Brawl when 2 audience members took on entire troupe of costume-clad wrestlers

News.Com.AU ^ | March 31, 2004 | staff writer

[yankeedame]

Wrestlers whipped by local 'clowns'

March 31, 2004

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 emphasised 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."

The Daily Telegraph

[Dog]

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."

This is not how you win over the hearts and minds of the crowd.

[N. Theknow]

I coulda took him if I hadn't been drinking.

[Badeye]

In 1978 on Thanksgiving morning I almost got into a fist fight with Ric Flair at the Norfolk International Airport. I had been waiting, third in line, for a ticket to Cincinnati since 6 AM. Flair showed up about 7:30...and the line had several hundred people in it, behind me.

He tried to just walk up front of us all, and I called him on it. He challenged me, and I told him "You want to take a swing at me? This is the really world, not the "Forum" downtown...and I'd love to own your career for the rest of your life"....(grin)

At which point the Marine's waiting in line backed me up (which is why I don't dis my brothers in that particular branch of the service).

Airline types took Mr Flair away, and he boarded the plane after all of us had an hour or so later. For you Wrestling buffs, Flair was sporting a very real blackened left eye when this occured, a result of his "performance" the night before in downtown Norfolk.

[AppyPappy]

It's important for many wrestlers to bluff people out because a)they can't afford an injury and b) it usually works. When you are pulling in $300k a year to work in the ring, you don't want to go on the pine by getting in a fist fight.

[Badeye]

True enough. Keep in mind it was 1978 (or 79). What pissed me off was his walking to the head of the line, past several hundred active military types like myself.

[AppyPappy]

I think Flair started to believe his own hype. One wrestler told me that was the beginning of the end for many of them. They started to believe in their own character. George the Animal Steele was once asked how long it took him to get into his "Animal" persona. He said "about as long as it took to open the curtain and walk out". After the match, he went back to being a high school football coach who had never heard of "George Steele".

At some point after that, I think someone splained Flair where his money originated because he became a lot more likeable.

[SPRINK]

who was the reporter a few years back that was hit by a wrestler (Hulk I think)? Seems like it was John Stossal or Geraldo. Help me people.

[marshmallow]

Mr Dollimore was angry yesterday at what he saw as the sabotaging of the club's family entertainment night.

Who can blame him? You go to the trouble of setting up a good, wholesome fake fight for the little ones and whaddya know, these jerks turn it into a real fight.

Toss 'em out. We want to enjoy our mayhem the way it's scripted.

"Kill him, Scarecrow........ knee him in the nuts........"

[Badeye]

I think you are exactly right on that. As for Flair, I just smile every time I see him, which is rare due to my lack of interest in "rasslin". The guy must be over fifty by now, and still going strong. For that I give him a tip of the cap.

[AppyPappy]

Considering he broke his back in a plane crash early in his career, it really is a miracle.

[FateAmenableToChange]

who was the reporter a few years back that was hit by a wrestler (Hulk I think)? Seems like it was John Stossal or Geraldo. Help me people.

The intro to 20/20 last night had a clip showing Stossel getting hit by a blond wrestler who bore a slight resemblance to Hulk Hogan / Hollywood Hogan after opinining to said wrestler that "I think wrestling is fake." The wrestler apparently thought differently.

[trickyricky]

DO MY TOES!

- George the Animal Steele as Tor Johnson

[Badeye]

Hmmmm, I guess because I don't follow this form of entertainment, I had no idea about his breaking his back.

Like I said, more power to him. He's been around since Bo Bo Brazile and the Sheik.....LOL!

[Hatteras]

That would be David Schultz (Dr. D) that smacked John Stossel.