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Professional wrestling draws fans in with a mix of theatrics, colorful characters, and campy violence. Indigenous wrestlers comprise only a small faction of the wrestling world, but they are making names for themselves. In the process of entertaining their fans, they risk broken bones, concussions, cuts, and bruises in the ring. Today on Native America Calling, we’ll hear from Native wrestlers Kyle Hawk (Hopi Laguna and Lakota), professional wrestler and actor; Eric Bearspaw aka Chief Little Foot (Stony Nakoda), traditional dancer, musician, and professional wrestler; and Victoria Otis aka Princess Victoria (Samish Nation), wrestling booking agent and former professional wrestler.
Break 1 music: Blood Land (song) Ethnic De Generation (artist) Blood Land (album)
Break 2 music: Four Two-Step Songs (song) Pyawasits, Silas & Webster (artist) Wild Rice: Songs from The Menominee Nation (album)
The Eastern Band of Cherokee had a wrestler – Johnny Eagle, can find old videos from the 90’s of him wrestling in the Southeast, he was also the tribes youngest fluent Cherokee speaker, he recently passed away just after Thanksgiving. He was part of a trio – NWA, Natives With Attitude.