Put-Down Pose

It’s just human nature to raise your arms after you win a contest.  I do it even when I win at Monopoly, even if I toss a wad of paper and it lands in the trash can.  I can’t stop my arms from levitating over my head.

It seems to be hard-wired in our brains to lift our arms after a victory.  I suppose over the course of human history, the Alpha Males with the balls to hold their hands overhead were notifying potential mates that they had the superior DNA, so thousands of years later, natural selection has programmed us all into posers.

In pro wrestling, the raised arm has become a post-match ritual, with the referee dutifully lifting the arm of the winner just in case he forgets to strike a cocky victory pose on his own.

But the innocent and perfectly natural victory pose takes on another meaning when the vanquished opponent is included in the scene — when the defeated man is shown helpless at the feet of the stronger man. The winner stands over his vanquished foe and celebrates, maybe with a boot planted on the beaten man’s chest.

Now, the victory pose becomes more of  a put-down, a non-verbal insult of the loser’s ability and potency.  Now, the victor is not only saying, “I’m the winner,” but also, “I’m better in comparison to this particular helpless rag-doll laying beneath me.”  This one-ups-man-ship is unnecessary but also arousing to witness.

When a big muscle-man adds a bicep flex to his victory pose, the comparison of his power to the other man’s impotent weakness is emphasized.  Now he really has our attention, and a little switch is thrown in our brains that maybe we ought to worship and obey this strong stud.  We certainly had better respect him if we know what’s good for us.

The male ego is a powerful force, so I wonder if they ever have trouble convincing the guy on the bottom, the loser of the match, to just lay there and let the other man pose over him.

I picture the frustrated instructors at the pro wrestling school telling some rookie: “Stop pushing his boot off your chest!  You’re supposed to act totally beaten and helpless!”

The jobber-in-training pleads with his teachers: “But it’s fucking humiliating!  What if my family sees this?!?  I come off looking like a pussy and he gets all the glory!”

The instructors try to reason with him: “The fans pay good money to see a winner and a loser, and they expect to go home with hard-ons.  So your job is to lay there and act like a foot-rest!”

The winning wrestler will often add an erotic vibe to his victory pose, such as by grinding his hips or standing with his dick poised over the other man’s face.  Now the message being sent is not only about his superior power, but also about sexual dominance.  His body language is implying he could rape the beaten man if he felt like it.

Many pro wrestling matches narrate the story of a sexual encounter, one opponent is seen wearing away the resistance of the other, rendering him helpless, vulnerable, and compliant.  The implication is that the beaten man will be used by the winner, forced to submit to whatever perversions the stronger man wishes to deliver.  The victory pose is used to symbolize the final climax, the money shot.