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Salient: Victoria University Students' Paper. Vol. 29, No. 9. 1966.

The wrestling melodrama

The wrestling melodrama

A Professional wrestler pursues his occupation with all the verve of a professional actor. He must rehearse his moves carefully, build up an image either as the rogue of the ring or as the innocent, good fellow. He can become either, and once he has found the guise which best suits his temperament and the box office he accordingly acts the part.

Wrestling in New Zealand, high-lighted by the visit of King Kong, portrays many of the same characteristics of American big business wrestling, if perhaps a little less sophisticated. King Kong, a beefy 33-stone wrestler from Singapore, was undoubtedly the rogue of the fight against Dick Klonowski of Australia.

Under the blazing lights, the ring incongruous in front of a large and dusty organ, this giant of a man gave the traditional bad-man act. The crowd responded accordingly, booing and throwing empty sweet boxes at the unvanquished King Kong.

True to form, King Kong managed to down his opponent in the first round. Tension was rife, the grumble of disapproval as Dick lay concussed on the mat reached a crescendo. King Kong played it up, saluting to the crowd and looking at his downed opponent scornfully. The booing continued with the realisation that a scheduled eight-round match was over in the first round.

The entertainment of the ring lies not so much in the violence but in the acted relationship of the fighters. Like a western the "baddie-goodie" relationship is exploited to the full. Equal and opposite pairing of the fighters to contrast the evil and the good does not happen by accident as the promoters realise that audiences like to feel an affinity to a fighter— a hero to support in his time of need.

The image is religiously pursued, the rogue may wear long, flowing cloaks, bedeck himself with medals or have imprinted on his back some motif of his particular type of brutality: the tiger, the snake, and so on.

Despised

The crowd in fact is left in no doubt as to which fighter is to be despised and who should conventionally be supported. The hero is the picture of innocence, usually wearing only a pair of trunks and with his hair well done.

At the start of the fight the referee brings the fighters together, the rogue taking the opportunity to ask some legal questions displaying at the same time some of the brutal holds he intends to use. Our young hero stands passively during this exhibition of shadow wrestling and waits.

Dirty fighter

The rogue naturally refuses to shake hands and stalks back to his corner. During the fight great is the rogue's ability, but what a dirty fighter! We see our poor hero beaten, knuckled, hair pulled, and thrown to the mat numerous times.

Finally, it is too much . . . the hero lies a beaten man. The crowd is incensed with rage at the rogue's tactics, but one is left wondering how the referee managed to miss all the dirty little tricks which were displayed in triple to the anticipant but outraged crowd. The end, however, is not yet, for great though the effort is the hero raises himself and with vengeance descends on his tormentor.

With one motion the rogue is sent spinning against the ropes ... he bounces off the ring side and meets a karate–type blow in the neck which knocks him to the ground. The audience is delirious with joy and the young hero, acclaimed throughout the hall, parades around the ring before disappearing to the hotel where he and his friend (the rogue) happen to be staying.

Hero lost!

The hero doesn't always win, however, King Kong won much to the anger of the crowd, who had paid much, seen little and, what's more, had their hero cruelly beaten.

However, this is the way of wrestling ... a colourful and entertaining sport which is now reaching the proportions of a big entertainment business. In America it is estimated that there are more than 600 arenas catering for more than 25 million cash-paying customers. In addition, there is wide television coverage. Wrestling has also flourished in Australia, where some tv networks finish off their evening programme with an hour of wrestling.

There will be many more like King Kong. They will come and go, entertaining us or at least letting us air some of those primitive repressions that still exist in the people of this enlightened age.