Pay for Gay

On September 21st, two wrestlers who use a similar gimmick (the flamboyant, hyper-sexual stripper) teamed up for a Tag Team battle at a “Top of the World” (TOW) event in Canada.  Sexxxy Eddy and Sexxxy Leon Saver both use the nickname “Sexxxy” (with three X’s each), both wear bulging, revealing gear, and both enjoy shaking and grinding their bodies to flirt with the audience and flaunt their sexuality.  It just made sense for these two Sexxxy wrestlers to team up and really push the homo-erotic envelope.

Some of you may be wondering whether these two athletes are just “Gay for Pay” or if they actually identify as homo-sexuals.  Actually, that question is not relevant — they’re just doing their job in any case.  The real question is why the (primarily hetero-sexual male) fans would attend this event, knowing full well that Eddy and Leon will always dress like this and behave like this.  The question is: why do the fans “Pay for Gay”??

At 202 pounds and 155 pounds respectively, Eddy and Leon are small for pro wrestlers.  Their appeal to the fans is clearly not based on power and strength like most wrestlers, yet they are both popular and draw a crowd.  Their appeal is based on something more desirable to the viewers than muscle alone — pure, raging, unabashed homo-erotic sex appeal.

Their opponents are a pair of massive brutes. Dru Onyx with the towel on his head weighs 325 pounds, almost as much as Eddy and Leon combined.  His partner Eric Mastrocola is nearly as heavy.  The big men are fully clothed in dark clothing, clearly averting any notions of homo-eroticism.  Therefore, Onyx and Mastrocola offer the fans an escape from Gay Panic, a safe, hetero-sexual port in the otherwise Sexxxy storm.

The match begins with a show of power by the massive, presumably hetero-sexual men in black, who are playing the Baby-Faces (because they’re straight) enjoying their shine early in the match.  That means the scantily clad, sissified, sexually suggestive team are meant to be the Heels, to be despised by the fans in spite of their smaller size and attractive looks.

To inspire the feelings of disgust by the hetero-sexual audience, to ensure the crowd understands that they’re supposed to hate Eddy and Leon, the team is forced into a sexual position which they don’t readily escape from, resulting in cat-calls, whistles, and insulting comments from the homo-phobic fans.

Apparently a Tag Team can LOOK as gay as an Abercrombie poster (just look at every Face team in the 1980’s) and still be loved by the fans, because it doesn’t place the viewer in any compromising position.  He can still cheer for a team based on their high-flying athleticism or comical antics.  But once they begin to ACT gay — well now the Nancy-Boys are going to get bashed.  Now they’ve forced the straight male viewer to despise them and insult them or risk being outed himself.

Eddy and Leon take control thanks to their well-timed double-teaming.  The only way little guys can possibly dominate a much larger opponent is through effective teamwork.  The message being sent is that any man, even a little man, can gain power through a strong homo-social bond with another man.  Ironically, the same male-male relationship that caused Eddy and Leon to be vilified and laughed at earlier is now being depicted as an effective source of power, a successful and respectable partnership.

However, Eddy and Leon soon cross the line (from homo-social to homo-erotic) when they perform hip-grinding gyrations over the body of their opponent.  This violates the Man Law, which allows and encourages close male-male friendships, but never any hanky panky between dudes.  Therefore, a painful, devastating punishment is coming soon for the Sexxxy Ones, and the fans (who are very familiar with the Man Law) are perfectly accepting of the pending Gay Bashing.

Eddy and Leon wear trunks designed to flaunt their sexuality — to highlight their manhood and pose a potential sexual threat.  Their trunks are meant to attract the viewer (the bright colors and prominent bulge designed to draw the eye) and at the same time, to threaten the viewer by creating sexual tension and rape potential in the mind of the viewer.  Early in the match, the focus is on the front of the trunks, the business side, the bulging masculinity.

Onyx applies the dreaded Wedgie to re-assert his Alpha Male status and avert Eddy’s sexual power.  The focus now shifts from Eddy’s crotch (which is now being smashed and compressed) to his ass (which is being penetrated by the fabric of his trunks.)

Eddy is therefore being emasculated, turned into a bitch or bottom.  His partner, kneeling and presenting himself, is also submissive to the hetero-sexual opponent.

Now that Eddy and Leon have been stripped of their sexual power and potency, now that they’ve been dominated by the hetero-sexual Tag Team, the camera’s focus turns to the backside of their trunks, and the defeated team strikes far more submissive poses.

Little Leon is flipped ass-over-applecart across the ring by both big brutes, who now exemplify the successful (and non-sexual) male-male relationship.

Leon, we understand, deserves this painful punishment because of his earlier violation of the Man Law, because of his homo-erotic behavior.

The script being followed here (and in many Tag Team matches) is as follows:

1. Present homo-social partnerships as the ideal.

2. Push the limits of homo-eroticism, dancing dangerously all over the gay border.

3. Avert the homo-erotic tension and relieve the Gay Panic by punishing the queers.

4. Re-establishing the dominance and superiority of hetero-sexuality as the preferred lifestyle in our society.

Just as his partner’s nuts were crushed in the Wedgie earlier, Sexxxy Leon’s entire body is crushed by a 300+ pound man flopping down across his ribcage.  At first blush, this seems to be an unjust and overly cruel attack — but remember that Leon broke the Man Law earlier by dancing around with his partner like a fag.  Therefore he deserves a high level of pain and destruction to teach him a lesson and squelch any remaining Gay Panic in the audience.

However, just as no feud in pro wrestling is ever fully resolved, the homo-erotic vibe is never fully stamped out either.  When I mentioned the 4-part script being played out in this match (see #1 thru #4 above), I forgot to mention #5:  Offer a final gay tease to keep them coming back for more.  Eddie and his friend carry helpless Leon out of the ring, his bulge prominently displayed in his tight pink trunks.  This little homo-erotic tease will burn itself in the viewers thoughts and cause them to crave more.