Hurt Him Because He's Beautiful: Pretty in Pain 7

Clark Connors vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Lion's Break Project 2 (New Japan Pro Wrestling)

In his three years in the pro ring, Clark Connors has played both hero and heavy. In appearance he combines  traits of  the preening gym bunny and the regular Joe Blow. In this December 2019 match in Anaheim, he makes a better than average victim, doing  nothing particularly heroic but garnering a measure of sympathy through his intense sells. Holding up his end of the theater of cruelty, Yoshinobu Kanemaru is a master of low blows and calculated rage

Connors is the prey and Kanemaru, the predator, and the performances are appropriately raw and savage. The heel knows the stakes are high, so he gives Connors no room for a surprise reversal that might ultimately cost Yoshinobu the match. Kanemaru, in his forties,  has about seven times the experience of Clark, in his twenties. The ring is far more his territory than it is his opponent's. Still it's Connors's reactions that sell the veteran's actions.

More importantly, "pretty in pain" designates a special kind of beatdown, one in which aggressor and victim conspire to give the crowd the titillation it desires, knowingly or unknowingly. Connors's body has less coverage, and it is hurled at the ropes and the barricades to give fans the taste of the meat they crave. Though the attacks are sudden, cutting through the air like bolts of lightning, the aftershocks are prolonged, often luxuriously long - Connors sagging against the ropes, Connors limping and flinching, Connors stunned (and stunning), immobilized against a ring post, Connors conveying the pain shooting through his body in Kanemaru's leg lock, Connors sweating and gasping for air at ringside.

If you, like me, worship at the shrines of suffering Adonises, light some incense, sit back, and enjoy.

Earlier Pretties in Pain:
6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1

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