Bearhugger Tribute

I posted my first Wrestling Arsenal gallery on 9/3/2000 — a series of Sleeperhold images.  So I have been blogging about my love for pro wrestling (on and off — but more on than off) for over 15 years.

Out of respect for my elder, today’s gallery is a tribute to perhaps the only non-commercial gay-friendly wrestling site older than Arsenal: Bearhugger.net.

Bearhugger.net turns 17 1/2 today, so the webmaster (and bearhug lover) must’ve launched it in June 1998.  Those were the days when most people didn’t go online — or if they did, it was AOL.  The World Wide Web was considered nerd-space, most companies didn’t have any presence, and some people thought the Net may be a passing trend.

You could barely buy anything on-line and much of the content was still posted to classic ListServs or the old timey Geocities websites.   If you wanted to build a decent webpage, you had to learn to program in <i>HTML</i>.  So the creation of Bearhugger.net and its many slick features is all the more impressive when you consider it was built in the dark ages when our only available tools were like sharpened sticks and heavy rocks.  All of the images in today’s gallery, including these beautiful Hugs by Big Duke, can be found at Bearhugger.net.

Bearhugger.net is a virtual cathedral erected to worship just one wrestling hold — perhaps the very best wrestling hold — the Bearhug.  It has galleries, image uploads, clips, and links — all featuring, related to, or in praise of this one hot hold.

The site is impressively interactive.  Users may rate the uploaded images, post personal ads to meet one another, upload and peruse erotic stories, and write video reviews.

Another cool feature is an interactive database meant to document every Bearhug image or scene ever created.

If a member of Bearhugger.net witnesses a hug  — be it on a television show, in a movie or magazine, in a video game, comic book, or commercial, in a YouTube video, or anywhere else — the information may be archived in the database.   A running record is being created of the many instances where Bearhugs are presented in our society, usually to depict pain and punishment, or often to imply sex and sensuality.

B. Brian Blair being bearhugged and bounced.

I remember enjoying this Bearhug many years ago — you can view the match on YouTube.  A team of brutes in matching singlets known as the Power Twins were punishing B. Brian Blair (I used to love that dude and his unusual name).

The Twins focused on Blair’s back — including this grinding embrace.  Here is how the user who posted this link on Bearhugger described it: “An amazing match.  Brian Blair and Jim Brunzell looking humpy as hell and taking these 2 big dummies down.  The thighs on Brunzell are epic!”

So let me take a moment to show love and appreciation for Bearhugger.net, the talented webmaster who built it 17.5 years ago, and the many great images, stories, and personals I’ve enjoyed.  A job well done for sure — congratulations on your amazing longevity and great work!

We don’t see many new websites going up these days, where a Webmaster plants a flag and stakes a claim to his virtual space to honor whatever he loves.  Yes, there are commercial sites like Facebook or Tumblr, but I am talking about the original World Wide Web (like the Wild Wild West), uncontrolled by some corporation.  Bearhugger.net is one of the last pure, real websites dedicated to wrestling, and I hope it lasts at least another 17.5 years.

Davey is out-muscled by a way swoller dude

The Bearhugger.net webmaster also posts his own comments and announcements in a News section, where he recently announced the shut-down of another wrestling personals website that Bearhugger outlasted: RealGNG.com.  Here is what he wrote about the RealGNG creator’s choice to shut down:

“I think I can understand when the webmaster says that ‘he wasn’t able to devote enough time and energy.’  Building a site takes a lot of time, it took me more than 16 years, but nowadays I just log in once every two days, put 30 minutes of my time and I pretty much slowed down on coding to put instead more time into my personal life.”

Does anybody feel more pain in a Bearhug than Dolph?

“It’s finding a balance and taking it easy.  In the end, it is very rewarding to see that you can make a difference, but I also understand his choice to move on.”