Matty Starr plays to the crowd, enticing them to yell things like \u201cYou suck!\u201d and \u201cGive up!\u201d Photo by Sarah Fulto<\/em>n.<\/p>\n Words by Avery Gregurich<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s Saturday night on the main street in Algona, Iowa, and there are two venues selling tickets. <\/span><\/p>\n One\u2019s a movie theater. Across the street, a man is on the sidewalk handing out flyers for tonight\u2019s show held behind him in \u201cThe Vault.\u201d The movie theater\u2019s lobby is empty, but it\u2019s standing room only in \u201cThe Vault,\u201d where a steel cage match will be the main event. <\/span><\/p>\n This is <\/span>Impact Pro Wrestling<\/span><\/a>. As the house lights dim and the hard rock music and a few DJ lights begin, \u201cThe Vault\u201d is no longer merely an industrial space on Algona\u2019s main drag. It\u2019s transformed to a home for both sport and spectacle, for heroes and villains, and a space for fantasy and reality to mesh together for a few hours in the squared-circle. <\/span><\/p>\n All of this for a $12 ticket. $15 for a folding chair.<\/span><\/p>\n –<\/p>\n The first match of the night features wrestler James Jeffries, 27, (real name: James Jeffries). His entrance music is \u201c<\/span>Party in the USA<\/span><\/a>.\u201d He looks unmistakably like WWE legend <\/span>Shawn Michaels<\/span><\/a>, shoulder-length brown hair and headband included. He wears black and white polka-dot pants with pink laces streaming down his legs. He pumps his arms and grins, slapping hands with every kid in the crowd. In wrestling terms, Jeffries is a \u201cbabyface,\u201d or good guy. <\/span><\/p>\n Like most of the wrestlers of his generation, he grew up during one of the many heights of professional wrestling: the mid-to-late 1990s.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was young, I would watch wrestling with my dad. A lot of the <\/span>Attitude Era<\/span><\/a> stuff,\u201d Jeffries says. \u201cWe both loved wrestling. He watched it when he was young, too.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n True to his in-ring underdog character, he speaks in a quiet voice, revealing his small town Riceville, Iowa roots. He lives in Ames now, because he says he was \u201cready for the big city.\u201d He\u2019s been wrestling for almost a decade after having trained here at \u201cThe Vault\u201d for several months before his first match. \u201cWhen I was getting out of high school, I was just like, \u2018I just want to wrestle once,\u2019\u201d Jeffries says. \u201cNow, I\u2019m going to keep doing it as long as I can.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He\u2019s got stories that span the spectrum of professional wrestling, from wrestling in front of 10 people outside the Twin Cities during a snowstorm, to getting recognized by a fan in the Des Moines Airport, or signing autographs outside a WWE show in Cedar Rapids. The real-life James Jeffries has worked wherever he could to support the wrestler James Jeffries. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI was a maintenance man in a factory in Story City, Iowa,\u201d he says. \u201cBefore that, I worked as a teacher\u2019s aide for Head Start in Charles City, Iowa.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n There isn\u2019t much money to be made in independent professional wrestling, just as there is little money to be made in minor league baseball or semi-professional hockey. Still, white envelopes are handed out following shows to all of the performers. Jeffries says that Impact Pro Wrestling pays better than most, but, just as with traditional sports, it\u2019s the appeal of something bigger (arenas, crowds, paychecks) combined with a genuine love of the sport that \u201ckeeps you coming back and keeps you getting up.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear just where the in-ring character and the man separate, if they do at all.<\/span><\/p>\n A few examples: he met his longtime girlfriend, fellow wrestler Frankie Jay, through wrestling; he works for IPW promoter Troy Peterson\u2019s resale business in real life, and when he meets fans at the gas station or the grocery store, it\u2019s not the man pictured on his driver\u2019s license, but rather the man delivering headscissors on the weekends that speaks. <\/span><\/p>\n[aesop_parallax img=”http:\/\/urban-plains.com\/2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/IMG_6802E.jpg” parallaxbg=”on” parallaxspeed=”3″ caption=”Justin Decent takes down Nicky Free with a headlock in a head-to-head match at The Vault in Algona, Iowa. Photo by Sarah Fulton.” captionposition=”bottom-left” lightbox=”on” floater=”on” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]\n Tonight, Jeffries is slated to lose to the \u201cheel,\u201d or bad guy, Aaron Von Baron. This, and every other occurrence that will happen tonight, is the plan of the man handing out flyers on the street, promoter Troy Peterson. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cTo me, it\u2019s just like producing and directing a movie or a play. It\u2019s all written out. You\u2019re writing a script,\u201d Peterson says. \u201cI think pro wrestling is this incredible hybrid form of entertainment that I want as many people as possible to be exposed to.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As a kid, he says he would fill up notebooks with wrestling tournaments the way that some kids would doodle. He would beg his parents to take him to every show within driving distance, and after drawing straws with other kids\u2019 parents, they would oblige. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMy parents thought I would grow out of it when I was 12. Now, they are taking the tickets for me at 42,\u201d Peterson says, laughing. <\/span><\/p>\n Since 2001, Peterson and IPW have been running shows across the state of Iowa and the larger Midwest. From county fairs, to bars, to their permanent performance venues like \u201cThe Vault\u201d in Algona and the Baratta’s Forte Center in Des Moines, Peterson has seen his promotion grow steadily over the last 15 years. Still, he feels as though he and other small independent promotions are constantly working against a large preconceived belief about what professional wrestling has been, or what it can be.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s got a really unfair stigma. It has all the disadvantages of the word \u2018fake.\u2019 It\u2019s kind of like constantly people considering the world isn\u2019t round,\u201d Peterson says. \u201cIt has every disadvantage, also — that it\u2019s bad for kids, that it\u2019s violent, that it\u2019s bloody. It\u2019s a real tough sell, but once you get people there, then they like it. But the same could be said about the opera: It\u2019s tough to get people there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Halfway through the show, a song by punk band Bad Religion comes tearing through the speakers. Through the curtain walks The Intellectual Punk Tony Sly, (real name: Danny Wagener). He\u2019s around 6\u20195 and cuts a menacing character standing atop the turnbuckle at the corner of the mat, baring his mouth guard to the crowd. In his horn-rimmed glasses and wearing a silver wallet chain, he resembles something of a jacked up high school math teacher. <\/span><\/p>\n He\u2019s been in professional wrestling for 11 years after putting on shows in his college dormitory at the University of Northern Iowa. He attended college on a speech scholarship, and for Sly, professional wrestling has always offered him an outlet to perform. He, too, became enamored with professional wrestling during the Attitude Era, and for most of his career, he\u2019s been a heel. As a heel, it is his sole purpose to elicit boos and jeers from the crowd.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI think I\u2019m better at it. It\u2019s more natural to me,\u201d Sly says. \u201cYou have to kind of channel that bitterness or anger that you have and take the prick-ish qualities that you have and turn that up.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n By day, however, he\u2018s a father and husband who holds a 9-5 as an investigator for the Iowa Civil Rights Commission. He holds a Master of Public Policy degree from UNI and chooses to golf weekends when he\u2019s not in his wrestling gear. At times, he\u2019s had to draw lines between his in-ring character and his real-life personality and work. He\u2019s held positions as a community organizer in the past, which can sometimes make it difficult for him to do his work as a heel in the ring.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s kind of this double standard. If you are an actor in a play, or movie, or TV show, people can make that distinction,\u201d Sly says. \u201cWith pro wrestling, you have to maintain that character to an extent, or you feel that you have to maintain it.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n He\u2019s done whatever he could to, as he puts it, \u201cprotect his gimmick,\u201d or push the boundary between fact and fiction. \u201cI\u2019ve had people come up to me in bars after shows and ask me if I was really from Orange County, California. I\u2019ve done some research, so I said, \u2018Yeah I grew up in Irvine, between UC Irvine and John Wayne Airport\u2019 and that \u2018I moved when I was 11 or 12,\u2019\u201d Sly says. \u201cI\u2019ve lived in Iowa my whole life, but I\u2019ve gotten people to bite on that.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n At 39 years old, Sly is on his way out and eyeing the end of his run in professional wrestling. He says he\u2019s lasted longer than some of his peers because he hasn\u2019t taken every booking or been risky with certain moves in the ring. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt becomes more of a challenge just to maintain every time the calendar turns,\u201d he admits. \u201cThey talk about a bump card: You only have so many bumps in you. I don\u2019t want to be out there when I\u2019m too old or I\u2019ve slowed down too much.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n[aesop_parallax img=”http:\/\/urban-plains.com\/2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/IMG_6633E-copy.jpg” parallaxbg=”off” parallaxspeed=”0″ caption=”Matty Starr stomps on Tony Sly during a tag-team match. Starr\u2019s team, \u201cThe Legend Killers,\u201d is purposely villainous. Photo by Sarah Fulton.” captionposition=”bottom-left” lightbox=”on” floater=”on” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]\n\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There\u2019s an unusually long intermission tonight. It takes a few men to assemble the steel cage for the first time in IPW history, and it takes a team of men to test its merits after construction. Meanwhile, the crowd eats nachos and watches the men work. A few wrestlers come out to sign autographs for the fans, and they sign posters, pieces of paper, and the kids\u2019 arms. Justin Descent lets one little girl sign his arm. <\/span><\/p>\n After the main event, there\u2019s an eight-man free-for-all to claim the Impact Pro Wrestling Vault Championship belt. Von Baron, Sly, and Jefferies are in it, as is one half of the Legend Killers tag team, Matty Starr.<\/span><\/p>\n Starr, 30, (real name: Matt Ferguson) wears pink leopard print trunks with \u201c#OMG\u201d written across the seat. Amidst the brawl inside the steel cage, Starr catches an accidental punch from Jeffries, bloodying his nose. He crawls to just in front of the audience, throwing his long hair back out of his face and showing the crowd his actual wound, attempting to further his status as the heel in the match.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s what he lives for.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI like to look at it like <\/span>The Avengers<\/span><\/i>: Loki was the best bad guy. Mike Myers, Jason, Hans Gruber from <\/span>Die Hard<\/span><\/i> \u2026 it\u2019s no different than the movies,\u201d Starr says. \u201cYou wanted to see that guy get his shit kicked in. I asked myself, \u2018Why can\u2019t I be that guy?\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Like his in-ring character, Starr is an excitable man. He\u2019s been wrestling for nearly 12 years, largely for IPW but also for a few other promotions around the Midwest. He\u2019s been hit by chairs, thrown through ladders and landed on beds of thumb tacks, all for the sake of the sport. For him, it began when he was young, when he would sneak across the street to his grandparents\u2019 house to watch pro wrestling on television. In his teenage years, wrestling provided a common language between him and his father.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe bonded over Super Nintendo and wrestling,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n When he considers why he does this, he counters with his own question.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhy do a bunch of friends play music in their garage?\u201d he asks. \u201cBecause it\u2019s something that they\u2019re passionate about, something that\u2019s fun.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In real life, Starr works full time at a bar in Des Moines. To him, though, there is no distinction between the weekday man and the character he performs on the weekends.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThey don\u2019t send the rent bills to Matty Starr, but it\u2019s all my real life. I don\u2019t care enough to separate it,\u201d he says. \u201cTwenty-four hours a day I\u2019m Matt Ferguson, but on Saturday for the 5, 10, 15 minutes I\u2019m in the ring, I\u2019m Matty Starr.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The stories he tells are of wrestling for the first time at the Long Branch Saloon Dance Hall in southern Minnesota, of working with WWE legends <\/span>Hacksaw Jim Duggan<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Goldust<\/span><\/a>. Tonight, sitting in the locker room behind the entrance ramp, he can\u2019t imagine a time when he won\u2019t be in the ring. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMy heart and my brain tell me forever. Right now, I feel good,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve wrestled in front of five people and I\u2019ve wrestled in front of 3,500 people. I will do this until I physically can\u2019t or until it\u2019s not fun anymore.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n –<\/p>\n After the show is over, and the crowd filters out into the night, the wrestlers gather around in front of the ring. They sip beer and talk about the show, which spots got the best reactions from the crowd, what could have gone better. The younger wrestlers sit on the edge of the circle and fairly hang on every word. Posters of WWE legends and old IPW posters hang on the walls behind them. It\u2019s a fairly mellow scene for folks who pretend fight and throw each other\u2019s bodies into steel cages face first. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Matty Starr\u2019s bloody nose is a popular topic, as are the veterans\u2019 war stories. Tonight was one wrestler\u2019s last performance and so they all take turns taking photographs in the ring.<\/span><\/p>\n Eventually, they will have to leave and \u201cThe Vault\u201d will go quiet until next month\u2019s show. They will return to their jobs and \u201creal\u201d lives. But for now, somewhere in between the characters they perform and themselves, they are at ease. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Night in Independent Professional Wrestling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[4],"tags":[345,343,347,342,344,348,341,346],"yoast_head":"\n