Tornado warning: Pro wrestling hits Caruso Club July 9

There's a tornado warning in the air — and that, in the words of Martha Stewart, is a good thing.

"El Tornado" (Mark Bartolucci, when not in wrestling character) is back home once again, part of an exciting live pro wrestling card scheduled for July 9 at the Caruso Club.

For the third straight year, the wrestlers of Rock Solid Wrestling and No Good Entertainment hit the ring in support of the Sudbury Playground Hockey League, a group that Bartolucci holds near and dear to his heart. Which is why, at age 43, the former local football and hockey player continues to throw himself, full-tilt, into a role that can surely take a toll on the body.

"There's no doubt you hurt," Bartolucci said recently. "It's a physical sport and this is my 19th year in the ring. I think you work smarter, though, and you become more entertaining as you get older.

"You learn to work with the crowd. I'm usually a bad guy, and I have a lot of fun with my age."

With a hometown twist, however, Sudbury fans are prone to welcoming this particular "Tornado" to town.

"I'm a good guy here," Bartolucci smiles. "It's the only place. It's cool just knowing that my kids are watching, that it's something interesting that their dad is involved with. But it is harder to play the good guy.

"Once you do this as long as I have, you morph from your character into your own personality," he continued. "All of my regular attitudes are just amplified. I'm basically a grumpy old man in the ring."

The support for pro wrestling in the Nickel City is hardly a new phenomenom, Bartolucci said.

"Sudbury is a historical wrestling town, back to the old Inco Club days," he said. "In those days, promoters could get somebody like an André the Giant to come up to Sudbury.

"Even into the Eighties, the guys used to wrestle about once a month at Sudbury Arena."

The scale may be somewhat smaller these days, but the intensity of the card is every bit as high. Highlighting the evening is a matchup betwee Scotty the Body and El Tornado — with the winner getting to face Cody Deaner, the Canadian Heavyweight Champion — with fans of female wrestlers sure to enjoy the return of KC Spinelli and the first-time appearance of rising star Courtney Rush.

Tickets for the event are just $15 at the Caruso Club box office, with doors to open at 6:30 p.m., and the bell for the first bout at 7 p.m.

For more information, visit the "Rock Solid Pro" Facebook page, or contacting Mark Bartolucci directly at 705-698-3413, or via email at [email protected]. You can also email [email protected].