Teens Wrestle Strangers to Fight Boredom During Writers Strike
By Editor | January 19, 2008
Austin, TX - With most television programs in reruns due to the Hollywood writers’ strike, teenage boys in Austin have turned to an alternative (and illegal) form of entertainment — wrestling total strangers in the street.
We have all felt the effects of the writers’ strike in Hollywood. Some of our favorite shows are stuck in reruns and behind schedule as a result of the strike, and some of us are desperately seeking alternate forms of entertainment such as reading.
But for a small group of Austin teens, the lack of TV viewing options has fueled a level of boredom that, in turn, has driven the teens to commit acts of criminal mischief. “Street wrestling,” as the teens refer to it, involves walking up to strangers in the street and wrestling them to the ground, often while wearing masks to hide their identities.
Much like the movie Fight Club, in which Ed Norton and Brad Pitt had certain rules for their barbaric entertainment, the Austin teens have created their own set of rules for street wrestling. We spoke with one teenage boy who, on the condition of anonymity, shared the following rules of street wrestling. We will refer to him as Tom, which is not the teen’s real name.
“First off, we don’t wrestle chicks … only dudes,” said Tom. “Cause you know, wrestling girls is for like wimps and s*#t. So that’s rule number one. No chicks. Only dudes. The second rule is something to do with old people … oh yeah, we don’t wrestle old people. Just dudes in like their 30’s and 40’s and stuff. You know, like our parents’ age. Rule number three is that you have to wrestle your target to the ground before people come to break it up, or else you’ll get hassled by the other guys in the club, like forever.”
Image: Tom, our anonymous interviewee, at home in Austin
The teenage boys said they do realize it’s against the law to wrestle complete strangers in public. But they said the thrill of the “pin” outweighs the risk of getting caught.
“I feel bad about it sometimes,” said Tom. “Like this one time I had a guy in a headlock. He was like a banker or something … I don’t know, he had on a suit. And for a minute I thought maybe I shouldn’t be doing this. But then I remembered that everything is in frickin’ reruns because of those lazy writers, so I pinned this guy to the ground and ran off cheering with my buds.”
Several schools in the area have scheduled emergency PTA meetings to discuss the growing problem of street wrestling, and some have invited the local police to seek their advice on the matter.
Thankfully, to date there have been no serious injuries reported as the direct result of street wrestling. At least, not yet.
Topics: Austin News |
January 19th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Actually, that doesn’t seem so bad. It gets them outside in the fresh air. It’s not destructive in the sense of vandalism. It’s an assault, okay, but not with the intent of injuring people. It’s a way to reach out and touch someone!
January 22nd, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Sorry…I’m 6′4″, 300 and that’s gym weight, not couch weight.
If some brat in a Lucha Libre mask tries to rush me, he’s going down and getting a mouthful of foot, reruns or not.
February 9th, 2008 at 6:04 am
If the guys that want to wrestle me are physically built, they better be ready for me to start getting horny because wrestling turns me on and I would “accidentally” grope and do things I know they’d like but just be they’d be to afraid to admit it with their “Buds” around.
February 12th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
and you guess it.. youtube proof:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqTKhQrbdGI