Ben Monaco – Sidelineland

Wrestlefest Live – 2025

February 26, 2025March 4, 2025 wrestlebard6 Comments

Like Wrestlefest itself, Wrestlefest Live grew in leaps and bounds this year. I attended WF Live last year, and it was an awesome, fascinating, intense, and immensely entertaining event. Last year, the Live show had the feel of getting smuggled into a speakeasy during prohibition. We were escorted, one elevator-full of wrestling fans at a time, to the undisclosed location. Seating was limited in a sparse, Manhattan loft space on the upper floor of a high rise. It was mat wrestling in front of an intimately small but enthusiastic crowd. The matches were bigger than the setting, really, with some fantastic, high profile wrestlers from the underground scene, stars of both self-published and corporately produced homoerotic wrestling. Seated inches away from match after match of sizzling hot bodies grappling for dominance was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before, and when the box office opened online for the show this year, I eagerly snatched mine up hours after they went on sale, which turned out to be a good thing, since the show sold out in about 12 hours.

Wrestlefest Live this year was billed as more. More matches, a lot more wrestlers (accounting for tag teams, celebrity refs, and unannounced ring takeovers, turned out to be A LOT), but the one element that piqued my interest most was the promise of a full blown pro wrestling show in a ring. I was in suspense, wondering how they’d pull this off, knowing it was set in the same club where the kickoff party had occurred the night before (see my account of drooling over Dio Characi there). I tried to moderate my expectations, frankly. I was picturing the possibility of sort of a backyard wrestling feel, but in this case, in the backroom of Red Eye. Let me be clear, I admire the fuck out of backyard wrestling, with the young wrestling enthusiasts who improvise a pro wrestling setting on the cheap in order to live out (and record and share) their fantasies of being larger than life pro wrestlers like the ones they love watching on TV. Sometimes the “ring” is a trampoline or maybe just a few traffic cones and an unsecured rope marking the imaginary boundaries of a ring. Seriously, I’ve enjoyed watching some backyard wrestling from time to time on YouTube, when I find some hot young men going all in for the raw love of it. However, I wondered if Wrestlefest Live this year might similarly require the audience to imagine more than it literally delivered, sort of like backyard wrestling enthusiasts with the passion, if not the actual equipment and budget, of indy pro wrestling.

But, whoa. Like, WHOA! This was a legit show, the actual incarnation of unapologetic pro wrestling for a homoerotic wrestling audience that I’ve always fantasized about but never quite believed I’d get to witness. Sometime between the end of the kick-off party and the start of the show, an army of elves (who I’ve since learned were primarily made of up many of the wrestlers in the show) literally assembled a pro wrestling ring in the back room of the club. It took up about 80% of the floor space, and they packed in the 70 or 80 of us who purchased tickets into the remaining 20%. You know how eager I was for this, considering I gave up the opportunity to keep chatting up Ben Monaco, Beau Jordan, and Mickey Knoxx at the bar to elbow my way to near the front of the line as soon as the doors opened. I scored a ringside seat near the corner of the ring where the wrestlers made their entrances. I mean, everyone had an up close and incredible view, but fuck, I could literally reach out and touch the ring. When Mickey Knoxx made his ring entrance with Rocko Mortis for their tag team match, he peeled off his top and tossed it out of the ring at my feet (I haven’t asked Mickey, but I prefer to believe it was intentional). Moments later, when their opponents, Beau Jordan and pinch-hitter Seon Cruz took the ring, Beau ripped off his tear-away stripper pants and also tossed them down right in front of me (again, I tell myself it was an intentional bit of titillation especially for me). Like, fuck, I was right fucking there! When Sid Shaw and Zach Reno’s off-the-rails match spilled out of the ring, it was nearly in my lap. For a couple of seconds, Sid had a hold of my shoulder and was trying to climb over me and my buddy next to me because sensationally sexy lightweight Zach was about to thrash the living shit out of him. Fuck, I was right there, and we were ALL right there, and what played out in front of us was incredibly hot, hilarious, and gorgeous pro wrestling action.

Most of the wrestlers on the card have grown up before our eyes, turning their passions for wrestling into entertaining videos on WatchFighters. Quite a few have headlined for companies like BG East, Wrestler4Hire, and Weekend Wrestling. I suspect few of them have done anything quite like this before, pulling off a live match in front of a roaring crowd of guys turned on by wrestling. But honestly, you wouldn’t have known it. The entire show had polish about it. There was an earnestness and unblinking sell about it that was totally un-self-conscious. The slams where hard and loud. Bodies were literally catapulted off the ropes. The face plants into the turnbuckles shook the ring and hurt just to watch. The slaps and stomps popped with this spontaneous authenticity that left bright red hand prints and yellowing bruises behind. I’m mean, sure, I’m certain there were moments that I needed to suspend my disbelief, but as I look back on my memories of the event just over a week ago, I honestly don’t remember them. I just remember the stories playing out in front of us. And the hot bodies. I remember those really well.

There were competitive matches packed with impressive athleticism and wrestling technique. Babyface hero Dash Halley put those meaty pecs of his on the line against massive muscle bruiser Leon Cyrus in a best-of-5 battle that hit hard and kept us guessing to the sweaty end. My buddy Bobby Carter’s match against the institution, Lobo Gris, also started as one of those highly competitive and suspenseful battles, with pounding muscles and long, wrenching submission holds. But all of the matches showcased personalities and drama at least as much as they did stunning athleticism and technical wrestling. Both of the tag team matches were both dripping with melodrama, which is what tag team wrestling demands. When Kid Canuck and Ryan Reilly faced off against MPJ and Bruno the Beast, there was a shocking tag team partner betrayal culminating in a humiliated jobber pile of hot, sexy, demolished pretty boys. In most of the matches there was the teetering back and forth of the balance of power, with wrestlers owning the momentum and taking liberties and threatening to count their chickens before they hatched. Oh, and did I mention there was hot, hunky stripper wrestling? I feel like that deserves to be repeated.

The messiest and the most polished matches were back-to-back. My pick for messiest match was Gabe Steel taking on Drew Harper… and then Gabe taking on Dash Halley… and then Gabe taking on surprise reveal of Jonny Firestorm… and then Gabe taking on both Gabe and Drew. It was all high impact moves, with piledrivers for days. Honestly, there was so much going on I lost the thread of what the hell was exactly happening and who I was rooting for. Entertaining? Absolutely. But way, beautifully messy. The Weekend Wrestling feature of the evening was pretty much the opposite. Sadistic Sid Shaw took on Zach Reno, as I mentioned before, and it was smooth and polished to a glistening shine (just like Zach’s ass, which yes, we saw). Sid and Zach told the story of the underdog little (hot) guy refusing to be intimidated by the big, unhinged muscle brute. There was forced stripping, trunks pulled to show off two sets of hot glutes, and spanking. It was tightly told, with a couple of extensively experienced wrestlers to make every bump and spank feel spontaneous and part of a bigger story, including pulling in some ass whooping on Cole Cassidy (Weekend Wrestling Producer) which was oddly satisfying (not sure why I keyed off on seeing heartthrob hunk heel Cole get his ass kicked as much as I did).

And then there were just these unique moments that speak to the diversity of wrestlers and wrestling that populate this fabulously sexy community. Sir Dark’s match was just entirely off the hook and unlike anything else in the ring that night (in a super fun way). He was feral and bloodthirsty, out to fuck someone up so bad that he impulsively takes out the ref before a pop-up challenger can be identified from the audience. When KC Ryder steps in to be the beautiful blond babyface hero to stand against the forces of chaos uncorked by maniacal Sir Dark, the drama really got intense. Their match was ego-fueled and larger than life. It was sexy as hell and had me holding my breath in suspense and awe. Not sure if I’m conveying it, but it was just a whole different flavor to add to the buffet of Wrestlefest Live. The inaugural championship match between beefy babyface Ben Monaco and take-no-prisoners muscle heel Tarz Lando was (possibly) the the most thoroughly sweet treat for squash fans. The championship belt was decided in a super hot muscle massacre, dripping with cocky swagger and taunting trash talk and gorgeous, huge hairy pecs everywhere. The range throughout the evening was delightful, and the bench was deep.

It wasn’t perfect. There was a 20-minute delay at one point to try to troubleshoot the livestream that stopped working. There were blown moves, an occasional oversell, and even a frew more undersells. I saw Gabe Steel icing a swollen-shut eye after his match, and I’ve seen hints on social media that he may have more story to tell about things that didn’t go to plan. But as a gay fan turned on by wrestling, by sexy wrestlers and the drama and the battle for domination, it was magnificent. It was larger than life. From the rainbow ring to the ball claws and face sitting, it luxuriantly gay. It showed a ton of respect for the art and science and athleticism and beauty of professional wrestling. And it felt deeply respectful to a standing-room-only crowd of homoerotic wrestling fans. Those with credits for this sensational production included KC Ryder, Rocko Mortis, Cole Cassidy, and my cousin Scooter for what had to be a shit ton of upfront organizing and legwork, and there was another small army of guys holding the cameras and running the equipment. A quick shout out to the hot, handsome nerd-hunk ring announcer who should’ve thrown down the mic and ripped off his shirt (but didn’t). All of the celebrity refs (Chase Addams, Ethan Axel Andrews, and new-to-me muscle god Boy Radio) brought the sexy-in-stripes vibe and helped stir the pot of drama inside the ring at every turn. The Red Eye staff were uniformly delightfully hospitable and gorgeous (especially the bearded server with that hot-ass singlet serving drinks at ringside). I look forward to posting more detailed reviews once the matches go up on WatchFighters, but in the meantime, I’m combing through my hundreds of pics and videos I snapped, despite the announcement at the start of the show encouraging us to only take pics and videos “sparingly.” So not sorry!

WrestleFest Community

July 31, 2023August 2, 2023 wrestlebard7 Comments

And now, I’m on my way home from Wrestlefest Canada, sitting in the airport at Toronto waiting for my flight, and reflecting back on a busy, provocative, exciting week. I had originally thought about posting updates during the week, but holy hell, there was just too much going on to stop and reflect! I’m a little hyper self-conscious and self-analytical (as if you couldn’t tell). So, being so engaged in everything happening this week that I couldn’t spend much time in my own head was refreshing. Okay, not going to lie, it was a little nerve racking, too, but just needing to be present, in the moment, and ride the wave of excitement in meeting new people and wrestling and swapping wrestling stories (among other things) felt liberating.

I’ve been trying to decide how to try to write about my experiences at Wrestlefest Canada. I think I’ll best be able to wrap my head around it in pieces, though the experience of it was a lot happening all at once. So, for this first debriefing session with you, I’ll pick up where I left off in my last post on the way to Toronto, and think about the community that I was part of this week. I met SO MANY fucking people! I’m an introverted-borderline-shy guy under most circumstances, and things like going to a bar social with everyone there in wrestling gear was… a stretch. Honestly, I was hedging my bets up until the very last second as to whether I’d feel brave enough to take off my street clothes and hang out in the singlet I wore underneath. The venue was the Black Eagle bar in Toronto, who had advertised locally that they were hosting the WrestleFest mixer. They set aside a corner of the rooftop patio for our gathering, but we weren’t the only patrons there. I walked through a crowd of non-WF civilians to get to the sexy herd of singlets I could see in the back, feeling the appraising gazes of clearly curious bar patrons. I had just a moment of thinking, Oh hell, no, I’m not stripping down to my singlet in front of all of these non-wrestlers. But then I saw the welcoming faces of new friends I’d already made over the previous couple of days, almost everyone in gear, looking sexy as hell. And the community lent me the courage to live my wrestling kink out loud. Well, okay… I took off my shirt and showed off my low cut singlet top. I kept my shorts on; mostly because singlets don’t have pockets for valuables. But walking back and forth through the crowd to the bar, catching locals checking out my chest in my Tauwell singlet, I felt delightfully conspicuous and an integral part of a sexy, bold, fierce community.

I’ll save more debrief about the wrestling itself for my next post, but suffice it to say that I enjoyed the intense experience of strangers-transformed-into-intimate-friends over and over again over the course of having matches. A couple of the smoking hot Canadians who were first to welcome me to the mats the day I arrived were at the bar on Friday. Just two days earlier, I’d met them in person for the first time. Then we wrestled. And two days later, I’m excitedly rushing up to hug them in greeting like old friends. Hell, just meeting guys who I had not wrestled, but who I’d met around the gay village over the several days, felt like a homecoming. It was warm (not just because it was Toronto in late July), and I felt seen and welcomed in a way I don’t know that I’ve ever really experienced before. Is this starting to sound like hyperbole? It’s all still way fresh as I write this, but I don’t believe it’s an exaggeration.

As Seen On TV…. at the Black Eagle last Friday!!!

It was more than just the feel of a pop-up community. There were regular points of reference to the larger homoerotic wrestling community we’re securely embedded within. For instance, the WF organizers arranged with the Black Eagle to play wrestling videos in the background at the bar on Friday. Seeing Scott Williams‘ fine, fine body rolling around on the screen in one of his classic BG East matches was an incredible nod to the ways that these 80-100+ WF participants were part of something much bigger, and, at the same time, with so much pre-existing shared intimacy. On the spot, I texted Scott with a photo of him on the screen, with the message “Playing RIGHT NOW at the Black Eagle bar in Toronto’s gay village, Williams vs Warren, in honor of Wrestlefest!” In relentlessly authentic Scott style, he replied, “GODDAMNNN!! I love it!!!!” Yeah, there was no doubt about it. I was in the right place, with the right people.

Stunningly hot and fashionable Ben Monaco at the Black Eagle WF mixer

BG East boys weren’t just playing on the screen at WF, either. On another night at an impromptu “social,” in walked Ben Monaco. Ben. Fucking. Monaco. Every bit as handsome and sexy as hell, but thicker and more heavily muscled, in all the right ways, than I’ve ever seen him before. I interviewed Ben twice in 2012, because once just wasn’t enough. The first time was almost the blink of an eye after his debut BG East release in the inaugural Mat Rookies, after I caught wind that Ben was already a reader of this blog. The second interview (during which I learned that Ben and I share affection for Scott Williams, and we chatted quite a bit about the power of the gay wrestling community to bring people together) occurred after his Gazebo Grapplers 14 match against trust fund baby Damien Rush, and we’ve exchanged occasional messages back and forth in between then and now. But we’d never met in person. So, when we were introducing ourselves, needless to say I didn’t actually need him to tell me who he was. In trying to be heard over the pounding bass of the bar music, he thought I called myself Bart (happened A LOT this week), and he gave me a friendly hug of greeting. When I shouted out the clarification that “I’m Bard!,” he made a mental correction, and then suddenly his face lit up, and he wrapped those fucking gargantuan arms around me and bearhugged the air out of my lungs (seriously). Fuck, that was nice. And that was precisely the vibe. Like, you’re in, and you get a hug, just because you’re drawn to erotic wrestling. Oh, and we’ve talked online before and admired each other’s writing and you’ve fanboyed all over my published wrestling videos? THAT deserves the fucking bearhug that I KNOW you’re going to appreciate.

Sexy, charismatic, and wicked clever Ollie Watts partook of WF Canada, too!

Ben wasn’t my only star sighting. I had the amazing pleasure of also meeting Masked Menace, who is devastatingly handsome sans mask, and sports that fabulously hotly muscled body I’ve crushed on repeatedly in his wrestling videos. I had the intense pleasure of meeting Sunny DeLeon, who’s been heating up the BG East mats recently. Sunny is one of those guys who’s so stunningly hot that I immediately retreat so deep into my insecurities that I can barely talk. It was further INSANE that the circumstance under which we were meeting was a group wrestling event… but I’m keeping that powder dry for my next post (fuck, I’ve got so many words!!!). And then my last night at WF, by complete happenstance, I also had the pleasure of running into Ollie Watts, the phenomenal wrestler for BG East and UK Wrestling Hub, who was somehow even hotter in person, and adorably humble. I told him how excited I was to get to enjoy this star-sighting, and he demurely disavowed the status of “wrestling star.” Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t get to make that call, and I’m thrilled to confirm Ollie is a total star, sexy, charismatic, and wicked clever. To be honest, one of main anxieties about attending WF had been not having already met, in person, anyone who would be there. Somehow, the BG East guys left me star struck and made me feel right at home. I hadn’t met any of them before, but they’ve been featured on screens in my home for a long, hot, steamy time!

The cover models for Wonderfully Made might look suspiciously familiar to some in the wrestling community

I got to meet and exchange war stories with fellow homoerotic wrestling fiction author (writing as) David Evans. His reflections on his writing process, the role of the pandemic in calling out the literary imagination, and the push and pull of having an audience holding him accountable to carrying a narrative through to climax, echoed a ton of my own experiences. We’ve had different journeys to get where we are, different pathways leading us to invest our creativity in constructing words about the wrestling kink. But we share so much of the same drive to describe and document with words the visceral experiences of being drawn to and turned on by the intimacy of wrestling. I told him he should blog. He insisted that he’ll leave the blogging to me, and then graciously comped me copies of two more of his books I didn’t yet own (you should check them out).

Guys I’ve grown virtually close to over the past couple of months, both on the WrestleFest server and the Shack server, I was suddenly in the same room with, shaking hands, exchanging hugs, and sometimes even grappling with. Scooter, who I interviewed about Wrestlefest NYC back in early April (and who gets most of the credit for inspiring me to come to Wrestlefest Canada), feels even more to me like someone I’ve known for years and years after hanging together a lot this week. But so many other virtual connections were also made real and embodied, and it sort of blows my mind that none of them were disappointing in the least. Careful readers may be happy to know I DID take Aust10 up on the offer to tug on his beard when we met at the Black Eagle (that’s not a euphemism… I literally tugged on his beard). With all of the hype and expectation and worry (I worry needlessly a lot, you may have noticed) about what it would be like to meet these guys in person, every new face-to-face introduction simply felt like connecting the dots between the cool guys I’ve gotten to know from a distance and the hotties standing in front of me in person in Toronto.

In the interest of keeping things real, I also want to acknowledge that community can be hard. Hell, community IS hard. It takes work, and it’s built just as much on repair from missed connections, misunderstandings, and differences, as it is on feel good moments of simpatico. While Wrestlefest was overwhelmingly a positive experience for me, there were points of friction. I think that’s part of the definition of genuine community, frankly. Not everyone who wanted a particular match got it. I know this based on public conversations on the server, but also because a few guys reached out to me to set something up spontaneously, who I had to decline (for various reasons, but mostly because I was worn the fuck OUT by all of the excitement I had already planned). The sources of heat that divide us in the rest of the world in terms of age, race and ethnicity are fault lines inevitably lying underneath this wrestling community. Community is always in the process of being constructed, deconstructed, and reconstructed. Although I really have only good things to say about my experience of the community at Wrestlefest Canada, I know for a fact there were somewhere around 80 to 100+ other sets of experiences of the same event, probably reflecting a mix of excitement and disappointment, validation and frustration. My account here isn’t meant to imply it was the same for everyone, and all of our different experiences are indisputably equally true at the same time. That’s the delight and diabolical conundrum of community.

Finally, on the theme of community, I want to offer my enthusiastic gratitude and praise to the local organizers of Wrestlefest Canada. I am NOT an event planner. I don’t have those skills. But I recognize and appreciate them when I see them in others. The Meetfighters event infrastructure creates a primary portal for pulling together an international gathering like this. Wrestlers from all over Canada and the U.S. were joined by guys from France, Thailand, the U.K., and Germany (those are just the ones I knew about), so something this complex can’t just happen with good will and high hopes. I know that my cousin Scooter offered a lot of consultation, and he shared lessons-learned from his work with helping promote Wrestlefest NYC this past February. But the team of Canadians who hosted and moderated the Wrestlefest server, constructed the AMAZING Wrestlefest website, made local arrangements with hotels and event spaces, helped us out-of-towners navigate transportation options in Toronto, and were just all so remarkably generous with their time and patience and organizational skills… they successfully pulled off an amazing experience.

And that’s not to mention the wrestling… (to be continued...)

Saving Up to Give a Gift

July 20, 2020July 20, 2020 wrestlebard5 Comments

1430_lg — Trey Dixon tastes the superhuman power of Logan Vaughn’s legs in Florida Fights 5.

Am I the only one who doubled down on leg day after reading Scott Williams’ response to my recent post about scissors? Of course, I’d get insta-hard just listening to Scott reading from the phone book (do they still make those?). So just imagine what it does to me when he waxes poetic about the raw details of a recent “session” he had with a guy who was particularly passionate and adept at applying punishing head scissors. Read between the lines, and it’s apparent that it was Scott’s head that got punished relentlessly until his opponent was sure Scott was wrecked. Scott concludes the account by simply exclaiming, “Ahhhhhhh.” That’s seven “h’s.” I counted them. And I think that they mean that Scott found getting his cranium crushed in his own signature hold a turn on. And now, I’ve never had quite this much motivation to not skip leg day. Honestly, I’ve been furiously blitzing my legs with squats and lunges, and biking around 20 miles on the other days. I’ve said it before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again: all Scott has to do is ask, and I’m ready to deliver. And if there’s ever a chance that someday I can slide his head between my quads, I’m determined to be ready to pack on enough pounds per square inch to make the man of my dreams gasp out at least 10 h’s.

h0119_lg — Scott must have loved this moment in his match with Brad Rochelle!

In the mean time, all of this attention on crushing quads has sent me hunting for homoerotic wrestlers paying homage to sensationally sexy, dangerously powerful legs. Who knows, maybe one day when social distancing is a bad memory, my quads can earn Scott’s respect like this. If getting wrung out to dry can get Scott off, I feel certain we can come to a mutually beneficial arrangement!

0628_lg — Lance Jackson cops a feel of Wildcard Carter’s tree trunks in The Great Outdoors 3.

0218_lg — Surge grabs hold of Magnus with both hands in Wrestle Worship 3: Masked Muscle.

0239_lg — Calvin Haynes sizes up Beauxregard in Muscle Worship 4: Muscle Power.

0934_lg — Ben Monaco is understandably in awe of Chace LaChance’s quads in Wrestleshack 20.

jake kasee — Kasee is in awe of Jake’s thighs in Vegas Battles 59.

jake dom9 — Jake can’t stretch both hands around Dom9’s lower quad in No Holds Barred 143.

clark duke — Clark cozies up to Duke’s mammoth quads in No Holds Barred 92.

aspen jake — Aspen can’t believe his luck, or Jake’s muscles in No Holds Barred 151.

Talking My Language

August 17, 2016 wrestlebardLeave a comment

Sizzling hot French Canadian rookie Fabrice

I’m a little surprised by just how much BG East rookie Fabrice turns me on. His build is severe. Not a lot of guys could wear 145 pounds on a 6’1″ frame and fail to look downright skinny to the point of starving. It takes me about 2 minutes into Gear Wars 5 to decide, but no doubt, Fabrice pulls it off for me.

Fabrice likes the look and feel of Ben’s big biceps

He’s an anatomy chart at that BMI, of course. But once I get over my initial skepticism about how his super lean build might perform in a wrestling match, there’s an unbreakable vibe to him. I stop worrying about what isn’t there, and start to really appreciate this kid’s aesthetics.

0107_lg — Ben’s appreciates Fabrice’s aesthetics, too.

Ben Monaco appreciates them as well. I knew he would, because Ben seems to never have met an opponent he wouldn’t want to fuck. The sexual tension always runs high in a Monaco match, and Gear Wars 5 is no exception. Delightfully, however, the homoerotic gaze first belongs to the lithe rookie. Fabrice arrives on the scene instantly infatuated with Ben’s muscles. He can’t keep his hands off of the veteran, stroking and palming the Canuck’s big biceps (fuck, Ben’s been working out!). For a few moments, I’m left wondering if Fabrice is done for before this even begins, because he looks like he’s gagging for it.

I need not have worried. Ben is every bit as turned on by the rookie. There’s precious little dialogue, too little for my tastes because the character motivation is borderline opaque. But looking back from the tail end of this confrontation, it was always about one thing: who’s going to be in the driver’s seat once the post-match sex breaks out.

h0109_lg — The rookie uses that gorgeous, long body to beautifully break big Ben

Not that we see any post-match coitus. This isn’t an X-Fight. But the heavy doses of body worship injected throughout the match are sexy as fuck. The erotic attraction is so thick that the competition part of the narrative veers dangerously off course on several occasions. But then, repeatedly, it’s Fabrice that slaps it back on course, typically by snapping those incredibly long luscious legs around Ben and squeezing until the beefy bear whimpers.

This is a Gear Wars match, so be prepared for the initial gear, as sensationally sexy as it is, to get ripped off. In particular, the astonishingly tight tights on Fabrice are a marvel of modern technology, painted in place despite covering no more than 2/3rds of the beauty’s lovely ass cheeks while somehow managing to stay up. Ben’s red singlet is frankly utilitarian in comparison. But the playing field is evened out once they’re both stripped down to g-strings worthy of a Chippendale.

h0112_lg — Ben momentarily forgets this is a wresting match.

Fabrice’s balls never quite manage to fit inside his pouch, and for that, I salute him. That’s quite a problem to have to contend with, balls too big to squeeze into your gear. Ben somehow seems not to notice. He does, however, clearly notice the amazingly fuckable ass on the rookie, as evidenced by him digging his fingers in deep and often. In his more vulnerable moments, Fabrice is forced to flex. Ben domineers over him, demanding obedience, taunting and teasing.

But in the battle for the driver’s seat, Fabrice is more than capable of punching things into overdrive by grabbing the bull by the horns, or, in this case, the Ben by the balls. The match turns slowly throughout, momentum ebbing and flowing, both boys taking turns on top to feel out who really belongs there when all is said and done. Hardcore wresting fans may find the diversions into intoxicating muscle worship distracting. There are bearhugs and a beautiful camel clutch, and every stripe and variation of torturous scissors that 2 pairs of hot, punishing legs like these can manage. There’s wrestling enough to stoke my kink, but the drama is psychosexual more than anything. The decisive, final submission is all about that concession. The winner force feeds his opponent his bicep, hypnotizing him with every inch of his hot body stretched over top of the loser like a blanket.

Welcome to our world, Fabrice. You’re a fine, fine addition to the diversity of talents and bodies populating homoerotic wrestling fantasies these days. I get the impression English may be a second language for you, but what you do on the wrestling mat requires no translation. When you shove Ben’s head between your legs and make him cry in crotch-to-face headscissors, your talking my language!

Our Man Inside

March 28, 2015 wrestlebard6 Comments

I have no way of predicting when I’m going to receive the proverbial brown paper package, sans return address, with a new batch of smuggled pics of the inner sanctum of BG East from the anonymous benefactor I’ve dubbed, simply, Our Man Inside (OMI). This latest batch was actually signed “OMI,” which makes me chuckle… and worry a bit that the fans’ spy may be getting cocky. Speaking of dangerously cocky, did I mention how fervently Drake Marcos denied being OMI when I visited him at BG East’s South Campus last fall? Regular readers may remember that Drake was one of the first to smuggle pics to me from behind the scenes at a BG East taping. However, he also got caught, and rumor is, got his ass handed to him long and hard for dabbling in corporate espionage. So Drake brought up the topic all on his own last fall, pointedly clarifying that he isn’t the one who has continued to sneak peeks to me from behind the curtain at BG East. There was a slight tone of desperateness about his unsolicited denials that makes me think whoever OMI is (and I’m not saying that it definitely ISN’T the Cheshire Cat), I hope he continues to fly under the radar, because it sure seemed to me like hottie Drake was reliving some personal terror as he adamantly denied continuing his smuggling operation.

Whoever OMI is, I’d make him my honorary favorite homoerotic wrestler insider, if I could post of picture of him and give credit where it’s due. Of course, that would defeat the purpose. And I don’t want that purpose defeated, or OMI found out, because once again he slipped out what appear to be some cutting room floor shots from behind the scenes of BG East homoerotic wrestling tapings. There’s a brand new mountain of blond muscle who looks like he belongs in some Beach Blanket Beefcake flick from the the 60’s. Most of these appear to be from recent releases, so hopefully we’ll see Blond Bombshell Biff in action soon. And thank heavens for more candid, between takes reveals of fantasy studs like Lon Dumont, Jake Jenkins, Kayden Keller, and Jonny Firestorm. Seeing these gorgeous wrestlers without their game faces on makes me that much more infatuated with watching them suit up, slip into the ring, and go to town.

red — Hello, Rookie! I’m breathless with the anticipation of being formally introduced to this new mountain of beautiful muscle. In the mean time, I’m calling him “Biff” and fantasizing about seeing him kick sand in some lucky twink’s face.

lon — This looks like a way back shot of perpetual infatuation of mine, Lon Dumont, and his first BG East tag team partner, Chace LaChance from several years ago. Lon has put on more muscle and grown a lot more hair since then, and Chace has bulked up about twice this size!

green — Speaking of size, incredibly hot beefcake rookie Sam Sellers caught a lot of fans’ attention, including mine, in his recent debut in Mat Scraps 3. Seeing him with specs (and very little else) makes this muscleman about 20 times sexier than he already was, as far as I’m concerned.

ben — I love this shot of Sam and Ben Monaco with the video cameras off. Ben looks like it’s just occurred to him that he may have bitten off more than he can chew. Sam’s wide, open smile is so fucking handsome!

green2 — So perhaps OMI is a little infatuated with rookie beefcake Sam as well. Not hard to miss why!

Jake Jenkins peels his hot, athletic body off the floor in what looks like a takeout from his recent Barefoot Babyfaces ring match. I never, ever get tired of seeing this Von Erich-esque stud!

jonny — By all accounts, Jonny Firestorm is the prankster of the BG East boys. This appears to be the aftermath of a dozing jobber Skip Vance being on the receiving end of Jonny’s humiliating humor.

Kayden Kellar has come on like a house on fire in the past 16 months dialing up the dastardly and roaringly erotic dial as a rising heel. All of that squeezed into a windsor knot, and you might never guess what a vicious sexual sadist he is!

ryder — This appears to be a shot of The Boss himself getting an up close and personal view of Jake Ryder and Z-Man’s sizzling hot bodies working each other over hard in Mat Scraps 3. What a fucking dream job!

Oh, Canada!

March 18, 2014March 17, 2014 wrestlebard1 Comment

I haven’t really paid attention to the Big Brother franchise in years, but seeing this slice of homoerotic fantasy gold plastered across the internet certainly caught my attention yesterday. I can report only what I read online, because I didn’t even know there was such a thing as “Big Brother Canada,” and now that I do, I find out that I can’t watch it online from my “location.” Bigots. However, if there’s more eye candy from furry gay male model Kenny Brain in loosey whities and olive oil, I predict he’s got a big, big future ahead of him on a screen in front of me.

kenny2

If there’s a homoerotic wrestling god on Mt. Olympus, then somebody is already offering this slice of over-the-top sexiness a contract to seriously hit his stride as a homoerotic wrestler.

And based on my 3-way interview with Drake “all-talk-no-show” Marcos and his patent holder, Mason Brooks, I’d say Kenny’s very first opponent should be Mason. Mason mentioned that he has a tendency to get dazzled and distracted by a hot opponent’s “Canadian-ness,” and Kenny looks like he’s got gallons of Canadian-ness to shoot all over Mason’s sweet pecs.

kenny3

Hell, I’m smelling a potential Southern Invasion force storming BG East if gorgeous Kenny joins the ranks of other known/rumored Canadians that have made incursions across the border. Keep your fingers crossed!

blain — I’ve heard second hand that Blaine Janus is a Canuck. He’s also a dead ringer for Kenny Brain’s fraternal twin. Now that would be a devastating tag team!

monaco — Self-avowed Canadian Ben Monaco has dazzled more than a few opponents with his bulging Canadian-ness.

alain — Speaking of bulging Canadian-ness, Alain LeClair may be able to single handedly bring Boston to its knees, so imagine what he could do with back-up!

In Other Words

January 25, 2014January 25, 2014 wrestlebard3 Comments

I’ve been slacking off on reading the other words of insight, wisdom and confession from the homoerotic wrestling blogosphere. I find this a dangerous state of affairs, as I can be lulled to complacency in my own echo chamber if I don’t partake of the vital conversations of others with their eyes, ears, and often their bodies on the scene. So here’s a quick round-up of what others are musing on when it comes the topic you and I enjoy most.

In the genre of wrestlers blogging…

CameronWrestler – Cameron Matthews posted yesterday a classified ad for a pair of Braden Charron’s posing trunks. Cameron has been booking custom videos and private matches for several hot wrestling hunks like Braden, and clearly he’s also happy to pass along the word that you can have the banana hammock that’s cradled the package where your face wants to be. Check out the pics and email Cameron if you want to put a bid in on, inch for inch, one of the most provocative pieces of cloth on the planet.

Jonny Firestorm – Don’t be deceived by the lack of updates on Jonny Firestorm’s splash page, because he updated his page this morning to tell you where he doesn’t care who else wins anything in BG East’s year end polls, because even if someone beats him in votes, he’ll simply “let him enjoy his 15 minutes of fame before I print out the results page, shove it down his throat and bash his balls until he cries out, ‘I’m Jonny’s bitch.” So in a hypothetical world in which Jonny isn’t in the running, he blogs about who he believes should have won each of the categories. He also has some sweet shots of him off hours hanging with other wrestling hunks.

Monaco Off the Mats – Ben Monaco last Sunday shared his new years resolutions (and a hot selfie showing off that always sexy bod and those growing more and more defined abs). These include more wrestling (and more savoring it it along the way in blog form). He also resolves to build more muscle, lose fat, and look good (resolution achieved on that third one already). Check out his invitation for you to help him on his third resolution.

In the genre of bloggers on the eroticism of wrestling…

Beefcakes of Wrestling – Bruno at Beefcakes is prolific in posting and has an incredible eye for pro wrestling beef. This week was no exception, posting on Sunday about the Lean Shah v Warren Brady match, Monday posting a collage of Beefcakes in action, Tuesday on Steven Walters, Wednesday including pics from Ring of Honor’s Final Battle 2013, and yesterday asking the rhetorical question that requires no answer: which would you rather look at, a wrestling hunk in shirts or down to his skin?

Inner Jobber – SP has his favorites, so no wonder he started the week with a Sunday/Monday double post study on Sean Stasiak. On Tuesday SP introduced us to every naked inch of a bodybuilder who’d have made a stunning wrestler, Craig Carpuso. On Wesdnesday, SP wrote an open letter to BG East, asking for a download over the opening credit music to their videos (I agree, I’ve been trained to get turned on by it), along with a special request. On Thursday he mused on the beauty that is Aaron Eckhart (yum!). Then on Friday he reported in pictures on the latest from WWE

Ringside at Skull Island – Joe consistently posts high quality and quantity commentary on the hottest wrestling action across multiple platforms. On Tuesday he posted a review of Eli Black’s magnificent work taking down a double team at UCW. On Wednesday he covered the coverage of a Japanese wrestling match introducing me to a new man of my dreams, Hiroshi Yamato (check out those pics! Tom Zenk’s Japanese twin!). Thursday, he reports on a straight up pro match from Terre Haute, and Friday muses on the man of my dreams I’ve known about a long time, ripped genetic freak, insanely sexy Scot Prince Devitt. Finally, this morning, Joe posts on a classic pro wrestling hunk from the 80s, Steve O. As always, Joe brings a beautiful mix of text and graphics to get the point across (the point being wrestling is sexy as hell, of course).

Wrestling Arsenal – WA is also extremely prolific, insightful, and just plain hilarious. On Sunday he posted his weekly Suffering Sunday montage. Monday was for pro wrestlers flexing their tongue muscles. Tuesday was all about Christ Dickinson (and his trunk strings). On Wednesday, he provided nearly minute by minute coverage of a match starring one of my Brit crushes, Terry Frazier. Thursday was all about Boston crabs through the ages, and Friday was a new installment on his series on Doughboys. Finally this morning he posted on a new-to-me masked wrestler who instantly turns me on, The Romantic Touch.

And just reporting on some blogs that haven’t been updated in a while, but I’m keeping my eye on…

Drake Marcos: The Cheshire Cat of Homoerotic Wrestling – Drake’s last post was a bid for votes late last month in the BG East poll. I was very glad to see his Custom Combat with Jonny come out on top as best squash of the year.

That Ginger Guy – Reigning favorite homoerotic wrestler around these parts hasn’t updated his blog since September 5, which is a shame, because I hang on his every word and the promise of more candid photos of his beauty.

Welcome to Thunderdome – Cage Thunder’s most recent post was from December 13, in which he lauds the arrival of BG East’s newest massive, vicious pro wrestling heel rising, Lane Hartley.

Fifth Day of Christmas

December 29, 2013 wrestlebardLeave a comment

The year-end holiday greetings from my favorite homoerotic wrestlers and friends of neverland have been intense so far! So much attitude! Three epic heels and a studly jobber clearly trying to get his ass kicked… again… make today’s greeting card from a hunky babyface beauty seem like a breath of fresh air! Ben Monaco has been a longtime friend of neverland and living the dream of countless homoerotic wrestling fans everywhere, successfully making the pivot from fan to star. Ben (and his hairy pecs and hungry lips) is as sincere, earnest, and competitive a babyface as I’ve ever virtually met. So his year-end greeting is a whole lot less dark and ominous than my first four.

2013-08-01 15.31.50 — I’m cooking up new matches for fans in the new year, and there are LOTS of things coming up for me very, very soon! Hope your end-of-the-year has been fun despite the hectic holiday season! -Ben Monaco

Keep us updated, Ben! Keep fighting the good fight, and if I may, let me request more lip lock finishers for you in the coming year.

Thank Your Lucky Stars

November 28, 2013November 28, 2013 wrestlebardLeave a comment

It’s the day designated for expressing thanks. I certainly have a boatload of things, people, and moments to be thankful for. But as a departure from always talking about what I like, I think today I’ll just share some choice pics of homoerotic wrestlers who give every impression of being caught right at the moment of thanking their lucky stars. Happy day, y’all.

worshipjoshua — Randy Stanton was the luckiest son of a bitch on the planet when Joshua Goodman (that’s Mr. Joshua to you!) gave him the chance to wrestle for the greatly coveted secret look at what Mr. J is packing in his trunks! **BG East’s Matmen 21.**

worshiprafe2 — Sebastian Rios worships at the feet, the cock, the ass… well, everything of oiled and insanely luscious Rafe Sanchez (mmmmm…. Rafe….). BG East’s **X-Fights 32: Caribbean Oil**.

worshiprafe — Peter Stallion similarly looks like he may be thanking a higher power for his all access pass to Rafe (mmmmm…. Rafe….). BG East’s Wrestle Worship 1.

worshipmarc — Two musclemen battle for the adoration of muscle worshipper Randy Dowell, who cannot believe his luck! Wrestle **Worship 2: Triple Emission.**

worshipben — When is Canadian Thanksgiving? I think it’s right around the moment that Ben Monaco gets his hands on the furry, massive pecs of newbie Alain LeClair. BG East’s **Mat Scraps 2**.

worshipkv — Rookie Frank Daly is in for a marathon of brutality and viscousness, and you can tell from the look on his face that he wouldn’t have it any other way! BG East’s **X-Fights 27**.

damienworship — What’s LJL to do when he finds himself commanded to worship Damien Rush’s muscles? Thank his lucky stars! BG East’s **Backyard Brawls 8**.

worshipfantasy — Paul Lasalle gets to freeze frame the ring action in real life, so he gets down on his knees, strips frozen Buck Wyld of his trunks, squeezes that incredible ass, and thanks the homoerotic wrestling gods! Can-Am’s **Fantasy Pro Wrestling**.

worshipmichael — Win? Lose? What the fuck ever! Landon Mycles drops to one knee and silently prays a word of thanks for the chance to get his hands all over Michael Vineland. Can-Am’s **Pro Sex Fight 1**.

worshiprusty — On his knees and worshiping the physique of Kevin Crowes, Rusty Stevens is one thankful homoerotic wrestler! Can-Am’s Pro Sex Fight 4.Buck

Right Where I Want Him

October 15, 2013 wrestlebardLeave a comment

Neverland readers occasionally overestimate my integration within the formal hierarchy of homoerotic wrestling. They ask me to arrange for someone in particular to get an audition with a wrestling producer, or they request that I put in a good word for a particular combination of wrestling opponents to appear in a future match. The truth is, although I write and obsess a lot about homoerotic wrestling, my influence on its production is minimal-to-non-existent. I picture myself more as a part of the press corps, appreciated by a precious few who actually make the news, tolerated by most of the rest of the producers and wrestlers, and despised by a handful of the star players (sometimes for legitimate reasons, I’ll admit). Although I muse incessantly about my own lusts for particular motifs and tag team partners and opponents, I can think of only two instances when I’ve expressed a detailed wish for a future homoerotic wrestling production that actually ended up being produced.

rusty — My personal fantasy: Rusty Stevens sits on Mitch Colby’s face.

The first homoerotic wrestling match that seemed to fall like mana from heaven a few months after I wrote about the need to see it produced was BG East’s Sexiest: Breaking Point mat match. Rusty Stevens and Mitch Colby had traded my loyalties back and forth, each claiming and losing the title of my reigning favorite homoerotic wrestler to each other repeatedly. Holy hell, the two of them wore me out for something like a year and a half, turning me on harder and harder with each new release they starred in seperately! What was needed, I mused here at neverland, was a direct, head-to-head confrontation in which the two premiere fantasymen appealing to my fondest homoerotic wrestling desires showed up in the same place to work their magic on each other, proving decisively and indisputably which one of them was the champ of grabbing my cock and milking me dry. This seemed an unlikely item for my wish list, since Rusty had never appeared in a homoerotic wrestling production east of the Mississippi. They were both Naked Kombat veterans, but I got the impression from somewhere that Mitch was not interested in going down that path again. So when BG East released in the summer of 2010 The Breaking Point, I felt faint at the sight of Rusty and Mitch in sweat-soaked jock straps barreling down on one another on the Florida mats (so okay, I had asked for a Boston ring match, but whadevah). Was I in any way responsible for this stroke of casting genius? I suspect not, and no one has ever suggested that was the case. But like a prayer to Poseidon, the expression of my heart’s desire was followed closely enough by its realization that I felt a little moment of self-efficacy over the homoerotic wrestling gods. Maybe, just maybe, I could feel like I had just a little to do with Rusty’s one and only venture (so far) into BG East territory.

lon18 — Cameron Matthews hands Lon Dumont a bottle of lube as they face off in Wrestlefest 3.

The second instance of inspired booking that I probably don’t have absolutely any right to claim…but I’ll imply that I do… is the opening match in BG East’s new release, Wrestlefest 3, pitting my now-reigning favorite homoerotic wrestler, Lon Dumont, against his former protege, babyface bruiser and former HWOTM here, Cameron Matthews. In my interview with Lon early in 2011, he mentioned he was Cam’s “original pro wrestling trainer,” and that in their careers, they’d wrestled one another 3 or 4 dozen times. “Damn, that would be something I’d like to see!” I replied. “Perhaps we’ll see you two in action through BGE sometime.” Enigmatically, Lon responded, “Perhaps so.”

lon11 — Lon puts his protege on his knees.

Merely 2 and a half years later, BG East released Wrestlefest 3, checking off another fondest wish on my list. This match sets off a non-stop fireworks-finale in my crotch for the duration of this intensely hot ring confrontation. The word apparently is that Lon’s return to wrestling competition hasn’t entirely been welcomed by his former mentee, particularly not when Lon was overheard boasting that he was “classing up” BG East since his arrival. As an unabashed Lon-fanatic, I see nothing at all wrong with crediting Lon with bringing a boatload of class, a simply massive ring repertoire, and a melts-in-my-mouth gorgeous physique that’s done nothing at all bad for the BGE universe. Impolitic? Perhaps. But wrong? I’m unapologetically on Lon’s side as this drama unfolds.

lon50 — Blaine Janus lends a hand in Lon’s torture of Cameron.

I’m not the only one on Lon’s side, but it’s close. Fulfilling another of my oft-mentioned longings, BG East filmed this match in front of a live audience comprised of BG East wrestlers. Everyone of them is instantly pulling for red-white-and-blue bedecked Cameron, except for the lusty cheers that Blaine Janus has for my reigning favorite homoerotic wrestler, Lon. The rest of the boys at ringside are fucking relentlessly taunting and insulting Lon, but Blaine is channeling my deepest longing by cheering Mr. Dumont on and making at least a couple undisguised passes at the bodybuilder beauty. Note to self: I need to interview Blaine Janus, because that boy has stunningly awesome taste!

lon10 — All grown up now, Cameron puts the hurt on Lon’s muscled bod.

This match is phenomenal! There’s always a danger of the real thing not living up to the hype and anticipation, but Lon and Cameron bring precisely what I would hope to this match: intensely high quality pro wrestling action, stunningly hot bodies squeezed and pried apart from every angle, and about 3 quarts of sweat (mostly produced by Cameron, I think, but liberally lubricating both of these specimens of gorgeous muscle!). The back and forth is fantastically intense, and early going Lon is simply outmuscled and dominated by his bigger, younger, chip-on-his-shoulder opponent. Watching Lon’s hot bod get manhandled ranks as one of the top 10 wonders of the homoerotic wrestling world, as far as I’m concerned.

lon29 — Full-contact audience participation!

Full-contact audience participation is achingly sweet, and the Cam-fans at ringside are simply giddy when they exploit every opportunity they can to get their hands on Lon. I understand the impulse. The cocky veteran appears to have a blind spot for an audience inexplicably aching to watch him get crushed, and Skip Vance and Ben Monaco in particular successfully get underneath Lon’s flawless skin and do what audiences do best, assault the oversized egos in the ring and serve as the third man, distracting cocky heels from their appointed rounds.

lon40 — Cameron’s got Lon right where I want him!

I don’t think I’ve seen Lon take quite the abuse that his junior colleague dishes out in Wrestlefest 3. Sure, he got pounded into dust by giant Joe Robbins in Gut Bash 8, but Cameron’s measured delivery of precise quantities of trash talk, blinding speed, acrobatic athletics, and ring savvy moves absolutely stymie my top wrestler-crush throughout a good portion of this match in ways I’ve just not witnessed. Cam catches Lon’s fantasy physique in such compromising positions that this match quite literally requires about 3 times longer than the running time for me to get through the whole thing in one sitting.

lon53 — Lon controls the babyface… completely.

If there’s one thing that can raise my temperature hotter than watching Lon’s muscles dominated, it’s watching him muscle his way back into contention and start to apply the pedal to the metal in overcoming a young stud opponent. Just watching Lon’s chiseled abs pump and flex as he bears down on this babyface beauty in an abdominal stretch is mesmerizing! And don’t think for a minute Lon isn’t a crowd pleaser (despite the complaints of everyone at ringside other than Blaine), because he yanks on those adorably heroic American flag trunks of Cameron’s to show us Cam’s real moneymaker, that mindblowing ass!

lon54 — Cameron’s got Lon right where I want him (yes, you read that right)

The competition is way too close for Lon to own the momentum for long at any one time, and even with seconds left in the contest the victory remains in question. These two are master storytellers, so the tension is stroked hotter and harder with such expertise, such passion, such a generous spirit for the viewing audience. The former student’s confident call-out of his former mentor teeters back and forth between folly and fate, and every second Cameron gets to feel Lon’s muscle body constricting around him is another moment I’m insanely jealous.

Praise be to the homoerotic wrestling gods that heard my prayers and made this match happen, because watching these to men who know each other so well, with such a history of mutual admiration as well as a burning grudge, is epic. BG East is a better place for having both of these highest class of athletes on board. And if you’re wondering whether Cameron knocks his bodybuilder mentor down a few pegs, I’ll just say that I (and Blaine) were intensely pleased to watch the climax of this barely controlled chaos of a pro wrestling match for gay eyes. So much muscle. So much sweat. Such beautiful wrestling.