Tyrannosaurus Rex

Back on March 14th, my fellow blogger from Ringside at Skull Island already wrote a great review of the latest King of The Ring match from 88 Wrestling featuring Rex Bradford defending his belt against Chase Lundquist. So here I am trying not to duplicate exactly the same images and positive comments that he already posted.

This is a rough and sweaty (and at times, nasty) pro-style bout between two studs with shredded abdomens who seem to legit enjoy hurting each other. The name “Rex” means “king” so it’s fitting that Rex holds the King of the Ring title. Throughout the match, I enjoyed how they play around with concepts of kingship, power, and dominion (“Some ‘KING’ you are!” and “Kneel before me!“, that sort of thing…)

Check out Rex kicking his opponent right in the chest, above! He is a rough, tough fighter, willing to abuse his own body in order to inflict even greater damage on his foe. For example, he executes a really pretty Drop-Kick that the Ringside blogger captured nicely. He then goes to work on Chase’s arm — check out the Elbow Snapper GIF that Ringside created for us.

And this is how Rex wins the first fall — by clamping Chase’s weakened arm between his thighs and threatening to bust it off and take it home with him.

I am a self-confessed gear freak and crotch watcher, so I definitely want to take notice of the remarkably skimpy speedos worn by both men in this fight. It’s rare for 88 Wrestling to utilize such revealing and skanty fabric, but I suppose they have to keep up with their stiff and growing competition…

Chase and Rex have wrestled previously — they fought in 88 Wrestling’s All Stretched Out video several years ago. You can see in the following animation from that match, where Chase unleashes a nasty knee to Rex’s balls, that their attire provided a bit more coverage back then.

And by the way, Chase continues to bend the rules and fight dirty to this day (God love him!) He convinced gullible Rex Bradford to fall for the same nasty trick in their current bout…

I started off feeling a bit sorry for Chase Lundquist because he’s in the ring with such a rough and well-trained killer in Rex Bradford (and because he is so darn handsome and dreamy.) But then we see Lundquist pulling hair, stepping on nuts, and choking my Rex on the ropes and I began craving retribution for his crimes.

This rule-breaking enables cheater Chase to win the second fall with a brutal Torture Rack, followed by some extremely arrogant victory poses with one foot planted disrespectfully (and deliciously) on the king’s lower abdomen.

There is a lot of sweat in this match (their bodies pour buckets) and a lot of verbal play. They banter back-and-forth continuously and are not shy about moaning and groaning in pain — especially Chase who sounds like he’s being raped or something. I was going to post an audio recording of Chase’s verbal anguish but I got lazy and decided to get this article finished and figure out the best way to set up audio clips some other time. You can go download the video if you want to get off listening to Chase suffer.

The following Side-Stretcher being applied by Rex Bradford is actually revenge for when Chase put him in the same hold earlier in their match:

You can perhaps see that they had some problems with the lighting — the scene became dark and dreary for a few minutes near the end. This is also rare for 88 Wrestling — normally their production quality is much more impressive.

Speaking of impressive, check out Rex splashing down on Chase to flatten him for the third and deciding fall:

Chase is a handsome wrestling god of course, but Rex really impressed me as an unbeatable force of nature who wins through skill and tenacity — not by cheating. I’ve always enjoyed the idea of an Unbeatable wrestler — a powerful Alpha Male who can not be vanquished. Maybe 88 Wrestling is positioning Rex in this role by letting him remain the King for so long. I’m on board with that and I’m willing to worship my superior.