Mike the Punisher
UK wrestler Mike Martin was and always will be one of my favorite mat grapplers. Cool under pressure, Mike plays tunes of pain and helplessness on the sinews and bones of his opponents. He does not always win, but he often does, and nobody walks away from a Mike Martin match without some soreness in his neck and limbs. If he isn't out and out sadistic, he does nevertheless enjoy punishing whomever BG East picks to take him on - on both sides of the Atlantic. With no formal training in wrestling, Mike has the right instincts and determination to count as one of underground wrestling's coolest grapplers.
In a 2013 interview Mike spoke frankly about his wrestling fetish, particularly the importance he places on attitude, an adaptable balance of aggressiveness and sensuality. Striking that balance is, he said, more important than a beautiful physique. For him, attitude is attached to a knowledge of wrestling holds, of which he became a self-taught master. For him, serious hurt should be carefully avoided, but a match must be rough and punishing, on which point I absolutely agree. "A real submission," he said, "that's what it's all about, right?" "We can all take on a few knocks," he continued, "suffer a few bruises, submit for real, humiliate an opponent, be humiliated."
Reading his words now and looking at BG East's action shots below, I get a boner. What he said back in 2013 is this blog's canon. His style, his quiet but crushing technique is everything I imagine underground wrestling should be. His bouts with Rob Sherborne, Ty Garrison, and Rob Chandler are etched in my memory - they are some of the finest work underground wrestling has ever produced.
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