It Was Mostly Greek to Me

Wrestling roots trace back to ancient Greece.  Saturday night, many thousands of years later, the Greek-wrestling connection played a big part in a night of fun at a POWW (Purely Obsessed Wrestling World) event in Elk Grove Village.

After hearing me praise POWW for many months, my friend Lou brought his sons Peter and Christopher, his nephew Andrew and his friend Andrew brought his son Steven to POWW last Saturday.  The six Greeks were looking forward to seeing the action that I had been describing, especially GQ, the POWW tv champ, who also happens to be Greek.

This story isn’t about the actual results (which can be found at “Results from POWW” on WrestlingFigs.com).  Instead, it is about four young boys (and four older “boys”) who had a great time at a local indy wrestling show.

Sexy K.C. was the first wrestler to grab the attention of the kids, when he grabbed me and shoved me into a wall.  Before the next match, Stonewall approached the kids and told them to sit still and be quiet.  Later, K.C. came out again and shoved me again.  He was really getting his point across to the kids.

This wasn’t all about scaring the kids though.  When fellow countryman GQ was announced, the kids waved their Greek flags and screamed wildly.  GQ was surprised and looked genuinely excited to see such Greek pride.  He grabbed one of the flags and entered the ring.  When K.C. (his opponent) used stall tactics, GQ simply left the ring to sit with the boys until K.C. was finally ready to wrestle.  That was quite a scene.

Before the main event, “the Lost Soul” Chris Cairo (POWW Heavyweight champ) also greeted the boys.  By this point, they were almost superstars themselves.

After the show, the wrestlers came back out for pictures and autographs.  I introduced my group to the wrestlers.  The kids were a bit leery of K.C., but he promised to hurt only me.  Stonewall, Brawn the Lumberjack, Trevor Blanchard and Commissioner Bob Parrella also posed with the boys.

Again though, GQ stole the show when he reappeared.  I admit I was kind of lost when they all started talking in Greek, but it was such a cool sight.  I simply enjoyed the experience.  It was awesome seeing these youngsters have such a great time.  They were already asking about when they could come back.

Scott Beatty and I had a little fun for ourselves, too.  Scott interviewed Cairo, who talked about what being champ means and what challenges he has.  Then I interviewed POWW owner Jimmy Blaze, who discussed running POWW and what he expects in 2013.

It was a great night for all.  Even the non-Greeks had a great time, although I left with a big hankering for pastitsio.  Who knows…with Jimmy Blaze and POWW, they might just serve that at a future show!