OK, digging through some old files I found this un-edited version of a story I did for Creative Loafing's ``Topside Loaf'' in either 2000 or 2001 - not sure as I couldn't find it on their archives.
Anyhow, it is one of my favorite stories of all time.
'RASSLIN IN THE 'BURBS
By Kent Kimes
Three muscular young men, a biracial pack known as the Reservoir Dogs, exchange heated insults, threats and obscenities with an older white woman, who responds by shooting back a double dose of her middle fingers.
"Shut up you old turd," one young man yells at the elderly woman.
"Suck my balls," said another.
This isn't "The Jerry Springer Show," a race riot or a dysfunctional family reunion.
It's All South Two-X-Treme Championship Wrestling, staged every Wednesday night in a 350-person capacity banquet room at US Play in Kennesaw, just off I-75.
For $8, patrons are treated to a night of calculated violence, athleticism, drama, emotion and escapism as big men in colorful garb duke it out in the squared circle - up close and personal.
The brainchild of US Play entertainment director Randy Riggs, a former wrestling promoter, and professional wrestling veteran "Lover Boy" Lee Thomas, Two-X-Treme wrestling has bolstered the Dave & Buster's0-style establishment's entertainment offerings of billiards, video games, sports bar, on-site brewery, eateries and 24-lane bowling alley for the last three months. They tried a few Friday night shows but ultimately settled on Wednesdays.
Riggs said the show typically draws about 120 people, but on a Wednesday night in late May, the crowd numbered in the 60s, peppered with folks who seemed to know the grapplers personally, teenagers, adults, and several small children.
The league is smalltime, but all the classic elements of the big-time have been appropriated: ringside announcers at philosophical odds with each other, wrestlers goading the audience, the clueless referee, blaring entry music, dazzling lights, merchandising, posing, boasting, prancing, good guys and bad guys, resepectively referred to as “Babyfaces” and “Heels.”
And don't forget the ladies. Three sweet young things clad in skimpy outfits, look barely old enough to drive, let alone use their feminine wiles to distract the wrestlers and referee to gain advantage for the warrior they escort to and from the ring.
"They're legal," responded Riggs, when asked how old the young ring valets are.
Unless you've been under a rock lately, you're probably aware that professional wrestling has undergone a renaissance in the late `90s on into the new millennium. One of the highest rated cable television shows going is the World Wrestling Federation's Monday night "Raw is War"two-hour program on the USA Network, which consistently scores around a 6.8 audience share as reported by the Neilson ratings. Ted Turner's Atlanta-based World Championship Wrestling's television programming also attracts large audience numbers. In addition, WWF superstars Mick Foley and the Rock have both had books on the N.Y. Times bestsellers list while wrestling action toys and merchandise are cash cows. The WWF is now publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
Professional wrestling isn't just for the lowbrow, trailer trash audience anymore. It’s commonly referred to as “a male soap opera.”
Although small, local, and regional outfits like Two-X-Treme are nothing new, Thomas and Riggs harbor big plans for the venture and hope to benefit from the trickle down effect of successful heavyweights WCW, WWF and Philadelphia-based Extreme Championship Wrestling. They claim Two-X-Treme has already become the second ranked independent circuit in the state, according to wrestling websites that track and rate the independents. “This is the future of wrestling right here,” said Two-X-Treme ringside announcer “The Authority” Dave Willis.
The organizers hope to televise matches on a metro area cable system and have set up a phone hotline, 770-556-1540, so fans can keep track of match results. They are also seeking sponsors and want to do fundraisers and community events. “We want to take the organization to the next level,” said Thomas, a graduate of McEachern High School.
Some attribute pro wrestling's surging popularity to the fact that the major federations and their stars, led by the WWF, don't deny that the outcome of matches are fixed as they did in the past and are more open about their lives with the media. These days, pro wrestling doesn't try to bill itself as a pure competitive sport - it's now referred to as sports/entertainment. While the wrestlers perform intricate maneuvers and death-defying athletic stunts, providing entertainment for a paying audience is what it’s all about. It’s a ballet on steroids.
But why come to US Play, when you can sit at home and watch the polished, big budget WCW Thunder televised at the same time Wednesday nights on TBS?
"It's the live action," said Stone Mountain resident Lamont Chavis, whose brothers Rainman (Darrell Chavis) and Homicide (Demetis Chavis) wrestle as part of Two-X-Treme's Reservoir Dogs. "It's more fun to be here than to watch it on TV. You get to yell and scream. Although it's fake, it's beautiful," he said.
Despite a general public awareness that the outcome of professional wrestling matches are predetermined, the guys who get moonsaulted, powerbombed, piledrived, and chokeslammed still rankle at the word FAKE.
Two-X-Treme star Rob Adonis, a 23-year-old driver's education teacher at Woodstock High School, and opposing grappler The Redneck Hero spill outside of the tiny ring at US Play and exchange blows. A member of the front row audience, who happens to be one of Adonis' students, tosses him a plastic restaurant tray lifted from McDonald's. The Redneck Hero kicks Adonis in the gut, and the tray drops to the floor. The Redneck Hero picks up the weapon, lines it up with Adonis' skull and gives him a whack. The tray splinters, sending shards into the crowd, eliciting a "pop", the loud burst of audience reaction all wrestlers crave like a drug.
There is nothing fake about getting smacked over the head with a restaurant tray, said Adonis. "That hurt," he said."It's not fake. You do get hurt. There's not a Thursday I don't show up at school walking funny."
But taking "bumps" - the wrestling term for willingly giving yourself up for a hard spill, smack or slam - is all part of entertaining the crowd. "Taking bumps on the floor hurts the most. But we want to give them their eight bucks' worth every time," said Adonis.
But Two-X-Treme's wrestlers don't necessarily get their money's worth for putting their bodies through weekly punishment - at least not right now.
They get paid between $75-$100 a night, according to Riggs. "There's not a lot of money involved, like the big boys (of WCW, ECW and WWF). But theses guys have fun and love doing it," he said.
While all of the league's talent hold down day jobs, Riggs said, they also harbor dreams of hitting pro wrestling’s upper echelon. "Hell yeah," said the 270-pound Adonis, who has been a pro wrestling fan since he was four, idolizing legends like Dusty Rhodes, and now looks to inspiration from current WWF stars Triple H, the Rock, Chris Jericho and former Olympian turned pro Kurt Angle.
They know the bright lights and big contracts are right here in metro Atlanta, at WCW.
“I would love to sign with WCW or WWF, either one. It would just tickle me pink,”
said the 34-year-old Thomas, a service worker for B and N Heating and Air who has had a taste of the big-time having wrestled in WCW events and the now-defunct NWA. With a "Stone Cold" Steve Austin-like rapid fire soliloquoy in which he refers to himself in the third person several times, Thomas rattles off a list of some of the industry's bigger names he claims to have mixed up with in the ring. “I’ve wrestled Thunderbolt Patterson, the Godfather, the Undertaker, Tommy Rich……..the list goes on and on,” he said.
He says a few unflattering things about WCW, whom he thought he was under contract, then takes them back, just in case.
Thomas' reluctance to go on the record about WCW underscores professional wrestling's reliance on image. As the saying goes "image is everything." The right name, theme music, gimmick, outfit, finishing move, microphone style, and concocted storyline about the wrestler's character can propel a career. For instance, Thomas doesn't want it known that he's married for fear of alienating Two-X-Treme's female fan-base. And Adonis, who was a cheerleader in high school, won't divulge his real last name. "Nobody knows what my real name is. My checks even say 'Adonis'," he said.
It's this type of blurring of the lines between fantasy and reality that has brought professional wrestling under fire from some circles. Critics condemn the industry for promoting violence that spawns copy-cat behavior among children, for perpetuating stereotypes, and for containing excess profanity and gobs of sexual innuendo. However, Riggs said his wrestlers keep an eye on the makeup of the audience at US Play to determine the extreme extent of language and actions. But they have no control over what the audience might do or say. "The old ladies on the front row are the ones you have to watch out for," said Riggs.
