Just kick it! SPORTS
editionap.ca
Du 13 au 17 août , St-Albert, ON
Photo Gregg Chamberlain
Local soccer fans of all ages got their !ll of action, both on the !eld and from the sidelines, during the annual RUSC Soccer and Sports Festival in Rockland at the Canadian International Hockey Academy campus over the Aug. 9 weekend.
Shake hands with Hannibal GREGGCHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
ROCKLAND | By day the softspoken Devon Nicholson works as a behavioural coun- sellor, helping emotionally-challenged re- sidents of a group home. By night and on the weekend he transforms into Hannibal, the Apocalyptic Nightmare! The 31-year-old Orléans resident tips the scales at 276 pounds and, with his muscu- lar six-foot-four frame, Nicholson looks like someone who, if facing a zombie apoca- lypse, would just grab hold of the nearest shambling corpse by the legs and use it as a club to smash his way to safety through the rest of the undead horde. He smiles when he notes that The Undertaker was one of his pro-wrestling idols when he was a boy watching the seven-foot-tall giant in action on television. “He was pretty impressive,” Nicholson said. “Really larger than life.” Nicholson was a high school amateur champion, including both provincial and national titles for his weight class, and he had scholarship o"ers from both Simon Fraser University in British Columbia and the University of Bu"alo in New York state to join their collegiate wrestling teams. After graduation, however, Nicholson !gured it was time to follow his dream. So he joined the Hart Brothers Wrestling Acad- emy in Calgary, AB, where he trained under the legendary Stu Hart, one of Canada’s pre- mier pioneer wrestlers and the father of a wrestling dynasty that included Brett “The Hitman” Hart. For the past decade Nicholson has divid- ed his time between being a wrestler and a wrestling promoter. His career in the ring has taken him down to Puerto Rico where he became one of the bad guys battling the home talent In Puerto Rico he began to de- velop his legend as Hannibal, the Apocalyp-
tic Nightmare. Some time on the European wrestling cir- cuits followed. His Puerto Rico adventures gave him a good grounding in the high- $ying antics of the luchadores style of pro wrestling, while the European !ghters re- lied more on the kind of practical grappling holds and takedown techniques he learned in Calgary. Now settled back in Canada, he manages Great North Wrestling in Ontario, organiz- ing pro wrestling events for small-town venues. It’s his passion, and, while things get a bit hectic sometimes, he is happy. “I like to spend my time organizing,” he said, with a smile. “I !nd it makes me a bet- ter wrestler.” Nicholson still manages to ensure that the Apocalyptic Nightmare continues to haunt the the competition. Like the event com- ing up at the end of August in Hawkesbury when Hannibal, a Canadian championship belt holder, steps into the ring against A.J. Styles, one of champions in the New Japan Pro Wrestling group. “I de!nitely think it’s going to be one of the biggest matches of my career,” Nichol- son said, with a little grin. “It’s going to be very interesting to see what’s going to hap- pen.” More details are at www.greatnorthwres- tling.ca. Hannibal says, “Be there!” You don’t want to disappoint him.
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