Penny For Your Thoughts By: Nancy Whitaker
I have always been a big fan of wrestling. Years ago my old aunt and I used to stay up late on Friday nights and watch wrestling on TV.
We would holler for the good guys and loudly BOO the so called “bad guys.”
I was so scared of Dick the Bruiser; The Sheik and The Undertaker that I actually had nightmares about them. Oh! But I sure would not miss watching it on television. It was a good kind of scary.
The good wrestlers like BoBo Brazil, Andre the Giant and The Moose were my heroes.
After I got married and had my children, I continued to watch wrestling and I let my kids stay up and watch it also.
One mean and nasty one, The Sheik, always managed to throw fire at his opponents. In fact, my son used to put on a cape and pretended to be The Sheik.
My daughter had a big favorite doll which my son would take from her and pour powder on it. He would then throw her doll in the air, strike it ferociously and the powder would come out with a cloud which resembled smoke. Meanwhile, my little girl was crying, thinking her doll was suffering and my son was saying “Look Mom. I’m The Sheik. See the smoke” I never ever forgot it.
Well we did take the kids to the Fort Wayne Coliseum one time and got to see some of our favorites. Of course, I felt every blow and body slam. Ooo those poor men in that ring. As years went by I still liked the sport but did not follow it as I had before. I believe Dick the Bruiser died, along with BoBo and the rest of those 1970 showmen.
A couple of weeks ago my friend, Denny, got some free tickets for a wrestling match in Lima. He was pleasantly surprised that I liked the sport and so we decided to go. The event was held at the UAW hall and I wasn’t sure what I was going to see. It was called W.A.R. Wrestling Lights out. The ones to wrestle that night were from the WWE but were a step below the bigger names. However, what a show they put on!
There were grudge matches, tag teams, and even lady wrestlers participating. It was quite an ado when they announced the names of the fighters. Most of them were dressed in different outfits. They came out strutting and showing their stuff. You could tell some were crowd favorites and some got booed when they made their appearances.
The lady wrestlers fought a match in which they could use brooms, mops and whatever they had to hit each other.
That match was between Thunder Kittie and Hardcore Heather. Thunder Kittie won but Thunder Kitties guy wrestler friend came up from behind and smacked Heather knocking her on the floor. Heather was down for the count and this was a title match.
I hollered and screamed at the refs and “bad guys” all night. The evening got very exciting when almost all the wrestlers wound up in the ring and everyone was fighting with everyone.
At one point a ref got hit on the head along with the owner and they looked to me as if they were “knocked out cold.”
Of course all evening long the wrestlers poked fun at each other and at the end of the night many challenges were made.
There is another match on Feb 4 and if all these grudge matches are held it should be exciting. People have always told me that it is all fake. I don’t know. I would hate to put a damper on my excitement by knowing that it is all “fake.”
No! No! No! I think I saw blood, people knocked out and it seems so real to me.
What do you think? Do you like this type of wrestling and is it all a show!!!
Let me know and I’ll give you. Penny for your Thoughts.
