Hours in class can start to feel like days. School days sometimes feel eternal.
By the time Friday rolls around, most everyone is ready to throw down and escape the daily grind.
Well, some folks around campus use their weekends to throw each other down.
For a little over a year now, on the first Saturday of every month, the guys of The Memphis Backyard Wrestling Alliance have been taking it to the mat.
Following last year’s WCW Thunder event, a visionary gang of four laid the foundation for what would eventually lead to “primetime” events in the area, like MBWA’s “BYOB — Back Yard of Blood.”
“They’re all like very active thespians, but who am I to say it’s improv,” said senior graphic design major Nicholas Barron.
Barron has known the guys for many years, and although he never gets in the ring, he’s seen his share of bouts. “It’s as professional as backyard wrestling can get,” he said.
Music education major Patrick Bolton, AKA “Saint Patrick,” put his Lego-mania engineering expertise to ring construction just prior to his canonization into wrestling sainthood.
It began on a whim, but once the ring went up, the snowball effect took over. Next came the scripts, the characters, the announcers, the theme songs and the championship belts.
“Its all fun oriented more than anything else,” said senior Joseph “Sid” Barker, AKA “Sid Liscious.” “It’s fun as hell.”
Barker said the wrestling was first concern, but then they really dove into the plot — and some interesting story lines have resulted.
Maleeza, the lady-counterpart of the Brazilian, non-English slangin’ LaBones, took part in some “extra curricular” activities behind the scenes of a mock pay-per-view event with the opposition, Justin Jackson. Fans have sued for commissionership and stormed the ring, and Tequila Loco, from another alliance, has asked the MBWA for a match.
Bolton said if he wins the title, Saint Patrick is donating it to the poor.
“I’ll probably walk up to some poor guy on the street and give him the belt. That’s why no one wants me to win,” he said.
Senior marketing major Matt Alford, AKA “Matt Manners,” is the group’s ring leader... sort of.
Alford’s the “wrasslin’ guru,” and everyone else is like a disciple, according to Bolton.
Alford said they keep an eye on TV wrestling plots, and from time to time spin off, but they adapt things to fit their own creative tastes.
“It’s fun creating,” he said.
Alford’s Matt Manners character is a pissed-off polite guy, who always dresses in a white shirt and tie and is enraged by others’ lack of manners.
“It’s like making a mini movie. We have skits with the wrestlers and we try to create conflicts and stuff,” Alford said.
The alliance throws some gimmicks and flash around to keep interest up.
“I’ve seen boards used and lots of cans and chairs getting smacked into heads,” Barron said. “They love that.”
Barker said they’ve had an eight-foot ladder match once, and there’s always a chance some “blood” might be shed, but they don’t get quite as hard-core as the roof jumpers you may have seen on videos.
Baron said it’s all very dangerous, but they’re all very focused.
They’re no “Tennessee jack-asses.” The wrestlers have had choreography sessions, and over the past year they have really mastered a lot of the amateur wrestling techniques.
Bolton said things are about 80 percent scripted and 20 percent improvisation, but with some of the veterans, it’s a little easier to go astray from the plans.
“The key is to be flashy with minimal risk,” Alford said. “We’ve got to make it entertaining, but we’re not willing to break any bones or anything.”
Close to a hundred fans turned out for the “Halloween Hootenanny” last year, so appeal must be there, according to Barron.
Anywhere from 15 to 50 people show up on average for their matches.
Barker said the scripts are designed to elicit a response from the crowd, because when the crowd’s heads are into it, it really changes the events.
He said the fans are even starting to associate with characters, since they’ve been around for a while.
There group consists of about 10-12 wrestlers, along with commentators, managers and character refs.
The originals — fully robed Saint Patrick, Matt Manners, the Hawaiian-shirted Sid Liscious and the current MBWA Heavyweight champ, all-American Charlie “Sledgehammer” Hines — are the main eventers.
The Orange Mound Intermetropolitan champion LaBones, plus The Machine and the always bandanna wearing Wolfman are some of the others.
Sometimes the guys take on multiple identities with the addition of a mustache or something minor like that. For example, Alford also has a referee character he plays occasionally.
Each wrestler comes strapped with their fatal finishing moves, like Manners’ “Matt Maneuver,” Saint Patrick’s “Last Prayer” and the Wolfman’s “Master DDT.”
“It’s funny because we all do DDT’s in our matches and people kick out, but when Wolfman does it, just ring the bell because it’s over,” Barker said.
Overall, everything’s pretty convincing, according to Barker.
“The sound of the ring is good and the mat techniques are all pretty good.”
He said as long as the communication and chemistry remains, things will keep flowing. And they don’t turn away newcomers — they help new wrestlers up the ropes.
The group said that to their knowledge, no other alliances exist in town. Another — the KCW, or Killer Championship Wrestling — does exist, but it’s not well publicized.
Actually, Memphis Backyard is an extensive modification of the former MTW, or Memphis Trampoline Wrestling, which only lasted a couple of matches.
The MBWA members said their show isn’t exactly for the whole world to see, but when the cars line up and down Carnes Street, neighborhood folks have been known to pour in to watch the action — anywhere from children to 40-year-olds, Barron said.
They put up flyers and ads, but for the most part, things stay like they started — a good time for friends.
According to Barron, the MBWA has gotten nothing but good feedback, and he’s even produced a short documentary of the guys — called “Brain Litter.”
Alford said he has of late become fed up with the monopoly of the professional wrestling world, and that is reason enough for him and his crew to escape through their own wrestling alliance.
“Halloween Hootenanny II” is the next event the MBWA has planned.
