Donald Teuma-Castelletti
SHAWVILLE July 14, 2018
Men in tights held others in chokeholds while shouts of “Use the chair!” rang out from the crowd on Saturday night, as old school, high energy wrestling matches took over the Shawville Arena.
Featuring seven fights and nearly two hours of entertainment, the Classic Championship Wrestling (CCW) show was a hit amongst the attendees, all the while supporting this year’s Shawville Fair.
“It’s been a long time since hosting a wrestling event,” said Josey Bouchard, first vice president of the Shawville Fair and event organizer. “We did [have this] many, many moons ago and thought it’d be nice for the community.”
Jay McDonald, CCW owner, said their shows are all about the fans, as in getting them pumped up and involved with their shows. Featuring good guys and bad guys, clean and dirty fighting, lots of name-calling and plenty more classic wrestling stunts, the wrestlers were there to give everyone a good time.
With 12 wrestlers competing for glory and belts, in one-on-ones and three-way rumbles, exciting intros, plenty of unexpected twists, plus a tag team match, the action was nonstop.
“They’re wrestling for every single fan in our shows,” he continued, ahead of the event. “What you’re going to see is all the kids going crazy.”
Certainly, kids and adults were enjoying themselves as wrestlers were tossed about, sometimes ending up in the middle of the audience, fighting off an opponent while hurling back heckles at the spectators. Much cheering always arose when members of the audience were invited to get a whack in on a wrestler currently tied up by the other.
This level of interactivity was one of the main reasons Bouchard brought in the wrestling, as the fair board seeks to expand fundraising efforts through more family-oriented entertainment.
“We’re trying to get more events going for the community,” said Bouchard. “We’re really happy to put on this show and the entertainers are super.”
Unfortunately, turnout for this event was low, with many seats left empty. While each side of the ring had four rows of chairs, most didn’t require more than a single row.
The empty seats didn’t affect the wrestlers or McDonald much, as they encouraged the crowd to share what they saw with their friends, in the hopes of being invited back next year. While the London, Ont., based organization may have expected a larger attendance for their first show in Quebec, they were optimistic of a full audience, if they get the chance to return.
Based on the energy of the kids in the audience following the show, their friends will hear about what they saw – and what they got to do following the show.
Rather than send everyone hopped up on energy back home right away, children were welcome to climb into the ring and live out their wrestling dreams right there. The night ended with a royale-style match, as kids climbed the ropes, threw themselves around and flopped onto the mats, all the while shouting and shrieking gleefully.
