The jeering and heckling of adolescent boys became just as much a part of the show as the brutish body slamming and played-up pro wrestling antics of Ripper, The Polish Crippler and The Warlocks at Waubonsie Valley High School.
“Eat dirt, you little buffoon,” shouted 8-year-old Brendon Sullivan from the bleachers inside the school’s gymnasium, as he chomped on popcorn and swigged a soft drink with his eyes fixed on the ring.
“Come on–kick his butt,” one of the rowdy 12-year-old boys yelled from the ringside seats he shared with his friends from Aurora.
Taylor Kasianczuk, a 4th-grader at Georgetown Elementary School in Aurora, seemed vindicated when the 235-pound Ripper of The Brotherhood appeared to have been flipped by his opponent, Jay Pumper, landing flat on his back at the center of the ring’s floor.
The lanky boy barked at the burley grappler in shiny black leatherlike pants, with tattoos on his arms and a bandana on his head, as the fall made a sounding thump.
“How do you like that?” the boy hollered.
And strongman Jay Pumper–who as a representative of the tag team The Station House had stripped from a firefighter’s uniform to bright yellow tights with orange flames depicted along the sides–was determined the winner of that round.
The wrestlers, all from the Windy City Pro Wrestling Group, were among those performing recently at the Aurora school in a series of matches that group officials said was geared for elementary-aged children.
“It’s fighting, but we keep it clean,” said James Kleckner, events coordinator for Windy City Pro Wrestling.
An evening performance for middle- and high school-age students featured “midget wrestling” and more brawling performances from the Windy City Pro Wrestling group, which operates a training facility on Chicago’s southeast side for men and women, many of whom are aspiring to become competitors in the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling.
The event, sponsored by the Waubonsie Valley High School Booster Club, was a fundraiser for the school. The Booster Club raises funds throughout the year with events held during each season. And the choice for Saturday was to be one of the bigger fundraisers of the year, said Andrea Shadix, vice president of the Booster Club and the group’s fundraising chairwoman. It replaced benefit shows by the Harlem Globetrotters held at this time in the last two years at the school.
Although organizers estimated that the afternoon pro wrestling show drew only about 200 people, the evening performances made up for the low turnout, with about 1,000 wrestling fans in attendance, Shadix said.
In all, the wrestling craze raised about $10,000 that will be directed to athletic programs, school activities, scholarships and other charitable causes at the school, Shadix said.
Although organizers called the event a success, proceeds did not top those of last year’s Harlem Globetrotters’ game against Waubonsie Valley faculty, which garnered about $15,000 for the Booster Club, Shadix said. The year before, about $25,000 was raised through the event.
Booster Club members said they wanted to try something different this year.
“Wrestling is really big now with the high school kids,” Shadix said.
Assistant Principal Rudy Keller agreed. “It’s different than selling candy or pizza and having a bake sale or a carwash,” he said.
The show was a hit with the young people and even some of their parents in the audience. But Keller said that the school had received a handful of calls and letters from parents who objected to the event being held at the school, arguing that it was promoting violence among youth.
“I don’t think so,” Keller said. “It’s an optional show, and it’s on TV almost every night of the week, but this is not the same version. It’s just entertainment and fun.
“We’ve gotten objections when we’ve had candy sales; it’s just the aspect of fundraising and putting students in a position of raising funds for the school.”
The young wrestling fans and parents got an up-close look at a variety of wrestling characters who train at the Chicago club, including a match between female grapplers. Drusala, playing a tough, Gothic role in spider web-patterned tights took on Crystal, who, dressed in a skimpy blue leotard, became the favored wrestler among the young boys at ringside.
At intermission, some of the boys seemed inspired by the show of force from the strongmen in the ring.
Aurora 12-year-old Brad Pound was at ringside. “It’s fun to push them around and yell at them,” he said.
The boys enthusiasm was not without skepticism.
“It looks real, but it’s not,” said Drew Carson, 12.
