An Evening of Rock and ‘Rassling
The Tabernacle, Atlanta • August 27, 1999
Frank Mullen
Attention, Cyndi Lauper – the rock and wrestling connection is alive and well. A stewed and tattooed crowd of rasslin’ fans gathered in the Cellar of the Tabernacle for a night of quality entertainment by the new Southern Extreme Wrestling league.
With heroes and villains like Goth, the Assassin and Demon Hellstorm, plus outspoken managers like the Monopoly Man (in top hat and tuxedo like the little guy from the game, his rallying cry was, “You’re going to jail!”), there were plenty of excuses to cheer and boo. And boo they did.
Flying leaps from the ropes, heads smashed against the turnbuckle, wrestlers crashing into tables and spectators; there was plenty of action, and it was close up. I saw a guy get whalloped over the head with a metal garbage can – I don’t care what they say, the dent in that can looked plenty real to me. So did the guy next to me, screaming, “Git ‘im in the ‘figure four,’ rahht noowww!” Hard core fans – this is as different from the shiny, choreographed stadium events as spring training baseball is from regular-season pro games. It’s much more real and much more fun.
You might think that a handful of guys in Speedos insulting and beating the hell out of each other would be entertainment enough, but no… Between matches, patrons were treated to their favorite local bands playing KISS covers. Some of them were a little, shall we say, “lacking in spirit” (like they weren’t born yet when Destroyer came out?). Atlanta’s El Caminos did the most justice to the songs – a little sloppy and a little out of control, just the way it should be.
If you want to see how wrestling was back in the good old days, before pay-per-view money and prime time ratings RUINED everything, watch for the next Southern Extreme Wrestling match. I promise you more thrills and sweat than the glossiest of WCW shows.
Would-be villains needn’t stop there. If you want to BE a wrestler (and go after those prime time ratings and big pay-per-view bucks), you can go to wrestling school put on by the same folks. If you make it to the ring, will you let me know if it’s fake or not? Thanks.
For more info, call 770.491.3831 ◼
