One tactic that pro wrestlers sometimes use to stoke up the heat in their matches is to kiss an opponent — or almost kiss him — or look like they’re about to kiss him. This “Kiss of Death” is often used by the Heel wrestlers on their unwilling Baby-Faces.
The homo-phobic audience interprets the kiss as an unwanted sexual assault (like a form of rape), and therefore will hate and revile the sleazy villain even more. (Others in the audience who are comfortable with the homo-erotic aspects of pro wrestling may perceive these in-ring kisses as a hot diversion, a sexy flirtation between the wrestlers.)
In the less sexually-repressed cultures South of the Border, homo-erotic scenes are portrayed more explicitly in the wrestling ring. The highly flamboyant and effeminate Luchadores (known as exóticos) will dress in drag and let their freak flags fly, using kisses to confuse, anger, and humiliate their (presumably straight) macho opponents.
In these photos, we see several helpless Luchadores, their arms trapped in the dreaded Camel Clutch, their mouths and faces exposed. The exótico with the bright pink mohawk then proceeds to apply his patented lip-lock, kissing on the helpless male to get his jollies. The crowd is meant to laugh at this scene I suppose (but also to pop a boner?)
You just never know what delights you’ll witness at a small, local Indy show.
Bray Wyatt introduces man-on-man kissing into mainstream wrestling shows when he delivers his “Sister Abigail” finishing move. He grasps his victim in a submissive position in his arms, then plants a kiss of death on the man’s forehead, then slams him face-first into the mat. It’s a combination of tenderness followed by cruel violence.
Wyatt would then follow up by holding the beaten man in his lap, caressing his hair and staring tenderly into the helpless man’s relaxed face. But lately they’ve toned down the post-match intimacy by Wyatt — it must’ve looked too gay.
Like many things in pro wrestling, the kiss may be interpreted several ways.
On one level, it could be seen as a dirty tactic meant to get your opponent off his game so you can beat him. On another level, it sure seems gay to plant a big wet kiss on a co-worker’s lips, especially if he is a really handsome, fit, shirtless co-worker.
As with any form of art, we may interpret pro wrestling from our own point of view, based on our own kinks.
Kissing during a pro wrestling match is not exactly a new innovation either. Flamboyant, sexually threatening Heels like Adrian Street with his curly blond hair and make-up were performing this sort of sexual assault way back in the 1970’s — and the audiences loved to hate him for it.
This ref looks like maybe he wants to get in on this whole gay kissing thing during a match!
The hunky victim can’t defend himself, so the ref is thinking: I might as well go for it now while I have the chance!
If most pro wrestling fans are hetero-sexual males with homo-phobic tendencies, why is kissing apparently so common in the ring? Wouldn’t it freak out and upset the customer by demonstrating an action that is repulsive to him?
In my experience, pro wrestlers only give the audience what it wants to see. They know from experience that making the crowd laugh, cry, scream in rage, and most especially, get turned on will keep attendance numbers up and earn more revenue. So the reason two male wrestlers will kiss in the ring may not be that they’re secretly attracted to each other, but may be a simple matter of Supply and Demand. The audience demands to see it, so the wrestlers readily supply it.