Maybe we know Hulk Hogan, from back in the day. Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson is that actor. Martial arts enthusiasts know Brock Lesnar. But Julia Suijkerbuijk from Groningen? Also show wrestler! Can be seen in Groningen on Sunday.
She has no idea how old she was when she first saw two wrestlers fight. Two muscular guys who went all out. She thought it was real. Julia Suijkerbuijk (24) from Groningen had nothing to do with it. Neat girl, well brought up, no violence.
The spark flew when she was watching television in the living room in the middle of the night – a rebellious teenager. Two women were guests on an MTV program. Brie and Nikki Bella, The Bella Twins. Show wrestlers. In English pro wrestlers. Julia saw them training in a video clip. Fly, kick, hit. She didn’t know that wrestling was a big show, but she did know: I want that too.
“It was like seeing two role models.”
Like an obsessed teenager, Julia went online to find out everything the Bella Twins did and more. “I still had the naive glasses on at that moment, didn’t I. They can then tell you a hundred times it’s not real, but I really saw that battle between a good guy and a bad guy . Or good girl and bad girl, actually, because I only looked at those women.”
The great magic of show wrestling completely enchanted Julia Suijkerbuijk. Public entertainment that traveled from European fairgrounds to the United States and evolved into a wildly popular multi-million dollar industry there. In the Netherlands, show wrestling (or pro wrestling ) for decades underground .
Sunday 4 June at the Suikerunie terrain
On Sunday, June 4, Julia Suijkerbuijk from Groningen will be one of the wrestlers during the Live Action Wrestling show in the Stadslab at the Suikerlaan on the Suikerunieterrein in Stad. Cards are still available.
“People’s first reaction is often: it’s fake. I don’t know if that’s because the Dutch are sober. I don’t want to tar people with the same brush. I think a lot of people still don’t understand that the goal is to put on a really entertaining, spectacular show.”
‘This is really so damn good’
Those shows are like the cycling criteriums, the laps around the church after the Tour de France. The result is determined in the locker room. But the audience still needs to be entertained. Julia’s fire flared up inside. “I wondered: how do they do this? I thought, this is so damn good because those fights seem so real.”
She played netball, but became obsessed with show wrestling. ,,I watched show wrestling during my breakfast and at school I thought all the time: I can watch again later. And it was also an inspiration. Those ladies looked like they had their lives in order. Like: nobody cares about me.”
About five years ago she thought: I want this too. She discovered a Dutch organization, Pro Wrestling Holland, read that they did tryouts and drew up a plan. What she had to do to participate in such a try-out a year later. She wrote it down on a piece of paper that she hung on the wall of her bedroom.
She went to talk to the bookcase
My secret project. I didn’t know anything about fitness, but I bought weights and did exercises every day. Went for a run every morning. Measure my biceps and my leg muscles. Keeping track of progress.”
Oh yes, and she started talking to the bookcase at home. A show wrestler must be able to act well, have a good chat to credibly play an argument with the other. You need to be able to sell tickets with credible promo talk and occasionally play with the audience as well.
,,I sometimes talked to my dog, to practice. Nowadays I say things like this to my roommate: ‘Did you leave that toilet seat up again! I dare you, boy!’ And then he knows what time it is.”
Evolution of ancient folk entertainment
In 1873 Paris, a masked and muscular savage bursts into a boxing ring at a carnival. His name, simply: The Masked Wrestler. He takes on any spectator who dares to fight. But are those brawls well done or not?
It is the first known appearance by a professional wrestler. More than 130 years later, the spectacle of markets and fairs has evolved into sports entertainment : sporting entertainment to be found on television and everywhere online, with muscles, acrobatic stunts and storylines. Spectacular (not harmless) battles with tables, barbed wire and ladders. A million-dollar industry.
During the peak years of immigration between 1890 and 1924, the United States flooded with Europeans. In the land of unlimited possibilities, simple popular entertainment developed rapidly. Small regional wrestling promotions could be found across America around 1930 and ‘ pro wrestling ‘ blew over to Mexico, Japan, Australia and Great Britain.
The 1980s saw the definitive breakthrough with the general (American) public. Vince McMahon, owner of the World Wrestling Federation (nowadays World Wrestling Entertainment , WWE) begins televised (partly on MTV) broadcasting wrestling shows nationwide. He finds the ultimate audience favorite in the charismatic Hulk Hogan (the one with the blonde moustache, the blonde hair and the bandana). The first edition of supershow Wrestlemania in 1985, live from New York’s Madison Square Garden, is a great success. Mead thanks to the help of stars like Mr. T., Cyndi Lauper and Mohammed Ali.
In 2023, WWE is by far the largest and most popular organization worldwide. In recent years, the company has been seduced by the big money of Saudi Arabia, among other things. Musicians, actors and online influencers love to perform at major live shows. Millionaire Donald Trump (then without political aspirations), actors Mickey Rourke and Johnny Knoxville, boxers Floyd Mayweather and Mike Tyson, and rapper Bad Bunny, among others, have already been written into the storylines. Big names from multidisciplinary MMA (Mixed Martial Arts, formerly simply cage fighting) such as Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey have found their second home here.
Celebrated show wrestlers have in turn made a name for themselves as actors in Hollywood in recent years, often as muscle and/or superhero. Like Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson (Jumanji, Fast & Furious, Black Adam), Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers, Specter) and John Cena (Fast & Furious, The Suicide Squad) .
Her try-out in Wormerveer was nerve-racking. But Julia was admitted to the academy from Pro Wrestling Holland. There was humor in her promo. She was allowed to come back weekly for training. Fall safe, catch safe, drop kicks , power slams , muscular acrobatics and drama. She learned the noble art of show wrestling. And it turned out to have a talent for that, although she still doesn’t think she’s good enough. “I can still improve myself in so many areas.”
Two concussions, Mom wasn’t thrilled about it
The first weeks she found it terrifying, the first months she fought mentally with herself, because it may all be so-called ‘fake’, the blows you take by falling and protecting the other really do arrive. ,,Your body really hurts all the time.” She has already had several injuries and especially those two concussions, her mother was not very enthusiastic about that.
She befriended the other people being trained, felt accepted, and grew in confidence.
When she reached her new goal – performing at a live show – the brakes came off. ,,I was sitting in the dressing room of a gym when I heard that I could participate. I was so happy that I enthusiastically told two complete strangers about my passion.”
Life as a top athlete
That passion is to perform in a wrestling ring as often as possible in small halls and sports halls in the Netherlands. Gain experience, develop character, learn to play the audience. In the Netherlands, often at most a few hundred people. Show wrestling is still there underground . But Julia lives like a top athlete. She was the first woman to ‘graduate’ from the academy from Pro Wrestling Holland.
She goes to the gym five times a week, takes wrestling workouts across the country every week, reviews the shows and discusses workouts with her coaches, studies videos of “opponents” (the more you know about each other, the safer it is , ed.), do not drink alcohol, rest a lot and eat healthy.
Somewhere in between she manages to be busy with her education. She doesn’t dare to say what her next big goal is. “I want to put everything in it. And even then you have to be lucky. You must be booked. Don’t get injured.” And then suddenly: ,,Ha, and I want to win my match in my own city on Sunday. That’s a goal too!”
She especially wants to participate in more shows, also and especially abroad. She wants pro wrestling promotion in the Netherlands. As the uncrowned queen of an often misunderstood subculture.