Ring the bell! Edmonton expected to allow professional wrestling to resume

The City of Edmonton is expected to once again allow professional wrestling events to happen in the city.

An amendment to the moratorium banning all combative sports in Edmonton for at least one yearwill be tabled to council on Jan. 23, where council is expected to allow wrestling events in the city.

KurtSorochanwith the Pro Wrestling Alliance told the Public Services Committee wrestlers are performers, not combatants.

"We have pre-determined outcomes. We are 100 per cent entertainment," Sorochan told the committee on Wednesday.

Mayor Don Ivesonagreed.

"My heart is broken to find out that it's a predetermined outcome,"Iveson said. "It's like finding out that Santa Claus isn't real, but nonetheless they'll be back in business in a week."

Council put the moratorium on combative sports in place following the death ofMMAfighter Tim Hague during a boxing match in June 2017.

But the wrestling community managed to differentiate itself from other combative sports like boxing andMMA, so council is moving quickly to reinstate it.

The wrestling community would welcomethe amendment to the moratorium,which forced the postponement of a WWE event scheduled for Feb. 9 at Rogers Place.It's not clear when or if the cancelled and postponed event will be rescheduled.

Wrestling fans 'just ecstatic'

Valerie Legarde, 57 and her partner,72-year-old Eugene Jolivette are big wrestling fans. The Edmonton couple hasinadvertently become part of the act after one of the wrestlers, Sheik Shabaz, stole Eugene's hat during one of his performancessomething that's now become a regular part of his routine.

• This Edmonton wrestling celebrity is in his 70s, wears a straw hat, and doesn't wrestle

"Ever since then, we've been going every time we've been able to,"Legardesaid.

With the moratorium in place, they were worried about how they would get theirnext wrestling fix. But on Thursday, they found out the city was likely going to lift the moratorium within a week.

"We've been wondering where it was going to be, what we were going to do, how far we we'd have to travel," Legarde said. "Now that they're going to have it back in the city, I can't wait for the first one.

"Eugene and I are just ecstatic."

But don't be too quick to dust off yourHulkamaniado-ragyet council still has to vote on the amendment on Jan. 23.

Council will review the moratorium on other combative sports on Feb. 21.