These two dudes — Mike Bennett and Adam Cole — have aligned together in a great looking partnership. I’m not sure why they call their Tag Team “The Kingdom,” I guess because they want us all to worship them like kings. At Ring of Honor’s July 2015 pay-per-view — Aftershock — they battled a pair of big, aggressive barbarians known as “War Machine.”
Oh the many humiliations these thick-bodied Vikings inflicted on my poor Adam Cole! They really got rough on one of my favorite wrestlers, which always gets to me.
I guess I’m always torn between wanting to rescue my poor helpless favorite from potential injury at the hands of these animals, while also craving the sight of him in suffering. THAT is the tension that makes for a great Baby-Face wrestler and a highly entertaining match.
Cole's back is broken across Rowe's knee
For some reason, the ref allows the brutes from War Machine to cheat repeatedly, both remaining in the ring at the same time to harm my Adam. Here, for example, one War Machine slams Adam across the other War Machine’s waiting knee to bust his back.
What is going on with this illegal bullshit?!
And check out this series of Double-Team maneuvers. First the big guys Double-Body-Slam the jobber, then Rowe slams his own partner down onto Cole’s ribcage. You can see Cole’s partner suffering in the foreground of this image — trying to recover from an earlier War Machine assault.
Cole and Bennett are working the “Partners-Out-Of-Sync” gimmick where their timing is off, one accidentally punches the other, and an underlying tension or jealousy begins to surface. This happens when both partners are Alpha Males.
Cole takes the brunt of the abuse from War Machine, but Bennett takes some nice stiff lickings too.
Here Rowe shows his power by easily lifting and carrying Cole to the corner, where he drapes that body over the top turnbuckles like he’s hanging up his laundry to dry.
Bennett is stacked on top of his partner.
After Cole is suspended on the ropes, his own partner Bennett is laid on top of him. These spectacular males are now made to look like ineffective sissies up there spooning one another. How degrading!
War Machine then proceeds to hammer the top Baby-Face which causes both the top and the bottom Baby-Face to feel the impact.
Cole learns how it feels to go through the Spin Cycle.
Cole is spun 180 and slammed by the bigger member of War Machine. Wow, these big killers are just showing off now, and of course Cole looks beautiful as they rip him apart.
We are led to understand that Cole is failing because his male-male relationship with Bennett is failing. The message is that power and success are found in strong bonds we form with other men.
More two-on-one cheating.
Cole gets Irish-Whipped into one War Machine’s knee, then drilled in the face by the other War Machine, then Clotheslined across the back of the neck to flatten him.
I hate to say it, but I really enjoy when Cole is in trouble and over-powered — I guess because he’s so darn good looking.
Cole's cute face is no match for those elbows.
Of course Cole and Bennett end up losing the match, which is what always happens when a Tag Team is no longer gelling. Actually Bennett is the partner who ends up being pinned, but I’m kind of focused on Cole’s punishment right now.
At least if Cole and Bennett break up, we can look forward to some heated, passionate fights as they sort through their petty male jealousies, which ought to be incredible to watch.