People talk about certain cities being a “hot-bed” of professional wrestling. I like that term — “hot bed.” For example, Chicago, Memphis, Dallas — certain cities just always feature the best wrestling enjoyed by the most rabid and excitable fans. Philadelphia where they hold National Pro Wrestling Day each year is another hot-bed.
Another wrestling hot-bed in my opinion has been Portland — I am thinking of Pacific Northwest Wrestling which aired from 1948 to 1991 and featured legendary talent like Buddy Rose, Roddy Piper, Snuka, and Rip “the Crippler” Oliver.
So I was pleased to learn that local pro wrestling is back on the air again in Portland. The West Coast Wrestling Connection (WCWC) appears on Portland PDX-TV and the shows are uploaded to a YouTube channel for the entire wrestling world to enjoy. There is so much damn great pro wrestling available now, I get turned on just thinking about the abundance!
This match between Caleb Konley and Ethan HD was the opening bout on Episode 9 of WCWC which aired 7/19/14. The entire episode is great, the in-ring talent and production quality are top notch, and I enjoyed every match on the show, which is rare. The main event of the show, “Hot Shot” Danny Duggan defending his belt against Ashton Vuitton, was fantastic as well and I may blog about that later…
But anyways, the debut of Caleb Konley on the show was a nice example of How To Construct A Baby-Face.
You may recall Konley from earlier in his career when he acted like an arrogant underwear model (“Caleb Konley” perhaps a reference to “Calvin Klein.”) I wrote an article in praise of his gear choices back in 2007. Well he no longer wears underwear-style trunks, but he has maintained and even improved that buff, well-proportioned body, and his wrestling skills are awesome!
The turning point of the match occurs when the Heel — Ethan HD — pushes Konley off the top ropes to land in the aisle and roll around on the floor like a jobber. Then Ethan gets hard-ass and begins to stomp and kick Caleb, and slam his face into the ring apron, and drill him with stiff elbows. Ethan portrays a thug, a real bad muthafucker.
Ethan HD, the bleached-blond heel in this match, has wrestled on the Indy scene for years and appeared in several federations, mostly in the “hot-bed” of the Northwest where numerous wrestling promotions exist (must be nice!). He is a true talent in the ring and calls himself the Chi-Town Urban Emperor — a cool nickname and a reference to Chicago, another hot-bed.
The funny thing is I didn’t think Ethan looked very massive at the start of this match. Sure, he looked very fit and healthy like an endurance runner or swimmer, but he didn’t look swole to me. However, as the fight wore on, he hulked out or something and I was like damn, where did those big muscles come from? Dude is a beast and if you watch the video, you will see he really unleashes some stiff offense on Konley.
Clearly both men are well-versed in delivering what the fans want to see in pro wrestling. Ethan adopts a Cruel Bastard expression and proceeds to torture his submissive opponent. Caleb sells his anguish like the old pro he has become, really inspiring our compassion and ensuring his position as a top-rated Baby-Face with his orgasmic facial expressions. The camera gets right in there and captures the drama of this torture scene.
Ethan begins to focus on Caleb’s back, which was presumably injured when he was dumped out to the floor. He Irish-Whips Konley into the turn-buckles, and the suffering stud collapses like a giant redwood tree that’s been cut down. Ethan keeps kicking and Elbow-Smashing Caleb’s spinal cord so we never forget that his back is in pain. Then, the climax of the entire match — a gorgeous Over-the-Knee Backbreaker:
The commentators do their part to spice up the action with the usual graphic and arousing descriptions of Our Hero’s pathetic agony. Here is how they described Konley being broken across his opponent’s knee:
“Pushing down across the spine of Caleb Konley, maybe trying to hyper-extend that back. Pushing back on his neck, on his quadricep, trying again to wear down Caleb Konley.”
And whenever they discuss Ethan HD, they talk about what a sadistic cheater he is (along with his nasty Tag Team partner):
“I have never seen guys who were so crooked, so dirty, to hold onto a Championship. We’re talking about mace, we’re talking about duct tape, we’re talking about putting guys almost out of the business!” (Mmmm kinky. Makes me want to watch a lot more WCWC!)
Oh man, Konley is beautiful when he suffers.
WCWC did everything right in this match to get us to love Caleb Konley. This match is like Baby-Face Building 101.
First of all, he looks great in his tight little trunks. He pandered to the audience, out-wrestled his opponent early, suffered through dirty tactics and stiff offense for most of the match, and achieved victory in the end. Then, to really sell us on his Baby-Face-ishness, they even had Ethan’s tag team partner attack Caleb Konley after the match!
