Irish Whip

Toney Rico vs Richie Douglas, Jobberpaloozer 16 (BG East)

The size difference between Toney and Richie takes me by surprise. I need a couple of minutes to get past how much Toney looms over Richie. Taking advantage of his superior speed and agility, handsome Richie foils and reverses a few of Toney's big pro moves. "You all right, man?" Douglas asks, no doubt reacting to Rico's escalating annoyance.  Faking a smile, Toney pretends there are no hard feelings. But when Richie gets a three-count on him and the first thing Toney sees is a gleeful Richie above him, striking a double biceps pose - looking delicious, by the way - Rico's pretense of good-naturedness is frayed.

Richie well deserves his recent honors in the BGE Fan Poll - voted Top Babyface of 2019 (following up his win in 2017 in the same category) and winning in two categories, Best Ring Match and Best Submission, for his Ringwars match with Chase Addams. Six-one, 210# Toney deserves accolades, too. This is Rico's eighth match at BG East, and he has proved himself a superior competitor in the ring and on the mat. He not only knows how to (mis)treat slim pretty boys like Richie, but also performs admirably against bad-asses closer to him in weight, Kelly King and Buck "Wildcard" Carter, for instance. Over the past couple of years, Rico has become a personal favorite.

Douglas looks better in the video than he does in the still shots, and I would guess he looks even better in the flesh. And what flesh! The kid could have stepped out of an Eakins painting. His opponent has a strong and rugged body, not a delicate bone in it, and a couple of minutes into the video, he starts using it to pummel and stomp the sass out of the smaller wrestler. While at first Richie's buoyant leaps fail to impress me, I'm immediately taken by Toney's savaging of the pretty boy. The dark gravity of Toney's assaults is bone-chilling - yet Douglas's face and body become even more beautiful in pain. 

The stills above also do not do service to the match, missing some of its best moments. Much better, then, to watch Rico in action, manhandling Douglas and coloring the young athlete's milky-white skin pink. Richie's glamour is actually amplified by Toney's assaults, which not only wear Douglas down but stretch out the time the two bodies are in contact. Nine minutes into the match, Richie submits, but Toney isn't having it. He presses his sweaty body up against his cornered prey and presses his biceps into Richie's face.

As soon as Toney steps back, though, Richie springs back into action, quickly submitting the burlier wrestler in a fancy - and impressive - standing crucifix armbar, accentuating the punishment by planting one foot on Rico's agonized face (6th photo above). The move is stunning and beautifully rendered. There is more to come. The 29-minute battle contrasts Douglas's agility with Rico's brute force. However, I'm more interested in the way the fight (as I see it) frames the mouth-watering allure of Douglas's physique while Rico's destructiveness comes off as a product of uncontrollable desire. 

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