Tak is not happy about Braden Charron horning in on the spotlight at Thunders Arena. His wisecracks barely conceal the real animosity he feels towards the newcomer, who comes to the Arena pumped and bronzed, ready to lay claim to a bevy of fans all his own. You ready to get your ass whipped today? Tak asks with a sneer, in what initially looks like foolhardy bravura. But this is Taks turf, and hes ready to fight for it, and hes been fighting big guys with big muscle his whole life. A test of strength proves Tak and Braden more evenly matched than first impressions would lead us to expect. The two bump chests, and at one point Tak forces Braden down on one knee. Braden is impressed and pays the little man a sportsmanlike compliment for being stronger than he looks. But Braden quickly tires of the smarty-pants banter, tired of dealing with mouthy pipsqueaks who think they can take him, and he determines to shut this little blowhard down. Tak is not going anywhere, though, without a hard struggle. He bends the muscle dude backwards, making sure the camera catches every flinch and every shudder. He chokes Braden, softening him up for the finisher until, that is, Braden grabs his arm and flips him to the mat, damn near breaking the arm in the process. Tak rebounds, paralyzing Braden with a figure-four headlock. Impressive and surprising but the laws of physics working in his favor, Braden busts Tak in a backbreaker that ends Round 1.  Crafty grappler that he is, Tak wages a psychological battle against Braden, egging him on, teasing him about his slow mounds of muscle, hoping that, by making the big man lose his

cool, he can use the mans emotions to defeat him. By far one of the most interesting of Taks many contests at the Arena, Mat Rats 22 gives us the quick-tongued and quick-footed blond as he matures as a competitor. Its brains against brawn, but Braden should not be underestimated. The big man has been around the block a few times, and he knows a trick or two in the science of survival. Whatever you think you were going to see in this bout becomes much more complicated very quickly, and Tak and Braden give and take in a show of irresistible force and immovable object thats probably, we hope, just the start of a long and wildly entertaining feud.