'Uniquely Athens': Classic City Wrestling will throw down Saturday at Southern Brewing

On Saturday, Classic City Wrestling will host its fourth event of the summer at Southern Brewing Company.

The new promotion, founded by Scott Barnett, Justin Burnham and Cole Taylor, features live music from local band Classic City Jukebox, food trucks and, of course, wrestling, with nine professional matches to take place Saturday evening.

“It's been great; they draw a really good crowd,” wrestler Rose Gold said about her involvement with the company. “Everything's really fun, very professional and they always provide us with food and drinks.”

“You get a little bit of everything, you get Lucha libre; you get high flying action; you get hardcore matches; you get a little bit of salsa dancing from yours truly,” wrestler and luchador Cuatro Cabezas said. “It's a real fun time for everybody. All ages, all types of cultures … that's the kind of party I like to see.”

An Athens experience

Classic City Wrestling grew out of screening parties Taylor used to host at Flicker Theatre and Bar. The events were called “Classic City Wrestling” and featured classic wrestling matches.

“It was a lot of non-wrestling fans just having fun,” Taylor said. “They'd like to drink beer and yell at the screen.”

According to Taylor, while guests enjoyed the parties and he wanted to expand to in-person wrestling, they became expensive to maintain and petered out over time.

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, Taylor began working at another wrestling company, where he got to know former wrestling party attendee Burnham and his friend, Barnett.

When the duo approached Taylor to see if he’d be interested in starting a new company under the name Classic City Wrestling, he gladly joined forces.

“It just seemed like a dream come true,” he said. Taylor, who is a music manager by day, books live music for the events and performs as ring announcer when he’s in town, while Barnett handles event logistics and Burnham books talent and writes the scripts.

Together, the trio strive to create an experience Burnham describes as “uniquely Athens”.

Getting into character

The matches at Classic City Wrestling are improv-based.

As performers arrive for the event, Burnham distributes the evening's scripts, outlining the winners and losers in the story they’ll be telling. Wrestlers generally don’t rehearse and have little time to discuss moves with their opponents before a match. Sometimes, it’s their first time meeting face to face.

“When you're booking talent, you have to be very careful that you're booking people that can adapt to whatever story it is,” Burnham said. “But a lot of these guys are so highly trained, they can go out to the ring and communicate the entire time about what's coming next and the fans have no idea they're even talking. It's almost like magic.”

Wrestlers Rose Gold and Jazzy Yang generally spend five days a week in the gym preparing for the physical aspects of a match, with additional time getting into character. Others, like Spectre and Terry Yaki train at World Wrestling Alliance 4, a wrestling school in Atlanta.

For Spectre, applying face paint is an important part of getting ready to perform and Gold likes to prepare by listening to musicians like Megan thee Stallion and Nikki Minaj.

“I feel like [wrestling has] helped me with not being so shy and being a lot more open,” Gold said. “In the ring I'm more extroverted…my favorite part is just getting out there and being myself.”

Gold describes her wrestling character as “a stuck-up rich girl”, and she’s always excited when she gets to wrestle with her boyfriend, Nathaniel Vanderbilt. In Saturday’s match, she’ll join forces with him and their ally, Warden, to take on the Cabeza dynasty and Jazzy Yang.

As for his role in Saturday’s match, Cabezas said: “Don't miss it. Whether my opponents know it or not, it’s going to be one hell of a dance party.”

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Athens' Southern Brewing Company to host Classic City Wrestling