Women's Wrestling: A Meeting With The Archetypes

I’ll go on record. I’m a huge fan of Lady Wrestling. That’s what we always called it. I grew up marveling at the likes of Betty Niccoli, Joyce Grable, Lelani Kai, Moolah, Toni Rose, Donna Christenello, and Sandy Partelow. It was a magical time because women’s matches were so much more popular relative to the men’s matches, in some areas of the country and in some leagues, they were on nearly equal footing with the guys. You would always find women’s matches as part and parcel of a given night’s card, and all-women’s cards were not uncommon. The Old-School gals were tough cookies, too. The matches lasted considerably longer than they do today, which was a welcome feature as the lads in the audience got to admire their favorite warrior princesses for as long as 45 minutes to an hour in most cases. There was also something really cool about the basic attire worn by the Old-School ladies. They all wore one-piece outfits that were basically modified swimsuits with regulation wrestling boots. Well, having always been an unashamed leg man, [or leg BOY, as it were] I took particular delight in the excitement of being treated to such lengthy perusals of beautiful women and their bare legs. And that’s probably my biggest gripe about the New School of Wrestling Divas; all too often the most beautiful Amazon enters the ring wearing long tights, or even worse, full length designer gym wear in which EVERYTHING is left up to the imagination. It’s just wrong, and I guarantee you that if you polled every guy in the nation regarding his opinion on this point, you’d get a unanimous response in favor of [hello] BARE LEGS. It’s a no-brainer. I want to return to some other noteworthy contrasts between the Old School and the New School, but first let’s tackle the larger question of what this whole Women's Wrestling phenomenon is about. Why DO we love Women's Wrestling so much, and what does the fact that we do have to say about us?


Today's Look: Battle of the Super-Models.

Upon first inspection these questions admit of one easy answer. In a word, catfights. Don’t let any human male tell you differently, because he’ll simply be lying. Don’t let any human male tell you differently, because he’ll simply be lying. Men--yes, all men--have a completely unnatural predilection towards the enjoyment of catfights. They’re exotic, they’re exciting, and they’re just plain sexy. Added to all that is the fact that there’s something hard-wired into the human psyche, male OR female, that thrives on violence; be it car crashes, flaming buildings, air show disasters, or two people trying to disfigure each other. Sex & Violence. That’s what it’s all about, and Women's Wrestling serves up both in spades. Sex and Violence are at the heart of the human Unconscious, that place where we harbor our taboos, our deepest desires, our secret loves and fears, and our darkest impulses. Women's Wrestling taps into that realm in a most innocuous and therefore quite effective way, through the vehicle of a publicly acceptable forum in which women may display their propensities for both halves of the paradigm. In manifesting this ‘faux’ version of Sex and Violence, these extraordinary goddesses accomplish the release of their physical aggressions in the form of a cathartic act. But they do much more. They also establish a powerful line of contact in the psychic realm, which serves to transfer their own sexually violent energies directly outward and into the bloodstreams of scores of young male fans, infusing them with erotic visions that will spark their libidinal awareness now, and a developing instinct toward the faithful serving of the goddess later on.

And so Lady Wrestlers set the tone for something larger than mere entertainment. They engender a real love of female superiority, as well as a fixed point at which we may encounter the mythological archetype and even interact with her after a fashion. In a vital and important way they provide a vicarious fulfillment to the inherent obsession with sexually-charged violence that lies deep within the core of the human experience. In so doing, they open the channels for our journeys into the unconscious and the enlightening explorations that only such journeys can provide in terms of our psycho-emotional development.



OK, as promised, let’s get back to the contrast between the Old School and the New School in Ladies’ Wrestling. They may actually be enumerated most effectively by simply outlining a ‘best of both worlds’ scenario that harvests the most enduring features from each model. Firstly, it must be said that Lady Wrestling is still far from reaching its potential in terms of visibility and mass audience. The whole point of Vince McMahon’s ‘Sports Entertainment’ concept has been that of popularizing Wrestling beyond the scope of what anyone thought possible 40 years ago. He’s done exactly that...for the men. But he has thus far missed the boat where the ladies are concerned. So many of the fundamentals are in place, but Lady Wrestling is still missing the publicity and serious promotion necessary to put it over the top. Not that they don't try to give the girls their time; they do. They just don't give them the right kind of time, nor quite enough of it. The problem lies precisely in the abandoning of those few salient features that were characteristic of the Old School. To wit, then; the Tysonian formula for an undreamed-of level of popularity in Women's Wrestling.

BRING BACK:
More wrestling, in addition to the sensationalism. Take a cue from what was noted in our opening paragraph; lengthier matches with more traditional wrestling holds and moves. The modern notion is that such an approach makes for boring matches because of the extended periods of being trapped in various holds such as arm locks, toe holds, etc. Boring? What do they think the lads are looking at, anyway? The Old School approach just gives fans a longer and more stationary look at what they came to look at in the first place.

Maximum exposure mandatory. Of course, I’m talking about legs. Under no circumstances should a Lady Wrestler ever enter the ring in an outfit that does not fully display her bare legs. Period.

Get back to matches with time limits and a best of 3 falls format. Again, the ladies need more time out there in order to maximize their popularity.

At least 2 women’s matches per card, with occasional all-women’s cards on a test run basis.

Bigger Girls. Not every Diva needs to be a fitness model. Use some good old Midwestern raw-boned, corn fed hotties that bring power and variety of vibe to the table.


KEEP:
Great story lines, aerial show and acrobatics, major flash in terms of colors and characters, and definitely keep the body builders and fitness girls coming. They’re Hot, and they're larger than life, both very important elements in the construction of any hyper-successful cultural phenomenon.

Finally, what does our love of Women's Wrestling say about us as a culture? As individuals? Put simply, it reminds us that we're a comic book culture, and that we should be proud of that extraordinary fact. After all, it's the comics that embody all the significant aspects of human existence, and for the right price; usually around 3 bucks. Among those hallowed pages, and on any given night inside the square circle, the fundamentals of the big game always appear before us:

1. The importance of fantasy in the real lives of real people.
2. The triumph of justice and tolerance over injustice and bigotry.
3. The triumph of Good over Evil.
4. The triumph of open sexuality over mindless fear and repression.
5. An outlet for the psychic release of the violence that resides within all of us. Women's Wrestling provides catharsis for these innate violent impulses, even as it functions simultaneously as the vehicle for a heightened hyper-eroticism.
6. Creates an atmosphere of ritual; the worship of the divine goddess. Though it's all a fantasy, this element of the sacred is often realized on a much deeper level and will be accessed later on.

In conclusion, Women's Wrestling is good for you! (Especially if you're a guy)...(or a girl... or a guy) Women's Wrestling has the potential to heal society by putting us in touch with our primal psychic impulses, and creating access to the mythological archetypes. Far-fetched? No way. The comics could do the same thing if the world at large would get on board. But surely the combination of comics AND Women's Wrestling should suffice to help us poor humans get a grip and ascend to our next level of development. It's just common sense. So let's all pull together and keep those letters and emails pouring in to the offices of WWE. Mr. McMahon, our voices will be heard! Along with your genre-changing innovations, we implore you to bring Women's Wrestling back to the place of prominence it enjoyed in the Golden Era of the 50's, 60's and early 70's. If you do, you'll be able to say, in all candor, 'Twas the Divine Goddesses of Sports Entertainment that healed the world.' Not too shabby.