Meet Vancouver’s Wrestling Champs

We step into the ring with the stars of Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling.

Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling is booming, with seven straight sold-out shows at the Commodore Ballroom under its big, shiny belt. Meet the larger-than-life men and women who spend their nights engaged in the city’s most raucous—and most misunderstood—performance art.

1. “Wrestlers were my heroes growing up and I always looked up to the ones that weren’t sleazeballs, you know what I mean? I want to be a role model for kids. That’s what fuels me and keeps me going.”—Randy “Your Weirdo Hero” Myers

2. “Originally I had two dreams: one was to be a professional wrestler and one was to help my reserve. There are thousands of people stuck on reserves, and they don’t have any opportunities. I was fortunate enough to get out and accomplish things. Now I have a duty to help others.”—Andy “The Dreadful” Bird

3. “Some people ask, ‘Is it fake?’ Well, you know, come to a show and find out. Is a movie fake? Is theatre fake? Everything’s fake. We’re probably in a multidimensional reality right now in someone’s fake computer.”—El Phantasmo

4. “Injury is always a risk when we go in there. I was doing swanton dive off of the top rope and the girl moved. I broke my collarbone. It was the most painful injury I’ve ever, ever had.”—Christina Von Eerie

5. “When you’re a villain, you can’t fail. If you trip getting into the ring and fall flat on your face, the crowd’s going to love it, because they already want to dislike you. You just gave them more ammo.”—Karl “The Catch” Cunningham

6. “Wrestling has become something Vancouver can be proud of. We’ve built up our own wrestlers, told our own stories and not relied on anything else to build our fan base. We’ve gone from a hundred people in Surrey to a thousand people at the Commodore. Find me a local band that sells out the Commodore every six months and does it faster every time.”—Scotty Mac

7. “I’d been wrestling with my brother in the house and breaking everything around: breaking couches, beds, all that stuff. My mom was pissed. She did not like wrestling at all. She loves it now.”—Air Adonis

More from our “Modern Family” series:

Meet the Women of Tayybeh

Meet Vancouver’s Culinary Crusaders

Meet Vancouver’s Santa Clauses

Meet Vancouver’s Community Gardeners