70’s Chic

I am old enough to remember the 1970’s, including some of the care-free, rebellious attitudes and flamboyant clothing styles that permeated that era.  I also remember (burned into my memory banks) the sexy style of wrestling — the raunchy, inappropriate, violent action which had me wildly adjusting the rabbit ears on our clunky tube television for each weekly episode like a crack whore desperate for a fix.  So this Chris Colt match from the early 70’s that someone recently posted on YouTube really captured my fancy.

Colt is a perfect mash-up of the styles and trends of the day.  The 70’s aesthetic was about being free, flamboyant, and sexy.  Even men sported colorful, tight clothes that exposed their chest hair.  Shiny polyester clothing inspired by Disco was also popular, which Colt references in his silver boots and red leggings.

He even tapped into the heavy metal movement which was in its infancy by wearing thick black mascara a la Alice Cooper and entering the ring to a grinding metal anthem.

Colt's silver Go-Go boots do their damage.

There was a certain low-budget raunchiness to pro wrestling in those days that made it feel inappropriate, seedy, and kind of sexy.  You felt like you needed a shower after watching wrestling, and sometimes you actually did.

The modern product with its high-def cameras, pyrotechnics, and genetically perfect physiques may be slicker and cleaner, but there was realism and beauty when these men with their matter-of-fact bodies and flashy dollar-store costumes unleashed abuse on one another.  Maybe you had to grow up in that era to recognize the turn-on, but I’m sitting here mesmerized by this silver boot Stomp-A-Thon on the fat jobber!

Even the jobber in this match — Peter Caparella or whatever — is compelling in his tight black trunks and boots.  It didn’t make any difference to him that he could be called over-weight or chubby by today’s standards, and he certainly didn’t waste time working on his tan (what Real Man in the 1970’s would??)

His body just screams exposure and vulnerability as he he thrown clumsily out of the ring, kicked in the head to keep him down, then filmed in a pathetic position down on the dirty floor, pale and weak as we gaze at his voluminous flesh as much as we want.

But my very favorite aspect of this match, which convinced me to blog about it, are these gorgeous Flying Elbows by Colt.  He puts his whole soul into these Elbows, swinging his arm up grandly to gain maximum height and momentum, then DRIVING that stiff elbow directly into Campanella’s (or whatever) neck and chest.  It’s beauty, grace, sex, and cruelty all wrapped up in one devastating, flamboyant move that’s sure to anger and frustrate the more conservative audience members who want this long-haired sissy-boy to suffer a beating.

Colt leaps fearlessly off the top turnbuckle to crush his victim

Then Colt surprises me by climbing to the top rope and dropping an elbow onto his soft crash-pad’s neck!  This was a rare and dangerous maneuver back in the 70’s — I didn’t think the Top Rope Flying Elbow was used until Randy Savage popularized the maneuver a decade after this. So Colt was truly on the cutting edge.

Anyway I think Colt looks great and graceful as he fearlessly takes the leap and aims that elbow perfectly into Campanelli or whatever’s neck.

I really dug this match — it was a nice representation of the raunchy, cheesy style of pro wrestling that first got me hooked and has always held a powerful appeal for me. I also think Colt was far ahead of his time with his rocking entrance music and high-flying finishing move.

I don’t usually get many comments when I write about an old timey match like this, so I suppose younger wrestling fans who grew up on The Rock and Stone Cold just can’t see the appeal of these chubby, cheaply dressed throw-backs.  But I dig this stuff and will continue to post classic wrestling that, for some reason, rocked my world before I even knew what the term homo-erotic meant.