by Nicholas Diaz
Last week, Christopher Columbus High School hosted its second-ever Walk-A-Thon teacher wrestling match. Westchermania II was an even bigger success than the first match one year ago, which surprised students and teachers with a quickly planned faculty wrestling match in a professional wrestling ring.
For those who do not remember, the first Westchestermania attracted massive crowds as Columbus watched faculty members such as Mr. Marinelli, Mr. De Tuya, and even Br. Al fight it out in the ring. Br. Al emerged victorious when he unexpectedly entered the ring and beat Mr. Marinelli, who had just defeated Mr. De Tuya, with only a single blow.
Several students demanded a sequel to Westchestermania this year and the organizers of Walk-A-Thon provided it with a whole new lineup of fighters and an intense rematch between Mr. Marinelli and Mr. De Tuya, the two main rivals in the event. It also featured commentators Mr. Crossman, Mr. Moro and Mr. Diaz, the return of Mr. Meneses as the referee, accompanied by Ms. Rodriguez presenting the championship belts,
Westchestermania II also introduced a new VIP section for students who paid for seats in front of the ring. All tickets were completely sold out before the event, raising a ton of money for the Walk-A-Thon school fundraiser.
Students who attended were able to watch the match from all angles, crowding plazas, balconies, hallways and front-row seats. There was a spirit of excitement all around as students cheered for teachers, guidance counselors and other faculty fighting it out in the ring.
The first match was between Mr. Lewis and Mr. Machado. Both fighters wore hockey jerseys, but Mr. Lewis in the Columbus jersey won the fight, using a hockey stick to defeat his opponent.
However, at the end of the fight, Mr. Lewis began advocating the end of Westchestermania, arguing it was too violent. That is why the crowd cheered for Mr. Nunez when he entered the ring and silenced Mr. Lewis. Mr. Rivero joined the fight as well, but it was Mr. Nunez who made it out victorious in the end.
This was the start of Mr. Nunez’s reign over the ring. Multiple opponents challenged the undefeated Mr. Nunez, including Mr. Ventura, Mr. Levy, and Mr. Garcia, and each fighter lost. Mr. Nunez sent Mr. Ventura and his easel out of the ring, defeated Mr. Levy in what commentator Mr. Crossman called the "fastest loss of the day," and beat Mr. Garcia even though he was dressed as a Columbus student.
Photo Credit: Adelante Staff
At the end of this winning streak, Br. Al declared Mr. Nunez victorious.
Next, Mr. Rivero as Nacho Libre and Mr. De Tuya as Westchester Nixon entered the ring for a patriotic fight. Although Nixon appeared to be winning at first, Nacho won the match with the assistance of luchadora Ms. Romero and her chancletas.
Photo Credit: Adelante Staff
However, Mr. Rivero’s victory was cut short when Mr. Ortega surprisingly entered the ring and defeated him.
The next match was a t tag-team fight between Mr. Machado and Mr. Ulloa as one team and Mr. Harriman and Mr. Landera as the other team. Although Mr. Machado and Mr. Ulloa had concerns about the weight categorizations, Mr. Ulloa had the opportunity to reveal his finishing move “Death by Shakespeare,” which put an end to the fight.
Photo Credit: Adelante Staff
The last match of Westchestermania II was the long-awaited rematch between Mr. De Tuya and Mr. Marinelli. Mr. Leon, expected to fight as well, was kicked out of the ring by Mr. Crossman for failure to turn in his lesson plans, so Mr. De Tuya and his sidekick Mr. Rodriguez fought it out against Mr. Marinelli, as Randy Savage, and his sidekick Mr. Amador, as Ric Flair, in a 2v2 match. Dressed in their respective dramatic team attire, the teams wrestled, using jiu-jitsu and chairs to win the second-ever Westchestermania.
Photo Credit: Adelante Staff
It was an intense fight that eventually culminated in the climactic moment when Mr. Rodriguez saved Mr. De Tuya from getting his mustache shaven off by Mr. Marinelli. Although the teams continued fighting, it was clear that Mr. Marinelli’s side was winning. De Tuya struggled the remainder of the match to recover from the threat of mustache-shaving, making it easy for Mr. Marinelli to win with the unexpected help of Br. Al, last year’s Westchestermania Champion.
The ending was a surprise for many students such as senior Nicolas Ferrer who commented, “That was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. Br. Al from last year coming back to help the guy that he stopped was crazy. I did not expect that.”
Ferrer also expressed concern over the mustache-shaving saying, “I almost threw my phone and stopped the shaving myself.”
Junior Matthew Moreno shared these thoughts, stating “I think Mr. De Tuya is going to get his revenge. The shaving of the mustache was unacceptable, and I think it’s going to fuel his training for next year.”
Although the mustache was never fully shaven because of the intervention of Mr. Rodriguez, Mr. De Tuya confirmed, “I actually lost a piece of it, and I have a lot of explaining to do to my wife. I think Mr. Marinelli plays dirty.”
Moreno disapproved of the alleged unfairness as well. “Mr. De Tuya was fighting an unfair match against two, sometimes three wrestlers. The win by Br. Al and Mr. Marinelli is unfortunate,” he stated.
Junior Alexi Hernandez also commented, “It was a good match, but De Tuya got cheated again.”
On the other side of the match-up, Mr. Marinelli and his supporters were proud of the win.
“You put blood, sweat, and tears into this. A lot of work goes into this,” Mr. Marinelli commented, “I’ve been hitting the weight room and working hard all year long. De Tuya got what was coming to him.”
Overall, it was a very popular final match for Westchestermania II. Students talked about the match for the rest of the week and several students posted about it on social media. The event raised a great amount of money for the school fundraiser and provided students and faculty with the return of an entertaining wrestling experience.
Comments