Local wrestling fans were treated to some exciting action at the Yorkton Legion Hall Friday night as High Impact Wrestling staged a series of tables matches in Yorkton.
Rex Roberts of High Impact Wrestling of Regina, explains that a tables match is a match between two competitors. The first one to get put through a table in any kind of a way, loses. "You could get tossed through it or you could be laying on it and then have a move done to you. As long as you're the first person to go through the table, that's how you lose," Roberts elaborates.
High Impact Wrestling offers events throughout the province, Manitoba and Alberta. "We've been up north to Laloche, LaRonge, and pretty much everywhere in Saskatchewan that we can hit," he says.
Roberts has been in the business for 17 years, since he turned 18. He started in Regina with a small training school for wrestlers. He joined in on their free shows at the school which had audiences of 50 to 100 people. "I trained for about a week and a week later I had a match," Roberts recalls.
Originally called Hard Core Wrestling, the school was in Yorkton 15 years ago. The name was changed to High Impact Wrestling in the year 2000, Roberts notes. Since then he and his fellow wrestlers have been at it as little as once a month and as often as five to six times a month.
While he has other work, Roberts devotes much of his time to wrestling. He says he does whatever it takes to put money into his pocket but gives him the freedom to go on the road at anytime he chooses.
A big wrestling fan as a youngster, Roberts recalls following the likes of Honky Tonk Man, Hulk Hogan, Macho Man, Earthquake, and others.
A former football player who tried out for the Rams, Roberts got into wrestling, and found he enjoyed it.
Wrestling is mainly entertainment. If fans are not entertained by the guys in the ring, they should be entertained by the people around the ring because they have some of the outrageous comments. That's what people enjoy.
"If you're not going to come for the show, come for the show that's in the stands," he proposes.
There are two kinds of people at the matches, the ones who love to watch wrestling and to see the performance for what it is and then there are the others who get caught up in it.
"When people get caught up in the performance, you know you did your job right," Roberts states.
Wrestling moves are choreographed almost like dance. When things go right on a good night it's almost like one of the best ballroom dances ever seen. "On a bad night it's like you asked the wrong girl to dance and she gave you two seconds." he chuckles.
Getting through to spectators emotionally is everything in the wrestling business, Roberts suggests.
Occasionally some wrestlers engage in personal vendettas. They become a little overzealous and become a bit overaggressive.
"That's the nature of the beast. Some guys get a little too wrapped up in it," he adds.
After 17 years in the business, Roberts says he's lost some of that aggressive nature. He still tries to make his matches look as good as possible with the person he's wrestling.
Wrestlers often have their own signature moves. Roberts signature move is a corkscrew suplex. He performs a regular suplex with a spin twist as he goes over, he explains. It's sometimes called a brain buster.
Roberts who suggests he's modest about what he does outside the ring, says he's loud and boisterous in the ring. He wants attention. "Out-side the ring the only thing I want is to know that you've had a good time," he says. He thinks he has developed a bit of a following of wrestling fans after 17 years.
Two shining local examples of professional wrestlers, Robbie Gamble and Paul Bodnar are both from the Yorkton area, Roberts notes.
"They try hard and train hard and deserve what they get out of the business," he says.
The card at the Yorkton Legion also featured Jumpin' Joe, Jeff Tyler, and Bucky McGraw.
"The days of the 250 pound muscleheads are over," Roberts suggests, pointing out that not all wrestlers are physically large. The wrestling fraternity has become very diverse, he notes. There are some large wrestlers entering the ring like Mark Henry and The Big Show.
Working as an independent competitor is a tough life which requires watching ones' money. It requires searching out and making booking. That's why wrestlers try to move up in the ranks. They want to go to Impact, WWA and other levels. There's also more money to be made as they move up.
Roberts believes his chances of moving up to the WWA are very slim after 17 years in the business. He does have other options. He can go to Mexico for lucha libre, basically Mexican freestyle wrestling. "It's a high flying style of wrestling. There are guys jumping off ropes, twisting and flipping and wrapping around each other. It's a very fast paced type of wrestling," he explains.
Roberts suggests the new mixed martial arts haven't drawn away a significant number of fans. Each has its followers, he suggests. Wrestling draws a younger group of fans whereas MMA is for more of a mature crowd, he feels. Wrestling fans understand they go to watch for the entertainment whereas the MMS fans go to watch hard core competition. "If you're coming to the WWF or any other type of independent wrestling, you're coming to be entertained," he asserts.
For the fans who did come out, Roberts hopes they enjoyed evening. For those who didn't, he suggests they missed one hell of a show. He urges everyone to come out next time to check it out.
