PVM

Big Mike vs Blk Rhino, Giant Wrestling 2 (Black Wrestling Network)

For the past 19 years, BWN has built its reputation on bold and melodramatic story lines and tough fight action. The fight spaces are often desolate and moldering, befitting the sadistic tone of the drama surrounding the rough and tumble. The cinematic  atmosphere is captivating all on its own, but for me the wrestling matters more. 

Mike vs Rhino pits two big men against each other. Mike is attempting to rescue boyishly pretty Brandon Karson, whom Rhino kidnapped, presumably in an earlier video (I didn't see it). Rhino wants Karson for unspecified bloodcurdling games. Rhino catches Mike and Brandon just as they are about to escape the shadowy den. Big is big, as his moniker indicates, but he's not nearly as big as Blk Rhino. The showdown promises to be seismic.

I never know what to get at BWN, and Alex (the Boss) recommended this new release. The 55-minute match has typical BWN elements I have praised before - narrative tension, dramatic camera angles, gritty hyper-realism, and an air of pervasive menace, reminiscent of the grunge arenas of Fight Club. The fighting is typical Southern-style rasslin' - big sweaty slabs of machismo, high stakes, and demolition rules.

Delicate torments like knuckle-twisting, eye-gouging, and scrubbing the floor with an opponent's face show how serious these brutes are about their sadism. Rhino and Mike do most of the heavy lifting - and head butting - but when he gets the chance, Brandon bravely enters the grueling fray, often at a cost to his safety. Sad to say, we're halfway through the video before we see the kid stripped down to his skivvies, but it's sorta worth the wait.


Visit Black Wrestling Network here.