Eat, drink, dance, wrestle

While browsing around the web recently, I stumbled on a website for a new nightclub in Paris called “La Lucha Libre.”  This bar is like many other trendy hot spots, offering food, drinks, and live music, but it also contains one extra feature — a wrestling ring.

What a great idea!  Leave it to the French — who are into art and liberty and acceptance of exotic personalities (such as Jerry Lewis) — to understand the allure of pro wrestling and to create a space to celebrate and enjoy the sport.

Located near the Sorbonne in the Fifth Arrondissement, the walls are plastered with Lucha Libre magazines and clothing.  The bar staff wear wrestling masks to spice up the atmosphere.  Instead of the usual ho-hum sports, the television monitors around the room show classic wrestling videos (way more exciting to watch than soccer or tennis!)

I’m sure the photos and videos of shirtless  wrestlers in violent action, the gaudy masks, and the alcohol all combine to create a sexually charged vibe.  I’ll bet you can just smell the testosterone.

And yes, live pro wrestling shows are presented regularly in the ring, with the excited fans packed into the spaces around ringside, practically able to reach out and touch the wrestlers’ bodies. It’s a small arena — apparently tucked away in a cellar or tunnel under the bar — but the ring just fits and they make it work.

I’ll bet the action is not quite as skillful, well-timed, and crisp as a WWE show, but the fans love the intimacy of it and go wild (perhaps even wilder) for their beloved local heroes and villains, performing just inches away, well within ear-shot if you want to share your appreciation and enthusiasm with them.

A while back, I blogged about wrestling masks and how I wish they were a common accessory that everybody wore daily.  Well, this bar sells wrestling masks, and many of the customers have a gay old time drinking, dancing, and flirting in their masks.  (I bet they wear those masks later after they get home, too…) This may be the first place in the world where regular people can comfortably wear pro wrestling masks in public, and I hope they’ve started a fashion trend!

I used Google to translate the instructions on the bar’s website from French to English. Apparently, they also allow people to rent the ring — either to watch a “private show,” (sounds hot) or for their own personal use (sounds even hotter).  You just tell them what you want to do in the ring, and they give you a price quote.

This has me very curious:  How often do people rent the ring, and how much does the bar earn from the rentals?   What exactly goes on in the ring?  How “private” is “privatisez?”

Some people rent the ring and roll around with their friends wearing those big, inflated Sumo Wrestler suits, but I’ll bet some others do not wear so much clothing.  I’ll bet some people rent the ring and climb between the ropes wearing pro gear.

In my opinion, a Rasslin Bar is a smart business model and will be popular.  After all, no matter where you go, sex sells (and wrestling is a close relative of sex…)  If I were in Paris, I’d probably rather spend the evening at this bar checking out the masks and enjoying me some Lucha Libre than going to Notre Dame or Napoleon’s Tomb.

Someone would be wise to open a bar like this here in the States.  Sell masks, magazines, boots, DVDs — anything related to wrestling that’ll turn on the crowd.  Partner with a local Indy federation to put on the weekly shows.  Dress the bartenders and waiters in trunks and boots and satin ring jackets.  I’m sure I’d want to go hang out at a bar like that all the time.  I may even rent the ring now and then…