La Punition d’une Jambe

Canadian wrestlers really “get” ring psychology and always have.  They know how to perform the arrogant domination of the Heel, and unjust punishment of the Baby-Face, and they’ve created a nation of rabid fans.

For example, here is an entertaining match by the NCW promotion in Quebec from 3/5/11.  The cocky, good-looking heel in the leopard print is known as “Handsome JF.”

The good guy in the black pleather trunks, Marvelous Jeff, is jumped by three bad boys in jeans (and no shirts) while he is entering the ring.

Yes, this unfair cheating is what wrestling fans love to see.  Yes, we want the hero to suffer over-whelming odds.  When it comes to wrestling, beer, and hockey players, Canada produces the highest quality products!

After the desperados in denim injure the good guy’s knee, they toss him in the ring to be tortured some more by Handsome JF.  This is so sadistic — you gotta love it.  In what other sport (except maybe Olympic figure skating) will you see an athlete at a hopeless disadvantage after being deliberately injured by a competitor?

Like all great Heels, the bad boy focuses his assault on that damaged leg, ripping off the protective bandage.  And like all great Baby-Faces, Marvelous Jeff rolls around in agony, clutching his aching knee and selling his suffering beautifully.

They don’t speak English much up in Quebec, but they are very fluent in the language of Wrestling.  They know just what to do to make us love to hate the Bastard and to weep in sympathy for the pathetic injured Hero.

Just as many hockey players were stolen from Canada and imported to the U.S., so too were many great wrestlers relocated from the Great White North to entertain us down here in the states.  There is a reason our federations go poaching up north: Canadian wrestlers know what the hell they’re doing.  They get it.  They know all the sadistic holds and sexy unjust situations that drive the fans wild.

I don’t always go for long tights on a wrestler — but damn, those animal print leggings on Handsome JF, paired with his tall, shiny black boots, are working for me.  Leopard print gives him a sexy/savage vibe, and the complex leg positioning of the Figure Four is emphasized when applied by a guy in fancy tights.  Of course Marvelous Jeff’s little black briefs are just… marvelous.

Usually in the USA, the Great American Hero wrestler will overcome the odds and win in the end.  This is not the story up in Canada.  There, the underdog doesn’t have a chance.  Heroes like Marvelous Jeff are unfairly dominated by the stronger force of villains.  Is this meant to represent Canada’s feelings of inferiority relative to their arrogant and powerful neighbor to the South??