Missed Opportunity

On the WWE Network this week,  NXT held one of their two-hour events called “Takeover.”  These shows have the hype and feel of a Pay-per-View, I suppose to prepare the trainees for future Big Events.  You should check it out if you subscribe, there were several hot moments.

Speaking of hot moments, Tye Dillinger took to the ring for singles competition (my heart always skips a beat when I see one of my favorites on the card.)  His cocky pec-bouncing turns to fear and anxiety when his opponent — Baron Corbin — is announced.

Corbin does not appear amazingly huge or all-powerful, but they are pushing him as the Unbeatable Beast — an angry, big-dicked Alpha Male who can over-power any other man in 30 seconds or less. Corbin’s new pants are an improvement, with laces running down both sides to cinch the fabric tightly around his legs and glutes.

Corbin is presented as the traditional masculine ideal (aggressive, impervious to pain, ruthless), which places my poor Tye Dillinger in the more effeminate, non-masculine role.  My heart goes out to poor Dillinger, not only because of the humiliating (and short) beating he will now sustain, but also for his patience as he waits for his big break, always willing to take a back seat by jobbing to brutes like Corbin.

The camera flashes to the image of another wrestler, Bull Dempsey, closely watching the match.  This scene depicts the classic (and homo-erotic) “Watching from Ringside” gimmick. In this classic trope, one man can’t resist the urge to stalk his frenemy, drinking in his every move.

The image of a man watching two other men wrestle before him, clearly eager to join in the fray, presents themes of voyeurism, homo-erotic attraction, and a potential love triangle (between the two wrestlers and the third man with the staring problem.)

Even though Tye Dillinger has had some recent success and a new gimmick on the Indy scene, on NXT he is still presented as a colorful-panties-wearing jobber.   In just a few minutes, the handsome muscle-man is face-planted on the mat, stunned into helpless ragdollism, and mounted by the all-powerful brute in tight black leggings.

Usually the NXT audience counts the seconds in a Baron Corbin match (because most of his matches are under 30 seconds.)  At least my boy Tye stayed on his feet long enough for the fans to lose count!

Tye Dillinger is so well trained as a jobber (having been pinned so frequently), that he naturally spreads his legs open and shows us his bulge even though Corbin did not bother to hook his leg.  Good boy!

Dillinger is further emasculated by being ignored by the dominant Corbin, as if he no longer matters at all.  Corbin is now focused on the more manly Man who is staring at him.

As Baron exits the ring, he and Bull engage in one of those gay eye-to-eye staring contests.  For the entire match, Baron was forced to serve as the eye candy for the man at ringside, the object of Bull’s Male Gaze.  Now Baron tries to place Bull in the submissive position, to make Bull the object of his gaze.  Neither man will back down and soon they both have boners, along with most of the dudes in the audience.

I must say I am a little surprised to see these two brutes launching a feud because they’re both the same type — they’re both powerful, dominant, cruel Heels.  Which one is our Hero?  Which one is the Baby-Face?  How much better and more exciting it would be to see Bull Dempsey horny for the other man in the ring, for my always-eager Tye Dillinger!