Hugs

Outback vs Reggie, Bearhug Challenge 19 (Thunders Arena)

Reggie is the one with the scruff and green print trunks. He's bigger and heavier than Outback, in the black and blue trunks, who's from South Africa. Both make their Thunders Arena debut in this Bearhug Challenge. The format resembles sumo, only they don't toss salt all over the place and there's no samurai topknot. Also, unlike sumo, the struggle is prolonged, about 11 minutes, and the goal is less about tossing an opponent to the ground than squeezing the air out of the other guy's lungs and, preferably, knocking him out.

I used to watch sumo on TV, when I was a kid and my Air Force dad was stationed in Japan, where my family lived for three years. This is better than sumo, though it lacks the rich tradition, better especially because individual sumo matches are brief - countable in seconds and hardly ever as long as a pop song. This is face-to-face, chest-to-chest, belly-to-belly fun, and the fun lasts until one guy submits or runs out of oxygen - and these guys don't exhaust easily. It may lack the flamboyance and speed of ring wrestling, but it's hot, with almost nonstop tight clutches, and these guys are stuck together, writhing, for quite a long time. This match ends in medias res, leaving the battle somewhat unresolved, but it's a heated trip for as long as it lasts. Both men are built like boulders.

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