The Last Great Wrassling Match, Part 2 of 3

In last week’s introduction to Curt Hennig and Nick Bockwinkel’s epic Wrassling match, we saw plenty of great holds featured during the first part of their hour-long war.

They showed off their talent using one intricate move after another, hurting one another, taking turns punishing and torturing, their bodies wide open, exposed, and on display.

If the first part of this match was about great holds, the second part is all about frottage:  skin on skin body contact (another key ingredient in a great Wrassling match).  As the fight wore on and the men grew exhausted, they were less and less able to resist each other’s attacks, less able to fight off the other man’s advances.

We see, at this point in the match, a slower pace and a more sensual imagery:  one body laying across the other, a nose buried in a chest, faces relaxing, muscles softening and bodies falling limp to the mat. The two wrasslers were far more willing, when they became tired, to lay down on the mat together for a few minutes — and the feeling of intimacy was ramped up.

Joe, who writes the Ringside at Skull Island blog recently posted an excellent article called “Frottage” where he described his enjoyment of the man-on-man body contact from the classic days of pro wrestling, as depicted here so brilliantly by Hennig and Bockwinkel.  Here is what Joe wrote:

“I just want to muse over the particular excitement I get from touch. Skin touching skin. Even the word “skin” packs a certain tingle… When I was a teenager watching Championship Wrestling from Florida on TV, a cross-body roll-up pinning position could make me jizz in my Fruit of the Looms. It still can, forty years later. Such is the power of touch on my imagination.”

Well said, Joe.  I second that emotion.

Joe’s article continues: “Today’s mainstream pro scene has shifted away from the grunt-sweat-and-groan grappling of old-school wrestling. Too homo, way too homo. How seldom do we get to see the old schoolboy pin anymore, wrestler’s thighs straddling an opponent’s hips, arms pressing the shoulders to the mat!

It’s all about flying off the top ropes these days, acrobatic leaps that clear the head of the opponent by seven inches, sudden, split-second punches that rock the skeletal system, steel chairs, fluorescent light bulbs, ladders–but very little clenching, pressing, and weighing down, body upon body. It looks too much like hugging, I guess, or fucking. But I am a fan of aggressive, muscular hugging–and fucking. It’s kinda hot.”

In their epic hour-long encounter, Hennig and Bockwinkel clearly didn’t shy away from “clenching, pressing, and weighing down, body upon body.” They took their own sweet time with one another, building the suspense, not rushing to conclusion.

This intimacy was exciting to witness because it implied that both men enjoyed wrestling and enjoyed being with one another.  If a man hates doing something, he will rush through it, trying to get it over with.  If you have to clean a toilet or something, you’ll try to get it done in about twelve seconds.  If a man enjoys his work, he’ll take his time, savoring each moment, pausing to observe and appreciate his actions.  So when two men locked up in the ring together for an entire hour, the implication was that they must get off on it, they must both love it, if they’re doing it for so long and not rushing to get the victory quickly.

To be continued…

You can watch this historic match on YouTube, in six ten-minute clips:

• Curt Hennig vs. Nick Bockwinkel, part 1 of 6
• Curt Hennig vs. Nick Bockwinkel, part 2 of 6
• Curt Hennig vs. Nick Bockwinkel, part 3 of 6
• Curt Hennig vs. Nick Bockwinkel, part 4 of 6
• Curt Hennig vs. Nick Bockwinkel, part 5 of 6
• Curt Hennig vs. Nick Bockwinkel, part 6 of 6