“We are no longer guys in underwear who give each other fake hugs”

Ragnar Rök, André Levissieux or Dany Koryo did not bring out their gala outfit. The dress code is more casual. On this cold Saturday, in the room of the Bellegrave complex usually reserved for boxers, the men of “Fighters revenge pro wrestling” (FRPW) put on shorts and sneakers for a three-hour session promising sweat and catches galore. The Pessac wrestling club, the largest in Gironde and even New Aquitaine, continues to attract third-rope enthusiasts, even becoming a reference on a national scale.

Today he has around fifty followers. “The discipline has experienced a new wave of popularity since the end of Covid. Because of what? Because wrestling is cool! », says Étienne Heydecker, one of the members of the office. “We have not stopped recruiting since 2021,” adds Ben, the president of the association. We find ourselves with the NT1 generation (the old channel on which wrestling was broadcast, Editor’s note) which has come of age. And then I also want to believe that what is happening here is magical. »

Because it is scripted and not always extremely fine, wrestling in France has long been denigrated. Times are changing. In Pessac, FRPW shows now attract hundreds of people, an audience considered very lively across the country. For its next big show, in June, the club hopes to reach 800 spectators and why not a thousand. The one in 2024, in the Bellegrave room, had 634 seats, just ten from the sold-out venue. “There was a time when people looked at us strangely, like guys in underwear giving each other fake hugs,” says Étienne. Today, it makes people curious. They come to see us…”

We meet Dany, aka Day Koryo, who came to wrestling a few months ago. The character he created for himself? “I shape it around the martial art,” he answers. With 20 years of taekwondo, I wanted to lead it in this spirit. » This is the originality of the discipline which navigates between sport and entertainment. It immerses spectators in a long-term story with its stars, its twists and turns, its low blows and its predetermined fights. In this form of wrestling, everything is scripted. You just have to try to forget it.

Lining up one after the other for exercises in the ring, the wrestlers display varied profiles. Alongside Ben, director of a youth center or Étienne, coordinator in an associative environment, we find a web developer, a high school student, an intermittent worker or a real estate agent. Only age remains confined. You shouldn’t be too young (15 or over) or too old (at 40, it can start to sting). If the outcome of the fights is written, wrestling nonetheless remains physically very intense. “I really like going to the osteopath after each show,” says the president, aka Ben Thundersky, amusedly.

The training sessions, offered four times a week, serve in particular to repeat sequences, certain holds and the basics: always fall better or perform your rolls. At the club, the two coaches completed three-month internships in the United States, with big names in the discipline, to perfect their art and pass it on to others. “We learn to pay attention to our bodies and those of others,” summarizes Ben. You also need to pamper your heart, “it’s a very cardio sport,” insists Étienne. “I only did 8-minute fights (which can stretch up to 25 minutes, Editor’s note) and I was exhausted. It’s between badminton and wrestling! »

With American icons, big muscles like Hulk Hogan or Dwayne Johnson, wrestling inevitably generates testosterone. But he doesn’t just attract guys. Among a few female members, Annia, with groomed nails and piercings on her face, happily plays her groupie character within the club. “Most of the time, it’s me who’s screaming at ringside,” confides the young woman, who fell in love with wrestling as a teenager, around the age of 16-17. “It took me a while to register, I never regretted it,” she says.

Ben, now 33, got started a little earlier. Two decades ago, still a pitchoun, he found himself, zappette in hand, on the RTL9 channel. “I saw two guys there: one in underwear, the other masked. I was a little surprised… he remembers. I got into the game, I never stopped. » Ben Thundersky became president of the FRPW in 2020. A few weeks ago, his character took a turn towards the dark side: “In sixteen years, I had never been bad, I wanted to try…” His next fight, in the role of a villain, will take place in Pessac, during a new show, on January 25.