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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1985-07-24, Page 9SECOND SECTION Huron . xposito TAKING IT EASY — Bad guys obviously finish first,' at least in Seaforth. In this picture, "the evil" Jet Star took time after his evening's work to pose with (lett to right) Robin Scarrow, 8, his brother Jason, 11, and their cousin Jeff Barry, 4, all of Seaforth. Photos and story by Larry Till ESCAPED FROM BATTLE — The Canadian Wildman had a rough time with the Sheik during their Steel Cage match. The gouges on his forehead are the result of some dirty tricks, courtesy of the Sheik and his pencil. WATCHING iT HAPPEN — It was hard to tell who showed more energy, the crowd or the wrestlers The enjoyment on the faces of these fans tells the whole story. CHALLENGING THE CROWD — Wednes- day night's wrestling crowd had obviously done a good job of riling the Sheik. At several points he threatened to climb out of his cage and do serious personal damage to any number of hecklers. Wrestling with the truth The lights dimmed. The crowd's anticipa- crowd pleaser of the evening - the midgets. bon grew, the level of excitement rising is Little shtle T, r who by oares mble spent s his ntheames rkt ake but ve perceptibly. minutest aril lari during the instructions An announcer, hesitant at first, finally goosing tphe referee, much to the tatter's brought himself to introduce the modern gladiators about to enter the playing field. displeasure and the crowd's delight. But the Professional wrestling had returned to ref eventually awardedredand a match. tcunting Se Mosth. Mast of the audience was too young to excitement, the 700 or so spectators on hand remember the last time the ring and awaited the feature match. A title bout with turnbuckles were set up here. more than a the original Sheikr (not the Doeshei decade ago. But that didn't seem to matter. currentlyeso fpopular ppular wrestling with day ho They were there for the thrill of the battle, maybe to see a little blood splattered. Or electric blue boots and pencil for gouging. maybe garner an angry reaction to a Wildman,defendialso his knownn aslt st promoteThe rnadian Dave provocative insult. It didn't seem to matter either that what M, heech of ore went at it in a steel cage. they were watching was more Hollywood with no referee inside. The action got stunt acting than athletic prowess. underway had returned to Seaforth. even before the sound of the bell. W ith its current revival, wrestling is a main and was relentless right up until the gory end. attraction everywhere in North America. It's The Sheik, resorting to his full arsenal of dirty undergoing a kind of renaissance, thanks to tricks, aothrogouged, but the W Wilds held hiand d the likes of Hulk Hogan, Mr. T and rock star his Cyndi Lauper. wn. Kids everywhere are into it. So, surprising- ly, are their grandparents. And Wednesday night it came back to Seaforth. The promised wrestling bear was in the arena, but because of some bureaucratic ruling, couldn't climb into the ring and grapple with its human counterpart. Follow- ing that announcement were moans of disappointment and sighs of acceptance. The first bout featured Macho Man Jet Star of Nevada against Ricky Johnson. Star spent more time out of the ring than in it, razzing the crowd, which was returning the favor. The audience cheered on cue, booed on cue and generally did everything it was supposed to do. There was no winner; the Match was called on account of time. After a little "unscheduled" between - match action, in bounded old-timer Duncan MacTavish. Fbllowing closely on his heals was opponent Snake Williams. MacTavish Made fairly short work of Williams, finishing him off after some early trouble, in a little over 10 minutes. Then came what was easily the biggest When the Wildman escaped the cage, knocking the referee to the floor. out sauntered the Sheik to claim victory, over the crowd's boisterous protestations Eventually public favor won out, and the Wildman was declared the winner. All in all, no one seemed to care it was all a bit contrived. It really didn't matter the whole thing smelled fishy (or was that the bear, over in the Corner, doing in the arena what most bears do in the woods?) Professional wrestling had returned to Seaforth. And then. as quickly as it came, it was gone. The ring was dismantled and loaded into the back of a truck. The bear was put in its special cage to be carted off to the next location. A couple of the wrestlers emerged from the dressing room carrying designer gym s. Smehow, the fact that all this seemed anti -climatic didn't seem to matter. Seaforth had seen its wrestling. And that's what really mattered. Truth about wrestling Duncan MacTavish has been wrestling since 1952, when he was a member of the Olympic team. -, Today, 33 years later, wrestling is still his whole life. And he doesn't seem to mind doing the small-town circuit: The notion it's for has-beens doesn't faze him. His attitude is, "Pm in it for the fans. I make a point of speaking to the ones who have been loyal whenever Pm in town." Wrestlers thrive on crowd reaction, as do t's a wost hich MacTavish is preprformers. And ared to betaboutic candid. "There's a lot of showmanship involved in wrestling," he admits. But it's good entertainment, and that's why people come to see it. Even if itis all fixed, he says, that shouldn't count. There's still an incentive to win of winners always take home a bigger the purse than losers. ' \ headliner like Hulk Hogan can take home $60,000 for a night's work," says M acTavish. "And even the guy he beats will walk away with $40,000." He says the biggest change he's noticed in the generation and a half he's been wrestling is in the fans. "They're much more knowledgeable," he says. "Where 30 years ago, you could get by with just one hold, now you need four or five different ones. They just expect it." He's also noticed a considerable change in what he calls the marketing end of it. There's a lot more money tied up in the profession than ever before, and that amount is increasing all the time. "This is getting to be big business," says the burly Scotsman, UP. UP AND AWAY — The body Slam about to happen here was a good indication of the action enjoyed by an estimated crowd of 700 as wrestling returned to Seaforth last week for the first time in more than a decade. f d . .._._ interference du_.. NO SHORTAGE OF FUN —The midgets were easilythe biggestcrowd pleaser of the evening.Here, Little Mr .T, background, keeps a watchful eye out for i ring his match.