Daily Mississippian

"What'd you think about the midgets?" Kenny Valliant, owner of All-Pro Productions, asked.

"The people enjoy the midgets because you don't see them too much on wrestling cards anymore. You know, they do a great job and I always have them on the card whenever I can."

"Midget wrestling" is just the start of the night when All-Pro Productions brings wrestling to Bruce on May 9. The company, founded by former wrestler Valliant brings wrestling to places all over the Southeast. The company has been going for five years.

The event has many different matches and even some tag-team events. The trash talk, though, is just as much a part of the evening as the actual wrestling.

"The people who come in, you know, can say what they want to," Valliant said. "I'd rather them not, out of respect for the kids and respect the kids being there, so don't wanna get crazy and obviously I don't want them to cuss either. They paid their money to get in, so if they want to say, 'You suck,' I don't see anything wrong with that."

Valliant does have a line the wrestlers cannot cross. At the last event in Bruce, a wrestler was offended by a comment from the audience. He cursed at the audience member and was fired, Valliant said.

"All in all, we try to run a family show, and that's what's gonna bring the people back," Valliant said. "I mean, we might have some rough action, but we want people to know they've been to a wrestling show and not a ballet or something, you know?"

All the wrestlers go through about a 3-hour training process with All-Pro Productions before they are allowed in the ring.

"It's not just 'put on a pair of boots and get in there,'" Valliant said. "These people know what they're doing."

Valliant acknowledges that the wrestling is not the same as what people are used to seeing on TV but does think people will enjoy and be impressed with the show regardless.

"We try to go back to the old wrestling days where people actually leave there and say 'Man, he beat his brains out,' know what I mean?" Valliant said.

"Make 'em believe because if you don't make 'em believe, why will they come back?"

A group of Ole Miss students went to the last wrestling show in Bruce on April 12 and had mixed feelings about the event.

"I think that they're having fun, so that's good. But it's not really anything I feel like I need to see again. They were being pretty dramatic for amateurs. It was kind of overkill," senior international studies and Spanish major Alexandra Rodriguez said.

Both senior Chinese major Caroline Brazeel and third-year law student Chris Mossing said they would go back.

"(The wrestlers) may not have had all the technical stuff right, but their hearts were in it," Mossing said. "They were having fun with it."

Brazeel has some advice to offer for those making the journey to Bruce.

"If you're from Oxford you should probably leave your Polo's and Vera Bradley's at home."

Valliant said he was pleased that Ole Miss students had driven down and hopes more will make it for the May 9 show. He also said he hopes to bring the event to Oxford if he can.

"Just tell everyone up in Oxford who goes to school up there (or doesn't go to school up there) to come down and see a good show on May 9," Valliant said.

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