Theater for the People

At the first outdoor POW! Pro Wrestling match at Blairally, Eugene-based wrestling promoter Mister Ooh-La-La — that’s his legal name — was pushed onto a pile of thumb tacks and dragged around the ring. That match was between Las Vegas-based wrestler Funny Bone and Sacramento wrestler Vinnie Massaro. Ooh-La-La is also Massaro’s manager.

POW! Pro Wrestling returns to Blairally August 27 with “Nightmare Alley,” a rematch between Funny Bone and Massaro, crowned POW! Champion at the July event.

At the time that the thumb tack dragging took place, Massaro was in trouble. The ref was “unconscious.” Ooh-La-La jumped in the ring to save his client. Once back on his feet, Massaro attacked Funny Bone and used the knocked-out ref’s left hand to count “1-2-3.” With that, the match was over.

Referring to Massaro’s championship face-off with Funny Bone in July, it was “a shaky win,” Ooh-La-La says. Both wrestlers return to Eugene to settle the score, alongside 28 other athletes competing in seven matches. Scheduled wrestlers include Eugene’s Blanchard Brothers, Bubba and Jeremy, 25-year veterans of the sport.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ooh-La-La’s company POW! produced matches on the University of Oregon campus. The first match back from the pandemic was in January 2022, but with the World Track and Field Championships on campus this summer, Ooh-La-La looked for a new venue. He found Blairally.

The first POW! event at Blairally in July introduced POW! wrestling to a whole new audience, Ooh-La-La says. In the future POW! may split time between the 21-and-over-only Blairally and the UO, where events can be all-ages.

“I had a kid come up to me and recognize me and ask when I was going to have another wrestling event that a kid could go to,” Ooh-La-La says.

On that note, pro wrestling is a little bit of a lot of things: a strong man competition and a variety show with aspects of acrobatics and even clowning, he says.

As far as the Funny Bone and Massaro rematch, it will take place in three parts, also called the “Three Stages of Hell,” Ooh-La-La says.

In one stage, the first wrestler to bleed loses. In another, the wrestlers encounter a door covered in thumb tacks, mousetraps and barbed wire. Win two out of three stages and the POW! wrestling championship controversy will be resolved.

As any fan of pro wrestling will tell you, that kind of theatricality is what they love about the sport.

“Wrestlers are a weird mix of jock and theater kid,” Ooh-La-La adds. He’s a Eugene native who in the late `80s saw wrestling legend Andre the Giant wrestle in MacArthur Court at the UO, which started a life-long affair with pro wrestling. It’s a kind of drama that pro wrestling fans call “rope opera,” he says.

Emceed by Brian Zane of the YouTube channel “Wrestling with Wregret,” POW Pro Wrestling Presents “Nightmare Alley” 9 pm Saturday, Aug. 27, outdoors at Blairally Vintage Arcade, 245 Blair Blvd.; $15 advance, $20 door, 21+.

A Note From the Publisher

Dear Readers,

The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.

That’s because of you!

Not just because of financial support (though that matters enormously), but because of the emails, notes, conversations, encouragement and ideas you shared along the way. You reminded us why this paper exists and who it’s for.

Listening to readers has always been at the heart of Eugene Weekly. This year, that meant launching our popular weekly Activist Alert column, after many of you told us there was no single, reliable place to find information about rallies, meetings and ways to get involved. You asked. We responded.

We’ve also continued to deepen the coverage that sets Eugene Weekly apart, including our in-depth reporting on local real estate development through Bricks & Mortar — digging into what’s being built, who’s behind it and how those decisions shape our community.

And, of course, we’ve continued to bring you the stories and features many of you depend on: investigations and local government reporting, arts and culture coverage, sudoku and crossword puzzles, Savage Love, and our extensive community events calendar. We feature award-winning stories by University of Oregon student reporters getting real world journalism experience. All free. In print and online.

None of this happens by accident. It happens because readers step up and say: this matters.

As we head into a new year, please consider supporting Eugene Weekly if you’re able. Every dollar helps keep us digging, questioning, celebrating — and yes, occasionally annoying exactly the right people. We consider that a public service.

Thank you for standing with us!