Incredibly Strange Wrestling
Encyclopedia
Incredibly Strange Wrestling (aka "ISW") was a San Francisco-based professional wrestling
promotion, heavily influenced by masked Mexican Wrestling or Lucha Libre
. The event combined wrestling matches with performances by Punk
, Rockabilly
, Garage, Psychobilly
, and Thrash
bands.
A tongue-in-cheek celebration of Lucha Libre
, Incredibly Strange Wrestling was created as a nightclub event by Johnny Legend
and August Ragone juxtaposing satirical matches with live musical performances. ISW also featured many semi- and pro-wrestlers from the California circuits, and eventually showcased several true-blue Luchadors from Mexico. The promotion ran continuously from 1995 until the early 2000s.
in 1991, "The Sleazefest", put together by future Hayride to Hell
drummer Joey Myers, Wrestling/Music/Movie entrepreneur Johnny Legend
, and local music/events promoter August Ragone. This legendary show featured live music performances by The Mummies
, The Phantom Surfers
, and Johnny Legend and His Rockabilly Bastards, video presentations, and a Lucha Libre match between Ragone and future Hellbillys
frontman, Barrie Evans. The Lucha Libre aspects were built upon with each subsequent Johnny Legend show at various venues around the Bay Area, until the early part of 1995, when they were tapped to do their first all-wrestling event.
Bret Kibele, a friend of Ragone's, who was working at the Paradise Lounge, informed him that club owner Robin Reichert was preparing to launch a new venue next door, and was looking for some good ideas to launch the new nightclub space. Ragone and Kibele pitched for a rotating monthly series of after-hours shows, which would include "Masked Mexican Wrestling" (Lucha Libre). Reichert fixated on that particular idea, and told them to put together a show. Initially promoted as "Rockabilly Wrestling". Legend thus coined the moniker, "Incredibly Strange Wrestling", and sought permission from his friend, Ray Dennis Steckler
, who directed The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies
, who gave Legend his blessings. During the first summer, ISW quickly exploded into popularity, even going on the road for the West Coast leg of Lollapalooza '95 (arranged by Legend via Perry Farrell
).
As the event mushroomed, Ragone and Kibele asked band manager, Audra Angeli-Morse (then employed at the Paradise Lounge), to come aboard and handle the business end of the show, while they and Legend, worked on the creative aspects. For reasons that are still unclear, Angeli-Morse forced out Legend, despite the protests of Ragone and Kibele. Eventually, Angeli-Morse started an aggressive takeover of the event, with Ragone and Kibele eventually parting ways with ISW (even though Angeli-Morse never bought them out, and they are still listed on the original Business License filed with the City and County of San Francisco in 1995). Ragone continued on with producing live events, including several Classic Horror Film
Festivals at the Castro Theatre
, and authored Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters (Chronicle Books, 2007), which received numerous accolades, including Time
magazine. Kibele is married and currently resides in Colorado.
After the split, Legend ran his own Los Angeles
-based version of Incredibly Strange Wrestling and booked matches at Horror Conventions, such as Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors
, in Southern California (covered in a Flipside
magazine interview). During its heyday, Incredibly Strange Wrestling was a featured attraction during many Summer festival tours, including a low-budget U.S. club tour in 1997 headlined by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
, Vans' Warped Tour
in 2001, and the Deconstruction Tour
(Europe) in 2003 with NOFX
. After a long hiatus, the promotion announced some Summer Festival dates for 2007, but these events never materialized.
frontman Jello Biafra
, local Shock Jock Dennis Erectus, 7 Seconds vocalist Kevin Seconds
and Deadbolt
bassist R.A. MacLean often played heel managers at ISW shows.
, NOFX
, The Supersuckers
, The Bomboras
, The Dickies
, Fear
, The Ghastly Ones
, Legendary Invisible Men, The Queers
, Demented Are Go
, The Donnas
, Deadbolt
, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
, The Mad Capsule Markets
, and many more.
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
promotion, heavily influenced by masked Mexican Wrestling or Lucha Libre
Lucha libre
Lucha libre is a term used in Mexico, and other Spanish-speaking countries, for a form of professional wrestling that has developed within those countries...
. The event combined wrestling matches with performances by Punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, Rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
, Garage, Psychobilly
Psychobilly
Psychobilly is a fusion genre of rock music that mixes elements of punk rock, rockabilly, and other genres. It is one of several subgenres of rockabilly which also include thrashabilly, trashabilly, punkabilly, surfabilly and gothabilly...
, and Thrash
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
bands.
A tongue-in-cheek celebration of Lucha Libre
Lucha libre
Lucha libre is a term used in Mexico, and other Spanish-speaking countries, for a form of professional wrestling that has developed within those countries...
, Incredibly Strange Wrestling was created as a nightclub event by Johnny Legend
Johnny Legend
Johnny Legend is an American Rockabilly musician, film producer, actor and wrestling manager.-Biography:Johnny Legend was born Martin Margulies on October 3, 1948, in San Fernando, CA.Inducted into the "Rockabilly Hall of Fame"...
and August Ragone juxtaposing satirical matches with live musical performances. ISW also featured many semi- and pro-wrestlers from the California circuits, and eventually showcased several true-blue Luchadors from Mexico. The promotion ran continuously from 1995 until the early 2000s.
History
ISW came to fruition at the Transmission Theater, a now-defunct venue (a former Transmission Shop), located at 314 11th St., in San Francisco’s South of Market District in 1995. But, the roots go back to an event at the DNA LoungeDNA Lounge
DNA Lounge is a late-night, all ages nightclub in the SoMa district of San Francisco owned by Jamie Zawinski, a former Netscape programmer and open-source software hacker. The club features DJ dancing, live music, burlesque performances, and occasionally conferences, private parties, and film...
in 1991, "The Sleazefest", put together by future Hayride to Hell
Hayride to Hell
Hayride to Hell is a 1995 Australian short subject directed and written by Kimble Rendall. It tells the story of salesman George Weygate, who comes across a girl begging for his help. Only shown in late night art houses, the film has never been widely released...
drummer Joey Myers, Wrestling/Music/Movie entrepreneur Johnny Legend
Johnny Legend
Johnny Legend is an American Rockabilly musician, film producer, actor and wrestling manager.-Biography:Johnny Legend was born Martin Margulies on October 3, 1948, in San Fernando, CA.Inducted into the "Rockabilly Hall of Fame"...
, and local music/events promoter August Ragone. This legendary show featured live music performances by The Mummies
The Mummies
The Mummies are an American garage punk band from San Mateo, California formed in 1988.-Showmanship:Originally hailing from San Mateo, California, the band was formed by Trent Ruane , Maz Kattuah , Larry Winther and Russell Quan . They became a key part of San Francisco's burgeoning garage punk...
, The Phantom Surfers
The Phantom Surfers
-Current :*"Swell" Mel Bergman: guitar*Mike "Mouth" Lucas: bass*Maz "Spazz" Kattuah: guitar*Russell "Junky Johnny" Quan: drums-Previous:*Johnny "Big Hand" Bartlett: guitar*Mel "Frostbite" Bergman: guitar*Michael "Daddy Love" Lucas: bass...
, and Johnny Legend and His Rockabilly Bastards, video presentations, and a Lucha Libre match between Ragone and future Hellbillys
Hellbillys
Hellbillys is a psychobilly band from Oakland, California. The band formed in 1989 and on their MySpace page they claim to be "the longest running Psychobilly band in the states."....
frontman, Barrie Evans. The Lucha Libre aspects were built upon with each subsequent Johnny Legend show at various venues around the Bay Area, until the early part of 1995, when they were tapped to do their first all-wrestling event.
Bret Kibele, a friend of Ragone's, who was working at the Paradise Lounge, informed him that club owner Robin Reichert was preparing to launch a new venue next door, and was looking for some good ideas to launch the new nightclub space. Ragone and Kibele pitched for a rotating monthly series of after-hours shows, which would include "Masked Mexican Wrestling" (Lucha Libre). Reichert fixated on that particular idea, and told them to put together a show. Initially promoted as "Rockabilly Wrestling". Legend thus coined the moniker, "Incredibly Strange Wrestling", and sought permission from his friend, Ray Dennis Steckler
Ray Dennis Steckler
Ray Dennis Steckler , also known by the pseudonym Cash Flagg, was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor best known as the low-budget auteur of such cult films as The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies...
, who directed The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies
The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies
-DVD release:The DVD release of Incredibly Strange Creatures features a commentary track by "drive-in movie critic" Joe Bob Briggs.-In popular culture:...
, who gave Legend his blessings. During the first summer, ISW quickly exploded into popularity, even going on the road for the West Coast leg of Lollapalooza '95 (arranged by Legend via Perry Farrell
Perry Farrell
Perry Farrell is the frontman for the alternative rock band Jane's Addiction. Farrell created the touring festival Lollapalooza as a farewell tour for Jane's Addiction in 1991; it has since evolved into an annual destination festival. Farrell continues to produce Lollapalooza with partners William...
).
As the event mushroomed, Ragone and Kibele asked band manager, Audra Angeli-Morse (then employed at the Paradise Lounge), to come aboard and handle the business end of the show, while they and Legend, worked on the creative aspects. For reasons that are still unclear, Angeli-Morse forced out Legend, despite the protests of Ragone and Kibele. Eventually, Angeli-Morse started an aggressive takeover of the event, with Ragone and Kibele eventually parting ways with ISW (even though Angeli-Morse never bought them out, and they are still listed on the original Business License filed with the City and County of San Francisco in 1995). Ragone continued on with producing live events, including several Classic Horror Film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
Festivals at the Castro Theatre
Castro Theatre
The Castro Theatre is a popular San Francisco movie palace which became San Francisco Historic Landmark #100 in September 1976. Located at 429 Castro Street, in the Castro district, it was built in 1922 with a Spanish Colonial Baroque façade that pays homage—in its great arched central window...
, and authored Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters (Chronicle Books, 2007), which received numerous accolades, including Time
Time
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
magazine. Kibele is married and currently resides in Colorado.
After the split, Legend ran his own Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
-based version of Incredibly Strange Wrestling and booked matches at Horror Conventions, such as Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors
Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors
Weekend of Horrors is a tri-annual traveling convention which focuses on horror films. Formerly produced and operated by Fangoria Magazine with its name and likeness owned by Creation Entertainment, the convention is now produced solely by Creation.The convention also deals in areas of the horror...
, in Southern California (covered in a Flipside
Flipside (fanzine)
Flipside was a punk rock fanzine published in Los Angeles, California from 1977 to 2000.As one of the first and longest running US punk rock fanzines, this publication extensively chronicled the world of independent and underground music during this era. Known for its highly opinionated cast of...
magazine interview). During its heyday, Incredibly Strange Wrestling was a featured attraction during many Summer festival tours, including a low-budget U.S. club tour in 1997 headlined by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes is a punk rock supergroup and cover band that formed in 1995. The Gimmes work exclusively as a cover band. The band is named after a children's book of the same name by Gerald G. Jampolsky and Diane V. Cirincione...
, Vans' Warped Tour
Warped Tour
The Warped Tour is a touring music and extreme sports festival. The tour is held in venues such as parking lots or fields upon which the stages and other structures are erected. The BMX/skateboarding shoe manufacturer Vans, among others, has sponsored the tour every year since 1995, and it is...
in 2001, and the Deconstruction Tour
Deconstruction Tour
Deconstruction Tour is a one-day punk music and skate festival that is staged in various countries across Europe. It first took place in 1999, and has occurred annually since. The tour is arranged by Destiny Tourbooking. In general, the tour offers the opening slot of each day to a local, often...
(Europe) in 2003 with NOFX
NOFX
NOFX is an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California .The band was formed in 1983 by vocalist/bassist Fat Mike and guitarist Eric Melvin. Drummer Erik Sandin joined NOFX shortly after. In 1991 El Hefe joined to play lead guitar and trumpet, rounding out the current line-up...
. After a long hiatus, the promotion announced some Summer Festival dates for 2007, but these events never materialized.
Luchadores
Among the more colorful characters of ISW were El Homo Loco, who wore a pink tutu, and the Poontangler, a female wrestler who claimed to have many illegitimate children (and fought several “paternity suit” matches). Other ISW creations included The Amazing Caltiki, The Ku Klux Klown, El Borracho Gigante, Cletus "The Fetus" Kincaid, The Abortionist, El Asesino Postal, El Fisico Nuclear, R.U.R. 2000, Anarchie, El Hijo de Executivo, Killer Kimera, Harley Racist, Vandal Drummond, La Chingona, The Inbred Abomination, Chango Loco, El Pollo Diablo, Americon Man, Scientology, Macho Sasquatcho, The Mexican Viking, L’Empereur, The Cruiser, Count Dante, and many more (most, but not all, of these names were coined by Legend). The promotion also presented outlandish gimmicks, such as the Christians to the Lions match where a cross-toting, ancient Christian fought a man in a lion suit, while the Uncle N.A.M.B.L.A. vs. Lil’ Timmy match pitted a gigantic pedophile against a teenage boy. Dead KennedysDead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1978. The band became part of the American hardcore punk movement of the early 1980s. They gained a large underground fanbase in the international punk music scene....
frontman Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra is an American musician, spoken word artist and leading figure of the Green Party of the United States. Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys...
, local Shock Jock Dennis Erectus, 7 Seconds vocalist Kevin Seconds
Kevin Seconds
Kevin Seconds is a singer/songwriter/musician, born in Sacramento. As a teen, he moved with his family to Reno, Nevada where he lived until 1988 when he relocated back to Sacramento and has been based ever since....
and Deadbolt
Deadbolt
A dead bolt or dead lock , is a locking mechanism distinct from a spring bolt lock because a deadbolt cannot be moved to the open position except by rotating the lock cylinder. The more common spring bolt lock uses a spring to hold the bolt in place, allowing retraction by applying force to the...
bassist R.A. MacLean often played heel managers at ISW shows.
Bands
Notable bands who performed at ISW shows during its height in the 1990s, include Mike WattMike Watt
Michael David Watt is an American bassist, singer and songwriter.He is best known for co-founding the rock bands Minutemen, dos, and Firehose; , he is also the bassist for the reunited Stooges and a member of the art rock/jazz/punk/improv group Banyan as well as many other post-Minutemen...
, NOFX
NOFX
NOFX is an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California .The band was formed in 1983 by vocalist/bassist Fat Mike and guitarist Eric Melvin. Drummer Erik Sandin joined NOFX shortly after. In 1991 El Hefe joined to play lead guitar and trumpet, rounding out the current line-up...
, The Supersuckers
The Supersuckers
Supersuckers are an American rock band. They are the self-proclaimed "Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band in the World." Following the relative success of their 1997 foray into country music with the release of Must've Been High, they have also been known to play country shows under various names,...
, The Bomboras
The Bomboras
The Bomboras are an all-instrumental surf band from Los Angeles. The band was formed in the summer of 1994, sharing a love of 60’s Surf/Garage such as The Ventures, Booker T, and The Sonics....
, The Dickies
The Dickies
The Dickies are an American punk rock group formed in San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, California, U.S. in 1977.-History:The Dickies were among the first punk rock bands to emerge from Los Angeles...
, Fear
Fear
Fear is a distressing negative sensation induced by a perceived threat. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of danger...
, The Ghastly Ones
Ghastly Ones
The Ghastly Ones are a surf–garage rock band from Van Nuys, California with a late-night monster movie theme.-History:They infused their love of Halloween records, late night monster movies and Screaming Lord Sutch with inspiration from early sixties surf and hot rod acts like The Lively Ones,...
, Legendary Invisible Men, The Queers
The Queers
The Queers are a punk band formed in 1981 by Portsmouth, New Hampshire native Joe King . The band originally broke up in 1984, but reformed with Joe Queer and a new line-up in 1986. In 1990, the band signed with Shakin' Street Records and released their first album Grow Up...
, Demented Are Go
Demented Are Go
Demented Are Go are a Welsh psychobilly band that was formed around 1982 in Cardiff. They were one of the earliest in the initial wave of bands to mix punk rock with rockabilly, and as a result, are considered to be highly influential to the psychobilly scene....
, The Donnas
The Donnas
The Donnas are an American all-female rock band from Palo Alto, California. They draw inspiration from The Ramones, The Runaways, AC/DC, Bachman–Turner Overdrive and Kiss. Rolling Stone has stated that "the Donnas offer a guileless take on adolescent alienation; they traffic in kicks, not...
, Deadbolt
Deadbolt
A dead bolt or dead lock , is a locking mechanism distinct from a spring bolt lock because a deadbolt cannot be moved to the open position except by rotating the lock cylinder. The more common spring bolt lock uses a spring to hold the bolt in place, allowing retraction by applying force to the...
, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes is a punk rock supergroup and cover band that formed in 1995. The Gimmes work exclusively as a cover band. The band is named after a children's book of the same name by Gerald G. Jampolsky and Diane V. Cirincione...
, The Mad Capsule Markets
The Mad Capsule Markets
The Mad Capsule Markets were a Japanese band that formed in 1990 and were active until 2006...
, and many more.