Project Doughboy: Orange is the New Black

For decades, the color orange has figured prominently in the amateur wrestling world, with proud athletes going to the mat to defend their collegiate colors.

In the pro scene, it seems that black has predominated as the preferred ring attire hue among jobbers.

But in more recent times, shades of orange have found their way with ever more frequency on to the singlets and tights of the pro world’s enhancement talent.

What is it about this hue, when worn by featured jobbers, that intensifies the already heated ring action and amps up its appeal among Doughboy watchers?

Unlike particular colors that, through the years, Doughboys have been compelled to wear by the management to soften their appearance and make them look more vulnerable—colors like yellow, powder blue, pink and magenta—there’s nothing soft or demure about the color orange.

Tuned-In, a Calgary-based website, describes the psychology of orange as “a blend of the raw energy and physicality of Red and the sheer happiness of Yellow,” expounding that “Orange is truly the color of joy, interaction, creativity and playfulness.”

Another web resource goes on to claim that “orange is the color of sex.” Given certain similarities between the intimacy of a wrestling mat and action in the bedroom, we’ve taken that online quote, word for word, and illustrated it with a couple of our favorite jobber-boys in orange:

Although pony-tails have little appeal to me outside of the ring, there’s something incredibly sexy about orange-and-black clad Doughboy Chad Miller and the manner in which he flaunts and teases with that bouncing bob of strawberry blonde curls.

It’s interesting to note, as well, how many of the jobbers suited up in orange are “gingers.”  Perhaps donning the orange tights is an act of empowerment on the part of already-maligned red-heads and sandy-haired guys…”owning” their status, so to speak, as a “ginger” with a double-dose of orange…

Speaking of “dose” (as in our daily dose of Vitamin C) perhaps we’re drawn to orange by the simple association we have with the color’s namesake fruit…the firm skin and juicy pulp…as something healthy and good for us and eminently squeezable…