Incredibly Strange Wrestling
| Acronym | ISW |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1995 |
| Style | Lucha Libre |
| Headquarters | California, United States |
| Founder(s) | Johnny Legend and August Ragone |
| Formerly | Rockabilly Wrestling |
Incredibly Strange Wrestling (a.k.a. "ISW") was a San Francisco-based professional wrestling promotion, heavily influenced by masked Mexican Wrestling or Lucha Libre. The event combined wrestling matches with performances by punk, rockabilly, garage, psychobilly, and thrash metal bands.
Intended as an affectionate satire of Lucha Libre, Incredibly Strange Wrestling was created as a nightclub event by Johnny Legend and August Ragone juxtaposing satirical matches with live musical performances. ISW also featured many semi- and pro-wrestlers from the California circuits, and eventually showcased several professional Luchadores from Mexico. The promotion ran continuously from 1995 until the early 2000s.
ISW came to fruition at the Transmission Theater, a now-defunct venue (a former Transmission Shop), located at 314 11th St., in San Francisco’s South of Market District in 1995. It originated at an event at the DNA Lounge in 1991, "The Sleazefest", put together by future Hayride to Hell drummer Joey Myers, Wrestling/Music/Movie entrepreneur Johnny Legend, and local music/events promoter August Ragone. This show featured live music performances by The Mummies, The Phantom Surfers, and Johnny Legend and His Rockabilly Bastards, video presentations, and a Lucha Libre match between Ragone and future Hellbillys frontman, Barrie Evans. The Lucha Libre aspects were built upon with each subsequent Johnny Legend show at various venues around the Bay Area, until the early part of 1995, when they were tapped to do their first all-wrestling event.
Bret Kibele, a friend of Ragone's, who was working at the Paradise Lounge, informed him that club owner Robin Reichert was preparing to launch a new venue next door, and was looking for some good ideas to launch the new nightclub space. Ragone and Kibele pitched for a rotating monthly series of after-hours shows, which would include "Masked Mexican Wrestling" (Lucha Libre). Reichert told them to put together a show. Initially promoted as "Rockabilly Wrestling". Legend thus coined the moniker, "Incredibly Strange Wrestling", and sought permission from his friend, Ray Dennis Steckler, who directed The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies, who gave Legend his permission. During the first summer, ISW went on the road for the West Coast leg of Lollapalooza '95 (arranged by Legend via Perry Farrell).
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