Reigning homoerotic wrestler of the month, Lucas Payne, has a lot going for him. His body wears me out just looking at him. Everything is notable… the thick pecs, the gorgeously shaped arms, his self-named “thunder thighs” (which I think had an entirely different connotation about 20 years ago), that stunningly tight muscle ass.

But I’m surprisingly drawn to his upper back as I marvel at young Mr. Payne. He has a beautiful medallion tattoo right between his shoulder blades. I struggled for way too long to try to snag a decent close-up of it to feature him in this week’s Name That Tat quiz, but I never quite caught the right view, damn it. Even more captivating for me, however is the width of his astonishingly wide lats. There’s just something about those proportions that screams for you to (try to) wrap your arms all the way around the astounding thickness packed across his upper torso… the lats, the boulder-size shoulders, and those mountainous pecs all ringing his torso like a suit of armor.

Lucas got my nod for homoerotic wrestler of the month primarily on attitude, not that the body hurt his chances any. I like rookies who make a big impression on me, so Mr. Payne was destined to be in the running for some kind of accolades sooner or later from me.

I went into some detail about his newest release (and his first victory) for RHW against Trent Novack, and I just spent some time enjoying his debut match against Austin Cooper. I won’t belabor the full assessment of Payne going down to Cooper, because I tend to consider Joe and Ringside at Skull Island’s reviews the definitive word as a rule. I will say that I love Lucas’ delivery of abuse in the corners, and I’m weak in the knees to see him on the receiving end of humiliating torture captured in the ropes. Love a big, beautiful muscle man taking punishment trapped in the ropes…

The veins popping out across his shoulders as he threatens to snap Austin in half in a fall 1 winning over-the-knee backbreaker is also made-to-order for my particular kinks. It’s certainly not the case that Lucas Payne has “arrived.” He could do so much more with all those muscles, all that attitude, and all that athleticism. Frankly, however, potential can turn me on, as well. I’d love to watch him develop even more ring presence. It’d be fantastic to watch a big, hard young buck like that take his knocks, learn the ropes, and really command a plot in the ring against some savvy competition.

But it’s an excellent start to a story, with all the raw elements to grab my attention, hold my attention, and keep me watching, wanting more, anticipating what the future could hold for a gorgeous, snarling, bodybuilder breaking into homoerotic wrestling. There are a whole lot of fly-bys in the business, so I won’t be surprised if he quickly fades into obscurity. But for simply entertaining me like few rookies of his experience ever do, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that he hangs around long enough for some character development to occur.