May 20, 2009 21:05
The show was scheduled to start at seven, but at half past five there’s already a crowd forming outside the
Legion Hall. Inside the main auditorium, a spandex-clad man bounces off the ropes of a wrestling ring. He stretches out his limbs, practices a few jumps. Other wrestlers stand to the side, joking around and discussing past fights. Folding chairs are lined up in three meagre rows around the ring. An old man sets up a booth where he’s selling used action figures for four dollars each. In the Legion kitchen the bacon burgers hit the grill. The crowd hustles in to claim their usual seats. As bell-time nears they grow restless, taunting and pushing each other. The fighters emerge and slide into the ring. For the next three hours broad-shouldered men lift each other into the air, slamming each other down into the mat, pinning each other then kicking out a second before the count reaches three. The headliner for the night is a former big leaguer, a tired man in his fifties with an arthritic walk. Unable to do the flips, he holds out his arms as the young guys walk into them and fall. The crowd erupts in cheers at his easy win. This may sound like a scene from last year’s Mickey Rourke comeback film The Wrestler. But it’s real, independent wrestling in the GTA — and it puts on one hell of a show.