The Problem With Super-Heroes

The most recent episode of the National Wrasslin’ League, available on YouTube, featured a hot rematch between this stud — my favorite NWL guy Dak Draper in his trademark tightie-whitey trunks — and the swole Good Guy in gold trunks named Blaine Meeks.  I blogged about an earlier fight between these arch-nemeses in my 4/24/17 article, “Tight Whitey.”

We are told this is a No Disqualification match — Dak can do anything he wants to hurt poor Blaine.  That was a one-sided phrase for a reason: Blaine is a comic-book dork who fancies himself a Super-hero, so he wouldn’t break a rule even when rule-breaking is permitted.  He is too moral (and so he is doomed.)

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Blaine has some early success in this epic 32-minute battle, showing off some super-hero antics like diving out of the ring to tackle Dak on the floor.  But let’s fast-forward, shall we, to Blaine’s inevitable suffering after Dak starts to take advantage of the N0 DQ specification by fighting dirty, giving him a delicious competitive advantage over the rule-abiding “Captain KC” as Meeks has named his super-hero gimmick.

Here we see Blaine’s tragic weakness exposed.  His already-injured left knee (wrapped in a protective brace) becomes entangled between the ropes after Dak shoves his ass out of the ring.

Blaine hangs in agony for several seconds as Dak kicks the rope to snap his ACL, MCL, and whatever-other-CL he had in that fucked up knee. OUCH!

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Here is how the Heel commentator describes Blaine Meeks to push his Goody-Two-Shoe personality:

“Let’s call him what he is — Blaine Meeks is a Comic Book Dork! This is a guy that wanted to pretend to be a pro wrestler. He got into pro wrestling because he likes Super-heroes, and now he’s getting blown up by the Super-hero of the NWL — Dak Draper! ”

Why in the world would a “meek” and mild, law-abiding Good Guy like Blaine Meeks agree to a No DQ match??  Against a ruthless cheater like Dak Draper??

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Seeing Draper strut around ringside — just owning and harming his meek and vulnerable jobber — is great Wrasslin’.  Like me, many of the guys at ringside have noticed Dak’s revealing white trunks and are obsessed with them, beginning to chant “Tigh-Tey Whi-Tey!” to both mock and worship Dak’s bold gear choice.

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Even though he is clad in white, Dak is clearly an Arch Villain who belongs in a No DQ match. Pro wrestling has always presented this dark Survival of the Fittest narrative.  The shirtless Cocky Jock,with all his cruelty and hate, is seen to be the most entertaining and sexually alluring stud in the arena.

The Good Guy, on the other hand, is often presented as bland, boring, and easily duped.  Unless the nerdy, hapless Super-Hero (in this case, Blaine Meeks) learns to Man Up and act just as cruel as the villain, he will inevitably fail and continue to be down-trodden and dominated his entire life.  Pro wrestling offers us this choice: the be the wolf or just another one of the sheep.

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The result is a strange alternate reality in which the rules are squishy (if they exist at all) and the most successful and dominant Alpha Males are the roughest, toughest, and most uninhibited (often the buffest of Cocky Jocks.)  Because of the wiring in our brains, with sex and violence all tangled up, this sort of rough-and-tumble world is a big turn-on, especially when enacted by attractive hunks.

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The brutality escalates when Dak brings a steel chair in the ring to really destroy that injured leg — which is all good in a No DQ match.

Blaine sells his Shattered-Knee Pain very well, crying out loudly after each brutal chairshot.  It sounds like hard-core porn, which is exactly how Wrasslin’ is SUPPOSED to sound.

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The story of the match is that Dak Draper is the only true Super-Hero (or more accurately, Super-Villain) in the ring, imbued with extreme strength and the power of a huge ego.  Blaine is just a nerd, a Wanna-Be playing in a Real Man’s universe.  This makes us pity Meeks and kind of lust for Draper.

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The Cocky Jock is a common trope in the universe of pro wrestling.  Think of Rick Rude, Val Venis, Joey Ryan, etc.  it makes the Heel easy-to-hate if he presents a sexual threat to the straight men in the audience, because he can just flirt with your woman and take her away any time he wants.

But for certain males in the audience, Draper is not sexually threatening, he is sexually appealing.  If the viewer is not in competition with the Cocky Jock, there is no need to hate him — you can go ahead and like him, or even lust for him.  His sexual peacocking — shaking his hips, flexing his biceps, wearing skimpy briefs — are a turn ON rather than a turn OFF.

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So the Cocky Jock, ironically, has the opposite effect than intended on this sort of viewer.  Rather than tuning in to see the Villain hopefully taken down a peg, punished for his outrageous behavior, some viewers are tuning in to beat off to his outrageous behavior.

One nice thing about Dak Draper is we rarely see him taken down a peg.  He rules the NWL universe, continuing to just OWN all the Good Guys like Blaine Meeks.  With a body like THAT in your Indy Fed, why wouldn’t you let him keep winning so he will appear on every episode to keep the ratings up?!  (While keeping other things up as well if you catch my drift (wink, wink.))

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Dak does suffer a cut on his eyebrow.  I think it was accidental, caused when his face crashed into Blaine’s knee.  He plays it off gamely, selling his suffering for a while like they did 40 years ago when bleeding was mandatory in pro wrestling.

Even while in pain, this Draper is hawt!

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Blaine Meeks grabs the chair that Draper had used to shatter his kneecap earlier in the match.  Now he faces a moral dilemma: if he strikes Draper with the chair (which is perfectly legal in a No DQ match), he will become just as tainted and sinful as the Heel.   Meeks foolishly drops the chair, which Super-Heroes always do, and pay a price for being so damned honest and forthright.

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Next, Meeks goes all in with his geeky super-hero obsession.  He transforms into Captain KC by strapping on a white cape (which I think is from a child’s Halloween costume.)  The image of a grown man in that flimsy costume cape presents him as the pathetic comic book Dork playing dress-up — the Nerd who puts on a football uniform and goes to practice only to be destroyed by the jocks.

Sure enough, Draper uses that flimsy cape against him, dragging Meeks around by the neck.  Meeks is revealed, once again, to be a vulnerable mortal like the rest of us.  Only Dak Draper holds true super-human powers coupled with a killer instinct — Meeks is just a pretender.

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I love the irony, with Blaine’s super-hero aspirations now becoming the very reason for his downfall.   Draper weaponizes that cheap cape, using it to choke Meeks into a humiliating submission.  Do you still want to play Dress Up, you pathetic cos-playing nerd?

I haven’t mentioned Draper’s golden super-villain boots.  Those are hot too…

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So after the match, Draper entangles his victim’s knee around one of the ringposts, literally trapping him in a helpless position.  He proceeds to strike that already-injured knee with a steel chair about a half-dozen times to totally powderize the knee-cap, while Meeks screams bloody murder.  It’s pretty graphic and sick — the officials have to drag Draper off while Meeks is carried away in obvious agony.

I didn’t feel like capturing images of all that post-match drama, but you can watch the video starting at about 34:15 if  you want to see some intense brutality and Leg Abuse suffering.  It seems to mark the utter destruction and defeat of Blaine Meeks who really needs to stop trying to fight Dak Draper who is clearly his over-lord and wants to ruin his career by injuring him (which triggers many fond Old-School Wrasslin’ memories when the action was often brutal and sadistic like this.)

 

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