This new southwestern Ontario wrestling company is trying to bring old fans back to the sport | CBC News

Hammerlock Pure Wrestling had their first match less than a year ago in southwestern Ontario, and has been growing ever since with the aim of bringing old fans back to pro wrestling entertainment. 

They’re bringing a new type of entertainment to the region, with upcoming shows in Strathroy, Alymer, and St. Thomas. 

“We wanted to have an ode to old school wrestling, to bring it back to about 1985 and before, where it was more geared to the athleticism, the realism of a match than the high flying and more acrobatic stuff that you see nowadays,” said Adam Daviau, Hammerlock owner.

“At several of our shows we’ve had people in their sixties and seventies come up to me and say, ‘Hey, you know, thank you so much for bringing back this style of wrestling. I lost touch with wrestling and this is what I love.'”

Right now, they have four female and 16 male wrestlers, and are in the process of recruiting even more. 

“I think there’s a whole demographic that loved wrestling back in its roots, ’85 and before,” said Daviau. “And I think a lot of them lost touch with wrestling when the newer age of wrestling started happening, where you get a lot of people talking and you get a lot of high flying action.” 

“We’re still action packed, but we’re more of realistic based, so a lot of the moves that they’re doing, if they were done to a person in real life, they would hurt.”

Although it’s “realistic based,” winners and losers are determined before the match, but wrestlers improvise to get there. 

For now the company is sticking to southwestern Ontario but they have ambitions to branch out to the northern part of the province next year, and potentially even go outside of Ontario over time.