Throwbacks

You can see that I’ve been on a YouTube kick lately, marveling at the wealth of pro wrestling videos from all around the world, featuring men of all shapes and sizes.  My goal is to watch them all, but there is just too much great action added daily so I may need to quit my job.  Here is a Tag Team match I saw recently that really took me back to my younger days as a rasslin’ fan.

The James Boys are a pair of no-nonsense brawling redneck brothers who remind me of a couple Heels from the 1970’s and 80’s.  Luke James wears a black hat like Blackjack Lanza, and his beefy brother Rich, wearing a bandana, crawls around and barks, looking and sounding like “Mad Dog” Buzz Sawyer.  Nice old school vibe, I always loved it when a wrestler would bark like a crazy uncontrollable beast!

The James Boys’ competition are a pair of Italian meatballs working the Jersey Shore Guido gimmick, dressed in Italian flag colors and yelling “Forggid aboud it!” like an old Italian Mafia don as they execute their moves.  In fact, their team is called the “Fuggedaboutits”, but I think “Johnny’s” real name is John Carino, and “Donny” is actually Jason Static, wearing the white trunks with the boot of Italy on the ass.

Like the pro wrestlers of yesteryear, the James Boys are proudly hairy-chested, flaunting their masculinity.  But the accepted male in today’s society is more smooth, buff, and effeminate like the Fuggedaboutits, so the crowd begins to chant “Shave your chest!  Shave your chest!” at the old-timey James Boys, who are outwrestled early in the match.

The James Boys wear matching plum-colored trunks with no logos or writing.  The fabric is plain old spandex instead of the more modern shiny pleather fabric.  Their boots are not covered in the kick-pads that many modern wrestlers have taken to wearing.  Their look is decidedly retro — the sort of gear Tully Blanchard or Buddy Landell would have worn about 25 or 30 years ago.

The James Boys gain control with some old-school Double-Teaming, isolating Johnny in their corner and stomping him into submission as if he is a young Paul Roma.  They even work the old cheater gimmick where they change places illegally behind the ref’s back, clap their hands loudly, then insist to the ref: “We DID make a tag, ref!”  It’s nice to see those classic villain moves in play again.

Many sports teams are now wearing throwback uniforms for some of their games — dressing the athletes in a jersey design, colors, and logos that their team used 20 years ago or older.  Besides selling more jerseys by offering a different style, the throwback look is a delight to the older fans who remember a winning year or championship season when those old uniforms were in play (and when the crotchety old fans themselves were younger, thinner, and more full of strength and hope).

The throwback uniform also invokes the strength and dedication of the studs of yesteryear, the larger-than-life Real Men who were stronger, more manly, and worked harder for less pay.  The implication is that, if we dress like our legendary forebears, we can access their power, work ethic, and masculinity.

The James Boys, by wearing old style gear and using classic ring psychology, are a pleasure to watch for wrestling fans of a certain age who never have adapted to the flippy-dippy modern style of wrestling.  Their old school look signifies that they are as Bad-Ass as the rough, tough, no-nonsense Heels of yesteryear.

In the end, the ruthless James Boys win by cheating, striking Donny in the skull with their cowbell and easily pinning him.  Rich James again borrows a play from Buzz Sawyer’s playbook, crawling around on all fours while his partner rides him like a horse (an odd, sexually suggestive victory pose).

The fact that the James Boys won the match — that their style and their tactics proved to be superior to the modern Italian opponents — implies that old school wrestling and the classic style is superior.  In recent years, wrestlers who worked an old-school gimmick were usually depicted as goofy, out-of-touch old timers whose stale moves can never win a match now-a-days — but not the James Boys.  Instead, this vintage Tag Team in their throwback uniforms are seen as dangerous and effective and deserving of our respect.

Are we now witnessing the return of classic wrestling in the modern age?  Is this match an indication that fans have a new respect for old-school moves and are craving the traditional Heel gimmicks and down-home brutality that went out of style in the 1990s?  Are the James Boys actually throwbacks, or are they in fact the wave of the future?  Stay tuned, wrestling fans!

You can watch this match on YouTube.

If you enjoyed seeing the James Boys beat up the Fuggeddaboutits, I also found a rematch between these teams where the James wear spectacular blue spandex trunks and again kick some Italian ass.

The video is a little shaky and the camera is far away from the ring, but the old style pro wrestling humiliation is excellent.  Rich James even bites his opponent’s arm and, after pinning his victim, lifts his leg like he is peeing on him.