Revolution breaking out in Princeton

PRINCETON -- The city of Princeton has seen plenty of wrestling over the years, but nothing like the "revolution" coming to town this Saturday. Revolution Championship Wrestling, a local professional wrestling association based in LaSalle, will stage "Uprising '04" at the Bureau County Metro Center. Highlighting the evening will be a three-way RCW title match between defending champion "Air-borne" Vito Thomaselli and two challengers from the "Chaos Krew," former champ C.M. Punk and "The All-Star" Cru Jones. Other matches on Satur-day's card include the champ's younger brother, Brandon Thomaselli vs. "Synn," Brad Bradley vs. "Spyder" Nate Webb and "The Underwear Model" Eric Priest vs. "Superstar" Eric Marx. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. with the first bell at 7 p.m. Tickets are available for $12 at the door or $10 in advance at the Met, Papa John's Pizza in Peru and Metropolis Comics in LaSalle. Alcohol will be available to those with proper ID. One person happy about pro wrestling's return to Bureau County is Joe Stefko. The Cherry resident has been a fan of the pros for 45 of his 50 years, falling in love with the spectacle of it as a child watching flickering black-and-white TV images of his early heroes like Buddy Rogers and Lou Thesz, then moving on to The Crusher and "Mad Dog" Vachon. Stefko, somewhat of a wrestling historian, believes this is the first time pro wrestling has been in Princeton since a performance at the Bureau County Fairgrounds in the mid-1960s. On that day, he got to view the likes of Rene Goulet, The Bruiser and the legendary Vern Gagne. "It was wonderful to meet those guys," said Stefko, who runs the Associated Title Co. of Princeton. "Professional wrestling is something I understand, something I enjoy and the RCW gives me everything I want from the sport. It's a good time and you don't hear too many of those 'boooo-ring' chants. It's really action-packed." Stefko feels the popularity of the sport as a whole has leveled off now from its explosion in the late 1980s-early 1990s with the emergence of superstars like Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant. For that he blames the monopoly on the sport held by promoter Vince McMahon and his World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). However, he adds that more people are flocking to smaller but growing circuits for their entertainment needs, like the RCW, which plans to add a women's wrestling invitational in August. The RCW website -- www.rcwpro.com -- lists on its schedule a return to the Bureau County Metro Center for its "Retalia-tion" on May 15. "There's a growing fan base for the National Wrestling Association's TNA, which stands for Total Non-Stop Action," said Stefko. "That's great, but I prefer the RCW. They're on pay-per-view a lot and that's why I got DirectTV. I've missed only two of its televised events since its inception two years ago. ... The RCW guys come from all over the Midwest and are in good physical shape, very athletic and acrobatic, which is something you don't find in the smaller circuits. "For some of these guys, this is their livelihood and they're at it five and six nights a week, dreaming of being discovered by the WWE. That's where the big bucks are."