I’ve been blogging about Austin Cooper for exactly 14 years. Literally, this is the 14th anniversary of my innaugural post featuring Coop when I first caught sight of him in the early days of Rock Hard Wrestling. I’ve spilled a shit ton of virtual ink marveling at Coop’s wrestling skills, larger than life character development, and, of course, he’s wicked hot muscles. He’s got to be one of the most prolific wrestlers in the wrestling-for-gay-eyes corner of the industry, appearing for multiple producers up and down the U.S. East Coast. In everything I’ve seen him in, there’s something hardcore and constant about him. He’s casually aggressive, with sadistic mean streaks even when he’s totally serving up babyface. I’ve always had this impression of Coop as right at the edge of where cocky turns into arrogant, never more so than when he really started relishing ripping less experienced wrestlers limb from limb and going full-on heel. But since he showed up back at BG East, serving up huge cuts of brawny beef, there’s this almost live-and-let-live vibe to start his matches off that’s just so down to earth and casual. I mean, he’s got even more a bulldozer feel about him, but in Backyard Brawls 19, when he offers Dio Characi the opportunity to just walk away after muscle mauling the beautiful Brazilian for just a couple of minutes, not shit, I think he’s sincere! It’s almost like he’s a little worried for Dio and doesn’t want to hurt him more than he has to. Fuck, I remember when Coop gave Leo Tomasi a bloody nose and laughed in Leo’s face about it. These days, I feel like he’s almost saying to dazzlingly pretty Dio, “Don’t make me hurt you.”

But, oh fuck, he hurts Dio a lot before this is all said and done. Of course, I’m well on may way to spilling another shit ton of virtual ink over my obsession with Dio Characi. Have I mentioned I met him in person at Wrestlefest NYC last February? Yeah, I know. I drop that treasured fact into pretty much any and every conversation that I possibly can. Dio doesn’t accept Coop’s offer to walk away, of course. In fact, the increasingly skilled, strong, and stunningly agile babyface beauty doesn’t just effectively counter, he gloats. “I have to admit, you’re pretty strong,” Dio says with that mischievous grin on his cherubic face as he stitching together a simultaneous hammerlock, choke, and ankle lock. “But I am, too.”

Dio likes to pop big bad heels in the nose and give them everything he’s got, to see if they can put a hurt on him. And he puts up a serious fight against this seasoned wrestler with so many years more experience and so many pounds more muscle. Honestly, Dio on offense is one of my favorite things these days. He follows up a headbutt to Coop’s testicles with a sneering ball claw on the stunned brute. He’s got this Bond villain laugh that’s hardwired directly to my cock, as he delights in shocking another big, bad, more experienced opponent. His crotch pillow headscissors make Coop’s stunned face turn a seriously deep shade of purple. One of the sexiest still frames in Backyard Brawls 19 is Dio mounting his opponent in a schoolboy pin, clawing the fuck out of those extra meaty pecs Coop wears these days, and then twisting on the veteran’s nipples like he’s trying to dial in Cleveland. Holy shit, he even sits on Coop’s face, gut punches the veteran, and literally spanks Austin’s legendary ass! Holy fuck, I swoon.

There are a lot of other candidates for sexiest still frames, though, and most of them feature Coop provoked far beyond any empathy or concern he might have had about not wanting to hurt his adorable opponent earlier. His Boston crab on the astonishingly flexible Brazilian serves up Dio’s athletic ass to perfection, just about to completely squeeze out of his trunks. The series of bearhugs Coop applies, turning from belly-to-back to belly-to-belly and back again, shows off every mouthwatering, aesthetic muscle on the suffering babyface. Similarly, Coop’s surfboard provides this dazzlingly hot tour of the Brazilian’s stunning body that was, just 15 minutes earlier, literally doing a round off back handspring across the yard.

Fourteen years later, Austin Cooper has evolved from one of the (literally) inaugural ripped rookies into one of the most accomplished veteran muscle heels on record. Approximately 50 matches into his BG East catalog (!!!), and I’m guessing at least that again for other companies, he’s made an indelible mark on the industry and shaped the homoerotic wrestling fantasies of a generation. And, holy shit, he leaves an indelible mark on Brazilian It-Boy Dio Characi in Backyard Brawls 19.