Other Sport / Wrestling
Wrestling for humanity: inside Rock ‘n’ Rumble’s charity wrestling event
The unexpected click, spark and roar of a motorbike engine triggers the hall to come alive with a thundering backdrop of Bad to the Bone by George Thorogood. The towering black curtains of Circomedia’s church in St Paul’s part and release a Harley Davidson, which promptly pulls up onto the middle of the stage in a cloud of smoke. Off step Ben and Jeremy, aka the leather jacket-clad Bone Shakers, to a braying crowd of bloodthirsty fans, anticipating another bout to feed their newly-found love of the ancient sport of wrestling.
Following their spectacular entrance are Balls Deep, a pair of model tennis players who strut onto the stage to Holding out for a Hero by Bonnie Tyler, strip off their track suits, toss them into the adoring crowd and then fire glitter guns from their tennis rackets. These two will grapple with the Bone Shakers in a totally original three minute takedown battle, the culmination of eight weeks of intense training. So the oldest sport known to the human race is seeing another big revival, this time in Bristol, and the contestants are fighting for humanity.
Two opponents wrestle it out in the ring after a short but brutal training regime. Photograph by Jim Ross
“We’ve coined the term ‘wrestling for humanity’,” says Olympic wrestling coach Saeed Esmaeli. He calls the event, Rock ‘n’ Rumble “the ‘world’s first white-collar wrestling event”, and it was Saeed’s skills, the ideas of David Nettleton and the drive of Jo Hook – founder of their key Bristol charity partner Temwa – that generated the concept for this totally original comedy sporting experience. Rock ‘n’ Rumble Wrestling played its first show in Circomedia in November 2017, with 34 contestants entering a tough eight-week training regime with coach Esmaeli. Together, they raised £25,000 for Temwa, before putting on the show of their lifetime.
is needed now More than ever
“When Jo Hook approached me asking for help to support its development projects in Northern Malawi, she got me at just the right time”, says ideas man David Nettleton. “I was desperate to give something back to the world and get reinvolved in society. I had lost my sense of community, and coming up with this idea really helped me. It also seemed to help everyone who joined me on the programme.”
David used his friendship groups to find the contestants for 2017, but now the Rock ‘n’ Rumble crew are back and have opened up the event to a new class for 2018. On the evening of April 11 at the Bristol Dojo in Bedminster, they will be hosting an enrolment evening and invite Bristolians down to try out the training and sign up for this madcap wrestling experience, culminating in their next show in June.
Visit www.rocknrumblewrestling.com for more info and to sign up
Main image by Jim Ross
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