The Quick Talkdown 4.14.07: Thank You Backyard Wrestling
Posted by Phill Feltham on 04.14.2007
Backyard wrestling is dangerous, but it sure brings back good memories.
THANK YOU BACKYARD WRESTLING!
By Phill Feltham
"This match is scheduled for one fall…"
The eight year old kid walks from the side of his house to his backyard ring. He carries a belt, just like Ric Flair's old NWA belt, on his shoulder.
"Walking to the ring, from Hillsburgh, Ontario, Canada, the Kids Wrestling Federation (KWF) World Heavyweight Champion…"
The kid looks at the KWF ring. Three ropes tied to four trees with a grass canvas. The neighborhood kids were awaiting their turn to get into the ring -- four to be exact, on the right side. On the left side, was a fence sectioning off the backyard to the neighbor's house. The champion looked at his opponent, a scrappy little six year old with a tale.
"… Phillip Feltham!"
Yes, I was a kid wrestler. I am the one who carried a rubber belt with the plywood face with yellow spray paint. It was my little brother who I beat the snot out of to retain that title. I didn't exactly get a chance to pin him as the little bugger retreated from the ring to get counted out. He always loved to do that. That's why he never lost his Intercontinental title. He had a small rubber belt too, but the face was spray painted silver. It still smelt like my father's old tire. WWF didn't sell the belts back then. You could buy it from PWI, but they were rather expensive. The tag belts, which I did order, were classics. Expensive, but they came in handy. Now they sit on my fridge collecting dust.
Backyard wrestling was fun. Of course, it had its dangers. A friend of mine who I recently reacquainted myself with on Facebook was injured in a match with my brother.
He did a move the wrong way and she came down hard on her neck. She would later get her revenge on him and take his prided silver. Many of the small boys had a habit of losing to the older and bigger neighborhood girls.
Other kids did get hurt sporadically crying home to mom because of an incorrectly applied headlock or piledriver. Dangerous, but they had fun, not to mention they kept coming back for more punishment. To my knowledge, none of them did go on to become aspiring professional wrestlers.
It was just awesome being a kid who loved wrestling. We all emulated the wrestlers who fought on television. At that time, we didn't need to hear that wrestling was a staged show. Forget that Hulk Hogan was a balding egomaniac or that Vince McMahon was an evil tyrant closing down all the local territories. Steroids? What're they? At eight years old, all we cared about were the Hulk Hogan ripped shirts and red bandanas.
It was all about the prayers and vitamins. Thank you Hulk Hogan! Thank you WWF! Thank you KWF, the true backyard wrestling promotion for the great memories.
Phill Feltham is Senior Editor of Maximum Fitness magazine. The comments expressed in this article are those of the writer alone and not of Maximum Fitness. Check us out at http://maxfitmag.com. Phill is also Publisher for The Weekly Wanderer Dot Com travel website (http://theweeklywanderer.com). Send Phill comments at metrodivisions@yahoo.com.
