National Kiss A Wrestler Day

October 5th of each year is observed as National Kiss A Wrestler Day and, since I’ve done a bit of wrestling but never gotten kissed for it, I thought we’d talk about that today.

I may have mentioned before that I was attending professional wrestling matches in Tampa, Florida before I was even born. My mom and dad would attend matches at the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory in West Tampa when my mom was pregnant with me, so my interest in it was baked in. My dad and I (and my younger brother when he got a little older) would watch Florida Championship Wrestling with Gordon Solie on TV every Saturday and any other televised wrestling shows that the local TV stations in South Florida would air.

So, when I got to high school, I joined the Junior Varsity wrestling team. I was big and strong and flexible (boy do I miss those days!) for a freshman, but I was in for a shock. I couldn’t jump off the top rope (there were no ropes, just mats), couldn’t clothesline my opponent, couldn’t choke slam my opponent, drop kick my opponent, give my opponent a bionic elbow (all praise to Dusty Rhodes), or put my opponent in sleeper hold.

This kind of wrestling was nowhere near as much fun as when my younger brother and I would wrestle each other like we were Jack Brisco and Dory Funk, Jr.

I left the team after the first season.

Then, when I was in my mid-40’s, I had the chance to wrestle for a local promotion in Orlando, Florida for several matches. It was a lot of fun but it was something I was doing while I was out of a job and so as soon as I got a job there was no more time (or energy) for the fun of semi-professional wrestling.

But, in each of those forays into wrestling, I never got kissed while wrestling or afterward when I won or lost. Not by my girlfriend and not by my wife. I feel like I have some catching up to do in the Kiss A Wrestler Day department.

Anyway, if you know a wrestler, make their day on this National Kiss A Wrestler Day and give ’em a big one!