BCW invades St. Clair College

By Maciejka Gorzelnik

The smell of blood and sweat was in the air at the St. Clair College gymnasium Oct. 20 as approximately 800 wrestling fans gathered to watch Border City Wrestling action.

The bell rang to start the first fight at 7:30 p.m. as Petey Williams defeated Jimmy Jacobs. One of the highlights of the night was former World Wrestling Federation champion Kevin Nash fighting alongside Cody Deaner. Nash and Deaner won over Jon Bolen and Johnny Swinger to end the first group of matches.

CTV reporter Chris Campbell has been a wrestling fan since the late-90s and has been to many wrestling events. He said the smaller venue is good for the fans.

“You can get more interactive with the wrestlers. You can yell at them and they’ll actually hear you,” said Campbell. “It’s close and personal whereas a big pay-per-view show, as cool as it is, you need binoculars to see that.”

The night closed with a steel cage match between current BCW Heavyweight Champion Phil Atlas and Tyson Dux. The ring was a bloody mess after Atlas regained his belt.

Atlas has been wrestling for almost 10 years but said he was a fan much prior to that. He had his first match in 2004, seven months after he started training at the Can-Am Wrestling School and has been going strong ever since.

“We’re athletes, we train like athletes,” said Atlas. “We probably train harder than any NHL player.”

Since 1992 BCW has played host to hundreds of wrestling events, according to co-founder Chuck Fader. He said attendance levels dropped when mixed martial art fighting began gaining popularity.

“Wrestling is something you have to keep re-inventing,” said Fader. “A lot of them know that it’s not real now. Although I’d say about half my crowd still believes it or wants to believe it.”

Wrestling, as sports entertainment is a display of physical maneuvers. Some refer to it as “fake” because of its choreographed nature but that isn’t enough of a deterrent to most fans.

“I know it’s entertainment. But at the same time I also know what goes into putting on that entertainment so I appreciate it,” said Campbell. “I know that what they’re doing, they’ve trained for and rehearsed.”

In its nature, wrestling is dangerous and violent, according to Atlas. He said it is up to the parents to teach kids not to attempt maneuvers themselves and wrestlers are trained professionals.

“I was raised to know that wasn’t real and not to pick someone up and drop them on their head at school,” said Atlas. “You can’t escape violence. If we’re not wrestling, there’s still going to be video games, there’s still going to be movies, there’s still going to be Arnold Schwarzenegger with the uzis. I mean just turn on the news, it’s the wickedest show on television.”