Someone takes this opportunity to feel up Tommy’s impressive pecs.
A video recently posted to YouTube features the Fantastics Tag Team in a brief but exciting match I’d never seen before (and I make a point to watch every possible minute of Tommy Rogers in action.)
On their way to the ring, Bobby and Tommy allow their bodies to be accosted by their adoring fans. The boys are grabbed and groped by every housewife, horny teen, and old hag at ringside. These two should be sainted!
No wonder wrestlers no longer get THIS close with the audience.
One aggressive blonde fan can’t control her hormones, aggressively embracing first Bobby and then Tommy to plant kisses on their faces/lips. Both Fantastics try to resist, but she is too quick for them.
The creator of the YouTube video also noticed this unusually intimate moment, using it (instead of any in-ring wrestling) as the thumbnail.
Meanwhile two more aggressive, blond-haired attackers are waiting for the Fantastics in the ring — the Freebirds, Hayes and Roberts.
Attacking before the bell, the Freebirds cannot wait to tear apart the Fantastics.
From the mid-70’s to mid-80’s, the Freebirds were the roughest and dirtiest Heels in the South. Prior to the Fantastics’ entrance, Hayes had informed the audience that the Freebirds are not washed up Has-Beens. They’re out to prove that they’re just as brutal and dominant as ever. So they pounce on Tommy and Bobby even before the Fantastics can remove their vests and bowties.
Usually only fan favorites perform these mirror image moves.
Apparently the ref is not going to break up this violent brawl and the “match” is underway. I loved this pair of Running Bulldogs: Buddy Roberts first planting his Fantastic’s face in the mat, then Michael Hayes copying him.
The Fantastics are clearly Doing the Job tonight, allowing the Heels to use and abuse them to re-establish the power and strength of the Freebirds.
Again we see one Fantastic, then the other, endure the same abuse.
The Angel of Death, enters the ring, allowing the Heels to spike both of the Heroes’ skulls into his bald head which busts open the pretty-boys’ heads.
What does it mean that the Angel of Death is unharmed by these skull-to-skull collisions, yet both Fantastics are busted open? The implication is that he is harder, tougher, and more powerful than them, his bald head like a concrete dome. The two pretty-boys, meanwhile, are revealed as weaker and more vulnerable, the red blood implicating them as being less masculine than the big bald Angel of Death.
Another bookend move — the trademark of Baby-Face fan favorites.
Earlier the Fantastics freely offered their bodies to the fans at ringside, barely resisting all the groping and kissing. Now they offer their bodies to the Freebirds to be used and abused, and to the viewers at home, sprawling on the mat in their snug little red briefs and bowties. If the earlier love and affection was Fan Service for female viewers, the current display of blood and suffering is pure Fan Service for male viewers.
“THE FREEBIRDS OF OLD HAVE EMERGED!”
As the Fantastic beat-down continues, the excited commentator screams his head off about the cruel violence unfolding in the ring: “The Freebirds have opened up lacerations — and I mean DEEP lacerations — on the Fantastics!… Bobby Fulton is bleeding profusely!” “THE FANTASTICS ARE BEING DECIMATED!!”
What kind of sick pervert bites another man’s bloody forehead?
As Hayes grabs Fulton by the hair and leans in to gnaw his forehead, we’re reminded of the aggressive girl who kissed Fulton against his will earlier. Now, instead of a female using him, it’s a male. Instead of an affectionate kiss, Fulton receives a painful (but equally intimate) bite. This kinky assault is simply more Fan Service, further proof that the martyred Fantastics are worthy of sainthood.
The Fantastics pulled off zero offense, being used purely as jobbers and eye-candy in this brutal squash. They loll on the floor, rolling around in their own helpless red shame.
So what was the point of this one-sided display of dominance? Why did the promoters allow their beloved Fan Favorites to be destroyed?
Clearly one purpose of this beat-down was to re-establish the Freebirds as vicious, potent, and powerful Heels in the minds of the audience, a brutal team from the Good Old Days that still ought to be feared and respected. But I believe the other purpose was simply to titillate and arouse the audience by showing their beloved heroes debased and mauled.
The first three minutes of this six-minute scene built up our feelings of love and compassion for these friendly studs, and the next three minutes saw them brutally torn down and humiliated — “sexily beaten” as my fellow blogger at “He Is Out!” describes it. This process always gets the fans all hot and bothered (it certainly worked on me.)
Noticing the camera, Tommy Rogers sits up and displays his bloody face, making sure we get our money’s worth, a full dose of his humiliation and anguish.
Remember two things about this era: promoter ex wrestler Bill Watts had said they specifically were selling sex appeal and had at least half of their box office receipts from women, and Bobby Fulton (but not Tommy?!) was offered a big contract by the Chippendales organization which was a new big thing back then.
There are many wrestlers I like, but every time I watch Tommy Rogers in action, it makes me think “He is the best!”
Thank you for posting.
I remember seeing this as a boy. And i’m so happy it finally turned up on YT!
Thanks for giving it your treatment!