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Inside Bristol’s wrestling scene
“Knock him out!” someone screams at the men in the ring who are flopped over the ropes attempting to catch their breath between moves.
“This is a family event, so keep the language PG,” says the referee, as one audience member barks: “Tattoo freak!”
Sat in the Hanham Community Centre to watch Evolution Wrestling‘s much anticipated show, it isn’t the kids getting pent up over their favourite wrestling taking a self-inflicted KO.
is needed now More than ever
It’s an OAP waving his stick around while spit flies from his mouth.
Tyson T-Bone is having none of it, snatching the man’s stick and imposing himself threateningly over the man, embodying his brawler role before returning the man’s stick.
The need to placate an old man seems absurd, and has the first-timers observing with their jaws on the floor.
As seen here arguing. with the referee, Tyson loves to play the bad guy
Looking beyond the corny one-liners, the posturing, the slapstick moves, and the skimpy costumes that look one wrong move away from giving the older folks a visual treat, it’s clear that the audience is compelled by the displays.
To an untrained eye, it’s in the moments where you see the wrestlers’ blood, sweat and tears that forces you to recognise that this isn’t just entertainment, this is a display of endurance, stamina and determination that only athletes can physically appreciate.
In between matches Tyson T-Bone tells me that wrestling “is unlike any other sport, it requires endurance and fitness like no other, marathon runners for example who are experts in what they do will come in and attempt wrestling and be out of breath within ten minutes.”
The only feeling he can liken it to is explosive movements like 200 burpees.
There is a “horrendous” amount of travel says Tyson. His contemporaries confirm it, listing minimum of four shows in different locations in the UK per week
I ask him about the moment mentioned earlier regarding the old man. Enthusiasm and passion is commonplace but sometimes audience members get caught up in the fantasy, things get heated and sometimes can escalate beyond verbal abuse.
Tyson recounts an incident that happened in an event elsewhere, he says: “I was a baddie and I got thrown to the floor. There was someone in the crowd, I must have been doing my job right because he literally kicked me straight in the face.”
He seems nonchalant about the incident as he explains how he verbally asserted himself with a warning to the audience member.
It seems the venue had no intention of holding the audience member responsible, until other people in the audience complained about him and they escorted him out.
Nina Samuels, seen on the left, takes on Chantal Jordan in their headlining match
Tyson has been in this business for more than 20 years, so he knows what he’s talking about.
Having entered the Killer Kowalski Institute Of Professional Wrestling, one of the biggest schools at the time, he started because of “stupidity,” triggered by several big life events that spurred him to disappear into America.
Following a three week trial, and having been beaten up “pretty bad,” the school took him on full time which became the best learning experience and then that turned into a life-long love.
At 43, he’s doing four shows a week and starting to take a back step, “My body’s battered and broken and I just feel like there’s a transitional time for everybody.”
He nods to the twenty-somethings in the changing room when he says you start thinking about the new generation coming through.
Describing their style as more athletic than his own, having watched the show, there is irony in that, the match between Tyson and his competitor that I saw showed athletic ability that was nothing short of musical dance number worthy of Gene Kelly.
Despite the physical strain, Tyson is beaming as he talks about wrestling.
Nina Samuels has picked up many titles in her career, most recently the PROGRESS Women’s World Championship
WWE is and has always been held as the height of a wrestler’s career, Tyson and wrestler Nina Samuels, who is starring in Evolution Wrestling’s first ever all-female main event, have both worked for WWE.
They have a great respect for the achievement of obtaining that status, but neither would rather be doing that now over the national shows they do in the UK.
Tyson says during that period of his life, prior to every match he was paranoid, worried and nervous, all because of the expectations he had set in his head of what people wanted to see of him. “It made me not enjoy something that I had worked so long for to be the dream. It’s a very different bubble.”
Nina’s experiences aren’t too dissimilar, she says “It’s very cool to be able to say that I achieved that and I had a lot of great experience, but with that being said, I can hand on heart say that now being freelance, the independence that’s given me, I’m enjoying that the most.”
She explains that there is more creative freedom as their characters don’t just exist in the one universe, unlike in WWE.
The former actress and dancer’s introduction to wrestling was when her old brothers would try out wrestling moves on her
But it does also have its challenges. Laying out her merchandise across the tables, Nina who has been wrestling for more than ten years explains that more effort now goes into promoting her character, and using social media is essential.
She notes as kind and as inclusive as the industry is, progression can be an issue. “Women’s wrestling is a lot more celebrated now than it was when I first started,” because their number is fewer, they rise quicker but “they do still reach a ceiling.
You’ll find it’s harder for women to consistently get booked into places because they’re are usually only one or maybe two matches on the show that women are in, so they have to hustle a lot more.”
“I would say it’s performative fighting, but it is still very real. When people use the term fake, I always like to say fake what?” Says Levi Cooper.
Levi Cooper, 19, is at the beginning of his career, having joined Evolution Wrestling in 2019 as the ‘baby face’, his career is already taking him places like the International Tattoo Convention in Belgium.
Like his contemporaries he overflows with enthusiasm, unlike other fighting sports like MMA he tells me, “This is more of an artistic platform to show yourself, get involved, and create stuff with people, which is really nice.
“I think that’s what’s great about having a training academy, is you get to create and build stuff with people while you’re growing.”
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Evolution Wrestling offers its fans VIP experiences, that consist of extra shows just for them. As well as early entry, front row seats and meet and greets.
It also works has an opportunity to promote their academy, showcasing up-and-coming students. Allowing them to build that connection to the fans so when they make their way onto the main shows they already have a head start on their following.
As Levi attests it also acts as a stepping stone for students who are transitioning from the mats and into the ring.
Their next show in Hanham is on March 29.
All photos: Bear Vision Media
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