Naughty or Nice











Axel and Zack Reno vs Chase Michaels and Ken the Wrestler, Match 746: 2020 Holiday Match (UCW)

This tag team contest, running for thirty minutes, is an elimination match, meaning the winner is the team or surviving member of a team who succeeds in eliminating the opposing team, usually by submission, knockout, pinfall, whatever. For UCW, however, eliminating means beating up. The tiny colored lights festooning the ring ropes stand for the season's spirit of giving (a bruising, that is). That's pretty much it  for good will towards men this year. Twenty-twenty's holiday match is subdued when compared to its more elaborate predecessors, maybe because, and I'm just guessing, the year sucked ass.

If you love mean as I do, you're going to love this boot-versus-barefoot demolition. This is not a title match, so Zack Reno's title is safe (for now), but a win here could springboard to a future challenge, and everybody in this ring, including Reno's wingman Axel, is licking his chops to grab that belt and buckle it around his waist. The belt's mere presence at ringside induces a higher-than-usual level of viciousness in these fighters.

Top of my favorite things in this contest is its messiness, notably Chase Michaels's desperate attempts to prevent Reno from tagging in Axel (in the second GIF) and, later, to tug Axel off his (Chase's) partner Ken (in the last GIF). Another great thing here is Zack Reno, his smoldering good looks obviously but also the tongue-in-cheek swagger. The match is fun throughout. All four players - even the new guy - throw everything they have into it. This year's holiday special from UCW is less about the decorations than the physical abuse - ho ho ho.


Visit UCW here.

Comments

  1. Stunning to me that this company is still in business. If this was WWE or AEW, we’d demand that whoever is booking this should be fired ASAP. A business model stuck in the year 2010 and the product that UCW put out in 2020 more than likely equals more dreck for 2021.

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