A War in Two Parts

Joey Nux vs Gabe Steel, War Must Go On - Florida - Wrestlingmale Conquers 25 (Wrestlingmale)

Mixed feelings about this one. Gabe and Joey are in ultra-peak condition, but the mugging and gesticulating don't work for me. So, I choose to focus on the positives. Those bodies. 

Gabe looks like he has trimmed down a bit, giving us a clearer than ever view of his musculature. He is confident. The self-conscious smiling has disappeared for the most part. In physique and magnetism, he is magnificent.

Joey has gone far beyond the Joey of a year ago. He still looks like a wild man - like Tarzan's bar-hopping brother. His sells are exaggerated, but his choke holds and body locks are spot-on perfect. His front headlock on Gabe in the mat room makes me envious of Gabe.

Staged in BG East's Florida facilities, the fight begins in the squared circle. Gabe is the boss here, hardly ever letting Joey up for air. The high points occur against the ropes and turnbuckle. Score cards mark each man's progress in submitting his opponent. The setting abruptly changes when a frustrated and enraged Joey drags Gabe down the hall to the mat room, the turf Nux feels gives him an advantage.

In general, I prefer mats to rings, though these days I enjoy either location so long as the wrestling has intensity and credibility. Both halves of the video have high spots, but I prefer the match in the mat room. I have no objection to the slow pace of both halves of the video because near equals in battle often slug it out in slow motion.

Punching and pushing work best in the ring. The original rings were for boxing, I'm reasonably sure based on the earliest pictorial evidence. One reason I prefer mat wrestling is its generous doses of body contact - squeezing, mounting, grinding. Its origins rest in the arena (Latin for "sand"). Further back, "gymnasium" was the Greek word for "naked wrestling school" - I like to think that gays invented wrestling. (Even further back in Mesopotamia in 2900 BCE, Gilgamesh and Enkidu became lovers after a wall-busting wrestling bout.)

But I digress, as I often do. Even though the sells were exaggerated and unconvincing, I enjoyed this match. The impressiveness of these two men - their bodies, their commitment to underground wrestling - makes this match an important part of my collection. 

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