He was coming through the town I was living in part time, and he contacted me via email. I checked out his profile. Wow! Here's a guy who was big and strong, a guy who had apparently won some kind of award for wrestling. At first I was quite excited about this potential match with a big guy--6'3" and 265. But as I thought about his experience and his size, I wondered if this was the right thing to do for a guy who was still basically a newbie.At some point, Ray asked for my telephone number, and I gave it to him. He called and came on with a really strong sales pitch. Now, I'm not much on salesmen, so his rapid-fire delivery seemed like another negative. I was all ready to decline to meet him when he turned up both the friendliness and the pressure.
I buckled.
On the night that he was in town, I met him at his motel. I was nervous, but he was a nice guy and now that match was sold he was less pushy. We had a good chat and cleared our space for wrestling. He changed into his singlet--the first guy I wrestled with real gear--and I into my no-fly briefs.
From the moment the bell rang, he was all over me--strong wrenching holds, twisting me this way and that, working me into whatever hold he pleased. I seemed absolutely powerless. I've got some weight and a little bit of strength, but I was no match for Ray.
Thankfully he was a good man along with being a good wrestler. He released me as soon as I submitted to this hold or that--and I submitted often, once to a head scissors so powerful I thought the top of my scalp was going to pop off. He wasn't really a teach like some others have been, but he had a level of enthusiasm for wrestling that nobody I'd met so far could match.
It was this enthusiasm of his, I think, that also allowed me to experience something I don't believe I'd yet experienced--wrestling naked. Once we'd gone several falls--all of which he won handily--he simply asked if I wanted to wrestle naked. Without giving it much thought, I said, "Sure." So, we stripped off our singlet and briefs and wrestled some more. Everything went mostly as it did before, although I got him in one halfway decent head scissors. I was able to hold it for a few seconds, but then he was out of it making me submit to who-knows-what hold of his own. Wrestling naked seemed like no big deal, and so I've never been afraid to do that since, although it hasn't come up that often.
When it was over, we had a friendly parting, and I walked away glad for the experience but in no way anxious to take Ray on again . . . ever.
