Night of Champions
By ice rivers
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One of the first lessons of Education 101 is this "Don't have favorites."
This is one of the first rules that I was determined to break.
I decided to make every one of my students a favorite.
Once I had gained enough seniority to begin offering electives, my rulebreaking went to another level. I had favorite favorites. I called them Champions. These were the students who I met in my regular classes who felts so favored that they decided to take all of my electives. Sometimes, as in the case of Creative Writing, they took an elective multiple times. One of my Champions was Mike Champion. Champion was his actual last name. Mike was in my class at least 7 times....4 for Creative Writing...2 for grade level Language arts and at least one Cinematic Lit.
Mike and I would write and talk about a wide variety of subjects yet we kept returning to the subject of professional wrestling. Joining us in this topic was another Champion, Scott Lemmer. Scott was about twice the size of Mike but was graceful and co-ordinated enough to play on the varsity hockey team. For alll his size and speed, Scott's outstanding characteristic was his gentleness.
Upon their graduation both Scott and Mike joined the labor force. As a second or third job, they took up wrestling. Like all wrestlers, they paid their dues learning to sell, work the microphone and take bumps. Like almost all beginning wrestlers, they were being paid with pain for the love for their art.
We all considered wrestling as performance art. Even before Vince McMahon defined wrestling as sports entertainment, we were smartend up while still remaining marks. We endured the taunts of those close minded folks who insisted that "wrestling is fake."
Most wrestlers perform in tiny organizations at bars and high schools. Even though the risks are the same if not greater than in the big time, these wrestlers pursue their art before tens or hundreds of fans.
Mike was not only a wrestler but he was a manager and promoter. He was part of a promotion of upstate New York wrestlers known as Kayfabe.
A couple of dropkicks above bars and high schools in status level was the Henrietta Dome, a facilty that was part of the local fairgrounds. I heard that there was going to be a wrestling show at the Dome. I contacted Mike. Mike was part of the promotion and through him, I got permission to photograph the show. This wouldn't be my first time as a ring side photographer. I had been a correspondent for Ring magazine, the boxing bible. I had also snapped lenses for Rocky Fratto when Rocky was a middleweight champ not to mention my freelance work at Ali-Frazier 2.
Naturally, I was grateful for the opportunity even more grateful when Mike told me that AJ Styles was gonna be on the card as well as "The Big Cat" Scott Lemmer. I asked Mike not to tell Scott that I was working the card.
The crowd in the Dome that night was small but large by Kayfabe standards. Big Cat, working as a heel, was in the second to the last match of the evening. By this time, the crowd had been worked into a fever pitch, cheering for the faces and cursing the heels.
Amidt the tumult and the shouting, the announcer said " From Rochester, New York at 325 pounds....The Big Cat."
Scott emerged fro the dressing room in black tights, bandana and a black teeshirt emblazoned with a screaming skull. God damned he was intimidating. He was playing the heel that night and the crowd responded in kind...hating him with passion and poison prejudice which Scott returned in kind with stiffarms and bellows.
As he made his way to the ring, this gigantic marauder was surprised to see me. Amidst the bedlam, Scott gave me a secret look and softly whispered " Mr. Rivers. Wow. Thanks for showing up." For a split second we were back in the classroom where we had often imagined just such a moment.
I flashed back fifty years further when I had gone under the ring at the War Memorial and fetched the robe of Baron Gattoni. Once again, I was struck by the complexities of art and the thrill of performance.
I can't remember the outcome of Big Cat's match. I had a curfew of my own so I couldn't stick around for the post promotion party. I thanked Mike for his help in making this night of Champions possible.
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