The psychology of a good pro wrestling match requires the audience to hate the Heel. For the punishment to stir up the fans — for the performance to have the intended effect — everyone needs to despise the Baddie and feel compassion for the Baby-Face.
In today’s cynical society, however, we’re so amoral and jaded that we’re likely to love the villain. For example, the popularity of TV shows like The Sopranos (about a mobster), Dexter (a serial killer) and Sons of Anarchy (a biker) cast the nasty anti-hero in a positive light, and the modern audience seems to love and identify with shady, vicious, evil bastards.
One of the last ways a villain can still offend and insult the fans to ensure their hatred is to flash them “The Bird.”
We are becoming desensitized to aggressive, filthy, insulting speech in society and on television. I think I heard “G.D.” on TV the other day, during prime time and they didn’t bleep it out!! But the One Finger Salute — the big “F. U.” symbol — still remains a taboo capable of shocking and insulting the recipient.
One advantage of attending live Wrassling shows or purchasing DVDs instead of watching on television is that it is uncensored. The crude, dastardly, dickish actions of the villain can be enjoyed without filter. You can fully experience the bastard’s bad-assedness such as the Finger and steep in your boiling hatred for him.
To garner the disdain and disgust of the fans, a wrestler must cross a boundary — must break an (arbitrary) rule of society. Sticking up that dirty finger with possibly women and children in the audience witnessing that filth is still an easy way to stir up Cheap Heat. (Never mind that most women and children nowadays spew far cruder language every single day…)
Pro wrestlers must express their personalities and project their emotions so that even the fans way in the back row can understand the drama and excitement of the match. One way to let people know you’re in agony is to flash that finger of frustration. One way to exhibit your disgust and disdain for the people in the audience is to give them the One Finger Salute. Even the slow and dopey people in the crowd will figure out that you think very little of them as human beings.
The middle finger remains a highly insulting, aggressive gesture because it threatens a sexual assault. If someone makes you angry, you give them the finger to imply that you will rape them in revenge — to punish them. That’s what “F. You!” really means! The hand gesture resembles the male genitals — an erect digit between balled fingers — to represent a cock.
I think the Birdie gesture is even more sexually charged when shared between pro wrestlers. These men are often handsome and appealing, and usually scantily dressed. They will spend several minutes in close physical contact — in very suggestive, homo-erotic positions.
To add the aggression of the middle finger, to threaten or imply a rape punishment while moments away from embracing and grappling with the other man certainly sexualizes the situation. That finger makes everyone in the audience — consciously or sub-consciously — think about effing.
This bad boy not only flips off the audience — to imply that he will rape them after he’s finished with his shirtless opponent — but he also sticks out his tongue, threatening to lick them as well.
The appeal of pro wrestling is that it inspires the viewer to consider, in his fantasies, what he would do or what would happen to him if he were in the ring. Wrestlers who display a middle finger bring the fans into the action by basically telling them that, if they were in the ring, they’d get fucked.
