What turned me gay (not really) ...
My first male lust that I can recall was for Alex Wright. It was easy to explain why I wanted the guy - good looking, a can-do attitude, and a hot body, were just some of the reasons why he was my guy. Even non-wrestling enthusiasts are attracted to Alex Wright, as he is undoubtedly a hot guy. But digging a little deeper there was another wrestler I pined for and in many ways, better explained my attraction to wrestling - Arn Anderson.
In my youth, my straight friends all wanted to watch WWF, attracted to their slick productions and exciting storylines, while I gravitated more towards WCW. WCW to me was more, well raw for lack of a better term (ironic because WWF Raw was a thing). WCW was raw in terms of introducing me to fresh faced new jobbers, brutal heels, and raw ring action with fewer theatrics. To me, this was real(er) wrestling.
Now real wrestling wouldn't be complete without real heels. I've mentioned before that this was a divergence between my friends and I, and writing about this now makes it all the more clear; My straight friends watched wrestling for Heroes and Villains, while I watched it for Jobbers and Heels. All this to say that Heels like Arn Anderson were pivotal to my evolution into liking erotic wrestling. And yes, I know that Arn Anderson was at WWF and other orgs once upon a time, but that time was well before I really got into wrestling.
Watching Arn Anderson in action, I could finally put into images and moves what I longed for in a wrestler. Arn Anderson wasn't a sex symbol, at least not by the traditional definition, but something about him just did it for me. He had that hairy chest, muscled - but not overly shaped body, and above all that overwhelming confidence. To give some context here, the late 90's/00's was also the golden age of the boy band, a time when society was screaming about the virtues of being young, smooth, and beautiful, all of which conflicted with me wanting a burly, masculine heel.
Even now it's hard to articulate what exactly this brought to the table. What I couldn't put into words, Heels allowed me see on television. Heels exposed me to the world of a hard nosed, intense wrestler by the name of Arn Anderson. Not many other heels stick out in my mind, I do recall being fixated on Scott Hall for awhile - hot for sure, but not the it factor that Arn seemed to have.
Perhaps my affinity for Arn Anderson was because I wanted to be that guy - the no nonsense, strong but silent type. Perhaps I just wanted a daddy type, who knows. All I know is that the image of Arn Anderson schooling a young jobber is forever etched into my mind and without a doubt, something that made me gay (not really).
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