Head Tale

So after probably more than a year of saying I would get to the monthly card of High Impact Wrestling, Regina’s local wrestling promotion, I finally went last night.

And it was AWESOME!

I should step back a bit – there are a couple guys at work who go regularly and I always meant to go with them but I’d either have something on the final Friday of the month when the card was held or we’d be out of town or I’d forget until the last minute and then the tickets would be sold out.

Finally, yesterday, it all came together – I remembered it was High Impact Wrestling night, I cleared it with Shea that we had no other plans, I called over and they still had tickets, I popped over at lunch to get them.  And then when I got back to the library, I found out that the two guys who usually go wouldn’t be going! 🙁

Oh well – from watching FB updates on the nights of other cards and looking at the promotion’s FB page, I thought there’d likely be somebody there I knew.  And if I had to sit in the back row and enjoy the cultural experience myself, I’m not ashamed to do that either.

I showed up at 7:30pm for the 8pm card and…see a whole row of guys I know.  But, here’s the twist – it was ALL of their first time attending too (apparently one of that group of guys is training with the HIW and convinced all his buddies to attend – including one of my best friends from high school, that guy’s dad and a few other guys I mostly knew through my high school buddy.)

Anyhow, as I said, it was a great night – is there anywhere else where the crowd plays such an active role in a performance?  “Legitimate” sports to a certain degree, perhaps a comedy show or a rock concert.  But otherwise, not many places compare to the interaction that happens between crowd and performers as at a rasslin’ match.

This is a dumb example but after one match, the trunks of one of the guy getting out of the ring had slipped down exposing his butt crack.  So I yelled “Pull up your pants, plumber butt!”  And then he mooned me.  Which was about the most perfect, hilarious thing he could’ve done in that moment and I loved it!

There was also a tag team match that was about as good as anything you’d see in a big-time promotion – except you’d rarely be ten feet away from the action like I was.

This was a highlight of the match which I happened to catch on my camera phone:

I always plan to do a longer post about my fandom of pro wrestling – from watching Stampede Wrestling as a kid to today (although I don’t follow the sport nearly as much as I used to) as well as what it is about the sport that I think appeals to different groups of people.

For many kids, it’s like real-life superheroes; for many women (and probably a few men), the hard chiseled bodies are appealing; for many, it’s witnessing the conflict between good and evil, even if the results are pre-determined; as with my “mooning” story, for many it’s the humour and/or the interaction that happens; for many, it’s the creativity of the “promos”; for many it’s all about the various character archetypes; for many, it’s the opportunity to yell things you can’t normally yell in public (and we can have a further debate about whether this is a good or bad thing).

Anyhow, that’s a post for another day…