Growing up before the advent of cable television, we had three stations to choose from. Well, four stations if you counted PBS (and no one really counted PBS). In Detroit, we were lucky because we also got CBC from Canada. Beyond that, pickings were slim for a kid who wanted to spend time in front of the television.
Saturday mornings were of course the difference maker. You could get cartoons on Saturday mornings, which was a welcome reprieve from whatever my parents wanted to watch. And after cartoons, we were greeted with professional wrestling. Names like Chief Jay Strongbow, Koko Beware, George “The Animal” Steele, Dusty Rhodes, Roddy Piper, and many more. It was awesome to watch the spectacle of wrestling, especially the rise of Hulk Hogan and the mainstreaming of what was a fringe sport. I recall when Wrestlemania filled the Pontiac Silverdome, and also when “Dr. D” David Schultz slapped reporter John Stossel. Perhaps even more seismic was when Nikolai Volkoff started carrying an American flag and teamed with Hacksaw Jim Duggan after the fall of the Soviet Union.
I fell out of watching wrestling during what became known as the Attitude Era. But recently, I started going out to a local professional production called Lucky Pro Wrestling. This was after seeing it advertised through posters that were stapled to powerline poles around my town. After going the first time, I was hooked. It might have lacked the scale, pyrotechnics, and pomp of what you see on television, but it also had so much more. It had the passion of performers who are assaulting their bodies and each other for the love of the art, for the legacy of the history, and dedication to the fans. If you want to see community, go to a local independent professional wrestling match.
So I am very excited today to welcome professional wrestler Vern Vicallo to Experience by Design. Vern is billed as coming from Detroit, Michigan, which is something that we bonded over when I first chatted with him at his merchandise table. He has been injured for much of this year, but is making his return to the ring at the Nextgen Championship Wrestling event on November 13th in Raymond, NH.
We talk about Vern’s entry into wrestling in 2010, and the training opportunities that exist in New England. He describes the experience design approaches that he and other wrestlers take to make the crowd part of the show. Vern shares how wrestling is a combination of being a jock and a theater kid, joining together emotion and movement to tell stories that people care about. He also describes his love of all things Detroit, including Faygo “pop” and the Insane Clown Posse.
And of course we talk about the perception of wrestling as real or fake misses the point of creating experiences for audiences. Thankfully, he didn’t slap me like I was John Stossel.
Vern Vicallo on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vernvicallo/
Vern Vicallo on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VernVicallo/
Vern Vicallo on Lucky Pro Wrestling: http://www.luckyprowrestling.com/vern-vicallo.html
Vern Vicallo Store: https://www.prowrestlingtees.com/vern-vicallo-v.html
