So I've been diving deep into the wrestling career of the Heel known as Chris Colt -- searching for his rare 1970s matches on YouTube, and falling in love with him as one does with gay wrestling icons.
My obsession was kicked off by a recent episode of "Dark Side of the Ring" which aired on Vice earlier this year. I recently streamed it and couldn't help noticing Colt's blatant homoerotic energy, which was perhaps not clocked by most str8 fans at the time.
As with most wrestlers featured on "Dark Side," Colt's life story is filled with trauma, addiction, violence, and a sad ending. However, he was also really sexy, and gay, and clearly loved everything about pro wrestling. All of today's images are from the Dark Side of the Ring, Season 5, Episode #6, "Chris Colt: Welcome to My Nightmare."
His persona and his wrestling performances really captured my fancy. Like other 70's Heels using the Gay Master persona, he mixed queer hip-swiveling with aggressive brutality and eye make-up. He was a violent, sissified dick-tease, just how I like them. He liked to bite and scratch his opponents like a sassy bitch. His costumes were colorful and always super queer, and oftentimes either he, or his opponent, or both would end up bloody-faced.
His many innovations added entertainment value to pro wrestling which we still enjoy today. He was the first to adopt flamboyant Rock n Roll fashion, and first to use Entrance Music (in his case, Alice Cooper's "Welcome to My Nightmare.") He was one of the first to jump off the top rope onto a prone opponent. And most of all, he knew the audience wanted MORE than just the same old holds and finishers -- they wanted to see sex in the ring (as much as the law would allow.)
He was also gay IRL and didn't seem to care who figured that out (which was rare, and rather trail-breaking, during the homophobic 1970s.) And I'm sure he got bullied and blacklisted and possibly beaten because he happened to like men.
Check out the documentary and let me know if you feel the urge, like I did, to hug Chris Colt and tell him it'll be OK. You can hopefully find it if you have the Vice Channel on your cablevision. I know it's also available for streaming from Amazon Prime Video for like $2.99: