''What's Jerry like?'' Mrs. Cadorette said later of the King. ''I've been with him forever. He's just like any other guy. He's really quiet about it. When we go out, to clubs, he doesn't offer the information.''

Mr. Cadorette looked at me with a grin and a glint. ''Nah, I'm a nice guy,'' he said. ''So -- you go ahead.''

WE were at his regulation arm-wrestling table, arms locked like two snakes, face to face, ready for a lesson. The sport is conducted standing up. A table measures 2 by 3 feet at the top, with two seven-inch-square elbow pads, 10 inches apart, and two pin pads three inches high -- the point at which you lose, when your hand hits the pad or clears its plane.

Mr. Cadorette is a man of technique.

''What you want to do is to make sure you stay in tight,'' he said, hugging his forearm to his 20-inch bicep. ''On 'Go!' it's like taking a cup of water and you want to pour it over here. You want to peel my hand over, because the farther you take my arm away from my shoulder, the more you're opening me up, and the weaker I'm getting.

''Arm-wrestling is not all strength. For me, it's 75 percent technique. You can outsmart the stronger person. You know what I mean?''

Mr. Cadorette invited me to move his arm. Hands gripped between our noses put the King's size-13 gold World Arm-Wrestling Federation ring at eye level. The side read, ''Strength, Courage and Fair Play.'' The top was blood-red garnet, centered by a three-quarter-carat diamond.

James Haag, a sales director at Harry Winston in New York, said that an average men's wedding band size was 7. ''Oh my,'' Mr. Haag said, when asked about a size 13.