After a week of grinding at the millstone, blow off some pent-up steam booing for the bad guys and cheering for the good guys at the family-friendly bash in a four-sided ring, Dia de las Luchas.
This isn’t the Iron Sheik versus Hulk Hogan. This Mexican-style professional wrestling is much showier but also more accessible.
“The sport is entertainment but stylized through the Mexican style,” Chris Hack said. “Generally the wrestlers tend to be a lot more acrobatic and flashy and also with their outfits and masks.”
Brought to the Rialto Theatre by Hack and his company, Rockstar Wrestling Alliance, Dia de las Luchas is a quarterly event at the theatre. Doors open at 6 p.m., which is good because it gives kids and grown kids an opportunity to get a good spot ringside. The bouts begin at 7 p.m., this time on Friday, Oct. 24. The show, Hack said, is open to almost all — patrons of the wrestling arts have to be at least 6 years old to attend.
When attending an evening of wrestling, there is one word wrestlers, coaches or fans never, ever use. It’s a four-letter “f” word.
“We don’t use the ‘fake’ word because (wrestling is) real but winners are predetermined,” Hack said. “It’s well-known.”
It doesn’t keep fans from buying tickets and showing up.
“People who go to these shows go because they like it,” Hack said. “Whether it’s predetermined or not, we always give a good time or tell good stories. That’s what we’re doing in the ring.”
How does anyone tell a story through wrestling? The plot is fairly elemental.
“The simplest story is good versus evil,” he said. “One will come out to his entrance music, depending on his mannerisms or how he interacts with you or ignores you, you’re going to realize, ok, he’s a bad guy. Then the other ones will come out and be real flashy, shaking hands, high-fiving. Then you know that’s the good guy. That’s the main, simplest story.”
There’s more.
“You can be just a serious wrestler, you just want to get down to business and try to win or you could be more of a comedic wrestler,” Hack said. “That’s how they get it into your head is by what they’re displaying, like taking a sign out of your hand and ripping it in half. Now you’re going to want to see this guy lose.”
Being a wrestler is not easy. Besides the sheer athleticism of it, there are many other considerations.
“When you’re in the business, you have to figure stuff out,” Hack said. “Like, are there any wrestling rings in town? Are there any trained wrestlers that I can go practice with? Is there any local wrestling in my town or city?”
That’s not all.
“Then you have to find that trainer and then train with him under his exercise (regime) and be deemed good enough to be considered a professional,” Hack added.
Hack has been in the business for 26 years, including time he spent as a wrestler so he knows what to look for when he is approached to be part of his shows.
“There are a lot of people who say they’re wrestlers; they went to one practice session and then quit or they find the easy way out,” he said. “There are only a certain amount of true professional wrestlers.”
As an owner and promoter, Hack has to figure it out “because there are a lot of people who want to wrestle in my shows but if they’re not professional they’re going to end up hurting somebody.”
It turns out there is a wrestling school in the Old Pueblo and wrestling schools in Phoenix.
Besides the matches there will be live music. Hack has a punk band, Planet Strychnine, and they are practicing hard, learning Misfits covers.
Dia de las Luchas with Planet Strychnine covering The Misfits
WHEN: Doors open at 6 p.m., the show starts at 7 p.m., Friday, Oct. 24
WHERE: The Rialto Theatre,
318 E. Congress Street
COST: From $19
INFO: Rialtotheatre.com/calendar