· The Phoenix ·

If all goes as planned, the upcoming Punk Slam Wrestling event at the Phoenix Theater will pit good vs. evil fighters interspersed with hard-driving rock music.

It will be an experimental evening to see if wrestlers slugging it out in a portable ring will grab the attention of an audience that also likes the music of Unominame.

"It's different. It's fresh," Punk Slam Wrestling promoter Josh Drake said. "There's nothing more real than hearing those guys hitting the mat."

Drake is teaming up with Sacramento-based Supreme Pro Wrestling.

They will bring dozens of wrestlers to Petaluma for a night of entertainment, with most of the wrestlers coming from Northern California and Nevada. The format features a half-hour of wrestling followed by a half-hour of music, and Drake hopes the Saturday night event will attract families, teens, music and wrestling fans.

"It would get hectic if the band played during the wrestling," Drake said.

Some of the wrestlers wear campy costumes and ham up their performance with theatrics.

One popular wrestler, El Flaco Loco, dresses in a festive red costume and head mask resembling the attire a court jester would wear. Others take a more traditional athletic approach,dress in conventional wrestling attire and behave like they're in a regular bout.

"There's a lot of drama," Drake said. "You've got the little guy totally as the underdog, the big guy gives him a chance then clobbers the heck out of them. That's where the story of the match comes in.

"There's an element of risk and danger," he added. "At a Sacramento show, a guy took a bad fall and cut his head. They're tough guys and the show goes on."

The Punk Slam Wrestling night will feature referees to monitor the action to make sure professional wrestling rules are followed.

At the inaugural wrestling/music event earlier this year at the Phoenix, manager Tom Gaffey booked several bands to accompany the action in the ring, but this time he settled on featuring just one, Unominame.

"Tom picked the music. He really feels a mainstream wrestling audience would like this," Drake said.

The wrestlers who came to Petaluma for the first event liked the grit of the Phoenix Theater, Drake said.

"The wrestlers loved it. It's dirty in there and the barricades are bent and look beat up," he said.

The proximity of the crowd to the fighters makes the small theater setting appealing for wrestling, Drake said.

"If the guys in the ring taunt the audience, it's because they want to get a reaction," he said. "They don't care if you love or hate them. They're hitting on common emotions. Everyone hates sneaks and cheaters.

"Some guys want to get the referee distracted," he said. "You have the guy who's such a jerk. At the first show you remembered the guy who was causing a fuss with the ref. It's the unpopular guys who are well-known."

The first wrestling show at the Phoenix drew some audience members who said they didn't like wrestling but were curious to see the event in which wrestlers engaged in headlocks, body-slams, and drop kicks.

"We keep the language clean and don't want to be vulgar. You don't need to be vulgar," Drake said.

Supreme Pro Wrestling began in 2000 with JD "Big Ugly" Bishop's purchase of a Sacramento wrestling business. He recruited wrestlers and offered them training and promotion, and had been staging events at the Colonial Theater in Sacramento.

When Drake attended a wrestling and music show at the Colonial he was inspired to bring the show to Petaluma.

"I don't want people to think it's not professional because it's the indie wrestling circuit," Drake said.

Drake, who is a drummer in the Sonoma County band Santiago, produces bands and records music for other musicians on his Pandacide Records label. He's been promoting local concerts since he was 15 years old.

"It was so obvious we could do this," he said. "I used to daydream when I was a student at Cinnabar School about how cool it would be to have wrestling events at school."

The Punk Slam Wrestling show begins at 8 p.m. Saturday and admission is $10.

Slam & Jam

Phoenix Theater to pair wrestling show, rock concert