Meet the Maddness: Professional wrestling show to benefit Special Olympics Mat-Su

WASILLA — He got up after a kick to the temple. He rebounded from being slammed through a table. He even survived a vicious-looking attack with a steel folding chair.

Welcome to the madness of the Maddness.

Michael Saunders may be a 6-foot-5, 300-pound Boy Scout most of the week, but come after hours and weekends, the madness takes over for the “Maddness,” an over-the-top professional wrestling persona he’s been perfecting for the past decade.

Saunders works full-time for the Boy Scouts of America in Anchorage, but is known to his fans as “Maddness,” a larger-than-life wrestler who puts on a good show and promotes sports entertainment in Southcentral. He’ll be at Wasilla Middle School on Friday promoting a show to benefit Special Olympics Mat-Su and the Boy Scouts.

Saunders is the Alaska Wrestling Alliance’s Alaska Champion and will be joined in the ring by a host of talented athletes who make the difficult and dangerous seem effortless. There will be Nick Danger (the AWA World Champion), The Greaser Ronnie Angel, Johnny T-Bone, Chainsaw Charlie, MK2, Killer Kyle and AK Lightning (aka Wasilla resident Mickey Wharton).

“It’s all for Special Olympics and the Boy Scouts,” he said. “I’m not sure how much money we can raise, I knew we could get 200 to 300 Mat-Su athletes at the show. I’m hoping we’ll get quite a few show up, and it would sure be nice to have Sarah Palin there. I’m just trying to raise a few bucks.”

The local show is also an opportunity to build a Valley following for local professional wrestling, Saunders said. He especially invites those who think his sport is “fake.”

“If they want to put $25 down to do a tryout, I will give them a tryout and see if they like the way it feels,” he said. “Until they do a couple spots, they can’t know what it’s like. The results may be fake or fixed, but what we do from Point A to Point W isn’t fake. Nobody can just come in there, your body isn’t used to being thrown around like that.”

In fact, as violent as the in-ring action can seem, the performers are trained to protect each other, not deliberately injure, he said.

“I could go through and destroy half the guys I’m in with in a matter of minutes, but you don’t want to do that,” Saunders said. “You want to make it as real as possible without hurting them. … It’s all sports entertainment. I’ve had some guys who are bigger guys, some guys who are real skinny and real athletic. I like to eat, but I also go to the gym, work out.”

That doesn’t mean the moves don’t require athleticism or the bumps don’t hurt.

“You get hit with a chair, that hurts,” he said. “It’s how you do it. I could hit you with a chair so hard it could destroy the chair and your head, but I do it to the point where it just makes a loud noise. But that’s not the point, it’s about the show.”

As much as wrestling is an entertaining escape for fans, it also has been a way for Saunders to channel his energy into a hobby after his the death of his brother, Jeff.

“What happened was 11 years ago there was an avalanche at Turnagain Pass and a bunch of snowmachiners died up there on the mountain, and my brother was one of them,” he said. “Him and I used to race a monster mud-racing truck. When he died, I gave up on that and I happened to see a commercial for Nick Danger and the Piledriver Wrestling School. I’ve always watched it on TV since the mid-1980s.”

As a powerlifting coach for Special Olympics, Saunders began thinking of ways he could use professional wrestling to support local non-profits. He also draws much inspiration from the Special Olympics athletes.

“I tell people that if I had half the heart these guys have, I’d have already done a lot more than I have,” he said. “They have such big hearts. Accomplishing a little thing, finishing something is a big deal for them. They’re happy to compete.”

Shows like Friday’s, which starts at 6:30 p.m., is where a lot of professional wrestlers take their bumps and get experience, Saunders said. Some, if they work hard and have a little luck, get tryouts for the big dogs in the business, WWE and TNA Wrestling.

Chainsaw Charlie, who will be at this week’s show, is in the military stationed in Anchorage and recently returned from Iraq. He had a tryout for TNA and superstar Kevin Nash. An in-ring accident, however, left him in a coma for three days. Charlie was wrestling Rhino, whose finishing move is a spear called the “gore.”

“He took a gore, landed on the bottom turnbuckle and was unconscious for two or three days,” Saunders said. “It can be pretty brutal, and people don’t give it enough credit.”

Accidents aside, injuries aren’t as common as many would think, Saunders said, adding he’s never had a major injury, but some painful bumps and bruises.

Saunders wants to expand professional wrestling as a viable fund-raising alternative for area nonprofits, and plans to bring up some bigger names in the future. He expects to have Honkey Tonk Man in Alaska sometime soon, along with Bushwhacker Luke (one half of the famous Bushwhakers tag team). Along with the legends, other recognizable names that could find their way to the Last Frontier include Booker T and “The Blueprint” Matt Morgan.

“There’s a huge audience for wrestling, and it’s amazing the number of people who love it,” he said. “It’s like Sarah Palin; for every 100 people who like her, 100 hate her. Wrestling’s the same way.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.

IF YOU GO

What: Professional wrestling for Special Olympics

Where: Wasilla Middle School

When: 6:30 p.m., Friday

Tickets: $10 each, three for $25 or five for $40; available at the door