I am addicted to wrestling photos that include a Tag Team partner watching from the far corner, enjoying the show as his partner kicks ass in the ring.
Check out these manly studs in their matching yellow singlets, one using his thick thighs to crush some chump’s ribs while the other rests in the corner, regaining his strength to take over as Alpha Male in the ring.
The pink-and-white team is firmly in control, so they decide to get cocky. The partner inside the ring shows off by holding up their helpless opponent in one of those Sustained Suspended Suplexes, keeping him balanced upside down like a tree that’s been lopped off but hasn’t fallen over yet. It is both humiliating and painful for the victim as the blood rushes to his head.
As the seconds tick away, the partner outside the ring decides to pile on the humiliation, degrading their victim by turning his helplessness into a joke. We see the arrogant bastard checking his watch, and we wish someone could take him down a few notches, but he and his partner are just too dominant.
Here is the beloved Native American hero — Jay Youngblood — playing the pathetic Face-in-Peril for Bob Orton and Dirty Dick Slater. The Alpha Males take turns tagging in and out, sharing Jay Youngblood’s body like a toy that the both want to play with.
The cameraman does a good job keeping the partner outside the ring in the shot, which helps to tell the story of Youngblood’s helplessness, emphasizing the fact that he is alone and out-numbered.
I didn’t actually write the captions for this image of The Shield back in their glory days, dominating some kneeling jobber and telling jokes about him. Apparently I am not the only wrestling fan who finds this sort of image — the partners outside the ropes enjoying the view — to be an entertaining and potentially erotic scene.
And then there is that cocky Foot-on-the-Bottom-Rope pose, the Waiting Partner arrogantly raising one foot to rest it on the rope strand. Does he even realize what that does inside my brain when he poses like that, or is he just putting his foot up there because it’s comfortable?
I tried to explain in detail why I enjoy seeing this specific resting position when I featured the Foot on the Bottom Rope pose as part of my Subtle Little Things series.
The White Team is firmly in control of this match — one partner aiming a brutal-looking Knee Drop at their fallen opponent’s neck while his partner waits his turn in the background, enjoying the view from the best seat in the house.
Seeing an image like this has always made me think that the man in the ring is just showing off for his partner: “Hey, watch what I do NEXT to hurt this weakling!” It seems as if they are not wrestling to entertain us, but rather to impress each other, which strengthens their homo-social bond. The wrestler in the ring works hard to get his partner’s attention and respect by using effective, devastating moves and acting dominant.
When a man knows that victory is certain, when he senses he’s got the world by the tail, he can’t help but gloat a little. Watching him celebrate his status as Master of the Universe makes you want to both worship and despise him. Part of you craves seeing someone punish the self-centered show-off to take him down a few pegs, and part of you just wants to revel in his awesomeness along with him.
In the above photo for example, the Fantastics show that they have the wrestling world wrapped around their fingers. Tommy puts some jobber in a Headscissor while Bobby lounges on the ring ropes like he’s watching wrestling at home on his couch. Beautiful!