Good Guy

Austin Cooper vs Biff Farrell, Hunkbash 23 (BG East)

Life isn't fair. Nice guys finish last. Only the good die young. Women love the bad boys. If you've got them by the balls, the hearts and minds will follow. These distinctively American catchphrases, the last by President Theodore Roosevelt, should be emblazoned on the BG East ring. They comprise the philosophy of the heels in the Hunkbash series, in which heels are king. 

In the second match of Hunkbash 23, we have two hunks in the ring - Biff Farrell is strong but follows the rules; Austin Cooper follows the rules when he feels like it, having all but left behind the nice guy image he once had. Guess which one gets bashed. Actually, this match holds a few surprises, the main one being the excellent defense Biff puts up against Coop, the presumed hunkbasher.

Cleverly, the video opens with Biff already in trouble. No introductions, no shit talk, no posing, no tests of strength. With a tight grip on Farrell's head, Austin is marching Biff towards the ring to finish a beating that has already started. What stokes Austin's fury we are not told at first, though later we find out that Coop thinks Biff ate his lunch. The accusation is that Biff literally ate Coop's sandwich, but eating somebody's lunch  is an American idiom for defeating an opponent. Shortly after the action moves inside the ring, Biff pulls a stunning reversal

In the past Farrell and Cooper have both played across the heel/babyface divide. Both are certifiably hunks, similarly voluminous in build, similarly comparable in wrestling style. Watching a BGE Hunkbash in which I question who's bashing whom is refreshing. What I hate is an ambiguous ending, but there's not a thing ambiguous about this ending. The match rises to a blazing final ten minutes that's cinched tight with a killer choke.

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