Ingamo Hall shook with cheers as recovering wrestler Wade Blu finally had it with visiting heel Ace Redman Jr. trash talking his town and elbow dropped him, allowing hometown hero Jarred Kalifornia a.k.a the San Francisco Sea Lion to win the tag team match.
It was the finale of one heck of a night at Proving Ground as Totally Arctic Wrestling made its debut to a full capacity crowd Nov. 16, selling 150 tickets and drawing in even more people for standing room only.
"The lineup is crazy!" said league owner Raging Ray Jean, before handing the mic off to Blu, who is technically part of the wrestling stable but was out of the event with an injury. "He's technically the emcee. I'm paying him big dollar, and I actually want him to do something for the big dollar I'm paying him."
"What? Big dollars?" asked Blu.
"No, not dollars. I said big dollar!" laughed Jean with his finger pointed up as he walked out of the ring.
Redman and Kalifornia started the action off after Redman interrupted Kalifornia's musical tribute to the newly-Christened league. After saying several unprintable things about his dating prospects around town, Redman took Kalifornia's ukulele and smashed it right across Kalifornia's head and the fight was on.
After trading several blows both in and out of the ring, Redman finally found an opportunity and pinned Kalifornia, leaving the crowd hungry for a re-match.
Following the initial heart breaker, Mayor Natasha Kulikowski was invited on stage for the unveiling of the North of 60 Championship Belt, but the fanfare was cut short when it was discovered someone had stolen the belt.
As it turned out, Deztro the Eskimofo took it for himself, insisting he had earned it without even having to compete.
"I told you it was going to be mine first! I told you, both of you, that I was going to be the first champion and guess what!?!" yelled Deztro from the side of the ring, with his wily assistant 'the Maniac' at his side. "Nobody is taking this from me!"
Hailing from Australia, the Maniac nearly dispatched local legend Steve Baryluk aka the Delta Demon in a close battle that kept the crowd on the edge.
In what was billed as the main card of the night, Deztro was booked to battle Mad Dog Marty Sugar for the North of 60 championship belt. Sugar threw Deztro around the entire hall, at one point offering his jaw for Deztro to punch him repeatedly.
The two brawled their way onto the stage before Sugar knocked Deztro over the ropes and back in the ring. Sugar pinned Deztro to take the belt, but then offered it back to the the town for another challenger.
As Sugar extended his hand to Deztro, the crowd began to get up, thinking it was over. But then Deztro pushed Sugar back and kicked him in the lower torso. Redman leaped into the ring to stop Deztro and Kalifornia came out to hold him back.
To break up the mess, Jean called for a tag-team match of North vs South, with Deztro and Kalifornia for Inuvik and Sugar and Redman for Kelowna. Redman opened the match by insulting his Inuvik students and Blu, the MC, before things flew out of hand.
In the end, with referee Faye d'Eon knocked out cold and Kalifornia writhing in agony, Redman gave a shove to Blu from the stage. Blu had had enough and stepped into the ring to take Redman on. The crowd went ballistic.
Following the performance, Sugar thanked the crowd for their support and accoladed the new wrestlers.
"Ray Jean, my dear friend. You asked me a month ago to pick two locals to fight for your title and I told you nobody was ready," he said. "Right here in this tag match, two people proved they are ready. You want a title match next show? It's San Francisco Sea Lion Jarred Kalifornia and Deztro the Eskimofo.
"And let me tell you something Blu. Heal up brother, because the first champion should be you. So you heal up and take them out for me, my friend."
With Inuvik changed forever, the wrestlers are back to practising for their next round of shows, currently slated for April with one in Inuvik and the other in Tuktoyaktuk. Deztro is also vowing to head to Kelowna for a rematch with Sugar on his home turf at his promotion, Big West Wrestling.
"I won't let him get away with a 0-1 record against me," vowed Deztro following the match.
