One Up, One Down

Even when they aren’t engaged in an official wrestling hold, the dominance and submission inherent in a pro wrestling match is conveyed by the positioning of their bodies.  One wrestler is usually up, the other remains down.  One is on his feet like a man, one is on the floor where an animal or a doormat belongs.  One is erect, one is limp and flaccid.

The wrestler who is winning always stands proudly upright, strutting and sticking out his chest in a classic Alpha Male pose.  He symbolizes potential action, creation, and force because he is able to move around on his feet.  The one who is losing keeps it on the down-low, often never even rising to his knees.  He epitomizes inaction, inertia, and death by playing the limp dishrag.

There’s a reason kings sit up on a throne and the Gold Medal winner gets the top step on the podium.  Whoever gets to assume even a slightly higher up position is considered the most powerful, the dominator, the one to be worshiped. The one whose head is above the others is the leader, and pro wrestlers have this down to a science.

You don’t need to see more than one second of a match to know exactly who is winning.  The wrestlers strike these classic poses of domination and submission throughout the match to evoke feelings of compassion and outrage in the viewers.

There is also a sexual innuendo conveyed by the standing wrestler whose junk just happens to be placed near eye-level or mouth-level of the submissive wrestler.

Have you ever bent over to pick up a pencil and your buddy placed his hand on your hair and said “Hey, while you’re down there…”?   If so, then you’ll probably agree that many dudes are thinking about the opportunity any time a face happens to end up below waist level, which happens at least 42 times in a typical pro wrestling match.  More if the wrestlers are good looking and there is sexual tension in the air.