Royal Feast

Hardly a week goes by where I don’t marvel at the growing availability of incredible, entertaining, and arousing pro wrestling content.  Between social media, websites and Blogs, wrestling on TV most nights, Indy shows, YouTube obviously, and the erotic underground video producers, a feast of wrestle-porn is now easily accessible 24/7.  What a great time to be a wrestling fan!

A reader of my Blog recently turned me on to an on-line archive of British wrestling magazines he is creating.  He has posted over a dozen magazines for download and reports he has “hundreds” more in his collection that he is working on!  I love it!

All the images you see in today’s gallery are from magazines dating from 1967 to 1970 now posted on his Wrestling Archive site .  Some of the captions from the magazines and some I added myself.

If you grew up on a healthy diet of pro wrestling magazines as I did, you may view these old articles and photos with a sense of nostalgia (as well as excitement.)  Before this Royal Feast of easily accessible pro wrestling content began, before we could see wrestling from all around the world at the click of a button, the magazines we stashed under the mattress were all we had to amuse ourselves with.

Of course the men who performed pro wrestling in those days had fairly average bodies — they looked like our dads at the beach.  Most of them had to hold down other jobs and the concept of working out was still in its infancy.  A modern day wrestling fan may scoff at the lack of six-pack abs, their pudgy waists, and wonder why we enjoy seeing pictures of these Average Joes.

But the wrestlers were made appealing by their circumstances — by the fact that they were proud to strip off their shirts and give us a look, that they willingly climbed into the ring to fight for survival and dominance.  Like Pavlov’s dogs, we learned to drool when we saw these masculine physiques, these bare and hairy chests, the trunks and boots and flamboyant capes.

The juxtaposition of the male physique with dramatic, arousing images of wrestling and suffering in these magazines made us fall in love with pro wrestling in general and it’s 10,000 Subtle Little Things.

To get us excited, the magazine editors would provide some in-ring photos of wrestlers in action, then sprinkle in a few enticing beefcake photos of shirtless flexing, and then write up a description of a brutal beating.  The overall effect (whether intentional or not) was to turn us on to anything and everything about wrestling.  Every flip of the page brought imagery and text designed to further stimulate the reader.

Similar to the American wrestling magazines, I see that the British writers also use colorful language to add drama and sexual innuendo to the narrative. Terms like “savage“, “hard driving“, “sheer brute power“, and “spine-snapping” are peppered into the articles to titillate and arouse us (and keep us coming back for more.)

One feature in the British magazines not seen as frequently in the American publications was this obsession with young, vulnerable “Wonderboys.”  For most of its existence, American pro wrestling has focused on muscle and size, but British fans could not get enough of these cute, skinny, high-flying young pretty-boys, usually in white briefs.

Also British fans seemed more interested in the nuts and bolts of wrestling.  The focus of many photos was on the intricacy of the holds, the arms and legs in a tangle.  The fans wanted to see how each hold works and to have the name clearly identified (even if half the holds are called a “Figure Four” of some sort.)

American pro wrestling (perhaps inspired by our military force) was more interested in brute force attacks like Drop-Kicks and Elbow Smashes.   When holds were seen in US magazines, they were often more basic maneuvers like Scissors and Headlocks.

British wrestling magazines also list the name of the photographer who snapped each picture which we don’t always see in American magazines.  One name I saw over and over, especially on most beautiful and striking images, was “H. G. Stevens.”

Wow, this man had the pleasure of watching and photographing hundreds of live matches —  I am kind of jealous.  And the quality of his images — the excitement he conveys — makes me think he really “gets” pro wrestling and the reason why we watch it.

So I just wanted to give you a heads-up about this new resource of classic rasslin’ magazines in case you’re into that sort of thing.  I also want to thank the creator of the Wrestling Archive website for taking the time to scan and post these historic documents (hopefully preserving in Cyberspace for eternity by rendering them electronic.)

I never had much exposure to Brit Pro wrestling until the Royal Feast of online content began.  And one of my favorite things as a wrestling fan is to discover new talent, to come across an appealing wrestler I had not seen in action before.  This Wrestling Archive now provides a new source for discovering and reading about some talented, great looking lads who are new to my fantasies.  So thanks man and keep up the great work!