Last week’s heat dome was no match for local pro wrestling fans, who lined up early on a 90-degree Monday to watch nearly two dozen wrestlers go at it inside Rhodes on the Pawtuxet for nearly two hours.

Beyond Wrestling is the brainchild of Drew Cordeiro, who started the promotion in 2009 as an online-only channel with wrestlers fighting one another in empty rooms. A few years later, Cordeiro started producing live events. Now well established, Beyond Wrestling has taken up residence at Rhodes, where it has produced weekly events every Monday since late March.

An historic 1915 ballroom might seem like an odd fit for a pro wrestling event, but the scale and architecture of the venue are well suited for this type of production. The acoustics are great, the century-old hardwood floors are protected by a large tarp, and the venue’s signature light-up American flag hangs over the curtained arch where wrestlers make their grand entrances.

The pairing was a bit of a chance happening. Rhodes was looking to boost events earlier in the week, and Cordeiro—who also owns the Championship Melt grilled cheese truck—got connected via Eric Weiner, who produces food truck events and thought the venue might be a good place for one. A food truck event hasn’t happened yet, but the Monday night Wrestling Open is now in its 13th week.

Based on cheers, the crowd favorite of the night is a bouncy little guy from Attleboro named Love, Doug who smiles a lot and pulled rose petals out of his trunks to stun opponent Tyler Jordan. Dustin Waller, meanwhile, was the baddest of the bad guys, eliciting loud boos as he taunted his nemesis, the announcer Anthony Greene into becoming his short-lived tag team partner. The night is bookended by a pair of three-man tag team matches, with the epic final match running more than fifteen minutes.

There’s lots of punching, kicking, and slamming, but one thing you won’t encounter is swearing. Staff remind audience members on the way in that foul language will get them ejected with no refund, a sentiment echoed at the beginning of the night by announcer Rich Palladino. There are about a hundred people in the audience and about fifteen of them look like they might be in elementary school.

“This event is family friendly out of respect to Rhodes,” Cordeiro said.  “It’s a banquet hall and not a bar. So, this is something that families can come to. The energy is just as good if not better than our Worcester shows, because a lot of kids are experiencing live wrestling for the first time. It can be exciting for them without being inappropriate.”

The Worcester shows take place in a hookah bar and have run every Thursday for 196 weeks. “Since it’s Thursdays, that means we do a show every Thanksgiving,” Cordeiro said. “And this year that means we’re doing one on Christmas.”

Do people actually show up? “We actually do better on holidays,” he says.  

Running two weekly events in two different states sounds like a recipe for burnout, but Cordeiro says that the frequency of the shows is actually an advantage.

“I think the Wrestling Open has increased the popularity of a lot of local wrestlers, and it’s allowed more people to see them,” he said.

Performers get more practice in front of a live audience, and the audience gets to feel closer to the performers.

“At first I worried that the weekly shows weren’t going to feel as special,” Cordeiro admits. “But doing them regularly gives us a routine and locks a lot of elements in place, allowing us to focus on making all the other parts better.“

Over the years, Cordeiro has brought on others to handle production—all the lights and cameras—and to handle storylines, the ongoing beefs and betrayals that build tension between different wrestlers.

“It’s a small operation,” Cordeiro says, “but we probably have eight people on production, and two to four doing creative.” There are commentators, someone to ring the bell, and even someone to watch the backstage curtain to ensure that the audience won’t accidentally glimpse wrestlers before they’re ready.

Palladino has been Beyond Wrestling’s ring announcer for 12 years, and he also does the job for other companies in the region. “This is my fourth show in five days,” he says. “I do a lot of shows in bars and breweries and places like that,” he said. “So it’s great to do these shows in a nice ballroom. But you can see why they need that tarp on the floor.”

The creative element to pro wrestling is where fans diverge from casual viewers. The performances are big, and the pre-match speeches are so direct, that it’s not hard for viewers to figure out what’s happening. But there are ongoing storylines for people who follow closely, allegiances and betrayals and unexpected alliances.

Dedicated fans show up with handmade signs, some general (“Respect Women in Wrestling”) and some specific to individual wrestlers. One sign reads “YOU LOOK LIKE THIS”, accompanied by a picture of Dr. Seuss’s mustachioed Lorax character.

In addition to the Monday and Thursday live events, there’s also a training program for wrestlers that runs on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in West Boylston, Mass.

According to its website, the Beyond Institute of Professional Wrestling weekly drop-in classes teach “in-ring mechanics, safety techniques, character development, social media management, and networking skills.” 

Classes are taught by Thomas Santell, TJ Crawford and Love, Doug. The goal, Cordeiro says, is to get everybody as good as possible as quickly as possible. This keeps talent cycling into the Beyond Wrestling stable.

On August 29, Rhodes on the Pawtuxet will host Americanrana, Beyond Wrestling’s biggest event of the year.

“We completely load up the card with as many special guests as we have access to,” Cordeiro says. “We’re going all out trying to make this the biggest show that we’ve ever run,” eclipsing the 2019 edition at Foxwoods that drew 900 attendees. 

Guest performer announcements will roll out over the next few weeks, and the Monday matches will start get bigger as the event draws nearer.