Already in the Ring…

So we come back from commercial break during the June 11th episode of WWE NXT to find these oiled up muscle-boys waiting in the ring.  I don’t even know what Tag Team is going to beat them up yet, and I’m already drooling.  Baron Corbin is the shaved-head dude with that gorgeous inkwork across his chest and down one arm like a sleeve.  He wears steel grey tights with laces over the crotch like football pants.

But the jobber who really catches our attention — who we really hope to see playing the Face-in-Peril — is the White Meat Babyface in the orange trunks.   This kid just screams Classic 80’s Jobber from his long curly mane of hair, to his shiny tanned torso, to his snow white boots.  Even his name — “Travis Tyler” — makes me want to put him in a Boston Crab and sit on him for about an hour…

The Heel’s manager enters the arena next — Sylvester Lefort, with his animal-print jacket wide open so we can see his greasy, hairy chest.  He brings out his wrestlers, two beefy rednecks in fire-engine red trunks and leather vests.   Damn — are they trying to put me over the edge before we even get to the wrestling match??

What wonderful and benevolent things have I done in my life to deserve this??   Are they seriously going to unleash these two roughnecks on pretty boys Baron and Travis?  I love you NXT…

We start with shine for the jobber, who secures an ineffective Headlock — emblematic of his impotence and weakness.

Maybe this early jobber success is meant to justify the stiff beating he will suffer later, or maybe it’s just pure eye candy for us.  Whatever, I enjoy it while it lasts, and soon the rough, tough Scott Dawson takes over control.

The Heels deliver that old school vibe that always seems to make me nostalgic.  Their bodies are thick and beefy rather than shredded and streamlined.  Their matching red trunks are the oversized, stretchy, cottony sort of trunks rather than the shiny pleather speedos favored nowadays.

And they utilize those nasty, simple, but effective attacks we loved to see about 30 years ago.  They pull hair, they kick skulls, they double-team.  I think they’re meant to remind us of Arn and Tully, and I am perfectly fine with re-packaging an old gimmick, as long as it was an exciting package.

I read some negative reviews of this match — that it didn’t mean anything because it’s just a squash.  That the Heels need to find stiffer competition before they will seem legit.  Whatever — some people have no taste.  There is a clip of this match available on You-Tube — you be the judge.

A true connoisseur of pro wrestling would appreciate and enjoy the selling by Travis Tyler.  He does a fantastic job looking exhausted, out-matched, pathetic, and limp.  Yes, this is a squash match, and that is exactly why it’s great…

Tyler is on the “receiving end of unbelievable punishment” but eventually makes the tag. Corbin storms into the ring and takes control — for a minute or two.  Soon the brutal southern brawlers whip him into submission too and cover him for the victory.

Damn NXT is fun to watch lately, even providing classic jobber beatdowns.  You just don’t often see action like this any more on the mainstream product.

Are Dylan and Dawson a perfect flawless machine?  No, their game needs some work.  Is their redneck-style Tag Team going to move forward to achieve fame, fortune, and worldwide acclaim?  Perhaps not, but I still got into their gimmick.  This was still a very fun squash match and these two look great in red spandex!