Wrestling giants jumping into ring in Mayo

THREE wrestling giants are set to jump into the ring in Ballina when the Wrestling.ie tour visits Mayo this weekend.

Tiny Iron (from England), Kuma (from Scotland) and Tron (Northern Ireland) will battle it out with a variety of other wrestlers in the family touring show at Hotel Ballina on Sunday, October 28, at 7.30 p.m.

These competitors are sure to tower over all that attempt to battle it out with them on the latest leg of the Wrestling.ie all-island tour.

Kuma is so large he needs two seats on a plane, Brian Norton from Ballymena measures an impressive seven foot tall, and England’s Tiny Iron has the largest bicep, according to Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!

Not only is he built like a bear, Tiny pulled off an impressive feat by lifting the not-insubstantial frame of BBC radio host and TV presenter Stephen Nolan above his head.

The 36-year-old has been in movies and even been a personal bodyguard to Rihanna and 50 Cent.

Kuma, a.k.a. Johnny, may have been brought up in Scotland, but his family hails from Newtownards, Co. Down. The 31-year-old has lifted the trophy as Power of Wrestling world tag team champion.

When asked to describe himself to fans yet to see him, Kuma put it simply: “Think of the biggest human you’ve ever seen... I’m probably bigger.”

For Ballymena’s Brian Norton, he began wrestling when he was just 19 but fell away from it before he got an ultimatum from his mother.

“About 10 years ago I realised I had really let myself go and was weighing more than 30 stone,” says the civil servant. “I saw pictures of myself at my brother’s wedding and I was shocked and disgusted at what I had become.

“It was like someone had flicked a switch in my head and I started in the gym immediately. My mum gave me an incentive – she told me if I got down to 23 stone she’d pay for my suit for another brother’s wedding.”

It worked and not long after that the seven foot tall Brian won a competition to try out for the global wrestling organisation, WWE, and spent almost a year wrestling in Florida.

And, if you have any doubts about Brian’s massive frame the casting crew of Game of Thrones had none – he was Hodor’s body double.

Brian was in four series of Game of Thrones and was even double for the Mountain - but come the wrestling dates he’ll be The Northern Ireland Nightmare.

For the past decade Wrestling.ie has brought entertainment to every major town in Ireland, with packed crowds roaring on every move, every slam and every hold.

Promoter, Stevey Reavey, says the entire family will be enthralled by the show.

“There’s something for children, mums and dads and we know granny and grandad will be amongst the loudest in the audience,” he said.

“We are bringing larger than life characters, world-class athletic action, thrills, spills and the goodies battling the baddies. It’s a show not to be missed.”

For a full list of dates and contestants, visit www.wrestling.ie.