The Balmoral Recreation Centre will get ready to rumble on Saturday, April 26, with an evening of live professional wrestling.
Live Pro Wrestling: Rage in the Cage will feature five matches inside the rec centre’s hockey rink, including a steel cage main event to close out the night.
Balmoral hosted a similar event in 2023 that drew 470 spectators. Once again, proceeds will support the centre’s daily operations.
“We had a wrestling event two years ago and it was a great success,” said organizer Don Slater. “Everyone enjoyed it, especially the kids. We had positive feedback from a lot of people. I was approached by the board this year to see if this is a possible event we could do again this year, and thought it was a great idea. It’s great for the community and helps raise funds for the Balmoral Recreation Center once again.”
Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for youth ages five to 17, and free for children four and under.
The event is bring-your-own-chair with first-come, first-served seating, as organizers hope to fill the arena.
Headlining the card in a steel cage main event will be “Boston Bruiser” Kevin O’Doyle vs. “Sweet” Bobby Schink.
Other matches include Brax vs. “Red Hot” Sammy Peppers, Dragneel vs. “Real Deal” James Roth, “Mastermind” Kevin Cannon vs. Jack Jameson, and a tag-team match featuring “Nu Money” — “The Star” Bryce Bentley and Scott Ripley The Third — taking on “Wrestling’s Big Punisher” AJ Sanchez and “El Chico” Eddie Alvarez.
“Wrestling’s Big Punisher” AJ Sanchez, whose real name is A.J. Larocque, may be familiar to fans. He not only facilitated the 2023 event but is also one of the biggest names in Manitoba wrestling.
Larocque, 38, began wrestling at age 16 and has performed across North America, including training with Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide in Mexico.
He has won multiple tag-team championships and now coaches aspiring wrestlers at the Elite Wrestling Academy in Winnipeg, while continuing to compete.
Larocque also recruited the lineup for Balmoral, including “El Chico” Eddie Alvarez — one of his students — who will join him in tag-team action.
“What makes what we do the most fun is when you see the kids that show up to these events and for the two hours that event is going on they’re fully immersed in what we’re doing and they’re yelling, screaming, interacting, booing, cheering, and that creates such an environment,” said Larocque. “Something that you just don’t see very many places and that’s what makes pro wrestling so unique. With the rise in popularity and more people getting eyes on wrestling right now, it’s super cool, it’s super fun, and an innovative way for a town like Balmoral to try and raise funds for the rec centre.”
Larocque might not be competing at all if not for his enduring love of wrestling, which helped him push through a life-altering car crash in 2015.
The near-fatal accident left him with a shattered hip, fractured pelvis, broken wrist, broken nose and a torn eyelid.
What could have ended his career instead motivated him to return to the ring.
Now, at 38, he continues to do what he loves while playing a leadership role in Manitoba’s wrestling scene.
“It’s hard to explain the rush or the high you get when you walk through the curtain and you’ve got a large audience essentially in the palm of your hands reacting how you want them to,” said Larocque. “Not to mention the rush that you get from being in front of a live audience and doing what we do but there’s a lot of really good people around the local Winnipeg wrestling scene right now and everybody is working hard and doing everything they can to make things as good as possible and it’s hard to stay away from that because there are such good people around and people that I would call lifelong friends.”
One of those friends is Winnipeg Beach’s Jayde Barkman, who began training in February 2024 and had his first match last October.
Barkman, 30, was a longtime wrestling fan but couldn’t find a training facility when he started searching in his early 20s. He eventually saw an ad for Larocque’s academy and joined Elite Wrestling Academy.
Now wrestling under the name Brax, Barkman is living his dream. He will face “Red Hot” Sammy Peppers in a singles match at the Balmoral event.
“You come home with a lot of bumps and bruises that’s for sure but overall there’s an adrenaline you get from it that I can’t describe that you can’t get from anything else. It’s a lot of fun,” said Barkman.
Doors open at 2 p.m. on April 26, with bell time at 4 p.m. The evening will include meet-and-greet opportunities with the wrestlers before, after and during intermission. Merchandise will be available for purchase.
A cash-only bar and canteen will also be available.
Tickets can be purchased at Stonewall Home Hardware, the Rockwood Motor Inn & Motel, or by contacting Balmoral Recreation Centre at 204-467-2620, Don Slater at 204-513-1515, or Blake Mauthe at 204-461-1920.
