Roughneck

Chris Ridgeway vs David Francisco, BPW After Hours 3 (Battle Pro Wrestling)

Having won the BPW title five months before, David Francisco defends it against hardcore badass Chris Ridgeway. Ridgeway's cage-match mien is sexy in a hard, cold way. I have thought so since I first saw him in action almost five years ago. He stands out by virtue of his style. In that respect, I mentally group him with other Brit wrestlers Zack Sabre Jr., Finn Balor, and Cara Noir, among others. Each has a memorable fight style that combines theatrical eccentricities and mercilessly stiff body blows.

Both Ridgeway and Francisco are brawlers, closely matched. Only Chris strikes me as "dangerous," a very powerful allure for some of us fans. He doesn't overplay it, though. He doesn't feel the need to scream back at the crowd or play up his nastiness. There's a crisp precision in his manner of inflicting pain, and he doesn't hiss and drool to stoke the fans' animosity - for some, he is a hero, in fact, even as he takes on the local boy. He's more Goth - but not the overblown Gothicism of The Undertaker or Daffney - more queerly off-center, which is subtler, and better.

If Ridgeway pulls his punches, it's not very noticeable, and there's joy in every strike and blow. His moves are dancerlike with a hard kick, and his body language even at rest tells us a lot about who he is. Hot stuff.

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