Wrestlers to put on show for troops

By GLEN ELLER
Sports Editor

May 16, 2008 11:26 am

— Robby Baker is a big man with a quick contagious smile that does little to reveal the wrestling persona “Striker” that he becomes when he enters the wrestling ring.
Baker is a professional wrestler that lives in Alderson and will be on the card of the Southeastern Championship Pro Wrestling ‘Saturday Night Riot’ wrestling matches, at the National Guard Armory in McAlester this Saturday.
“Wrestlers are like anybody else that works, and get paid for what they do, but we are not going to be taking any money from this show. When I found out all the money raised was to benefit the troops, I said, count me in. This is our way of supporting our troops,” Baker said.
“We are donating our pay to create care packages for those troops serving in Iraq. We are proud that we can do this for our soldiers.”
Baker said that he has been wrestling for over ten years. He started out watching a lot of wrestling on television and like any armchair quarterback thought, “I can do that.”
At the challenge of a friend he contacted a trainer in Oklahoma City in April of 1998 and in September of that year he had his first match.
Baker said the training was very intense, and during training he took a lot of tough blows, but learned how to perform the moves as safely as possible.
“Please don’t try this at home,” Baker urged. “If a person wants to get into wrestling get trained right. If you don’t know what you are doing you can really get hurt performing these moves.”
Baker has been wrestling recently with Impact Zone wrestling in Oklahoma City. He trained at Mid South Wrestling and still wrestles with them when he can.
“Wrestlers are basically independent so we can wrestle for who we can contract with.”
When asked if the entire match is choreographed, Baker was quick to remember some advice he got early in his career from WWE’s the Honkey Tonk Man.
“He said you have to remember the opening, a couple of big moves in the middle and the ending.
“People think that we know what’s going to happen during each match. We know what’s supposed to happen, but it doesn’t always work out that way,” Baker said.
“I take a lot of pride to not hurt anybody in the ring, but I’m a big guy and a lot of times when you get excited some of the punches can make hard contact. You get caught up in the crowd and it’s exciting.”
He advised that what makes a great wrestling match is when a wrestler connects with the crowd.
“I have always been blessed to be able to get the crowd going. When I came back to IPZ, I hadn’t wrestled in Oklahoma in a about a year. The minute I walked out the doors the crowd erupted. It almost brought tears to my eyes. I was like wow they haven’t forgotten me.”
Baker will wrestle Kevin Morgan a wrestler from Eufaula during his match.
“This will be a really good show for McAlester and were are excited to see a lot of people at the armory. It will be a lot of fun for the kids.”
The address to the National Guard Armory is 319 E. Polk Ave., in McAlester.
Tickets for the event are $10 at the door and children 12 and under get in free. The doors open at 7 p.m. and the first match starts at 7:30 p.m.
“I am very excited to be able to wrestle in front of my home crowd,” Baker said.
Contact Glen Eller at geller@mcalesternews.com

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