As I mentioned in a previous post, in Senegal, wrestling is the biggest spectator sport. Matches draw tens of thousands of people, more than many football (soccer) games. An upcoming match draws intense arguments between friends and colleagues. With this popularity is not at all surprising that the professional wrestlers are used in advertising (in the same manner as American football and baseball players) to sell everything from chocolate spread to cell phones.
In a country where the average income is less than $1000/yr wrestlers can earn the equivalent of quarter million dollars per match. This financial incentive as well as the respect and admiration the wrestlers have earned has thousands of young boys training daily hoping to make it into the professional stadiums.
For some background on the sport look at this BBC article from 2010 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8617738.stm
Today is the last big match of the season and was sure to draw a full crowd. The match is 
between a Senegalese wresting pioneer Muhammed Ndao alias Tyson (yes, after the American boxer) and a current star Omar Sakho alias Balla Gaye 2.
All week at the Institut there has been talk about the upcoming match and who will be victorious. When asked who I supported, my response was that I’m a neutral observer. Apparently that is not a good enough answer and I really need to pick sides, but it appears my colleagues have already decided that I will be supporting Tyson because he is the ‘American’ wrestler. Tyson has been known to appear ringside in an American flag pancho.
The match is held at the stade Demba Diop in central Dakar. Oumar meets Tad and I at the Institut around 3pm and we proceed to the stadium. Apparently the stadium has been open since 8am and people have been chilling inside, their version of tailgating. The match does not actually start till about 8pm with some minor matches beforehand. The closer we get to the stadium I can feel the excitement building; Seeing people carrying pictures of their favorite wrestler or hearing someone yell out in French ‘The Power is back on” (good news for those that did not have tickets and would have watch the match on TV). The road to the stadium is blocked off half a km away with riot police guarding the barricade.
Once we get to the stadium we get a bag search and a weapons pat down before we can enter.
Full house - Hey look riot police
Inside the stadium it’s absolutely electric with people screaming their preferred wrestlers
This stuff is awesome its got chunks of mango in it
name and waving posters. Men and women are walking up and down the rows selling sodas, bissap, chips, backed goods, etc. To give you an idea of the energy think Charger/Raiders game (for my people in SD) or Yankee/Red Sox game (for my East Coast people) combined with a Word Cup soccer match.
We find an open spot on the concrete benches that make up the stadium seating and proceed to
One of the minor matches
watch the crowd and wrestlers warm up for the next 2 hrs. At about 6pm the minor matches start. Senegalese wrestling seems to be a combination of Greco-Roman and boxing. The goal is to get your opponent on the ground before he gets you. The matches start off with the two wrestlers throwing what could best be described as ‘bitch slaps’ at each other before one finally locks his arm around the other and attempts to throw him to the ground.
There is a time limit of approximately 30 mins to a match and the match is over either with the first throw down or when time expires. So a match could be over very quickly or seemingly never end. People seem to hope for matches lasting around 10 mins with several throw down attempts and escapes.
Watching the Tyson and Balla Gaye prepare for the match is entertaining in itself. They both come out into the stadium around 4:30 (almost 4 hrs before their match actually started).
Tyson and his American flag pancho
They strut around, warm-up and get their fans pumped. Some of the more interesting preparations seem to involve what was described to me as ‘black magic’ performed by a ‘witch doctor’. Each wrestler has one, who hangs around preforming rituals before the match. It seems that Senegalese pro wrestlers are very superstitious and take every advantage they can in hopes of getting one up on their opponent. Another seemingly odd practice involves the wrestler being completely soaked multiple times before the match in a dark liquid. Oumar doesn’t even know exactly what this liquid involves but the wrestlers seem to use it as cleansing oil, perhaps another superstitious action???
It’s time for the big showdown, it starts and it’s over in less than a minute with a Balla Gaye win. Really?? I sat on a cement step for 4 hrs for this. Yep, that’s exactly what I did and I’d probably do it again.
