As real as it gets

October 8, 2007 —

by Aaron Crossen

Ouch! Creative writing senior Joeseph Hickey - stage name Joey Shinobi - slams Mad Dragon into a pile of tacks during a hardcore wrestling match in Carrollton last Sunday. Hickey started wrestling a few years ago in his friend's basement. Realizing the basement shows were drawing sizable crowds, Hickey and partners formed the Kings of Brutal Wrestling. The group tries to put on a show once a week. The bout above was part of its three-year anniversary show, Onslaught.

Some people play video games for fun. Some people watch TV or surf the 'Net. But for others, spare time is best spent slamming friends into piles of thumbtacks.

Creative writing senior Joe Hickey falls into the last category. Hickey is co-owner of Kings of Brutal Wrestling (KBW), a Saginaw-based pro-wrestling troupe that recently put on its third-year anniversary show - dubbed Onslaught - in Carrollton last Sunday.

Onslaught held true to its namesake. The "oohs" and "ahhhs" from the crowd followed every bloody slam or turnbuckle jump Joey Shinobi (Hickey's stage name) and Mad Dragon exchanged during their thumbtack match. About halfway through the bout, Shinobi emptied a bag of tacks in the middle of the white canvas, and much to the crowd's amazement, the fight continued, slams and all.

KBW tries hard to avoid being called "backyard wrestling," Hickey says, even though shows like Onslaught toe the line between entertainment and mayhem.

"You tell people 'I wrestle on Sundays," and people think 'backyard wrestling,' which we try to stay away from," he said. "This is kind of close, since we got thumbtacks and stuff."

KBW mixes more hardcore shows like Onslaught with light-hearted and comical shows, performed everywhere from backyards to churchyards, usually for little-to-no money.

"We charge a hundred dollars. We don't get any profit really, 'cuz of the gas for the truck, and everyone driving separate," Hickey said. "We hold one card a week - usually here in the summer and out in Hemlock in the winter. But we do birthday parties, graduation parties."

The group has come a long way since its inception in one of Saginaw's basements, Hickey explained while pulling tacks out of his head, acquired during his title match against Mad Dragon.

"Well we all used to be really big wrestling fans," he said. "We were all in the basement one day in our buddy's house, we all started wrestling on this mat. We had a camera, and we had characters, and people started coming out watching us. We're like, 'this is fun, but it's really lame.'"

"So my buddy started looking on eBay for a ring," Hickey continued. "And this was a local ring - these guys in Vassar owned it. They weren't doing anything with it, so we offered to buy it from them. Ever since then - that was last summer - we've started doing these shows."

Several kids then attacked Hickey, briefly interrupting his retelling of KBW's history - Joey Shinobi is a bad guy in KBW lore.

"That's not real blood," one said.

"Yes it is," Hickey explained.

Despite the intensity of KBW's more hardcore offerings - and the passion with which some fans follow the group - Hickey says that KBW has not suffered any life-threatening injuries to date.

"So far, we've had no real injuries," he said. "We've had broken arms, but like, no neck injuries or anything. Knock on wood."

SVSU alum and KBW member Keegan Malone - stage name The Money - said that since the group members take precautions when performing, as to avoid serious injury.

"We're all buddies. We all take care of each other," he said. ""It's not crazy - it's not like the stuff you see on Dateline NBC."

Malone, who plans on attending law school - thus the moniker The Money - is like Hickey in that he does KBW pro bono. He wrestles to wrestle. "When you see ordinary people doing something that's just completely extraordinary...it just gives you something to think about all week. 'Wow, that's great, I can't believe those guys were willing to do that.'"

Around 100 people showed up for Onslaught, a number Hickey said the group struggled to draw.

"It's harder than it looks," he said. "We had to really push to get 100 people here."

Hickey says the group is struggling for recognition, pointing to the fact that KBW regularly performs shows for a mere handful of observers and curious passers-by.

"Well, we don't have a lot of name-face yet," he said. "Not too many people know about us, so we don't get a lot of people asking."

With guys like Hickey and Malone pleasing crowds all over Saginaw, if KBW eventually calls it quits, it won't be for a lack of effort. "We try really hard. We practice really hard," Hickey says. "We'll wrestle in front of five people out here."