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| Tuesday April 12 2022 - Submission Wrestling Weekend in Sherbrooke | Wrestling event | ||||||||||||||
After a 4 year hiatus, I finally attended a full-fledged wrestling event just last week-end. It was called "Submission Wrestling Weekend #2" and it was hosted by Fighting4Fun at his home in Sherbrooke where he has a basement full of mats that are very nicely laid out, ideal for competitive submission matches. By the way, Sherbrooke is a small town between east of Montreal and west of Quebec city. I think this is the first time I'm attending an all-out submission event. Events I've attended in the past or either pro, hybrid or one-on-one hotel room events where the type of match is really up to your opponent. Anyhow, I wasn't sure if I was ready for this, because I am currently carrying a shoulder pain that lasted since a couple of months. I made the mistake of racking someone above my shoulder's tolerance, but all in all, I think it went pretty well. Friday April 8 2022 I had an agreement with Fighting4Fun who came to pick me up in Montreal to drive to his house in Sherbrooke. Once we reached our destination, my host kindly made me a tour, showed me his marvelous basement and we took the opportunity to warm up just us two to prepare for the upcoming onslaught or beatings that I was going to get. π Our last match together was 3 years ago. Obviously, been an MMA expert and having won numerous medals around the world, each time I see Fighting4Fun, he just gets better and better. Mind you, he's 61 now, but age is just a number: with his experience, knowledge and skill, he is still the best among all of us. In addition, he became a teacher now of a dojo, training students and sparring his students almost on a daily basis, which kind of makes him now an unstoppable force. Fighting4Fun has this methodology where he toys with his opponent, he lets them think that he has the upper hand and then he'll make you tap when he feels he gave you enough freedom. π That is no exception for me.. however, he was kind enough to let me put on my ankle locks, my body scissors and my leg scissors on him without him resisting back every once in a while. It's basically the only 3 holds I know how to use in submission if I can't use my arms or if I determine that my opponent's arms are stronger than mine. Anyhow, Fighting4fun gave a couple of free taps, but not without him making me tap a hundred times fold the legitimate way afterwards. π After all, there is a price for free submissions... All I can do when he goes in attack mode is to defend and delay that inevitable submission. Armbars are the hold (or weapon) of choice and I'd have to say I have never received as many armbars as I had this week-end. After an hour of sparring or so, our host Fighting4Fun kindly prepared my bed so I can rest up for the full array of matches that's waiting for me tomorrow. Saturday April 9 2022 My host prepared a nice breakfast for me, the usual scrambled eggs and bacon and we continued a brief hour of sparring. I was supposed to meet up with one of Fighting4Fun's top student (apparently, M4st3rP), but he canceled due to family obligations. I was thinking "Thank goodness", because there's enough matches lined up that I would have been dead or zombified after dueling a UFC-style fighter that has a hundred times my level of experience. Around 1 pm, the remainder of the roster showed up: it consists of Kicksands, Sunny_DeLeon, CanWrestle, WrestlinBoi and Zodikry. The event could host 8 wrestlers, but 7 was already more than enough as we went overtime over Fighting4Fun's planned schedule. CanWrestle, WrestlinBoi and Zodikry had to leave shortly after arriving because they had already planned a match with another wrestler in Sherbrooke in a AirBNB. Their main objective of this first visit was to drop off the other wrestlers since they car pooled. Hence, Kicksands, Sunny_DeLeon, Fighting4Fun and myself started doing round-robin submission matches. I had already wrestled Kicksands in October 2019 in Ottawa. Back then, I was able to be in control of him in the sense that I could make him my jobber... sort of. He'd try to defend, but I felt that I had an easier time dragging him left and right. Kicksands reminded me that I made him submit to the most basic hold in wrestling: the bearhug. I actually forgot about that and looking back at the blog entry I wrote for our Ottawa encounter, I never mentioned it in order to preserve some respect and dignity for Kicksands. π It really doesn't matter now anymore, because since then, Kicksands attended martial art classes regularly in a gym, training fiercefully to become an absolute beast of a fighter. He completely redeemed himself: when we fought in our submission match, I could tell that he was no longer the same wrestler that I had fought in 2019. Kicksands' strength, skill, agility and movements skyrocketed π and I realized that I was facing an opponent that is almost as equally skilled as Fighting4Fun. The big difference is that Kicksands is younger, faster, has more stamina and has this urge, an aura of determination or revenge, call it what you want, this undying sensation to teach me a lesson for the terrible treatment I gave him 3 years ago. I could latch on my ankle locks, but his fighting heart only showed me that it takes much more than a weakly pathetic hold to beat him. He fought back, showing me that with his stronger arms and technical knowledge that he can toy with me and make me submit with armbars, chokes and a dozen of other holds I can't even name. To make a long story short (too late), I was no match for the much stronger and superior Kicksands. As we will see later on, Kicksands is the 2nd strongest fighter in our group, right after Fighting4Fun. However, give him a little bit more time (maybe a year or two?) and he will probably manage to give Fighting4Fun a very good and challenging run for his money. I also sparred with Sunny_DeLeon. Our last match was in October 2021, but our fight this time around was also different. When we met in October, he was already exhausted because of a similar submission event he attended. He was simply letting himself being a jobber because he had no strength to fight back, having already being subdued by a dozen matches. I toyed with him back then in a give and take session where I would lock on him hold after hold. Well, in an submission environment setting like this one, Sunny_DeLeon showed his true inner strength and I saw his fierce burning fiery heart: he is no longer a passive jobber. Still, he was easier to tangle with. I think our levels were quite a bit more evenly matched, but ultimately, Sunny has better training, skill and stamina than I did, so he eventually managed to make me submit quite a few times. At this point, I think I had 40% of my fuel reserves left for the day, starting to feel the exhaustion of back to back bouts, not to mention I had to spar with Fighting4Fun in 1 or 2 more rounds that I was destined to lose. This is where I realized that I need to wrestle in a "Defensive Passive" mode, otherwise, I would have no energy left for the remainder of my match-ups. "Defensive Passive" is a mode where you just let your opponent attack you while still defending to prevent and delay a submission, but if you do see an opening or if you opponent is also defensive passive, then you strike an attack. The other guys (CanWrestle, WrestlinBoi and Zodikry) came back from their private AirBNB fight and we started wrestling in long-sleeve spat shirts and long sleeve pants. Spats are the stuff that lots of bicycle bikers wear when they do long stretch biking circuits. The point here is to simulate oil wrestling... without the mess of oil. When you were these types of pants and shirts, your arms and legs are in a sense slippery because your hands will slide on this fabric, forcing you and your opponent to use different strategies to make them submit. My upper portion of the spatz (the long-sleeved shirt) was smelling a bit of sweat-to-skin from probably a previous owner/wearer. I didn't have one and I was given one, but I think someone forgot to put it in the washer before handing it out to me. Eventually, I traded my upper spatz with just a t-shirt. Anyhow, regardless of the difference in this style of fight, I believe Sunny and Kicksands made short work for me. You can see here Sunny finishing me off with some sort of choke/scissor combo. I had no chances of survival. π
Then I had my first tango with WrestlinBoi. He seems shy, and reserved, but also intimidating. When he finally reached the mats and we locked up, this is where I saw him express himself wonderfully: he is skillful and playful, he has great power in his scissors and strong arms to back them up. You feel safe when you wrestle him. He'll smile and at this point, I just melted and I only wanted to keep him near me and make the match last as long as I could. π Sunny and Kicksands mentioned that this would be "The Battle of the Scissors" ββ because WrestlinBoi sports a very strong one in his pockets. We shared the body scissors and WrestlinBoi was kind enough to let me have the title of a stronger scissor. You can see me here trying to resist WrestlinBoi's crushing thighs while trying to escape from his arm grasp as well. I actually taunted him to squeeze harder, sharing with him my fondness for scissors and that this liking allows me to resist scissors easily.
Regardless, he was still able to beat me up at the end of the match using an armbar or a variant of it. I also had a spatz match with Zodikry, who is WrestlinBoi's partner. Zodikry is stronger, but has less technical skills. However, he is very expressive and a big giggly.. a bit like me I guess π I took advantage to catch him off-guard in this match by putting him in an ankle lock that he did not suspect. This was probably one of the few wins I had this week-end. Zodikry and WrestlinBoi complement each other: While WrestlinBoi is shy, reserved and introvert, ZodiKry is outgoing, talkative and extrovert. They are an extremely nice wrestling couple. They both live in Winnipeg and they occasionally spar with Sunny_DeLeon as well, who also lives in Winnipeg. We broke out of submission in very few short lapse of moments in between sub matches, so I was able to get this full nelson body scissors on Zodikry that I usually can't get in a real submission competitive match.
This particular image is quite a bit unusual because it feels like Zodikry is enjoying the hold while I seem to be the one suffering from it. π Last, but not least, I locked horns with CanWrestle. We've met again about 9 months ago in July 2021 and he is still is more skillful than I am. We then all went for supper and when we returned, we went into our singlet matches. My memory is starting to fail me now, but I do remember that even after a meal refill, I was operating at 10-20% of my capacity so much I was exhausted. Luckily, both Sunny and Kicksands took a lot of pics to help me rebuild the images in my brain. Had they not being there, I don't think I would be able to provide the quality level of photography that they were bringing with my camera. I do remember having a 2nd bout singlet-style with at least every wrestler. Based on the photos, I guess Sunny got me in a side scissors and I seemed to have enjoyed it. π It's either that or I'm trying to concentrate so hard so that I do not submit... or that I do not fart! π
At some point, Kicksands and WrestlinBoi were dueling, but CanWrestle ended up making a commentary that made both of them turn against him. So yeah, CanWrestle's snark comments earned him a double-teaming reward. π  For more photos, you can check Sunny's Instagram, CanWrestle's Instagram, Kicksands' Instagram or WrestlinBoi85. I felt I needed to open up an instagram as well so they can link me, but I probably won't be as active as they are. I feel like a dinosaur π . My instagram is scissormtl. The only other thing I remember for this evening was that while the double-team was in progress, I jumped on Kicksands to give CanWrestle a fighting chance. Kicksands was surprised that I would shield and dared to attempt to save CanWrestle. I tried to argue that both Kicksands and WrestlinBoi have greater strength and skills over the defenseless CanWrestle... and I even later changed my reasoning saying that I just wanted to wrestle Kicksands... that I don't tangle with him enough. π I wish I could include a picture here between me and Kicksands. I later realized that there are no photographs in our album showing any tangle between me and Kicksands. All the photographers were busy. π’ Anyhow, I was defending against Kickands' attacks left and right when suddenly, CanWrestle freed himself from WrestlinBoi and came to my rescue, fighting again against Kicksands. At which point I was now facing WrestlinBoi. I manage to steal what WrestlinBoi refers to as a smurf kiss on his chest. I didn't know if I was out of line because Zodikry is his partner. WrestlinBoi later explained the terms of agreement with his partner and that my action were ok. Phew! π Around 11:30 PM, we were all spent and we called it a night. Sunny and Kicksands stayed at our host. Zodikry, WrestlinBoi and CanWrestle went back to their BNB and I had reserved two nights at a local hotel called "Hotellerie Jardins de Ville" that was a 5 minute drive away from our host. There's even a bus system that connects to it. Sunday April 10 2022 We all needed our beauty sleep and luckily, our next match was not before 1:30 in the afternoon. Sunny, Kicksands, Fighting4Fun and I went to an Italian restaurant to start building our reserves. Sunny commented about my ankle locks: he didn't recall me using them the first time we met. I answered that there wasn't a need to. He was a jobber and back then, I was doing give and take of holds that I are usually enjoyable. There was really no need to use my unpleasant ankle locks that I usually reserve for submission fights. π After we replenished our energies, we all met up around 2 pm and everybody was wearing a gi (the traditional uniform used for martial arts combat) and we got our first group picture:
From left to right: WrestlinBoi, Fighting4Fun, Zodikry, Sunny_DeLeon, Kicksands, Loserboy and CanWrestle I almost skipped this portion of the event because I needed more time to recover from all the sores of sub matches. Luckily, the overnight sleep and the Italian Cannelloni I had really boosted me, so I was back on track. Also, I've set in my mind to use only 40% of my strength, with the occasional max if I manage to put one of my three holds. The gi format makes everybody start with a white belt. If you win a match, you get promoted to blue belt. If you lose a match while having a blue belt against a white belt, you trade belts. If you another match while in blue belt, you get purple and so forth. No holds are currently barred: you can use the gi to chose your opponent or you can even use the belt to tie up your opponent, but if you do, your opponent can do the same. Hmmm... I don't look half bad in a gi π I have absolutely no training in Jujitsu or martial arts. The last time I wore something like this was a trial judo class where a girl 5 years younger than me placed me in a submission hold as I was squealing like a little girl for mercy. Hoperfully, this time around, this uniform will bring me luck...
... or not. I lost against Fighting4Fun, CanWrestle, WrestlinBoi, Sunny_DeLeon and Kicksands. π I kindly asked Kicksands if I could have a freebie scissor because he was making me tap over and over even after our match ended... and because I was trying to cheat by jumping on him, but he always had his guard on and never allowed me to sneak in. He told me that I need to earn my scissors on him. They were not given for free. π So no, I never made him tap a single time in this week-end... even as a freebie. π My only win in git-format was against Zodikry. I feel like cheating. Just because of this win, I was promoted from white to blue belt. Yay! π We tumbled left and right and Kicksands took this shot that I absolutely adore. It looks very sensual, but what's actually happening here is that while Zodikry is pinning me, he's scrambling to get out of the ankle lock I had on him... I think. Without the right context though, it looks as if he is about to lean down... and uh... kiss me. π So that never happened, but I did end up biting for half a second his right nipple when I was able to flip him over and pin him down later on during this match! π€£
Many million thanks to Kicksands for capturing this shot. He also beautifully captured this next shot at the end of the match where I scissored Zodikry.
Here's another shot of Kicksands excellent photography skill where I was struggling against Fighting4Fun, trying to flip him over, but his stance and position allowed him to use my own weight as leverage, making him impossible to turn him over.
After around 3 hours of gi matches back and forth and putting together the endless amount of combinations of wrestlers, we were due for another break and went to a distillery called "Siboire". During our dinner, CanWrestle commented on how our waiter has big muscles and in a kidding manner, CanWrestle told us that he'd like to ask the waiter if he can touch his bicep. Sunny, WrestlinBoi and me all dared him to do it, but he refused, so we've decided to do it for him. When the waiter returned to our tables, I was hesitant at first, but I look at WrestlinBoi's eyes and he signaled me with a gesture to do it. So I went with it and asked the waiter: - "Uh.. sir. My colleague here ... is wondering if he can touch your bicep. You have a very impressive build." Before I could even say the fifth word of the above quote, CanWrestle slapped me on the thigh with the back of his hand and I jumped a bit. He did threaten me to take my head and slam my forehead down on the table, but in practice, that would have been awful, so I'm happy with the compromise. I think our waiter laughed and he was probably ready to do it, but we were all so embarrassed that we all laughed it off. CanWrestle also said "No! No! No!" to the waiter and brushed it off. In return, most of us increased the amount of tip he was receiving because we left the waiter (and our whole table) in an awkward position. π Both WrestlinBoi and Sunny explained to me that had I not done it, they would have done it instead, but since the waiter was only talking french, they would have a little bit more difficulty doing it. Hence, they gave me the priority. It was still nice to know that I had 2 backups that would have done this dare in my stead. This reflects and outlines the general positive mood, playfulness and happiness at our table. As we rode back home, I was in the car with Fighting4Fun driving, I was his co-pilot and in the back was Sunny_DeLeon and KickSands. I then noticed on the side of the streets a franchise selling fried chicken called "ChicKing". For some reason, the pun made me burst into laughter. KickSands commented: - "And that broke him. When I saw the name of the restaurant earlier, I rolled my eyes." I asked Fighting4Fun: - "Is the street we are driving on King Street? It's one of the main commercial artery of Sherbrooke?" Fighting4Fun replied: - "Yes it is. And there are at least three of those restaurant franchise on this street." It took me a while to contain my laughter, but I guess I can't resist a terrible pun. π When we got back from the restaurant, the schedule changed. Everybody was tired. We probably ate too much, drank too much. There were some missing gi matches that still needs to be fulfilled, but they were all canceled. We shifted the planned schedule to a personal request zone. It was filming or photography time :) WrestlinBoi asked me if I could help him do a scenario where he pins me, flexes over his victory, gets full nelsoned by his partner and I gut punch him in revenge. Hey, compared to the stuff I've been doing, this is a very easy scenario to perform. I was more than happy to oblige. In return, he allowed me to perform on him and Zodikry a separate rack on each of them. He also lifted me in a knee backbreaker with gut punching... in which I farted for real. π¨ Hey, we just ate! π
CanWrestle and I also filmed a match up that he posted on WatchFighters: https://www.watchfighters.com/posts/canwrestle_vs_lb200-chvsswdd I know.. there's a price, but please support him. π In the meantime, here's a camel clutch and a bearhug from the match. π I didn't notice until much later how bruised I am in this picture. All the sub matches left marks on my skin, but it does add some form of realism to the pic. π
We took it easy for the remainder of the evening. The wrestlers mentioned how they get recording custom requests that they occasionally fulfill and all the intricacies of the different holds, maneuvers and interests they need to cover to realize those requests. I went back to my hotel feeling not as tired today compared as yesterday. I actually felt 50% less tired than the day before, because, throughout the day, I was able to pace out my stamina between my matches more carefully, slowly calculating when I should expense more energy and when it is best to preserve it, maybe give up a bit sooner to avoid that overflow that would have drained too much energy for nothing. I looked myself in the mirror and noted all the bruises. It does not hurt at all: I have a skin condition where my skin marks easily and it looks like I'm bruised, but I'm not. I guess it's sort of a sensitive skin reaction? Most of those simili-bruises are pressure caused by the Gi when it is aggressively pulled outwards or push inwards. If the simple soft fabric of a Gi can do this, then I guess you can imagine what pressure without fabric does. π
On my back, I had larger vertical marks. The wrestlers all thought I was getting whipped... by Fighting4Fun. Fighting4Fun defended himself saying that the marks on my back was there before we started our match on Friday.... so I finally figured it out afterwards that it was caused by wearing my knapsack for a long period of time. Either I get bruises from pressure or from prolonged wearing/carrying. Monday April 11 2022 We all met one last time at our host to exchange our goodbyes for this event. I gave everybody I could a bearhug. Zodikry wanted to give me one, but I caught him in one first. π Fighting4Fun drove me back to Montreal and he spoke to me about his personal life and I shared mine as well. He is at his most humble and down to earth state among all the times I've seen him. He's still very optimistic about wrestling submission-style despite his age. His next goal is to travel to California or to Brazil to meet the many opponents that are waiting for him. He also suggested that I come back a week-end to wrestle him and his students. All in all, I had a wonderful trip. Despite being worried about the state of my shoulder, the wrestling I had was safe and it gave me a boost and signal that I am ready to attend future events. This still makes me realize that my days as a submission wrestler are numbered. I'll try to take advantage of it as most as I can, and people like Fighting4Fun and CanWrestle are there to show me that if they can still tangle competitively, so can I. Here's to hoping that I can attend new wrestling events soon and hopefully travel outside Canada. I went to see Lumber_Jack_G on my return to Montreal after the event and we had a small and light tumble. In his opinion, the bruises/scars on my chest and shoulders were making me a bit more attractive and a bit more believable as a wrestler. π | |||||||||||||||
Blog ID 328  | |||||||||||||||
| Monday February 28 2022 - LumberG week-end | Recent matches | ||||||||||||||
| I had a brief match with LumberG this week-end. I say LumberG, but his real profile is Lumber_Jack_G, but it's so much simpler for me to call him LumberG. I think we've known each other for long enough now that our matches are more like roughhousing or just trading holds, we wrestle when we feel like it. We both had our fair share of injuries accumulated through the years and I apparently left him with what seems to be a permanent light pain near his lower thigh because of my aggressive grapevines and leg locks. It's perhaps a sign that I should seriously consider reducing its usage if I don't want to hurt other people. We've traded body scissors, headlocks, sleepers, crucfix arm bars with gut punches and the usual... LumberG told me that he does not think I am believable as a heel. I wouldn't blame him... I mean after all, I do carry a name like Loserboy. Regardless, it still gives me great satisfaction to put him like in a schoolboy pin and flex over him. He told me however that he enjoys it when I try to assume that I'm a heel.  Even though I'm a jobber at heart, I know it makes many people happy to be beaten by a lowly heel like me.... or when suddenly, I override my jobber-persona and become the heel out of the blue. πI do miss the days where I could easily slip in my body scissors on him and make him tap. He's such a great wrestler now that he can easily avoid my scissors and I can only wrap him on-demand. And even there, I make sure not to go too far because I did hurt him physically previously as well. π Fun fact, LumberG loves gut punching and I am always hesitant to trade gut punches, because he has a lot more resistance than I do and he can also give much stronger punches. I often ask him to deliver 70% of what he can do because that's about the threshold/intensity I can tolerate. So, when we give gut punches mutually, we kneel down facing each other and we give one punch at a time then exchange: me first giving the punch, followed by him giving me one, me again, and so forth. Obviously, he will increase the strength of his gut punch over time and easily win when I say that I quit. π Ironically though, he doesn't enjoy being put in a crucifix armbar and being gut-punched at the same time. Well, he does, but he wouldn't have the same tolerance than I do. I enjoy being helpless when I'm gut punched, and LumberG enjoy being able to defend himself, having his arms free when we exchange gut punches. Of course, we do find compromises. π Aside from that, LumberG likes to chill out and he made me watch a few episodes on Netflix like "Inventing Anna" and "Sex Education". There is a reference in the latter show that I mentioned to him that explains the feeling I felt when I wrestled him the first few times about 5 years ago. I always felt that LumberG was the lion at the top of the food chain and that I was the domestic cat, who had no chance to continue wrestling someone as handsome as LumberG. On the other hand, LumberG is always very hard of himself. Regardless of his awesome build, he thinks he's fat. ...but if he's fat, then what am I? Well... LumberG told me that there's nothing cuter than a chubby asian. π€£ Not to worry, while for some, this may look like an insult, it is actually a compliment. I explained to LumberG that when I reached 170 lbs, I started receiving messages from many wrestlers that enjoy my belly. π You lose some, but then you win some as well. π€·ββοΈ | |||||||||||||||
| Blog ID 325 | |||||||||||||||
| Wednesday August 25 2021 - 3 more clips :) | Video clips | ||||||||||||||
| It's that time of the year where I'm posting more clips to show some signs of alien life. πΎ Some say that I'm an alien because I love racking bigger guys. π€£ Anyhow, I finally got permission from Lumber Jack G (id 250) to post our Torture Rack from 5 years ago. So, here is the great LumberG in action π ... just check out [  Clip ID 415 ]. You'll notice that we use the word "Really@!?" to taunt each other. Back then, LumberG was a jobber. Now he's a monstrous unstoppable heel with the strength of a beefed up bull charging his target!
Next up is yet another rack with Suggs (id 3009) from 2 years ago. The guy can really take it and it's really as if it doesn't do a thing on him. This proves yet once more that this is a monster beast that is nearly invulnerable. Yes, I did slip in a grab or two in there... cuz you know me, I'm a bad bad wrestler. π You can view all the action in [ Clip ID 416 ].
Last but not least, we have Vicious (id 5128) who is volunteering today to show you how to slowly apply the Reverse Indian Deathlock without permanently injuring your opponent. π€ͺ This is more a demonstration clip than anything else. The only thing I'd need to rectify is that you usually lean on the side of the opponent rather than directly on your opponent's back, but I guess if you can withstand the pain, you can do it this way instead. All of this can be explained in [ Clip ID 417 ].
Things are still slow for me. Borders have re-opened, but it's still pretty complicated to travel with regulations varying from one country to another and even from one state or province to another... so for now, I still prefer to leave some more time for things to calm down before deciding to travel again for matches. | |||||||||||||||
| Blog ID 313 | |||||||||||||||
| Saturday July 17 2021 - LumberG | Recent matches | ||||||||||||||
| I met with LumberG again last week-end (I think on July 9/10) and our matches have been leaning more towards light roughhousing and trading holds... or just lie down and I headlock you take it easy kind of stuff. π In any case, LumberG has surpassed me a long time ago and can easily break free from anything I dare to throw at him. The guy is a beast now and has mastered wrestling better than I ever will. π We've also both accumulated our share of injuries throughout the year whether it is through wrestling, work, workout, time or unfortunate incidents, so our light wrestling style suits us both. It also means at this point that you've known your opponent well enough and have met enough to just semi-wrestle and still have a great share of fun while relaxing at the same time. I did wrestle him a few more times between last July 2020 and now, but never bothered to document it, because we've switched to light wrestling for a few eons now. CanWrestle (id 9693) spoke to me the other day about videos he has posted on WatchFighters, a division of MeetFighters, and that gave me an idea of how LumberG and I could post some too, since we've taken a few pictures and videos in the past (to be exact, we've took them 5 years ago). Back then, his situation prevented him from posting the stuff online, but he's a bit more comfortable nowadays. However, he gained some weight... which I absolutely adore, but he despises... so he's not in a mood of taking additional shots. I am however thinking of asking me if I can re-use our older shots and give it a test drive. π LumberG is looking great the way he is right now, but he is very camera shy and prefers to have six-pack abs before taking new picutres. π | |||||||||||||||
| Blog ID 312 | |||||||||||||||
| Tuesday September 22 2020 - LumberG: Two more, please :) | Recent matches | ||||||||||||||
| LumberG and I wrestled two more times with our sessions only separated by an interval of 2 weeks. Mind you, I think it felt like a month. I'm at a point where I feel pretty comfortable with him and we've built a good amount of trust. On our first rematch, I ended up taunting him quite a bit which ended up pumping him up and metamorphosing him into this terrific heel where he locked on me one submission after another. On our second rematch, we took things easy and I ended up squeezing him in body scissors after scissors. Two favorite holds came into play: the frontal body scissors with an arm/bicep lock. The other is a schoolboy pin where you flex over him. Like it or not, I think LumberG is more of a jobber... unless provoked.  We've also determined that I should no longer apply anymore leg scissors on the leg (with knee caps) and no more ankle locks. As you wrestle someone often enough, you end up agreeing on a sets of holds that are safe to do and those that are unsafe or disliked. I've also learned that he can take a lot more gut punching than I do and he punches much harder than I can. On our second meet, LumberG landed a technical hold that was very effective: sort off an arm bar with a scissor covering my shoulder and chest. There was nothing I can do to escape. I had to tap. He deserved it hands down. Because of my arrogance, I ended with marks on my body and LumberG seemed horified. I told him my skin marks very easily through pressure, but they go away after one or two days. We've also decided to spend a bit of time watching movies and to no surprise, we've never finished the movies, opting for more wrestling above anything else.  All I can remember was that the movies were called "Life of the Party" with Melissa McCarthy and "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" with John C. Reilly. The fact that we interrupted the viewing probably meant anyway that they weren't really interesting movies.  LumberG is an excellent host: he has a great place to wrestle, he even cooked for me, ensured that our match is enlightened with water and fruits... plus he has adorable pets. We will probably lock up in another match again soon. | |||||||||||||||
| Blog ID 298 | |||||||||||||||
| Saturday August 1 2020 - LumberG: First match since (de-)confinement | Recent matches | ||||||||||||||
| Last time I wrestled Lumber_Jack_G was in October of 2017. That's almost 3 years. We got out of touch, his schedule became busy and so was mine. I also felt that he was way out of my league... he's a very handsome wrestler in my book. He contacted me recently and he asked me if I wanted to wrestle. His requirement was that I was taking measures to stay safe and that I haven't wrestled in the past 14 days. I told him that a person in the high risk bracket (meaning an elder) is living with me, so I do the usual: face mask, social distancing, wiping of groceries (even though I think this latter step is a bit of an overkill). These days, I also only use Uber to move from one point to another. I still don't trust the subway or bus system yet. There is a risk with Uber, but I feel the risks are exponentially much less than mass transit. I also haven't wrestled... since February (about 5 months ago). Anyhow, we finally got together and he was afraid that he'd be a bit rusty. As we lock horns, it was clear that he picked up everything again very fast. He also built up some endurance and resistance because I had quite a lot of trouble making him tap in my body scissors... but then again, he loves body scissors. We always have a tolerance against holds that we love.  LumberG likes to suffer. On top of scissors, he also likes racks and reverse indian death locks. I love hurting him. He also likes to hurt me in revenge.... Although I constantly tease him that he's incapable of doing so. He loves to flex his biceps.. and I do melt  when he does that... The important thing however is that we trust each other and that we have good wrestling compatibility. He also apparently likes my belly.  He explained to me that it was either doing sub with me or doing pro with someone else, and that he took me instead because he knows that I can hurt him. Am I sadistic? In LumberG's case, probably yes... but you guys know that deep down, I have the heart of a nice jobber.Between our wrestling rounds, we took breaks: we caught up on our past 3 years. He made me smile when he commented that I know every wrestler in Montreal and I practically wrestle anyone... even the wrestlers that I do not like. I told him that I do ban a few people. Those that I know that it's only about themselves or those that have hurt others in the past. And honestly, I do *NOT* know every wrestlers in Montreal. More than half the wrestlers in the city won't wrestle me because I don't fit their requirements and that's absolutely fine. Another memorable moment that made me grin was that no matter how strong LumberG becomes, the pressure of the ankle lock is almost impossible to withstand. (Mind you, I've fought wrestlers that can easily escape it, but luckily LumberG doesn't know yet how to get out of this treacherous hold thankfully). I took advantage of this. I taunted and nagged him while holding him with my ankle lock. I even had my hands behind my head: LB: "I can beat you without my arms, you know. How about submitting now before it becomes too painful?" LG: "What? You think I'm a pansy?" LB: "Ah... that's a pretty good idea. How about you say: 'I'm a pansy.'" LG: "No way!" At this point, I start increasing the pressure on his leg and I get a proper response: LG: "I'm a pansy! I'm a PANSY!" This is by the way a great way to strengthen his urge for vengeance. He usually becomes rougher and more aggressive after this type of altercation. We had quite a lot of fun mocking, punching and punishing each other through the evening. Fast forward three hours later, I had to leave because he was working the next morning. I apparently left him bruises and I'm wondering if his back or his ribs are okay... I've been lazy and kept my beard and my hair growing and he apparently liked that. I also remembered this time not to wear any deodorant.  LumberG made me feel very comfortable and he also made me realize that I miss wrestling a lot. It was extremely nice to reconnect with him. It's kind of a signal for me to remember to try to reach out for the wrestlers I trust and attempt to set up a match again. With the right precautions taken into place, we can make it happen and still stay safe. In Montreal, gatherings of 250 are now permitted and de-confinement is still in progress although cases seem to be going up again. Still, I shouldn't fret for gatherings of two, especially if I know that my opponent is trying to be cautious as well. | |||||||||||||||
| Blog ID 295 | |||||||||||||||
| Monday October 22 2018 - Tz126, GoodBoyMtl, MuscledWrestler2001, Keith_DC | Recent matches | ||||||||||||||
| The last time I wrestled Tz126 (id 6866) was about 3 years ago. He came all the way from North Carolina to Quebec again last Wednesday. I had a day off so I picked him off at the airport and accompanied him to his hotel. I took the opportunity to do a few touristy stuff with him by going to the old port and incidentally, we also ended up eating at the same restaurant and attending the same light show as with WrestleInMN back in May... which kinda reminds me that I probably need to broaden my horizons and try something different for my guests. I did show him how the Montreal underground is great to avoid cold weather. However, because it is structured like a complex maze, it may sometimes be worth it to just walk outside to get to your destination. Anyhow, we had two small separate sessions where I was locking him in a couple of holds. I'd say it was mostly give and take and I had to be careful with the amount of pressure being applied. He warned me not to bounce the rack because he had a bad back. He showed me an interesting alternate variant for the reverse indian deathlock: It consists of putting your feet behind your opponent's kneecap and bend the leg backwards when your opponent is facing down. I realized in this meet that Tz126 had a fondness of anything leg stretching related: figure-fours, deathlocks, ankle locks.... We discussed previously about being okay to take private pictures, but I veto-ed the decision since I felt that he didn't seem too comfortable with the idea. It should have been clear to me that when someone only puts a single image in his profile, then it should be a hint that privacy may be of a concern. I met with GoodBoyMtl on Friday. We've spoke at least quite a few years ago, but things never worked out until recently. This guy does Jiu-Jitsu, holds and organizes tournaments and events and even have his own wrestling submission subscription-based website under the name Submission Fight. However, like other people venturing into this business, he suffered greatly from the rise of YouTube where a majority of his subscribers eventually migrated to the free content available online. The pre-YouTube era was really the golden age of independent wrestling submission streaming hubs. It's mind-numbing to see everything that YouTube destroyed in its path when it reached its peak. In addition, the province of Quebec recently instated a law to ban private submission competitions/leagues, which is really nonsense. It was probably put into effect to allow bigger corporations (like UFC) to dominate the industry. Anyhow, because of this, he had to cease his activities. This law will however be overturned later this year, so he did told me that he'll restore his website soon and he will resume organizing his competitions. GoodBoyMtl also showed to me the high-end audio visual equipment he has to create, capture and perform video editing for his site. It's quite something. He spoke about the good old times where people on his website were given a small video of the size of 360 x 240 pixels, whereas today, the technology given to us allows us to provide 4k videos that are almost 10 times as big (3,840 x 2,160 pixels). While I grew fond with Nikon over the years, Nikon specializes in taking pictures whereas he believes that Panasonic has an affinity for capturing videos. Lumix GH5 is the model he recommends. It looks rather like a photo camera, but it is well-known for its superior video taking capabilities. The price range though is a bit excessive, but it really all comes down whether you want some homegrown amateurish or professionally-made crystal-clear quality imagery. For the time being, I think I'll stick with my Nikon. Back to wrestling, GoodBoyMtl showed to me his vast and great knowledge of Jiu-Jitsu. He can easily get leverage from any given position. He insisted that I show a couple of pro holds since he's done mostly sub in his life. He bought from Wal-Mart 8 mat puzzle-pieces as his wrestling mats. They were pretty effective. I initially thought we'd place this in a 4x2 fashion, but he insisted a 3x3 layout with a corner missing a puzzle piece. It was still small nonetheless, but adequate to give and take holds. If he had more space than this and if we wrestled submission, he would probably win against me very easily. MuscledWrestler2001 (id 8009) was in town this week-end, so we've hit it off with a match. We also corresponded at least a decade ago. Distance was a little problem, but MuscledWrestler2001 has decided to do the extra mile by driving all the way from New Hampshire in a 4-5 hours drive to Montreal. I will be forever thankful for this big gesture. So, we finally got to meet and we got along pretty well: our chemistry was nice. Then again, this guy's personality and humor makes it very difficult not to get along. My assumption was he was more into sub, but he geared up in pro. We ended up doing light sub and promission. This guy is pretty strong despite recovering from a medical condition lately. I would hate to know how strong he is had I faced him in top shape. He can resist body scissors pretty well because of his frame. Mind you, he did went down from 300 to 270. Leg scissors work amazingly on him, but I think I may have overdone it. He mentioned at one point if it was the only hold I can do, so I stopped doing it. Ankle locks was pretty unfair for him since his condition doubles or triples the pain he feels near his feet. He would have been pretty okay with pictures, but I had so much fun that I had forgotten all about it. Silly me for not having taken the opportunity considering that he's pretty open to almost anything. I can feel he was lowering down the level on me and avoided using all of his weight. Not only this guy has great empathy, he is experienced and very careful. He also owns his own gym and trains/mentors a few recruits. Overall, he is very fun to rumble with: never pass an opportunity to wrestle him. You know the saying that a beginner should always wrestle with an expert to avoid getting injured? MuscledWrestler2001 is that expert: he will show you the ropes and he knows exactly what needs to be done to make you discover and love wrestling! He also works in the IT industry and he mentioned some pretty scary things about security. He told me that no matter what protection we have on our systems, there's always some sort of malware sitting there unknown to us all that can be activated at any time. The only safe computer is one that is unplugged from the internet. It's just like the saying I heard a while ago that the safest hard drive is one that is buried underground. I wrestled Keith_DC on Monday. He was in town for business and it was his first time in Montreal. We also were very compatible and we wrestled promission as well. His style reminds me of Lumber_Jack_G's wrestling style. I think both of them would have gotten along very well. There was some nice and charging intensity in our match. You could tell we would sometimes yield each other into holds we purposely wanted to be held in... after all, that's part of the definition of promission. Deep down, Keith_DC is a jobber, but he's a great heel. He likes guys near his height. He also wrestles pro and loves the abdominal stretch as a finisher. I once again over-abused my scissors on him and it really works miracle. I learned from our rumble session that "Nice!" meant "I give!". That made me realize that I should probably have agreed with a safe word with him before starting the match, but I just assumed that he already knew them considering his high amount of experience in wrestling. Overall, I felt that we were pretty even matched. Nice build, strong arms, great wrestler and an excellent personality reinforces all of his nice traits. We went out afterwards in Chinatown to eat some dumplings and I learned more about his life and career. He's one of the few exceptions, where he was able to find a comprehensive husband that also wrestles and that allows him to wrestle people around the world. Interestingly, Keith_DC asked me if Montreal is affected by the don't-wrestle-guys-in-the-same-city-you-live-in syndrome, to which I replied that it affects Montreal as well. Truth be told, just like in many big cities, on top of the usual syndrome, wrestlers are usually very picky and they want poster models as well... except for a small amount of people. By the way, GoodBoyMtl does go by SubFight (id 7506) on bearhugger and Keith_DC goes by Keith (id 4340), but these profiles have been abandoned since a while now, so I prefer to point you guys to their MeetFighters' counterpart. MuscledWrestler2001 (id 8009) goes under Wrestle123 in MeetFighters, but he seems to be active here as well. There are months where I get no wrestling at all and there are months like this one where there would be a sudden flux of wrestlers visiting Montreal either for business or leisure. With the wrestlers I've met this past week been moderate and respectful in strength and intensity, I'm happy to say that I currently don't have any sore muscles... just a few regular bruises as usual that normally goes away after a couple of days. I've started tracking this by creating this somewhat automatic calculator that counts the average of matches per month and per year. This year is already marked by a decline of matches, but the year is not over yet. I'll try to catch up on the ground I lost. A little note: When I hold an event gathering multiple wrestlers or when I go to a wrestling event, I count that as one match. Otherwise, if I put a big number, it would greatly skew the average amount of matches I get per month. | |||||||||||||||
| Blog ID 206 | |||||||||||||||
| Sunday September 10 2017 - Week-ends are for wrestling ;) | Recent matches | ||||||||||||||
The last time I wrestled Ben Monaco (id 5578) was more than a year ago. His schedule got pretty busy with University and work at the same time. He kindly gave me time yesterday for a match in the ring. It was nice to see that I could still punish him with my scissors. He's one of the few wrestlers where I sort off heel him in a semi-submission match. We caught up for what we missed during the past year and we took it easy. I did not forget his claws or his excessively strong (!!!) headlock. They are still lethal and if I didn't have a good resistance and love the squeezed this much, I would have tapped out. Unfortunately for him (or luckily for me), he can squeeze me as much as he wants.  I'm actually terrible at keeping in touch. Lumber_Jack_G is another wrestler I haven't fought since February. So, we've decided to give it another go in a brief match on Friday. Lumber_Jack_G took the opportunity to introduce me to SlowSubs, a fighter from Arizona who was in town for the week-end. SlowSubs was quite a tough beast! His scissors pack a punch and he has an endurance beyond any wrestler I've seen. Big, beefy and strong, his slow sub style like his name implies is an absolutely great way to fight while watching out for your opponent. As our stamina drained in our continuous fight, we eventually switch to trading long submission holds, mainly body scissors and head scissors. And we've continued to do so until our ribs were sensitive and the slight squeeze or touch of it would make us wimper in pain. We both enjoyed this... this sort of pain made us both laugh. We were both arrogant and stubborn, refusing to give, re-applying the submission hold and squeezing over and over. We were in a hotel room so movies were played in the background to cover up the noise we were making. I saw Princess Bride and partially saw Hoodwinked, Surf's Up and To Die For while I was battling out SlowSubs. It was a bit distracting, but it was a light way of resting in between holds. At one point, we were taunting each other. He'd squeeze me in a body scissors and tell me to flex as a sign to give up, and I'd refuse to do so. Then, when my turn came, I'd ask him the same. I'm pretty sure I forced him to flex more often in body scissors than he did to me... However, he did made me tap more often overall using headscissors and sleepers. It really didn't take him long to overcome me by simply avoiding my legs. A fast learner. That being said, I didn't wrestle Lumber_Jack_G much because he was already pretty worn down by SlowSubs. It shows how much wrestling SlowSubs can take compared to any of us. Now, I'm heading to bed, holding my left rib... It should heal in the next few days. I think I'm getting old... I can't handle this many matches with this intensity over a week-end anymore. But really, when I grow older, I'd like to be like SlowSubs. I'd like to have his endurance, strength and stamina to be able to wrestle for so long and still be able to fight. | |||||||||||||||
| Blog ID 151 | |||||||||||||||
| Monday February 6 2017 - Batched sessions | Recent matches | ||||||||||||||
| I was able to do two sessions of two wrestlers each this past week-end. I had Lumber_Jack_G and Vinny (id 3382) together on the Saturday. On Sunday, I had Headscissorsguy (id 9989) and Marty (id 6169) together. I usually try to wrestle people one-on-one, but these wrestlers agreed to try something different. On Saturday, I tackled Lumber_Jack_G with our regular sub match and I still had a hard time making him tap. For some reason, he didn't really want to be in my scissors. Once Vinny arrived, we switched to pro, because Vinny is solely a pro guy. Vinny also took the opportunity to teach us a couple of new holds.. many of which I have already forgot... unfortunately.  Overall, we had an excellent session and we did switch back and forth from pro to sub and sub to pro during our session. We also rotated, me against Vinny, Vinny against Lumber_Jack_G and me against Lumber_Jack_G, with occasional 2 versus 1. It went pretty well. On Sunday, I started my match with HeadscissorGuy with the usual.. head scissors. A few moments later, Marty arrived... Yes.. Marty, I haven't wrestled him, *I think*, since at least 2-3 years. His schedule is pretty busy, but I've learned in that session that the best way to reach him is to send him a message asking him if he's available now. It seems that I cannot plan with him days or a week in advance because he doesn't really know if he will be free. In any case, we also made a few rotations here and some occasional two versus one. It was the first time I see HeadScissorGuy doing a bit of sub, usually I just stick to give and take with him. Marty is a bit the reverse of HeadScissorGuy in terms of scissor preferences. HeadScissorGuy loves head scissors, but hates body scissors, whereas Marty prefers body scissors, but doesn't really like head scissors. Marty tells me he doesn't usually submit to body scissors... except to mine, heheheh. I was happy to remind Marty of my scissors, which I absolutely love to lock on him. From now on, I will try to wrestle Marty more often considering his non-schedule-type. I suppose I need to be a bit more spontaneous. He does want to do a ring match and he also said that he wants to do more photos and videos. Woohoo!  If you don't remember who Marty is, you can review our previous Match ID 152. Here is from that previous archived match one shot where I had him in a bearhug and body scissors combo that he just loves to sell...
..or maybe he was in pain. With Marty, I tend to put a little bit more pressure than the usual. | |||||||||||||||
| Blog ID 106 | |||||||||||||||
| Monday November 28 2016 - Full sub | Recent matches | ||||||||||||||
| I stopped counting how many times I've wrestled Lumber_Jack_G. We've known each other so well enough now that our matches are getting fiercer. Usually, we would do light sub, light pro, roughhousing, give and take... but we've been leaning towards an almost all-out full sub. It seems we were both really determined to make each other tap. I rarely do full all-out sub anymore out of concern for new injuries, but I trust Lumber_Jack_G so much that I know he'll be careful and we'll get out of this without harming each other. The irony however is that I'm the one who tends to hurt him. In our last match, I accidentally scratched his back... my nail was a little bit longer than usual and that's entirely my fault (my bad) for not trimming it prior to my match. Most of it went away in our match this week-end, but I ended up moving my head a bit too fast and bumped into his lip. It didn't bleed, but we almost stopped there. I was being stubborn on several occasions, but I ended up tapping a few times and by now, Lumber_Jack_G knows very well now how to avoid my legs and that all he needs to do to win is to go after my arm and do some sort of armlock and he gets an easy tap from me. In my defense, I still can get a relatively easy tap from him if I manage to wrap him in my scissors, although I now have to squeeze much harder than before because he built up some resistance over time. It's possible that he mentally enjoys some of the pressure I put in my scissors, which makes it easier for him to overcome and withstand a submission. He just gets stronger, attacks better and defends MUCH better each time I see him. In fact, putting a body scissor on him is quite difficult and I often end up being worn out. Instead, I usually go for the leg/ankle lock to get a submission... which is a move he absolutely hates. I've also learned that I can barely pull a leg scissor anymore in a full sub match. He always has enough time to react, to determine my next moves and to position himself to avoid it. When we alternate to some pro, I keep forgetting he loves the camel clutch... I really need to review these entries before I embark in a new match with him. His favorite pro hold on me is currently the canadian backbreaker... or the single-shoulder rack. He also loves to show off with a gorilla press, but I think I'm a bit too heavy for him. I developed this complicity with Lumber_Jack_G and I feel very comfortable trying and mixing up new styles. He is definitely an excellent opponent with an upmost respect for his opponents... not to mention that he is extremely good looking... He kinda reminds me of Jeremy Renner, an actor who played in The Hurt Locker and several of The Avengers franchise. We spent a good 4 hours tumbling, relaxing, wrestling again and using up all of our stamina. It's very good cardio! Near the end of our match, I usually go for a body scissors session. It's somewhat an evil way for me to get revenge for all the taps he managed to pull on me... I do like to grin while I increase the pressure... looking into his eyes, seeing his facial expressions, listening his moans...We've wrestled in a motel and didn't produce any new photos, but I'll post this picture of a previous match from the ring match we've had about roughly 2 months ago. It's one of the few shots I can post because I can't show his face.
I'm telling myself, I'll post a new one for each match I have with Lumber_Jack_G. Yeah... I know the socks look is terrible, so I'll make a better pick next time.With this diary, I scrolled back to our previous matches.. and it seems that this encounter is our 7th match. However, it feels more that we've had somewhere between 8 to 10 matches, because I don't really document all of our matches. It's really because sometimes I forget or sometimes I'm too lazy to write something... By no means does it mean that it was forgettable. On the contrary, I've always had fun wrestling him. | |||||||||||||||
| Blog ID 98 | |||||||||||||||
| Saturday November 12 2016 - Mini-Rumble in Montreal :) | Recent matches | ||||||||||||||
| I had a mini-rumble or a mini-wrestlefest in the wrestling ring today. We were a total of 4 people: EvilDark (id 1077), Sylvain (id 2636), Phil (id 5843) and me. The ring setting was perfect. The owner was actually gone that week-end so he gave the keys to a neighbor that opened the door for us. The room was quite cold because the heating system was defective, but I manage to find a little heater to warm us a bit. In any case, after a bit of pro or sub action in the ring, our bodies was generating enough heat to withstand the cold without getting pneumonia. Most of the time, the match on the ring were 1 vs 1, but we occasionally paired up two by two, hovering between sub and pro... The ring has enough space for two simultaneous matches. I did made sure that all three of my guests know each other before putting them together. For instance, I wrestled Sylvain last month, but both EvilDark and Phil haven't wrestled Sylvain for more than a decade. It was good to bring them back together after such a prolonged absence. Phil and EvilDark previously wrestled each other already last year in November 2015. We missed the opportunity to do tag teams or to do a two-on-one (or three-on-one) because we were short on time. I did rent the ring for 3 hours, but time really went fast. With four people around, we were however able to take pretty good photos... there was less of a need of a tripod this time around... thank goodness! We will start with Sylvain taking control with a dragon sleeper:
He gets a better grip by applying the head scissors:
We managed a little bit of double-teaming here. While EvilDark was taking a picture of Sylvain's headscissor, he took the opportunity of stomping me with his boot...
EvilDark has to keep his shirt on and so did Phil for a little while. EvilDark felt it was too cold, but Phil mentionned that the friction on the surface of the ring actually burns his skin. Needless to say, when I went on later to tackle Phil, I made sure to avoid pushing him against the mats. EvilDark later tackled me with a good old headlock with body scissors.
This one below is a move I frequently use for double-teaming: An arm scissor that immobilizes the opponent and allows any of my allies to attack freely... like a gut punch or a stomp on the stomach. You don't see it here, but I think I have a video I'll try to post later where you can get to see this revenge ring action on my nemesis.
Here's in a pin on EvilDark's arm that I don't get to do often anymore since I have to keep my reputation as a jobber... but once in a blue moon, a jobber wins a bout or two.
I should thank the photographer for taking the shot in this angle... It's very nice and it's again not an angle I can take with a tripod. I am not so sure anymore if it was Phil or Sylvain who took this shot... My shots with Phil came out a bit blurry... I think the lenses got dusty at one point or some of us simply had trouble using the new Nikon camera. It's big, it's heavy and it's complicated, but sometimes it takes amazing shots and other times, you just want to throw it out the window. Luckily, I believe I have a few videos with Phil on the ring, so I'll need to filter, edit and upload them when I have a chance. Near the end of our session, we made a group pic to remember the fun time we've had. Brothers in arms.
This one below is actually my favorite. I was actually showing EvilDark how to do his stance for the next group pic, but the camera was set up to take a picture every 2 seconds so it took a shot I really love. Sometimes, the best pic are when you don't look at the camera or when you are naturally doing something else rather than forcing a smile.
After telling Sylvain and EvilDark how to position themselves, I went back down to join Phil on one knee.
Two other people were supposed to come, but they couldn't make it. They were Lumber_Jack_G and Phili (id 3894). We'll try again next time. Overall, this was an excellent session. It was nice to see Sylvain, EvilDark and Phil get very well along with each other. EvilDark however did not get much ring time with Phil... he believed that Phil didn't want to wrestle him much. I told him that Phil is usually very open and you just need to ask or tackle him while I'm wrestling him. I do hope to do this again some time in the future and next time, I'll make sure to put more double-teaming action. | |||||||||||||||
| Blog ID 96 | |||||||||||||||
| Saturday October 1 2016 - More Ring Action :) | Recent matches | ||||||||||||||
| I'm really using now the ring as much as I can. I've learned from one of the owners that this ring existed only since July 2015. Now that it is easily accessible, I brought in two wrestlers to experience it in two separate matches: Sylvain (id 2636) and Lumber Jack G from MeetFighters. Sylvain (id 2636) has actually been in a ring before. In fact, he is much of a veteran and wrestled almost everyone I know in Montreal. It was his birthday when we wrestled, so it was my treat to him and he was quite ecstatic about it. He told me that finding a wrestling ring is rather difficult, because most of them belong to wrestling associations rather than being privately owned. While you can rent the ring out from commercial organizations, most of them will make your life difficult by asking you if you have your own private insurance for injuries just to protect themselves. Anyway, Sylvain and I made the most out of it by tumbling a good 2 hours in the ring. Here is Sylvain's favorite hold:
You obviously can't go away without doing my bearhug clichΓ©s
Sylvain was nice enough to return the favor by giving me one of his own:
In the case of Lumber Jack G, it was his first time in the ring. You should see him.. he was so happy... he was like a kid who has just found a jar of candy or a new ice cream flavor. We started with a pro match where he was the one leading (being the heel) and he was quite a natural. He quickly realized that hitting the ring floor with his foot was what makes any wrestling hit looks more realistic. At one point, he'd even tell me to hit the floor with my foot while he was landing his arm on me. We weren't able to wear any boots since he was size 10 and I only had boots of size 8 or 9. It does make us look a bit silly in the pictures because we ended up wearing socks... After a good hour of pro, we then switched to sub, and to my surprise, he was extremely tough. At the end of the session, I had sore shoulders and a stiff neck, but it was still a great workout nonetheless. He made me work very hard and this one was one of the toughest submission match I had in a long while. I think he actually made me tap more often than I made him tap, although he did notice the smug on my face when I successfully got a submission out of my body scissors. Ring time is fun, but is still a bit more expensive than renting a motel room for 4 hours. The ratio is actually 1 hour of ring time for every 4 hours of motel room wrestling. However, the experience and the fun you get out of a wrestling ring is really worth it. I've also noticed that pro on a ring is actually a lot more exhausting than sub. In sub, I can put my opponent in a hold or being in a defensive stance/mode and get some rest out of it. In pro, you're constantly switching from one hold to another and even if you're going after a rest hold like the bearhug, you're still wearing yourself down. Well, I guess in this case it's because my opponent is a bit heavier than I am.
Come to think of it, in pro, you are standing, running around, lifting and groaning, while in sub, you're usually down on the mats in a somewhat comfortable position... if you have the upper hand. | |||||||||||||||
| Blog ID 90 x 2 | |||||||||||||||
| Saturday September 17 2016 - Intensity, charged and intimacy | Passion for wrestling | ||||||||||||||
| The great thing with wrestling is that you can gauge the intensity of the match and you can switch between being aggressive to being absolutely cuddly. In the heat of a submission match, you work hard to get your opponent to tap, you wrap them up in a body scissors and you squeeze them with all your might. When your opponent submits, you release the hold gradually, you put your hand on the back of his head withone hand and with the other, you slowly caress his back using a very soft touch... After about a minute, you start cranking up the pressure again. Your opponent hardens his waist or abs and tries to resist to your submission hold, but he'll ultimately fail. You'll embrace or caress him again, showing that little bit of mercy between your lapses of torture... and you can continue this loop for as long as you want. After having fought for several hours, you can rest arm in arm. Or... you can put the side of your face on his pec and one arm over his other chest... or he can be the one doing it on you. Both of you take a breather or if both of you are exhausted, then a little nap together will define this intimacy between you and your opponent. Yeah, I did wrestle this week-end, but I won't tell against whom. It's important here to learn and respect the holds that your opponent like and dislike. You have to filter them out properly or use them moderately. A little bit of disliked holds can contribute to pumping up the aggressivity of your opponent and make the match more entertaining or intense, but too much of it will spark up a whiff of anger and distrust that can ultimately destroy the friendship between wrestlers. Sometimes, it's also better to completely annihilate those disliked holds or agree in advance what holds are completely barred from the match. Handicap is an element I put in when I feel that I have a greater advantage against an opponent. For example, if body scissors give me an unfair advantage and guarantees me a win, I can at one point decide to stop applying them to give my opponent a chance against me. After all, we're both supposed to have fun. It ain't fun if the opponent feels that he is completely overpowered and that there's nothing he can do to make you tap. Toning the intensity down, leaving your opponent attacking first or purposely letting him apply a move are other examples of handicapping the match. This method is also ideal when fighting against beginners who would like to learn more about submission wrestling. Not to worries, I've been many times on the other end: I remember fighting opponents that were way superior than me in terms of experience and skills. In most cases, the neat thing they did was that they switched from submission to pro. In pro, you can easily reverse the role and this is the opportunity for you to take the upper hand and learn a different set of moves. If you were losing in sub, then you'll likely win in pro. It's also a great way to take revenge on all those holds where your opponent made you tap in a very friendly way. Pro is much more elaborate than this, but this will be for another time. | |||||||||||||||
| Blog ID 89 | |||||||||||||||
| Sunday July 24 2016 - Fighter8605, Lumber_Jack_G and TiGui | Recent matches | ||||||||||||||
| This month got a bit busy. Last week, I fought Fighter8605. A very charming young latino wrestler. He is a rookie with an affinity for schoolboy pins, but give this guy a few more bouts under his belt and he'll be unstoppable. I will without a doubt have additional matches with him.. provided that he wants it too. Yesterday, I had a 2 vs 1 match with Tigui (id 10729) and Lumber_Jack_G. I think I spoke with Tigui for over a year before we were finally able to meet. We actually rotated the turns (me vs Tigui, Tigui vs Lumber, Lumber vs me), but there are instances where 2 of us would gang up over a random unlucky (or lucky) opponent. Overall, TiGui is a jobber where you can just slap holds after holds. I can understand his mentality since I was pretty much the same at his age. It was only a few years later that I learned to be a bit more versatile (heel and jobber) in order to get a lot more matches. Hey, don't get me wrong, some people actually enjoy pure jobbers. TiGui however has a little bit of fight in him, so he'll fight back a bit. To be noted also that he likes it when his heel trash talks or applies dirty tactics. I've noticed that Lumber_Jack_G's resistance to my scissors is increasing quite well. I used to apply my scissors between 30-50% to get a submission, but in my last match, I went around 70-100%. I predict that in a couple more matches, my body scissors won't be able to do any harm on him anymore. Sometimes, when you are subjected to a wrestling hold that you like, your mind psychologically converts the pain into pleasure. Noteworthy, his body scissors on me are starting to have a stronger impact too.All these three wrestlers prefer to stay anonymous so there won't be any images or videos posted. | |||||||||||||||
| Blog ID 78 | |||||||||||||||
| Sunday June 19 2016 - Great week-end :) | Recent matches | ||||||||||||||
| In spite of carrying with me a minor left shoulder injury since my return from Atlanta, I've decided to go forward and have 2 matches this week-end. The thing is that I don't think it was anything in Atlanta that caused the injury... it was something I got after my return but I can't pinpoint what it is (badminton, maybe?). In any case, the injury is actually more of a minor pain/nuisance than anything else. It's nothing that would bar me from wrestling and having fun. True, it's almost 2 weeks now and it's taking a lot more time than I projected to heal, but it is heading the right way and it looks promising. I am evaluating full shoulder recovery in one more week. On the bright side, my right shoulder haven't manifested any pain since probably a year now. My wrestling encounter average is usually one match per month because wrestlers in Montreal are pretty scarce, but this month (on top of my Atlanta trip) is an exception.... heheheh. On Saturday, I met with Lumber G for our fourth match. We had to take this opportunity because I might not see him for a little while, his schedule will become busy. We had lots of back and forth, submission, promission and sometimes just pure pro fun. Intense as always. We're getting used to it now, but Lumber G actually surprised me by being a lot stronger than usual and taking the upper hand on many occasions. I really didn't mind it at all.  On Sunday, I met with BeastMtl (id 10067) who I haven't wrestled since... 11 years ago. BeastMtl actually recalled this detail because I forgot how long it was. My memories are failing me a bit and this is actually why I hold this blog as some sort of diary I can look back in the future. After we locked up, I realized that BeastMtl has vastly improved and he has become a much tougher and superior opponent today than 11 years back! You should see BeastMtl's setup. He has a whole room dedicated to wrestling with nice wrestling mats! Wow! I so definitely want a setup like this... (when I settle down)! As for our fight, we were pretty much evenly matched. All my scissor holds were nullified because they wouldn't do a thing on him. In fact, I latched on him a leg scissors and cheated by using my knees and I ended up hurting myself by overdoing it. My knee either cracked or popped lightly. I stopped for a little while and was able to recover, but it was a bit scary. This was a mistake from my end. I should know better not to apply too much pressure. In any case, BeastMtl wouldn't budge on any of my scissors, so why waste so much energy and strength on it? On the contrary, BeastMtl's scissors were pretty strong and a lot stronger that I can remember. Had I stayed long enough, I would probably have tapped, so I positioned myself in such a way that it was uncomfortable for him and that he would have to spend a lot more power to maintain the scissors. The end result would be to tire him out...My match with him was quite challenging because it forced me to think of attacking him in a different way since I can no longer rely on my legs. I can still rely on them to hold him down, but I need to use something else to make him tap. Usually, in about 75% of my matches, my legs will do the work, but this wasn't the case here. Unfortunately, I ended up hitting BeastMtl's nose with my feet or legs while he was attempting to apply the small package on me. The small package is definitely one of my bad weaknesses.. I will try to avoid it all costs, but I made a maneuver that was too quick. We stopped there. When I left, his nose seemed fine... so I hope it won't leave a trace in the days to come. No matter how careful you tread, accidents can happen. I need to act a bit slower when my legs are in an upright position. This is one of those moments where I need to be humble and accept giving a submission to my opponent rather than attempting a breakout that can injure or hurt him. No matter my experience, I still have a LOT to learn. We were thinking about taking pictures, but after that little nose hit, I felt it was more appropriate to re-schedule the photoshoot for a different date, because yes, we agreed to both meet again. Hopefully, on a regular basis which we currently determined to be monthly for the time being. Both Lumber G and BeastMtl were actually very nice on upper body holds because I did told them about my shoulder and they both avoided it. Thankfully!  I am currently limping a bit right now because of my knee, but I think this should go away in a couple of days.Overall, I had a great week-end. It's still sunny outside and I can't go bike anymore, but I'll take 2 wrestling matches anytime to replace a bike ride! | |||||||||||||||
| Blog ID 69 | |||||||||||||||
| Saturday May 14 2016 - More Lumber Jack G :) | Recent matches | ||||||||||||||
Got another match today with Lumber Jack G. He was a very good sport to let me take pictures this time around. No face though, but you'll still get to see his sexy body.
He actually approached me to do them, otherwise, I would have been too shy to ask. It's my third match with him and we are a point where we know each other pretty well now. He can defend better, he's more prepared and aware of my legs, but occasionally, I can still latch onto him a couple of body scissors, leg scissors and leg locks. He did make me submit in a very well placed head scissors. That, he got me hands down! His body scissors got much stronger and I predict that he'll beat me in a few more matches. | |||||||||||||||
| Blog ID 63 | |||||||||||||||
| Saturday April 23 2016 - Versus Lumber Jack G | Recent matches | ||||||||||||||
| I had an excellent match today with Lumber Jack G from Meetfighters. I'll just paste exactly what I wrote for his recommendation: Oh wow.. um.. Lumber Jack G is definitely one of the best wrestlers I have fought. He's a very fun guy to tumble with, he's enthusiastic, passionate, mindful, very handsome and very easy to communicate with. We did pro, sub and promission. Despite him saying that he's a beginner, his ability to adapt styles and to transition between holds shows the opposite. He's a fast learner. He's very strong.. in fact he lifted me several times and threw me around like a pro! Lumber Jack G may be a jobber at heart, but in pro he makes one great heel! And in sub, ... well... he makes a very good jobber! :) Give this wrestler a couple more opponents and I'm sure he can turn the tide and become a formidable submission wrestler. Roughhousing is Lumber Jack's preferred style. He also loves to trade gut punches, head scissors, headlocks (the one where you have your opponent down the mats) and loves to be dominated. He has a very charming body scissors with sleeper hold that you might want to stay in it instead of attempting to escape ;) No pictures... I don't think he's comfortable with that yet, but I didn't want to ask. I have to admit I was quite intidimated by his good looks. | |||||||||||||||
| Blog ID 58 x 1 | |||||||||||||||
