SteveSilver.net: a blog about movies. sports, news, technology, politics, pop culture, comedy, fatherhood and much more

The Auburn Hills Melee of Amateur Wrestling

If you didn’t think amateur wrestling was as exciting as pro wrestling, then you must not have heard about the rumble a couple of months ago between rival high school grappling squads in North Carolina- which had a flesh-and-blood connection to one of fake wrestling’s biggest stars.

In a state tournament regional qualifier in February, Colby Hardin faced off against Reid Fliehr, who is (that’s right) the son of pro wrestling legend Ric “The Nature Boy” Flair. After Hardin won the match, he decided to taunt his defeated opponent by mimicking the elder Flair’s famous strut. (Had the loser of the match been Jake “The Snake” Roberts’ son, would Hardin have draped a snake over his body?)

Anyway, Fliehr took exception to the showing-up, and before you knew it both teams were engaging in a Greco-Roman variation on the bench-clearing brawl. Why Fliehr’s team didn’t simply wait until the event was over and attack Hardin and Co. in the parking lot with wrenches and tire irons, as his father and his teammates in the Four Horsemen used to often do, remains a mystery.

The penalties, alas, were not quite as severe as Ron Artest’s season-long banishment from the NBA: each school was fined $1,000, and the offending wrestlers got two-match suspensions. And even worse, the athletic director of Hardin’s school, South Mecklenburg, says the fine will prevent the team from purchasing new singlets next year.