Come to the Dark Side

Kenneth Cameron was part of an exciting tag team called the Ascension.  I offered my thoughts on an Ascension match from November 2012 in this blog.  Later that same month, this stud had some trouble with the law (drunken assault of a police officer) and was fired.

He has since emerged on the Indy scene, keeping the same ring name and showing the same confident macho attitude and kick ass brutality in the ring.  About the only things that have changed are that he is probably earning less, and that he has grown out the hair on his chest and stomach to emphasize his masculinity and power.

Here are some screen caps of an entertaining match I viewed on YouTube recently.  The match is from an indy federation called FUW — Florida Underground Wrestling — and occurred at their 3/16/13 event called “Warning Shot.”

I didn’t recognize Cameron at first as the former member of Ascension, but I knew from his confident strut to the ring and the way he opened his coat to display his body that this big, bad Heel had the charisma and ring presence to be a super-star.

Cameron’s opponent is the British baby-face, Tommy Taylor.  He wears classic jobber gear — canary yellow trunks and snow white boots.

I also reviewed a Tommy Taylor match last year where he played the ultimate weakling Baby-Face, until transforming into a phoenix by rising from the ashes to overcome his agony and win the match in the last possible seconds.

Both Cameron and Taylor are British and knew each other (and wrestled each other) in their homeland.  Before the match begins, Cameron reminds Taylor of their roots and encourages his former friend to join with him in a male-male relationship to dominate and punish the American wrestlers.  He mentions that Taylor (in his bright yellow trunks) has grown too soft and Americanized.

Taylor, meanwhile, suffers beautifully as only a well-trained and experienced Baby-Face with over a decade of selling under his belt can do.  His moans of agony, his head hanging down in shame, tell the story that he has suddenly learned he is no match for his former rival, whose experience in the Big Leagues have left him much stronger and more confident.

Cameron taunts Taylor throughout the match, screaming in his face to stir up his anger and testosterone.   He wants the sissified Taylor to get in touch with his inner macho-man, his brutal and violent birthright as a British male.  He screams, “Get ANGRY Tommy!  That’s what I want!”

Tommy Taylor reminds me of Anakin Skywalker falling prey to his feelings of hatred and anger, unable to stop the evil from entering his heart and corrupting his purity.  Cameron continues to taunt him, similar to the Emperor coaxing young Anakin to join the Dark Side.

When the ref tries to rein in Taylor’s growing rage — to return him to a life of law and order — Taylor knocks the authority figure on his ass.  When the ref gets up, the evil Cameron, inspires Taylor to “finish” the ref.

This rejection of the rule of law is the last straw, the completion of the dreaded “Heel Turn” for Tommy Taylor, perhaps the last pure baby-face remaining in the world.

In a striking scene of homo-social bonding, the two Brits stand face-to-face.  Taylor asks his new friend, “Are you happy now?!”  Cameron places a supportive hand on Taylor’s neck and stares into his eyes, perhaps planning to pull him in for a kiss.  It resembles a gesture a husband may perform on his new bride.  Clearly he is very happy with Taylor’s acceptance of the Dark Side and the Heel lifestyle.

Does this moment of male bonding, this brief love scene, imply that there is more between these two men than just their refusal to follow the rules and their hard-to-understand British accents?  Do their intimate actions imply that “going to the Dark Side” or “Turning Heel” may involve some more intense male bonding later, if you catch my drift??  Cameron is presented as the epitome of decadence and corruption, and presumably will now corrupt and violate Taylor’s goodness and innocence.

A swole dude at ringside steps between the two Brits, trying to coax Tommy back to the innocence and goodness of being a Baby-Face.  Cameron explodes into a jealous rage.  He decks the poor fan who tried to ruin his relationship with Taylor, and the two wrestlers work together to destroy the fan with their knees and boots.

The final scene depicts the two Heels dragging their prey back to their lair, implying that his punishment and humiliation are not finished yet.  Taylor pulls him along by the hair, like a caveman dragging a new mate back to his cave.  He will pay the ultimate price for daring to separate the new BFFs, verifying the strength of their new bond and their dominance over all other men now that they’ve formed a successful male-male alliance.