Tag: Zack Vazquez

A Promise Kept

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Rock Hard Wrestling finally went live. It didn’t happen in August as promised, or November as promised later. But it finally happened, and all is forgiven. In the interest of “consumer research,” I checked out two of their first three matches to see if the delivery lives up to the hype.

So you pay $12.95 per instant download of DVD (note different match lengths, same price). Having entirely lost my ability to sustain prolonged anticipation, I went the download route. I started with the Ray Martinez vs. Cameron Davis match, mostly because I’m in awe of Ray (aka Alan Valdez aka Rio Garza, etc.). The production quality is very high. A lot of different cameras simultaneously film the action in HD. The close ups put you right in the ring, while the wider angles tell the story. The story itself is thin, though. Ray finds Cameron already in the ring and taunts him by explaining he already has a bigger fan base (it’s all about size). Ray turns his back on his opponent and poses for the camera, and predictably Cameron attacks him from behind in mid-flex. Cameron has clearly done some amateur wrestling, and he pretty much owns Ray from start to finish as a result. He turns him, tosses him, and pins him at will. Sweet Ray takes his punishment, but the nicest moments in this match are when Cameron finds himself chuckling at the completely dominated state of his hardbody opponent. More than once, Cameron looks at the camera and smirks as if to say, “Just look at me own this bitch!” In case you follow Ray/Rio at BG East, he’s not nearly as incredibly cut and hard as his BG East appearances. Two falls, eleven minutes, yours to own.
After getting a taste of RHW, I felt ethically bound to have more than one sample of the goods in order to offer a thorough review. So I also took a long look at the Zack Jonathan vs. Brody Hancock match (aka Zack Vazquez vs. Reese Wells). The story is basically the same premise from Ray and Cameron’s match. Zack arrives to find Brody already in the ring. Zack struts and preens for the camera, explaining that the fans pay up to see his stunning body. When Zack tosses a bottle of baby oil to Brody and insists on having him oil Zack up, Brody attacks from behind. These boys are a little more evenly matched than Ray and Cameron, in that neither of them look entirely at home in the ring. Still, Brody is by far the better salesman. He gives and takes some punishment with style that I like. Smirking Zack, though, predictably can’t quite stay in the moment, which is just distracting. The tide turns back and forth several times, resulting in three falls over 18 minutes. Once again, my favorite moments are catching Brody mug for the camera mid-action, sneering as he makes his overconfident, pinup boy opponent suffer.

For a blow by blow of the third match, check out Topher’s fine review yesterday in the comments at Ringside at Skull Island. RHW has put together a very high quality product with very beautiful muscleboys. Other than Cameron’s performance, the wrestling is weak, though Brody is a standout salesman that I’m willing to buy. Zack, God bless him, needs to seriously get his ass kicked, I think, in order to get in touch with what it really feels like to suffer a beat down. So if you’re looking for some convincing wrestling, domination, and suffering, these matches score relatively low (though I’m liking Cameron’s amateur skills). If you’re looking for some overt homoerotic action or body worship, these matches score very low. If you’re looking for beautiful muscleboys in skimpy outfits rolling around, these matches score very high.

Promises, Promises

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So I’m still waiting in anxious anticipation of the purported launch of a new wrestling co. by the name of Rock Hard Wrestling. The name is promising. RHW’s MySpace page presents a stable of 6 wrestlers who, indeed, sport hard muscles, so I’m willing to believe in truth in advertising in this case. Again: promising. The one video evidence of an actual product from RHW, a quick clip of Brody Hancock squeezing a tap-out from Zack Vazquez, shows these two stunners looking in top shape. Once again: very promising.

But the MySpace announcement of an impending launch of RHW remains only that: a promise. The page was promoting an August launch last summer, but that promise was broken. And here we are over halfway through November, and I’m worrying that once again, my hopes will have been raised only to be dashed. The RHW “website,” is just a placeholder that’s been telling us that service would be up and running in “several days” for several months now. I’m starting to feel bitter.
Fortunately, we can appreciate the work of some of the talent from other sources. For fans of the babyface, Brock Hancock has wrestled as Reese Wells in BG East’s Ball Bash 2. The little studpuppy takes a serious beating, including admirable, cringeworthy ball abuse at the hands (mostly boots) of Johnny Firestorm. In the RHW clip, it’s quite a tasty treat seeing little Reese/Brody sneer at Zack Vazquez after forcing the muscleboy to tap.
For his part, Zack is the workhorse of Thunder’s Arena. As in Thunder’s Arena, Zack’s suffering looks like smiling in the RHW clip, which can be distracting. Still, he always seems game for camp in Thunder’s Arena, and in the RHW clip it looks like he’s trying to play it straight.
The fan groups seem to be lighting up with appreciation of RHW’s Ray Martinez who’s wrestled as Rio Garza a couple times recently for BG East. Imagining the gorgeousness of Zack and Rio in the same ring is quite a nice picture. Perhaps Rio can give Zack some salesmanship lessons. Both of these boys suffering at the hands of some of the other talents in the RHW stable is, once again, a promising premise.
I don’t recognize Tommy Clark, but I’d like to see much much more of him. I have my heart set on seeing him dishing out the punishment on the body beautifuls like Zack and Rio. But as long as RHW remains offline “for maintenance,” I’ll have to enjoy what I can of the boys of RHW elsewhere.

Tricks and Treats

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In keeping with the spirit of the season, I thought I’d send up Thunder’s Arena and their Halloween specials. Frankly, I think of Thunder’s Arena as a side dish of wrestling, but as far as I know, wrestling is all they’ve got going. So technically it’s a main dish, but the production, the sets, and the story lines seem pretty backyard-with-a-camcorder – familiar low-budget tricks. The prices, though, reflect the very beautiful boys that they put up.

Zack Vazquez seems to have been with Thunder’s Arena for most of the duration, and he’s often the feature fighter. The first time I saw Zack wrestle, I almost couldn’t stand it. He looked like he was about to bust up laughing at his own camp, which is a BUZZ-KILL. Oddly, re-watching the same match, for some reason I was less turned off. Eventually, Zack’s Thunder’s persona and weak salesmanship (particularly with regard to suffering) has somehow fit itself into my expectations, and I am thus now entirely free to marvel undistracted at his beautiful, modelboy body.
The two Halloween specials from Thunder’s Arena both feature Zack, and both coincidentally feature him getting the crap kicked out him and strangled (what they make up for in gorgeous bodies, they lack in original/interesting story). Despite the lack of range, Zack’s performances do permit us to see him stretched out and squeezed and manhandled, presenting viewers with multiple opportunities for body worship. His opponent’s never appreciate Zack’s assets, and frankly, that prevents me from investing more enthusiastically. But over-camping and underselling, Zack still makes my heart beat a little faster.
That first match I saw Zack in pitted him against Alexander. Thunder’s Arena sells Alexander as a “real indy-pro wrestler” who brings the realness to the camp of Thunder’s. I’ve never seen an indy-pro match with Alexander. Perhaps he can totally pull it off in a real ring. But here, he’s another beautiful/skinny boy with a body I could get into worshipping, but he does not sell. He’s featured in both matches in this year’s Halloween Havoc tape, including another match with Zack… and a chain… and a bucket (we see a lot of these props throughout Thunder’s Arena matches). But I’m most intrigued by the new face, “O’Shea” who, in the stills at least, appears to crack Alexander in half.
I’m only half-heartedly into Thunder’s Arena, but I do enjoy their holiday special matches. Somehow a holiday theme gives me the excuse to forgive the overcamp, look past the weak story, and just enjoy the gift (let’s call it our “treat”) of beautiful boys in speedos displaying their bodies for our viewing pleasure.

Believing the Promise

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I stumbled across the MySpace page for Rock Hard Wrestling announcing an August ’09 launch of this new internet wrestling company featuring A&F looking young models with rock hard bodies and wrestling skills. Omnipresent hottie Zack Jonathan/Vazquez looks like the headliner. A couple of recent BG East wrestlers also look like they’ve signed up. Brody Hancock (who you can see as Reese Wells – naked, hard, and ball-bashed in BG East’s Ball Bash 2), must be a magician, because he has that skinny little frame, but when he flexes his biceps, out of no where, they’re huge!

Ray Martinez is also pictured for RHW (also in BG East’s just published Undagear 15 as Rio Garza, with legs for days, hot and sweaty… you know how much I love that!).

The only action I can find from RHW is this short clip of Brock squeezing out a submission from a nicely suffering Zack with a figure-four leg lock. Brock’s face looks like he’s 13 years old, but he still manages to sell the fierce victor looking with disgust at the defeated muscle-stud at his feet. And again, he lifts his (what look like) skinny little arms and pow, out pop these massive guns! Perhaps that’s his charm: he looks like an outclassed, skinny kid then – boom – out come the bulging biceps and – pow – he slaps down a vicious finisher. I’d buy that!
I can’t find much else about Rock Hard Wrestling, and August is nearly over with the rockhardwrestling.com link remaining dead. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.