I’ve never seen people have so much fun being cussed out.
My friend and I were at the wresting competition in Stuart. It’s something neither one of us ever have done before, and we had not even watched wrestling on TV – with the exception that once, when I was a teenager, I for brief spells now and then had sat in a living room with wrestling playing on the TV, me totally perplexed by the whole phenomenon, just for the payoff of a couple of kisses and cuddles now and then from the very cute redneck boy who mostly was glued to the TV.
Oh, Alan was a vision – a gleaming blond mullet, some blond fuzz proudly displayed above his upper lip, a lanky body encased in a checkered shirt, a pair of jeans and fine cowboy boots. Come to think of it, it was just during commercials that he paid me any attention. I was new then to hormones and I didn’t quite understand why I was hooked on a boy hooked on wrestling, and sitting through that shouting and throwing around on the screen bored me to tears.
So that’s what I was expecting Saturday night – not any cute redneck boys, because that phase of life is long behind me – but just sitting around so bored I couldn’t stand it until my friend would make the proclamation that we could leave.
“Just 20 minutes,” promised Tiziana, who only was going in the first place because one of the wrestlers was the son of one of her co-workers, and she is supportive in that way.
So there we were, Saturday night at the Rotary Building in Stuart. Some of the best things in life happen in that Rotary Building in Stuart – the Patrick County Master Gardeners Plant Sale (this year: 8 a.m. Saturday, April 25 – don’t miss it!), music shows by the Patrick County Music Association (the Master Gardeners will have a lot of sweeping up to do, because the next music show is that same day, April 25, at 6 p.m., and the one after that May 23 at 6 p.m.), and of course, the Patrick County Agricultural Fair each September! So even though wrestling wasn’t my thing, I was in my happy place and just to be there, soaking up Patrick County friendliness and fun, felt great.
By the time we arrived, we ended up with seats way in the back. As it all began there was a lot of excited speaking from the other side of the ring, which we couldn’t see (my chances of seeing would have been increased slightly if I had been wearing my glasses). A couple of men sat beside us, and one of them introduced himself as one of my Facebook friends, Darrell Hiatt. Darrell and his buddy explained to us what was happening, and they’d point out to us who was talking.
Then it all began. I once was a newspaper reporter, and if I still had those instincts strong, I would have taken notes, and taken pictures, and given a proper expository report of how the wrestling went, and what kinds of moves there were, and who won, and so forth.
However, I’ve been out of that field now for 3 years, so that instinct is slipping away. That night, I was no reporter. I was a middle-aged woman experiencing something entirely new with my best friend. We were marveling, we were pointing and commenting, and best of all, we were laughing.
One by one men, some in outlandish costumes, would walk around outside the ring, yelling and shouting at the crowd, and pointing at some of the people in the audience, yelling threats and challenges to them.
However, it wasn’t scary in the least. It was fun. The whole atmosphere was charged with friendliness and support, despite the shouts. I wouldn’t have believed it had I not experienced it.
As the fighting commenced in the ring, strong punches met air just inches from the opponent’s body, and yet the person who was air-punched would fall back in loud gasps.
There would be dramatic throws to the floor, and the referee would count – “ONE! TWO!” and just when you thought the match would be called, the guy on the bottom would leap back up and go crazy again.
The audience booed a lot, and it cheered a lot. Tiziana and I had a ball also cheering and booing, though sometimes I leaned over to ask Darrell or his friend which one we should be doing at the moment. Tiziana and I threw air punches at each other, and strangled each other in headlocks. It was the most fun we’d had since the Boy George concert in Danville a few months ago.
That brings it down to a formula: For the most fun, make loud noises and move around with your best friend.
Tiziana promised that we’d get to leave in 20 minutes, which when she first had announced that sounded like an eternity.
We lasted a good hour there, having the time of our life.
When we left at the halftime break, Darrell told us we were going to miss the best part. Maybe we’ll stay for the second half next time!
This column was originally published in the Henry County Enterprise on April 2, 2026.
