Backyard Wrestling

Bloody Fights in U.S. Backyards

Author: Frode Mo

Length: 52'

Their weapons are neon tubes, tin signs, carpet knives, baseball bats with barbed wire wrapped around them, razor blades, industrial tackers or simple drawing pins. The fights take place in back yards, in public parks, in people’s own gardens or in quiet and unknown locations. Spectators are the fighters’ own parents, entire neighborhoods, friends or a paying public. What we are witnessing here is the development of a new trendy sport: Backyard Wrestling. Kids in particular are enthusiastic aficionados of ”extreme wrestling” brought to the U.S. from Japan by professional wrestlers like Sabu and Terry Funk. They are the big idols of the Backyard Wrestling community in the U.S. While their fights may be bloody, essentially it is all show. The kids want more, however. They want to fight, namely with genuine weapons. According to the rules, nobody is to leave backyard fights permanently hurt. And yet there have been quite a few fatal and serious injuries. The fighters want to test their limits in this sport, and their objective is to have a professional career one day. The big money is in Japan, where fights before 50 000 spectators are not uncommon. However, to get there a fighter first needs to make a name for himself in the U.S.

year of production: 2003