The San Jacinto Valley seems to be obsessed with wrestling on television. It is a sport with no local connections so far as having it live in this area except high school which is pretty much limited to families with kids participating. The West Coast Wrestling Company is returning to the Wheelhouse on January 28th with a somewhat different angle.

They are breaking attendance records with their new format, marking Adam Ginzberg’s return to the ring for the first time in 12 years. I recently had the opportunity to interview Adam and ask why, after such a long time, he would want to be bounced around on a mat after such a long absence.

“I had to hang up my boots after major back problems that led to countless back surgeries. From the age of 2, all I ever wanted to be was to be a wrestler. All during the time that doctors told me I would never wrestle again, I became determined to prove them wrong. However, I am coming back because I have a personal issue to settle.”

“I’m coming to get revenge. West Coast Heavyweight Champion Ric Ellis in December, attacked my teenage son and myself while we were leaving another wrestling event. Make no mistake about it; this isn’t an ordinary wrestling match. It will be a street fight from the get-go. It will be anything goes, no holds barred, from nose to toes. There will be no disqualification for any reason, no count out. The only way to settle this matter is pinfall or total submission. Expect an old-fashioned Donnybrook. My only reason for living is my family, and when they are attacked or compromised, I will go to any length to protect them and our family’s honor. I will be doing what any honorable man would, and has to do, to defend his family.”

I’ve known Adam for a long time and I have never seen him so charged up with anger. Wrestling at its mildest is a back-breaking sport. I can’t imagine anyone enjoying having their body subjected to so much torture, but Americans seem to enjoy watching grown men beating the hell out of each other. In football, also a violent sport, the players wear all kinds of protective gear, and still they are not totally protected from body and brain damage. In wrestling, it is all bare bones.

If you’re into such mayhem, call 951-652-9968. Just sayin’

rustystrait@mail.com

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On Sunday, July 25, starting at 3:30 p.m. “A West Coast Summer” comes to the largest arena in the Valley. Ginsberg promises a bigger and more exciting exhibition of wrestling that is catching attention throughout the country. On the road to their 13th year of first-class wrestling in September, he has gathered a crew of first-class wrestlers. He says, “I am very proud to present a sport-based product that our audience can emotionally invest in.”

At their last event in June, they crowned a new champion in Ric Ellis. However, Ginsberg emphatically states that, “he didn’t win fair and square. His opponent, Brandon Gatson seeks revenge and plans to have it on July 25. To find out what happens, be there. It is not a televised event.

Why is wrestling so intriguing? It is considered one of the most emotion-packed forms of entertainment. How did it become the industry that it is? Those of us old enough to remember Gorgeous George know that it became a spectacle in the United States because of his antics in the ring more than just wrestling. George, like P. T. Barnum, was a showman. He entered the ring with curly hair, spraying perfume and doing other outlandish things which caused many to forget that he was wrestling. They came in droves and were more interested in his antics than his prowess as a wrestler.

There is still the spectacle of entertainment. Wrestling is probably the only activity in the world that is considered a sport and at the same time, a form of showmanship. It has been written and said that wrestling is a form of mass culture entertainment. It is geared toward a sizeable predictable audience.

Thousand of fans follow it as religiously as a Sunday afternoon at the ballpark. It exists for the showmanship, but its mass following pushes it as a sport.

There are two kinds of wrestling. Amateur and professional. They are as different as night and day. Most amateur wrestling starts in high school as a form of exercise and graduates into what is known as “professional wrestling,” which shows that hordes of fans pay to watch. It can draw a crowd of fans that equal a Las Vegas show.

I recently spoke to a retired wrestling promoter. He described the fans as armchair exercisers. I’m not sure I got the connection, but the enthusiasm is the same as at a live event. It encompasses a part of American culture whose attraction has never been explained in so many words, but it is part and parcel of the sports acumen. Sumo wrestling is probably the closest version to a sport, and yet that, too, is as much a part of show business as a Broadway production.

It is something that has attracted public interest as far back as the Ancient Egyptians and beyond. It is seen in non-human Great Apes. Cave paintings dating back to the Neolithic age of 7000 B.C. show naked men grappling in the presence of enormous crowds. Is it sport, theater, or spectacle? To those who dig deep, it is a science. When you attend the matches on July 25, perhaps you will have your own ideas about it. Just sayin’

rustystrait@gmail.com

DATE: July 25, 2021

TIME: 3:30 p.m.

PLACE: The Wheelhouse Skate Arena

ADDRESS: 2860 W. Florida Avenue, Hemet CA

Rusty Strait • Senior Reporter

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Hemet High’s Girl’s Wrestling Team Looks Impressive At the Start of The Season

Years ago it was considered “taboo” to have a girl on your wrestling team. They had a hard time finding people to wrestle and most schools would just forfeit those matches. However, more and more girls these days have taken an interest in wrestling and have made it a point to dominate their opponents no matter their gender. Schools have started creating programs and building girls-only teams so that the female wrestlers get just as much of a chance to wrestle as the boys do. Locally there is none better then Hemet High’s girl’s wrestling program. Right now they have ten girls on their roster and just recently beat Beaumont in a duel meet 27-9. 

The girls on the Wrestling team roster is; Courtney Quintana, Mya Lozoya, Violet Cayton, Brooklyn Cohen, Samantha Barragan, Monique Moreno, Reyna Montenegro, Erika Tista, and Yasmin Far. These girls are out to make a statement: they don’t care what you think about girls wrestling. They are here to lay bodies on the mat and dominate every gym they walk into.

Currently, Samantha Barragan is ranked 3rd in the state in the 121lb division. She is making her case as a top wrestler in the state and is hoping to bring a CIF championship back to Hemet. She is the highest-ranked member of the girl’s team at Hemet according to Calgrappler.com and she is bringing major attention to the school’s wrestling program.

According to the National Wrestlers Coaching Association, the tide is beginning to turn for women’s wrestling. In 1994 there were only 804 female wrestlers across the country. At the end of last season (2018-2019) there were over 16,500 female wrestlers in America. At the beginning of 2019, the NWCA started a bid to allow women’s wrestling into the NCAA. The NAIA has had women’s wrestling since 2018 and now there are now 63 colleges with varsity wrestling programs.  In 2004 the Olympics Committee began to recognize it as an Olympic sport: this gives these girls something they can aim for. 

Hemet’s girls wrestling program seems to be heading in the right direction. Especially since their main lady Samantha Barragan is only a junior and has already built herself quite the resume. She is the number one 121lb wrestler in the Southern Section and still has another full season ahead of her. Now, more than ever, girls are proving that they can do whatever they put their mind to and fight past the stigma society wants to place on them. If you have a daughter who dreams of becoming a wrestler, get them started early. There are plenty of MMA/Jiu Jitsu gyms in the area that will help give them a head start amongst the competition when it comes to wrestling. For a more traditional approach to wrestling, there is always the Hemet Youth Wrestling Program.

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