Children's Express - Story Library

Young wrestling fans bowled over

Wrestlers took over the Plymouth Guildhall on Tuesday night for what was billed as 'Big Time American wrestling at its best'. Many of the people in the audience were children. Young reporters from Children's Express investigate.

"We are professionals," says wrestler Avalanche. "It's really not a good thing to be doing these things in the school playground."

Avalanche knows that children are his biggest fans. The grannies who used to watch Saturday afternoon wrestling on TV won't have heard of The Rock or Stone Cold Steve Austin. They won't know that the modern American-style wrestlers sometimes smash each other over the head with chairs, tables and step-ladders. If they did, they might wonder how that influences the children who watch them.

The last time Avalanche visited the Guildhall was in October. But some of the children in the audience weren't all that impressed - the show is nowhere near as violent as the wrestling they can see on TV.

Wrestlemania promoter Brian Dixon said: "It's very popular with the children. Mums and dads often bring their children along. They aren't wrestling fans themselves but the kids want to see it and the mums and dads get hooked on it as well."

Avalanche meets Children's Express reporters at Plymouth Guildhall.

One of the mothers, whose nine and 10-year old sons watch TV wrestling three or four times a week, said she had discussed the fighting with them. "My children understand that it's not real, so I know they're not going to do anything silly to injure somebody else, another child," she said.

The October show featured several wrestling stars, including Avalanche - real name Paul Neu - who has been wrestling since the 1980s. For a man who had just been throwing opponents around the ring, he was surprisingly warm and friendly close up when interviewed.

He admitted straight away what most people assume. "The fights are fixed, this is sports entertainment," he told us. "We're out there to perform a show, even though we do get injured out there and it's very tough on the body."

Violence

He believes that wrestling can inspire young people to achieve, and played down the show's physical nature. "Maybe there's a little violence," he admitted, "but as long as the kids know this isn't real it's no worse than watching some of the cartoons you see on television."

But this staged violence has been making its way into the playground, and that worries teacher Derek Strawbridge. He said one of his 10-year-old pupils at High Street Primary school, Stonehouse, had been explaining the darker, late-night side of wrestling to him - match specials with descriptive names like 'Buried Alive' and 'Hell in the Cage'. "Children like it because it is fighting and they try it out for themselves." the boy told him.

Mr Strawbridge said: "I wasn't aware of the amount of gratuitous violence that's involved," he said. "I don't understand any parent who would take their children to watch anything like that."

Wrestling games at High Street Primary are banned. Mr Strawbridge said: "It starts off as 'play fighting', and then somebody loses their timing or their aim and somebody gets hurt."

He and Avalanche agree on one thing - how much children are influenced by wrestling is down to their parents.

"I think kids get excited and they see these kind of things and they get over-involved in it." Avalanche said. "It's really down to the parents to take control of how much they want the children to see and how much they want the child to partake in the sport."

Children's Express is a programme of learning through journalism for young people aged 8 to 18. This article was produced by Ben Wildman, 11, Susan Parnell and Sam Wildman, 10, and Chaya Lenkiewicz, 9. tory

About the team

This article was produced by Ben Wildman, 11, Susan Parnell and Sam Wildman, 10, and Chaya Lenkiewicz, 9. It was published in the Plymouth Evening Herald.