In 1951, a pro wrestling magazine simply called “Wrestling” featured this interesting article entitled: “Everybody Needs Strong Arms.” A famous body-builder of the day wrote (or supposedly wrote) the article to describe his excitement over an intense wrestling match he witnessed, and to share his admiration and respect for muscle. Like most body-builders, he’s into the strength and power of other dudes.
He goes on to encourage the men reading the magazine to start working out and building up their biceps too, so they can be as respected and admired as the brawny studs in the ring.
I’ve copied the text from the old article and pasted it into some modern images of powerfully built pro wrestlers. You can see that, even after 61 years, muscle and wrestling still go together like a horse and carriage.
The writer describes an exciting Rasslin’ match using provocative and arousing terms: “tense… on the edge of my seat,” “majestic display of physical brawn,” “bulged with the strenuous exertion.” Sounds kinky.
I wasn’t around back in 1951, but they say it was a more innocent and square world back then. What did the readers think when they read this description? Did they wonder if the writer was sexually aroused by what he was describing?
Soon, the writer gets to the primary subject he wants to really go on about: arms. Big, bulging, muscular, flexing, hard biceps popping out everywhere in the ring.
Today it’s generally known and understood that the reason many guys tune in to watch pro wrestling is to witness the great physiques. The studs are impressive — hard bodies are fun to look at. Even if the viewer is not necessarily aroused by the sight of the big, hard, masculine bodies (or will not admit to it anyway), he is still inspired and impressed by what a man can be. Just seeing the strength and power on display can make a dude feel proud to be a dude — to believe that he, too, has that potential strength. This article from 1951 came right out and said what wrestling fans nowadays are thinking: big muscles are hot, and maybe I can be powerful just like that.
The writer just gushes over the powerful arms of the wrestlers, using the most shameless and worshipful language:
- huge arm muscles
- molded of steel
- punishing grip
- super-developed arms
- powerful strands of arm muscle
- impressive contour
- grandest display of powerful arm strength.
OK, get a grip dude. Take a breath (or a cold shower). If you keep talking like this, people may start to wonder if you’re some kind of fairy, leering at and talking about muscles like this!
When the writer says the action kept him “spell-bound“, he really means “aroused.”
When he says he “mentally relived” the match later, he actually means that he “masturbated while thinking about it.”
When he says he was “impressed” by the wresters’ versatile arms, he means he was “horny” for them.
Back in 1951, they had to encode the true meaning so nobody could allege or suspect that there was anything going on here besides a competitive sporting event.
Next the writer gushes over his fav wrestling stars: Stan Zybysco, Strangler Lewis, etc. I suppose they were the Chris Masters and John Cena of their day. Then he offers some work-out tips so we, too, can build gigantic, impressive arm strength. We will take a look at the second half of the article in a future posting.
If you want to read the original four-page spread from the magazine, without all my cutting and pasting of the text, you can check it out here: