Magnum Opus

01hurtI had a thing for the “American Heart-Throb”, Magnum TA  — a handsome, masculine Baby-Face from the 1980’s.   His lean, hairy torso, his too-tight black trunks, his stoic demeanor, all had me on the edge of my seat during his matches.

A recent YouTube upload features Magnum rasslin’ a huge biker — Scott “Hog” Irwin.


02dropsI am impressed by Irwin’s dickhead Heel tactics in this classic video.  I don’t recall being a fan of this big ugly biker at that time, but seeing him going airborn to drop these huge Legdrops and Elbow Smashes has me gooning out.

And of course, the near nudity of his victim, in contrast to Irwin’s biker gear, adds that CMNM vibe.


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02JobberTA

03bodydrop

Magnum TA’s matches were very short — under a minute usually.  He would apply his killer Belly-to-Belly Suplex on some jobber and pin the chump in short order.  The promoters seemed to be limiting Magnum’s ring time to keep us wanting more.  I sure wanted more.

This match was remarkable because we finally got a good long look at Magnum in a prolonged 8-minute punishment session, with plenty of views of those black briefs and cowboy boots


03flair

Adding to the homo-erotic tone of Magnum’s public beat-down is the ringside presence of Ric Flair in a gorgeous white suit.  Flair is on hand to “scout” (or perhaps to stalk) this exciting young talent.

Flair makes numerous suggestive comments in praise of Magnum, and concern over his safety, being trapped in the ring with the huge Hog.  The photo captions written in quotation marks in today’s article are actual words  spoken by Flair as he looks on in great interest, watching Magnum suffer.  Flair talks in his jocular tone using his deep, sonorous baritone, which adds verbal flavor to Magnum’s display of suffering.  We get the sense from his intense voice and colorful utterances that the Nature Boy may be as turned on by Magnum’s submissive display as we are.


04punchesAnd Hog Irwin is fuckin’ ROUGH on poor Magnum, gripping his hair and slugging him in the face so many times I lost count.  He kicks our cowboy hero in the gut, and picks him up and slams him.

This level of abuse is especially compelling because Magnum was usually presented as a dominant stud — always in control and on top (until now).


02bodyslam


02headlock

03watching

Flair’s head appears in the corner, floating above the action like a guardian angel.  This reminds us that he is watching this bout closely in his fancy white boss suit, clearly very interested in the suffering of this young, shirtless cowboy.

Wearing the costume of a plantation owner, the champ is just drooling over this “amazing athlete” clad in nothing but a black speedo.  We get the sense that boss Flair is going to use his powerful position to haze and harass young Magnum, which will happen often in the coming months.   This was before #Me Too, so Magnum will have no defense against the abusive and exploitive partriarchy, which makes us fear for young, vulnerable Magnum.


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After suffering an unexpected one-sided beating from the Hog, after looking like a real jobber pussy for 8 straight minutes, Magnum suddenly snaps off his Belly-to-Belly Suplex and wins the match.

I didn’t create images of Magnum’s come-back because I was more entertained by the long torture scene at the hands of this big ugly biker (and I suspect Boss Flair felt the same way.)

 

 

 

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7 Responses to Magnum Opus

  1. JorgePr says:

    Great post! Thanks for this! The match was great too.

    I’ve always had a thing for MTA as well; he had kind of a push eaaly on his career, but ended being used as a babyface or even a jobber. And he looked like a bigger version of one of my favorite jobbers ever, Trent Knight.

  2. admin says:

    JorgePr — thanks for the post. I agree, Trent Knight reminded me of Magnum TA — I’ve noticed that too. The lean bodies, long wavy hair, tiny trunks…

  3. Mike says:

    I remember Bill Watts the promoter of the New Orleans based federation in the 80s said they had to sell sex appeal, so in came Magnum, Terry Taylor and Tommy Rogers/Bobby Fulton. And he had Superdome sized crowds with half of them women.

  4. Dino says:

    Yes. I got off watching big monsters rip at Magnums face and especially his pecs. Not sure who it was but I remember an Asian heel digging his fingers in his hairy pecs and straddling him while Magnum was on his back suffering. Instant hard on and shot multiple loads watching this match which I can no longer find. It was a classic beat down and Magnum looked good in his tight black speedos getting demolished.

  5. admin says:

    Hey Dino, I think the match you’re thinking about involves an African heel named Kamala the Ugandan Giant — he used to rip into many of his opponents’ pecs — especially the pretty white ones. Magnum and the Giant fought at the NWA Great American Bash in 1985 so you should be able to find the video. Here is a recent YouTube upload featuring at least part of the match I think you’re remembering (and I agree — it is instant hard on material.) https://youtu.be/jgJ4ELSALN8?t=151.

  6. Mike says:

    I have like a 22 set DVD of this southern territory matches which is a treat from the 80s because it has some regional matches fans taped with cameras not seen on TV and there were some gems like a Terry Taylor in a sweaty match with his trunks half way down his ass (he couldn’t adjust) and I believe Magnum’s Asian foe was Killer Khan who was the best heel ever for these “handsome” wrestlers Watts brought in. That guy could have been in the Kickboxer movies with vandamme, he played MEAN and was a big nemesis of early Magnum. Why not put the hero in with the killer.

  7. Dino says:

    Glad to see I am not the only one who likes to watch built hairy good guys get totally trashed. Magnum always came back to win in the end after taking punishment for about 95% of the match before making his heroic comeback. I got instantly hard just watching him before the match even started just walking around the ring.