The above images are from another speech (available on YouTube) by the “American Psycho,” Joshua Daniels, who looks and sounds a lot like Christian Bale in the film of the same name. In this clip, he uses a whispery, seductive tone while describing his cruel attack on a fellow wrestler. He indicates that violence is a turn-on for him. Watching his injured opponent being taken away on stretcher, he notes: “at that moment, I nearly climaxed!” He then goes on to mention that he will take pleasure in hurting his next victim as well.
Daniels is basically confessing to a sexual fetish for pain infliction. For at least the past 60 years, pro wrestling villains were depicted as being perhaps horny for hurting. Even in the early days of the sport, the announcers and magazine writers would declare: “He likes to hurt people!” to imply the Heel wrestler may have a little sado- in his masochism.
This was meant to titillate the fans (sex sells, after all) and it provided an explanation for why the Heel was so darn mean and vicious: he must get aroused by it. By saying he “nearly climaxed” during his speech, Daniels makes a very explicit connection between the suffering of his opponent and his own arousal — a more blatant and graphic admission of sadistic sexual tendencies than usually found in pro wrestling commentary.
In the film American Psycho, Christian Bale plays a killer who also derives excitement from harming others (similar to the classic wrestling Heel). He gets quite giddy during his murderous rampages. He inflicts all sorts of painful humiliations on some poor prostitute while also using her for sexual gratification, which establishes the linkage between the suffering and sex.
As a well-groomed, successful executive, he feels empty and bored by the mindless consumption, shallow behavior, and pointless existence of himself and the people around him. His only escape — the only way he can re-connect with excitement and stimulation in his meaningless life — is to engage in violent, sadistic acts. He uses killing to feel alive.
In the wrestling match against Tony Neese featured last week, Joshua Daniels portrayed a similar American Psycho, but still received the support and encouragement of the audience. If you listen to the match on YouTube, the crowd sounds vengeful, relishing the violence, cheering after each cruel act of torture. You can hear comments such as: “Smack the shit out of him!“, “One more time!” and “Light him up!” The hot-heads screaming these comments clearly have a little American Psycho in themselves.
Maybe all wrestling fans are a bit “psycho” — sadistically enjoying the delivery of punishment. Granted, the viewer is NOT the baddie who inflicts the punishment directly. The viewer punishes the jobber indirectly, using the Heel wrestler as his agent and avatar, but the viewer participates in, and enjoys, the punishment never-the-less.
Granted the agony in pro wrestling is known to be fakery, but it is still repeated, ritualized suffering meant to entertain and excite. It is meant to be real, and therefore, exciting. Pro wrestling has exactly the same intent (although less real, less fatal) as serial killing. By the way, in the film American Psycho, there are clues that all the killing was perhaps fake as well, merely a twisted fantasy in the sick mind of the protagonist.
Maybe modern society doth make “American Psychos” of us all. Maybe we’re so clean, well-fed, and well-groomed these days that we’ve lost touch with the excitement of the life-and-death struggle. Maybe our comfy lives of mindless consumption have created a void in our monkey brains that can only be filled by watching violence and bloodshed (even if the violence is phony-baloney, and the bloodshed is the result of a self-inflicted razor blade.) Pro wrestling perhaps quenches our blood-lust prevents us all from becoming psychotic savages like Christian Bale’s character in the film.
The American Psycho character is the ultimate consumer. He wears designer fashion, frequents the trendiest night clubs and restaurants, and is envious of anyone who has something he lacks. He watches plenty of pornography, which is a form of visual consumption. (By the way, isn’t a wrestling jobber similar to a porn actor — using his body and actions to excite and entertain the viewer, only to be discarded for the next good looking body?)
So just like Christian Bale’s character in the film, and just like wrestler Josh Daniels, we turn to violence for entertainment and deliverance. This is why we love pro wrestling — life is more exciting if it includes some pain and suffering — even if the agony is safely fake and phony.
