Posted by Sudbury Northern Life
There are just some things from my youth that will always
conjure up a given associated image. Call it the lure of
nostalgia, but time has a way of creating visions that remain
permanently etched somewhere in my memory, quickly plucked for
rapid recall when something or someone taps into my thoughts of
days gone by.
Long before the glitz, glamour and over-the-top sensationalism
of the WWE, I recall a different kind of professional wrestling
circuit, one that seemed to captivate an entire New Sudbury
neighbourhood of children.
No sooner had we finished watching the weekly exploits of
Edouard Carpentier, Gino Brito, Dino Bravo, Gilles "The Fish"
Poisson, Andre the Giant, Killer Kawalski and countless others,
that we convened on the nearest slab of dry grass, showcasing
our feeble attempts at a flying drop kick, among other aerial
acrobatics.
That's why the opportunity to chat a little with Mark
Bartolucci (El Tornado, on the BSE circuit) makes it easy to be
carried away to a long-lost land, one where the heroes and
villains of the squared circle cared about the audience to
which they catered.
A Sudbury resident, who played high-school football, both at
St. Charles College and with the Paris Street Blues in his
youth, Bartolucci (no relation to Cardinals' long-time coach
Chris Bartolucci) is now a 14-year veteran of the professional
wrestling circuits, a part-time career that included a four
year stint in "talent enhancement" with the WWE.
"It came to be because I was an athlete my entire life, and
when I graduated high-school, there weren't a lot of choices in
staying physically active and earning a living," reflected
Bartolucci.
In fact, it was a chance encounter with a few professional
wrestlers in the mid-1990s that led El Tornado to attend a
wrestling school, spending months working on many of the finer
details of his craft.
Despite maintaining his home in Sudbury and pursuing his love
of grappling on a part-time basis, Bartolucci was still exposed
to countless aspects of both the sport and entertainment
business - a combination which eventually led him to teaming
with "BSE Pro" (Blood, Sweat & Ears) in more recent years.
That, and a love for the purer form of the sport, where
wrestlers had the ability to tell a story to the assembled
crowd for 30-45 minutes, drawing in young and old alike into
the emotion that makes events like this so much fun for the
entire family.
Bartolucci is certainly not the only professional wrestler to
draw on a football background when first entering the ring.
"They're both physical sports - you're going to hurt the day
you go in, and you're going to hurt the day it's over," laughed
the talkative son of a plumber.
"If you can hit a tackling dummy, you can throw a good
clothesline."
Yet it was a merging of his two athletic passions that has led
him to his current project - a return of the hometown wrestling
show in support of a very good cause.
With a nephew who had joined an emerging high school football
program at Lively Secondary, Bartolucci soon found himself
drawn into helping out head coach Reg Bonin and the crew
involved with the Lively Hawks football team.
The BSE Pro group, most noticeably in the Timmins area, had
enjoyed a great deal of success in attempting to partner their
product with organizations looking to undertake some additional
fundraising. Enter councillor Jacques Barbeau, equally as
well-known in Walden circles for his countless hours of minor
sport volunteerism (and a huge supporter of Hawks football),
and the seed was planted for an afternoon of "Redemption."
A lengthy feud between Sudbury's own El Tornado and Pierre
Shadows of Ottawa will be put to rest once and for all in the
main feature - the Lively Lumber Jack Match. With all other
wrestlers surrounding the ring, an opponent seeking refuge
outside the ring (as Shadows did in their most recent
encounter, scampering to safety with manager Kat Powers) will
be tossed back into action.
The format, word has it, owes its background to the lumberjack
camps of decades ago, when men would settle their differences
without the benefit of simply walking (or running) away from
the competition.
The feature bout is one of seven on the card, which is set for
Sunday, May 3 at the Tom Davies Community Arena, with all
proceeds from the event going to the Lively Hawks football team
and other athletic programs at the vibrant Walden Secondary
School.
Tickets are $15 on the floor, $10 in the stands and can be
purchased at Lively IDA Pharmacy, Walden Home Hardware, Rock
Topic (Lasalle Boulevard) and the CD Plus outlet in the
Southridge Mall.
With a little luck, maybe, just maybe, some other young fan
will walk away with a memory to last a lifetime.
Randy Pascal is the voice of Persona 10 Sports and the founder of SudburySports.com
