From the Face to the Heel: Wrestling, Drag and Camp
This story was featured in our print and digital July/August issue.
I’ll never forget the first time I witnessed a wrestling match. I was with my grandfather at the Agricenter as part of a fundraiser, and fascinated by what I saw in front of me——a man struck with a chain, who proceeded to bleed real blood. He was the heel, the villain. And our hero, the face, stood in the ring, pretending to be scared. Or, he was actually scared.
The heel climbed into the ring, growling, his boots drenched in sweat and beer. The face, dressed in biker’s chaps and a sleeveless plaid shirt, readied himself. The heel launched but fell at the face’s feet. The face turned to the crowd, acting tough. But, soon, the heel rose to his feet.
“Look out,” someone screamed, but it was too late! The heel got our face by the arms and swung him into the ropes. As the crowd booed, the heel screamed a wicked scream, tongue flailing like a devil.
But, lo and behold, what’s this? The face—our hero—stood on the buckle and lept, the lights behind him like a halo. I was almost the same thrill I felt at my first drag show. It was in Montana, back in college. A local queer bar jerry-rigged a curtain as a makeshift green room for the queens. I’ve seen similar set-ups time and again, but this was my first time. As a club beat played, Madonna’s twin emerged from the curtain and shook her hair out. She darted in and out of tables, grabbing dollars while rocking her hips. I’d never seen such athleticism besides on a court or field. Before disappearing behind the curtain, our queen stood at one end of the bar and cartwheeled forward between full tables. Right at the crescendo of her act, she performed a split and then immediately rose, sweat drenching her forehead.
We’ve all heard of Jerry “The King” Lawler, who hasn’t? But, I want to talk about those lesser-known bodies in unremembered rooms, who show up every summer with heavy equipment and lay it all on the line in that ring. So, I sat down with local champs, starting with Bobby Ford of 901 Wrestling.
“I’m out there, and I’m me. Some folks want to say wrestling is all fake, or argue that it’s all real. But honestly, to me, it’s about authenticity,” said Bobby.
Bobby said every hit he takes is “one hundred percent real.” The theatrics are the real selling point.
“It’s performative masculinity. Eating nails for breakfast, as a bit. But there’s also a campiness to the role, too. You put on a costume, and you play a part. You play to the crowd’s sensibilities,” he said.
Bobby once performed with Ponyboi, a drag king, mixing wrestling with drag.
“It felt right and good. Honest. I’ve been to drag shows at Dru’s and Lamplighter before and seen the burlesque, as well. It all reminds me of wrestling [and] how we live on that same drive—entertaining others the only way we know how. And having a blast doing it,” said Bobby.
One star Bobby admires on the stage right now is queer wrestler Pha-Nesse, out in the Nashville circuit. “If there’s one place where you can be yourself, or at least a version of yourself, it’s be in the ring,” Bobby quipped.
Two major wrestling fans and drag stars, Aubrey Ombre and JR Stone, agree with Bobby and also feel wrestling has a kinship to drag. Aubrey Boom-Boom attended matches with her grandfather like I did, and Stone went to local shows with his dad. “It was a major bonding moment,” both of them told me.
I asked Aubrey if she felt that drag and wrestling have any similarities. She said, “Both forms are scripted and feed off of each other. You also never know when the script is going to change.”
Once at Lamplighter, I saw Hunny Blunt sashaying one second, then the next, she climbed on top of the pool table and did a death drop, almost like a piledriver of one, onto the floor below.
“Depending on what you plan to do, whether it’s wrestling or drag, concludes how straining it can be. And, honey, I’m sore after some nights,” said Hunny.
After training for two years with a friend, JR won his first title as a High-Risk Champion. “The moment I got in the ring, I knew I was made to be there,” said JR.
The same drive JR showed in wrestling occurs with his drag performances.
“When you’re in drag, you become the character. You have a stage name, a whole different life. Same goes for wrestling. You can be the hero that everyone loves and wants to be, or the bad guy that everyone hates,” said JR.
JR agreed with Aubrey and Bobby that both forms are hard on the body.
“You have to dance and lip sync at the same time. A lot of entertainers sing under their breath to stay on the words. Then, you add those flips and splits and high kicks. In wrestling, you have to have good cardio, too. Running back and forth, trying to keep the match alive,” said JR.
“When I started drag,” JR continued, “it almost felt just like wrestling. Whether I was on stage or in the ring, dancing out to a song or coming out to my entrance music in a stone-cold outfit and shorts, or in my wrestling tights and boots, people screamed my name regardless, ready for a show!”
Seems to me that everyone else agreed, on stage or in the ring. No matter who you are, we all love a great, campy show.
