Mixed Wrestling: A Mixed Bag

The word “mixed” before the word “wrestling” denotes a wrestling match between a man and a woman, as in a mixing of genders.  This mode of wrestling contains this clarification because wrestling has basically never been a sport where men wrestled women.  This is a no brainer.  And this is not being sexist, it is merely saying what does not need to be said, that men, in general, are stronger than women.  This statement is referring purely to physical prowess and not to any intrinsic quality of superiority or inferiority in any other respect.  It’s just a question of strength, pure and simple.  Wrestling, to a large degree, is a test of strength.  Of course, you must factor skill, strategy, agility, flexibility, endurance, fitness, as well as other variables into the equation, but strength is one of the more important ones.  Why, then, are women being pitted against men in the wrestling ring?

Like so many things, it goes back to sex. Simply put, mixed wrestling exists because many people find it arousing to watch. Most would agree that a man and woman wrestling one another bear more than a slight resemblance to a man and a woman engaged in the carnal act. In both, you have the physical exertion, the exposure of skin, the sweat, the panting and grunting. Actually, many of the holds in mixed wrestling are designed to more closely approximate the sex act, as is apparent to anyone who can tell that such a pose is really not doing much to restrict the man’s movement. Perhaps the most popular and prominent move (besides the straddle) is the leg lock, always performed by the woman, usually done around the man’s neck and exposing her nether regions to her opponent’s face. Notice, too, that the female wrestler tends to be quite attractive, with nice curves, pleasing features, and long legs. Fine qualities that are helpful in attracting mates, but not quite what one looks for in a wrestler.

It seems we humans like wrestling best as entertainment, as opposed to the true sport of wrestling which requires tremendous strength and skill. Even so-called “professional” wrestling, though it requires much strength and effort, does test and hone the human instinct for fighting and survival. In mixed wrestling, we see wrestling even further removed from its original form. Wrestling as a form of titillation, arguably as foreplay. It arouses without (usually) crossing the line into porn, and is of interest for that reason. Why would people seek out mixed wrestling video as opposed to just downloading porn? Certainly it’s not to learn wrestling moves. Most of the videos out there are laughable at best in terms of the so-called “wrestling” they showcase. It’s usually the woman doing her best to get the man into various poses of submission, with the man allowing her to manipulate him. Which brings up elements of sadism and domination. Why do so many people find it sexy for a woman to dominate a man? Does it point to a deeper need to feel strong? Is it a yearning for the power of woman to have more of a role in shaping our world? Or is it just simple lust at play?

Certainly lust must have something to do with it, though there must be deeper reasons for the popularity of “fantasy” mixed wrestling.  Perhaps people just like seeing the woman win in a world where women have been oppressed for so long.  It certainly is fascinating to see a woman step out of the role of nurturer and into that of direct physical conflict with man.  And actually, despite the preponderance of erotic mixed wrestling, “real” wrestling between a man and a woman actually exists.  This is denoted as competitive mixed wrestling, meaning both parties are actually trying to win (as opposed to one trying to dominate while the other allows it).  Here, you can see something which would be more interesting to those who like to watch a real wrestling match.  Interestingly enough, the wrestling matches between the late, great Andy Kaufman and various female challengers could be considered competitive mixed wrestling matches, as the some of the females he wrestled were hell-bent on making him lose.  Perhaps if he had had a suitable opponent, one roughly equal in strength and size, he might have lost.  But he never did lose to a woman.  The natural strength differences between the two genders were exploited by Andy Kaufman to get a rise out of the audience- you can read the mind of the audience as they think “Look at him strutting around up there, of course he can beat a woman- get him to wrestle a man!”  Here was a great moment in comedy, or a strange form of comedy, where mixed wrestling featured center stage.

Perhaps the interest in semi-erotic mixed wrestling will lead to more women entering the field as professional, competitive mixed wrestlers.  Certainly they will have to do much to distance themselves from associations with sex play, but mixed wrestling has the potential to become a fascinating, exciting, and legitimate sport, one in which traditional assumptions and even biological differences between men and women are challenged.  That would be an interesting day indeed, when men and women are able to stand in hand to hand combat- and the woman has as good a chance of winning as the man.  In the meantime, men and women will continue to download videos of fantasy mixed wrestling on the internet, and some will even pay several hundred dollars for a real mixed wrestling session.