Yesterday I posted some scenes from the cartoon Tiger Mask, where a wrestler is sitting at ringside watching his enemy, a cruel villain, wrestling some weak victim. The villain is especially sadistic when he realizes the popular stud is at ringside — in order to intimidate and anger the hero — to get inside his head — by inflicting relentless punishment on the helpless victim.
I find it interesting when life imitates art, so I was fascinated when this same scenario was depicted on a real pro wrestling show. Bob Orton was in the ring with some jobber, aware that Ricky Steamboat (who has a boner for him) was out in the crowd watching his every move. This inspires Orton to brutally punish his jobber, sending a message of intimidation to our beloved Baby-Face at ringside.
Ricky Steamboat is half Japanese, so I wonder if he grew up watching (and being inspired by) the Tiger Mask cartoons. Maybe that is where Ricky got the idea to sit at ringside, looking all angry and outraged watching his enemy kick some poor guy’s ass. I even think there are some striking similarities in appearance between Steamboat and Tiger Mask: the cute boyish features, the big shiny eyes, the thick eyebrows, the look of shock and determination:
Orton begins using cruel and humiliating tactics such as hair pulling and fighting outside the ropes as a threat to Steamboat. Orton mentally substitutes Steamboat for the jobber he is beating up: “THIS is exactly what you’re going to get when we meet, son. If I can easily over-power and injure this man, I can do the same thing to your body.”
a man showing off in front of his male enemy is about what masculinity is