wrestling blogs focus on holds and angles. Wrestling Arsenal, for instance, knows wrestling inside and out. It is encyclopedic in its grasp of the subject and Talmudic in its authority. Other blogs focus almost entirely on the muscles of wrestlers, the most obsessive being Bruno's pictorial Beefcakes of Wrestling. Yet other blogs, like the one you're reading now, focus on the blogger's subjective responses to wrestling, absorbed in the mysteries of desire and the why's and wherefore's of a fixation on wrestling and wrestlers. 

Then there's WrestleBard's neverland, whose fascination is the backstage workings of underground homoerotic wrestling, specifically BG East, more specifically the lives and misadventures of Ty Alexander, Mason Brooks, Kayden Keller, and Drake Marcos. Like the rest of us, Bard sometimes drifts from his usual focus: it's not unusual to find him panting after a morning talk show host or narrating a wrestling sex fantasy, for a change of pace, but I think his real heart lies in being the Perez Hilton of underground wrestling.

Ty, Mason, Kayden, and Drake (whom I now dub the BG East Boy Band) are at the center of neverland's universe. Or so it seems to me. These wrestlers not only grant Bard frank and entertaining interviews, but actively engage with him in juicy gossip and smack talk in the comments section, some of which carries over into their own blogs (the firsthand wrestler's blog being yet a fifth subgenre of the wrestling blog). The neverland blog also more or less faithfully covers these wrestlers' matches at BGE and elsewhere.

The Boy Band represent the newest wave of underground wrestling entertainment. They are the next wave after the decline of backyard and basement wrestling on YouTube. They are neither fitness models nor pro wrestlers in "mainstream" promotions (i.e., hetero-identified, kid-safe regional wrestling shows in front of live audiences). Unlike 98% of underground wrestlers, they are openly and proudly gay (or bi). They flagrantly celebrate wrestling as a central aspect of their sexuality, which they explore in videos with courageous frankness. They are targets of old-school gays and fans who sometimes gripe unjustly that TMK&D are not "hot" enough or that what they do on the mat and in the ring is not "real" wrestling. Some try to dismiss them as "bottoms"--a designation that at least a few young wrestlers are now able to embrace without feeling in any way inferior. Nor should they. (NOTE: Bottom-shaming is 100% internalized homophobia. Cut it out.)

I'm on friendliest terms with Ty, the self-proclaimed Trophy Boy. He's a Facebook friend, and we occasionally exchange brief, sometimes banal pleasantries via Facebook Messenger. He's a neat guy, driven to improve his body and accumulate sexy new wrestling gear. He has a sly sense of humor and a tendency towards passive self-promotion, to the extent that a couple of years ago Bard referred to him as the Eve Harrington of BG East. The blog goes on to make-nice by calling him "unfailingly adorable, eager, giving off a perpetual air of being just honored to be a subject of conversation." In his most recent match, X-Fights 40 (catalog 112), Ty squares off against strongman Beauxregard (five inches taller than Ty, 25 pounds heavier) in a "first-to-cum-loses match." Ty starts the match with a sassy slap across Beauxregard's face, succeeding in raising the man's ire and guaranteeing a royal butt-whooping as payback (not entirely unwelcome, I suspect).


Mason, awarded the epithet "nipple-tastic" in a recent neverland post, appears in the same catalog, fighting the ever-inventive squash artist Kid Karisma (Gazebo Grapplers 18). It's Mason's ninth BGE video (his third in the Gazebo Grapplers series). It's a high point in Brooks's career at BGE mainly because he holds his own against Kid K from beginning to end. At one point, even pugnacious K has to tip his hat to the raw nerve and accomplished skill of a wrestler who had not entered his radar previously. He may look like a gentle deer of the green forest, but Mason is a strong and resourceful adversary. He's also earned something of a reputation as the "thinking man's porn-boy wrestler." Bard says of him, "You can practically hear him thinking, plotting, planning and scheming as he works his way through a wrestling match like he's a chess master." (Ach! WrestleBard omits the Oxford comma, and thus must die! ... English teacher humor, i.e. not funny at all.) 


Kayden is the only boy-band member not appearing in Catalog 112. You'll have to go back to Catalog 110 to find him geared up and in the ring against Leo Tomasi. Kayden is the heel in the band, much as Paul was the "cute Beatle." Despite an amazing reversal by Tomasi in a surprise still-talked-about twist, Kayden is the dominant force of Ring Releases 3 and, as best as I can remember, every one of his other matches too. (So far there have been six.) He and Ty stirred up a frenzy (and a classic) when the two double-teamed against the exquisitely sculpted Chace LaChance in Ring Releases 2: Triple Release. In the end, Keller was picking both wrestlers out from between his teeth. Bard has marked Kayden's ascent to the heel A-list much more thoroughly than I can do. He has also noted that Kayden has a sixth sense for what Bard (as well as probably a lot of other fans) is wishing for in a heel, practically taking requests by telepathy while moving from spot to spot through a match.


Drake Marcos has had the most complicated relation to Bard and the neverland blog. Bard and Drake (on his blog) have spent a lot of words on a real-life meeting between the two in South Florida, a meeting that spawned two fantasy versions of Bard-vs-Marcos in addition to the one that is real (that depends, to take a former President out of context, on what your definition of is is). In Catalog 112, we find Drake stepping on the mat against Skrapper. I can't decide whether Skrapper is the forerunner to the BGE Boy Band or its fifth member, but he is an enigmatic and attractive figure in his own right. He gives Drake a royal working over, tenderizing him, before marching him out of the mat room and towards (presumably) a bed. Marcos and Ty each have ten BGE videos to their credit, and it is their friendship that forms the core of the "boy band." (If any of them are reading this, they are probably cringing over my referring to them as a boy band.)


These four "rookies" have been around for about three years now. It may be only my imagination that sees them as interconnected, mostly because of their association with neverland and Bard's great fondness for them. It's through their connection with Bard that they have entered my radar, and I must say I have found their matches interesting and challenging. For me they represent something new that is happening in the world of erotic wrestling--like UCW or Naked Kombat or Guido "Dirty Daddy" Genatto, all of whom are finding new ways of defining what wrestling erotica means, especially what it means to men who love men almost as much as we want to fight them.

Erratum: My apologies to Bruno for getting his name wrong. The error has been corrected.

Comments

  1. Thanks for mentioning my blog, Joe, but I'm Bruno, not Marco. :-)

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    Replies
    1. Stupid stupid stupid. God damn fact-checker failed me again. Here's my sincere apology and a correction is on its way, Bruno.

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  2. Death sentence for grammatical infractions may be appealing. It hovers on how one wants those to die die. ;)

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  3. For me, personally, these four (the boyband) are the worst thing that ever happened to BG East. I understand the appeal they might hold for others, but my tastes go towards more masculine, more mature, and more muscular than these little twinks.

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    Replies
    1. It's almost as if...porn was created for people of varying tastes!

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  4. Worst thing! Really? No I don't think they are at all all 4 of these guys show that you don't have to be ripped and roided to be in these. If you really wanna know all 4 of them work hard and enjoy what they do check Facebook. All are nice and give fans the time of day. Have you ever tried to message or talk to any of the other muscle hunks out there? They are either homophobic or don't give a shit about us fans. how can you say they are the worst thing to happen? i personally like some non muscle hunk wrestling with cute guys and am tired of the forced selling and holds of some of the wrestlers use. you know what's really the worst thing to happen to this. Keyboard warrior dans like you "annonymous" you "fans" don't deserve a bit of what these guys and others like them have to offer. You are quick to critique and belittle them because they arnt your fantasy muscle god that clearly you could never get if you tried and that wouldn't give you the time of day if you came up to them in public.

    If these boys are the worst thing to happen to BGEast you obviously haven't looked at catalogs where we get 1 erotic match and 12 humdrum pro matches. By all means please try and shoot a vid where you get up and get nude on camera. As Far as Twinks go please check your definition of what one is because all of these guys weigh more then so called Twinks.

    Please go ahead and sit, you most likely overweight fat ass, behind a keyboard and bully them. If you don't like it also why don't you take the time out of you obviously busy day to do your own blog. These guys fit joes taste and he honesty doesn't need your negative and degrading opinion.

    If any of these 4 read this I have one thing to say. Kudos guys don't let these keyboard assholes get you down I have watched and enjoyed all of your matches and you give me what I want great matches, great skills, great selling and erotic wrestling. Which other then BGEast and can-am is a hard thing to find.

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    1. Wow. You really are an asshole. The guy was expressing his preference. He did not trash the four of them -- in fact, he made a point of saying that he understands how these four wrestlers might appeal to others. He clearly said that FOR HIM, they were the worst thing. There was no need to be such a dick to him in your response. He is entitled to his opinion. And, for the record, I agree with him. These four guys do absolutely nothing for me.

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    2. Yes it was a tad harsh i do agree. so i am sorry for that. i think my main point was made to a comment that was deleted earlier. by a hoochiemoochie or something like that. calling out looks and how their faces are unattractive. which i do find do be in bad taste to me personally. so i do say sorry to the anonymous of the comment before. i dont however apologize for the reaction to hoochiemoochie at all.

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  5. I love all 4 of these guys, they are probably my favorite of the current class of BG East wrestlers! All of them are very handsome, and put a lot of work into their field. Especially with Kayden and Ty; if you look at their first match and compare it to their most current matches, you can see quite an improvement in their bodies, and comfort on camera. Anyone who thinks these guys are unattractive, or twinks, in my opinion are nutters!

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  6. I appreciate all the responses this posting has received and the general tone of our conversation whether you agree or disagree with me or other commenters. Please keep your comments relatively civil. We don't have to viciously attack individuals to get across that our preferences vary; we certainly don't need to go all "mean girls" and make readers feel bad about their sexuality and/or bodies. If I suspect that the language in a comment is designed to shame or demoralize (or just make uncomfortable) specific individuals because of their appearance, opinions, age, minority status, or sexuality, I will probably delete it. This is not censorship; I'm a blogger, not the government; this is cleaning my own house.

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    1. At the risk of having my post deleted, I just have to say this ... I don't use the Oxford comma, either. I find it aesthetically unpleasant when I am reading.

      Yeah, I went there.

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    2. I can tell you from personal experience that after meeting Ty, Kayden and Drake ( have not had the good fortune of meeting Mason ) that these lads are CLASS ACTS. After a few wrestling sessions they give as good as they take. If baseball can have fantasy camps then these boys should open up a fantasy pro wrestling camp. I know Jonny Firestorm and the BGE team have trained them well. Any guys that diss them just don't know what they're talking about.

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  7. For me, this post was illuminating analysis, wonderfully expressed verbally and visually. Thanks for another great piece!

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  8. Hey joe love this piece thanks so much for typing it and writing about us. as to Mike and everyone else thanks so much for coming to the defense of us it means a lot. i struggled with this for a few days thinking about what the comments said and meant. At first i was really depressed about the call outs and stuff like that because my main goal when i started wrestling was 2 fold 1 to get out of my comfort zone and 2 better myself and my body. i work really hard and i think at first when i read the comment i got extremely depressed about it. having heard that a million times growing up and everything you never really get used to basically being called ugly (yes i know those words wernt used exactly but its how i took them). I dont agree with shamming people about their bodies either done anonymously or not. I put myself out there and i enjoy what i do. i may not be everyones cup of Tea but obviously i have an appeal and i am totally greatful to everyone who voted for the polls this year and for winning them.even with these comments ill continue to work hard and keep my head up (even when its beaten to the ground by some vicious heel lol). so good or bad comments im just happy that Joe posted something like this.

    of cousre i fully expect to be the lead in this little boyband HAHAHA.

    Thanks joe glad your back in business here at Ringside

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  9. Honestly, I'm not the biggest fan (except for Mason Brooks... I have my exceptions hahaha). I'm much bigger into the musclely, older, hairy type of guy, being that I'm into bodybuilding as a hobby and lifestyle I follow, I particularly love the kinda guys who represent what I could be one day.

    That being said, big ups to the 4 guys in this post. Here's the deal. You deserve a ton of credit for going out there and being comfortable enough in your own skin to do what these guys do on camera. Noones gonna appeal to everyone, but these Guys make a lot of people really happy, and I can imagine they've helped some people become a little more confident in their own bodies as well. You can't trash on someone who has that kind of positive effect.

    Liking someone and respecting them are two different things.

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    1. thanks we do realize that we arnt everyones cup of tea thats true. what hurts i think is that the insults thrown our way in that we are part of the gay community where as others who truly wouldnt give people the time of day in real life. you never see guys who look like they do get insulted and it just kinda sucks. im not hurt when stuff is thrown my way but i am when its thrown at people i consider friends. some people (wont name names) are just really kinda in it for the money and we are in it for the fans because we love wrestling like you. it just kinda sucks to be picked apart from our own people and it really does get to you. each of us could easily go to steroids or what ever but we dont. to get called ugly is like a slap in the face.

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