Bad to the Bone

Buddy Justice vs Jason Ward, Arena 8 (BG Enterprise)

The eye-gouging in the fourth GIF is the cover photo of Arena 8. It looks kayfabe at first glance, but studying it more closely, I convince myself that I see fingernails scratching the eyelids. By all accounts, even according to a mutual friend, Buddy Justice is trouble, a sinister mind in a hot body. In the seventh GIF, he takes time out from tormenting rookie Jason Ward to throw shade at his nemesis, whom we all know as Kid Leopard (who had a few words to say about Buddy in a 2011 interview).

I love the bad boys. Their allure is chilling. Something draws me to the danger - or tries to, since sometimes I draw back, with a shiver. As someone who fears heights, I can attest to the fact that the fear is not of falling but of jumping. Taking Buddy Justice on in a fight must be a little like climbing into a tiger's cage. Yet danger or the appearance of danger is part of what interests me in Buddy and other fighters like him.

The best heels are the edgy ones, the ones you can't be sure they are just pretending. In professional wrestling, performers like Buzz Sawyer, the Fabulous Moolah, the Funk brothers, Harley Race, the Iron Sheik,  and Stan Hansen go beyond cheating and temper tantrums to instill something unnervingly like real-life dread. A couple of years ago I met the late Harley Race, wheel-chair bound and looking frail, yet I felt more than a little intimidated in his presence. In underground wrestling, guys like Cole Cassidy, Guido Genatto, and even stud-muffin Kid Karisma exude a certain menace that rings a little too true.

Add to that sense of dread a trim hot body and a gaze (like Buddy's) that leaves cold spots on the skin at the back of my neck, and even at my ripe age, my body can't decide whether to shrink back or plunge in.

Visit BG Enterprise here.