I’ve heard of “Spotland Scrappers” before — an indy wrestling video producer in Great Britain, but had not ordered any DVDs. I was never sure if their DVDs would play in machines on this side of the pond. So I was happy to discover they now offer their wrestling videos by electronic download!
Being a sucker for unfair, two-against-one beat-downs, I decided to download the video “Double Trouble,” and I am so happy I did!
The gear, the physiques, the wrestling holds, the two-against-one story all combined to make me a satisfied customer and convinced me to keep coming back for more videos from this group. These lads really “get” pro wrestling and sincerely deliver a quality product.
The premise of this match is that Sam Smiler, lean stud in the red speedo and kneepads, is learning to wrestle. His instructor — Young Ady in the coal black briefs and boots — tells his trainee what holds to apply next. The jobber in the shiny blue speedo is Ray Junior, a helpless ragdoll that Sam is permitted to use as his toy — to be bent, slammed, flipped, and Figure-Foured so Sam can perfect his craft.
These Spotland Scrappers have tapped into one of my wrestling fantasies with this scenario: the sadistic partner outside the ring shouting suggestions to the in-ring competitor on how to hurt their opponent. “Break his back!“, or “Put him in the Bearhug“, or “Drag him over here so I can kick him…” — that sort of thing.
I suppose this is one of my Hot Buttons due to the power imbalance between the dominant pair, who are able to casually announce their next moves and apply whatever holds they wish, over the overwhelmed victim, who can hear what they plan to do next to his body (and dread it) but can not prevent their torture, can not retaliate against the partner outside the ring with the sadistic imagination. A powerful bond is formed between the dominant partners, one deciding the actions to destroy their man, and the other one carrying them out. For me, this has always been fertile ground for fantasy.
When the teacher sees his pupil making mistakes, he decides to provide some hands-on instruction. He gets in the ring himself and shows, step by step, how to really crank on the pressure, and they’ve now pressed another of my Hot Buttons! I’ve always enjoyed when one partner will demonstrate a move, then hand the victim over to the other partner to apply the same move. They pass him back and forth like a toy, nothing more than a Wrestling Dummy to be used for their pleasure and learning.
This always seems so disrespectful to their victim — using him as nothing more than an object. The teacher and student in this match give zero fucks how badly their harming poor Ray as they bend him into submission hold after submission hold.
Young Ady in the black speedo is known as the “Team Captain” at Spotland Scrappers. He is clearly the boss and clearly a well-trained wrestler — I was impressed by this handsome stud’s easy application of complex holds like the Suspended Surfboard. And it doesn’t hurt that these lads all have speedo-worthy bodies!
Next the teacher and student begin working together in harmony, both applying holds on their toy at the same time, starting with the Boston Crab + Camel Clutch combination.
Young Ady wants his trainee to see their victim’s face, to experience the pleasure of watching Ray scowl in anguish. So they trade places and reapply the hold. Sammy exclaims: “His face looks soooo painful. Oh my god!” You can view a one-minute video of their switcheroo on YouTube to see what I’m talking about.
One of my complaints about most 2-on-1 scenes in pro wrestling is they’re too short. Either the official rushes in to enforce the “rules”, or the two dominant wrestlers run out of ideas on how to both hurt the opponent at the same time. This fantastic Double-Trouble match goes on for over 20 minutes, and Young Ady never seems to run short of torture devices.
In their online shop, Spotland Scrappers lists their videos for sale by download but they don’t provide match photos. You can find photos, to see what you’re buying, elsewhere on their website. The videos cost 5 British Pounds, but you can pay using Pay Pal which charges you in dollars per the current exchange rate. I think I paid $8.20 — money very well spent.
What a picture-perfect Two-Against-One Surfboard — I don’t believe I’ve ever seen that move before! (And I’ve watched a fair amount of pro wrestling in my time.) I also appreciate seeing the wrestlers in proper boots inside a ring, which makes the whole product seem more professional and authentic to me. Also their boots look amazing, especially Sammy’s tall red-and-black number, and I get off on amazing pro-style boots.
I haven’t said much about Ray Junior, the helpless boy-toy in the blue speedo, so let me heap some praise on him. He does a great job selling the anguish and agony of each move they subject him to — even a few ill-conceived moves that probably weren’t the most effective. He never grows tired of moaning and groaning (and even shouting) to communicate how damn painful their combined attacks feel. He even whimpers, at one point, “Don’t kill me, please. I’ve got family.” And like any good jobber, he patiently endures some positions that had to hurt like hell, such as this absolutely gorgeous combined Figure Four Leglock and Headlock (which I like to call the Figure Eight.)
Damn, I love it when the attacker lifts his hips up off the mat to suddenly pour on the pressure as shown here — yet another Hot Button they’ve managed to press. The bad boys smile and laugh as they grind their hips in rhythm to torture poor Ray.
The only weakness of this product I can mention was the audio quality. The wrestlers have accents that are difficult for me to understand, so when an orchestra begins warming up in the background, I was unable to make out a little of their trash-talk. But these minor audio troubles do not decrease the appeal of the wrestling one bit!
So I want to commend Spotland Scrappers on a great wrestling product, which made my weekend. I will be coming back for more downloads I’m sure, so I can see what else these talented wrestlers have in their arsenal.
