|
Wrestlers
whipped by local 'clowns' - 31st March 2004
Credit: The Daily Telegraph
What
should have been a night of family fun at a suburban
RSL degenerated into an brawl when two audience
members took on an entire troupe of costume-clad
wrestlers in their own ring.
Ironically
billed as "the brawl in Bronte", the
Ultimate Wrestling Alliance (UWA) show at Bronte
RSL club last Saturday disintegrated into chaos
after two men invaded the empty ring.
They
pretended to wrestle, taunted the real wrestlers
and then exchanged blows with them when they returned
to the ring.
The
UWA, which models its act on the US professional
wrestling circuit, told officials they would never
return to the club.
Bronte
RSL secretary general Shane Dollimore vowed yesterday
to have the troublemakers barred.
He
said the night began well with a packed house,
including about 100 children, cheering on the
wrestlers.
During
the second interval two members of the audience
who had been throwing ice at and ridiculing the
performers all night invaded the ring and began
making rude gestures at the "real" wrestlers.
Several
of the wrestlers returned and ejected them from
the ring.
Punches
were thrown, leaving one of the intruders bleeding
from his forehead. The crowd of about 200 went
crazy, with chairs overturned, women and children
screaming and a second fight breaking out in the
audience.
Four
police cars and three ambulances attended the
club, which police shut down for the night.
Police
are reviewing the club's CCTV footage and video
footage shot by the UWA to see if any charges
should be laid.
A
26-year-old Bronte man and a 33-year-old South
Coogee man were treated at the scene for minor
injuries.
Mr
Dollimore was angry yesterday at what he saw as
the sabotaging of the club's family entertainment
night.
"It
was going alright until these clowns jumped in
the ring," he said.
"I've
been trying to change the demographic of the crowds
we get here and make it into a place where people
feel they can take the family.
"These
two blokes, who were there with children themselves,
have just ruined it for everyone.
"We
should have had them thrown out earlier when they
started heckling and throwing ice.
"They
will be called before a meeting of the board and
I'd like to see them banned.
"I've
only been here nine months but I'm determined
to change the character of the club."
Mr
Dollimore emphasized that nobody was seriously
hurt in the brawl and said he was disappointed
so many police turned up and that the club was
shut down for the night.
"We've
handed over our CCTV footage to the police and
I suppose they'll make something of that,"
he said.
A
woman who said she was the fiancee of one of the
wrestlers complained that the Bronte crowd was
the roughest and most violent the UWA team had
encountered.
"The
western suburbs are nothing compared to this,"
she said.
"Out
there they just sit there and watch the show but
here these bloody idiots are chucking stuff and
trying to punch on with the wrestlers."
Scott,
who wrestles as Scarecrow, yesterday said he and
the other performers were enraged by the invasion.
"Those two blokes are just idiots."
Links:
UWA
Bronte
RSL club
AJ
Promotions
AWF
Pro Wrestling
Articles
Wrestling
Promoters Down Under, by Greg Tingle
The
Great Aussie Promoters, by Greg Tingle
|
