STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.
— It wasn’t exactly WWE SmackDown, but it seemed like it yesterday as more than 500 wrestling fans at the Cromwell Center in Tompkinsville cheered on muscle-bound brawlers that handed out suplexes and headlocks for charity. The event, organized by an Oakwood charity for the disabled, Charl’s HandiJam, featured fighters from East Coast Professional Wrestling and raised about $2,000. One of the fans was Yoni Chernock, a 22-year-old from Great Kills who is deaf and has Down syndrome, and was screaming “Get him!” as Tito Santana beat down the Owens Brothers with a metal folding chair. “I liked it, big time!” said Chernock, who was wearing a John Cena shirt and holding a picture of legendary grappler Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka. While not as awe-inspiring or complex as the big-budget WWE, yesterday’s performance had all the trappings of a big-time event: The manager for the bad boys Owens Brothers fired up the crowd by calling them a bunch of lazy slobs, and in a later bout the USA-themed The Patriot predictably bested his rival from the Mediterranean island nation of Malta. Sharon Chernock, Yoni’s mother, is not a wrestling fan herself but said it was one of the relatively rare places where she, confined to a wheelchair, and her five children with special needs don’t feel like outsiders. “He couldn’t be happier this is his favorite thing in the world,” said Mrs. Chernock, 55. “As a parent, I couldn’t be more appreciative. I take them to things, but you can only be so imaginative.”
Yesterday’s event, which featured a three-way battle, a no-holds-barred street fight and 20-man battle royale along with one-on-one contests, was the third held by HandiJam.