Throwback

Angel Estrada vs Kid Canabis, Match 559 (UCW)

Something about this match puts me in mind of UCW's early days in Milwaukee. Seems like all that's missing is the blue tarp on the walls. Maybe the imminent opening of the company's new space (with a ring and everything) and the second coming of Angel and Joker this past year have made me hypersensitive to UCW's history. Even Kid Canabis, debuting here, reminds me of the polite but rough-around-the-edges jocks who converged on the company in its infancy.

Canabis is anything but wet behind the ears, however. When Angel snaps him into a painful armbar, within seconds Canabis reverses, giving the rangy pro a taste of his own medicine. Then he blasts away at the man's shoulder with elbow and forearm, driving both bodies to the mat  for a round of serious grappling. The action is fresh and uncanned, a clear sign that these guys know their way around a wrestling mat. Canabis has good instincts for grabbing balls, too - already attuned to the UCW ethos, the Kid hits the road running.

Match 559 is not about muscles or fancy gear. It's about hardscrabble fighting. It's about survival. It's about flinging an adversary teeth-first into a cinder-block wall. It's about spanking as a viable submission move. It's about pulling hair and nipples. It's about feinting a punch to the kisser, then sucker-kicking the guy in the nuts. It's about choking a guy with an ankle strap till his tongue protrudes, swelling. It's about kicking a man while he's down just because you may not get another chance to kick him. 

I would like to believe this match is a promise not to lose the old UCW spirit, not to get all fancy because the promotion's moving up in the world, and not to forget that an ounce of heartfelt barbarity is worth a pound of muscle poses.

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