I am writing this article on the day that a boxer was critically injured in the ring, and the desirability of that sport is again called into question. In no other sport is the object of the "game" to induce brain damage so as to prevent your opponent from continuing. Certainly in professional competitive wrestling (which I hereinafter call "pain-wrestling") the object could be to induce pain to gain a submission, or induce sprains and other injuries so that the opponent can't continue. But there is the alternative of a pin fall, and indeed the concept of containment wrestling1 was introduced by Scott Carruthers (1989) in order to eliminate the pain aspect altogether.
However there is a further step one could go, which is particularly relevant to those interested in heterosexual erotic wrestling. That is to induce pleasure as a game objective in a competitive situation. Sexual pleasure is the obvious element that would replace pain, and an orgasm a knock out. As the couple wrestle in this way, initially the desire to win would outstep the desire for pleasure and they would wrestle out of holds. But eventually one or other of them would be overridden by the desire for pleasure, and that person would "lose" by going to orgasm. If that would make the game end too quickly, one could still have best-of-three, best-of-five etc, although that would put females at an advantage over males. But that is not a bad thing inasmuch as in most sports females can't compete with males because of the superior male strength.
With ordinary pain-wrestling, moves such as punches are disallowed and are "fouls". In this case, direct genital stimulation could be given a similar status, as could kissing. Or some couples may chose to allow kissing but not genital stimulation etc. Make the rules that suit you best.
Of course, should a player be pleasured by hold but try to wriggle out, the other can still keep the hold on by strength. But there is an interesting variation inasmuch as that if too much force is used, or it is applied unwisely the pleasure doesn't exist, so there is considerable skill needed of a different and probably greater kind as compared to pain-wrestling.
Academic scientific analysis of human sexual activity suggests that sadomasochistic fantasies are far more prevalent that some lay people believe,2,3 although they are often not acted out. The fact that they are fantasies means that if they were acted out the reality may not live up to the fantasy. Pleasure-wrestling should give these desires a harmless outlet, as any attempt to cross the pain threshold and therefore disillusion the fantasy would have a negative result.
In pain-wrestling, it is often known that a wrestler has a weakness in some part of his body, and opponents who know about this attack that part, aiming to make him withdraw from the contest as a result of pain or injury. In pleasure wrestling, a person's fantasies or desires for particular holds could be known and could be taken advantage of, especially if it is also known how hard they should be applied for maximum pleasure. Often as muscles stretch the holds can be applied harder, and applying holds will be a dynamic process. The stretching or squeezing of muscles without pain will also be a beneficial exercise to the recipient, rather than an induction of injury, and be similar to medical practises such as osteopathy or physiotherapy.
I would imagine that most games of pleasure-wrestling would take place between couples in the privacy of their own homes, but the more extrovert could well practise the sport in clubs or in front of video cameras. If society condemns this activity, then it is society which is sick, not the participants. A society that permits homosexual competitive pain-wrestling between males in public and on public television, but does not allow competitive heterosexual pleasure-wrestling even to member only-clubs has got a curious sense of priorities.
References:
1. Carruthers, Scott. Let's Wrestle, (WFWA, PO Box 405, Fairfax, CA94930, U.S.A.)
2. Friday, Nancy. My Secret Garden, (Pocket Books, New York 1973. Simon and Schuster, a Gulf and Western Company.)
3. Walster, Elaine and William. A New Look at Love, (Addison-Wesley, 1978, ISBN 0-201-08351-5.)