Reader Request: The Henchmen vs. Chris Brookes & Tyler Bate

The Henchmen (Jim Diehard & Benton Destruction) vs. Chris Brookes & Tyler Bate, XXX Wrestling 4/17/13

So I'm about as unfamiliar with modern British wrestling as one man can be. I have seen probably less than five British wrestling matches from the last five years. I've probably been in a car accident more often than I've watched a modern British pro wrestling match. So I have no clue where to start, what names to look out for, no clue what the modern wrestling landscape even is over there. This match was recommended by one of our readers, Davey C, and we'll find out shortly if he wanted me to watch this because it's actually good, or just a guy who thinks it's funny to waste 15 minutes of one trusting man's Sunday morning. I'm hoping for the former.

On ring entrances alone I can tell the Henchmen have the kind of builds that my favorite wrestlers tend to have, looking like a pair of tubby bin men, whereas Brookes is tall and super skinny and Bate is fairly tiny (and apparently just 15) and they come out to a Gossip song, so that's kinda neat.

Match itself was plenty good, and didn't overstay its welcome. There was a lot of joking around during the match, most of which was lost on me since a) audio quality of handheld indy wrestling doesn't provide much clarity, and b) no matter how much Masterpiece Mystery I watch I don't think I'll be able to pick up British accents, especially in this situation. I'm sure I would have had a better chance live. Most of the match is the Henchmen roughing up and squashing the little guys, which I imagine most viewers would want to see. Bate controls early with his speed, but a minute in he's absolutely leveled by a nasty Benton clothesline. Benton and Diehard both have a lot of nice stiff strikes with big elbows, stiff front kicks, nice elbowdrops (fat guy elbowdrops are the best), slams and a nice senton from Diehard. But both guys don't work so stiff that it was uncomfortable to watch. I didn't really have any interest in seeing a couple of big dudes take advantage of a 15 year old kid, and it never reached that point. Match threw in a bunch of close tag outs by Bate, with him getting cut off several times, and the eventual hot tag was a nice payoff. Brookes hits a big flip dive and Bate hits an improbable yet awesome delayed German on Diehard. Great spot, too, with Diehard laughing off Bate's attempts to suplex him, then Bate slowlllllly lifting him up and over. Fun stuff all around. Towards the end of the match Brookes gets taken out with powder to the eyes, and post match they amusingly pay it off by arguing and revealing that it was cocaine they got as a payoff for a match in Tijuana.