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Wrestling Legends Hit The Ropes In Fairhaven

Posted: Jul 30th 2011 By: CMBurnham

Wrestling legends and locals will hit the mat tonight in Fairhaven for a family-friendly experience that is sure to please longtime fans and newcomers alike. The Seaport Inn and Marina, located at 110 Middle Street in Fairhaven, will host the event. Tickets are $12 for general admission, $15 for second row and $20 for VIP front row seats that include a special gift.

Doors open at 6:05 p.m., with a 7 p.m. bell time. The event is going to be held outdoors behind the Seaport Inn, weather permitting. Should it rain, it will be moved indoors to the ballroom.

Tonight's event will feature WWE Hall of Famer Tito Santana, a two-time Intercontinental and Tag Team champion, along with the legendary Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, a former Tag Team champ himself.

Beefcake, who now lives north of Boston, won't be wrestling due to an injury suffered in a charity boxing match. But he's excited for the chance to meet some SouthCoast fans — even if he's not sure exactly where it is he's headed.

"I think it's my first time (in Fairhaven)," he said. "I've been everywhere, brother, so it's hard to remember everywhere I've been."

Beefcake said he also enjoys getting the chance to talk to some of the young up-and-coming talent on the Top Rope roster.

"They're just a bunch of guys striving to be better," he said. "I try to help them out the best I can. I try to mentor them and offer whatever insight I can. I've gained a lot of experience after 35 years in this business."

Beefcake is also currently working with Hulk Hogan on "Hulk Hogan's 90-Day Challenge," a partnership with ViSalus Sciences which he said "helps people get off the medications to which they've become dependent," and "stabilizes and improves their quality of life."

Like Beefcake, Santana also had a lengthy run in what was then the WWF, including winning the first match at the very first Wrestlemania event. But he still loves connecting with the fans at small independent shows as well, and he feels Top Rope is top-notch.

"I think they run a very professional independent show," Santana said. "It's one of the best-run promotions, and I think I've told (Ricard) that before. It's very professional, very family-oriented. I enjoy working for them. There's a lot of talent at their shows."

For Santana, who originally hails from Texas but now calls New Jersey home, any chance to wrestle in Massachusetts means he'll get to connect with some longtime fans.

"One of my favorite arenas was always the Boston Garden," he said. "The fans there are unbelievable. They're always supportive of their home teams, no matter the sport. I won the IC title there against Don Muraco (back on February 11, 1984), and ever since the fans took me in as one of their own."

Also joining them on tonight's card is recent WWE/ECW star Colin Delaney. When told that the SouthCoast is geographically the "armpit" of the arm of Massachusetts (purely for geographical purposes) Delaney responded that he comes from the "armpit" of New York, the Syracuse area.

"I've wrestled in armpits all over the United States," he said with a laugh.

But Delaney said he too loves working with Top Rope. When he was wrestling for WWE on the ECW brand a few years ago, he was the youngest male talent on the roster at 21 years old. Now 24, he said it seems odd when younger talent wants to ask him about his experiences in the business.

"It's weird for me," he said. "I've done a lot in my career, I guess, so they want to know what it's like. But being on TV in front of God knows how many people is amazing, but it's so much more fun to perform for a couple of hundred people in a much more intimate setting."

Top Rope puts on more than 30 events each year in small, intimate settings. Many of their events are also fundraisers for various charities and all are family-oriented with an emphasis on keeping the fans happy.

"(Top Rope owner) Steve (Ricard) believes in putting on family shows, and he brings in these legends not only for the fans, but for the talent as well," said Nick Castanhinha, a New Bedford resident who has worked for the company for the past 21 years. "We have a long history of helping develop some great talent in this business."

He remembers working with wrestlers like Scott Taylor, who had a good run in WWE in the late 90s, as well as a guy who called himself "Terra Ryzing" but now is now more recognized as WWE megastar Triple H.

"If you put in the work and the effort, you get the chance to put your face in front of a lot of people," Castanhinha said. "It's all in what you put into it."

Castaninha, who wrestles as "Nightmare" Nick Steel and teams with Vain to form "The Whaling City Wrecking Crew," said that what appeals to many fans is the chance to see people they might know from their own towns and neighborhoods getting in the ring to compete. It brings back a lot of the feel from the 1970s and 80s, when fans used to attend shows on Bellevue Avenue and Coggeshall Street.

"If people want to see wrestling how it was, how it came to be so popular, than this is the place to do it," he said. "There's something for everyone."

For more information, visit www.topropepromotions.com

OTHER EVENTS COMING UP

Saturday, July 30, 2 p.m. at Onset band shell: "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka and Colin Delaney headline a show that will be part of the "Fender Bender" hot rod and bike show to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Sinners and Saints Tattoo, located in Wareham.

Sunday, July 31, 4 p.m. at North Attleboro Elks Lodge. Snuka once again tops the card as Top Rope puts on a show to help raise money for the North Attleboro Elks Lodge.