The soft-spoken man is a professional in the medical field who likes to help people. Some weekends, though, he gets his kicks hurting people.

That’s because he’s a part-time professional wrestler.

He declined to give his real name because of his occupation, but last Saturday, wearing a sparkling gold mask and cutoff T-shirt that was emblazoned in large black letters with the word “Mauler,” he was a participant in the pro wrestling show held at the Hilltop Community Center in Summit Hill.

He’s a Jim Thorpe resident and wrestles as the Mauch Chunk Mauler. He says he hails from Mount Pisgah. He tells his fans his strength comes “from bathing in the pools of the uranium-rich water of Mount Pisgah.”

On this day, he wrestled a much larger opponent, Nightmare David Stone from fictional Silent Hill, Pennsylvania. It was a ruthless battle that even spilled out of the ring, with the combatants’ using chairs, a championship belt with a large metal insignia, and even a cookie sheet.

In the end, the Mauler wore down Stone and applied a scorpion hold, forcing his opponent into submission and delighting the fans.

About 75 spectators were on hand for the WTW (Wow That’s Wrestling) show at the Community Center despite a snowstorm earlier in the day. The shows are held regularly and raise funds for the Summit Hill Recreation Commission.

There were 10 bouts featuring about 30 different wrestlers, with the event lasting 3½ hours. There were two eight-man tag team matches, a triple threat match and numerous singles matches including three championship bouts.

Affordable tickets

Promoter Tyler Calkins of Tamaqua said events have been held at the Community Center for more than a year. The town’s borough council unanimously approved shows for the forthcoming year, with the next one on Feb. 21.

Such shows are held throughout the area, with similar events in recent months in Slatington, Jim Thorpe, Tamaqua and Mahanoy City. The promoters and the performers participate in what is called independent promotions, which are prevalent not only locally but throughout the world.

Heavyweight champion “Mister” Vincent Michaels, a villain among the fans who successfully defended his title, proclaimed to the fans that he won’t be present at next month’s show because “you don’t deserve my time.” He dissed the small town of Summit Hill and admitted he’ll be back “when I’m ready” to beat up somebody else.

The real reason he won’t be appearing next month, though, is because he’s traveling to Europe and will be wrestling in an independent show in England on that date.

Tickets for independent shows are much less expensive that the larger promotions like the World Wrestling Entertainment. The cost for a ticket for Saturday’s Summit Hill show was just $10. Floor seats to a WWE show can cost several hundred dollars. For example, a WWE show March 30 in Madison Square Garden has ticket prices ranging from $123 to $664. A show Feb. 2 in Philadelphia has ticket prices from $59 to $339. And if you want to attend WrestleMania, tickets cost between $299 and $1,494.

Training, dreaming

As evidenced last Saturday, the independent performances don’t have the big-name stars, but they have as much action as the major shows. In fact, some televised WWE shows that lasted two hours have a mere four or five bouts with a lot of promotional rhetoric consuming the rest of the time. The show in Summit Hill, however, was one action-filled bout after another.

Calkins used to be a wrestler on the independent circuit.

“One day my trainer said, how about running a show,” he said.

So Calkins decided to try out some local events.

All the wrestlers have training. Some attended major wrestling schools. Wrestler Billy Mike Swanson, who lives in Philadelphia, trained at the world-famous Wrestling Factory in Philadelphia. Another was trained by WWE star Seth Rollins, who has a wrestling school in Davenport, Iowa.

Independent wrestlers generally don’t earn much money, with it being more of a hobby or attempting to fulfill a dream of someday reaching the big time. Several said they do it for fun and earn gas money for their travels.

Vi Daniels and Troy Locke, both of Bayville, New Jersey, won the tag team championship on Saturday’s wrestling card as Misery Inc. Locke said they’ve been a team for four years. Daniels works at a Honda dealership, while Locke works for Mack Trucks. Daniels said he’s been a pro wrestling fan since age 6, when his father took him each month to Madison Square Garden shows.

Although both Daniels and Locke are hoping to get a break from a major promoter, they said they enjoy the independent shows because “we get to engage with the local people.”

Daniels said, “Troy and I get to travel every weekend. We do it for the dream of making it big.”

Although villains in the ring, who heckled fans and were heckled themselves, during intermission both came out and talked with children and high-fived others.

Calkins, a graduate of Tamaqua Area High School, said independent shows “are a more personal experience” and “much less expensive.” He said the performers “do it for the love of it.”

Playing a role

Dakota Snyder of Nazareth, who wrestles as The Dakotiac, doesn’t look like a wrestler. He’s only about 5 feet, 6 inches tall and seems too good-natured. His face is half-painted with a black and white design, and his favorite move is The Dakotian Spike.

His uncle is former pro superstar Molsonn, who has wrestled for numerous promotions including Japan Pro Wrestling.

Snyder enjoys wrestling. “I get to be a character and don’t have to be myself,” he said. “I make the crowd happy. They love me.”

A guitarist who plays heavy metal, he also does seasonal acting.

On this night, he wrestled for the world championship against Vincent, who stands about 6 feet, 3 inches and is easily 60 pounds heavier.

Still, The Dakotiac held his own until the very end, when Michaels found a piece of metal chain under the ring and, while the referee was looking away, hit The Dakotiac with it.

‘A good show’

The Mauch Chunk Mauler said he enjoys the old-style wrestling, with his idols being Bruno Sammartino and Bret “Hitman” Hart. The Mauler wears the mask not only to hide his identity but because “kids like guys with masks, like superheroes.” He said he especially enjoys doing show for groups such as Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Nightmare David Stone was born and raised in Tamaqua. The 6 foot, 3 inch 261-pound grappler said he grew a fondness for the sport when his parents used to take him to local shows.

“Now that my mother’s gone, it’s all I have,” he said of his camaraderie with his peers.

Among the fans in attendance was Dale Heisler of West Penn Township, who said the show was the third time he had been at such events in Summit Hill.

“This was a good show,” he said of the night’s bouts.

He also said one of the participants, Anthony Dolosio, who subdued Richie Vovie of Newark, N.J., is a good friend.