The Middle Kingdom Rumble

'早茶摔角'：中國首次職業(yè)摔跤比賽背后的秘密

Beijing hosted its first-ever pro wrestling event in May. The World of Chinese went behind the scenes to find out why people are happily paying good money to watch scripted fights.

融合格斗與戲劇表演的職業(yè)摔角，因“早茶摔角”而走紅。這種自帶劇本的比賽，能在中國真正站穩(wěn)腳跟嗎？

武 first-ever professional wrestling match，and inside， wrestlers rehearsedinnearsilence，theirmuffledexchangesbroken by the dull thunder of bodies hitting the mat.Each fall wasmeasured，and their expressionsremained mostly unchanged.

“Come takea look under the ring，” says Sunny Zhai，a prowrestlerfrom Thailand，breakingthesilence.‘Alotof fans in China are curiouswhether there are springs hidden inside. They'd say [to me]， if not， how can we jump so high？\" he jokes， pulling back the curtain to reveal the hollow spacebeneath.

ScantheQRcode towatchaminidocumentaryon theriseof pro wrestlinginChina！

It might sound like a silly question，but for many people in China，professional wrestlingisstill an unfamiliar spectacle. Unlike in the US，where professional leagues like theWorld WrestlingEntertainment（WWE）havebecome partofmainstreampop culture，pro wrestlingherehasn't fullytakenroot.EvenwithsomeChinesewrestlers making it onto the international stage， many in the countryare still puzzled by the appeal of these scriptedbattles，wherewrestlersportraycharacters and the outcomes are predetermined.

But things are starting to change.

Sudden burst of fame

ToAdrian Gomez， founderofMiddle Kingdom Wrestling（MKW） and the organizer of the night's event，pro wrestling is an art， much like an orchestra： The wrestler in the ring is the conductor， and together with their opponent， they guide the audience-whether to boo， cheer， cry， or laugh.

But when Gomez，an American who grew up on WWE，movedto China15 yearsago，herealized that most people here had never seen a match，and pro wrestling was still a rather foreign concept.

“If you say to a normal person in China： What isshuaijiao （prowrestling）？'...theywill think it's like the traditional Chinese martial art，”Gomez says.“It'sreally justahandful ofpeoplewho are ableto do this full-time.\"

Fortunately，he did discovera small but passionate pro wrestling community online. Wanting to give fans and wrestlers a proper platform，hefoundedMKWin2015andheld itsfirst match for free ina gyminDongguan， Guangdong province.

“We didn'thave enough fans at first，” Gomez recalls.“Thirty minutes before the show， nobody was coming.Ihad to run outsideand shout，F(xiàn)ree wrestling！Come in！Comein！\"\"

Now， on thelO-yearanniversary of his organization，he has finallybrought pro wrestling to the nation's capital， attracting not just expats but many locals，with all 4oo-plus tickets sold out.

One might assume that getting to this point required yearsof steadily growinga fanbase-but that wasn't the case.Foralong time，most of the promotionsin China，includingMKW， dealtwith moneyproblems， especially during the pandemic when they couldn'thost showsand had to shut down their training centers，a major source of revenue.But everything changed lastDecember， when videos of a pro wrestling performance at a Guangdong dim sum restaurant， organized as a birthday party treat，went viral online， turning pro \"If someone came up to me and said， ‘It would definitely be a hit if you held a wrestling match in a dim sum house，' I would think he was crazy. But it turns out we were the ones being foolish， not him.\"

MKW founder Adrian Gomez [Jiayu Zhang]

wrestling matches into an overnight sensation. The most-watched video on streaming platform Bilibili has racked up over 6.8 million views.

\"I believe dim sum wrestling is probably one of the biggest developments in wrestling in the last 10 years，\" says Gomez.

Drawninby the novelty， fans—many of whom had never heard of pro wrestling before-flocked to dim sum restaurants in Guangdong， happily payingafewhundred yuantowatchwrestlers slam each other on and off stage，right in their faces，between bites of steamed lobsterand pork buns.According to media outletLanxiong Sports， since that first event， the dim sum wrestling team's commercial bookings quickly filled up， with16 shows scheduled in just undera month. The second event， held in Panyu， Guangzhou， sold out over 750 tickets in under two days， including private-box tickets priced at 2，000 to 3，000 yuan.

“People get so caught up in watching the match thatmany forget to eat.Bythe time theyremember，manyof thedisheshave gone cold，” says the pro wrestling content creator and commentatorforthenight'smatch，knownbythe handle Xiaojiemen on the video platform Bilibili.

Liu Xuanzheng is widely regarded as one of China's top professional wrestlers [An Ran]

Good and bad

“It'sunbelievable.We've been working hard for 2O yearsand nobodycared，”saysLiu Xuanzheng，one of the wrestlersin the viral video thatstarted the craze.Betterknownby his stagename TheSlam，Liu isamongthe very first people to take up pro wrestling in China in the early 2ooOs.“If someone came up to me and said. ‘It would definitelybeahit if you helda wrestling match ina dim sum house，'Iwould think he was crazy.But it turns out we were the ones being foolish， not him.\"

However， thissuddenattentionhasdivided manyof theoriginal fans.“Thereare two camps，” says Gomez.“Some people think it'sreally funand entertaining.But there's anothercamp that thinksthisisso‘low comparedtoWWE.\"

Liu，who has mentored over 8O percent of all Chinese pro wrestlers，admits that while both professional matches and dim sum wrestling aremeant to entertain， the latter is designed more for newcomers—people who aren't

already fansbutjustwantto joinin on the buzz.“Our professional wrestling matches are carefully planned，with extensive training and rehearsals.Dim sum or teahouse wrestling， on the other hand，is more commercial—it can only reach about 8O percent of what we normally deliver， saysLiu.

Healso reveals that while theviral fame has created more gigs for him and his peers， theirappearance feesper eventhaveactually dropped.“The market has grown so much that if one wrestler doesn't show up， someone else can easily take their place.Overall， the fees are low—it'sa compromise：the venue earns something，thewrestlers earn something，and everyone has to give a little，” says Liu.

A nighttoremember

No matter what people think of the trend， MKW's“Battle of theDecade” in the capital clearlybenefited from the buzz，selling out days in advance and prompting the addition of 100 more standing tickets.

The audience is also a crucial part ofa successful pro wrestling match [Jiayu Zhang]

After some discussion at the entrance about his health and whetherhe could handle the excitement， a 92-year-old wrestling fan was allowed in to enjoy the spectacle [Jiayu Zhang]

Asabout 5OO people filled the venue， the quiet training ground from just hours ago erupted withlaughterand excitement.People—whether newcomers ordie-hard fans，expatsorlocals， young or old （including a 92-year-old grandpa inawheelchair！）—sucked down cocktails， browsed merchandise，and eagerlywaited for the action to begin.

“Before this，Ididn'tknow much about Chinese prowrestling， soItook thechance to learn more aboutourlocalwrestlersandsomeoftheother leagues here.Afterall， going to the US to watch matches isn't exactly realistic，”says Yin Yikai，a fan who has been watching the WWE since 2007.

When the show kicked offat7 p.m.， the crowd—whether in the front row or standing in theback—burst into cheers， shouting for their favoritewrestlers and booing the“villains.\"The primal instinctin everyone seems to awaken with everypunchandthrow.

\"In real life，I'mbound by thelawand can't do anything tooviolent.Butinthering，Icanunleash those primal，beastly instincts that humans had before we evolved，” explains Liu.

Aside from the modest setting and lack ofstar power， the energy felt every bit as electricastheWWE.

\"I'll never have WWE's budget，but every time we present wrestling， we want to present it in a way where the production is good and the wrestling style is high，”says Gomez.

Indeed，wrestlersfromboth Chinaandabroad put ona spectacle filled with colorful characters and dazzling moves， froma zombie dragon from the US andaJ-pop idol toa Chinese opera performerandamartialartist.

“TheWWE hasalot ofresources for complicated plots.But we only have events everyfewmonths，so theplotmightbeless impressive，” says Liu.

While the night’smatchesmostly followed the classic hero-versus-villain storyline，they still carrieda distinctly Chineseflavor.‘Iwanttoadd some Chinese elements to pro wrestling，” says Gao Jingjia，who plays the role ofa drunkenkung fu master tonight.“I trained in martial arts for seven yearsasateenagerandstarted incorporating those movesinto wrestlinglast year.”

Through Gao，it’s clear that pro wrestling may be scripted with winners predetermined， but every

JapaneseprowrestlerYuki Kamifuku {right]and Singapore's Alexis Lee[left] are theonly two femalewrestlersof thenight [An Ran]

Hong Kong pro wrestlerand former WWE star Ho Ho Lun claimed the belt in the final match against his mentor and defending champion，Liu Xuanzheng （Dan Sandoval）

move still hasto land with precision-earned throughbruises，drills，andrelentlesspractice.

\"During training，Ihonestly don't dare to trysome of themovesat first，becauseI'mnot a professional and I'mafraid of hurting other wrestlers.So for each move，I'll practice it on the mat10 to 2O times untilIfeel confident enough to use it on another wrestler.But yeah—it really does hurt，” saysXiaojiemen.

Liu also notes that he only accepts students over18 yearsold：“Youhavetobeableto take responsibility for your own actions，becauseafter all， it's abit dangerous.”

Until next time

The night concluded with defending champion Liulosing thetitle to hisdisciple，formerWWE wrestler Ho Ho Lun. Though Liu is not dwelling too much on his loss：“This reflects how much the industry has grown [over the past two decades]. Many of my studentsare very talented.They've performedabroad， even forWWE，andsome can earn substantial income through live streaming. In a way， their success also represents my own growth， both professionally and personally.\"

Infact，with pro wrestling'srecent virality，Liu openeda new training centerinDongguan in June.Xiaojiemenalsoquitherstabledayjobata state-owned enterprise in ChengduinJune and becameafull-time wrestlerand content creator.

“As a promoter， Iwant to move forward， keep putting investmentsinto the company so that we can hopefully expand wrestling， the pool of wrestlers，so that there's not justa handful of people makinga living from pro wrestling， but actually a whole industry of people，” says Gomez. “It's like trying to builda Chinese dream in China asanAmerican.\"

It may take much more work， time，anda bit of luck for pro wrestling to truly go mainstream in China，but things seem to be moving in the right direction，especiallywithdedicated performers likeGao.“[Pro wrestling] is likeabelief to me，\"he says.“Ihope that one day，fans will recognize me whenI'm walking down the street.\" ∣ （204號