Strong vs. Stronger

Have you seen that rocking body on Brian Cage recently?  Holy wow, he is truly the “Swole-verine” — what a powerhouse!

This video was recently posted to YouTube featuring the Fucking Machine against one of my personal favorites — Roderick Strong.  For this match up, my guy should probably change his name to “Roderick Not-as-Strong.”  This match was taped at the Future Stars of Wrestling (FSW) “Collision Course” event earlier this year.

Roddy uses his speed advantage to dominate the big beast early in the match, taking him outside the ropes to chop his big pecs a few times.  Check out the stud flexing his biceps over Cage to taunt him.  Oh Roddy, he is gonna make you PAY for that later (I can’t wait!)

The match goes on to tell the story of Roddy’s hopeless situation, totally out-muscled by Cage and desperate to figure out a way to weaken this machine.  Several times, Strong leaps off the top ropes only to be easily caught in Cage’s powerful arms (an impressive feat of strength!), then tossed around like a ragdoll.  The point they’re making is that Cage is way more powerful and our poor Roderick really doesn’t have a chance against him.

Wrestling fans love to witness Muscle being over-whelmed, so we’re often treated to matches featuring a body-builder at the mercy of some fat slob, masked goon (or two), or even a smaller nerd.

But this match focuses instead on the dominance of Muscle — a regular guy (in this case, Roddy) is easily handled and torn apart by the Spectacular Male’s raw strength.  Rather than reveling in the degradation of an Ideal Male, this match teaches us to worship male power — to fear and respect masculinity.

The big man seems to enjoy putting boots to Roderick’s skull.  Here Roddy tries to catch his breath on the middle rope, only to suffer a brain-rattling Size 13 to the jaw.

Roddy usually portrays a merciless Shooter, the Messiah of the Backbreaker who knows 1,001 ways to make a pretty-boy suffer.  But I may actually prefer seeing him in the role of Please-Stop-Kicking-Me weakling on his knees.  And Cage just lords his power over Roderick, standing over him and showing off his big hard body.

At about 2:40 into the video, Roderick climbs the corner buckles and prepares to Cross-Body Block his opponent (with Cage’s chickenshit manager trying to grab at his ankles.)  Roddy executes the dive, only to be caught upside down in mid-air by Cage.

The monster then beasts poor Roderick up into Suplex position, shows him off for a few moments, then drives him into the mat!  It really is an awesome show of strength by Cage.  We are left thinking: “What can poor Roddy do — what can any man do — to subdue and defeat this incredible specimen of manhood??”   (And people wonder why guys get into pro wrestling…)

Here is another power move by the awesome Cage: he yoinks Roddy up in the air, flips his boy-toy, and drives his face down into the mat.  Strong is putty in his hands.

Cage wears the letters “G.M.S.I.” on the backside of his trunks, which stands for “Get My Shit In.”  He is definitely getting it all in for this match against helpless Roderick…

For me, the most captivating part of the match occurred when Cage slapped on a beautiful Ab Stretch at about 5:43 into the video.  He keeps it locked in for a good 45 seconds (which is a nice long hold in modern pro wrestling.  It lasts even longer than 45 seconds if you keep pausing the video to sit there and watch Roddy suffer…)

Roddy sells his pain like a champ, his face contorted, his tongue working the corners of his mouth, an angry expression as the ref asks him if he wants to throw the towel in like a bitch.  And Cage, whom we’ve established is a super-freak of muscle, just pours on the pressure.

Then they work that gimmick where the cheater pulls on the ropes for leverage (check out that chest and arm on Cage — whew!)

The bumbling ref can’t see the cheater’s dirty tactics.  The victim’s mid-section is twisted like a sponge being wrung dry.  He grips the top of his head and squeezes his eyes shut in a pitiful “Woe is me!” expression.

Our hero eventually escapes Cage’s clutches and delivers some offense of his own.  He even manages to cover Cage for a possible victory!  But the evil manager then yanks the official out of the ring on the count of two and starts hugging on him.  What the hell?!  Roddy’s plight is difficult enough already without this handsome bastard helping Cage cheat!!

Poor Roddy then eats Cage’s patented Discus Lariat and it’s all over.  This is so damn unjust, it turns me on.  Cage already held a major strength advantage over Strong, then his slimy manager helped him even more.  And the gullible ref just allows it to happen — clearly he has no interest in making sure Roderick gets a fair shake!  I sure enjoy scenarios like this, not sure why.