WHEN Mark Dallas was prowling the poolside as a lifeguard at a council-run swimming pool in Glasgow, the thought that just a few years later, he would be presiding over the biggest pro wrestling company in Britain seemed preposterous.
It was the fact that he hated his job as a lifeguard that persuaded him to found Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW), and when they started out with shows at Maryhill Community Centre in the north-west of Glasgow, in front of crowds of only 100 people, it was nothing more than a hobby for Dallas.
Yet Dallas has created something that few could have imagined. ICW has exploded in recent years and tomorrow evening, will take over Glasgow’s Hydro Arena for ‘Fear and Loathing X’. Over 6000 tickets have been sold for the event, illustrating the resurgence that pro wrestling is currently experiencing in the UK. This is ICW’s second appearance at the Hydro after a storming debut last year, with this year’s show and featuring the likes of Joe Coffey and Viper.
Dallas admits that he has built up enough experience – and has enough faith in his wrestlers – that his pre-show nerves are not quite as ferocious these days. “I get nervous trying to sell tickets more than the actual show,” he told Herald Sport.
“I know my wrestlers are so good at what they do and I know the show is going to be great - no matter what, the wrestlers are going to deliver.
“So my main worry is always getting people in the door. It didn’t feel real until a couple of weeks ago and it’s always surreal driving past the Hydro knowing that we’ll be in there. But I’m excited now.”
While the rise of ICW has been meteoric, the early days showed few signs that Dallas could bring it this far. It started out as half hour shows, filmed on a hand-held camera, and put on YouTube.
Then came the live events in Maryhill before the word about ICW spread wide enough that Dallas moved to the city centre and attracted attention from a cable television channel.
“Pretty much straight away, we became the highest-rated show on the channel,” he recalls. “I was still working as a lifeguard but it was then I thought I could make a living out of wrestling.”
Dallas is a force of nature. The 32 year-old Glaswegian is keen to stress that the success of ICW is a team effort but without Dallas, there would be none of this. Pro wrestling, which was so popular in the 80s before disappearing from the mainstream entirely, has surged in popularity over the past decade and Dallas is in no doubt as to the part his company has played in this resurgence.
“ICW is the reason for this resurgence, in my opinion,” he said. “We were part of a documentary that was shown nationwide and that had a large part to play in changing perception of what wrestling is.
“ICW has played a massive part in making wrestling not as cheesy and these days, people are not embarrassed to go to a nightclub and get a beer and watch wrestling with their pals.”
For some, the thought of grown men and women spending their evening watching what is effectively a pre-determined match is baffling. But Dallas has created a show that is as entertaining as anything you will ever see and he strongly refutes any criticism that just because the result may not be spontaneous, it is any less worthwhile. “This one of the oldest art forms going like circus acts and ballet dancing,” he said.
“The wrestlers are doing sequences where any wrong move means they could literally die. There are no other art form like this in the world.
“Other athletes have an off season but these guys are working every day and performing sometimes two matches at the weekend.
“You don’t get any other human beings like these guys. Their bodies are so banged up yet you’ll never see it on their face - a wrestler will never let you know they’re in pain and that’s incredible.
“If people dismiss it for being fake then they’re stupid. That’s like going to the cinema and saying “this is rubbish, it’s made up”. If you heard someone say that you would ask if they were daft.
“Yes wrestling is pre-determined and yes these guys are working together sometimes but that does not mean it is any less entertaining.”
Dallas and ICW may be becoming regulars at the Hydro but the Glaswegian is keen to stress that he is not stopping here. ICW’s growth shows no signs of slowing and Dallas’ ambitions show no signs of being fulfilled yet either. “I am working on some things that will make us a lot bigger than we have ever been before and next year is going to be a huge year for us” he said.
“I feel incredibly proud of what ICW has accomplished but we are nowhere near finished, we have so much more we can do.
“Even though we are now well-known in Scotland, I still think we are the wrestling world’s best kept secret. In the next year or so, some things will happen and I think that’s going to blow the doors right open for us.
“As soon as everyone finds out how talented the guys at ICW are, we are going to become one of the biggest companies in the world.”
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