The Bodyguard Gimmick

TNA Impact Wrestling has been posting full episodes of their weekly show in High Def on their YouTube channel.  I’m so glad they offer this for us wrestling fans because, as their show hops from channel to channel, I am never sure if I will have access to watch it.  (They’re moving their show to “POP TV” this week and I don’t think I get that network.)

On their 12/19/15 episode, they put Davey Richards (love that guy) in the ring against Ethan Carter III (or “EC3” — love that guy too).  This was part of their on-going tournament to crown the new Biggest Dicked Alpha Stud or whatever their title belt is called. As you can see, EC3 brought his thuggish bodyguard (Torus or something) to help intimidate Davey — or possibly to physically destroy Davey if necessary.

Not long into the match, Davey is thrown from the ring where the big ugly bodyguard proceeds to punch him in the face and whip his vulnerable body into the barrier at ringside.  Davey sells the fuck out of this unfair assault (which is why I love him) and remains at EC3’s mercy for most of the match.

The impact is so severe, it causes Davey to flip over.

Davey is performing this new jobber move where he allows himself to be whipped into the corner turnbuckles where he bounces off stiffly, then flips over onto his stomach like a gymnast who passed out halfway through a somersault.  This is a nice display of stupid vulnerability, his face and gut striking the buckles which utterly wastes his whole body.

Davey then puts on a clinic in Baby-Face Suffering.  For example, one of his most used poses of defeat is the classic Arms-Draped-Like-Wet-Noodles-Over-The-Ropes.  He adopts a dazed expression and hangs his muscular body like wet laundry on a clothesline, as if the ropes are the only thing holding the ragdoll up.  Beautiful!

He acts as if his arms are shackled to the ropes, as if he can’t untangle them to defend his face.  All the power shifts to the buff young Alpha Male who exploits Davey’s weakness.

Again Davey strikes the corner and flops over like a deer hit by a truck.

We get some more illegal bullshit from the Bodyguard at ringside while EC3 flirts with the ref to distract him, and then Davey again performs his devastating Face-Smash into the turnbuckle, leaving him utterly broken and weak.  This is where we get to enjoy some of the most beautiful visuals from this bout — close-ups of Davey’s rugged face dazed on the mat — see below:

Davey is at a disadvantage to EC3 in many ways:  the younger man is clearly more muscular and powerful (just look at him, fuck!).  Also EC3 is presented as the spoiled nephew of the company CEO — you can never beat the boss’s boy.  To top it off, EC3 has his massive thug at ringside to help him if Davey ever does gain the advantage.

The Bodyguard Gimmick is often used in wrestling as a metaphor for the advantages that the rich One Percenters have over common schmucks like you, me, and Davey.  Any little gimmick they can invent to shift more and more power to the villain is a turn-on in my book.  They should give EC3 a few big ugly bodyguards and arm them with weapons and let them all in the ring against Davey at once.

Whoa! Please don't die EC3.

Let me give credit where it’s due — Davey does inflict some really dangerous and impressive moves on EC3 like this breathtaking Suplex off the top ropes.

He also dove out of the ring three times to splash down Davey and the bodyguard.  I didn’t capture images of that because my interest is in seeing Davey outmatched, but you can go see the full match on YouTube.

Simply Headlock him and drive his face into the mat.

After some back-and-forth scrambling, EC3 finishes off his opponent with this devastating Bulldog type maneuver called the One Percenter.

That’s it — EC3 wins the match fair and square!  I thought for sure the Bodyguard would play a role in his victory, the villains needing to cheat to win.  But no, Davey is defeated legit, which is actually more degrading for him than if he’d lost through trickery and deceit.

So our take-away is that EC3 is so strong and talented, he didn’t even need his body-guard to defeat Davey (except for a little help early in the match.)  This presents EC3 as a total god.  He is not only swole and magnificent to gaze upon, not only rich and spoiled, but also a damn good fighter to be able to defeat the veteran Davey.

I like seeing Davey forced to tuck his tail between his legs and pass the torch to this young wolf.  I like Davey’s utter ragdoll helplessness as this young stud rips him apart.  I like that TNA Impact is providing this hot wrestling on YouTube.  And most of all, I like Davey’s defeated expression and sad eyes as the camera zooms in on him after his loss: