In college I took a class in art history, and we of course covered the Renaissance in some detail. One day, the professor was going on about the idealized artistic male body of Renaissance art. Michelangelo in particular used highly muscular male models, and for him the muscled body of a man personified beauty and perfection. The professor noted that Renaissance art had rediscovered classical Greek art which celebrated very muscular, very athletic, and essentially perfect looking male bodies. As class was concluding, the professor lamented, almost to himself, that modern art was lacking in its appreciation of the muscular, athletic male body. This elicited a considerable amount of snickering among my classmates. But in my mind, I immediately thought of wrestling as a celebration of just these same traits. Here are some pictures from a
NRW match moments after Dave Calbrese crotch lifts fellow lanky wrestler Flash. Unfortunately the quality of the photos is not as good as I would like, but the muscular, athletic male body clearly is on display, from the bulging biceps, flat abs, trim waists, and particularly Calbrese's powerful thighs. The wrestler in action is a true work of art.
EDIT: This
link shows that Dave Calbrese is someone Michelangelo would have been proud to work with.
It was the championship match at the underground beach wrestling tournament. Yoshi knew he had something to prove. Ivan the Russian had been talking smack beforehand, telling everyone how he was going to take apart his little Asian opponent. But after the match started, Ivan found himself surprised at Yoshi’s technique and agility. This was going to be tougher than he had expected. The action was back and forth with neither wrestler gaining an advantage. Then, about six minutes into the match, Yoshi saw the opening he was looking for, one that would bring this match to a decisive end. He got his arm in through Ivan’s crotch and lifted the Russian high off the ground. Yoshi held Ivan up for about five seconds, and the Russian found himself breathless at this unexpected display of power by his Japanese opponent. Then Yoshi brought his opponent down for a backbreaker, and Ivan’s back cracked against Yoshi’s knee. Extreme pain racked Ivan’s body. Yoshi shouted out with the spirit of the samurai as he crotch lifted Ivan back up high, then he brought his opponent down once more for another painful backbreaker. With one more gargantuan yell, Yoshi crotchlifted Ivan up high, carried him around for a few seconds for all to see, then bodyslammed the Russian down so hard that his body made a deep impression in the sand. The last thing Ivan saw before he passed out was Yoshi dancing around his broken body in a victory celebration.
