Heavy Mania 2: The secret to the science of wrestling
Last year Heavy Mania, Heavy Montreal’s wrestling show, put on a spectacular event that rivaled some of the bands for people’s attention. The latest over-the-top edition topped last year’s serving of wrestling mayhem. By “over the top” I mean out of the ring and into the crowd. It had people scrambling to get out of the way as well as trying to get closer than they ever have been to the wrestlers.
Organizer and wrestler Shayne Hawke talked about the three days he had set up. Hawke said the shows get better every year but it isn’t choreographed.
“The wrestlers, themselves, come up with what they want to do. I do the pairings (who fights who) and the general story,” said Hawke, adding that the choreographed wrestling moves are a science.
Hawke has two degrees, one in cinema video communications and in creative writing and literature. He’s been a trainer for wrestlers for 13 years and credits the old timers in wrestling for rounding out his education in the field.
“I took quite a bit of crowd psychology, criminal psychology and biology in terms of getting the blood rushing to different areas to create euphoria in people,” he said. “I absorbed that knowledge like a sponge. This isn’t work to me. It’s a party. Both of my degrees were taken with wrestling in mind.”
When he looks at an event he chooses whom to put against each other based on science. People who are foils to each other are important but two of his crew aren’t really into the wrestling scene but are into the heavy metal music scene.
“They have a pulse on what those fans want. We are broadcasting to a main audience not a niche audience. We’re looking for people and the wrestlers to have a good time. It has to be fun for the performers because when they are having fun that translates to the audience. It’s fun, that child-like fun with a suspension of disbelief. A lot of us take the world way too seriously. Wrestling is taking you back to when you were five years old on Christmas morning. You get white knights versus black knights, the old story of good versus evil. It’s reducing human elements to the lowest common denominator. It’s basic stereotypes and histrionics rather than an individual. It’s all about concepts and you’re cheering or jeering those concepts.”
Hawke is the first to admit he doesn’t fit the usual picture of a wrestler. Even though he is quite fit he’s “small, but my intelligence plays a factor in the ring. It’s not that I’m smarter but I do a lot of research and it’s based on my art form. I’m passionate and I love my art.”
Love of his art has led to the International Wrestling Syndicate getting a deal with a Mexican TV station. It involves the Triple Underground, which is the largest Lucha Libre body in the world, a Mexican style of wrestling in which everyone is masked. Hawke is trained in this style of wrestling and compares it to bringing comic books to life. “It’s something that is bigger than life and I love it,” said Hawke.
Larger than life characters abound in the show. A crowd favourite this and last year was Sexy Eddie, the self-proclaimed wrestler with five pounds of man-meat below his belt. Last year he said that made it a target for other wrestlers. This year was no different and Sexy Eddie said his favourite part of the show was taking his pants off and watching the women responding… “Cause that’s what I do,” he said.
An added bonus is how many guys get a little jealous. “That’s the reason why this year we have to wear pants in the VIP section because a lot of guys were feeling a little insecure. They said get Sexy Eddie out of here or put pants on him. So we have to what we have to do. In the ring I seem to have more guy fans than girls. So I guess I have to work on marketing or something,” his Sexiness remarked.
In a tag team match both Sexy Eddy and his partner were targeted below the belt with what looked like a painful crotch grab. Both were down on their knees while being squeezed. I finally understood the Rolling Stones song Sympathy for the Devil. Just when you thought it was over they stood up and gave a pelvic thrust that sent the opponents tumbling.
Sexy Eddie attributes this to training by Shaolin Monks who showed him how to harness the power of the penis. “I brought this back to North America and since then I have been winning a lot of matches. It’s a gift and I have to use it. I don’t want to waste it. Sometimes it is a curse as women have been known to leave my house on crutches,” he said. At press time the Nation has been unable to verify this.
What we have been able to verify is that Hawke and company will be at XXXX on September XXX. Check out the action and join in the fun.