Out for Blood

Ty Shadow vs Jack Dillon, Finish Me (MuscleBoy Wrestling)

It so happens that I have four signed glossy 8x10 photos of Ty Shadow, one of which hangs framed in my hallway, squeezed between similar pics of Chris Ridgeway and Effy. I purchased the pictures on eBay before I ever saw him wrestle. That smile, those pecs, those biceps looked familiar to me a year ago when he debuted at MuscleBoy, but I failed to make the connection until two or three months later. 

This match, Ty taking on the dirty blond sweat king Jack Dillon, is an instant classic. It's a model of what underground wrestling can and should be - a gut-wrenching brawl with sexy tight clenches and old-school charisma. Punches and chokes are slammed back and forth like a tetherball. Jack is slightly taller and 25 pounds heavier, but both are well balanced in this sweat-fest to top all sweat-fests. Ty is a coolheaded fighting machine, motivated by ambition, while Jack is all grumble and sweat, motivated only by his opponent's misery.

I can't choose a side on this match. Both get the semblance of a win, but in the end there's only one man not knocked out by a piledriver and definitely down for a full three-count. Dramatic punches and mutual exhaustion are my idea of sexy. Ty vs Dillon is one of MuscleBoy's grittiest and most animal of matches. At my house, this one will get loads of replays.

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