Entertainers get down in Mayville
Monday, March 21, 2005
GEOFF MOTT
THE SAGINAW NEWS
MAYVILLE -- Music boosters were hoping for the long green, but
instead they got a short stack.

Pro wrestler Short Stack -- also known as "The Man ... The Myth ...
The Midget" -- won the midget belt Saturday night during the second
annual Irish Donnybrook Brawl in the gym at Mayville High School.

Turnout was 120, organizers said, meaning the event may have lost
$500 instead of raising money for the school's marching band.


Bad weather, spring break for Mayville High students and Unionville-
Sebewaing's appearance in the Class C state championship boys
basketball game Saturday all factored into the fund-raiser not
bringing dollars for the band.

But the wrestling fans who showed up for the Great Lakes All-Pro
Wrestling tour event were treated to flying elbow shots,
clotheslines and dropkicks.

"This is awesome," declared 14-year-old Zac Taylor of Mayville.

The son of Paul and Kim Taylor, the eighth-grader at Mayville Middle
School was with a group of friends who heckled villain wrestlers at
ringside.

"I watch the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) on television, and
this is pretty good stuff," he said. "I've always liked the idea of
being a pro wrestler, and I still might be one."

Mayville Band Director Scott Adkins got the idea for the fund-raiser
last year on a suggestion from Principal Rhonda Blackburn.

Last year's event raised $2,000 and the band got new uniforms. The
Division 1 band performs in several competitions throughout the
year.

"The first year I was here, we marched 24 students," said Adkins,
who is in his third year as the squad's director. "That number
increased to 54 last year, so the interest is up.

"We struggled this year and pre-sold only 100 tickets. But the good
thing about this event is it's not just pushed on the local people.
We can draw from Cass City and Saginaw, and these wrestlers bring
some people with them. It relieves pressure on our locals."

More than 20 parents volunteered their time to set up for the event
and sell T-shirts and concessions.

Robert Brown is vice president of Great Lakes All-Pro Wrestling, and
he's also a featured wrestler. Brown has promoted for the Midland-
based company for eight years now, and said fund-raisers usually are
a good draw.

"We've done Toys for Tots, Boy Scouts and other events for high
school boosters," said Brown, who goes by Downtown BoBo Brown when
he's in the ring. "It's all about fun out here."

"The one thing about (WWE founder) Vince McMahon is they don't go to
venues this small. We come to these towns, and you can get up close
to the wrestlers. We have a lot of fun doing this."

And fun is what the crowd had.

Noah Lott worked his way into the main event -- a battle for the
highly-coveted cruiserweight belt -- by defeating Harper Woods' Kid
Static. Static had a move from the top turnbuckle go awry and Lott,
who received no love from the Mayville crowd, pulled off a quick
pin.

Toad was scheduled to wrestle POD in the midget match but
an "injury" in a match in Indianapolis prevented him from making the
trip to Michigan.

Toad drew the ire of the Mayville crowd when he said the group was
the ugliest he's ever performed before. But Short Stack stomped
across the ring, flinging himself off the ropes and claiming his
title in dramatic fashion.

All of the night's story lines were just another day in the life of
a pro wrestler.

"I've been watching wrestling since I was 5 years old, and I always
wanted to get into it," said Sky Devian, the cruiserweight champion
and a 1999 graduate of Sandusky High School.

"I've had broken toes, broken fingers and bruised knees. The high-
flying stuff is a lot of fun, especially when the crowd gets into
it."