He posted a request for interviews on the Web site of USA Wrestling, the umbrella organization for high school and college grappling. He also wanted to include every form of wrestling: amateur, professional, submission and “horseplay.” He wanted to address sensitive subjects like wrestling homoeroticism, but in a way that straight and gay men could both respect. Through conversations with thousands of men – gay and straight, single and married – he realized his attraction to wrestling was far from unique. Since 1998 has been his main source of income. But in the late 1990s he realized two ambitions: He made a nature documentary for PBS, and he started wrestling.Īfter a wrestling cartoon he drew earned attention, he quit his job. He earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan State, then worked as a technical writer for years. “I thought you had to be a short, thick-necked Italian,” he laughs. Growing up near Buffalo, Rook did not wrestle. Now – thanks to Rook’s film, an accompanying book and his Web site – wrestling fans are coming out of the closet.
As kids, they cut photos out of library wrestling books as adults, they believe they must hide their interest. Here are others: Vast numbers of men are sexually attracted to wrestling. And it’s just one of many controversial, often-ignored topics addressed by Victor Rook in his insightful new documentary, “Stronghold: In the Grip of Wrestling.” That straightforward fact is the elephant in the wrestling room.
