Not one, not two, but seven fights will take place at South on Friday November 19. And in this case, it is unlikely that the administration will try to stop them. As a fundraiser for new football lights, South will hold professional wrestling matches.

This unusual fundraising idea was thought up by the co-founder of the Intercontinental Wrestling Association (IWA), who said he prefers to be identified only by his wrestling identity, The Brauler.

The Brauler said he was inspired to help South with a fundraiser after watching an episode of the television show Friday Night Lights in which the coach moves from a “pretty wealthy, well-to-do school to an overworked, underpaid school.” After seeing the show, he was inspired to help schools like this and “the only connection I knew was [South football coach] Lenny Sedlock,” who had been The Brauler’s football coach when he attended both F.M Grass Jr. High and Sibley High School, both in St. Paul. Sedlock introduced The Brauler to athletic director Mark Sanders, and they decided to hold a professional wrestling fundraiser.

Sanders was excited about the prospects of a pro wrestling event. “We thought this might be a nice way to start the fundraiser off,” he said.

Sanders believes the addition of lights on the football field, which will cost approximately $170,000, would be beneficial in many ways.

“It would help us attract more fans to the games,” he said. Many parents work during the day and are unable to attend football games. Adding lights, however, would allow games to start later, enabling more parents to attend.

Sanders added that overall, adding lights “would also increase usage of our field,” as more sports teams would be able to utilize the football field area.

The wrestling event on Friday will feature seven matches and 14 wrestlers. The Brauler said he will not be wrestling because of a recent surgery, but said, “I will be there managing and creating havoc.”

The Brauler has been a wrestler on and off for, as he puts it, “a long, long, long time.” He started out as a football player and was even recruited by teams such as the Lions and Giants. After injuries to both his shoulders, however, he couldn’t play professionally. In a football team, he said he would be “a broken part.”

Instead, The Brauler turned to wrestling. “Pro wrestling was just kind of the fit with my size and personality,” he said.

He got into wrestling while working as a bartender. According to The Brauler, two men began fighting one night while the bouncers were distracted, so The Brauler decided to take matters into his own hands. He put one of the men in a headlock, used a “fishhook” wrestling move on another, and threw them both out of the bar. Afterwards, he also had to throw out of the men’s girlfriends, who became angry and started “pulling my mullet,” he said. After pushing the woman out the door, The Brauler said he turned around to find a wrestling promoter who gave The Brauler his card and said, “‘kid, I’m gonna make you a lot of money.’” The next day, The Brauler “finally mustered up the nerve to call him,” and began his ascent into the world of professional wrestling.

However, he soon learned that money-wise, wrestling “was such a dirty business.” He recalls instances where wrestlers wouldn’t be paid their promised rate and were told it was because “we had a bad night at the gate,” although The Brauler said unsuccessful nights were the fault of the promoter, not the wrestlers. This dishonestly lead him to quit and pursue other careers.

He began working at a video store collecting videos from people who hadn’t returned them and eventually started his own business, Video Collections and Repossession, to help other video stores reacquire their movies.

After a while, he decided to sell his business and began repossessing cars instead. Then, in what he describes as an “epiphany,” he entered a new field.

“If I could find cars that were missing, why couldn’t I find people?” he questioned. The Brauler said be became involved in the “fugitive apprehensive” field. In other words, he became a bounty hunter, tracking down wanted fugitives and bringing them back.

After being convinced to join with another wrestling federation, where just like with other federations, he “never got paid,” The Brauler and his business partner “Dan the Man Souprano” decided to start their own organization, which became the IWA.

The Brauler said the idea in their new organization was to “do things the right way, where wrestlers don’t have to be… lied to about their pay.”

According to The Brauler, the IWA has “been going strong” for almost five years now.

The bell time of the IWA wrestling matches is 7:00. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased ahead of time from Sanders or at the door.