Brother Beat-Down

Another wrestling show broadcast exclusively on WWE Network is the “Main Event.”  Here is a match from the May 27th episode featuring cute Cody Rhodes taking a beating from Curtis Axel.

Both competitors are from famous wrestling families (and are perhaps not as powerful and dominant as their forebears), so we get the sense that they both need to win to continue the tradition of excellence.  We sense that whoever loses will bring shame and humiliation on the family.  (I think about little scenarios like that while watching pro wrestling — it adds to the excitement…)

Cody has grown his hair just long enough for Curtis to snatch a handful and drag him around the ring, which he does about 8 times.  Here he prepares to spike Cody’s cute face into the turnbuckles, and Cody is beautifully submissive, allowing Curtis to inflict whatever damage he wishes.

By the way, can anybody identify the referee?  I usually don’t tear my eyes off the shirtless wrestlers but he’s caught my attention.  I need to watch more episodes of Main Event if he’s the official.

Whenever Cody wrestles lately, they show his big brother Golddust watching from ringside.  This just adds to Cody’s humiliation as he suffers a whipping in the ring, utterly emasculated in his brother’s eyes.

Golddust, meanwhile, is forced to watch his little brother getting bullied, beaten, and owned by other men, but he is unable to help out.  All he can do is hug Cody after the beat-down.

Curtis kneels on Cody’s throat to strangle him, which is the climax of the match in my opinion and possibly the sexiest move they perform.  We get a nice look at the dominant stud’s short leather boots — I dig those. They seem to make his legs seem nakeder and more effective than the tall clunky boots up to the knee.

Curtis Axel exudes that bad-ass bully persona — the sort of arrogant jock who always pulled somebody’s shorts down in gym class or knocked the books out of a smaller kid’s hands and then high-fived his buddies.   He is always sneering and looking like he wants to spit in somebody’s face. He offers a nice contrast to Cody’s slightly nerdish, somewhat awkward vibe — you can just picture Curtis torturing nervous young Cody every day in school.

Cody meanwhile continues to be degraded right in front of his brother — right in front of the entire world.  I picture his big brother beginning to question young Cody’s masculinity.  I picture Golddust saying: “Come on Code — I thought you were tougher than THIS!  What would Papa think of you right now??”

This is the psychology that makes the match fun to watch — young Cody so eager to please, desperate to be seen as a Man by his family, and yet so pathetic and ineffective — forced to kiss a stronger man’s knee and utterly powerless to defend himself.

Curtis and Cody wrestle each other frequently — probably because they’re both from famous families and they have good chemistry.  It seems every match includes a long Headlock by Curtis as Cody scrunches up his face in pure anguish.  It almost seems as if Curtis has a fetish for strangling guys (or at least for strangling Cody), as if he can’t wait to lock his arms around this kid’s neck and control his breathing.  Cody meanwhile usually sits there helpless with his legs apart for a few minutes, allowing the camera to scan him up and down.

Let’s take a break from this particular match for a moment and check out other examples of Curtis wrenching his arms around poor Cody’s esophagus…

OK this image shows Damien Sandow instead of Curtis Axel working over Cody’s neck.  It was so hot looking, I had to include it.  Look at that expression of bliss on Sandow’s smarmy face as Cody opens wide in agony.   Look at Cody’s little silver trunks.

The ref leans in to ask Cody if he’s had enough punishment yet — I love it when refs do that.

OK we are back to the May 27th episode of Main Event as Cody enjoys a few moments of dominance.  He executes some flippy move off the top turnbuckle, and then covers Curtis chest-to-chest.

I mostly just liked the looks of those tight, stretchy trunks as Cody cocks one leg to the side for leverage…

Sometimes they allow Cody to win in the end, redeeming himself in his brother’s eyes — but not tonight.  Tonight Cody is portrayed as Curtis Axel’s little plaything, easily defeated by a fistful of those stretchy speedos.  Cody kneels in shame as Big Brother stands over him and rests a hand on his back like he’s an obedient dog.