With Reckless Abandon

Chase Michaels vs Jason Anders, Match 697 (UCW)

I love watching Chase Michaels writhe. As he thrashes and twists, he looks tormented and defiant, like a fallen angel, all bone and veins. He'd look great in wings. He has a falcon's eyes and the gaunt profile of a predator. Those eyes, I think, convey a quiet intensity few underground wrestlers possess. Only a fool would see this guy as harmless. I suspect newcomer Jason Anders underestimates Chase ... a mistake he won't make twice.

This is Anders's second fight at UCW. He is beginning to realize that everything - and I mean everything  - is allowed here. He seems to be learning to not hold back and to join every battle with all pistons firing. But Chase knows this territory as well as anybody does. It's a paradise for anyone who likes to hurt people and doesn't mind taking a few licks in return. There are times - and this is one of them - I believe he understands the UCW ethos better than everybody else.

The fight gets fiercer in the second half. Both men are in do-or-die mode. Balls get grabbed, hair gets pulled, spines get slammed to the mat. Chase is unstoppable, or at least he seems so. He wrenches his body free of Jason's tightest grip, oblivious to the pain he causes himself in the process - like the proverbial coyote gnawing a leg off to escape the snare. To be merciless, he must first show himself no mercy. It's typical Michaels to show no fear and to translate his pain into the strength to tear his opponent to bits.

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