Wisconsin Life

[television buzzes] [suspenseful music] - Jay Gilkay: I think the thing that's most captivating about pro wrestling is the suspension of disbelief.

[upbeat music] [crowd cheers] - Andy Gorzalski: The cross section of the type of people that come to the show is so wide and varied.

– Crowd: [chants] Mondo, Mondo!

- It's a masculine version of a soap opera, I guess you could say.

[chair slams] - It's a very, like, clear, crystallized good versus evil.

- We think that Milwaukee is weird, it's wild, it's fun.

How could we take something that we grew up loving and how could we give that back to the city?

[drum roll] - Announcer: Live from the Turner Hall Ballroom in beautiful downtown Milwaukee, it's Mondo Lucha!

[explosion] [equipment slams] - Worker: We got 30.

- I had a little bit of a sense of what the world of pro wrestling or creating a wild variety show would be, but until you do it... - You're all set.

They'll give you a wristband right up here.

- Takes off the wrapper.

Puts the wrap thing on.

I'm the wrap now.

The day of the show is always nerves.

- You know, if you've been married and you have, like, your wedding day, it's almost like ten of those [laughs] all at once.

- I'm a school teacher.

So, a lot of times, the shows are on a Friday.

I'll be teaching from 8:00 in the morning until 11:30, and then I leave and come to the venue.

Good to see you.

Thank you for being here.

- I think one of the best things you can do is kind of, like, turn your brain off.

– Jay: It's like a variety show with violence.

[slaps] [crowd exclaims] - Andy: There's kind of cartoon characters that are coming to life.

[crowd cheers] Some of our biggest characters are the Beast.

– Crowd: [chants] Beast, Beast, Beast, Beast!

- He was kind of like our mascot for many years.

[crowd cheers] And he was just a throwback to an old school, tough, brawling masked wrestler.

[wrestler grunts] - A wacky, somewhat superhero named Red Goldstein.

- There are so many fantastic and cool characters and great wrestlers throughout the world that we need to showcase these people in Milwaukee.

[crowd cheers] - Referee: One, two, oh!

[upbeat music] - I have a lot of gratitude for what the people of Milwaukee and these audiences have kind of given back to us over the years.

That's my favorite thing that I hear about the show is that there was someone that was not quite sure what this was.

Those people end up becoming the loudest, most, like, unhinged fans in the crowd.

[crowd cheers] - Mondo Lucha is... it's the inside of my brain.

It's the inside of Andy's brain.

It's the craziness of Andy and I and the weird ideas and the thoughts and the things, and how can we bring something so wild and strange to our show.

- I'm able to give them, like, the most fun night of their year and this insane party, and something you'll never forget.

You can't do much better than that.

– Crowd: [chants] Mondo, Mondo!

– Announcer: It's time for Mondo Lucha!