Rumble Rock Wrestling (feat. Regurgitator) at the Arena

Rumble Rock is an annual event put on to raise funds to help keep local community radio station 4ZZZ up and running. This years event was held at the-venue-previously-known-as-a-megaclub-after-being-known-as-a-rock-arena, The Arena, and featured the heavy hitting entertainment of Pro Wrestling Aliance Queensland, the sexy but dangerous Northern Brisbane Roller girls, along with a selection of local bands (Undead Apes, Spirfireliar, JJ Speedball) and headlined by Regurgitator.

The format of the night was band, followed by wrestling, followed by band etc. The Arena hasn't changed much since I was last in there other than the gents bathroom sinks being given an upgrade. The same negatives still irk me; those damn pillars blocking the view of the stage and the roof of the gents toilet being at my shoulder height, and yet still I feel a warm welcoming nostalgia wash over me as I wander through the mingling early crowd. I'm surprised by how many hot looking 'rock chicks' are present at such a seemingly machismo event.

The first band Undead Apes kick off proceedings laying the foundations for the style of 4zzz punk rock music we'll be treated to for the rest of the night. Being a staple on the Zed airwaves, their song Taxes always brings a smile to my face when I hear the line "You think you’re bad like Michael Jackson, when really you’re just crap like Michael Jackson".

Then there is the wrestling. Not having experienced any rock n roll style wrestling in the flesh before I had feared that this might be a lame and cringeworthy affair. I couldn't have been more wrong, as it soon became apparent that this was going to be entertainment, hilarity and pain to the max!

First we had the introduction and trash talking of the players, with apt wrestling names such as Kelso Kahoniz, Niki Nitro and the Australian Wolverine. There are man mountains, hot lady wrestlers, and midgets all champing at the bit for a piece of the action. All 15 or so wrestlers are introduced as two separate teams (Team 4ZZZ vs Party Rock Nation) but this minor detail is soon lost and forgotten once the wrestlers are in the ring.

Having the wrestling ring take up half of the ground floor ensures the crowd are right amongst the action. Although there is a hip-high fence to keep people 'safe', such a minor hurdle is of no concern to professional wrestlers and on numerous occasions they end up doing their thing amongst the crowd, including taking it up the stairs to the top level to take advantage of the pointy cornered tables for eye gouges, as well as being able to throw their opponents off the second level balcony for that added impact! And yes that really did happen.

One wrestler flips another off the balcony taking out the crew below

Plenty of props for inflicting pain appeared throughout the night including a guitar, fold up chair, frying pan, ladder, trash can lid, thumb tacks.. and perhaps the most entertaining, a selection of dildos! One match featured a "Naughty but Nice" bag of tricks attached to the ring allowing wrestlers eye gouge each other with foot long dildos, bum gouge with a strap-on, or leather whip their opponent into submission. And don't forget the late-night-kebab to the face fatality manouevre!


The choregraphy and quality of the show was really well done with some of the wrestlers displaying a level of acrobatics and fitness worthy of an olympic gymnast. The presence of some very realistic looking blood also added to the charged atmosphere and the oohs and owws coming from the crowd, so much so that a nursing friend of mine was visibly distressed and asking me if this was for real and whether they'd have paramedics ringside. I assured her everything was fine :)
*UPDATE* Soo apparently the blood looked so authentic because it was, check the comment section below and this.

Flying (flaming?) piledriver!

The wrestling between bands worked nicely in keeping the crowd hyped and entertained. Not having seen Spitfireliar before, I enjoyed their set of heavy punk rock. They were followed by JJ Speedball complete with a topless dancer for their "song about boobs", before the headliner Regurgitator took to the stage.

It somehow seemed appropriate for the 'Gurge to close the night with their hard hitting yet often tongue-in-cheek styled tunes drawing parallels with the wrestling show we'd all just experienced. Coming on stage wearing mexican style wrestling masks the band played a high energy set giving the crowd what they wanted. The opening riff of "Track 1" saw the front of stage mosh kick to another level, and seguing into the dark and dirty bass line of "Pop Porn" for a verse was an act of genius. Other classics got an airing such as "I Sucked A Lot Of Cock To Get Where I Am" and "Kong Foo Sing", and after returning to the stage for a deserved encore they finished the night with "Blubber Boy"... oh and did I mention the stage diving midget and crowd surfing sex doll? No? Well they were there too.

Sadly I forgot to take my camera so resorted to my crappy mobile phone for some video. So apologies for the poor sound but I figured it's worthy of posting just to get across how entertaining the night was. Here's the highlights of the wrestling along with a snippet of Regurgitator at the end, taken before I joined the masses in the mosh. Yes it was that kind of night.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=t57YTwX5kP8

I look forward to Rumble Rock Wrestling 5 next year, be sure to get along!