CLEVELAND — When you think of professional wrestling, legends like Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan and Rowdy Roddy Piper might come to mind. But this weekend marks a new era for the sport, and it's billed as real and unscripted.
Freestyle wrestling built for the big stage is coming to Cleveland.
“It only made sense to have it in Cleveland, where we have some of the best wrestling fans in the world,” said Athlete Lance Palmer.
The Real American Freestyle league will make its debut at the Wolstein Center, giving Palmer the chance to compete in his hometown.
“I went to St. Edward high school, and I wrestled at Ohio State. So, Ohio has been my home since I was born and this is near and dear to my heart,” said Palmer.
The Real American Freestyle is the first unscripted pro wrestling league and is another outlet for wrestlers to be able to carry their career onward past collegiate and Olympic wrestling.
“Some people may not know there's not a lot of opportunities for a career in wrestling,” said Palmer.
And organizers like Cleveland native Chad Bronstein wanted to create additional opportunities for wrestlers.
“In wrestling you either go from college to the Olympics, or you have you go into the UFC or WWE, there's really no outlet for someone that loves to wrestle and that's amazing at it to go be a pro. So, we're giving that, and then kids will have their icons to look up to, both men and women,” said Bronstein.
It was an idea that turned into reality with the help of one special professional wrestler.
“I talked to Hulk Hogan, who was my business partner and told him about what we wanted to do. He had a vision for how to really make this a big thing,” said Bronstein.
Unfortunately, Hulk Hogan will never be able to see how the vision came to life.
Hogan died last month from a heart attack. But Bronstein says Hogan's words keep them going.
“His voice is in my head; it's in all our heads and it's in the league. He's the commissioner, but it's been tough over the past month he's passed to really keep it going. But he was the kind of person that said the show goes on, and so we've been really going hard to make a it a success,” said Bronstein.
The founders plan to honor Hogan’s legacy at the debut.
“We're going to do a special tribute for Hulk that we created, and then we're also going to have Nick Hogan there, nick's my partner as well,” said Bronstein.
In addition to the special tribute, guests will also see some of the best athletes in the world compete from college to world champions.
“We have pretty much every base covered with the talent level, the production, the walkouts, everything's going to be high level,” said Palmer.
There's still time to purchase tickets for Saturday’s event, the Real American Freestyle will kick off at the Wolstein Center at 7 p.m.
