Fans attempt to rush the ring at independent event
An incident occurred at a C4 Wrestling event in Ottawa on Friday.
The independent promotion was holding its 18th Anniversary show at the Preston Events Center when two people entered the ring and attempted to assault the referee before the main event. The men were subdued and ejected from the building. However, they attempted to re-enter and a second scuffle occurred.
A fan in attendance posted their personal account of what happened to Reddit on Monday:
“Just prior to the main event, after the Referee was introduced, two large males jumped into the ring and attempted to assault the Ref with punches.
Security was quick to intervene and was able to grab them before they could actually land a punch.
Security did there best to subdue the assailants and get them out of the Event Centre venue. There were punches thrown throughout the process from both sides but the secruity seemed to be doing it through self-defence. Once the men were thrown out they tried to come back in and another scrum ensued until they were finally cast out for good.
After some recuperation time and checking everyone was okay, the show continued with a standing ovation of support for the Ref and staff. The Ref was shaken but contiuned working.”
The author of the post later added that it seemed as though the crowd, at first, thought it was part of the show as the two men were wearing similar clothing.
The post continues:
“The crowd was confused intially thinking it was part of the story line. The two men were wearing similar outfits (grey shirt, caps, jeans) and some thought it was a tag team or something similar but soon realized it was not.”
“The Ref seemed okay and was visibly shaken by the experience. The Wrestlers made sure that he was recognized before the match started.”
John Pollock of Post Wrestling spoke with C4 owner Mark Pollesel, who stated that security overheard two fans discussing rushing the ring, and that the C4 team subdued them when they did so. He said that while punches were thrown, it does not appear anyone from either side was hurt. Pollesel says he got into a shouting match with the two men when they attempted to claim their actions were part of the show.
Pollesel was quoted as saying:
“The incident as a whole is absolutely not something that ever happens at our shows. I can count on one hand how many times fans have gotten into the ring or confronted talents on one hand in 18 years. I absolutely hate that this all happened. The group that jumped in the ring was absolutely not regular fans, and not representative of our community. Something we are incredibly proud of is that we have an awesome, inclusive, and welcoming crowd. I just hate that anybody would try to cause problems on our anniversary like that”.
Capital City Championship Combat, aka C4, was created in 2007 and typically runs monthly shows in Ottawa. The promotion teamed with Evil Uno’s Mystery Wrestling earlier this year for the World’s Longest Match fundraiser in August.
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has been featured in NOW Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. A lifelong wrestling aficionado born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he has covered the industry for a decade and a half. He joined the f4wonline.com team in 2019.