Fight-Style Fighting

Steve Gibki vs KC Navarro, I Quit Match (Catalyst Wrestling)

An I Quit match is not so much about winning as about making the other guy lose - lose not on a technicality, but lose hard, reach rock bottom, every lick of hope exhausted. A knockout is often considered the apex of fighting, but forcing your opponent to give up may be an even greater hard-on. It certainly has a special appeal for some of us. 

This black-box match, the Sapphire TV Championship, is stripped down to the basics - no audience but cameramen capturing the event, an announcer, a ref, and two fighters with rage in their eyes. Former champ KC Navarro requested the private showdown with current champ Steve Gibki, two months into his reign as champion. These two men trained together and have fought each other on several occasions in front of a live audience. 

This sweaty and bloody battle occurred three months ago. The absence of a live audience, likely a pandemic-based precaution, does a lot for this match. Wrestlers will play to a screaming crowd, but alone, one on one, their focus is entirely on the other guy. The action in this match is large enough for a stadium event. Putting it in a black box gives the match a claustrophobic quality, escalating tension, desperation, and hot tempers.

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