A few days ago, I prepared the below description of a visually stunning match between Rick Rude and Steve Simpson. Then, this morning I logged onto the Ringside at Skull Island blog only to discover Joe had recapped the exact same match yesterday in an article called Smooth Operator. Interesting that we both gravitated to the same match and posted our thoughts within one day apart (and wrote about some of the same actions, captured some of the same video images). Great minds think alike, or perhaps great wrestling is universally enjoyed.
In a January 19th article on the Ringside at Skull Island blog, Joe posted some “off-the-cuff observations” about a match between Rick Rude and Rick McCord. The article was called “Tiger Tights” for the flamboyant gear worn by Rude. The match had been posted recently to a YouTube channel called “Ray D” which features many old school matches especially from WCCW.
I enjoyed (and agreed with) Joe’s eight observations about Rick Rude, so I decided to recap a different Rude match posted to Ray D’s channel: Rick Rude vs. Steve Simpson, and offer my own off-the-cuff observations.
(1). For this being his debut match, Simpson is surprisingly beloved by the crowd. They totally shriek whenever he gains the advantage!
(2). When the wrestlers are especially muscular, as with Rude and Simpson, the narrative of the match is all about strength comparison. We see Rude, for example, flash his biceps after Body Slamming his opponent, asserting his power.
Later, Simpson embraces Rude from behind, and Rude bests the weaker man by pulling his hands open, “powering out” of the hold. Rude then slams his ass back into Simpson’s crotch to break free. Every move is a dick-measuring contest when both wrestlers are buff.
(3). When Simpson secures a hold on Rude (especially from behind), he enacts a violent thrusting motion, slamming his hips into Rude’s backside. Rude then sells the agony as if he’s being sodomized — a very sexualized display. In his off-the-cuff observations, Joe described this as “a sort of stop-motion jerkiness that amplifies the ouch factor.”
Usually Rick Rude employs the “stop-motion jerkiness” on his victims, but here we see Simpson turning the tables and giving it to Rude. Simpson is implying, through his actions, that he is just as muscular, virile, and aggressive as Rude. Of course this arrogant rookie will pay for his cockiness later — this sexual humiliation of Rude provides justification for Simpson’s future punishment.
(4). Several tricks of the trade were used to signal to the crowd that Rude is the Alpha Male here, always a few percentage points superior to Simpson in the masculine strength department. For example, when a rookie arches his back and presses up with all his might to unwrap a Headlock, the Heel will traditionally pull the chump’s hair to re-establish his hold by trickery. In this match, however, Rude is being presented as uber-manly, so he does not pull hair like a sissy. He just flexes his muscles to re-apply the grinding Headlock.
(5). To re-establish his masculine power after being humiliated by Simpson earlier, Rude takes revenge by securing a tight Ab Stretch, then teaches this uppity rookie the true meaning of “stop-motion jerkiness” — performing some bumping and grinding of his own. This is meant to place Simpson in the position of the rape victim, to send the message that Rude is dominant.
(6). Rude’s masculinity is further enhanced by the juxtaposition of his sissified manager, Percy Pringle who watches the match with wide-eyed, almost orgasmic interest. He reacts hysterically whenever his man is in trouble. Even the name, Percy, almost sounds like “Pussy.”
The implication of his excited interest in the match is that this dandy is turned on by Rude’s sexual energy (much like many of the fans). Being able to turn on even dudes is further proof of Rude’s potency. Here we see Pringle’s lips press against his phallic walking stick, absent-mindedly kissing it as he watches the musclemen in action.
(7). Pringle was treated as a comical figure to offer the males in the audience an even bigger pervert to laugh at. If the Real Men in the ring fighting with their shirts off represent the Ideal Male, then Percy is presented as the Corrupted Male, the deviant queer for the straight fans to ridicule.
However, most fans yucking it up at ringside honestly have more in common with Pringle — the chubby watcher — than they do with Rude, the buff fighter. The Percy character is almost a spoof or mockery of the fans themselves — his eyes bugging out of his head, his reactions hysterical and passionate. Could Percy Pringle actually be an inside joke among the wrestlers: a comical representation of us, the frequent viewers of — and obsessed lovers of — pro wrestling?
(8). Perhaps the most compelling aspect of the Percy Pringle character was the blatant willingness of Rude and other good-looking Heel wrestlers to keep him as their manager. Is Rude unaware that Pringle may be one o’ them queers, sexually attracted to him? Why does Rude remain in Pringle’s stable only to be oogled and petted by this creepy perv? (See Percy sexually harassing Rude’s chest, above.) Wouldn’t a true Alpha Male reject a sissy manager and seek the company of other macho, straight-acting Real Men?
The message seems to be that Rude does not mind Percy’s attraction (and perhaps is flattered by it.) The audience can observe that Rude is OK with being stared at and felt up by another man. He welcomes Percy Pringle into his presence so long as Percy is respectful and subservient to the Alpha Male. The take-away for the fans is that, if Rude is OK with this big prancing fairy being around him, he will also apparently be OK with our attention and lust. If it’s morally acceptable for flamboyant Percy to stare at Rude (and desire Rude), then so can we, and Rude is apparently on board.
