Stiff chops, hard knocks, and hammerlocks are coming to Bonnyville.
The newly formed Lakeland Pro Wrestling (LLPW) wants to bring the world of professional wrestling to the area.
“It’s something new that I’m trying to bring to Bonnyville,” explained Scott Leslie, promoter and founder of LLPW. “I’ve only been in Bonnyville for a year now, and I’ve realized there’s no wrestling or any form of entertainment like that close by.”
A life-long wrestling fan, Leslie started wrestling 12 years ago and has been embraced by the local community.
“The response has been positive. In a day or two, I’ve had 50 people contact me being like ‘oh, that’s awesome’ and ‘this is gonna be good.’ They’re anticipating something big,” he said.
The ultimate goal for the organization is to open a wrestling school locally. It’s a sport which Leslie attributes to preventing him from getting into trouble as a kid, now he wants to share that with others.
“I would really like to start a pro wrestling school to train kids and adults, who would like to do that but don’t know where to start... To help kids stay off the streets, because that’s what it did for me, it helped me a lot in staying in school, that’s where I used to go to deal with the stress from the week and you can unleash everything. It helps you learn a lot of things, and stay out of trouble.”
The first show for the LLPW, Chapter One, is taking place Saturday, Oct. 13 at the Beaver River Fish and Game building.
Leslie said, “We’re just looking for people who like pro wrestling, even people who aren’t too sure about it, to show up. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a good show.”
Hosting monthly shows is another goal for the group, which would allow them to expand and explore story lines for each person involved. Chapter One is a way to test the waters of fans in the Lakeland, while introducing them to local wrestlers working the Western Canadian Indies.
“There’s me, a couple of guys from Edmonton, Pride, Jude Dawkins, and Chris Parish... Those are all guys that were in the PWI Illustrated, which is the top 500 wrestlers in the world, and they were all on that list. There’s good guys from around here, that I know of. I’m hoping to find more as time goes along, to bring in new talent and wrestlers, and get them known,” Leslie detailed.
One of those wrestlers is Red Deer-native Mike Carlson, who wrestles under the name Pride. He’s excited to be featured on the first LLPW show.
“It’s pretty cool to get in on the ground floor with this new company, and if everything goes well, it will be another way for me and any of the other guys to get our names out there,” he explained.
The atmosphere in smaller areas has Pride looking forward to Chapter One, and what the group has to offer local fans.
“Working more local shows is nice because you’ll see people you actually know, and you get to have that community feel where you’re out there presenting something for the community with people from the community supporting it and everyone just gets on the same page. It’s pretty cool,” he said.
Along with Canadian wrestlers, LLPW announced Ophidian, a wrestler based out of Philidelphia, will be featured during the show.
For more information visit LLPW on their social media pages.
