Trophy Hold

Sheamus, the pale white Ginger from the WWE, has been using this “hold” a lot lately:

(1). He positions his victim outside the ring, leaning him back on the top rope.

(2). He entangles the dude’s arms over the top rope to immobilize his defenses.

(3). He bends the victim’s body backwards over the top rope.

(4).  He slams a series of stunning, hard Forearm chops into the man’s exposed chest

I call this move the “Trophy Hold.”

The point of this “wrestling hold” isn’t really to over-power or weaken the victim.  It isn’t primarily to damage his chest or knock him breathless with the clubbing forearm.  The real reason for this move is to put the victim’s body on display like a trophy– eye-candy for the fans.

With his arms locked behind him over the ropes, his chest and pecs are spread open.  Bending his torso backwards causes his abdomen to flex most invitingly.

In this position, all sorts of interesting things happen to his wrestling trunks.  His hips will be thrust forward, his knees spread apart, his bulge hanging out there in the open, or possibly his junk pressed up against the stretchy middle rope as in the case of Dolph Ziggler seen here.

The word “Trophy” is defined as:

Anything (or person) taken in war, hunting, competition, etc., especially when preserved as a memento.  A spoil, prize, or award.  Anything (or person) serving as a token or evidence of victory, valor, skill, etc.

The dominant wrestler is putting his Trophy on display with this hold, like a Big Game Hunter that kills a moose or bear, then hangs it’s head on the wall for all to admire.  He is asserting his own masculinity and dominance by showing how he turned his impressive adversary into nothing more than a curiosity, to be looked at and consumed by the admiring on-lookers.  He has mastered the savage beast, like a lion tamer who forces the animal to roll over and play dead.  Immobilizing another man emasculates him by taking away his ability to fight, to move about and take action like a man.  Being held helpless is basically like being castrated.

Any hold that forces a man to show his body subjects him to the Male Gaze — the judging and hungry eyes of the watching crowd.  Becoming the one who is looked at is emasculating for a dude because, traditionally, men are the subjects and women are the objects.  Males have the prying eyes that scan and objectify females.

So to force an opponent (especially a buff and appealing opponent) to show his flesh and muscle out there, to be visually raped by the excited, blood-thirsty crowd, is a violation of his manhood.  Not only is he physically harmed by the pain of the hold, he is also sexually and emotionally used and abused (at least visually) by being turned into the object of lust and arousal.  He is bitchified by being held on display, for as long as his attacker feels like showing him off like a trophy.