Backyard wrestling

Backyard wrestling is a loose term used to describe the controversial practice of professional wrestling as performed by untrained fans (usually adolescent males) in an unsanctioned, non-professional environment. Though backyard wrestling was not unheard of prior to the 1990s, the modern backyard wrestling "craze" lasted from roughly 1998 to 2001, during a time when televised professional wrestling was enjoying a period of unparalleled popularity (see 1990s wrestling boom).

Practice

Many of those who practice it embrace a style that emphasizes risky high spots (which can involve diving or taking bumps from rooftops or ladders) and the liberal use of weapons in matches. These may include thumbtacks, barbed wire, tables, plywood, fire, glass, and light tubes. Even among participants who shy away from this, there still is a considerable level of inherent risk involved. Many professional wrestling holds require extensive training to perform correctly and safely, which few backyard wrestlers have received. These and other concerns are at the heart of the controversy surrounding the practice.

Backyard wrestling is so-called because it is often literally performed in yards, though most any location can host a backyard wrestling match, including parks, garages, playgrounds, vacant lots, warehouses, barns, and school gyms. It is common for backyard professional wrestling promotions, or "feds," to construct their own homemade wrestling rings. Wrestling on trampolines is also common, which allows for visually impressive moves to be performed with a minimal risk of injury. Others opt to simply perform matches on the bare ground which, in most cases, is more dangerous than performing in home-made rings. Backyard wrestling promotions can be highly organized, and many tape their shows and maintain websites where media is available for download. The internet proved instrumental in popularizing backyard wrestling during its initial boom period.

Backyard wrestlers are sometimes called "backyarders", or the more explicitly derogatory "yard tards" which is a portmanteau of "backyarder" and "retard."

Championships and Awards

Although they are not professionally sanctioned, a staple of a backyard wrestling federation is its championship belts. Some are crudely constructed out of cardboard, or a hubcap stapled to a strap of leather. Some are custom made, with the federation or league's logo on it. Some are World Wrestling Entertainment replica belts with the name or initials of the promotion simply taped over the logos.

Most fed's have a championship that represents the top prize in the entire fed such as a heavyweight championship, tag team division title(s), and a lesser valuable title that is a jumping pedestal to the heavyweight championship (such as the WWE Intercontinental Championship). Due to the popularity of hardcore wrestling in recent years, most promotions carry a hardcore championship that is won by specialty matches such as a ladder match, TLC match, Falls Count Anywear, or Hardcore.

Some promotions hold tournaments for awards that mimic the WWE King of the Ring or WCW War Games, like UCW's King Of Submission adopted by the Italian federation.

Relationship to Pro Wrestling

Backyard wrestling is modeled almost entirely after professional wrestling, and many backyarders are dedicated fans of the sport. Backyard matches are usually "worked" in the same way professional matches are, with finishes booked in advance and participants going over high spots beforehand. Like in professional wrestling, backyard wrestlers can be seen communicating with each other during bouts. However, while hardcore wrestling matches are often criticized for lack of direction, the same may be said for much of backyard wrestling, especially considering the aforementioned lack of training. This can result in poor communication and, thus, a high risk of injury.

Backyard wrestlers often create story lines and gimmicks in their wrestling events, creating persona and styles of their own. These characters are usually modeled closely after inspirations in their favorite professional wrestling promotions. Connoisseurs to the sport often criticize backyard wrestling as more sloppy and not as well thought-out as professional wrestling, especially because of the tendency of backyard wrestlers to use more absurd gimmicks and story lines. Creativity and organization are also important issues in creating successful wrestling events, of which the majority of backyard wrestling inherently lacks.

History

In its history, backyard wrestling has changed significantly in terms of its professionalism, safety provisions, popularity, and hardcore style. Backyard wrestling tends to follow the trends of professional wrestling and changes in accordance with what are the fads and trends in the major promotions such as World Wrestling Entertainment or Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

Although backyard wrestling has been often associated with a Mick Foley home video in which Foley jumps off the roof of a house onto his opponent who is lying on a pile of mattresses, backyard wrestling most likely began in the 1950s emulating such stars as Gorgeous George, and later Bruno Sammartino, and Superstar Billy Graham . The earliest listed "official" backyarder is Shawn "Crusher" Crossen who wrestled from March 1984 until early 1990 in his own promotion known as NWF Kids Pro Wrestling.

Hardcore phase

Backyard wrestling became infamous for its out-of-control and unregulated dangerous stunts. Many people, most commonly male teenagers, frequently risked their lives in attempted dives, jumps, falls, and bumps. Many others would use sharp and harmful weapons, performing matches with flaming tables, barbed wire, lighttubes, thumbtacks and sharp metal tools like cheese graters. While these violent practices carry a more extensive legacy in Japanese wrestling promotions such as Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling, many attribute their stateside popularity to the rise of Extreme Championship Wrestling and wrestlers like New Jack, Tommy Dreamer, and the Sandman.

These activities, which were also closely linked to the reckless nature of other teen-centered shows such as Jackass, were part of the "hardcore" phase of American professional wrestling, ushered in by the extreme style of promotions such as ECW, Xtreme Pro Wrestling, and Combat Zone Wrestling. However, when these promotions closed and/or toned down their extreme nature, backyard wrestling followed suit, leading to less dangerous activity. Because of this, the heavy bleeding and use of dangerous weaponry in backyard wrestling has now faded from popularity.

The "backyard wrestling craze," as it was, began to slow down between 1999 and 2000 . Increased media attention and reforms within the professional wrestling promotions themselves led to a generally unpopular view of wrestling and unprofessional stunts, leading to a decline in the popularity of backyard wrestling. This did not, however, lead to a total abolishment, as several popular internet wrestling communities still feature active message boards dedicated to the practice of backyard wrestling.

Independent circuit

After 2000, many individuals changed and realized that the dangerous stunts they were doing had grave consequences. The internet and television was more supportive in that it led to the distribution of information on professional wrestling which helped many individuals discover the proper way to perform certain moves, for example. More professional wrestling schools and small independent wrestling promotions formed at this time as well, accepting particularly skilled backyard wrestlers.

As a result, more of the younger independent wrestlers admit to having backyard wrestling experience, some claiming it is a hobby that they pursue while performing professionally. This does not reflect the majority of professional wrestlers, however, as backyard wrestling is often drastically different from that shown on television. Nonetheless, some independent wrestlers claim they continue backyarding because, whereas wrestling professionally means being told how, who, and where to wrestle by a booker or promoter, backyarders are their own bookers and promoters and can enjoy the freedom of wrestling their friends however they like for their own recreation. However, training in a "backyard wrestling environment" is often frowned upon by professionals, and the sport has a strongly negative connotation.

Controversy

Many backyard wrestlers cite Mick Foley as their inspiration, as a video of Foley's backyard wrestling exploits with his friends in college gained widespread attention after portions of it were shown on WWF television which glorified it as his entrance into the company. However, Foley himself discourages the practice of backyard wrestling. While he made a career by distributing a video of himself doing dangerous stunts such as jumping off a rooftop onto a mattress, he downplays what he did and says it is too dangerous. In his book Foley Is Good, Mick Foley recalls an instance where he was interviewed for a television piece about the growing trend for backyard wrestling. He claims that comments he made having viewed footage of a legitimate professional hardcore match were deliberately misrepresented and applied by the production company to a backyard vignette. Others who have heard the commentary find his story difficult to believe .

Some professional wrestlers and most, if not all, professional wrestling promotions discourage backyard wrestling in public comments, because it involves legal risk to the promotions in the form of lawsuits by individuals. Several lawsuits have been brought against wrestling promotions, most prominently WWE, alleging that people have caused serious injury to others by imitating professional wrestling moves they saw on TV. As a result of this pressure, WWE now features prominent disclaimers during its programming which urges fans, "Don't try this at home."

Some professional wrestlers have admitted to practicing it themselves during their younger years. Those who have done so include the Hardy Boyz and Shannon Moore, among others.

While many backyard wrestlers believe that backyard wrestling is good preparation for future exploits in professional wrestling given Mick Foley's career, prominent wrestling school operators have often stated their disdain for the practice. Harley Race, in particular, has said "I absolutely hate it" and "It's just absolute stupidity."

Twin Cities based promoter and trainer Eddie Sharkey actually co-promoted a sold-out wrestling event that featured matches from both Pro Wrestling America (PWA) and NWF Kids Pro Wrestling at the American Legion Hall in Champlin, MN back on November 1986.

One book that supports these matches is Backyard Empire, a backyard wrestling novel inspired by a true story. It argues that many of its backyard wrestlers used their local show as a springboard to become professionals.

Media Attention

In the earliest recorded media coverage from 1984 and 1985 that covered Backyard wrestling, the message and stories being told were nothing short of "positive" from well respected news outlets such as the Minneapolis StarTibune and KSTP Eyewitness News. Between the 1980s and 1990s, the style of Backyard wrestling evolved to a much more violent form, focussing more on the "high risk" maneuvers and "dangerous" stunts which triggered a much different view from the media.ABW.SOTRIX.NET

Backyard wrestling, and its forefather, professional wrestling, both reached greater popularity during the late 1990s and were the subject of disdain from the media. It was a frequent topic for documentaries and televised news programs, often serving as an indication that the MTV Generation, as it had been dubbed, was among the most reckless, least guided, and most immoral of all teen generations.

Although the implications of backyard wrestling on teen culture and on society as a whole compose a far more complicated debate, most media attention (and adults) in the United States feared that backyard wrestling was a degradation of society and of youth.

However, since the loss in mainstream popularity of professional wrestling, media interest surrounding backyard wrestling has calmed down.

Videos

Backyard wrestling videos are produced by the kids of the federation. They are readily available on the internet at any website, and some federations have ordering information about VHS and DVD copies of their matches and exploits. These videos are commonly filmed on camcorders with the cameraman occasionally imitating the commentary on the matches. On the internet, most times the matches are shown in montage clips with heavy metal music in the background. There is also a Documentary called The Backyard about backyard wrestling featuring Rob Van Dam.

Settings

Backyard wrestling is pretty self explanatory. Most of the time, matches take place in a backyard, either on a trampoline, an actual wrestling ring (either crudely made, or custom built), or on solid ground. Some federations go so far as to have "stages" built for when wrestlers make their entrances. Usually, these consist of an apparatus that holds a curtain for which the wrestler makes his entrance.

Not all wrestling takes place strictly in the backyard. In some cases, matches can take place in:

• Abandoned Houses
• Backyard Ring
• Playground
• Graveyard
• Garage
• Basement
• Trampoline
• In the house itself
• Grass
• a Dog kennel (steel cage but smaller)

Media

Documentaries

• The Backyard (2002)
• Lock up your Sons (2003)
• NWF Kids Pro Wrestling: The Untold Story (2005)

Television

• MTV's True Life: I'm A Backyard Wrestler
• IBW On CNN (2006)