Glam slam

SOMERVILLE -- In pro wrestling, what happens backstage stays backstage. So it's best not to peer too closely behind the curtain prior to a World Women's Wrestling tag-team match held last month at the Good Time Emporium.

Let's just say there was more camaraderie in the back room than out front, where the four female combatants -- Nikki Roxx , Mercedes Martinez , Tanya Lee , and Ariel -- staged a no-holds-barred brawl outside the ropes after the match was over. This followed a good 15 minutes of preening, snarling, smack talking, body slamming, shoulder twisting, throat jabbing, pile driving, and four-way choke holding, all convincing enough to raise a lusty ``That was awe-some!" chant from the 200 or so paying customers.

Who got the better of the post- match brawl, broken up (although none too hastily) by two referees and WWW president Sheldon Goldberg , was difficult to say. The crowd seemed to care little by that point anyway, having already cheered on their favorites, Roxx and Martinez, to victory and posed for photos with the wrestlers during intermission.

They'd seen one wrestler, a gothic, tattooed character named Della Morte , disqualified for punching a ref and another wrestler defeat her opponent with something called a ``crucifix sunset flip" move, which looked as painful as it sounds. A few extra hair pulls were merely the cherry on their Sunday entertainment.

One fan, Charles Johnson of Framingham, a serious pro-wrestling buff, not only proclaimed himself pleased with the action but said he preferred the WWW version to the sexed-up , Vince McMahon WWE variety.

``There's more emphasis on the wrestling and athleticism here, and less on the gimmicks and cartoon aspects," said Johnson, who was attending his second WWW event and sat in a ringside seat costing $20.

Funny he should mention cartoons. Because Goldberg did the same thing during a conversation between bouts.

Pro wrestling is essentially ``a story of good versus evil, like a Popeye cartoon," noted Goldberg, who runs both New England Championship Wrestling and the WWW, a subsidiary of the NECW. And like Popeye climbing off the ropes to battle Bluto, he said, the outcome of the story may be predictable, but the entertainment value is ``all in the wrinkles."

``I like to call what we do `off-Broadway wrestling,' " said Goldberg, a large man with a cheerful disposition and a background in theatrical production. ``We're as politically correct and family-friendly as pro wrestling can be."

Family-friendly or sideshow-strange -- a question to which we'll return in a moment -- the WWW has managed to attract a dedicated core of wrestlers and has scheduled six all-women's cards this year at the Somerville venue.

Atop the list of performers is Roxx (real name: Nicole Raczynski ), a 27-year-old Melrose native and reigning NECW women's champion. Roxx started wrestling professionally in 2002 after training at Killer Kowalski's Pro Wrestling School in Malden. A non-athlete in high school (``I was a hacky sack kid"), Roxx became a wrestling fan by watching stars such as Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant in their prime. After studying at two colleges and bartending school, she decided to give the ring a fling herself. Now she's among the more recognizable, and marketable, female wrestlers in the region, which boasts around a dozen independent wrestling organizations, according to Goldberg.

``It was scary at first," recalled Roxx, getting on her game face backstage. She is blond , attractive, and preppie-looking, and her preferred ring outfit is a sexy two-piece number with her name emblazoned across the chest and buttocks. ``I was afraid I'd make a fool of myself," she said, ``but now I love it." And audiences love her back, if the Somerville event was any reliable yardstick.

Like many others in the WWW, Roxx hopes for a shot at the WWE someday, where the money and exposure are in another league altogether. Meanwhile, as an independent operator (none of the WWW athletes are under contract to Goldberg), Roxx wrestles at one New England venue or another most every weekend. She also takes classes at the Top Rope Pro Wrestling Academy in Manchester, N.H., not far from her home in Salem, N.H., and augments her income by bookkeeping and waitressing.

Last year, Roxx and Ariel (real name : Ana Rocha ) spent four months touring Mexico together. There, fan passion runs deep and crowds often number 5,000 or more. Roxx has also wrestled in Japan and England. How much she makes for each WWW bout is a private matter.

``It wouldn't be fair, because not everyone earns the same," Roxx said backstage before her match.

Goldberg would only say the wrestler s ``don't make very much," adding, ``It's more for the exposure."

Ariel, who projects as villainous a profile as Roxx does a virtuous one, is a 21-year-old Portugal native whose family emigrated to New Bedford 10 years ago. Like Roxx, she started watching pro wrestling on TV, fell in love with its spectacle and exuberance, and started taking classes at Top Rope Academy when her brother did.

``I want to see where this goes," Ariel said as she applied makeup before the tag-team match. Her side job, she said, is working at a McDonald's, ``where they don't mind if I need to take a month off to go wrestle."

Among the youngest WWWers is 18-year-old Tanya Lee (real name: Tanya Daly ) of Bedford, N.H., who graduates from high school this year. In training since she was 14, Lee plans to wrestle full-time and see how far it takes her. ``I love the rush of entertaining people," she said, adding that other than a couple of sprains, nothing bad has happened to her in the ring -- so far. What about her high school friends, Lee was asked. Do they find her weekend hobby somewhat unusual?

``To be honest," she replied, ``I don't really have any friends in high school." Oh. ``And anyway, I don't talk about it." OK.

Then there is Della Morte, 25, who declined to give her real name (it's listed on her website as Trinity Campbell). The daughter of a collegiate wrestler, Morte favors all-black outfits and blood-red makeup and relishes exploring her ``dark side" as a ring villainess.

``I'm a Wiccan, a real witch, so for me this is a good mix of athletics and entertainment," Morte said. Families can watch the matches without being exposed to curse words or other vulgarities, she said. ``I love working for a family company. "

In Goldberg's eyes, a television deal is ``the holy grail" for his organization and its national aspirations. And family-friendly entertainment is the best way to get there, he maintained.

``We're not aiming at the fetish set, or what I call the `raincoat crowd,' " Goldberg said. ``We want our competition to be based on talent, not body image."

It's an uncharacteristic -- and jarring -- moment, then, when during the evening's only mixed-gender event, wrestler Kristian ``The Exotic" Frost pulled down his bikini trunks and mooned the crowd after a tag-team match. Nobody seemed terribly shocked or offended. Then again, there weren't many children in attendance.

One who was, 10-year-old Kylie Moran of Braintree, said she liked Nikki Roxx a lot and the WWW in general. ``It's better than boy wrestling," she said.

Joseph P. Kahn can be reached at jkahn@globe.com.