Aquamarine

Cason vs Loki, Water Wars 16 (Thunders Arena)

Cason and Loki are a reliable team, near equals in size, weight, and wrestling knowhow. They are in the top tier of underground wrestlers I admire, not just for their looks (which would be enough all on its own) but also for their increasing inventiveness as online performers and seasoned grapplers. They are swoon-worthy, individually and as a team. Every new match they are in makes my heart pound a little.

Swimming-pool fights are not new at Thunders, but this one is the best I have seen, here or anywhere. The cameraman follows every move closely, getting in close enough for me to recognize Loki and Cason even as they are engulfed in bubbles. Underwater wrestling is sexy and visually beautiful. This one especially but all of them to a lesser extent evoke two sets of memory - in Jason and the Argonauts, Acastus and Eupaemus wrestling to the death underwater is still sealed in my memory and, as a worker in a summer camp in Florida, a few us male workers battled each other, buck naked in the pool at midnight, while campers and counselors slept.

Cason and Loki's moves consist of chokes, bearhugs, and scissors, all executed beautifully, played more for fun than for sport, though both battlers are aggressive. They protect each other, repeatedly, without drawing much attention to their safety measures. It's a beautiful match, well worth the money spent in downloading it.

Visit Thunders Arena here.