Rasslers

Jo Labat vs Ami Sola , 31 July 1958 (Wrestling in Paris)

The messiness of these old TV matches is precisely why I love them. The strongmen here and the bodybuilders who lived at the gym were two entirely different tribes. The strongmen wrestled (excuse me, rassled), while bodybuilders flexed. Crosspollination between the groups was rare. For my generation, these rugged guys were our dads' age, veterans of WW2, men who played poker and smoked fat cigars, men who built their bodies through hard physical labor. 

Watching these matches now feeds a fantasy of mine - a fulfillment of the old playground taunt "My dad can beat up your dad." As a kid, I would have loved it if dads regularly rassled as entertainment for their kids. Maybe some did, but I never saw it; I was nursed on westerns and gladiator movies - and the occasional glimpse of smoky black-and-white programs like this one, always shut down by my good Christian mom, who thought they were vulgar. God, how I loved the word vulgar at age nine.

I'm not saying this match is "real" wrestling. It is gritty, though. Matches of this kind were probably the models for early underground wrestling in a ring. I'm thinking of BG Enterprise's Arena days in the 1980s. The slowness of these classic matches was a plus, as far as I am concerned. Flesh rubbing against flesh, longer stretches for tight holds than modern audiences can tolerate, chests and stomachs heaving as the fighters catch their breath - these details turn me on even now. I think black-and-white befits these matches better than full color does, but I don't know why - maybe because the effect is austere, bordering on grim. 

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Labat (in the lighter trunks) and Sola (with the mustache and hairy chest) were sometimes tag-team partners. They fought each other on several other occasions, too. I don't know about Ami, but Labat ended his career in 1962, having wrestled professionally for twelve years.