Medallion

Jason Anders vs Zack Reno, Match 708 - 2 Out of 3 (UCW)

Watching Jason Anders try on Zack Reno's championship belt, I remembered that the UCW belt (or its predecessor) was briefly mine. I had it before either of these guys showed up, before UCW had a ring, and I have proof!

Proof!

Come to think if it, I've also held the BG East belt - and the AML belt - and simultaneously the ROH World Championship and ROH World Six Man Tag Team belts.

 

Proof! Proof! and Proof!

Sometimes bad things happen when you appropriate symbols of power. On this point the ancients had cautionary tales aplenty.  I have to wonder what kind of bad juju comes from trying on the UCW belt, even by invitation. Conversely, it might not have been a good idea for Champ Reno to lend the belt to Anders in the first place. Lending anything risks never seeing it again. Clearly Anders likes the way the medallion hangs on his waist, and this is, after all, a sanctioned title match. He's bound to get ideas. Trouble, of one kind or another, is certain to follow.

Despite the awkwardness of some of the transitions between holds, this is a solid two falls out of three match. Win or lose, Zack accounts for himself like a true champion - durable, masterful, quick to punish wrongdoing, with a bulge in his teal trunks that proclaims his authority. However, Jason has nothing to lose here and everything to gain, and by now he knows that at UCW literally no tactic, no matter how loathsome, is illegal. He's certainly cocky enough, eyeing the belt and saying, "I think that's going to look pretty good around my waist." "Let me see you put it on," Zack replies, a forced smile on his face. The setup allows both fighters to take this contest as down and dirty as they like - and this is a promotion that rewards foul play.

Reno sets the match in motion by attacking Anders from behind, having just coaxed him into telling the fans why he should be the champ. "I'm the champ because I'm a tough S.O.B." Jason gets that much out before Zack racks his balls from behind, making clear that Jason is not the only S.O.B. on the premises. Impressively, Anders turns the attack to his favor, squatting on his back and choking Zack with the champ's own upper right arm.

Reversals are quick and increasingly vicious. The wrestlers use the ropes, the belt, and each other's trunks as weapons, and despite the occasional fancy move, the greater part of the fight involves grappling and intense body contact. Bulldog, punching, backbreaker, crab hold, and plenty of low blows are rendered with often startling savagery. In the end - and this is both vile and delicious - one wrestler brains the other with a piledriver, head aimed directly to the medallion lying face up on the ring floor.

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