A silent follower of this blog recommends French championship bodybuilder and wrestler Jo Atlas, 25, 6'0", 259#, for our aesthetic appreciation. Born in Marseilles, the young bodybuilder grew up in north Africa. After training in kung fu, karate, and boxing and winning the title of "Mr. France" three times, Atlas debuted in the ring in 2009 with the promotion
Wrestling Stars. Atlas's size raises the question of whether one can be "too big for wrestling," but as long as the guy moves, grunts, grips, sweats, suffers, and causes to suffer, he's got the right stuff as far as I'm concerned. N'est ce pas?
Damn! Does he wrestle in those tiny blue briefs? How do you say "hot" in French?
ReplyDeleteJoe, come on. Of the hundreds of wrestlers you've featured over the years, this is the one guy you must caution against before you've even seen him based on physical appearance? "Too big for wrestling..." (in quotes like it's a common saying). Six feet tall and under 260 pounds--I've heard some wrestlers are bigger than that. Back in the day there was this guy called Andre the Giant. He seemed to do alright as far as wrestling careers go.
ReplyDeleteIf it's possible to be "too big for wrestling," surely it's possible to be too small. Yet less than a month ago you lionized a guy who's barely 5 feet tall as the epitome of "good wrestling," ironically giving him special props for his looks, and he doesn't even look the way he did in any of those videos anymore.
When you say, "too big for wrestling," regarding this guy, you clearly aren't talking about sheer size. You're talking about muscularity. And, cool--a lot of people, even gay guys, hate muscle and bodybuilders and all guys who have lower body fat ratios than they possess and will never acknowledge under any circumstances that such a guy could be talented at all. But if the issue is "good wrestling," then the standard should be how well does any specific wrestler embody or, more importantly, advance the specific type of wrestler he represents.
This is what I meant a few weeks ago when I suggested the standard of "good" wrestling isn't some list of qualities that remain the same for all workers regardless of style and appearance, but is completely subjective and only given value according to how highly the people who might buy a specific match value it. There's this ridiculous trend in gay pro wrestling to act as if quality is independent of reaction. More specifically, there's a trend to discount someone for possessing obvious physical appeal, as if the history of genuine, "real" pro wrestling revolves around anything BUT the way a wrestler looks, and as if it's a mere niche that there are some people who do. I call bullshit on that. Good wrestling is whatever the people paying to see it are paying to see. Always will be.
Bruno, I think the French say "hot" too.
ReplyDeleteJoshH, I suppose I would define "too big for wrestling" as tending to loom rather than to wrestle and/or to have so little flexibility in the joints as to be unconvincing when applying a supposedly tight hold on an opponent. I have probably said that this blog is just about my personal tastes in wrestling enough times by now. I never claim to be consistent (or rather to have trained my sex drive to be, where any consistency is by accident) or to be able to define "good wrestling" for anyone but me. And, yeah, I think Jonny Firestorm was and is hot--and a very good wrestler--and try as I might to bend my kinks to conform to any standard whatsoever, the effort has been fruitless. I'm not enough of a free-market capitalist to let ROI define what good food is, much less good wrestling. And I love Andre the Giant, too, just not in "that way."
It's all good, Joe. Half the fun of posting on a blog is being contrary and not all, "You're always so right yet again" and all love-festy and what not. I mean, hell, if I want to engage in mutual dick sucking, I can just go home where I'll at least get a pat on the head for it...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I understood your point that due to his muscularity, Jo Atlas or any mesomorph may be presumed inflexible, under-conditioned aerobically or otherwise lumbering. While I could think of a few guys who certainly are those things (the very nice guy who makes my venti iced coffee every morning and who has the sense to call me by my name and call me out of the line when it's stretching around the store because I let him keep the change from my 5 is clearly more buff than his otherwise small frame wants to handle. It's not like he's knocking boxes of splenda off the counter left and right, just that his body seems to work against him at times), my point was, the myth of muscle mass overwhelming flexibility is just that--a myth.
There are huge bodybuilders who can do full splits. There are willowy twinks who can't even bend over and touch their toes (well, not without dinner and a movie first, ba dum dum!). Flexibility is a product of genetics (lesser) and, much more importantly, conscious development. Any decent bodybuilder or wrestler or tennis player or, hell, even a horse jockey realizes that one can't just hit the bench press and the squat station and expect a full rounded result. There are guys as big as Brad Rochelle who are more limber than any other wrestler on their roster. So called 'big' guys from Can-Am and BGE like Tom Flex and Paul Perris to Joshua Goodman can do splits (as an aside, it's just as notable what gay wrestling companies are willing to use such an ability in their videos and those who look at it as just stupid 'model' type stuff...). Ironically enough, Jo Atlas himself can be seen at Muscle Gallery (a not-quite naked bodybuilder "modeling" website that sells videos) doing splits and a dozen other positions that very few wrestlers of any size could match. Particularly noteworthy is that if one checks out Atlas's physical progression, one would see that he was more Rio Garza sized than bber huge about 7 years ago, which is another topic...
My point was, to project that he's somehow out of sync or lacking because he's muscular is just a projection based on what you prize personally, and not necessarily the basis for an objective analysis of quality wrestling. And if you're going to point out his assets and liabilities on any level, it's just a good idea to figure out what they are. If only there was some sort of tool out there where a person could just type some wrestler's name and figure out if there's actually a video or something of him doing it. Ah, maybe someday...
Wow, what a spirited debate. And here I am just focusing on Atlas' muscles and skimpy ring gear. For shame, Bruno.
ReplyDeletePerhaps this debate can be settled by watching the few matches Atlas has on YouTube. One in particular, Atlas vs. the equally hunky Phenomenal Khent (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmix32JN47s&feature=related) may put to rest this whole size vis-a-vis skill issue.
Joe, I couldn't resist and I just had to do a post on Atlas on my blog. Thanks for bringing him to our attention. And to the "silent follower," who discovered Atlas, thank you, too.
FYI: His real name is Johan Fehd Karouami.
ReplyDeleteI think a Jo Atlas is pretty flexible and athletic, probably due to his Martials Arts Background, here is a little video i found on youtube, you can judge by yourself his ability, I think he is DAMNN GOOD.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH1dXQt9WTw