Throwing their weight around
Wrestlers go to the mat for a good cause
While some local nonprofits may hold bake sales or charity auctions to raise cash, one Framingham group will be welcoming strong men in spandex.
Professional wrestlers will throw each other around the ring in a benefit for the 91-year-old Framingham Civic League.
Rebecca Justice, executive director of the league, said that New England Championship Wrestling, a Boston company that arranges professional wrestling exhibitions, will donate the proceeds from the show on Saturday to her organization, which will use it to fund English as a second language classes and a program serving hot meals to people in need.
Justice said it is the first time the wrestlers have donated to the league, but she has seen them in previous appearances at the league's auditorium, and they have drawn larger and larger crowds.
''It was quite fantastic," Justice said. ''It's very colorful and exciting, and people really get into it."
Sheldon Goldberg, owner of the wrestling promotion company, promised a fun-filled show with a much better view of the wrestlers' aggressive antics than most could get at a large professional match in a big city.
''When you go to one of our shows, it's a much more intimate experience, the fans are much closer to the action," he said. ''We pride ourselves on being family-friendly -- to the extent that professional wrestling can be family-friendly."
He described his wrestling matches as the kind of matchups your father might have watched.
Everyone recognizes that professional wrestling is an exhibition, Goldberg said, but it also takes highly skilled athletes to make it work.
''Yes, there is showmanship, but the bedrock of what we do is putting on a credible athletic experience," he said. ''There's a lot more athletics and a lot more physical ability involved in doing it than most people give it credit for."
Goldberg worked in Boston theaters and used to produce plays before he went back to his longtime interest in wrestling.
''I often call what we do off-Broadway wrestling," he said.
Even those who are not wrestling fans may have heard of characters like The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Locally, personalities like Revolution Chris Venom, a former Framingham State College student, and his nemesis, Michael Sain (formerly Psycho Mike Osbourne), are hoping to win their moments of fame. They are the main event in Framingham this week.
When he's not slamming his body into other grown men, Venom, 24, whose real name is Sean St. Onge, works as a behavioral specialist for children and adults with special needs. He said he is known as a ''mat ruffler" because he throws people around the ring.
St. Onge, who lives in North Kingstown, R.I., said he is looking forward to the match because of Framingham's fans.
It's ''one of the best buildings I've ever wrestled in," he said of the Civic League. ''It's got a great atmosphere. People generate this great energy."
Most of the wrestlers are trying to make their way up to
The only big-time wrestling organization in the country now is WWE, formerly the World Wrestling Federation.
Still, there are smaller, independent wrestling outfits, like Goldberg's, scattered around the country, largely with wrestlers who have day jobs.
John Stagikas, 25, a Framingham native who lives in Brimfield, used to wrestle for New England Championship Wrestling but has since moved on to matchups in New Jersey, Delaware, and beyond.
Asked why wrestlers are drawn to the sport, Stagikas cited ''the feeling of going in there and playing a character and being able to control the crowds with simple movements. . . . It mixes sports with drama."
That mat is hard, by the way, said Stagikas, who works at the Applebee's in Hudson. A 10-minute match can feel like a two-hour workout, he said, even if the combatants aren't in quite as much pain as they sometimes let on.
''Guys break their legs doing this, guys break their necks," he said. ''There's no guarantee, no health insurance. You do it because you love it."
The Saturday show, dubbed NECW Unwrapped, is to start at 7:30 p.m. at the Framingham Civic League at 214 Concord St. in Framingham. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for children under 12 and for students with ID. Families purchasing four or more tickets at once can get all tickets for $10 each. Advance tickets are on sale at the Framingham Civic League office or online at NECWwrestling.com.
