The fighting Irish and the WWE

WHEN American wrestling comes to Waterford next week, it will be bringing all the colour and controversy that’s made the sport so hugely popular in the US. Mixing its typical pomp and razzmatazz, the event is advertised as “epic encounters inside the ring like nothing you have seen before”.

In a game where names like ‘Hulk’ Hogan, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Triple H have become legendary, this clash of washboard abs, total smackdowns and ultimate blow-offs is a whole other world compared to Waterford’s more familiar clash of the ash in Walsh Park. “These are the superstars of wrestling who are taking a break from their tours of America, Europe, Japan and Mexico to take part in a giant one-off extravaganza,” says promoter Stephen Muldoon. “It’s the kind of event that people in Ireland wouldn’t normally get a chance to see, and it will definitely give audiences a taste of why the sport is so huge in the US and elsewhere.”

Like many American sports born in the last century, wrestling has deep Irish connections — specifically, the McMahon family, emigrants from Galway who began as boxing promoters around New York around 1905. Recently ranked in the Forbes Rich List as one of the wealthiest families in America, the dynasty began when brothers Roderick and Edward founded the Olympic Athletic Club in Harlem to promote boxing matches around the Northeast region.