During the week, Keith Hammond is a mild-mannered high school history teacher, but on weekends he transforms into pro wrestler Orion Odyssey. And once again, he is using wrestling to raise funds for Olympian High School Associated Student Body (ASB) with the annual Welcome Back Bash.
Misconceptions
OK, let's just suplex the elephant in the room and address some misconceptions about pro wrestling.
"Some of the big misconceptions with pro wrestling are that they're just guys who want to be rowdy or just get in a fight," Hammond said. "But to be a professional wrestler, you have to be incredibly respectful. You are giving your bodies — literally — to the opponent, and unfortunately it's incredibly dangerous. But it's also a lot of fun. And you can create and tell stories in ways that you just really can't in a live setting outside of pro wrestling."
Which brings us to the other big misconception: It's all fake and no one gets hurt.
"I think my favorite way to talk about pro wrestling is: It is long-form improv, but you're hitting each other," Hammond explained. "So what happens is that normally someone called a booker will decide what they want the event to be, what they want the matches to be, and what they want the finishes to be. It is up to the wrestlers to come up with the actual matches themselves and try to make the booker's vision come true."
No one describes what stunt people do as fake just because it is planned out with every effort to make it safe. So a wrestling match is scripted to a degree and choreographed, but when you hit the ropes or the mat, it hurts.
"It's very impactful on the body. And every match is like getting in a car accident," explained Antonio Rios, who wrestles under the name of Antonio Rovers and is co-owner of Primal Pro Wrestling School where Hammond trains.
Primal co-owner Juan Mattioli, who wrestles as J2, added, "I would say that for the people that go, 'Well, it's fake,' we're working together to captivate an audience, and everything we do in that ring is real. When we fall on the mat, it hurts. We put our bodies on the line every week for people, and there's people that train every day. So for people that say it's fake, if they just took one day just to feel how it feels to hit that rope — even hitting the ropes — you'll get some marks on your back. So it's a tough thing we do."
Pro wrestling is about heroes, villains and storytelling
But they do it because they love it.
"I feel like it's like the ultimate storytelling art," Rios said. "Because you can have comedy, you can have physical, you can have superheroes. You know, there's no limit to what you can portray and what you want to be. And I feel like it's a way for people to express themselves. I like to think we're quite intelligent in the way we structure stories and almost control the way people feel. Like we can make them feel happy, we can make them feel sad, and just really bring out emotion that they might not feel anywhere else."
Which brings up another aspect of wrestling that people may not understand.
"Pro wrestling is a show that focuses on the wrestlers, but everyone is involved," Hamond said. "What happens is when you cheer or you boo, the wrestlers in the ring — if they're good — are listening to what you're doing, and so they'll react and they'll give the best possible match to those people in the audience. So if you like big chops and audience reacts, you'll get a big chop match. If people react to, like, intricate hold-to-hold wrestling, then they'll do more of that. So I think that's one of the great things of going to a pro wrestling match is you get to interact."
At Primal, you can take classes at any experience level and will not move up to the next level until you are ready. You will also learn about building your character and performance, and there are separate classes for women.
The Welcome Back Bash pro wrestling fundraiser for Olympian High School’s ASB is Friday, Aug. 1, at 7 p.m. at Olympian High School Gymnasium, 1925 Magdalena Ave., Chula Vista.
Current and former wrestling champions include Mikey O’Shay, CJ Tino (New Japan Pro Wrestling Strong Survivor), Mathias (So Cal Pro Heavyweight Champion), Jeremiah Fresh (Primal Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Champion) and Tommy Wilson (One Ring Circus Heavyweight Champion), among others.
Sweetwater alumni include Orion Odyssey (Olympian teacher, Hilltop alum), El Mexica (San Ysidro), Bad News Bagu (Eastlake), Joey Hustle (Sweetwater), Xavier the Dastard (Chula Vista), and Jake Maze (Olympian).
Card subject to change. Tickets available online.
I also highly recommend checking out the "Sangre, Sudor y Mito" (“Blood, Sweat and Myth”) at the Comic-Con Museum. It's an exhibition that celebrates the powerful legacy, cultural symbolism and larger-than-life spectacle of lucha libre — Mexico’s legendary professional wrestling tradition.
