Went to HVW in Hendersonville last night…there I took pictures of a match that rates extremely high on my list…the first singles match between Kirby Mack and Adam Jaxon…semi main-event…ER was the corner man for Kirby, Mr Exodus in Adam’s…nothing against Mr Exodus, but this match started out as just a good time between four friends who had not been in/around the squared circle with each other in a long time. A few comedic turns by Kirby against Adam, ER jaws with the crowd and paces the ring…a slow escalation in maneuvers with the two cruiserweights…personally for me, I blanked the crowd out for this match, it was great to see these two guys wrestle…the crowd was enjoying the good natured jabs going back and forth.
In an instant though, I saw a drop of blood on Kirby’s chest, I saw no obvious injury to him, so I knew Adam was bleeding…probably nothing major…ER and I both noticed then the smear of blood on Adam’s right arm and shoulder…for a few minutes I could actually not tell where the blood was coming from but then we saw – he had split his lip. From this point on the perception of playful conviviality between these two disappeared…it became a brutal bloody display…there was a palpable aliveness from the otherwise apathetic crowd…they could tell that this bout had changed.
During the summer, wrestling shows seem to generate incredible amounts of heat, enclosed buildings with antiquated or no air-conditioning, multiple bodies (at times carrying the grime and grit of the day) packed in next to each other, and overhead lighting all contribute to the rise in temperature. This crowd had a slight reprieve from the heat with a chill through them when they witnessed the back and forth of these two bloody figures. The blood, spit and sweat were all flying, as now Kirby was also bleeding after suffering a nasty bang on the bridge of his nose.
The crowd collectively let out that “ahh…ohhh” that you make when you watch a bad car wreck or the newest morbid video on YouTube. Adam won the match, rolled out, helped up and then walked on his own out. Kirby and ER conferred in the ring. I am hoping that the pictures I took of this match do it justice for what these two men presented to us.
