Philly Plain Dealer

In a wrestling gym sitting in Kensington, Drew Gulak a retired WWE wrestler, is bringing the spirit of wrestling back to Philadelphia. The belief among many at Catchpoint is that there’s been an inconsistency within local wrestling in the recent years.  Catchpoint Wrestling has the goal of bringing the art of wrestling back to the city. 

“Wrestling in Philadelphia is back. The style of wrestling here is hard hitting, putting your body on the line and giving it your all. The trajectory for Philly is slowly going up,” said Pro Wrestler, Martin Hughes. 

As a new gym, on any given day you’ll see 8-10 people on a busy day 10-12 people. To be there, you must be fit mentally and physically, serious and passionate about professional wrestling. With many coaches who used to be professional or currently are, there’s no room for individuals who can’t put their all into it, even though it is acting.  

Back in April, Suplex Vintage and Labor of Love Philadelphia collaborated on an outdoor wrestling show as part of WrestleMania weekend. The event was a major show with hundreds dressed in WWE memorabilia, fandom was at an all time high. From blocks away you could hear the screaming and crowding of wrestling fans on South Street. A few students from Catchpoint participated in the event.

Both the local grassroots wrestling event on South Street and WrestleMania at The Linc brought back a real nostalgia for many wrestling fans in the city. At Wrestlemania wrestlers from all time periods came to Philly and worked together in the modern storyline, making it clear how this art brings everyone together. Meanwhile the old school ECW era of local Philly wrestling fans also got to see new talent shine.

Around the time of WrestleMania, Catchpoint was seen on Fox News, as word had gotten around that the school is teaching professional wrestling. 

“People spend their hard earned money to come out and watch you. That goes through your head while you’re out there, it makes you want to go harder,” said Hughes.

In Hughes’ opinion Philadelphia is a huge staple in wrestling for the east coast. Legendary companies like ECW, CCW, Ring Of Honor, WEW have had a major presence in Philly and professionals who called those companies home have been called up to the top level of wrestling. Wrestlers like Bryan Danielson, Dean Ambrose, RVD, Raven, and the Sandman worked a ton in Philly where they developed gritty styles which led to their successful careers in pro wrestling.

One of the products of the first class from Catchpoint is Citywide Street Gang. The “Citywide Street Gang” is a duo of Martin Hughes and Tom Larossa attempting to make the art of wrestling stand out again, like when they grew up watching wrestling. Martin Hughes and Tom Larossa were the top of their class, in the very first class at Catchpoint. As most wrestling duos or groups have, their motto is “no matter what, you can be on top”. Theatrics aside, Martin and Tom’s main goal is bringing people together through the artform they love.

“You won’t see Tom and I slap our legs when we hit someone, like we’re really hitting you. This is the Philadelphia style I’m talking about, body on the line. Very real acting, no gimmick behavior,” said Hughes. 

Hughes and Larossa are native Philadelphians, “it brought purpose to my life and I’ve only been doing this for a year and 3 months.” Catchpoint has been a great addition to Kensington, lots of Kensington youth have been interested in pro-style wrestling and now they have a point of access to that world. Martin says there are no “other” schools like this in Philadelphia, and that there are only seven in the tri state area but none quite like catchpoint. 

Hughes relayed that Gulak’s purpose with this gym is not just to bring people’s wrestling aspiration to life but to embody the hustle and bustle of being in Philadelphia in professional wrestling. He wants the harsh realities and emotions from the crowds, such as fanbases do for the sport teams of the city, and to recreate it. If the wrestling is not believable the crowd is going to let you know and the art isn’t in its true form.