Ready to Rumble More than 100 years after Frank Gotch thrilled fans at the Walker Theatre, surging Winnipeg Pro Wrestling brings bodyslams back to the Burt By: Eva Wasney Posted: 2:59 PM CDT Friday, Sep. 29, 2023 Last Modified: 3:50 PM CST Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024 Updates

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/09/2023 (711 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Lights, leotards and flamboyant backbreaking action.

More than a century after professional wrestling’s heyday at the Walker Theatre, a group of enterprising local promoters are bringing armbars and pinfalls back to Smith Street.

Next Saturday’s Rumble in the Burt event will be a full-circle moment for the downtown venue — now known as Burton Cummings Theatre — and a major milestone for Winnipeg Professional Wrestling (WPW), an independent wrestling company that has experienced a meteoric rise in popularity since it first entered the ring in 2018.

The venue’s storied past is not lost on WPW co-owner Devin Bray, a lifelong wrestling fan and local history enthusiast.

“The Walker Theatre had wrestling as far back as 1910 … names that were world-famous stars,” Bray says. “So it’s kind of hallowed ground for me, I didn’t ever envision us doing something as big as this.”

At the time, the ornate 2,000-seat auditorium was the city’s premier live entertainment venue, hosting first-class opera, vaudeville and orchestral productions.

When wrestling was added to the mix, only the best in the biz made it on the Walker card.

Frank Gotch was one such celebrity. The world heavyweight champion from Iowa made his Winnipeg debut in 1911 with a decisive victory in front of a packed house.

Gotch’s $1,000 booking fee reportedly made him the most expensive athlete to appear in the city, according to a book on Prairie wrestling history entitled Thrashing Seasons.

While wrestling in the early 20th century followed a familiar format — predetermined outcomes mixed with real physicality — injuries ran rampant thanks to an aggressive grappling style and low-tech equipment.

During the Gotch bout, a local wrestler fell off the mat and broke his leg on the boards. The crack “could be heard all over the theatre,” reads a Manitoba Free Press report.

Fans can expect leg-breaking solely of the theatrical variety next Saturday.

Rumble in the Burt is Winnipeg Pro Wrestling’s largest ticketed event to date. Founded by a group of friends and local wrestling superfans, the company launched five years ago with a match in the dead of winter at the Sherbrook Inn.

“Sherb Your Enthusiasm” saw wrestlers from across North America face off in a ring set up in the hotel’s dimly lit beverage room.

The event sold out. As did the next one. And the one after that. WPW was onto something.

While the original crew is still involved by way of an opinionated group chat, co-owners Devin Bray and Ben Kissock are responsible for the company’s day-to-day operations and its upward trajectory.

What sets WPW apart is its commitment to the bit. If you’re going to start a professional wrestling promotion, it needs to look professional.

“We just feel that the branding is really important and having our logo and our colour scheme — that purple and yellow — splashed everywhere,” Bray says.

“When you walk in you get the sense of a grand production immediately.”

Everything — from the turnbuckles to the referee uniforms to the host microphones to the cue cards — is emblazoned, loudly and proudly, with the WPW emblem.

Bray isn’t a wrestler or a career promoter. He works in social services and learned everything he knows about putting on a good show by watching the slick productions and following the meticulous storylines of WWE.

“That’s what we’re trying to emulate,” he says.

The world-building is extensive. The company has a whole stable of ringside talent made up of drag queens, security personnel, backstage interviewers and announcers. Bray himself moonlights as Gene Spungo, a cowboy-hatted live commentator.

In 2022, following a pandemic pause, WPW moved from the Sherbie into a new home at the West End Cultural Centre. The promotion has since hosted shows at Blue Note Park, ManyFest and the Manitoba Museum. The larger venues have attracted a new crop of wrestling fans.

“The best feedback we had was from people who didn’t watch wrestling, didn’t care about it, had no childhood association with it,” Bray says. “They were purely going because they heard it was a fun, rowdy night and now they’re hooked.”

Winnipeg Pro has been averaging five or so events a year. Tickets for matches at the WECC which can accommodate a few hundred fans, frequently sell out in minutes.

The shows are loud, raucous and also highly controlled. While audience participation is encouraged, organizers have a zero-tolerance policy for discriminatory language or behaviour.

That atmosphere is a big part of the charm for Andrew Schinkel, who performs as Sweet Bobby Schink.

“What we really love as wrestlers and performers is working for the crowd and hearing them cheer you or boo you or yell at you,” he says.

“If you’re going to see the Nutcracker, you can’t yell at the Nutcracker and tell them to eff off… to be a fan of wrestling, you’re really part of the show and I think that appeals to a lot of people.”

Schinkel is vying for the men’s championship belt at Rumble in the Burt, which is poised to host a crowd of more than 1,000 people. The ring will be positioned on the stage with limited ringside seating and stands into the first balcony.

For the Winnipeg-born wrestler, who spends much of his time travelling for weekend gigs with independent promoters throughout Western Canada, it’s exciting to have a new fanbase growing in his own backyard.

(The indie wrestling circuit is a global phenomenon made up of small, regional wrestling companies. It’s essentially the minor leagues for major national conglomerates, such as the WWE.)

“It’s just a pleasure to be a part of it all,” he says of WPW. “It’s the best show going in Winnipeg since I’ve been around.”

Schinkel’s opponent, Tyler Colton, wasn’t immediately convinced.

The local wrestler, gym owner and strongman competitor has been involved in the Winnipeg indie scene for a long time. He was wary of a promotions company run by fans who had no experience inside the ropes.

“It’s the same thing as me watching a movie in a theatre and being like, ‘You know what, I think I could make this movie.’ There’s so much more going on,” Colton says. “I liked them and I wished them the best, but I wasn’t sure how it would go.

“I’m very happy to say that I was wrong,” he adds. “They’ve built something in Winnipeg that’s very special and hasn’t been done before.”

The difference, Colton notes, is the diversity of people in the stands and in the ring.

Winnipeg Pro has a roster of more than 50 local, out-of-province and American wrestlers who travel to Winnipeg regularly for matches.

From the outset, the goal has been to highlight up-and-coming talent, while giving female wrestlers more time in the spotlight.

Toronto-based wrestler Jody Gyivicsan, who goes by Jody Threat in the ring, credits WPW with helping launch her career.

“This was kind of the first company that took interest in me and gave me my first fight,” says Gyivicsan, who recently signed a contract with Impact! Wrestling, one of the larger promotions in the U.S., run by Anthem Sports & Entertainment’s Leonard Asper.

“That’s what I love about Winnipeg Pro Wrestling; they dig to find those hidden gems.”

The enthusiastic local crowds and the focus on women’s wrestling keep her coming back.

“If you look at any given card that they have, there’s always more than one female match,” she says. “It doesn’t happen enough and, clearly, their success shows that this is an awesome way of doing business.”

Gyivicsan is WPW’s long-reigning women’s champ. She’s hoping to hold onto the title during her match against Genevieve Goulet, a.k.a LuFisto, at Rumble in the Burt.

Goulet, who hails from Sorel-Tracy, Que., is a relative newcomer to WPW but an industry veteran. She’s been wrestling professionally across the world for 26 years and has spent much of that time fighting men.

“When I started, there were simply no other women,” she says, adding that she hopes WPW will embrace intergender wrestling in the future.

“I think whether you’re a man or a woman, if you’re a good wrestler, whoever stands in front of you doesn’t matter.”

Over the last two decades, she’s seen the business grow in popularity and inclusivity. New companies, such as Winnipeg Pro, are an important part of that growth.

“Canadian wrestling is some of the best in the world,” she says.

“I love the fact that there’s more promotions popping out of nowhere and there’s more wrestlers and more wrestling schools than ever.”

eva.wasney@winnipegfreepress.com

Twitter: @evawasney

If you value coverage of Manitoba’s arts scene, help us do more.
Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow the Free Press to deepen our reporting on theatre, dance, music and galleries while also ensuring the broadest possible audience can access our arts journalism. BECOME AN ARTS JOURNALISM SUPPORTER Click here to learn more about the project.