00:00Give us some of Shrieka's catchphrases.
00:09Okay, let me explain how I got here.
00:12Dawson City, Yukon, population 1,319,
00:16birthplace of my favorite thing in the world,
00:18the League of Lady Wrestlers.
00:26Aben O'Grady is the founder of the league,
00:27a natural point person for someone trying to figure out
00:30how this collective of black-eyed,
00:32merkin-toting performance artists came to be.
00:36Big Jodi Muffra comes from a long line of woods people.
00:40She carries around a huge axe.
00:42She was born with a black eye, born fighting.
00:45Aben told me that the league had expanded dramatically
00:47since it started in 2013,
00:49and is now preparing for the annual showdown
00:52in its new home, Toronto.
00:54She says that if I want to know how it all works,
00:56I should just come and see for myself,
00:58meet the other wrestlers, watch them train,
01:01and chug a beer while regaling in the Island Rumble.
01:04So up I went.
01:20I arrived in Toronto two days before the Island Rumble,
01:23and immediately headed to a warehouse,
01:25with a Winnebago parked out front blocking the entrance.
01:28I wasn't sure if I had the right place,
01:30so I poked my head inside and found Aben
01:32and 15 other sweaty wrestlers practicing moves,
01:35and hashing out the final plot points of a match.
01:39Welcome to stress rehearsal.
01:44Everyone got their practice times in,
01:46and it's feeling good, I hope.
01:47We're gonna do like a full run through,
01:50but we'll do it circle style where we're in front of everyone,
01:53and just get a feel for it.
01:54We don't want injuries.
01:57While watching them,
01:58I couldn't help but imagine them at their day jobs
02:00just hours before practice.
02:01I mean, the stinker is an engineer studying AI by day,
02:05and sewing baloney to herself by night.
02:08Big Rig does R&D for the Ontario Board of Elections,
02:11but also walks around with a giant jug of piss.
02:15There are superheroes in our midst.
02:17I was taken back by the sheer amount of work
02:19that goes into making this event happen.
02:21From costuming and training,
02:23to writing a script so chock full of puns
02:25that if you're not laughing, chances are you just didn't get it.
02:28This is the most explosive event
02:30since the horrible tragedy at Carpelle.
02:32By Avin's calculation,
02:33the core organizers worked for three months straight
02:36leading up to the event,
02:37each putting in over 150 hours.
02:41So I'm left wondering,
02:42how has wrestling, of all things,
02:45espoused this kind of dedication
02:47out of a group of feminist Canadian punks?
02:53Definitely the thing that attracted me to wrestling
02:55was the interaction between the fans and the wrestlers.
03:00And the fans are totally engaged,
03:03totally willing to suspend disbelief
03:05in this very celebratory and inclusive way.
03:09I got really into the idea
03:11of having a captive audience of non-art people
03:15for an art event.
03:17This particular phenomenon has a name in wrestling.
03:19Kayfabe.
03:21Kayfabe is used to describe the agreement made
03:23between the audience and the wrestlers
03:25to suspend disbelief and just enjoy the show.
03:28And I love that idea.
03:30For art and just life in general.
03:34But I certainly don't expect young white men
03:36to gracefully pivot from Stone Cold Steve Austin
03:39to Dikemaster 3000 without demanding their ticket money back.
03:43But then I saw who actually showed up.
03:48The Island Rumble takes place on one of the Toronto Islands,
03:51a 15-minute ferry ride from downtown Toronto.
03:54That morning, a group of wrestlers were tasked
03:56with picking up the ring, loading it onto a U-Haul,
03:59and catching the first ferry to the island to begin construction.
04:03Once built, the wrestlers got in the ring and began practicing.
04:07Basics are simple things like break falling,
04:10landing in the right manner, rolling in a certain manner,
04:14and generally not killing yourself.
04:17By 6 p.m., everything was set up,
04:19the wrestlers were dressed,
04:20and taking their final stretch before the show.
04:30Now was the moment of truth,
04:32to see if everything Aben and the other wrestlers
04:34had toiled over for months would actually come together.
04:38It is my pleasure to welcome each and every one of you
04:43into the Third Island Rumble.
04:46Are you ready to rumble?
04:49600 people were in attendance that night.
04:51Each one had ridden the ferry,
04:53then walked a mile and a half to behold the league's masterpiece.
04:57The Douche has one goal and one goal only.
05:00The eternal quest for revenge on all of douchebaggery.
05:07To me, this is feminist art in its highest form.
05:11Using comedy to keep you invested,
05:13without realizing the gravity of what you're watching.
05:16Women fearlessly co-opting what has long been a cultural bastion of masculinity.
05:21The subversion is in the details.
05:23And they had me at the toxic shocker.
05:26What is this in her mouth?
05:28It wasn't to use infliction.
05:30It was the toxic shocker!
05:32That's a tampon book!
05:34That's an infected tampon.
