Rage Queen

Ron Mathis vs Matt Conard, Desperate Measures - 21 September 2013, Nelsonville, OH (XWE)

I like rage. I'm a rage-o-holic. The fact comes as no surprise to frequent visitors to this blog. I like the writhing, wriggling body contact of submission wrestling, but I like a real or realish  hotblooded fists-flying head-butting brawl just as much, if not more. The fact comes as a big surprise to people who know me in life. In person I'm even-tempered, standoffish, effete - a milquetoast. People who know me professionally are often surprised that a lover of poetry and art is equally entertained by professional wrestling. Deep down, dark urges of every sort riot and rumble - and mingle perversely.

Years ago, a close lesbian friend said she had heard straight men often rank other men on whether they could, in the right situation, beat them up. When I told her I never see a man without sizing him up for a fight, she lost hope for the whole male gender. (Sorry, guys.)

This 2013 match is rich in macho rage. What we don't see - or see very little of - are the events before and after the match. Zac Vincent is speaking to the crowd, when Matt Conard, 6'4", 212#, his former tag-team partner, rushes in and starts cutting him in the corner. Ron Mathis, 5'11", 207#,  flies into the ring and pulls Matt off of Zac, and the two scheduled opponents start beating the shit out of each other nonstop for about seven minutes. In the end, Zac returns and is instrumental in the match's finish - all in all an excellent example of  concise ring storytelling. It's Matt's and Ron's first showdown. Several more followed, and a few months later, as if to confirm my eroticized take on male-male violence, Matt and Ron partnered up.

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