RhodyRaybo's blog

Today I took the day off to wrestle, which I have been known to do in the past. I was very anxious to meet a wrestler from out of state, and he was agreeable to wrestle me sometime at the home of mawrestler. So, I went early to get an hour in with mawrestler. Fun time as always, but then when wrestlesweat0077 showed up, mawrestler allowed us to just go at it while he did some of his personal business in his office.

Needless to say, the whole time was just pure chemistry. Oh, he was stronger than I was and he had me in one hold after another. But we went at it for almost 2 and a half hours, and we had never met before, though we had chatted online many times. But he nailed me, we chatted while we in holds, I had him in a few holds, but it was mostly him nailing me. But we wrestled like we had done it many times. It's not often that I get that great an experience with an out-of-towner, but it is just so special when it does happen.

And I especially want to thank mawrestler for allowing us to go at it. He wasn't out of the picture. He was in the doorway chatting with wrestlesweat while he had me pinned, but I really, really do appreciate his hospitality. You're a good friend dude. And wrestlesweat0077 does not disappoint, he DOES sweat.

My matches lately have taken an interesting turn, more and more of my matches are at my opponents' homes including my last 3 matches. But I have noticed something interesting about my last 3, something I like....we wrestled part or all of the time in dim light (they were evening matches)

Last Friday evening I met a friend for our 4th match, our second at his place. We wrestled in his room with the mattress on the floor with very dim lighting in a rustic decor. It was awesome! Last night (Sunday), I went at the last minute to a guy's apartment. It was only our second time wrestling, first time was here. I get to his apartment, he has the furniture pushed back, blankets on the floor and candles lit for our match. Very nice. Then tonight I met "Kevin" (see my favorites) at his place and he dimmed the lights for the last half hour of our match.

What is it about dim lighting that makes a match more interesting? I really don't know. I don't do anything "romantic", I'm straight and happily married. Maybe it's just something about wrestling in the dark that increases the bonding. Maybe it's not being able to see everything that's going on, but relying on other senses. I don't really know.

But I do suggest that if you haven't tried it yet, when wrestling, dim the lights or kill them altogether. It really does add to the effect.

I really want all the guys reading this to know that in wrestling, both off and on the mats there is a lot of "talking" that goes on. Talking, first of all, by those who only talk about wrestling. They say they want to meet, promise they will meet, but either refuse to nail a date when asked or cancel with no real reason. They need to beware because of the other type of "talking" that happens. It happens among the wrestlers. Those of us who actively wrestle do compare notes. We tell each other what type of experience we have had with other members of this and other sites. We recommend guys to each other and warn each other to steer clear of some guys.

So guys, if you're just one who talks about getting together but haven't actually done any wrestling, chances are you're reputation will precede you. This is not aimed at those who cannot host or have very demanding schedules that hinder them. I'm talking about those who make promises, make plans, but never keep them.

Guys, what you want the others on here to think of you, is entirely up to you. I've had a few matches because of recommendations from my semi regulars and I have steered clear of a lot of guys because of their reps.

But...I do always look forward to the challenge of persuading a guy to meet with me. Sometimes it takes a lot of persuading, but I'm willing to do it if I think there's a glimmer of hope. And if it takes months before we meet...so be it. Anticipation is a wonderful thing.

As of today, I have wrestled 61 different guys in over 250 matches since July 2011. I enjoyed most of them, but some had me almost quitting the sport entirely, but I won't dwell on the bad apples. What I do want to focus on in here and some upcoming blogs is what I'll call "One-Match Wonders". Guys that I wrestled with once, and only once and never saw again. And I'm not referring to guys who were out-of-town visitors. I'm talking about guys that were close enough where we could have wrestled at least a few times a year.

I'll start with my very first match since formally deciding to wrestle. I'll call him "Tom". Tom answered my Craigs List ad initially. He lived a bit of a hike from me. He lived in the Hartford area which is almost a 2 hour drive from here. But I was honored to have him as my first. Though I didn't know what I was really doing wrestling him, he was patient with me. He had me in a lot of good moves and had a lot of energy. He was also in construction, so he was rugged, something else I found desirable. "Tom" stayed for 2 hours, brought his own mats and was happy to just put me in long holds and keep me pinned. For my first time, I couldn't ask for a better wrestling partner. we would wrestle for 20 minutes, take a break for about 20 minutes, wrestle again, and on. I really did enjoy it.

Then after the match he agreed that he would like to get together for a rematch soon. I told him I'd love to.....I never saw him again after that. What happened? I did speak with him and exchanged a couple emails afterward, he told me he was "busy" and had work to do on his house. Was that really the reason? Could be. I really don't know why "Tom" and I never wrestled again. Could be the drive was too far, but I did offer to go see him sometime. Could be maybe my restrictions at the time were too much for him to deal with. Perhaps he noticed how badly I was shaking after our match. It was our first time and I was achy for days after that. Perhaps he feared injuring me. But in all reality, I'll never really know the real reason "Tom" was a "One-Match Wonder" with me. But whatever his reason was, he will always be fondly remembered as my first match. Thank you "Tom" for introducing me to the wonderful world of wrestling.

Last Thursday evening I was at my son's DoJo waiting for his class to end. I was chatting with one of the other dads there. As we're chatting we hear some loud moaning that sounded like my son. The other dad said sounds like "Victor" (not his real name) is on top of your son. We walk into the studio and sure enough, there were our two sons grappling like many of us would. I took a couple pictures and cheered my son on as he had "Victor" locked in a scissors lock.

When they were done and getting their gear together, "Victor" made a few jokes about my son possibly enjoying that for the "wrong reasons" and that maybe he, himself, enjoys it for the 'wrong reason". I asked why he thought it could be the wrong reason and his response was because he enjoys it so much. ARGHHHH!!!!! That is what our culture teaches about wrestling, if you enjoy it you're either gay or there's something wrong with.

Now, I'm not attacking gay guys here, I've wrestled many and have formed many good friendships with these guys. But our culture needs to once and for all get it through their skulls that two guys rolling around trying to dominate each other does NOT reflect their orientation. It's a practice as old as humanity itself. Even in the Bible, we have Jacob wrestling with God for an entire night.

Well, that's my rant for the weekend. Peace out!