Pro wrestling group bills itself as family alternative
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JWA "Brawl For It All"
Photos from the Janesville Wrestling Alliance's "Brawl For It All" event at Janesville's Pontiac Convention Center.
JANESVILLE — As Janesville native "The Cowboy" Tyler Baggins lay like a dead fish on the mat, Mojo McQueen straddled him and wrapped a black cloth voodoo doll around Baggins' neck. He twisted it tight.
The officiators rang and rang the bell—a clear disqualification for McQueen for using an illegal submission hold—but the ominous voodoo priest continued to bear down on Baggins, ratcheting the voodoo doll tighter and tighter around his neck.
The crowd of about 400 men, women, high school students and younger children at the Pontiac Convention Center in Janesville roared jeers at McQueen, whose face was painted like a skull.
Embracing his role as a heel (professional wrestling parlance for "bad guy"), McQueen left Baggins in a crumpled heap on the mat. He leapt from the ring into the crowd and glared down at a table full of girls from Janesville's Franklin Junior High School.
The girls shrieked and scattered like water bugs.
It was just the first match of the night at a Janesville Wrestling Alliance main event on Saturday night, and already the crowd was getting warmed up. Ring announcer Dick McMacker waved a cowboy hat close to Baggins to give him air.
Then "The Cowboy" started to come around. Then he was back on his feet, waving and mugging for the cheering crowd. The convention center erupted in cheers.
"This match is exactly what we try to do in a nutshell. It's typical 1980s-style wrestling theater—good old-fashioned character-based wrestling," said Aaron "Getch" Getchell.
Getchell is one of two referees for Janesville Wrestling Alliance, an upstart professional wrestling organization with a cast of dozens of wrestlers from Janesville, Beloit and the Chicagoland area.
The JWA, organized by Janesville entrepreneur Jacob Sailing, has operated for about a year. Sailing says it's a "family/friends operation" that has grown enough to begin planning for main events
Sailing's father, Dennis Sailing, was selling tickets at the door Saturday night. He said when Jacob was in junior high in the mid-1990s, he and his teen friends built a wrestling ring in the backyard. They used it constantly.
He said his son wanted to offer families and children the same kind of fun.
"Jacob told me he wanted to start this to get something for kids to go and do in this town, something they can go and see. That's what this town needs more of," Dennis Sailing said.
Jacob Sailing, who also is a videographer and runs a local screen-printing business, does all of the promotion and designs and produces hats, shirts and merchandise for the JWA.
He and about 20 friends and family members paper the town with flyers for every event, and it's all hands on deck to set up and run wrestling shows such as Saturday night's main event.
The shows are run like typical pro-wrestling events complete with food and beverages. The matches are full of body slams, choke holds, chest slaps and acrobatics off the ring ropes. Each wrestler has his own persona and introduction music.
The wrestlers Saturday night included characters "Texas" Pete, a keyboard guitar-playing guy from Texas—apparently; rope-wielding bad guy Diego "The Strangler" Corleone; and 275-pound Janesville native Jay Kross.
So far, the JWA has done a few main events at the convention center and at a few area taverns.
Sailing says he's excited because his organization seems to be catching on, particularly with local families. He sees it as a different option for family entertainment. To him, it's another kind of sporting event.
"You take the Janesville Jets, which is a regionally run, local semi-pro sports outfit. You see how far they've come. I thought, "We can do this with wrestling. We really can,'" Sailing said.
The JWA recently bought a brand-new wrestling ring and had it trucked in from Kentucky. Sailing has a trailer for the ring, so now it can easily be moved from venue to venue.
He hopes to draw bigger crowds and get a foothold at taverns and some venues in the Madison area.
For now, the JWA has more local gigs lined up. Wrestling fans can see the JWA's next main event Feb. 16 at the Pontiac Convention Center.
Jan 26, 2013 at 11:49 a.m.
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Is eye gouging allowed? I aint going if there aint no eye gouging.
Jan 24, 2013 at 7:13 a.m.
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Roofrack, is there something about liking wrestling that causes people to not get the joke?
Jan 23, 2013 at 8:40 p.m.
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Gazettefan's criticism of Shakespeare for his misspelling and clichés is hilarious. Let me guess; the Dead Sea scrolls have horrible grammar? And he is making assumptions about wrestling fans intelligence.
Even gazettefan could enjoy JWA if he would just come out.
Jan 23, 2013 at 5:16 p.m.
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Thanks to everyone for all your kind words and support!
JWA will be back at the Pontiac Convention Center on Saturday, February 16th for some more Live Pro Wrestling action. Visit JWA-Today.com, Facebook.com/jwatoday or @jwatoday on Twitter for more information.
Jan 23, 2013 at 4:35 p.m.
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dsheq..., what educational system are you a product of that explains the first part of your comment? Everything that claims to be entertainment is equal in quality? What? (By the way, wrestling is supposed to be real. Are the kids being told it's fake?)
And not liking something automatically disqualifies a person from commenting on it? What?
I guess thoughts like yours are consistent with liking wrestling.
Jan 23, 2013 at 4:17 p.m.
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When you go to a movie, or a Shakespeare play for that matter, is that "real" or is it escapist entertainment? Does that make it any better than any other form of entertainment? Several of Shakespeare's plays deal with violence, wars, bestality, drinking, etc. As with all other things in a capitalist society, if you don't want to participate or support it, vote with your dollars and don't go.
Jan 23, 2013 at 3:58 p.m.
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njohnson, actually Shakespeare is overrated as a great writer. His work is full of cliches, his syntax is confusing, and his misspellings are numerous.
As for the wrestling, are the parents informing the kids that the bouts are fixed? And since the bouts aren't really contests, what is the attraction? save for my aforementioned comments.
Jan 23, 2013 at 3:19 p.m.
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Really? I'm supposed to take my grandchildren to watch somebody choking somebody else? That's entertainment? Never.
Jan 23, 2013 at 3:04 p.m.
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Excellent, take your kids to an event that teaches how to cheat, idolizes steroid laden carcasses, and parades sexism. Yahoo!
Jan 23, 2013 at 2:33 p.m.
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There's absolutely nothing inherently "gay" about Shakespeare. Dull, cloying and tiresome, maybe (my opinion). But "gay?" Come on.
Jan 23, 2013 at 1:59 p.m.
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Roofrack, who said anything about gay? No one but you -gay on the brain. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)
Jan 23, 2013 at 12:53 p.m.
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I agree with Gazettefan, nothing is gayer than a Shakespeare Festival.
Jan 23, 2013 at 11:39 a.m.
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JVLborn, I agree.
spinmaster, really? kids are using too much time and attention taking things seriously? Where?
That's all kids need, more alleged adults acting like morons. There's a real shortage of that. The adults who are exposing kids to more idiotic behavior have some explaining to do. Admit it, you are the one's getting-off on watching nearly naked men groping each other.
Where's the Janesville Shakespeare Festival?
Jan 23, 2013 at 8:25 a.m.
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localguy1, that brings back some memories, was that the night that during the match Jerry Blackwell moved the ring about half a foot when he ran into the corner squashing his opponent? Those guys were characters, no doubt.
Jan 23, 2013 at 3:09 a.m.
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I used to have a Golden Retriever named Baron. after Baron von Raschke, aka "THE CLAW". LET ME TELL YA MEAN GENE!!!!!
Jan 22, 2013 at 11:46 p.m.
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The Waverly Ballroom in Beloit was the ultimate venue for raslin'...the mud and the blood and the beer.
Oh, sweet memories.
Jan 22, 2013 at 4:13 p.m.
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JvlBorn, who says children have to necessarily "learn" something all the time? It's OK to just have fun sometimes!
I loved WWF as a kid, but never got the chance to see anything like this in person. Wish I had!
Jan 22, 2013 at 12:07 p.m.
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localguy,
At that Craig wrastlin' event there were A LOT of beers that were consumed before, during, and after the matches. (by the wrestlers)...
Jan 22, 2013 at 11:01 a.m.
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NVGRF--Not to 1 up you, but I saw Hulk Hogan beat Gov Jessie Ventura live at Boylin Catholic High sometime in the early 80's! Those were awesome matches back then. Anyone recall the card at Craig where, after the matches, Adrian Adonis and Jerry Blackwell (I think) broke a window at the hold Hardees on Racine St (now Italian House) in order to get something to eat? I think they were both hammered drunk and hungry. I laugh everytime I drive by there thinking about that.
Jan 22, 2013 at 9:49 a.m.
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NVgrf, that is awesome and hilarious all at the same time
Jan 21, 2013 at 9:20 p.m.
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I wanted to take my kids but was working Saturday. I'm looking forward to one in the future. I think what these guys have created is great and I truly wish them a lot of success.
Jan 21, 2013 at 8:32 p.m.
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I was there Saturday night and it was a very family friendly atmosphere. This is very G or possibly PG rated fun, much cleaner than you would see on TV nowadays, so lighten up JvlBorn, if you haven't been to one of their events, you probably shouldn't be so quick to judge. Good bunch of guys that go out of their way to make sure that the kids get to see some fun action, and by the way, the matches may be fixed, but those falls they take are very real! Kudos to Mr. Sailing on putting together a fun evening, and caring about the area having an alternative for something fun to do on a Saturday night.
Jan 21, 2013 at 6:49 p.m.
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JvlBorn, you obviously own some sort of stick.
Children can learn what a good time is and how to have fun, something a lot of people obviously don't know how to do.
Besides, the kids can learn what teamwork is from the tag team events, and they can also learn that not everything in life needs to be taken so seriously. You only live once.
Jan 21, 2013 at 6 p.m.
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Went to Rockford as a kid and got Blackjack Lanza's autograph......in blood!
Jan 21, 2013 at 5:31 p.m.
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Great time for everyone. Thanks to all involved.
Jan 21, 2013 at 5:10 p.m.
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Children, really? I am not old, nor conservative, but is it really a good idea to spend money to expose young kids to such ridiculous violence?
Better yet, can anyone tell me one good thing children can learn from these events?
Jan 21, 2013 at 4:31 p.m.
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My husband & I had a blast! The Main Event was my favorite part. Had to buy a "Texas" Pete T-shirt, too! My kids looove The Delavan Derby Dolls, they always enjoy getting their faces painted. Talk about talent! Love the JWA! Can NOT wait for the next show in February! R.R &J.C.
Jan 21, 2013 at 4:26 p.m.
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Awesome!
But really, stop scheduling these on my twice a month bowling league Saturdays. You're missing out on 5 more seats sold!
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