Barker of the Bizarre: Deville man makes mark in wrestling with clown persona Rika Wildlee
In the eyes of an 8-year-old Jake Smith growing up in Jena, the professional wrestlers he loved to watch on TV were live-action superheroes.
“And ever since then, I've always wanted to be a professional wrestler,” said Smith, who is now 33 and lives in Deville.
Local wrestling fans know him as “Rika Wildlee, Barker of the Bizarre,” a clown-like character he created.
“I've always been interested in the carnival aspect of wrestling because that's the wrestling started way back in the sideshow days. Years and years ago it started as a sideshow attraction,” he said.
So, he decided to bring that aspect of wrestling back.
“That's why Rika became the Barker of the Bizarre. He’s a carnival barker,” explained Smith. The barker announces the carnival attractions by saying, “Come one, come all!” or “Ladies and gentlemen, step right up!”
“As far as the clown, it's just something different because there's a bunch of wrestlers, but there's not many that do the clown-style gimmick,” Smith said.
The name Rika was derived from his Dungeons and Dragons character’s name, Ricochet, the name he originally thought of for the character. As he got into wrestling, he shortened the name to Rika,
“It was going to be originally Rika ‘The Wild Card’ Lee, because my middle name is Lee. But I Googled a bunch of stuff and there's about a billion wild cards in wrestling.”
So, he went with the name Rika Wildlee.
Wrestling locally for UWE
When he was 30, Smith graduated from the United Wrestling Entertainment (UWE) Pro Wrestling Academy in Deville and got his license to wrestle. He has been wrestling professionally since 2020. He doesn’t consider what he was doing before to be wrestling because he wasn’t trained.
“The United Wrestling Entertainment is who I wrestle for locally most of the time," Smith said. "They do a lot of shows around here,” such as the recent Wrestling for Wreaths that was held in Marksville.
One example was the recent Wrestling for Wreaths held in Marksville. That event raised money for wreaths to be placed on the gravesites of service personnel at the Alexandria National Cemetery during the Christmas season.
Wrestling has lived up to what he thought it was going to be and more.
“I went all the way to Ohio and I got to wrestle for one of the companies that I've followed since I was probably 10 years old, Juggalo Championship Wrestling. Being able to wrestle for them, it's been probably one of the highlights of my career so far,” Smith said.
He’s now traveling to different states for wrestling shows like one he has coming up on Oct. 21 in Arkansas.
“But wrestling locally is my favorite, though, because people actually know me around here. They follow me and things like that,” he said.
Rika Wildlee has his local following but he has also found fans across the globe. He has thousands of followers on Facebook and TikTok.
When he started this persona, he started doing different things on social media.
“It’s such a strong tool. It really is,” Smith said.
He reached out to different wrestling podcasts to get interviews so he could reach a larger audience. He estimated he's been interviewed by about 15 different podcasts all over the country and the world. He’s done interviews for podcasters in places like London, Canada and New York that can be seen on YouTube.
“I know people all over the world have bought my T-shirts because I've got friends in Australia, I’ve got a couple in Germany, and they've all bought my T-shirts off prowrestlingtees.com. So, just being able to say that people around the world are wearing my merchandise is pretty cool,” he said.
Sticking to his dreams
In the three-and-a-half years that he’s been wrestling, Smith said he didn’t expect his career to take off like it has.
"My entire life, like I said, I grew up in Jena, and I can't tell you how many people told me, 'Let it go. It's a pipe dream. It's not gonna happen. You're from Jena. Nobody wrestles in Jena,'" he said.
Those comments didn’t dampen his enthusiasm.
But now when he wrestles locally those same people bring their children and grandchildren to his merchandise table and tell him how much they love him. They buy his shirts and they want to take pictures with him and get his autograph.
Smith became a father at 17 so he had to put his dream on the back burner for a long time. Now that his son is almost 16, Smith is able to more fully pursue his wrestling career.
“If I would be raising a baby right now, I probably wouldn’t be able to go and wrestle like I’m wrestling,” Smith said.
“But the fact that he's a teenager now, and he's off doing his own little thing and all that, I can go and travel on the weekends and go wrestle around the country. If he wants to come, great. If he wants to bring his buddies with him, awesome. ‘Let’s go!’” said Smith.
Because his son has a dad who wrestles, it has made him one of the most popular kids in school.
“And that makes me really happy,” Smith said.
He said his son is interested in wrestling but he “just got into the girl scene so he’s occupied.”
“He's all about skateboarding and girls right now. He's 15, but he comes to train with me at the school every now and again. I do encourage him to join the business. I'm not going to push that on him. If he wants to do it, that's great. But I want him to do what makes him happy,” Smith said.
Smith said his parents didn’t discourage him from pursuing his dream but as he got older and was still chasing it they thought it was time for him to settle down and get a job where he was making money.
“And I'm just like, I just gotta keep trying. Keep going,” he said.
He doesn’t want to keep his son from pursuing his dreams. If it’s to be a professional skateboarder then he wants his son to go for it.
“Who am I to tell you you can't?” he said. “He's one of my biggest fans.”
His son helped him come up with the Rika Wildlee persona and really push the gimmick.
Wants to work full-time in wrestling world
Smith has a full-time job outside of wrestling that he just started but his goal is to get to where he is in the wrestling world full-time and gets paid, even if it’s not in the ring.
“I'm about to be 34 and most wrestlers are retiring at this age unless you're Rick Flair or somebody who's been wrestling forever. Most wrestlers, because it's so hard on your body, are retiring at this age,” he said. “But I just want to be paid. Make a living from the wrestling business. It's the only thing I've ever genuinely been obsessed with. I know it inside out.”
He said wants to find a way to make it in the wrestling world, whether it’s training the next batch of wrestlers or helping with booking or anything else connected to the business.
“I want to be able to say that my main income comes from professional wrestling. If I do make it big in the wrestling business as a ring performer, that would be amazing,” said Smith.
He said believes that the character aspect will carry a wrestler a long way.
“Talent only takes you so far. Wrestling only takes you so far. But even after my days in the ring have gone, people will still pay to come see Rika just based on the character alone, even if I'm not performing just because he is who he is,” Smith said.
Outside of the ring, Smith has been to countless parties and other events where he’s been paid and invited to hang out as Rika Wildlee.
“I want to make a full-time living from professional wrestling. Every day I do stuff and every day that I get to wrestle and things like that is a stepping stone,” Smith said. “You never know who's going to see you. You never know what kind of door is open. I mean, look at this right here. You never know what the next Avenue is, so. I'm just taking it one day at a time.”
Visit the Facebook page of Rika Wildlee, Barker of the Bizarre. He is also on TikTok @rikawildleeofficial.
This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Deville man finds niche in pro wrestling with clown persona Rika Wildlee
