Back on January 10th, I posted an article in honor of a popular fashion choice among pro wrestlers: wearing a t-shirt over trunks. One of the images in that gallery (at left) featured a tough-looking dude in black message Tee with the phrase “I cheer for the villains*.” I complained at the time that I wish I could read the fine print.
One of my loyal readers recently sent me the link to the Heelbook website where this shirt is sold, which identifies the text printed in smaller letters underneath the word “villains:*”
“* I also cheer for heels, bad guys, antagonists, anti-heroes, evildoers and tweeners with generally bad dispositions.” Thanks Danny!
The Heelbook e-store sells a variety of shirts with funny, cool, sexy pro wrestling sayings generally in praise of bad guys and evildoers. Some of the messages that caught my eye include: “Keep Calm and Turn Heel,” “Kick Out at Two,” “It Was Better in the 80s,” and “Old School Heel.”
I always enjoy when pro wrestling invades the mainstream, spreading among common folk like a cult religion. It would be fun to order one of these shirts — one with a fairly obscure, insider term — and wear it out in public, just to see who notices and responds, and exactly how they respond.
When I was young and innocent and marking out to pro wrestling (with my wide eyes about 6 inches from the TV screen), I cheered for the handsome heroes as a good boy is expected to do. I wanted the clean-cut, cute guys, the Dudley Do-Rights and Tarzans and Superman types, to win.
I eventually came to understand that the villains deliver the Sexy, the Raunchy, the Sadistic, and the Brutal, and therefore are more entertaining than one-dimensional Good Guys. So now I too am corrupted and addicted — in love with the villains. So here are a few images of heels, bad guys, antagonists, anti-heroes, evildoers and tweeners with generally bad dispositions doing what I love to see.
My fellow blogger Joe, who runs the Ringside at Skull Island website, understood the appeal of the Bad Boy from early childhood apparently, perhaps not passing through a developmental phase where he sympathized with the Baby-Face Heroes.
In his recent article, Juvey Confidential, Joe describes an incident from kindergarten where he found himself fascinated by some naughty boys on the playground. He proceeded to grow up strongly attracted to Hoodlums, Sailors & Other Bad Boys including those presented in classic AMG porno flicks.
Is the “Curbstomp” even a legal wrestling move? What a sadistic, heartless act — stomping another man’s face right into the mat under your boot. If it’s not illegal, maybe it should be! Anyone who performs a Curbstomp on his defenseless opponent sure comes off as a villain and evildoer, even if the move is technically legal.
If you’ve seen the film American History X where the first known curbstomp was performed (with actual curb involved), then this wrestling move will forever leave a sadistic flavor in your mouth. There are clips of Ed Norton’s infamous stomp posted on YouTube, but I decided not to link it from here. You can go find it if you really want to see it, but be warned: you may get a toothache every time you look at a curb!
