One of the YouTube channels I follow recently posted a brief Jobber Squash video from 1985 featuring Jim Neidhart (looking powerful in his black singlet and tights) dominating Jimmy Powers. Man oh man, Jimmy Powers has always done it for me, especially when he wore his white jobber trunks as in this bout.
As usual in these Muscle-Jobber squash matches, the intent is to establish the Heel, in this case Neidhart, as a super-human who can run roughshod over any man. The commentators mention about 20 times how “powerful” he is.
If Neidhart can easily defeat and punish a swole He-Man like Jim Powers — whose very last name evokes strength — then imagine what this vicious brute may do in the future to our heroic Baby-Faces of the day like Ricky Steamboat, Tito Santana, or the adorable young Curt Hennig. The very thought of Neidhart dominating those studs was enough to get me all worked up back in the 80s (What if he Bearhugged one of my heroes? Or broke them over his knee? Or gosh, Sleepered them with no mercy…)
Powers is bum-rushed out of the ring after Neidhart gives his whitey-tighties a big yank. Then the humiliation is taken up a level when Neidhart exits the ring to Body-Slam the jobber on the dirty floor, literally right next to the old cups and other trash discarded by the audience.
The presence of Jimmy Hart, the third Jim in this scene, adds significantly to Powers’ humiliation by pointing and laughing at the suffering man’s predicament. Hart is such a mouthy, infuriating little bitch, and clearly Jimmy Powers (and pretty much any man) could easily beat some respect into him. Yet here we see the smaller man laughing like a hyena, essentially dominating the Muscle Jobber — if not physically by standing over him, then definitely verbally.
The degradation is amplified when Jimmy tries to crawl back in the ring to reclaim some shred of dignity as a man, only to be knocked right back down to the floor by the more-powerful and masculine Jim who owns the ring.
The wearing of all-white gear, the trademark uniform of a wrestling jobber, is another humiliation for young Jimmy Powers. The white spandex certainly provides little concealment, so his private parts are on display to be seen and judged. He is the powerless Naked Male in an arena full of Clothed Males.
It was interesting to me that, when I played this video on YouTube, I was first shown the Snickers commercial where the man walks into a roomful of visitors wearing no pants because he thought they were having a Zoom call — not an in-person meeting.
It’s funny to me that this commercial — depicting the shame and embarrassment of a man wearing his whitey-tighties in front of a roomful of people — was paired with the Jimmy Powers squash. Jimmy Powers’ white trunks and boots resemble this guy’s underwear and socks. And we’re meant to laugh at this clown in the Snickers ad, to denigrate him for being caught with his pants down.
Yet those whitey-tighties are pretty much what Jimmy Powers would wear (minus the shirt) to be thrown around and dominated by more aggressive men, night after night in crowded arenas across the country – and on television. If this man is a laughingstock for being caught in his underwear once, what does that make Jimmy Powers who wore similar garb only to have his ass kicked on national television multiple times per week?
While we’re on the subject of this Snickers commercial, I also want to briefly point out the seated man in the pink shirt:
He is wearing pink — the same color as the wife — and smiling a bit as he stares in awe at the man in underwear. Is he meant to be potentially gay and perhaps enjoying the view of this man’s bare legs and bulge? Is this meant to create greater shame and embarrassment for the man with no pants, that he has become the subject of the Male Gaze and now has sexually aroused another man?
And to tie it back to Jimmy Powers, it seems to me that he also is degraded by being a “piece of meat” for our viewing pleasure — by serving as the subject of many horny viewers’ fantasies and desires. His wearing of eye-catching white spandex only amplifies his attractiveness, encouraging gay viewers everywhere to incorporate him into their sexual fantasies and thereby to mentally dominate and defile him.
The powerful Jim Neidhart uses a Power-Slam to over-power Jimmy Powers and pin him. We get a nice view of the jobber’s taint as he spreads his legs apart for the final humiliation.
Then Jimmy Hart runs up to hug Neidhart, leaping into his embrace like an eager bride. This further positions Neidhart as a manly-man in contrast to the swishy lightweight (wearing a pink cumberbund) he is holding in his strong arms. I swear they look like husband and wife as Hart just about plants a kiss on his man Neid-Hart.
And just in case Powers had not been humiliated enough already, they replayed the final pinfall with Jimmy’s white briefs the center of our focus:
