Here is a fun Tag Team match featuring the Midnight Rockers — Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty — getting beaten up by two big masked men — the Conquistadors. Marty and Shawn hit the ring in matching cut-up pink shirts and purple tights which look great as they strike poses of suffering and agony.
The Conquistadors are wearing tight bodysuits and masks in a flamboyant shiny gold color. This is a striking look, their bodies gleaming under the bright lights. These costumes are exotic and a little kinky, and tend to command the fans’ attention. It is intimidating not to know someone’s identity, like bank robbers.
The two teams deliver a classic dramatic Tag Team battle according to the usual (and beloved) formula — the heels cheat blatantly and repeatedly, trapping one Rocker in their corner while the other Rocker storms into the ring only to be forced out by the biased, clueless ref. For once, Shawn Michaels plays the Babyface-in-Peril, taking the bulk of the Conquistadors’ punishment waiting to be rescued by his outraged partner.
The bodysuits worn by the Conquistadors are probably hot and uncomfortable, so why do they wear them? Wouldn’t it be more comfortable to wrestle shirtless in a pair of trunks? The reason for the bodysuits presented by the action in the ring is that the Conquistadors are able to cheat by trading places in the ring, which they do several times to keep the advantage. The ref apparently is unable to distinguish them because their faces and bodies are covered, so when one is tired or in trouble, the other sneaks in illegally to replace him. But is that really the whole reason for these unusual suits?
Wrestling fans naturally compare the physiques and clothing of the competitors, looking for the story, the thread of narrative that the match will provide. With their entire bodies covered by the gold suits, the Conquistadors seem inhuman, like androids. The contrast presented by this match is vulnerable humanity represented by the bare-chested Rockers against the metallic, robotic, viciousness of the fully-clothed Conquistadors. How could we not pity the poor, shirtless Rocker-boys?? Their soft hairless flesh, their uncovered torsos and handsome faces, seem vulnerable and exposed compared to the hooded Heels, and sure enough, the Rockers’ bodies and faces are punched, clawed, bitten, and kicked by the merciless machines in shiny metallic.
One of the unwritten rules of pro wrestling is that wrestlers must unveil their bodies. The fans expect to see skin and muscle in action. If you want to be a pro wrestler, you’d better be prepared to bare it all and spend most of your working hours with no shirt on, and little more than briefs over your privates. And you better know how to express pain and agony on your face, broadcasting your suffering all the way to the balcony.
But the Conquistadors are Heels –a pair of rule-breakers — so they exist to cheat and to frustrate the fans. Just as they refuse to fight fair, so too do they refuse to honor the fans’ desire to view their bodies. The suits block our desire to look at their bodies — they frustrate us and taunt us by refusing to expose themselves. They show no emotion as they go to work coldly dismantling their victim, their facial expressions (their very humanity) shielded and masked.
