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November Issue

Filmmaker Victor Rook gets a Stronghold on wrestling’s appeal for men (gay and straight)

Boys will be boys. There are some things many of us have in common with respect to our childhoods. One of those things: we wrestled. If we were bored on the playground we found an area in which to wrestle with our friend. We moved the furniture in the living room so we could wrestle with our brother. Those of us who took it more seriously joined our high school team so we could wrestle competitively. And for some who were exceptionally good, it was off to a college program and dreams of wrestling in the Olympics.
But that’s where wrestling stops. Adult men in the U.S. do not wrestle – unless it is of the fake variety. The idea of two men rolling around on a mat, grappling and trying to pin one another into submission … well, it’s all so gay. That’s one of the main themes that runs through Victor Rook’s documentary Stronghold: In The Grip of Wrestling.

Rook set out five years ago to determine why it is wrestling has fallen out of favor in this country. Throughout much of the 20th Century, wrestling was a sport like any other. Kids and adults tuned in to watch a match rather than a soap opera, and wrestlers rather than characters. Most of the people interviewed in the film would agree that wrestling as mere entertainment – particularly the fake brand popularized by Vince McMahon – has done the most to kill the sport’s public image. But Rook, in his documentary, travels across the country to find people who still enjoy pure wrestling.

In the beginning the film makes many promises about its subject matter. It says it is about “the human side of wrestling.” It’s about wrestling’s “underground.” And, basically, it’s about “one dude dominating another dude.” One underlying theme, however, kept rearing its head: the homoerotic aspect of wrestling.
“I first posted a request for anyone interested in being in the film on USAW's Web site,” said Rook. “USAW is the umbrella organization for high school and college wrestling. My post was removed by the moderator saying that films in the making are considered solicitation; however, months later I saw that they allowed another wrestling film, a fictional film about a college wrestling team, to not only be posted, but they promoted it later through a radio show. It's obvious that USAW did not want to be involved with my documentary because of some of the issues talked about, which is unfortunate. Because it is those same issues – boys’ shame about their bodies, and homophobia - that are ultimately preventing more kids from getting into wrestling.”

Boys rolling on the floor, boys grabbing others around the midsection, boys on top of one another – these things cause friction. And friction can cause erections. How many teenage boys (or adult men) want to get an erection when unintended? Rook believes that fear is what prevents many from either participating in wrestling or enjoying it as a spectator sport.

Stronghold

Fortunately for Rook, he discovered that men are more likely to open up about their love of wrestling when they’ve had a few drinks in them. By hanging out in bars, he got guys to share their wrestling stories and even agree to some impromptu matches in parking lots and public parks.
“I've actually had guys dump their girlfriends for the evening to talk to me about wrestling. One guy had just purchased his fiance an $8,000 engagement ring, then told her to go home so he and I could talk about wrestling. We ended up wrestling in front of his apartment at 2a.m. that night. It's one of those great masculine male-bonding things, and most all men I've talked to love to talk about wrestling.”

While Rook loves to talk about wrestling these days, it wasn’t always the case. Like most young kids, he enjoyed wrestling. But after an afternoon of horseplay with his best friend – during which Rook put him in a body scissor and full nelson – he felt it was unacceptable and something he couldn’t do any more. He believed the feelings he had were not natural. He never wrestled in school outside of PE class, where he regularly beat the bullies. Like a lot of us, he simply became a closet wrestling fan.

In an early 90s Internet chat room he started asking questions about wrestling, and learned that many other gay men had that same attraction toward and fondness for the sport. In 1995 he started WrestleMen.com, the largest site for adult-aged men into wrestling.
“Through that I have had thousands of conversations with men, both gay and straight, single and married, about their attraction to wrestling.”
It was in 2004, on his way back from a wrestling event in Palm Springs, that he decided this documentary needed to be made.
“I thought how unique it was that there were so many guys into wrestling as adults that the mainstream world didn't even know about it.”

He worked on the film every day for five years. He had two portable digital audio recorders with him at all times – one in his car, and one at his bedside. Whenever he got a thought about how to say something, or what not to forget to include, he would record it. He then transcribed close to 2,000 audio notes.
“There were nights that I woke up in a sweat feeling the pressure of both the gay and straight audiences on me, for a film that they hadn't even seen. Gay men were afraid that making this film may set back gay-identified men that take wrestling seriously, and the straight audience wanted nothing to do with anything that spoke of homoeroticism, even when kids make constant jokes about wrestling looking so ‘gay.’ There's a reason why they make those jokes, because they recognize the homoeroticism in it. It shouldn't take away from the sport aspect; it is just another component of a complex human activity.”

Stronghold

He began by circulating a three-question survey that asked guys what first attracted them to wrestling, and to describe their early wrestling experiences with friends, classmates, uncles, etc. He was floored by the similarities in their responses. From there he conducted about a dozen phone interviews, followed by on-camera interviews with over 100 wrestlers from all over the country.
“I interviewed guys at amateur wrestling events, pro indy shows, MMA schools, bars, truck stops … just about anywhere I could drum up a conversation on wrestling. Every day, from 2004 until 2009, I wore a wrestling t-shirt in public to solicit men to talk about it.”

Thus far, even in the film’s early stages of distribution, Rook says he has received great feedback.
“I've received e-mails from men who say that they no longer feel like they are alone, or feel odd about their attraction to wrestling,” he said. “I look forward to more constructive viewing and feedback, and I hope that it somehow makes its way into a recommended DVD for all high school and college wrestling coaches. By listening to the adult men in the film talk about their fears and shame about wrestling growing up, it may help them become more sensitive to their wrestlers' concerns.”

Stronghold: In The Grip of Wrestling
124 minutes
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY: Victor Rook
RECOMMENDED AGE: 17+
COST: $29
AVAILABLE AT: www.wrestlingfilm.com