Upward Bow

Nino Leone vs Jason Anders, Wrestlingshack 27 (BG East)

My personal conviction is that a small space like BG East's Wrestleshack is ideal for fighting - isolated, private, haunted by the great no-holds-barred matches that it has housed in the past. Leone and Anders come to the Shack with sterling credentials, and my expectations were high even before I began watching the match.  Nino pretends an interest in Jason's knowledge of  yoga-style stretches and poses, especially the upward bow or wheel pose, but of course it's a ruse to get close to the yogi and start something if he can. It turns out he can.

Yoga is a sensuous discipline; so is wrestling, when done right. Yoga helps you get at peace and in shape, especially if you're not shooting for dense, massive muscle. Jason and Nino are both slenderly built. Jason is taller and heavier than Nino, but a wrestling mat can be a great equalizer. Both have proved themselves to be fearless and pitiless fighters. I took notice of Leone in 2017, when the 140-pounder set his sights on 200-pound muscle stud Calvin Haynes. He caught my eye when he daringly took on heavy and sneaky Ace Aarons a year later. Serious lust entered the picture when he took on a lighter opponent, Skip Vance, in a fight equally sensual and cutthroat - and in the Wrestleshack! Jason Anders built his reputation at UCW, taking on tough, cage-match-style fighters like Axel, Chase Michaels, and, more recently, punishers like Lobo Gris and big big big Gabe Steel.

Based on those choices, I see Jason as a masochist, so apparently does Nino. Eager to advance his standing as a bad-ass heel, Leone instinctually zeros in on Anders. It's not just the thrill of beating Jason up that inspires Nino. He wants to physically handle the guy, get close to him, share his sweat, and make him his dog. Jason enjoys the pain, but he doesn't want to be alone in feeling it, which makes him tougher to squash than Nino at first imagined.

The match is currently available as a video on demand on BGE's private-membership Arena. It will soon be available on DVD, too.

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