Bruisers

Chris Dickinson vs Mike Bennett, 2 October 2021, California (United Wrestling Network, UWN)

I plucked these GIFs out of the plump, juicy center of this 2021 UWN Title Match. Dr. L sent me the link, which I gobbled up as fast as I could after a wearying but not altogether awful work week. I'm proud that I have jerked off to both contestants over the past twenty years. Coincidentally, both Mike Bennett and Chris Dickinson debuted in 2002. I am equally proud to have seen Mike in a couple of live events (Ring of Honor) and to have had the privilege of introducing Chris to BG East, when he inquired about finding work in underground wrestling.

The match takes a sudden turn every minute of the 18-minute brawl. It's exhilarating. The fast, brutal pace and heat of the bright lights generate the sweat these bodies pour out. Bennett and Dickinson launch the fight at full throttle, leading with the kind of bald attack that usually occurs five or six minutes into a normal match. The battle begins with a cloudburst of mayhem in and out of the ring. The fighters slug it out in the opaque darkness surrounding the ring. They return to the ring for the larger part of the battle. The bad blood between these men is instantaneous, as if they were natural enemies. As far as I can tell, they last faced off in 2014.

That both men wear black trunks indicates some respect for the old-school gear codes of early TV wrestling. Black identifies them as heels and/or trouble. Their shaved scalps make it difficult to tell one fighter from the other, especially at a distance, from a ticket buyer's vantage point. For fans, the identities merge, and the fight turns abstract and impersonal - rage as an absolute, with neither heroes nor villains. Just sure and delicious mayhem.

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