Pretty Positive

Forrest Taylor vs Jack Norwood, Ring Rookies 6 (BG East)

Forrest Taylor (5'7", 142#) hit my list of BGE  heroes with his first dreamy match against Lobo Gris in the Wrestleshack. Now he's out of the shack and in the ring with Jack Norwood (5'4", 135#) in his BG East debut. It's war at first sight for these two, and the BGE ring is equally new territory for both men.

Forrest is not only "pretty positive" that he has booked the room for only himself but also sure that he can whoop the smaller wrestler's ass. Jack suggests a loser-get-lost match, and Forrest agrees to it. "You don't know what you're getting yourself into," warns Forrest, with perhaps unwarranted self-confidence.

The two men circle each other, revving up for a fight and stalling for time. The circle gets smaller, and Forrest slams his knee to Jack's gut and locks on a full nelson. With the toe of his boot, he forces Norwood down on one knee, but Jack makes a strong and exhausting escape and reversal. The stiltedness of the start points to the fighters' lack of experience, but I'm inclined to prefer messy fights between amateurs out for blood over fancy choreography.

Forrest is the more expressive of the two, maybe because he spends a lot of time getting gut-punched against the turnbuckle, body-slammed to the mat, and clamped grunting and groaning between Norwood's thighs. These are the oldy-goldies of ring wrestling, and Taylor strains and grimaces, a pro at being stuck in a tough spot. 

We're closely approaching the battle's halfway point before Forrest can turn the tables on Jack or, possibly, enjoy a noble but brief hope spot. I have to love the way he squeezes Norwood's curvy pecs and seemingly knocks the guy out with a punch to the chest. Triumphantly, he strikes a double biceps pose and rests his foot high up on Jack's back.

The show's not over, though. The remaining ten minutes holds no surprises and regrettably no sweat either, but all in all the ring rookies perform no worse than most rookies and display enough spirit to raise hopes for matches to come.

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