For the third year in a row, Gainesville got a taste of the biggest little show on earth.
Six professional dwarf wrestlers took the stage Thursday night: Loco, King Samoa, Blixx, Huggy Cub, Bubbles and Lt. Dan, who emerged the final winner.
The Micro Championship Wrestling troupe, originally based out of the Tampa Bay area, brought its “midget wrestling” championship match back to High Dive, located at 210 SW Second Ave., from about 10 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. to more than 300 eager fans, selling out the downtown venue.
Waiting for the match to begin, the crowd screamed and chanted with an energy that rivaled a Florida Gators football game.
“Let’s go Gators.”
“We want midgets.”
Pat Lavery, the owner of Glory Days Presents, the event management company for High Dive, said the wrestling match is an event the venue looks forward to holding every year since it first hosted the troupe in 2014.
“We just kind of did it on a whim at first,” Lavery said. “Their ring fits right on our dance floor, we don’t have to worry about them hitting the ceiling ’cause they’re so short.”
By about 10:15 p.m., the first blow was dealt.
What started as a seemingly even-faced round between the U.S. flag-bearing Lt. Dan and afro-donning, Pacific Islander-themed King Samoa took a dire turn when the lieutenant finished his opponent off with a signature backflip bash tackle, to which the crowd responded, “USA! USA! USA!”
The night came to a close after all five contestants entered the ring together for a winner-take-all “Royal Rumble” match. Although Blixx won the initial championship against Huggy Cub in the previous round, Lt. Dan took the final winning title after the rumble match.
For Ian Heller, the match was a thrill to watch.
Heller, a 27-year-old Alachua County resident, said he felt he was witnessing classic themes of literature unfold in the narrative and act that the wrestlers put on for the show.
“This is all about good versus evil,” Heller said. “This is a modern-day Shakespearean tale right here.”
Rachel Magasanik left the match with her boyfriend about an hour after it began.
Between what she felt were repetitive fighting matches, overly dramatic antics and a redundant emphasis on the fact that the fighters were dwarves, Magasanik said she got bored.
“Going into it I didn’t really know what to expect,” the 20-year-old UF tourism, event and recreation management junior said. “It’s entertaining, but it’s really demeaning to these people — I guess they don’t mind because they’re doing it as a job.”
Lt. Dan, 21, said joining the MCW troupe two years ago changed his life. Growing up in Sacramento, California, he said it was a school security guard who turned him onto dwarf wrestling when he was in seventh grade.
Going from being an awe-inspired middle schooler to a professional wrestler touring the U.S. two years after graduating high school, he said the troupe and the job both mean the world to him.
“I’ve always loved wrestling, I remember I was watching it on TV ever since I was a kid.” Lt. Dan said. “I’m living the dream right now.”
From left: Micro Championship Wrestling fighters Blixx, Loco and Huggy Cub get ready to face off as referees lay out the ground rules at the “midget wrestling” match at High Dive on Thursday night.
