The Nuder, the Better

Former WWE personality Booker T operates an Indy federation in Texas called Reality of Wrestling or ROW.  They post their weekly episodes on their YouTube channel and I’m sure I’ve written about some of the impressive talent that the well-connected Booker is able to attract to ROW.

The 5/30/16 episode of ROW included a “Face in Peril” Tag Team bout beginning at 13:25 into the episode.  These brutes in black are known as Legion, their thick builds and all black gear give them an intimidating old school bad-ass Heel vibe. That face-mask on the black Legion dude, which he will wear for the entire match, is downright chilling!

The Legion are wrestling against two of the popular young Faces in ROW:  Cameron Cole seen to the left already suffering in his little black trunks, and his partner known simply as “Bartek.”

Bartek is a rarity because he wrestles in jeans and a button down shirt, like he’s going out on a hipster date, not getting in the ring for some bare manflesh grappling.  (I sure hope this is not a growing trend in Indy wrestling — perhaps borrowed from the WWE, where too many guys are now wrestling fully clothed.)

Cole delivers some impressive shirtless rasslin’.

Fortunately the more nakeder Baby-Face — Cameron Cole — gets most of the ring time as his fully clothed partner simply looks on.  The match opens with Cole shining, dominating the Legion with sweet moves like this picture-perfect Elbow Drop.

Later the tables will, of course, be turned, and Cole’s exposed body will, of course, be brutalized.  Props to Cameron Cole, not only for entertaining us by stripping off as much clothing as the law will allow, but also by agreeing to serve as the humiliated Face in Peril.

Oh, you cheating mutherfucker!

The turning point occurs when the Legion resort to illegal shenanigans.  Cole is Irish Whipped to the ropes only to suffer a boot to the spine from the cheater outside the ring.

We get the impression that Cole’s agony is heightened by his nudity, by the exposure of his bare flesh.  Yet he remains willing/eager to fight in just those skimp black briefs with silver waistband — he remains committed to the old school gear (knowing we really dig it) even if it perhaps means more pain for him.

Get your pretty little ass back in the ring!

The villains continue to punish Cole’s lower back (nice!  I love when it’s the lower back!)  They also punish his skimpy trunks — the object that sets him apart from the other, fully clothed, men involved in this fight.

Here we see the white Heel grab a big fistful of stretchy waistband to wedgie-whip Cole back inside the ring for more torture.  Is he jealous of this fit young man’s prideful near-nudity?

More lower back agony for the shirtless stud.

Cameron Cole understands that pro wrestling is about the display of male vulnerability and helplessness.  The viewers love a Baby-Face who puts himself out there for our viewing pleasure — who endures agonizing punishment, doing so with his flesh exposed and fully accessible to our gaze.

In the background, we see that Bartek apparently didn’t get the memo. He is an attractive dude, but his nearly-nude partner is far more compelling and interesting.

Eventually the vulnerable Cole reaches a tag to his heroic partner.  Bartek storms the ring, fully clothed and fully empowered.  Our take-away is that the Clothed Partner has all the power, and the Naked Partner is the vulnerable whipping boy in need of rescue.

Notice that I didn’t capture any images of Bartek on fire because it wasn’t as hot to me.  And I definitely don’t want to encourage more Indy wrestlers to play it safe, to dress like it’s Casual Friday instead of proudly showing off the male physique in proper trunks and boots.