hephaestion2014's blog
Masking
"The problem with you - "
Always a great start to any conversation.
" - is that you are the same on the mats as off!"
Well yeah, I don't suddenly become 7ft tall and the build of a pitbull dog the moment my foot hits the blue mat. I don't suddenly become a glamazon called Cherise that smothers him with my gigantic boobs ... but I kinda get what he means.
I've wrestled a couple of people who before the match and during it feel like two different personaes. The guy who was just apologising for accidentally stepping on my foot as we made our way into the matroom is now calling me a "jobber fucking bitch" and bending my limbs into shapes that I didn't think was physically possible and his grin is getting wider as my pain is increasing.
Not everyone has that marked difference. But they relax into aggression and become a more primal version of themselves.
"You don't let go ... you're holding back ... stop holding back ... "
Perhaps. I've gone over this before and not rehashing it. Brought up believing being gay and fighting/aggression was wrong blah blah wanting to be accepted blah blah not scare an opponent blah blah
"I've got a solution ... wear a mask. Give yourself and your opponent permission to see you differently. A separation between the Jon on and off the mats."
I dunno. Sounds like this might be a conversation I'll be recounting to a trickcyclist on a leather couch after spending a month referring only to myself in the third person ... I dunno
I used to do some acting in my past, sucked at it, but I did find a prop was useful - maybe this will help me break that block I have a teensy bit.
Maybe I'll even not say "sorry" as I'm owning my opponent.
Well, a mask will improve the aesthetic experience for my opponent anyway ;)
So mask on or off? Do you think it'll actually help make me a bastard on the mats?
Do I even want to be a bastard?
The Kestrel (49 )
9/08/2016 10:49 PMHummmmmmm.......
It is all about getting the balance right I guess.
I do become something different on the mats, i try being nice off the mats (not always a success depending on the c@€√ I am dealing with. But on the mats, despite the constant dappy grin, I am engaging in an aggressive sport with a consenting guy looking to do the same.
Yeah i try to be safety conscious, but the intent is to take yer opponent to a level of pain that he feels he can no longer take. I expect the same treatment in return.
What changes does this bring out in me? Well I go from thinking "this is a nice guy" to "I want him tapping faster than Michael Flatley". The change is marked as I have stepped into another world when on the mats. Unless something unscripted happens like an injury, then my mind becomes focused on an objective.
To a lot of guys, this level of change is not enough, they either want more aggression, or to basically pose and hope for a hand job for dressing up in trunks. But everyone has their own idea of wrestling, and so change their behaviour to enhance the time they spend doing it.
If you feel the need to change yer behaviour, make it so that it makes the match better for you. If wearing a mask floats your boat then go for it. If whispering into yer opponents ear " you reek of jobber" while applying a neck crank does it for you, then why not?
Similarly, if you feel that you get the most out of yer matches in the way you behave, then simply don't change a thing.
Obviously, be a little accomodating of yer opponent to make it worth his while too, but if you feel you have to behave in a way you don't like, then the match is going to feel like a waste of time for you both.
Ironbull (94)
9/12/2016 3:38 PMNooooo. No mask. Ministry of Taste condemned. Just be bad on the mats . If he doesn't like it he can tap. Cathartic!
hephaestion2014 (52)
9/12/2016 11:40 PMThanks. I guess wishing to be something other than you are is doomed to failure.
I don't have your mindset Kestrel, I don't go into a fight thinking that way. Mainly, I think to myself - "make this fight as hard as I can for my opponent" and "don't lose too badly or too quickly"
But then unlike you, and a lot of wrestlers, I don't have that skill base to be that realistically competitive ... I would get you down, on the back foot but not close it down technically.
I need lessons and training before I had the confidence to do that, confidence that I won't really hurt ya, and I'd need better work hours before I could get those lessons ... until then I'm happy to learn and fight in defence, resisting and hoping to force my opponent to make a mistake I could exploit.
I guess I can be heel in more pro/role play situations ... had this kind of match with a great guy and enjoyed relaxing and letting Thug Jon out. That was great, and I'd happily do it again - but really prefer submission.
I have wrestled so many different guys in so many different matches. Where in Pokemon, you've got to catch 'em all - wrestling styles, I've wanted to try 'em all.
I guess the matches I've really enjoyed is not so much the style but where I've relaxed and been myself, where there's no pressure to win (hence why I always challenge guys better than me) and I can have that chat/coffee before and a pint and setting the world to right after - but also had that proper occasionally painful and tough fight in between.
So thinking about what you've and Mr. Ironbill have said, perhaps the problem with me was that I'm just not that guy's ideal opponent and I can adapt but I can't be moulded. The mask will just be a bit of plastic on my face constricting my vision and interfering with my breathing.
As much as I'd like to be a Bastard, I'm not there ... yet.
(Handjob for putting on trunks is still making me laugh ... )