Wrestling: Marko Estrada and the revival of 'spart'

UPDATE DAY

There's Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn who are WWE stars, but do you know Marko Estrada? He is a wrestler who participates in the revival of his passion in the province of “spart”, as he likes to say.

And no, it's not in because of his accent from the Acadian Peninsula which makes him pronounce the “O ” as “A”, it is because for the 39-year-old man now based in Quebec, wrestling is a cross between sport and art.

Estrada is one of the leading figures in wrestling in Quebec and spart, in his words, is doing well.

“I would say that wrestling is in a good wave in Quebec, there has been a great rise in popularity in recent years,” he confides, on the phone.

Marko Estrada has been wrestling since he was very young. We see him here in action during a gala at the Stade Canac in Quebec City last summer.

The fact that he occasionally performs at the Diamant de Québec, Robert Lepage's hall, is enough to pique curiosity. Last summer, there was also a gala at the Stade Canac in Quebec, the home of the Capitals.

“The famous church basement, I've never experienced that . I have always had beautiful rooms. Wrestling at Le Diamant brings us a different crowd that we would not see in Limoilou. The fact that Robert Lepage is associated with us helps with credibility. »

Superheroes

Originally from Le Goulet, a small village located in the heart of Acadia, a little south of Shippagan, we can say that Marko fell into wrestling when he was little.

« J really started at a young age because when you were little you liked superheroes and for me it was the same. I dressed up as a wrestler, I rented à la carte events and I went to every event I could see in Tracadie or Néguac. 

He even took things a step further by organizing his own family backyard wrestling nights.

“I built my own arena in my backyard, we were filming it and we were the hot little guys around. 

Becoming Pro

It must be said that Marko was already a good athlete, since he played school hockey, the level of which is rather high in New Brunswick.

“I was supposed to go to Moncton to play Junior A, and I had done a QMJHL recruiting camp. But I chose wrestling and, at 17, I took a course that allowed me to become a professional at 18. 

However, he quickly became disillusioned when he got his paycheck after a first gala.

“I took the leap the first time, made $20. I thought wrestling was sh*t,” he says, bursting into contagious laughter.

Make your place

Built like a piece of wall, very natural and affable, Marko quickly made his mark in the Atlantic provinces and took the road to the Old Capital to study there.

« It caught on quickly , I struggled a couple of places and I was quickly noticed,” he says, adding that it took several years to build his character and create an identity.

< p>What does he appreciate the most? The interaction with the crowd that he never tires of.

“It's awesome to have the crowd in the palm of your hand, to have so many reactions like that.

” It's a stress relief, it's a rare place where people can say what they want and where they can interact with the main actors. “

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