‘A whole lot of blood and violence’

An insanely violent world lurks beneath the peaceful veneer of California’s small towns and mid-sized cities, a world where betrayals and blood feuds are settled with brutality, thumbtacks and hot sauce.

Big-time wrestlers may be household names, but for every Hulk Hogan or Undertaker there are a thousand men fighting to make their mark in the sport of wrestling. Far from the lights and crowds of Madison Square Garden, these men slug it out in church basements and after hours at Boys and Girls Clubs before rabid crowds numbering dozens to hundreds.

For the past two years The Territory, a wrestling production company dedicated to promoting and videotaping underground, independent wrestling, has offered glimpses into this world at live Nor Cal shows, on public-access television and on its Web site (www.territorytv.com). The company is the product and passion of Chico’s Tom Skowronski (aka Tom Botchii), a videographer, one-time frontman for Chico experimental noisemakers Botchii and lifelong wrestling fanatic. This Sunday, Nov. 22, The Territory will be hosting a 10-match live wrestling extravaganza dubbed Chico Carnage inside the huge Paradise Lost video store.

“People can expect to see some amazing wrestling and a whole lot of blood and violence,” Botchii says of the upcoming event. “It’ll pretty much cover the whole spectrum, from straight, across-the-board wrestling to hardcore, with some great stories as well.”

Botchii explains that indie wrestling is similar to Vince McMahon’s better-known World Wrestling Entertainment in that it is a mixture of physical wrestling and ongoing, ever-twisting plotlines that take place in and out of the ring.

“It’s just like you’d see with the mainstream product except not as dumbed down,” he says. “Mainstream product is all about the lowest common denominator. They have to make sure that a 4-year-old understands this as well as the guy who’s 37 years old in his underwear eating chips as he watches the show.

“I don’t want to watch the same thing geared toward a 4-year-old. I know it’s wrestling and I’m a dork for liking it, but at the same time I really appreciate it, and I’m not going to insult myself when I watch it. It’s my hobby; I should feel excited when I take part in it.”

Botchii offered some crib notes regarding who’s who and the back stories leading up to the video-store smackdown. One big attraction will be the return of Brian Cage, a Chico native who ran a locally based wrestling production company and went on to become a WWE star. Cage will do battle with another former local, Sir Samurai, who is the current heavyweight champ of Sacramento’s Supreme Pro Wrestling federation and whom Botchii describes as “the most evil, conniving wrestler you’ll ever meet.”

“They’re both from here, but one hates Chico and one loves it,” he says.

Botchii expects the bloodiest match of the night to be between Rik Luxury and Chupacabra, the Mexican Werewolf. “The Chupacabra is very compact and quick, with a high-flying style. He’s a luchador-type character, with fangs and face paint. Rik Luxury is the guy that thinks he’s the best in the world, with the feather boas and the light-up suits; he’s made a million dollars and is always surrounded by women.”

Luxury and the Chupacabra are former tag-team partners who have been feuding for more than two months. Botchii can barely contain his excitement as he explains, “It’s been building and building, so they’ll be at a pretty high level of violence.”

Also appearing are the Reno Scum (“Crusty punks who got into beating people up instead of music”), Oroville champ Mr. Primetime (“They call him MPT ’cause he’s flashy and always brings the main event”), The Texas Hangman (“He’s got that redneck mentality and likes to beat people up”), Big Paul Isadora (“7 foot, 350 pounds”), The British Messiah Timothy Thatcher (“European-style wrestler who’ll put you in a hold and hold it ’til it hurts, fake or not”) and Big Ugly (“He’s just a big, ugly dude!”).

Botchii says no matter what happens inside the ring, it’s the fans who always win.

“Every emotion you want covered you can experience at a wrestling show,” he says. “You can get loud, you can get quiet and serious, you can laugh, you can cry, you can get very, very angry. This show will capitalize on all of those, and even more importantly, we want people to become part of the show, which is what I think wrestling is all about.

“It’ll be a great experience for anyone who’s tired of doing the same old shit in town.”