It probably shouldn’t be a surprise that the winner of this month’s Reader’s Choice poll is none other than supremely productive wrestling pornboy Aryx Quinn (aka, Tristan Baldwin).  With 27% of the 164 votes cast, Aryx was the decisive reader’s choice, pulling a full 13 percentage points ahead of the next closest wrestler, muscle stud Jake Jenkins.

Reader’s Choice: Aryx Quinn

I say that this should probably come as no surprise for several reasons. First and foremost, Aryx is one sexy hot hunk. He’s got a gorgeous body and a fantastic, snarling, heel-run-amok personality when he hits the mats or climbs into the ring, that’s well-tuned to gay wrestling kink fans. He looks good in just about any gear, arguably better in none at all, and with that lovely, long cock of his, you just know that his high school guidance counselor told him he had one and only one option for a rip-roaring successful career: porn.

Aryx as Porn Star Tristan Baldwin

Aryx’ has earned an army of fans with a wrestling resume that’s astonishingly long.  Notwithstanding his non-wrestling porn performance fans, he’s logged appearances (usually starring roles) in 29 matches for BG East, about 17 matches for Can-Am,  2 for Thunder’s Arena (as “Tristian” Baldwin), 1 side dish match for Cocksure Men, and his handler’s teaser for an upcoming major revamp of Tristan promoting himself promises more wrestling to come/cum.

Aryx applies the Kiss of Death to Rio Garza in Can-Am’s The Arena Part 3

Surprised that a staple of homoerotic wrestling like Aryx win reader’s choice? No. But it’s not only his hot bod and depth of wrestling experience and exposure that earned Aryx the nod. He also hustled his ass off for the win in the Reader’s Choice poll just like he’s been hustling his ass across the mat and in the ring from promotion to promotion for years. Unlike his competitors in the poll, Aryx re-tweeted a tweet from one of his twits forwarding his followers to the link here to neverland to register their votes for him.  Moments after his re-tweet, votes began to ring in for him at about a 2 to 1 margin over his competitors.

Aryx works a 2 on 1 advantage for an anticipatory taste of victory in Can-Am’s Brutal Battle

Now, I strongly suspect that several of Aryx’ votes came from his porn fans, many of whom probably have only passing interest in the homoeroticism of wrestling. But just like pro wrestling, success is often measured not by what happens inside the ring. A little “extra effort,” a little “outside interference” is a fantastic element of hot, hard, delightfully nasty pro wrestling, and Aryx has shown he’s ready to stoop to whatever low blows and rule-bending tactics he may need to come out on top in the ring. So it should come as no surprise that he rallied his posse to stuff the ballot box.

Brad Rochelle learned in BG East’s Contract 3 that Aryx has no qualms about kicking an opponent when he’s down.

Honestly, I LOVE that Aryx pulled off the win with some strategically spotted self-promotion!  One reader who voted for Eli Black noted that Eli needs a fan page.  I couldn’t agree more (hot damn that Eli’s one hot, ripped wrestling stud!). But more to the point, I think a lot of headliner homoerotic wrestlers like Eli should get the push from the fans that comes from mobilizing of the sort that Aryx’ people are doing for him these days.

Aryx gets a little help from his friend and tag team partner, Nick Archer, in BG East’s Tag Team Torture 4

Blogs like neverland, Ringside at Skull Island, Beefcakes of Wrestling, Wrestling Arsenal, and Inner Jobber have been successful (I believe) in raising the profile of professional homoerotic wrestling in recent years. Hell, 164 people voted in yesterday’s poll, and even if we guess that as many as half of Aryx’ votes might have been from non-wrestling kinksters, that still suggests that 140 or so guys not only tuned in, but had an opinion about which homoerotic wrestler deserved their nod. And behind the scenes, there were about 1,250 people who hit up neverland yesterday, accounting for about 3,000 page views. I’m sure several of the other blogs that focus on the homoeroticism of wrestling for gay eyes see that much traffic or more. In other words, there’s an audience not just buying some DVDs and getting off in the privacy of their homes on homoerotic wrestling; there are also thousands tuning in for more, probably getting a taste of what they might like to sample next, or too financially strapped (or closeted) to purchase some homoerotic wrestling to own and so sampling from the photos and text we blog about, or maybe even stumbling into our corner of the net with that first, tentative, anxious search engine revving around the words, “GAY WRESTLING.”

A low blow is just another way to say “winner” when it comes to Aryx in the ring.

It’s a tough world out there for media marketers. Take a look at the number of daily newspapers today as compared with 10 years ago, and you’ll see what I mean. But it’s not just hardcopy print media. The wired world we live in is testing the means of controlling intellectual property that no longer is tied to a physical product that needs to be sent via the postal service (another endangered species).  When it comes to erotica, the net is lousy with pirated and amateur titillation to suit just about any kink, including wrestling.  Despite several folks who mistakenly think I’m somehow an industry insider, I have no idea what the numbers are, but as a devoted fan of professional homoerotic wrestling I have to guess that the bottom line of producing the kind of quality and variety of wrestling for gay eyes that Aryx’ resume testifies to is often in doubt.

Homoerotic wrestling, like Aryx (seen here in BG Eas’t Catch Weight 1),  could be decapitated if fans don’t do their part!

Back to the point that Eli Black needs a fan page, though. I think the future of the production of homoerotic wrestling is in our hands, gentlemen. Blogs can push the conversation and broadcast the products in a new way, but I think we’re going to have to do more. And just like Aryx/Tristan is promising a self-promotion entrepreneurial website to market himself, I think we need to reward and promote the beautiful boys that work for us with some serious loving. A fan page for Eli would be an awesome start! When you google “Eli Black” right now, you get links to references to Jewish Rabbis and Hollywood talent agents.  We’ll get more push to our beloved Eli Black’s homoerotic wrestling future with a #1 link that extols the loveliness of Eli’s wrestling and the lustiness of our loyalty.

Aryx is in total control of the polls and his opponents, as here, controlling Jimmy Gee in BG East’s Tag Team Torture 12

Google your favorite homoerotic wrestler and see how many links you have to pass up to get to a reference to the hard, hot hunk you’re looking for. Now google Tristan Baldwin.

Tristan Baldwin has a massive… Twitter following.

In this socially networked world, the future of homoerotic wrestling is increasingly out of the hands of the brilliant minds and hard workers that produce the materials we enjoy most. They’re all doing a stand up job of marketing, no doubt. But these days, it takes more. It takes buzz and hits. It takes chatter and “likes.” It takes the type of marketing that generates 3,377 Twitter followers for Aryx/Tristan, so that all it takes is just one of them to notice that Aryx is in the running for a Reader’s Choice poll in order to mobilize even a small fraction of Aryx’ fans to put him up way over the top.

Aryx gets a hand removing his trunks from his fan, CJ Parker in BG East’s Fan Fantasy

Wow. I’m on a roll today, aren’t I? Sorry for the geopolitical diatribe on the implications of social networking on homoerotic wrestling in the Virtual Age. But I do hope that some of you fierce fans of the boys who were in competition in yesterday’s poll (and the many more worthy wrestlers who weren’t on that list) put more than just your money where your kink is. Keep putting your money into the wrestling that gets you off, of course, but also launch those fan pages. Fire up the Twittersphere. Nominate yourself as the leader of the Eli Black fan club (or Jake Jenkins, or Kid Karisma, or Landon Mycles or …). And do what fanatics do best: we love our celebrities with a devotion that gets us to do more than just consume, but to convince others of the unique allure of the wrestlers that capture us the most passionately.

An iPhone and a website seem like essential tools for success in Virtual Marketing these days.

Congratulations to Aryx, as well as to all the wrestlers who generated votes (poor DJ is the only one who didn’t, which I think is evidence of why NK went down, because despite the lack of love here, DJ was one fierce and incredibly hot kombatant!).  Now get out there and buy these wrestlers’ matches and talk them up every chance you get. We need to grow this industry into all those dark corners and closets just longing to get introduced to the fantastic eroticism of wrestling for gay eyes!