This article originally appeared on VICE Germany.
In July, photographer Tim Bruening attended Rock & Wrestling, an epic amateur wrestling show that’s been held annually in the St. Pauli neighbourhood of the German city of Hamburg for the past 20 years.
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Every year, local wrestlers face off in a series of matches to the sound of some good old-fashioned rock’n’roll. The fighters meet up in advance to get ready for the event. Most have known each other for a long time, and their fans keep coming back, too – think of it as a real community affair.
We caught up with Bruening to learn more about the absurd stuff he saw at this two-day event.
VICE: Hey Tim. Why would people want do this?
Tim Bruening: For fun. I think it brings the fighters a lot of joy to come up with their characters and develop a background story. The costumes alone can be very elaborate.
The group also trains together before the shows. They choreograph everything, think up stories for the fights. They even elaborate how the characters relate to each other – are they friends or foes?
Which costume was the best?
I can’t answer that question – it’s too hard. I will definitely never forget the giant “Loony Lobster” or Bento the Robot.
Which match did you think was the most spectacular?
Anna Rexikova against Dottore Umberto Gucci was unbelievable. They had a killer choreography: Dr Umberto Gucci, an Italian plastic surgeon, performed a surgery on Anna Rexikova to suck out her fat, which he planned to inject into her breasts. But that didn’t go as planned. Her boobs exploded and everyone was splattered with goo.
Anna Rexikova screamed in pain, then they played a metal song with strobe lights, and suddenly she stabbed the doctor with a scalpel. He fought back, but eventually, she managed to throw him onto the operating table, breaking it. She won the fight. That was very impressive and brutal.
Did anyone win in the end?
Yes. Some cards were handed out to the audience with a list of all the fighters, but they could also vote for the referee or for the singer of the “wrestling anthem” – yes, the show has its own anthem. In the end, Irene the Siren and the Flute Kid won.
What was your biggest challenge in photographing the show?
It was difficult to protect my cameras. Two of them didn’t survive the event because I kept being showered in beer, fake blood, goo, and fake MDMA.
Hold on, fake MDMA?
Flute Kid got quite beaten up during their fight. But then, they busted out a fire extinguisher filled with “MDMA” – flour and paint, I hope – which they sprayed on their opponents. All of a sudden, their enemies got very into each other and didn’t want to fight any more. Flute Kid won the fight.
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