Home > Talk of East Texas > Archives > 2009 > June > 13 > Entry
No rules required: Anything goes in backyard wrestling
Heavy metal music is pounding, and the crowd is ready for wrasslin’ when a man in a black lucha libre mask cuts the tunes and grabs the microphone.
“Let me explain the rules,” he says.
About 50 people have gathered for an afternoon of hardcore wrestling in a backyard near Liberty City.
But rules? There are no rules. He and other unpaid, untrained wrestlers are preparing to battle in a ring where they will batter each other with folding chairs, cookie sheets, a thumbtack-studded baseball bat, barbed wire and other weapons. The bloodier, the better, they say.
“Whoever’s the last three standing will meet in a head-to-head, fatal three-way for the title,” he explains.
He runs to the wrestling ring and dives onto the mat. He slides on his belly and leaps to his feet, waves his hands in the air and rouses the fans from their lawn chairs and pickup tailgates.
“Are you ready!”
The second luchador wears a red mask. He swaggers toward the ring and eases himself through the ropes.
The wrestlers circle one another for a few seconds, each sizing up the other, and when the man in black tries to shake hands to start the match, the man in red kicks him hard in the chest, grabs him by the neck and flips him over his shoulder.
His body thuds against the mat. The fight is on. Let the backyard craziness begin.
What do you think about Backyard Craziness as well as backyard wrestling’s popularity?
Comments
By Maddog
July 28, 2009 10:40 PM | Link to this
I guess nobody out there want’s a pieace of me but thats ok cause I’m leaving soon BUT I am still accepting autograph sign’s and some matches.
By Maddog
June 23, 2009 8:41 PM | Link to this
i stopped doing it like 7yrs ago cause I have more important thing’s to take care of but I am now in the spot where I can come back and I am accepting booking’s and autograph signing’s close to where I reside in.
By Rollie Pollie
June 23, 2009 11:23 AM | Link to this
I just wanted to say that I am a part of backyard craziness. Yes it’s dangerous. I am also a mother. If you teach your kids the dangers of each sport, they wont do stupid things when they are older. What we do is dangerous, but it is plotted out and we are not trying to kill each other, there are cuts and bruises, but if its done porperly, looks a lot more worse than it is. I wouldnt reccommend anyone to participate if they dont know what they are doing or if they have medical issues. It’s a free country. If the rednecks want backyard craziness, let us have it!
By Maddog
June 22, 2009 7:53 PM | Link to this
hey everybody that reminds me of when I used to backyard wrestle and heck if the feeling is right I might think about coming back but and yes there is a but if yall want me yall have to come find me.
By Rosalind Forsyth
June 16, 2009 12:37 AM | Link to this
I just want to say that those are my cousins and i have known them my whole life, and i just laughed when i read the paper!! See i am from daingerfield tx, but i have known then my whole life their my older cousins, but this does not surprise me at all! hey i love yall david and whanye!! ya cuz misses you! love boo!
By melissa rose
June 14, 2009 2:52 AM | Link to this
I just feel like LNJ didn’t find any other story to write. I dont want my kids to even look at today’s LNJ. Not worthy at all.
By Miss P
June 14, 2009 12:57 AM | Link to this
Hey everyone guess what? This is EAST TEXAS! So what is the difference in “muddin” swimming in clay pits, underage youths drinking in pastures??? Nothing because this is what the culture is around here. So if they want to have stupid fun, let them because I’ll laugh when I see them again with a broken collar bone and 2 fracture ribs. Gee Whiz who cares…
By AB
June 14, 2009 12:33 AM | Link to this
I still cant believe LNJ published this stupid , senseless articles about this crazy stuff in the front page.After going thru half of this article, i just didnt feel like going through inside.I just found this worthless.
By KLeer
June 13, 2009 9:55 PM | Link to this
Yeah, and the Journal needs to stop promoting high school sports because there was a kid who died last year playing football. And, haven’t you ever heard of Jim Fix? He died jogging so no more fun runs in Longview either.
By Nate
June 13, 2009 7:27 PM | Link to this
Amen, LongviewMom.
By LongviewMom
June 13, 2009 4:03 PM | Link to this
People… get out of your boring little bubble! Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean everyone else has to not like it. Yes it is dangerous. It’s no different than ultimate fighting, bull running, bungee jumping or any of the other hundred extreme sports. They are doing an activity which is breaking no laws and having a great time. I personally don’t want to wrestle, fight or participate in any other extreme sport but if they want to… let them. They understand the rules and know the risks. As of 2008 worldwide there been 2,300 death from bungee jumping. How many people have died as a direct result of armature wrestling? Less than 5! Go rain on someone else’s parade.
By JAS0802
June 13, 2009 10:07 AM | Link to this
I’m sending this story to Jeff Foxworthy, not only to poke fun at the participants but also to say “you might be a redneck if your town newspaper publishes back yard wrestling on the front page.” Don’t try this at home kids.
By sh
June 13, 2009 9:29 AM | Link to this
I’m sure society will be paying for this idiot’s medical bills since he chooses to act like a fool rather than find a job with insurance.
By JC
June 13, 2009 9:15 AM | Link to this
I have to agree with the first comment…this is not something that I feel should have been put in the newspaper. I realize this subject is sadly becoming popular for those who seem to find an appeal towards things that are disturbing…But, I wish the news editor would have thought about that before allowing this article to be shared with impressionable and possibly sick-minded people, especially teenagers who might think this would be ‘fun’.
I hope that you will please find topics that are more worthy of print because this one is not about something that should be promoted, and by sharing this article you have done so…
By Peaceful
June 13, 2009 7:44 AM | Link to this
It is beyond words how ignorant those who participate in this actually are. Its just a matter of time before someone is killed. I can’t believe LNJ even published this.