I know great pro wrestling when I see it — I’ve watched enough of it to know. When I saw this match recently posted to the CSF Wrestling channel on YouTube, I knew right away I was in store for some great pro wrestling. The Baby-Face, Eddie Ryan, enters the arena in gladiator costume, bare-chested with a cape strapped across his chest. He high-fives all his fans at ringside, and you can tell they’re quite smitten with him.
If this is the same Eddie Ryan from the old “Lionhearts” Tag Team, he’s been around Brit Pro wrestling for years. In this team photo, he is in the back, flexing his bicep with a cheeky little grin.
I blogged about these Lionhearts as Faces-in-Peril in my “Taste for White Meat” article back in February 2013.
This Jack Starz moves about like a cheetah.
The agile Heel, wearing flamboyant blue patterned tights is named Jack Starz. He is a looker too with his ripped physique, and he flips and rolls around the ring like a gymnast — very impressive!
I think this match took place in England because when the fans chant for their beloved Eddie Ryan (which they do for most of the match), they pronounce his name “AY-Dee!”
Yeah! Work that fuckin’ arm. Break it off!
Just watch Starz throwing his whole body into this Wrist-Lock, flexing and grinding it, his back muscles and ass muscles taut. It lasts much longer if you watch the video — I just needed to keep my animations under like 500 Megabytes so I had to clip it down.
And Ryan sells it wonderfully, grunting and groaning, arching his back. He is easy to cheer for with his manly beard, tan, buff torso and eye-catching white gear. He is the epitome of the Good Guy Hero, so we crave his suffering and the feelings they inspire in us.
At about 7:00 into the match, Jack crashes awkwardly crotch-first into Eddie’s knee — I believe it was a legit accident. Eddie looks worried and Jack rolls around for a while nursing his nuts.
After he recovers, Jack takes revenge by getting rough with the Baby-Face. Eddie offers a friendly handshake, and Jack elbows him across the jaw in response.
Eddie gets kicked in the ribs quite often.
The poor Hero is on his knees and the goateed Bad Boy struts over and kicks him right in the ribs. You should hear the grunts and groans uttered by Eddie Ryan after that cruelty.
You want to dress up like a gladiator?? Welcome to the Coliseum, Spartacus!
A crotch-cradling Body Slam leaves the Gladiator broken.
And the close-up camera shots are top notch. I’m a sucker for all-white gear, so maybe that’s what has me worked up over this match. These fans are so lucky to get to see great suffering wrestling like this!
Why can’t they open an Indy wrestling federation right down the street from my house, with guys just like these competing at least a few times per week?? Oh well, at least we have YouTube. You better believe I’ve added CSF Wrestling to my many YouTube subscriptions…
The ass-kicking continues outside the ring.
The wrestlers battle back-and-forth, both men taking turns dominating and suffering.
When Ryan stomps his foot to signal his upcoming Super-Kick to finish off his opponent, the camera zooms in on those impressive white boots. (swooning here.)
Ryan kicks out — better punish him some more.
I won’t ruin the suspense by telling you who wins. You can go watch the video to find out. For me, pro wrestling isn’t really about who wins or loses anyway — it’s more about all the impressive, raunchy, agonizing, humiliating, cruel, and eye-catching scenes these gladiators perform for us along the way.