Flying bodies, rowdy crowd at Iqaluit pro wrestling event

North Shore Pro Wrestling fights left audience chanting ‘This is awesome!’

Dylan “Double D” Donavan flies off the top rope into his opponent Zak Patterson. North Shore Pro Wrestling brought big hits and flying bodies to Iqaluit’s Aqsarniit hotel on Saturday night, and the show was greeted by a rowdy, energetic crowd. (Photo by Jeff Pelletier)

By Jeff Pelletier - Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

When Steve Boutet, president of Quebec City-based North Shore Pro Wrestling, received an invitation from Iqaluit’s Franco-Centre to host an event there, he thought it was a prank at first.

The invitation turned into a one-of-a-kind, hard-hitting event for Iqaluit, drawing a rowdy crowd of approximately 200 to the Aqsarniit hotel Saturday night.

“People are very welcoming [to] us, they treat us like we’re kings, so that’s amazing,” Boutet said in an interview.

Popularized by organizations like World Wrestling Entertainment and All Elite Wrestling, professional wrestling is generally considered a form of athletic theatre featuring stunts and storylines.

That could be seen Saturday as the crowd cheered on the good guys, heckled and booed the bad guys, and went crazy for the ring jumps, headlocks and hard-hitting body slams.

Cedrik O’Connor, one of the 11 wrestlers who came up for the event, said that despite all the pain that’s involved, it’s his favourite thing in life and he thinks about it every day.

At his day job, O’Connor works as a video game artist in Quebec City but he took some time off to travel north for the Iqaluit event.

“I want to come back and be part of the trip again because it’s really cool,” he said.

It’s clear Iqaluit has an appetite for pro wrestling. The room was full of energy from start to finish. At one point, the crowd chanted, “This is awesome!”

Boutet said he wants to put on another show in Iqaluit. This was North Shore Pro Wrestling’s first event outside of Quebec.

While there were a lot of logistics to organize — including shipping a wrestling ring north via cargo flight — he said the love his team felt from the people of Iqaluit was special.

“We’re really happy to be here,” Boutet said. “We’d love to come back.”

 

  • North Shore Pro Wrestling president Steve Boutet and wrestler Cederik O'Connor pose for a photo by the ring. (Photo by Jeff Pelletier)

 

Share This Story

(1) Comment:

  1. Posted by Kenn Harper on

    Nice that pro wrestling has returned to Iqaluit. Iqaluit has hosted pro wrestling 4 times in the past. I organized the last 3 of those, with Sebastian Suave’s promotion, Smash Wrestling, from Toronto. We had great wrestlers and great fans and everyone had a lot of fun. Keep it happening.

    17
    1

Comments are closed.